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 George Gary Eggleston, 
 Author of "Two Gen- 
 tlemen of Virginia." 
 Lothrop, Lee & Shepard 
 Co.
 
 " We are two gentlemen of Virginia 
 -we need no writing."
 
 YOU AND I 
 
 5 FRIENDS. WE ABE TWO GENTLEMEN OF 
 
 VIRGINIA." Page 434.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN 
 OF VIRGINIA 
 
 A NOVEL OF THE OLD REGIME 
 IN THE OLD DOMINION 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "DOROTHY SOUTH," "A CAROLINA CAVALIER," 
 
 "THE MASTER OF WARLOCK," "EVELYN BYRD," "A 
 
 DAUGHTER OF THE SOUTH," "BLIND ALLEYS," 
 
 " LOVE IS THE SUM OF IT ALL" 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK T. MERRILL 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO,
 
 Published, August, 1908 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPHARD Co. 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 Two GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Norwood Press 
 
 BERWICK & SMITH Co. 
 
 Norwood. Mass. 
 
 U. S. A.
 
 T5 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 Cbastafn Cocfte 
 
 OF VIRGINIA 
 
 WHOSE NOBILITY OF CHARACTER, GENEROSITY OF MIND, AND UP- 
 RIGHTNESS OF LIFE WERE AN INSPIRATION TO ME IN YOUTH, 
 AND WHOSE PERSONALITY IS IMPERFECTLY SUGGESTED IN 
 THAT OF COLONEL BUTLER SHENSTONE. I INSCRIBE 
 THIS STORY OF THE OLD REGIME IN THE OLD 
 DOMINION, WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 In this novel I have endeavored to fulfil one 
 
 of the chief functions of history in the modern 
 
 2 conception of historical writing. 
 
 '* Incidentally to the telling of a love story, I 
 
 5 have sought to present a faithful picture of 
 
 the life of the time and region of which I have 
 
 written; to set forth its manners, habits and 
 
 conditions with accuracy and in detail ; to por- 
 
 " w tray the character of the people, to show what 
 
 j were their ideals and their standards, and to 
 
 present them as they were to readers of a later 
 
 and far less picturesque time. 
 
 3 In aid of this purpose I have mentioned 
 
 g many details of custom and condition which 
 
 8 may seem trivial in themselves, but which are 
 
 imperatively necessary to the verisimilitude of 
 
 lj the picture. 
 
 It is proper to add that I have written solely 
 of things that I personally remember. As a 
 youth I was brought into that life from with-
 
 PREFACE 
 
 out. I studied it in perspective, as one bred in 
 it could not have done. I lived it and loved it, 
 and now, half a century later, I write of it with 
 admiration, if not always with approval. 
 
 GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON. 
 New York City, 1908.
 
 Illustrations 
 
 " YOU AND I ARE FRIENDS. WE ARE TWO GENTLE- 
 MEN OF VIRGINIA." (Page 433) . . Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 SHE SUDDENLY TURNED HER MARE ABOUT AND FACED 
 
 HER ESCORT 60 
 
 " HERE is OUR PATENT OF VIRGINIA NOBILITY " . . 102 
 "TELL ME! is UNCLE BUTLER VERY ILL?" . . .150 
 
 " YOUR VEHICLE STANDS READY FOR YOU. Go ! GO ! 
 
 GO!" . . , .. . . . ... . . . .222 
 
 " OH, UNCLE BUTLER ! WHAT is THE MATTER ? " . . 420
 
 Two Gentlemen of Virginia 
 
 '' ' ' i Wl . 
 
 ABOUT eight o'clock on an evening in 
 June of the year 1857, a very notice- 
 able young man entered the Exchange 
 Hotel and Ballard House, the twin hotels 
 that had recently been connected by a crystal 
 bridge spanning Franklin street, just east of 
 the Capitol Square, in Richmond, Virginia. 
 
 He had come from the railroad train in a 
 cab, and his trunks and handbags, several in 
 number, were following him into the great 
 office room of the hotel, on the willing backs 
 of negro porters who interpreted their number 
 and " style " as a promise of generous tips to 
 come. 
 
 The young man bowed politely to the clerk, 
 said " Good evening," in a low, attractive but 
 very resonant voice the voice of a man ac- 
 i
 
 2 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 customed to make himself heard without effort 
 and registered his name as 
 
 " PHILIP SHENSTONE," 
 and his residence as 
 
 " THE WEST." 
 
 Before writing he carelessly tossed to one of 
 the negro servitors the overcoat he had carried 
 on his arm. The negro interpreted the act as 
 a promise. The carrying of any overcoat at 
 all by a traveler in Virginia in June was a 
 thing of so rare occurrence in those days that 
 it would of itself have attracted the attention of 
 the all-observant hotel clerk. But the quality 
 and fashioning of this particular overcoat were 
 still more impressive upon the clerk's mind. 
 From the overcoat his quickly scrutinizing 
 glance passed to the young man's other gar- 
 ments. In an instant he had decided that this 
 was altogether the best dressed gentleman who 
 had ever registered at that hotel during his 
 period of service there. The young man's cos- 
 tume was wholly unobtrusive, but the clerk 
 observed that his garments were made of the 
 very finest fabrics he had ever seen, that they 
 were exquisitely finished in every detail and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 3 
 
 that there was absolute perfection in the way 
 they fitted their wearer unconscious, as he 
 seemed to be even of their existence. 
 
 The clerk's first conclusion was that here 
 was a man accustomed to wearing good clothes 
 and never thinking about them. 
 
 The effect was helped, perhaps, by the un- 
 usual symmetry of the young man's person. 
 He was a trifle under six feet in height, 
 strong-limbed, broad-chested, straight-backed 
 and of easily upright carriage. 
 
 All these details the clerk took in at a glance, 
 while Shenstone was writing in the register. 
 
 " I suppose you will want a room all to 
 yourself," he said, admiringly, as he turned the 
 registry book around and read the name re- 
 corded. 
 
 It was customary at that time, even in very 
 good hotels, to have two or three beds in each 
 room, and to assign two or three gentlemen to 
 occupy them, except in those special cases in 
 which a guest with a fastidious preference for 
 privacy and with money to waste, insisted 
 upon paying double and having an entire room 
 to himself. Shenstone knew the custom and
 
 4 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 was not surprised by the clerk's question. For 
 answer he said: 
 
 " I should like two large rooms, adjoining 
 and opening into each other. Please have one 
 bed placed in one of them, and fit the other up 
 as a sitting room," 
 
 Observing the clerk's perplexity of look, and 
 conjecturing correctly that the hotel had no 
 suites of the kind he wanted, he continued : 
 
 " Perhaps you have two parlors on your 
 first floor that you could fit up in that way for 
 my use." 
 
 The clerk's first impulse was to suggest that 
 such an arrangement would be rather costly, 
 but lightning-like reflection convinced him that 
 with this guest it would be safer not to volun- 
 teer suggestions of economy or of anything 
 else. Philip Shenstone impressed him as a 
 gentleman who knew his own mind and was 
 accustomed to manage his own affairs. 
 
 He gave hurried orders, therefore, for the 
 sequestration of two of the public parlors and 
 the conversion of one of them into a bedroom 
 and the other into a sitting room for Mr. Philip 
 Shenstone's use.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 5 
 
 When these orders were issued, the clerk 
 turned again to Shenstone, with a note of in- 
 terrogation in his face, as if he meant to ask 
 what more the gentleman might want. Philip 
 answered the look: 
 
 " Sometime to-night whenever a belated 
 train comes in from the South, a young lady 
 and her attendant a white woman will 
 arrive at the hotel. I may be engaged at the 
 time, as some gentlemen are to call upon me, 
 but when these two come the girl's name is 
 Valorie Page and her companion is Made- 
 moiselle Nathalie I desire to be informed of 
 the fact, no matter who may be with me. In 
 the meanwhile I want you to reserve for them 
 two of the very pleasantest rooms you have in 
 the house. They will probably remain for a 
 day or two, and I wish them to be made as 
 comfortable as possible." 
 
 Declining the suggestion of supper, Shen- 
 stone asked to be shown to his rooms, if they 
 were ready, and to have all his baggage sent to 
 them. A negro waiter conducted him up one 
 flight of stairs the elevator had not been 
 invented at that time and with a half dollar
 
 6 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 in his palm, the servitor took back to the office 
 the request that any one who might call upon 
 Mr. Shenstone during the evening should be 
 shown up to his rooms without announcement, 
 by card or otherwise. 
 
 Philip Shenstone's reason for giving this 
 direction lay in a letter that had been placed in 
 his hand when he quitted the Fredericksburg 
 train in Broad street, where the railway came 
 to a frazzled and unannounced end in the open 
 street, without station, platform or any other 
 convenience for the reception or discharge of 
 passengers. He had read the missive hur- 
 riedly in the cab. When he sat down in his 
 room he read it again, in the vain hope of mak- 
 ing out what it meant. It read : 
 
 "My Dear Phil: I am not at Woodlands, as I 
 hoped to be on your arrival, and I shall not be 
 there for several days to come. Make yourself and 
 your ward as comfortable as you can at the hotel. 
 A friend of mine will call on you and explain. 
 " Your affectionate uncle, 
 
 " BUTLER SHENSTONE." 
 
 The letter bore no date, and as it had been 
 delivered by hand, there was no postmark or 
 other indication of whence it had come.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 7 
 
 This specially puzzled Phil Shenstone, for 
 reasons. It had been many years since he had 
 seen his uncle, but he very distinctly remem- 
 bered that gentleman's habits of precision, and 
 especially his almost passionate insistence upon 
 the duty every letter writer owes to his cor- 
 respondent to indicate where and when each 
 missive is written and whither the reply should 
 be sent. This was one among the many dog- 
 mas of gentlemanly conduct which Phil had 
 often in his youth heard his uncle Butler 
 descant upon with almost extravagant em- 
 phasis. 
 
 An undated letter from Colonel Butler Shen- 
 stone seemed therefore so great an anomaly, 
 that Phil would have put it aside as certainly a 
 forgery, if it had been possible to doubt its 
 genuineness. But the old gentleman's hand- 
 writing was peculiar in many ways and espe- 
 cially in its print-like legibility a point upon 
 which Colonel Shenstone insisted as a require- 
 ment of morals. 
 
 " Nobody has a moral right," he used often 
 to declaim, " to write illegibly. The man who 
 does so is a monster of selfishness. He spares
 
 8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 himself the small pains necessary to make his 
 writing legible, and throws upon his corre- 
 spondent the burden of deciphering a careless 
 scrawl. I tell you sir, no gentleman sends an 
 illegible letter or even one difficult to read, to 
 anybody." 
 
 Phil knew Colonel Shenstone's handwriting, 
 and he knew that the puzzling letter he held 
 in his hand was genuine. But what did it 
 mean? 
 
 While he was debating that question in his 
 mind there was a knock at his door, and a gen- 
 tlemen entered. He introduced himself as 
 Major Charles Yerger, and Phil Shenstone at 
 once remembered him as the man who in his 
 own youth had taught him how to shoot with 
 rifle, shotgun and pistol, until his skill, espe- 
 cially in wing-shooting at quails, was the talk 
 of eastern Virginia. That had been a dozen 
 years or so ago, when Phil was a boy. 
 
 Major Yerger was as much pleased by the 
 young man's recollection of him as if he had 
 been a school boy and Phil a high trustee of 
 the school. But the Major was there upon im- 
 portant business. After the greetings were
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 9 
 
 over he suddenly opened the door, with an 
 apologetic wave of the hand to Philip Shen- 
 stone, and, discovering a negro waiter stand- 
 ing suspiciously near the entrance, handed the 
 servitor half a dollar and bade him go to the 
 head of the stairs, some distance away, and 
 keep watch there for a man in a white hat with 
 a plume in it. 
 
 " I trust you," he said, " to prevent any such 
 man as that approaching Captain Shenstone's 
 door without warning. Watch the stairs, and 
 if you don't let the man pass you there'll be 
 another half dollar for you when I come out 
 of the room. If you let him pass you I'll break 
 your neck and throw you over the balusters." 
 
 " Who is the man in the white hat? " Phil 
 asked as Major Yerger closed the door. 
 
 " A figment of the imagination," answered 
 the Major. " That negro was listening at the 
 door. He'll stand at the head of the stairs 
 now and look for the white hat. He hungers 
 for that other half dollar, and he dreads the 
 stairs, head foremost. 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Phil.
 
 II 
 
 MINDFUL of Virginia customs, made 
 familiar to him in his youth, Philip 
 Shenstone asked Major Yerger 
 what he would have to drink. 
 
 " Nothing whatever," answered the Major. 
 " I make it a rule to keep a cool head and take 
 no risks when engaged in conducting an affair 
 of this kind. Pardon me, I haven't explained. 
 Your uncle is in trouble, and of course, in hid- 
 ing. He sent me to tell you about it." 
 
 " Do you mean " began the young man, 
 but changing the form of reply he said : 
 " Tell me all about it, please." 
 " Well, it's a miserable business and I 
 and the others have done our best to stop it. 
 There's a fellow out our way named Royal 
 Vance, who has made quite a little reputation 
 for courage by fighting two or three pretty 
 10
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA u 
 
 safe duels and challenging in a number of 
 other cases which were easily arranged." 
 
 " A blowhard ? " asked Shenstone, senten- 
 tiously. 
 
 " Yes, of course. All aggressive duelists 
 are that. I was one myself once, you know, 
 and I speak with authority. You laugh, but 
 that's true. As I was about to say, your 
 uncle was counsel not long ago in a case 
 against Vance. It was a bad case, involving a 
 good deal of shady behavior on Vance's part. 
 You know how your uncle regards that sort of 
 thing, and how bitter a tongue he has in his 
 head when his sense of honor is affronted. 
 You can imagine the vitriol he put into his 
 speech to the jury. He won his case hands 
 down, but Vance has been pursuing him ever 
 since and at last has found an excuse for chal- 
 lenging him." 
 
 " But Colonel Shenstone must be nearly or 
 quite seventy years of age." 
 
 " Yes, I know. But he peremptorily for- 
 bids us to plead his age or the fact that his 
 vision is so badly impaired that he can hardly 
 tell at twenty paces whether a barn door is
 
 12 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 open or shut. He accepted the challenge, and 
 tied our hands completely by his refusal to let 
 us urge the facts. ' I'm young enough to have 
 flayed Vance in a speech,' he said to us, ' and 
 so I'm not too old to give him satisfaction if 
 he wants it.' " 
 
 "Who is 'us?'" asked Phil. 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Who is acting with you in his behalf ? " 
 
 " A young man named Wingfield, ah ex- 
 army officer, who recently inherited a planta- 
 tion. He's the second. I'm under peace 
 bonds just now, because of another affair, and 
 can't act except as a friend trying to make 
 peace." 
 
 " Would Mr. Wingfield mind letting me 
 take his place as second ? As my uncle's kins- 
 man " 
 
 " Nothing could be simpler. You were not 
 within reach when the challenge was received. 
 You have since arrived. It is obviously both 
 your right and your duty to become your kins- 
 man's second. I'll arrange that. Fortunately 
 the affair doesn't come off till day after to- 
 morrow morning. Your uncle, you know, has
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 13 
 
 a number of trust estates in his hands, and in 
 the interests of innocent persons, we claimed 
 for him time in which to transfer his responsi- 
 bilities. Vance's seconds, who are strangers 
 to me, acted very well in that matter, though 
 Vance himself objected." 
 
 "Bloodthirsty, eh?" 
 
 " Within the bounds of reasonable safety, 
 yes." 
 
 " I think I understand. I always like to 
 understand. I used to be a pilot on the Mis- 
 sissippi, you know, and I always make it a rule 
 to know a stream before I navigate it. In this 
 case I see a straight reach of open river ahead, 
 and I'm ready to take the wheel. Have me 
 made my uncle's chief second ; ask Mr, Wing- 
 field to be my adviser, and let me know when 
 and where to meet the persons concerned. " 
 
 " I suppose it will be pistols at ten paces, 
 the usual thing? " 
 
 " No. Double-barreled shotguns', charged 
 with three chambers of number one buckshot 
 distance, twenty paces." 
 
 " That is unusual." 
 
 " The whole thing is unusual. It is very
 
 14 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 unusual for a comparatively young man in 
 vigorous health to force a duel upon a gentle- 
 man of seventy, who is practically blind. I 
 have it in mind to do something in this case for 
 the discouragement of that sort of dueling. 
 Send me word where and when I am to meet 
 Mr. Vance's representatives. I will await the 
 summons here. I suppose it won't be long? " 
 
 " Not before to-morrow morning. There's 
 no hurry, as the meeting is set for the next 
 morning." 
 
 With that the Major took his leave, medi- 
 tating in his mind : 
 
 "Wonder what the boy is up to? If he 
 were the principal instead of . the second, I 
 shouldn't envy the man standing twenty paces 
 away. Why, I've seen that fellow fill a bag 
 with quails shot on the wing with a rifle. 
 With a shotgun at twenty paces, great Caesar's 
 ghost wouldn't have a better chance than an 
 egg shell under a trip hammer. But his uncle 
 can't see. Wonder what he's up to anyhow."
 
 Ill 
 
 NO sooner had Major Yerger left the 
 hotel than word came to young 
 Shenstone that the girl, Valorie 
 Page, and her maid, nurse or chaperone 
 whatever the attendant might be called had 
 arrived, and had gone to their rooms. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances Phil Shen- 
 stone would have had them remain there, and 
 see him later. As he could not know how 
 early in the morning he might be summoned 
 away to meet the seconds of his uncle's adver- 
 sary, he directed that the Creole woman and 
 her charge should be sent to his parlor at once. 
 
 He knew Nathalie well. He had had deal- 
 ings with her. She was even now in his pay. 
 But he had never before seen Valorie Page, 
 and her appearance greatly astonished him. 
 
 He had thought of her as a mere child 
 a little girl. He was astonished to find her a 
 15
 
 16 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 well grown girl of seventeen or even older, 
 perhaps, disguised in the short frock of a child. 
 She was slender, straight, rather tall, and dis- 
 tinctly handsome, rather than pretty. She 
 carried herself with a dignity which impressed 
 Shenstone as imitative. 
 
 " She learned that from the Mother Supe- 
 rior, I imagine," he reflected, " and it is more 
 impressive in a girl of her age than in an older 
 woman. It gives her a marked distinction. 
 But how badly dressed she is! I say, Natha- 
 lie, has Miss Page no well, no more suit- 
 able clothes than those she is wearing? What 
 is in her trunks ? " 
 
 " If it please you, sir, she has no trunks. 
 You know she left the convent" 
 
 " Yes, I know, hurriedly. I quite under- 
 stand. We must remedy that. We shall re- 
 main in this hotel for a day or two. Is your 
 room comfortable, Valorie? Because if it 
 isn't " 
 
 " Very comfortable indeed, Monsieur 
 Mr. Shenstone, I should say. Indeed com- 
 fortable, very.*' 
 
 " All right then. Can you be contented
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 17 
 
 in this hotel for a day or two, if you have 
 plenty to do? I shall be detained here for a 
 little time, and very busy. Nathalie shall send 
 for dressmakers and you and she can occupy 
 yourselves in the making of some new gowns 
 while I'm busy. I suppose there'll be well, 
 other things, Nathalie, besides gowns. Bless 
 my soul, I don't know what, but you do, and 
 you're to get them. Have everything you buy 
 sent to the hotel and everything will be paid 
 for at the office. I'll arrange that. Take a 
 carriage when you go shopping and " 
 
 He hesitated a moment, looking with mas- 
 culine uncertainty at the girl's exceedingly 
 brief skirts and the generally insufficient char- 
 acter of her costume. 
 
 " Couldn't you hang a lambrequin or some- 
 thing to the bottom of her skirt and let her go 
 with you? She'd enjoy picking out things, 
 but I must say " 
 
 He hesitated again, fearful of hurting the 
 girl's feelings. 
 
 " I have a gown of my own," answered 
 Nathalie, "which I can alter to-night into a 
 sufficient shopping costume for Miss Valorie.
 
 i8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 I shall have it quite ready by the morning and 
 we will go together to the shops. How much 
 money shall we spend, Mr. Shenstone? " 
 
 " How on earth do I know ? That's your 
 business. You are to upholster the girl prop- 
 erly, so that she may be presentable when I 
 take her to Woodlands. I don't know what 
 you ought to pay for lace or bombazine, or 
 how many hats and shoes and corsets and 
 night gowns she ought to have. You do, or 
 you ought to. Fit her out well. That's all 
 the instruction I can give you. Now then, 
 Valorie, sit down," for the girl was still stand- 
 ing like a child who had been summoned to 
 the presence of her school principal to answer 
 for some fault. " Sit down and let's get 
 acquainted. Tell me what you had for sup- 
 per." 
 
 " We haven't had any supper," she replied, 
 simply. " The train was late and when we got 
 to the eating house station supper was over." 
 
 In that time of primitive railroading no 
 such thing as a dining car had ever been 
 thought of, and the chief purpose of a " re- 
 freshment station/' was to make the passenger
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 19 
 
 pay the most that could be extorted from him 
 for the least and the worst food he could be 
 compelled by adverse circumstances to accept. 
 
 Shenstone wasted no time in bewailing the 
 hungry plight of the girl or declaiming against 
 travel conditions that no complaint could cure. 
 He rose and pulled the bell cord, stretching 
 his person over the piano to get at it. Elec- 
 tric bells were not in use at that time, and 
 bell cords were usually hung in the most in- 
 accessible places. When the bell boy appeared 
 Shenstone ordered supper served for three in 
 his rooms immediately. The boy objected 
 that the kitchen and dining room were closed 
 for the night. 
 
 " Call a cab then, and inquire at the office 
 where the best restaurant in Richmond is. 
 Be quick." 
 
 Then looking again at the long, exposed 
 legs of the girl, he turned to Nathalie and 
 asked : 
 
 " Have you any sort of cloak or wrap or 
 mantilla something long at the bottom you 
 know which Miss Valorie might wear? 
 We're going to Zetelle's for supper." He
 
 20 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 perfectly knew that Zetelle's was the best res- 
 taurant in town, and his instruction to the bell 
 boy as to inquiries on that subject, had been 
 prompted only by the fact that the boy had 
 stared at the girl's exposed shanks in an im- 
 pertinent way. He had felt it necessary either 
 to send the boy out of the room on an errand 
 of business, or else to kick him out with a de- 
 gree of violence, which might cause disturb- 
 ance in the corridors. Shenstone remembered 
 that he was occupying parlors on the first floor, 
 and that there were other parlors round about. 
 
 At Zetelle's the girl was far less shy than 
 she had been at the hotel, perhaps, because 
 Nathalie's wraps, which she kept closely coiled 
 about her knees, spared her self-consciousness. 
 
 To Nathalie she usually spoke in French 
 after discovering that Shenstone understood 
 that language fairly well. To Shenstone she 
 spoke only in English. 
 
 Her English had, now and then, not an 
 accent exactly, but a suggestion of foreign- 
 ness, chiefly in her choice and arrangement of 
 words. Her French was as perfect as if she 
 had learned it in Paris salons.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 21 
 
 She was very weary after her journey, but 
 she bravely rallied under the influence of sup- 
 per, and before the party had returned to the 
 hotel she had so far taken Shenstone into her 
 confidence as to tell him, in childlike confi- 
 dence, that she " liked him very, very much."
 
 IV 
 
 IT was ten o'clock the next morning when 
 Philip Shenstone, with Major Yerger and 
 Captain Wingfield for his supporters, met 
 the seconds of the challenger, Vance. In fact, 
 they met to plan a duel. Ostensibly they met 
 to prevent a duel by securing some amicable 
 adjustment of the " misunderstanding." 
 
 All parties were agreed that if possible the 
 duel should give place to an " arrangement," 
 all parties, that is to say, except Philip 
 Shenstone, and even he favored an " arrange- 
 ment," if one could be made upon proper 
 terms. 
 
 " What is your idea of proper terms ? " 
 asked Vance's second. 
 
 " That Mr. Vance shall withdraw his chal- 
 lenge, on the ground that the severe words 
 spoken by Colonel Shenstone were spoken in 
 the execution of his duty as counsel in a case at 
 22
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 23 
 
 bar, and that for words so spoken he is not 
 liable to be called to account in any other 
 place. Let me add that we justify also; that 
 we contend that the words spoken by Colonel 
 Shenstone, including the charge that Vance 
 forged or secured some one else to forge the 
 note upon which he sued, are true." 
 
 " But, my dear Captain Shenstone," inter- 
 posed Vance's second, " you must see that no 
 such concession is possible, and that if you in- 
 sist upon it, the hostile meeting must take 
 place." 
 
 " I quite understand that," answered Phil 
 Shenstone. " I mean that the hostile meeting 
 shall take place. Let me explain myself. We 
 are forbidden by Colonel Shenstone to plead 
 his age or his impaired vision or any other dis- 
 ability on his part. But your principal knew 
 of these disabilities from the first, and, cow- 
 ard that he is, he forced this duel upon an 
 old man who cannot see. In the language of 
 a game that I have often observed on the 
 Mississippi river, I have decided to ' call his 
 bluff.' Under the code, if a principal in a 
 duel refuses, or otherwise fails to come to the
 
 24 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 scratch, his second is bound to take his place. 
 That obligation of the second carries a privi- 
 lege with it. There are two well established 
 precedents in the history of Virginia dueling 
 for contending that at any time when he shall 
 think it proper the second may take his prin- 
 cipal's place, and that the principal, having 
 placed his honor in the keeping of his second, 
 has no right or privilege of interfering." 
 
 " Just what do you mean ? " 
 
 " I mean that when Mr. Vance and Colonel 
 Shenstone meet to-morrow morning with 
 double-barreled shotguns at twenty paces, I, 
 who can see and who can shoot, intend to take 
 my principal's place, no matter how many ob- 
 jections he may offer. As his second, to 
 whose care he has committed his honor, I 
 claim the right to stand in his stead, so that 
 Virginia may be spared the spectacle of a 
 young man who can see to shoot, killing a half 
 blind old man who can see scarcely at all. 
 That is my plan, gentlemen." 
 
 Instantly the representatives of the chal- 
 lenger asked leave to withdraw for consider- 
 ation and for consultation with their principal.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 25 
 
 Phil Shenstone's skill as a wing shot, who fired 
 from the hip without waiting to bring his piece 
 to his shoulder, had not been forgotten in Vir- 
 ginia, and Vance's seconds recognized it as a 
 factor in the situation. When they withdrew, 
 Shenstone lighted a cigar and set about polish- 
 ing his ringer nails while awaiting their re- 
 turn. 
 
 An hour later they came back. 
 
 " Mr. Vance declines your proposal that you 
 shall take your principal's place," they re- 
 ported, " on the sufficient ground that he has 
 no cause of quarrel with you." 
 
 " Mr. Vance's notion of what constitutes a 
 cause of quarrel seems to me to be peculiarly 
 deficient in clearness. In my remarks to you 
 I have characterized him as a coward who 
 seeks to commit murder under the pretense 
 of honorable personal war. As that assertion 
 of mine seems insufficient to irritate his mind, 
 I beg to add that I now adopt the charge made 
 against him by Colonel Shenstone, and make it 
 my own. I charge him with forgery. If, 
 upon consultation with your principal, you find 
 that some further provocation is necessary, I
 
 26 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 suggest that you shall bring him into my pres- 
 ence, and permit me to give him an unmistak- 
 able cause of quarrel by slapping his jaws with 
 my gloves or with my open palm, whichever 
 he may think most effective." 
 
 He paused and the others stood aghast and 
 bewildered by his resoluteness. After a mo- 
 ment he added : 
 
 " Gentlemen, I am very sorry indeed to 
 place you in an embarrassing position, but the 
 fault is your principal's and not mine. When 
 you consented to serve him, as his seconds, 
 I am quite ready to believe, you did not realize 
 that he is a coward, who has sought reputation 
 and safety by forcing a fight upon an elderly 
 gentleman who cannot see to shoot. I am 
 in no way responsible for the situation in 
 which he has placed himself and you. But 
 that situation is this : He must meet me to- 
 morrow morning at sunrise, with double-bar- 
 reled shotguns, loaded with three chambers of 
 number one buckshot to the barrel, or he must 
 withdraw his challenge to Colonel Shenstone, 
 and leave me to take any further proceedings I 
 may deem proper."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 27 
 
 Vance's seconds again withdrew for consul- 
 tation with their principal. Half an hour later 
 they returned and asked if Colonel Shenstone 
 would withdraw the more offensive words used 
 in his speech. 
 
 " No," answered Philip. " Colonel Shen- 
 stone has no apologies and no withdrawals to 
 make. What is the use of wasting time, gen- 
 tlemen? This thing has fined itself down to 
 the question whether or not your principal will 
 meet me, as Colonel Shenstone's second, taking 
 his place, with shotguns at twenty paces, or 
 will withdraw his challenge. There is no other 
 issue, and, as Colonel Shenstone's second I 
 give notice that I will consider no proposal to 
 alter the issue." 
 
 Again the seconds withdrew. Presently 
 they returned in a mood of profound disgust 
 and indignation. Vance had allowed himself 
 to be arrested as a man contemplating a duel. 
 As matters then existed in Virginia, that meant 
 that Vance had deliberately secured his own 
 arrest as a convenient way of escaping from 
 the duel he had sought and from which he 
 shrank because of Phil Shenstone's substitu-
 
 28 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 tion of himself for his uncle in the character of 
 the man who was to do the shooting. No 
 other explanation was possible. It was not 
 considered " good form " in Virginia, at that 
 time, for the officers of the law to succeed in 
 finding anybody engaged in a duel, so long as 
 he kept himself, even nominally, in hiding. 
 
 The gentlemen who had been acting for 
 Vance, fully recognized the situation. 
 
 " If you demand a meeting," they said, " of 
 course we hold ourselves bound to take the 
 place of our recalcitrant principal." 
 
 "Thank you for the courtesy, gentlemen," 
 answered Shenstone. " I recognize your posi- 
 tion and honor your readiness to fulfill a dis- 
 agreeable duty. But I have no demand to 
 make of you." 
 
 " Let me offer you my hand, Captain Shen- 
 stone," said the late second of Vance, " and 
 permit me to hope that we shall meet many 
 times hereafter under pleasanter conditions 
 than those which have brought us together 
 upon the present occasion. Of course, we 
 must now present ourselves before a commit- 
 ting magistrate."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 29 
 
 " What for? " asked Shenstone. 
 
 " Simply to be examined, to decline to 
 answer any questions put to us, and to be dis- 
 charged. It would be the same if the duel 
 had actually occurred and you had taken a 
 wing shot at well at the man we have re- 
 pudiated. You may or may not understand 
 it, Captain, but the law of Virginia with re- 
 gard to dueling has been carefully framed to 
 forbid duels, but at the same time to render 
 it impossible to punish anybody for doing the 
 thing forbidden. The law makes dueling a 
 crime, but in an excess of virtuous condemna- 
 tion it holds everybody a criminal who has any- 
 thing to do with a duel, or who knows any- 
 thing about it, and doesn't succeed in pre- 
 venting it. But as every possible witness in 
 such a case is excused from testifying on the 
 ground that his testimony might incriminate 
 himself, of course it is impossible utterly, 
 hopelessly impossible to establish the fact 
 that anything like a duel was ever so much as 
 contemplated. But we must go through the 
 forms, you know." 
 
 " I see. It reminds me of the old days in
 
 30 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Louisville. There was a Sabbath Day En- 
 forcement League in that city. It demanded 
 an ordinance closing all shops on Sunday. 
 The city government won the favor of the 
 leaguers by passing a very stringent ordinance 
 to that effect, and then pleased the other fel- 
 lows by utterly neglecting to enforce it. Do 
 you like a good cigar ? I think you'll find one 
 of these acceptable."
 
 ON returning to his hotel, Phil Shen- 
 stone found a note from his uncle 
 awaiting him. 
 
 " My Dear Phil," it read. " I cannot at 
 all approve the course you have pursued in this 
 Vance matter. It seems to me to have been 
 at the least impertinent. But as all my ad- 
 visers assure me that you acted in strict ac- 
 cordance with the code, and warn me that if 
 I enter the smallest objection or in any way 
 criticise your conduct I shall be deemed an 
 outlaw, I can only say that I submit as re- 
 luctantly as may be possible under the rules 
 that govern the conduct of honorable gentle- 
 men in such circumstances. 
 
 " Now when are you coming to Woodlands 
 with the young lady you have in charge ? Or, 
 to speak more accurately, at what time shall I 
 send the Woodlands carriage to the hotel to
 
 32 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 fetch you and the young lady? For, of 
 course, she must come to us in the Woodlands 
 carriage. As for you, you are under as much 
 of censure and displeasure on my part as the 
 code permits, but your old familiar room is at 
 your service, and your Aunt Mary has come 
 over to Woodlands for a few days to receive 
 the young lady. 
 
 " I am so sorely displeased with you that if 
 you can make yourself and your charge com- 
 fortable at the hotel for another twenty-four 
 hours, it will be agreeable to me. I want a 
 little time in which to forgive you. But send 
 me a line to Woodlands by my messenger, who 
 has instructions to await your reply, and I will 
 send the carriage at such time as you shall fix 
 upon." 
 
 Philip Shenstone's face broke into a broad 
 smile, as he read the communication. 
 
 " We are two gentlemen of Virginia," he 
 reflected. " One of us is old and the other 
 young. We look at things with different eyes. 
 But the young man sees more clearly than the 
 old one does. Still the old gentleman is en- 
 titled to his feeling in the matter."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 33 
 
 " My dear uncle," he wrote. " Doubtless 
 you are quite right in what you say of my im- 
 pertinence. But it is the privilege of youth to 
 be impertinent. I remember how it was when 
 you caught me stealing watermelons from your 
 Hawe Branch patch, when I was a boy. You 
 denounced me as an impertinent young 
 poacher, but you called my attention to the 
 fact that all the really ripe watermelons were 
 on the other side of the patch, and in kindly, 
 generous spirit, you went away leaving me free 
 to profit by your instruction. 
 
 " Now I want to explain the impertinence 
 that prompted me to interfere as I did with 
 your duel. I hate dueling. I detest it. I 
 regard it as a relic of barbarism. I see clearly 
 that it survives in Virginia simply because a 
 set of cowardly braggarts think to win a max- 
 imum of reputation for chivalric courage at a 
 minimum risk of personal safety. They chal- 
 lenge old men or men who are practically blind, 
 and they fight with pistols that couldn't hit 
 anybody if they tried. A dozen years ago, 
 when I was a boy with an inquiring mind, I 
 investigated this thing. I tested a dozen pairs
 
 34 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 of dueling pistols, by fixing them in a vise and 
 firing them point-blank. I found, in every 
 single instance that their sights were carefully 
 so adjusted as to miss the man they were 
 aimed at. When I found Vance trying to get 
 a little reputation for courage by fighting a 
 half-blind man like you, I decided that one of 
 two things should happen; either he should 
 back out, or he should receive a charge of 
 buckshot through his diaphragm. 
 
 " He chose the wiser and safer course. Vir- 
 ginia is well rid of him, as a swashbuckler. I 
 tell you, uncle mine, it only needs that a few 
 of us shall render dueling dangerous in order 
 to abolish it in Virginia. I shall probably re- 
 main here for a time and I shall always stand 
 ready to come back upon summons. But my 
 terms are double-barreled shotguns, loaded 
 with three chambers of number one buckshot 
 to the barrel. I do not anticipate any chal- 
 lenges. 
 
 " So much for impertinence. Now for the 
 young girl. I find she is not properly clothed. 
 I have directed her attendant to provide proper 
 garments for her. She tells me that all will be
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 35 
 
 ready on Thursday morning. If you will or- 
 der the carriage to be here at that time, Val- 
 orie and I will drive out to Woodlands, and, if 
 you receive Valorie tenderly, you shall be free 
 to denounce me and my impertinence in any 
 terms that your eloquence may suggest. But 
 I give you fair warning that the next swash- 
 buckler who tries to force a duel upon you, will 
 have to face me at twenty paces with shotguns, 
 or well or take the consequences whenever 
 he and I meet. Let us dismiss all this. My 
 ward seems a sensitive creature, and I am anx- 
 ious that she shall be happy at Woodlands. I 
 hope you will receive her cordially in spite of 
 my inability to explain to you precisely who 
 she is, whence she comes and why. I make 
 myself sponsor for her, absolutely, and with- 
 out reserve of any sort. She is a young gen- 
 tlewoman, and must be received as such in the 
 society round about Woodlands, or I shall in- 
 quire why, with a corkscrew. 
 
 " We shall expect the Woodlands carriage 
 on Thursday morning. But if you or Aunt 
 Mary, or anybody else, have or has the slight- 
 est hesitation about receiving Valorie Page as
 
 36 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 an honored guest, I beg you to let me know. 
 In that event you and they shall not be 
 troubled. But I do not doubt that I know your 
 chivalry and Aunt Mary's tender affectionate- 
 ness too well for that. Please tell Aunt Mary, 
 with my love, that I think it very good in her 
 to leave home and go over to Woodlands to 
 receive my ward. I am sure she will feel re- 
 paid when she meets Valerie and finds out 
 how dear a child she is. As for you, I look 
 to see you and Valorie sweethearting within 
 forty-eight hours after you meet."
 
 VI 
 
 WHEN Valorie presented herself at 
 dinner that afternoon in a new 
 gown simple, becoming and 
 therefore beautiful she seemed a different 
 person from the shy girl whom Shenstone had 
 summoned to his presence on the former occa- 
 sion. She was still shrinkingly modest, but 
 her modesty was dignified and it had no touch 
 of shame in it. She was gowned as a young 
 woman now, and she had no occasion to stoop 
 as she had done before in order to make her 
 dress cover her shanks. 
 
 " You'll do," Shenstone thought to himself, 
 " and if that old uncle of mine doesn't fall in 
 love with you, I'll fall in love with you my- 
 self." 
 
 He paid Nathalie the sum he had agreed 
 to pay her, giving it to her in gold, for the 
 reason that in that barbaric time every state 
 37
 
 38 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 in the Union had its own wildcat currency, 
 which in other states varied so greatly in its 
 comparative worthlessness, that every mer- 
 chant had to keep a " Bank Note Detector " al- 
 A ways at hand. Only the notes of the Northern 
 Bank of Kentucky and those of the Suffolk 
 banks of Massachusetts passed at par in all 
 the states. 
 
 After Nathalie had gone by a very early 
 train, the Woodlands carriage came. It was a 
 vehicle of antique construction, hung so high 
 upon leathern springs that a folding flight of 
 steps was needed on either side for descent to 
 the ground. 
 
 The journey to Woodlands was one of many 
 miles. The roads were earthen tracks, smooth 
 now that it was June, and bordered in every 
 part with that luxuriance of vegetation which 
 makes the mere process of living a delight in 
 the Virginian summer time. Here the road 
 ran through woodlands, thickly bordered with 
 flowering shrubs; presently it emerged from 
 the forest glades into a space where wheat- 
 fields, whitening to the harvest, gave welcome 
 with their flaunting promise of plenty; then
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 39 
 
 deflecting a little to the right or left, it passed 
 between fields of lustily luxuriant cornstalks, 
 a dozen feet or so in height, bending under a 
 burden of slowly forming ears, and spreading 
 their sword-like blades so thickly that he who 
 would pass among them on such a morning as 
 this must reconcile himself to a drenching with 
 dew. Here and there were antique rail fences 
 bordering the roadway fences buried in 
 climbing vines, clematis, blackberry bushes, and 
 the beautiful but noxious creeper known in 
 Virginia as " poison oak," elsewhere as 
 " poison ivy," though it is neither oak nor ivy, 
 a growth at once as beautiful and as dan- 
 gerous as the " strange woman " against whom 
 Solomon gave warning to all ages. 
 
 Valorie paid small heed to the city streets 
 or the city sights as the carriage was driven 
 away from the hotel, though her companion 
 sought to interest her in them. She was po- 
 litely impervious to city interests. Had she 
 not seen New Orleans in all the glory of its 
 strange sub-tropical, half-foreign, half-native, 
 and altogether impressive magnificence? 
 What had Richmond to show to eyes like hers,
 
 40 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 accustomed to far nobler sights? But when 
 the carriage quitted the city streets and passed 
 on into the glory of the country, she became 
 enthusiastic. She stretched her neck out of 
 one window and then out of the other, and 
 presently she said : 
 
 " Oh, I am missing so much of it ! If I look 
 at one side of the road the other escapes me. 
 Why isn't it an open carriage ? " 
 
 Shenstone signaled the driver to stop. 
 Then opening the carriage door and letting 
 down the steps, he beckoned the girl to alight. 
 
 " I'll drive," he said to the coachman. 
 " Take your stand on the trunk-plate behind. 
 The young lady will ride by my side on the 
 box." 
 
 With that he helped her to climb to the high 
 perch, and himself took the whip and the reins. 
 
 Valorie was in ecstasies. She had never 
 seen the country before. She had never be- 
 fore smelled the odors of the woodlands and 
 the fields. She had never traversed a Virginia 
 road in June. She had never lived, as she 
 said to her companion, until now. In her 
 eagerness to grasp all of joy that the roadsides
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 41 
 
 offered, she was half a dozen times in immi- 
 nent danger of tumbling off the box, and Shen- 
 stone found it necessary now and then to pass 
 his arm round her waist by way of restraining 
 her. He did not seem to mind that. Many 
 times he reined in the horses and let her climb 
 down from her high perch to gather particu- 
 larly alluring clusters of wild flowers. To 
 them, rather than to Shenstone, she talked. 
 They seemed alive to her and to be a part of 
 the glorious June morning. She addressed 
 them as if they had been sentient and respon- 
 sive. She told them of her joy in the perfect 
 day. She promised them water and tender 
 care at Woodlands. She entreated them to 
 forgive her for plucking them, and to love her 
 as she reminded them that the birds, singing 
 all about, manifestly did. 
 
 In brief the girl half child, half woman, 
 and altogether bewitching behaved in a 
 fashion that fascinated Phil Shenstone, robbed 
 him of his accustomed reason and left him, 
 as he said in later and soberer moments, " a 
 bewildered idiot." 
 
 Sometimes, when the girl had climbed down
 
 42 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 from the box and had secured a particularly 
 beautiful bunch of wild flowers, she would 
 dance a little in delight upon the grass by the 
 roadside. Shenstone was old enough and 
 young enough to observe that her dancing was 
 that of one skilled in the art, but still possessed 
 of spontaneity. It was at once the dancing 
 of an accomplished mistress of the art, and 
 the dancing of a free-hearted child. 
 
 Phil Shenstone had been uncertain as to the 
 duration of his stay in Virginia whether it 
 should be for three days or possibly three 
 weeks. During Valerie's second or third 
 dancing exhibition, he decided that it should 
 continue for three months at least. When 
 he announced this determination to Valorie, 
 she opened wide her great blue eyes, and said : 
 
 " I don't understand how you can ever think 
 of leaving an enchanted land like this." 
 
 Shenstone knew of old the way to Wood- 
 lands, and he knew the rigidity of his aunt's 
 insistence upon the proprieties. So when a 
 gate was passed, a mile distant from the house 
 grounds, he halted the carriage, placed him- 
 self and Valorie again within it, and gave the
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 43 
 
 driver what that benighted believer in antique 
 nomenclatures called " eighteen pence " in 
 other words a quarter of a dollar by way 
 of hush money as to the wild outside ride. 
 Then in decorous state the vehicle threaded 
 its way through the pine and hickory forest to 
 the hereditary home of all the Shenstones 
 Woodlands.
 
 VII 
 
 IT was Colonel Shenstone's habit to rise 
 with the earliest dawn, to visit his stables, 
 see his mules fed and curried, ride out to 
 the fields to give orders for the day's planta- 
 tion work, and then return to the house half 
 an hour or so before the nine o'clock breakfast. 
 
 On the second or third morning of Valerie's 
 residence at Woodlands, the old gentleman 
 was astonished to find her waiting for him 
 when he came out of his chamber a little after 
 five o'clock, smoothly shaven and clad in the 
 immaculate suit of white duck, which he al- 
 ways wore in summer when it did not rain. 
 
 " I want to see everything, Uncle Butler," 
 she said, explainingly. " I'm going to call 
 you Uncle Butler, if I may. May I ? " 
 
 The old gentleman, with the gallantry of 
 generations focused in his being, threw his 
 arm about her, drew her lithe form to him, 
 44
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 45 
 
 kissed her on the forehead, and answered : 
 " You are to call me by any name you 
 please, if only you speak it gently and as if 
 it had an affectionate significance to you. But 
 what the deuce, you little minx, are you doing 
 out of your bed at this unholy hour of the 
 morning? " 
 
 " What does ' Little Minx ' mean, Uncle 
 Butler? Never mind about explaining it, be- 
 cause your tone tells me it isn't anything very 
 bad. Besides you asked me a question. I'm 
 up at what you call this unholy hour in the 
 morning, because I like to be up. Let me tell 
 you, Uncle Butler, I was never free in my 
 life till now. I never did as I pleased till now. 
 I was never in the country till two or three 
 days ago, and when the daylight peeped into 
 my windows this morning, I said to myself: 
 'Get up, you lazy girl, and revel in it all.' 
 That's why I'm here. But I didn't expect to 
 find you in the porch, I only thought I'd get 
 up and go out and smell things that are sweet, 
 and breathe the fresh country air, and maybe, 
 steal a few cherries from the tree I saw from 
 my window."
 
 4 6 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Here, boy ! " said the Colonel to a passing 
 negro lad. " Are your hands clean ? Go and 
 wash them anyhow. Then go to the ox-heart 
 cherry trees behind the house and bring your 
 Miss Valorie a lot of cherries. Those you 
 saw from your window, Little Minx, are morol- 
 los, as sour as vinegar, and not worth steal- 
 ing. Jack will steal some better ones for you. 
 But I'm going to the stables to see the mules 
 fed and curried. So I must leave you." 
 
 " May I not go with you ? " she asked 
 pleadingly. 
 
 " But you'll miss your cherries." 
 
 " That's unfortunate," the girl responded, 
 regretfully, "but I like you so much better 
 than the cherries. Besides, maybe, I'd get 
 my feet wet going with you, and I do so want 
 to get my feet wet with the dew. I'll go 
 with you, Uncle." 
 
 Colonel Shenstone hailed another passing 
 negro boy and said : 
 
 " Stay right here till Jack comes with the 
 cherries I sent him after, and tell him to bring 
 them to the stables, do you hear ? " 
 
 " But I'se got to help "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 47 
 
 " Never mind what you've got to help. Do 
 as I tell you." 
 
 The boy's face clouded. " Ef I don't git 
 out to de milkin' pen 'fore Mammy tackles de 
 crazy cow, Mammy'll lick me fo' sho'." 
 
 " Tell her not to. You do what I tell you. 
 Oh, never mind; here comes Jack with the 
 cherries. Hustle to the cowpens and don't 
 get licked." 
 
 Jack's notions as to what constituted a 
 proper supply of cherries for a young lady, 
 were based upon his own capacity for consum- 
 ing that fruit. He brought at least two 
 quarts of the cherries for Valerie's consump- 
 tion, having himself swallowed at least three 
 quarts during the process of picking them. 
 Ordinarily he was forbidden to invade these 
 trees. He had eaten his share, stones and 
 all, under the fixed negro delusion that cher- 
 ries can never produce an intestinal disturb- 
 ance if their seeds be swallowed with them. 
 If he had dared he would have communicated 
 this bit of physiological lore to Valorie, when 
 he saw her rejecting the stones of her cherries. 
 But he had nous enough to suspect that his
 
 48 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 master would resent the impertinence in some 
 way troublesome to himself. So he phil- 
 osophically reflected, as he saw the girl eating 
 the fruit and throwing the stones away, 
 " tain't none o' my business ef she gits a colic 
 for her foolishness." 
 
 The Colonel ate half a dozen of the cherries 
 no more. He had taken a cup of coffee 
 very bad coffee he thought and it was not 
 his habit to take anything else until the nine 
 o'clock breakfast hour. But somehow, this 
 " little minx " had bewitched him, and he ac- 
 cepted a part of the fruit at her hands. The 
 rest she distributed to the stable boys who in- 
 stantly decided that "the new little miss is a 
 thoroughbred." 
 
 Presently the Colonel was seized with an 
 idea, and he whispered it into Valerie's ear. 
 
 " I say, can you ride ? " he asked. 
 
 "A little," she responded. "I had what 
 they call ' lessons ' while I was in the con- 
 vent. You see it was thought " she broke 
 off the sentence in consternation. 
 
 " Never mind what was thought," answered 
 the Colonel, gallantly. " If you ever sat upon
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 49 
 
 a horse at all, you can ride a pacing mare of 
 mine. Robert, bring out Zephyr and put a 
 side-saddle on her. Phil is still asleep, the 
 lazy fellow, and you and I, Valorie, are going 
 to have a ride all by ourselves. Zephyr is the 
 best-behaved of mares, and " 
 
 " She's jest a little fractious this mornin','' 
 interposed Robert, the groom. " She's been 
 stabled too long." 
 
 " Never mind. We'll manage her. Bring 
 her out and saddle her." 
 
 " Yes," interposed the girl, who really knew 
 more of riding than her modesty permitted 
 her to say, and who had in abundant measure 
 that highest quality of the horsewoman, per- 
 fect fearlessness, " Yes, bring her out and 
 I'll ride her. Uncle Butler, I feel as if I could 
 ride a hurricane or an earthquake or a cata- 
 clysm I don't know what that last word 
 means on so glorious a morning as this." 
 
 The Colonel looked at her, and this time he 
 said out loud what he had before said to him- 
 self: 
 
 "You'll do!"
 
 VIII 
 
 FR the first time in his life Col. Shen- 
 itone was late that morning to break- 
 last. The " little minx " was respon- 
 sible, though the Colonel gallantly took all the 
 blame upon himself. He had been slow anc| 
 clumsy, he said, in explaining why he topped 
 and primed tobacco so that each plant should 
 bear eight leaves and no more. He had need- 
 lessly wasted time in the cornfields, showing 
 his companion how he grew watermelons there 
 that might be good when those in the uplands 
 patch were too dry and those in the lowlands 
 too wet. He had unpardonably detained her 
 at the gate where Haley was distributing corn 
 to three or four hundred razorback hogs. 
 Really Haley was such a character that he had 
 felt bound to make Valorie acquainted with 
 him. And then he had been obliged to ex- 
 plain to the young lady the process of driv- 
 50
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 51 
 
 ing flocks of turkeys through the tobacco lots, 
 to pick off the grasshoppers. On the whole, 
 the Colonel felt that he was to be excused. 
 
 " And what's the difference, Little Minx ? " 
 he called out. " The cold ham is here. If the 
 beaten biscuits are cold, we've the consolation 
 of knowing that there's another skilletful in 
 the kitchen. The hot bread is passed, of 
 course, but I see that Phil has so far remem- 
 bered his manners as to slice and butter the 
 French roll. You and I have issued a new 
 Declaration of Independence. Kizzie, the 
 cook, may fret and fume to her heart's con- 
 tent, but you and I are going to be late to 
 breakfast just as often as we like. So there! 
 Elsie, haven't you any hot cakes ? " 
 
 A moment later the jolly old gentleman re- 
 sumed : 
 
 " You're a lazybones, Phil," he began. 
 " And you've missed the greatest morning of 
 your life. I tell you " 
 
 " Don't tell me, uncle. I've been up since 
 the dawn, and I've seen all the glory of the 
 morning, though I had no such good company 
 as you enjoyed. That is a pleasure yet to
 
 52 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 come, unless you and Valorie have conspired 
 to shut me out of early morning rides with 
 her. I believe you quite capable of that." 
 
 " Put it a little differently, Phil, and I'll 
 agree with you. If you don't show yourself 
 in time to ride with my Little Minx, why I'll 
 ride with her myself, and you may as well un- 
 derstand it. But tell me, where have you 
 been?" 
 
 " Visiting my plantation. You see, Valorie, 
 an old lady has subjected me to a sore em- 
 barrassment. That and you are the sole rea- 
 sons for my being in Virginia at this time. 
 Aunt Patty Rooker, my father's great aunt, 
 you understand, died a little while ago and 
 willed to me her plantation and negroes. Her 
 plantation consists of about three hundred 
 acres of utterly worn out land, mostly grown 
 up in old field pines, and her negroes com- 
 prise four families, seventeen persons in all, 
 only one of whom is fit to do a day's work. 
 I've been over there this morning to see Niah, 
 the one able-bodied man in the lot. I tried 
 to make an arrangement with him. I offered 
 to let him have the plantation rent free so
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 53 
 
 long as he should live, if he would undertake 
 to make it yield a living for the seventeen of 
 them. Being a person of some shrewdness, 
 Niah declined the proposal. Then I made 
 another offer. I happen to own some wild 
 land in Indiana good, fertile land, but ut- 
 terly useless to me. There are six hundred 
 and forty acres of it. I offered to give it free 
 to the crew of seventeen, with transportation 
 thrown in, if they would emigrate. But, of 
 course, they would do nothing of the sort. I 
 said I would stock their little farms, give them 
 a mule apiece, and a cow, but they shook their 
 heads. They had attachments to their old 
 home; they didn't know how they might get 
 on among ' a lot o' Yankees.' In brief, the 
 thing was a failure altogether. I'm saddled 
 with a wholly worthless plantation and the care 
 of seventeen negroes, only one of whom is 
 able to do a real day's work.". 
 
 " But what are you going to do, Mr. Shen- 
 tone ? I don't like to call you that, it seems 
 so well, so far away, and you have been so 
 kind to me. Mayn't I call you " 
 
 " Call me Phil," answered Shenstone.
 
 54 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " That's friendly and fellowshippy, and that's 
 what Uncle calls me. Just call me Phil." 
 
 " But well, suppose I say ' Mister ' first. 
 I'll call you Mr. Phil, and you shall call me 
 Val. That's what my father called me in the 
 long ago, when I was permitted to know him, 
 before he became bad." 
 
 " He was never bad, Val. The people who 
 told you that were liars. I knew your father 
 for many years and he was never bad." 
 
 The girl quivered with emotion. 
 
 " Then they wronged him? " she said, add- 
 ing : " I always felt that they did. Dear 
 father! He used to tell me stories, and I 
 loved him so much that I couldn't learn to hate 
 him when they told me I must." 
 
 " Whoever told you aught of evil of your 
 father," said Shenstone, with impressive earn- 
 estness, " was a liar and the truth was not in 
 him. Believe me. I knew him. I know his 
 whole story as you do not, and it is as well 
 that you never shall. I tell you now, and I 
 shall tell you always, to believe in your father, 
 in his integrity, in his righteousness and in his 
 devoted love for you. Cherish his memory if
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 55 
 
 you desire to cherish anything of the past. 
 Whatever else you do, or think, or believe, or 
 suspect, never for one moment suffer yourself 
 to lose your abiding faith in the memory, the 
 integrity, the great, overpowering goodness 
 of your father. " 
 
 "Will you tell me about him, sometime?" 
 the girl asked eagerly, passionately. 
 
 " Sometime, perhaps. Not now. We have 
 much else to talk about now; but sometime 
 I will tell you about your father. But you 
 asked me a question. What am I going to 
 do about the black people on the worthless 
 little plantation which my great aunt has 
 willed to me? Beyond the present I do not 
 know. For the present I'm going to ask 
 Uncle Butler for the address of his com- 
 mission merchants in Richmond, and I am 
 going to write to them for some Cincinnati 
 bacon, some western flour and two or three 
 barrels of roe herrings with which to feed 
 them. My dear Val, you can't imagine their 
 helplessness. There isn't one of them who 
 couldn't do good service in a garden, and the 
 garden over there is the one fertile spot on the
 
 56 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 little plantation. It has had the benefit of all 
 the fertilizers produced on the place for three 
 generations past, and there is nobody for it to 
 feed except the seventeen negroes of whom I 
 have become the embarrassed and unhappy 
 owner. Yet it has never occurred to them, 
 in my absence, to plant the garden. It is 
 June now, and last year's weeds are still undis- 
 turbed. Not a bed has been spaded. Not a 
 seed has been put into the ground. I've or- 
 dered the whole force perhaps I should call 
 it the whole feebleness to set to work mak- 
 ing beds to-day and after breakfast I'm going 
 over to superintend the work. Will you ride 
 over with me ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, of course, if my lessons are 
 over in time." 
 
 " Your lessons ? " 
 
 " Yes. In Virginia housekeeping. You 
 see Aunt Mary has left her own home to come 
 over here and keep house for Uncle Butler till 
 I learn how, and it isn't even a little bit fair to 
 keep her longer than necessary. She wants 
 to go back to her own home and be quiet and 
 happy there. She's going to teach me the
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 57 
 
 ways of plantation housekeeping, and then I'm 
 going to do it for Uncle Butler. You see I 
 know all about scrubbing and sweeping and 
 bed-making and cookery, I learned that in 
 the convent but I don't know how to issue 
 rations to the field hands, or well a lot of 
 little things, and Aunt Mary is going to teach 
 me. When I learn, she is going back home 
 and I am going to be Uncle Butler's house- 
 keeper. You know, Mr. Phil, that his house 
 has been horribly kept, for years. Until Aunt 
 Mary came over to receive me, there hadn't 
 been a bed aired for months and years. The 
 floors have been polished right over the dirt 
 till they are black where they ought to be 
 white. There are sixteen negro women who 
 are supposed to be housemaids in this estab- 
 lishment, and you don't know what fun I'm 
 going to have as soon as I come into control, 
 by making them work for the luxurious living 
 they get. I'm going to have every floor 
 scrubbed to its uttermost corners. I'm going 
 to have every bed pulled to pieces and taken 
 out of doors to be cleaned and aired. I'm go- 
 ing to have every piece of furniture gone over
 
 58 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 thoroughly, every curtain taken down and 
 dusted. Oh, I'm hungry for the fray and it 
 will be a great frolic. I must first be mistress 
 and in order to be that I must learn how to 
 ' give out ' and all the rest of it, but that 
 oughtn't to take long for a girl of common 
 sense, do you think ? Anyhow our housekeep- 
 ing work belongs to the morning, so I can ride 
 over to your plantation with you in the after- 
 noon. How far is it ? " 
 
 " About three miles. I wish the road out 
 were no longer." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, we can ride the three miles in less 
 than half an hour. I wish I might dispose of 
 the whole thing in ten times as long a period." 
 
 " But why can't you? Why can't you just 
 give up the inheritance ? " 
 
 " That sounds easy, Val ; but think of it. 
 My dear old great aunt owned this little place 
 and the negroes on it. She had a double pur- 
 pose in willing both to me. She had a desire 
 that I should come back to Virginia and be- 
 come a planter, for she didn't have much 
 respect for any other land or any other peo-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 59 
 
 pie, and she had a tenderly sentimental 
 desire that the negroes who had been her serv- 
 ants all their lives should have a good mas- 
 ter. If I refuse the inheritance the negroes 
 must be sent to the auction block and sold off 
 south for whatever they will bring, by way 
 of paying off the debt of three thousand dol- 
 lars that encumbers the estate. You see how 
 it is. I must accept the bequest. I must pay 
 off the debt, and I must see to it that the ne- 
 groes have enough to eat as long as they live, 
 in spite of the fact that they do not earn it 
 So far as the financial part of the matter is 
 concerned, I am fortunately able to take care 
 of it. I own a controlling interest in a good 
 many big steamboats and a good many little 
 ones that are doing a profitable business in 
 various parts of the western waters. 
 
 "The thing that bothers me is not that. 
 These negroes are blindly conservative. They 
 were born here as the chattels of a land owner. 
 All their lives they have been taught that they 
 must look to the land for their support. When 
 the land can't support them its owner must, 
 and I am unfortunately the owner. They
 
 60 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 claim the right to live upon the land on which 
 they were born, and I confess that I feel bound 
 to recognize that right. It would be cheaper 
 for me to board them all in good hotels in 
 Richmond, but they do not wish to go to Rich- 
 mond. My only course is to maintain them 
 where they are, and to devise such means as 
 I can to make their own labor contribute some- 
 thing to their support." 
 
 The girl sat silent for a time. Then she 
 went away to join Aunt Mary in the morn- 
 ing's work of " giving out." It was not un- 
 til she and Phil Shenstone mounted their 
 horses after " snack," that she returned to the 
 subject. As they neared an outer gate she 
 suddenly turned her mare about and faced her 
 escort with sad, half-teary eyes. 
 
 " You have many burdens that do not be- 
 long to you. Am I one of them? Am I also 
 a tax upon your generosity, a person for 
 whom you are called upon to provide because 
 she is unable to earn her own living? Be- 
 cause if I am that, I " 
 
 " You are nothing of the kind, Val," he 
 answered with the utmost tenderness; "and
 
 SHE SUDDENLY TURNED HER MARE ABOUT AND FACED 
 
 ESCORT. Page 60.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 61 
 
 if you were, I should rejoice in the privilege 
 of caring for you. Let me tell you. Your 
 father was a man considerably older than I 
 am, but he was the best friend I ever had on 
 earth, and when he lay dying his one concern, 
 the only thing he thought about, was your wel- 
 fare. He asked me with his dying breath to 
 care for you, and he told me what dangers be- 
 set you. I gladly promised him and I would 
 fulfill that promise if it cost me my life. In 
 fact it costs me exactly nothing. Your father 
 placed in my hands a sufficient sum of money 
 to cover all and more than all, the expense 
 you can ever be to me. I don't like to talk 
 of that. It is too painful, but you must know 
 that you are a burden to nobody, financially." 
 
 The two rode on in silence for a time after 
 the girl had said a simple, " Thank you ! " 
 
 After a while she asked : " Are you free 
 to tell me why I am posing under an assumed 
 name? " 
 
 " You are not," he answered. " Your 
 father's name was Page. You were called 
 Lee in the convent because other people, peo- 
 ple who wanted to hide you, chose to call you
 
 62 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 so. They were bad people and their purpose 
 was evil. Be satisfied with knowing that as 
 Valorie Page, you bear an honorable name 
 your father bequeathed to you." 
 
 " Will you some day tell me about my 
 father ? " she asked again, as tears slipped out 
 between her eyelids and. fell upon her cheeks. 
 
 " Yes, some day. Not now. Your father 
 was a hero." 
 
 "You say that?" 
 
 " Yes, Val. I say it." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Phil."
 
 IX 
 
 WHEN Phil Shenstone and Valorie 
 returned to Woodlands, they found 
 the drive filled with carriages, the 
 horse racks occupied with hitchings, and the 
 great flower-bordered porch peopled with men 
 and women, who had come to call upon the 
 new arrivals. Phil Shenstone knew the open- 
 minded way in which every Virginian re- 
 garded his own and other people's affairs, and 
 foreseeing that awkward questions would be 
 quite innocently asked of Valorie, he hurriedly 
 said to her, as they approached the porch : 
 
 " Take my arm and keep it. Stick close to 
 me. I'll do the talking." 
 
 The caution came none too soon, for the 
 first of the Virginia dames to whom the girl 
 was presented, bristled with questions which 
 she had no thought of making impertinent. 
 Her only purpose was the friendly one of 
 63
 
 64 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 opening a way for the girl to connect herself 
 with distinguished families in Virginia. The 
 gentlewoman did not dream that there might 
 be distinguished families in other parts of the 
 world, lying outside Virginia. 
 
 " Welcome, you dear girl ! " the dame be- 
 gan. " You are a Page and as such but are 
 you of the Carter- Page family of the Shenan- 
 doah Valley the Cookes and Powells and 
 the rest, or of the lower James River Pages ? " 
 
 Phil Shenstone replied: 
 
 " All the Virginia Pages are akin, you know. 
 Miss Valorie Page has been educated at so 
 great a distance that she is hardly yet a mis- 
 tress of our state geography or of her varying 
 kinships. Permit me to say she is worthy 
 of them all." 
 
 By that time half a dozen others were press- 
 ing forward, and so, as Phil Shenstone, in his 
 pilot-slang, reflected : " That riffle is passed." 
 
 In the same adroit way he fenced off all 
 other questioners. The Virginians of that 
 time abhorred nothing so much as gossip- 
 mongering, and they held in special detesta- 
 tion the " Yankee habit " of asking personal
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 65 
 
 questions. Yet there never were people who 
 could ask so many personal questions as they. 
 They did it in no spirit of impertinent curios- 
 ity, but merely to give the guest an oppor- 
 tunity to " orient " himself, as the French say. 
 They assumed, in every case, that the guest 
 was a person of some consequence, if only 
 he had an opportunity to explain, and so, with 
 utterly kindly purpose, they asked those ques- 
 tions which would give him the opportunity he 
 was supposed to covet. 
 
 Phil Shenstone had been a pilot, accus- 
 tomed to navigate complexly difficult waters, 
 and he adroitly managed to steer Valorie 
 through the shoals and quicksands of her first 
 social questioning. 
 
 Colonel Shenstone lent mighty aid. It was 
 only June and watermelons were not due to 
 be ripe until July, but Colonel Shenstone had 
 always been a lover of good things to eat, and 
 he had always labored to have them early. It 
 was his habit, therefore, to plant his earliest 
 watermelons under glass and in a warm soil. 
 It was his glory upon this occasion to have 
 his servants surprise the company by walking
 
 66 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 into the porch with a dozen great, fat water- 
 melons upon their shoulders, ripe a full month 
 before anybody else thought of having such 
 fruit in readiness for eating. 
 
 This was a diversion and Phil welcomed it. 
 The talk thereafter was not of James River 
 or Shenandoah Valley Pages, but of Colonel 
 Shenstone's remarkable success in gardening 
 for early results. It was admiringly reported 
 that he had served tomatoes on the tenth of 
 June, though the Fourth of July was accounted 
 early; that he had sent cucumbers to his 
 friends as early as the middle of May, and 
 above all that he had distributed pecks of 
 new peas to the plantations round about, on 
 the twenty-fifth of April. 
 
 All these were matters of far greater conse- 
 quence than the relationships of the young 
 gentlewoman who had come to dwell at 
 Woodlands, the more especially because the 
 interest of the visiting gentlewomen in those 
 relationships was purely polite and perfunc- 
 tory. 
 
 But to Valorie the matter presented itself in 
 a more alarming aspect. She knew so little
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 67 
 
 about herself that she dreaded a renewal of 
 the questioning and she foresaw that renewal 
 as inevitable. For, a week or two after this, 
 Colonel Shenstone announced that he had in- 
 vited guests to dinner on the following Thurs- 
 day, by way of welcome to Phil and Valorie, 
 " and," he added, " to serve as Valerie's for- 
 mal bringing out. My sister Mary is home- 
 sick for her honeysuckles and four o'clocks 
 and pretty-by-nights, and she declares that 
 Valorie is fully competent to run the house- 
 hold. So Mary is going home to-morrow, and 
 my Little Minx is to preside at the dining day." 
 
 " I've been studying your big dictionary, 
 Uncle Butler," said Valorie, shaking a ringer 
 at him. 
 
 " And what did you learn there ? " 
 
 " That 'minx ' means ' a saucy girl/ and so 
 whenever you call me " Little Minx,' it's the 
 same as calling me ' you saucy little girl.' " 
 
 "Well, I didn't make the dictionary, did I? 
 Some Yankee did that, who didn't know that 
 I mean just the opposite of what he says I 
 mean. I wonder why I bought that diction- 
 ary anyhow. Oh, I know. When Phil was
 
 68 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 a boy here at Woodlands he complained that 
 he hadn't any dictionary except his Latin one 
 and his Greek one and his classical one and 
 the old Johnson- Walker that spelled the words 
 wrong. So I bought this to appease his ab- 
 normal craving for information. You see he 
 was ambitious in those days and meant to 
 make a scholar of himself. You didn't do 
 that after all, did you Phil ? " 
 
 " No. But I may do it yet," he answered 
 with a note of melancholy in his tone; " or at 
 any rate I may decide to do what I can by 
 way of repairing deficiencies. I don't know, 
 I haven't yet made up my mind. But about 
 the dining day; you needn't have any fear, Val. 
 You'll be too busy with your duties as hostess 
 for them to question you much, and if any- 
 body asks you a question that you don't know 
 how to answer, you can suddenly discover that 
 somebody else needs attention at the moment, 
 and before you've done with that the question 
 will have been forgotten. If worse comes to 
 worst, just say you don't know, that you were 
 educated in a convent in the far South and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 69 
 
 were never taught concerning matters of per- 
 sonal history." 
 
 " No subterfuges will be necessary," broke 
 in Colonel Shenstone, removing his long, reed- 
 stemmed, Powhatan pipe from his mouth for 
 a moment. " I shall announce on that occa- 
 sion that Valorie Page is my adopted daugh- 
 ter, the destined inheritor of Woodlands, and 
 I don't imagine anybody will think it neces- 
 sary or prudent to inquire further than that. 
 There are ultimates in our Virginia society, 
 and I have a strong conviction that the en- 
 dorsement of Butler Shenstone is one of those 
 ultimates. Anyhow, Little Minx confound 
 the dictionary ! you need have no uneasi- 
 ness. My ears are quick, even if I don't see 
 very well, and if anybody asks you trouble- 
 some questions, I'll create a diversion as we 
 military men used to say." 
 
 "But, Uncle Butler" began the girl in 
 fresh alarm. 
 
 "But, Little Minx, you needn't finish your 
 sentence. I know what you would say. Let 
 me assure you that my regard for truth is as
 
 70 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 great as your own. So when I tell everybody, 
 as I shall, that you are my adopted daughter 
 and the heir to Woodlands, I shall speak the 
 exact truth. I've decided to cut Phil off with 
 a shilling, which in Virginia means sixteen 
 and two thirds cents, because he has enough 
 without Woodlands, and because he has been 
 growling for weeks past over the fact that an 
 affectionate relative has made him heir to a 
 plantation and negroes. He shall never have 
 that cause of complaint against me after I'm 
 gone." 
 
 " Thank you, Uncle," said Phil. " I heart- 
 ily agree with your plans, and I've already de- 
 cided what I'm going to do with that shilling. 
 I certainly don't want Woodlands on my 
 shoulders. Give it to Val, by all means." 
 
 " I have made up my mind to that," said the 
 old man. " If I find I can legally adopt her, 
 after a talk with you, Phil, I'll do that. If I 
 can't, I'll make a new will, giving Woodlands 
 to her. Anyhow, Little Minx, you've made a 
 nest for yourself in my old man's heart, and 
 you are henceforth my daughter." 
 
 As he said this he stepped over the portal
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 71 
 
 as if about to enter the house, but turning 
 said : 
 
 " It used to be that a cup of properly made 
 coffee was ready for me when I shaved in the 
 morning before going out; it used to be that 
 a cheery smile greeted me at the breakfast 
 table : it used to be that some one I cared for, 
 some one I loved', liked to go with me to the 
 stables and get her feet wet with dew. Many 
 loving things used to be. But that was years 
 and years ago until within these last few 
 weeks, since Little Minx became mine. Now 
 it has all come back." 
 
 He moved as if to pass on into the hall way 
 but Valorie alertly confronted him and held up 
 her face saying: 
 
 " Uncle, I'm glad if I have made you more 
 comfortable no, that isn't what I mean or 
 what you mean. I'm glad if I've brought a 
 little love and sunshine into your lonely life. 
 But as to the rest of it, don't! Give Wood- 
 lands to Mr. Phil, please.' 
 
 " Now you're making yourself a little minx 
 in the dictionary sense," he said, tenderly ca- 
 ressing her ; " and I won't have that. You
 
 72 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 may love me all you like, but you mustn't in- 
 terfere with such business arrangements as I 
 choose to make. I like to think of you as my 
 Little Minx, in my sense of the words, but not 
 in the dictionary sense. I wish I had burned 
 that dictionary long ago." 
 
 " Never mind that, Uncle Butler. I'll be 
 your Little Minx in your sense, and I'll do all 
 I can, as long as I live, to bring love and ten- 
 derness into your life." 
 
 She broke into tears and fled to the inner 
 precincts. The old man, long widowed and 
 bravely enduring the loss of love that had 
 fallen upon him years ago when the wife of his 
 youth was taken away while he was yet young, 
 shed some drops on his own account, which 
 he angrily brushed away as he placed " eight- 
 een pence " into the hand of Jim, the head 
 dining room servant, saying: 
 
 " Jim, the fishing's good, now that the dog- 
 wood is in blossom. Maybe your Miss Valorie 
 can spare you for a day off presently. Here's 
 a quarter. Buy some fish lines."
 
 X 
 
 VALORIE was much troubled by the 
 things suggested in the unfinished 
 conversation most conversations 
 are unfinished between herself, Colonel 
 Shenstone and Phil. She felt herself an in- 
 truder, and she was bent upon securing some 
 revision of the decisions arrived at by those 
 who had her fortunes and her life in charge. 
 But she had heavy burdens of domestic respon- 
 sibility upon her, so that for some days after- 
 wards there was no leisure in which to seek a 
 renewal of the conference. Aunt Mary had 
 gone home and the conduct of the household 
 rested upon the young girl's shoulders. First 
 of all there was Colonel Shenstone's early 
 morning cup of coffee to prepare with her own 
 hands in order that its aroma might be alto- 
 gether right, and, more important still, as her 
 quick feminine perceptions taught her, there 
 73
 
 74 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 was the duty of drinking it with him every 
 morning, without hurry and in a spirit of af- 
 fectionate comradery. 
 
 Then she had the task of renovating the 
 long-neglected house and repairing the conse- 
 quences of the negro neglect of years. This 
 was the more difficult for the reason that she 
 was determined to have it done only at such 
 times and in such ways as should in no wise 
 disturb Colonel Shenstone in the routine of his 
 life, but she adroitly managed that. Fortu- 
 nately the long-neglected house servants made 
 no resistance, active or passive, to her ex- 
 ercise of authority. They were quick to un- 
 derstand that she enjoyed both the confidence 
 and the affection of their master, and they 
 knew that any hesitation or reluctance in 
 obedience to her orders, if the fact should 
 come to his knowledge, would be the full 
 equivalent of open defiance of him. Not one 
 of them knew from experience what dire con- 
 sequences would follow defiance of him, for 
 that was an extreme of mutiny upon which 
 nobody had ever dared venture; but whatever 
 curiosity they may have felt upon that subject
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 75 
 
 was content to satisfy itself with conjecture 
 and without experiment. Moreover the girl 
 had a certain comradely way with her, which 
 quickly won the servants to a willing obedi- 
 ence. However exigent she might be as to 
 thoroughness of work, she never gave her 
 orders harshly, or with the smallest suggestion 
 that she anticipated disobedience even as a pos- 
 sibility. From the first the servitors liked and 
 admired her, and very soon, in their simple- 
 minded way, they began to love her and to do 
 her will more than willingly. Where they 
 failed by reason of unskilfulness, she set to 
 work to teach them skill and, in their homely 
 way they commented upon the fact: " 'Stid 
 o' scoldin' she shows us," they saidu Where 
 they failed through habitual negligence, she 
 laughed at them until, joining in the laugh, 
 they bestirred themselves to betterment. 
 Where their carelessness was due simply to a 
 lack of understanding, she preached to them, 
 in her pleasant way, a new gospel of cleanli- 
 ness and thoroughness and neatness, and she 
 succeeded in converting them. 
 
 A very few of the younger ones learned un-
 
 76 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 willingly, and upon these she brought author- 
 ity to bear. She selected the most recalci- 
 trant one to serve as an example. To her one 
 day, in the presence of all the rest, she said : 
 
 " Sally, you don't seem to like your work 
 in the house. Perhaps you'd like me to ask 
 your master to release you from it and send 
 you to the fields." 
 
 There was no threat made only a sug- 
 gestion of preference but Sally understood. 
 Between field negroes and house servants 
 there was a great gulf fixed. The house serv- 
 ants constituted an aristocracy as definite and 
 as well recognized as that of a group of duch- 
 esses and marchionesses is to the wives of 
 English tradespeople. To fall from the po- 
 sition of housemaid or chambermaid or lady's 
 maid on a great plantation to that of a helper 
 in the fields, was the full equivalent of the 
 lapse of a countess to the counter of a shop. 
 
 Colonel Shenstone happened to overhear this 
 passage between Valorie and Sally, and for 
 comment he said: 
 
 "She'll do!" 
 
 When the dining day came, Valorie had 

 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 77 
 
 everything in readiness for it, and Colonel 
 Shenstone, whose dignity was that of a long 
 range gun, was on guard. To such of the 
 guests as had already met Valorie he said : 
 
 " I think you already know my daughter," 
 and he said it with an emphasis upon the last 
 two words that was easily understood. To 
 those who were new acquaintances of hers he 
 was at pains to say : 
 
 " Let me introduce you to my daughter, 
 Miss Valorie Page, who is mistress of Wood- 
 lands, and your hostess." 
 
 When at dinner a young gentleman em- 
 barrassed perhaps because another young 
 gentleman sat next his sweetheart bungled 
 a little in the carving of a fowl, to the detri- 
 ment of the table linen, he asked pardon of 
 Colonel Shenstone. The gallant old gentle- 
 man was prompt to reply: 
 
 " My daughter, Miss Valorie Page, will ex- 
 cuse you, I am sure. I have found her very 
 indulgent to our masculine mistakes. Valorie, 
 Mr. Meade asks your forgiveness for a slight 
 mishap." 
 
 " No apology is needed, I am sure," said
 
 78 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Valorie, graciously. " I only wonder at the 
 skill the young gentlemen of Virginia show in 
 carving. Mr. Meade, you may help me to a 
 bit of the breast if you please." 
 
 " She'll do," said Colonel Shenstone under 
 his breath, but audibly enough for Phil to 
 hear and rejoice in the verdict. 
 
 When, at the end of the dessert, the sherry 
 was brought on and all glasses filled, Colonel 
 Shenstone, instead of proposing the usual 
 toast of dismissal to " The ladies," rose in his 
 place and said : " My friends, I ask you to 
 drink standing, a glass of wine in welcome to 
 the new mistress of Woodlands, my daughter, 
 Miss Valorie Page." 
 
 Then with stately courtesy he advanced to 
 the door, bowing, and held it open while the 
 gentlewomen passed through. One of them, 
 Edna Spottswood, who had evidently over- 1 
 heard the old gentleman's comment upon 
 Valorie, leaned toward him as she passed and 
 said in his ear: 
 
 " You'll do, Colonel Shenstone." 
 
 Edna was one of the three or four young 
 women who, after the old Virginia custom,
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 79 
 
 remained for a few days as guests at Wood- 
 lands, and that night, when she and some 
 others were having their hair combed by the 
 maids, she suddenly ejaculated, apropos of 
 nothing in particular : 
 
 " Why don't the young gentlemen form 
 themselves upon the model of Colonel Shen- 
 stone and men like him ? " 
 
 " He is very gallant," answered another. 
 
 " That isn't what I mean," said Edna. " It 
 is more than mere gallantry, more than man- 
 ners. He is always so thoughtful, so kindly, 
 so considerate of others, so delicately sensitive 
 to every need that any one may feel pshaw ! 
 I can't say it." 
 
 " I can," said Valorie, " he's a gentleman." 
 
 " That's it ! " said the rest in chorus.
 
 XI 
 
 AS the weeks went on, Phil Shenstone 
 manifested none of the impatience he 
 had at first felt to get back to his busi- 
 ness in the West. There were several rea- 
 sons for this. The fascination of the old Vir- 
 ginia life, in which his boyhood had been 
 passed had taken a strong hold upon him 
 again for one thing. Its utter restfulness was 
 soothing to his spirits after an arduous career 
 of constant and strenuous endeavor. For an- 
 other, he still had on his hands the unsolved 
 problem of how best to care for the seventeen 
 negroes who had been left to him as an inher- 
 itance, and who were helpless under existing 
 conditions, to make a living for themselves. 
 They had a garden growing now, and that 
 would help to feed them, but the help was a 
 small one, and but for his daily superintend- 
 ence even the garden would have come to 
 naught. 
 
 80
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 81 
 
 Then again he had begun reading the fine 
 old English literature on the shelves of the 
 Woodlands library; his old scholarly instincts 
 had strongly revived in him, so much so in- 
 deed, that after reading Pope's Homer and 
 Dryden's Virgil again, he had got down his 
 Greek and Latin dictionaries, and, with the 
 aid of some old grammars of those languages, 
 had fallen into the habit of lying on the green- 
 sward under the trees in the Woodlands' house 
 grounds, and trying to dig out translations 
 of his own for the great masterpieces of 
 classic literature. To his gratified astonish- 
 ment his Latin and Greek not only came back 
 to him, but came back with a quickness and 
 fulness of perception which had never been 
 his in his student days. His matured mind 
 easily grasped things which his unformed stu- 
 dent mind had not grasped at all, and he was 
 strongly tempted to undertake again, and with 
 greater interest, the tasks of education and 
 culture which circumstances had compelled him 
 to drop nearly a decade before. 
 
 Finally, there was Valorie. When by his 
 command she had been put into skirts suitably
 
 82 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 long for her age, she had seemed suddenly to 
 change from an awkward child into a graceful 
 young woman, and since she had assumed the 
 dignity and responsibility of mistress at Wood- 
 lands, her ripening into a self-possessed young 
 womanhood had been almost astonishingly 
 rapid. It had brought with it no particle of 
 loss of that simplicity and childlike honesty of 
 character which had seemed to him so charm- 
 ing on his first acquaintance with her, but it had 
 added the charms of dignity and a self-posses- 
 sion altogether pleasing. As a school girl, de- 
 pendent upon unknown persons for her very 
 bread and butter, and subject in every hour and 
 minute of her life to the arbitrary control of 
 those in authority over her, her manner had 
 been marked by the timid, shrinking, half-cow- 
 ardly self-consciousness of a child who has no 
 rights and is uncertain of her privileges. As 
 the Mistress of Woodlands, assured of her per- 
 sonal independence, honored with Colonel 
 Shenstone's affection, and exercising the func- 
 tions of a hostess whose hospitality was sought 
 on every hand, she had rapidly ripened into a
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 83 
 
 young woman, very young still but very dig- 
 nified and old enough to hold her own. 
 
 Without quite admitting it, and perhaps half 
 unconsciously, Phil Shenstone had come to feel 
 that his interest in Valorie was an additional 
 inducement for him to prolong his stay in Vir- 
 ginia. He was directing her reading for one 
 thing. He was riding with her a good deal, 
 for another, and for still another, Edna Spotts- 
 wood had become deeply interested in Valorie, 
 and Phil liked to visit Edna, and talk with her 
 regarding his ward. 
 
 Finally, Phil rejoiced in good music, and 
 Valorie knew how to produce such. Early in 
 her life at Woodlands she went to the long-dis- 
 used piano and began to play, while Colonel 
 Shenstone stood by to listen and to turn the 
 music for her. After a few bars she suddenly 
 broke off and asked : 
 
 " Uncle Butler, is there a monkey wrench on 
 the plantation ? " 
 
 " Yes, Little Minx," he answered, " a dozen 
 of them. But what use have you for a mon- 
 key wrench ? "
 
 84 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " I want to tune the piano. It is horribly 
 out of tune." 
 
 " But can you tune it ? Where did you 
 learn that art?" 
 
 " In the convent. The music master taught 
 all of us to do it. He said truly that nobody 
 was a musician till she could tune her instru- 
 ment without a tuning fork. You see, Uncle 
 Butler, you must be able to recognize a note 
 A for instance by your own ear and with- 
 out a guide, before you are really fit to play 
 for company. That is why he wouldn't let 
 most of the girls play for company at all. He 
 said bad playing was greatly worse than no 
 playing. Indeed he used to shock the Sisters 
 by swearing dreadfully about it. So I had to 
 learn to tune all the instruments I played 
 the piano, the harp, the " 
 
 " Do you play the harp? " 
 
 " Yes, of course. It's so simple you know. 
 But I play pretty much everything. They 
 educated me for well, that way." 
 
 " So," said the old man meditatively. 
 " And here you've been thinking of playing on 
 an old piano that has been practically unused
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 85 
 
 for twenty years or more. I'll not let you 
 have a monkey wrench, Little Minx." 
 
 With that he quitted the parlor, and Valorie 
 wondered what she had done to offend him. 
 A few days later there came to Woodlands a 
 grand piano of celebrated make, a harp and a 
 great goods box full of sheet music. 
 
 It was Colonel Shenstone's way to order 
 things wholesale. 
 
 There were still other reasons why Phil 
 Shenstone should indulge his desire to remain 
 in Virginia for a time, as he explained to Va- 
 lorie during one of their horseback rides to- 
 gether. Something he said to her in the 
 course of their talk on that occasion, or some 
 quite innocent and unimpertinent question from 
 the young woman, betrayed him into an auto- 
 biographical mood, and he told her the story 
 of himself. 
 
 " My father was Uncle Butler's brother, 
 you know," he said, " though he was many 
 years younger. When my grandfather died 
 Woodlands plantation was divided between 
 the two, and when my father married he built 
 a new house on his half of it. You've seen
 
 86 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the blackened foundations of it over by the old 
 water mill, for it was burned many years ago. 
 I was born there and lived there until I was 
 thirteen or fourteen years old, though both by 
 night and by day, after I ceased to be a baby, 
 I was as often at Woodlands house as at the 
 new place. 
 
 " My father was a man of high culture and 
 was the best teacher I ever had.; but he was 
 utterly unfit for the care of his own estate, 
 partly because of his studious habits, but more 
 because of his too great generosity and his ex- 
 cessive confidence in the integrity of his fellow- 
 men. He was always ready much too 
 ready indeed to help anyone needing his 
 help. I do not know the details, but I know 
 that when I was in my fourteenth year, my 
 father found his fortune gone and himself in 
 danger of falling into insolvency. He decided 
 to go to Indiana, where he had a considerable 
 undeveloped landed property. Uncle Butler 
 of course stood ready to help him in every 
 way. He took up the mortgages on my fa- 
 ther's plantation, paid off most of the debts 
 and himself assumed the rest. In return my
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 87 
 
 father transferred his land and negroes to his 
 brother, and Woodlands became again a single 
 great plantation, with a single owner and mas- 
 ter. I know now, though I knew nothing 
 about it then, that Uncle Butler's payments on 
 my father's account amounted to more than 
 my father's share of the property was worth. 
 
 " We went West, and my father died there 
 within a few months. Uncle Butler begged 
 my mother to come and live at Woodlands, tell- 
 ing her that as I was to be his heir and the 
 next owner of the estate, her maintenance 
 would be merely an anticipation of so much 
 of my inheritance, and that she would really 
 be beholden to nobody but me. 
 
 " My mother was a sensitively proud woman, 
 and while she would not have been ashamed, 
 with such an understanding, to accept Uncle 
 Butler's hospitality, she felt that she could 
 not as a dependent, face the people round 
 about, among whom she had always been a 
 person of consequence. 
 
 " Refusing the offer, therefore, she took a 
 school and for a year or two made a meagre 
 living out of it. Then she married again.
 
 88 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Her second husband had three daughters 
 of his own by a former marriage, and they all 
 came to live with us. He was a man of large 
 ability, but of a domineering temper. He de- 
 veloped the unimproved lands which my fa- 
 ther had left to my mother and soon made 
 them profitable. I had no share in all this as 
 the lands had been willed to my mother, but 
 my stepfather, who was not an ungenerous 
 man in his way, so far recognized a moral 
 claim upon my part, that he sent me to Asbury 
 University at Greencastle. I had already, dur- 
 ing my mother's widowhood, gone through an 
 excellent school, and although I was not yet 
 sixteen years old, I was fully prepared to 
 enter college. 
 
 " I remained a student there for two years, 
 passing my vacations with my mother at our 
 home in a little Ohio river city. At these 
 times I discovered that my mother was very 
 unhappy, and after awhile I discovered the 
 cause; my stepsisters were annoying her in 
 every way they could, humiliating her, and 
 even openly insulting her when my stepfather
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 89 
 
 was away from home, as he was, most of the 
 time, because of his business. 
 
 " I could not fight girls, of course, but on my 
 stepfather's return one day, I laid a complaint 
 of them before him and, perhaps in a less re- 
 spectful tone than I ought to have used, de- 
 manded that he should protect my mother. 
 He flew into a passion and we had a quarrel. 
 In the course of it he said to me : ' If you 
 say another word, I'll use the rod upon you.' 
 I looked him in the eyes and answered : ' If 
 you attempt to do that I will kill you,' and he 
 saw that I meant what I had said. 
 
 " He left the room without another word, 
 and went to my mother, who was an invalid. 
 After they had been in conference for an hour 
 he went away and my mother sent for me. 
 She told me that my stepfather had decided to 
 withdraw me from college and set me to work. 
 I suggested that while he might refuse to 
 maintain me in college he was not my master, 
 and that I would choose my own work. Then 
 she told me something I had never known be- 
 fore. He had had himself appointed my
 
 90 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 guardian, so that until I should reach the age 
 of twenty-one his authority over me would be 
 as absolute as if he had been my father. I 
 answered : 
 
 " ' Advise him not to attempt to exercise his 
 authority. It will be best for him and for all 
 concerned.' 
 
 " Then I tenderly caressed my mother and 
 left the room. I had my father's watch 
 mine now which had cost him many hun- 
 dreds of dollars in England, and was worth 
 many hundreds still. I went at once to a jew- 
 eler, who knew that notable repeater's value, 
 and offered it to him for a hundred dollars. 
 He had been my father's friend, and he was a 
 man of generous mind. He replied that he 
 would not rob me by taking the watch at the 
 price mentioned. He would give me two hun- 
 dred, and, he added : ' It is worth greatly 
 more than that, but it isn't an easy thing to 
 sell. I'll hold it a year for you. If within 
 that time you wish to pay me back the money 
 with ten per cent, interest, you shall have the 
 heirloom.' "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 91 
 
 " That's the watch you are carrying now ? " 
 half asked and half declared the girl. 
 
 " Yes. I redeemed it. Never mind about 
 that now. I went back to the house and 
 packed my small belongings. That evening I 
 boarded the steamer General Pike, bound from 
 Cincinnati to New Orleans. 
 
 " The first clerk on board of her was an old 
 schoolmate of my own. He had no salaried 
 place open to me, but he made me what they 
 call 'mud clerk/ which, in return for much 
 hard work, gave me my passage and my board, 
 together with a chance to do better after 
 a while. I soon saw some small chances, I 
 learned that the deck passengers, of whom 
 there were multitudes in those days, must feed 
 themselves, and that in their improvidence 
 most of them brought utterly inadequate sup- 
 plies for their voyage. I purchased consid- 
 erable food stuff at Louisville, and when the 
 deck passengers began to run short, I fed 
 them at a profit so large that when we reached 
 New Orleans my capital was increased by fifty 
 per cent. On the way up the river I bought
 
 92 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 small lots of sugar and molasses at the land- 
 ings, the products of the smaller plantations 
 whose owners preferred a cash sale to the ship- 
 ment of their very small lots. By the time 
 that two or three trips had been made, I had 
 added several hundred dollars to my funds, 
 and I began to look about me for a chance of 
 betterment. I didn't want to remain either a 
 clerk or a speculator. One day in New Or- 
 leans I met Norman Page, your father. He 
 was a dandy pilot, on the dandiest steam- 
 boat of that time, which, with him at the wheel, 
 had broken all records for speed. He was a 
 Virginian and so was I, and we speedily be- 
 came friends. He took me as his ' cub ' 
 that is to say, his pupil and taught me the 
 river. By the time I had learned it thoroughly 
 for he would tolerate nothing short of per- 
 fection in me I had attained the age re- 
 quired by law, and I secured my license. 
 Then he took me for his partner, and I too be- 
 came a dandy pilot, always perfectly dressed, 
 always a man of leisure, when in port, and al- 
 ways, under the law, an autocrat when on 
 board. For you know the pilot is by law
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 93 
 
 made sole judge of what and when and how 
 much a boat may do in navigation. If he de- 
 cides that it is unsafe to run and ties the boat 
 up to the bank, even the captain cannot over- 
 rule him. His judgment is final; his au- 
 thority is absolute. 
 
 " About the time when I became a cub pilot 
 my mother died. It was a fortnight after the 
 funeral when the news reached me in a letter 
 from an old schoolmate, for my stepfather had 
 not notified me. About the same time came a 
 letter from Uncle Butler urging me to come 
 to him and complete my education at his ex- 
 pense, but, feeling that he had already sacri- 
 ficed much to my father, I declined to add to 
 the obligation, and continued my endeavors to 
 make my own way in the world. 
 
 " After I became a full-fledged pilot the way 
 was easy enough. A pilot receives a salary of 
 four hundred dollars a month. A pilot al- 
 ways dresses well, better than any body else, 
 better even than captains and steamboat own- 
 ers do ; but he has no other necessary expenses. 
 He has his board and lodging free, whether in 
 port or on the river. As I had no bad habits,
 
 94 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 no habits of any kind indeed that cost me any- 
 thing, I was able to save all my salary except 
 what I spent to keep myself perfectly dressed. 
 Even in port I spent nothing, because I cared 
 for nothing there. I very rarely attended the 
 theatre or opera. I spent my time on board, 
 reading. 
 
 " As my money began accumulating I in- 
 vested it in steamboat property, and as I knew 
 all the ins and outs of river traffic, my invest- 
 ments were enormously profitable. On one oc- 
 casion, for example, I took advantage of high 
 water, bought a little dinky steamboat for five 
 thousand dollars, sent her up the Tallahatchie, 
 where there hadn't been a steamboat for a year 
 before, and where the banks were covered 
 mountain high with cotton bales that had 
 waited months for a market. Within three 
 months that little boat earned a clear ten thou- 
 sand dollars in freight money for me, and I 
 sold her for nearly as much as she had cost 
 me. 
 
 " I'm telling you all this by way of explain- 
 ing myself. Let me shorten the story by say- 
 ing that I am now a very large owner of
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 95 
 
 steamboat property. I have as much money 
 as any reasonable man ought to want, and as 
 I have such men as Budd Doble, Tom Leath- 
 ers, John Cannon, Captain Bell and the like 
 for my partners, my investments will go on 
 making money for me wherever I may be. 
 So I am free to linger here in Virginia as long 
 as I like. How long that will be, I do not 
 know. It all depends." 
 
 He did not say upon what it depended.
 
 XII 
 
 AS the months passed by, the affec- 
 tion between Colonel Shenstone and 
 Valorie the hale old gentleman and 
 the fresh-hearted young girl grew steadily 
 tenderer. If she had been his daughter in fact, 
 instead of his adopted daughter, his care of 
 her could not have been more chivalrous or 
 more loving, nor could her affection for him 
 have been greater than it was. If they had 
 been a boy and a girl, brother and sister, twins, 
 their comradery could not have been closer or 
 more constant. If Valorie had been a duch- 
 ess or the most dignified lady in the land, 
 Colonel Shenstone's courtesy to her could not 
 have been more scrupulous. When she en- 
 tered a room he rose and brought her a chair 
 never the one in which he had been sitting, 
 but another, so that in accepting it she need 
 have no feeling that she was disturbing him. 
 96
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 97 
 
 If she were called out of the room he rose and 
 held the door open for her. If the glow of 
 the fire for the frosts of autumn had come 
 seemed too strong for her, he was the first 
 to discover it and to place a face screen for her 
 protection. At table she, as the lady of the 
 house, was the first to be helped, under the 
 rule to which all old Virginians owed al- 
 legiance, that no matter what guests might be 
 present, the gentlewoman who presided over 
 the household was entitled to precedence over 
 all others. 
 
 Manners among the younger generation, 
 were less formal than they had been in his 
 youth, less observant of the nicer courtesies of 
 life. Colonel Shenstone regarded this as a 
 mark of degeneracy, as indeed it was, and he 
 would tolerate nothing of the kind in the treat- 
 ment accorded to Valorie by young men visit- 
 ing his house. One such ventured one day to 
 address her as " Miss Val," whereupon the 
 Colonel arose and with stately dignity said : 
 
 " Permit me, sir, to present you to my 
 daughter, Miss Page." 
 
 The rebuke had its effect
 
 98 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 The old gentleman's own behavior toward 
 her was equally circumspect. His intimacy 
 was far greater, of course, than he permitted 
 to any one else, and he continued to call her 
 in private by the pet name he had given to 
 her, " Little Minx," but never once did he 
 permit himself to address her in that way in 
 the presence of persons outside the household. 
 Never did he light his pipe in her presence 
 without asking her permission. Never for one 
 moment did he forget the deference that he 
 held to be her right by virtue of her woman- 
 hood first and also because she was the mis- 
 tress of Woodlands. 
 
 At first all this unwonted consideration 
 frightened the girl somewhat, for she had al- 
 ways thitherto been taught to think of herself 
 as a chit of a child, subject to continual gov- 
 ernance, and possessed of no claim to consid- 
 eration of any kind. But the new conditions 
 did not spoil her in the least. They acted as 
 the sunshine in a garden does upon a flowering 
 plant recently released from a pot-bound state 
 and transplanted into a wholesome soil with 
 free access to the sun and rain. All the be-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 99 
 
 numbing effects of restraint and repression 
 passed away. The morbid self-consciousness 
 of her former hampered condition was re- 
 placed by a wholesome consciousness of her 
 womanhood, a proper sense of her dignity, and 
 an inspiring recognition of her right to con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Phil Shenstone observed with astonishment 
 the rapidity of her development from awk- 
 ward childhood into a complacent if unasser- 
 tive womanhood, and he observed with delight 
 that nothing of value in her character was lost 
 in the process. All her sweet sincerity of 
 soul remained. All her enthusiasms survived, 
 even the childlikeness of her spirit was in no 
 way impaired by the elimination of the child- 
 ishness. Observing her closely at this time, 
 he decided that she was destined to become the 
 most perfect type of admirable womanhood he 
 had ever known. He lacked the self-knowl- 
 edge necessary to perceive that in his eyes 
 this was not a matter of destiny but of pres- 
 ent fact that she was already quite all that 
 he thought her destined to become. 
 
 In her new capacity as mistress of the great-
 
 ioo TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 est plantation home in that part of Virginia, 
 Valorie speedily grasped and understood con- 
 ditions. She quickly caught the methods of 
 the time and country, and, applying them she 
 wrought a revolution in the old mansion. For 
 twenty years past there had been no social life 
 there, because for twenty years past there had 
 been no gentlewoman in charge. On her first 
 attendance at church Valorie had observed 
 that every young woman invited every other 
 young woman to go home with her to spend 
 the ensuing week, and that those young women 
 who secured the most desirable guests in this 
 way were sure to have as visitors during the 
 week, the most as well as the most desirable 
 young gentlemen. 
 
 On her first attendance at church Valorie 
 had invited nobody, because she had not yet 
 realized her position or the duties and privi- 
 leges appertaining to it. When she under- 
 stood, and after Colonel Shenstone had re- 
 minded her of her duties as the hostess of a 
 great plantation, she issued her invitations 
 right and left, and carried away with her a 
 group of young gentlewomen whose presence
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 101 
 
 at Woodlands insured a liberal supply of young 
 men visitors, some of whom passed nights 
 there, others only the days, but all of whom 
 came unannounced and without special invita- 
 tion, taking the hospitality of the house so 
 much for granted that often half a dozen un- 
 announced guests would ride up, only half an 
 hour before the four o'clock dinner time. 
 Some of these would remain over night or 
 even for two or three days, taking their wel- 
 come for granted, as they were fully war- 
 ranted in doing by the custom of the coun- 
 try. Sometimes they would ride up just 
 in time for supper, and always there were 
 places and a welcome for them. 
 
 In brief, under Valerie's administration, and 
 to Colonel Shenstone's delight, the life of the 
 old mansion suspended for a score of years 
 was re-established. 
 
 Valerie's musical education had been some- 
 thing far superior to anything known in that 
 region, and it constituted a peculiar attraction. 
 She played divinely upon the piano, the harp, 
 the violin, the guitar and the then little known 
 Spanish instrument, the mandolin. She even
 
 102 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 played upon the dulcimer, a queer instrument, 
 wholly unknown in that region until then. 
 Colonel Shenstone had learned that fact by ac- 
 cident, and had straightway sent to Germany 
 for a dulcimer, just as he had ordered a new 
 carriage built for her and a pair of young 
 horses broken to draw it. 
 
 When the new carriage came, he ordered the 
 old one deposited in what he called " the mu- 
 seum," and invited his " Little Minx " to go 
 with him thither to inspect the curiosities. 
 These consisted of fifteen or twenty vehicles of 
 antique and long abandoned patterns, mostly 
 cumbersome and all curious in the elaboration 
 of their decayed elegance. 
 
 " Here," he said to her, " is our patent of 
 Virginia nobility. In this building are stored 
 all the plantation carriages that have carried 
 the great dames and lovely damsels of the 
 Shenstone family, since it was first established 
 in Virginia in 1635. The earliest were 
 brought from England during the first century 
 and a half of the family's dominance pardon 
 me, I meant to say establishment here. The 
 rest were built in America, but all of them
 
 HEBE is OUR PATENT OF VIRGINIA NOBILITY. " Page 102.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 103 
 
 were used by the women of our ancient fam- 
 ily and all of them are redolent of memories 
 that it is worth while to cherish as an in- 
 heritance memories of gentlewomen who, as 
 maids, wives and mothers, did their duty 
 bravely, dignifiedly and with full appreciation 
 of the privilege of duty doing. The carriage 
 we are adding to the collection to-day was 
 bought for my wife when she was my bride. 
 It is sadly out of date now, as I am, but it is 
 fragrant with memories of as noble a woman 
 as ever bore our family name. The new car- 
 riage in which you will drive to church to- 
 morrow, will be placed in the museum when 
 it shall have grown antiquated. It will be 
 reminiscent of my Little Minx. I trust there 
 will be those living at that time who will justly 
 value it on that account." 
 
 Colonel Shenstone was a sentimentalist as 
 every man is who is worthy to live among his 
 fellowmen. It is the sentimentalist alone who 
 keeps life sweet and lifts it above the level of a 
 quarry worked by slaves under the lash of 
 necessity. It is sentiment that prompts us to 
 all courtesy in life. It is sentiment that makes
 
 104 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the child love and the grown man revere his 
 mother. It is sentiment that makes us tender 
 in our treatment of children, courteous and 
 protective in our relations with women, honest 
 and fair in our dealings with men. In brief, it 
 is sentiment and sentiment alone, that lifts us 
 above the level of the brute beasts and makes 
 of this world of ours something better than a 
 pig stye. Sentiment represents the domi- 
 nance of the moral and intellectual side of our 
 nature over our brute passions, the conquest of 
 mere appetite by our higher nature, the reign 
 of the spiritual over the grossly animal part of 
 human nature. The man who declaims 
 against sentiment and scorns romance, is a 
 man to be feared and avoided, a man who 
 would rob the sunset of its glory, wash the 
 green out of the grass and the foliage, and 
 strip the gold from fields of ripening grain, if 
 there were profit in the process. 
 
 If we would preserve to human existence 
 that which makes it worthier than the presence 
 of the clods under our feet, we must set our 
 faces resolutely against that materialism, that 
 utilitarianism that discovers merit only in gain
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 105 
 
 and that would banish all high ideals from our 
 lives on the ground that they do not " pay." 
 
 Sentiment is the father of all heroism, the 
 nursing mother of all self-sacrifice. It is the 
 inspiration of philanthropy, the impulsive force 
 of justice, the creator of all kindliness the 
 one redeeming quality that prompts an om- 
 niscient God to let men live at all.
 
 XIII 
 
 DURING all this time Valerie had been 
 pursuing her studies in several diverse 
 directions. Under tutelage of Edna 
 Spottswood, several years older than herself, 
 who was a Virginia housewife to the manner 
 born, and who was Valorie's intimate, she was 
 learning all the intricacies of domestic science 
 which are now taught in college " courses," 
 and learning them much more thoroughly and 
 above all much more practically than any col- 
 lege course can teach them. In return she was 
 teaching Edna all the mysteries of fine needle- 
 work that she had learned in the convent. She 
 was also improving Edna's French, and teach- 
 ing her more of music than the governess- 
 trained Virginia girl had ever imagined to ex- 
 ist. 
 
 But chief among her own studies, Valorie 
 was exploring English literature, under Phil 
 106
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 107 
 
 Shenstone's guidance. She had said to him 
 one day: 
 
 " Mr. Phil, I am painfully ignorant. These 
 Virginia girls make me ashamed, with their 
 knowledge of Byron, Shakespeare, Dickens, 
 Wordsworth and a lot more whose names I 
 can't recall. You see, in the convent we read 
 the Lives of the Saints, and the Imitation of 
 Christ, and a book about chivalry, and that was 
 about all. Won't you tell me what to read ? " 
 
 Thereupon Phil had undertaken her instruc- 
 tion in that department of learning, and under 
 his guidance she had utilized all her spare 
 hours in reading the classics of our language. 
 
 Incidentally it may be recorded that Phil 
 Shenstone had mightily enjoyed the exercise 
 of his function as tutor. Perhaps that was 
 because Valorie was an unusually quick and 
 bright-minded pupil, who learned rapidly. 
 Perhaps it was because her questionings of him 
 revealed a peculiarly tender and sympathetic 
 nature. Perhaps it was because her interest in 
 what she read was charmingly insatiable. Per- 
 haps it was because of many other things. 
 
 Perhaps it was because Phil Shenstone had
 
 io8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 fallen in love with Valorie Page without him- 
 self knowing the fact. 
 
 Putting all " perhapses " aside, the fact was 
 apparent that by diligent reading, Valorie 
 rapidly improved her mind, enlarged her 
 views, and equipped herself for the social life 
 she was leading in which an acquaintance 
 with literature was a matter of course. Wisely 
 enough, Phil set her to read Motley and Pres- 
 cott and Macaulay, as well as the novelists, 
 adding Thiers's French Revolution, Grote's 
 History of Greece, Buckle's History of Civili- 
 zation, the first volume of which had just ap- 
 peared, and a number of other such books by 
 way of giving her a groundwork of historical 
 knowledge upon which to stand while study- 
 ing life in the presentment of fiction. 
 
 But Valerie's thirst for knowledge did not 
 confine itself to books by any means. She 
 even more determinedly studied everything that 
 might in any degree equip her for her duties 
 as mistress of Woodlands. When the Decem- 
 ber cold came and Colonel Shenstone planned 
 the annual hog-killing, she entreated him to 
 postpone it for three or four days, giving no
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 109 
 
 reason, and he, asking no reason but " just to 
 please my Little Minx," did so. Thereupon 
 Valorie drove daily over to Mattapony, the 
 Spottswood plantation, where she knew 
 that hog-killing was already in progress, and 
 besought Edna, with the aid of her servants, 
 to teach her all there was to know about the 
 preparation of hams, shoulders and middlings 
 for the smoke house, the sousing of pigs' feet, 
 ears and noses, the making of brawn, the care 
 of livers, hearts and kidneys, the making of 
 sausage, the preparation of chidlings, the ren- 
 dering of lard and all the rest of it, espe- 
 cially the making of pigs' foot jelly, a dainty 
 of which Colonel Shenstone was particu- 
 larly fond. After three successive days of 
 diligent study she announced her readiness for 
 hog-killing at Woodlands, and when she 
 served to Colonel Shenstone a glass of jelly 
 with thick cream and he found it perfect for 
 the first time in twenty years, her rejoicing was 
 great. 
 
 Socially Valorie was altogether successful. 
 The young women of the community were 
 drawn to her by her transparent simplicity, by
 
 no TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 her impulse of modest self-effacement, by her 
 utter unpretentiousness when, they realized, 
 as mistress of Woodlands and heiress to that 
 great estate, she might easily have been par- 
 doned much of arrogant presumption. But 
 chiefly it was her sweetness and wholesome- 
 ness of character that attracted them. She 
 was the sort of girl who must be loved or 
 hated, and the young women round about 
 found it far easier to love than to hate her. 
 
 Then, too, the elderly women thoroughly 
 approved her. She had a certain deferential 
 way of treating them, learned in the convent 
 perhaps, which made her presence alto- 
 gether pleasing to them. 
 
 As for the middle-aged men, those of them 
 who had sons urgently advised them to make 
 the most of their opportunities with Valorie 
 Page, and the young men did so with an 
 eagerness that rejuvenated Woodlands house 
 and made it seem to Colonel Shenstone what it 
 had been in his own youth when his sister was 
 the belle of that region. 
 
 The young men were jealous of each other, 
 of course, but the bitterness of their jealousy
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA in 
 
 was reserved for Colonel Shenstone. When- 
 ever they proposed a ride or a game or what- 
 ever else, Valorie would make her consent 
 dependent upon Colonel Shenstone's need of 
 her, attention or her company. If in the midst 
 of a madcap frolic on the lawn, she saw him 
 come out into the porch, she would instantly 
 leave all the rest to their own devices and go to 
 him. In winter, if he grew weary of the 
 music or the dancing or whatever else there 
 might be going on in the parlor, and sought 
 to slip away to " the chamber," which was the 
 family sitting room in every old Virginia man- 
 sion, Valorie would call some other girl to the 
 piano, suggest something that was sure to en- 
 tertain the company, and then quietly slip away 
 " to smoke with Uncle Butler," as she phrased 
 it, he doing the smoking while she sat by his 
 side, he petting her and rejoicing in the de- 
 votion of his "Little Minx." Her affection 
 for him was limitless, and her devotion unre- 
 strained by any other consideration whatever. 
 She thought not at all of reward, but her 
 reward was a rich one when she understood 
 that she was bringing a measureless happiness
 
 ii2 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 into the life of this old man, who had for so 
 long known nothing more of happiness than 
 is implied in the possession of abundance and 
 the servile ministrations of those who are 
 bound to service. 
 
 He had adopted her as his daughter, in fact, 
 though not in legal form. A more important 
 fact was that she had adopted him as her 
 father, and that in every tender way imagi- 
 nable, she treated him as such, with never a re- 
 serve, never a stinting of affectionate atten- 
 tion. 
 
 One day Phil spoke of this rejoicingly. 
 
 " If you never did anything else good in 
 all your life, Val," he said, " you are doing 
 enough to make an angel of yourself, in bring- 
 ing so much of happiness into my uncle's de- 
 clining years." 
 
 " Thank you," she said. " You know that 
 is all I'm living for. As Byron says, ' The 
 rest is leather and prunella.' That reminds 
 me, I must write to Hall, the shoeman, to-day, 
 or I shall presently be barefoot. But Mr. 
 Phil, you know how generously good to me 
 Uncle Butler is. Shouldn't I be a very bad
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 113 
 
 girl or a very stupid one if I didn't find out 
 how to make him happy and do it with all 
 my might? " 
 
 Phil looked at her admiringly, lovingly. 
 Then he said : 
 
 " You are neither bad nor stupid, Val ; and 
 Uncle Butler is by no means the only person 
 in this world whom you are rendering happy. 
 As for finding out how to do that you need 
 no guidance. Your love will take care of 
 that." 
 
 Valorie made no reply. She went away and 
 thought about what he had said. Somehow 
 the words meant more to her than any other 
 words she had ever heard, perhaps because 
 Phil Shenstone's approval had come to mean 
 more to her than she as yet knew.
 
 XIV 
 
 AMONG the younger men who were 
 frequent visitors at Woodlands, was 
 one who from the first commanded 
 Valorie's admiration and sympathy. This 
 was Dr. Greg Tazewell. 
 
 He owned a prosperous plantation, which 
 he conducted successfully, but the greater part 
 of his attention was given to his practice of 
 medicine on the plantations round about. 
 
 He had called upon Phil, on his return to 
 Virginia, and had paid his respects to Valorie, 
 dining informally at Woodlands on several 
 occasions, and during the autumn visiting the 
 plantation frequently to shoot with Phil. He 
 was a young man of excellent address, modest, 
 unassuming, but as Valorie began early to 
 suspect, intellectual beyond the common. He 
 was handsome in face and person, blond, curly- 
 114
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 115 
 
 haired, and abounding in healthy animal spir- 
 its. His bubbling good humor was so con- 
 stant indeed, that at first Valorie failed to 
 recognize the deeper things in his nature. 
 
 It was not until she met him under more 
 trying circumstances that she began to under- 
 stand what stuff he was made of. As mistress 
 of the plantation it was Valorie's function to 
 care for all those who might fall ill, and late 
 in the autumn one of the negro women was 
 very ill indeed. It was in his tireless attend- 
 ance upon this patient that Greg Tazewell un- 
 consciously revealed himself at his best to the 
 singularly alert perceptions of the young 
 woman. 
 
 The case was a desperate one, and he met 
 it with desperate determination and with all of 
 skill he could command. Night after night 
 he remained in the negro cabin, engaged in a 
 fight for a human life. With his own hands 
 he administered experimental treatments that 
 he dared not leave to hands less skilled than 
 his. Upon rare occasions he went to the great 
 house for a meal; usually, however, he asked 
 that something for him to eat might be sent
 
 n6 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 to the cabin, he feeling that he must not leave 
 his patient for a moment. 
 
 The crisis came at night and Valorie re- 
 mained with him by the bedside until nearly 
 morning. As she looked at him he seemed to 
 her very weary, but not for one moment did 
 he relax his attention to his patient. For 
 thrice twenty-four hours he had had no sleep 
 except such naps as he caught while sitting 
 upon a backless stool before the cabin fire. 
 On this night of crisis he had not closed his 
 eyes at all. Indeed, Valorie reflected, he had 
 not even sat down for a moment throughout 
 the long hours, and his young face was hag- 
 gard as she saw it now in the flickering fire- 
 light, in itself suggestive of that going out of 
 life which he was battling to prevent. 
 
 At last, after another examination of the 
 patient, his features seemed to relax, some- 
 thing of its customary joyousness returned to 
 his countenance, and quitting the bedside, he 
 threw three or four sticks of wood upon the 
 long-neglected fire. Then turning to Valorie 
 he said : 
 
 " You had better go to the house and to
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 117 
 
 bed. The necessity for watching is over." 
 " Is Jane to die then, after all ? " 
 " No. She will get well. Go now and get 
 some rest. Only nursing will be needed and 
 the negro women can attend to that, if you 
 see them three or four times a day. Go. I 
 don't want you for a patient." 
 
 " But how about yourself, doctor? " 
 " Me ? Oh, I am all right. I'm tough, 
 you know. I must remain here for an hour 
 or so longer. Then I'll go to the house, get 
 Henry to bring me a tub of cold water, and 
 present myself at breakfast as fresh as the 
 morning. But you must go. It is five 
 o'clock. You must get several hours' sleep 
 before the breakfast hour." 
 
 "Thank you, I'll try," she said. Then 
 looking at him earnestly, she said : 
 
 " I admire heroes, and surely you are one." 
 "Oh, no, not at all. Only a doctor. I'll 
 put it all into my bill." 
 
 The flippancy was meant as a parrying of 
 embarrassing praise, but it shocked Valorie 
 and distressed her. Her own sympathy with 
 the sick woman had been so long under strain
 
 n8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 that release from it brought to her only a 
 chastened, solemn, thankful rejoicing. She 
 knew nothing of the necessity a physician is 
 under to control his sympathies as he must 
 control other emotions, reducing all of them 
 to a principle rather than merely a feeling. 
 Nor did she recognize Greg Tazewell's pur- 
 pose in this instance, which was to relieve her 
 mind by his own lightness of manner and 
 speech, and to assure her by his tone that his 
 confident prediction of his patient's recovery 
 was surely destined to fulfillment. 
 
 Her admiration of him was great, but it was 
 tempered just now by disappointment. 
 
 When he appeared at the breakfast table, 
 announcing that after an hour's sleep he had 
 induced Henry to pour a dozen bucketsful of 
 frost-sharpened water over his person, so that 
 he felt quite young again, she was troubled 
 with the thought that after all, his devotion to 
 his patient had been born solely of professional 
 enthusiasm, and that no touch of genuine hu- 
 man sympathy had redeemed it. But pres- 
 ently, during a lull in the table talk, he turned 
 to her with all the earnestness in his face that
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 119 
 
 she had seen there during his struggle with 
 the malady and said : 
 
 " I've seen Jane again. I went there just 
 before coming to breakfast. She's going to 
 get well, but I wish you'd detail some more 
 sympathetic person than Lizzie to act as her 
 nurse. Lizzie is impatient with her and a 
 very little friction might set her recovery back. 
 I wonder if Elsie could be spared." 
 
 As he made this appeal, saying more with 
 his eyes and his mobile face than in the words 
 he uttered, Valorie felt that she was justified 
 in again setting him upon his pedestal as a 
 hero. 
 
 Her reply was prompt. 
 
 "I'll send Elsie to stay until nightfall. 
 After that I shall be there myself. Elsie is 
 gentle and kindly, but at night she'd go to 
 sleep. I'll watch to-night myself." 
 
 " Believe me, it isn't necessary," he replied, 
 " and you are already " 
 
 " I'm young and strong," she answered. 
 " I do not want the scientific results you have 
 achieved to be sacrificed by any failure of 
 care."
 
 120 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 There was a note of bitterness in her tone. 
 He observed it, but made no reply. 
 
 When breakfast was done she told him that 
 a messenger had come for him from a distant 
 plantation and was waiting to speak with him. 
 He asked that the messenger might be brought 
 to him, and when the boy come he asked : 
 
 "Who is ill at the Oaks?" 
 
 "Uncle Michael, Mas' Greg. His rheu- 
 matiz is awful bad. He's mos' daid." 
 
 " Very well," answered the doctor going to 
 his saddlebags and compounding a lotion. 
 " Have him rubbed with this, and keep the 
 rubbing up till he is ready to go to sleep. Tell 
 your master I could do nothing more for him 
 if I were there, and tell him I am bound to re- 
 main here for the day. If Michael grows 
 worse and I don't think he will tell your 
 master he will have to send for another phy- 
 sician. I simply cannot leave here till night. 
 A life might depend upon my presence. Do 
 you understand ? " 
 
 Satisfied from the bewildered look in the 
 negro's face that he did not understand, he 
 said:
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 121 
 
 " Wait a minute. I'll send a note to your 
 master." 
 
 With that he went to the desk that stood in 
 the hall of every old Virginia house for the 
 use of all who needed to write, and tried to 
 pen a missive. Presently he turned to Phil 
 Shenstone and besought him to act as aman- 
 uensis, saying: 
 
 " My hand is too unsteady to write." 
 
 Phil signaled to Valorie, and she instantly 
 seated herself at the desk to take the dictation. 
 When it was done and the messenger had 
 gone, she turned to Tazewell with a world of 
 tender sympathy in her look and said : 
 
 " If we are not to have another patient to 
 care for, doctor, you must go to bed. Your 
 room is ready for you, and I'll see to it that all 
 household noises are suppressed. I will even 
 forbid Uncle Butler and Mr. Phil to talk at 
 any point less remote than the stables. But 
 tell me; is the old man Michael in sore need 
 of your presence ? " 
 
 " Yes, and no. He is suffering greatly, I 
 have no doubt. But I could do nothing more 
 than I have done by sending him the lotion
 
 122 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 and ordering prolonged massage. He is 
 eighty years old, he says. He has chronic 
 rheumatism, and in the natural course of 
 events it is going to kill him presently. I 
 couldn't prevent that if I were present. It 
 isn't like Jane's case in which we had the 
 strong constitution of a vigorous young 
 woman to build upon. Michael is ten miles 
 away, and I simply must not quit this planta- 
 tion till I see Jane asleep after ten o'clock to- 
 night." 
 
 Seeing a queer look in the girl's face, and 
 misinterpreting it, he hastily added : 
 
 " Oh, she's going to get well, you may rest 
 assured. But for this first day of her recov- 
 ery I must watch her, and I will. I've no 
 notion of letting all we've done be wasted." 
 
 Again Valorie was shocked and distressed. 
 Again she misinterpreted his meaning and 
 misunderstood the spirit in which he had 
 spoken. It seemed to her that he had no care 
 for the human life he had saved, for the 
 woman and mother whom his skill and tireless 
 devotion had snatched from the grasp of death 
 and was presently to restore to her brood of
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 123 
 
 little children. It seemed to her that his con- 
 cern was solely for the results his science had 
 achieved, with no touch or trace of tender hu- 
 man sympathy and compassion in it. 
 
 Nevertheless she was quick to recognize his 
 own exhaustion as that was illustrated by his 
 tremulous inability to control a pen. With 
 full faith in the accepted therapeutics of the 
 time and country, she asked him if she should 
 not bring him a dram. 
 
 " No, my dear Miss Page," he answered. 
 " In cases of actual exhaustion I sometimes 
 prescribe alcoholic stimulation. But I never 
 resort to it as a means of steadying shaken 
 nerves or repairing the results of mere fatigue. 
 In such ways alcohol is effective for the mo- 
 ment, but in the end it is what Solomon called 
 wine a mocker. My nerves are shamefully 
 unsettled, but that is only because for the 
 space of four hours last night, I stood facing 
 death and fighting it. During all that time I 
 had reason to fear we should lose in the strug- 
 gle and that in spite of all I might do, that 
 poor woman must die. Now that we have 
 won the game and I am freed from the terrible
 
 124 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 apprehension, there is a very natural relaxa- 
 tion and my nerves have given way under it. 
 I need only to sleep a little. If I may, I will 
 accept your invitation and go to my room for 
 two hours. At the end of that time, please 
 have me waked without fail. Jane will take 
 nourishment then, and I must be there to see 
 it administered and observe the results." 
 
 Again Valorie misunderstood. His phrase 
 about observing results suggested to her anew 
 that his interest in Jane was neither personal 
 nor human, but purely, and very coldly scien- 
 tific. 
 
 He did not leave Woodlands until the next 
 day, not until he was able to leave Jane in 
 Elsie's charge in full assurance that her con- 
 valescence was certain. 
 
 As he was leaving he seemed to seek con- 
 verse with Valorie, and Phil, who was warm- 
 ing his back in front of the great wood fire 
 in the hall, suddenly remembered some duty 
 that required his instant withdrawal from the 
 house. These were two gentlemen of Vir- 
 ginia, neither of whom would think of stand- 
 ing in the other's way in the slightest partic-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 125 
 
 ular. When he had gone, young Tazewell 
 took Valerie's hand, and looking into her eyes 
 scrutinizingly, said: 
 
 " I'm afraid you don't approve of me ? " 
 
 She returned the gaze unflinchingly and 
 answered : 
 
 " I do, and I don't. I know you are a 
 hero, but sometimes I think your devotion to 
 science makes you cold-blooded." 
 
 He looked at her intently for a moment. 
 Then he said, with emphasis: 
 
 " Appearances are sometimes deceptive, but 
 one doesn't know himself half as well as others 
 know him. You may be right. Good-bye. 
 I shall not need to see Jane again. Tell Elsie 
 to carry out the instructions I have given her. 
 What a superb morning it is! I think I shall 
 ride twenty miles or so just to enjoy being 
 alive. Good day." 
 
 He was gone, and Valorie wondered if she 
 had offended him. For Valorie was only a 
 little more than eighteen years old and she was 
 sensitive as regards others. 
 
 Besides she really did regard Greg Tazewell 
 as a hero.
 
 XV 
 
 PHIL SHENSTONE had found it neces- 
 sary to prolong his stay in Virginia in- 
 definitely for several reasons. For one 
 thing his letters from Louisiana convinced him 
 that there was serious danger impending over 
 Valerie's head. He said nothing of this 
 either to Valorie or to his uncle, but to Greg 
 Tazewell he talked of it, though very guard- 
 edly, and in the privacy of Tazewell's bachelor 
 home. 
 
 " I want you to know certain things, Greg, 
 that may arise to annoy Valorie. I am not 
 going to tell you her story in detail. There 
 are reasons why I should not do that as 
 yet." 
 
 " I can well believe that," answered the doc- 
 tor, " and of course, I should never tolerate 
 in myself anything remotely resembling an 
 impertinent curiosity concerning the personal 
 126
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 127 
 
 history of a young lady whose character I 
 esteem so highly. You and I both stand 
 ready to minister in every possible way 
 to the welfare of a young lady whom we both 
 esteem. I am ready to do that to the utmost 
 limit of the law, and as far beyond that limit 
 as may be necessary." 
 
 " I know all that, my dear fellow," answered 
 Phil, with a certain touch not exactly of 
 melancholy, but of resignation in his tone. 
 " I know all that and I reckon upon it." 
 
 " Do you know, Phil, that you have a very 
 bad habit of interrupting? I was going on 
 to say, that, holding this attitude, I want you 
 to tell me precisely so much of Miss Valorie 
 Page's history or situation, or whatever else 
 it is, as you may think it desirable for me to 
 know, and not one word more. So far as 
 serving her, or defending her, or doing any- 
 thing and everything else for her is concerned, 
 I am ready, in poker slang, to ' go it blind/ " 
 
 " Thank you," said Phil. Then he sat for 
 a long time in silence, as if ordering his 
 thoughts. At last he arose, filled a long- 
 stemmed Powhatan pipe, lighted it, and
 
 128 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 smoked for a while in silence. Finally he 
 said: 
 
 "All that I need tell you now is that Va- 
 lorie is in danger through a perversion of the 
 law. I am staying here to meet that danger 
 and I may need your help." 
 
 " Excuse me for interrupting," said the 
 other, " but I have already said that any and 
 every help I can render shall be forthcoming 
 whenever you call for it." 
 
 "Thank you. I knew that before. Now 
 I have fully considered this matter, and I have 
 made up my mind. If the danger conies, it 
 will be through court processes, and with my 
 uncle's ingenious knowledge of the law, I shall 
 fight the peril in the courts as long as there is 
 a leg to stand upon there. If I am beaten in 
 that, I shall fight it with shotguns." 
 
 " That is all right," cheerfully answered the 
 other. " My shotgun is ready and so is its 
 owner, Greg Tazewell, A. M., M. D., Ph. D., 
 country doctor, planter and by no means a 
 bad wing shot, as you can testify." 
 
 " I know, Greg. I only wanted you to be
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 129 
 
 prepared for emergencies. I should have 
 counted upon you at any rate." 
 
 Having decided to remain in Virginia thus 
 indefinitely, Phil Shenstone planned to put in 
 his time in those studies of which he felt the 
 need as a supplement to his interrupted edu- 
 cation. To that end he decided to remove 
 himself from Woodlands to his own nearly 
 worthless little plantation of Fox Harbor, 
 where there was a comfortable little dwelling 
 house, and where he thought the ministrations 
 of his seventeen more or less decrepit negroes, 
 old and young, might serve to keep a home 
 going. 
 
 " I shall have three regular cooks," he said 
 to Valorie, "and two extras. From such ob- 
 servations as I have been able to make, at least 
 one of the regular cooks will recognize her fit- 
 ness for duty each day, and if not, perhaps 
 the extras will be able to give me my break- 
 fast. If worse comes to worst, it is only three 
 miles to Woodlands. I've a negro boy who 
 can clean dry mud off my boots, under my per- 
 sonal superintendence, and I do not despair
 
 130 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 of teaching him to do o.ther small services. 
 There are two women who profess a certain 
 acquaintance with the mysteries of laundry 
 work, so that on the whole I shall be able to 
 live, perhaps, especially as I shall be sustained 
 by the consoling reflection that I am a landed 
 proprietor." 
 
 At that point in the conversation, Colonel 
 Shenstone appeared and, having caught some 
 part of the conversation, demanded to know 
 the rest of the matter. After Phil had ex- 
 plained his plan, the old gentleman, whose gout 
 was giving him a good deal of trouble that day, 
 broke out into a passionate denunciation of his 
 nephew's ingratitude, and ended by " daring " 
 him again so much as to hint at the possibility 
 of his quitting Woodlands for any other place 
 whatever, so long as he should remain in Vir- 
 ginia. The old gentleman's tone was wrath- 
 ful, but as he afterwards gently explained 
 the wrath was directed, not against Phil, 
 but at the twinges of gout that were tortur- 
 ing him. Having finished his speech he 
 started to hobble out of the room, but pres- 
 ently stopping, he dropped into a chair and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 131 
 
 resting his foot upon a stool, which Valorie 
 was alert to place conveniently, said: 
 
 " Phil, my dear boy, I'm growing old and 
 I need you. I can't even look after the plan- 
 tation half the time now, and there are other 
 things of vastly greater importance that you 
 must take off my shoulders. Forgive me if I 
 was harsh " 
 
 " Not another word, Uncle, I beg of you. 
 We are two gentlemen of Virginia, and we 
 understand each other without apologies. I 
 am ready to help you in every way I can." 
 
 " Yes, I know that. I shall be better in a 
 day or two, and then we must set to work to- 
 gether over some papers. In the meanwhile 
 I wish you'd send a boy over for Dr. Taze- 
 well. He generally manages to ease my 
 gout." 
 
 So the conversation ended in amity, and 
 Phil Shenstone abandoned his purpose of 
 quitting Woodlands for a residence of his own.
 
 XVI 
 
 DURING Tazewell's stay at Wood- 
 lands, prolonged until Col. Shen- 
 stone's suffering from gout was mer- 
 cifully alleviated, he had opportunity for con- 
 verse with Valorie and he made the fullest 
 possible use of it. It was the best of his 
 habits never to neglect an opportunity. 
 
 One evening when the Indian summer had 
 brought a soft warm atmosphere, ;.nd the 
 moon, a little short of the full, was flooding 
 the landscape with its mellow, soothing light, 
 he and she met in the porch. The moonlight 
 tempted them, and without plan or purpose 
 they wandered away to the edge of the wood- 
 lands, and gazed into the blackness beyond 
 without speech, where speech was unneces- 
 sary. The glory of the evening was enough. 
 But when a young woman and a young man 
 are thus strolling together in the moonlight, 
 132
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 133 
 
 there comes to both at last a vague feeling that 
 speech of some sort is requisite, if only to 
 avoid misapprehension. So presently Valorie 
 said, " Jane is well again, thanks to your skill, 
 Doctor." 
 
 " Thanks to my reckless daring, rather," 
 he replied. 
 
 " How do you mean? " she asked. 
 
 " Why, when I saw that she must die un- 
 der any recognized treatment, I tried an ex- 
 periment upon her which I had long been 
 thinking of. It was a desperate chance, but 
 as she must die without it, I decided at last to 
 try it and it succeeded. I saved Jane's life 
 by doing what all the books and all the author- 
 ities condemn, and I have had to exercise a 
 good deal of self-control to avoid boasting in 
 the report I have made of the case in the medi- 
 cal journals. It was a hazardous experiment. 
 It might have hastened death by many hours, 
 but it succeeded in saving a life and it has 
 been a joy to me to report the case for the in- 
 struction of others." 
 
 Valorie utterly misinterpreted his mood and 
 his meaning.
 
 134 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Then Jane was only a ' subject ' to you, 
 a person who offered you an opportunity for 
 experimentation. You didn't care whether 
 she lived or died. You had no concern for 
 her brood of little children. She was to you 
 only a negro slave woman worth five hun- 
 dred dollars to her master, or about that, and 
 you were anxious to save her life only in the 
 interest of her owner, but seeing that ordinary 
 means to that end were likely to prove in- 
 effective, you decided to make her the subject 
 of a scientific experiment at risk of shortening 
 her life by those hours which Divine Provi- 
 dence was granting her, perhaps, for repent- 
 ance and the saving of her immortal soul. I 
 am shocked, distressed, horrified. Let me go 
 back to the house. Stay here till I enter the 
 grounds. Good night. I am sorry to part 
 with you thus." 
 
 It was obviously futile to follow the young 
 woman or to attempt speech in explanation. 
 The entrance to the house grounds was less 
 than a quarter of a mile away, and the flood- 
 ing moonlight enabled the young man to see 
 her clearly throughout that distance as she
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 135 
 
 hurriedly retreated. He followed slowly, and 
 half an hour later he was telling Phil Shen- 
 stone the details of the quarrel. 
 
 " She will think differently of the matter," 
 said Phil, " when she understands ; and I will 
 see that she understands." 
 
 There was an ache at his heart as he gave 
 the promise, for he saw in Valerie's resent- 
 ment of what she thought unworthy in Greg 
 Tazewell, the surest of all possible signs that 
 the young physician had awakened a danger- 
 ously active interest in her heart, and, while 
 he persuaded himself that he was not Greg 
 Tazewell's rival in that respect, he neverthe- 
 less was saddened by the discovery, and he 
 found himself all the next morning, planning 
 an early return to his business affairs in the 
 West. 
 
 He was a gentleman, however, and as such 
 his loyalty to his friend dominated every other 
 impulse in his mind. 
 
 So on that morning, after Tazewell had 
 taken his departure, Phil asked Valorie to ride 
 with him to the little plantation he had inher- 
 ited, and on which he was trying to devise a
 
 136 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 scheme by which his negroes might be made 
 self-supporting, or nearly so. There were 
 some good apple trees on the place and Phil 
 had ordered the apples gathered a month or so 
 earlier and stored in the cellar, with no very 
 definite idea of what he should do with them, 
 but with an instinctive impulse to prevent 
 waste. Valorie had almost a child's appetite 
 for apples, and as there were some specially 
 fine varieties among these, Phil ordered plates, 
 napkins and fruit knives, and set her to eating 
 them in the porch, for the Indian summer 
 weather was still favorable to indulgence in 
 the out-of-doors. After he had peeled an Al- 
 bemarle pippin for her, he entered upon the 
 conversation for which he had brought her 
 forth. 
 
 " You are displeased with Greg," he said, 
 half assertively, half questioningly. 
 
 " Yes," she said, and she said no more, a 
 fact that left him with an awkward conversa- 
 tional problem to solve. He waited awhile 
 before venturing further to question her, for 
 Valorie had a strange way of thinking for 
 herself, which seemed to have come to her
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 137 
 
 since her residence at Woodlands had begun, 
 and it puzzled Phil Shenstone a good deal. 
 That was because he knew nothing of the dif- 
 ference between a girl, accustomed to have her 
 thinking and her life dominated by persons in 
 authority such a girl as she had been when 
 she came to Woodlands and a woman per- 
 mitted and encouraged to think for herself 
 such as she had become under his own tutelage 
 and still more under the tutelage and the gen- 
 erous comradery of Colonel Shenstone. At 
 last he said, however : 
 
 " I think you misunderstand and misinter- 
 pret him. I wish you would tell me all that is 
 in your mind." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Phil, I will," she said, 
 with eagerness, tossing the apple from her 
 plate to the hens before the door, rinsing her 
 fingers and drying them. " I'm glad to do so. 
 He puzzles me. I can't make him out. He 
 does things in a heroic, self-sacrificing way, 
 that makes me think of him as well, as one 
 of God's own but he spoils all that by say- 
 ing things that show me how cold-blooded he 
 is, and convince me that after all, he feels
 
 138 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 no human sympathy, that all his efforts are in- 
 spired only by a cold, scientific desire to find 
 out things." 
 
 Then she went on, passionately, to relate all 
 that had occurred at the bedside of the negro 
 woman, Jane, and all that had occurred after- 
 wards, ending with an account of what he 
 had said the night before with regard to the 
 desperate experiment he had made in Jane's 
 case. 
 
 " Of course that was right enough," she 
 said, " so far as the experiment itself was con- 
 cerned. Jane would have died if he had not 
 made it. But he seems more interested in the 
 result of the experiment than in the saving of 
 Jane's life, and that is what makes me mad 
 pardon me, I should say that is what angers 
 me." 
 
 " Your first phrase was good enough," he 
 replied. " It was idiomatic English, and I like 
 that better than the English of the rhetoric 
 books." 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't do that," she said, 
 impatiently. 
 
 "Do what, Valorie?"
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 139 
 
 "Why talk in that cold-blooded way when 
 we're discussing things that tear my soul to 
 pieces. When you do that I don't like you 
 any better than I do Dr. Tazewell. It is all 
 words, words, words, and I hate words when 
 they do not express thought and feeling. 
 Why don't you say something to satisfy me 
 something about what we have been talking 
 about?" 
 
 " I'm coming to that presently," he re- 
 sponded. " I want you to be in a mood to 
 listen calmly before I begin on that theme. 
 I'll go and give Niah some directions, and per- 
 haps when I come back you'll be sufficiently 
 self-possessed to listen. I'll be back in ten 
 minutes." 
 
 As he went away the girl rose and prom- 
 enaded the porch three or four times. Then 
 she tripped down the steps and plucked a be- 
 lated chrysanthemum, which she held in her 
 tremulous hands as a means of self-control. 
 
 " He is pleading for his friend," she 
 thought, "as if it were for himself. I won- 
 der why he does that? Why should he care 
 what I think of Dr. Greg Tazewell, and never
 
 i 4 o TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 care to find out what I think of himself?" 
 " I want to tell you about Tazewell," he 
 said, when they were seated again. " He is 
 altogether a hero. His whole life, and all his 
 abilities are given up to the service of human- 
 ity. There isn't a selfish thought in his being, 
 and what you condemn as his cold-bloodedness 
 is only his enthusiasm. Let me tell you. He 
 inherited a plantation and negroes, as you 
 know, which assured him a luxurious living. 
 He might have been content with that, and 
 most young men would have been. But his 
 is a generous nature. He could not reconcile 
 himself to the leading of a life of ease. He 
 read philosophy, English, German and 
 French. He accepted the thought that every 
 men is in debt to the world for all of good 
 that it gives him. He set out to render the 
 world a service commensurate with its good 
 gifts to him. He studied medicine in Phila- 
 delphia. Then he went abroad for several 
 years, to equip himself more perfectly. On 
 his return he might have settled in some great 
 city with the certainty of winning renown. 
 But it was not renown that he sought. He
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 141 
 
 wanted to render service. He was convinced 
 that a physician so well equipped as he was, 
 could do more in the way of investigation and 
 discovery for the benefit of mankind, in a 
 country practice in Virginia, where there were 
 negroes of strong constitution to experiment 
 upon, than in any other way. So putting 
 aside all selfish considerations, he settled down 
 here. Let me tell you some of the results. A 
 year or two ago, by experiment, he invented 
 a device which is now in use by physicians 
 everywhere, and which has wrought some- 
 thing like miracles in the alleviation of human 
 suffering and the saving of human life. Re- 
 cently he has devised another thing for the 
 treatment and cure of a distressing malady 
 which until now has been open only to tem- 
 porary alleviation. So important is this that 
 his old instructors in Paris have summoned 
 him to go to France next spring to expound 
 it for the benefit of humanity. Now in Jane's 
 case, he saw a woman about to die. No 
 recognized treatment could save her. He had 
 long had in mind a treatment which he be- 
 lieved might prove effective. He had never
 
 142 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 dared try it, but in a case like that, where 
 death was certain without it, he ventured. He 
 saved Jane's life, and that meant much to him, 
 but can you blame him if his chief concern 
 was for the other lives that were to be saved 
 by his demonstration of the efficacy of the 
 treatment? Can you wonder that the results 
 of the experiment seem to him of far greater 
 consequence than the person on whom it was 
 made ? " 
 
 " I have been wrong," she said. " He is 
 the hero I thought him to be before I mis- 
 judged him. Thank you for telling me." 
 
 As she rose and passed into the house the 
 tears glistened upon her cheeks, and Phil 
 Shenstone utterly misinterpreted their appear- 
 ance there. How was he to know that they 
 were tears of admiration for his own gener- 
 osity in so unselfishly pleading the cause of 
 his friend?
 
 XVII 
 
 THE two rode at a walk on their 
 homeward journey. Both were en- 
 gaged in perplexed thought, and 
 neither seemed disposed to rapid motion, 
 though they had contagiously spirited horses 
 under them. 
 
 With the quick perception of a woman who 
 admires and loves, but who does not acknowl- 
 edge even to herself that she loves, for the rea- 
 son that her love has not been openly asked, 
 Valorie saw that Phil had misunderstood her 
 emotion, and she knew far better than he did, 
 all that was in her companion's mind. With 
 the defensive instinct of proud womanhood, 
 she felt it to be her highest duty to herself to 
 ignore his misinterpretation or even to confirm 
 it if opportunity should offer. " If he chooses 
 to think well in the way he does " she 
 reflected, " he must go on thinking so. He 
 143
 
 144 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 hasn't asked me for an explanation and until 
 he does, I certainly shall not offer any. I 
 .would crucify my own soul rather than do 
 that." 
 
 Phil, on his part, reflected : 
 
 " She has often expressed gratitude to me 
 for rescuing her from the life she was destined 
 to lead. She likes me in a way, and if I 
 should ask her to love me she would answer 
 yes, sincerely believing that her answer was 
 true, though in fact all of love that is in her 
 belongs to Greg Tazewell. Her very antag- 
 onism to him when she thinks she discovers 
 anything unworthy in his conduct or his atti- 
 tude of mind, is sufficient proof of that. She 
 so far worships him that she is madly jealous 
 of anything and everything that tends to im- 
 pair her ideal of his perfection. It is per- 
 fectly certain that she would accept any proffer 
 of love I might make to her, and all her life 
 she would loyally compel herself to believe in 
 her love for me. But I know better. She 
 loves Greg Tazewell and he loves her. He is 
 my friend and she is in a peculiar way the 
 subject of my care and guardianship. I must
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 145 
 
 not betray my friend even to gain the one 
 supreme desire of my life, and still more im- 
 peratively, I must not mar her life by linking 
 it with my own when love prompts her to 
 unite it with that of another. It is said truly 
 that renunciation and self-sacrifice are the se- 
 cure bases of all religions that have appealed 
 to human kind, the inspiration of all heroism. 
 Now I am no hero; I am only a steamboat 
 man; but at any rate I am a gentleman. I 
 desire Valorie's happiness in life far more 
 than I care for my own. On the whole it is 
 time for me to go back to the western waters 
 and attend to my own affairs." 
 
 With this thought in his mind he broke the 
 silence that had so long endured between the 
 two. 
 
 " Val," he said, " I find I must go back to 
 the West almost immediately. There are 
 matters there that need my attention. We 
 have been building three new steamboats for 
 the trade between Cincinnati and St. Louis, 
 and they are to go into commission at once. 
 You see there is a great tide of emigration 
 from the East to the Missouri River country,
 
 146 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 and every boat we can set going will be black 
 with a multitude of passengers and flaming 
 red with a cargo of farm wagons, plows, har- 
 rows, hay-rakes and every other sort of agri- 
 cultural implement. Every trip of every 
 steamboat will make a small fortune for us, 
 and it seems necessary that I, as the largest 
 single stockholder, should be there to look 
 after the business." 
 
 It was well that he was not looking at Va- 
 lorie's face as he said all this. As it was, 
 she had time in which to control her emotions 
 before he had finished. She was tempted to 
 remind him of what he had told her that he 
 was a rich man, that he had money enough, 
 that his partners in all his steamboat ventures 
 were men capable of managing affairs with- 
 out his help, and all the rest of it. 
 
 Instead, she said : 
 
 " Of course, you are right. In what you 
 have done for me you have wasted time that 
 must be precious to your business interests. 
 I shall be sorry, of course, to miss our very 
 pleasant daily intercourse, but that is a mat- 
 ter of no consequence in comparison with your
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 147 
 
 large business interests. You can easily ar- 
 range for the care of your negroes at Fox 
 Harbor." 
 
 Again he misunderstood her, as, in the pride 
 of her womanhood she meant that he should. 
 He accepted her response as meaning that on 
 the whole she would be glad to have his pres- 
 ence taken out of her life at this emotional 
 juncture. 
 
 " Oh, yes," he answered, nonchalantly. 
 " It is only a question of feeding and cloth- 
 ing those helpless creatures. Fox Harbor adv 
 joins Greg Tazewell's plantation. I shall ask 
 him to annex it in a sense. I'll leave a sum 
 of money subject to his order, and ask him to 
 see that these people of mine have an abun- 
 dance to eat and plenty of clothes. As for the 
 house, I reckon I'll board that up." 
 
 It was a full minute before Valorie 
 answered. Perhaps she was afraid of betray- 
 ing too tender an emotion in answering. If 
 that was her purpose, she accomplished it, for 
 when she did answer it was in a level, equable 
 voice and in terms that restrained sentiment 
 within entirely conventional bounds.
 
 148 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " That would be a pity, I think. The house 
 is an old one, and though it is now shorn of 
 the broad domain of which it was once the 
 centre, it has a history of hospitality. Why 
 not leave it open? I will go over there once 
 or twice a week and see that your servants 
 keep it in order. Then once a year when your 
 birthday comes, if you'll tell me when that is, 
 I'll give a dining day there to your friends 
 and in your honor. You have done so much 
 for me, Mr. Phil, that I shall be glad if you'll 
 let me do that much for you, just in memory 
 of our pleasant six months of association." 
 
 If any thing had been needed to convince 
 Shenstone of the correctness of his interpre- 
 tation of the girl's attitude, this friendly but 
 seemingly unemotional utterance would have 
 sufficed. It was clear to him that friendship 
 and gratitude were the warmest sentiments 
 she entertained for him. It was obvious to 
 him that his plan of going at once to the West, 
 and taking himself out of Valerie's life was 
 the only wise one, the only one that promised 
 the highest happiness for her. As for himself 
 he did not include himself in the reckoning.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 149 
 
 And Valerie ? As she neared her journey's 
 end she gave rein to her horse and finished in 
 a gallop. It seemed to her that she must 
 break down and reveal herself in a way that, 
 would destroy her with shame, if she did not 
 quickly reach her own room and vent her feel- 
 ings in the natural, feminine way, a good cry. 
 She saw slipping away from her all that she 
 had subconsciously hoped for in life, all that 
 life promised to her soul. Even yet her pride 
 would not let her admit to herself that she 
 loved Phil Shenstone. Indeed the very 
 thought of such a thing, angered her and of- 
 fended her amour propre beyond endurance. 
 She resolutely refused to believe it. She re- 
 sented it as an insult to her womanhood. She 
 passionately denied it to her own soul, with 
 which she was now in intense antagonism be- 
 cause of its impulse toward a love that was un- 
 asked and therefore shamefully impossible. 
 
 In her agitation it was her hope that she 
 might preserve the outward seeming of equa- 
 nimity until such time as she should reach 
 the seclusion of her room. 
 
 But as the two approached the horse block
 
 150 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 in front of the house grounds, she saw a negro 
 boy leading Greg Tazewell's horse to the 
 stables, and instantly the fear that Colonel 
 Shenstone was ill again seized upon her mind 
 and dominated it to the exclusion of all per- 
 sonal concerns and to the suppression bf every 
 emotion that had self for its subject or its 
 object. For Valor ie Page had learned to love 
 Colonel Shenstone with all the passion possible 
 to a daughter's devotion, and the thought of 
 his renewed suffering drove all other thoughts 
 out of her mind. 
 
 The moment she reached the entrance to 
 the house grounds, she slipped from her saddle 
 without waiting for Phil's help or for anything 
 else, and, gathering up the absurdly long 
 riding habit that Virginia Amazons always 
 used on horseback, fled like a startled fawn 
 to the porch where she saw Greg Tazewell 
 carefully dropping some medicine into a glass. 
 
 " Tell me ! " she cried, seizing his arm and 
 disturbing his count ; " is Uncle Butler very 
 ill?" 
 
 With that scientific calm, which in him was 
 often so irritating to Valerie's nerves, he
 
 L 
 
 TELL ME ! is UNCLE BUTLER VERY ILL ? " Page 150.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 151 
 
 emptied the contents of the glass upon the 
 ground beyond the rail, turned to the serv- 
 ant in attendance and said: 
 
 " Bring me another wine glass. No, leave 
 that one where it is " seeing the negro about 
 to pick it up. " I want another. Plunge it 
 into hot water for a full minute, and then 
 bring it to me, dry and hot." Then turning 
 to Valorie he answered : 
 
 " Colonel Shenstone has another attack of 
 gout. I'll tell you about it presently. Just 
 now I must prepare his medicine, and one drop 
 too much might well, it might make a dif- 
 ference." 
 
 She shrank back, almost as if she had re- 
 ceived a blow, and waited until the servant 
 should return with the glass and the doctor 
 should drop his medicine. He said not one 
 word in the meantime, so intent was he upon 
 his function and when he had done he 
 passed into the house, still in silence, to admin- 
 ister the draught. It was not until he re- 
 turned that he addressed her. When he did 
 so, there was a note of sarcasm, she thought, 
 in what he said.
 
 152 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 "Pardon me," he began; "but you object 
 I believe to scientific ways, and especially to 
 experiments. Colonel Shenstone's gout has 
 taken a form that seriously endangers his life, 
 and he is fully conscious of the fact. With his 
 full permission, and active sanction, I am giv- 
 ing him a very heroic treatment, one that ordi- 
 narily I should not venture to give to any but 
 a man of middle life or younger, and very ro- 
 bust at that. It is an experiment in your 
 uncle's case, and I must watch effects very 
 carefully. To that end I must stay at Wood- 
 lands night and day for a time. I wonder if 
 you could have a couch for me placed in his 
 room. I must see him at all hours." 
 
 If he had hit her in the face with a horse- 
 whip, the girl could scarcely have been more 
 severely stung. His impulse had been partly 
 one of self- justification, partly one of expla- 
 nation, and partly one of apology. She in- 
 terpreted it as one of rebuke and defiance, and 
 the worst of it was that after Phil Shenstone's 
 explanation made that morning, she felt bit- 
 terly that she deserved all of rebuke and re- 
 reproach the young doctor could heap upon
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 153 
 
 her. It was that consciousness of ill desert 
 indeed which gave keenest sting to his words. 
 Had they been wanton her pride would have 
 been panoply enough against their power to 
 wound. But feeling as she did that she de- 
 served them and worse, she could summon no 
 resentment to ward them off or soften their 
 severity. 
 
 Had she been a weaker woman she would 
 have burst into tears and retreated to the se- 
 clusion of her own room. Being in fact a 
 woman of strong character and extraordinary 
 self-control, she faced him instead and said : 
 
 " You have misjudged me, Doctor, as I 
 have misjudged you. Mr. Phil has been ex- 
 plaining things to me, and I see now how 
 wrongfully I have interpreted your attitude. 
 Please let us be friends, and whatever you can 
 do to restore Uncle Butler to health shall have 
 my gratitude." She paused before adding: 
 
 " I sincerely beg your pardon." 
 
 For answer he took her hand, pressed it for 
 a moment, and then, with the courtesy of an 
 older time that was not yet quite dead in Vir- 
 ginia, raised it reverently to his lips.
 
 154 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " We understand each other," he said, " and 
 there should be nothing between us to forgive. 
 You are a brave woman brave enough to 
 hear the truth. Colonel Shenstone's present 
 attack is the most dangerous one he has ever 
 had. Previous attacks have subjected him to 
 severe pain, but to nothing worse. This one 
 threatens something more serious." 
 
 " Do you mean that it endangers his life ? " 
 " I fear I must say yes, but I do not de- 
 spair. His gout is inherited. His own habits 
 have always been good even abstemious. 
 His constitution is strong, and because of that 
 I have decided to pardon the phrase if it 
 offends you make this hazardous experi- 
 ment in his case. Foreseeing as I do, that un- 
 less something can be done for the eradication 
 of the disease, he is pretty certain to succumb 
 to it very soon, and recognizing the strength 
 of his constitution as a substitute for youthful 
 vigor, I have decided to pardon the phrase 
 again make the experiment. I am giving 
 him steadily increasing doses of a powerful 
 drug. I shall press the treatment to the limit 
 of constitutional endurance, in the hope of
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 155 
 
 eliminating from his system the poison that 
 gives him his attacks. I tell you frankly that 
 I never gave such a treatment to a man of his 
 age before, and that even in the case of 
 younger men I should never think of giving it 
 unless I could stay night and day with the 
 patient, watching every symptom. But I also 
 tell you frankly that unless some such treat- 
 ment is given to him successfully, Colonel 
 Shenstone cannot live to see another spring. 
 I ask you frankly to say whether or not I am 
 right in making the experiment?" 
 
 For answer she took his hand and said 
 simply, " Thank you, and may God prosper 
 your experiment." 
 
 Then she went into the house and ordered a 
 couch placed for him on one side of Colonel 
 Shenstone's bed and on the other an easy 
 chair for herself.
 
 XVIII 
 
 WHEN two persons of reasonable 
 mind have had a little quarrel and 
 have made it up, they are very apt 
 to grow closer together because of the differ- 
 ence. When the two persons involved in the 
 quarrel and the reconciliation happen to be a 
 young man and a young woman, they are very 
 apt to let the newly established relations of 
 friendship develop into the tenderer relations 
 of love. A young man and a young woman 
 so placed, are very apt to decide that on the 
 whole they wish to become husband and wife. 
 This is a general statement of probabilities, 
 and nothing more. 
 
 As Colonel Shenstone's fine constitution 
 yielded to the heroic treatment prescribed by 
 Greg Tazewell, and he began to grow better, 
 there were many opportunities and invitations 
 to intimate converse between Greg Tazewell 
 156
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 157 
 
 and Valerie Page, and they made the most of 
 them. 
 
 Valorie was still penitent as to her former 
 misjudgment of the young doctor, and she 
 sought opportunity to make amends. One 
 evening, as they two strolled through the house 
 grounds, each seeking relaxation from the 
 strain of watching by the Colonel's bedside, 
 Valorie said something so affectionate as to 
 the doctor's care of her uncle, that he lost his 
 head, and said in reply : 
 
 " Why should not you and I become his 
 watchers, his guardians, his tender nurses from 
 this time forth? I love you, Valorie. Say 
 that you can love me in return." 
 
 " I cannot say that," she answered after a 
 moment's hesitation. " I have a great esteem 
 for you, Doctor, and an abiding affection be- 
 cause of what you have done and are doing 
 for Uncle Butler. Indeed you can never know 
 how grateful I am to you. But gratitude is 
 no fit return for a love such as you suggest. 
 I feel even a greater gratitude to well to 
 others but this is not love. I cannot give 
 you love for love, and so there must be an end
 
 158 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 of that between us. I hope and believe that 
 we shall remain devoted friends, but you 
 mustn't ask for more." 
 
 Feeling that it might be embarrassing to him 
 either to plead or not to plead, she turned and 
 hurried into the house. 
 
 When next they two met alone, he said 
 something which seemed to her to be a pre- 
 lude to the reopening of the question. She in- 
 stantly responded: 
 
 " Please don't. My decision is final. It 
 would only distress us both to reopen the ques- 
 tion. Let me ask you to tell me instead about 
 the success or failure of your experiment with 
 Uncle Butler." 
 
 " It is succeeding far better than I dared 
 hope," he answered. " He will be up again 
 within a few days, and I confidently believe he 
 will have no more attacks of this dangerous 
 nature. He will have twinges, of course, but 
 nothing more, I hope, of this dangerous sort. 
 I shall report the results of the experiment in 
 the medical journals." 
 
 Instantly she was in arms again.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 159 
 
 " Of course you will. You'd have done that 
 if he had died under the treatment. How I 
 hate your science ! " and with that she re- 
 treated to her room, there to mourn over her 
 fault in so resenting a scientific impulse which 
 she knew to be in the merciful interest of hu- 
 manity. An hour later she apologized and 
 they two were friends again. 
 
 As Colonel Shenstone recovered he became 
 more and more impressed with the danger his 
 precarious health involved fof others. On the 
 day on which Greg Tazewell left him to com- 
 plete his recovery under Valerie's care, he sent 
 for Phil. 
 
 " My boy," he said, " so far as my own af- 
 fairs are concerned, everything is perfectly ar- 
 ranged. But I have a lot of other people's 
 business on my hands, and my death, which is 
 liable to occur at any time now, might result 
 in serious trouble to many quite innocent peo- 
 ple. I am the administrator of several estates, 
 the executor of many wills. It is necessary 
 that some one shall be prepared to take my 
 place in the event of my death "
 
 160 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " But you are not going to die, Uncle," in- 
 terrupted Phil. " We are not ready to con- 
 sent to that." 
 
 " I quite understand," said the old soldier. 
 " When I went into the battles of Molino el 
 Rey and Cherubusco, and Chapultepec, it was 
 fully understood that I was to come out alive 
 and well. So it was at Buena Vista and at 
 every other fight I was ever engaged in. 
 Nevertheless there was always the chance that 
 a bullet might change the programme. So it 
 is now. Before going into those battles I al- 
 ways called some friends about me and told 
 them what I wanted done in case of my death. 
 In the same spirit I invoke your assistance 
 now. No, not quite in the same spirit, for 
 Dr. Tazewell tells me I am likely to live on 
 indefinitely, now that he has succeeded in ex- 
 pelling the gout from my system. The real 
 trouble is that even though I live, I shall not 
 be able to attend to business, and there is a 
 deal of business to be attended to. I must 
 rely upon you to act for me." 
 
 Here surely was an awkward situation. 
 Phil Shenstone had already begun the packing
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 161 
 
 of his trunks against the time of his departure 
 for the West. His duty to his uncle seemed 
 to forbid that departure altogether. But there 
 was no real and necessary reason for his going 
 West, while there was every reason of affection 
 and loyalty for his staying to assume the re- 
 sponsibilities which his uncle felt it necessary 
 to resign. 
 
 For many days he spent long hours in 
 Colonel Shenstone's room, going over papers 
 and mastering details, and so far acquainting 
 himself with the old lawyer's business that he 
 might manage it for him. 
 
 To Valorie he said : 
 
 " My uncle has need of me. I find I must 
 give up my plan of going back to the West." 
 
 " I am glad of that ! " she answered. Then, 
 in maidenly fear that she might be misunder- 
 stood, she added: 
 
 " I'm glad you are going to take a load off 
 Uncle Butler's mind."
 
 XIX 
 
 THERE were certain points of honor 
 insisted upon by many gentlemen of 
 Virginia, with relentless purpose. 
 Among these was the obligation of every man 
 to report the fact when he had offered mar- 
 riage to a young woman and she had rejected 
 him. So when Greg Tazewell told his elderly 
 half-brother, Dr. Hare, that he had offered his 
 love to Valorie Page, and that she had de- 
 clined his suit, the news spread rapidly. Dr. 
 Hare regarded himself as -specially commis- 
 sioned by his half-brother to report it, and, 
 having nothing else in particular to do, he 
 mounted his horse and rode from one planta- 
 tion to another to tell of the event. When 
 Tazewell reproached him for his breach of 
 confidence, his reply was ready. 
 
 " Every young woman," he said, " has a 
 right to count the scalps hung to her girdle. 
 162
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 163 
 
 When you told me of this thing in strict con- 
 fidence I justly assumed that you intended me 
 to spread the news and spare you the em- 
 barrassment of doing so. I have fulfilled my 
 duty in right brotherly fashion. What more 
 do you ask ? " 
 
 Tazewell bowed to the dictum and after a 
 moment Dr. Hare said : 
 
 " How long do you intend to wait before 
 addressing her again? " 
 
 " I have no thought of addressing her 
 again," said the young man, sadly. 
 
 " Not address her again ? Why not ? 
 Surely you are not going to flunk ? " 
 
 " There is no question of flunking involved. 
 My conversation with her was entirely serious 
 and she begged me not to distress her by re- 
 curring to the subject, assuring me that her 
 answer was final. It would be an affront to 
 her for me to address her again." 
 
 " I can't see that. Our Virginia girls have 
 a proper pride of their own. They always re- 
 ject a first offer on principle. To do otherwise 
 would be to cheapen themselves. They have 
 a right to know that a man is in earnest be-
 
 i6 4 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 fore accepting him. If he takes the first ' no ' 
 for an answer they know that he was only 
 trifling, or that his proffer was profnpted by 
 some momentary impulse, and so if he does not 
 address them a second time they think them- 
 selves well rid of him. Why your sister Sally 
 rejected me seven times in one week, and now 
 she is the mother of my six children and a 
 very happy woman." 
 
 " I do not doubt your knowledge of our Vir- 
 ginia girls," answered the other, " but Valorie 
 Page is not a Virginia girl except by inher- 
 itance." 
 
 " That's true. I hadn't thought of that. 
 By the way have you inquired who she is? 
 One ought always to know all about a young 
 woman before offering to make her his wife 
 and the mother of his children." 
 
 " She is Colonel Butler Shenstone's adopted 
 daughter," answered Greg, " and I fancy he 
 would make things exceedingly uncomfortable 
 for any young man who should suggest that 
 that is not sufficient." 
 
 " I really suppose he would particularly 
 if he happened to have a fit of the gout on at
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 165 
 
 the time of the inquiry. Still, I strongly ad- 
 vise you to court the young woman again. It 
 is the usual thing." 
 
 " I know it is, but she is a very unusual 
 young woman," 
 
 " My dear Greg, every man thinks that 
 about the woman he is in love with, but after 
 all they are very much alike, and you really 
 ought to marry. With your plantation and 
 your practice and your outside reputation, you 
 are everywhere regarded as a particularly good 
 catch. Your sister Sally says you've only to 
 back into a corner full of bonnets and take one 
 at random, in full assurance that its owner 
 will consent." 
 
 " On the whole," answered Greg with that 
 scientific deliberation of utterance that always 
 specially irritated his elderly but still en- 
 thusiastic half-brother, " on the whole I 
 cherish a more exalted opinion of what you 
 call ' our Virginia girls/ and of womanhood 
 generally than my good sister-in-law, your 
 wife, does." 
 
 With that he sprang into his saddle and gal- 
 loped away. If there was any woman of his
 
 1 66 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 acquaintance whom he was strongly tempted 
 to except from his general deference to wom- 
 anhood, it was this same sister-in-law, Sally. 
 He knew her well as a merciless and utterly 
 conscienceless gossip, in so far as she was per- 
 mitted to indulge her propensities in that way. 
 For in Virginia at that time, women disposed 
 to gossip had their tongues held in leash by the 
 customs of the country, exercising their re- 
 straining influence in two ways and from two 
 sources of authority. In the first place, all 
 the stately dames of that time, who by virtue 
 of their lineage, their social position and their 
 characters, were vested with social authority 
 all such frowned with the utmost severity 
 upon every suggestion of gossip. In the sec- 
 ond place, in that time and country every 
 woman knew that her nearest male relative, 
 husband, brother, father or what not, was held 
 responsible for every word or act of hers, and 
 the knowledge was a powerfully deterrent in- 
 fluence in restraint of gossip. 
 
 Nevertheless this sister-in-law of his man- 
 aged often to insinuate spiteful things that 
 she dared not say, and twice her husband had 
 
 t
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 167 
 
 been brought into sore trouble by the wagging 
 of her tongue. 
 
 Greg knew that her husband would tell her 
 of what he had said, and that she would 
 seek sly revenge. Under the circumstances it 
 would be very easy indeed for her to put him 
 into a painfully false position. She need say 
 nothing. She need only ask questions. She 
 might profess a peculiar admiration and af- 
 fection for Valorie, and then ask questions 
 which nobody could answer regarding her 
 birth, parentage and previous history, and 
 the worst of it was that as everybody knew 
 of her rejection of his suit, everybody would 
 regard his sister-in-law's malevolence as a 
 thing inspired by himself. 
 
 Everybody knew of it, that is to say, except 
 Phil Shenstone. He knew nothing either of 
 the courtship or of the rejection. The very 
 last place to which news of these things was 
 likely to penetrate, was Colonel Shenstone's 
 chamber, and for the present, Phil was shut 
 up there going over papers and making mi- 
 nute memoranda, during nearly all his waking 
 hours. Early in the mornings he rode with
 
 168 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Valorie, after seeing the plantation animals 
 fed, and in the evenings he sat before the fire 
 in the parlor while she softly played upon the 
 harp, the piano or the violin, with the gentle 
 purpose of resting him. But during all the 
 working hours of the day his attention was 
 concentrated upon affairs, and as no company 
 came to Woodlands during Colonel Shen- 
 stone's convalescence, Phil Shenstone heard 
 not one word of his friend's proposal to 
 Valorie or of her rejection of his suit. He 
 still believed those two in love, and his convic- 
 tion was confirmed by their prolonged confer- 
 ences. How was he to know that these had 
 for their subject the care of Colonel Shen- 
 stone ? 
 
 Then suddenly an event occurred in San 
 Francisco which completely changed conditions 
 at Woodlands, so complexly interlocked are 
 human affairs in this modern time. The Cali- 
 fornia banking house of Adams & Co., failed. 
 
 That house had banking and other relations 
 with financial institutions throughout the 
 country, and especially its members were pro- 
 prietors also of the one great express com-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 169 
 
 pany then doing business throughout the land. 
 
 The failure of Adams & Co. quickly in- 
 volved other failures in New York, Philadel- 
 phia and all others of the financial centres 
 which then loosely controlled the business of 
 the continent. 
 
 Circumstances were ripe for such a panic as 
 the country had never before known or 
 dreamed of. The development of the West 
 had involved an extension of credit, restrained 
 neither by any adequate governmental super- 
 vision nor by any concerted programme of 
 prudence. Worse still, there was no trust- 
 worthy currency of any kind in the country ex- 
 cept the utterly inadequate supply of gold and 
 silver coin, a large proportion of which con- 
 sisted of badly worn Spanish and French 
 silver pieces. Every state had its own " wild 
 cat " banking laws, under which banks with a 
 capital of ten or twenty thousand dollars might 
 and did issue circulating notes to the extent of 
 millions each, secured, as a wit said at 
 the time, by nothing more substantial than the 
 pledge of the cashiers' boots. 
 
 These banknotes, crowding the new Cali-
 
 170 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 fornian and Australian gold out of use, as bad 
 money always does with good money, con- 
 stituted the circulating medium of the entire 
 country, and when the panic came they almost 
 instantly lost such value as they had ever had. 
 Manufacturing and commercial houses were 
 suddenly obliged to stop business. Men and 
 women by scores and hundreds of thousands, 
 were thrown out of employment. The little 
 dealers with whom such were accustomed to 
 trade, were forced into insolvency. The great 
 merchants, from whom these small dealers 
 were accustomed to buy, found themselves 
 without a market for their goods, and in their 
 turn made assignments. 
 
 Chaos was come again. 
 
 Hurried telegrams, in such numbers as had 
 never been known in that countryside before, 
 came clamorously to Phil Shenstone from his 
 partners in the West. Most of these mes- 
 sages were so badly " bulled " in transmission 
 for the art of the telegrapher was in its in- 
 fancy then that he could make little out of 
 them. But this much they made clear to his 
 mind, that things with his steamboat partner-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 171 
 
 ship were in an exceedingly bad way, and that 
 unless he should hurry west to take charge of 
 affairs there was no knowing what might hap- 
 pen but that whatever it might be, it must 
 be disastrous. 
 
 To Phil Shenstone the worst of the situa- 
 tion was that everything Valorie's father had 
 left in his charge for her was invested in these 
 steamboat enterprises of his. 
 
 Hurriedly throwing a few suits of clothing 
 into a trunk, he left by the next train to make 
 the tedious journey to the West. How tedi- 
 ous a journey it was in those days, when every 
 little railroad was operated independently of 
 every other, it is difficult for one born in a 
 later generation to conceive. He must take a 
 train to Richmond. There, after a wait of 
 several hours, he must take a pottering train 
 to Fredericksburg. There he must change 
 to a train that ran to Acquia creek on the Po- 
 tomac, seven miles away. There he must take 
 steamboat for Washington. In the capital 
 city a preposterously long omnibus, with only 
 two or three passengers in it, would convey 
 him across town to the station of the Balti-
 
 172 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 more and Ohio branch line, leading to the Re- 
 lay House. At that point he must wait five 
 hours for a train out of Baltimore for the 
 West. This train would take him very slowly 
 and with numberless stops, to Wheeling, or 
 rather to a point four miles further down the 
 Ohio River. A ferryboat took him across the 
 stream, to Belleair, and after a wait of an 
 hour or two, he could board a train for New- 
 ark, Ohio. There he had to change cars 
 again for Columbus, thirty miles or so away. 
 If he had been fortunate enough to arrive at 
 Columbus on time he might have gone on to 
 Cincinnati without delay. But, being two 
 hours behind time a very moderate late- 
 ness in those days he must wait until mid- 
 night for the next train over the Little Miami 
 railroad, whose boast it was that it ran two 
 trains each way every twenty-four hours in- 
 stead of the one that was usual on most other 
 railroads. The Little Miami was a conspic- 
 uous model of enterprise. 
 
 At Cincinnati Phil Shenstone found his 
 partners awaiting him, and, finding that one of 
 their steamboats was leaving that day for St.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 173 
 
 Louis, the party boarded her for uninterrupted 
 consultation during the trip. 
 
 " Precisely what is the situation ? " Phil 
 Shenstone asked, when the group assembled in 
 the Texas cabin where there was privacy. 
 
 "Well," answered Budd Doble, "the last 
 three trips of our boats from Cincinnati to St. 
 Louis have netted a loss." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " Bad money," was the response. 
 
 " But if the money had been good? " asked 
 Phil. 
 
 " There would have been a profit of several 
 thousand dollars on each trip." 
 
 Doble answered thus sententiously because 
 he understood Phil Shenstone's temper and his 
 methods in business. 
 
 " Very well. What have you done ? " 
 
 " We've laid up seven of our boats." 
 
 " How much money are they making ? I 
 never knew a steamboat to make any money 
 while tied up to the bank, but perhaps this is 
 an exceptional case." 
 
 " Neither did I," said John Cannon, and 
 Tom Leathers echoed the sentiment.
 
 174 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " But," began Budd Doble, 
 
 " But what ? " asked Shenstone. 
 
 " There's no money in carrying freight and 
 passengers for worthless shinplasters." 
 
 " Of course not. But thanks to California 
 and Australia, there's enough gold in the 
 country to go round. Silver is out of it. All 
 the silver dollars have been melted down be- 
 cause each of them was worth more than a dol- 
 lar as mere metal. We'll carry freight and 
 passengers for gold and for nothing else ex- 
 cept the notes of the Northern Bank of Ken- 
 tucky and a few other sound concerns. We'll 
 post notices to that effect and stick to it. Now 
 I had six hours in Cincinnati before I met you 
 fellows, and I made use of them. I find the 
 panic has rather stimulated emigration than 
 checked it. I learn too that a new tide of emi- 
 gration has set in from the South by way of 
 Louisville. What are our competitors of the 
 Louisville & St. Louis line doing to meet the 
 opportunity ? " 
 
 " They have laid up all their boats but two 
 just enough to fufill the minimum require- 
 ments of their mail contract."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 175 
 
 " Good ! We'll buy their boats and set them 
 at work. That mail contract alone will pay 
 operating expenses. This is a great oppor- 
 tunity. We'll have every wheel turning out 
 gold within twelve hours after this boat 
 reaches Louisville, and within twenty-four 
 hours we'll buy every boat the other fellows 
 own." 
 
 Thus with the energy that had accumulated 
 during his period of rest, Phil Shenstone set 
 his business going, with results so profitable 
 as to justify even his optimistic confidence. 
 He made the trip to St. Louis, and thence to 
 New Orleans. There he selected five or six 
 of their smaller steamboats and sent them up 
 the Yazoo and the bayous, loaded with plan- 
 tation supplies for sale and prepared to bring 
 out the cotton that was piled high upon the 
 banks awaiting a market. 
 
 It was late in January when he began to feel 
 that he had the business in proper shape again. 
 He had no thought of returning to Virginia. 
 His uncle needed him of course, but there were 
 personal considerations to be reckoned with. 
 He was sure that Greg Tazewell had won the
 
 176 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 love of Valorie Page, and so far as he could 
 he believed that he wished to rejoice in the 
 fact. But it was far easier to persuade him- 
 self that he did rejoice in it, when every day 
 was a busy one with him than it would be if 
 he should return to Woodlands to be a daily 
 witness to the disappointment of the only hope 
 he had ever cherished with all his heart. 
 
 He resolved to remain in the West, to ex- 
 tend his enterprises in every possible direction, 
 to build and buy additional steamboats and 
 keep them all busy making money that he did 
 not want; to " smoke the trees of every nav- 
 igable stream in the South/' he said, in search 
 of cotton bales that were hungry for a market ; 
 to push his prows into every Indian-haunted 
 waterway that flowed from the Rocky Moun- 
 tains into the Missouri river, and up every 
 tributary of the great Mississippi river system 
 that offered anything deeper than a dew for 
 purposes of navigation. 
 
 He had no money need to stimulate these 
 desires. There was impulse enough in his 
 longing for ceaseless occupation and for the
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 177 
 
 forgetfulness that occupation brings to a mind 
 perturbed. 
 
 But in the midst of all this there came to him 
 a telegram from Greg Tazewell saying: 
 
 " The danger to Valorie has come. Your 
 presence is imperative." 
 
 He took the next train for the East.
 
 XX 
 
 THE "hard times" that followed the 
 great panic of 1857, were such as had 
 never been known before, and such as 
 have never been known since, thank God ! The 
 poor were absolutely helpless. It was not only 
 that all industries were stopped, so that wages 
 were nowhere to be earned; that was indeed 
 the smallest part of the distress. More than 
 two-thirds of all the circulating money of the 
 country had been extinguished. The little 
 savings of the poor were so much valueless 
 paper. But worse still, in the absence of 
 an adequate circulating medium, the price of 
 everything went up enormously the price of 
 everything, that is to say, except labor. That 
 sank to nothingness. 
 
 The only laboring population in the land that 
 did not severely suffer in that time was the 
 slave population of the South. To them hard 
 178
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 179 
 
 times meant nothing. Come what might, they 
 were fed and clothed and housed, doctored 
 when they were ill and cared for in infancy 
 and old age as no other laboring population 
 ever was since the foundations of the world 
 were laid. Yet this fact has never been ac- 
 counted unto the slave owners of the South for 
 righteousness, and it is a shame to the rest of 
 the world that it has not been recognized at 
 its worth. 
 
 Nobody is disposed nowadays to apologize 
 for African slavery in the South, or to regret 
 its extermination. Nobody rejoices in its abo- 
 lition more sincerely than do the men and 
 women of the South. But the fact remains, 
 to the credit of those men and women of the 
 South, that there never was on earth a laboring 
 population so well paid or so happy as the ne- 
 groes were. From infancy to old age they 
 were secure of plenty to eat, plenty to wear, 
 and a good roof over their heads, with medical 
 attendance and the gentlest of nursing in the 
 event of illness. Whatever of distress and 
 terror hard times might bring upon laborers 
 elsewhere, the negro on a Virginia plantation
 
 180 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 had no occasion to share. There was meat in 
 the smokehouse and corn in the crib, and if 
 these fell short, the master's credit would sup- 
 ply the need. 
 
 But Richmond had a population of much 
 poorer sort white men, white women and 
 white children, who were dependent upon daily 
 wages for daily sustenance, as under freedom 
 scores of thousands of negroes are to-day, 
 whose fathers and grandfathers under the old 
 patriarchal system never in their lives knew 
 what it was to wonder where the next meal 
 was to come from. 
 
 In Richmond, in the hard winter of 18578, 
 the suffering among the poor was great and 
 many things were done by generous men and 
 women to alleviate it. 
 
 Prominently active among these ministers 
 of mercy, was a gracious gentlewoman, Mrs. 
 Albemarle. Her wealth was by no means 
 great, but her social position was supreme. 
 With compassionate thought she decided that 
 she would make of her social dominance a 
 ministry to the poor. It was her custom to 
 give all sorts of entertainments and functions
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA ( i8i 
 
 in the parlors of her spacious home. For this 
 year, she announced to all her friends, she 
 would give no entertainment of any kind that 
 was not tributary to the needs of those who 
 suffered by reason of the hard times. She 
 would entertain even more lavishly than be- 
 fore, but those who enjoyed her hospitality 
 must pay for it in tribute to those in need. If 
 she gave a little dance every man invited to 
 it must pay a fair price for himself and an 
 equal price for each lady he might ask to have 
 invited with him. Success in this way encour- 
 aged the gracious gentlewoman to a still larger 
 activity. She decided as her three large 
 parlors, opening- into each other, afforded an 
 ample auditorium to give some amateur 
 theatricals in the cause of charity. She was 
 a wise dame, informed to her finger tips as to 
 human vanity, and in so good a cause she was 
 willing to play upon it. She knew scores of 
 young people who wanted to appear upon the 
 stage as amateur actors. Very well. A 
 small contribution to the charitable fund would 
 secure a part for any young man or young 
 woman who might demonstrate ability to ren-
 
 1 82 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 der the part well but to no others. Mrs. 
 Albemarle was determined that her guests 
 should have their money's worth and that her 
 " dramatics " should be altogether capable in 
 their rendering. Guests were admitted only 
 upon invitation and invitations were open only 
 to those who were socially eligible. But each 
 guest was expected to contribute substantially 
 to the compassionate purpose with which the 
 entertainment was given. 
 
 As the glory of being Mrs. Albemarle's 
 guest on this conspicuous occasion was coveted 
 as a thing of vital moment to every one who 
 aspired to social recognition, the filling of her 
 three great parlors was so certain in advance 
 that its perplexing details had need to trouble 
 no one except the young girls whom she had 
 pressed into service for the occasion. 
 
 Woodlands lay within a dozen or fifteen 
 miles of Richmond, and Mrs. Albemarle held 
 it to be well within her jurisdiction. She had 
 entertained Valorie as a guest on more than 
 one previous occasion, and she knew of the 
 girl's superb accomplishments as a musician. 
 With shrewd foresight she enlisted Valorie as
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 183 
 
 one of the chief of her coadjutors in the char- 
 itable enterprise. Valorie not only promised 
 to play on the occasion, in a letter, enclosing 
 Colonel Shenstone's check for a hundred dol- 
 lars in aid of the fund, without mentioning it, 
 but she offered also to help in drilling the oth- 
 ers, a function for which she was peculiarly 
 equipped because of the unusual sort of train- 
 ing she had received at the convent of 
 which more anon. 
 
 For two weeks before the performance, Va- 
 lorie lived at Mrs. Albemarle's, Colonel Shen- 
 stone's health being now restored. There was 
 present a stage manager whom Mrs. Albemarle 
 had hired from Kunkel & Moxley's Richmond 
 Theatre, on the corner of Seventh and Broad 
 streets, and also the premier d-anseuse of the 
 theatre, Miss Jennie Hight, whose father was 
 at once scenic artist and low comedian in that 
 establishment. In those days every " provin- 
 cial " theatre maintained a very capable stock 
 company, a company so complete and so able 
 that it could by itself present plays of every 
 kind from tragedy to farce. It was the cus- 
 tom to employ as " stars " all the great actors
 
 184 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 in the land each for a week or two weeks, as 
 the case might be. The stock company was 
 expected to " support " the star in any and 
 every play included in his or her repertoire. 
 The theatre maintained a scenic artist of its 
 own, who also had a playing part in the com- 
 pany. He was expected to produce all needed 
 scenery for each star's repertoire and to appear 
 as an actor in each piece. Every theatre also 
 maintained a stage carpenter and a costumer 
 of its own and these also were actors who must 
 fill parts when necessary. 
 
 It was the custom in those days to begin 
 early and give two or three plays of an even- 
 ing usually a tragedy or a romantic drama, 
 followed by a three or four-act comedy, with 
 a roaring farce to complete the entertainment. 
 The highest price of admission, authorizing 
 one to take the best seat he could find unoccu- 
 pied, was half a dollar, and it was the conscien- 
 tious endeavor of the management to give the 
 audience its money's worth. Therefore in ad- 
 dition to the three plays, the chief ones acted 
 by such " stars " as Edwin Booth, Joseph Jef- 
 ferson, J. S. Clark, Maggie Mitchell, Fanny
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 185 
 
 Morant, Laura Keene, and their like, there was 
 always a dance and often a song between the 
 several plays, and sometimes also between the 
 acts of the principal plays. By way of provid- 
 ing for this, every theatre that accounted itself 
 of the first class, maintained a premiere dan- 
 seuse of real gifts and a well trained ballet, 
 the members of which rendered themselves ad- 
 ditionally useful by coming on the stage as 
 peasants or populace or what not, when the 
 exigencies of a play required such presence. 
 
 Old Joe Hight was scenic artist and low 
 comedian at Kunkel & Moxley's. His daugh- 
 ter Jennie was premiere danseuse. 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle, who did nothing by halves, 
 had engaged Jennie Hight to dance a pas seul 
 at her entertainment, so timing it that the girl 
 might drive from the theatre after her first 
 performance there and drive back again in time 
 for the next. 
 
 There were morning rehearsals, of course. 
 Otherwise the young student from Richmond 
 College, who had undertaken the leading role 
 in an act from " Richard Third," and with 
 great impartiality, the leading role in an act
 
 186 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 from " School for Scandal," besides a part in 
 " Good for Nothing Nan," would never have 
 been able to teach the other volunteers of the 
 company how to speak their lines. 
 
 At these rehearsals, Valorie, who knew far 
 more about music than the orchestra leader 
 did, devoted herself mainly to the work of get- 
 ting the music into fit condition. She gave a 
 new orchestration to many of the numbers, 
 and diligently drilled the performers in the 
 proper rendering of their scores. 
 
 Her own personal part in the performance 
 was to be the rendering of some obligates on 
 the harp, violin and piano, but in her loyalty to 
 Mrs. Albemarle and her still greater loy- 
 alty to art she did what she could to bring 
 every part of the performance to perfection. 
 When at rehearsal, Jennie Hight went 
 through with her pas seul, Valorie detected 
 flaws in it. In the course of the peculiar train- 
 ing given to her in the convent with an ulte- 
 rior purpose, she had been drilled in this par- 
 ticular pas seul until she was ankle perfect 
 and toe perfect in every step of it. Jennie 
 Right's rendering was imperfect at many
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 187 
 
 points, and, with an eye single to the success 
 of Mrs. Albemarle's entertainment, Valorie 
 went to Jennie's rather unlovely quarters day 
 after day to instruct her. 
 
 On the evening of the entertainment Jennie 
 Hight arrived on time and proceeded hastily 
 to don her dancing costume, which by Mrs. 
 Albemarle's direction, had been so far length- 
 ened as to its skirts as to reach nearly to her 
 ankles. 
 
 While she was dressing, however, there 
 came a hurried messenger from the theatre, 
 bearing the news that old Joe Hight had fallen 
 from the flies, where he had been arranging 
 scenic effects, and had sustained injuries that 
 were believed to be fatal. 
 
 Jennie had no other relative in all the world 
 than this old father of hers, and her devotion 
 to him was absolute. She instantly began 
 stripping off her dancing costume, while the 
 stage manager tore his hair and bewailed 
 the necessity he was under of going before the 
 curtain, calling off the dance and dampening 
 the enthusiasm of the audience by announcing 
 the tragic mishap.
 
 1 88 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Don't do it ! " said Valorie. " Don't say 
 anything at all to the audience. With a little 
 pinning I can wear Miss Right's costume, and 
 I will dance the pas seuL" 
 
 Without waiting for a word of reply, she 
 caressed the danseuse saying : " I'm so sorry, 
 Jennie ! I'll call early in the morning," and 
 proceeded hurriedly to don the dancing 
 clothes. 
 
 There was a little delay, over which the 
 audience grew somewhat impatient. But, 
 after a brief while the curtain went up and 
 without a word of explanation Valorie Page 
 floated out upon the stage and rendered the pas 
 seul in a fashion far more graceful than any 
 that Jenny Hight could have given to it.\t. 
 Especially in the toe walking part of it, the 
 girl excelled anything the audience had ever 
 seen. Her dancing master at the convent had 
 discovered what he called " genius in her 
 ankles," and had made the most of it by per- 
 sistent drilling* 
 
 The dancing excited the wildest enthusiasm. 
 But that was by no means all of it. It was
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 189 
 
 Jennie Hight that the company had expected 
 to see and it was not Jennie Hight who ap- 
 peared. Those of the company who were ac- 
 customed to attend the theatre knew Jennie 
 Right's gifts and better still they knew her 
 limitations. She was a good danseuse, but by 
 no means a great one. The danseuse on the 
 stage was a great one in the fullest sense of 
 the term, and her greatness was emphasized by 
 the fact that her dancing was done without 
 the adventitious aid of excessively abbreviated 
 skirts. To the theatre goers it was a revela- 
 tion that a woman modestly attired with skirts 
 hanging to the level of her shoe tops, could put 
 even more of the poetry of motion into a pas 
 seul than could the professional danseuse, with 
 knees exposed and an array of flummery above 
 the knees. 
 
 There were many in the audience who had 
 conscientious scruples about attending the 
 theatre, and these had rejoiced in an oppor- 
 tunity to see a professional danseuse without 
 offending pastors and masters by entering the 
 portals of a playhouse. These were disap-
 
 I 9 o TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 pointed when they discovered that the dancer 
 was not the " professional " whom they had 
 come to see but an amateur. 
 
 It had been Valerie's confident expectation 
 that when she appeared in Jennie Right's cos- 
 tume to do Jennie Right's dance, she would 
 be taken for Jennie Hight. But Jennie had 
 straight and intensely black hair, with a white 
 skin and small glittering eyes; while Valorie 
 had brown hair with much of curl in it, and 
 large, deep blue eyes, the blueness of which 
 was in no wise disguised by the length of her 
 copper-colored eyelashes. So instantly the 
 habitual theatre-goers discovered the substitu- 
 tion, and knowledge of it quickly spread among 
 the rest. 
 
 At the end of the dance there was clamorous 
 applause, but there were also a few distinct 
 hisses of disapprobation. These were in- 
 tended to express disapproval an entirely 
 unreasoning and unreasonable disapproval, but 
 a disapproval none the less pronounced on that 
 account of the appearance of a gentle- 
 woman in such a part under any conceivable 
 circumstances. Not that the persons who
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 191 
 
 hissed could have offered any rational argu- 
 ment in condemnation of what had been done 
 for they could not but merely that their 
 absurd and illogical sense of social propriety 
 was offended. Perhaps it would be more ac- 
 curate to say that their desire to pose as the 
 exclusive and conspicuous guardians of pro- 
 priety prompted them to condemnation with- 
 out any thinking at all. 
 
 But the hisses, few as they were acted like 
 a match to gunpowder. Those who admired 
 and applauded were ten to one in numbers and 
 fifty to one superior in social influence. They 
 accepted the hissing as a challenge to them- 
 selves and they met it as such. They re- 
 doubled their acclafrn and refused to abate 
 their demonstration of approval. Three times 
 the stage manager tried to raise the curtain 
 on the next number of the programme and 
 three times he was compelled by the clamor to 
 lower it again. He took Valerie's hand and 
 led her out before the curtain to make her bow 
 of acknowledgment and on every occasion of 
 the kind the audience refused to be satisfied. 
 The excited guests were determined to make
 
 192 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 their demonstration of approval complete and 
 overwhelming. Without fear even of Mrs. 
 Albemarle herself, they cried encore, encore, 
 encore, until the stage manager saw no escape. 
 Hastily stripping the stage of its furnishings 
 for another number, and dumping a throne 
 and two showcases of crown jewels into the 
 wings, he ordered the orchestra to play the 
 dance music again, saying earnestly to Val- 
 orie: 
 
 " You must give it again. You must. 
 You must. Otherwise they'll mob us." 
 
 The unkindly hisses had brought tears to 
 Valorie's eyes, but she angrily brushed them 
 away and still more angrily made up her mind 
 to do the dance with more than ever of that 
 abandon which makes the fortune of such a 
 performance. When, near the end of it, she 
 came to the part where she must glide forward 
 to the footlights upon the extreme points of her 
 steel-tipped toes, there were two or three hisses 
 heard, and a new impulse seized upon the girl. 
 Putting all of resolution that she possessed 
 into those eloquent ankles of hers and, with 
 severe muscular effort, standing still upon the
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 193 
 
 extreme points of her dancing shoes, she broke 
 forth in an address to the audience. 
 
 " Miss Right's father is dying," she said. 
 " She had to go to him, and could not give 
 the dance. I have given it in her stead in or- 
 der that the audience might not lose it. If I 
 have done wrong I am sorry, but " at that 
 moment the applause broke out more violently 
 than ever, because Mrs. Albemarle had hur- 
 riedly made her way to the back and had come 
 to the footlights to stand by Valerie's side and 
 to lend to her the countenance and support of 
 the grandest dame in Richmond society. Her 
 presence was not only a rebuke to those who 
 had hissed ; it was a positively explosive stim- 
 ulus to those who were applauding, and the 
 walls shook in echo to their vociferation. 
 
 With muscles strained to the point of break- 
 ing, Valorie, still standing upon her tiptoes, 
 bowed and, with a supreme effort, tiptoed to 
 the wings and disappeared. Colonel Shen- 
 stone, fearing consequences, had hurriedly sent 
 Greg Tazewell to the exit and it was into his 
 arms that she fell exhausted and fainting when 
 the ordeal was over.
 
 194 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 When quiet was restored the queenly figure 
 of Mrs. Albemarle, with head erect and with 
 restrained but manifest indignation flashing 
 from her eyes, walked to the footlights and 
 stood there in awe-inspiring silence for a space. 
 At last she said : 
 
 " Certain persons in the audience, invited 
 guests of mine, have seen fit to hiss a perform- 
 ance most generously given in an emergency 
 by a young lady whom I hold in tender affec- 
 tion and the very highest esteem. I shall take 
 it as a favor if every one who did so will have 
 the courage to notify me of the fact. It is my 
 purpose to revise my visiting list, and I wish to 
 strike from it the names of all those who have 
 been guilty of this monstrous affront to my 
 hospitality." 
 
 The utterance fell like a bombshell. It was 
 instantly followed by an outbreak of applause. 
 Three or four of the most conspicuous hissers, 
 feeling certain that Mrs. Albemarle already 
 knew of their guilt, had the grace to retire 
 without seeking to take leave of their hostess. 
 The rest remained, trying to look innocent; 
 for as everybody in Richmond knew, to be in
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 195 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle's bad books, was to be socially 
 non-existent in the capital city of the common- 
 wealth. But the glances of recognition and 
 rebuke which others shot at them were quite 
 sufficient for the affronted hostess's purpose. 
 Before she quitted her place in front of the 
 footlights she had a complete catalogue in 
 her mind of those whom she intended on the 
 morrow to banish from society in punishment 
 of their sin.
 
 XXI 
 
 VALORIE was not a young woman of 
 the habitually fainting sort, but her 
 nerves were unstrung, her muscular 
 power exhausted, and her strength gone for 
 the moment. Almost instantly she revived 
 the more quickly perhaps because she had 
 fallen into Greg Tazewell's arms, and for rea- 
 sons of her own she did not wish to rest there. 
 The duration of a fainting period is often de- 
 termined by considerations of that kind. 
 
 When she freed herself and stood erect she 
 said: 
 
 " I have nothing else to do on the stage, I 
 think. Mrs. Albemarle, may I " 
 
 " Yes, dear, you may go to bed at once. 
 Here Mary," to a negro maid in attendance, 
 " take your Miss Valorie to her room." 
 
 At that moment some foolishly considerate 
 person brought the girl a bottle of champagne 
 ,196
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF. VIRGINIA 197 
 
 and begged her to swallow a glass of it. She 
 refused, and Greg Tazewell emphasized her re- 
 fusal. 
 
 " She doesn't want that," he said, in the 
 peremptory tone that the physician has some- 
 times to adopt. " Take it away. Mrs. Albe- 
 marle, will you kindly direct that a hot bath 
 as hot as she can stand shall be prepared 
 for Miss Page, and that after your maids shall 
 have got her into night robes she shall walk 
 slowly twenty-one times around her room, 
 keeping the count for herself? By that time 
 her bath will be ready, and after it she must 
 go instantly to bed." 
 
 "Wait a moment, Doctor," said Valorie. 
 " I want you to go to Jennie Right as quickly 
 as you can. Find out how badly her father 
 is hurt; do everything you can for him and 
 then come back here, please, or send me word. 
 I shall not sleep till I hear your report of 
 him." 
 
 Tazewell set out at once upon this mission. 
 As he was leaving, Mrs. Albemarle asked: 
 
 " Is it necessary to count those rounds of 
 her room exactly? I don't quite understand."
 
 198 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Albemarle," he replied, 
 " neither the bath nor the counting of the 
 rounds is of any consequence whatever in 
 itself. My purpose is simply to divert her 
 mind to other than exciting thoughts, so that 
 she may sleep. If you think of any other de- 
 vice in aid of such diversion of her mind, pray 
 order it and you have my full authority to say 
 I directed you to do so. Challenge her ability 
 to count a thousand backward. Insist that she 
 can't repeat the Lord's prayer. Raise a doubt 
 as to her ability to conjugate a French verb. 
 Do anything and everything you can think of 
 to divert her mind from the events of the even- 
 ing. Within half an hour I shall come back 
 telling her that Joe Right's injuries are very 
 slight and that Jennie is asleep." 
 
 " But suppose you don't find that to be the 
 case ? " 
 
 " Then I shall lie like a gentleman, for the 
 sake of her sleep, and it will be time enough 
 to take it all back after she wakes." 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle looked curiously at him. 
 After a moment she said :
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 199 
 
 " It will be a very long time before I strike 
 the name of Greg Tazewell off my visiting 
 list." 
 
 " I sincerely hope so," he replied, as he but- 
 toned his overcoat and passed out of the door. 
 
 Half an hour later he returned and to Mrs. 
 Albemarle he said: 
 
 " Fortunately, there is no occasion to lie, 
 either like a gentleman or like a pickpocket. 
 Joe Right's arm is broken in one of its bones, 
 but it has been very skillfully set by a young 
 doctor. He has sustained no other injuries of 
 the smallest consequence. So you can bid 
 your patient sleep at ease. Has she had her 
 bath?" 
 
 " She is just coming out of it." 
 
 " Very well. Get her to bed quickly. Don't 
 let anybody give her champagne or any other 
 fool thing of that exciting kind. Keep her 
 mind off the events of the evening, and let her 
 sleep as long as she can. With your permis- 
 sion I will wait in the ' banquet hall deserted ' 
 until you can report that she sleeps." 
 
 " No, you must go into Jack's I mean
 
 200 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Judge Albemarle's snuggery instead. There's 
 an open wood fire there and pipes and tobacco. 
 I'll come to you when she sleeps." 
 
 The doctor's devices for the diversion of the 
 girl's mind proved successful. Her strength 
 had been taxed to the verge of exhaustion, 
 and when she heard the good news as to Joe 
 Right's condition, the soothing influence of the 
 hot bath quickly sent her to sleep. 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle reported the fact to Greg 
 Tazewell, and he promptly took his leave. 
 
 When he reached his room at the Exchange 
 Hotel and Ballard House, a little before two 
 o'clock in the morning, he found Colonel Shen- 
 stone awaiting him there, in as much of 
 anxiety as the brave old soldier and lawyer of 
 forty years' practice could be expected to feel 
 in any imaginable circumstances. As an old 
 soldier he had an abiding faith in the " fighting 
 chance," whatever odds there might be against 
 him. As an old lawyer he justly regarded 
 himself as a man equipped to meet every legal 
 proceeding with an objection that must at least 
 secure delay.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 201 
 
 Nevertheless he was uneasy, and to Taze- 
 well he opened his mind. 
 
 " I received a note this evening," he said, 
 " from a firm of lawyers whom I know, but 
 whom I do not recognize as acquaintances. 
 They are rascals altogether, but very shrewd 
 rascals, capable of giving honest people a lot 
 of trouble." 
 
 "What do they want?" asked Tazewell, 
 whose diagnostic impulse was always domi- 
 nant. When he should know what was the 
 matter he would be prepared to consider the 
 question of treatment. 
 
 " They want Valorie," answered the old 
 gentleman, " and they want her for no good 
 purpose." 
 
 " What do you mean ? Tell me all about 
 it. Is it a case for shotguns ? " 
 
 " At present, no. It may become that later. 
 I do not know." 
 
 " If it does, of course " 
 
 " Oh, of course. I know your shotgun will 
 be ready and in quick hands. But at present 
 it is a case of law and I suspect of blackmail."
 
 202 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Tell me, please." 
 
 " I will. These people formally notify me 
 that their client, a Mrs. Eulalie Lee, claims 
 to be the mother of Valorie, and as such her 
 natural guardian, until she shall reach the age 
 of twenty-one years. They allege that Phil 
 Shenstone kidnapped the girl from the con- 
 vent in which her mother had placed her ; and 
 I really shouldn't wonder if he did; that she 
 is now held in durance by me and that 'her 
 mother demands her immediate surrender into 
 her own keeping." 
 
 " Is the mother in Richmond or is she in 
 New Orleans awaiting results ? " 
 
 " I do not know. I suppose she is here. 
 It makes no difference." 
 
 " Pardon me, I think it does. From cer- 
 tain things that Phil has let fall in conversa- 
 tion I imagine that the woman is a plain black- 
 mailer, that her real purpose in this case is to 
 extort money. Of course you could not in any 
 way yield to a demand of that sort " 
 
 " Of course not," interrupted the colonel. 
 
 " But I, who am in no way connected with 
 the matter, might perhaps be able, with a check
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 203 
 
 of my own to persuade the lady to go back to 
 New Orleans." 
 
 " Not a dollar ! Not a cent ! I'll fight the 
 case to the Supreme Court of the United States 
 if necessary, at my own expense, but the 
 woman shall not have a dollar from you or 
 anybody else. Listen, Greg! The only thing 
 I fear is some summary proceeding like ha- 
 beas corpus. If we can fight that off, we can 
 keep the case in court for three years or more, 
 and by that time Valorie will be either of age 
 or married, and in either case her mother's 
 claim will be extinguished. The great trouble 
 is that Phil isn't here, and he has never told 
 me all the facts. I need them as a ground 
 upon which to proceed." 
 
 " I'll telegraph him to come. You may be 
 sure he'll be here within three days. Can we 
 stave off action that long with legal pro- 
 ceedings or shotguns ? " 
 
 " I think so. Unfortunately these rascals 
 know that Valorie is at Mrs. Albemarle's, and 
 may serve papers on her there." 
 
 "I'll take care of that," answered Taze- 
 well. " Mrs. Albemarle's house, you know,
 
 204 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 is isolated in large grounds of its own. When 
 her last guest leaves each night her iron outer 
 gates are locked, and she turns Castor and Pol- 
 lux loose. They are her silently savage bull 
 dogs. They can be implicitly trusted to see 
 that nobody though backed by the entire 
 constabulary of the town shall pass within 
 that lofty iron fence during their tour of duty. 
 As soon as they are locked up in the morn- 
 ing I will call upon Mrs. Albemarle and ex- 
 plain the situation. After that you may trust 
 that sagacious and determined gentlewoman to 
 protect Miss Page. The important thing now 
 is that you shall go to bed. As your attending 
 physician, I order that, peremptorily. Leave 
 the rest to me." 
 
 As soon as the colonel retired, Tazewell 
 drew on his overcoat, walked through the de- 
 serted highways to the office of the " Electro- 
 Magnetic Telegraph," in Pearl Street, and 
 roused the operator. There were no " branch 
 stations " in those days, no district messen- 
 gers, no arrangements of any kind by which 
 one could send a telegram without personally 
 visiting the office of the " Electro-Magnet-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 205 
 
 ic Telegraph Company." Telegraphing was 
 rather slow work, too, at that time. Every 
 despatch had to be received on paper and la- 
 boriously repeated at every office through 
 which it passed. The service was costly, and 
 when Greg Tazewell ordered his telegram 
 sent to the offices of Phil Shenstone's steam- 
 boat company in Cincinnati, Louisville, St. 
 Louis and New Orleans not knowing in 
 which of those cities his friend might happen 
 to be at that time, the operator said : 
 
 " It'll spoil a ten-dollar gold piece to do all 
 that, Doctor." 
 
 " Very well. Here is a twenty-dollar gold 
 piece. If you will see to it that these mes- 
 sages go through to-night, and send me word 
 at the Exchange Hotel and Ballard House 
 that any one of them has been delivered, the 
 change is yours. Otherwise I shall call for it 
 in the morning. Do you like oysters? I'll 
 send in a dozen or so and a pot of coffee from 
 Zetelle's just to keep you awake till you get 
 the messages off. But bear in mind, I expect 
 to receive your report in the early morn- 
 ing that one or other of the messages has
 
 206 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 been delivered into Mr. Shenstone's hands." 
 
 As a matter of fact, Dr. Tazewell was awak- 
 ened before five o'clock by the telegraph oper- 
 ator bearing a despatch from Phil Shenstone 
 in Cincinnati, which assured him that his 
 friend was leaving on the first train and would 
 be in Richmond within thirty-six hours. 
 
 Tazewell arose at once, dressed himself and 
 without breakfast, went to Mrs. Albemarle's, 
 where without hesitation he sent a message to 
 her that robbed her of at least two hours' sleep. 
 
 When she appeared he briefly explained the 
 situation, adding: 
 
 " I know nothing of legal processes, but I 
 understand that our greatest danger lies in 
 the possibility that some law officer or bailiff 
 shall gain access to Miss Page and serve some 
 sort of process upon her. Now I want to give 
 you a physician's certificate " 
 
 " It will not be necessary," answered the 
 grand dame. " I know how to protect my 
 house. I will see to it that no bailiff shall 
 reach her even though he comes as Napoleon 
 said of Madame de Stae'l, * disguised as a
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 207 
 
 " What will you do ? " 
 
 " Send for my knights-errant, the Rich- 
 mond College boys. They'll cut lectures and 
 quizzes and everything else to serve me. I'll 
 fill the place full of them, They'll break the 
 neck of anybody who tries to force his way 
 in. Of course I shall introduce all of them 
 to Valorie as the damsel in distress whom they 
 are to guard, and of course, they'll all fall 
 madly in love with her. College boys always 
 do that you know, and it is good for them. 
 Leave all that to me, and I promise you and 
 Colonel Shenstone that nobody shall get at Va- 
 lorie while you await Phil's return. But you 
 and he must let me know when the time is up, 
 for I'm going to complete last night's work by 
 giving a special reception to my friends ' to 
 meet Miss Valorie Page, of Woodlands.' 
 You're a doctor. You know how necessary it 
 is, when administering a liniment, to ' rub it 
 in.' I'm simply going to * rub it in/-" 
 
 " Mrs. Albemarle, you are simply great ! " 
 
 " Why do you persist in calling me Mrs. 
 Albemarle ? Why don't you call me ' Cousin 
 Mattie ? ' You know your ever so many times
 
 208 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 great-grandfather Adam, married my ever so 
 many times great-grandmother, Eve, and so 
 we are cousins. If you persist in ignoring the 
 kinship, I shall quarrel with you, and I don't 
 want to do that, because I like you, Greg Taze- 
 well. Now you must run away. I haven't 
 any breakfast for you because the cook got 
 that champagne that you wouldn't let Valorie 
 drink last night. It's your own fault, but I've 
 no doubt you're responsible for many much 
 greater sins, so I'll forgive you if you'll go 
 away at once and leave me free to send my 
 summons to the college boys. But you must 
 come back to dinner at four o'clock. Good- 
 bye. No excuses accepted. My word must be 
 law. Go away." 
 
 Tazewell was glad enough to obey. He 
 wanted a few additional hours of sleep, and 
 he knew that Colonel Shenstone would be at 
 his rooms pretty early in the morning to learn 
 the result of his proceedings. Besides he 
 hadn't had his bath as yet and was really not 
 ready for his breakfast. And in addition to 
 all this he was eager to tell Colonel Shen-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 209 
 
 stone of Mrs. Albemarle's amusing idea of 
 " rubbing it in," a thing he highly approved, 
 both as a man of medicine and as a mere man. 
 It was Mrs. Albemarle's habit to do things 
 in a way that secured the approval of those 
 for whose approval she cared. She was a 
 " thoroughbred " in the fullest significance of 
 the term.
 
 XXII 
 
 WHEN Colonel Shenstone appeared in 
 Greg Tazewell's room early in the 
 morning, the doctor was taking his 
 breakfast there. It was not a customary 
 thing in those days for hotel guests to take 
 their meals in their rooms, and hotel proprie- 
 tors did their best to prevent the introduction 
 of the custom into American hotel life a 
 tendency which a universal reading of Dick- 
 ens's novels strongly fostered. By way of 
 checking it the hotel people printed on their 
 bills of fare the French word menu had not 
 come into use then and on the posted " rules 
 of the house," a legend in conspicuous type, 
 with two amputated human hands, pointing to 
 its two ends, saying: 
 
 "2SPA11 meals served in rooms will be 
 charged extra. =fi5|" 
 
 But Greg Tazewell was a young man who 
 210
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 211 
 
 had lived abroad, and had there learned some- 
 thing of the importance of comfort and leisure 
 and quietude at meals, especially to a man who 
 has been under wakefully emotional strain all 
 night. More important still, he was a man 
 who held money to be a mere tool, a means to 
 an end, and as his own command of money 
 though he was not a very rich man was 
 comfortably adequate, he had no mind to be 
 diverted from his comfort and quietude and 
 leisure by the printed warnings or threats of 
 his landlord. 
 
 So he had daringly ordered his breakfast 
 served in the outer one of his two rooms, in 
 front of a cannel coal fire which, he was also 
 under warning, would be " charged extra." 
 
 " I hope you have not had your breakfast, 
 Colonel ? " said the young man. 
 
 " No. Not yet. I'm going down to it 
 after I've had my talk with you." 
 
 " You're not going to do anything of the 
 sort. You're going to have it with me, com- 
 fortably, in front of the fire," answered the 
 younger man, rising from his chair, climbing 
 over the divan and pulling the bell cord.
 
 212 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 "Why bother to order more?" asked the 
 old gentleman, scanning the table. " You 
 have a goodly supply of beefsteak let me 
 share it." 
 
 " Peremptorily, no. You're limping again 
 this morning. I forbid red meat. I'll order 
 you a roe herring, or a piece of broiled shad 
 the fish have just swum into the river or 
 some broiled bacon and dry toast, but you 
 simply must not eat beefsteak, if you are to 
 be in condition to fight out this controversy." 
 
 "Why not let me fall ill? On your pro- 
 fessional certificate we could stave those ras- 
 cals off for a week or two long enough at 
 least to let Phil get here." 
 
 " Phil will be here within thirty-six hours. 
 There is his telegram. As for ' staving off,' 
 you may trust Mrs. Albemarle for that. She 
 has undertaken the job, and you know that 
 that gracious and altogether glorious lady 
 bountiful is not accustomed to fail or falter in 
 anything she undertakes. But just now you 
 simply must not eat even an ounce of red 
 meat." 
 
 " All right. I'll take toast and tea then,
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 213 
 
 that's the regular diet I believe, only I'll beg 
 you to make it coffee instead of tea. Nobody 
 but a hardened and confirmed Englishman 
 could stand tea for breakfast. But now about 
 Mrs. Albemarle. I've just sent her a note 
 asking her to consider her present possession 
 of Val as one adverse to me. That's a legal 
 phrase. What it means is that she refuses to 
 give Val up to me or in any way to recognize 
 any right on my part to control her person or 
 her movements, until such time as I shall have 
 established my right by legal process. Do you 
 understand?" 
 
 " I think I do. It means that Mrs. Albe- 
 marle shall hold possession of her as long as 
 you think necessary so that you may reply 
 ' non possumus' that's plural, but let it go 
 - to any writ or paper that may be served 
 upon you demanding her delivery." 
 
 " Precisely ! Excellent ! You'd have made 
 a lawyer, Greg, if you hadn't been lured into 
 another profession. Now just as soon as you 
 and I part after breakfast, I'm going back to 
 Woodlands. I have sent a note to those 
 precious rascals, telling them that my office
 
 2i 4 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 as well as my residence is there, and that if 
 they have any business with me, they must call 
 upon me there. That will mean one day's de- 
 lay, I suppose, or it would if they were gen- 
 tlemen who used horses for traveling. As 
 they are not, I suppose they'll come by rail, 
 and if they take the half past ten train, this 
 morning, confound it, they'll be there nearly 
 as soon as I myself shall." 
 
 It proved to be so. Colonel Shenstone had 
 just limped into the house and settled himself 
 in an easy chair before the fire, when Mr. 
 Stone, the senior partner of the opposing law 
 firm, presented himself in the porch. 
 
 There were well-recognized distinctions and 
 discriminations in Virginia hospitality in that 
 stately and well-ordered old time. When the 
 master of a mansion recognized a visitor as a 
 gentleman, all the penetralia were freely 
 thrown open to him. He was asked into par- 
 lor and dining room, and upon occasion, even 
 into the sacred precincts of " the chamber." 
 When one came on business whom the master 
 of the mansion did not recognize as his social 
 equal, the hospitality was more rigorously re-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 215 
 
 stricted. If it were summer the stranger was 
 received in the porch. If it were winter he 
 was invited into the great hall, as was done 
 in this instance. 
 
 " Seat him in the hall," Colonel Shenstone 
 said to the servant, " and say that I will wait 
 upon him presently." 
 
 The word "presently," in that case, meant 
 at Colonel Shenstone's good pleasure, and it 
 was fully ten minutes by the loudly ticking hall 
 clock before the master appeared. When he 
 did so, he said to his guest : 
 
 " Perhaps you'd like a dram after your six 
 miles' drive from the station ? " 
 
 " Thank you, yes. I'll drink with you." 
 
 " Not with me," answered the old gentle- 
 man. " I never take spirits. But my side- 
 board is hospitable of course to those who 
 honor me by their visits. Henry, bring a de- 
 canter, a sugar bowl, and a flagon of water." 
 
 It was observable that Colonel Shenstone 
 did not order pipes and tobacco. The dram 
 was a matter of course to all comers in the Vir- 
 ginia of that time, even though the comer were 
 only a negro from the fields, presenting him-
 
 216 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 self to report that the chinch bug had appeared 
 in the wheat. But the pipe was sacred to a 
 more equal hospitality. It was never offered 
 to any but guests accepted as gentlemen upon 
 terms of equality. 
 
 Without that offer, therefore, Colonel Shen- 
 stone brought business to the fore by asking, 
 with suave indifference : 
 
 " May I inquire to what I am indebted for 
 your visit ? " 
 
 " Certainly. We sent you a note, you re- 
 member " 
 
 "Did you?" 
 
 "Yes. Surely you remember it We de- 
 manded in behalf of our client, Mrs. Eulalie 
 Lee, the surrender to her of her minor, or in 
 legal phrase, * infant ' daughter, known at 
 present as Valorie Page " 
 
 " Miss Valorie Page, please." 
 
 " Yes, of course. You remember the terms 
 of the note ? " 
 
 " I remember nothing in this matter. Have 
 you any proof of the contents of that alleged 
 note, or any evidence going to show that I ever 
 received it?"
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 217 
 
 " Why, I have your answer to it. Surely 
 that is sufficient." 
 
 " Will you show it to me? " 
 
 The lawyer, utterly bewildered by Colonel 
 Shenstone's attitude, drew the note from a 
 pocketbook and handed it to its author. 
 Colonel Shenstone polished his eyeglasses, and 
 adjusted them to his nose. Then he read his 
 own note to the lawyers, and said : 
 
 " I find no reference in this note to any 
 antecedent communication from you or your 
 firm. I find only this : 
 
 "'Dear Sirs: My residence is at Woodlands, 
 and my office also is there. If you have occasion 
 to discuss any matters of legal import with me, I 
 must trouble you to call upon me there.' 
 
 " There is no reference to any communica- 
 tion from you, and, as the note bears no ad- 
 dress except ' Dear Sirs,' there is absolutely 
 nothing to show that it was addressed to your 
 firm." 
 
 " But surely, Colonel Shenstone, you must 
 admit " 
 
 " I admit whatever is proved, and absolutely 
 nothing else. Proceed if you please."
 
 2i8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 The man was discomfited, but he was a 
 shrewd man of law, and he did not despair. 
 
 " Very well," he said. " I do not insist 
 upon the fact that we have previously com- 
 municated with you. It is unimportant. I 
 make the communication now. You have un- 
 der your control one known as Valorie Page, 
 the infant daughter of our client, Mrs. Eula- 
 lie Lee, and in her behalf we demand the in- 
 stant surrender of the girl " 
 
 " Why not say young lady ? " 
 
 " Well, young lady, then. We demand the 
 instant " 
 
 " Whatever demands you make, I decline to 
 accede to. But pray go on. You have made 
 a number of unsupported statements. I sup- 
 pose you have proof of them ? " 
 
 " What, for instance ? " 
 
 " Well, first that I have a young lady under 
 my control. Have you any proof of that ? " 
 
 " I supposed you would admit that as a no- 
 torious fact." 
 
 " In this case I am admitting nothing what- 
 ever. I do not admit the existence of the 
 young lady. You must prove that. If there
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 219 
 
 is such a person I do not admit that I have her 
 in possession or subject to my control. You 
 must prove that. If there is any such per- 
 son, which you must prove, I do not admit that 
 she is an infant in law. You must prove that. 
 If there is any such person, I do not admit that 
 she is the daughter of your client you must 
 prove that. By the way, have you any war- 
 rant of attorney empowering you to act for 
 your client ? " 
 
 " You know, Colonel Shenstone, it is not 
 customary " 
 
 " I know nothing except what is proved. 
 Have you any such warrant of attorney 
 authorizing you to appear in behalf of this al- 
 leged client, and authorizing me to discuss 
 matters with you as her attorney? " 
 
 " I assure you " 
 
 " I did not ask for assurances. I asked for 
 a legal document, in the absence of which I 
 must decline to discuss this matter further." 
 
 " As a lawyer, and in view of the peculiar 
 nature of this case," responded Stone, " I quite 
 understand. But as a lawyer I want to say 
 before leaving that if you could and would
 
 220 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 abate somewhat the rigidity of your require- 
 ments as to proof and the like, I think you 
 and I might arrange a settlement of the affair 
 out of court, which would satisfy all parties 
 concerned and avoid what shall I call it 
 well, friction, controversy, what you will. 
 We might avoid litigation, which is always un- 
 pleasant and always expensive. It is the prac- 
 tice of our firm, Colonel Shenstone, to embrace 
 every opportunity to settle things out of court. 
 We have a fixed belief or conviction or what- 
 ever you choose to call it, that it is always 
 better to compromise than to fight. It saves 
 money, it spares tender sensibilities and " 
 
 " And it leaves more for the lawyers to di- 
 vide," interrupted Colonel Shenstone. " Per- 
 haps that was not your thought. At any rate 
 I may say this: I never respond to a pro- 
 posal of whatever sort it may be, until I know 
 definitely and minutely what its terms are. In 
 the present instance I wish to emphasize the 
 fact that I do not admit the existence of any 
 case to be compromised. But as you insist 
 that there is some such case and ask me to 
 consider a proposal of compromise, I must ask
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 221 
 
 you to state definitely what your claims are 
 and upon what terms you propose to compro- 
 mise them." 
 
 " Thank you. That is what I want. Our 
 client, as the mother " 
 
 " Which I do not admit " answered the 
 colonel. 
 
 " Which you do not admit. Yes. I fully 
 understand that. Well, then, our client, claim- 
 ing to be the mother of a certain young 
 woman " 
 
 " Whose existence I do not admit." 
 
 " Whose existence you do not admit we 
 shall get on better, Colonel Shenstone, if we 
 agree that you admit nothing, and let me go 
 on." 
 
 " Very well. With the understanding that 
 I admit none of your statements, affirmatively 
 or negatively, by express words, or by silence, 
 by affirmation or by implication in brief 
 that I reserve the right to dispute each and 
 every one of them and to insist upon affirma- 
 tive proof of each and all, with that under- 
 standing you may proceed and I will not in- 
 terrupt. Go on."
 
 222 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Very well then, and thank you. Our 
 client, claiming to be the mother, and as such, 
 the natural custodian of a certain young lady, 
 insists that she has an indefeasible right to the 
 services of that young woman during her 
 minority, or, as the law calls it, her ' infancy/ 
 The mother contends that at great expense she 
 has educated the young woman in a way that 
 makes her services exceedingly valuable, 
 that she has had her expensively trained in cer- 
 tain arts of the stage, including music and 
 dancing, which, if practised at her present age 
 and aided by her beauty, her grace, and her 
 other accomplishments, all of which have been 
 cultivated at great expense to the mother, 
 would yield a large return in the way of sal- 
 aries and emoluments. She claims that you 
 have possession of the girl and are restraining 
 her from the earning of such salaries and emol- 
 uments, wherefore she demands either that you 
 restore the girl to her keeping or that you pay 
 her a sufficient sum by way of damages to 
 compensate her for the loss of the girl's serv- 
 ices. I think she would accept a very reason- 
 able sum "
 
 /I 
 
 YOUB VEHICLE STANDS READY FOB YOU. Go ! Go ! Go 
 
 Page 223.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF^VIRGINIA 223 
 
 " Listen ! " commanded Colonel Shenstone. 
 " Go back to your client, and say to her that 
 I will see her hanged before I will let her get 
 possession of the young gentlewoman and be- 
 fore I will pay her the fraction of a cent by 
 way of blackmail. Tell her I'll spend the last 
 dollar of my fortune in fighting her iniquitous 
 purpose, if she chooses to make that necessary, 
 but that not one dollar will I consent to pay 
 her in the way of forfeit. And let me tell you, 
 young man, that you'd do well to look to your 
 retainers' fees, for if there is aught of specula- 
 tion in your acceptance of this iniquitous case, 
 it shall be a losing speculation to the end of 
 the chapter. Go now. It is war, you under- 
 stand, and war with no quarter, no flags of 
 truce, no negotiations, no anything but gun- 
 fire and bayonet charges. Your vehicle stands 
 ready for you. Go ! Go ! Go ! " 
 
 Old as Colonel Shenstone was, his manner 
 was so vehement, so determined, so indignant, 
 under what he deemed an insult, that the law- 
 yer seriously feared violence at his hands. He 
 paused not even for the formality of adieus, 
 but literally fled down the footway to the
 
 224 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 horse blocks, leaped into his hired vehicle, and 
 put the horse to his paces in precipitate retreat. 
 
 When he had passed the outer gate, Colonel 
 Shenstone withdrew into the house and wrote 
 a letter which he sent by his body servant to 
 Mrs. Albemarle, in Richmond. 
 
 It had its results, as it was intended to have.
 
 XXIII 
 
 WAT Colonel Shenstone wrote to 
 Mrs. Albemarle was this : 
 " You Obstinate Person: If you 
 persist long enough in your determination 
 to hold a possession adverse to me, there will 
 be only one course open to me, in case a writ 
 is served upon me. I shall have to go into 
 court and show that I am powerless to pro- 
 duce what the court calls upon me to produce. 
 It is important that I shall be able to do that 
 with a good conscience. I suppose your can- 
 tankerous obstinacy will make that not only 
 possible but actual. You always were high- 
 handed in your methods, even when you were 
 my ward, and I know of no way in which to 
 control you. Phil is due to arrive at the Ex- 
 change Hotel to-morrow afternoon or night. 
 He has several times intimated to me that he 
 has control of funds belonging to the Little 
 225
 
 226 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Minx. If she should have need of money, 
 application must be made to him, for, under 
 present circumstances I must not advance a 
 penny to an errant and disobedient girl who 
 has abandoned my protection and placed her- 
 self under that of an unruly antagonist. Un- 
 der ordinary circumstances of course, my bank 
 account would be as freely at her service as it 
 will always be at Phil's, if ever he should need 
 such service, which I regard as extremely un- 
 likely." 
 
 In writing this letter, Colonel Shenstone 
 was guided somewhat by his conviction that 
 Mrs. Albemarle was a person of rather acute 
 perceptions. It will be observed that the let- 
 ter upon its face, bore no indication of the 
 identity of the person to whom it was ad- 
 dressed. The words : " You obstinate per- 
 son," might mean anybody, for who is there 
 who does not seem an obstinate person now 
 and then? It was Colonel Shenstone's life- 
 long habit to write his letters upon three pages 
 of letter-sized paper, to fold them after the 
 old fashion so as to bring the fourth side of the 
 sheet outside for the address, and to use no
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 227 
 
 envelope. In this case he violated all the tra- 
 ditions and set all his customs at defiance. He 
 searched Valorie's lap desk till he found an 
 envelope. Then rather awkwardly for he 
 was unused to envelopes he managed to fold 
 his sheet into a wad that he could force into 
 the receptacle. Then, after addressing the 
 letter he wrote in the lower left hand corner 
 of the envelope, these words: 
 
 " Please let my servant bring this envelope 
 back to me so that I may know certainly that 
 the letter has been delivered." 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle laughed a little as she read 
 the letter, and she smiled as she wrote in re- 
 ply: 
 
 " You dear, unreasonable old bundle of law 
 points: I scorn to keep either your envelope, 
 or the letter it held. I am returning both, far 
 more neatly folded than when they came to 
 me. If you think for one moment to bend me 
 from my purpose by your persuasions or your 
 threats, you will find yourself in error. I shall 
 hold my adverse possession so adversely that 
 even your legal acumen shall find no way of 
 breaking through it. Do your worst, sir, and
 
 228 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 you shall find my woman's wits not wanting 
 in any match with your legal ones. 
 
 " By the way, I've a duel or two to pre- 
 vent. My college boys all fell in love with 
 V. of course. I knew they would, but I didn't 
 think they would quarrel so fiercely. I'll 
 settle all that, however. I've sent a personal 
 note to each of them, peremptorily summoning 
 each without mentioning the others to 
 call upon me for a confidential conference at 
 three o'clock to-day. When they come and 
 each finds the others here, I'll laugh at them 
 and we'll all go to dinner. I've ordered three 
 kinds of dessert besides syllabub, and all boys 
 like sweet things. It is one of the loveliest 
 traits of their characters. It means that they 
 haven't yet smoked enough to spoil their nat- 
 ural appetites or vitiate their tastes. I wish 
 they all loved romantic novels, too, as all girls 
 do. It would give one such a hold upon them, 
 wouldn't it ? " 
 
 Having sent off this missive, the Grand 
 Dame the charm of whose personality lay 
 largely in the fact that she always knew what 
 next to do wrote out a card and sent it to
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 229 
 
 the engravers with a " hurry order." This is 
 the way in which it read : 
 
 "Having decided to make a journey, Mrs. 
 Albemarle finds it necessary to cancel all her 
 invitations for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sat- 
 urdays until further notice. Mrs. Albemarle 
 regrets that for a time she must deny herself 
 the society of her friends, and hopes soon to 
 renew her invitations." 
 
 She did not send these cards out, but held 
 them in reserve for use if needed. The next 
 day she wrote a note to Phil Shenstone, who 
 had just arrived at the Exchange Hotel. 
 
 "My Dear Young Chevalier'' she wrote; 
 " I see by the list of Hotel arrivals that you are 
 in Richmond. I must see you at once. It is 
 important. Never mind hours or conventions, 
 but come as soon as you can." Then in a 
 postscript she added : 
 
 " P. S. Don't misinterpret the peremptory 
 tone of this note. It doesn't mean that I want 
 to scold you. It means on the contrary that 
 I want to consult you about somebody who is 
 dear to both of us, I think. Anyhow you are 
 to come at once. That is both my request and
 
 230 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 my command. Grant the one or obey the 
 other as you choose, but come, and come 
 quickly." 
 
 " What a wonderful woman she is, any- 
 how," exclaimed Phil, as he tossed the note to 
 Greg Tazewell to read. 
 
 After reading it, Greg answered : 
 
 " Yes, she is quite all of that. What a pity 
 it is that no man living has her brains, her 
 tact, her readiness of resource, her extraor- 
 dinary perceptions and her marvelous ability 
 to make everybody do whatever she wants 
 done! If that woman were a man she'd be 
 President and Secretary of State and Prime 
 Minister of England and dominant diplomatist 
 of all the world all in the same twenty- four 
 hours. I wonder what she has on hand now? 
 I'll bet golden guineas to gouber peas that 
 she's planning something that will startle us 
 by its originality and its genius." 
 
 " I won't take the bet," answered Phil, " be- 
 cause one doesn't care to lose even gouber 
 peas on a wager. It humiliates one to lose a 
 bet. But I'll go at once to see her." 
 
 Half an hour later he presented himself at 

 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 231 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle's, asking only for her, because 
 he could not know what the situation might 
 be, and because she had made no mention of 
 Valorie in her note. He had reflected : " Mrs. 
 Albemarle is not at all a haphazard person. 
 Whatever she does or says is done or said 
 with a thoroughly well-considered purpose; 
 and equally what she omits to say or do is 
 omitted with a well-considered purpose. So 
 as she summoned me to meet herself, making 
 no mention of Valorie, my safest course is to 
 ask only for her." 
 
 " My dear Phil, I need not ask you how you 
 are," said the gracious lady, taking both his 
 hands as he approached and she advanced to 
 meet him. " You look it every bit of it 
 and I'm glad. But you'll naturally want to 
 see Valorie, presently, and before that happens 
 you and I have some business to attend to. 
 Now you are not to ask me anything about 
 my plans. They constitute an inviolable 
 secret. But Colonel Shenstone has intimated 
 to me that you may perhaps have some money 
 in your hands to which Valorie has some sort 
 of claim. Is it so?"
 
 232 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Yes, certainly. Her father left me in 
 charge of her affairs. He was a stockholder 
 in several steamboat companies " 
 
 " I don't care at all for the details, Phil, and 
 you know I don't care for the money. But 
 I'm just about ready to do something for Va- 
 lorie which will cost some money and you 
 know how proudly independent she is. She'll 
 be sure presently to throw an obstruction in 
 my way by wanting to know where the money 
 comes from for her share of the expenses. 
 So" 
 
 " Pardon me for interrupting," said Phil, 
 smiling, " but you are so transparent a crea- 
 ture, Mrs. Albemarle, that one doesn't need 
 glasses to penetrate your purposes. I quite un- 
 derstand. I am prepared to place a consid- 
 erable sum of money Valerie's own money, 
 really and absolutely her own to her credit 
 or yours, in any bank you may name. I'll do 
 it to-day within the hour." 
 
 " How stupid you men are ! " answered she. 
 " All I want is to quiet Valerie's absurd 
 scruples. She and I may go traveling pres- 
 ently mind you, I don't say we shall and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 233 
 
 we may even decide to make a little tour in 
 Europe mind you, again, I don't say we 
 shall. But, just by way of quieting her scru- 
 ples, I want you to get for her a letter of 
 credit " 
 
 " I see. I'll do it to-day. What else? " 
 
 " Only one other thing." 
 
 Going to her writing desk which stood be- 
 hind the curtains of a deep bay window, she 
 brought forth a little parcel, saying : 
 
 " Here is a box of gloves which you are to 
 remember that you bought at Breedon & Fox's 
 for her. Of course a man would go to Bree- 
 don & Fox's for gloves a woman would 
 prefer Price's. I'm going to send for her now 
 and you are to give her the gloves, in my pres- 
 ence, mind, so that there shall be no unbecom- 
 ing emotional trimmings to the procedure." 
 
 " But, Mrs, Albemarle," he exclaimed, stay- 
 ing her hand as she reached for the bell rope, 
 " I cannot consent " 
 
 " Oh, that's easily managed," she replied. 
 " You mean you must really pay for the gloves 
 if you are to give them to her? Very well. 
 They cost fifteen dollars. You may discharge
 
 234 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the debt by sending me flowers to that amount 
 if you must." 
 
 She had already pulled the bell cord for 
 Mrs..Albemarle's bell cords were placed within 
 easy and convenient reach. It was one of her 
 eccentricities to insist upon having them so, 
 and the mechanics who arranged things about 
 her house under her direction, had found her 
 imperious will as resistless as men and women 
 of higher social position had discovered it to 
 be. The bell hanger whom she had compelled 
 to place that silken cord conveniently by the 
 side of the chimney piece, had been as power- 
 less in his desire to hang it behind the tall 
 clock or in rear of the antique Roman book- 
 case as Phil Shenstone now was to negative 
 her will that he should give Valorie the box 
 of gloves. 
 
 There was this redeeming feature about 
 Mrs. Albemarle's exactions of obedience, that 
 she always managed, in one way or in another, 
 to make compliance agreeable. Thus in Phil 
 Shenstone's case he had wanted to stop at the 
 florist's that morning and take some flowers 
 to Mrs. Albemarle. But he had reflected that
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 235 
 
 as he had been summoned to her presence, and 
 had not already paid his respects voluntarily, 
 it might seem something akin to an apology 
 for him to bear a tribute of flowers on the oc- 
 casion. Moreover, one of Mrs. Albemarle's 
 college boys, a youth whose maintenance in 
 college Phil Shenstone was surreptitiously 
 bearing, had visited him promptly on his ar- 
 rival, to tell him of the guardianship of Va- 
 lorie in which he had assisted. Incidentally 
 the young man told him that in gratitude to 
 Mrs. Albemarle for her social recognition of 
 himself, he had abstained from the buying of 
 a cravat which he coveted, and had spent the 
 money thus saved, in three Jaqueminot roses; 
 that upon his presentation of them, Mrs. Albe- 
 marle had said : 
 
 " But, my dear Lucien, you mustn't spend 
 your wealth upon me. Save it for younger 
 and eligible women. It is nice of you of 
 course, but I shall not allow it in future." 
 
 Then, the young fellow went on to relate as 
 a curious coincidence, there had come to him, 
 next day with Mrs. Albemarle's compliments, 
 a classical dictionary which he had longed for,
 
 236 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 and half a dozen cravats, such as he should 
 never have dreamed of buying for himself. 
 
 On the whole the recital tended to restrain 
 Phil Shenstone's impulse to carry flowers to 
 Mrs. Albemarle, though, as he afterwards saw 
 very clearly, her impulse in the case of the 
 college boy, had been one in no wise applicable 
 to himself. At any rate he was glad now of 
 an excuse to send limitless flowers to the gra- 
 cious woman who was doing so much for Va- 
 lorie. 
 
 In answer to Mrs. Albemarle's summons, 
 Valorie presently floated into the parlor. Phil 
 Shenstone found it impossible to think of her 
 entrance into a room otherwise than as float- 
 ing. She had not known or suspected that 
 he was there, or within five hundred miles of 
 her. When she saw him all the reserve that 
 belongs to the young gentlewoman went out 
 of her, and all the candor of the child that re- 
 mained to her came forth. She ran forward 
 impulsively crying : " Oh, it's Mr. Phil ! it's 
 Mr. Phil ! " and she was on the point of throw- 
 ing her arms about his neck when she remem- 
 bered something.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 237 
 
 What it was, is no matter. When she re- 
 membered it she chastened her greeting into 
 one of cordial friendship only. 
 
 " I'm glad she didn't kiss him," thought the 
 wise woman who was looking on. " That 
 would have meant that she didn't love him as 
 I want her to do. It would have meant that 
 she feels for him nothing more than the cold- 
 blooded friendship to which she is now so dili- 
 gently pretending. As she suddenly restrained 
 herself and is now behaving in a singularly dis- 
 creet manner, I know of course that she does 
 love him, and I can afford to leave the result to 
 Cupid. Phil Shenstone is stupid in such mat- 
 ters of course. All strong men are, and espe- 
 cially all men strong enough to be modest. 
 But he'll wake up after awhile and find out 
 what's what. That's the charm of men. 
 Great, stupid, dull-witted fellows that they are, 
 they never know when a woman is in love with 
 them. They construe the plainest possible in- 
 dications of it to mean something exactly the 
 reverse. I dare say Phil Shenstone observed 
 Valerie's impulse to kiss him, and saw the way 
 in which she restrained it, and argued in his
 
 238 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 own mind that it all meant she loved some 
 other fellow, and mustn't caress him for fear 
 of disloyalty or misconstruction or some other 
 absurd thing of that sort. The stupidity of 
 men is really very annoying at times; but at 
 any rate it is amusing. Some day, when these 
 two shall have found out what and how much 
 they mean to each other, I'll have my laugh at 
 them and explain to them how absurd their 
 behavior in this present time seemed to me to 
 be." 
 
 In the meanwhile, Phil Shenstone was put- 
 ting his own construction upon Valerie's be- 
 havior. He had seen and understood her 
 childlike impulse to rush into his arms and 
 caress him. He had observed the suddenness 
 with which she abandoned that purpose, and 
 adopted a tone of cordial friendliness instead. 
 
 " In her gratitude to me," he argued, " for 
 having rescued her from conventual re- 
 straints and from a repulsive life prospect, and 
 for having brought her into a larger life which 
 she intensely enjoys, the old, childish impulse 
 to caress me was for the moment dominant. 
 But she remembered that she is a young
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 239 
 
 woman now, with a personal dignity to main- 
 tain. More important still, she remembered 
 that well, she remembered Greg Tazewell, 
 the one man who means all there is in the 
 world to her. 
 
 " She is right, of course. He is fitter to 
 make her happy than I am, and besides he has 
 awakened her soul, as I never did and never 
 could. It is better so. Greg and I are friends, 
 I will take myself utterly out of his way. 
 Whatever of gratitude and personal friendship 
 Valorie may feel for me, must weigh nothing 
 in the scale. As soon as this tangle in her af- 
 fairs can be straightened out, I'll go back to 
 my steamboating and leave the two to be 
 happy. 
 
 "But I shall never love any other woman 
 than Valorie Page so long as I live." 
 
 Then another thought entered his mind as 
 if some Demon of Suggestion had thrust it 
 there. 
 
 " If Valorie and Greg were married, these 
 people would have no further claim upon her. 
 She would be free. Why shouldn't they solve 
 the riddle in that easy way ? "
 
 240 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 But somehow that thought troubled him so 
 greatly that he dared not entertain it. He 
 was one of two gentlemen of Virginia, and as 
 such he would in the end do his duty, what- 
 ever personal distress it might cause him. 
 But as one shrinks from the surgeon's knife 
 even when he knows its use to be necessary, 
 so, for the present, Phil Shenstone shrank 
 from actively suggesting what seemed to be 
 the only or at any rate the easiest way out of 
 existing complications. 
 
 He gave Valorie the gloves, but he did it 
 in a way that robbed the act of every particle 
 of the significance Mrs. Albemarle had in- 
 tended it to bear. 
 
 Then he went away and sent Mrs. Albe- 
 marle her flowers. Perhaps in her eyes he 
 mended matters a trifle by sending Valorie at 
 the same time a little bunch of forget-me-nots, 
 which as Mrs. Albemarle delightedly observed, 
 the girl cherished with special tenderness, 
 throwing some gaudier blooms away to make 
 place for them.
 
 XXIV 
 
 AS he drove away from Woodlands, 
 the lawyer, Stone, puzzled himself 
 mightily and to no purpose. He 
 could not make out the cause of Colonel Shen- 
 stone's indignant outbreak, for the reason that 
 neither his thinking habit nor his moral per- 
 ception lay within the same plane in which the 
 old Virginian's thinking was done. Trained as 
 the young man had been in that school of 
 legal ethics which had found acceptance among 
 the smaller men of the profession in many 
 parts of the country, he could not understand 
 how anything that lay within the limits of 
 technical legality could be otherwise than 
 proper. The proposal of compromise which 
 he had suggested to the old Virginian had been 
 carefully kept within those limits. He had 
 made no threat of anything to be done in case 
 of its non-acceptance. And yet Colonel Shen- 
 241
 
 242 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 stone had angrily called it a threat of black- 
 mail. Cudgel his brain as he might, Stone 
 could remember no precedent, no decision, no 
 obiter dictum even, upon which a court could 
 so construe what he had said ; and as statutory 
 definition and court construction were to his 
 mind the ultimate sources of ethical obligation, 
 he felt that he had been guilty of no wrong 
 doing. 
 
 Yet he was not without apprehension. Since 
 his advent in Virginia he had discovered that 
 in that strangely constituted society which 
 he could neither understand nor secure admis- 
 sion to quixotic old gentlemen of Colonel 
 Shenstone's type, especially where they stood 
 high at the bar as the colonel did, were able 
 to exercise an influence over courts and juries 
 that he could in no wise understand. They 
 seemed to be able, upon occasion, to go behind 
 the " statutes in that case made and provided," 
 and to invoke a higher law which they called 
 honor, with extraordinary success. 
 
 Indeed, it was his observation of this sort of 
 thing that had induced Stone to leave New 
 York at the beginning of his career and seek
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 243 
 
 a practice in Virginia. During a period of 
 observation there he had made up his mind 
 that the lawyers in that state were sadly want- 
 ing in sagacity. They seemed to be able men, 
 learned in those broad principles of law and 
 equity which he had purposely neglected, be- 
 cause of his quick appreciation of their use- 
 lessness in the winning of cases; but every 
 time he went into court as a spectator of pro- 
 ceedings, he saw these men actually losing 
 vital points in their cases, not only by their 
 quixotic refusal to take advantage of techni- 
 calities that tended to the defeat of justice, 
 but still more by their refusal to pervert pro- 
 visions of law to the advantage of their clients, 
 as they easily might have done. These men 
 actually proceeded upon that exploded old 
 dictum of the English law, which they had 
 sworn to obey, that a lawyer's duty is to be 
 " true to himself, true to the law, true to the 
 court, and true to the client." They put them- 
 selves first, insisting upon it that as gentlemen 
 they must maintain an attitude of honor and 
 integrity, even though the client's cause should 
 suffer loss. They insisted upon being true to
 
 244 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the law, even when the law was adverse to 
 their clients. They recognized their obliga- 
 tion to be " true to the court " by refusing to 
 pervert law in the interest of clients who had 
 paid them to conduct their cases to successful 
 issue. In their view the interests of the client 
 were subsidiary to all these higher consider- 
 ations, and so in their hands a client was likely 
 to lose his case if it were not a good one, sup- 
 ported by considerations of right and justice. 
 
 This was not Fernando Stone's idea of the 
 function of the lawyer. He had been trained 
 to think that it is the sole duty of the lawyer 
 to win his client's case, right or wrong, and to 
 that end to employ every means in his power. 
 
 As he sat looking on at Virginia court pro- 
 ceedings, he saw case after case lost upon prin- 
 ciple which he confidently believed he could 
 have won by disregard of principle and in- 
 sistence upon technicality. 
 
 He saw a great opportunity for the exer- 
 cise of his peculiar abilities in a State in which 
 the practitioners of law were so greatly ham- 
 pered and restrained by conscience and by ab- 
 surd traditions of honorable conduct.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 245 
 
 So, taking a partner of his own kind, he set- 
 tled in Richmond. In the lower courts he 
 achieved a certain measure of success. He 
 succeeded by adroit insistence upon technical- 
 ities, in so far winning his cases as to bring 
 himself into a considerable practice and into 
 hopeless disrepute among honorable men. 
 But to his surprise his success in the higher 
 courts met with obstacles which he could in 
 no wise understand. There seemed to pre- 
 vail in those courts a disposition to regard 
 justice and right, and the obligations of com- 
 mon honesty as actually superior to statutory 
 provisions. More annoying still, the courts of 
 Virginia insisted upon construing even statu- 
 tory provisions in the light of these absurdly 
 sentimental theories of " right between man 
 and man." In one case in particular, Stone 
 had met with defeat in a peculiarly humiliat- 
 ing manner. Before Judge Clopton he had 
 made a technical point with great ingenuity. 
 The Judge courteously commended the in- 
 genuity of the counsel, but added : 
 
 " The court can not believe that the law of 
 Virginia intends injustice or means to tolerate
 
 246 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 it. The construction which the ingenuity of 
 counsel has sought to place upon it, would, if 
 sustained by the court, work a grievous in- 
 justice. The court, therefore, refuses to ac- 
 cept that construction, and instructs the jury 
 to disregard it utterly. With that instruction, 
 given with all the emphasis the court can 
 command, the jury will take the case." And 
 the jury did, and gave a verdict against his 
 client. 
 
 Nevertheless, Fernando Stone, as he drove 
 to the station, was unable to understand Col- 
 onel Shenstone's angry reception of his pro- 
 posal of compromise. It was clear to his mind 
 that his client's case had enough of plausibility 
 in it to make defense against it a rather costly 
 indulgence. With a view to his own fees, he 
 stood ready to advise a compromise if the 
 colonel had consented to pay a sum much 
 smaller than the cost of litigation, a sum one- 
 half of which he would gladly take as his own 
 compensation. He even stood ready, in that 
 case, to compel his client's acceptance of half 
 of the money in satisfaction of her claim, by 
 advising her that she really had no case at all,
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 247 
 
 and that she ought to be very grateful to him 
 for having compelled Colonel Shenstone to 
 buy her off. 
 
 Colonel Shenstone's meditations after the 
 man's departure, were of a very different kind. 
 
 " Confound the fellow ! " he thought for 
 he objected to swearing as unbecoming in a 
 gentleman " confound the fellow ! I won- 
 der what sort of swinish brute he thought me. 
 Anyhow, I've given him enough points on 
 which he must furnish proof to keep him busy 
 till Phil comes and tells me the whole story. 
 Till he does, I'm crippled by lack of knowl- 
 edge of the facts. When I know them all I'll 
 find a way to twist that wretched little statute- 
 monger into all sorts of double bow knots. I 
 can beat him on the principles of course, even 
 without the facts. There isn't a court in Vir- 
 ginia that would take my dear Little Minx out 
 of my care and turn her over to a woman who 
 wants to make a stage performer of her. But 
 I want to know the facts, I'll write to Greg to 
 send Phil to me the moment he gets to Rich- 
 mond." 
 
 And he did. And in due course of mail
 
 248 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 his summons should have reached Greg Taze- 
 well and through him come into Phil Shen- 
 stone's hands, early on the next morning. But 
 as his body servant never could be persuaded 
 to understand that the postal requirements of 
 the United States Government were applica- 
 ble to missives sent by so distinguished a per- 
 son as his master, he omitted to affix a stamp 
 to Colonel Shenstone's letter. 
 
 The body servant was so far right in his 
 understanding of such matters that the post- 
 master at the station, instead of sending the 
 communication to the dead letter office for 
 lack of postage, held it until the next day, 
 when embracing an opportunity, he returned 
 it to Colonel Shenstone with a rather elaborate 
 apology, explanation and humble request that 
 the stamp required by law should be affixed 
 to it. 
 
 In the meanwhile Greg Tazewell, to whom 
 the letter was addressed, had left Richmond 
 for the North without explanation, without 
 previous notice to anybody, and leaving be- 
 hind him only a brief note, written to give his 
 address to Phil Shenstone in case of need.
 
 XXV 
 
 BUT Phil Shenstone needed no sum- 
 mons from his uncle. He had hur- 
 ried from the West to Richmond for 
 the express purpose of going to Woodlands, 
 consulting Colonel Shenstone and taking upon 
 himself the fight in Valerie's behalf. It had 
 been his intention to go at once to Woodlands 
 without pausing even to have his clothes 
 brushed or his shoes polished. But Greg 
 Tazewell had sent an emissary to meet him at 
 the railway station, and in answer to the sum- 
 mons he had gone to the hotel to meet his 
 friend and learn what he could of the situa- 
 tion. Then had come Mrs. Albemarle's note 
 and he had felt bound to respond to it. Upon 
 leaving her he must go to the florist's, of 
 course, and discharge himself of his indebt- 
 edness for the gloves. After that he had to 
 go to the bank to secure the promised letter of 
 249
 
 250 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 credit, and that took so much time that really 
 he felt that it would not do to leave its de- 
 livery to the deliberate movements of a bank 
 messenger. Mrs. Albemarle had named no 
 time within which the document should be de- 
 livered, but she had mysteriously intimated 
 her purpose to do something without delay 
 and he, in his turn, had assured her that he 
 would arrange the matter at once. It was 
 obvious, therefore, that he ought to deliver 
 the document in person. Besides well, he 
 had seen Valorie only in Mrs. Albemarle's 
 presence, and possibly no, it would be better 
 if it should turn out otherwise. Still well 
 on the whole his duty to deliver the financial 
 paper in person and at once was obvious. 
 Moreover, the cashier had charged him to see 
 to it that Valorie should write her signature 
 upon it for identification, and that might need 
 some explanation to one so unused as she was 
 to financial transactions. 
 
 So, calling a cab, he drove to Mrs. Albe- 
 marle's. 
 
 That was precisely what that sagacious gen- 
 tlewoman had expected him to do, and in
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 251 
 
 preparation for it she had conjured up a wea- 
 riness. She never had a headache. She was 
 too abundantly healthly for that sort of fem- 
 inine indulgence. " Besides," she often said 
 when that plea was suggested to her, " nobody 
 would ever believe me. For the life of me I 
 can't ' look the part ' of a lackadaisical, head- 
 ache-ridden woman." But to-day, in antici- 
 pation of Phil Shenstone's visit, of which she 
 was as confident as she was of the striking of 
 the clock, she took pains to feel weary and in- 
 disposed to exert herself in the reception of 
 visitors. 
 
 " I'm going to make myself comfortable 
 for once, Val," she said. " I'm going to put 
 off my gown and snuggle into something 
 soft, and warm and easy. If anybody calls 
 I'll excuse myself. I'm going to rest while 
 you read John Esten Cooke's new novel to 
 me. It's called ' Henry St. John, Gentle- 
 man,' and you'll find it on the table. You 
 know John Esten Cooke is our Virginia nov- 
 elist, and he's sure to call here pretty soon. 
 When he does we must both be prepared to 
 talk intelligently about his new novel. Be-
 
 252 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 sides, he's the dearest soul imaginable a 
 gentleman altogether, gentle and manly, and 
 the very soul of honor and chivalry. I wish 
 all our young men were such as he is. Be 
 sure, when you talk to him to remember that 
 it was his brother, Philip Pendleton Cooke, 
 who wrote * Florence Vane/ the poem you 
 were reading last night. There's a chance that 
 some others may call to-day, possibly John R. 
 Thompson, or even ' the solitary horseman.' " 
 
 " Who's the solitary horseman, please ? " 
 asked Val. "I've met a Mr. Cooke and 
 Mr. Thompson, but who is the other ? " 
 
 "Why, George Prince Regent James, of 
 course. That isn't his name exactly, but we 
 who know him and love him, call him that, 
 just for fun, and because he is a very prince 
 regent of courtesy. His real name is George 
 Payne Rainsford James, and you've read his 
 novels as by G. P. R. James. He's Her 
 Britannic Majesty's Consul in Richmond and 
 the j oiliest old boy you ever saw. John R. 
 Thompson, as of course you know, is another 
 of our literary lights. He's a poet and the 
 editor of the Southern Literary Messenger.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 253 
 
 By the way, in case, he should call you'd better 
 beforehand read a little poem he has just pub- 
 lished. It is called 'Lou.' You'll find the 
 magazine containing it on my dressing table. 
 It has a line in it well worth remembering, 
 Describing Lou it says : 
 
 ' And the soft October sunshine was tangled in 
 her hair.' 
 
 That's better than Tennyson's 
 
 ' Glittering like a swarm of fireflies, tangled in a 
 silver braid,' 
 
 because it's simpler and more natural, it seems 
 to me. If you agree with me, remember to 
 express that opinion the first time Thompson 
 calls. There are some others. I think you've 
 met Mr. DeWitt, the editor, and Mr. A. Jud- 
 son Crane who practices law for a living and 
 writes poetry for pleasure. Now that I think 
 of it, Richmond is quite a literary centre. 
 There are four or five of my Richmond college 
 boys who write verses for the Waverly Mag- 
 azine and send them to me to be admired." 
 
 " There don't seem to be any women in 
 your list," said Valorie.
 
 254 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Oh, of course there are Marion Harland 
 and Mary Raglan and half a dozen other 
 dear friends of mine who write divinely. But 
 they are women and if any of them should call 
 I'd order them up here for a cozy chat. I 
 was only cataloguing the men, because if any 
 one of them calls you'll have to receive him 
 and tell him I've wrapped myself up in cotton 
 wool till I'm utterly invisible. He'll be glad 
 of that, if he has good taste, and if he hasn't 
 he may as well go away. You see, dear, men 
 are like morning glories." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why morning glories lovingly climb over 
 any old stump or railpile, and cling to it as if 
 they really appreciated it, when in fact what 
 they want is access to the sunlight above. So 
 it is with men. I'm over forty, my dear, and 
 supremely happily married. I love and trust 
 my husband and he loves and trusts me. In- 
 cidentally, and just for your private instruc- 
 tion, he and I worship each other in private, 
 though in public we pose merely as the best of 
 good comrades. We're carrying on a social 
 establishment together, and we're getting a lot
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 255 
 
 of fun out of it. He rejoices to see me a 
 social queen, and I rejoice to see him a king 
 among men. He's a judge, you know, of our 
 highest court, and so his word is law. If any 
 distinguished gentleman from any part of the 
 world comes to Richmond, he becomes Judge 
 Albemarle's guest, quite as a matter of course, 
 and I really have a great deal of trouble, dear, 
 in deciding in each case whom to invite to 
 meet the distinguished stranger. I must pick 
 out six, eight or ten as the case may be, and 
 it is a puzzle to know which six, eight or ten 
 to choose. I must say Judge Albemarle 
 is always ready to help me. If there are 
 thirty men who ought to be invited and thirty 
 women of course, and we can't invite but ten 
 of each and don't know whom to choose, he 
 suddenly has an inspiration. Not that I sug- 
 gest it, dear, for I never do that, and when 
 you are married you'll do well to remember 
 never to suggest anything to your husband. 
 If you let him take the initiative always, he'll 
 appreciate his manhood and worship you as the 
 very wisest woman in the world, a woman who 
 adequately recognizes masculinity. But you
 
 256 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 can very easily put him in the way of sug- 
 gesting the right trn'ng. 
 
 " For instance, when Jack and I I mean 
 the Judge of course, but I have a habit of call- 
 ing him Jack because that is what he was 
 called when I married him when he and I 
 find it impossible to determine which ten men 
 should be chosen, of the thirty that ought to 
 be invited to meet the distinguished stranger, 
 I fall into a state of hopeless imbecility and 
 begin ' wishing ' things. Of course ' wish- 
 ing ' is the resort and resource of imbeciles 
 only. I ' wish ' our dining room would ac- 
 commodate the whole thirty and the comple- 
 mentary women, and I say, 'then we could 
 give three dinners at once.' Of course the 
 wish is futile, and I know it; but it suggests 
 something brilliant to Jack, and that is what I 
 intend. 
 
 " ' Great thought,' he exclaims. ' We 
 can't give one dinner to thirty men and thirty 
 women but why not give three dinners to ten 
 men and ten women each, on successive even- 
 ings? It would emphasize your social con- 
 trol of the distinguished stranger.' I meekly
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 257 
 
 submit and the thing goes off perfettly. Jack, 
 the dear fellow oh, I forgot, I should say 
 Judge Albemarle is happy and I am happy, 
 and everybody else is happy. There's nothing 
 in the world like tact, Val, and after all it is 
 only a tender deference to other people's self 
 love. And why shouldn't we minister to that ? 
 It is only a kindly, generous, sympathetic 
 thing to do. Did it ever occur to you, Val, 
 that to every human being the most interest- 
 ing thing in existence is himself? Then if 
 we want our fellows to be happy, why 
 shouldn't we feel and manifest an interest in 
 them? That's what we call 'tact' but after 
 all it is nothing but kindly human sympathy, 
 and as we are all human, why shouldn't we 
 cultivate it ? It seems to me that there is only 
 a choice between ' tact,' which means sym- 
 pathy, and the utter selfishness which puts 
 others out of the reckoning and regards only 
 oneself. For my part I prefer to be interested 
 in others and to make them feel that I am so." 
 " But my dear Mrs. Albemarle," said Val- 
 orie, who neither understood nor suspected 
 what was going on with respect to herself, and
 
 258 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 who knew -not why she was lingering so long 
 in town, " All you are saying to me sounds as 
 if I were to remain here for a long time to 
 come, when I'm daily expecting Uncle But- 
 ler to send the Woodlands carriage for me. 
 In fact I've written asking him to do so, now 
 that the theatricals are over. Of course it's 
 delightful to be with you, but Uncle Butler 
 needs me to keep him company, and I'm posi- 
 tively frightened when I think how the house- 
 keeping there is going at loose ends." 
 
 " My dear," returned the elder woman, 
 "you don't understand. You are staying 
 here not only with Colonel Shenstone's con- 
 sent, but by his desire. You shall know all 
 about it presently, but just now it's a dead se- 
 cret between Colonel Shenstone and me." 
 
 With that she withdrew into her dressing 
 room to " snuggle into something soft and 
 warm and easy," as she had said, and Val- 
 orie sat down in great perplexity. She took 
 up the magazine and tried to read John R. 
 Thompson's little poem, but she could not 
 keep her attention fixed upon the lines. As 
 she thought of what her hostess had said to
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 259 
 
 her, her perplexity became a troubled anxiety. 
 Could it be that she had offended Colonel 
 Shenstone, or that he too had been displeased 
 by her assumption of Jennie Right's part? 
 He had not seemed to be so at the time, but 
 perhaps it was only his courtesy to conceal his 
 displeasure. Then another thought came to 
 her. Perhaps he had fallen ill again and was 
 trying to conceal the fact from her. At that 
 thought she became positively alarmed. 
 
 At that moment Mrs. Albemarle returned to 
 the room just as a maid entered, bearing Phil 
 Shenstone's card. 
 
 " Go down and receive him, dear. Tell him 
 I'm fleece-lined now and all muffled up, and 
 am seeing nobody but that you are taking my 
 place."
 
 XXVI 
 
 IT was with something of eagerness but 
 more of reluctance that Valorie descended 
 the stairs and entered the parlors to meet 
 Phil Shenstone alone. She eagerly wanted to 
 see him again and talk with him in the old fa- 
 miliar way. There were scores of things she 
 wanted to say to him and scores of other 
 things she wanted to ask him. And yet she 
 felt a strange shrinking from the interview 
 which she could in no wise explain to herself. 
 If she could have had Mrs. Albemarle with 
 her, as she had had her in the morning, as a 
 sort of protector, she felt that the meeting 
 would have been an altogether welcome event. 
 As it was, she twice paused upon the stairs, 
 half minded to retreat. She was both amused 
 and angry with herself for her senseless 
 shrinking. 
 
 " What is the matter with me, I wonder ? " 
 260
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 261 
 
 she said to herself. " I'm not afraid of Mr. 
 Phil at least I never was before. No, 
 that's not it. I'm not afraid of him now. 
 He's the best friend I ever had in the world. 
 It is something else, I'm afraid of. Maybe 
 I'm afraid of myself. I reckon that's it, but 
 I don't understand it. It's only foolishness 
 anyhow." 
 
 And with a determined dismissal of the un- 
 worthy fear she calmly passed into the room 
 where he sat, and tried to greet her friend 
 and protector with the old cordiality that had 
 marked their intercourse ever since he had 
 taken her from the convent, rescuing her from 
 something, she knew not what, and bringing 
 her into the easy, graceful and strangely fas- 
 cinating Virginia life that she loved so much. 
 Her effort was measurably successful, but not 
 so completely so as she had hoped to make it. 
 Phil Shenstone discovered the effort she was 
 making to banish restraint from her manner, 
 and to him the explanation seemed obvious. 
 
 " She is shy of telling me about her feel- 
 ing for Greg Tazewell," he thought. And on 
 his own part he dreaded lest she should do
 
 262 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 so. He had no doubt of the facts, but he 
 shrank from her confession of them as from 
 an expected blow. 
 
 In his anxiety to prevent the open revela- 
 tion, he managed to put something of strange- 
 ness and hardness into his own manner, which 
 Valorie had never seen there before. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances, meeting her 
 after so long an absence, his first words would 
 have been: 
 
 " Sit here by me, Val, and tell me all about 
 yourself." 
 
 He dared not say that now, lest the telling 
 " all about herself," should consist chiefly in 
 telling him the one thing he shrank from hear- 
 ing from her lips, though he confidently be- 
 lieved he knew it already. He felt that he 
 could hear that news with a calmer mind from 
 Greg Tazewell himself, and indeed he had 
 gone to Greg's hotel room while waiting for 
 the letter of credit, for the express purpose 
 of giving his friend an opportunity to tell 
 him. Half to his disappointment and half to 
 his relief, he had discovered that the young 
 doctor had left at noon for New York, leav-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 263 
 
 ing a note for himself, saying that he had 
 been suddenly called North and giving him an 
 address in New York where he might be 
 reached by mail or telegraph if Colonel Shen- 
 stone should fall ill again or. in the event of 
 any other emergency requiring his presence in 
 Virginia. 
 
 Confidently supposing that Valorie must 
 know all about this matter, Phil was 'on the 
 point of asking her when Tazewell would re- 
 turn, but he shrank from that as he had done 
 from the other suggested opening of the con- 
 versation, lest it lead at once to the revelation 
 he dreaded to receive from her lips. 
 
 So after the first greetings were over there 
 was an awkward pause such as had never 
 before vexed the intercourse of these two. By 
 way of ending it, Phil said : 
 
 " I'm delighted to see you looking so well, 
 Val, and I'm glad to tell you that our steam- 
 boats are all prosperously busy again." 
 
 The girl eagerly caught at the opportunity 
 thus to avoid a too personal conversation. 
 
 "Yes," she said quickly, "Dr. Tazewell 
 told me a few days ago that you had succeeded
 
 264 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 in getting your business affairs into a satis- 
 factory state again, and I'm so glad for your 
 sake." 
 
 " You've reason to be glad for your own, 
 Val. Did I never tell you that all the money 
 your father left with me for you is invested 
 in those steamboats ? " 
 
 " I don't think you ever did, or if you did 
 I suppose I wasn't paying attention. Anyhow 
 I've been perfectly satisfied to leave all that 
 to you." 
 
 " Thank you. I'm glad to report that your 
 money has quite doubled itself since your 
 father's death, and in the present condition of 
 the steamboat business it is likely to double it- 
 self again within the next year, unless for 
 some reason you should decide to withdraw it 
 and invest it in some other way." 
 
 " Why how could I ever think of that, Mr. 
 Phil? You're the best friend I ever had, 
 aren't you? " 
 
 " I hope you'll always think so Val, and I 
 intend to be that always, but I didn't know. 
 You see well don't let us talk of that. 
 When Greg comes back "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 265 
 
 " Why, has Dr. Tazewell gone away ? " she 
 asked in a surprise so genuine that he could 
 not doubt its reality. " I don't think he told 
 Mrs. Albemarle he was going." 
 
 Phil Shenstone was sorely puzzled, but the 
 subject was a dangerous one for minute in- 
 quiry, so he merely answered: 
 
 " I rather wonder at that. All I know is 
 that when I tried to see him an hour or two 
 ago I found him gone. He left a note for me 
 saying he had been suddenly called to New 
 York and giving me his address there." 
 
 The girl sat in meditation for a moment. 
 Then she asked : 
 
 " Will you give me the address ? You see 
 if Uncle Butler should have another danger- 
 ous attack I should want to telegraph him to 
 come back immediately. I simply couldn't let 
 any other doctor treat Uncle Butler. I don't 
 believe there is any other doctor who could 
 do it successfully. At any rate I shouldn't 
 want any other to have the case." 
 
 Phil personally shared Valerie's opinion of 
 the superiority of Greg Tazewell's learning 
 and skill, but he interpreted her attitude as a
 
 266 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 confirmation of his conviction that these two 
 had come to an understanding. " A woman 
 never thinks in that way," he reflected, " about 
 any man but the one who has won her heart 
 completely." ^ 
 
 " I quite agree with you," he answered, 
 " but I hope the emergency you suggest may 
 not arise. I'm going out to Woodlands this 
 afternoon by the train, to attend to some busi- 
 ness. I imagine Uncle Butler has been won- 
 dering why I am not there already. But I 
 couldn't go till now. I had some matters to 
 attend to here, chiefly for Mrs. Albemarle. By 
 the way, the main thing she wanted me to do 
 was to get this document for you, and as I 
 can't see her I must put it into your hands. 
 It's just as well, for you must put your signa- 
 ture beneath it." 
 
 "What is it?" she asked with that little 
 scared feeling with which women unaccus- 
 tomed to documentary solemnities always ap- 
 proach a matter of the kind. 
 
 " Oh, it is nothing very dreadful nothing 
 that need alarm you. It is only a letter of 
 credit."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 267 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " Why, simply a letter issued by a bank, 
 telling bankers in other cities that you have 
 money on deposit in the bank issuing it, and 
 asking them to cash any drafts you may make 
 upon your account." 
 
 " But I haven't any use for such a letter as 
 that a letter of credit." 
 
 " You might have, Val. If you should 
 travel to the North or to Europe, you'd 
 need " 
 
 The girl rose excitedly and confronted Phil, 
 who courteously rose as she did. 
 
 "What does all this mean, Mr. Phil?" she 
 asked with a flash of anger in her eyes which 
 made her seem more beautiful than ever to 
 Phil Shenstone. " Mrs. Albemarle is having 
 a lot of clothes made for me that I don't in 
 the least need, and she won't tell me why. 
 She refuses to let me go back to Woodlands, 
 and she won't tell me why. Uncle Butler 
 doesn't send the carriage for me, and he won't 
 tell me why. And now you have been getting 
 this paper for me, and you won't tell me why. 
 You must and you shall, or I'll go to Wood-
 
 268 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 lands by train and make Uncle Butler tell me. 
 What does it all mean?" 
 
 " Sit down again, Val, and listen," he said 
 soothingly. " I see how you feel about these 
 things and I don't wonder you feel so. You 
 think we are treating you like a child, and we 
 have no right to do that, for you are a grown 
 woman now and a woman entitled to be con- 
 sulted in all that concerns herself. But, be- 
 lieve me, those who care very dearly for you, 
 have preserved secrecy with respect to those 
 plans, not because they did not trust your judg- 
 ment and your womanly capacity to act 
 wisely, but simply because they wished to spare 
 you annoyance over troubles that may never 
 come. For my part I do not think their se- 
 crecy wise in itself or just to you, and I am de- 
 liberately going to betray it, by telling you 
 the facts so far as you may care to know them. 
 I'm under no pledge of secrecy and no obliga- 
 tion of any kind to withhold these things. So 
 if you will dismiss your vexation with me and 
 listen, you shall hear all about it." 
 
 "Oh, thank you, Mr. Phil," she said 
 eagerly, resuming her seat. " You know I
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 269 
 
 couldn't be angry with you. But please go on. 
 I'm on pins and needles of anxiety." 
 
 Unhappily for Valorie, another caller was 
 at that moment announced. As she after- 
 wards said : 
 
 " Things will happen in that way sometimes, 
 and one just has to bear it with a smiling 
 face; but it is very annoying." 
 
 She bore herself well under the infliction, 
 but she made what effort she could to shorten 
 the period of interruption. She told the vis- 
 itor, with every mark of sincerity, how sorry 
 she was that Mrs. Albemarle could see no 
 callers that day, and as she did so she in- 
 dulged a hope that he would announce his pur- 
 pose to call again, and take his leave. Instead 
 of that he gallantly declared that Valorie's 
 presence amply compensated for any other ab- 
 sence. 
 
 " I shall certainly not report that speech to 
 Mrs. Albemarle," she replied. 
 
 " No, please don't." 
 
 And so with entirely vapid and meaningless 
 pleasantries for conversation, he sat out the 
 full time allowed by custom for a call. It was
 
 270 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 a brief time, of course, but to impatient Val- 
 orie it seemed at least an hour. And the 
 worst of it was that she was beset by appre- 
 hension lest some other caller should come be- 
 fore this one left. She was spared that, how- 
 ever, and at last Phil was able to tell her what 
 she so greatly wanted to hear. 
 
 " There are some people, Val," he began, 
 " who are trying to get possession and control 
 of you by some sort of legal process. I 
 don't understand just how they intend to go 
 about it, but I suppose Uncle Butler does, and 
 he had Greg Tazewell telegraph me to come 
 on here so that I may give him all the facts in 
 your case. You see he must know everything 
 I know, in order to defeat these people's pur- 
 poses. That's why I must go to Woodlands 
 by the afternoon train. I'm afraid he is very 
 impatiently waiting for me. As nearly as I 
 understand the matter he intends to fight it 
 out in the courts, if he finds he can do so suc- 
 cessfully, and if not, then to fight it out in 
 some other way. Until he gets all the facts 
 from me, he cannot be sure what he can do 
 in the courts. If he finds that he cannot surely
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 271 
 
 beat the rascally lawyers at the legal game, 
 I reckon he intends to put you out of their 
 reach and beat them in that way. I don't 
 know that. It is only my conjecture. I 
 imagine he is keeping you here with Mrs. Al- 
 bemarle so that nobody can serve any sort of 
 papers upon you, and I suppose that if worse 
 comes to worst, he intends Mrs. Albemarle to 
 slip away with you and take you to Europe 
 for a time. I suppose that is why she is hav- 
 ing a wardrobe prepared for you so that 
 you may be ready to slip away at a moment's 
 notice." 
 
 The girl's face was so pale that Phil thought 
 she was going to faint, but there was a reso- 
 lute look in her eyes that reassured him. She 
 tried to say something, but succeeded only in 
 getting out the words : " Go on please ! " 
 
 " I've told you all you need to know for 
 the present," he said, " all that I myself know, 
 for that matter, and I have barely time tocatch 
 my train. You must go above stairs now and 
 rest. I'll return to Richmond the moment I 
 get through with Uncle Butler. Till then 
 adieu."
 
 272 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Valerie would have detained him if she 
 could. She had many questions to ask and 
 some things to say on her own account. But 
 Phil understood, if she did not, how important 
 it was not to tax her nervous strength further, 
 and the necessity of hurrying to catch the train 
 afforded him ample excuse for an abrupt part- 
 ing. Fearing that she might faint upon his 
 withdrawal, he pulled the bell cord before he 
 passed out the door. 
 
 She called after him : 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Phil, with all my heart. 
 You're always good to me."
 
 XXVII 
 
 PHIL SHENSTONE had been gone 
 scarcely half an hour when the Wood- 
 lands' carriage drove up, with Val- 
 orie's own maid for its solitary passenger. 
 
 The maid bore a brief note from Col. Shen- 
 stone to Mrs. Albemarle, asking her to send 
 Valorie home in the carriage and adding by 
 way of explanation: 
 
 " I fear I am coming down again under a 
 severe attack of my old enemy, gout, and with 
 Greg gone North I don't know where 
 and Phil not arrived yet, I cannot get on with- 
 out my Little Minx. Please let the carriage 
 begin its return journey as soon as Valorie 
 can be ready, lest the trip extend beyond the 
 daylight." 
 
 Valorie, pale, frightened and exceedingly in- 
 dignant, was sitting in her own room when 
 the carriage came, trying to formulate a pur- 
 273
 
 274 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 pose already born in her mind, and to deter- 
 mine in what way she could most effectively 
 carry it out. She was resolved, for one thing 
 that she would not run away from the danger 
 that threatened her, and the nature of which 
 she understood more clearly than Phil Shen- 
 stone did. 
 
 " It would be cowardly to do that," she re- 
 flected, " and I don't think I'm a coward. No, 
 I'll stay while Uncle Butler and Mr. Phil fight 
 it out for me, and if they are beaten, I know 
 what to do. I know what those people want. 
 They intend to get possession of me and make 
 a public performer of me for their own benefit. 
 Very well. I'll balk that. They may get 
 possession of me, but they cannot make a pub- 
 lic performer of me, for I will not perform. 
 Not a note will I strike for them, not a step 
 will I dance, no matter what they may do to 
 me." 
 
 It was then that Mrs. Albemarle entered the 
 room bearing Colonel Shenstone's note, and in- 
 stantly every thought was driven out of the 
 girl's mind except that of setting out for 
 Woodlands at the earliest possible moment.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 275 
 
 She bade her maid pack a little trunk for her 
 hurriedly. 
 
 "Just throw the things in, Sylvia; never 
 mind folding them. We must get away 
 quickly. Is your master very, very ill? Tell 
 me the truth, do you hear ? " 
 
 " No, Miss Valorie, he doan seem very sick 
 to me. He's jes' limpin' roun' an' frettin' like, 
 an' his lips is purty pale, but dat's all, as fur's 
 I kin see. But he's mighty onpatient to git 
 you home. He scolded me fur wantin' to 
 stop long enough to change my dress, and 
 made me git into de carriage jes' as I was, 
 'thout even breshin' my ha'." 
 
 " I understand. Hand me his note from 
 the table there." 
 
 She was changing her gown with Mrs. Al- 
 bemarle's assistance, and as she stood she 
 read the note again. One phrase in it struck 
 her for the first time. It was that in which 
 Colonel Shenstone mentioned Greg Tazewell's 
 absence at the North and added, " I don't know 
 where." Instantly she realized that no tele- 
 gram had yet been sent to Tazewell ; that it 
 would be at least two hours before Phil could
 
 276 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 reach Woodlands; and that it would be still 
 another hour before he could get a telegram 
 back to the railway station for transmission 
 to New York. Fortunately Phil had given 
 her the address, and she resolved to save those 
 three hours by sending a despatch on her own 
 responsibility. About the only definite idea 
 she had with regard to a telegraphic message 
 was that it should be couched in as few words 
 as possible. In her effort to comply with that 
 requirement she managed to make her despatch 
 a very peremptory one. It read : 
 " Come home quick. Uncle ill." 
 She did not pause to reflect that as Tazewell 
 had not left Richmond until noon of that day, 
 he was scarcely more than started on his jour- 
 ney. In fact he did not reach New York till 
 the next day. When he did, he went to a 
 hotel and then at once to the banker's, to 
 whose care the despatch had been sent. 
 
 He obeyed the summons instantly. But it 
 very greatly distressed him that the occasion 
 for his return had arisen. He had nothing to 
 do in New York, and the occasion for his go- 
 ing thither at all had been only a pretended
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 277 
 
 necessity. He had gone solely for the purpose 
 of taking himself out of Phil's way, and leav- 
 ing him a fair field with Valorie. For if Phil 
 Shenstone was one of two gentlemen of Vir- 
 ginia, Greg Tazewell was the other. They 
 were equally chivalric in soul and conduct, 
 each equally resolute to do his duty regardless 
 of his own desires and of consequences to him- 
 self. As Phil, confidently believing that his 
 friend had won favor in Valerie's eyes, had 
 betaken himself to the West, in order to leave 
 Greg free to win the woman they both loved, 
 so now Greg Tazewell, equally convinced that 
 Phil Shenstone needed only to woo in order 
 to win, had gone to the North to take himself 
 out of the way of the wooing. In both cases 
 the man making the sacrifice of self upon the 
 altar of honor was additionally moved to the 
 course he took by a natural desire to spare 
 himself the pain of witnessing a happiness that 
 involved himself in distress. Just as Phil 
 Shenstone would have remained at the West 
 with this intent, but for the peremptory sum- 
 mons home for Valerie's defense, so Greg 
 Tazewell would at this time have gone abroad
 
 278 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 upon a pretence of scientific study, but for 
 Colonel Shenstone's need of him. 
 
 Thus do men of sensitive minds play at cross 
 purposes when they happen to be loyal friends 
 
 and in love with the same woman. These 
 things constitute a part of the Human Com- 
 edy, but it sometimes happens that they con- 
 vert the comedy into the saddest of tragedies 
 
 for the woman in the case.
 
 XXVIII 
 
 FOR the first few miles of the journey 
 Valorie had a broad, smooth, turn- 
 pike road to travel over, and as Colonel 
 Shenstone's horses were always good and in 
 good condition, her continual urging induced 
 the driver to remain awake and make rapid 
 progress. Then came the country roads, 
 sometimes good in parts, in summer, but inex- 
 pressibly bad everywhere at this time of year, 
 with long stretches of mire so deep that even 
 the stout horses found it difficult to achieve 
 more than a snail's pace. While passing over 
 those spaces the driver must remain awake, or 
 the horses, for want of urging, would have 
 stopped entirely. 
 
 Just as the carriage came to the end of a 
 long stretch of saturated and glutinous red 
 clay road, and began the ascent of a hill, Va- 
 lorie was startled by the appearance of Phil 
 279
 
 280 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Shenstone, on horseback, at the side of the 
 vehicle. His high boots were red with mud, 
 as if he had been walking, and his clothing, 
 and even his face, were blotched with soil. 
 
 Her exclamation and his were in effect the 
 same " What are you doing here ? " Phil 
 was the first to answer. 
 
 " The wretched train broke down a few 
 miles out of town," he said, " and after wait- 
 ing half an hour, seeing no prospect of its 
 speedy repair, I walked a mile or so to a plan- 
 tation, secured a good horse and set out to 
 ride the rest of the way. Seeing the Wood- 
 lands carriage ahead of me, I recpgnized it in 
 spite of its envelopment in mud, and hurried 
 on to catch up with it. I didn't expect to find 
 you in it though. If you'll shut your eyes a 
 little and try to think of my bedraggled per- 
 son as that of a gallant outrider, devoted to 
 your service, I'll accompany you the rest of 
 the way." 
 
 "Please don't jest, Mr. Phil! Uncle But- 
 ler is very ill again and Dr. Tazewell isn't here 
 and I can't think what may happen. I've tele- 
 graphed for Dr. Tazewell, telling him to come
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 281 
 
 home quick. How soon do you think he can 
 get here?" 
 
 " When did you telegraph ? " 
 
 "This afternoon just before I started." 
 
 " He won't be in New York," Phil said, re- 
 flectively, " till some time to-morrow. If he 
 starts back at once and of course he will 
 he should be here by day after to-morrow." 
 
 " I didn't think of that. How terrible it 
 is to wait so long for him. But you mustn't 
 stay here talking to me, please. Ride on as 
 fast as you can. Uncle Butler needs some- 
 body with him, even if Dr. Tazewell isn't at 
 hand." 
 
 Phil put spurs to his horse, meditating upon 
 her last speech, to which he attached a special 
 significance. The emphasis she had put upon 
 the word " somebody," meant that she re- 
 garded his presence as a very inadequate sub- 
 stitute for that of Greg Tazewell. 
 
 " And so it is/' he thought, " so far as min- 
 istry to my uncle in his illness is concerned. 
 But is that all she meant ? " 
 
 With that he again urged his horse forward, 
 impatient to be at Woodlands where he might
 
 282 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 find other occupation for his mind than brood- 
 ing over these things to no purpose. 
 
 " After all," he reminded himself, " what 
 does it matter? If I were in any uncertainty 
 it might be worth my while to speculate upon 
 the niceties of meaning that her words may 
 carry. As I am not in any uncertainty, I must 
 regard myself as a sublimated idiot in doing 
 anything of the kind. I won't do it again." 
 
 The winter sunset had already fallen when 
 he dismounted at Woodlands. Throwing his 
 rein to a negro boy and bidding him take the 
 horse to the stables, he hurried into the house 
 in anxiety as to his uncle's condition. He 
 found the old gentleman tossing about on a 
 lounge, and immediately ordered him to bed, 
 where one in his condition belonged. 
 
 " You're covered with mud," said Colonel 
 Shenstone as he submitted himself to be un- 
 dressed by his body servant. " You must have 
 come on horseback ? " 
 
 " I did for the greater part of the way. 
 The train broke down. But you musn't bother 
 to talk now, Uncle Butler. You must get to 
 bed."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 283 
 
 " Then you didn't bring my Little Minx 
 with you. I'm very sorry." 
 
 " She will be here within half an hour. She 
 is coming in the carriage, you know, and the 
 roads are very heavy. I passed her a mile or 
 so away." 
 
 This news brought a light into the old gen- 
 tleman's face, and without further questions he 
 permitted Phil to help him into bed. But there 
 was still something on his mind, for as Phil 
 turned to the fire to dry his boots, he called to 
 him: 
 
 " Wait a moment, Phil. There's something 
 else. Those rascals will take pains to know 
 that Val has come home, and they may try to 
 kidnap her under some form of law, I don't 
 know what. My head isn't clear and the pain 
 is so great. You must look out for her Phil, 
 and not let them come near the house." 
 
 " Rest easy, Uncle. I'll look out for that, 
 and you may go to sleep in perfect confidence 
 that nobody shall approach this house during 
 your illness without my knowledge and con- 
 sent. There's the carriage with Val." 
 
 He hurried out to assist her to alight but she
 
 284 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 had not waited for him. She had herself 
 opened the carriage door, sprung out of the 
 vehicle and nimbly covered the ground that lay 
 between the landing and the porch, where she 
 met Phil on his way out. 
 
 "How is Uncle Butler?" she asked, but 
 without waiting to hear his answer, she hur- 
 ried to the old gentleman's room to see for 
 herself. 
 
 She found him distinctly better than he had 
 been half an hour before, because of the com- 
 fort of her coming. But she wanted the full- 
 est possible information and sought it by ques- 
 tioning while she was throwing open her wraps 
 and removing her bonnet, for in those old 
 days even the youngest women wore bonnets 
 and were exceedingly pretty in them, too. 
 Those old daguerreotypes which suggest the 
 contrary are bearers of false witness. 
 
 " But you must be very tired, Little Minx, 
 and you can't have had your dinner," said he, 
 in tender concern for her. 
 
 " I was very tired, but I'm rested now that 
 I'm with you and find you so much better than 
 I feared. Are you sleepy, Uncle Butler ? "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 285 
 
 " No, my dear. I've slept off and on all 
 day." 
 
 " Then, if I may, I'm going to have my little 
 dinner right here in your room. May I ? " 
 
 His look of gratification was answer enough, 
 as she turned to give orders to a servant. 
 
 " I'll run upstairs and get myself into an 
 easy gown of some sort, Uncle, but I'll be back 
 in a minute." 
 
 " God bless the Little Minx ! " he murmured 
 as she left the room. When her dinner was 
 brought in, the two fell into a quiet, soothing 
 talk which lasted for more than an hour in a 
 lazy, desultory, and comfortable fashion. 
 
 In the meanwhile Phil Shenstone made prep- 
 arations for the defense he had promised. He 
 armed three young negro men with shotguns, 
 and stationing them in commanding positions, 
 ordered them to see to it that nobody not a 
 friend of the family, known to them as such, 
 should be permitted upon any pretext whatso- 
 ever to approach the house until he should him- 
 self be notified. He had the utmost confidence 
 in the execution of his instructions to the letter. 
 He had been brought up in the plantation life.
 
 286 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 He knew the loyalty of the negroes to their 
 master; he knew their lifelong habit of obey- 
 ing orders, as the soldier does, without ques- 
 tioning them and without a thought of personal 
 responsibility for the consequences of obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 " I suppose it's a high-handed proceeding," 
 he said to Valorie when she left her uncle 
 asleep and joined him in the hall. " It might 
 make trouble, in case a sheriff's deputy should 
 come to serve papers. I think I've heard 
 something about the enormity of the offense 
 involved in resisting an officer of the law in the 
 execution of his duty, but " 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Phil, please don't get yourself ar- 
 rested ! " pleaded the girl with much concern in 
 her voice, a fact which Phil observed with a 
 little quickening of the pulse. " Please don't 
 take any risk like that." 
 
 " Nobody is likely to arrest me while those 
 boys are on guard," he replied smiling. " Be- 
 sides, a man's house is his castle, you know, 
 and he has a right to defend it against all in- 
 truders. At any rate I've undertaken the task 
 of excluding all strangers from this house, and
 
 TWO GENTLEMENi OF VIRGINIA 287 
 
 of course I'll do it, if only in order that Uncle 
 Butler may sleep peacefully and get well." 
 
 " You really do think he'll get well, don't 
 you, Mr. Phil?" eagerly asked the girl with 
 her hands pleadingly upon his arm. She had 
 thus easily and quickly transferred her solici- 
 tude from the younger man to the older one, 
 and the completeness of the transfer seemed to 
 Phil Shenstone chasteningly significant.
 
 XXIX 
 
 VALORIE slept that night upon an im- 
 provised couch in a room adjoining 
 Colonel Shenstone's, while his body 
 servant watched by his bedside, with orders to 
 wake her instantly if necessity should arise. 
 
 When morning came the sick man was 
 neither better nor worse, but to Phil's sugges- 
 tion that they should send for some neighbor- 
 ing physician, Valorie opposed an entreaty. 
 
 " I don't think we need do that," she re- 
 plied. " Dr. Tazewell will surely be here by 
 to-morrow night, and you know he's the only 
 doctor round here who knows how to treat 
 such a case. I know all the little palliative 
 things he would order done if he were here. 
 I can keep Uncle Butler fairly comfortable till 
 he comes, and I don't want any other doctor to 
 meddle with the case. Still, of course, it is for 
 you to decide." 
 
 288
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 289 
 
 " It shall be as you wish," he answered, 
 " and perhaps you are right." 
 
 His mind was upon this new manifestation 
 of Valerie's attitude toward Greg Tazewell. 
 " She well nigh worships him," he said to him- 
 self. " And that is as it should be, under 
 the circumstances." But he did not formulate 
 the circumstances to which his thought re- 
 ferred. 
 
 During that afternoon a messenger from the 
 railway station brought a telegram from Greg 
 Tazewell to Valorie. 
 
 " Starting at once," it read ; " if I make all 
 connections should arrive at six o'clock to- 
 morrow evening." 
 
 "It's hard to wait so long," said Valorie; 
 " but there's no help for it. Uncle seems a 
 little better to-day, and anyhow, Dr. Tazewell 
 will be here by six or seven o'clock to-morrow 
 evening. Please send a strong, fast horse to 
 meet the train, Mr. Phil." 
 
 " If I make all connections," the dispatch 
 said. In that primitive time the phrase cov- 
 ered a good deal of uncertainty. Railroading 
 was in its infancy then, or at best in its early
 
 290 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 childhood, and travel was beset by uncer- 
 tainty. Tracks were ill built. Rails were 
 simply spiked down to ties that lay more or 
 less loosely on the earthen roadbed. The iron 
 rails were in no way fastened together at the 
 ends, and in many cases they were badly lam- 
 inated. Engines were feeble and of imperfect 
 construction. Axles were so badly made that 
 " hot-boxes " were of frequent occurrence, 
 causing much delay. As each railroad was 
 operated separately and with very little refer- 
 ence to others, one or more missed connections 
 were to be expected in the case of every jour- 
 ney like that from New York to Richmond, 
 involving as it did eight or nine changes of 
 cars or boats. 
 
 Knowing these conditions far better than 
 Valorie did, Phil was less confident than she 
 of Greg's arrival on the appointed evening. 
 Still he hoped. He sent a servant with a horse 
 to meet the six o'clock train, directing him, if 
 Greg should not arrive at the expected time, to 
 wait until he did come. 
 
 The day of waiting was a tedious one to 
 Phil. Valorie ministered to Colonel Shen-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN' OF VIRGINIA 291 
 
 stone's needs, and was almost all the time in 
 his chamber, so that the young man had not the 
 relief of her company. During the morning 
 there came a special messenger from Mrs. 
 Albemarle, bearing a note of inquiry to Va- 
 lorie, who, in her preoccupation with nursing, 
 asked Phil to answer it in her stead. By way 
 of killing time he wrote at almost inexcusable 
 length. After that he had nothing to do but 
 walk restlessly about like a perturbed spirit 
 until late in the afternoon, when Edna Spotts- 
 wood arrived to make inquiries concerning the 
 invalid. After a brief interview Valorie, 
 pleading the necessity of her return to the sick 
 room, turned the visitor over to Phil, as she 
 had done with the note. 
 
 This was a welcome circumstance, for Phil 
 Shenstone had conceived a very pronounced 
 liking for Edna Spottswood. 
 
 As he had not seen her for many months 
 past, there was much for the two to talk about 
 and they made the most of it. But in the 
 course of their conversation the young woman 
 told him some things that not only distressed 
 him, but filled him with self-reproach.
 
 292 TWO GENTLEMEN, OF VIRGINIA 
 
 The Mattapony plantation was one of those 
 over which Colonel Shenstone had a certain 
 supervision as counsel, but still more as a 
 friend of the family. It was a fine estate, now 
 fallen into difficulties. Its late owner, Edna 
 Spottswood's father, had managed the cultiva- 
 tion of its fields fairly well, but, after the 
 manner of his predecessors, he had maintained 
 a scale of living which its revenues could ill 
 support. Generous, open handed, hospitable, 
 and imbued with an unconquerable optimism, 
 he had year by year added to the large hered- 
 itary debt, until at his death Colonel Shenstone 
 found the plantation too heavily encumbered to 
 be easily relieved. Added to this was the fact 
 that with only two women to manage it, the 
 place yielded less than before, so that its diffi- 
 culties increased. 
 
 When Colenel Shenstone, during the preced- 
 ing autumn, had sought to equip Phil with the 
 information necessary to enable him to act as 
 the old gentleman's substitute in the manage- 
 ment of the estates in his charge, his chief pur- 
 pose had been to bring the young man's busi-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 293 
 
 ness sagacity to bear upon the Mattapony prob- 
 lem. 
 
 When Edna explained to him how matters 
 with her mother and herself had gone from 
 bad to worse during his absence, he reproached 
 himself for having remained away so long. 
 But neither idle self-reproach nor idle wishing 
 was habitual with Phil Shenstone. It was his 
 habit to make himself master of the terms of 
 every problem presented to him, and to bring 
 all his energy and all his sagacity to bear upon 
 its solution. 
 
 " I will to-day go carefully over all the pa- 
 pers in my uncle's possession," he said to the 
 sorely distressed girl, " and to-morrow, if 
 Greg gets here to-night, I'll ride over to Mat- 
 tapony and go through all the papers there. 
 Please have them ready for me. I'll try to 
 find a way out, or make one." He added 
 the last phrase with a note of determination 
 which increased the girl's admiration for him 
 very dangerously to herself. 
 
 For admiration, in a woman, for the per- 
 son, the manners and the character of a young
 
 294 TWO GENTLEMEN/ OF VIRGINIA 
 
 man, if the young man is not in love with her, 
 is the most dangerous possible attitude of 
 mind, just as compassionate pity for a young 
 woman in distress, is dangerous to the peace 
 of mind of the man cherishing it. 
 
 In this case both these dangers were pres- 
 ent, and the worst of it was that circumstances 
 now promised to compel a very close and fre- 
 quent intercourse between the two persons con- 
 cerned. Edna was an altogether charming 
 young woman with whom any right-minded 
 young man might easily fall in love, as many 
 young men had already done to their sorrow 
 and disappointment. Besides she had the low, 
 distinct, contralto voice which was one of the 
 chief fascinations of Virginia women. 
 
 On the other hand, Phil Shenstone had high 
 character, chivalric manners, a brilliant mind, 
 a pleasingly wide acquaintance with men and 
 affairs, a shapely person and an unusually 
 handsome head. Besides, he was altogether 
 the best dressed man, in an unpretentious way, 
 who had ever been seen in that part of Vir- 
 ginia. That is something that always counts 
 for much in the eyes of women.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 295 
 
 These were the conditions of the problem 
 presented by the coming intimate and sympa- 
 thetic association of this young man and this 
 young woman. Who could say what answer 
 to it they were likely to work out together ? 
 
 Almost any observant Virginia dame would 
 have made a confident conjecture. But human 
 life and human character are complex, and 
 even the wisest of dames sometimes find them- 
 selves at fault in prediction.
 
 XXX 
 
 IT was not quite midnight when Greg 
 Tazewell, six hours late, rode up to the 
 Woodlands door at a swinging gallop. 
 Phil and Valorie were waiting for him. Phil 
 welcomed his coming with cordiality; Valorie 
 with an enthusiastic delight which she made 
 no effort to conceal, and which Phil observed 
 with feelings that he did not care to analyze. 
 
 The young doctor threw aside his hat, over- 
 coat and gloves, and began at once to question 
 the other two as to the patient's condition. 
 Having satisfied himself that there was no im- 
 mediate occasion for interference on his part, 
 and learning that Colonel Shenstone was sleep- 
 ing, though uneasily, he seemed to dismiss all 
 concern from his mind, in behalf of his own 
 needs. 
 
 " Can I have a bite to eat? " he asked, turn- 
 ing to Valorie ; " I've had no supper, and no 
 296
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 297 
 
 dinner worth mentioning either, for that mat- 
 ter." 
 
 A fleeting shadow of annoyance passed over 
 Valorie's face as she answered coldly: 
 
 " I supposed you'd be hungry, and I've al- 
 ready ordered some supper for you. But 
 won't you go in and see Uncle Butler first ? " 
 
 " Not to-night. It isn't necessary, and it 
 is better not to wake him. After I've ap- 
 peased the pangs of hunger by some slices of 
 cold ham, I'll prepare a quieting draught which 
 you may give him if you find him very restless 
 and wakeful at any time. I'll see him in the 
 morning." 
 
 This time Phil Shenstone happened to be 
 looking at Valorie and saw another and more 
 pronounced look of annoyance appear for a 
 brief moment in her countenance, as she men- 
 tally ejaculated : 
 
 " How brutally cold-blooded you are ! " 
 
 But as the words were not spoken Phil could 
 in no wise interpret the look and he thought 
 it on the whole unnecessary to do so. 
 
 When Tazewell's supper appeared and he 
 sat down in the dining room to enjoy it, the
 
 298 TWO GENTLEMEN! OF VIRGINIA 
 
 very relish witH which the hungry man ate 
 annoyed the girl, and when, instead of making 
 the invalid the subject of conversation, he in- 
 dulged his laughing propensity by giving a 
 humorous account of his journey, she rose 
 with dignity and said : 
 
 " If you will excuse me, I'll go to my pa- 
 tient. You may leave the soothing draught 
 with Sylvia, if you please, after you have fin- 
 ished your supper and before you go to bed. 
 Mr. Phil, you'll show Dr. Tazewell to his room, 
 will you not? / have duties in the sick 
 room." 
 
 This time there was no doubt that Valorie 
 was angry, or deeply offended, or at the very 
 least " vexed," to employ a favorite feminine 
 term. 
 
 " Great Scott, what have I done ? " ex- 
 claimed Greg, laying down his fork and look- 
 ing at Phil, in amazement. " She's in a fury 
 with me, and I can't guess why. Can you?" 
 
 " No. Her mood is one I have never seen 
 in her before. Perhaps you've not done any- 
 thing, but omitted to do something. She's 
 very tired, poor girl, and the strain of waiting
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 299 
 
 for you has taxed her nerves sorely. I think 
 we shall find her in a calmer temper in the 
 morning 1 . At any rate there's nothing to be 
 done to-night. Fill a pipe." 
 
 Phil argued that this was merely one of 
 those little manifestations of temper which 
 often vex the intercourse of plighted lovers, 
 and as such, a thing of no consequence. Per- 
 haps Valorie felt that in his first eagerness 
 for news of the patient, Greg had responded 
 less cordially than he ought to her glad greet- 
 ing. " In any case," he thought, " it is none 
 of my business, and they'll patch it up the first 
 time they are alone together." 
 
 As the two friends smoked, Tazewell asked : 
 
 " Have those people made any move in my 
 absence? " 
 
 " None that we know of, though it has been 
 a week now since that shyster was here." 
 
 " Yes, I know. Perhaps he is gathering 
 himself up for a spring. We must be pre- 
 pared at all points. There has been enough 
 mischief done already." 
 
 " How do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why in my opinion Colonel Shenstone's
 
 3 oo TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 present attack is due in its severity at least to 
 the anger that fellow aroused. By the way if 
 they make any move while the attack contin- 
 ues, we must carefully keep the fact from his 
 knowledge, no matter how imperative it may 
 seem to tell him of it. Please bear that in 
 mind, Phil. It is of vital importance." 
 
 " I'll take care of that. But now, my dear 
 fellow, you ought to go to bed. You're worn 
 out with your journey." 
 
 " Yes, and I must be fresh in the morning. 
 Will you send some one to pour cold water 
 over me when you have me waked? Good- 
 night. You needn't climb the stairs. I know 
 my way to my room." 
 
 During his steamboating career, Phil Shen- 
 stone had used himself to sleeping at irregular 
 hours. The time of day or night when he 
 slept or woke was a matter of indifference to 
 him. Just now he was not minded to sleep. 
 His spirit was perturbed in many ways, and 
 he had many perplexing things to think of. 
 He greatly longed to go away to the West 
 again and plunge headlong into affairs that
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 301 
 
 would leave him no time for thought of other 
 than external things. But his uncle's illness 
 and Valerie's danger bound him to his present 
 surroundings. On his uncle's recovery he 
 would still have Valerie's story to relate for 
 the old lawyer's guidance, and even when that 
 should be done, he must not leave Virginia 
 while Edna Spottswood's affairs were in their 
 present tangle. 
 
 Irritated by the restraints with which cir- 
 cumstances thus bound him, and still more by 
 his inability to cast off the bonds, it would have 
 been torture to him to go to bed. It was still 
 late winter, according to the calendar, but the 
 weather was softly warm and there was a 
 late rising moon. He refilled his pipe and 
 strolled out into the house grounds for the 
 sake of air and exercise. When the pipe 
 burned out he replenished it from the tobacco 
 jar which he had placed in the porch against 
 such need. He had no matches, of course. 
 It was not the custom in those days for gen- 
 tlemen to carry matches or to light their pipes 
 otherwise than with a coal of fire. In winter
 
 3 02 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the coals were plentiful in the open fireplaces 
 which were in every room. In summer there 
 were sure to be little negro boys about who 
 could be sent to the kitchen a detached 
 building always for the needed coal. 
 Neither of these resources was open to Phil 
 in the small hours of the morning, but it was 
 easy for him to stroll out to the kitchen and 
 help himself. 
 
 On one of these excursions he found Aunt 
 Kizzie, the cook, awake and sitting up on her 
 pallet. She was one of many negroes who 
 could never be persuaded to sleep in a bed. 
 She and other like-minded ones, preferred to 
 doze before a partially dying fire, sitting in a 
 chair or stretched upon a quilt on the earthen 
 floor, and waking now and then to smoke a 
 pipe or to go out and look at the stars to see 
 what time it was. Their skill in telling time 
 in that way was so considerable that their opin- 
 ions were more trustworthy than those of 
 many of the clocks of that period. 
 
 Aunt Kizzie was a privileged character, es- 
 pecially in the case of Phil Shenstone, to 
 whom she often said :
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN* OF VIRGINIA 303 
 
 " Why chile, I raised yo' father." 
 
 On this occasion she assailed Phil with a 
 question : 
 
 " What's yo' a doin', Mas' Phil, prowlin' 
 roun' dis heah time o' night? Why ain't yo' 
 in yo' baid ? " 
 
 " Well, why aren't you in yours, Aunt 
 Kizzie?" 
 
 " Now look heah, chile, doan you go to be 
 axin' me no questions. I asked yo' what yo' is 
 a-doin' prowlin' roun' dis time o' night." 
 
 " I am smoking, Aunt Kizzie." 
 
 " Ain't I got no eyes ? " she asked scorn- 
 fully. "What for yo' answer me like dat? 
 Is yo' a thinkin' o' little Miss Valorie? " 
 
 " I'm thinking of a good many things, Aunt 
 Kizzie." 
 
 " Is Miss Valorie dun give yo' de sack ? " 
 
 " No, Aunt Kizzie." 
 
 " Den why doan' you go to baid like a 
 Christian? " 
 
 " Why don't you, Aunt Kizzie? " 
 
 " Mas' Phil, yo's de perplexin'est an' mos' 
 tormentin'est chile 7 eber raised. Git out o' 
 heah, now, an' let me git a nap; ef yo' don't
 
 304 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 I'll throw de skillet lids at yo' an' de skillets 
 too. Do yo' heah ? " 
 
 Thus admonished and with a genuine regard 
 for Aunt Kizzie's nap, Phil retired to the 
 porch, just as the darkness gave place to the 
 dawn. His legs were a trifle weary with the 
 night-long strolling, so buttoning his coat 
 against the chill of the early morning, he sat 
 down in one of the heavy oaken chairs with 
 which the porch was furnished. Not long af- 
 terwards, between the daylight and the sun- 
 rise, Valorie appeared. 
 
 " I have slept very little and very badly," 
 she said by way of explanation. " I feel the 
 need of the open air. How good it smells. 
 But what are you doing out here at this hour, 
 Mr. Phil?" 
 
 " That's what Aunt Kizzie asked me when I 
 went to the kitchen to light my pipe a while 
 ago," he replied. 
 
 " Didn't you sleep well ? " 
 
 " I haven't slept at all, Val. I haven't been 
 in bed." 
 
 " Are you ill ? " she asked with a note of
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 305 
 
 sincere anxiety which was distinctly pleasing to 
 Phil. 
 
 " Not at all. I was never better in my life. 
 But I'm very irregular in my sleeping habits, 
 and when Greg went to bed I didn't feel like 
 sleeping, so I came out to enjoy the fine night. 
 How did Uncle Butler sleep?" 
 
 " Thank you," she said, gratified to discover 
 that Phil was not indifferent, as she believed 
 Greg Tazewell to be. " Thank you, fairly 
 well, since I gave him the soothing draught at 
 four minutes after two." 
 
 Valorie had an unusual habit of exactitude 
 in all her statements. If asked the time she 
 would give it not in round figures as most 
 persons did at that time when neither clocks 
 nor watches could be depended upon for accu- 
 racy but exactly according to the clock. 
 When laughed at for this she would reply : 
 
 " It is just as easy to say ' sixteen minutes 
 after ' or ' seventeen minutes before ' as to say 
 fifteen in either case. I like to tell the truth, 
 that's all." 
 
 " He's sleeping very quietly now," she
 
 306 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 added, " and I hope Dr. Tazewell will find him 
 in fair condition whenever he gets ready to 
 see him." 
 
 Phil observed the pause and the vexation in 
 her tone, as she added that last phrase, but he 
 found it difficult to interpret her mood. It 
 was apparent that she was displeased with 
 Greg, but why or to what extent, he could not 
 make out. 
 
 " I sincerely hope so," he responded. " I'm 
 sure Uncle Butler is not nearly so ill as he was 
 during the last attack not so ill by any means 
 as I feared he would be. But you'll get chilled 
 standing here. Let's take a little walk. There 
 are some crocuses or daffodils already bloom- 
 ing out there by the walnut trees; I couldn't 
 make out which they are in the dim moonlight. 
 Let's go and see."
 
 XXXI 
 
 AS they inspected the profusely blooming 
 bed of new-born flowers, Phil gath- 
 ered a handful of them and presented 
 them to his companion, saying gallantly : 
 
 " They are bright and golden. May your 
 life be always like them, Val." 
 
 A moment passed before she could trust her- 
 self to speak. Then she said : 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Phil, for the flowers 
 and still more for the wish. I'll put them in 
 water and set them where Uncle Butler will 
 see them when he wakes." 
 After a brief pause she said : 
 " Mr. Phil, there are some things I want to 
 say to you. I wanted to say them when you 
 were leaving me in town, but well, you had 
 to hurry, you know, to catch your train, and 
 there has been no opportunity since then. 
 307
 
 3o8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Mr. Phil, I shall never leave Uncle Butler so 
 long as he lives. You have no idea how he 
 depends upon me for his happiness. He be- 
 gan to get better, you know, the moment I 
 got back to Woodlands, and every time he 
 wakes he asks if I am there, for he doesn't see 
 very well and I keep the room darkened. 
 When I say :. ' Yes, Uncle, I'm here,' he takes 
 my hand and caresses it and says something so 
 loving that it makes me very happy and sets 
 me crying. He needs me all the time. It 
 isn't because of anything I do for him for 
 anybody else could do all that but just be- 
 cause he loves me and likes to have me with 
 him." 
 
 " Yes, I know all that, Val, and I rejoice in 
 it far more than I can tell you. He is the best 
 man in the world, I think, and you have 
 brought a new light into his darkened life. 
 You can never do a better thing, Val, or one 
 better worth while, no matter how long you 
 may live." 
 
 Forgetting for the moment the reserve she 
 had of late felt it necessary to practice in her 
 intercourse with Phil, Valorie took his hand
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 309 
 
 and gently pressed it in lieu of spoken answer 
 to his words. 
 
 It was a critical moment for Phil Shen- 
 stone. But he remembered Greg Tazewell, 
 and he remembered his own obligation to ac- 
 quit himself well as a loyal gentleman and 
 friend. So conquering his momentary im- 
 pulse to declare his love, just as she, remem- 
 bering herself, withdrew her hand from his, he 
 said: 
 
 " Go on, Val. You had something more to 
 say to me." 
 
 " Yes," she answered. " Have those people 
 done anything more ? " 
 
 " Not yet. I suppose they are preparing 
 some sort of surprise for us." 
 
 " They might as well spare themselves the 
 trouble." 
 
 " How do you mean, Val ? " 
 
 " Why I mean that no matter what they do, 
 and no matter what any court may order, I 
 will never go to them, never, never, never! I 
 know what they want or at least a part of 
 it. I heard about it in the convent. They 
 want to put me on the stage to earn money for
 
 310 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 them. They mean then to sell me to some 
 rich man as his wife. Now let me tell you 
 that even if they should seize me by force, they 
 would get no good out of it. I would never 
 play a note or dance a step for them. They 
 might beat me, but it would make no differ- 
 ence. They might put me in jail, and it would 
 make no difference. They might torture me 
 as some of the saints were tortured, but it 
 would make no difference. I may belong to 
 them though I don't know why or how 
 but my fingers and toes are my own, and it 
 is my fingers and toes they want. So what is 
 the use?" 
 
 The girl did not speak excitedly. Her voice 
 was calm and level. There was no catching of 
 the breath, no smallest hurry in her enuncia- 
 tion, no suggestion of hysteria in her manner, 
 but there was a resolute determination there 
 which must have been discouraging to her ad- 
 versaries had they heard her words. She 
 went on : 
 
 " And I will not run away like a coward, 
 either. I will not go North or to Europe to 
 escape them. I shall stay right here at Wood-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 311 
 
 lands to make Uncle Butler happy until they 
 attempt to seize me. Mr. Phil, I want you 
 please to buy me a good Colt's revolver for 
 self-defense." 
 
 " You have no need of that," he answered. 
 "Listen, Val!" 
 
 He took her hand and held it while he 
 spoke. 
 
 " Those people will not resort to any form 
 of violence. They know better. And if they 
 did am I not here, and isn't Greg at hand ? 
 We should meet violence with violence. But 
 I assure you they are not thinking of anything 
 so desperate as that." 
 
 " Then why do you keep your negro sen- 
 tinels on guard, Mr. Phil? " 
 
 " I ought to have told you about that, but I 
 didn't think of your misinterpreting it. They 
 are there simply to prevent anybody from serv- 
 ing papers on Uncle Butler by leaving them at 
 his house while he is ill. When he gets well 
 again the sentries will Be withdrawn. I sup- 
 posed you understood that." 
 
 " No. I thought you feared somebody 
 would seize me by force."
 
 312 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Nobody would think of such a thing, Val. 
 It would mean a long term in State prison, to 
 say nothing- of the chance of being shot in the 
 attempt a chance which I should do my best 
 to convert into a certainty. No, there is no 
 danger of that kind, and I don't think there is 
 much danger of any kind. I'm not a lawyer, 
 of course, but I think I can say very confi- 
 dently that when those people serve papers as 
 I suppose they will do, we can beat them in 
 the courts, particularly after I get a chance to 
 give Uncle Butler all the facts." 
 
 " Thank you for telling me, Mr. Phil," she 
 replied. Then after a pause, 
 
 " What if we couldn't beat them in the 
 courts? What if it should be decided that I 
 belong to those people? Would the court 
 compel me to go with them? I've told you 
 they should never get any good out of me, but 
 should I be compelled to go with them ? " 
 
 " Not for long," he answered resolutely. 
 
 " How ' not for long ? ' " 
 
 " Why I'd kidnap you again. You know I 
 kidnapped you before, so I'm a hardened 
 criminal in that way. I'd do it again with-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 313 
 
 in twenty- four hours after they got you." 
 
 " Yes, I believe you would. Thank you. 
 I'm happier now," she said. " My mind 
 is relieved." 
 
 " You have no doubt that I would do what 
 I have said ? " he asked. 
 
 " Doubt ? No. You are brave and strong, 
 and good; I could never doubt you in 
 any way. But I must go to Uncle Butler now. 
 He'll be awake very soon if he isn't so already. 
 Mr. Phil?" 
 
 "What is it, Val?" 
 
 " Do you suppose Dr. Tazewell would mind 
 very much if you had him waked this early in 
 the morning? I still believe in his skill and 
 judgment, and I want him to see Uncle Butler 
 just as soon as he can be persuaded to do 
 so." 
 
 Her way of putting the matter seemed to 
 Phil a strange one, but he made no effort to 
 guess its meaning. In her present mood to- 
 ward Greg Tazewell she was beyond his fath- 
 oming. Instead of trying to interpret the 
 speech, therefore, he answered it : 
 
 " I am sure he is as anxious to see his pa-
 
 3 i4 TWO GENTLEMEN! OF VIRGINIA 
 
 tient as we are to have him do so. I'll have 
 him waked at once, and I'll have a servant 
 pour half a dozen buckets of cold water over 
 him." 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " To freshen him up. He asked me last 
 night to do so. You may depend he'll have all 
 his wits about him after that I think I'll try 
 the same treatment myself, after Greg sees 
 Uncle Butler. It'll give me an appetite for 
 breakfast." 
 
 As she glided into the house she paused 
 upon the doorsill and turning to him, said : 
 
 " Thank you again for all, Mr. Phil. I 
 think you are better than anybody." 
 
 " Is it quite loyal of you to say that, Val 
 giving me first place in your esteem? " 
 
 " Oh, I except Uncle Butler, of course," she 
 answered over her shoulder as she retreated. 
 
 Again Phil was puzzled. 
 
 " I wonder how far she will carry her 
 pique. I'm afraid there is trouble ahead for 
 Greg."
 
 XXXII 
 
 DR. TAZEWELL found Colonel Shen- 
 stone in much better condition than 
 he had feared, and at the end of his 
 examination he reported that recovery was al- 
 ready well begun. 
 
 " You had better keep your bed for a day or 
 two more," he said to his patient. " It isn't 
 well to sit up too soon, but with the treatment 
 I'm going to give you, I hope to see you 
 ' clothed and in your right mind ' not many 
 days hence. I must warn you, however, to 
 keep yourself in your right mind if you don't 
 want to come down again. You musn't fly 
 into a passion again, as you did with that 
 lawyer. That is what bowled you over this 
 time." 
 
 Instantly Valorie responded : 
 
 " Dr. Tazewell, you've no right to scold 
 Uncle Butler and I beg that you will not do 
 315
 
 316 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 it again. He has a right to grow angry when 
 he is insulted as he was by that man." 
 
 " I sincerely beg pardon, Miss Page. I 
 didn't mean to ' scold ' Colonel Shenstone. I 
 only meant to warn him." 
 
 "Come here, Little Minx," said the old 
 gentleman. " You mustn't scold the doctor, 
 or you'll make us think you are a little minx 
 in the dictionary sense. He is perfectly right, 
 and I shall not allow myself to fly into a pas- 
 sion again, now that I have you here to do all 
 that for me. But now you must go to your 
 room and go regularly to bed for a good, long 
 sleep. You're tired out, and I won't have it 
 so. You are to do as I tell you, or I'll fly into 
 another passion and give the doctor a new 
 grip on me. Go to bed at once, and don't get 
 up for six hours at the least." 
 
 " I'll go, Uncle, as soon as the gentlemen 
 have had their breakfast." 
 
 " Confound the gentlemen and their break- 
 fast! Let them look out for themselves with 
 the help of the servants, as I had to do for 
 more years than you have lived when I
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN; OF VIRGINIA 317 
 
 hadn't my Little Minx to coddle and spoil 
 me." 
 
 " But who'll make the coffee, Uncle? " 
 " I will," said Phil. " I'm an expert." 
 " Why, how did you learn to do that ? " 
 " By watching a young lady do it a young 
 lady whom I call Val. I confess I wasn't 
 specially concerned with the details of the 
 process, but the accessories interested me." 
 " The accessories ? What do you mean ? " 
 " Why the grace of the young lady, the 
 plumpness of her elbows and all that, and be- 
 sides " 
 
 Valorie interrupted him, not caring to hear 
 more. 
 
 " I'll go to bed at once, Uncle Butler. I 
 can sleep sweetly now that the doctor pro- 
 nounces you so much better. I should have 
 slept last night if he could have reassured me 
 in that way before he went to bed. Doctor, I 
 beg your pardon if I spoke crossly a little 
 while ago. Perhaps I'm nervous, though that 
 isn't ever a good excuse. Good morning, Uncle. 
 Adieu, gentlemen. I've given special orders
 
 318 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 to the cook to have your breakfast served 
 early. I don't suppose she'll do anything of 
 the kind, but I've given the orders any how." 
 
 She was half way through the doorway as 
 she spoke the last words, and a few seconds 
 later she was safe above stairs. Manifestly 
 she had no mind to listen to any response Dr. 
 Tazewell might feel moved to make to her 
 hurried apology, or to the vicious little stab 
 she had given him in her last speech. 
 
 " That's a flag of truce, at any rate," 
 thought Phil. " They'll make it up next time 
 they meet." 
 
 But apparently Dr. Tazewell was beset by 
 no great eagerness to have the meeting an 
 early one for while he and Phil were at break- 
 fast, he announced his purpose to ride over to 
 his own plantation as soon as the meal should 
 be over. 
 
 " I suppose my presence there is badly 
 needed just now," he said in explanation. 
 " I've been absent for more than a week now 
 yes, for nearly a fortnight, and there's no 
 knowing in what condition things are by this 
 time. Colonel Shenstone needs nothing now
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 319 
 
 but good nursing and the medicines I've left 
 for him. There is no need for me to see him 
 again for a day or two, unless some unfavor- 
 able symptom should show itself and I do not 
 expect that. If it should happen, send for me 
 at once, Phil. Otherwise I'll devote a day or 
 two to my own neglected affairs." 
 
 Beyond promising to do as requested, Phil 
 said nothing. But mentally he reflected : 
 
 " So you think it is your turn to sulk do 
 you? I don't envy you the penance you'll 
 have to do for that. But it isn't my affair."
 
 XXXIII 
 
 DURING the three days in which Greg 
 Tazewell did not think it necessary to 
 visit his patient Colonel Shenstone 
 rapidly improved, but Valerie's temper, so far 
 as the doctor was concerned underwent no 
 such change for the better. 
 
 The displeasure she had felt and manifested 
 was due solely, as we know, to what she in- 
 terpreted as indifference on his part to Colonel 
 Shenstone's case, and his failure to visit the 
 patient each day seemed to her to confirm and 
 emphasize that indifference. She knew noth- 
 ing of Greg Tazewell's real motive in remain- 
 ing away from Woodlands as long as his duty 
 to his patient would allow. How should she 
 know that his absence was prompted by chiv- 
 alric regard for herself and an excessive loy- 
 alty to his friend Phil Shenstone? How 
 should she know that Greg Tazewell had not 
 320
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 321 
 
 yet conquered his love for her? Her rejec- 
 tion of his suit had been kindly, considerate 
 and very gentle, but it had been so firm and 
 so positive as to leave him no ground of hope 
 in that direction. Was he not a strong, reso- 
 lute man ? Was it not clearly his duty as well 
 as his interest to put aside all thought of win- 
 ning her and to conquer a passion so mani- 
 festly hopeless ? Firmly believing that he had 
 done so, she could have no inkling of the 
 motives of his present conduct. She could 
 only attribute his voluntary absence from Col- 
 onel Shenstone's bedside to that indifference 
 which she mistakenly believed he had shown 
 in his omission to examine his patient on the 
 night of his arrival, and still more in the light- 
 ness of his conversation at the supper table 
 that night. 
 
 It was with a dignity that left little room 
 for friendly cordiality, therefore, that she re- 
 ceived him when on the morning of the fourth 
 day he rode over to Woodlands. So marked 
 was her coldness indeed that Phil Shenstone, 
 in loyalty to his supposed obligations, was at 
 pains to take himself out of the way.
 
 322 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " I must give them a chance to make it up," 
 he reflected, and with that intent, as soon as 
 Greg had passed favorably upon his uncle's 
 condition, he said to him : 
 
 " Greg, I have some important matters to 
 attend to over at Mattapony. Indeed I've 
 been needed there for several days. Of course 
 you'll remain for dinner at Woodlands, and 
 so, if you don't mind being left, I'll ride over 
 there for an hour or two." 
 
 Without waiting for Greg to offer the ex- 
 cuses that were near his lips, he sprang into 
 the saddle and rode rapidly away. 
 
 Greg's first feeling was one of annoyance, 
 but upon reflection he was rather glad to have 
 this opportunity to " have it out " with Valo- 
 rie. He was anxious to learn precisely what 
 his offense in her eyes had been, and to atone 
 for it if possible. For a brief moment the 
 thought flitted through his mind that perhaps 
 after all Valorie was not so far different from 
 other young women as he had supposed ; that 
 perhaps she had expected the compliment of a 
 second proposal. But he promptly dismissed 
 the suggestion not only as unworthy but as
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 323 
 
 absurdly unlikely, in view of the very posi- 
 tive way in which she had entreated him not 
 to return to that subject again. Moreover, 
 nothing could be clearer, he thought, than that 
 she had given her heart to Phil Shenstone and 
 that he was in honor bound to recognize and 
 respect an engagement of which he felt sure, 
 although it had not been announced or even 
 hinted at in any way. 
 
 After Phil had gone Valorie joined Greg in 
 the parlor, by way of doing her duty as host- 
 ess, and still more for the purpose of receiv- 
 ing his instructions as nurse. 
 
 These were brief and simple, relating chiefly 
 to diet, and when he had finished giving them, 
 Greg turned to her with an anxious face, say- 
 ing: 
 
 " You are angry with me, Miss Valorie. 
 Would you mind telling me why ? " 
 
 " I am not angry with you ; at least I don't 
 think I am. I have been displeased, and per- 
 haps I have shown my displeasure more than 
 I should. If so I beg you to forgive me, re- 
 membering how anxious I have been about 
 Uncle Butler."
 
 324 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " I forgive you freely," he replied, " if there 
 is anything to forgive, which I do not admit, 
 though I must own that you have made me 
 suffer somewhat." 
 
 " I am sorry," she said, and after the brief- 
 est possible pause she added, " for the occa- 
 sion." 
 
 " Would you mind telling me what the oc- 
 casion has been? What is it I have done to 
 displease you ? " 
 
 " I supposed you understood," she answered 
 with a touch of surprise. 
 
 " Indeed I do not, though I have tried hard 
 to conjecture what it all meant. Tell me, 
 please." 
 
 " I thought you indifferent to Uncle But- 
 ler's suffering," she answered frankly, adding : 
 " and candidly I think so still." 
 
 " How can you have thought such a thing 
 as that? And how can you think it now? 
 Certainly nothing could be further from the 
 fact. There is no man living whom I reckon 
 so dear a friend as Colonel Shenstone, no man 
 for whom I would do more or sacrifice more. 
 Believe me I speak the truth."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 325 
 
 " I believe that of course, because you say 
 it. You are a gentleman and of course you 
 speak only the truth. I must have miscon- 
 strued your conduct." 
 
 " Very certainly you have. I cannot even 
 imagine what conduct of mine you could have 
 construed to mean or to suggest indifference 
 on my part to Colonel Shenstone's welfare or 
 comfort. Tell me please." 
 
 " I must, of course, though after what you 
 have said, it seems an ungracious thing to do." 
 
 " I'll overlook the seeming ungraciousness, 
 if you'll only tell me and give me an oppor- 
 tunity to explain." 
 
 " There have been several things," she said, 
 as if recalling the occurrences, one by one. 
 " You responded as promptly as possible to 
 my summons. I give you credit for that 
 or rather I should say I have given you credit 
 for that from the first and all the time." 
 
 " I deserve no credit for that. The re- 
 sponse was as much to my own eager desire 
 as to your summons. I was far from my 
 hotel when I received your despatch, and there 
 was not time in which to return there if I was
 
 326 TWO GENTLEMEN. OF VIRGINIA 
 
 to catch the next train. In my anxiety to 
 reach Colonel Shenstone's bedside as soon as 
 possible, I left New York without returning to 
 the hotel and without so much as a handbag." 
 
 " Thank you for that. But when you got 
 here, you were in no hurry to go to his bedside. 
 You waited to eat and even to sleep first." 
 
 " And you attributed that to indifference ? " 
 
 "What else could I think?" 
 
 " My dear Miss Valorie, I thought you un- 
 derstood. I had closely questioned you and 
 Phil about his condition; I had learned every- 
 thing that could have significance; I knew 
 that sleep was his only immediate need, and 
 you told me he was sleeping. In my judg- 
 ment as a physician it was altogether best 
 for him that he should not be disturbed, but 
 that sleep should be encouraged by the draught 
 I left with you, to be given if he should wake 
 during the night. It was not indifference but 
 concern for his welfare that prompted me." 
 
 " Yes, I can see that now," she answered, 
 " and perhaps I should have seen it at the time 
 but for the other things." 
 
 "What were they?"
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN 1 OF VIRGINIA 327 
 
 " Why it isn't easy to explain what I 
 mean but while you were taking your sup- 
 per, you seemed to forget all about Uncle But- 
 ler's case; you talked lightly and jestingly, 
 and it hurt me. Perhaps I was over sensi- 
 tive at the time, but I had been so anxious ! " 
 
 " You will believe me when I tell you that 
 I talked as I did about other things solely for 
 your sake ? " 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " A physician, if he is at all wise, carries 
 with him many remedies besides medicines. 
 After the strain of your anxiety for your 
 uncle, and your eagerness for me to be here to 
 attend him, you were in a dangerously over- 
 wrought condition of nerves. I felt it neces- 
 sary to reassure you concerning Colonel Shen- 
 stone, and it was for that purpose that I talked 
 lightly of other subjects, avoiding all mention 
 of his illness. I thought my manner would do 
 more to reassure you than any words of confi- 
 dence I might speak. Can you not under- 
 stand that and believe it? " 
 
 " I understand it now, and of course I be- 
 lieve whatever you tell me. But I did not un-
 
 328 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 derstand at the time, and when you left right 
 after breakfast next morning, and did not re- 
 turn for three days, I was sure of your indif- 
 ference." 
 
 Here was the hardest point that Greg had 
 been called upon to meet. In the very nature 
 of the case he could not tell her all of the 
 truth, but at least he could truthfully say: 
 
 " I was entirely sure that Colonel Shenstone 
 needed nothing but to continue the treatment 
 and regimen I had prescribed for him. Un- 
 less there should be some change for the worse 
 
 and I asked Phil to notify me in that case 
 
 there was not the slightest occasion for me 
 to see him during the next three days. He 
 was in good hands and getting well, and my 
 own affairs badly needed my attention." 
 
 " I have been very unjust to you, Dr. Taze- 
 well," said the girl, taking his hand, " and I 
 sincerely ask you to forgive me." 
 
 " Don't let us talk of forgiveness. It was 
 dull in me not to see how easily you might 
 misunderstand, especially in your over-wrought 
 condition. I should have realized that. I 
 should have taken pains to explain to you.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 329 
 
 The fault was all my own. Let us be good 
 friends again ! " 
 
 " With all my heart. You can imagine that 
 this conversation has been anything but pleas- 
 ant to me, especially in its beginning. But 
 I'm glad to have had it. It has relieved my 
 mind, and acquitted you of an unjust accusa- 
 tion. We are the best of good friends again, 
 and I'm going to volunteer a promise : If ever 
 again I find myself disposed to accuse you, 
 I'm going to tell you so, frankly. Then you 
 can set me right if I am wrong." 
 
 It was high time now for Valorie to go to 
 her household duties, and she did so with a 
 feeling of gladness and relief that was very 
 grateful to her spirit. As the day was fine, 
 sunny and spring-like, Greg betook himself to 
 the porch, where with a pipe he found himself 
 happier than he had been for weeks past. 
 
 Once as Valorie crossed the hall he called 
 to her, saying : 
 
 " It occurs to me that it might be an agree- 
 able change for Colonel Shenstone if he came 
 out and sat with us at dinner to-day. Ask 
 him, please. A little cheery companionship
 
 330 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 will do him more good now than anything else, 
 and as his chamber is on this floor there are no 
 stairs to tire him." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, very, very much. I'm 
 sure Uncle Butler will be greatly pleased. He 
 told me this morning how weary he was of the 
 confinement, and I've been wishing he might 
 come out for awhile, but I hardly dared ask 
 it. I wonder if my wishing made you think 
 of it?" 
 
 " Perhaps so. I don't know. At any rate 
 you see how true it is that a doctor must carry 
 around with him many remedies besides those 
 in his saddle bags."
 
 XXXIV 
 
 WHEN Phil Shenstone returned just 
 before the four o'clock dinner, he 
 observed so great an amelioration 
 of relations between Greg- and Valorie that 
 he confidently expected to be informed of 
 their engagement before nightfall. He had 
 seen too much of human conduct in the vari- 
 ous relations of life not to know that when 
 even a friendship has been subjected to strain 
 and then repaired it is pretty sure to become 
 stronger than ever. Especially he knew that 
 a lover's tiff reconciled is apt to intensify 
 the love that has existed all the while. 
 
 He thought it possible that until now the 
 relations of these two might have been unde- 
 fined, but he was confident that if such had 
 been the case, the reconciliation which had so 
 obviously taken place must have brought def- 
 inition with it.
 
 332 TWO GENTLEMEN, OF VIRGINIA 
 
 His reasoning was sound enough. His 
 conclusions were wrong only because the rea- 
 soning was based upon a mistaken assump- 
 tion. Seeing no reason to doubt the correct- 
 ness of that assumption he rested confidently 
 in his conclusions, and when the day and 
 evening had passed away without bringing the 
 expected announcement, he was distinctly be- 
 wildered and even a trifle offended. It seemed 
 to him that his friendship for both persons 
 concerned deserved more of confidence than 
 either of them had shown. 
 
 His uncle's presence at the table was grati- 
 fying, of course, as proof of his rapid con- 
 valescence, and from the smiling cheerfulness 
 with which the old gentleman joined in the 
 conversation, he argued that the facts of the 
 situation had been communicated to him, as 
 was of course his due. 
 
 When he congratulated Colonel Shenstone 
 upon his improvement, the elder man replied: 
 
 " Beyond the necessity of obeying Greg's 
 orders as to diet and the like for a few days 
 more, I'm going to regard myself as a well 
 man now, quite well enough, my dear boy, to
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 333 
 
 hear the things you came all the way from the 
 West to tell me. When will you do it, Phil ? " 
 
 " Whenever Dr. Tazewell permits," an- 
 swered Phil, looking inquiringly at his friend. 
 
 " Not quite yet," replied the man of science. 
 " Not for two or three days to come, Colonel 
 Shenstone, and not even then if you are im- 
 prudent and bring on any renewal of the 
 trouble. We must go a little slow as yet. 
 When dinner is over I'm going to ask Miss 
 Valorie to have you put to bed again. You 
 are naturally very weak still, and must have 
 plenty of rest. I'll ride over day after to-mor- 
 row and have a look at you." Then turn- 
 ing to Valorie he added : " It will not be 
 necessary to see him to-morrow, and really I 
 have a good many things to do. You don't 
 think" 
 
 " I think only that you know best in such a 
 case, and I'm very sure you wish to do what 
 is best." 
 
 Observing the looks that passed between the 
 two looks that suggested some special un- 
 derstanding Phil thought it wise to change 
 the subject.
 
 334 TWO GENTLEMEN; OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " What is the legal rate of interest in Vir- 
 ginia, Uncle? Can you tell me off hand and 
 without trouble ? " 
 
 " Yes, certainly. Where no rate is specified, 
 it is six per cent. By contract, a higher rate, 
 up to ten per cent, may be fixed." 
 
 "And all above that? " 
 
 " Is usury." 
 
 " And therefore illegal?" 
 
 " Worse than illegal. It works a forfeiture 
 even of the principal of the debt." 
 
 " You mean that if a man takes a note or 
 bond carrying more than ten per cent, interest, 
 he cannot collect any interest at all ? " 
 
 " More than that. He cannot collect either 
 interest or principal. He forfeits the whole 
 thing." 
 
 " Thank you. On a note carrying a lawful 
 rate of interest, does the interest compound 
 if not paid annually? " 
 
 " Certainly not. Why all these questions, 
 Phil?" 
 
 " Oh, I'm only arming myself for possible 
 emergencies."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 335 
 
 " Why, you are not involved in debt, Phil, 
 surely ? " 
 
 " Not a red cent. I wish your health, Uncle 
 Butler, was in as sound a condition as my 
 financial affairs are. But some other people 
 are in trouble, and they are being robbed by 
 rascals. The game is an interesting one, and 
 now that you've given me the information, I 
 propose to ' sit in ' as they say at poker. 
 You're pale, Uncle, and you look tired. Don't 
 you think you've sat up long enough?" 
 
 " I am a trifle tired, but I want to hear all 
 about this." 
 
 " Not now, Colonel Shenstone," interrupted 
 Greg. " Phil is right, and you must go back 
 to your bed at once." 
 
 " Yes, uncle," said Valorie, going to him and 
 persuasively caressing his wan cheeks, "you 
 know you are to obey the doctor so that we 
 may soon have you well again." 
 
 " So you join forces with my enemies, do 
 you, Little Minx? Well, I can't resist your 
 imperious will, and I'm strictly forbidden to 
 grow angry, so there's nothing for it but to
 
 336 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 retreat in good order. But confound you, you 
 young jackanapeses, if I were well enough 
 I'd prosecute you both for conspiracy against 
 an unoffending old man." 
 
 And with a look of affection at them all, he 
 suffered his body servant to lead him back to 
 his chamber. Both the young men rose to 
 perform that service in the negro man's stead, 
 but the old gentleman ordered them back to 
 their places, playfully reminding them that it 
 is very ill-bred for a gentleman to quit the 
 table so long as his hostess remains. 
 
 " Unless his tyrannical doctor compels the 
 rudeness," he added, laughing a little.
 
 XXXV 
 
 IT was Greg Tazewell's purpose to return 
 to his plantation soon after dinner, but 
 Phil asked him to remain until after sup- 
 per, saying that he wished to consult him con- 
 cerning a business matter of pressing impor- 
 tance. 
 
 When the two were alone, Phil said: 
 " I want you to give me the address of the 
 ablest lawyer in Richmond, if you know who 
 he is, Greg." 
 
 " I will certainly. But what's the matter ? " 
 " Two very different things one concern- 
 ing myself and the other concerning other peo- 
 ple. I shall at once retain the lawyer in both 
 matters. You see how my uncle is failing, of 
 course. Now in both these matters he will 
 want to act for me, but it won't do to let him 
 engage in laborious and perhaps exciting work, 
 and I mean to forestall his insistence by having 
 337
 
 338 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 my lawyer already retained. I can explain it 
 by reminding him that he was ill when the 
 necessity arose and that I had no choice but 
 to retain another lawyer." 
 
 " Is it your purpose to tell me of the matters 
 involved ? " 
 
 " Yes, certainly. That is what I wanted 
 you to remain for. In one way or another I 
 may want some assistance from you, and at 
 any rate I shall want your advice now and 
 then. The first matter is that of Mrs. Spotts- 
 wood's affairs. I've been going over her pa- 
 pers and the confused jumble of memoranda 
 which she calls her * accounts/ and I find that 
 some rascals are swindling her shamefully. 
 I mean to put a stop to it. That is why I 
 asked Uncle Butler the questions I did about 
 rates of interest and the like. I find that even 
 her commission merchant has been compound- 
 ing the ten per cent, interest on the unpaid 
 debts of the late Major Spottswood. I'll have 
 a speedy reckoning with him. Worse still, on 
 the plea that he must have payments made on 
 the debt to him he has persuaded Mrs. Spotts- 
 wood to borrow of the money lenders for that
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 339 
 
 purpose, giving her notes for the amounts. 
 As she didn't at all know how to do such 
 business he offered to manage it for her, and 
 the rascal has made her sign notes bearing, un- 
 der a disguise, twelve, and in one case, as high 
 as fifteen per cent, interest. To secure these, 
 he induced her to give a deed of trust on her 
 plantation and if somebody hadn't intervened 
 she would have been sold out pretty soon." 
 
 " But why didn't Colonel Shenstone stop 
 that?" 
 
 " He knew nothing about it. Until a few 
 days before his first severe attack she did not 
 consult him except as to crops and the like. 
 Then she merely asked him to look into her 
 affairs at his convenience, saying she feared 
 she had managed them badly, and before he 
 had time to do so, he fell ill. After his re- 
 covery he mentioned the matter to me, evi- 
 dently not regarding it as pressing. So no- 
 body knew the real condition of affairs till I 
 went over there this morning. I have a good 
 many more details to consider still, but I've 
 got at the worst, and I'm going to put the 
 thing into a lawyer's hands, secure a binding
 
 340 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 power of attorney, so that no scruples of Mrs. 
 Spottswood's shall stand in the way, and in- 
 struct the lawyer to proceed for the forfeiture 
 of every dollar of debt made fraudulently or 
 usuriously. In such a case the two words 
 mean the same thing." 
 
 " But who is the commission merchant? " 
 
 " Thank heaven he is not a Virginian. He's 
 a New Yorker, a member of a Produce Ex- 
 change firm up there, and heaven only knows 
 what tricks he may have played in the sale of 
 Mrs. Spottswood's crops. I shall look into 
 that, and I mean to drive the fellow out of 
 Richmond." 
 
 "Oh, of course." 
 
 " Now the other matter concerns Valerie's 
 case, or rather it concerns me in connection 
 with that case. Those sharp practitioners 
 have not been idle. I received a letter from 
 them this morning. There it is, read it 
 aloud." 
 
 Greg took the missive, which was very for- 
 mal, with the legend " in re Lee vs. Shen- 
 stone " written in the upper left hand corner
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 341 
 
 of the sheet. After the formal address, the 
 letter went on thus : 
 
 " You are doubtless aware that we have 
 been retained as counsel for Mrs. Eulalie Lee, 
 and instructed to institute such proceedings 
 in the courts as may be necessary to secure 
 her right to the custody of her infant daughter, 
 one Valorie Page, of whom, during her mi- 
 nority, she is the natural guardian, or com- 
 pensation for the loss of her services, which 
 have a peculiar value because of the child's 
 special gifts and training. 
 
 " It is the uniform policy of our firm to seek 
 the amicable settlement of such cases out of 
 court, and to that end, as you have doubtless 
 been informed, we have already approached 
 Colonel Butler Shenstone, who, as we are in- 
 formed and believe, has present custody of the 
 child and is detaining her from the control of 
 her rightful guardian. 
 
 " In any ordinary case our next step would 
 of course be to invoke the aid of the proper 
 courts for the enforcement of our client's 
 rights. But there are certain special circum-
 
 342 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 stances in this case which make us reluctant 
 to do so. Without entering into details, it 
 is perhaps sufficient for us to say that the ab- 
 duction of a minor child is a crime at law both 
 in Louisiana where the system known as the 
 civil law obtains and in Virginia where the 
 common law prevails. Of that fact you may 
 or may not be aware; but as we understand 
 that you are not a lawyer, you probably do 
 not know the following facts: 
 
 "i. That the crime of abduction is an ex- 
 traditable offense among the states of this 
 Union ; 
 
 " 2. That the offense is a continuous one, 
 running so long as the abducted person is held 
 in custody either by the abductor or by any 
 other person in his behalf or at his instiga- 
 tion ; and 
 
 " 3. That where an abducted child is taken 
 from the state in which the offense was com- 
 mitted and carried into another state a charge 
 of abduction will lie in either state. 
 
 " A prosecution for a criminal offense is so 
 serious a matter, especially where the person 
 prosecuted is a man of high social position
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN" OF VIRGINIA 343 
 
 and repute, that we shrink from instituting 
 proceedings of that nature, and we certainly 
 do not intend to do so, if the rights of our 
 client can be even measurably secured with- 
 out resort to measures so extreme and so dis- 
 agreeable. In our effort to accomplish a 
 more peaceful adjustment, we ask you, sir, to 
 meet us half way. If you will appoint an 
 early day for a meeting between yourself and 
 ourselves in our office, we are confident that 
 an arrangement can be agreed upon for avoid- 
 ing those extremely disagreeable measures 
 which, in the absence of some such adjustment, 
 our duty to our client would compel us to 
 take. Awaiting your reply, etc." 
 
 " That's a threat," said Greg, handing the 
 letter back to Phil ; " a carefully disguised 
 threat, but still a threat." 
 
 " Of course it is. But it is also a ' bluff ' 
 and as such a confession of weakness." 
 
 " I'm afraid I don't understand." 
 
 " Why, don't you see that all their palaver 
 about reluctance to do disagreeable things is 
 a falsehood on the face of it ? Those precious 
 rascals are in no wise troubled by scruples of
 
 344 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 conscience or scruples of any other kind. A 
 court proceeding, if successful, would enable 
 them to collect much larger fees than any 
 compromise could. They do not bring pro- 
 ceedings simply because they do not believe 
 they could win in that way. I was never so 
 confident as I am now that they haven't a leg 
 to stand on, and that they know it So they 
 are trying to scare me, and I don't scare." 
 
 " Still they might give you some trouble," 
 
 " I'm prepared for that" 
 
 "What have you replied?" 
 
 "Nothing, as yet ITl run into town to- 
 morrow, retain my lawyer, and then write re- 
 ferring these people to my counsel for their 
 
 After a brief silence, Greg asked: "Did 
 you kidnap the ' infant' as they call her? " 
 
 " I suppose I did. I don't know just what 
 constitutes kidnapping in the eyes of the law. 
 Anyhow they'll find a good deal of trouble to 
 prove it You see I never saw Valorie until 
 she came to me at the Exchange hotel in Rich- 
 mond." 
 
 " How did you manage it then? "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 345 
 
 "I employed the Creole woman, Nathalie, 
 to get her and bring her to Richmond. She 
 managed it very cleverly. Indeed, I think 
 she'd manage a military campaign as cleverly 
 as General Scott himself ever did. Yon see 
 Nathalie was the nurse when Valerie was 
 born, and had charge of her until she was six 
 or seven years old. Then Val was taken 
 away, Nathalie didn't know where. She 
 was in fact put into the convent, and Na- 
 thalie, who was devoted to the child, mourned 
 her almost as one dead. She appealed to 
 Norman Page, Val's father, but he knew as 
 little of his daughter's whereabouts as she did. 
 He devoted a year or two to the search with- 
 out success. He was tricked into the belief 
 that she had been taken to France or Italy, 
 and he went abroad to continue the search. 
 It was not until he had spent his last dollar 
 that he gave it up, returned to America, and 
 went to steamboating again. As soon as he 
 began to make money once more, he set Na- 
 thalie up in a little business of her own, as a 
 clever maker of 'robes et confections,' her 
 sign said gowns and feminine things gen-
 
 346 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 erally, you know. Less than a week before his 
 death, Nathalie notified him by letter that she 
 had found Val in the convent. He was run- 
 ning the upper rivers at the time, and he re- 
 signed his place, and hurried South, with me 
 to help him. On the way he died, but I 
 promised him to rescue Val and remove her to 
 some safe place in Virginia. Never mind 
 the details. You shall hear them all when I 
 come to give Uncle Butler the facts, for now 
 that these people are threatening me I may 
 need your help and so I want you present at 
 my conference with my uncle. Just now I 
 see Valorie in the garden, superintending some 
 early planting. Suppose we join her. Don't 
 tell her anything of all this. Together, and 
 with the aid of a good lawyer we can keep 
 her out of that woman's clutches till she comes 
 of age or marries." 
 
 " Wait a moment, Phil," said Greg, anx- 
 iously. " I believe the law holds a man re- 
 sponsible for anything which he gets some one 
 else to do for him, just the same as if he had 
 done it himself. ' Qui facit per alium, facit 
 per se,' the law phrase runs."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 347 
 
 "Yes, well? What about it?" 
 
 " Why suppose those people tamper with 
 Nathalie?" 
 
 " They can't. She'd go to a gibbet be- 
 fore she would tell anything that might hurt 
 Valorie." 
 
 " But suppose they put her on the witness 
 stand " 
 
 "They can't." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because a negro is not allowed to testify 
 against a white person in Virginia." 
 
 " Is she a negro, then ? I thought you 
 called her a creole? " 
 
 " She's a creole with what our law calls ' a 
 visible admixture of African blood/ and she 
 was born a slave. That's one ground of her 
 gratitude to Valorie's father that he set her 
 free. Like a good many others of us Vir- 
 ginians, he didn't much like the slavery sys- 
 tem, and he was especially averse to the en- 
 slavement of persons more nearly white than 
 black. He insisted that people of mixed blood 
 were fairly entitled to be reckoned white or 
 black, accordingly as white or black blood
 
 348 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 predominated in their veins. But there is 
 enough of the negro in Nathalie to exclude 
 her from the witness chair in this case. If 
 there weren't they'd never get anything out of 
 her. Come on, Val sees us and is waiting for 
 us." 
 
 He was on the point of saying " you " in- 
 stead of " us," but he did not.
 
 XXXVI 
 
 GREG rode homeward as soon as sup- 
 per was done, and the weather being 
 still comfortably warm, Phil and Va- 
 lorie sat together in the porch for a time, he 
 smoking and she hugging herself to keep a 
 voluminous nubia drawn around her shoul- 
 ders as a protection against any possible chill. 
 
 " Mr. Phil," she said, wistfully, " when you 
 come to tell Uncle Butler all the facts about 
 me, you'll have to tell him about my father 
 too, won't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," he answered, reflec- 
 tively; "yes, certainly. He will insist upon 
 hearing every minute detail, and of course 
 your father will come into the story." 
 
 " Then may I be there, Mr. Phil? I want 
 to hear about my father." 
 
 He thought a moment before replying. 
 Then he said : 
 
 349
 
 350 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " If you really wish it, Val, you shall be 
 present, but I think perhaps you'd better not. 
 Some of the details might be painful to you." 
 
 " But you said my father was not a bad 
 man." 
 
 " He was not. On the contrary he was as 
 good a man as I ever knew. I didn't mean 
 that there was anything of that kind." 
 
 " Then please, I want to hear it all. None 
 of the other things count with me." 
 
 "Very well," he said. "After all I do 
 not see why anything I shall have to tell need 
 distress you. I thought at first they might, 
 but upon reflection " 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Phil. Please don't do 
 any more reflecting. You might think of 
 something else and change your mind again, 
 and I do so greatly want to hear the story." 
 
 " Very well. You shall. I'll not change 
 my mind ; I promise you." 
 
 " Thank you and good night, Mr. Phil." 
 
 Phil sat in the porch for an hour or more. 
 He had a good many things to think of. First 
 of all it occurred to him that it might be bet- 
 ter not to visit the lawyer in Richmond on
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 351 
 
 the next day. His uncle might take it amiss 
 if he should lay his facts before counsel with- 
 out first consulting him. The old gentleman 
 was apt to be sensitive on such points, and his 
 two attacks of illness seemed to have sharp- 
 ened his sensitiveness. 
 
 Then, too, Phil was not fully ready to con- 
 sult the lawyer about the Spottswood affairs. 
 There were a good many more papers to go 
 over and arrange for submission to him be- 
 fore he could profitably do that. It would be 
 better, he thought, for him to devote the next 
 day to that task. Besides, Edna Spottswood 
 would have to help him in that, and she was a 
 particularly agreeable person to be with. It 
 may have been that thought that decided him, 
 or it may have been the more practical rea- 
 sons he had already given himself for not go- 
 ing to Richmond and for going to Mattapony 
 instead. However that may be, he ended his 
 reflections with a decision to that effect. 
 
 "After all," he said to himself, "why 
 should I hurry myself to answer those rascals? 
 They can't do anything till they serve some 
 sort of papers upon me. On the whole, I
 
 352 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 think I won't answer them at all. Not being 
 a lawyer, I might commit myself in some way. 
 I'll consider it ' their move next,' as we say at 
 draughts. I'm under no obligation to answer 
 a threatening letter that covers an implied ac- 
 cusation. But I must be prepared to meet 
 their next move, if they make one." 
 
 With that he rose and went to his room. 
 There he prepared, a brief letter, addressed to 
 the lawyer he meant to employ. In it he 
 enclosed a substantial check, asking the lawyer 
 to consider himself retained in any and all 
 cases that might arise affecting himself, or 
 Valorie or Mrs. Spottswood. Giving the mis- 
 sive into the hands of a servant, to be sent to 
 the station postoffice in the early morning, he 
 took down his Ovid and read it for an hour 
 "just to get the taste out of my mouth," 
 he said. 
 
 He had recovered almost too much of his 
 Latin for that, however. He read it so easily 
 now that the task did not drive other thoughts 
 from his mind. He chuckled now and then 
 to think of the vexation the lawyers who had 
 written to him would feel at receiving no
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN' OF VIRGINIA 353 
 
 answer. Then he wondered what they would 
 do next. Then he thought of Edna Spotts- 
 wood, and of Valorie, and wondered why 
 Greg Tazewell didn't settle the whole trouble 
 by marrying Valorie out of hand. 
 
 " Surely I gave him a plain enough hint to- 
 day," he thought. Then he thought of Va- 
 lorie again, in troubled fashion, this time, and 
 gradually forgot about everybody else even 
 about Ovid. 
 
 After awhile he was waked by the sputter- 
 ing of his candle which had burned out while 
 he slept there on the lounge. 
 
 He had no other candle in the room, nor did 
 he care for one. The weather had changed, 
 and a terrific thunder storm had broken. He 
 was in a mood to enjoy it, sitting in the dark- 
 ness at his open window and watching for the 
 successive lightning flashes. The wild tumult 
 was in keeping with his own spirit's perturba- 
 tion. 
 
 In that hour he marked out a future course 
 of life for himself. He would put Mrs. 
 Spottswood's affairs in order he didn't 
 think of Edna now that he had dreamed of
 
 354 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Valorie and he would bring Valerie's case 
 to a final issue of some sort. As soon as she 
 should be safe from further danger of moles- 
 tation, he would take himself out of the quiet, 
 Virginia life, where it was too easy to think 
 of the things he wished to forget. He would 
 return to the West and with his own wealth, 
 which was large, aided by the practically limit- 
 less capital which such a master man of af- 
 fairs as he can always command, he would or- 
 ganize and bring to accomplishment those great 
 schemes of transportation by land and water 
 which had long lain waiting in his mind for 
 opportunity. Now that the country was again 
 on a sound financial basis, the opportunity had 
 fully come. It needed only the man. 
 
 " And I am the man ! " he said to himself, 
 not vaingloriously but with confidence firmly 
 founded upon his knowledge of his own, thor- 
 oughly proved ability. 
 
 " In that way, I shall be able to forget 
 perhaps." 
 
 Thus the storm within subsided, as that 
 without had done.
 
 XXXVII 
 
 WITH his mind fully made up to 
 follow the course of life on which 
 he had decided, Phil Shenstone 
 was anxious to get away from Virginia as 
 soon as possible. He did not understand the 
 reticence of Greg and Valorie concerning their 
 engagement of which he had now no doubt 
 and it hurt him somewhat that they had 
 not confided in him. But on the whole he 
 was glad to have it so, and he hoped it might 
 remain so until after his final departure for 
 the West. It would spare him an embarrass- 
 ment at least, for when he reflected upon the 
 matter he was doubtful of his ability to re- 
 ceive such an announcement at the hands of 
 either, with a reasonably controlled counte- 
 nance. 
 
 In his haste to complete his work in Vir- 
 ginia, he devoted himself diligently next day 
 355
 
 356 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 to the task that still remained to be done at 
 Mattapony. Contrary to his purpose of the 
 morning, he remained to dinner there in order 
 to complete the work that day. In the early 
 evening he returned to Woodlands bearing all 
 the papers duly sorted, labeled and catalogued, 
 together with a sweeping power of attorney 
 authorizing him to act for Mrs. Spottswood 
 on his own initiative. 
 
 On his return to Woodlands in time for the 
 nine o'clock supper, he learned to his disap- 
 pointment, that by his absence he had missed 
 seeing Mrs. Albemarle, who had driven out 
 from Richmond to see her former guardian 
 and Valorie. She had had another purpose 
 in view also. Now that Colonel Shenstone's 
 speedy recovery seemed assured, she wanted 
 to appoint an early date for the reception she 
 meant to give to Valorie. 
 
 Incidentally her visit had done Colonel 
 Shenstone a world of good. 
 
 " She kept him laughing half the time, and 
 smiling all the time she was here," said Va- 
 lorie, delighted. " You know how rippling 
 and ceaseless her humor is, Mr. Phil. Are
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN, OF VIRGINIA 357 
 
 you very, very tired, Mr. Phil ? " she asked 
 with concern, observing the weary look that 
 shadowed his countenance. 
 
 " No not very tired, Val. I've worked 
 pretty hard over papers all day, but I reckon 
 it is chiefly because I've been thinking and 
 planning between whiles. I'll tell you, Val. 
 I've decided to go West just as soon as I can 
 get everything in good shape here and feel 
 that you are safe from annoyance." 
 
 He was not looking at Valorie at the mo- 
 ment, and so he did not see the sudden pallor 
 that overspread her face as he said this, or the 
 hot flushing of the cheeks that followed. 
 
 " I am planning a great enterprise. The 
 West is increasing rapidly in population and 
 productiveness now, and very soon it must 
 suffer for lack of adequate facilities for getting 
 its products to market. I'm going to provide 
 the transportation needed. I can command 
 all the capital required. I'm going to organize 
 a great steamboat and steamship company. 
 We'll build steamboats as fast as we can, and 
 we'll set up lines of ships from New Orleans to 
 New York and to foreign countries. Per-
 
 358 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 haps we shall do something in railroads too. 
 Pardon me. You're not interested in such 
 things. I've been ' talking shop ' inexcusably. 
 Has Greg been here to-day ? " 
 
 " No. You know he was not to come until 
 to-morrow. I do hope he'll find Uncle Butler 
 well enough to hear what you have to tell 
 him." 
 
 " So do I and I hope he, and the lawyer 
 I'm going to consult, will soon discover a way 
 to put an end to all uncertainty in the matter, 
 so that I may the sooner get away. I am very 
 anxious to do that. By the way, Val, please 
 say nothing to anybody outside our own cir- 
 cle here, about Nathalie's agency in getting 
 you out of the convent and bringing you to 
 Virginia. It might get her into trouble." 
 
 " Get poor Nathalie into trouble ? Why, 
 how can it, Mr. Phil?" 
 
 The girl spoke anxiously. 
 
 " Oh, I don't know that it would, but it 
 might." 
 
 " Mr. Phil," she said, very seriously. " You 
 are keeping something back, and you promised 
 not to do that with me, you know."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 359 
 
 "Oh, it is nothing, except that those unscrup- 
 ulous lawyers in Richmond are trying to scare 
 money out of us by threatening to prosecute 
 me for kidnapping you, and as they can't 
 prove that charge they might decide to prose- 
 cute Nathalie, if they should find out just 
 what she did in the matter. Of course they 
 know I would never let her suffer for what I 
 induced her to do for me, but they might try 
 to get at me by threatening her. At present 
 nobody knows anything about that but you and 
 me. If we say nothing those blackmailers 
 will never hear of it. I've told Greg about it 
 of course, but he's as tight as a drum." 
 
 " But Mr. Phil, I'm afraid you've got your- 
 self into a deal of trouble for my sake. What 
 can they do to you ? " 
 
 Her voice and manner betrayed so much of 
 concern for him that under other circum- 
 stances than those that he confidently believed 
 to exist, something decisive would have hap- 
 pened. As it was he addressed himself to the 
 task of reassuring her. 
 
 " They can do nothing at all that need 
 bother us, I think, Val."
 
 360 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " But what if they should ? Oh, I am so 
 wretched ! " 
 
 " I tell you they can't. They can't bring 
 evidence enough to bear, even to justify an 
 indictment, much less to secure a conviction. 
 And even if they should get me indicted and 
 convicted, my lawyer would appeal the case 
 and carry it finally to the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. That would take from 
 three to five years, and within less than three 
 years you'll be of age and completely out of 
 danger." 
 
 " Mr. Phil, that is very unkind of you 
 very unjust." 
 
 "What is, Val?" 
 
 " Why to suppose that I'm anxious about 
 myself. It is for you, you, you, that I'm 
 scared!" 
 
 It was Valerie's emotional habit thus to re- 
 peat words with increasing emphasis when she 
 was greatly moved. 
 
 " Oh, don't worry on my account, Val. I 
 assure you I'm completely bullet proof in this 
 matter. Why, I haven't even answered the 
 threatening letter those rascals sent me, and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 361 
 
 I don't mean to. If they write again, I shall 
 refer them to my lawyer for an answer. I'm 
 twiddling my fingers at them." 
 
 In her anxiety for him the girl was quick 
 to catch at his words and question them. 
 
 " Then you've engaged a lawyer ? " 
 
 " Yes, one of the best in Virginia." 
 
 " Mr. Phil that means that you really are 
 in danger. You're trying to mislead me, and 
 I don't like it." 
 
 " Indeed I am not, Val. I've retained a 
 lawyer partly because I have need of him in 
 protecting Mrs. Spottswood's interests, and 
 partly because I don't want to have any deal- 
 ings with such rascals as Stone & Maxey are. 
 I don't like to have anything to do with such 
 people. If I did they'd pretty certainly insult 
 me in some way, and then I'd have to thrash 
 them. I don't care to soil my hands in that 
 way." 
 
 Seeing that the girl was less perfectly re- 
 assured than he wished, he added : 
 
 " Listen, Val. I assure you on my word of 
 honor that after going over every possibility 
 in my mind, I am thoroughly convinced that
 
 362 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 those rascals are powerless to do me any harm. 
 They cannot even annoy me seriously. So 
 you must dismiss your fears on my account. 
 They are utterly groundless." 
 
 " Now you are candid with me. I thought 
 you weren't till you said that. I feel better 
 now, thank you." 
 
 Remembering her strange reticence concern- 
 ing her attitude toward Greg Tazewell, he 
 was strongly tempted to reply that he wished 
 she would be equally frank with him about 
 every thing that concerned herself closely, but 
 feeling that that would be an unwarrantable 
 intrusion upon her reserve, he refrained. 
 
 Presently he excused himself upon the plea 
 that he had important letters to write that 
 night, and went to his room, where he wasted 
 half an hour puzzling over the question : 
 " Why should her concern for me be so great 
 and so emotional ? " But he made nothing 
 out of it, and was forced at last to content 
 himself with the reflection that " it is useless 
 for a man to try to fathom the depths of a 
 woman's thinking with the much too short 
 lead line of his thinking. No man ever yet
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN. OF VIRGINIA 363 
 
 understood a woman, and no man ever will." 
 Dismissing the matter he set to work on 
 his letter to his lawyer, which was to accom- 
 pany the papers from Mattapony. He ex- 
 plained the situation briefly, and referred to 
 the papers themselves for details. 
 
 " My wish is," he continued, " that you 
 shall at once take whatever measures your 
 judgment may approve for the protection of 
 a helpless woman who has been shamefully 
 swindled. In any case of my own, of course, 
 I should scorn to plead the usury law or any 
 other technicality for the defeat of a claim. 
 Indeed, even when acting for another and very 
 helpless person I should not resort to techni- 
 calities to escape any just obligation. But 
 in this case there has been a persistent and 
 deliberate swindle perpetrated against a de- 
 fenseless person. I have no hesitation, there- 
 fore, in asking you to use every means that 
 the law permits to secure justice. I desire you 
 to employ every technicality you may find 
 effective, and to secure the forfeiture of every 
 dollar of these claims that you find it possible 
 to eliminate from the sum total of the in-
 
 364 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 debtedness. I wish to show no mercy to men 
 who have put themselves beyond the pale of 
 consideration. I cannot make too emphatic 
 my desire and purpose that there shall be no 
 abating of insistence upon every right and 
 every privilege that the law secures to the 
 lady whom these men have so greatly wronged. 
 And this applies to matters of the past as 
 well as to those of the present and future. If, 
 in going over the papers you find ground for 
 claiming the repayment to her of any moneys 
 wrongfully taken from her in the past, I de- 
 sire you to institute the proceedings necessary 
 to the accomplishment of that purpose." 
 
 When the lawyer received this communica- 
 tion by the hand of the negro messenger who 
 bore the papers, his partner exclaimed: 
 
 "What a fighter he is!" 
 
 " Yes, in a good cause," answered the other, 
 who personally knew Phil. " You remember, 
 don't you, the story of the way he interposed 
 in Colonel Shenstone's duel with Vance? I 
 haven't heard of Vance's challenging anybody 
 since that time." 
 
 Mindful of the fact that lawyers file all
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 365 
 
 papers relating to each case separately, Phil 
 had put into another note what he had to say 
 concerning his own affairs. He wrote briefly : 
 
 " It is possible that the lawyers, Stone & 
 Maxey may call upon you with reference to 
 matters relating to me. In that event please 
 say that you must consult with me before an- 
 swering, and then notify me. Till then it is 
 not necessary to trouble you with details, 
 though I shall probably visit you very soon 
 anyhow and tell you of the case." 
 
 It was not until he had finished the writing 
 of his letters and had rested himself by the 
 leisurely smoking of a pipe, that Phil, ap- 
 proaching the high dressing case found in 
 every Virginia bedroom of that time, dis- 
 covered there a missive from Mrs. Albemarle. 
 She had scribbled it hastily during her visit, 
 sealed it and given it to one of the house- 
 maids with instructions to place it where he 
 now found it. 
 
 " You're a very ill-mannered young gentle- 
 man," it read, " to have run away from Wood- 
 lands when you must have felt it in your 
 bones that I was coming. Worse still, in-
 
 366 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 stead of returning to meet me at dinner you 
 have waited for me to go away. But then 
 you never were very well-mannered. 
 
 " Now that your uncle is nearly well again, 
 we shall expect to see something of you in 
 Richmond. Do you know you haven't called 
 upon a soul since you returned to Virginia? 
 You did come to see me, but not till I sent 
 for you, and I don't believe you'd have come 
 then if Valorie hadn't been with me. I'll 
 expect to meet you at a dozen houses soon. 
 It doesn't do for a particularly eligible young 
 man to confine his visits to one or two young 
 women. It sets people talking. 
 
 " Adieu till I see you, which must be soon, 
 as the two charming girls who are staying 
 with me can't remain long." 
 
 To this there was a postscript : " Edna 
 Spottswood is a dear girl, but there are others, 
 and, well, everyday visits are sometimes 
 dangerous, especially to the girl." 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle usually had a purpose in 
 writing even her lightest letters. She usually 
 disguised it by putting it into a postscript, as if 
 it had been an afterthought.
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 PHIL'S impatience for the long delayed 
 conference with his uncle rendered him 
 so restless that he spent much of his 
 time riding over the plantation, shooting 
 squirrels in the woods and repairing the 
 threshing machine. He was especially apt 
 thus to absent himself from the house on 
 those days when Greg Tazewell was expected 
 to pass a morning there. He tried fishing 
 for silver perch in a distant mill pond, but 
 found 'himself too impatient to enjoy that 
 sport, though ordinarily he was passionately 
 fond of it 
 
 Colonel Shenstone was still growing stead- 
 ily stronger, but in his anxiety to avoid a re- 
 lapse Tazewell still withheld permission for 
 the conference. Day after day passed, and on 
 one of those days Phil received a second letter 
 from Stone & Maxey. Those gentlemen 
 367
 
 368 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 seemed nettled at his neglect to reply and 
 were disposed to be pressing in their demand 
 for an early answer. They reminded him 
 that this was a matter which he could not 
 safely ignore, and suggested that unless he 
 should respond to this their second communi- 
 cation, they should feel themselves obliged 
 " to adopt other means of attracting his at- 
 tention." 
 
 He wrote in reply saying : " I am quite un- 
 able to discover anything in either of your let- 
 ters to which I am under the slightest obliga- 
 tion to reply. As you seem of a different 
 opinion I must refer you to my attorney, Col- 
 onel Minor, the location of whose office you 
 doubtless know." 
 
 He enclosed the correspondence to his law- 
 yer, promising to visit him very soon. Then 
 he went to Greg Tazewell, protesting that it 
 was necessary for him to hold the conference 
 with Colonel Shenstone at the earliest possible 
 moment, and Greg consented that it should 
 take place on the next day. 
 
 When the next day came Colqnel Shenstone
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 369 
 
 was in a less favorable condition than he had 
 been. 
 
 " It isn't a relapse," Greg said. " His gout 
 is not manifesting itself again. It is only that 
 he is aging rapidly. His arteries are hard- 
 ening. His mind seems clear enough, but he 
 shrinks from using it. In brief he is getting 
 to be an old man and from that there is no 
 recovery." 
 
 " Then you think we must postpone this 
 thing?" 
 
 " No. On the contrary I think the sooner 
 you have your talk with him the better. He 
 is eager for it, and we have promised him that 
 it shall occur to-day. It would annoy and 
 distress him to postpone it, and besides there 
 is no use. As I say, he is free from gout for 
 the present and free from pain, and he will 
 never be less burdened than now with the in- 
 curable malady of old age." 
 
 " Very well," said Phil. " But we won't say 
 that sort of thing to Val. It would distress 
 her to no good purpose." 
 
 Accordingly it was arranged that as soon
 
 370 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 as Colonel Shenstone should be ready and Va- 
 lorie so far freed from her household cares 
 as to let her listen uninterruptedly, the recital 
 should begin. 
 
 Lest a too prolonged sitting up should over- 
 fatigue him, the little conference was held in 
 his chamber, where he might be easily trans- 
 ferred from his easy chair to the lounge or 
 to his bed in case of need. When all was 
 ready Colonel Shenstone said : 
 
 " Now, Phil, you are to tell everything, 
 even the minutest and most inconsequent de- 
 tails, lest you leave out something of vital 
 importance. You are not a lawyer and you 
 cannot know what is important and what is 
 not" 
 
 " I will make the story complete," said Phil, 
 spreading some papers before him. 
 
 What he related follows in some chapters 
 of its own without the embarrassment of com- 
 plex quotation marks.
 
 XXXIX 
 
 I FIRST met Norman Page in New Or- 
 leans, during my first year on the river. 
 He was much older than I, but the fact 
 that we were both Virginians and exiles drew 
 us together. We were both better educated 
 than even the best of the steamboat men of 
 that time. We both cherished higher stand- 
 ards of morality and conduct than were com- 
 mon on the river in those days. We soon 
 became friends and he took me as his " cub," 
 that is to say his pupil in piloting. He 
 was recognized as the best pilot in the service 
 then. He knew the Ohio and the Mississippi 
 thoroughly, and he had navigated many of 
 their tributaries. I could not have had a bet- 
 ter teacher. When at last I got my license, 
 he and I generally managed to be on the same 
 steamboat. 
 
 I told him, little by little, all about myself, 
 371
 
 372 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 and he, in the same way, told me of his own 
 life, which had been in some ways a troubled 
 one. 
 
 He had married Val's mother some years 
 before, and for a year they had been very 
 happy. Then Val was born and the mother 
 died when the child was a week old. 
 
 Val's mother had a half sister, younger 
 than herself, named Eulalie Dexter, and to 
 her care, as her only female relative, Norman 
 Page committed his child. The nurse Na- 
 thalie had been devoted to her mistress, Val's 
 mother, and Page stipulated that she should 
 continue to be the baby's nurse. Nathalie 
 was one of those unfortunates, common in 
 New Orleans, whose descent is almost alto- 
 gether from white ancestry, but who are ac- 
 counted negroes because of a mere trace of 
 negro blood. Her complexion was that of a 
 clear skinned brunette just such a com- 
 plexion as one sees all about him in the most 
 aristocratic Creole drawing rooms. She had 
 the hair, the features and the carriage of a 
 white woman. The admixture of negro blood 
 was " visible " only in the porcelain tinted
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 373 
 
 whites of her eyes and in the little moons at 
 the roots of her finger nails, and even there 
 the signs of it were so slight that only an 
 expert could have discovered them. For more 
 than a dozen years past she has been re- 
 garded as a white woman of the pure-blooded 
 Creole race, and she is now everywhere ac- 
 cepted as such. But she was a slave until 
 Valerie's father purchased her from the es- 
 tate to which she belonged and set her free 
 in recognition of her devotion to his child. 
 
 At the time of his wife's death he estab- 
 lished Eulalie Dexter in a comfortable house 
 on the Creole side of the town, provided her 
 with servants and supplied her with the money 
 needed for the maintenance of the menage. 
 
 Eulalie Dexter was a peculiar woman a 
 woman of very dangerous type though Nor- 
 man Page, with his chivalric regard for 
 women, did not suspect the fact. In person 
 she was singularly attractive tall, slender, 
 long-necked and almost serpent-like in the 
 graceful flexibility of her body. She was a 
 woman whom nobody could see in the street 
 without seeking a second look, and she made
 
 374 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 the most of her appearance by a really extraor- 
 dinary art in the fashioning and in the wear- 
 ing of her clothes. 
 
 In intellect she was alert even brilliant 
 and in manner she had a certain carefully cul- 
 tivated simplicity, or ingenuousness, resemb- 
 ling that of a child which added mightily to 
 the fascination she exercised over men and 
 women alike. 
 
 As for character, she had none, except the 
 veneer of proper conduct which she assumed 
 for reasons of prudence and for the sake of 
 self advancement. Seemingly as innocent of 
 guile as the veriest child, she was in fact ut- 
 terly unscrupulous in the prosecution of her 
 purposes, whatever they might be. 
 
 Norman Page had transferred to his child 
 all the tender devotion he had felt for her 
 mother. He refused to engage in any serv- 
 ice that did not have New Orleans for one 
 of its termini, and when in New Orleans he 
 passed all his time observing Val's growth, 
 teaching her to walk when the time came, 
 minutely and lovingly watching the develop- 
 ment of her infantile mind. When she was
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 375 
 
 old enough to understand them he told her 
 stories and recited jingles that delighted her. 
 Both the stories and the jingles were his own. 
 He " made them up " during the long night 
 watches in the pilot house, happy in anticipa- 
 tion of the delight the little girl would mani- 
 fest when he should come to repeat them to 
 her. 
 
 [At this point in his narrative Phil, who 
 was observing Valorie closely, saw tears slip- 
 ping out between her eyelids. He took no 
 outward notice of the fact, but by way of 
 sparing her, he hurried on to other things.] 
 
 Norman Page was never a rich man. He 
 was too generous for that. He stood always 
 ready to open his purse in aid of anybody 
 who was " down on his luck," and especially 
 he was lavish in his generosity toward steam- 
 boat men in distress, however humble their 
 rank among steamboat men might be, and 
 however obviously their misfortunes might be 
 due to their own fault. From captains to 
 roustabouts he was always ready to come to 
 their rescue when misfortune befell. But he 
 made money easily, and having no bad habits,
 
 376 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 he had accumulated a modest competence, 
 when Eulalie Dexter decided to make herself 
 his wife. She exercised a certain fascination 
 over him, as she did over all who came into 
 contact with her, but he had loved Val's 
 mother far too devotedly ever to love any 
 other woman. He resisted this woman's wiles 
 so successfully that she found it necessary 
 to resort to other methods. She ceased to 
 smile. She put aside all her gayety. She 
 assumed the demeanor of one in distress and 
 perplexity. The change in her was so marked 
 that Page, with his always ready sympathy, 
 sought to find out its cause in the hope of 
 alleviating her sorrow, whatever its nature 
 might be. At first she pretended to resist his 
 entreaties to know what was the matter, but 
 one day, when his inquiries were especially 
 sympathetic, she burst into tears for she 
 seems to have been a consummate actor 
 and said to him : 
 
 " It isn't your fault, Norman or at any 
 rate you have not intended what you have 
 done. But your being here at my house so 
 much spending all the daylight hours here
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 377 
 
 whenever you are in New Orleans, and usually 
 staying till Valerie's bed time all this has 
 made people talk until now everybody shuns 
 me." 
 
 So she went on, weeping and elaborating 
 her account of her sufferings, until Page's 
 chivalry could not fail to come to the rescue. 
 She knew how to make herself agreeable as 
 well as fascinating, and having failed to fas- 
 cinate him, she had taken pains to make her- 
 self agreeable to him. Why should he not 
 atone for the grievous wrong he had uncon- 
 sciously done her, by making her his wife? 
 
 With scarcely a moment's thought he pro- 
 posed that course to her, and she accepted it. 
 
 For a time the two got on very well to- 
 gether. Eulalie took care that it should be so, 
 until, little by little, she had induced him to 
 transfer most of his property to her. " It is 
 only that Valorie and I may be provided for 
 in case anything should happen," she ex- 
 plained, " and you know steamboating is a 
 hazardous business." 
 
 When Valorie was about six or seven years 
 old, that was before I knew Norman Page
 
 378 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 he accepted an offer to go as chief pilot on 
 a slow, freight steamer, carrying a cargo of 
 cotton and molasses to Pittsburg. There were 
 very few pilots who knew both the Mississippi 
 and the Ohio throughout its entire length, and 
 by way of avoiding the necessity of changing 
 their chief pilot several times on the voyage, 
 the owners of the boat offered Page unusually 
 high wages to take their boat up and back. 
 The voyage, including the time consumed in 
 discharging cargo at Pittsburg and taking on 
 a new one there and at Cincinnati, Louisville 
 and other points, promised to occupy a couple 
 of months, for the boat was very slow and 
 dangerously overloaded. Valorie wept bit- 
 terly when she learned that he was likely to 
 be away for so long, but he bade her be of 
 good cheer, gently released his head from her 
 encircling arms, and hurried away. 
 
 He never saw her afterwards. 
 
 On his return to New Orleans he hurried 
 to his home and found it occupied by strangers 
 who soon convinced him that they had bought 
 it for less than half its value from his wife. 
 
 He was bewildered. Letters from Eulalie
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 379 
 
 had reached him at various points the latest 
 one of them at Vicksburg, less than two days 
 before. In none of these had she given the 
 least intimation of her intention to sell the 
 house, yet upon inquiry he learned that she 
 had actually sold it within the first week of 
 his absence, and further inquiry revealed the 
 fact that about the same time she had sold 
 all her other property at a like sacrifice. 
 
 He could in nowise understand, and he was 
 especially puzzled to explain the receipt of the 
 series of letters from her, most of them dated 
 and postmarked after the time of her apparent 
 flight. I may as well explain that he after- 
 wards discovered the secret of that. She had 
 carefully prepared the series of letters before 
 her disappearance, dating them at intervals 
 in the future; she had left them with a person 
 who was employed to post each of them on 
 the date it bore, and she had eloped with an 
 opera tenor who left his wife penniless in 
 New Orleans. 
 
 But before inquiring into such details, Page 
 had devoted himself with almost insane eager- 
 ness to the discovery of Val's whereabouts.
 
 380 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 To that end he first sought for Nathalie in 
 every place where he thought her likely to be, 
 but with no result. He could not believe that 
 she, too, had betrayed him, but he had little 
 to guide him in his search for her, until the 
 thought entered his mind that the faithful 
 nurse might be hunting for him while he was 
 searching for her. Very naturally she would 
 go to the steamboat from which he had landed, 
 as soon as she should learn of its return. 
 Convinced of this he hurried back to the levee, 
 and there, as he had hoped, he found Na- 
 thalie seated upon a corn sack within full 
 view of the gang plank of his boat. She had 
 hurried to the boat, and had arrived just after 
 he had gone ashore. Sure that he would re- 
 turn to look for her there, she had remained, 
 impatiently awaiting him. 
 
 But now that he had found her she could 
 give him little information, and none at all 
 of the kind he desired. 
 
 She told him that a few days after he had 
 started up the river, Mrs. Page had sent her, 
 Nathalie, to deliver a note addressed to some 
 one out near the steamboat landing on Lake
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 381 
 
 Pontchartrain. She had bidden her take a 
 fly and not to return until she should find the 
 person intended and deliver the note, the ad- 
 dress upon which was vague. Nathalie had 
 spent the whole afternoon in a vain search, 
 and at last she had returned to town. Upon 
 reaching the house she found it closed and 
 locked, and from that hour she had been ut- 
 terly unable to find trace of Valorie. She suc- 
 ceeded in learning that the woman had gone 
 away with the tenor, so she visited the man's 
 abandoned wife, but that unhappy woman 
 could give her no information except that her 
 husband and Mrs. Page had taken ship for 
 Havana, and had taken no child with them. 
 When Nathalie had finished her story she 
 said to her master : " If you blame me for this, 
 I'll jump into the river," and her tone showed 
 clearly that she meant it. Page reassured her, 
 telling her that not the smallest blame was 
 hers, and that she must not jump into the 
 river for the reason that he needed her help 
 in finding the child. The two set about the 
 search and prosecuted it ceaselessly, but with- 
 out result, except that a dressmaker who had
 
 382 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 made many gowns for Eulalie told him his 
 wife had said to her that she was going to 
 send the child to France or Italy to be edu- 
 cated and trained for the stage. The woman 
 added that Mrs. Page had said she was to give 
 this information if any one should inquire 
 about the child. 
 
 [At this point Colonel Shenstone's weakness 
 and weariness under the strain of prolonged 
 attention, was so apparent that Greg Tazewell 
 insisted upon a suspension of the narrative 
 until the next day. The rest of the story, as 
 related afterwards, follows in the succeeding 
 chapters.]
 
 XL 
 
 THE property which Page had given to 
 his wife, and which she had now 
 sold, constituted the greater part of 
 his possessions, but fortunately he had some 
 money in bank and he owned an interest in 
 some steamboats. Converting everything into 
 cash, he set out at once for Europe, taking 
 Nathalie with him to help him in his search 
 there for his child. The loss of his faithless 
 wife would have given him little concern, if 
 the child had been left to him, for Eulalie 
 had never won his affection in any marked 
 way, and even his respect for her had been 
 seriously impaired by the more intimate ac- 
 quaintance with her character which married 
 life had given him. Still I reckon it was just 
 as well that he did not discover the tenor, 
 Signor Minghetti, whose real name was John 
 Lee. The fellow had put such an affront 
 383
 
 384 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 upon him as it was not in Norman Page's 
 nature to endure if he could have met the 
 man. 
 
 Page spent a year or two in his search in 
 France and Italy, and by the time his money 
 was exhausted, he was satisfied that he had 
 been following a wrong scent. There was 
 nothing for him to do but return to America 
 and set to work to repair his fortunes. With 
 his first earnings he established Nathalie in a 
 little business of her own in Canal Street, bid- 
 ding her regard herself thereafter as a white 
 person, a thing likely to be advantageous to 
 her in business, as well as otherwise. " Her 
 taint," he said to me when telling me the story 
 long afterwards, " was so immeasurably small 
 that it was a cruel wrong to recognize it as any 
 taint at all." 
 
 He had given up all hope of ever finding 
 his child, but Nathalie's optimism was more 
 obstinate. Perhaps optimism was all that her 
 trace of negro blood had given to her char- 
 acter. At any rate she continued to hope that 
 some day she should find the child to whom 
 she had given a love closely like that of a
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 385 
 
 mother. A year ago this month her hope 
 was fulfilled. By the merest accident she 
 learned that the girl for whom she had sought 
 through the long years was in a convent 
 school at some little distance from New Or- 
 leans. Fearing that time and possibly an 
 association with her runaway stepmother 
 might so far have changed Val as to render 
 it wiser not to tell Page of her discovery, she 
 decided, with her Creole shrewdness, to make 
 inquiries. Arraying herself in a costume be- 
 fitting a well-to-do gentlewoman, she visited 
 the convent under a pretense of inquiring the 
 terms for some young lady in whom she as- 
 sumed to be interested. 
 
 She was told that the rules of the establish- 
 ment forbade the sisters to receive any pupils 
 over fifteen years of age, or to keep any pupil 
 after she should pass her fifteenth birthday. 
 She was disheartened at this, for she knew 
 that Valorie was more than seventeen, and she 
 argued that her information as to Valerie's 
 presence in the institution, must be erroneous. 
 At that moment she saw two girls walking 
 among the trees of the closely walled grounds.
 
 386 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 In spite of the years she recognized one of 
 them as Valorie. Turning to the sister she 
 said: 
 
 " Surely that tall girl is more than fifteen." 
 
 " No," answered the nun. " We do not 
 know her age exactly, but we are assured by 
 those who are her sponsors that she is only 
 fourteen. Ours is a refuge even more than it 
 is a school, you know, and there are some 
 cases " 
 
 " In which girls are fourteen for a long 
 time," answered Nathalie, with a carefully pla- 
 cative smile. " I see. Of course in such cases 
 you are bound to believe what you are told, 
 and doubtless it is better so." 
 
 I must tell you that Nathalie is educated, 
 as many of her class are in Louisiana, that her 
 manners are altogether those of a lady, and 
 that she has a certain suave self possession 
 that would have made a capital actress of her 
 had she been trained for the stage. 
 
 She could not ask to see Val without ex- 
 citing suspicion, and she knew, too, that it 
 was a violation of the very necessary rules of 
 the convent for any of the girls to receive
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 387 
 
 visitors. But upon pretense of interest in the 
 beauty of the sub-tropical gardens, she stood 
 for a minute by an open window, remaining 
 there till she caught sight of Val again. 
 Then she commented to the nun upon the 
 beauty of " the child," and the peculiar grace 
 of her carriage. The nun replied with an 
 appearance of pleasure in the commendation, 
 saying: 
 
 " She is carefully trained to that, and also 
 in her music. We employ special masters for 
 her she is to go on the stage. She is a 
 very pleasing girl, and her mother, who has 
 just returned from abroad, thinks she will be 
 a greatly successful actress. You should see 
 her dance. She is extraordinary." 
 
 Nathalie took her leave graciously and re- 
 turning to the city, wrote and sent a dozen 
 letters to Norman Page, addressing them to 
 the different cities on the river, and adding 
 to his name, on each of the envelopes, the 
 legend, " pilot or captain of a steamboat," so 
 that each letter would be sent to the head- 
 quarters of the pilot's association in the city 
 to which it was addressed Nathalie feared
 
 388 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 that Eulalie, from whom Page had long be- 
 fore secured a divorce, might remove Val 
 from the school and take her away somewhere 
 before her father's arrival. Now that the 
 woman had returned, something of that kind 
 was more than likely and she gave special 
 emphasis to the danger in all her letters. 
 
 Page was running on the steamboat High- 
 flyer at the time, plying between Louisville 
 and St. Louis. It was at St. Louis that he 
 received one of Nathalie's letters. I happened 
 to be there at the time looking after one of 
 my new steamboat lines. For the moment his 
 mind refused to grasp the truth. In a dazed 
 way he handed the missive to me and I read 
 it. 
 
 " This means," I said, " that you must go 
 to New Orleans at once, and of course I shall 
 go with you. Fortunately the Bald Eagle is 
 just ready to leave, and she's one of the fast- 
 est boats on the river. Don't let her get away 
 without us. Shake yourself together, go on 
 board of her and ask Captain Murdock to hold 
 her till I come. I'll go to the Highflyer and 
 ask Captain Wright to get another pilot in
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 389 
 
 your place. Hurry, or the Eagle will get 
 away before you get there." 
 
 I remember almost the exact words I used, 
 because I was really frightened by his dazed 
 condition, and wanted to rouse him by giving 
 him something to do. He pulled himself to- 
 gether and hurried away. Half an hour later 
 I went aboard the Bald Eagle and she was 
 immediately cast loose. Now you're tired 
 again, Uncle Butler, and must wait and rest 
 before hearing more. There is still a great 
 deal to be told.
 
 XLI 
 
 [It was after dinner when Phil went on 
 with his narrative.] 
 
 ON the way down the river, Norman 
 told me in detail of his fears and his 
 plans. Chiefly his fear was that his 
 ex-wife, Eulalie Lee, might take Valorie and 
 leave the country or go into hiding with her 
 before he could get to New Orleans. As for 
 his plans, he intended to place Val in the keep- 
 ing of some proper person in Virginia, so that 
 she might come to womanhood under those 
 influences which he regarded as best for girls in 
 the formative period of young womanhood. 
 He had himself no near relatives here, and he 
 had been so long absent from the State that he 
 knew no one whom he could ask to receive 
 his daughter, so he appealed to me, and I, 
 confident of your approval, promised him that 
 she should find a home at Woodlands. 
 390
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 391 
 
 A little way below Memphis the Bald 
 Eagle's boilers seven in all and all con- 
 nected contrary to law exploded, tearing 
 the boat literally to pieces and scattering the 
 fragments of her upper works over the river 
 for half a mile in every direction. Page and 
 I were sitting on the forward guards at the 
 time, and both of us were hurled high in air. 
 When I struck the water I sank to so great 
 a depth that although I had my wits about 
 me I had great difficulty in holding my breath 
 long enough to reach the surface. My left arm 
 and my left leg were slightly scalded by the 
 escaping steam, but otherwise I was uninjured. 
 A moment after I got my first full breath, I 
 saw Page come to the surface, and seeing that 
 he was unconscious and about to sink again, 
 I seized him and with some difficulty swam 
 ashore with his half lifeless body. He had 
 inhaled water and was well nigh drowned. 
 On reaching the shore, the people who had 
 hurried from the houses near by, soon relieved 
 his lungs and we had him breathing again. 
 But he was fearfully scalded. 
 
 I had him removed to the nearest house and
 
 392 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 summoned physicians from Memphis, the two 
 volunteer doctors who were present, having 
 far more than they could do in caring for the 
 large number of wounded. Under some pal- 
 liative treatment his suffering was so far re- 
 lieved by nightfall that his mind cleared and 
 he could talk with me. But from the first 
 there was no hope of his recovery. When 
 the doctors, while dressing my own trifling 
 burns, assured me of that, I, knowing how 
 brave a man he was, and knowing, too, that 
 he would have some instructions to give me, 
 frankly told him what the verdict of the 
 physicians was. 
 
 He looked at me out of his brave, gentle 
 eyes, and said, " Thank you, Phil, for telling 
 me. I'm sorry I shall not be able to see my 
 little girl again. But you must look after 
 her, Phil. You must get her out of the con- 
 vent. It won't be easy to do that, but 
 Nathalie will help. Get her out and take her 
 to Virginia. Promise me, Phil." 
 
 I told him I would do as he wished at all 
 costs and all hazards and it seemed to relieve 
 his mind.. He could not talk connectedly.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 393 
 
 His words came in gasps, as if painfully forced 
 out. The doctors explained that by telling 
 me that some of the air passages were scalded. 
 Presently he said: 
 
 " All my money is in your hands, Phil, in- 
 vested in your steamboat enterprises and pay- 
 ing well. Keep it so for Valorie, till she 
 comes of age. If I could write " 
 
 He grew silent for a long time. Then he 
 said : " We are two gentlemen of Virginia 
 we need no writing." 
 
 Those were the last words he spoke and 
 the phrase he used, "two gentlemen of Vir- 
 ginia," has been a talisman with me ever 
 since, a sufficient pledge of honor for me to 
 give or to receive in any dealing with a man 
 of Norman Page's kind.. 
 
 [At this point the lawyer instinct in Colonel 
 Shenstone asserted itself. " Of course, you 
 took out letters of administration?" 
 
 " No," answered Phil. " It didn't occur 
 to me as necessary. All the property was al- 
 ready in my hands, by his own act, and I 
 have so managed it as to double it and more 
 during the last year."
 
 394 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Very irregular ! " exclaimed the old law- 
 yer ; " very irregular indeed ! But go on with 
 your story, Phil." The young man pro- 
 ceeded.] 
 
 I buried my friend in a Memphis cemetery 
 and ordered a temporary stone placed over his 
 grave to mark it. I have since erected a fitter 
 monument to him. I had no time to lose 
 then, but must take the first boat for New 
 Orleans. 
 
 There I went at once to see Nathalie. I 
 found her a woman of unusual shrewdness, 
 with a presence and a manner altogether mod- 
 est but attractive. She had been at pains to 
 learn that Val was still in the convent, but it 
 was not easy to devise means by which to 
 get her out. The ladies of the convent had 
 received their charge at Mrs. Eulalie Lee's 
 hands, as her daughter, Valorie Lee. They 
 could not be expected to surrender her to any- 
 body without Mrs. Lee's authority. It was 
 obviously useless to hope for that. The rules 
 of the convent, like those of all girls' schools, 
 very properly forbade pupils to receive letters 
 except through the hands of those in author-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 395 
 
 ity. It was, therefore, impossible to commu- 
 nicate with Val in the ordinary way. Nathalie 
 was confident, and so was I, that if she could 
 get a note to Val, telling her what to do, she 
 would obey the instruction. But how to ac- 
 complish that was a problem. 
 
 We thought of employing some negro 
 woman to approach the servants in the school, 
 but that would be dangerous in many ways. 
 At last Nathalie hit upon a plan. She had 
 learned that most, if not all the girls in the 
 convent, were the daughters of actresses or 
 other women who for one reason or another 
 could not keep their daughters with them. 
 She had among her customers one woman of 
 the stage, who, as leading lady in a New Or- 
 leans stock company, did in fact live perma- 
 nently in the city, with her daughter, a bright, 
 intelligent child of twelve. But her profes- 
 sion would sufficiently account for a wish on 
 her part to place the girl in the school. Na- 
 thalie believed she could induce this lady to 
 assist us. Her plan was to have the lady 
 visit the school, inquire terms and conditions 
 of admission, and then ask the privilege of
 
 396 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 placing her daughter there for a few days or 
 a week, to see if the child could be happy and 
 contented in the institution, before deciding to 
 place her there permanently. Nathalie's plan 
 was, if she could gain the mother's consent, to 
 take the girl into the secret and entrust a letter 
 to her for secret delivery to Val. 
 
 The mother was a good-natured, obliging 
 sort of person, fond of Nathalie and always in 
 her debt for " creations " in the way of costly 
 gowns and the like. Moreover she was the- 
 atrical to her finger-tips, and the idea of play- 
 ing a leading part in a little drama in real 
 life seemed to appeal strongly to her. As 
 soon as the situation was explained to her she 
 entered heartily into the scheme. 
 
 I had some very pressing affairs to attend 
 to up the river, so as soon as matters were 
 in train, I left Nathalie to execute her plan, 
 instructing her to telegraph me as soon as she 
 should get possession of Val, and then to get 
 out of Louisiana with her as soon as possible. 
 In aid of that I ordered one of my steamboat 
 captains to lie at the levee, with steam partially 
 up until Nathalie should come on board with
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 397 
 
 her charge. He was then to leave at once, 
 landing the two at Memphis, whence Nathalie 
 was to come immediately to Richmond by the 
 Memphis & .Charleston railroad and its con- 
 nections, and meet me at the Exchange Hotel. 
 
 Nathalie managed the matter skilfully. She 
 prepared a long letter to Val, telling her of 
 her stepmother's plans to sell her to the stage 
 a thing that Val already knew and intensely 
 dreaded. She explained that she, Nathalie, 
 acting with Val's best friends, meant to rescue 
 her and take her to live in Virginia. Na- 
 thalie remembered how Val had learned from 
 her father to think of Virginia as a promised 
 land. She instructed Val to slip out of the 
 convent grounds in any way she could and 
 on #ny day she could; that a carriage, with 
 Nathalie in it, would await her at a point 
 designated, a short distance from the convent 
 gates. 
 
 Nathalie patiently waited there in the car- 
 riage from ten till five every day for many 
 days. Then at last Val managed to slip out 
 and join her. You know the rest of that 
 story.
 
 398 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Now Eulalie Lee, instigated I suppose by 
 her tenor companion, though I know nothing 
 about that, is trying either to recover Val and 
 exploit her, or to extort money from us. She 
 must know that she can't get Val, but she and 
 her rascally lawyers think they may succeed 
 in extorting money. They tried the game 
 with you first, Uncle Butler, and you seem 
 to have frightened them off. Now they are 
 trying to scare money out of me. They have 
 written to me twice, and if you wish I'll read 
 their letters. 
 
 [After reading the communications, Phil 
 finished in few words.] 
 
 " I'm going to town to-morrow to explain 
 the case to my lawyers. I think they'll know 
 how to put an end to the annoyance."
 
 XLII 
 
 WHEN Phil had finished his story, 
 Colonel Shenstone said to him : 
 " I have been greatly interested, 
 Phil, and I have a general conviction that those 
 fellows can't seriously annoy you. But since 
 this last illness I find it difficult to grasp and 
 remember all the details of such a case. I 
 think you said you had engaged a lawyer." 
 
 " Yes, I felt that in your weakened condi- 
 tion, Uncle, you ought not to be bothered, so 
 I have retained an attorney in Richmond. I 
 hope you do not think " 
 
 "Oh, not at all. I'm glad of that. But 
 you'd better see your counsel to-morrow. I 
 think I'll go to bed now. I've been up most 
 of the day, and I'm tired." 
 
 Valorie summoned his servant and herself 
 made preliminary arrangements for her uncle's 
 comfort. As she did so she observed certain 
 399
 
 400 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 manifestations of weakness or something else 
 on his part, which she had never seen before. 
 Especially she observed the uncertainty of his 
 motions. He would miss objects which he at- 
 tempted to touch with his hands, and his hands 
 trembled more than she had ever known them 
 to do before. When he walked he seemed 
 about to fall and had to hurry, almost to run, 
 in order to keep his feet under his person. 
 
 " Sit down here, Uncle Butler," the girl 
 said, gently forcing him into an easy chair. 
 " You are not to try to unbutton your collar 
 or do anything else for yourself. Henry will 
 undress you. You're very tired. There! 
 Now Henry has your slippers off, and he'll do 
 all the rest. I'll send Mr. Phil in here to 
 superintend and to help lift you into bed. 
 He's so strong, you know, and so gentle." 
 
 The old man laid his hand upon hers, as if 
 to detain her. 
 
 " You are a dear Little Minx," he said. 
 " You won't go away, will you, Little Minx ? " 
 
 " No, Uncle Butler. I'll always be within 
 call when you want me."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 401 
 
 " You won't go away with who is it ? 
 That woman, I mean ? " 
 
 " Never, Uncle, never, never, never." 
 
 "Thank you. Good night Little Minx. 
 You're so good to me ! " 
 
 Valorie was too much alarmed for tears. 
 She asked Phil to go to his uncle's assistance, 
 and then sought Greg Tazewell. Telling him 
 what she had observed, she begged him to tell 
 her what it meant. 
 
 " Feebleness, mainly," he replied evasively. 
 
 "What else?" she demanded. "You are 
 keeping something back." 
 
 " That is hardly a just charge," he an- 
 swered. " If I reserved anything it was only 
 a fear, and not anything that I know." 
 
 " Tell me, please." 
 
 " It isn't easy to say just what I think, 
 because there are uncertainties to be allowed 
 for. But Colonel Shenstone has aged very 
 rapidly since last summer. He is in effect a 
 much older man than the number of his years 
 would indicate. He is only seventy or sev- 
 enty-one, I believe, and a year ago he seemed
 
 402 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 much younger even than that. But his present 
 physical condition is that of a much older 
 man. I had already observed the tendency 
 you speak of, the involuntary impulse to run 
 when he attempts to walk. That, taken in 
 connection with the tremor of his hands, in- 
 dicates a condition which we call festination, 
 or hurrying." 
 
 " Is there nothing to be done for it ? " 
 " No. It is a symptom of trouble with the 
 blood circulation in the brain. The difficulty 
 he spoke of in the matter of grasping details 
 and remembering them is another indication of 
 the same sort. There is no remedy either for 
 these things or for the condition of which they 
 are merely symptoms. There is nothing to be 
 done but watch him, keep him comfortable and 
 have his servant always by his side when he is 
 on his feet. He might fall, you know. I've 
 already told Henry what he is to do in that re- 
 spect. As Phil really must go to town in the 
 morning I think I'll ride over early and remain 
 here during the day." 
 
 Valorie choked back the lump that had 
 formed in her throat, and asked:
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 403 
 
 " Dr. Tazewell, is Uncle Butler going to 
 die ? Is that what you mean ? " 
 
 " No, Miss Valorie. I do not think he is 
 going to die at present, probably not for 
 a long time to come. Indeed I expect pres- 
 ently to see him much better than he is now. 
 But just now it is desirable to watch him 
 closely, to protect him against all excitement, 
 and to keep his surroundings as peaceful as 
 possible. In the immediate present, too, there 
 are possibilities to be considered and to be 
 prepared for. One of these is the possibility 
 of a brain hemorrhage. Should that happen 
 as I sincerely hope it may not it would 
 be necessary to have a strong man present, 
 other than the servants and more intelligent. 
 Perhaps I am unduly cautious. But I think 
 I had better be here whenever Phil is not." 
 
 Valorie was deeply moved, and without 
 another word she passed up the stairs, and 
 Greg rode away. 
 
 It was after supper that Valorie met Phil 
 Shenstone alone for the first time after the 
 completion of his narrative. With less of 
 reserve than she had shown toward him at any
 
 404 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 time since his return to Virginia, and indeed 
 with a good deal of the old frank cordiality, 
 she said to him: 
 
 " Mr. Phil, you can't think how I thank 
 you ! " 
 
 "For what, Val?" 
 
 " For loving my father and honoring and 
 defending his memory. You'd know what I 
 mean if you knew what that woman that 
 vampire told me about him. Mr. Phil ? " 
 
 " Yes, Valorie." 
 
 " Won't you tell me about the tombstone ? 
 I want to know what it is like, so that I may 
 picture it in my mind. Some day I'm going 
 out there to see it for myself, and to place 
 some flowers on it. But describe it to me 
 now, won't you ? " 
 
 " Fortunately I can do better than that, Val. 
 I have the architect's drawing of it in one of 
 my trunks. If you'll wait a little while I'll 
 bring it to you." 
 
 The girl clapped her hands in glee, as any 
 ten-year-old child might have done, for joy 
 and sorrow, grief and gladness lay always
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 405 
 
 close together in her strangely sincere and 
 sympathetic soul. 
 
 " The child and the woman are curiously 
 blended in her nature," Phil reflected as he 
 mounted the stairs. " God grant that noth- 
 ing may ever happen to make it otherwise." 
 
 For the next hour the two sat together, 
 Valorie studying the beautifully simple pro- 
 portions of the shaft, and questioning him 
 minutely concerning it. The inscription carved 
 upon the granite was written below the draw- 
 ing, and Valorie knew it by heart when she 
 handed the sheet back to him. 
 
 " You may keep it if you like," he said. 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Phil."
 
 XLIII 
 
 THE next day Phil fully laid the facts 
 of his case before Colonel Minor, his 
 counsel. After asking all the ques- 
 tions that seemed to him necessary concerning 
 the abduction, Colonel Minor sat musing for 
 awhile. Phil, impatient to know his opinion, 
 asked : 
 
 " Have Stone & Maxey been to see you 
 about this?" 
 
 " No, and I don't think they will come. 
 On such a state of facts they must know they 
 haven't any case against you. They have 
 tried to scare a settlement out of you and they 
 have failed. They were trading upon the 
 fact that you were a layman in the law, and 
 they will hardly try anything of that kind on 
 me or my partner Guigon. Still there's one 
 possibility that we mustn't overlook." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 406
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 407 
 
 " Why, that they don't really know the 
 facts. That woman may have colored them 
 or she may have misstated them, or withheld 
 vital details. Designing women often do that, 
 you know, even with their own lawyers." 
 
 " But that is a foolish thing to do ! " 
 
 " Of course it is, but it is often done. You 
 see, the lawyers in this case persist in speaking 
 of Miss Page as this woman's daughter. It 
 is not unlikely that their client has told them 
 so and sticks to it. If it were true it would 
 make all the difference imaginable." 
 
 " How so ? It wouldn't enable them to 
 prove that I kidnapped the young woman." 
 
 " No, but it might enable them to give a 
 good deal of trouble on Miss Page's account. 
 You see, if she were really Mrs. Lee's daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Lee would be entitled to her guard- 
 ianship, and in order to deprive her of that 
 right we should have to prove affirmatively 
 that she is a woman of bad character, unfit 
 to have custody of her own child. However, 
 you say you can prove that she is not the 
 mother? " 
 
 "Yes, easily. Miss Page has the certifi-
 
 4 o8 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 cates of both her father's marriages and of 
 her own birth. I procured the latter in official 
 form from New Orleans. I thought it might 
 be needed." 
 
 " That was very wise. Unless the woman 
 has been deceiving Stone & Maxey and 
 they are not persons whom I should think it 
 easy to deceive they will take no further 
 steps looking to your prosecution. Indeed, I 
 think we may dismiss that as a thing settled. 
 But if she has deceived them and still claims 
 to be Miss Page's mother, they may give us 
 some trouble on the young lady's account. 
 Has anybody ever been appointed her guard- 
 ian?" 
 
 " Not within my knowledge." 
 
 " How much does her interest in your 
 steamboat enterprises amount to?" 
 
 " About thirty thousand dollars now it 
 has doubled within a year." 
 
 " Is it in the form of stock certificates ? " 
 
 " No, we aren't a corporation." 
 
 " That's rather a pity. Still we may be 
 able to do something. Do you know anybody 
 who would buy her interest for cash ? "
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 409 
 
 " I'd do it myself," Phil answered, " but 
 for the fact that it is earning more as it is 
 than the cash would earn, and I am planning 
 things that will double it again within a year. 
 It would be a pity to have her lose that 
 prospect. However, I can arrange that. I 
 might buy her interest and then, when she 
 comes of age, sell it back to her, as of this 
 date, with its share of the increase added. 
 But why do you think this necessary ? " 
 
 " Why simply because Miss Page has only 
 a residence in Virginia. If she had prop- 
 erty within this state, I would advise that she 
 select a guardian yourself or someone else. 
 She would then be under the care of the 
 chancery court, and that court would not per- 
 mit anybody to remove her from the state or 
 to assume custody of her person except by its 
 own decree upon a satisfactory showing of 
 necessity." 
 
 " Then if she had property in this state, you 
 could create a situation which would com- 
 pletely free her from the possibility of annoy- 
 ance?" 
 
 " Yes easily and certainly."
 
 410 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Very well. She shall have thirty thou- 
 sand dollars in Virginia Sixes in the Farmers' 
 Bank of Virginia before nightfall. And when 
 she comes of age she shall have a sum 
 sufficient to make good the loss involved to 
 her and the gain to me by reason of the with- 
 drawal of her steamboat investments. 
 
 " The bonds will be in the bank to her 
 credit at the opening of business to-morrow 
 morning. Please institute the necessary pro- 
 ceedings in the guardianship matter at once. 
 Is there any thing for her or for me to do ? " 
 
 " Not much. She will be summoned to the 
 circuit court in your county it is sitting 
 now and asked to choose a guardian for 
 herself. The person chosen should be present, 
 prepared to execute the required bond, though 
 that is not necessary. That is all." 
 
 Phil Shenstone was accustomed to Western 
 ways of business. It was his habit, when his 
 mind was made up as to what he wanted to 
 do, to do it out of hand. When he left the 
 lawyer's office he went at once to his bank, 
 inquired the amount of his balance, drew upon 
 his bankers at the West for the additional
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 411 
 
 sum needed, and had the amount placed to his 
 credit. Then he opened negotiations for the 
 Virginia Sixes, purchased them and placed 
 them in the vaults of the Farmers' Bank of 
 Virginia in a box marked with Valerie's 
 name, and subject to her order. 
 
 This done he mounted and rode to Wood- 
 lands, where he arrived just in time for the 
 four o'clock dinner. 
 
 Greg Tazewell rode away almost imme- 
 diately after dinner, and as soon as he had 
 gone, Phil secured audience with Valorie. 
 
 " Val," he said, " I've bought out all your 
 steamboat interests, and invested the money 
 for you in Virginia six per cent, bonds. The 
 bonds are in the Farmers' Bank of Virginia 
 for safekeeping. They have a face value of 
 thirty thousand dollars, but they could be sold 
 for more than that, as they are at a premium." 
 
 "What a lot of money, Mr. Phil," ex- 
 claimed the girl. " I hope it didn't embar- 
 rass you to well, to do whatever you had 
 to do in arranging it." 
 
 " Not at all. You see, a man who owns 
 many steamboats must always keep a pretty
 
 412 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 large sum of money in bank where he can put 
 his hand on it at a moment's notice." 
 
 "Why is that, Mr. Phil?" 
 
 " Oh, for several reasons. He may sud- 
 denly have to buy a steamboat, or one of his 
 boats may burn or sink or any one of a dozen 
 other things may happen which make it nec- 
 essary for him to have a good deal of ready 
 money. So I always keep good balances in 
 Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and New Or- 
 leans. When I found it necessary to-day to 
 buy out your interests I had only to make a 
 draught upon one of my bank accounts, for 
 the necessary money." 
 
 " Oh, I see," she said, " I'm glad it didn't 
 bother you." 
 
 " I hope you sanction the transaction? " he 
 said. 
 
 " Why, of course. You know all about 
 such things, and whatever you do is right." 
 
 " You are a strange girl, Val." 
 
 "In what way, Mr. Phil?" 
 
 " Any other woman would have wanted to 
 know all about this thing, and why I did it, 
 and a score of other things, while you ask no
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 413 
 
 more questions about it than you would if I 
 had told you I had bought you a box of 
 candy." 
 
 " Why should I ? " she asked. " My father 
 placed his money in your hands and told you 
 to manage it for me, didn't he ? " 
 
 "Yes, but" 
 
 "Well, then why should I question you 
 about how you manage it? That would be a 
 reflection upon both my father and you." 
 
 " But what if I want to tell you about it ? " 
 
 " Oh, you are to tell me whatever you like, 
 of course. That's quite different." 
 
 " Very well. I did this under the advice of 
 my lawyer, Colonel Minor, by way of putting 
 an end to the pestilent activity of the woman 
 you called a vampire, and her disreputable 
 lawyers." 
 
 " You don't mean you have paid them any 
 money, or are to pay them any ? " The ques- 
 tion was asked in an indignant tone. 
 
 " Not a cent," he replied. " I'd go to jail 
 rather than do that. But Colonel Minor ad- 
 vises me that if you own property of any kind 
 in Virginia and are living here, the court will
 
 414 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 appoint a guardian for you, who will have 
 control of your affairs until you come of age. 
 So I have converted your steamboat property 
 into State bonds. Presently you will be asked 
 to go to the court and choose a guardian." 
 
 " That will be you, of course, Mr. Phil." 
 
 " I think not. You see, Val, I'm getting 
 Mrs. Spottswood's affairs into good shape 
 now, and as soon as you have a guardian ap- 
 pointed my work in Virginia will be done. I 
 am going West then, to carry out some large 
 plans I have formed." 
 
 Valerie's face clouded, not with anger, but 
 with disappointment. He was not looking at 
 her at the moment, and so he did not see the 
 expression, but went on to say : 
 
 " And anyhow, it will be better to have 
 Greg in the place." 
 
 "Am I free to choose?" she asked coldly, 
 and making no other response to his sugges- 
 tion. 
 
 " Yes, entirely so." 
 
 " Then as you decline to serve, I'm going to 
 write to Judge Albemarle and ask him to be
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 415 
 
 my guardian. I don't want to be under obli- 
 gations of any kind to Dr. Tazewell." 
 
 Without waiting for his reply she glided 
 into the house, going at once to Colonel Shen- 
 stone's chamber. 
 
 Phil was doubly puzzled. The tone in 
 which she had spoken of his having " de- 
 clined " to serve, was an injured one, and 
 he could in no wise guess why it should be so. 
 Still more puzzling was her prompt refusal to 
 have Greg Tazewell for her guardian, and her 
 curious explanation that she did not wish to be 
 under obligation to him. Phil gave up the 
 riddle presently, and dismissed the matter from 
 his mind as " only one more inscrutable mani- 
 festation of the feminine character." 
 
 When he met her at supper she seemed pre- 
 occupied and not quite happy he thought. But 
 she entered freely into such conversation as 
 arose between the two. Valorie might be an- 
 gry, or hurt in her sensibilities, but she was 
 never sulky.
 
 XLIV 
 
 JUDGE ALBEMARLE was at breakfast 
 when he received Valerie's letter asking 
 him to act as her guardian. He read the 
 missive twice, with curiosity. Then he passed 
 it to Mrs. Albemarle, saying : " See if you 
 can make out what it means, Mattie." 
 She read the lines as follows : 
 
 " I wonder if your being a judge will: pre- 
 vent you from doing me a favor? Or is it 
 contempt of court for me to ask such a thing ? 
 It seems I must have a guardian. I'm sure I 
 often think I need one, but that is only when 
 I do very foolish things, and I can't think of 
 anything very foolish that I've been doing 
 lately. Still, Mr. Phil's lawyers have decided 
 that I must have a guardian and I suppose I 
 must. I want you to be that for me if you 
 will. You aren't my first choice, of course. 
 My father left all his money in Mr. Phil's 
 416
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 417 
 
 hands and he has taken care of it for me till 
 now. I asked him to be my guardian and go 
 on taking care of it, but he can't, because he is 
 going away to the West again and doesn't 
 mean to come back ever. So I've decided to 
 ask you to do it for me. Will you ? " 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle made no effort to explain 
 the matter. Instead she said: 
 
 "Jack, I must see Phil Shenstone immedi- 
 ately. I'll send him a note after breakfast. 
 You'll write to Valorie and tell her you'll 
 serve, won't you ? " 
 
 " Of course. Ordinary gallantry requires 
 that; but I can't imagine what it all means." 
 
 " It means that somebody has been more 
 than ordinarily stupid. I'll tell you all about 
 it after I have seen Phil." 
 
 When she had finished her breakfast she 
 kept her promise of writing to Phil. Her let- 
 ter was a thoroughly diplomatic one, effectu- 
 ally concealing the purpose with which it was 
 written. It contained no reference to Valorie 
 or Valorie's affairs, and it made no mention 
 of her letter to Judge Albemarle.
 
 418 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " I want to see you, Phil, at the earliest time 
 you can make it convenient to come to me. 
 Indeed I must see you, about some perplexing 
 things I have on my mind. I want to consult 
 with you. You see, Jack is of no account in 
 such things. His head is too full of ' prece- 
 dents ' and ' rulings ' and ' statutes, in that case 
 made and provided.' So come to me, please, 
 as soon as you can. You needn't mind about 
 the ' customary hours of calling ' or anything 
 of that kind." 
 
 In the postscript she said : 
 
 " I suppose you're madly in love with Edna 
 Spottswood by this time. I'm rather sorry for 
 that, for a young man in love with a girl who 
 lives out of town is of no account socially, and 
 I'm planning a lot of things for this spring." 
 
 In the restlessness that afflicted him at that 
 time, Phil welcomed the prospect of the diver- 
 sion which a response to this invitation prom- 
 ised, and he would have set off for Richmond 
 at once if that had been permitted. But Col- 
 onel Minor had hastened matters. The court
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 419 
 
 was in session for the county in which Wood- 
 lands lay, and when it should adjourn it 
 would not meet again for several months. 
 Accordingly Colonel Minor sent a note to Phil 
 asking him to have Valorie at the Court 
 House, a few miles from Woodlands, on the 
 afternoon of the day on which Mrs. Albe- 
 marle's letter was received. 
 
 Phil escorted her to the county seat of course, 
 where the business was quickly adjusted, but 
 it was nearly nightfall when the returning car- 
 riage reached Woodlands. Phil must there- 
 fore delay his visit until the morrow. 
 
 Colonel Shenstone was particularly bright 
 and cheerful that evening. He was rejoicing 
 that Valorie was now safe from further an- 
 noyance, and in his satisfaction he insisted that 
 his " Little Minx " should sit by his easy chair 
 in the chamber and talk to him gently. He 
 dismissed Phil as a superfluous person on that 
 occasion, saying : " Amuse yourself, my boy, 
 in any way you please. I just want my Little 
 Minx with me and nobody else." 
 
 The old man and the young woman talked 
 long and lovingly together with nothing to in-
 
 420 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 terfere, for Valorie was too perfectly mistress 
 of herself to let him see the shadow that had 
 rested upon her spirit ever since Phil had so 
 unemotionally told her of his purpose to go 
 away. 
 
 Phil meanwhile sat in his room, with 
 plans, estimates and other papers spread upon 
 the table before him. For now that Valorie 
 was safe and Mrs. Spottswood's affairs in the 
 hands of capable lawyers, he meant to quit 
 the scene of his disappointment almost imme- 
 diately. He wanted to perfect his plans so 
 that he might be ready for action the moment 
 he should reach the West. 
 
 " Besides," he reflected, " I'm not very good 
 company for myself just now. I need distrac- 
 tion, and work over my plans will keep me 
 from thinking too much." 
 
 When he rose next morning the young man 
 dressed himself in riding costume, meaning to 
 set out for Richmond immediately after break- 
 fast, and return in time for supper. 
 
 As he and Valorie sat at breakfast, Colonel 
 Shenstone, walking very unsteadily and sup- 
 ported by his servant, entered the room. It
 
 OH, UNCLE BUTLER, WHAT is THE MATTER?" Page 421.
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 421 
 
 was his custom, now that he seemed to be 
 growing stronger again, to take his meals at 
 table with the others, and so his coming did 
 not surprise Phil or Valorie. But as Valorie 
 looked up to greet him she exclaimed with 
 alarm and distress in her voice : 
 
 "Oh, Uncle Butler, what is the matter! 
 What has happened ? " 
 
 Shuffling into his chair, he tried to answer, 
 " Nothing," but the word was uttered thickly 
 and with difficulty, while his face was strangely 
 distorted. One eye drooped until it was well 
 nigh closed, and one side of his mouth sagged 
 as if its muscles had been paralyzed. One arm 
 hung limp and useless, and one leg was under 
 scarcely better control. When seated he man- 
 ifested a tendency to fall over sideways, so 
 that it was necessary for his servant to sup- 
 port him. 
 
 Phil guessed at once what was the matter, 
 and he gave his orders promptly. To the din- 
 ing-room servant he said : 
 
 " Send Dick for Dr. Tazewell at once. Tell 
 him to ride my horse and to push him every 
 inch of the way."
 
 422 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Then to Colonel Shenstone's body servant 
 he said : 
 
 " Help me get him back to bed ;" and to 
 Valorie, who was ordering hot water, mustard 
 and everything else she could think of, he 
 said: 
 
 " Never mind things of that sort, Val. 
 There is nothing whatever to be done till Greg 
 comes, except put him to bed, and there is no 
 immediate danger, dear ! " 
 
 Even in her distress she observed the un- 
 accustomed term of endearment. As matters 
 stood between her and Phil she would have 
 been more or less than a woman if she had 
 not. 
 
 " But can't we soothe his pain? " she asked. 
 
 " He has no pain, I think." 
 
 The old man confirmed this assurance, say- 
 ing with difficulty " No pain, Little Minx, 
 no pain." 
 
 " Thank God for that much ! " she ex- 
 claimed, and she waited anxiously for Phil to 
 come out of the chamber again. When he 
 did so she asked with strained face and falter- 
 ing voice:
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 423 
 
 "What is it, Mr. Phil? Tell me, tell me, 
 tell me." 
 
 " A stroke of some kind," he answered, " a 
 cerebral hemorrhage, I think. It is what is 
 called apoplexy, if I am not mistaken. Greg 
 will know, and he will be here within the hour. 
 When he sees that Dick is riding my horse, 
 he'll know the call is a hurried one and he'll 
 ride hard, you may be sure." 
 
 In his thought he added : 
 
 " I wish I could believe his coming would 
 do any good," but he did not utter the words. 
 
 " Are you sure he has no pain ? " she asked 
 anxiously. " His features are horribly dis- 
 torted." 
 
 " Yes, I'm sure of that, Val. Apoplexy 
 tends to paralyze the sense of pain. I doubt 
 that he would feel it if a pin were thrust into 
 his flesh on the side affected. The distortion 
 of his features is due simply to the absence of 
 nervous control over the muscles, I think." 
 
 Then, with a loving purpose to distract the 
 poor girl's mind and occupy her attention un- 
 til Greg should come, he said : 
 
 " I wish you'd go at once, Val, and write
 
 424 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 to Mrs. Albemarle about this. He was her 
 guardian in her girlhood, you know, and she 
 dearly loves him. She loves you, too, and will 
 want to come to us in our affliction. Write to 
 her, and I'll send a special messenger to carry 
 your note by the ten-thirty train." 
 
 He intended to send also by the messenger, 
 a telegraphic despatch to be forwarded from 
 the railroad station, but he wanted Valorie to 
 write the letter for the sake of the relief it 
 would give her to do so. 
 
 Soon after she completed the task, Greg 
 Tazewell came. When he came out of the 
 chamber after examining his patient, he con- 
 firmed Phil's conjecture as to the nature of the 
 attack. 
 
 In answer to Valerie's anxious questions he 
 said : 
 
 " He will probably recover from the attack. 
 There is a blood clot, producing pressure on 
 the brain. It will, in all likelihood, be slowly 
 absorbed. Meanwhile he will suffer no pain. 
 There is nothing to be done to hasten the proc- 
 ess of absorption. He needs no medicine. 
 We can only keep him quiet, and if he recov-
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 425 
 
 ers sufficiently to walk about, his servant must 
 be always by his side. He might fall, you 
 know." 
 
 He did not say to Valorie as he did to Phil 
 when they two were alone : 
 
 " It is the beginning of the end, you know. 
 He will probably get better of this attack, but 
 another and a severer one is inevitable, and it 
 may come at any moment. When it does, it 
 will probably make an end of him quickly."
 
 XLV 
 
 MORE for the satisfaction of Valorie 
 than because of any need of his pres- 
 ence or any good he could do, Greg 
 Tazewell decided to remain at Woodlands dur- 
 ing most of the day. 
 
 In the late afternoon Mrs. Albemarle ar- 
 rived, greatly to Valerie's relief. Mrs. Albe- 
 marle had the gift of cheering others and 
 comforting them, in a very unusual measure, 
 and her presence was almost a benediction to 
 the younger woman, the more so when she 
 announced her purpose to remain at Wood- 
 lands until Colonel Shenstone should get bet- 
 ter of the attack. Under her inspiration the 
 house took on a more cheerful aspect than it 
 would otherwise have done, while to Valorie 
 her presence afforded a very much needed 
 companionship. 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle said nothing to Phil about 
 any of the supposititious concerns she had pro- 
 426
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 427 
 
 fessed to have on her mind, but Phil easily 
 explained this to himself. The things she had 
 wished to consult him about, he thought, were 
 matters of social entertainment, and these she 
 very naturally put aside under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 At the end of a week, Colonel Shenstone's 
 condition was so far improved that she decided 
 to return to town on the morrow. During 
 the evening she managed to be left alone with 
 Phil for half an hour or so, managing also to 
 make the fact seem quite accidental. 
 
 " Valorie tells me you think of going to the 
 West pretty soon, Phil," she said in an entirely 
 casual way, as if merely making conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 " Yes," he answered. " Now that Val is 
 secure against annoyance I am anxious to get 
 back to my work. I'm planning some large 
 enterprises, and the time is ripe for carrying 
 them out. I'm rather impatient to get away, 
 and but for my uncle's attack I should be 
 leaving immediately. As it is I shall go as 
 soon as he is well enough for me to leave 
 him."
 
 428 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " So you really think he is going to get well 
 enough for that ? " 
 
 " I sincerely hope so." 
 
 "Does Greg encourage that hope?" 
 
 " Yes, in a way." 
 
 " I see, only ' in a way ' and not very 
 confidently. I've talked with him, and I'm 
 afraid I don't quite believe he's as hopeful as 
 he pretends. Still I hope it will prove to be 
 so. How queer it was in Valorie to ask 
 Jack Judge Albemarle, I should say to 
 serve as her guardian ! Wasn't it ? " 
 
 " Yes, it surprised me a good deal. I 
 thought she would have chosen Greg Taze- 
 well for that part, in view of the circum- 
 stances." 
 
 "What circumstances? I fear I'm dull, 
 but I don't understand." 
 
 " Why, of course she is going to marry him ; 
 they're betrothed." 
 
 "Are they? I hadn't heard of that. In- 
 deed you surprise me with the news. I should 
 have expected Valorie to tell me of such a 
 thing as that." 
 
 " I'm surprised that neither she nor Greg
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 429 
 
 has ever spoken to me about it either," he 
 replied. " I've been expecting to be taken into 
 their confidence, but they haven't told me, 
 yet." 
 
 " Have you asked either of them about it? " 
 
 " No, naturally not. It would have been an 
 intrusion, so long as they did not see fit to 
 volunteer the information." 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle rose as if to pass from the 
 porch into the house, paused a moment, stoop- 
 ing to pluck an early blooming flower that 
 grew near the steps, and then turning her face 
 full upon him said, with a queer smile upon 
 her lips : 
 
 " Phil Shenstone, for a brainy man you are 
 most interestingly stupid! But men always 
 are stupid especially brainy men." 
 
 Without explanation and without waiting 
 for a reply, the clever woman retreated into 
 the house to join Valerie. 
 
 Phil resolved at once to " have this thing 
 out " with her, to seize the first opportunity 
 for further private converse, and to question 
 her closely as to her meaning. But in so plan- 
 ning he did not sufficiently allow for Mrs. Al-
 
 430 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 bemarle's cleverness, or sufficiently appreciate 
 her resolute determination that he should have 
 no such opportunity. Without seeming to 
 avoid private speech with him, and with an 
 artfulness that concealed art, she so managed 
 as to see him only in the presence of others 
 during that evening and the next morning. 
 She had said all she intended to say, all that 
 she believed she could say without disloyalty 
 to her sex, and she did not intend to submit to 
 any questioning on the subject. 
 
 After she entered her carriage next morn- 
 ing, and just as the driver was ready to give 
 rein to the horses, Phil thrust his head into 
 the carriage upon some pretense of adjusting 
 the lap cloths, and said hurriedly : 
 
 " Tell me what you meant last night." 
 
 She answered quickly : 
 
 " It's of no use. There never was a man 
 who could understand what a woman means. 
 Drive on Frederick. Good-bye, Valorie." 
 
 The next moment she was whirled away by 
 the impatient horses, eager to stretch their 
 muscles after a week of idleness in stable and 
 paddock.
 
 XLVI 
 
 PHIL SHENSTONE was puzzled. 
 There seemed to be some subtly hid- 
 den meaning, something suggestive of 
 a hint, in her words both those spoken the 
 evening before, and those with which she had 
 taken leave. Still more was there a sugges- 
 tion of that kind in her manner. He strolled 
 about the plantation for an hour or so trying 
 to read the riddle. The trouble was that in 
 both cases the words were open to two con- 
 structions. When she had called him "stu- 
 pid," she might have referred to his sensitive- 
 ness about intruding upon the reserve of Greg 
 and Valorie, or she might have meant to cast 
 doubt upon the accuracy of his conviction that 
 they two were betrothed. Still more manifest 
 was the equivocal character of her morning's 
 reply to his question as to her meaning, 
 " there never was a man who could under- 
 431
 
 432 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 stand what a woman means." Did she refer 
 to his inability to understand her words of the 
 night before? Or did she mean to suggest 
 that perhaps he had misinterpreted Valorie's 
 attitude and sentiment toward Greg Tazewell ? 
 
 Question the matter as he might, he could 
 in no wise interpret the oracular sentences. 
 
 Presently an illuminating thought arose in 
 his mind. 
 
 "Why should I not ask Greg? We are 
 gentlemen and we are friends. Mrs. Albe- 
 marle's words and manner seem to suggest a 
 possibility that I have mistaken the situation. 
 In my mind that doubt is a very slender one, 
 but still it is a doubt. I have a right to have 
 it resolved. I have a right to ask Greg to 
 tell me frankly what the facts are, and he is 
 bound to tell me. I'll do that, though I am 
 convinced that I know the facts already. Un- 
 der the circumstances it will not be an imperti- 
 nence, and he cannot so regard it." 
 
 It was Phil's habit to act promptly when he 
 had once decided to act at all. He quickened 
 his leisurely stroll into a brisk walk, and when 
 he learned from Valorie that Greg was not to
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 433 
 
 visit Woodlands that day unless summoned, 
 he ordered his horse, saying to Valorie : 
 
 " I feel the need of exercise. Uncle does 
 not need me this morning and so I think I 
 shall go for a long ride." 
 
 His horse was a powerful one, and fresh. 
 His own impatience grew upon him as he rode, 
 and the gait he chose for the greater part of 
 the way was a gallop. 
 
 Greg was reading in the porch when he rode 
 up. He rose hastily and throwing his book 
 aside hurried to meet his friend, asking anx- 
 iously : 
 
 " Is Colonel Shenstone worse ? Has he had 
 another stroke ? " 
 
 Phil reassured him and entered the porch 
 with him. Impatient as he was to reach re- 
 sults, he was determined to make no hasty ap- 
 proach to the subject in his mind. The matter 
 was one to be mentioned only with dignity and 
 a certain deference. Phil, therefore, permit- 
 ted the conversation to run in customary chan- 
 nels for a time. He spoke of Greg's spring 
 plowing, which he had observed as he rode 
 through the plantation. He asked about a
 
 434 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 clearing of new grounds which had been done 
 during the winter, and talked of such other 
 commonplace subjects as suggested themselves 
 to his mind. 
 
 After awhile he interrupted all this, to say : 
 
 " Greg, you and I are friends. We are 
 two gentlemen of Virginia, and each of us 
 perfectly knows that the other could not be 
 guilty of impertinent intrusion. But there are 
 circumstances which may warrant either in 
 asking ttie other a question which ordinarily 
 he would have no right to ask and indeed 
 would never think of asking." 
 
 " My dear Phil," interrupted the other, " I 
 can't imagine what it is you want to ask, but 
 I give you the fullest leave to ask it, what- 
 ever it is. I promise not to think of it as 
 intrusive or in anyway unwarranted. What is 
 it?" 
 
 "Thank you," said Phil. "I have been 
 wondering why you and Val are so strangely 
 reticent with me. In view of my close friend- 
 ship for both of you, I have been unable to 
 understand why neither of you has directly 
 told me of your engagement."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 435 
 
 Greg rose, slowly filled a pipe, motioning 
 Phil to do the same, and called to a " chap " 
 as a young negro was always called in Vir- 
 ginia to bring a coal of fire, before reply- 
 ing. Perhaps he needed a little time to con- 
 quer some feeling. At last he said: 
 
 " The explanation is very simple, Phil. We 
 have not told you of our engagement because 
 we are not engaged." 
 
 "Is it definitely broken off?" 
 
 " It has never existed. Listen, Phil. Just 
 before you left us for the West last Fall, I 
 addressed Valorie, and she rejected me 
 gently, in the kindest way possible, but very 
 positively. She was at pains even to warn 
 me never to approach the subject again, assur- 
 ing me that her decision was final. I supposed 
 you knew of her rejection. Everybody else 
 does. I suppose your going away so soon 
 afterwards prevented you from hearing of it, 
 and since your return you've been too con- 
 stantly shut up at Woodlands. Besides, peo- 
 ple exhausted the subject during your absence 
 and don't talk about it now, I reckon. I
 
 436 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 should have told you, if I had suspected that 
 you did not know." 
 
 " Thank you for telling me now. You do 
 not intend to renew your suit ? " 
 
 " Certainly not. Indeed I dare not, after 
 what she said to me. It would be equivalent 
 to saying I doubted her sincerity even her 
 veracity. Besides I believe I have pretty thor- 
 oughly conquered myself in the matter. I 
 have no desire to marry." 
 
 " You are speaking with entire candor 
 reserving nothing?" 
 
 " On my word of honor, Phil." 
 
 Then, as if after all the subject was still 
 one that he preferred not to talk or think about 
 too much, he abruptly changed the subject. 
 
 " Come with me to the garden, Phil. It is 
 exceptionally early this year." 
 
 " No," said the other, " I think I must ride. 
 I'm expected at Woodlands to dinner." 
 
 " But you can't. I've sent your horse to 
 the stable, and you're to dine with me. I 
 have dinner at three, you know, and to-day I 
 have the first spring lamb and the first
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 437 
 
 asparagus served in this county this year." 
 
 There was a note of pleading insistence in 
 his tone, which Phil did not care to resist, and 
 so the two friends passed the hours together, 
 chiefly in looking over a box of books that 
 Greg had just received from New York, some 
 of them rare and curious, all of them books of 
 value. 
 
 " It is my one extravagance," he said, " and 
 it will cost me a good deal this year, for I find 
 I must build an addition to the library wing 
 of the house. The library is choked and over- 
 flowing as you see." 
 
 " Tell me about my uncle," said Phil, after 
 they had finished the books. " Isn't he going 
 to get completely well? He certainly seems 
 to be growing stronger, and his mind is clear- 
 ing." 
 
 " He is gaining, of course, and he will con- 
 tinue to gain, if he doesn't have another stroke 
 a thing that may happen at any moment or 
 may not happen for months or years to come. 
 But he will never be the man he was. He may 
 get well enough to enjoy life, but he will never 
 take an active part in it again. His mind is
 
 438 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 clearing, as you say, but his old intellectual 
 vigor can never come back to him." 
 
 As Shenstone was about to mount for the 
 homeward ride, Tazewell said: 
 
 "I'm glad I've had you to dinner to-day. 
 There may not be another chance. I shall 
 probably leave for France pretty soon, al- 
 most any day in fact." 
 
 "Why are you going abroad just now, 
 Greg?" 
 
 " Why, you know I have accepted an in- 
 vitation to deliver some lectures before the 
 Medical School there, in exposition of one of 
 my appliances. I told you about it last Fall, 
 but you've doubtless forgotten." 
 
 " But you told- me afterwards you had given 
 it up?" 
 
 " I did think of giving it up, but I've recon- 
 sidered. You see medical science is rapidly 
 advancing over there, and I want to spend a 
 year catching up." 
 
 Phil believed he understood more than his 
 friend had told him. Perhaps Greg Tazewell 
 had not so completely conquered his love as he 
 tried to believe that he had.
 
 XL VI I 
 
 IT was not until after supper that Phil had 
 opportunity of intimate speech with Va- 
 lorie. Meeting her in the hall he took her 
 hand in his and without a word, led her out 
 into the porch, where the air of the Virginia 
 springtime was soft and warm, and redolent 
 of early blooming flowers. 
 
 She withdrew her hand from his, as they 
 seated themselves upon the edge of the porch. 
 Phil observed the act of shyness, but made no 
 effort to check it. He held his own love for 
 the young woman by his side in too reverent 
 a respect to think of trifles in connection with 
 it. Matters were at crisis now, and nothing 
 seemed to him of consequence but the result. 
 
 " Val," he began, " I have been dining with 
 Greg Tazewell to-day, and he has told me 
 something that astonishes me very much." 
 
 He paused for her answer, but she made 
 439
 
 440 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 none. During the moment or two that he 
 waited for it, he quite forgot the rest of the 
 speech he had formulated in his mind for use 
 on this occasion, and said something else of a 
 more definite sort. 
 
 " You know I love you, Val, as I have never 
 loved any other woman as I can never love 
 any other. You must have known it for a 
 long time." 
 
 As he uttered the words he again took her 
 hand in his, and this time she did not with- 
 draw it. But he observed that it trembled 
 with her emotion. 
 
 " You must have known it all the while, 
 Val." 
 
 " You never told me," she said, chokingly. 
 
 " There were good reasons for that," he 
 answered. " I'll explain it presently. But 
 I tell you now that I love you, and have loved 
 you ever since that June morning when we 
 drove to Woodlands together, and you showed 
 me the beauty of your soul as you danced by 
 the roadside in your enjoyment of the loveli- 
 ness all about you. Tell me that you love me 
 in return. Tell me, Val."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 441 
 
 " I suppose I do no that isn't an honest 
 way of putting it, Phil, and I want to be 
 honest with you always. Yes, I love you." 
 
 At this point there was a brief interruption 
 of speech, but as his arm was about her waist 
 and she suffered her head to lie upon his shoul- 
 der after he had drawn it there, speech seemed 
 not very necessary. 
 
 After a while, in answer to some question 
 that arose in her own mind, she said : 
 
 " I think I must have loved you, Phil, ever 
 since that June morning you speak of, though 
 I didn't know it then, or till long afterwards. 
 It was then that you began being good to me, 
 tenderly considerate, and you've always been 
 that. You are so big and strong and so gen- 
 tle how could I help loving you, Phil ? But 
 I've tried hard not to love you very, very 
 hard." 
 
 "But why, Val?" 
 
 " Because I didn't think you loved me, and 
 you know it isn't nice for a girl to let herself 
 love a man who doesn't love her first if she 
 can help it. I have been very sure espe- 
 cially since you came back from the West,
 
 442 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 that you didn't want me to love you except 
 in the way I love Uncle Butler and the mem- 
 ory of my father. It has troubled me very, 
 very much." 
 
 She did not say what it was that had trou- 
 bled her very, very much, but as Phil asked 
 for no specifications it is to be supposed that 
 he understood. 
 
 * * * 
 
 * * * 
 
 A little later he returned to his former 
 theme. 
 
 " Let me tell you all about things, Val. 
 Before I went away I had closely observed 
 you and Greg together " 
 
 " That was when I was quarreling with him 
 for his cold-bloodedness in Jane's case," she 
 interrupted. 
 
 " Perhaps so, but I had no means of know- 
 ing that or guessing it. I was firmly con- 
 vinced that he and you loved each other and 
 were engaged. That is why I went away. I 
 flinched from the prospect of hearing the truth 
 from you or from him, just then. I wanted 
 to use myself to it, to harden myself to the
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 443 
 
 thought that I had lost you, before being told 
 about it. It was weak in me and cowardly, I 
 know " 
 
 " No, not that," she said with emphasis ; 
 " Not that, not cowardly." 
 
 " Thank you. When I returned I again 
 observed you and him together " 
 
 " That was when I was quarreling with him 
 about what I thought was his neglect of Uncle 
 Butler. He explained it at last and we made 
 it up. If it had been anything else, I should 
 have told you." 
 
 " So I thought, and as you didn't tell me I 
 sometimes felt a good deal hurt. I had no 
 sort of doubt that you and he were engaged, 
 and I have wondered not a little that neither 
 of you valued my friendship enough to take 
 me into your confidence in a matter so ten- 
 derly touching the lives of both of you. That 
 is why I have been planning to go to the West 
 again, never to return." 
 
 A gentle pressure of her hand was her only 
 response. 
 
 " Not until this morning did the least doubt 
 arise in my mind as to the truth of my con-
 
 444 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 viction that you and he were engaged. When 
 it did arise I went at once to Greg, an'd as one 
 gentleman of Virginia to another, asked him 
 to tell me the facts of the case. He did so, 
 fully, freely and generously. But why had 
 you never told me, Val, that he had addressed 
 you and that you had refused him? " 
 
 "It wouldn't have been nice in me to talk 
 of that," she answered. " Only heartless flirts 
 go about boasting of their ' conquests ' 
 how I detest the vulgar phrase! Greg Taze- 
 well offered me the love of an honorable man. 
 I could not accept it, but I respected it and I 
 respected him." 
 
 " You are right, of course, Val. You are 
 always right in your feelings always true 
 and gentle and womanly." 
 
 " I don't know about that, though I try hard 
 to be what you say. Oh, Phil, you don't know 
 how happy I am ! " 
 
 " I think I do," he said, as he plucked a 
 spear of snow-white hyacinth on which a 
 stream of light from a windoyv fell, and deftly 
 fastened it in her hair. 
 
 Long before these two quitted the porch and
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 445 
 
 passed into the house, the servants within were 
 wondering why they sat so long out there in 
 the night air. If the servitors could have seen 
 what happened as the two bade each other 
 good-night at the foot of the stairs, perhaps 
 the wiser ones among them could have guessed, 
 as Mrs. Albemarle did next day when she re- 
 ceived a note from Phil. It said only : 
 
 " You were wrong. A man does some- 
 times find out what a woman means,"
 
 XLVIII 
 
 IT was Valerie's custom to go into the 
 garden in the very early morning to start 
 operations there and to superintend the 
 gathering of vegetables for the day's use while 
 the dew was yet on them. Phil, of course, 
 was at the stables at daylight to see the farm 
 animals fed and curried for the day. 
 
 On the morning following his conference 
 with Valorie, he left the stables about sunrise, 
 and by a curious coincidence was in the gar- 
 den when Valorie got there a thing that 
 had not happened before. 
 
 They strolled about for a time for the 
 gardeners had not come yet and then seated 
 themselves in a circular arbor or summer 
 house, which was closely covered with yellow 
 Jessamine vines. 
 
 " Uncle Butler must be the first to hear our 
 news, Phil," said Valorie, " and if you don't 
 446
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 447 
 
 mind, I want to be the one to tell him." 
 
 " It shall be as you wish, Val. I don't care 
 who tells such news." 
 
 " But you know, Phil, it can't take place 
 for a long time yet." 
 
 She didn't say what it was that must be 
 thus postponed, and perhaps it was not neces- 
 sary. She went on to explain: 
 
 " You know I once told you I would never 
 leave Uncle Butler, and I meant it. It can't 
 take place till he is well and strong again." 
 
 " We'll see what he says about it, Val, but 
 in any case, everything shall be as you wish." 
 
 At that moment the head gardener appeared 
 and Valorie set to work at her morning's tasks, 
 Phil, meanwhile, busying himself with the col- 
 lection of a bunch of flowers for her. As she 
 took them from his hand, one delicate blos- 
 som attracted her attention. After studying 
 it for an instant, she said : 
 
 " Look, Phil. I wonder if that isn't what 
 Philip James Bailey meant when he wrote in 
 ' Festus ' that ' Her cheek had the pale, pearly 
 pink of sea-shells nature's sweetest tint.' " 
 
 " Perhaps so, but he spoiled it all as he
 
 448 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 often spoiled his best sentences, by adding 
 something at once forced and commonplace." 
 
 " Yes, I know what you mean. The pas- 
 sage goes on : ' She looked as though she 
 lived, one half might deem, on roses sopped in 
 silver dew,' and that's very bad. But I don't 
 agree with you that it spoils the other, because 
 one can just think of the other by itself. I 
 always do that in reading ' Festus.' Isn't it 
 a glorious morning! " As she spoke she saw 
 that the gardener had passed out of sight be- 
 hind some shrubbery, and yielding to an im- 
 pulse born of the morning and of her own joy- 
 ous mood, she executed a fragmentary pas seul 
 on the smooth surface of the path. 
 
 Phil clapped his hands in applause. 
 
 " That's the way you danced by the road- 
 side on that most glorious of all June morn- 
 ings that ever dawned." 
 
 " Is it ? I'm glad. I feel as I did then, 
 only ever so much happier." 
 
 A moment later, she said: 
 
 "Oh, Phil, after I've told Uncle Butler 
 about it, you must go and ask him if we may, 
 you know. He has a right to expect that."
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 449 
 
 " Of course. I'll go to him the moment I 
 hear from you that you've told him. I'm sub- 
 ject to orders now, you know." 
 
 " Please don't joke, Phil. It hurts me. It 
 seems well, sacrilegious almost blasphe- 
 mous." 
 
 The glee with which the old gentleman re- 
 ceived the news was cheering to behold. 
 
 " It is what I have wanted from the first," 
 he said, " but lately I have feared it might 
 never happen. You two seemed to be draw- 
 ing apart, and it has troubled me a great deal, 
 Little Minx." 
 
 " I'm sorry, Uncle. But we weren't draw- 
 ing apart, really and truly, Uncle. Phil will 
 explain all that. I'll go and send him to you 
 now. You see, we can't think it's all so until 
 he asks your permission and you say yes." 
 
 " But suppose I say no, Little Minx ? " 
 
 " You won't, Uncle Butler. You never say 
 no when I want you to say yes." 
 
 " That's only because I can't. I haven't 
 resolution enough." 
 
 When alone with Phil, Colonel Shenstone 
 said:
 
 450 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " I want you to oblige me, my boy to do 
 me the greatest favor in your power." 
 " I'll do it, Uncle, whatever it is." 
 " I want you and my Little Minx to be mar- 
 ried here at Woodlands and just as soon as 
 possible. You see, Phil, I am not deceived. 
 I am much older than my years, as old as my 
 arteries, as Greg puts it. I'm comfortable 
 now, and the paralysis is leaving me. But 
 I'm not deceived. I shall have another stroke 
 and after that the end. It may come at any 
 time, and before it comes I want to see you 
 and the Little Minx married, so that I may 
 know positively who are to be master and mis- 
 tress of Woodlands when I am gone. You 
 can't understand my feeling perhaps, or fully 
 appreciate it. But ever since the first Shen- 
 stone established this plantation in 1635, it 
 has been the seat of our family. There has 
 always been a Shenstone to maintain the honor 
 of our name, to dispense a generous hospi- 
 tality here, and to do justice, love mercy and 
 live uprightly. You are the fittest man I know 
 to be the next in our line, and of all the women 
 in the world my Little Minx is the one I should
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 451 
 
 choose to be the mother of the future men and 
 women of our race. I cannot talk longer. It 
 tires me so to think, but you understand what 
 I want. Go now, and hurry matters all you 
 can. As you go out, please tell Valorie I want 
 to see her." 
 
 When Valorie went to him, he said : 
 
 "I've talked till I'm tired, Little Minx. 
 I've told Phil what I want him and you to 
 do. He'll explain it all to you. Promise me 
 you'll do it, won't you ? " 
 
 " I'll do anything in the world you ask, Un- 
 cle Butler. You know that, don't you ? " 
 
 "Yes, I know it, Little Minx. God bless 
 you."
 
 XLIX 
 
 IN aid of Colonel Shenstone's purpose to 
 have the wedding as early as possible, Phil 
 and Valorie suggested that it should be 
 entirely private, thus avoiding the necessity of 
 preparation. But the old Virginian would not 
 consent to that. 
 
 "When there is a marriage at Wood- 
 lands," he said, " it is an occasion for re- 
 joicing. There must be feasting and danc- 
 ing. And it can be done. Let every avail- 
 able servant set to work at once to get things 
 ready and issue your invitations for this day 
 week." 
 
 To these two, his word was law, and the 
 matter was arranged as he desired. Under 
 the curious rule of conduct that prevailed in 
 Virginia, Phil must not pass a night under the 
 same roof with Valorie after their engagement 
 was announced. So the moment Greg Taze- 
 452
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 453 
 
 well received word of the matter, he invited 
 Phil to take quarters in his house. To his 
 friend he said : 
 
 " I shall not be there myself after to-mor- 
 row, old fellow, as I am to sail for Europe on 
 Saturday. But the house will be open and the 
 servants will look after you." 
 
 " Then you will not be at the wedding ? I 
 had hoped you would be my first groomsman." 
 
 In Virginia at that time the term " first 
 groomsman " meant much the same that " best 
 man " does now. 
 
 " No," answered Greg. " I'm sorry, but 
 my ship sails on Saturday." 
 
 Phil thought he understood and he asked 
 no further questions. But Greg said, pres- 
 ently : 
 
 " I'll send the bride something from New 
 York as a token of my friendship, which will 
 always be the very warmest in my heart for 
 both of you." 
 
 Mrs. Albemarle simply " moved to Wood- 
 lands," as she said, the moment the date of 
 the wedding was fixed. But while busying 
 herself there both night and day, in Valorie's
 
 454 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 behalf, she was also issuing orders by mail 
 concerning the preparations that were making 
 at her own house for a reception which she 
 was to give to the young couple a few days 
 after the wedding. They were not going to 
 make a wedding journey, for that would leave 
 Colonel Shenstone in loneliness, and though he 
 insisted, neither of them would consent to that. 
 
 The festivities at Woodlands and in Rich- 
 mond were at an end before the waning of 
 April. 
 
 One morning in June Colonel Shenstone was 
 walking in the grounds with Phil supporting 
 him and Valorie walking on the other side, 
 when suddenly he reeled so that Phil had dif- 
 ficulty in preventing a heavy fall. Summon- 
 ing help the young man had the unconscious 
 form carried into the house. Consciousness 
 never returned, and after a few days of coma, 
 Colonel Butler Shenstone was gathered to his 
 fathers, after a life of such honor and up- 
 rightness and gentle human sympathy as be- 
 fitted the race from which he was descended. 
 * * * 
 
 A day or two after the funeral the will was
 
 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 455 
 
 read. The dead man had given the historic 
 old plantation and everything else that he 
 owned to Valorie. He had made the gift 
 precious to her soul by the terms in which the 
 bequest was set forth : 
 
 " She brought light into my life when it 
 was dark; warmth, when it was cold; love, 
 after years of lovelessness. To her I have 
 given all that I have to give of a material 
 nature, and to it all I add the blessing of one 
 
 whose life she made joyous in its end." 
 * * * 
 
 Two days after the will was read, Phil said 
 to Valorie : 
 
 " It is not good for you to be here for a 
 time. You need change of scene and a chance 
 to rest and grow strong again. I have been 
 telegraphing. One of my steamboats is 
 loading at Pittsburg for New Orleans. She 
 will take only through freight, and I have ar- 
 ranged that she shall have no passengers but 
 you and me, and your maid of course. Fortu- 
 nately she is a slow boat and will be heavily 
 laden. We will make the journey just you 
 and I in leisurely, restful fashion."
 
 456 TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA 
 
 " Can we stop at Memphis, where my fa- 
 ther lies?" 
 
 " Yes, Val. That and everything else that 
 you desire. I have only one purpose in life 
 now, and that is to make my wife the happiest 
 woman on earth." 
 
 " Thank you, Phil, I am already that." 
 
 Such was her only reply in words. 
 
 THE END
 
 Dorothy South 
 
 A Love Story of Virginia Before the War 
 
 By GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON 
 Author of "A Carolina Cavalier" 
 
 Illustrated by C D. Williams. J2mo, dark red cloth, portrait 
 cover, rough edges, gilt top, $1.50 
 
 * I 'HIS distinguished author gives us a 
 most fascinating picture of Virginia's 
 golden age, her fair sons and daughters, beau- 
 tiful, picturesque homes, and the luxurious, 
 bountiful life of the old-school gentleman. 
 Dorothy South has been described in these 
 characteristic words by Frank R. Stockton : 
 " Learned, lovely ; musical, lovely ; loving, 
 lovely ; so goes Dorothy through the book, 
 and sad would be the fate of poor Arthur 
 Brent, and all of us, if she could be stolen 
 out of it." This is a typically pretty story, 
 clear and sweet and pure as the Southern 
 sky. 
 
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 A Carolina Cavalier 
 
 A Romance of the Carolinas 
 
 By GEORGE GARY EGGLESTON 
 
 Bound in red silk cloth, illustrated cover, gilt top, rough edges. 
 Six drawings by C. D. Villiams. Size, 5x7^. Price $1.50 
 
 A strong, delightful romance of Revolu- 
 tionary days, most characteristic of its 
 vigorous author, George Gary Eggleston. 
 The story is founded on absolute happenings 
 and certain old papers of the historic Rut- 
 ledges of Carolina. As a love story, it is 
 sweet and true ; and as a patriotic novel it is 
 grand and inspiring. The historic setting, 
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 siastically American, have combined to win 
 instant success for the book. 
 
 Loubville Courier Journal: " A fine Story of ad- 
 venture, teeming with life and aglow 
 with color." 
 
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 part that enhances one's respect for 
 human nature." 
 
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 ment. It is replete with ad venture. It is 
 saturated with love. 
 
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 A Daughter 
 of the South 
 
 By GEORGE CART EGGLESTON 
 
 Illustrated by E. Pollak Decorated Cover, $1.50 
 
 E action of the story lies in the region of the 
 lower Mississippi river, from Cairo to New 
 Orleans, and its time is the period near the 
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 vexed with hostilities, and the greedy lawlessness of 
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 from the consequences of right doing. 
 
 "In painting Southern romances, George Cary Eggleston is at 
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 popular novel, 'Dorothy South.' " St. Paul Dispatch. 
 
 "It is a charming story, full of delicacy and sweetness, and the 
 picture the author gives of the closing months of the great struggle 
 is well drawn. " Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 
 
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 picture of wartime conditions which no Southerner who lived 
 through them will ever forget." Milwaukee Free Press. 
 
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 By HAROLD MORTON KRAMER 
 HEARTS AND THE CROSS 
 
 Illustrated by HAROLD MATTHEWS BRETT $1.50 
 
 THE story is of a man whose vigorous personality enables him to do 
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 Lawlessness, heroism, and noble self-sacrifice have their part in the 
 development of an intensely dramatic plot, the interest of which is 
 sustained until the mystery is cleared away, nd a satisfactory conclusion 
 is reached with exceeding joy to those who deserve it. 
 
 "There it no slackening of Interest, no chilling of sympathy, until the 
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 QAYLE LANQFORD 
 
 Being the Romance of a Tory Belle and a Patriot Captain 
 
 Illustrated by H. C. EDWARDS $1.50 
 
 MR. KRAMER tells a romance of the "times that tried men's 
 souls " in a way that will permit no one to lay it aside when once 
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 The time is that of the Declaration of Independence, with most of the 
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 The Lions of the Lord 
 
 By HARRY LEON WILSON 
 
 Author of " The Spenders." Six illustrations by Rose Cecil 
 O'Neill, bound in dark green cloth, illustrated cover, 1 2mo. 
 #^.50, postpaid. 
 
 In his romance of the old West, " The Lions of the Lord," 
 Mr. Wilson, whose " The Spenders " is one of the successes 
 of the present year, shows an advance in strength and grasp 
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 strong in character and in description. For the first time in 
 a novel is the tragi-comedy of the Mormon development 
 adequately set forth. Nothing fresher or more vital has 
 been produced by a native novelist. 
 
 The Spenders 
 
 By HARRY LEON WILSON 
 70th Thousand 
 
 Author of " The Lions of the Lord." Red silk cloth, rough 
 
 edges, picture cover. Six illustrations by Rose Cecil 
 
 O'Neill. i2mo. #1.50, postpaid. 
 
 Mark Twain writes to the author : " It cost me my day 
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 you for the book's sake." 
 
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 as the American novel of a new method, this is one. Abso- 
 lutely to be enjoyed is it from the first page to the last." 
 
 Harry Thurston Peck, in the New York American, says : 
 
 " The very best two books written by Americans during the 
 past year have been ' The Spenders,' by Harry Leon Wilson, 
 and ' The Pit,' by Frank Norris." 
 
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 Clje ^loss of kittle 
 
 By HARRY LEON WILSON Full page and text illus- 
 trations by ROSE CECIL O'NEILL ismo Cloth $1.50 
 
 """FHE BOSS," whose title has been bestowed 
 ^ partly in jest, is the editor of a weekly paper 
 of a typical village in the Middle West. The real 
 hero of the book is his staunch friend, though his 
 rival in love. The story is told by the friend, who 
 left the village at the call of the Civil War, returning 
 as Major to resume his law practice and to figure in 
 a delightfully told romance. The humor is every- 
 where present and of a very high order. 
 
 SOME PRESS OPINIONS 
 
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 every page for its genuine humor, its sly satire without a 
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 in part. The result for the reader is one of the best things 
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 thies and revivifies the quiescent good in one's nature." 
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 "Not a dull line in it from coyer to cover." The Advance, 
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 Arcady and the Boss is lovably original." Chicago 
 Evening Post. 
 
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 Cftc Cittlc Green Door 
 
 By MART E. STONE BASSETT 
 
 Eight illustrations by Louise Clarke and twenty-five decorative 
 half-title pages by Ethel Pearce Clements 
 
 izmo Cloth $1.50 
 
 A charming romance of the time of 
 Louis XIII. The door which 
 gives the title to the book leads to a 
 beautiful retired garden belonging to the 
 King. In this garden is developed one of 
 the sweetest and tenderest romances ever 
 told. The tone of the book is singularly 
 pure and elevated, although its power is 
 intense. 
 
 "This is a tale of limpid purity and sweetness, which, although 
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 ception." Chicago Daily News. 
 
 "Tender, sweet, passionate, pure; a lily from the garden of 
 loves." Baltimore Herald. 
 
 "The story is exquisitely pure and tender, possessing a finished 
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 Courier-Journal. 
 
 "This book carries with it all the exhilaration of a beautiful 
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 "The little romance is charmingly wrought, and will be sure to 
 find its way to the heart of the reader." Boston Transcript. 
 
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 Judith's Garden 
 
 By MARY E. STONE BASSETT 
 
 With illustrations in color by George Wright. Text printed 
 in two colors throughout, with special ornamentation. 
 8vo, light green silk cloth, rough edges, gilt top, $1.50 
 
 A N exquisite, delicious, charming book, 
 ^^ as fresh as new-mown hay, as fragrant 
 as the odor from the garden of the gods. 
 It is the story of a garden, a woman, and a 
 man. The woman is delicate and refined, 
 witty, and interesting; the man is Irish, 
 funny, original, happy, a delicious and 
 perfect foil to the woman. His brogue is 
 stunning, and his wit infectious and fetching. 
 The garden is quite all right. There is move- 
 ment in the book ; life is abundant, and it 
 attracts. It will catch the interest of every 
 lover of flowers, and their name is legion, 
 and will delight and comfort every reader. 
 
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 MISS BILLY 
 
 A NEIGHBORHOOD STORY 
 
 By EDITH K. STOKELY and MARIAN K. KURD 
 
 Illustrated by CHARLES COPELAND 
 
 lamo Cloth 1.50 
 
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 notice in these days of civic improvement. 
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 accomplished in the neighborhood into which her 
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 her new neighbors form a capital story. 
 
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 ectious gayety." 
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 flowing kindness of heart bubbling over in infectious gayety." 
 
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 The Potter and the Clay 
 
 A Romance of To-day 
 
 By MAUD HOWARD PETERSON. Bound In blue cloth, 
 decorative cover, rough edges, gilt top. Four drawings by 
 Charlotte Harding. Size, 5x7^. Price $1.50 
 
 ONE of the strongest and most forceful of re- 
 cent novels, now attracting marked attention, 
 and already one of the most successful books of 
 the present year. The characters are unique, 
 the plot is puzzling, and the action is remarkably 
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 out is one of great strength. 
 
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 book never flags. It is not for one season, but 
 of abiding human interest." 
 
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 in the future." 
 
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 of the year. Brilliant, but better than that, 
 tender." 
 
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 Cliveden 
 
 By KENYON WEST. J2mo. Brown cloth, rough edges. 
 Price, $1.50. 
 
 " /^'LIVEDEN " is an historical romance by Kenyon 
 ^"^ West, favorably known as the author of sev- 
 eral books of fiction and criticism. The story 
 which is quick in action, picturesque in scene, and 
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 General Howe was threatening the native forces. 
 Both sides of the struggle are represented, the 
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 charming love-story is developed, in which the 
 principals are a well-born American beauty and a 
 British officer with a noble character. The Chew 
 residence is in a state of siege, and the attempts 
 of a British spy to wreck the fortunes of General 
 Washington, who is only a few miles off, make 
 exciting reading. The volume is given an appro- 
 priate patriotic dress. 
 
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 The Judges' Cave 
 
 A Romance of the New Haven 
 
 Colony in the days of the 
 
 Regicides 
 
 By MARGARET SIDNEY, author of "A Little 
 Maid of Concord-town," "Five Little Peppers," etc. 
 J2mo, doth, illustrated, $1.50 
 
 are few more fascinating phases of 
 colonial history than that which tells the wan- 
 derings and adventures of the two judges who, because 
 they sat in judgment over that royal criminal, Charles 
 the First of England, were hunted out of England in- 
 to hiding in New England and there remained, a 
 mystery and fugitives, in their celebrated cave in New 
 Haven Colony. Margaret Sidney has made her care- 
 ful and exhaustive research into their story a labor of 
 love and has, in this book, woven about them a 
 romance of rare power and great beauty. Marcia, 
 the heroine, is a strong and delightful character, and 
 the book will easily take high rank among the most 
 effective and absorbing stories based upon a dramatic 
 phase of American history.
 
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