Mrs. Annie Green Opie READ Mrs. Annie Green A Romance By Opie P. Read. Chicago and New York: Rand, McNally & Company, Publishers. COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY RAND, MCNALLY & Co. MRS ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER I. We were all perplexed, I especially. I have never had the patience to find pleasure in the contemplation of a mys terious person ; and, when a woman I say woman, for I never bother myself at all about a man assumes an air of mys tery, I can not help but feel that she owes me an explanation, if not an apology. I don t suppose that this will be read by very many people who have heard of me, for the better part of my life has been spent in the editorial rooms of a large daily newspaper. I am James Cardison Barker, the man who wrote many articles M130308 & MRS. ANNIE GREEN. for which Colonel Henry Brown, editor of a great paper, received credit. I had taken, as newspaper men always say, a much-needed and well-earned " lay-off," and was spending my time at Blue Rock Springs, an out-of-the-way summer re sort. Shortly after my arrival, there came a woman about whom, I soon dis covered, there was an air of mystery. Her name was Mrs. Annie Green, the wife so our landlord informed me of old S. H. Green, the millionaire. There were very few boarders at the Blue Rock House, and I soon received an introduction to Mrs. Green. She bowed, with overwrought unconcern, and, laconically answering a question, turned and left me. That evening, when I entered the parlor where Mrs. Green and several young ladies were singing, Mrs. Green arose and left the room. I was {*^noyed. She was not sa MRS. ANNIE GREEN. J pretty that she should hide her beauty. At the supper table I sat near her. "Delightful weather we are having," said I. She made no reply, did not even raise her eyes. One of the boarders, known as Clam Benson, snorted, and an impertinent boy, noticing my embarrass ment, said: "Yes; it s good weather now, but it rained yesterday." After supper, while I was sitting on a bench, smoking a cigar, Benson joined me, and said: "That Mrs. Green is a queer piece." "Yes," I answered, "and she carries her queerness to the outer boundary line of politeness." "She needn t be so skittish," Benson said. "I met her down at the spring this morning, and offered to hand her a dipper of water, but she declined the courtesy; 8 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. then, when I had put down the dipper, she took it up and waited on herself. So far as I am concerned, she may take care of herself." "Which she seems disposed to do/ 1 I rejoined. "What is your idea of her?" Benson asked. "I hardly know. It can not be that she is deficient in good breeding, nor can it be that she is naturally shy." "No; and that s why I think there s something wrong about her." "I don t suppose that it is any of our business," said I, "but I must confess that she annoys me. Probably, if she had shown a disposition to cultivate my acquaintance, I should have thought noth ing of her." I could not keep my mind off the wo man. She was very young. Her eyes MRS. ANNIE GREEN 9 I had once got a good look at them were brown, soft, and full of expression. At night, as I lay in bed, her face came up before me. "Confound the woman!" I muttered, as I turned over and tried to sleep. At breakfast, the next morning, I sat opposite Mrs. Green, She was talking as I approached the table, but, when I sat down, she ceased to speak. Again I caught sight of her eyes. She blushed, I thought. "What a fool I am," I mused, as I strolled along the mountain side. "Why do I allow that woman, a married wo man, to disturb me? I have lost patience with her." A comforting reflection, surely. What cared she whether or not I had lost patience with her? When I returned to the house, I saw her playing with several children. She laughed gleefully, and I thought that I had never before heard IO MRS. ANNIE GREEN. such music. As I approached, she stopped playing and sought her room. "How long has Mrs. Green been mar ried?" I asked of the landlord. "Not very long, I believe." "What sort of a man is her husband?" "I don t know much about him, but I do know that he s got lots of money. He ll be here in a few days from now, and you will have a chance to see him." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. II CHAPTER II. I was anxious to see Mr. Green, and I rather impatiently awaited his coming. We were all on the gallery when he ar rived. Mrs. Green met him, without any exhibition of gladness. I didn t like him. He was a large, brusque man, with bushy whiskers and heavy jaws, suggesting the merciless firmness with which he held people who had business with him. When I was introduced to him he shook hands with me in a matter-of-course way. He narrowly eyed his wife, who, after the arrival of her husband, seemed to have lost much of her unreasonable reserve. At dinner she actually spoke to me . "How do you like this place?" she asked. "Very much," I rejomeu. 12 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Good place for a man that ain t got nothing to do," said Mr. Green, "but it s a mighty slow place for a man of business. Got no telegraph office got nothing." "People generally come to such places to escape business," I suggested. "Seems that way," he replied. "There s too much escaping business. The hum- buggery of overwork is hurting trade everywhere. When a man works a few months, he cries overwork, and wants to quit. It s all foolishness." "It is not foolishness with me," I said. "What business are you in ?" "I am a newspaper writer." He slightly frowned, in disapproval, and, after a few moments, said: "There are too many newspaper men in this country. They keep trade unset tled. Those devilish interviewers ought to be killed." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 13 "Mr. Barker, I understand, is not an interviewer," remarked Mrs. Green. "Annie, you don t know anything about it." Her face colored. "Interviewers," con tinued Mr. Green, "write lies. They put words in a man s mouth " "Yes," I broke in, "they often put gram matical sentences into ungrammatical mouths." Mrs. Green smiled. Mr. Green drank his coffee with a vulgar gurgle; then, put ting down his cup, he shoved back his chair, took out a quill tooth-pick, and pro ceeded to make himself obnoxious. I saw that he was a brute, and I knew that his wife whom by this time I had discovered to be strikingly handsome could not love him. Had she married him for money ? Could a woman with eyes so sincere sell herself? 14 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Late that evening I lay on a bench in 9 summer-house, situated in a little green cove of the mountain, not far from the hotel. Benson and I had been smoking and discussing affairs which should not have concerned us. Benson grew tired and sauntered away. As I lay there on the bench, I heard voices outside, and recognized them as the voices of Green and his wife. "I am tired walking," she said. "Let us return to the hotel. * "You are always tired when I am with you," he replied. "You needn t be in such a hurry to get back. That fool newspa* per man is off somewhere playing poker, probably." " Why do you speak of him ? " she asked. "Oh, I saw how you looked at him. You promised me faithfully that you MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 15 wouldn t flirt. I thought that a retired place like this " "Mr. Green, for goodness sake, hush. You talk to me as though I had no sense of responsibility. I did not flirt before I was married, and, Heaven knows, I have no disposition to flirt now. I have avoided the society of men since I came to this place, and not until your arrival did I notice the fool newspaper man, as you term him." "Well I am going back to town to-mor row, and I want you to promise that you will not speak to him." "You are unjust." "But not unreasonable." "Yes, you are both." - Annie, remember that you used to scribble considerably. Scribblers lean to ward each other." "What difference does that make if their shoulders don t touch ?" 1 6 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Annie, don t be foolish. You know I never could excuse an attempt to be epigrammatical. " "You can not excuse anything, it seems." "If you loved me, you would not find fault with my exactness." "//" I loved you," she said in a low voice. "You should not speak of love You know why I married you." "Come on, then; let us go to the house." Why had she married him ? Again I lost patience. MBS. ANNIE GREEN. If CHAPTER III. Mr. Green took his departure early the next morning. His wife remained in her room until dinner-time. At the dinner- table she scarcely noticed me, but at night I met her in the parlor. We sat on a sofa. She hesitated before taking a seat beside me, but, as all the chairs were occupied, she seemed to throw off a resolution which she had made, and sat down. "Your husband left us this morning, I believe?" "Yes ; he can not stay long away from his business. He does not believe much in pleasure." Then we began to talk of books. She was brilliant. Her eyes sparkled. When I bade her good night, she said; 1 8 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "I must thank you for one of the most enjoyable evenings I have ever spent." "Old fellow," I mused, as I lay in bed, vainly trying to sleep, "you d better leave this place. You have not seen very much of society, remember, and you do not know how to deal with a brilliant woman. You might fall in love with her." Might fall in love with her! I was already in love with her. I fully made up my mind to go away, but when I saw her the next morning my sensible resolve flew to pieces. That night we sat alone. We had again talked of books, and again I had seen her eyes sparkle. "I am going away to-morrow," said I. "Going away," she repeated, looking up in surprise. "Yes." "Why are you going ? Are you tired of this place ?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 19 J No; this place is is too much of a heaven for me." Her eye-lids fell. "Perhaps you are right," she said. "Would it be improper for ms to say something concerning my self ? No," she added, slowly shaking her head, "I can not say it." She arose, and, extending her hand, said, "Good-bye." It was wrong I knew it at the time - but I kissed her hand. I did not see her the next morning She did not come to breakfast. I returned to my work to my work of writing against conviction. I was determined that hard work should drive all thoughts of that woman from my mind, but months passed ) and still the picture was as bright as ever. One night I casually took up a telegraphic dispavch that had just come ia 2O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Look out," said the telegraph editor, "don t lose that." The dispatch had fallen on the floor. I had read these words : CHICAGO, December 2. S. H. Green, the millionaire, died suddenly this afternoon. I went back to my desk and sat down, but could not write a line. Two months later I went to Chicago. I had no business in that city, but I went. I called a hackman and told him to drive me to the residence of the late S. H. Green. "What excuse have I for coming?" I mused, as I leaned back against the cush ion. " What must I tell her? Why did I not think of all this before I came?" I was just on the point of telling the hack man to stop when he drew up in front of a magnificent-looking house. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 21 " Here you are," he said as he opened the door. I ascended the steps, hesitated, and returned to the sidewalk. " What sense is there in backing out now?" I said. Again I ascended the steps. This time I rang the door bell. A woman appeared. " Does Mrs. Green live here?" I asked. " This is her house, but she and several friends are traveling in Europe." I returned to my work. In Europe, traveling with friends. Probably she would marry a friend before she returned. Shortly after my return the editor of the paper, Colonel Henry Brown, sent for me. He had spoken of sending a man to Europe. My heart fluttered with excite ment. " Sit down, Mr. Barker," said he when I entered his room . I sat down. He continued: "Mr. 33 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Barker, you have done a great deal of excellent work for this paper, but for some time I have noticed that your mat ter is not up to your former standard. We had to kill two of your articles last night. You have taken up a semi-senti mental style that is not at all consistent with the practical cast of our paper. You understand my position . The public has no sympathy for a newspaper that falls short of a rather critical requirement, and I am, of course, guided by the public. I would like to retain you, but such a course would not be advisable. I will assist you in getting another place/ " I thank you, sir." " Oh, not at all. I am always willing to help you. Don t you think you might get a place on some of the story papers? " " Don t let my welfare concer you sir," I replied. " By the way, I notice MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 23 that the sentimental stuff of which you complain is widely copied, and I also notice that much of it is credited to you personally." " Yes, I know that, and it is one of th reasons why I no longer want you. I am a politician, and desire to be known as such. I don t want people to think that I am a literary man, for that would injure me." The tone of his voice was sarcastic. He smiled. How I did yearn to mash that smile. I bade all the men good-bye, and left the building. I had but a few dollars, as I had foolishly lived up to my income. My first thought was to secure a position on some newspaper. I called on a num ber of editors, but in every case was told that my services were not needed. I went to my room with the determination of devoting myself to literature. I was *4 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. sore at heart, but I turned to my work with a pleasure that I had never felt in doing editorial work. I expected to meet with disappointment, but, to my surprise, my first story was accepted and liberally paid for by a magazine editor. At the end of a year s time I was pretty well known in literary circles, and was encour aged to write a novel. I knew that this was hazardous, but I began the work. Colonel Henry Brown came out as a can didate for Congress. The spirit of revenge is not very largely developed in me, but I put aside my novel and devoted myself to the work of writing a satire in which that gentleman conspicuously figured MRS. AtfNIE GKBBN. 35 CHAPTER IV. I knew some of Colonel Henry Brown s weak points; so it was with ease rather than with trouble that I held him up to merciless ridicule. The Colonel sold his stock in the great daily, and was determined to fight his way into Congress. He gave up all business, and, seemingly without calculating the chances of failure, entered the race. One evening, just after I had finished my satire, and while I was standing on a street corner watching a procession of laboring men, an old newspaper acquaint ance accosted me. "Going to hear Colonel Brown s speech?" said he. 26 MRS. ANNIE GREBtf. "No; I don t care to hear him. What do you think of his chances ?" "He ll go through like an eel. All the laboring men are for him. In a speech last night he declared that he had with drawn from the paper which his intelli gence and energy had made, simply because the other stockholders objected to his advocacy of the workingmen s cause." "I suppose they believed him." "Of course they did. My dear fellow, don t you know that a shrewd politician can make a laboring man believe almost anything ? A large number of these people, you know, are ignorant; and while ignorance is sometimes vicious, it is nearly always credulous." "Are you going to vote for Brown ?" I asked. "Well," he replied, shrugging his MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2J shoulders, "I have nothing to gain, one jvay or another. He always treated me well enough when I was on his paper." My satire came out on the following day. In the language of a comparison that I heard on the street, "it took like whisky in a prohibition town." The evening papers copied it. Politicians read it to shouting crowds of laboring men. Brown attempted to answer it in a speech that he endeavored to read from manuscript, but the crowd hissed him. The satire had ap peared anonymously, and there was much speculation concerning its authorship, but fortunately, I was not suspected. I say fortunately, for I did not care to be the hero of such an hour. Popular opinion under went a change. The workingmen deserted Brown, and, yielding to the importunities of sagacious friends, the self-sacrificing Colonel withdrew from the race. 28 Mitt ANNIE GREEK. The following evening I sat in my room gloating yes, I confess it, gloating over Brown s political downfall. I had long known that he was a treacherous man, but, while I worked for him, I had looked with a charitable eye upon him. My mus ings were so pleasant that I had given my self up to the influence of a congratulatory reverie, when a rap on my door aroused me, "Come in." Colonel Brown entered. I arose and re quested him to be seated. He sat down, apparently without noticing me, and slowly began to take off his gloves. He spread his gloves over one of his knees; then, satisfied with the arrangement, looked at me. "Well?" said I. "Barker excuse me Mr. Barker, some one has informed me that you are the author of a piece shall I call it a piece of treachery ?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2$ "I must grant you the liberty of apply ing your own terms to your own subjects of conversation," said I. "Thank you," he rejoined. "Not at all, but what were you going to say ? Pray do not permit a polite skir mish to waive aside the battle." He grinned maliciously. "Yes, I have been told that you are the author of a piece of treachery that has vilified me. I refer to the so-called satire that recently appeared. Was I correctly informed ?" "I doubt not that your informant, on one occasion at least, was a truthful person. " "Then you wrote it?" "Yes." He arose and put his gloves into his pocket. His lips grew white and his eyes assumed an expression which in one flash showed me the deep baseness of his nature. "As you have gained the information 3 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. which inspired your visit, do you not think that your withdrawal would be appropri ate?" Another malicious grin. "You think that you have done a great piece of work," said he. "I have no doubt done the country a valuable service." "Yes, and one that you shall regret." "Impossible. A man never regrets having served his country." Oh, I forgot your patriotism. Perhaps I shall call upon you to perform another service, but it may be dangerous. It would be a great pity to cut short your literary career, but, then, such an event might be of service to the press. Tired proof-readers and worn-out compositors might rejoice. I have the pleasure, sir, of slapping your face." Before I could realize the meaning of MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 3! his words he had slapped me, but then, with a quickness which surprised even myself, I knocked him down. I did not stop at this. I kicked him, dragged him to the door, out into the hallway, and tumbled him down stairs. I returned to my room and sat down. Then it occurred to me that I might have killed the Colonel. I went back into the hallway and looked down the stairs. He was gone. I raised a window and looked out. I saw him walking slowly down the street. "I shall be arrested," I mused. This reflection was far from being enjoy able. "Well, I must wait," I thought, "and take the consequences. Having more in fluence than I, he can make it very uncom* fortable for me. He doubtless thought that I would resent his insult by challeng ing him." I waited and waited, but no officer came. 32 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Several days passed and still I was not arrested, but every footstep on the stair way startled me. One evening my friend Cartwright, the humorist, called on me. During several years he had done para graphic and sketch work on Brown s pa per. His favored position caused much dissatisfaction among unimaginative edi torial writers and news condensers. "Come in, Cartwright ; I am glad to see you." 4< Glad you re glad," he replied, as he sat down, " What makes you so pale, Barker ? You look as though you have been associating with ghosts." "I haven t been very well of late." "By the way, you laid Brown out in first-rate shape, I was glad of it, for if there ever was a scoundrel, he s the man." "I am surprised to hear you talk so, MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 33 Cartwright. You always appeared to be his friend." Oh, yes, I had to be, so long as my daily bread depended on his favor. I tell you what s a fact, a man who has a wife and six children to support can shut his eyes to a great many things, How are you getting along with your book?" "Slowly. It is such hard work that rapid progress is impossible." " I would advise you to drop your nom de plume and use. your own name. The pen name business is about run>m the ground. Why, the humorists are now writing under their own names, and if any man should be ashamed of his work, I think the humorist is the man. Say, you talk about the difficulties of straight literature. Why, my dear fellow, it is nothing. You should attempt humor. It requires quick description a portrait made by one 8 34 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. scratch of the pen ; an insight as sudden as a flash, and yet, must all along show a profound respect for the reader s imagina tion. You must permit a man to see a point, yet you must not show it to him. You must leave him under the impression *hat he is a discoverer. Straight litera ture is altogether different. You can yield to mood. You can be gay or sad, light or heavy, prolix or condensed. You can shorten conversation or string out descrip tion ; you can commit a murder or bury a lovely child that has been rudely snatched like a flower whose beauty has just begun to dawn with a promise of com ing splendor ; you can act the fool with a negro character or play the profound scholar with a sage; but the humorist the unfortunate painter whose colors must always be bright kills his gentler impulses, and tickles the public s nose MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 35 with the perfumed feather of a red bird." "Then," said I, amused at my friend, "why do you not write straight litera ture ?" "What is the use ? If I were to under take it now, people would say: Cartwright has written himself out. He has become dull. 1 They would look upon a serious character as a grave presumption, and would declare that my pathos was over drawn. Barker, I have something to tell you, but you must first promise that you will forgive me." "I promise." "Hold on; do not promise so lightly, for I assure you that what I shall say will deeply concern you will enrage you, in fact." "No matter, Cartwright, I promise." "Well, now, remember your promise." 36 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. He meditated a few moments, and then continued : "You know that I was almost a slave while Brown was connected with the paper. I was in debt, and I could not, in justice to my family, afford to assert my independence. One day while you were out let me see, it was shortly after Green, the millionaire, died " "Go ahead, Cartwright, go ahead." "Give me time. Brown and I were sit ting in his room, when one of the most beautiful women I have ever oeen, entered. She introduced herself, and then asked : "Is Mr. Barker in ? " No, Brown replied. "She seemed to be greatly disappointed, 4nd said, in a voice of deep sadness, I shall start for Europe to-morrow, and I would like very much to see him. He is a dear friend of mine. If I leave a note will you please give it to him ? MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 37 "The Colonel replied that he would. She sat down and wrote a note, put it in an envelope, and handed it to Brown. When she had gone, Brown turned to me, and said: " I have seen that woman before. She is worth several millions, and, if I mistake not, she is in love with Barker. Now I can understand why he has acted so strangely of late. I arn going to see what s in the note. Say a word about it and out you go. He tore open the en velope, took out the note, and read, as nearly as I can remember, as follows : " <MY DEAR MR. BARKER: I hope you have not forgotten the delightful evenings we spent at the Blue Rock Hotel. I shall never forget them. As you doubtless know, my husband is dead. You could not have failed to notice how ill -suited to each other we were. I long to see you, and tell you why I married him. Of course, I respect his memory, but I could never love him. I will call again to morrow, at one o clock. I am going to Europe. How I wish you would consent to make one of our party. Yours, ANNIE GREEN/ 38 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Just hold on, Barker. Wait till I get through. Sit down, now, and don t look so wild. Hanged if you don t frighten me. Brown turned to me," Cartwright continued, when I had dropped into an arm chair, "and said : 11 Barker shall never see this note. "Why? I asked. " Oh, I ve got my reasons. You see, I ve been a widower quite long enough, and I flatter myself that I can win that woman. Barker would simply squander her money, and it wouldn t be right to let her marry him. "I was determined to tell you, but just as you came into my room, the faces of my wife and children came up before me. I tried to argue that if I told you, you might reward me, but that would put me in the position of a beggar, I thought, and, after all, the marriage might not MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 39 take place/ so I did not tell you. Brown managed to send you away to be gone beyond the time appointed for the meet ing. When Mrs. Green came in, Brown said to her: "I delivered your note, madam, but Mr. Barker did not seem to regard it with much favor. He tore it into pieces and threw the scraps on the floor. I gathered them up, and here they are. The truth is, Barker is engaged to be married. "The expression of that woman s face will always haunt me. She gasped and turned away. I was a brute for not telling her I know I deserved to be shot but hold on, Barker. Confound it, sit down. Don t you strike me. Your promise; re member it. Now sit there. I could not tell her. I went down and saw her on the pier, ready to take passage on a vessel, and I again tried to tell her, but could not." 4O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "You are a liar! You could have told her!" "Sit down, I tell you. Your promises are worth nothing. D ri it, are you try* ing to choke me ? I ll not tell you another word if you don t behave yourself!" I was almost wild, but I sat down. Cartwright brought water and attempted to bathe my face, "but I shoved him away. "You are a villain !" I exclaimed. "All right, I won t tell you another word." He turned, opened the door, and passed out. I heard him going down the stairs. I ran into the liallway, leaned over the balustrade, and shouted : "Cartwright, come back! For God s sake, come back !" He stopped, looked up, and said: "I am afraid to trust myself with a man who can not keep a promise." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 4! "Come back, and I swear that I will keep quiet." "A man who can not keep a promise can not keep an oath." I seized a heavy box, held it out over him, and said : "Cartwright, if you don t come back I will hurl this box on you ! Come back !" "Well, put down that devilish thing." I put down the box, and he slowly as cended the stairs. "Now," said he, when he had entered the room, "I want you to keep your hands off me. You act like a madman. You ought to have sense enough to appreciate my position." "Go on with your hellish recital, Cart- wright, I will remain quiet." "Well, you went to Chicago, you re member, and when you came back Brown said that he did not want you any longer. 42 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. That, you remember, was nearly eighteen months ago. Brown found out Mrs. Green s address and wrote to her. In fact, his own traveling correspondent joined the party and kept Brown informed. She answered his letter, and after that they wrote frequently to each other. I man aged to steal a letter that Brown received from her. It was written in a frank, easy way, but contained nothing that could have encouraged Brown. Her Chicago property was sold before she returned to" "Returned!" I exclaimed, springing to my feet. "Has she returned?" "Yes; and she is in this city. I must go now. Turn me loose. I don t know where she is, only that she is in town. Confound it, you have torn my coat." MRS, ANNIE GREEN. 43 CHAPTER V, When Cartwright s footsteps passed away from the stairs and mingled with the thousands of rushing footsteps in the street, I sat down and tried to reason with myself. Impossible. Mrs. Green s face came up before me and her eyes looked at me in dark reproach. What was I to do? Advertise Mrs. Green as though she were lost? No. She would treat the advertisement with contempt, and I could not blame her, for Brown, I knew, had poisoned her mind. I would look for Brown and compel him to tell me. I went into the street and wandered aimlessly for a time, and then I went to Brown s residence. I did not think of the absurdity 44 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. of the visit until I had rung the door-bell. I brushed past the servant, and when he turned upon me with a look of indignant inquiry, I asked for Colonel Brown. Just then Brown came down the stairway. He stopped when he saw me, but he only hesitated for a moment. "I desire an interview with you," said I. His old malicious grin lurked about his mouth as he replied : "Wouldn t you prefer to see me in your room ?" "No;. I prefer to see you here." "I did not know. Your stairs are so convenient that " Here he.ceased speak ing and grinned until I felt as if I ought to knock him down. He led the way into a room. When I had followed him, he closed the door and said : "Well, what do you want ? Remember, I have but a very short time to spend with MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 45 you. If I were to treat you as you deserve, I would kick you into the street." "I did not come to quarrel, Colonel Brown," I replied, thinking that gentler methods might be of more avail. He as sumed a look of irritating surprise, and said: "Ah, then, your nature must have under gone a great change. That s right, sit down." "If you will cease your useless banter," said I, "perhaps I can state the object of my visit." I then told him of Cartwright s disclo sure. He exhibited no surprise, but listened, I thought, with gloating satisfac tion. "Now, Colonel Brown," I said, in conclusion of my recital, "as you have done me a great wrong, and as a human being you are doubtless willing to make some reparation, please give me Mrs. 46 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Green s address. I would do as much for you," I pleaded. The wretch laughed. "Why, you must be crazy," said he. "I was kind enough not to have you arrested and imprisoned upon conviction of assault with intent to kill; now you come around and make foolish requests of me. I am almost sorry that I am out of the newspaper business. I would like to have you written up in good shape. You would make an excel lent subject. Writing a book, too, I un derstand. Why, my dear combative sir, that alone is offense enough to give you odious notoriety." "Colonel Brown, I must beg you not to taunt me." "Oh, no; that is unnecessary. Let me state, as a matter of useful information, that, if you attempt any of your hot-headed violence here, you shall be roughly handled. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 47 That man whom you passed in the hall and who is now just outside the door was once a sort of prize-fighter; but don t be frightened. He is very gentle." I sat for a time, studying Brown s face. "How can such a man occupy a promi nent position?" I mused. "Why is it that the public can not see his meanness?" "So you refuse to give me Mrs. Green s address ?" "Oh, no, I will assist you. Why not put an advertisement in one of the news papers? Let me see," he added, with an air of pretended meditation, " I think I heard some one tell her that you would advertise for her. Yes, as nearly as I remember, the some one made this re mark : i Barker says that whenever he wants to see you, he can have an adver tisement inserted in a newspaper, and that you will immediately answer it Yes, 48 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. that s the remark the some one made, adding, however, that you had made some sort of a bet with regard to it. She be came very indignant, it seemed to me." "You are a scoundrel !" I exclaimed. The door creaked, and, looking around, I saw the servant s nose and one of his eyes. "Shut the door, Jerry, "said Brown. Then, turning to me, he added : "Mrs. Green is a charming woman, sir. There is a soft ness about her eyes that quite charms one. She used to be a friend of yours, I believe ?" You are a villain !" I shouted. "Yes er shut the door, Jerry some one told me that she and you were once on very good terms. You ought to know her now, sir. She is lively without being gay, and audacious without being imperti nent just the kind of woman we all like MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 49 to see ; a woman that can make the fire light at evening glow with increased brightness. I wish you were not so busy with your literary duties. I should like to see you renew that old friendship, which must have been so charming among the rocks and ferns of a country watering- place." Brown was leaning against the mantel piece. I arose and stood confronting him. Had I been surrounded by a dozen armed men,I could not have keptmy hands off him. I seized him by the throat. In an instant Jerry s arms were about me; in an instant well, I know not exactly what followed, but I do know that some time afterward I found myself on the sidewalk, trying to get up. The street was a very quiet one, and, fortunately, no one saw me. I hardly know how I reached my room, but I remember that some one helped me up the stairs. 50 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER VI. Several weeks elapsed before I was able to leave my bed. I sent for Cartwright, but word was brought back that he had gone out of town. One evening, just as I had dressed myself and sat down to muse over my perplexities, some one knocked at the door, and, before I could say, "Come in," Cartwright entered the room. "I am glad to see you, Cartwright; sit down." "Yes; I suppose you are glad to see me; for, you know, a man is always glad to see some one from whom he can derive in- formation concerning the future prosperity of his heart s affairs. I heard that you were bruised by a fall," he added as he sat MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 51 down, "but I did not think it was so serious. How did you fall ?" I related my experience with Brown and the pugilistic Jerry. "Why, you ought to have had better sense than to have grabbed him in his own house." "What was I to do?" "Why, laugh it off with him." "Laugh the devil off!" I exclaimed. "There you go. Confound it, Barker, you are the most hot-headed man I ever saw. Let me give you a piece of advice. Go out into the country somewhere and hold your head under a spout spring. Now don t get excited. You can never deal with Brown unless you keep cool. Say, haven t you forgotten that woman yet?" "Forget her!" I contemptuously ex claimed. "How could a human being forget her ?" 52 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "All foolishness. You should not have allowed her to tie the string of affection around your finger. Then you could have forgotten her." "Cartwright, you are speaking too light ly of a matter that is of vital concern to me." "Yes; and it will be still more vital if you keep on worrying with it. Let me tell you : The best thing for you to do is to fill yourself up with beer and go to sleep. By the way, what do you want with me?" "I have an earnest request to make of you. I want you to find Mrs. Green and tell her all you know about Brown s scheme to marry her." "I don t want to be mixed up in the affair." "Cartwright, I hope that you are not afraid" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 53 "My dear fellow," he broke in, "all humorists are more or less afraid. The humorist, seeing the ridiculousness of get ting into trouble, tries to avoid it. You serious writers are the men who get into trouble. Suppose Brown should catch me interfering with his affairs. Don t you know that he would very adroitly have me knocked heels over head. I hope you did not tell him that I told you any thing." "I told him every thing." "The devil, you say !" Cartwright arose, and, giving me a look which I hope never to see again in the eyes of any human being, said : "I wish that you hadn t done that. I thought that you would surely shield me." "I was compelled to tell him." "No, you were not." "You didn t tell it as a secret." 54 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "No; but I thought that you surely had sense enough to regard it as a secret. He may work around and have me dis charged." "Cartwright, I don t understand you. Regardless of consequences, I think that between men there should be some little honor, but it seems that you know noth ing but policy. I have one more favor to ask : Write the confession you made to me so that I may, if such an opportunity should ever occur, give it to Mrs. Green." "Barker, that is asking rather too much. There should, regardless of consequences, you know, be some honor between men. You broke a promise, remember, and tore my coat. Now, I want to show you that there is some little resentment about me. I shall write no confession for you, and, more than that, I must request you not to use my name. You made me angry when I MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 55 was up here the last time, and I want you to understand that I don t purpose to be a rag baby in your hands. 1 must i?.ow bid you good evening. I called to him as he turned toward the door, but he paid no attention to me. j6 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER VIL One night, shortly after my recovery, I was strolling along the street, when I heard a voice that thrilled me. Looking up, I saw Mrs. Green and Colonel Brown walk ing in front of me. My first thought was to speak to her, to tell her how shamefully I had been treated and how she had been deceived; but, for once, my judgment came to my assistance. I would not create a scene in the street. I would follow her and find out her place of residence. "So you much prefer a quiet life?" said Brown. "Yes. I no longer have a taste for society/ MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 57 "Your means are ample, and I can not $ee why you do not care more for enjoy ment ?" "Oh, I enjoy myself well enough." "I sometimes fancy that you are griev ing over that fellow Barker." "I grieve not for a broken trifle," she rejoined, and then, after a few moments, she said : "I would like to meet his wife." "You would not care to meet her but once." "Why?" "He does not treat her very kindly." "You surprise me!" "Truth is often surprising. Sometimes he denies that she is his wife, and swears that he never saw her before. The truth is, he married her for her money, and now that he has run through with it, he treats her shamefully. Shall we turn back T* 58 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I stepped into an alley. They passed and again I followed them. Once Brown looked back, and I saw that he recognized me. A few moments later he hastened Mrs. Green into a carriage. There was no other conveyance in sight, and I ran at the top of my speed but lost sight of the carriage; but I hurried on in the direction it had taken. About ten minutes later I saw a carriage approaching. I hailed the driver : "Did you not take a lady and gentle man >home just now?" "Yes." 4 Give me the number of the house, please." He did so, and drove rapidly. I found the place, a stately, but modest house. I rang the door-bell. A servant girl answered the summons. "Does Mrs. Green live here?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 59 "Yes, sir." "I would like to see her." "Your name, please." "I am her brother, and want to surprise her." The lie was successful. The girl directed me to the drawing-room. I entered. Mrs. Green was sitting alone. When she saw me she sprang to her feet and threw up her hands, but she uttered no outcry. For several moments we stood looking at each other. "Mrs. Green" "Who are you, sir?" "Oh, you know who I am. You have been imposed upon by a wretch named Brown." "Sir! Mr. Brown is a friend of mine. He will be here in a moment or two, and then, I daresay, you will think well before repeating your assertion." 60 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Mrs. Green, please listen to me. I can prove that you have been deceived. I can satisfy you that Brown is a shame less wretch. I can prove " "By whom can you prove all this?" said Colonel Brown, stepping into the room through the door which I had entered. "By Cartwright, if he is not afraid to tell the truth," I replied. "I am willing to send for Mr. Cart- wright," said Brown. "Oh, no!" Mrs. Green interposed, "do not send for him, for, as this is not a court, witnesses are not needed." "It is evidently not a court of justice, madam," I remarked. Her beautiful face flushed, and even in my state of perplexity I could not help but gaze in admiration upon her. "Mr. Barker," she said, "I can not fathom your intentions. If you have come to MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 6l renew our friendship, why did you come in a manner so violent?" "He probably thinks he has done you a wrong in some way, and has, doubtless, come to plead for pardon," suggested Brown, with an air of cool villainy. I turned upon him, and he gave me one of his malicious grins. "A man who is used to the society of ladies," he continued, "in fact, a married man, should better under stand how to approach " "I am not a married man," I exclaimed. "Mrs. Green, please listen to me. The man Cartwright, of whom I spoke, con fessed to me that he had borne an unwill ing part in a scheme which this man, Brown, has worked with such success." Then, in a graphic way, I related Cart- wright s confession. Mrs. Green was much affected, and more than once she turned toward me with looks of ten- 62 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. derness. When I had concluded, Brown said: "Now, please listen to me. This man Barker is attempting to deceive you. I understand he is trying to get a divorce from his wife " "I have no wife, you villain!" I thun dered. "Haven t you? Well, we ll see." Then he stepped to the door, and said : "Mrs, Barker, piease step this way." A tall, dark-haired woman entered: "You shall not evade me," she said, ap proaching me. "You have mistreated me, but I will follow you to the end of the earth. Oh, remember our marriage vow!" "I don t know you!" I exclaimed. She attempted to throw her arms around me. I shoved her back, and, looking to- MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 63 ward the door, I saw that Mrs. Annie Green, with her hands over her face, was standing in the hall. 64. MRS, ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER VIII. Brown stood surveying me, with an air of contemptuous triumph. The woman whom he had introduced as my wife turned to the scoundrel, and said: "I told you that he would spurn me; I knew that he would. Sometimes James i-s all affection, then again oh, I can not bear to think of his treatment of me. I really believe he is losing his mind. 1 must leave this house at once. I must go to my desolate home and hide my humilia tion." I became strangely calm for a man of my impetuous nature. When the woman had passed out, I stepped into the hall and addressed Mrs. Green, who, having MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 65 recovered from the shock occasioned by the appearance of the strange visitor, stood coldly surveying the scene. "Mrs. Green," said I, "please listen to me. I scarcely know what to say, but " "I should think, sir, that the less you say, the better." "Don t reproach me unjustly." Brown laughed. "Colonel Brown, I will address you presently," said I; then, turning to Mrs. Green, I added: "Madam, I acknowledge that appearances are against me. I have been caught in a trap which only a master of villainy s art could have devised I pledge you my word and honor as a gentleman that I never saw that woman before." "As a gentleman!" Brown repeated, with a derisive snicker. "She was hired," I continued, paying no attention to Brown, "by a wolf, and 66 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. having played her part on the stage, she has gone, doubtless, to appear as another character." "Why do you persist in pleading to me Mr. Barker. I assure you I am not so deeply concerned in the matter. If the woman is your wife why, I suppose you had a perfect right to marry her. I am sure you were under no obligations to me." "Don t cut me with indifference. As a friend, if as nothing closer, you should be willing to assist me in clearing up " "I am willing to assist you. What do you suggest ?" "That Cartwright may be sent for. I am sure that his testimony will satisfy you." "Yes," said Brown, "let us send for Cartwright. Send your carriage for him, Mrs. Green." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 6j "Let me go for him?" I asked "Certainly," Mrs. Green replied "That is unnecessary," Brown inter posed. "A servant can bring him just as well, and, in the meantime we can have the pleasure of your company." "I will go" I insisted. "I see no objection," replied Mrs. Green. A few minutes later, I was seated in a carriage. I had told the driver to make the best possible time, for I was afraid that Brown would communicate with Cart- wright. When I left the house, Brown was exceedingly nervous, and I could not help but feel that the hour of my vindica tion was at hand. I found Cartwright sitting in his room. I was so eager that I could scarcely explain my object in making such an abrupt call 68 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Cartwright," said I, "come with me. I have a carriage at the door. For God s sake, don t hesitate. I can explain as we ride." "My dear boy," he replied, "sit down and wait until I finish this article. I ve got a first-rate plot for a humorous thing and I don t want to lose it. By the way, did you read my " "Humorous thunder, Cartwright! This is no time for drollery." "Not for you, perhaps, but it is for me. You see I make my living by non sense." "But can t you be sensible just one time?" "For one time only? No, I am afraid not. You see I might get a taste of it and like it so well that my profession would become endangered. Look here, you seem to have forgotten that I am a MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 69 man of resentment. Didn t come around to wrestle with my wardrobe, did you?" "Cartwright, I will pay you any price for a few moments of reason. Listen to me." I related the experience through which I had passed. He listened attentively and when I had concluded, he said: "So he rushed in a witness, eh? Oh, he s a captain. Now, what do you propose?" "I want you to go with me to Mrs. Green s house, and tell what you know." "Is Brown still there?" "Yes, I suppose so." "Barker, the situation is a little too ticklish to suit me " "I swear that you shall lose nothing. Make the confession and I vow not only to shield you from financial, but from physical injury." 70 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "He might have me discharged. That would settle me, for when a humorist changes from one paper to another, unless the step is one considerably higher, people say that he is worn out, and when people begin to make such assertions he d just as well be worn out." "Your argument is not based on rea son," I rejoined, "but if he should have you discharged, I ll see that you profit by it. We can go in together and write books. " "That would be a good idea. You see I could scatter the grins and you could shed the gloom. Are you in earnest?" "I swear that I am." "Won t break it as you did that other promise?" "No, confound it, I swear that I won t." "How much is your income?" "Not very much of late, for I have neglected my work." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. ^l "When you are at yourself it amounts to something, doesn t it?" "Yes, and if we were together, we might make something of a hit in the comedy line. I already have an order for a play." "Let me see it." "I haven t it with me. Confound it, can t you believe what a man says?" "Oh, yes, that s a fact." He arose, stretched himself, walked about the room, sat down lazily, and said: "Well, I don t suppose there is any need to be in a hurry about it, is there?" "Of course, there is. I want you to come with me now. The carriage is waiting." "I ought to get myself up in a little better shape than this." "No, you are all right 1 * J2 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "You say Brown s there?" 4< I suppose so. I left him there." "Don t think, then, that he s gone? There you go. I never saw such a man. As soon as I begin to reason, you fly off the handle. Let me tell you: Nobody hates Brown more than I do, and I only need a little backing to stand up to him. The backing I want is to see my financial way clear, and if you are in earnest about taking me in with you, I ll make the confession." I grasped Cartwright s hand, and swore by all things holy that I was sincere. "Look out, don t jerk me around. Remember, you tore my coat once. Never tear a man s coat, for it embarrasses him and renders him unfit to appear in polite society." "Come on, Cartwright. Let us not lose a moment s time." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 7J We found Mrs. Green and Mr. Brown sitting in the drawing-room. Brown seemed surprised at seeing Cartwright, evidently believing that he had not the courage to come. "Now, Mrs. Green," said I, "we shall soon see who is false. Mr. Cartwright, please relate what occurred incident to Mrs. Green s visit to Mr. Brown s office, the time she left a note for me " "And which I promptly delivered," Brown broke in, turning to Cartwright with a smile that I should have liked to strike with my fist. "Yes," he continued, "tell the lady how Mr. Barker read the letter, and tore it into fragments." " Never mind, Colonel Brown," said I, "let us hear Mr. Cartwright s statement." Why didn t Cartwright speak? He sat, gazing at the floor. "I would really like to hear your state- 74 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. ment, Mr. Cartwright," Mrs. Green said. Her face was deathly pale, and her man ner was nervous and excited. "I was in the office at the time of Mrs. Green s visit," Cartwright began, speaking to no one particularly, but continuing to gaze at the floor, "and I remember that she she spoke of Mr. Barker. She if I remember correctly wrote a note, and and asked Colonel Brown to deliver it to Mr. Barker." "Which I did," said Brown. "Wrote a note," Cartwright continued, "and asked Colonel Brown to deliver it. Mr. Barker Barker was out, and when he came in " Brown cleared his throat. "When he came in, Colonel Brown gave him the note " "Cartwright!" I exclaimed, springing to my feet, you know that you are a liar." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 75 Cartwright did not lift his head. Reel ing like a drunken man, I passed out of the house. Everything swam before me. How I reached home I know not, but I know that late at night I awoke with a burning fever. I don t know how the days passed, but occasionally I seemed to get a glimpse of someone passing me. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a hospital. My recovery was slow. The attending physician one day told me that I had narrowly escaped insanity. "You are the victim of some great trouble," said he, "for, in delirium, you muttered and swore; called someone a liar and upbraided an acquaintance because he had not the moral strength to tell the truth. You must, as nearly as possible, dismiss such thoughts, for if a relapse should take place, you would be in danger of losing your mind." 76 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "I can not help but think of my wrongs," I feebly replied. "Yes, you can. Disease and trouble, to a great extent, can be thrown off. Faith makes a man religious; will makes him strong. Whenever troublesome thoughts occur to you, turn from them as you would turn from a vile stench." "You have been reading Macaulay," I replied. "How do you know?" he asked, with a smile. "Well, you have his sly repetition, his peculiar clearness of manner." "I am a student of Macaulay," he replied. "I am glad that you noticed it, for it is an excellent sign." "What is your name?" I asked. "Hill," he replied. "You haven t been a physician very long?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. JJ "No, for, as you see, I am a young man that is, you may not see it, but I am. I am a very hard student. There now, don t say anything more; you have talked enough." "No, I don t think it will hurt me. I have been so long in darkness that I enjoy the light. Do you make enough money in your practice to keep you in good style?" He laughingly replied: "I really make no money. All the money I have ever secured has been spent in investigation. I spent about $10,000 last year in this way." "Your parents must be wealthy." "My parents are dead. My sister furnishes me with the money. She is wealthy, and would give me more, but I am ashamed to accept it." "What is her name?" 78 MRS. ANNIB GREEN. "Mrs. Annie Green. Her husband is dead, and there, I said you were talking too much. You are as pale as a ghost. Don t try to get up, you " This was all I heard. Again I caught glimpses of persons passing me. Weeks must have dragged along. When I again became conscious, I was so weak that I could scarcely lift my head. I anxiously watched for Dr. Hill. One of the nurses told me that he was deeply in terested in my case. The next time he visited me, he looked at me closely, and said: "You must not talk, remember. Since I mentioned my sister s name, you have spoken a dozen times of her. What is your name? Oh, yes, Barker, the writer. She is a widow, and of course is rather romantic. When I see her, 111 tell her about your mutterings. I am so busy MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 79 that I do not see her often. There now, don t say a word." Someone approached and handed a telegraphic dispatch to Dr. Hill. After hurriedly reading it, he said: "I must go down into the country, to be gone, I don t know how long. Be quiet, and take care of yourself. You ll be well, I suppose, by the time I return." The days seemed to exhaust them selves, so laboriously did they drag along. I sent for Cartwright, but he paid no attention to my request. At last I was able to go home. During my trouble I had found enough time to work on my book. I had completed it and had left it on my desk, but when I returned, I could not find it. I was soon enlightened. I saw a review of it in one of the leading papers. While I was wandering in a state of perplexity, Cartwright called. I 8O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. was too weak, or I would have thrown him through a window. "Barker," said he, "I thought you were going to die, and I took the liberty of having your book brought out." "I wish you would take the liberty of telling the truth." "My dear boy, liberties are expensive. Now don t speak of that affair at Mrs. Green s house. I tried my best to do the square thing, but could not. That fellow Brown s got me in a way you know nothing about." "Cartwright, you will oblige me by quitting this room; and, permit me to add, I hope you will never darken my door again." "Now look" "Never mind. Explanations are out of order. Go!" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 8 1 That evening, when I took up a news paper, I read the following: "Colonel Henry Brown, the well-known journal ist, it is said upon good authority, is soon to be united in marriage to Mrs. Annie Green, a beautiful and wealthy widow, formerly of Chicago, now of this city." 82 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER IX. I threw down the paper and, if I remem ber correctly, raved like a wild beast. I cursed myself, and I cursed Brown and Cartwright. Then I sat down, and, as quietly as possible, mused over the dam nable treachery that had brought about my ruin. What could I do? Nothing. Everything had been tried ; everything had failed. Oh, how I did want to shoot Brown. How I did long to take a shot gun, loaded with scraps of iron, and shoot his hellish smile. Cartwright ! What an infamous, cowardly wretch! A man who has not the strength to tell the truth ought to be branded. "I don t know what to do," I mused. "They have made out a MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 83 plausible case against me, and I am left without defense." I could not remain in the city. I hated fts activity and the glare of its false finery. My book was a success. I received many complimentary letters from eminent writ ers. The reviewers were kind, but one writer who had seen me, said, in print, that I was a victim of overwork, and that if I did not seek immediate rest I would be come insane. Oh, yes, I was a victim, but not a victim of overwork. I slipped away from town, intending never to return. I did not tell a single acquaintance whither I was going. In fact, I did not know myself, but a week after starting I was not surprised to find that I was in the neighborhood of Blue Rock, the place where I first met Mrs. Annie Green. The hotel was no longer kept by the same man. It was now 84 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. hardly a hotel, but was more of a farm house. The summer houses were torn away, and the park was turned into a pasture. I called at the house and intro duced myself to a fat man whom I found on the porch. "My name is Gladwell," he said, arising with difficulty and extending a hand almost as large as a small ham. "Set down, sir/ I sat down and made an effort to be cheerful. "You are not running a hotel, are you, Mr. Gladwell?" "No, thank God!" He said this with such fervor that I looked at him more closely. Under his chin, reaching around to his ear, he wore a narrow growth of beard. His fat cheeks shook when he cleared his throat. "No, thank God!" he repeated. "I would rather starve to death than be MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 85 annoyed with keepin a hotel. I bought this place, itttendin to keep a hotel, but I hadn t been runnin it more than a week till a slick lookin feller come along and beat me out of five dollars and a half. Done it, sir; I wish I may never stir again if he didn t. Then I says to my wife, says I, Louise, that settles it. We won t keep a hotel to be worried and cheated. We are too old to be worried and cheated this way. We ll jest live here an* take in all the money we can without makin hotel pretensions.* That s what I said to Louise, done it, sir; wish I may never stir again if I didn t. You say your name is Bar ker?" -Yes, sir." "What s your bus ness? How do you make your livin?" "By writing." "In a county clerk s office, I reckon?" 86 MfcS. ANNIE GREEN. "No, I write for publication." "Well, that s a slow sort of trade, ain t it?" "It is not very brisk." "I guess not. Here John," calling a negro boy, "fetch my pipe. Damn you, fetch it this minit, or I wish I may never stir ag in if I don t peel you like a potato." The boy brought the pipe. "What s your business out in this section?" he asked. "I have no business here, that is, no special business. It is my desire to rent a house in some quiet place and live with out interruption." "I ve got a little cabin that will suit you; wish I may never stir ag in if I haven t. It ain t more than a half-mile from here, and you can take your meals at my house. The place is all covered MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 87 with vines well, come right on up now and see it." I readily agreed. He talked incessantly as he waddled along. We were not long in reaching the cabin. I was struck by its beauty. It was a log-house, very old, but well preserved. "That vine," said Mr. Gladwell, point ing to a fine growth of ivy, "was planted a long time ago by my niece, Annie Hill. Her name s Green now. Well what s the matter? Are you sick?" "No." "You are mighty pale for a well man. Let s go in. Now," he added when we had entered the cabin, "this is the very place for you. If you prove to be a pretty good sort of a fellow, I won t charge you any rent. I ll have a carpet put down and have everything brushed up. What do you say?" 88 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "I want the house, and I am willing to pay any reasonable amount of rent." "We won t haggle about that. Well, I guess we d better go to dinner. I always have to be on time. Louise cuts up some tall shines if I don t" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 89 CHAPTER X. I was charmingly situated, and had there not been so dead a weight on my heart, I could have sat down in perfect contentment. I could stand in my door, when the autumn sun was low, and go from rapture into forgetfulness over the magnificent view. The hills were glorious with a soft glow when the brightly-colored leaves caught the rays of the sun. I found the Gladwells to be an excellent old couple. Mrs. Gladwell would often scold, or pretend to scold her husband, but at evening, when her work was done, I noticed that she sat on the old man s knee a soft seat, surely and made love to him as he smoked his clay pipe. gO MRS. ANNIE GREEN. One day Mrs. Gladwell a bright- eyed little woman she was, too said to me: 4< I wish you would do me a favor." "I will gladly do so," I replied. "I want you to write me a piece of poetry about Dan," meaning her husband. "I want you to make it read like I was talkin to him, an I want to have it printed on a card." "All right ; I will write it and have it printed" I did so. When I gave her the card, she read the lines over and over again before she said anything. Then, while her countenance shone with that charm which seems to delight in spreading itself on an old face, she said: "Oh, I am a thousand times obliged to you. These words are so beautiful that they ll please Dan mighty nigh to death. MR& ANNIB GREBN. 9! I wish I had something to give you. Wait a minute." She opened a drawer and took out a small daguerreotype, handed it to me, and said : "Here is a picture of my niece, Annie Hill, when she was a little girl. She is a grown woman now, and has been married. I wish you could see her. The picture can t interest you very much, I guess, but I give it to you because I think so much of it. Yes, you must take it." I took the picture and hastened to my cabin. I sat down and opened the case. I should have known those eyes. I looked long and meditatively, and, with a sigh, put the picture aside. "I will write to Mrs. Green," I said. "I will tell her how I love her; how I have been victimized. I will tell her that I have her picture." I turned to my writing desk. * What 92 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. is the use?" I thought, throwing down my pen. "She would throw the letter aside. She would write to her uncle and tell him to drive me away. Fate is against me. I must make the best of it." My musings were cut short by the en trance of old man Gladwell. "Barker," said he, "look at this. Jest read that." He handed me the card I had given his wife. After pretending to read the lines, I said : "I must congratulate you on such a compliment." He laughed until I thought that his cheeks were in danger of being shaken off, and then said: "It s the finest thing I ever read in my life. I always did know that Louise was a poet. W y, if she was to write this way for the papers she would make a fortune." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 93 CHAPTER XI. One afternoon while I was sitting in my cabin, with Annie Hill s picture lying before me, I was aroused by a lusty "halloa." I turned and saw Dr. Hill stand ing in the door-way. I sprang to my feet and grasped his hand. " My dear fellow," said he, as I con tinued to shake his hand, you are some what stronger than you were when we parted. What are you doing," he asked, approaching my table. "Ah ! here s my sister Annie s picture. Now, Barker, let us sit down quietly. I want to tell you something. You must not be so passion ate. Now look at you, trembling as though some man were pointing a pistol 94 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. at you. Stop it. I told Annie that you called her name. Then, to my great sur prise, she told me how you and she had met each other out here told me every thing. I told her that Brown might be a rascal, but she is firmly convinced that he is not, and that you are attempting to deceive her. I don t know you very well now, keep quiet, will you? If you don t, I ll get out and leave the neighborhood. She told me how your wife had come. Of course, I could not speak authoritatively, not knowing, as I said, but little about you, yet I told her that the woman might possibly be an impostor, hired by Brown, but she declared that the woman was your wife. Her mind is made up, and, when you think over it, you can not very well blame her. Look here," he added, taking a letter from his pocket and handing it to me; "while you are reading it, and after- MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 95 ward, for that matter, I want you to be cool. A man must exercise sense occa sionally. Passion does very well on the stage, but in real life it is ill-timed." I unfolded the letter and read as follows : MRS. GREEN: I hope you will excuse my con* duct of a few days ago, when, at your house, I denied my wife. The truth is, I have for years been subject to fits of insanity. Please pardon me, and I promise never to trouble you again. J. C. BARKER, "I did not write this infamous thing!" I exclaimed. "It is a close imitation of my writing, but it is the work of that scoun drel, Brown." "I don t doubt that," said the doctor, "but you see, Annie has no proof of that fact. Your enemies are very skillful." "But, doctor, is it possible that you can stand idly by and see your sister marry Brown?* 96 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "She is not going to marry him." "One of the evening papers said so. "I know that. It made Annie very angry when she read it. Brown declared that he did not know why the paragraph appeared." "He is a liar," I exclaimed. "There you go again. Look here, if you don t stop your fluttering you ll break a blood vessel, and then you can not live to get even with Brown." "Doctor, if you were in my place what would you do?" "I don t know." "What would you advise?" "Quietude." "Oh, I know that. I mean, what course do you advise me to take to prove Brown s villainy?" "I can t advise you, Barker. It would be quite a feather in our family cap if MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 97 Annie were to catch such a distinguished literary man as you have become." "Don t make fun of me. This affair is driving me insane, and it is not a matter of jest." "Certainly not, but you must not let it drive you insane. That is the way I talk to Annie." "Does she often speak of me?" "Yes. She loves you. There s no mistake about that ; but, as I say, your enemies are skillful. Brown doubt less thinks that she will finally marry him." "You don t think so, do you?" "No, but I can t tell. I didn t think she was going to marry old man Green, but- well, I must not talk about that." "Why did she marry him?" I could not help but ask. "Never mind about that * 7 98 MRS. ANNIE GREEN, "Doctor, would you advise me to return to the city?" "No, stay where you are. Say, do you know that Brown is in this neighborhood?" "You are joking." "No, I am not. This is one of his fa vorite hunting resorts, you know. You may meet him." "It won t be well for him if I do." "I should think not. If I were you, I would well, I don t know what I would do. Let us change the subject. I left town, you know, to do some work in the country, and came over to see uncle and aunt. I used to live in this neighborhood when I was a boy. Annie and I used to play around this cabin. An old negro lived here then. Barker, you must be more cheerful or you will go mad." "I am thinking about Brown." "What do you intend to do?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 99 "Compel him to acknowledge that he is a liar." "I don t think you can do that" "I can try." "If you meet him in the woods he might shoot you." "Yes, and I might shoot him." "That s true. You d better keep out of his way." "No, I will never turn aside to avoid him." "But you will not hunt him, will you?" "I don t know. It all depends upon the humor I am in at the time." "I don t believe you would mind killing him." "He ought to be killed," I replied. "Presumably, but you certainly can not think of committing murder. Come, let us take a stroll." We walked out under the magnificent IOO MRS. ANNIE GREEN. trees. From afar down the glen came the cry of the watchful hawk. Quails whirred overhead, flying from one field to another. The air bore a promise of frost, and the leaves, beautiful in death, one by one, fluttered to the ground. The weather had been cool, but had been followed by a delightful haziness, a balmy pause in the season s groping toward winter. "The very air is full of sweet memo ries," said the doctor. "Come this way." We approached a tree. The doctor, pointing to a fence surrounding a grave, said : "Barker, the girl I would have married sleeps here. She went down while the leaves were falling. We were to be mar ried the very day of her death. I have never loved anyone else. Some day I MRS. ANNIE GREEN. IOI shall lie beside her ; God knows I do not care how soon. It was under this tree we made our vows of love. When she was dying, she said to me: Robert, I want to be buried under our tree. I want to lie there alone until you come. She knew that I would be true to her memory. Let me remain here alone, please. I will meet you at the house this evening." I turned away, and, after going a short distance, I looked back, and saw him kneeling beside the grave. The doctor left us the next morning. When he was gone, I began more than ever to think of Brown. In my troubled dreams, I could see his damnable smile. Great God ! was I thinking of committing murder ! Would it be murder to kill such a brute? Would it not be just to meet him in the woods and compel him to fight? 1O2 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Yes, it would be just. The more I thought of it the more firmly I became convinced that I ought to shoot him. One morning, after a feverish night, I borrowed Gladwell s gun, and set out in search of Brown. I thought that I might find him in the fields where quail wereplen< tiful. He had called at Gladwell s house the day before, but he did not learn that I was in the neighborhood, neither did he know, I discovered, that Gladwell was Mrs. Green s uncle. The feeling that comes over a man when he starts out on such a mission, can not be described; but he surely has but little love in his heart. Nature, to him, no longer looks beautiful. There is no room in his soul for that sub lime fullness which the presence of God s glorious work should inspire. I hurried onward. I heard the report of a gun, and a bird flew past me. I saw someone MRS. ANNIE GREEN. IO3 climb a fence and stop under a tree. I knew who it was. I knew it was Brown. " One of us must die," I mused. "I could shoot you down as you deserve to be shot, but I will give you a chance." IO4 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XIL I became so excited in my wild desire for revenge that I could scarcely walk. More than once I attempted to level the gun at Brown, but each time the weapon shook and swayed like a dry weed held out against the wind. I hastened forward. Brown was standing under a spreading tree, near a fence. I heard the sounds of laughter, and then I saw that he was not alone. Five or six men were seated under the tree. I could see that they were all hunters. Brown s face was turned from me as I approached. He was re lating a story. "Who is that?" I heard one of the men ask. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. IO5 Brown looked around and exclaimed : "Great Lord ! he is a madman !" Every man sprang to his feet. I en deavored to pay no attention to the remark, and as quietly as possible, I said : "Col. Brown, you know that I am not a madman, but that I have suffered enough at your instance to drive anyone mad. I have come, sir, to make a demand of you. You must fight. I do not want to shoot you down without giving you a chance, but I will force you to defend yourself." "Just wait a minute," Brown replied, without the least exhibition of fear. "Gentlemen," he continued, "I am com pelled to make a rather humiliating con fession. This poor fellow is my brother Louis" "It s a lie !" I exclaimed. "Wait until I make my statement and then you can make yours. Yes, this is my IO6 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. poor brother Louis. His mind became so much affected some time ago that we were compelled to send him to a mad house. He escaped, and hoping that he was dead, we told our friends that he had died. He imagines that he is Barker, the author, and fancies that I have done him some great wrong. He " I could stand no more. I threw up the gun, and while blindly endeavoring to shoot the scoundrel who kept dodg ing around the tree I was seized by two of the men and thrown upon the ground. "Let us tie him," said Brown. "Wilson, you ve got a small rope in your game-bag. Bring it here. Ah, that s just the thing. Put your knee on his breast, Thompson. In a case like this, the exercise of strength, though it may seem like violence, is ap ctual kindness. Oh, Louis, why do you MRS. ANNIE GREEN. IOJ wish to kill the brother who has always loved you !" I raved I could do nothing else. The men, with pity in their eyes, looked upon me. One of them dipped his handker chief into a little stream that flowed near us, folded it, and gently placed it on my brow. "Brown, what are you going to do with him?" asked the man who had been addressed as Wilson. "I hardly know," Brown replied, with an assumed air of perplexity. "I hope that you gentlemen will never mention this affair. It is deeply humiliating to me, I assure you. I do not want to take him back to the mad-house from which he escaped. I wish I could find some private place where he could be secured without additional humiliation. Here comes that old fellow who owns the hotel" IO8 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Come here, Mr. Gladwell," I cried. What in the world is the matter?" the old man asked as he came up and stood near me. I tried to explain, but Brown glibly told his story. Great God ! I saw that the old man believed him. "Well, well," he said, sadly shaking his head, "I wish I may never stir ag in if I didn t think there was something queer about him. I asked my nephew, the doctor, about him, and he said that he wa n t so very well acquainted with him; said that he had treated him in a hospital " "Yes," Brown broke in, "that was when he began to lose his mind. He is awful now." "Poor feller," said the old man. "Mr. Gladwell," I cried, "for heaven s sake, listen to me." I attempted to tell my story, but failed MRS. ANNIE GREEN. ingloriously. The old man stood, sadly shaking his head, and wishing that he might never stir again if he wasn t sorry for me. "I kain t look at a spectacle like this," said he, as he took up the gun which I had borrowed of him. "I ll go up to the cabin an fetch his traps." I implored him to believe me; but, with horror, I saw that he could not. Indeed, my face, voice, and actions must have lent confirmation to Brown s statement. "Old man," said Brown, "can I hire a wagon and team of you for a day or so? I want to take my poor brother away." "Yes. Just stay right here, and I ll send it down. Poor feller, poor feller !" The conveyance soon arrived. I was lifted into the wagon. I struggled and struggled, and then I became unconscious. HO MRS. ANNIE GREEN CHAPTER XIII. When I regained consciousness it was dark. Not a star could be seen. The straw on which I lay but ill protected me against the sharp bumps caused by the roughness of the road. The wagon de scended into a stream, and while the horses were drinking, I distinctly heard the following: "How much farther is it, Brown?" "About two miles." "It is rather lucky that you learned of the place?" "Yes, very much so, and it s lucky that I got a horse and rode on ahead, for the old fellow was just on the eve of leaving home to be gone several days." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Ill "So he built the place to accommodate a crazy son, eh?" "Yes, and the son stayed in it until he died. The old fellow assures me that my brother can not escape." "You have to pay him pretty well, don t you?" "Oh, not very much. He lives in a fearfully out-of-the-way place, and to him a few dollars per month are a godsend" Again we bumped along. "This is no time for raving," I mused. "The more quietly I submit the better will be my chances of escape. If my keeper is the right sort of a man, I can soon convince him of Brown s hellish deception." A dull, gray morning broke. I could see that the country was wild, and I knew full well that it was rugged. A murky sun had begun to shine through yellow 112 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. vapors when we drew up in front of a large log-house. "Good morning, Mr. Hicks,"said Brown, as he got out of the wagon. "Good mornin , sir. Good mornin , gentlemen. You ve got him here all right, have you?" "Yes," said Brown, "but I fear that he is a little worse for the ride. Let us lift hin? out. Poor fellow, the rope has cut hia flesh." "Bring him this way," said the man, who was evidently to become my keeper. Without remonstrance I suffered mysell to be taken through a gate, back of a house and then into a stone room, as strong as a fortress. "Well, good-bye, Mr. Hicks," said Brown. "I think he will be safe enough with you." "Oh, I think so." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 113 When Brown and his party had gone, I said to my keeper, who stood looking through the grated door: "I wish, sir, you would remove these ropes." "Yes, I was jest thinkin how to git em off." "Come in and take them off." "I could do that, but you mout hop on me." "Nonsense! What good would that do?" "Wouldn t do but mighty little, I can tell you; but you ain t supposed to know whuther it would or not." "I can t stand this!" "I know it s bad, but your brother said the longer I kep you tied the better it would be for me." "That s more nonsense. 1 * "Wall, I ain t afeerd o 7 you. Back up 114 MR S. ANNIE GREEN. ag in the grate, an I kin git the ropes off." He took off the cords. They were cut ting me in a frightful manner. "Now you are all right. Feel like eatin* a snack ?" "Yes, I am as hungry as a wolf. M "What ll you have, corn-bread or hoe- cake?" "What is the difference?" "Mighty little, but I am willin to give you the benefit o what little thar is." "All right, bring me something." He went away, and soon returned with about as good a breakfast as his house could afford. My room was furnished with a table, a chair, and a small bed. When I placed my breakfast on the table and drew up a chair, Mr. Hicks said: "It is a pity for as fine a lookin man as you air to be penned up in a place like MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 115 this. Ill bet you used to be a valuable citizen. I expect that you could split about as many rails in a day as the best man in the neighborhood." I had to laugh at this absurd compli ment. I don t know why, but there was something about Hicks that amused me. He was rather "chunky," with large ears and a broad mouth. "Yes," he continued, "a man like you oughtent to be penned up. What did you go crazy about?" "Well, I have never gone crazy, Mr. Hicks." "Thar, we won t argy that p int. I had a son, as good a feller as ever lived. He fell in love with a girl, and asked her to marry him. Well, she consented, and the day was won t you have some more cof fee? Whenever you want anything jest sneeze, an I ll fetch it to you. Yes, the Il6 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. day was sot. The girl peared to love Will; but, bless your soul, when the time come she turned up her nose at him, an 1 married another man. This was more than poor Will could stand, so he lost his mind right then and thar. I didn t want them to take him to the sylum, so I built this place for him. He died about two months ago." "That was unfortunate, surely." "His goin* crazy was, but his death wa n t. I d ruther be dead a lifetime than to be crazy ten minits." Yes, death is preferable. Do you know how far it is from this place to Blue Rock Springs?" "Let me see. Blue Rock Springs? Well, it must be seventy-five miles, mebbe less, but ten to one it s more." "When we become better acquainted, Mr. Hicks, I want to tell you something." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 1 1 ^ "All right, but wait till we do git ac quainted, fur I am a mighty slow hand to believe anything a man tells me." "I don t think so." "Why?" "Because, when that fellow Brown told you that I was his insane brother, you believed him without investigating the matter. If you are so careful, why did you not demand proof of my insanity?" "Wall, now, I ll be hanged if you ain t talkin* sense; but don t you know that crazy men air the smartest folks in the world? They air. My son Will would sometimes talk like a preacher an* a scholar, an* we d think he was comin round all right, but when we turned him out he d go wild again. No, Mr. Brown " "My name is Barker." "Wall, I ll call you anything to humor you. Now, Mr. Barker, I want you to Il8 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. stay in this room an* I sorter believe you are going to do it, too till everything comes right. Your brother I mean Mr. Brown told me that you would talk your way out if I didn t mind, but I am going to mind." "Say, did Brown bring any of my books?" "No; he only brought a few suits of clothes. When he was handling your coat, a little picture dropped out, an 7 after lookin at it, he said it was his sister s picture, an* he d put it into his pocket" Annie Hill s picture. He would take it to her. I could scarcely restrain myself, but I knew that an outburst would strongly tell against me. "Have you any books?" I asked. "Yes, I believe thar s a few scattered around somewhar." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I IQ I handed him the breakfast dishes. He went away but soon returned with a book. "Now," said he, "here s a book that ll catch you goin an* cominV I took the volume and looked at the title, ColdfielcTs Treatise on Insanity. "I don t want this book." "Wy, you don t know what you air talkin about. It s full o interestin read- in . Tells all about crazy feilers, an how they act. Give it here if you don t want it." I gave him the book; he looked at it a moment, and then said: "Pore Will used to read this book." "No wonder he did not recover," I replied. He smiled rather sadly, but I don t think that any recollection of trouble could have relieved him of his amusing air. I2O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "I ve got to go away fur a day or two," he said, "but I ll leave you in good hands. My wife is skeered o crazy folks, but she ll see that you don t need nothin . Good-bye till I come back." He had not been gone many minutes when a little girl, with one of the sunniest faces I have ever seen, came to the door. "How are you, little girl?" "Howdy? Are you crazy like my brother was?" she asked, pressing her face against the bars. "No, I m not crazy." "Then what makes my pa wanter put you in here?" "He thinks I am crazy because a bad man told him that I am crazy." "But why don t you tell him that you ain t?" "I did, but he does not believe me." "Well, never mind, when he comes back MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 121 I will tell him. Don t you want me to bring my book and read to you?" "If you please." "She ran away, singing merrily as she went. She brought a little stool, and, placing it near the door, she sat down, opened a primer and asked: "Must I read about the great, big old owl or the dog?" "Read about the owl." She read a brief essay on the owl, and then she gave me a few large lines with regard to the dog. "What is your name?" I asked. "Vilsie." "That is a pretty name. Now, Vilsie, if you will bring me a pencil and some paper, I will write you a little story about a good little girl." She darted away without replying, and soon returned with paper and pencil. 122 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Ma says I mustn t bother you, but I don t, do I?" "No, indeed you do not." Just as I had sat down and begun to write, some one said: "Vilsie, you must not bother the gentle man." I looked up, and saw a pleasant-looking woman standing near the door. "She is not troubling me in the least, I assure you." "You surely do not look like a crazy man," she said. "That I am far from being crazy, you soon shall find out," I replied. "I very well know that insane persons sometimes appear to be the best of reasoners, but still they can not help but show their insanity after awhile. I will show you that you have been deceived." "My husband is a hard man to con- MRS. ANNIE GREEN. vince," she said, "but I will assist you, for I really don t believe there s anything the matter with your mind." "When you come to know me better, Mrs. Hicks I happen to know your hus band s name I shall tell you a story that will make you shudder. I have been basely treated." "I am half inclined to unlock this door," she said. "No, wait till he writes my story!" Vil- sie exclaimed. "Madam, I can not ask for so great a favor; but release me, and you shall be liberally rewarded." "I want no reward, only the conscious--, ness that I have done right. I don t know what to do. I must think," she added as she turned away. "Please be patient un til I return." Mrs. Hicks soon returned; but I saw 124 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. that her manner had undergone a change. Perhaps I am relying too much on my own judgment," she said. "You have every appearance of being perfectly sane, still I might make a mistake. When Mr. Hicks returns I will see what can be done." "Madam, although I am somewhat dis appointed," I replied, "yet I must thank you for your good opinion. Little girl," I added, turning to Vilsie, "I will finish writing your story after I have told one. Now, Mrs. Hicks, I am going to tell you something that may place a great strain on your credulity for it really does not seem that a scheme so vile could be planned and executed in a Christian coun try but which, I will take a solemn oath, is true." Then, as dispassionately as possible, I told my story. Mrs. Hicks was deeply MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 125 impressed, and even little Vilsie was affected. "Can it be possible?" Mrs. Hicks said when I had concluded. "It is a fact, madam." "Why, I never heard of anything of the kind outside of a novel." "No, and I wish this had not occurred outside of one." "Why didn t you tell my husband before he left home?" "He would not have believed me." "You are right. It takes a great deal to convince him. His son my step son and Vilsie s half-brother was crazy, and since then it requires but little argument to convince him of anyone s insanity. In every other respect he is extremely incredulous. Well, I must return to work. Don t let Vilsie bother you." 126 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "She is company, and is, therefore, an enjoyable luxury," I replied. "Yes, but she might become too much of a luxury. I think that when she ceases to be a necessity, you d better tell her to go away. I hope you ll forgive me for inspiring a hope and then crushing it, but as I say, it is really better to wait until Mr. Hicks comes back." "You inspired a hope, it is true; but the interest you continue to show more than repairs the crushing. Now, Vilsie," I added, when her mother had gone, "I will finish your story." The art of writing stories for children is not easily acquired; but I must have been exceptionally alive to youthful literary demand, for Vilsie was delighted with the story. "Read it again," she said. I read it again. She thought for a MRS. ANNIE GREEN. moment, and said : "If you will read it to me some more times, I can read it to my pa, an 1 then he ll know you ain t crazy." "You can not read writing, can you?" "No, sir; but if you read it some more^ I ll know it by heart, an can tend like I am readin it." I read it until she was satisfied. She took the manuscript and ran away. Shortly afterward, I heard her reciting the story. The day passed as well as it could possibly drag along for a man so closely confined. Mrs. Hicks brought me a book, and I was delighted to see that it was not a treatise on insanity, but an old copy of "Adam Bede." I had read the book years before, but never had I entered so deeply into the spirit of its con ception, nor seen so plainly the masterly touches of its execution. How different 128 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. from the works of the present day! I could hear Mrs. Poysers voice as she uttered her sharp sayings, and I could see pretty Hetty as she moulded the golden butter. When I stretched myself on my bed that night, looking deep into myself, I almost forgot my misfortunes in the study of my literary weakness. My book was a success; but how shallow, how vapid in comparison with the great work I had just put aside. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I2Q CHAPTER XIV. Mr. Hicks returned. Before he came to see me, I heard his wife say to him: "That man is no more crazy than you are. He is a bad man s victim, and it is your duty to turn him out. * "Let us wait awhile, mother; let us wait awhile." "Well, but, Albert, even if he is crazy, what right have we to keep him shut up? He could make us smoke for this." "That s all well enough; but we ain t the one s to blame. His brother " "His brother, the mischief. That man is not his brother." "Well, we don t know about that. Mebbe 9 I3O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. he is, an mebbe he ain t. All we can do is to wait an 1 see." "Yes, but while we are waiting to see, this poor man is shut up in prison. It s not right, Albert." "Why I never saw a woman undergo such a change. It wa n t long ago that you was skeered to death o crazy folks." I am afraid of crazy folks, but I am not afraid of this man, for he is not crazy. Vilsie, come here, and read that story to your father," The child recited the story. "Now," said Mrs. Hicks, "do you think a crazy man could write like that?" "That ain t no proof, Mollie." "What!" "I say that ain t no proof, for mor n two-thirds o the books in the country was wrote by crazy men. This here writin fever is the best proof o 7 a man s MRS. ANNIE GREEN. insanity. Don t you know how my son used to scribble ?" "Yes, but he wrote love letters." "Makes no difference. Writin is writing an* you can t make nothin else out o 1 it. Well, we ll put off this here discussion till I get a bite to eat, for I am as hungry as a punkin-fed hog." After Mr. Hicks had consoled his appetite, he came to the door of my prison. "Helloa," said he, "I see that you air still here." "Yes, it seems that I am." "My wife tells me that she come mighty nigh turnin 1 you loose." "She seemed to sympathize with me." "Oh, she is kind-hearted, but her jedg- ment ain t always the best. She has spent too much o her time mongst books to have the best jedgment in the world 132 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Spoke about turnin you out, eh! Well, I m glad she didn t, for I might have scolded her when I got back." "If my remaining here has saved her from a scolding, I am glad that she did not liberate me." " Bliged to you for the compliment," said Mr. Hicks, with a decided return of his amusing air. "Won t you come in and sit down?" said I. "No, I believe not. You ll please ex cuse me for not bein* more neighborly, but" "But what?" "Well, I ain t got over the idea that you air crazy. Sometimes I m afraid that I m crazy myself." "Now look here, old man, this imprison ment is getting to be very tiresome, and while I expect to gain nothing by making MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 133 threats, yet I must tell you that this affair shall be investigated in a court of justice. Brown showed no certificate proving my insanity." "Yes, but he proved it by the men that came with him." "But what right had they to testify against me? He had shown them no cer tificate authorizing my confinement." "No, for he said you got out o a sylum somewhar, an 1 another certificate wa n t necessary." "Why didn t he take me back to the place from which he said I had escaped?" "Because he didn t want to humiliate the family." "Then why did he admit having taken me there in the first place?" "I don t know. Say, podner, you air gittin down a little too close for me. I ain t no lawyer." 134 MRS ANNIE GREEN. "It does not take a lawyer to observe the law. You are laying yourself liable to a fine and imprisonment, and don t you lose sight of the fact that I intend to have this affair sifted. For a few dollars a month you are keeping me in an illegal prison and " "He can make you smoke* for it," broke in Mrs. Hicks, who suddenly appeared. "Mollie, this ain t no affair o your n, an* the less you meddle with it the better it will be for you. Do you hear me?" "Of course I hear you, Albert, but after hearing what this man said, we are a pack of fools to keep him here a minute longer." "Mollie, let me manage this affair." 1 You have managed it long enough, I think. The first thing you know, here ll come a sheriff after you." "Well, confound it, madam, what am I to do?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 135 "Open this door and let the man go out." "Yes, an he might set the house afire out of spite." "I ll risk that, Albert." "But I won t Let us wait awhile." "What is the use of waiting any longer? The longer we wait the worse it will be for us when the matter is investigated." "Well, we ll see about that, Mollie. Won t do to be too brash, you know." "I think you have been brash. Come, now, Albert, open the door, and let the poor man go. Just think how cruelly he has been treated." "Mollie, you know that when I get my head set, there s no use in talking to me. I discussed the thing with Brown, an* canvassed all the p ints; an 1 , by the way, you agreed to have him put in here." "Yes, for at that time I believed Brown, 136 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. as you call him, was honest; but now I do not; and besides, at that time I thought this man was crazy, and now I know he is not." "That s all very well, Mollie; but as I tell you, there s no use in arguin with me." They turned away and continued to talk in the yard, then at one corner of the house, then at another, and finally their voices mingled with the sounds of the barnyard. Could it be that Hicks would keep me imprisoned merely as a source of revenue to himself? Somehow, his amusing air prevented me from summing up a satis factory estimate of his character. The humorous air, I have discovered, is a stumbling block in the way of character reading. A man can hide so much behind a comical expression that his true nature MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 137 can not be seen. If I at that time came to any definite conclusion with regard to Hicks, I decided that there was within him a thirst for gain not mild enough to be legitimate. "I fear that I can not much longer main tain this calm appearance," I mused. "I am likely to fly into a passion at any moment, and then Hicks point will be carried. Wonder how long he expects me to wait? Wonder how much Brown has agreed to pay him? Probably Mrs. Hicks will provide me with the means of escape. With a hammer and chisel I could soon cut my way out." Vilsie came and sat down near the door. "Where are your mother and father?" I asked. "They are walkin round in the lot quarrelin about you. Pa is awful mad, an says that he will keep you here until 138 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. he finds out all about you. They are comin now." Hicks stopped at the door, but his wife passed on into the house. "Well, Brown" "My name is Barker, I tell you." "Well, Barker, I have convinced my wife that it is better to keep you here until we hear from your bro I mean until we hear from Brown. I ll get a let ter from him in about three weeks from now. If I don t hear from him by that time, why, I ll turn you out." "I think that I understand you, Mr. Hicks. You want payment for one month s" "Board," he suggested. "Can t board you for nothin , you know." "Yes, I understand you perfectly. You know as well as I do that I am not insane, and now that you have me here, you are MRS. ANNIB GREEN. 139 determined to keep me rather than lose the money that Brown has promised you. You do not seem to estimate the risk you are running. You are just as much of an outlaw as if you were to go out on the highway and rob people." His amusing air vanished and then I caught a glimpse of his true nature. "It wouldn t do for you to say that if you were on the outside. Vilsie, go into the house. No, sir," he added, wheu the child had obeyed him, "it wouldn t do for you to step out here an* say that." "If you ll open the door I will gladly ^step out and say it." "Oh, now, wouldn t you like to step out? You d take to your heels too quick. I guess, old feller, you d better stay here awhile. You pear to forgit where you air. You air fifteen miles from the nearest post office, an air way off the road. Nobody I4O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. comes here, an it wouldn t make no differ ence if somebody was to come. I could say that you was my crazy son. Brown promised to pay me well for keepin you, an if he sticks to his word, I ll stick to mine. Do you understand?" "Yes, you infernal scoundrel, I do, and I want you to understand something that I have friends even if I have no near relatives, and that when I do get out, it won t be good for you." He grinned maliciously and turned away. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XV. During the next two days I saw but lit tle of the Hicks family. Vilsie came to the door once, but her father ordered her away. One evening Mrs. Hicks came to my door and said: "Mr. Barker, I hope you will not think ill of me for not paying you more atten tion. My husband is very angry with you, and I would not dare to speak to you now if he were at home. I think that he has an appointment to meet Brown some where." This was unwelcome news. "I fear, madam, if such be the case, it will not be ,well for me when he returns. Now, let 142 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. me say something that I hope you will heed: I must leave here, yet I know that it would not do for you to liberate me " "No, indeed. He would be tempted to kill me," she exclaimed. "I do not ask you to make such a sacri fice; but there is one way you can aid me. You can provide me with " "Oh, no, no," she interposed, "for to assist you in escaping would, in his sight, be just as bad as opening the door and telling you to walk out. I will do all I can for you, for I know that you are in bad hands. My husband is not a good man. The poor boy he had here, I have suspected, was not his son. From a paper I found I was led to believe that he was hired to keep the boy. I know that he has compelled me to tell a dozen or more falsehoods with regard to him. I don t believe the boy was crazy." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 143 "Why did you marry such a man?" "Because I was a fool." "There is nothing attractive about him, and, besides, he has no education." "I know all that now; but when I mar ried him I was a fool. I thought he was wealthy, and, though I ought not to con fess it, I sold myself; but, after all, I think that my punishment is greater than the crime justifies." "How long do you suppose he intends to keep me?" "I think that all depends upon the agreement between him and Brown. If Brown pays him enough he will never let you out." This was far from comforting. Perhaps I might never regain my liberty. "Mrs. Hicks, I still have a favor to ask. I desire to write a letter to a friend." "You could not send the letter away. 144 MRS - ANNIE GREEN. Mr. Hicks never permits me to go to the post office." "Could you not send it by one of the aeighbors?" "Neighbors! We have no neighbors, one ever comes here." "Ma, oh, ma," Vilsie called, "pa s Mrs. Hicks vanished, and shortly after ward I heard Hicks* voice. He soon ap peared at my door. "How are you gittin along?" he said, with a cynical smile. "Oh, splendidly," I replied. "Glad to hear it, for I have to keep you here quite a while. You see, I always did like good company. By the way, I seen your brother or rather Brown this mornin . He told me to give his love to you, an to tell you that he was soon to be married to the puttiest little widow in MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 145 the country Annie Annie somebody, I forgit her other name." "I wish I had a gun," I replied; "I would like to shoot you." "Wouldn t you, though? By the way, I ve got a gun in the house, an if you don t mind stayin here till I come back, I ll go and fetch it to you." "Don t put yourself to any trouble on my account," I replied, "for you ll have trouble enough after awhile." "Oh, yes, we ll all have trouble. I guess that you ve hearn that this is a world of trouble. Brown thanked me for my kind ness to you, but advised me to put a pair o* bracelets on you. He is afraid you will get out and humiliate the family. He is a mighty considerate man." Vilsie suddenly appeared, and told her father that a man wanted to see him. I stood near the door, trying to catch the to 146 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. tones of a voice. Someone stepped into full view. My blood leaped. I saw Dr. Hill. Old Hicks approached Dr. Hill, and, as I was within earshot, I heard the conver sation that ensued. "How re you?" said Hicks. "Pretty well, I thank you," the doctor replied. "By the way, you have an insane man here whom I want to see." "Wall, you kain t see him. The doctor has give orders that he must be kep quiet. I would like to talk to him myself, but the doctor says I sha n t, an he s a good doc tor, too." "This is no time for idle banter," Dr. Hill said, turning with an air of impa tience and making a hasty survey of the premises. "Here, doctor," I called. He came rapidly toward me, and was MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 147 pursued by Hicks, who, as he hurried along, uttered violent protestations. I stretched forth my hand, and warmly greeted the doctor. "Why, my dear fellow," said he, "they have got you in a close place. I returned to my uncle s several days ago, and when I remarked that I would go up and see you, uncle, with many words of sympathy, told me that your brother had taken you to an insane asylum. I knew that you had no brother, and instantly my suspi cions rested on Brown. Will you please stop trying to shove me aside?" the doctor said, turning to Hicks. "Just behave yourself, and then if you have anything to say, say it. I explained to my uncle," the doctor continued, again addressing me, "and convinced him of Brown s vil lainy, although at first he was firmly con vinced that you were insane. The next 148 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. move was to find out where you had been taken. I knew that this would be difficult, and, in fact, I don t know that I should have been successful had I not, in a most fortunate way, met a man who assisted Brown in bringing you to this place. I saw that he was fully convinced of Brown s sincerity, and I did not try to change his mind, especially as all I wanted of him was direction to your place of confinement. This he gave as well as he could, and I set out. It was by the merest chance that I found this place, but so soon as I saw it I knew that I had pursued the right course. Now, sir," the doctor added, "what have you to say?" "I say that you ain t got no bus ness to come meddlin round here, that s what I say. This man is as crazy as a butterfly, an* I m goin to keep him here till his brother says turn him out Now you go MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 149 on back in the hoir e, will you?" Hicks exclaimed, turning t > his wife, who had just made her appearance. She obeyed without saying a word, although I could see that she was anxious to assist in my liberation. "Yes," Hicks continued, again address ing the doctor, "I want yo to go away from here, an when I want you, I ll be mighty apt to let you know. I ain t a man that pesters nobody, an I ain t a man to let nobody pester me, let me tell you. My name is Hicks." " I am very glad to make your acquaint ance, Mr. Hicks," the doctor replied. "It is not often that I ^ o so far merely to meet a man who is a stranger to me. Will you please unlock this door?" "No, I won t." "You are desperate, Mr. Hicks. Your financial *eeds must indeed be pressing. ISO MRS, ANNIS GREEN. There are but few men who can thus afford to disregard all law," "I know what I m doin , an I don t want no advice from you." "I do not intend to waste much time in giving advice, neither do care to en gage in a violent controversy with you, but I must see that my friend is set at liberty." "Wall, you won t see it until I hear from this crazy man s brother; an* now, fore I forgit it, let me say that if you begin to cut up round here you ll wush you hadn t just about the time it s too late. I ve had dealir"s with a great many men, an none o* en ever got away with me yit. If the wust come to the wust an it looks might ly that way now w y I ken stan up an fight fur my rights along with the best man." "Oh, you mistake me if you think that MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I intend to fight such a burly ruffian as you are." "Whut air you goin to do, then?" "If you do not open this door and suf fer this gentleman to walk out, I shall lay the matter before the proper authorities, and then, if there s any fighting, it will take place between you and the sheriff." Old Hicks laughed. "W y, man," said he, "do you think that I ain t got no better sense than to let you go to the authorities an tell a pack o lies about me? I know this here country a heap better than you do, an if you start out in the direction of the sheriff, w y the road is so rough that your buggy mout fall offen a bluff. Buggies have fell offen bluffs, you know, an folks said, poor feller, his hoss run away with him. Yes, it s powerful danger* ous, I tell you." Dr. HilPs face grew pale, and with a 152 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. sinking heart I saw the danger he would incur in attempting to liberate me. Hicks, quickly perceiving the advantage he had gained, continued: "Nobody ever said that I was a bad man, an nobody more n me would grieve ef somebody was to git hurt in this neigh borhood." "You are even more desperate than I thought you were," the doctor replied. "However, I do not intend to be bullied by you. I hate violence as much, per haps, as any man living, but I have never been so badly frightened as to run away from duty. Open this door, or I ll go and inform the authorities." The calmness of voice, and the deter* mined air which was ever noticeable in his bearing, returned. I knew that if he left with the avowed intention of calling on the sheriff, he would go at the risk of MRS. ANNIE GREEN. ftis life, but should I not persuade him to forego the risk? Would I not do as much for him? Yes, but still I somehow thought it would be asking too much of him. "Doctor," said I, "you must be careful. Think of the risk you will run." "Not much risk," Hicks replied, "that is, to a man that knows the neighbor hood. Thar s a good many bad bluffs between here and the court house." "Yes," replied the doctor, "and you are giving me one of the bluffs now." "All right, if you think so; have it your own way." "Well, I have talked long enough. Good day." "Hold on!" said Hicks. "What will you give me to open the door?" "Not a d d cent!" the doctor indig nantly replied. 154 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "All right." The doctor hastened away. I heard his buggy wheels rattling over the stones, as he drove down the hill. Hicks, who had not left the door, turned to me, and said: "That friend o yourn is foolish." "No; you are foolish." "Do you think so?" "I certainly do." "Wall, let me tell you something, and you won t think so. This friend o yourn mout fall offen a bluff an get killed" "But a witness who could throw much light on the affair could be produced." "Oh, yes, an one man that thinks he knows something mout be outen the way by the time they wanted him." "Very true, but my friend s uncle knows that he started out in search of me." "Yas, but mebbe the old man ain t in M&3, ANNIE GREEN. 155 good health. You must be a fool to think that I am goin* to give up a pile o money on account o any foolishness. Your brother has obligated himself to pay me two thousand dollars a year to keep you, with the understanding that ef you die ef you die, understan* he will do the handsome by me. Now, I would ruther see you live, an* I want you to take good kere o yourself. Wall, I must go." 156 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XVI. Shortly after Hicks left my door, Mrs. Hicks, in a state of much excitement, suddenly appeared. "Oh, we will all be ruined," she said. "Hicks has followed that man." "Is it possible that he would commit murder?" "Oh, yes, he would do anything. Out in this wild place the officers themselves have but little respect for the law. I don t know what to do, for he told me just be fore he left that if you escape during his absence he will kill me." She ran away, wringing her hands as she went. I sat down on my bed and tried to think. My situation was more MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 157 desperate than it had ever been. That Hicks would murder my friend, I could not entertain a doubt. I tried to reason with myself. The doctor might, by keep ing a sharp lookout, see Hicks in time to shoot him; but was the doctor armed? Surely he would not have undertaken so perilous an expedition without being armed. "What difference, though, will it make if he be armed?" I mused. "Hicks will see that he has no chance to use his weapon." I worried myself into a fever. The day slowly wore away and a dreary evening came. I strained my ears to catch every sound, but I could hear noth ing save the occasional bark of a dog or the lowing of the cattle. Mrs. Hicks brought my supper. "Has your husband returned?" I asked. "No, he must have failed to overtake your friend." 158 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "If he should overtake him, do you think that the doctor would have a chance to defend himself?" "Of course not. Do you suppose that Hicks would give anybody a chance?" "No, no. I don t know why I was so foolish as to ask such a question." "The truth is," the woman continued, "Hicks won t exactly overtake your friend. He will find out the course he is pursuing and then whip round. He took his rifle with him, and, to tell the truth, I don t think there s any show for your friend." "Why, suppose he shoots him, can not the officers see that he has been shot?" "No, not if he is shot in the head. You see, after shooting him, Hicks can throw him over a precipice, then go down and mash his head with a stone." I shuddered. My poor friend was prob ably dead Was he not rash? Had it MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 159 not been better to make an attempt to buy Hicks? "The horse and buggy," continued Mrs. Hicks, "will also be thrown over, and the impression will be created that the un fortunate man drove off the bluff." "When your husband returns, will you please slip out and tell me?" "Yes, if I possibly can. Good-night." I gave myself up to ill-boding medita tion. I thought of the first time I met Mrs. Annie Green. Could I have looked a little way into the future how I should have fled from her. What an unconscious fool I was in attempting to break her re serve. Were rny misfortunes a judgment visited upon me for attempting to draw her into conversation against the will of her husband? Cartwrigh^s face came up before me, and I convulsively struck at it. I saw Brown s hellish grin. The per- I6O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. spiration of cold agony rolled down my face. Was that someone at the door? I went to the door and peered through the grating. I saw the outlines of a dog. "Ah, you are better than some human beings," I said as I thrust forth my hand. The brute snapped at me. "At any rate you are no worse," I remarked as I with drew my hand. How slowly the time passed. I could see the moon rising. Would it never get above the tops of the trees? A wolf howled, and the dog that had snapped at me barked in defiant re ply. A screech-owl alighted on my prison and uttered his eerie cries, and a night- hawk, far away, shrieked in distressing cadence. The moon was at last above the tree tops, and a silvery bar of light fell at my feet. Hicks would not permit me to have a light in my cell. Oh, what a merciless wretch! MRS. ANNIE GREEN. l6l "Mr. Barker." That you, Mrs. Hicks?" "Yes." "Has he returned?" "No." "What time is it?" "About ten o clock." "No later than that? It seems an age since the sun went down. What do you suppose is keeping him so late?" "I don t know. It may be that your friend has given him the slip." "I earnestly hope so." "I do, too; but, after all, it may be but little better for you. Hicks is not alone. I think that he has several confederates, and if your friend has given him the slip, he may come back and have you removed before the sheriff can get here. Oh, you don t know what a place this is. It is at least seventy-five miles from anything 11 1 62 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. that can be called a town, and the few people who do inhabit the country are but little better than outlaws. Well, I must go back. When he comes I will either come myself or send Vilsie to tell you." I sat down on my bed again. "I hope that the doctor has escaped, even if I am removed," I mused. "He will never stop until he finds me again." I lay down and attempted to sleep. The moon had lifted the silver bar from my door, and my cell was as dark as mid night. "Is that a wagon coming?" I mused. "I hear something rattling along the road. It is a wagon it is coming up the hill. Gods! it has stopped at the gate." I knew that I could see nothing, but I pressed my face against the bars. I heard voices, and then I heard someone groan. I heard the shuffling of feet, and MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 163 then all was silent. Again I heard voices in the yard, and then I heard the wagon roll away. I waited i_.d waited. Would no one ever come? If Mrs. Hicks could not come, why did she not send Vilsie? I heard footsteps. "Mr. Barker." "Yes." "I would have come sooner, but I could not get off, and I would have sent Vilsie, but she could not tell you so well as I can. My husband is dangerously wounded." "What !" I exclaimed. "Yes. One of the men who brought him home, told me all he knew. I was standing in my yard, 7 said he, when a man drove up and told me that he had shot a man named Hicks. Hicks, it seems, snapped a gun at him, and he shot Hicks with a revolver. I got a wagon, and together with several neighbors, went as 164 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. directed, and found the wounded man. I do not think that he can recover," Mrs. Hicks added. "Thank God, that my friend has es caped," I exclaimed. "Now, Mrs. Hicks, as there is no longer any danger so far as you are concerned, can you not open the door?" "My husband has the key in his hand, and he will not let me take it. He thinks that you want to come in and kill him. The sheriff and his men will soon be here, and then what will become of me?" "No one will molest you, Mrs. Hicks." "Yes, but I will be homeless." "No; I will see to that." "Oh, thank you, thank you. I know that you are a kind-hearted man. Good night. "Thank God!" I repeated again and again. My friend was safe, and my own MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 165 deliverance was near at hand. I could hear the groans of the wounded man, but I was not hypocritical enough with my self to acknowledge that I in the least sympathized with him. His sufferings must have been great, but he deserved to suffer, for he had brought it upon himself. I have never been squeamish with regard to the methods or the intensity of punish ment employed by the God of retribution. I sought my bed and endeavored to sleep, but I might as well have tried to force my way through a brick wall. Would daylight never come? How time does stop and mock a man s impatience! The cocks began to crow, but, confound them, they often crew at midnight. I went to the door and peered through the grating. A drizzling rain was falling, but a dull, grayish light seemed to be settling down. Hicks had ceased groaning. Perhaps he 1 66 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. was dead. If so, why did not Mrs. Hicks take the key and let me out? I had almost worried myself into a fever, when I heard the trampling of horses, and then I seized the bars and shook them as I heard buggy wheels rattling over the stones. I tried to shout, but my voice failed me, and then, ashamed of my im patience, I waited in silence. I heard voices. A light came toward me, and I could not help it I uttered a cry of joy as Dr. Hill approached the door. "Helloa, Barker, you are still here, I see," he said, as he inserted a key in the lock. "Yes, I am here. You certainly did not expect that I would run away." "I didn t know. Now, you are all right," he added, as the door swung open. I seized the doctor s hand. "That will do, now. No foolishness, MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 167 remember. I am sorry I had to shoot your landlord, but I had to do it to save my own life. Come in, and let us see how he is getting along." Hicks no longer wore an amusing air. He lay on his back, breathing heavily. The doctor s bullet had done its work well. The sheriff and two men, all rough-looking, stood near. Mrs. Hicks, holding the little girl on her lap, sat on the foot of the bed. "You air all thieves," said Hicks. "The sheriff s a thief, an he knows that I know it. If my gun hader gone off, you d d rascal, you wouldn t be standin thar lookin at me." "Can I do anything for you?" Mrs. Hicks asked. "Yes; you ken let me alone, damn you. Hadn t been for you I would have killed the lunatic, got money, an lit out from here." 1 68 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Mr. Hicks," said the doctor, "you d better not try to talk." "Go to hell, will you! I am in my own house, an I ll talk as much as I please. Git outen here, all o you. Vilsie, what air you snortin about? I don t .want none o yer cryin round here. Never mind. Thar s comin a day when we ll straighten all this business up." "Mr. Hicks," said the doctor, "I am very sorry that this has happened, and if it were in my power, I would help you, but it is not. I feel it to be my duty, however, to tell you that you can live but a very short time. "You air a liar!" Hicks savagely re torted. "You are dying now, Mr. Hicks." "Liar!" I could see that death had marked his face. His breathing became more diffi- MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 169 cult. The doctor leaned over the bed. The dying man whispered: "Liar." That was his last whisper. "He s gone," said the doctor, turning to Mrs. Hicks. The woman, taking Vilsie in her arms, arose and said: "Little darling, your father is dead. Don t cry. It is better for us both." "Barker," the doctor remarked, "we will stay here until to-morrow, and bury him. It is not necessary for me to go back with the sheriff. I gave myself up to the authorities when I reached the county seat, and shortly afterward, a man who had seen the wounded man, and heard him confess that he had tried to kill me, came forward and testified that I had acted in self-defense, whereupon, I was discharged. These men accompanied me to protect me against any violence on 170 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. the part of Hicks confederates. I c<d not anticipate any danger." "We didn t know," replied the sheriff, "but thar mout be some danger. By the way, Mrs. Hicks, Squire Alson, that s got charge o the matter, told me to tell you that he wants you to teach school in our neighborhood. You ve got a brother livin over thar at the Plains, too." "What?" the woman exclaimed. "Yes; Bob Bradley. He s been livin 1 thar fur some time, but wouldn t come out here cause your husband threatened to kill him ef he did." "Mr. Hicks never told me that brother Bob lived there," the woman sobbed. "He said that brother Bob was dead." "Well, he ain t dead. He looks like he s fur from it. About as peart a man as you ve seen for many a day. You ll go, I reckon." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Yes, I will go, and I thank God that an opportunity is afforded me. Mr. Bar ker," she added, turning to me, "you said that you would see me provided for. I now gladly relieve you of the obligation which you so generously took upon your self." "Oh, no, Mrs. Hicks," I replied, "I owe you a debt which I can never discharge, but I insist upon making the attempt. You shall hear from me soon. 1 * 172 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XVII. We spent a dreary day and a dreary night. Mrs. Hicks could not help but show that she felt the advantage of escape from a long season of slavery, and even little Vilsie was soon made to understand that her condition would be changed for the better, but occasionally her grief broke out in piteous sobs. The sheriff made a coffin, rude, but as he expressed it, com fortable enough. The burial was dreary indeed. A chilling rain was falling, and the child was not permitted to see the grave. "You can ride a hoss, I reckon," said the sheriff, addressing Mrs. Hicks. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 173 "Oh, yes, I hardly know how to ride any other way," "Well, we ll give the cattle as much as they want to eat and then put them out. You can send a wagon back after the plunder, an hire some boys to drive the cattle down." I bade the good woman and pretty child good-bye with more emotion than clearness of expression. The doctor and I, seated in his buggy, were soon rattled along over the rough road in the direction of Blue Rock Springs. "I suppose you are now thinking of Brown," the doctor said, after an interval of silence. "Yes." "I knew it. What steps do you intend to take?" I shall swear out a warrant for his arrest." 174 MR S. ANNIE GREEN. "What?" "I say no." "You certainly can t object, doctor." "I certainly do,* he replied. "Why, don t you want to see the infer nal scoundrel brought to justice?" "Of course, I would like to see him brought to justice to the gallows, for that matter but you must know that his arrest and trial would lead to many embarrassing statements on the witness stand. Sister Annie will be compelled to come forward and " "That s a fact, doctor." "Ah, hah, don t you see how thought less you are? "You are right," I said, after a mo ment s reflection. "I would not myself like to get up and tell how I met Mrs. Green and fell in love with her; how MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 175 Brown took advantage of me, and how he introduced a woman as my wife." "Oh, I thought you d understand it after awhile. You literary fellows have more originality than judgment." "What would you advise me to do, doc tor?" "There you go, always wanting advice." "Well, according to your own state ment, I stand in need of advice." "That s a fact," he replied. "Now," he continued, "in this case sentiment arises above everything else. You want to prove to sister Annie that you love her, that you were never married, and that you are ready to make the most devoted husband in the country." "Yes, I want to prove all that, but how am I to do it?" "Well, you stay at Uncle Gladwell s and I will go and see Annie. Now, 176 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. don t be fidgety. You are ready to flutter like a rooster with his head cut off. After all that has passed I think that I can convince Annie of your truthfulness and general collection of Christian vir tues." The road was fearfully rough, the day was cheerless. As evening came on we grew uneasy lest we should be compelled to pass the night without shelter, but just as it began to grow dark, we came upon an old log-house. We drove up and found that the house was uninhab ited. We took the horse inside and stabled him in one corner, and as we had brought plenty of corn the animal soon proved that he was quite at home. We rolled in a couple of stumps, broke up several dry boards and soon had a cheer ful fire. We had brought a lunch, and I don t know that I could, in all that region MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 177 of country, have spent a more cheerful evening. "I didn t see this house when I came across this infamous country," said the doctor, "and I was compelled to stay all night in the woods/ 7 "That was bad." "Yes, rather, but not so bad as it could have been." "I don t see how it could have been much worse." "Why, my dear fellow," said he, "how strangely you do talk. At that time I would not have exchanged places with you." "You are right," I replied. "I would rather be in a swamp than to be in prison. Gracious, the face of that dead man comes up before me!" "That s all very well, for there is no danger; but if it were to come up, squint- id 178 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. ing one eye and taking sight at you with a rifle, then you might look out." "How far do you suppose we are from Blue Rock Springs?" I asked, anxious to change the subject. "About forty miles." "We haven t come very far to-day after all." "No, for we hadn t a ve f ry early start, you know. Had to perform the last sad rites of a deceased fellow countryman. To-morrow we ll get an early start, and, if we have luck, we ll get to the Springs some time during the afternoon. Then, after resting, I shall take the train, go to the city, and call on sister Annie." "You don t suppose she has married Brown." "I don t know," he carelessly replied. "You don t know!" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 179 Of course not Women are very peculiar." "Oh, don t talk that way." "Look here, man, can t you take a joke? Of course I do not believe that she has married Brown." "Say, doctor, I wish you would tell me one thing." "Well, what is it?" "Why did your sister marry old man Green?" "Now, why the deuce do you ask me such a question?" "Because I want to know." "No, I won t tell you. I don t like to think of it." "Not for money, I hope?" "No, she didn t know he was worth anything." "She certainly did not love him." "How could sh*?" l8o MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Then" "Never mind, now, I am not going to tell you." "I wish I knew." "Why, confound it, Barker, you ve got as much curiosity as a woman." "Yes, when the woman above all others is concerned." "Well, let us spread down our blankets and turn in for the night." We got an early start the next morning. We soon came upon a better road. Long before we came within the neighborhood of Blue Rock Springs, I strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of the old hotel. At last we came within sight of the place. Old man Gladwell was walking up and down the gallery. He came to meet us. "Well, I wish I may never stir ag in ef I don t think you air crazy sometimes, tryin all sorts o fool experyments that MRS. ANNIE GREEN. l8l cost money," he said, addressing the doc tor. "Come on in the house. The nigger will put up the hoss. Barker, I never did expect to see you ag in." Mrs. Gladwell was delighted to see me. "I knowed you wa n t crazy," she said. "I knowed it as well as I knowed I was alive. Ain t you mighty nigh starved?" I confessed that I had brought an appe tite with me, and the doctor vowed that he was as hungry as a wolf. When we sat down to the table, the old man asked me to relate my experience. I did so, up to a certain point, and then stopped. I did not care to tell him that the doctor had killed Hicks. "Wall, how did you git out at last?" "I will tell the rest," replied the doctor. Then he told how he had, in self-defense, killed Hicks. Mrs. Gladwell raised her l82 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. hands in horror. The old man, with an expression of astonishment, said: "I m glad you killed him. He ought to be dead." "Don t say that," his wife interposed. "Wall, he ought. When a man ain t fitten to live he ought to be dead. Pore woman," referring to Mrs. Hicks, "what a dog s life she must have led. You are goin to do a handsome thing by her, ain t you, Mr. Barker?" "Yes, I shall never be satisfied until I see her comfortably established in a home of her own." That night I slept in my cabin. What a glorious retreat it was! Early the next morning Dr. Hill came to see me. "Barker," said he, "I have concluded not to go to town immediately." "Why, I thought you were going to see your sister." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 183 "I was, but" "But what?" "She is down at Uncle Gladwell s house." The doctor s announcement almost stu pefied me, and, unable to reply, I stood and gazed at him. "Now, look here," said he, "I don t want you to act a fool. I should think that you have recently gone through enough to teach you effectually the doc trine of self-possession." "Does she know that I am here? 1 "Of course not." "Why, of course not?" "Do you think that I had no better sense than to tell her? If I had told her, she would have gone away immediately; and I took the additional precaution of requesting uncle and aunt not to mention your name. I could not explain to them, 184 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. yet I told them enough to enforce silence. Now, I want you to go down quietly and see her meet her as an old friend, instead of an impassioned lover. Now, look at you, ready to rush down and vow that you have bought a razor with which you intend to whittle yourself into the finest possible strips. Take that wild look out of your eyes. If you don t behave your self I ll swear that you are crazy. Now, you look more like a sane man." I became strangely calm, and I felt that I could, without the slightest agitation, meet Mrs. Green. "Come on, doctor," said I. "Let us go at once. I can meet her quietly." "Wait a moment, Barker. You must promise not to mention Brown s name, and you must not speak of your imprison ment." "I promise." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 185 "Well, then, come on." Just as we stepped upon the gallery of the old hotel, I heard Mrs. Green s voice. She was in the family sitting- room, talking to her uncle and aunt I hesitated a moment at the door, but the doctor gently urged me forward. Just as I entered the room, Mrs. Green, catch ing sight of me, sprang to her feet, but before she could say anything, the doctor remarked: "Annie, this is an old acquaintance of yours. Met each other here when this was a summer resort." "Oh, yes," she replied, shrewdly divin ing the doctor s meaning, "we did meet here. Mr. Barker, I am pleased to see you again." She advanced and extended her hand. I took her hand with an air of quietude that required a great effort, and during 1 86 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. the moment that I held it, I attempted to gaze into her eyes, but her eyes were averted. "Sit down," she said, gracefully turning and offering me a chair. "Uncle, you and aunt are acquainted with Mr. Barker, I suppose?" "Oh, yes," the old man replied, "he does his eatin here and his sleepin in the cabin." "Then of course you are acquainted," she said, turning to me with a smile that made my blood leap. "Yes," I rejoined, "and I find them to be most interesting associates." "I don t like to leave you," said the doctor, who had remained standing, "but the fact is, I ve got some riding to do this morning." "Well, I wish I may never stir ag in if that boy ain t always on the pad," the old MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 1 87 man declared. "My greshus, don t you never git tired? Well, plague take him, he don t stop long enough to hear what a body s got to say. Now, mother, what air you stirrin round about?" he continued, addressing his wife, who had arisen. "Dan, it ain t none of your bus ness, I m a thinkin . Ain t a body got a right to move about? Mr. Barker ain t had no breakfast yet." "That s so. You re nearly always right, an an so am I. Annie, stay with us a while an you ll soon see how two old folks can jower at each other an still both be right." "Mrs. Gladwell, I do not care for break fast this morning," said I. "Well, for pity s sake, Annie hasn t tuck your appetite, has she?" the old lady asked as she gave me a look of surprise. "Oh, no," I rejoined, "I took it myself, 1 88 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. took it so effectually last night at supper that I am far from being hungry now." "Mother," said the old man, "let him have his own way. When a man can t eat, he can t, but it ain t that way with a woman. She can eat any time." "Dan, I do wisht you d hush. Any body to hear you talk would think that a woman ain t fitten to live. Your mother was a woman, I reckon." "Well, since you ve mentioned it, I believe she was." Mrs. Green laughed heartily and her eyes, of which I caught a glimpse, danced merrily; and there was about them that glorious light which had at first irresisti bly drawn me toward her. "Dan, I ain t got time to jower. I must go about my work," the old lady said. "So must I," he replied. Together they quitted the room. Mrs. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 189 Green and I were alone. How strange it all seemed. Why could I not declare my innocence of all imputations that had been made against me? Why could I not, now that Dr. Hill had spoken in my favor, convince her of Brown s villainy ? No, I had promised not to speak of Brown. The doctor had shown that he was a true friend. I could not, regardless of the question of honor, break faith with him. Mrs. Green did not appear to be in the least confused. She sat, engaged in some sort of crochet work, oblivious it seemed of recollections which she must have known were bitter to me. "You have enjoyed good health during the time that has elapsed since we last met, I hope," said I. "Yes, I have been well, but not fortunate." "I hope that you have not been very unfortunate." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. " But I have. In fact, I have lost nearly all my money." "Why, you surprise me." "It surprised me at first, but things are sometimes surprising and yet mercilessly true. I was foolish, I admit, but I con sented having been importuned by an old friend of Mr. Green s to invest my money. Well, I lost. I had never owned as much property as people accredited me with possessing, and nearly all I had was soon swept away." "I am very sorry to hear of your mis fortune, but after all it may show who are really your friends." "Well, at any rate, it can not be helped now, and I shall endeavor to make the best of it." "You still own your house in the city, I suppose ?" "No, that has been sold. To tell you MRS. ANNIE GREEN. the truth, I have no home. I have but a few hundred dollars." "Does your brother know of your mis fortune?" "He knows for I told him this morn ing that I have lost money, but he has no idea how much ; but let us not speak at such length of misfortune. Let us turn to the good fortune which has come upon " "Upon whom?" I asked, when she hesitated. "Upon you." "You are mocking me." "Oh, no. Perhaps you do not know how popular you have become. Your book, as you doubtless know, is a brilliant success, and your short stories well merit the high praise that is bestowed upon them. I have a perfect passion for litera ture, but I am not successful." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Perhaps you have not tried." "Yes, indeed I have. I have written several stories." "Several stories?" I laughingly replied. "Why, you do not call that trying. I worked during ten assiduous years before I thought that I had made a vigorous attempt." "Strange words, coming from a genius," she said. "Genius," I repeated, somewhat bit terly; "why, madam, there is no genius, except it be whole-soul desire and persist ent effort. The genius works late. When he goes to bed the oil in his lamp is low. He sometimes labors with the energy of despair, and after all, he at last sees suc cess through a mist of tears." "Mr. Barker, you are quite enough to discourage an aspirant for the honors which rest so becomingly upon you." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 193 "It is difficult, Mrs. Green, to discour age the true aspirant." "Oh, well, perhaps I am not a true aspirant. Do you know," she suddenly broke off, "that it is so strange that we should be sitting here?" "Yes, when I look back upon what I have passed through, it does seem strange." "And pray, sir, tell me what you have passed through, if it be so much more than has fallen to my lot." "I have passed through an Inferno " I hesitated. "Tell me." "No, not now." "Please tell me." "I really can not." "Why? 1 "Because I promised your brother that I would not." 18 1 94 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Promised my brother!" "Yes." "And what right had he to exact such a promise?" "I can not even tell you that/ "Well," she said, with a rather rueful air and a beautiful arching of her eye brows, "when he comes back I will ask him." "Very well, ask him." "I will. Do you know that you seem to have undergone a change since we last met?" "Outwardly, possibly so; inwardly, none whatever." "The change must be an inward one since you have not railed out against a man whom I know you heartily de spise." "I will not speak of him." "Why?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 1 95 "Because I promised your brother that I would not." "Well, now this is all indeed mysterious. What right has brother to exact such promises? Please answer this question." "I can not." "Then you ignore me in favor of him?" "Oh, no." "Oh, yes." "Mrs. Green, some day you shall know how you have been imposed upon, and I will say now that it seems strange how so sensible a woman as you can be so easily duped." She frowned slightly, arose, sat down again, and said: "I don t think you have a right to reproach me." "Oh, I do not claim such a right/* "Then why do you exercise it?" 196 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "If I have exercised it, I have done* s* innocently." "Innocent remarks that sting are rarely premeditated," she replied. "Innocent remarks, like the joy of a child, come without thought. Your reproaches have been weighed by you." "Mrs. Green, let us not drift into a controversy. I have seen and heard enough that is unpleasant to last me for a lifetime, I think, and," I added with an attempt to be cheerful, "I shall not complain if I never again hear anything unpleasant. The day is beauti ful; let us stroll out to the place where the old summer-house used to stand." "No," she replied, slowly shaking her head. "Among ruins one can indulge ennobling sentiment, but when the ground is entirely bare, there is nothing upon which to hang a wreath of fond musing. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 1 97 Not a vestage of the summer-house remains. See," she added, arising and going to the window, "the calves are lying among the dead weeds where the old house stood." Old man Gladwell entered the room and said he thought we should have more rain, regardless of the bright promises borne on the sunshine. "My j ints have been stiff all the mornin ," said he, "an I know in reason that we ll have fallin weather. It s a pretty hard matter to fool me about rain, Barker, fur although I never was very fur from home, yit I have knocked round a right smart. Annie, I m glad to see you with us ag in. You never was much of a high flyer, an you never did furgit your old uncle." "Uncle, I never could forget you. I never forget anybody." 198 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I ventured to look up. She was gazing far out through the window. The old man was right. Clouds came over and a chilling rain began to fall. The old lady brought her spinning-wheel into the sitting-room, where the "rolls" would keep warm, and hummed an accom paniment to our conversation. "Mother," said Mr. Gladwell, when his wife had stopped the wheel and begun to busy herself with wrapping a piece of corn husk around the bright steel spindle, "how much longer air you goin to traipse up an down the room?" "For pity sake, Dan, ain t a body allowed to spin?" she asked, turning upon the old man. "Oh, yes, but a body ought not to spin all the time. Ricolleck what the Bible says, Man can t live by bread alone an woman can t live if she spins all the time. " MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 199 "Dan, the Bible don t say no sich thing> an you know it." "Well, it does say one part, mother, an the other part follows nachul." "Oh, you tend to your own affairs an I ll tend to mine." The old man attempted to reply, but she turned her wheel with such a loud hum that his voice was drowned, Whenever I looked at Mrs. Green, I saw her long eye-lashes fall. How I did yearn to take her in my arms. Had Brown ceased paying her attentions? Did she still believe that he was true and that I was false? "She would tell me if I were to ask," I mused. "Why was I so big a fool as to make so rash a promise?" At dinner, Mrs. Green and I sat oppo site each other. Once I caught her look* ing at me. She blushed. The next day was cold and disagree- 20O MRS. ANNIE GREEN. able. A calf came out from under a shed and stood on the site of the old summer- house. The quivering animal reminded me of a shivering hope a hope that had passed from a chill into a fever and then back into a chill again. During the day I sought an oppor tunity of a private conversation with Mrs. Green, and though she did not seem purposely to avoid me, yet she did not ap pear to encourage my efforts. The next morning at the breakfast table she said: "Mr. Barker, brother will return to-day, and I am going to ask him to release you." "How release him?" Gladwell asked. "Why, Mr. Barker made brother a promise and I want brother to release him." "That s easy enough." "Oh, yes, it s easy enough, but I don t MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2OI know that he will, Are you willing, Mr. Barker?" "Yes, I am more than willing." I anxiously watched for the doctor s coming, and having grown tired, I went up to my cabin and attempted to read, but I found no delight in the finest prose; found no thrill in the greatest verse. I endeavored to write, but I could fish no thought from my ink-bottle. I heard voices, and, stepping to the door and looking out, I saw the doctor and his sister approaching. Mrs. Green waived her hat at me. "Now, sir," she said, as she and the doctor neared the door, "brother says that you may say what you please." "Barker," Dr. Hill remarked, before I had time to reply to Mrs. Green, "Annie seems extremely anxious that you should make love to her." 2O2 MRS, ANNIE GREEN. "Why, brother!" she exclaimed, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself." She had turned upon him with a glowing face and with eyes full of charming embarrass ment that indescribable glow that pre cedes the tear. "I understand the doctor, Mrs. Green," I quickly declared. "He would rather assist in one s embarrassment than to receive an autograph letter from Escu- lapius/ "Yes," she assented, turning to me with a smile, "or to be arrayed in purple and fine linen." "I must say," the doctor replied, "that I don t hold fine linen in very high esteem such weather as this. I hope you have a good fire," he added, as he, followed by his sister, entered the cabin. "Well, you have got a fire. Sit down over there, Annie. I want the rocking-chair. Well, MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 203 go ahead, then, if you must have it. Bar ker, there s nothing more attractive than a fire-place. Wouldn t give a cent for a stove except in cold weather. Well, let us go down to the house. The old folks will remain in the kitchen and let you and Annie talk over your troubles in the sit ting-room." "We have had no troubles in a sitting- room," Mrs. Green remarked, giving her brother a charming look of mischief. "Oh, well," said he, "if you want to dis cuss rhetoric we ll throw aside everything else and enter regularly into that busi ness." "Let us go down to the house," I sug gested. "Come, Mrs. Green, we do not care to discuss rhetoric." "You and Annie go on," said the doc tor, "I ll be down after awhile." We left the doctor sitting in the cabin, 204 MRS - ANNIE GREEN. and leisurely pursued our way toward the house. The clouds seemed to be drifting away from my life, and I could see the faint gleams and feel the warmth of coming sunshine. That the fair creat ure at my side loved me, no observant person could doubt ; still she might not believe me to be sincere. Surely she could not suspect her brother of treachery. I don t think that we exchanged half a dozen words as we walked from the cabin, but when, after arriving at the house, we had seated ourselves near the great fire place just within hearing of the old lady s spinning-wheel, which sent out its ceaseless droning from the kitchen we began to talk with a freedom which I had feared would be wanting. Before attempt ing to clear myself of any charge which had been brought against me, I told of my abduction and imprisonment told MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 205 how Dr. Hill had liberated me. She sat gazing into the fire. Not once during the recital did she raise her eyes. "Is it possible that all this can be true?" she said in an absent way, as if her thoughts had found expression without her consent. "It is true," I replied. She started, looked at me, became con fused, stammered something, and then gave way to tears. I did not attempt to restrain her emotion. I could possibly have said little more than "please don t cry," and I had sense enough to permit her to weep herself into that semi-soothed state which, by right of conquest, is a woman s zone. "I have learned much since my trials began," I at length said. "Where I was once wild and passionate, I am now strangely calm." 2O6 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "That s because you don t love me any more," she replied, with a little wh mper. An impulse urging me to take her in my arms was strong, but I was determined to act wisely. "If I did not love you I would not strive to impress you with the truth of my story." Oh, if I only knew," she said, in a voice of supplication, "if I only knew." "If you only knew what?" "That you have told me the truth." "Ask your brother." "He doesn t know." "Doesn t he know whether or not he released me from prison?" "Oh, yes, but that is not what I mean. The story that Mr. Brown took you by force and locked you up, does not prove that the woman, the tall woman, is not your wife. I believe now that Brown is MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2O7 a villain, and I have reconciled myself to everything except the belief that the woman whom Brown introduced is your wife, I have been happy in the thought that you love me I have heard your earnest voice, have seen your eyes looking at me, and then then, I have felt a cold presence, a cold stare, and and that woman would be looking at me. At night she stood by my bedside; at morning I would find her hovering over me, and gazing at me with her cold eyes of gray stone. I have many a time thought that I was losing my mind. I found out where she lived, and I wrote to her, beg ging her to come to my house. She would not, but appointed a day when I might call on her at the hotel where she boarded. I called. The first thing I saw when I entered the room yes, even before I caught sight of those hateful, haunting 2O8 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. eyes I saw your picture hanging on the wall. Wait until I get through, Mr. Bar ker. You said that you had learned to be calm." "I will be calm, Mrs. Green. Pray proceed." I had arisen, and, greatly agitated, had begun to move about the room. When I had sat down, the beautiful creature, whose wonderful hair, having broken loose from its fastening, fell in a glorious maze, continued: "The first thing I saw was your pic ture hanging on the wall. I was almost furious oh, you don t know me. I could have snatched it from the wall and torn it to pieces, but I pretended not to see it. The cold eyes were turned full upon me. " Will you please be seated, the woman said. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2OQ "I sank upon a chair and waited for her to speak again. I had but a minute to wait. " I suppose you have come to talk to me of my husband, she said. " I have come to speak of Mr. Barker, I replied, but now that I am here, I hardly know what to say. " Then, surely your mission can not be one of much importance. " It is to me; it may not be to anyone else, but, I added, having to some extent recovered myself, I only desire to ask you a few questions. When were you and Mr. Barker married? "She arose, without a moment s hesita tion, and brought me a marriage certifi cate. It is rather singular, she said, that you should be so much interested in my affairs. Just at present, my husbanc} seems to be the object of a peculiar kind 14 210 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. of charity. I don t remember that I have ever called for help, or even petitioned for sympathy. I am unfortunate, I admit. Mr. Barker is not in his right mind. "I hurried away from the awful pres ence of that woman. I could not have looked at her a moment longer without committing violence. My mind I am insanely frank to acknowledge all this I say my mind was so distraught that I paid no attention to the money which was slipping away from me. I did not care, I could not feel that it was my duty to care. I came down here not in the least expecting to see you, but now that I have seen you, now that the reserve is broken, I can not help but speak freely. Now, Mr. Barker no, don t come near me. You know that I love you, that s enough. Sit down there, now, or I will not say MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 211 another word. What have you done with your wonderful calmness?" "Mrs. Green Annie, for God s sake let me say a word. I will swear by all the saintly souls in heaven, and by all the endearing ties on earth, that the woman who claimed to be my wife is an impos tor, employed to play the shameless part arranged for her, by the man who has done me so much injury." "Oh, Mr. Barker, I will pray for faith enough to make my belief in you implicit, but now, I don t know why, I can not see my way clear. I fancy that my condition is something like the state into which a person who has been bitten by a dog is thrown. Calm reasoning may teach that there is no danger to be apprehended from hydrophobia, yet an awful doubt a doubt that unseats all argument arises. I know you are true. I know you love 212 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. me, but just as such a belief begins to soothe me, I hear the mad snap of the dog I see the poisonous foam." I hardly knew what to do. I had never seen a woman so excited. I was fear ful that her mind might be seriously affected. "I will believe you," she said. "Yes, I will. You do love me, don t you? Yes, I know you do!" She placed a stool near my chair, sat down and clasped her hands over my knee. I put my arm around her, and, with an expression of sweetest confidence, she raised her lips to meet a kiss. "Annie, you must be calm, precious. A wicked man, unwillingly assisted by a weak fool and a brazen woman, have deceived you. Until I met you I knew not how to love, had thought not of love. I" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 213 She sprang to her feet, and bounding away from me, exclaimed : "But where is the proof? She showed me a marriage certificate!" "It was forged." "How do I know? Oh, I must have proof! I know that Brown is a scoun drel, but that does not prove that the woman is not your wife. Mr. Barker, you must excuse my impetuosity. I must go down to the kitchen." I arose and implored her to remain, but she brushed past me and hastened away. 214 MRS, ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XVIII. At supper Mrs. Green was calm, but she would hardly trust herself to look at me. The doctor looked at her anxiously. "Annie an Barker, here, have been havin a high old time," said Mr. Glad- well. "Been a gittin off dialogues about folks that s been bit by mad dogs an all that sort of thing. Made more fuss than a barn full of rats. Annie, what makes your hand trimble that way? W y, my sakes alive, gal, you ll have the palsy if you keep on." "Dan," said Mrs. Gladwell, in a voice of gentle reproof, "don t try to skeer the life outen a body. There ain t no danger of her havin the palsy, an you know it." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 215 "I reckon I know that," the old man rejoined. "My goodness, has it come to such a pass that a man can t say nothin around the house? It does look that way, Fll be hanged if it don t." "Well, Dan, we won t argy about it." "No, I reckon not, for there ain t no room." Immediately after supper I went to my cabin. I wanted to be alone. I knew that I was happy, yet I felt miserable; I knew that I was miserable, yet I felt happy. One moment it was enough to know that Annie loved me; the next moment it was too much to know that she doubted me. Some one tapped on the door. "Come in," I said. Dr. Hill entered. "Well," said he, "how do you find yourself?" "Oh, I can t complain." 216 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Have much of a talk with Annie?" "Yes, we talked" "Until you both became excited," he suggested. "At times we were excited, but upon the whole, I was remarkably calm." "Annie cut up like an actress, didn t she?" "She was much agitated." "Did you come to any conclusion?" "Well, just as I thought we had, Annie sprang away from me and declared that she could not believe me." "I told you of her peculiar disposition. About her there is so little to be con jectured so little necessity of anyone having to exercise faith that she some times demands too much of others. She is trying her best to believe you, yet can not, for this reason: She does not see why anything that is true can not be MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 21 7 proved at once, leaving no possible sur mise of doubt. She does not believe that the woman whom Brown introduced is your wife, and yet, can not believe she is not. The great anxiety which she feels and the hope which she has in favor of the truth of your statement, makes her more fearful of disappointment. At times we are all afraid to believe." "What you say is doubtless true, doc tor, but being true does not make the perplexity less galling. The question now is, how can I convince her? Brown, Cart- wright, and the woman whose name I have never heard are the only persons who can establish my truth and innocence, but they are the last persons who are likely to come forward and testify. I would send Cartwright a beseeching letter, but I know that he is Brown s slave." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. "Well, I don t know what to suggest. Say, if the woman claims to be your wife, why don t you demand a marriage certifi cate?" "She has a spurious one. She showed it to your sister." "I ll swear, old fellow, things do look a little bad, but I am confident that it will all be cleared up sooner or later." "Later, I am afraid." "We don t know; it may be sooner. After Brown discovers that his importun ities are in vain, and especially after he discovers that Annie has lost her money, he will quietly withdraw, and possibly may not be unwilling to make amends for the wrongs he has committed. Don t let it worry you any more than you can help. "Well, I ll leave you." The next morning, at the breakfast table, Mrs. Green appeared to be in excel- MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 2 19 lent humor. She laughed at the way I had combed my hair, and vowed that I could never become so neat as her brother. Dr. Hill must have fully explained to the old people, for during the day they sought every opportunity of encouraging private interviews between Mrs. Green and me. Again we sat alone by the great log fire. "You seem to be in good humor to-day, 11 said I. "Yes, I seem to be." "Well, are you not in a good humor?" "Excellent." "Why?" "Because I am happy." I had never seen her face so beautiful; I had never seen her smile so bright. "Why are you happy?" I asked. "Well, now," she rejoined, mischiev ously raising her eyebrows, "that is a pretty question to ask. You may ask 22O MRS, ANNIE GREEN. people why they are miserable, but you should not ask them why they are happy." "I confess, Annie may I call you Annie?" "Of course." "Well, I confess, Annie, that I do not see the force of your argument." "Oh, neither do I." "But now tell me why I find this change in you." She placed a stool near my chair and sat down. Her face was serene in its loveliness, and in her eyes there glowed the warm light of perfect confidence and true devotion. I kissed her glowing cheek again and again. "I believe you are the truest and noblest man in the world," she said. "No one but you would have gone through so much merely to cling to a hope that every moment threatened to break." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 221 "Annie, if you love me, if you believe that I am true, why can not our destinies be joined?" "They can be, they must be. Why, I would rather be miserable with you, Mr. Barker, than to be happy with any one else." "Why, what a little paradox you are." "Well, I would, for with you misery would be within itself a sort of happiness." "You haven t answered my question yet What has caused this great change in you?" "A letter." "From whom?" "From the woman who claimed to be your wife. Oh, everything is plain now and I know how foolish I was for doubt ing you." The letter that had caused such a won derful change in Mrs. Green was simply a 222 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. confession of the woman who had pre tended to be my wife. "I was hired by Brown," the writer said, "and probably never would have confessed the truth had it not been for Brown s villainy." "There does not remain a single doubt in your mind, does there, Annie?" I asked. "No, not one. Oh, how foolish I have been. Everything is plain now, but at one time everything was dark. But I could not help it. I have always been morbidly incredulous." "You do not owe me an apology," I replied. "Now that our troubles in one direction are over, now that I can dis passionately look back upon them, I fully appreciate the position in which you were placed." "Did I not tell you, dear," she said, with a slight change of manner, "that I had lost all my money?" MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 223 "Yes, I think you did." "You think I did? Why, did it con cern you so little that you do not now remember what I said?" "I was more interested in you than in your money, Annie." "What a model man you must be." "I do not assert that I am a model man." "Oh, of course not. If you were to make such a claim, the model would be broken, for men are rarely what they claim to be; but before I forget it let me tell you that I have some money enough to build us a house on one of these hills." "I have quite enough for that, Annie, and have already selected the site. I am glad that you do not care to live in town." "And I am glad that you prefer the country." 224 MRS - ANNIE GREEN. "By the way, I want to ask you some thing, something that has caused me hours of restless speculation." "Well, you may ask me anything and I will promise to tell you, that is, if I can." "In this instance I am sure you can. Why did you marry Mr. Green?" "I will tell you. When my mother was a young woman, she and Mr. Green were engaged to be married. The day was appointed and everything was ready when my mother met my father. They fell in love with each other, and my mother, knowing that to marry Mr. Green would be wrong, sent him a note breaking the engagement. Green remained loyal to his old love, and, touched by his fidelity, when I was quite small, my mother told Mr. Green that when I grew up he might, if he could gain my consent, marry me. Shortly before mother died, she told me MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 225 hem she had treated Mr. Green and asked me to marry him. I could not refuse, and some time afterward, when Mr. Green came down into the country and asked me to be his wife, I consented without a moment s hesitation. Now, you know." "And I must say that you played the part of a foolish heroine." "Yes, and I did not see how mother could expect me to marry him, knowing that she herself could not marry a man whom she did not love, but I could not reason with her or deny her wish." Dr. Hill entered. "You seem to be getting along pretty well," said he, as he drew up a chair and sat down. "Oh, we are," Annie replied. " "Everything settled, eh?" "Yes, and on a highly satisfactory basis," I answered. If 226 MRS. ANNIE GREEN, "Glad to hear it" Annie handed him the letter which had convinced her of my truthfulness. "Estelle Jones, eh?" said the doctor, when he had read the letter. "Rather straightforward in the way she expresses herself. Glad that she has come around all right. I was afraid that she would hold out and drive Annie crazy. Have you told uncle?" "No," Annie replied. "When are you going to be married?" "We haven t fixed a day yet," I an swered, "but I think that the marriage should take place as soon as convenient. We have no elaborate preparations to make." "Not going to make a display?" "Of course not." "I didn t know but you would go to town and parade around a little/ MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 227 "Brother, you are so provoking. You know very well that we don t want to make any display." 1 Going to invite Brown and Cartwright, I suppose?" "Oh, of course," she replied, with good- humored mockery. "We could not well get along without them." Mr. and Mrs. Gladwell were not sur prised when we told them of the approach ing marriage. The old lady was much pleased and the old man wished that he might never stir again if it wasn t an ex cellent match. When I remarked that we would live in the country instead of going back to town, the old man said: "That s where you show your sense. I told you all the time," he added, turning to his wife, "that Barker had sense, but you wouldn t believe me." "For pity sake, Dan, can t you tell the 228 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. truth once in a while? You know very well that I always did say that Mr. Bar ker was a smart man, an more than that, when they accused him of bein crazy, I vowed and declared that he wa n t, an you vowed and declared that you believed he was. Now, what do you think of that?" "Oh, well, we won t argy about it. It s no use to argy with a woman, Barker. Specially" he added with a wink "when she s got the facts on her side. Well, when is the affair to come off?" "Next Wednesday." "Ah, hah, just a week from to-day. Guess I ll have to knock down a shoat for the occasion." "We don t want anything" "Never mind, I know what I am about. It would never do to get married and not have a shoat for dinner." MRS. ANNIE GREEN. CHAPTER XIX. One morning, just two days before the time appointed for our marriage, Dr. Hill told me that Brown was in the neighbor hood. "I met him in the road, but did not speak to him, 1 the doctor went on. "He had a gun, and had doubtless come for a hunt." "I wonder if he knows that I am here?" "I should think that he does." "Yes, and I think that he is somewhat rash to throw himself in my way. I don t want to kill him, but well, I don t want to meet him." "I don t suppose he knows that Annie is here." 230 MRS, ANNIE GREEN. "Even if he did, I shouldn t think that he would come to the house." "I wouldn t if I were in his place." That afternoon, forgetful of Brown, forgetful of everything but the woman who was goon to become my wife, I strolled along the rugged edge of a ra vine. I had stopped to gaze at a massive rock when I heard the report of a gun. The next moment I saw Brown standing about a hundred yards away. He had evidently not discovered me. I Was not afmed and I did not care to meet him. I climbed a little way up the side of a bluff and concealed myself behind a rock. From my hiding-place I could see Brown. He slowly walked toward me. Suddenly he stopped and uttered an exclamation. He gazed intently at something. I looked around and saw some one approach ing. It was Cartwright. By this time MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 231 the two men were walking toward each other. "Cartwright, I don t want to have any trouble with you!" Brown exclaimed. Cartwright had drawn a pistol. He did not reply to Brown. "Stop!" Brown exclaimed. "Don t point that pistol at me. You wouldn t shoot a frog." "No, but I ll shoot a snake!" Cart wright exclaimed, and then he fired. Brown threw up his gun and fired both barrels. Cartwright fell, but raised him self on his elbow, and, with an effort, leveled his pistol at Brown. "Damn you, don t shoot me again. What the devil" Bang! Brown fell on his face, and Cartwright sank back. I hastened to the house. Every one was excited. Dr. Hill, the 232 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. old man and I lost no time in hasten ing to the scene of the tragedy. Brown was dead, but Cartwright was still alive. We telegraphed to Brown s friends, and an undertaker was immediately sent down. Cartwright seemed to be improv ing, but the doctor said that his case was hopeless. "Brown is dead, isn t he?" the wounded man asked one evening, as he lay in my cabin. "Yes," I replied. "I m glad of it. By the way, are you and Mrs. Green married?" "Not yet. We were to have been married several days ago, but postponed it on account of the tragedy." "I m sorry to have caused even a temporary postponement, but I had to kill that scoundrel. There is one fea ture about it that I can not help but MRS. ANNIE GREEN. 233 regret, and that is, Brown has killed me." "Why did you kill him?" Dr. Hill asked. "Well, I had several reasons, the main one being the fact that he bought the house where I lived, and, while I was away, turned my wife and children into the street. My wife died shortly after ward. She was dying of consumption when he turned her out. My children are at their grandfather s father s " He ceased speaking. Dr. Hill looked at him, turned to me and said: "His last joke has been written. He is gone." ****** Our wedding-day arrived. A number of the neighbors were invited. The old man had "knocked down" several shoats, and the old lady, busy with her cakes and 234 MRS, ANNIE GREEN. loaves of bread, was about as happy, her husband remarked, as it was possible for a woman to be. "I reckon women can be as happy as anybody else," she snapped. "Get out of my way. Plague take the man, he ll turn over the table." "I ve been here some time," he replied, "and I ve never turned over a table yit," We had sent Mrs. Hicks an invitation to be present at our wedding, but had no idea that she would come. She did come, however. She and little Vilsie arrived the day before the marriage. Vilsie was delighted to see me, and declared that I must throw aside everything and write her a story. I was in too much of a state of happy indolence to have complied had not a gentle voice, which I have since that time learned to heed, urged me to accommodate the child. MRS. ANNIE GREEN. Srtow was falling on the wedding-day, but this made the fire seem brighter, and lent an additional air of comfort to the sitting-room. Annie was plainly dressed. I had never before seen her so beautiful. Everybody was in high spirits, and when the old minister had performed the simple ceremony, every one pressed forward to shake hands with us. The doctor was full of pranks, and old man Gladwell kept the company laughing. "Well," said the old fellow, "corrte on out now, and let us eat a bite. We haven t got much, but I guess we can make out. I wanted a lot of stuff cooked up, but wife she objected. She said the company that would be here wasn t used to much nohow, and she didn t want to be the cause of em eating themselves sick." "Dan," exclaimed the old lady, "it is astonishing that you can t tell the truth. 236 MRS. ANNIE GREEN. I never saw such a man since the day I was born to die. I never, I never did. You keep a body pestered all the time." "Well, we won t argy about it. Come, all hands." I have never seen a more bountiful feast, and I have never seen a happier company. * * : * Several years have passed since Annie and I were married, years of happiness. Our house away up here on the hill is a perfect paradise, Annie says, and I have many reasons for believing that she is right. Mrs. Hicks is married again. Annie and I gave her a farm for a wedding present. [THE END.] GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 1954LU LD 21-100m-l, 54(1887816)476 M130308 im is THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY fttfl