?**4a r DAVID AND ABIGAIL BY THB AUTHOR OP " LUCILE," " THK LADY PAULINA," ETC., BTC. " An honest tale speeds best, being plamly told." KING RICHARD III. st, being plaml BOSTON ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY COPLEY SQUARE 1894 Copyright, 1894, by ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. Arena Press TO "UNCLE REMUS" IN PLEASING REMEMBRANCE OF THE OLD PLANTATION DAYS. Bergovania, January, 1894. 2138152 DAVID AND ABIGAIL, CHAPTER I. DAVID. "VERY well, Jedge ; yer'ill lemme know ter-morrer ? " "Yes. To-morrow." " That's right. Afore the bank shets, ye know. Mout I call round thar, or had I best ter come here ? " "As you please." " All right ; then ter be shore ov catching ye, I'll come myself. * Hit's allers certinest ter be on hand myself, as ye mout be bizzy. So good-mornin', Jedge," and with a com- placent smile of exasperating good-nature, the unwelcome visitor bowed himself out. He was an elderly man, his tall form slightly bent by the weight and toil of busy years. His eye was keen as a hawk's, but with a kindly glance that would have DAVID AND ABIGAIL. charmed a baby. The gray in the scattering chin- whiskers had climbed up his cheeks and over his ears into the thin locks of his hair, and frosted a poll once black as a crow's. His dress, though scrupulously elegant, was made more for substantial comfort, than for show, although a rather vulgar display of diamond seal, studs and pin, showed a taste, if not perverted, at least not in harmony with the strong lines of character so legibly marked on his face. His interlocutor was his contemporary in years, but his antithesis in all things else ; a well-born, well-bred, proud and dignified gentleman ; "one of the good old kind." Toil, nor the weight of busy years, had left no hard lines on his forehead, no silver threads in his hair. A life of wealth, of luxurious ease and elegant leisure, rounded into a career of social and political prefer- ment, had been his. Tt was only of late that troubles had begun to come ; only as he had turned the downward slope of life, hitherto so sunny, that fortune had turned also. Hand in hand they, prosperity and he, had climbed together to the top, and now, hand in hand, they seemed to be tottering together down to the bottom. The fast-widening streaks of gray that were mottling his head DA VID AND ABIGAIL. were of sudden springing ; one year ago not a single silver thread could have been found. " Oh, God ! my God ! what shall I do ! " he groaned as the jealous door closed after his unwelcome visitor, shutting him in, alone with his humiliation and misery. For a few moments he bowed his head in despairing perplexity, and then with an effort he roused up and reached for his office- bell. "I must tell David ; it is a humiliat- ing thing to do, but it is all that is left for me to do. Poor boy ! his own trouble was enough, already, without bothering him with this. Ah, false, cruel girl ! I could curse you for this," and with a vicious jerk, as if it was the imaginary neck of a desperately naughty girl he was pulling, he rang the bell. "Yes, sah," responded Jake, a smart negro fellow. " There is a speck of soot on your collar, Jacob ; how dare you come in my presence in such a plight ? Go out and cleanse your- self," severely pointing to a little fleck of soot that had 'Unluckily fixed itself upon the immaculate whiteness of the negro's collar, a whiteness made snowy in contrast with the ebon neck it encircled. "Yes, sah, hit jist lit. I didn't knowed DAVID AND ABIGAIL. hit war dar," apologized Jake, backing out with a succession of salams. In a minute he returned, fleckless and spotless, in ebon and ivories. "Now, find your Master David, and send him to me. You will likely find him in the library. " The obsequious negro hurried away, and soon the young master in question stood inquiringly before his father. "Close the door, David, and sit down. I am very sorry to interrupt you, but I must tell you," said the Judge, without rising, as he motioned his son to a seat. " I hope it is nothing serious that troubles you, father ? " "Yes, it is very serious and troubles me greatly, both on my own account and upon yours, my son," soberly answered his father. "But you must not let it trouble you on my account. I have been thinking the mat- ter over, and I am quite sure that it is best as it is. A girl so fickle, not to say false, cannot make a true wife. A woman who jilts her lover will but I will not speak it of her. Let her go ; only the blow was a hard one, harder, perhaps, because so unexpected. " " It would have been hard under any cir- cumstances, and I am very sorry, for I did DAVID AND ABIGAIL. love Gertrude as a daughter, but, my son, this is not all "It is all that can affect me. If there is anything else you must let me help you to meet it." "Yes, there is something else; and you must help me to bear it, at least with your strength, and your courage. It will require our united efforts to meet it." "All that I have, father, is and shall be yours ; only tell me what it is I am to do ? " ' ' You know the embarrassment of my finances ? " " I knew that you were somewhat strained, but did not think it serious." "Ah! serious, hopeless. Ruin irretriev- able and disgrace is before me." " Oh, no ; surely it is not so bad as that ? " "Yes; there is no escape, no help. As Gertrude's guardian I have used her money, twenty-five thousand dollars ; and now that she has married, I shall be called upon for a settlement and I have no means with which to replace it." " But surely this is not so bad ? Twenty- five thousand dollars ; we can raise that amount. Why not mortgage the plantation ? or else sell it ? " 6 DAVITt AND ABIGAIL. 11 Alas ; it is already mortgaged for more than it will bring ; negroes and all." The young man staggered, but strong in youthful courage and faith in his father he quickly rallied. " Then sell the Arcade. I know that you intended it for me but let it go. It should easily fetch thirty thousand." " The Arcade is gone too. In fact, my son, I should have told you all this long ago, but I did not have the courage to face you. I even tried to hide it from myself ; but every- thing in the world that I have is mortgaged for its full value. Even the homestead will have to go. " "And there is nothing to secure Gert Mrs. Hardie, I mean ? " ' ' Nothing ; absolutely nothing. My bonds- men will have to suffer." " That is sad." " It is miserable. I would blow my brains out if it would restore the money." "No ; that would not mend matters. It would be only a confession of guilt, where I am sure no guilt lies. But does she know this?" "She; who?" " Gertrude, Mrs. Hardie." " No. I was so sure of your marriage that DAVID AND ABIGAIL. I felt no concern about the matter. It was her surprising perfidy and folly in running away with this fellow that has precipitated my ruin. If I only had time I could retrieve my affairs. I am sure to win the Willough- by case and that will more than suffice for all that I owe." "But can we not gain time? We can stave off a settlement until after the fall term." " No that is impossible. Old Hardie has just been here and I am to answer him to- morrow." "What! so soon ? They were only mar- ried yesterday. And has she sent him already ? Ah ! false, fair .woman ! I had thought better of you than this," and in the bitterness of his disappointment, the young man bowed his face in his hands and groaned. The father pitied the son's distress and answered softly : 11 No ; he did not come from her. He never even mentioned her name. It was on his own account that he came." "And what has he got to do with it?" rousing up with a flush. " It is to him I owe all this money. He holds the mortgages upon all our property, and he threatens to foreclose at once." 8 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 11 To him ! to old Israel Hardie, the miser- able miser ? " "Yes, to him; I am absolutely in his power. His word to-morrow can make me a pauper, and my daughter a beggar." " Then God pity us, for I had rather be in the hands of Shylock, the itching-palmed Jew of Venice, than to be in the power of this wretched man. Why, the very associa- tion is a reproach to our name. No gentle- man can countenance him ; he is but little better than a gambler, a robber, a man who made his fortune by trading negroes." " He is low enough, I grant you, and I as keenly feel the humiliation of the disreputa- ble association, but I can not, nor could I at the time, help myself. He bought the secu- rities himself from the bank and I could not protest. In fact he virtually owns the bank itself. He is immensely rich, and despite his low breeding and dubious reputation he is correspondingly powerful." " Yes, a gilded pill, and society will have to swallow him. It was this, I suppose, the glitter of his wealth, that caused Gertrude to forget her breeding and to run away with his fop of a son." " Perhaps it was ; although, to do the chap justice, he is a good-looking young fellow ; DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 9 handsome and insinuating, and if it were not for his low birth and plebeian associations, I would say that Gertrude has made a very good match. As good as such a deceitful woman as she deserves." " Faugh ! she has disgraced herself and her family. I wonder that Ike does not hunt him down and shoot him. But she is noth- ing to me ; heigho ! But what is it the old codger wants ? " "His money first, of course." " And to get it he will foreclose the mort- gages 2 " "Yes." " How much do you owe him ? " " One hundred and ten thousand, five hun- dred and sixty dollars, or to be exact, as Hardie who had made the calculation him- self, sixty dollars and thirty-seven cents." "But the property should bring more than that." " At any other time it would, but under the present financial depression and at a forced sale, it would not realize the half of it." " But will he not wait ? Is there no way to gain a respite ? Have we no friends that we can appeal to for help ? " " I have exhausted the venire and find 10 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. none. Every one is anxiously propping up his own tottering fortune. The whole com- mercial fabric is shaky and I doubt very much if I could to-day secure an indorse- ment for one thousand dollars. All this Hardie knows, and he is swift to take advan- tage of my defenseless position. It is one of the saddest features about these financial upheavals, that the oldest and proudest houses are the ones to tumble, while the dirty adobes are left unscathed. I should not mind the loss of my property so much were it not for the loss that will follow to others ; my innocent bondsmen, and espe- cially my old friend, Burwell Graves, who would have trusted me with his all. And Walter ; what can he think of Gussie's father when he is told that he is a defaulter, and that his own father must pay the forfeit ? Ah ! poor Augusta ! it will be hard for her." " That is the saddest of all, the misappro- priation of your ward's estate." " Yes ; it was cruel. I shall never forgive her for leaving you as she did. Had she married you, as we all expected, all would have been well " Never mind me ; I am glad that it is over between us ; let us come back to busi- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 11 ness. You say that Old Hardie refuses further time ? " " He gave me until to-morrow to decide." "To decide what ?" "Oh, I have not told you? Well, never mind ; the thing is too absurd to talk about. Preposterous, preposterous ! " "What is it?" " Oh, the old fool is demented, and I should not offend your good-nature by re- peating his proposition." "But if it bears on this matter at all, I think, sir, that I ought to be told." "Very well. It would be annoying were it not so utterly ridiculous, and you cannot be angry ; but the proposition was about his daughter " His daughter ? I was not aware that he had a daughter." "Yes, a chit of a thing, just eighteen, he says, whom the boarding schools have crammed with the conceit that she is an accomplished young lady. She is ill-favored as she is low-born. I recollect seeing her once during my canvass for the senate, when I stopped at her father's plantation. That was before they took it into their heads to come to town and beat their way in society. She was freckled-faced, snub- 12 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. nosed, and had a foot like a bread-tray, and waddled in her walk like a gosling ; just such a daughter as you can imagine such a father to have " But what has his daughter to do with our affairs ? " his son interrupted with a slight disgust. " Ah ! that is it. I knew you would wonder, but the truth is, the old fool is immensely vain of his daughter and has an insane ambition to marry her into social position ; he is jealous of his own ilk, and guards her like a Cerberus to prevent her from marrying one of the common herd : 'I want her to marry one uv the big- bugs , ' he said. Do you understand ? " "I think so." " Very well : the wretched old scoundrel, taking advantage of my destraint and emboldened, doubtless, by the surprising leap his son has made over the social fence, came to me just now with a proposi- tion " ' ' To marry her to you ? " his son asked, with a smile. " P-i-s-h ; no. That would not have been so monstrous, but he wanted you to marry her." "Surely, you are jesting?" DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 13 " No ; indeed. Just as coolly as he had calculated the interest on my notes, he had figured out the possibilities and advantages of the marriage. 'You see,' he said, ' I'ze bin a watching that boy ov yourn an' thay's a power o' gum in 'im, and with Abby,' shade of Lavena, her name is Abby ! ' an' with Abby's money ter push 'im on, an' Abby's grit ter scotch fer 'im ; thar's no knowin' how high he mouten clime.' It was really too comical ! the patronizing manner in which he slapped me on the shoulder and challenged me to dispute the magnificent proposition." " You should have called Jake to kick him out of the room." "If the thing hadn't been so irresistibly ludicrous, I should have done so, but the triumphant gravity of the old fool's look dis- armed me completely, and I had to laugh. Not to encourage him, however, in his Quix- otic hobby, I told him that while you might appreciate the lady's several thousand charms, to say nothing of her grit, I was quite sure that you were in no condition to marry ; when he quickly interrupted me : ' Yes, but I'll see to his condition ; I'll fix all that, I've got a cool millyon in soak fer Abby, an' if that don't put the man she gits on top, I'd 14 . DAVID AND ABIGAIL. jist like ter see the next one. An' 'sides that ; ' he added, ' Abby's no slouch herself, but on a tite pull she's ekill ter a whole team an' a yaller dog under the waggin ; jest let's hitch them two together, an' shore's yer born, if the traces don't break the thing's bound ter move. Why,' he added, in a confiden- tial whisper, ' we'll both hev a little gran- chile borned in the White House, jis' as cer- tain as falling off a log.' ' "Tush !" contemptuously "the man is an idiot." "Yes ; but there is a desperate earnest- ness in his mouthings, David. It means ruin tome, my son." " But how are we to help it ? Surely you cannot suggest the possibility of me humor- ing the old rogue's madness, and marrying this baggage ? " "Oh, no. Nothing of the sort. Not with diamonds to gild the harness would I consent to see my son yoked with such cattle." " And you told him so ? " " Yes. I told him that while that was a matter with which I could have nothing to do, yet I was quite sure of your feelings on the subject of marriage, and that nothing could be more repugnant to your feelings, at this time, than the idea of such a thing. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 15 He, however, insisted that I should speak to you about it, and promised to suspend action until he heard from you. He is to come to- morrow for his answer. You had better be present when he comes, and perhaps we can overcome the absurdity of his fancy, and prevail upon him to grant me a respite. Somehow you have his good opinion and you may possibly be able to convince him, not only of the equity of my Willoughby claims, but of the absolute certainty of a favorable judgment." ' ' Yes, I will see him, and I only wish that I could as readily convince him of the cer- tainty of a favorable issue of the Willough- by claim, as I can of the utter impossibility of this other thing he wishes. I should like, however, for him to come early, as I have to meet Lawson at Eed Oak, at one o'clock." "Ah, yes. I had forgotten; poor boy, it is too bad for me to lay the burden of my distress upon you, when you need all your strength and energy for the canvass." " Oh, never mind me. The tension will only nerve me to strike the harder. But, by the way, I was in the library, when Jake called me, looking up the debates on the Kentucky resolutions ; can you give me the data?" 16 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Certainly," and in another moment the carking, grinding cares of the domestic man were thrown off as a profitless cumber, and the two politicians lost themselves in the more congenial world of politics, statecraft and diplomacy. CHAPTER II. ABIGAIL. IT was an elegant room in an elegant house. Whatever might be said as to the plebeian origin, or of the plebeian habits, of the parvenu owner, nothing could be urged against the refined elegance and tasteful appointments of his present surroundings. The proudest aristocrat in all that aristo- cratic city, would have been proud of the appropriate splendor of that room. It mattered not how vulgar the purse that paid for it, the taste that selected and the hand that arranged its furniture was the taste of a connoisseur, and the hand of an artist ; everything was luxurious, graceful, pretty ; the only thing seemingly out of place was the master himself. Awkward and ungainly he moved about, unconscious DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 17 of the incongruity, but somehow vaguely feeling a sense of misfitness. The luxurious fauteuil on which his daughter so gracefully reclined, would have been a hot gridiron to him. ' ' Hit may do f er you uns ; young f okes as wer horned ter sich contraptions, but as fer me I'd ruther hev an ole hickory stump, er a popler log, ter set on than ter hev a whole lot full uv sich jimcracks. The saft- est setting that I ever sot, was on the hoss- block ov a nite, when I got in from plowing ; long time ago. Ah ! I members the time, jist as well as zif hit was yisterdy ; I was a boy, then, an' they was good ole days, I tell ye. I wus jist a beginning ter fix up ter court yer mammy then, Abby ; she wus the sweetest gurrill that ever lived ; the purtiest an' the sweetest. You minds me ov her off en, Abby ; you are more, an' more like her every day." " Am I ? Then I am very glad ; my sweet mamma. Do you know I can remember her ? " "Mebby so, only you wuz a monstus leetle thing when she died ; you wuz jist four years old." " Yes, but still I am sure that I do re- member her. I dream of her often and 18 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. every time she appears the same. Her eyes were brown, and so soft and gentle. Were they not pretty eyes ? " " Jist as purty az a fawn's, an', az ye say, saft an' gentle. Ah ! they waz monstus purty eyes ! an' she was a monstus purty 'oman, an' jist as good az she was purty. She waz a powerful good 'oman, yer mammy waz ; too good fer me ; too purty an' good an' sweet fer me. I offen wonder- ed how on yeath I ever got 'er." "Oh, no ; I am sure that she loved you and that you loved her very dearly." " Loved her ? loved yer mammy, child ? Wy yer don't know what yer talkin' 'bout. I'd a gin every blessed nigger on the place, an' would a died myself ter a saved her. Ah ! talk 'bout trubble ; but no one knows what trubble is, that 'hain't lost what I've lost. Ah me ! But never mine ; hit won't be long afore I'll go too. I somehow jist natcherly feels hit in my bones ; and then mebby we'll get tergether agin." "Would you wish to leave me, father?" "Well, no; that is, in course, I wouldn't like ter take yer along with me, case hit wouldn't be natcheral ; but then, yer know that I can't allers expect ter stay here. An' that, mind's me, hunny, ov somethin' I've bin DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 19 talkin, 'bout ter day. Come, shet yer book up awhile, an' let's hev a little confab, 'bout it." " Ah ! what is it ? " closing the book in her lap and looking up in pretty wonder at the sudden gravity of her father's tone. 1 ' Hit's about marryin ; but fust, lemme tell you ; I seed Tom ter-day." ' ' Oh, did you ? " and the wondering eyes drooped. " How did he look ? " brightening up. ' ' Thes like a sheep-killin' hound. He knowed he'd acted mean an' the girl done it too." "Did you see her ? What kind of a girl is she ? " " Yes, I seed her, an' she's a right sniptious lookin' 'oman, only she's as proud as Lucifix, an' turned up her nose at me az zif I waz a wet dog. I lay she'll make Tom smell the patchin' ; she's a regular tippy-bob an' Tom looks like a fool aside her. My notion is that Tom's niggled it. An' 'sides he fooled her, Tom did " Fooled her? Oh surely, not." "Yes ; that's what he done, fer a fac'. Her uncle, Colonel Garden, axed me all about hit ter-day. Tom made 'em all believe as how he waz my own shore-anuff son, an' would fall heir to all my property." 20 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " No, no ; he could not stoop to such a deception ? " " Yes, but he did though. Tom's a regu- lar scamp an' I'me done with him. Why, you thes orter a seed the look, when I told the Colonel that he wan't scasely any kin at all ter me. That he waz my daddy's cousin's orfin chile that I had picked up outen the ash-pile an' gin him a raisin', an' while I mought give him a little patch down on the crick, an' a nigger, or two, to start on, I didn't spect ter divide my fortin with nobody but you. The man looked thes like he'd ad bin shot ; I could a knocked him down with a puff ov wind. An', honey, do yer know as somehow or other I is glad that Tom is gone ? Out ov your way, I means." The young lady flushed, and her father, putting his own construction upon the blush, continued : "Yes, I knows as you didn't mean any- thing wrong about hit, but I sorter seed as you an' him was a kinder pea-vining to'ards one another. Thar, don't begin ter flare up, but jist wait a minit tell I 'splains. I waz sorry ter see hit, fer though I know'd that Tom warn't no 'count, an' I had higher notions fer you, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 21 yit, zif it had a corned ter a focus an' you had a set your head on marryin' 'im, I'd a thes shet my eyes on his nocount- ness an' a let ye rip ; hush wait another ininit, but now az hits all over an' the 'bominable fool haz gone an' drapt ye fer this tother vixen, this lady disdain, why, bust my buttons, zif I hain't dinged glad ov it. Yes, Abby, I shorely iz." The old gentleman paused a moment to give her speech, but she sat silent and he went on : "Now, hunny, tell me as you don't care a snap zif he are gone ; " watching her keenly for the truth. "No, father; indeed I do not care," and the truth spoke in her expressive eyes, as well as in the silvery sweetness of her voice. ' ' I may have been silly, I know, but now I am glad that it is all over between us ; that he has passed out of my life forever. I am sure that it is best ; a deceitful lover could not make a true husband. " " You are mighty right ; that's jist az true az preachin' an' I know'd hit all along ; but still, hunny, fer your satisfac- tion I would a shet my eyes an' my mouth an' a let ye had 'im, an' a tried 22 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. ter make the best ov a bad bargain. But now, Abby, as he didn't have sense anuff ter know which side ov his bread waz buttered, we'll thes let him slide an' never think enny more about him. Eh, darlin' ?" "I shall think no more about him. Certainly I shall care no more about him," she answered, with spirit. " That's right ; that's thes what a spunky gurrill should do. Thar's a heap better fish in the pond than Miss Garden ever cotched outen hit with her pin-hook, I don't care how high she cocks up her nose. An' now, hunny, I'me a coming ter the pint : sense I would a bin will in' fer you to a married ter suit yerself, though hit would a went mightily agin the grain, now I wants ter know zif I waz ter pick ye out a nice, good-lookin' feller, a real born gentleman, would ye be willin, ter marry ter suit me. Thes ter please me, Abby ? " "Marry to please you?" opening the fawn-like eyes in startled wonder. "Yes; that's hit." " But why should I marry at all, father ? Surely you are not wanting to get rid of me?" DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 23 " Oh, no. Not ter git shet ov you, but thes becase it is natcheral. All wimmin, sometime or other, are bound ter marry ; they war made a purpose, an' they are thes bound ter do hit ; an' if they can't make a spoon they're shore to spile a horn." "But, father, I have no wish to marry. There is no one whom I love better than you," she demurely added, after a little stop. "Yes, but I've picked ye out a sweet- heart ; he's young, an' good-lookin' an' he's smart ; got more sense in a minit than Tom 'ill ever have in a lifetime. He's true an' he's honest, an' he's kind-harted ; I'ze bin a watchin' 'im, an' tother day I seed 'im pick up a little nigger chile 'at had stumped his toe an' fell a crying in the gutter ; an', aside all this, Abby, he's ov good stock ; one ov the best famblys in the state. He's a gentle- man ; a regular pump-sole, waz borned rich an' waz raised rich ; is well eddicated an' all that. Thes now his daddy is a leetle under the weather, in an' leetle money tight, but that don't matter ; yell have enuff fer both ; an' oh, my darlin', I would be mon- stus proud ter see my purty darter married ter such a feller, an' in such a fambly." The young lady did not speak, but the 24 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. large, expressive eyes grew larger as the wonder grew into a half fear. " Yes, Grace," Grace was the name her mother had given her and he always called her Grace when in pathetic earnestness, " yes, Grace, I have sot my ole heart on this match, an' hit would make me so proud if ye would, an' I do believe hit would break my heart if you won't." The girl was touched, for Abigail Hardie was not an undutiful daughter. She had known and silently felt the sacrifice of all ambition, and pride he had made in yield- ing to the choice her inexperienced and slightly perverse girlhood had first made, and now that that folly had passed and the fatherly wisdom that had feared for her happiness, and had yet silently deferred to her choice, had been vindicated by the faith- lessness of her lover, she felt that something in the way of gratitude, if not filial duty, was due him. And then, by some strange psychological chance, or coincidence, she thought of her mother, and in that moment of tender remembrance of the sainted dead and of daughterly reverence for the living, she bowed her soul to her father's will ; and without further question as to whom it was, or when it was to be, she answered, as DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 25 a Biblical daughter of one of the patriarchs might have answered : ' ' You have been good to me, father, kind and considerate in all things, and it is as lit- tle as I can do to obey you in all things. I can trust your love implicitly, and if you think it best that I should marry, then I will marry, whom you may choose, and whenever you will. " ' ' You are a good gurrill, Grace, an' ye spoke .thes then like yer mammy would 'a' talked. Ye haz made me monstus glad, case I know hit's fer yer own good. I have not chused blindly, an' I am shore he will love ye." "If I make myself lovable, lean compel his love," she answered. " Tu-by-shore, tu-by-shore. In course ye will. He thes can't help hit. He's bound ter love ye. But I don't b'lieve that I've told ye, yet, who he is ? " " No ; please tell me ? " " Well, I don't know az you know 'im, but hits Mr. David Winston, a son ov the Jedge, only a heap younger an' a heap smarter. The Jedge is sorter stuck up on his blue-blood, ye know ; fust fambly pump- sole pernella, white kid gloves, an' all that sort ov thing, while David is bankin' on 26 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. brains. Thar's a team fer ye : the Jedge's blood, David's brains an' your money, ter say nothin' ov yer purty looks ! I Golly ! hit makes me laff ter think about hit. Ye knows 'im, don't ye ? " " Oh, is he the man ? I am so glad. Yes, I know him, or no, I do not know him. I have no personal acquaintance with him ; we are not in the same set, you know," with a little flush. ' ' But I have seen him and heard him speak. I heard him night before last, at the City Hall. I went with Mr. and Mrs. Grey ; he was really eloquent and I was quite proud of his triumph, for of course it was a triumph, everybody said so." " Yes ; he's a trump, both bowers and the joker, an' better 'an all he's a true-blue dimmycrat, an' he's thes as shore tu beat the hine-sights off ov Tom Lawson as the 'lection day comes round. I'll stake a cool thousan' on hit." "Oh, I do hope he will I" " Oh, he's bound to do hit ; only, Abby, we 'ill have ter pitch in an' leg for 'im. An' that's why I'm in sich a hurry ter fix things up atween ye. I wants us ter help 'im. As I tells ye, the ole Jedge is in a money tight ; the facks is, Abby, he's dead DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 27 broke, busted higher than a kite ; an' poor David 'ill have ter paddle his own canoe, all by hisself while Tom Lawson's rich wife is putting in her oar, an' thes a spending money by the barrel. So, Abby, hunny, zif you an' him can fix hit up atwixt ye, I wants ye ter do it right away, I don't care zif hit waz to-night. Marry at once, an' then you can roll up yer sleeves an' pitch in like a house afire. I'll plank down ten dollars for Tom Lawson's wife's one. Hel- low, what is it, Nanny ? " as a negro waiting- girl stepped in. " Hit's anoat, Mr. Winston's boy fotched," she answered, presenting a letter, with a courtesy. " Oh-ho ! a letter fer me ? Ye must read hit fer me, Abby, I hain't got my specks handy." The young lady opened the missive and read : " MB. ISRAEL HARDIE DEAR SIR : My father in- forms me that you have appointed an interview with him for to-morrow. As I am interested in the matter in ques- tion, it is, perhaps, essential that I be present, and as I have an appointment to speak at Red Oak, at one p. M., I hope that you can find it convenient to call early, say at ten o'clock. "Very respectfully, " Your obedient and humble servant, "DAVID It. WINSTON." 28 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Ah-ha! that's all right. Whar's the nigger that brought hit ? " "He's at dedoor." "Then 111 tell 'im," starting out. " Father, would it not be better to write the answer ? " suggested the young lady. "Eh, well? mebby hit mought. Yes, I s'pose that would be the proper kink. But you must write hit fer me." "Very well," and out she hurried to run up to her own little writing-room, or study, to indite the answer. "Here it is," she said, returning a few moments later. " Shall I read it ? " " Yes, read hit ter me." " MR. DAVID K. WINSTON : I can readily accommodate my time to your own convenience, and will meet you at ten A. M., as requested. " Very truly yours, " ISRAEL HARDIE." "That's the dictum. Thest az good az hizzen ; but, Abby, why didn't ye write on finer paper ; little sweet-smelling note with thing- a-ma jigs around the aiges ? " "That would hardly be in good taste. This is a plain business note and it should be on plain business paper." " That's a fac' ; bizness is bizness, an' hits DAVID AND ABIGAIL. . 29 allers best not ter have too many curlima- cues about it. Here, Nanny, give hit ter his man, an' here, here is half a dollar, give hit ter him fer good luck." " Yes, sah," and courtesying out, the girl hurried down to the door. "Yere, you nigger; yere's de letter. Young Mistus, Miss Grace writ it herseff. She kin write same's a man, Miss Grace kin ; but you needn't go an' tell you young Marse so ; an' yere, yere's a haff ole Marse sont yer ; I'ze a great mine to keep hit myseff, though," presenting the note and holding up the tantalizing fee above her head, in true African coquetry. "Tanky, miss; you's de purtiest waitin'- gal in all de town ; come, gimme de haff, an' I'll give yer a kiss. Oh, hit's no yuse ter dodge, I'ze bound ter have 'em boff," making a grab for the coin and then hold- ing her for the kiss. " Go long wid ye, yer black nigger, you ; hain't yer 'shamed ov yerseff , wid yer pro- jickin' rite yere on de whit folkse's door in broad daylight ? Dar, den, " complacently yielding, ' ' take hit an' be off wid yerseff, afore Sam sees you an' bustes yer head fer you." " Zif yer please, sah, yere is de note dey 30 . DAVID AND ABIGAIL. toled me ter fotch ye, an' de waitin'-gal sez dat de young Mistus wrote hit sheseff," said Jake, as, hat in hand, he stood before his young Master a few minutes later. The young gentleman carelessly opened and read it. "Ah, this is well worded and neatly writ- ten, a very pretty and characteristic hand. I wonder if she really did write it ? Pshaw, no ! Of course not ; she has an amanuensis, and that is much better than the gift of writing itself. What is the use of brains of one's own if one has the money to buy the brains of others. Ah, what a blessed thing it is to have money ! " CHAPTER in. A FAIR BARGAIN. "WELL, Abby, hit's nearly ten ; 'ginst I walk over ter the Jedge's hit'll be time. Good-morning, huimy," tenderly kissing her good-bye. " What shell I tell yer sweet- heart ? " in a more cheerful vein. "Oh, I don't know," she laughingly answered, "unless I write across your DAVID AND ABIGAIL. . 31 back, ' Barkis is willin'," and with a strange flutter, as if half scared at her bold- ness, she ran back through the hall to her room. Promptly to the moment, the old gentle- man knocked at the Judge's office. " That is the old hound now. Show him in, Jake. Father, you must receive him, I really haven't the patience to talk to him," whispered the young man. " Yes, you only be quiet and let me man- age him. Ah, Mr. Hardie, is that you ? I hope you are in good health this morning. " " Yes, Jedge, hit's me ; good-morning, sir. I'm purty tol'able, thank ye, that is 'ceptin' a little tech ov the rumatiz in the left shoulder. Hope you find yourseff the same," effusively grasping the Judge's dainty fin- gers in his horny grip and giving them a squeeze that set every nerve in his system a-tremble. "Eh, an' here is Mr. David; Howdy do, sir, howdy," dropping the deli- cate hand of the father and seizing upon the sturdier palm of the son. ' ' I'm rael glad ter see you. Hope I didn't' keep yer waitin' ? " " No ; you are on time." "Yes, I allers is ; I makes it a pint allers ter gitthar." " Of course; but as my own time is limited, 32 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. I hope you will be seated, and. dispensing with ceremony, proceed at once to business," a little ungraciously. " Now, you're talkin'. Business fust an' ceremony arterwards. I hain't much on ceremony nohow, an' asides, I haz a lot ov other bizness ter tend to ter-day. Ter- day's return day, you know, an' I've a lot ov lame ducks ter look after." "Well, sir, what is it I am to understand you wish ? " direct from the young man, a little nettled at the suggestion of lame ducks. "Hey ! I sposed yer daddy had 'splained ever'thing, eh, Jedge ? " "My father has explained his unfort- unate indebtedness to you " Tu-by-shore," nodding encouragingly. ' ' And he assures me of his utter inability to pay it now." "Ah ! has he ? then I am glad ; that is I am sorry for the Jedge, but hit ain't so much the money I am after as the t'other thing. " " What other thing ? " with a look. "Why, didn't he tell ye? 'bout the marrying, ov course : you an' Abby." "I hope, Mr. Hardie, that you are not seriously in earnest about that impossible thing?" DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 33 " Earnest ! In course I am. In cool, sober yearnest. Why not ? " "Because it is preposterous. I must tell you at once and for all, that such a thing can never be. I would not marry your daughter were she a solid lump of gold from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot/' "Well, I should say not ! an' I wouldn't ax yer zif she waz in that kin' ov a fix. Why, she wouldn't be no better'n a heathen nimmage. But Abby hain't that sort ov a cat. She's wuff her weight in gold, an' the man as gits her will git hit, with a nigger throwed in with every pound, but thar's no gold about her make- up, not even in her teeth; she's all gurrill shore anuff, flesh an' blood, pure, plump, an' fat, every inch ov her, an' as true grit as you ever seed." ' "I beg your pardon, Mr. Hardie, but you misapprehend me. I have no possible doubt of the carnal genuineness of the young lady, nor do I question the substan- tial solidity of her corporosity, with its tempting jointure of gold and negroes ; but what I mean is this : all these things, the gold and negroes, with a million more could never make me so far debase my manhood, 34 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. so far forget my family, to say nothing of myself, as to think of marrying a woman so far beneath me in everything that honorable men hold dear, or women hold precious. " The old man staggered as if stricken by a blow. It was a blow, a cruel, unmanly thrust, and it struck home to the heart. The young man noticed the hurt look, not resentful, but pathetic in its anguish, and he would have given much to have recalled the bitter words ; but he could not, and before he could frame an apology the old man spoke. "Ye speaks mighty plain, sir, an' mebby hit is best, but I'm monstus sorry, sorry fer you, as well as fer her an' fer your daddy. I bed so sot my heart on the scheme, an' I wouldn't mine hit so bad zif I hadn't a went an' 'suaded Abby in the notion too. Pore gurrill, hit'll cut her feathers powerful ter have herseff throwed back at herseff like this. She hain't ole an' tough like me as have rubbed agin the world tell I've got usened ter hits jagged aiges, but she's as tender-footed in her feelin's as any lady in the land, I don't care whar they comes from. I've never in all her life let trubble come anigh her." "I am sorry, too, that I spoke so plainly DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 35 that I had to speak at all. I would not willingly hurt you, but I could not other- wise express nay meaning. I only wish you to understand how utterly impossible this thing is," David answered, in a kind of subdued apology. "Yes, I understands, an' as that pint is settled, we'll let it slide an' take up the tother one." " Yes; what is it we can do ? " " I don't know what 'tis ye can do, but I kin tell ye what 'tis I wants. Ter-day is return day an' I wants my money ? " ' ' We are very sorry, Mr. Hardie, but as I told you just now, my father has confessed his inability to pay you. The notes, as I understand, are well secured ; could you not be generous and grant us an extension ? We would be willing to increase the interest." "Well, no ! 'Tain't no yuse. Ye can't pay the intrust now 'thout makin' hit more, an' asides I don't want any more intrust ; seven per cent, is anuff fer me. Big intrust allers makes poor debts, an' hits more than ye uns can pay. Ye see as how I'll hev ter talk a leetle plain, too ; not as I is mad, nor disapinted, 'caze I hain't, an' zif I waz I'd not let that mix along with my bizniss. The man's a fool as will do that ; mix hiz 36 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. feelings up along with hiz bizniss, he thes cuts off hiz nose ter spite hiz face. No, bizness is bizness an' spite is spite, an' the two won't mix ; an' ter come square down ter the pint, the security hain't good ; that is, I means, 'that hit is good anuff so fur as hit goes, but hit don't begin to reach the gooddy." " You have a mortgage on all our property. That should be sufficient to cover every cent we owe you," feebly protested the young man. "No, but hit ain't ! If all the rale estate an' every blessed nigger ye have waz put on the block ter-day hit wouldn't bring the haff ov it." "But you need not put it on the block. There is no need of a sale. I will transfer it to you in fee-simple now," interposed the Judge. " Yes, but I don't want the property, I've got more sich now than I can yuse, and more Ian' than I kin pay taxes on, an' more niggers than I kin feed." " But you can hold it until you can realize its value, and then indemnify yourself for all cost." "Yes; that would do zif times war like they used ter waz, but they hain't ; and fur- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 37 thersome more, they is a gitting wuss an' wuss. The longer I kept hit the littler hit would fetch. Hit 'ulcl be like buying a sick nigger, with the galloping consumption, an' waiting f er niggers ter go up. An' afore nig- gers riz he'd lay down an' die an' 'then whar'd you be ? No, no ; thar's no sense in that. I knows yer bizness, Jedge, thest as well az you-uns know hit, an' mebby a leetle more so, an' the longer I waits on you the wusser hit gits ; the harder hit will be fer you ter pay, an' the less chance I will heve ter git my money. An' then, agin, thar's a nuther pint ; zif I war ter take the property thes dry so, without a foreclosure ov the morgidges, I'd hev the Garden estate a bouncing on me like a duck upon a June-bug, fer what you owes 'em. The gurrill is married, yer know, an' will soon be arter you with a sharp stick fer the money. No, no ; Jedge, hit won't do." "But cannot you arrange it with your son to give me a little time on that matter ? " pleaded the Judge, in abject despair. ' ' He ain't no son ov mine, Tom hain't. I've got no son an' I'm dinged glad ov it, fer he is a trifling puppy, Tom is ; I don't care if I did fotch 'im up myseff, same as he'd a been my own." 38 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Not your son! You surprise me;" exclaimed the Judge. " No ; I hain't got nary chile in the wur- ruld, 'ceptin Abby, an' I don't want any, nuther. Tom Hardie hain't nuthin' but a tacky I picked up outen the woods, up on Harrycane crick, an' I raised 'im like a whitehead, only ter hev 'im turn an' bite me, like the snake we yused ter read about in the spellin' book. No, Jedge, I've got noth- in creation ter do erlong with Tom, nor his wife, nuther. She holds her head too high fer me ; an the onliest way I see fer me ter help ye would, be thes ter run my hand down in my pockit an' haul out the spondulix ; which I 'ould a bin willin' ter do zif this tuther little game had a worked. An', even now, Jedge, I'd like ter help ye zif I could see my way outen the woods. But I can't see hit. Hit 'ould be thes a takin' the money as I haz saved up fer Abby outen her own pocket an' a puttin' hit in yourn, an' that, I hardly think you'd like fer me ter do, seein' as how we hain't no kin?" " No, no, certainly not ; but, Mr. Hardie, I have other resources ; not immediately available, it is true, but they will be in time, a very short while, I hope. The Willoughby DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 39 claim is just and true, and I am certain to recover the full amount, with damages." "Oh, yes, I've looked in that thing too, an' I think as ye will finally git hit, an' I hopes ter gracious ye will, fer I thinks, my- seff, that the debt is a just one, but then the law iz a mighty oncertain critter, an' hit 'ill be a monstus long time a coming. Hit may do your gran-chillen some good, but hit 'ill never buy socks fer your darter, nor yer son, nuther. But, Jedge, yer knows the law better nor I kin tell ye, but still, zif I war you, I wouldn't bank too much on the Wil- loughby case." " But, my God, man, what am I to do ? " groaned the Judge, as the astute old man hauled out and mercilessly rattled the bones of the hideous skeleton he had been trying so long to hide, even from himself. "I don't see as ye kin do nothin'. I've waited az long az I reasonly kin, an' hit's no sorter yuse ter wait any longer. Hit would a bin better zif we had a closed hit up yisterdy, without all this wurry 'bout Abby, but I wanted ter give ye every chance I could. I don't say hit to scare ye, Jedge, but I can't see things az ye see 'em. I studied hit all out afore I corned ter ye yisterdy, an' hits no yuse a talkin', you's in a nine- 40 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. hole thest az certin az shooting. An' that's how I corned ter make the plot I did ter try an' bring hit all in the fambly, like, an' then I could step in an' help ye. I seed ye waz flat when ye couldn't see hit yerseff, an' I wanted ter lift yer up agin afore any body else knowed it. I hain't no big bug myseff, but I somehow hates ter see a big bug get stuck in the mud. Hit puts fokes ter talkin'. An' thar's your son, Mr. David," reaching out his hand in uncon- scious protection, "I wanted ter help 'im too. I don't know why hit is, but somehow or nuther my heart has alless had a sneakin' hankerin' arter that boy." "You are very kind, Mr. Hardie, and I must thank you for your goodness," cried the young man, instinctively -reaching for the friendly hand. "No; hits thes nacheral, an' I couldn't help it. Hit thes corned dry so an' you needn't mine it, " patting the offered hand in a vague apology for the presumption of his kindly feelings. " But cannot you help us, without bind- ing our children to what may be to them both a lifetime of misery ? " asked the Judge, in one more blind appeal for help. "No, that wouldn't be nacheral; hit DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 41 'ould be sorter like givin' hit away ; an' I don't think, Jedge, 'zif ye 'ill look at hit a minit that ye 'ould like ter hev hit that way. Hit 'ould hardly be honerable, now, would hit, Jedge ? "And do you think, sir," fiercely put in the young man, " that it would be any the less dishonorable for me to marry your daughter, a woman whom I have never seen, and for whom I have no regard, not even so much as a decent respect ? To marry her simply for her money ? " "Well, yes; hits more like bizness, an' bizness is honerable, zif hits all square an' fair. An' that's what I waz wanting ter make this. I wanted no hiding o' faults or meannesses about hit like a trading in niggers, but I wanted ever'thing plain an' above board ; no juggling under the kiver ; but I wanted ye ter see Abby, an' if you can fine one kinky hair in her head, or one black spot on her character, then you needn't tech her with a ten- foot pole. Hit iz thest a matter ov bizness, an' ther's a blamed sight more honnerbleness in a straightforard bizness, than thar is in the law ; I kin tell yer that, Jedge, or in politics uther, Mr. David. But that hain't the pint," he con- tinued, after a pause to challenge dispute to 42 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. his axiom. " Now here's the way I looks at this bizness : you're a young man ; you've got sense, an' eddication, an' ambition, an' brass anuff ter match ; you've got a good name, an' come ov a good family ; you stands high, an' ye wants ter clime still higher. Well, I glories in your spunk, an' I'm for ye. You're a dimmicrat an' so's me, I allers was one an' I spects ter be one tell Gabriel toots his horn ; I tells yer what's a fac' ; I'd rather be a noxen than ter be a whig ; but thar's thes one thing ye lacks, young man, an' that's the one thing need- ful ; you lacks money ; the spizarinctum. Now, thar's no yuse a kicking, yer daddy's busted, too bacl ter skin. I don't say this ter hurt yer feelings, but thest ter let yer see yourseff, as I sees ye,, an' as the Bank sees ye. Here's all these papers ov your daddy, they calls fer a mint ov money, but unless I scratched my own name acrost they backs, I couldn't get fifty thousand dollars on 'em. I'm monstus sorry hits so, but so it is." "Yes, it is sad," drearily acquiesced the young gentleman. " Adzactly ; an' thar is thest whar ye stand. An' now, here is Abby : she's got the money, thest oodles ov it ; outside ov these DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 43 little things, I've got a cool millyun salted down fer her, an' what's hern would a bin yourn, an' that would 'a' put yer daddy on his legs again, an' 'a' put ye a long way ahead ov anybody in this deestrick. An' asides all this, thar's Abby herself ; az I tole yer daddy yisterday, she's no slouch ter be grinned at, but a rael sniptious gurrill. She's powerful purty, zif I do say it, my- self, an' she's smart ; I've spent a sight ov money on her raisin' an' she's well eddi- cated. I lay she kin spell ever' word in the spellin' book by heart, an' I'll bet a coon- skin, that she can turn you down in Lat- ting, er Greek, er even Dutch, an' she kin thest beat ole Tom Walker, hisseff, a playin' on the pianny. She's never bin about amungst the big bugs much, though she's got some nice gurrill friends what writes ter her from Charleston, an' Baltimore, what she got acquainted with at school. But as I was a sayin', round yere, she don't mix along with the pumpsoles much, caze she's monstus proud, an' she knos as how they all turn up thar noses at her ole' homespun daddy ; but fer all that, she can hold a candle to any ov' em. Thar 'ould a been no need fer you ever ter be ashamed ov her, no, not even if ye tooked her to Congress 44 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. with ye. Hey ; mebby ye think I don't know what I'm a talkin' about, but I does," as the young man had to smile at the ab- surdity of his enthusiasm. "I hain't much on style myseff, but I knows the right thing when I see it," and in ludicrous vindication of his intuitive breeding, the old gentle- man triumphantly fumbled his flashy seals. His auditors could find nothing to say, and pausing a moment for breath he continued : "An' asides all that, she's got some grit herseff, Abby haz. Thar hain't a spunkyer 'ummon in all this town than she is ; an' ye thes git her dander raised an' I'd like ter see the gurrill, er man uther, in all this lay-out that could crawl over her. I tell ye, sir, that she'd a backed ye with teeth an' toe-nails, an' with her money ter push ye an' her grit ter back ye, ye 'ould thes 'a' been bound ter knock the hine-sights off ov Lawson. Why, sir, she's a plotting fer ye a'ready." " She is very good." " Yes, when I went home, yisterday, arter the talk I had with yer daddy, an' told her ov my plans, an' 'suaded her into the notion ; ye see, like ye she didn't take ter hit at the fust jump ; she didn't think hit right fer fokes ter marry thes so kinder off-hand like, without any courtin' or pea-vining, ye know. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 45 She said as people should know something about each other afore they hitched ter- gether fer life ; thes as if young fokes a courtin' could ever fine one a nuther out, when they both are doin' thar level best ter show thar best pints an' ter hide thar wust ; but arter I argied the pint with her awhile, an' showed her how much I 'ad sot my heart on seeing her married in a good fambly, why she gin in, an' said yes, she 'ould marry thes ter please me." " Ah ! she is a dutiful daughter," slightly ironically. "Yes, she's allers been a good chile. An' then when I told her who hit was that I had picked out for her, an' that hit waz you, ye thest orter a seed her brighten up, an' it would a done ye good ter see how she lit inter Tom Lawson. Ye see she hearn you tother night at the City Hall, an' she come home chock full ov you an' your speech. An' then when I wanted ter sorter feel ov her like, an' told her how Lawson's rich wife was a planking down the money, an' that you had none to call his hand, she thes flared up an' sez, sez she, ' Father, we must see the blind and go ten better ; ' or I mean, that is, she didn't say them very words, but that waz what she meaned. And, I gad, sir ; I 'ould 46 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 'a' done hit. Fer every dollar Tom Lawson put down I'd 'a' put ten ; I'd 'a' thest pulled the bung outen the bank an' 'a' let 'er run, an' zif that warn't anuff I'd 'a' drawed on Mobile. But, sirs, that's all knocked in the head now, petered out wuss nor a bline nigger with the small-pox, an' I've got ter go back an tell her that hit's no go ; that she hain't no meat fitten fer sich a big bug az you. I'ze monstus sorry that I ever started it ; she'd 'a' never cared anything about hit then." " I am very sorry too ; truly and painfully sorry. I must thank you, though, for the honor you intended me, and thank your daughter for her generous advocacy of my cause," the young gentleman answered soberly. ' ' But the question recurs, again : what are we to do ? " he added, with an involuntary glance at his father. "That's fer you ter say, you an' yer daddy. I've had my say an' I've sed all I've got ter say. In course, I sees hit from another pint ov view than you sees hit ; I'ze a plain bizness man an' I looks at it from a bizness standpint. Mebby zif I seed hit as you uns see hit I moutent blame you." "Father, what must I do?" and there was the pathos of despair in the appeal. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 47 "Alas! I cannot say. Would to God I knew what to do," answered the father, with a groan. " Then I shall cut the knot at once. And, Mr. Hardie, if you will permit me to with- draw my hasty and insulting words and be kind enough to renew your proposition, I will accept your offer and will marry your daughter. " "Tu-by-shore I will renew hit. I hain't never took hit back yit, an' it's the best bargain ye ever struck in yer life ; so lets shake hands on it," grasping the reluctant hand and giving it an excruciating squeeze. "Yes; I will marry Miss Hardie I pre- sume she is a miss ? but you must under- stand, and she too, that it is wholly a matter of business. I give her my hand and name, but nothing else goes with it ; I can give her no love ; no love is possible ; even respect is hardly probable. She marries me for my name and social position and I marry her for her money." "Yes, that's all hunkydory, an that's the way Abby sorter put hit herseff." ' ' She must be an eminently practical girl?" " She is that ; she never looks at things cross-eyed, an' this iz perzactly what she sez, 48 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. sez she, ' Ov course I don't expects him ter love me at the start, havin' never seed me, but zif I makes myseff lovabul, an' he is the gentleman I takes 'im ter be, I'll compel 'im ter love me ; and zif I'm not worthy ov his love I won't deserve hit, nor I won't expect hit.'" "Ah! very prettily said. Then I am to understand that she thoroughly appreciates the situation, and that she is willing ? " ' ' Yes, she understands, an' that is adzatly what she sed agin this mornin' when I toled her good-bye. Sez I, thes ter tease er like, 'Abby,'sez I, what shall I tell your sweetheart fer you ? ' An' she flushed up redder en' any rose, an' then she laffed . an' sez, sez, she, ' Oh ! I orter chawk hit on yer back an' let 'im read hit fer himseff : Barkum is willin' er waitin',' I don't perzactly 'mem- bers. Hit waz kinder Greek ter me an' I couldn't make head nor tail ov hit, but I spoze hit is some ov these little quips she haz picked up outen some ov the outlandish books she's bin a readin'. " "Ah, yes, Barkis is willing ; that is Greek and shows your daughter gifted with a fine sense of humor, as well as classical erudition. Barkis and Peggoty ; two fools well met, heigh-ho ! why not ? But now, Mr. Hardie, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 49 to return to ' bizness, ' when do you propose to lead this one precious ewe-lamb of yours to the sacrificial altar ? " "Nan?" " I mean, when do you wish to complete this trade, to sign, seal and deliver the goods ? " "Oh, yes, I see; the sooner the better. You're bizzy with your electioneering, an' '11 want the spondulix right away, an', asides, the Gardens mout call the Jedge ter taw, an' I wants 'im ter be ready, so ye kin marry at oncet, an' let the thing go on. Ye sed ye'd be bizzy ter-day er I 'ould say go over at once, an' have hit over. Thar's no yuse a waitin'." % " But the lady, is she quite ready ? " " Oh, yes ! Abby's a minit man, Abby is, an' yer'll allers find her reddy. Zif I wuz ter go right home now an' say, Abby, we've got ter start to Jerryco ter-night, kin ye git reddy ? she'd say, yes ; an' call Nanny an' go ter packin', an' I lay that afore I could go an' git the tickets, she'd hev her trunk out on the sidewalk a settin' on hit a waitin' fer the waggin. I tells yer what, young man, you've got ter keep yer socks on zif you keep up with Abby. So thes say when an' she'll be reddy, armed au' equipt as the law directs." 50 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. ' ' Very well ; as you say, this is strictly a matter of business, and I can see no good reason for delay. I shall not get back from Red Oak until late in the evening, or I would suggest eight o'clock to-night. I shall have to speak at Philippi to-morrow at one P. M., but I can possibly find time in the morning to attend to the matter. It will take but a few moments, and by driving hard I can make the time up. Will you engage to have her ready by, say 10:30, in the morning ? " " Oh, yes ! I'll fix ever'thing. She kin git her trix ready ter-night, an' I'll get the lisens, an' see the passin'. Ye kin marry at the house." " Yes, that will save time." " Tu-by-shore, an' asides, she hain't much ov a han' fer show, an' 'ould druther have a privit weddin' anyhow ; only ye kin fetch as many ov yer friends as wants ter come ; they'll all be welcome, an' I reckon they'll find a plate an' a glass full an' a waitin' fer 'em." "Thanks, you are very good. You will present my devoirs to your daughter? or perhaps I had best write her a note ; it would be more like ' bizness ' ; will you kindly carry it ? " "Tu-by-shore I will, an a bunch of DAVID AND ABIGAIL. hollyhocks, or poppies, zif you want to send a posy." "No, thank you; had I anticipated this interesting dilemma, I should have certainly provided a basket of poppies suited to the emergency, but never even dreaming of the surprising stroke of 'bizness' I will have to rely upon the lady's good grace to excuse any laches in sentiment. " "Yes, she'll understand." The young man turned to his table and hastily wrote an ungracious note, and then, without reading or revision, he addressed and handed it to her father. " Will you kindly hand this to Miss Hardie, with my most dutiful regards ? And now I see," consulting his watch, "I haven't a moment more to lose ; I must leave you and my father to adjust the details of the settlement. I shall be promptly on hand in the morning to fulfill my part of the contract. I shall come at 10:30, sharp, which will give me thirty minutes in which to w,oo, win and wed your daughter," and seizing his hat he made a bolt for the door, when his father gently detained him. "One moment, my son," rising up and drawing him toward the door of the private 52 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. consultation room, or confessional, as the lawyers irreverently call it. "Let me see you in here a moment before this unholy compact is irrevocably sealed." " I have but a moment ; please speak quick- ly, for I have already decided," the son answered, closing the door behind him and facing his father. " Can you do this thing, David ? Can you make this creature your wife ? this woman the mother of your children ? " " I can marry her at least, and that is all the old Shylock stipulates for. I can mum- ble the ceremony of marriage, but she will never be wife of mine ; she will be mother of no child of mine ; I should expect a hybrid monstrosity ; an idiot with a tail, or a gorilla without one. No, sir, you need not be uneasy for the species of your descend- ants through me. There will be none by this old hound's daughter." "But, David, this is monstrous, brutal! The woman has rights." " And I," almost fiercely, " shall give her the freest latitude in which to exercise them. I shall give her my name and she may gild it in brazen letters on her coach and drive through Trinity Church itself, for all I care ; but that is all I shall give." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 53 ' ' But if she is not so repulsive as we think ; if she turns out to be worthy ? " "Then that puts the onus of infamy upon me ; if she is worthy to be my wife, I am utterly unworthy of her, and should be ashamed to ever stand in her presence. If she is what I expect her to be I shall despise her, but if she is anything better she must despise me, and in either case, I can have nothing to do with her. I shall marry her to-morrow, and then I shall hurry away and care not to ever see her again in the world. You can finish your business with the old man, and I shall be promptly on hand, " and pulling his hat savagely down over his ears, as if to hush all further cavil, he turned from the room and dashed away. CHAPTER IV. CHANCE, DESTINY OR PROVIDENCE ; WHICH ? "WELL, Abby ; we've got the thing fixed at last, an' ever'thing is squegee, an' you're ter be married ter-morrer mornin' at haff arter ten o'clock, ter the secund," said the old gentleman, with a little triumph, as his 54 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. daughter met him in the hall, on his return from the bank. "To-morrow? so soon! That is impos- sible," protested the young lady in conster- nation. " The haste is unseemly ; really in- decent." " No, hit's not ; you thest hold your tater, an' let me 'splain. Thar's no yuse a waitin' nor no yuse a fixin.' Hit's only a privit weddin', with nobody yere 'septin' the f ambly, an' then hit's all right. Everybody iz willin' an' hit's nobody else's bizness. You've got plenty ov clothes good anuff . David '11 only drap in fer half a hour an' then he'll hav' ter make tracks ter the speakin'. They speaks at Philippi ter-morrer an' he'll have ter whoop it up, ter be thar in time. Ye mus- sent spect much courtin' an' rose-buddin' an' hunnying, an' sich like, 'til arter the 'lec- tion. Tom Lawson 'ill gin 'im as much az he can tote without 'im daily-diddling with you. I knows, though, that you won't want ter keep 'im f rum hiz work, you're too smart a gurrill fer that. Thar'll be time anuff fer pea-vinin' arter we 'lect 'im ter Con- gress. You're ter be married at ten, an' yer had better tell Sealy ter fix up a little snack ov cakes an' persarves an' pies an' things, with a few bottles ov champain, ter DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 55 drink yer health in. Yer knows how ter fix hit ? The Jedge 'ill be here an' I 'spects his darter 'ill come too, an' as many more as they can fetch. Zif yer need any flowers an' sich like, thest send f er Mr. Galceran an' have 'im ter fix 'em, tell 'im thest ter spread heseff , I don't care a ding if it cost a thousan' dollars. I '11 see Mr. Davenport an' have 'im ter come over an' tie the knot for you. David is gone ter the speakin' at Red Oak an' won't be back tell late ter-night, an' then he 'ill hev ter pole right back in the mornin' to meet Lawson at Philippi. But hit's all fixed, hunny, an' you need'n look so jubus ; thar'l be no shenanygin about hit. He toled me ter git the license an' ter have you ready. He toled me ter give you his devours, with his best love, an' toled me ter hand you this letter, an' he'd a sent you a bunch ov holly- hawks an' sich like, only he sed he didn't know that he would a needed 'em so soon ; so come, darling, you mussent go ter crying now. Tut, tut ! hunny, don't cry. Hit's not a goin' ter hurt you. Sho ! yer needn't mine hit at all. Thar hain't a nether gurrill in all the town but wouldn't give their eye- teeth ter be in yer place. Now, now ! don't cry, but take the letter an' run up ter your own room an' read hit ter yerself." 56 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. The young lady, with a sorrowing pertur- bation, took the letter and hurried into the secrecy of her own chamber, as much to hide the disquieting fears and to wipe away the unbidden tears, as to read the message itself. For a moment she stood by her window, absently holding the letter in her hand, lost in a strange daze, and then shaking off the feeling she broke the seal and read : " Miss HABDIE : Your father, presumably with your approbation, has told me that you two have thoroughly discussed the matter that so intimately concerns us both, and that you are familiar with, and appreciate, all its phases. Without commenting upon the propriety of the methods or the wisdom of the step, I have only a hurried moment in which to tell you that, to relieve the sore dis- traint of my father, I have not without serious misgivings as to the future, but with an honest purpose to do my duty consented to the extraordinary proposal he made, and will Deo volente be with you to-morrow at 10:30 A. M., to speak before the holy man of God the vows of love and re- gard you may hardly expect me to feel. When I come to know you I may possible learn to love you ; until then, it would be an unmanly hypocrisy in me to affect any other than a respectful regard. " Very truly, " DAVID R. WINSTON." "Oh, this is hard, this is cruel!" she cried, and the tears came afresh; and then, all unconscious of the volition, she sank DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 57 upon her knees, and pressing her forehead against the window she prayed : "Oh, God ! the Father of the motherless and the Counsellor of the friendless, teach me the way I should go, the thing I should do. Oh, mother ! my sainted mother, if it be possible for thee to hear me, come to me now and help me to decide. Breathe in my soul the words I should speak, and move me to do that which is best to be done." For nearly five minutes she knelt thus, helplessly praying for light and for guidance, but no divine message came ; no saintly whisper of duty ; and then she arose, de- spairingly, perplexed as ever ; but casting her eyes around, as if in a further dim groping in the dark for an oracle. By chance or was it by fate ? her glance fell upon her Bible, the precious book that had been her mother's, and, with a little gasp, she seized the book. "Ah! it is written. I shall find my duty here," she cried, and with that intui- tive reaching out into the mysteries of the unknown, which, unconsciously to us all, guides every human hand, she opened and read : " 'And when the servants of David were 58 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her saying, David sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife. And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said : Behold, let thy handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hastened and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her. And she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.'" "I wonder," she murmured, as she fin- ished reading it over for the third time. " I wonder if this can be a revelation, or is it but chance chance coincidence, an acci- dental grouping of words and letters David and Abigail, Ah, no, this is more than chance, this is a divination and I shall accept it as the ordination of my destiny," and carefully reading it over again, syllable by syllable and word by word, she rever- ently closed the volume and turned to her letter. "Ah!" she said, after reading it over once more, "it is not really cruel, and it may be kind. It is frank and honest, and that is always the best. It would have been so easy for him to have written flattering words and deceived me with heartless pre- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 59 tensions. I ought to thank him for his candor. And I do thank him; between us there should be no deceit. I should know that he cannot love me now, for he has never seen me; he would not even recognize me were we to chance to meet on the street. Ah, me ! I wonder if he wonders how I look ? I hope he thinks me ugly, I should so like to surprise him, he is so handsome himself," and fully conscious of a rare womanly beauty in herself, of manner, of figure, and of face, she cast an admiring glance at her own lovely self in the mirror. "Ah !" she went on, smiling approval at the radiant reflection, " Ah, David and Abigail, I must study the story of their lives and see if they were happy. What wonderful stories are to be found in the Bible, and how much like a Biblical story is the beginning of this, for David did not court Abigail, he simply sent his servants for her to Carmel. And what is it he says ? the new David, my David ? Ah ! here it is, " referring to the letter once again. " ' When I come to know you I may possibly learn to love you.' Oh, what a sweet possibility, and, oh, how I shall strive to teach him! I wish he had written nothing else but this, no other sentence, no other line. But these shall be 60 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. all I shall remember, ' I may learn to love you.' To love you ah ! to love you, to love you! Ah! that is enough, a hundred pages could not have added to its fullness ; a poem in one line, a whole world of happy possibilities epitomized into one little 'when." And cooingly repeating, "David and Abigail ; to love you to love you, " she tenderly folded it away to hide it in the most sacred of her sacred repositories. And then, when she had locked her treas- ure away, there came a wish to answer it, a desire to say something on her own part, and in her own behalf ; to let him feel, or at least know, that cold, hard, and mercenary as this most extraordinary proceeding might seem to others, she, at least, was guiltless of a single sordid thought ; that she could hope to find in it all a something higher, purer, and sweeter than any suggestion of worldly gain, or of worldly ambition. And thus moved she wrote : " MY DEAR MK. WIXSTOX : Your note of this instant was handed to me by my father, and though no answer may be expected, I find myself constrained by the wish to write. I cannot tell you the pain and humiliation its perusal cost me at first, but after a moment's reflection I realized my unhappy position ; and, while shrinking from your coldness, I must yet thank you for your candor. I DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 61 should regret to know that any distraint on the part of your father, or constraint on the part of my own, should impel you to take a step so momentous. If there really be such, I beg you to consider this matter ended at once, as I cannot become a party to such a sin against an ordinance so sacred. If, however, for other considerations (mercenary, if you please) you are willing to place the honor of your name and the happiness of your life in my keeping, it shall be the proudest aim of my life to maintain inviolate the one, and its sweetest endeavor to perfect the other. I shall be ready to meet you to-morrow and very happy to welcome you, but I shall not despise you if you do not come. If you should come, may I venture to request the presence of your sister, Miss Winston ? I should wish so much to know her. I should write direct to her myself but am uncertain of her grace ; and then, if I am really to be your wife, I must prefer that whatever of gladness, of pleasurable asso- ciations the future holds in store for me, should come all through you. " With feeling quite the reverse of cold regard, I must sub- scribe myself, and shall ever remain, your sincere friend and well-wisher, " GBACE A. HARDIE. " October 20th." Having carefully enveloped and sealed it, she carried it down to dispatch it. " Here, Sam, is a letter for Mr. Winston, the young lawyer. I wish you to take it yourself, to be sure of its safe delivery. Take it to his office and leave it with his man. You know the place, 124 Winston Street?" "Yes'm, I knows." 62 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Very well. Here is a dollar for his man. Tell him to be sure and hand the let- ter to his master the very first thing he does after he comes." "Yes'm," and off posted Sam, while she turned to her father. "Well, Abby, what's he say ?" asked the old man, in anxious sympathy with the thoughtful shade on his daughter's brow. "He says but little. A simple business letter ; only, father, there is one expression which troubles me. "He speaks of the dis- traint of his father, as if by some secret power, or unfair advantage you had over him, you are compelling him to this step. Is this so, father ? " "I don't know, hunny, what it iz you means by destraints, 'less'en it's that the ole Jedge iz busted, which he iz for a fac' ; but I didn't bust 'im an' I holes no secret power over 'im." "And it is to get you to help his father that his son agrees to marry me ? " "Well er yes. When yer comes ter bile hit down, that's about the size ov it. Hit's thest as I tole ye, yisterdy, only a little more so ; wusser, I means. You sees the Jedge, asides the tuther things he owes, was guardeen for the Garden gurrill, Tom's wife, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 63 an' he has spent all her money an' now he's got ter anty up, he can't raise the stake." " But can't you help him without this this bargain of of me ? " " Well er yes, I 'spoze I kin. I can thes give 'im the money, make 'im a Christmus present ov hit, but that wouldn't be bizness. I'd be a fool ter off er hit an' he'd be a dinged rogue ter take hit ; but he ain't that sort ov a man, he's a honerable man, the Jedge is, I don't care if he did slip up an' busted. An' so is his son David, he's the honerablest ov the two, an' they both iz honerable. An' asides that, I hain't no fool nuther. So the bestest way for us all ter do is ter thest hitch you two young colts together an' then hit will all be in the fambly. An' he sees it too, David do, though he kicked like a mule in a yaller-jackit's nest at fust. You see, Abby, they's a big fambly, the Winstons be, the biggest an' the grandest in all creation regular blue-bluds away back yonder from ole Ferginny ; the Pokerhun- ters, an' the Fairfaxes, an' the Marthy Washingtons an' all the tuther big bugs as we read about, an' they's monstus proud ov thar breed, an' it liked ter sallivated 'im, the idee ov marryin' you, one ov the pegbot- toms. They's silk-sowed pumpsoles, they is, 64 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. an we'uns is only yaller pegbottoms. They sort, yer know, kinder looks down on our sort." "Ah! yes, I know. But have they just cause ? Tell me, father, the truth, is there any reason why I, as your child, should be despised ? Ip there any reproach upon your name, or life, or character, or upon my mother's, that would cause David Winston to blush to own me as his wife ? If so, tell me now that the pain of learning may be spared me hereafter, when it may be too late." " No, Abby, thar's nuthin' that no 'onnest man orter be 'shamed ov, 'cept in that I waz homed a poor man an had ter wiggle my way up from the bottom ; I don't know as I ever done a right real low down thing in my life. I never hurt any man, nor 'umman nuther ; I never cheated even a nigger outen a picayune ; I've made money, that's a fac', thes oodles ov it, but if I ever toted a dishonest dollar in my pockit, I hopes ter goodness that hit will take the dry rot an' that all the rest 'ill catch it an' crumble away into devil's-snuff . Hit's true, too, that I yused ter bet a little on the hoss-races, but I allers won, an' when I belt a good hand in a game ov poker I warn't easily bluffed, but I DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 65 never cheated, uor renigged in my life. An' as fer your mammy, hunny, God bless her sweet heart, thar'wurn't a purer nor a truer, nor a better 'umman in all the old thirteen states than waz your mammy. Yes, nor a truer lady, I don't care zif she waz borned in a log cabbin an' had ter ride a mule ter mill when she waz a gurrill. No, Grace, thar hain't enny thing wrong about you, an' you needn't be afeered ter face a camp- meetin', in the broadest daylight that ever shined." The girl, with a flush of genuine pride, kissed her father. "There," she said, "you have made me very happy ; happy and proud, and there can be no derogation to him, nor his family in marrying me ? " "No ! in course thar can't. Hit 'ill be the makin' ov 'im and the savin' ov them. But as I said afore, hit wuz a bitter pill an' it made 'em gag ; thay is so proud, you know, an looks on us pegbottoms sorter like we looks on a passel ov free-niggers. But David is a chap ov mighty good sense, an' has plenty ov grit, an' he soon seed as how hit was no yuse ter kick again the double- tree. The ole Jedge was kerflumixed an' that fixed 'im." 5 66 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " I am very sorry." "No, I don't know as it much matters. When big folks makes ducks an' drakes -ov thar money, thay must expect thay children ter have ter paddle in the mud ter fine the aiges. But, now, darlin', I've got ter be a stirrin' an' you'd a -better be beginning ter fixin' up your weddin' trix, you hain't got much time ter fix in, but I wants you ter be thest as fine az a queen. I'll sen' Mr. Snooks over ter see 'bout fixin' the furni- ture, an' I'll send Galceran, an' you kin tell 'im how you wants the flowers. Stuffragen will see 'bout the cakes an' Sealy can baste the meats, and when Sam gits back tell 'im ter see 'bout fixin' up the niggers. I wants ever'thing ter be thest as fine as if hit was the guvner's darter as was a gwine ter be married." And tenderly kissing his daugh- ter good-bye the old man hurried away to complete the disenthrallment of Judge Winston, from the danger that so perilously threatened him, from his quondam ward. It was late in the evening, before David Winston returned to his office and then the tracing by a slender thread, winding through a labyrinth of uncertain records, an uncertain paragraph made in an un- certain speech by his adversary on an un- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 67 certain occasion, occupied all his thoughts until long after midnight, and then, utterly exhausted by the long day's work he went to bed, and it was not until ten o'clock the next morning, after he had washed the heavy drowsiness from his eyes, that he found Miss Hardie's letter, not in his office, but lying on his dressing-case, where it had been slyly placed but the moment before, by the careful hand of Jake, who while still jingling the young lady's gratuity in his pocket had entirely forgotten to deliver it the evening before. " Ah ! what is this ? ' David R. Winston, Esq., En Ville,'" reading the superscription. " An invitation to Mrs. Bullwinkle's fete musicale ? Ah ! I am getting too old for such airy dissipations, charming though they always must be," he continued, toss- ing it aside unopened. " Ziff you please, Marse David, dat'san 'ote wat de Hardie nigger fetched. He sed hit waz frum hiz young mistus, old Hardie's gal," cautioned Jake. " Oh ! the devil ! when did he bring it ? " retouching it with a shiver of disgust. " Thes now, sah ! Thes dis berry minit, an' he waz in a monstus big hurry, an' toled me ter wake you up an' give hit ter you 68 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. rite away. I wuz thes a fixin' ter ban' it ter you, soon's yer got dressed." The young man opened, and half cu- riously, half critically, read Miss Hardie's letter. " Ah ! this is a fairly written letter ; the chirography is beautiful, thanks to the cleverness of her amanuensis. What a clever writer he or maybe it's a she must be. I wonder if he, or she, is to be thrown in with the gold and negroes ? Let me see. A pound of gold for every pound of girl, and a nigger or two for every pound of each. What a magnificent dower, and what a fort- unate dog I am ! Jake ! do you know that I am to be married to-day ? " Jake tried to look wise, but the astonished whites of his eyes betrayed him. " Yes, sah, I knowed hit. But iz yer, fer a fac'?" "No ! not for a fact, but for a lie ; a miserable, debasing, mercenary lie. Yes : I am to be married at 10:30 sharp, and it's ten now. I haven't even time for breakfast. You should have waked me sooner. Here ; you had better get me another coat, and a white vest ; my best dress-suit a man should be decently dressed even though he is to be hanged. But, no ; never mind, I DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 69 would have to shave, and I haven't time for that ; this will have to do to mount the block in. Jake ! were you ever sold ? " "Oh, no, sah ; I wuz borned an' raised by ole marster. I'm a thoroughbred Wins- ton. Your mammy, she had me." " Ah ! happy Jake, never to have been sold and never to have felt the shame of it ! Here, tie my cravat. Do you know that I have been sold ? " "Oh ! no, sah ! Izyer ?" "Yes, sold. Old Israel Hardie has bought me. You know old Hardie ? " "Now, Marse Dave, yer is thes a pro- jeckin' wid me ? Wy ! all we niggers think we seffs above dat set. Dey's buckra frum de jump go." "Yes, I know, but it is true, nevertheless. Ah ! " 'True, tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true ! ' He has bought me for his daughter." "Now, Marse Dave." "Yes ; indeed it is so." " What fur she wants you ? " "Oh, she wants me for an ornament. She's tired of her poodle and wants me for a monkey. To drive me around in her car- riage, to take me to balls and to picnics, 70 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. and to exhibit me generally, just to let folks see what a fool money can make of an ill- born woman, and what a hound it can make of an impecunious man. You have heard the story, Jake, of the apples in the horse pond?" "Yes, sah." Jake was wondrous wise and had heard everything that his young master could possibly suggest. "Well, she wants me for her apple, to give credit to the puddle. " "Well, well, sah ; Marse David, zif ye didn't look so sober " You would think me drunk ? " "No, sah ; but I'd tink dat youze thes a foolin' me." "No, it is so, Jake, I assure you. I have been sold, and paid for." " How much you fotch ?" "Oh, a fancy price, you may be sure. Much more than I would be willing to give for myself now. But there, that will do," as Jake finished a vigorous brushing of his back and legs, "hand me my hat and gloves, and tell Dick to fetch the buggy around. I told him to harness Nip and Tuck as we will have hard driving to-day." Jake hurried away, sorely puzzled to make out. his master's meaning" 'spe- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 71 cially dat apple bizness," while the young gentleman drew on his gloves and with a sickly smile at himself in the mirror he turned from the room. " She asked me to invite my sister. Ah ! I wonder if she could possibly imagine what a humiliating thing it is she asks of me ! But I will see Gussie and tell her ; I will have to learn to face my degradation, and I had as well begin at once. Where is your mistress ? " he asked of her maid, as he met her in the hall. " She's in her room, sah, thest a cuttin' up." " Go tell her to please come, I wish to see her a moment." " Oh, Gussie, you are crying ! Father has told you, then ? " he asked, as his sister came in, in hysterical sobs. . " Oh, my brother ! how could you do such a miserable thing ? " she cried, sinking on a chair. "You must not cry, Gussie, I could not help it. A hard fate has forced it upon us, for it is for you, my sister, and for my father, that I do this thing. If father has told you, it is of no use to go over the wretched story again. I only wanted to tell you that I have a note from Miss Hardie 72 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. and she offers her compliments to you, and would be glad for you to be present. Will you go, sister ? " "If it was to your funeral I might, per- haps, find heart to go, but not to this. You should not ask me." "Ah, well! I am sorry, but I do not blame you ; only you must not be too hard on me. There is Dick with the buggy, and I must be going ; I am already late. By- bye," and stooping and tenderly kissing the weeping face, he hurried out and away. CHAPTER V THE WE D D I N G . THE great Janus- faced clock in the Capitol tower had struck the half-hour, and the dainty little cuckoo clock on the drawing- room mantle had verified the count, while the silent fingers of the tall, old-fashioned, pendulum clock in the dining-room were pointing to the figures 10:30, when the spanking team of David Winston, urged to a two-thirty trot, came dashing around the corner, and in an instant more was brought DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 73 to a stand before the high-arched gate of 570, Colbert Avenue. Handing the reins to Dick, the belated groom lightly sprang to the ground and hurried in, with a lugubrious look on his face, as if it was into a dentist's office he was plunging to have an excruciating molar extracted. All things were ready, and a little anxiously waiting. His father had preceded him, and had been there some time, silently sitting in a confused wonder at the surprising magnificence of the room. The Eeverend Mr. Davenport, in canonical robes, was there, complacently solemn, while the old gentleman, effusive in politeness, was for the first time in his life positively fidgety in the exuberance of expectancy. "Ah ! thar he is now ; fetch 'im in, Sam," he exclaimed, as the hurried knock on the door came sounding through the hall. Sam, with the-dignity of the Queen's Cham- berlain, responded to the knock, and hardly before the echoes of the alarm had died from the hall the door was opened and the groom was ushered in. " Ah-ha ! thest in time ter the secund. That's bizness," cried the old gentleman, fairly crushing his fingers in the spontaneity of his welcome. 74 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " Thanks ouche ah ! excuse me, I was so busy last night that I overslept myself, and feared that I should have to apologize for being late," wrenching his aching fingers from the friendly grasp. " No, yu'ze thest in time, as punctal az the bank hitself, an' ever'thing else is reddy cocked an' primed. The Jedge is yere an' kin tell you that ever'thing hez been set- tled, fair an' square atwixt us, an' I've paid off Tom's wife, ever' blamed cent ov it, an' the passin is yere with the lisenzes, an' Abby's got her trix on an' iz a waitin'. Yer 'ill fine her in her little drawin'-roorn acrost thar ; Nanny 'ill show you," and giving the half-scared young man a shove, that nearly upset his equilibrium, in the direction of his daughter's boudoir, and motioning Nanny to conduct him to the bride expectant, he turned to his factotum : " Sam, call 'em all in now ; thay wants ter see thay young mistus married." Sam had only to open a side door, when they came pouring in ; such a rush, of black, slick-faced, spread -mouthed, smartly-dressed negroes as threatened to deluge the spacious room. Sam, however, had had them trained, and decorously they took their places, form- ing a semicircle around the little dais which DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 75 had been raised, and over which hung an enormous bell of snowy roses. The notice had been short, but everything had been arranged in graceful as well as tasteful completeness. " Yere, Miss Grace, I'ze fetched 'im," said Nanny, ushering the passive groom into the radiant presence of the blushing young lady. Never before, in all his life had young Winston been oppressed with such a humil- iating sense of his own unworthiness, such an overwhelming consciousness of moral meanness and moral degradation, as he did that moment when he stepped into the sacred presence of the woman he had so reviled. Too much abashed to look once in the lovely face, he had only time to note the queenly presence and lissome grace of motion with which she rose to meet him. With an awk- ward groping he offered his hand, for- getting in his humiliating aberration to remove his stiff riding gauntlets. Gracious as a queen she placed her own soft, fair Jiand in his. The gentle touch recalled him, and dropping her hand he quickly drew off the impeding glove. "I fear that I have kept you waiting," he apologized, this time bowing respectfully and tenderly reaching for her hand. 76 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " Oh, no, sir ! Had you not come, at all, I should not have been greatly disappointed. I was not quite certain that you would come," she answered, and he had to wonder at the marvelous sweetness of her voice. "And you would not have cared ? " " I may not say that ; but I could not, at least, have blamed you." "No? It would have been more manly in me not to have come. But I must ex- plain ; I did not read your letter until this morning ; not twenty minutes ago," he said, apologetically. " And had you received it in time, would it have changed your purpose ? " she asked. " No, no. My purpose is not so easily changed. I fear that you will find it more obstinate than otherwise, and I am here to consummate the the tra 1 mean the arrangement agreed upon with your father. If you are quite ready, and will pardon my unseemly hurry, we. will proceed at once with the ceremony. I believe that I ex- plained the urgent pressure that is upon my time ? " " Yes, I understand, and I am quite ready. " Drawing her hand through his arm, he led her in, to take their stand under the DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 77 roses and to kneel on the velvet-cushioned dais. The ceremony was the beautiful but solemn one prescribed by the Episcopal liturgy, and it proceeded without untoward incident, until the minister paused and looked to the groom for the ring. David looked blank and stammered something inaudible ; Abigail blushed, more rosy, more lovely than ever, and an awkward hitch was imminent ; the ring had been for- gotten. Judge Winston realized the laches, and was the first to act. Slipping a heavy cameo from his finger, he moved to offer it, when her father, with a sudden dive in the capacious pocket of his breeches, drew out a weather-beaten buckskin purse : " Hold on don't, Jedge ; just hole' yer tater a minit, passin ! I've got the very trick," he cried, fishing out a bit of faded blue flannel, the unwinding of which brought to light a thin, well-worn, gold ring, hardly thicker than a thread. " Yere, hunny ; yere's the ring ; hit wuz yer mammy's weddin' ring, an' I've saved hit fer you. Ware it, darlin', an' when you gits mad with David, thes look on hit an' think ov her, afore you begins ter scold." The young man took the ring, a poor, 78 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. miserable, little excuse for a ring, and as if impelled by a magic touch, reverently kissed it, and then handed it to the minister and the ceremony went on, all the more impress- ive, perhaps, because of this little interrup- tion. The Judge was the first to offer congratu- lations. Wringing his son's hand in a kind of contrite enthusiasm, he murmured : "May the good God bless you, my son ; bless you and yours ; " and then drawing the blushing bride to his breast, he kissed her. "And you,- my daughter, my heart blesses you, too ; may His love keep you and bless you always." "Your blessing is very precious to me, sir," she answered sweetly, and then, like an Amazonian charge, the negroes made a dash upon her ; first her good old nurse, Mammy Lucy, with a screech that startled the Judge, bounded forward, and pounced upon her. Catching her in her arms, she commenced a frantic pounding over the shoulders, crying between sobs : " Oh, my darlin' young mistus : my hunny chile ; my precious baby, wat I'ze suckled myseff a millyun times, an' rocked you ter sleep a hundred more ; oh, you'ze de sweetest, bestest, an' purtiest young mis- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 79 tus as wuz never married befoh in all my born days ! Oh, my chile, I'ze so glad dat I'ze libbed ter see dis day ! " u Go 'long, Maum Lucy, an quit yer pro- gicken, an' giff me a chance. Do'an yer see dat yer'ze a knockin' de breff outen de chile, an a spilein' all de laces an' de ribbons on her buzzom, wid yer slobberin' ? ." interrupted Aunt Sealy ; tearing the other aside, and laying a still more boisterous affection upon the victim. "Yu'ze my chile, too, hain't yer, hunny ? " And then the others, one by one, with a tear and a blessing for the darling "young mistus ; " interrupted at last, by the master : " Come, folkses, we all know that David hes ter go ; his time's nearly up, now, but I reckon that we'll have time ter eat a snack, an' ter drink a health to the young ones ; so come rite along ter the dining-room, an' let's jollify. Come, David, I'll 'scort you an' the passin, an' the Jedge kin fetch Abby," and seizing an arm of each, he hurried them into the dining-hall, where a most tempting collation of fruits, cakes and cold meats was spread, to be eaten stand- ing. Judge Winston, still wondering at the 80 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. surprising beauty and charm of the bride, offered his arm, with the most cavalier and courtly grace he could command, and led her after. "Now, my friends, these fixin's waz got ter eat an' ter drink, so you kin thest roll up your sleeves an' pitch in," cried the old gen- tleman, in hearty hospitality. "Come, passin, lay holt, an' you too, David, thes sail in. We didn't fix any regular dinner, caze hit warn't the reg'lar dinner-time, ye know ; but as Abby thought as how may be as you had ter drive so fur that you mout get hongry afore you got a whack at any, she 'lowed as we'd have a little cole snack ter sorter stay yer stummick like ; so thest pull off an' wade in." " Thanks, and as I haven't yet breakfasted, it is a lucky providence to me." "What's that yer say? Hain't had no breakfust ? Abby, d'ye hear that ? This young man sez he hain't had any breakfust ter-day." "Oh, I am sorry that I did not know, that I might have ordered something warm. It is not yet too late. I can have it still. It will only take a moment. Sam, tell Aunt Sealey to have some coffee and eggs and toast, in an instant," cried the young mis- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 81 tress, dropping the Judge's arm in a little dismay and turning to look after her hus- band's comfort. "Oh, no; not on my account. By no means. My sluggishness deserves a punish- ment. And besides, this spread is ample. I could wish no better," he protested, feeling a slight compunction for the wifely solici- tude so needlessly wasted on himself. " No ; I insist upon it ; you must have a warm breakfast, if it is only an egg and coffee. Here, take a seat at this table. The gentlemen will excuse you. And here is a basket of fruit as a relish," and with an irresistible insistence she drew him to a table, forced him to be seated and helped him to the fruit. " Thanks. This is much better than I deserve. Will you be seated too ? " f astening upon a delicious orange. "Not until you are served. Ah! here is the coffee," as Sam the veritable slave of the wonderful lamp came in, followed closely by a waiter with steaming coffee, delicious cream, smoking eggs, and by rare good luck, a cut of the most delicious ten- derloin the epicurean taste of the young gentleman had ever tested. Deftly she drew the coffee and arranged 6 82 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. the viands, and then with a sweetness that touched even him, she said : 1 ' And now, sir, if you will help yourself and will excuse me, I will return to our guests ? " "Certainly. My appetite needs no coach- ing. I am positively ravenous," he an- swered, falling to with a zest that confirmed the averment, while she turned to the others, where the inroads already made upon the buffet told that robust health needed no ceremony. His breakfast finished, the young gen- tleman rejoined the others at the sideboard, when the old gentleman said : u Now, Sam, you'd better begin a poppin' ov the corks. " Sam was an expert with the corkscrew, and soon the delightful aroma of champagne was filling the room. ' ' An' now, chilluns ; you must drink each other's health. Yere's a glass," filling a goblet and handing it to the groom ; ' ' Drink ye both ov it. Drink ter one anuther an' ter ter yer yerfambly." The young man took it, a little ungra- ciously and handed it to the bride. She placed it to her lips, kissed the foaming brim and handed it back to him. With a DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 83 strange perversity, for which he despised himself the next moment, he seized it, almost rudely, and holding it a second, as if tempted to dash it in the old man's face, he raised it to his wide-opened mouth and gulped it down, as if it had been a cup of hemlock, at a single swallow. The young lady noticed the strange dis- courtesy and it cut her. Judge Winston also noticed it, as he noticed the hurt look that came in her eyes, and with a strangely tender yearning in his heart, he turned to her. " My daughter," he said, filling a glass and offering it to her, " I must beg you to conse- crate a cup for me. Will you touch it with your lips that I may drink to your happiness, both in this world and in the world to come 2 " She took it and reverently kissed the sparkling lip, while an unbidden tear dropped in the amber tide. With a blush she turned to throw it aside, and to fill an- other, when the gallant gentleman inter- fered. "No, no," snatching it from her. "It is hallowed now. The pearls of Cleopatra could not made it so precious as this. And now, my daughter, here is a health to you : 84 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. If the graces of mind and heart can ap- proach the exquisite loveliness of form and face, thy life must stand as a pattern for the angels to walk by." "You are very good, sir, to think so kindly of me," she answered simply. And then the rector, full of good cheer and bubbling over with kindness, struck in : "As the rector of Mrs. Winston, I must be permitted to respond to your very appro- priate sentiment. I have known her from childhood ; indeed, I may say from infancy. Her sainted mother placed her in my arms to be christened ; I stood by the bishop, when he laid his reverend hands upon her devout head, I have watched her as she grew into lovely womanhood, the petted darling of a luxuriant home, and the mistress of everything that wealth could buy, and though the angels may not look to human excellence for a pattern, I can say that, in all these years, I have never known her to give utterance to a single thought, or do a single deed that an angel itself might blush to have done. And you, my young friend," turning to the young husband, "should never suffer the sun to go down without falling upon your knees and thanking your DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 85 God, for giving you such a wife ; the sweet- est and best gift of His providence." The young man hesitated a moment, and then, constrained by a sense of politeness, said : " In behalf of the lady, I must thank you for the very pretty tribute you have paid to her moral worth, and you, too, my father, for your gallant compliment to her personal charms. You are both very kind, and I am sure she is not ungrateful. But before I can appropriate to myself so much moral and personal excellence, I must first try to make myself worthy of it. And now, I re- gret very much to have to interrupt, so far as my going may do so, the festivities of this occasion ; but I suppose that you are all aware of the exigencies of my canvass, and can therefore excuse my going. It is now past eleven o'clock, and I have to be at Philippi, twenty miles away, at one." " Oh, yes ! bizness is bizness, an' we all understand. Thes you go rite erlong. Bizness afore pleasure, as the feller said when he thrashed his wife afore he kissed 'er. Abby knows, an' she kin wait ; can't yer, Abby?" " Oh, yes ! You must on no account neg- lect your interest for me. You are looking 86 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. for your gloves, sir ? I think you dropped them in my boudoir. Nanny, go fetch Mr. Winston's gloves," she ordered, noting the nervous searching of pockets and beating of breast, in quest of the unlucky gloves. In a minute Nanny returned with the gaunt- lets, and drawing them on he said : "Thanks! And now I must say good- bye." " I will walk with you to the door," slip- ping her hand through his arm, "I shall expect to hear a good report from Philippi," this as they passed into the hall. "I shall do my best. In truth, I have to do my utmost. I find that I have taken a Herculean task upon myself." "Is the political stable so much dirtier than you thought ? " " Oh, it is not the stable ! I have not the temerity to undertake that. No, it is one of the Golden 'Apples,' I have rashly essayed to pluck, but I find them more difficult to reach than I thought. Lawson claims them as his own, and I fear that I shall need an Atlas to ever get one." "I wish I could be the Atlas, or else one of the Hesperides, I think I could steal one for you. I wish so much to help you. If my good wishes can avail, you have them, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 87 most assuredly. I shall be so proud of your success. " ' l Thanks. You are very good. " "When when may I expect to see see, you again ? " she asked a little stammer- ingly. "I can hardly tell you. You must not think me discourteous ; but the fact is, I have an appointment to meet every day until the election, next month, and each appointment carries me farther away. We speak to day at Philippi, and to-morrow at Grafton, twenty miles beyond, so there is slight chance of my being in the city again until the campaign is finished. The pro- gram," he added, dimly feeling that some- thing further in the way of an apology was needed, " was all arranged, before this this 'bizness,' as your father so bluntly calls it, was even thought of, and I may not hope to change it. My adversary is an adroit trickster and would be swift to take advan- tage of any laches on my part. The Ameri- can Sovereign is more coy than the Ameri- can maiden, and one has to woo more per- sistently to win. He permits no division, nor diversion of attentions during the can- vass, or courtship, rather. As you have graciously dispensed with my devoirs so far, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. I must trust you to still further indulge me until the more exacting sovereign is wooed and won." "Certainly, sir, I shall not expect any attention that it may inconvenience you to give. I wish you success in your wooing and I may further trust that you will find more satisfaction in the winning than you have found in this. I will not keep you longer. Good-bye, sir," offering her hand. They were now at the door ; there was no one in the hall and there could have been no possible offense against prudery for him to have taken a kiss. Surely had he known the sweetness of the lips that were so gra- ciously ready to give one, he would not have turned away with such a bitter sneer on his own, nor with such a demon of shame, hatred and pain gnawing at his heart. "Good-bye." And an indifferent shake of the timorous little hand was all that he gave. She stood at the door and looked after him that tall, handsome young man, the husband who had not yet looked into the glorious beauty of her face, the wondrous depths of her eyes, until he had lashed his spirited horses around the corner and was whisked out of sight, and then, waiting only DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 89 a little moment to wipe away all suspicion of tears from her eyes, she went back to her guests. CHAPTER VI. THE FAIR BRIDE. JUDGE WINSTON uneasily felt that an un- necessary pain had been inflicted upon that innocent girl, and he was almost obse- quiously tender in his manner, as he led her back into the parlor. " I am sorry," he said, whisperingly, as if half to himself. "I mean," he added, noting the puzzled look of inquiry in her face, ' ' I am very sorry that we did not know you better before. " "Or else not known me at all?" she asked, without acerbity, but in respectful earnestness. "Oh, no! lam truly glad that this has all come about. I feel that you are to be a new gladness in my life ; that you are to bring joy to my home and peace to my life. I only meant, by being sorry, that we have been very unjust to you ; that we have sadly misjudged you. I can only express 90 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. my sorrow and hope that we can make amends."' "Yes, I know that I have been despised as an interloper, for society is unjust as well as merciless. But if I may only hope to gain his confidence, to win his love, it will more than compensate. Oh ! sir, can you tell me what it is I can do to draw him to me ; what witchery I must practice to overcome the repulsion I can read in his face ? " she cried, with a pathetic yearning in her voice. "You need do nothing, my child. No witchery is necessary, save the subtle witch- ery of your native sweetness. Only let him see you, as I see you, now, and his heart will open to your sweetness as the flower opens to the warmth of the sun. I am sorry that his other duties take him away from you so soon. I am anxious for him to know you, for to know you will be but to love you," he answered soothingly. ' ' You are kind, sir, to think so, and the thought makes me very happy ; he himself was good enough to write that when he comes to know me he' might possibly learn to love me. Ah ! I wonder if he will ever know how fondly I treasure that sweet pos- sibility ?" DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 91 " He will learn in good time, and with the knowledge will come the love that is so richly your due. And in good time he will also learn to know and to esteem your ex- cellent father. You may not know what a good friend your father has been to me and my son ? " " Yes, I know that my father is a friend to you, and that he loves your son almost as he loves me. I am sorry that society raises such a formidable barrier between us." "No, not formidable, or at least not impassable. Your father has taught me that manly worth, is above all conventional distinctions ; that a rugged, homely virtue is superior to the most polished of courtly graces ; just as your surprising loveliness, my daughter, has shown me that the per- fection of womanly beauty can be found elsewhere, than in the exclusive homes of the aristocracy. " "Now, Abby, give us a chune ; I golly ! if my ole shoulder didn't twitch so bad I'd git my ole fiddle down an' we'd set the Jedge an' the passin a dancing ter that good ole hoe-down : " ' 'Possum up a gum stump, raccoon in the holler, Purty gal at our house, fat as she kin woller.' 92 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. Ah ! well I rikolect how ole Jim Goff played that very chune that very night, an' how me an' yer mammy danced hit, the night we war married, I means. No purtier, no sprier dancer ever turned a pardner, nor shook a purtier foot than your mammy. She wore a number two shoe, an' I 'members I had ter make a leetle slim last a purpuse ter make her shuze on. They was thest like yourn, Abby. Poke out yer foot an' let the Jedge see hit I lay hits the purtiest foot he ever seed. Eh ? well then, yer needn't mind ; yer needn't turn so red, but come an' give us a chune any- how. Eh, Jedge, do yer like music ? " broke in the old gentleman, warmed by the extra potation in honor of the occa- sion, into a hilarious remembrance of his own happy wedding-day. "The passin yere, is thest hunky on it," he continued, without giving the Judge time to re- spond : ' ' 'specially when Abby sings one ov her ole love songs fer 'im. Eh ! Doctor ? " giving the rector a friendly dig in the ribs with his thumb. "Yes, she sings very sweetly, and lam always delighted to hear her," readily as- sented the reverend gentleman. "And I too, am passionately fond of DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 93 music. "Will you sing one of your songs for me ? " asked the Judge. "I will be glad if I can please you," she answered simply, as she took her place at the piano. The Judge, to prepare himself against an- other surprise, expected to hear a passable boarding-school performance, but he was not prepared for the burst of song that flowed, a liquid, breathing stream of melody from her silver throat, as she sang the sim- ple old English ballad she knew her rector loved so well to hear. "Eh, Jedge; how is that fer high? Kin yer side ov the house beat hit ? " trium- phantly whispered her father, as the last rav- ishing trill fairly lifted his fond old heart into an ecstasy of delight. "That is heaven itself," answered the Judge, stepping softly to her side and stoop- ing to kiss her head. "This has been a day of surprises to me," he whispered, "but this last is the sweetest surprise of all. I must thank you for it." "I am only too glad to please you," and the brimming tears told how tenderly his words had touched her. "It more than pleases me ; it fills my soul with rapturous delight. Where in the world 94 DA FID AND ABIGAIL. have you been keeping this wonderful voice all this while ? " "She has been wasting it upon us two old men, her father and me," spoke in the rector, with a smile. ' ' Don't you think us selfish to appropriate such a delight all to ourselves ? " "Wasting?" she asked ; "then you have only been flattering me all this while, with the pretense that you enjoyed it." "No, no. We did enjoy it, but it was all too good for us." " Too good for you ? Then I shall be sadly puzzled to know what further use to make of it." "I tells yer, Jedge," cut in her father, "she's thest been a savin' hit all fer David ; eh, Abby ? Yer needn't blush so." "Then David should be a very happy man ; but I shall have to beg one for myself, if only one. David may never miss it. " " Oh ! I shall always reserve one for you for you and my home friends," she smilingly answered, softly touching the keys for a suggestion. "Sing 'Ole Robin Gray' for the Jedge; that allers sorter makes me feel a little sorter solumcholly-like. " "Auld Robin Gray" was rendered with DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 95 such touching pathos as to draw tears from the three' old men. "An' now gin us somethin' funny ter make us laff agin," cried her father, mop- ping his eyes. As sparkling in comedy as she was tender in pathos, she soon had them smiling again, and then the rector rose up and went to her. " Now, give me ' Bethany,' and let me go." As the angels might have sung it she sang "Nearer my God to Thee," and then the man of God, tenderly laying his hand upon her bowed head, gave her his blessing and went on his way. "Now, Jedge, I'll hev ter leave you an' Abby ter get aquainted with one anuther, while I has to do a little figgerin' in my room. I've a little bizness as needs fixin', an' bizness iz bizness, yer know, with me, an' so you kin thest make yourseff at home. Abby is thest as much yourn now az she iz mine, an' 'less I'm monstus mistakin you'll soon be thest as proud ov her as I am myseff . " " Yes, I am really and truly proud of her already," answered the Judge, as the old gentleman politely bowed himself out. "And now, my daughter, I wish to look at you good," taking her hand as she arose from the piano, and leading her into the full 96 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. light of a window ; "your beauty is so sur- prising, so different from what I expected, that I wish to identify it as real, and to fix it in my mind as a joy forever." And the beauty of Abigail was indeed a surprising one ; and what made it the more perplexingly sweet, it was full of surprises : each look, each turn of the face, each shade of color seemed to unhide a lurking beauty. Her face was one of those rare faces which embodies in one a dual style of beauty, both surprisingly distinct in characteristic charm, but each exquisite in its own peculiar loveli- ness. Standing vis-a-vis, looking into the fair, open face, the large, lustrous brown eyes, with their exquisitely-arched brows and long silken lashes of jet ; the sweet mouth and the peachy, dimpled chin, one beholds a Madonna in her sweetest form of passive loveliness. Then turn to the side and sil- houette the profile against the crystal air ; the glorious crown of hair, flossy as silk and dark as the raven's wing, the snowy fore- head, the inky eyebrow, the drooping eyelids with the long sweeping lashes, the pretty nose, slightly "tilt-tipped," the thin lips piquantly curled, the classic chin and the gracefully-poised neck, soft and white as DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 97 the swan's, and lo ! Venus herself, in all her enchanting loveliness, stands before you, a pleasing surprise for the moment and a con- stant gladness for all time. Her form was perfect, her stature slightly above the ordi- nary height of woman, her motion lissome and graceful, and to this beauty of form and loveliness of face was to be added a still more exquisite charm, that indescribable charm of manner and sweetness of expres- sion that can make even a homely woman look lovely and sweet. For a moment the Judge, with a critically refined taste, studied the beautiful picture, the most completely lovely that his eye ever beheld, the young lady submitting to the inspection with a slightly puzzled air that lent at one and the same time soberness to the vis-a-vis and piquancy to the profile. " Ah ! I see you are puzzled, but you must not think me impertinent," he said, as the expressive eyes began to dilate into wonder under the crucial steadiness of his look. "It is not an idle nor impertinent curiosity that attracts my gaze. I was only wishing that my son had seen you as I see you now. But never mind, he will see you, for I shall tell him. But now, daughter or, what name shall I call you ? " 7 98 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " If I felt more secure in the that is, I mean if if I felt as sure of his love, as I I shall hope some day to be, I should wish for no dearer name than daughter ; but until he tells me that I may claim it, it some- how, sir, seems a mockery, and I must ask you to call me by my own name," she answered. " And that is what ?" " My name is Grace Abigail. My mother called me Grace ; my father calls me Abby, after my mother. I believe, sir, I should like for you to call me Abigail." " Ah ! so be it ; Abigail. And you know that my son is David David and Abigail ; that is a coincidence. Ah ! let us hope, a happy one," he answered cheerily. " Oh ! sir, I must tell you, and you must not laugh at me for my faith, nor call it superstition, for I I am not superstitious. I do not believe in dreams, nor signs, nor in ordinary stichistry ; but when he, David Mr. Winston, I mean, wrote me such a cold formal note, yesterday, proposing to marry me, I was sorely troubled what to do ; I could not decide for myself, and I had no mother to go to ; I could only ask my God to help me, and I got on my knees and prayed to Him for guidance ; but feeling no strengthen- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 99 ing help, I arose from my knees in a blind despair, when my eyes rested upon my Bible, and it came to me that I would find my answer there. I opened the book, and the first words that caught my eye were those concerning the betrothal of David and Ab- igail. I can repeat the passage, for it is rooted in my memory," and in a voice strangely sweet she repeated the story : " " And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her saying ; David sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife. And she arose and bowed herself on her face, to the earth and said : Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. And Abigail hasted and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her. And she went after the mes- sengers of David and became his wife.' Now sir, was that chance ? a mere coincidence ; an accidental finding of two names thus linked together ? Was it Destiny or was it the hand of Providence that guided me in answer to my prayer ? " " Let us accept it as the oracle of God, and trust to His providence to bless your union," he answered, reverently kissing her ; and then after a moment's sober silence he con- 100 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. tinued : " As David is not here to carry you to our home I must ask you to go with me. I wish Augusta to know you." "Augusta?" " Yes, my daughter. Your sister." " I should be glad to know her. I asked her to come ; that is I wrote him to ask her, but but " Yes, I know ; I understand ; but like all of us Augusta did not know. As I said before, we have sadly misjudged you ; you must forgive us. And you will let me bring her to see you ? I will bring her this after- noon. I am so anxious for you two to know each other, for I know that you will soon learn to love one another." 11 Oh, yes ; if she will only come. No false pride shall hold me back from meeting her more than half-way ; please bring her ; even now. Perhaps she will dine with us ; and you too. Remember that it is my wedding dinner," she added a little playfully. "Yes, that will be pleasant. I will go at once and fetch her. You can tell your father," and delighted with the suggestion he hurried away on the moment, to break the surprising news to his daughter. " Ho ! iz the Jedge gone, a'reddy ? " asked the old gentleman, coming in a moment DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 101 later, to find his daughter sitting alone at the window, wistfully looking far away, in the direction of Philippi. " Ah ! I must tell you. He has gone after his daughter, Miss Winston. They are com- ing to dine with us, to-day." " Eh ! is thay ? That's good, an' you must tell Sealy ter put the big pot in the little one an' make dumplins ov the skillet. Tell her thest ter spread herself. But, Abby," sink- ing his voice a little drearily, "she's monstus proud, she ez, an' she's never seed me an' hain't yused ter my pore-f okesy ways, an' ez I wants her ter love you, 'thout knowin' ennything 'bout me, I thinks hit best as I should be outen the way when she comes. I've got bizness at the bank ennyhow, an' you kin thest 'scuze me ter the Jedge." " Father, I should despise her forever, were she to think slightingly of you. If I must lose you to gain her, or him, or any one else in the world, I shall not care to gain them. You are dearer to me than all others beside," she cried, clinging to his arm affectionately. "Yes, I knows, hunny, but you won't hev ter lose me. When they comes ter know you thay won't think ennything wrong o' me. When she loves you she won't despize 102 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. me ; but till she sees you fust she mussent see me. I knows, Abby, an hit's all right. Human natur iz human natur, an' you can't change hit no more'n the Esop can change hiz hide, nor the lepperd his spots. Now ye thes lemma work hit. I'll be down at the bank, an' you kin tell the Jedge I'll get a snack at the resteraw, an' you ken have the whole house ter youseffs. An' mine an' tell Sealy thes ter hump herseff on the dinner. Come now, hunny, don't look so sorry. You mussent mine me ; no you mussent. Hit 'ill come right in the eend, yer see if hit don't. How d'ye like the Jedge, anyhow ? He's a jolly ole coon, hain't 'e ? " divertingly. "He was very kind to me, and I shall love him always." "In course yer will, an' you'll love David too, arter awhile, an' he'll love you, an' well all like one anuther, an' we'll all be thes as happy as a passel ov dead pigs in the sunshine. So run now, hunny, an' wash yer face an' git all them tears clean away, an look thes as bright az a big sunflower when the tippy-bob comes. I thes know's she'll 'spect ter see a tackey an I wants yer ter 'sprize her like you 'sprized the Jedge, thes now. Thar's nothin' in the world to take the starch outen a feller, or the conceit DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 103 outen a girl like a 'sprize at fust sight. Hit thes knocks the socks offen 'em at once, an' 'specially the female 'umman. Ef ole Paul hadn't a been struck bline with 'sprize at the fust pop, he wouldn't a never knowecl what hit 'im ; 'so now, sweety, I'll git off afore they comes. Thar thar, brighten up," soothingly kissing her. " You mus- sent cry. You'll spile all the purty," and with the moisture almost blinding his own eyes, he tenderly kissed her again, one 3 more, and hurried away, to keep from breaking down utterly, while she, with a brave effort to be strong, went up to her dressing-room, to wash away all traces of tears she was so powerless to keep back. Surely, she could not know how sweetly those unasked-for pearls glorified the beauty of her face, or she would not have hurried away, in such haste, to wash them off -before any one might come to see them. 104 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. CHAPTER VII. MISS WINSTON MUCH AGAINST HER WILL, CALLS UPON HER NEW SISTER-IN-LAW. JUDGE WINSTON found his daughter in an unamiable mood. She had wept off the hysteria of mortified pride, and was now sunk in an aftermath of morose and sullen anger. The traces of weeping were still on her cheeks, for she had been too callous in her humiliation to even care to remove them. Her father noted the abandon of misery, and somehow it irritated him. He felt it a re- proach to the gentle girl whom he had just left, and whom he felt had been already too grossly insulted. "Are you ill?" he curtly asked, and the unconscious acerbity of tone resented the slight that had been put upon the other. "I am not ill only heart-sick and dis- gusted. I was only wishing that I was Brother David, that I might go out like another Judas and hang myself," she answered, with a quick erection of the pretty head. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 105 "When your brother David comes to know what a sweet woman God has given him for a wife, he will deserve to be hanged as an ingrate if he does not love her as his life." " Sweet woman, indeed ! Forty thousand times her fortune could not make the woman sweet to me, were I a man." "Nor will her fortune ever make her sweet to David " I shall hope not," fiercely interrupting. "I do hope he will put her away, swap her off for a mulatto, or else sell her to some other fool, as her old dog of a father sold her to him. I do hope he may never put eye upon her again. And I hope, father, that you will never let him fetch her here, for the moment she puts her foot in this house, I shall go away myself. He may degrade himself and disgrace his name, but his in- famy shall never touch me. I shall have nothing ,to do with his baggage. " Her father stood a moment, slightly set back by the energy of his daughter's wrath, but the climatical epithet aroused his own, and he interrupted sternly : 1 ' Come, this is all stuff ; you are foolish and do not know what you are talking about. Abigail is your equal in all things 106 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. that are lovely or lovable, and I am sure that she would be superior to such an in- decent display of temper as this. I wished myself, to bring her home, but she has too much self-respect to come without her hus- band can fetch her. But I have come for you, Augusta. I must carry you to her. I wish you to see her, I wish you to know her. You cruelly misjudge" her, as David misjudges her ; as I myself misjudged her ; unjustly, unkindly misjudged her. She is a sweet girl, how sweet you will have to see her yourself to know." " But I do not wish to know her ; I never care to see her." "But you must see her, for my sake, if not for your own. She is expecting you. I voluntarily told her that I would come for you, and you must go." ' ' I cannot go. I despise her and will have nothing to do with her," with an emphatic stamp of her foot. " Then you set my wishes at defiance ? " "You ought not to ask such an impossi- ble thing of me." "Then I shall not ask it. I simply com- mand it. I have ordered the carriage ; get ready at once, " he commanded sternly. "Very well !.if you command I will have DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 107 to obey, as Sallie there would have to obey. If the carriage is ready so am I," rising up with a proud, flashing eye. ' ' Sallie, get my bonnet and gloves ; I am going to make a call." "Lawzy mussy, Miss Gussie ; hain't yer gwine ter dress ? Yer hair iz all atumbled up an' yer face iz thes splutched all over," protested Sallie' jealous of her mistress' pretty looks. "Never mind my hair, nor my dress. Nobody will see me. It is only a tackey I am going to see, she will know no better. Now, sir, I am ready, " pulling on her gloves. " Very well; only, to do my duty, I should insist upon a more becoming toilet ; but as you yourself will have to suffer the mortifi- cation, I will let you go." ' ' No mortification will ever equal the humiliation of this," she said, pluckily stick- ing to the last word, as she walked out to the carriage in a somewhat passe morning- gown. A few minutes' drive, in silence, brought them to the gate. She had often noted and admired the outward splendor of the place, but had never known to whom it belonged, and now as they stood before the massive door, with the elaborately carved roses on 108 DAVITt AND ABIGAIL. its panels telling of the splendor within, she began to shrink back into a sickening sense of her own shabbiness. "I I hardly expected such a place as this or I I should have dressed, " she stain - meringly whispered, as her father raised the knocker. "It would have been more respectful to your sister ; however, it is too late now," he answered, giving the knocker a vigorous pull. Sam opened the door, but the young mis- tress, herself, stood ready to greet them. Poor Augusta ! if the inanimate splendor of the place had so overcome her obstinate indifference, what must have been the over- whelming effect when she looked up to find herself in the presence of the fairest, queen- liest, loveliest lady she had ever before seen in all her life ! For a moment she stood, in an admiring daze, forgetting, in the radiant presence of the lady, the almost slatternly appearance of her own. It was not until her father spoke that she was recalled to a sense of the situ- ation, and then she wished for the floor to open that she might drop through and be hidden from sight. " This is my daughter ; Augusta, this is DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 109 your sister Abigail. I wish so much for you two to know each other." "If Miss Winston will let me, I shall be glad to know her, " answered Abigail, a lit- tle uncertain of her advance. She had a dim suspicion that, much against her will, the young lady had been forced into the association ; the negligee dress had told its story. No young lady would venture in the presence of one whom she cared for, or even respected, arrayed in such slovenly attire. The voice, though, was low and sweet, and there was a wistfulness in the look that accompanied it, that helped to reassure the abashed young lady, and clasping the hand her father had joined in hers she answered : "I think that I shall be glad to know you, too," and then with another glance at the refined elegance of everything around, she added : ' ' But you must excuse me now. I only called at the hurried insistence of my father and am hardly presentable." " Ah, but you must dine with us. I am quite alone, there is no one but your father. I can readily excuse the hurry of your toilet." " You are very good, but I cannot excuse it myself. I really must go. I I may comeback." 110 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Oh, will you?" "Yes. It will not detain me long. Father, will you go with me, or shall I excuse you here ? " "I will go with you. Your sister will excuse us. I am afraid, my dear, that you will think us a very eccentric set?" turn- ing to the young lady with an apologetic smile. "Oh, no, I think that I understand," a little sadly. "Yes, I am quite sure that you do. But by-bye, we will be back within a half hour." "Oh, father, why did you not tell me?" cried Augusta, as the carriage drove rapidly away. "I tried to tell you but you would not listen." "Yes, but you should have compelled me. I never dreamed of such a thing." " Nor did I before to-day." "But you told me the other day that she was ugly ; a fright ; snub-nosed, freckled- faced and waddled like a duck." "I was sadly mistaken. I had really never seen her before to-day when she came in, so shyly clinging to your brother's arm, the most radiant vision of womanly loveli- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. Ill ness my eyes ever rested upon. I was astounded myself. It was some one else I had seen and mistaken for her." "I was never so ashamed of myself before in all my life. I did wish the walls to fall in upon me to hide my shame. I shall never do such an unwomanly thing again as long as I live. Even Sallie knew better. Does Brother Dave know ? Has he really seen her ? " " I fear he does not know. She looked very sweet and conducted herself admi- rably ; indeed few women could have carried themselves as she did ; but I fear the poor boy was too much blinded by prejudice, willfully blinded, to see. He was not gra- cious, he was almost boorish and I fear hurt her. He was positively rude, and she is not without feeling. She is a girl of the tender- est sensibilities. She has good sense, how- ever, with it, and a superb courage, and may be able to despise what would otherwise of- fend. Do you know that is now my great- est fear, that she may come to despise David, for his unreasonable prejudice. What a retribution upon our family pride would that be ? She, the despised daughter of the parvenu, looking in scorn upon the scion of my house. But I trust to her sweetness to 112 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. save our family from such a humiliation. I am sure that she is as good as she is beauti- ful." " And her name is Abigail ? What a hor- rid name ! " " I think it a very sweet one. David and Abigail ! What a happy coincidence, is it not ? " " I never heard of it before." " Oh, Augusta ! Never heard the script- ural story of King David and of Abigail his wife?" " Yes, of course I have heard of King David, but I thought that it was Uriah who was his wife. But I don't care, the names are simply horrible. I don't see why parents impose such ugly names upon their helpless babies." "David was named for your grandfather, your mother's father. It was a very dear name to her and I named our first-born for him," a little penitently. "Oh, David will do well enough for a boy, or a man. It doesn't matter so much for them, but for a girl ! Abigail ! It is shocking and shows the low taste of her parents." " She has another name; the name her mother gave her. It is Grace." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 113 "Ah ! that is better ; that is really pretty, and so much more in keeping with her looks. She is wondrously pretty and seems almost Grace itself. Why not call her Grace ? " ' ' I asked her what I should call her, and she answered Abigail. " " Ah ! she said that ? I thought better of her than that." " No, I think it very sweet in her ; because of its association with David. " " And are they really married ? It doesn't seem true." ' ' Yes, they are really married, and a hand- somer couple I never saw. My heart swelled with pride as I looked upon them." "And Brother Dave went right away, and left her ? " " Yes, just as soon as he could gulp down his breakfast. In truth, one to have seen him bolting down his food would have thought that it was only for his breakfast that he came." " That seems hard." " Yes, it is hard, and I feel very much ashamed of it. We must help her to forgive it." " Did she seem to mind it ? I should de- spise a man who thought more of his break- fast than of me. If Walter can think of 114 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. eating for a week after we are married, I shall give him my opinion of a glutton." "Yes, of course she minds it; his going away so soon, I mean ; his eating was all right enough, and I could notice a little wifely pleasure flushing her cheeks as she herself poured his coffee. It was his un- gracious manner of leaving that hurt her. But she was too sweet and brave to let any one know. I could only see it in her eyes." " But why did she marry him, a man she never saw, and a man who cares nothing about her?" " Ah ! why did she ? Why does any one marry ? Why did I marry your mother ? " " But you must have loved my mother ? " " Ah, yes ! but how came it about ? How happened it that we first met ? Ah ! there are mysteries, my daughter, that we may not understand. It was written in the book of their lives that they were to marry, and if David will only prove himself worthy of Abigail, I am sure that he will always bless the Providence that gave him such a wife. But here we are at home. Hurry up to your room and dress in a minute ; we must not keep her waiting ; we have already lost an hour. The clocks are striking two, now. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 115 Robert, keep the carriage waiting ; we are to drive back directly," turning to the coach- man, as he handed his daughter from the carriage. " Ah ! this is so much better ; so much more becoming to yourself and to your station, than the dress you wore before," he cried as, after a hurried toilet, his daughter reappeared, arrayed in faultless dinner- dress. " I am truly sorry that I did not know before," she said springing into the carriage, and in a few minutes they were again at the Hardie mansion. This time there was no uneasy slipping away of self-sufficiency, but rather a buoy- ancy of spirits as she again stood before the door, and there was no abashed shrinking aside when the queenly young mistress again came forward to meet her. With a little pause to wonder for an instant at the beauty of the eyes, Augusta Winston put out her arms and took her newly-made sister to her heart, only softly murmuring as she kissed her : "My sweet sister." After that there was no need of ceremony, explanation, or apology between them, that sisterly kiss, so artless in affection, sufficed 116 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. for all that had passed and for all that was to come. With an arm affectionately linked in the arm of each, the young mistress conducted her honored guests into the parlor, where another perplexing amaze filled the looks of the young lady, as she glanced around upon the princely elegance of the room. The little heart-shaped dais, with its rich carpet of purple velvet, was still there, and the snowy bell, now redolent with its mellowing roses, hung in its place. The unexpected sight of this suggested a new wonder to the admiring eyes of the young lady, and she turned inquiringly : " But I thought the wedding had been a private one ? " " Oh, no ! " cut in her father, with a mis- chievous twinkle in his eye. ' * There were a hundred admiring eyes to see. The room was quite full, and I very much doubt if a more loyal concourse of friends ever before gave earnest of good wishes to a bride more beloved. " "Indeed! And who were your attend- ants ? " turning to the bride. "Nanny, there," pointing to her grin- ning maid, " was kind enough to attend me." "Oh!" DAVID AND ABIGAIL, 117 " Yes, and solemn as was the moment, and much as I felt like crying, it was really too ludicrous to see and hear her as she ushered your brother into my room. f Here, Miss Grace, I Ve fetched 'im,' she cried, making one of the most comical little courtesies imagi- nable. I could hardly keep from laughing. I wonder if he was too sadly distraught to notice it ? Heigh-ho ! " and despite all her bravery, a little sigh had to slip out. " Ah ! I wish that I had known. I ought to have come. But were there no others who could have done that little for you ? " ' ' Oh, no ! save your father and mine there were no others present, except the negroes. It was to the negroes your father referred when he spoke of ' admiring eyes ' ; " she smilingly answered. ' ( The home negroes, wished to see me married and I could not refuse the good creatures," she further explained, seeing a little curl to the young lady's upper lip. "And I am glad that they were present," said her father, in defiance of the little curl to the aristocratic lip. "They showed by their simple demonstrations of affection what a gentle mistress you are to them. No ' epithalamium sung by a crowned muse,' could have spoken your ^praises more 118 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. eloquently than did their artless words of endearment. It was a scene that I should like to see painted." "It touched me, and my heart had to bless them," Abigail answered. "You must not mind my looking, I have all the young lady's proverbial curiosity about such things. Will you show me?" asked Augusta, rising, and stepping to the dais and standing under the roses. " I am glad that it interests you, and I will show you. Your father will excuse us, or will you look in the library, sir ? Nanny can show you, and I must tell you, my father charged me to make his excuses to you: he will be detained at the bank all the after- noon, and we must not expect him." " Oh! yes, certainly! " and in spite of his better nature, there was a soupcon of relief in his feelings at the announcement. " And I can gladly excuse you two girls, " he added brightly, "for a little while, however, a very little while, until you can gratify Augusta's curiosity. I see she is just dying by inches to know all about it. What a pity we didn't have a Jenkins on hand to write it all down," he laughed, nodding back, as he followed the lead of Nanny to the library. "And now," said Abigail, turning to DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 119 Augusta, " I will show you; there across the corridor is my little drawing room, it opens into my boudoir .and through it into my chamber, and it was in there that I was hidden " "All by yourself?" " Yes, all by myself, like a criminal in his cell awaiting the executioner " Were you not frightened ? " "I was fluttered. I I but I had best not tell you." "Oh, yes! tell me, you must not mind telling me anything. I feel already as if I had known you always. I am sure I shall tell you all my secrets, all about Walter. Do you know that I am going to be be married too ? " with a rosy blush half of pride and half of shame. "Ah! I hope you may be happy." " Oh, yes ! thank you ! but now I have told you all my secret, you must tell me yours. Tell on. What was it you were afraid to tell ? " ".Well, I will tell ; I was not quite quite certain that he would come " Oh ! that was sad," interrupting with a little cry. "Yes, it was sad ; and sadder still, I hardly knew whether to wish him to come, or to 120 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. wish him to stay away. But at last he came ; Nanny ' fetched him.' ' "That was funny," another interruption, with a little laugh. " Yes, and he forgot to take of his riding^ gloves, but offered me his hand still gloved. I hardly knew what to do, hut he soon recovered his wits, and pulled them off and threw them on the floor as if they had been contaminated, and then, without intending it, I am sure, he seized my hand with such a grip as to almost make me scream with pain. We came across the corridor there, and en- tered the door here, and we stood here, at the apex of the heart, and Dr. Davenport stood there, between the lobes, and we knelt under the roses, and I I I was very happy, for I do, oh, yes, I do love him," and despite herself the young lady had to break down and go to crying. But the tears were very sweet, and only caused her newly- found sister to slip her arm around her waist and cuddle her head against her shoulder, as she soothingly whispered : " And I am sure that brother David will love you too, for he is one of the dearest and best and kindest brothers in all the world; and I I shall always love you for loving him. And now you must give me one DAVID AXD ABIGAIL 121 of these buds," tiptoeing up to reach a rose. "As many as you may wish. Here, I believe I am taller than you. See, I can easily reach them, and here is a dainty cluster of Marshal Neils, they will open prettily to-morrow. I wonder if he would care to have one ? I did so wish to pin one to his breast this morning, the sweetest one I could find, but he didn't have time, and I I was afraid to bother him with roses when he had scarcely time to eat his breakfast. And do you know that I was so fluttered and confused that I utterly forgot to put him up a lunch, and he will have to drive all the way to Philippi, and make a speech without a morsel to eat. Was it not too careless in me ? " 1 ' Oh, no ! He is used to it. He is so ab- sorbed in the campaign that he hardly thinks of his dinner. He scarcely sleeps for pondering over his speeches. You should hear him. I think him perfectly splendid." ' ' Oh, yes ; I have heard him. I heard him at the City Hall the other evening. Oh ! I was very proud of him then, even before he had ever thought of poor stupid me. But now let us go to your father ; it 122 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. will be dinner soon ; or, let me show you to your room : will you have one of my rooms ? " "Oh, yes!" "Then Betty shall wait upon you. You will find her a good girl. Nanny, send Bet- ty up to the lilac room," and linking her arm in the other's, she led her away to be installed at home, and then turning her over to the obsequious care of the grinning Betty, she hurried down to the library to look after her father-in-law, just as Sam came in to announce dinner. There were only two guests with the bride at the wedding feast, but the table would have sufficed for a hundred. " Magnificent ! baronial in its sumptuous- ness ! " commented the Judge, himself no mean epicure. " How pretty, how dainty, how ex- quisite and nice ! " cried Augusta. "Oh, if he only had a portion!" sighed the bride. But alas ! He for whom the fair bride was so considerately sighing, albeit dinnerless, as she feared, would have scarcely relished the most tempting tid-bit of the menu, had it, in all its profuse bounty, been spread before him, for, at that precise moment, he DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 123 was writhing under the merciless lash of his opponent's ribald satire. That gentleman, the Honorable Thomas Lawson, had, by some "devilish contrip slight" of evil tongue, heard of the hasty marriage that morning, and further, by some unhappy chance, snatches of the dis- graceful bargain had been caught by an eavesdropper, and repeated to him with ap- propriate embellishments, affording him a delightful opportunity to display his low wit and to gratify a rankling spite against an innocent lady at one and the same time. With the satire of a Sheridan, he pictured a scion of the aristocracy exchanging shoes with a clodhopper ; swapping his elegant pump-soled boots for an ill-fitting pair of broad-toed pegbottoms. And then, again, a proud young gentleman, the son of one of the most exclusively proud houses in the State, posing on the topmost pinnacle of social respectability, and then tumbling down ; to be caught at the bottom in the ready arms of a parvenu's daughter : " Oh, what a luckless fall was there, my countrymen ! But not altogether" luckless, for be it known, that though unmistakably pegbottom, the girl is prunella vamps and morocco quarters, with silver tassels and 124 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. golden buckles. She weighs two hundred and fifty pounds, not counting chignon and ear-bobs, at least ten pounds more, and we are reliably told that for every pound of 'gal' he gets a pound of gold, with a 'nigger' or two * flung in,' a pretty fair price, I should say, for a son-in-law ; more, in fact, than he is worth, and for once in his life, Ole Money-bags has been cheated at his own game. But what a spectacle ! Capi- tolian society dancing a german with pump- soles on one foot and pegbottoms on the other ! A gander with gaffs on could not be more edifying." CHAPTER VIII. A COMMON GRIEVANCE MAKES THEM CLOSE OF KIN. THE appointment for the next day was at Graf ton, the county seat of an adjoining county. The canvass was made by the old- fashioned methods of stump-speaking in joint discussion. The candidates traveled the same circuit, and when they first started out they DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 125 traveled together, but as the campaign pro- gressed and the discussions became more heated, its personalities day by day more bitter, pointed and exasperating, they soon fell apart, separating upon the adjournment of one meeting, only to see each other at the next, each traveling his own gait and his own road, without friendly speech or even recognition. Up to that day at Philippi, they had maintained a polite mansuetude toward each other, but the uncalled-for, far-fetched and grossly unjust allusions to his mar- riage, and the obese charms of his wife, as false as they were gross, had completely destroyed what little had been left of the entente cordiale between them, and now, in- stead of coldly polite civilities, nothing was exchanged between them save angry glances and scowls of hatred and scorn. The programme for speaking, as were the appointments themselves, had been made by the executive committees of the respective parties. The speakers were to alternate in opening and in closing. Lawson had opened and closed at Philippi. It was Winston's turn to-day at Grafton. An un- usually large audience had gathered in the court-house, for the fame of the speakers 126 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. was spreading and the party spirit was run- ning high. A friend of each party occupied the stand, and all was presided over by Judge Crisp, a political friend of one and a warm personal friend of the other. Time was called at 12:30, when Col. Black in an effusive but taking flourish intro- duced : "The gallant standard-bearer of the great unterrified, old-fashioned, flat-footed, square-toed, peg-bottomed Democracy ; the Honorable David E. Winston, who will now address you." The young orator arose, and after waiting a moment for the storm of applause that greeted him to subside, commenced his speech by a personal reference : " I am aware, my friends, and fellow- citizens," he said, and they wondered a little at the hardness of his voice, " that it is in bad taste as well as in bad spirit, for a speaker to inject in the discussion of ques- tions purely political, matters which apper- tain to his own individual self, and with which the public can have no possible con- cern. I grant, that when a man is per- sonally unclean, when his private life is such as to unfit him for a public trust ; when his domestic relations are offensive to public DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 127 morality and obnoxious to the peace, the purity and the well-ordering of society, that when such a man, in defiance of all shame, and defiant of public opinion, puts himself before the people as a candidate for their suffrages, he, with his character, as well as his domestic irregularities, becomes a legiti- mate subject for public arraignment, for public comment, and for public condemna- tion. But if a man be not these ; if there be no taint of moral leprosy in his life, no stain upon his honor, no reproach upon his family, then his private life should be un- touched, his home should be sacred, his wife should be respected, and none but a lying tongue, inspired by a heart as rotten and as cowardly as hell itself, would dare speak aught against it. I am thus emphatic, my friends, because I wish to give point and forcible direction to the proposition. It may not concern you to know that I am a mar- ried man. I cannot conceive why it should, unless the fact of my being such may fit or unfit me for serving you in a public capacity. Unless celibacy be a political virtue, I can- not see what interest the public can have in the fact of my marriage, or why the per- sonal appearance or avoirdupois of my wife should be made a feature in this canvass. 128 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. But it seems that it is to be. Yesterday morning I was united in marriage to a lady, not perhaps up to the gentleman's aristo- craticst andard of social worth, but at least of unquestioned and unquestionable repute, and the announcement was not yet made to my friends when my, I will not say honor- able opponent," casting a glance of withering scorn in the white face of Lawson, "was quick to seize upon the circumstance as a proper subject for the display of his gross spleen and ribald wit Here Lawson interrupted : "I called no names, sir, I only instanced a circumstance to illustrate a point," he said with a shabby grace. "No ; you called no names, because your courage was not equal to your malignant spleen. The malice that winged the shaft, lacked the manliness to direct its aim ; but it needed no names ; the brutal and asinine applause of your friends told very plainly how well it was understood. But had it not been, had the prurient stupidity of the beasts failed to comprehend your indecent innuendo, this filthy sheet here," holding up a news- paper, still wet from the press, ' ' this cus- pidor of his political brothel, in which the slime and slush and dregs of the drunken DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 129 revel are caught, to be dished out again to the moral swine that fattens upon such swill, would have told to whom, and to what the cowardly allusion was made. This editor, whom I see grinning before me, miserable lickspittle as he is, yet more courageous than the wretch who inspired him, after dis- playing in bold-faced type, as a tempting bill of fare, the ribald mouthing, has the boldness to fix it directly upon me and mine. This is what he says, and I must crave your pardon for reading such rot : ' The announcement in another column of the marriage of the aristocratic Mr. David E. Winston, son of Judge Winston, to Miss Hardie, the buxom daughter of old Israel Hardie, a genuine pegbottom, from Hurri- cane Creek, gives intelligent point to the witty remarks made yesterday, in his speech at Philippi, by Hon. Thomas B. Lawson as reported above. The point can be better appreciated when it is known that the con- ditions of the marriage settlement were pre- cisely as he stated. The aristocratic, but impecunious groom, was to receive, as a quid pro quo for his social position, with the hand of his bride, a pound of gold for every pound of girl, with a negro " flung in" with every pound of each, This mercenary bar- 130 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. gain, so revolting to the sanctity of the mar- riage compact, was made in the office of Mr. Winston, between the woman's father and the Judge's son, and was witnessed by the Judge himself. The shameful dicker was overheard by more than one listener, and its truth, incredible as it may seem, can be established beyond cavil. Vive les pegbot- toms ; they are coming to the front.' "Now, my friends, it is not for myself that I notice this scurrilous effusion, but in behalf of the lady, an inoffensive and un- offending lady, against the fair mirror of whose pure womanhood not even a whisper of scandal has ever been breathed, and whose only offense is that she is the daughter of a nian who was once poor, but is now rich, a man who started life -at the plow, a poor unlettered boy, and who, by industry, econ- omy and good judgment has been fortunate enough to acquire wealth ; not dishonestly, mind you, no insinuation has been made against his probity, it is only that he is rich, or rather that he was once poor. I repeat, that it is in behalf of this lady, who is in nowise responsible for my candidacy, I put the gentleman and his friends and tools, upon notice, that any further reference to her, or to her worthy father, during this can- DAVID AXD ABIGAIL. 131 vass, shall be accepted by me as a mortal affront to be wiped out by the heart's blood of the dastardly miscreant who dares to make it. And now, my fellow-citizens, beg- ging your pardon for this reference to a matter so aliunde to the issues of the can- vass, and which is as painful to myself as it must be nauseating to you, I shall address myself to the more pertinent questions of the campaign." And with a rare eloquence, even in those brave old days of brilliant oratory, he plunged into the subject and made one of the most telling speeches of the cam- paign. Lawson followed, but made no allusion to the subject of marriage. The tightly com- pressed lips and steel-cold glance of the young man as he uttered the final words of warning told him that it would indeed be death to one of them for him to do so. He saw, too, the mistake that he had made. That the marriage of the young aristocrat with one of the " pegbottoms, " instead *of being a reproach to his prospects, was likely to turn out a happy political stroke, as it established a kind of kinship with that ilk, and the " pegbottoms " were the real sovereigns. 132 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. But, while the speakers were silent on the matter, the newspapers took it up and rang its changes usque ad nauseam. And it was through this medium of cold, leaden type, that the young wife first came to hear of it. Her interest in the canvass, always alert, but now doubly so, made her scan, with hungry eyes, every line that fell under them, and when, two days later, the weekly "Democratic Clarion," the political vade mecum of her father's faith, was brought in and under the double-scored heading of : "An Outrage Against De- cency," she read ; first, the editor's indig- nant scorn and scathing protest against the outrage, and then the extract from the "Graf ton Whig," containing a verbatim report of the cruel tirade ; the announce- ment of the marriage, with the editor's beastly comments, and then the " Clarion's " report of her husband's reply, she could hardly restrain the wrath that filled her soul and fired every fiber of her being. No hysterical sobs of shame and of mortified pride moved her, but a flash of livid anger, clinching her fists and stamping her feet in a frenzy of outraged womanhood. "Why, hunny ! what in the world's the matter with you ? Your eyes flash thest DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 133 likelitening," asked her father, in a little consternation at the cyclonic indications. " Have you read this ? " "Eh, no! In course not; I allers gin you the paper fust. What is it? Has Lawson bin a woollin' David ? I 'spects so. Thest read it ter me, Abby, my eyesight hain't so very good this mornin'." "Yes, I will read it," and in a voice fairly tragic in its wrath, she read it all. "Well ! well ! well ! mussy me ! mussy me ! Who'd a thought hit of Lawson ? But I ruther think as David sorter got 'im on the home-stretch. Don't you?" brighten- ing up a little at the consoling thought. "The niaii is a beast for mischief ; a base, bad man," she cried fiercely. "And he is a congressman ! and expects to be elected again. Is it of such miserable stuff that our statesmen are made ? " she asked in scorn. " Some on 'em is. Some on 'em are made ov monstus pore stuff, I tells you. An' is mighty slack-twisted at that." " It is infamous, the beast ! " "Yes, an' thest ter think, Abby, that the onnerry cuss had the brass ter come a pea- vining around you, last year, hisseff ; I am glad that you sot down on 'im, Abby, dinged if I hain't," 134 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Please don't speak of it," with an angry stamp of her pretty foot. u Thar, now ! you've busted your slipper. You mussent get so mad, hunny, the raskill hain't worth it. I wouldn't spile my shoe with such as he am. I wouldn't even wipe my shoe on 'im if I waz you." ' ' I could grind my heel on his forehead. I could stamp his vile, slanderous serpent- tongue out," making a pirouette upon an imaginary head. "An' git your heel all stone-bruised for your trubble. No, hunny, that wouldn't pay. You must cool down, sich tantrums hain't purty, you don't look your natcherell seff at all. You's too sweet a gurrill ter be soured by sich a toad. You thest let 'im alone an' David 'ill fix 'im. Do yer see as David has got his brissels up, an' you may thest bet yer bottom dollar that he'll fetch 'im ter taw." " And to think that he should try to hurt him through me ? " "Yes, hit was mean, but then hit is natcheral. Bizness is bizness, you know, and them pollyticioners thest takes all the underholt thay kin git. They don't mine lying a bit." " But he will not lie, I know. He would DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 135 scorn to do a mean thing," she loyally pro- tested. "Yes, I thinks myseff that David is plum' square. But, Abby, tell me, what is a she- non, anyhow. Is it very bad ? " lowering his voice to a confidential whisper. " A chignon is a horrid bunch of false hair, that some ladies wear as their own. You know that I never wore such a thing in my life?" " I should say not, seein' as how you have more already than I would like to tote. An' so that was all the 'bominal fool meant ter say by shenon. I was effeered hit was some- thing bad that he was a trying ter fling up ter you. If that waz all, Abby, I don't know as if I waz you as I would care for hit at all. . Hit can't hurt you." " No, it cannot hurt me, but oh ! how it must have hurt him ! " "Hit will hurt 'im afore David gits through with 'im." " But it was him, David, I meant." "Eh ! was it ? Well, yes, no hit will not hurt David, nuther, fer I tells you what's a fac' : the peg-bottoms is a gwine ter take this thing up, yer mine me if thay hain't. Thay is monstus touchy, the pegbottoms, is, you thes see zif they don't put David square in. 136 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. Yer see, Abby, the most ov we-uns is peg- bottoms, an' when the pumpsoles begin ter step on our toes then we thes begin ter kick. Did you see how slick David turned the joke on 'im ? thar whar he sez that 'bout the pore boy plowin'. I wish he'd a sed as I waz a plowin' a bull-yearlin' ; that would a took. Tliar's nothing like plowin' a bull-yearlin' ter start a man ter congress on. Hit thes made Joe Brown guv'nor ov Gorgy. Read that again, Abby ; that's moustus good read- in', an' I loves ter hear hit. " * The irate young lady read the paragraph again, and had her anger allowed her to con- fess it, she felt a little pride herself in the honest tribute so frankly paid to the sterling worth of her father. " That's bully, an' I'll thes bet you the finest thoroughbred mare in Kaintucky that hit thes lays the wax on Tom Lawson. David is 'lected, thes as shore az falling off a log. An' what iz that he sez 'bout you, Abby ? Sumthin' 'bout the lookin'-glass ? " " Oh, yes! I will read it: 'Now, my friends it is not for myself that I notice this, but in behalf of the lady, an inoffensive and unoffending lady, against the fair mirror of whose womanhood no whisper, even of slander has ever been breathed, aud whose DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 137 only sin is that her father was once poor and now is rich. ' ' " Yes ; I sees now, an' hits mighty nice, Abby. I thinks as how you orter be monstus proud ov David ; monstus proud ! " ' ' Oh ! I am proud of him, and shall always bless him for his brave, manly words spoken for me ; for me and for you, father ! Ah ! here comes Augusta ; I wonder if she has seen this ! " as the door opened and Nanny ushered that young lady in. " Yes, in course she has ; don't ye see she's blowed up, fit ter pop ? Here ; lem-me slip out ; I never could stand a 'umman in the tantrums, an' I thes sees the ole Nick in ther way her bonnit sets ! I'll go an' talk ter the Jedge an' see what he sez about hit." And without waiting for his hat, the old gentle- man dashed through the rear door, just in time to escape the explosion that came pop- ping from the surcharged lips of the indignant young lady. " Oh ! Grace, Grace ! I have come to tell you ; I am just too mad for anything, and I couldn't stand it any longer. Here ! have you seen this nasty thing ? " ' ' In the Clarion, you mean ? " "Yes; that miserable stuff! Oh! the mean wretch ! I could positively claw him. 138 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. Oh ! if I was only a man ! How I do wish I was a man ; I would call the beast out and shoot him like a dog. I am ashamed of brother Dave that he hasn't done it. I would have shot him on the spot. Don't it make you sick to think of it ? " " Yes; I was very angry at first, and, I fear, made an exhibition of myself. See here ; I have stamped my slipper into tatters. It is hopelessly ruined," putting out her foot and displaying the demoralized slipper. " Here, Nanny ; take it away and bring my boots. And now, Augusta ; have a seat ; let us sit down and talk it all over and try not to mind it so much. Of course it was contemptible and mean, and I do know that it sorely wounded your brother. Ah ! that the wretch should try to wound him, through me ; I who would of havecut my right arm to have shielded him from any hurt ; it is too bad, too bad ! " and if the demolished slipper had not been safe in the caressing hand of Nanny, who was vainly trying to smooth it into shape again, it would have suffered another martyrdom, for, in spite of her phil- osophical purpose to sit down and talk it all over without minding it, the thought of the hurt put upon him, the man whom her tender fancy had already apotheosized into a DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 139 divinity, filling her life with its completeness of adoration, becoming not only its lord and master but its idol as well, was so outrageous that the loyal blood had to boil over again, and the sympathetic feet had to fairly dance in impotent rage. Next to the frantic capers of an angry child there is nothing so charm- ingly vigorous as the sudden wrath of a pretty woman. Miss Winston, already surcharged, began to pop, too ; the explosions coming out in little sparks and flashes. "I wis wis wish we we ha-had him here ; we would make make Jake hold him, an and I I I would cow cowhi hide him ; wouldn't you ? " "It was so mean in him to try to wound him," said Abigail, a little timidly, as if some apology was needed for the unseemli- ness of their tempers. " To wound him ? No, darling, it was you he struck ; the cowardly whelp, to strike a woman ! Why should he wish to hurt you ? " "Oh, no, not me ! it was him he tried to kill. He could not hurt me ; it was only him." " But he cannot hurt brother David ; everybody knows that he is incapable of doing a mean thing." 140 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Yes, I know; but perhaps the wretch thought that he loved me, and that by ridic- uling me he could hurt him. But wasn't it ridiculous, though, the idea of me weighing two hundred and fifty pounds and wearing ear-bobs and a chignon ! How could he ever think of such an absurd thing ? " "Oh, because his own wife wears them, I'll be bound. And besides, the wretch is mean enough for anything. But, did he ever see you ? " "One should imagine not, from the de- scription he gives of me ; but for all that, he has seen me." "Ah ! And could he condescend to waste a glance on you ? " "It was a condescension, to be sure ; but he was gracious enough to make it. And, Augusta, I ought not to tell it, but to show you the full depth of the creature's mean- ness, I will tell you ; only, Augusta, you must first promise me that you will never, never breathe a single syllable of it to mor- tal ear, not even to your brother's. Will you promise ? " " Yes, I promise. Do tell me." " Upon your life ?" "Yes, upon my life. I won't even tell Walter." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 141 "Then, would you believe it? This man, who now speaks so cruelly of me, once once, only last year, a few weeks before he married the Widow Tuppin, had the con- ceit to to ask me me to to marry him- "Oh! Grace, Grace!" in incredulous amazement. "Yes, it is true. I do not speak of it boastingly, for somehow I never considered it a matter to be proud of ; but, on the con- trary, it always brought an uneasy feeling, nearly akin to humiliation." " And you refused him ? " " Yes, I refused him. But I see that you are still incredulous. I am telling you the truth. I have his letter yet, asking me to be his wife. Somehow I have neglected to destroy it, or to send it back to him. Would you care to see it ? " "Oh, yes, I wish ever so much to see it ; and if it is like you say, I should wish to confront him with it, that it might choke back the vile slander he has put upon you, and upon my brother." "No, I could not do that ; but I can show it to you, only it must go no further. Come, go with me to my room and I will let you see it." And leading the way to her 142 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. room, she unlocked her escritoire and found the letter. " Here, read it, and then we will burn it." Augusta, with impatient curiosity, took the missive and read : " MY DEAR Miss HARDIE : I leave for Washington, to- morrow, but before I go I must put an end to the sweet suspense with which I have been so idly dallying, by ask- ing you to be my wife. I presume, and trust, that the at- tentions I have shown you may have prepared you for this declaration, and that no further probation is needed to as- sure you of the sincerity of my proposal. I may further hope that you will not let any exaggerated appreciation of my high position in society, nor morbid depreciation of your own status, embarrass you in your answer. What you lack in social prestige I can fully and freely make up. As my wife you may rightfully claim an entrance to the high- est circles, not only in this city and State, but in the still more aristocratic court of Washington itself. I feel that you would acquit yourself worthy of either, and I should not hesitate to introduce you. "I send this by the hand of my confidential servant, and shall impatiently expect an answer by the same trusty hand. Hoping that it may be favorable, and that I may be permitted to call this evening to receive from your own sweet lips an oral confirmation of the troth that is to make me the happiest of mortals, I subscribe myself your most faithful, true and devoted lover, " THOMAS BOYKIN LAWSON, M. C. " To Miss GKACE A. HARDIE, "240 Colbert Avenue." "Well, well, well ! Who ever heard of such a thing ! " exclaimed the young lady in DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 143 amused astonishment, as she finished the amorous epistle. "And this is from the man who said such ugly things about you ? But how did you answer him ? " " I was amused at the man's egotism, but I did not answer him according to his folly ; I simply declined his offer." " Egotism ! Why I never before in all my life, heard of such egregious self-con- ceit. But what did you say ? " "I kept no copy of my answer; I only wrote a curt little note, telling him that he need not call. I fear that I forgot to even thank him for his wonderful condescen- sion. And perhaps it was my laches in gratitude, still rankling in his mind, which provoked his savage philippic." " And he bothered you no more ? " " Oh, no. Luckily he had another string to his bow, and was married the very next week to the wealthy widow Turpin, and I never saw him any more again until the other evening at the City Hall, when he failed to recognize me. But here, Augusta, give me the letter and let me burn it, and with its ashes let all memory of his cow- ardly perfidy go." "I wish brother David could see it," reluctantly giving it up. 144 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Oh, no; I should be ashamed for him ever to know." "But he should know, that he might hoist him with his own petard. " "No, no. If I could, I should ask him never to notice the miserable wretch again. And I, I shall put it all away too ; only I shall never forget to love him for his brave words so gallantly spoken in my behalf, never, never, never. And now Augusta, see how easy a thing it is to make ashes of an unpleasant memory, " taking the letter and putting it in the flames, for a cheery fire of odorous sassafras blazed upon the hearth, filling the room with a delightful perfume as well as a genial warmth. Few, even of our most luxuriant epicures know the deli- cious fragrance of a sassafras fire. It is one of the luxuries that the pegbottoms, can only enjoy. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 145 CHAPTER IX. THE ISSUE JOINED, PUMPSOLES VS. PEG- BOTTOMS. " Well, Jedge, haz ye seed the Clarion f " asked Mr. Hardie, as he found the Judge, with a wearied look on his countenance, sit- ting in his office. "Yes, and I am very sorry." "Yes, hit's purty tite on me an' Abby, but I reckon as David 'bout got even with 1m." "It is infamous. Has your daughter seen it ? " "Yes, an' she's thest as mad as an ole settin' hen. I tell's yer what's a fac', Jedge, I candly b'lieve if that feller had been a thar, he'd a got his hair pulled." "It is enough to outrage all her womanly feelings. " "Yes ; but she's sorter cooled down now, an' when she read the nice things as David sed 'bout her, she kinder hauled in her horns an' was a fixin' up ter cry when yer darter came in." 9 146 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Ah, Augusta is with her, then ?" "Yes ; an' she's purty ashy too ; I seed hit in her eyes, an' I seed hit warn't no place fer a one-eyed man, so I thest slipped outen the back door an' thort I'd come an' talk ter you 'bout hit." "I can only say, Mr. Hardie, that I am very sorry. It was an unmanly, ill-natured thing for Lawson to do, and I regret exceed- ingly that he ever did it. I cannot imagine why he should have stooped to such a con- temptible thing." "Well mebby he thinks as everything iz fair in 'lectioneerin', same as hit iz in war. An' mebby hit is too, an' we'll see zif we can't feed 'im back off 'era the same nubbin'. An' I 'tends ter do hit too ; I 'tends ter pitch in an' see that David beats the hine-sites of- fen the measly raskil, if hit takes a thou- sand dollars a vote ter do hit. He went an' lambasted the pegbottoms, thest fer spite, an' I'll let 'im know that the pegbottoms is able ter tote thay own skillit. I'm a pegbottom myself, I is, an' so are- Abby, an' you thest bet your sickest nigger, that the pegbottoms 'ill mash sumthin' when they all stomp down tergether." "Oh, no, Mr. Hardie, we cannot afford to DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 147 employ such a disgraceful family scandal to further our personal interest." "Yes, but thar's no scaiidill 'bout hit, 'ceptin' them lies as he tole on Abby, an' they hain't so bad, now, sense Abby splained ter me 'bout the shignon, fer that's all a bare neckid lie, as David can see for his- self when he gits home. Thar hain't a sin- gle hair 'bout Abby as hain't a shore anuff hair." " Oh, yes ; I know, and so far as you and Abigail are concerned, no possible reproach can attach. It is the damning charge of a mercenary bargain, he brings against my son, that hurts." "Yes, but that's all a lie too, an' you knows hit." " Alas, it has color of truth ; some infam- ous eavesdropper must have overheard your reference to your daughter's weight in gold, you remember the unfortunate lapse ? " "Yes, I did say hit, " quickly interrupting, "an' I sticks ter hit. I sed Abby waz worth her weight in gold, an' the man as gits her will git hit with a nigger flung in with every pound. An' I means thest perzactly what I sez ; but I doan't means by hit that I waz a buying nor a hiring your son ter take her off my han's. I wanted him fer her 148 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. bekaze I liked 'ira, an' I knowed they would make a good match. An' as fer Abby, she waz willin', kaze she wanted ter please me, an' asides she waz sorter kinder stuck on 'im herseff. She had, unbeknowns't ter him, seed 'im at the speekin' an' I seed as she was a kinder hankering that way, an' that was why I come ter see you, an' see if we couldn't sorter fix up ter git them to- gether ; I hed no noshun, Jedge ov sellin' my darter, nor ov buyin' your son ; you mussent think hit, sir, kaze hits a no such a thing, an' yer mussent do hit." " No, Mr. Hardie, since I have known Abigail I can readily acquit you both of any such design ; but I must be frank with you and confess that such was my first interpre- tation of your proposition. It was that, sir, that caused me to repel it with such scorn." "Yes, I sees, an' I'ze afeered as David thinks that way too." "Yes ; unhappily he does, and now, I fear this miserable thing will still more embitter his mind against it. " " You must tell 'im better, Jedge. You must write ter him an' let 'im know. Hit warn't thest ter git shet ov Abby that I wanted her ter marry David. She had DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 149 plenty ov other chances. An' I'll tell ye, Jedge, on the sly like," lowering his voice into a confidential whisper, " but you mus- sent ever let Abby know a thing about it ; but this very little smarty, Tom Lawson come a pea-vinin' around her an' axed Abby ter marry him " " Impossible ! " " Yes, but he did fer a fac'. Hit was thest sickening ter see the way he put on his big airs around her. But, Jedge, yer orter thest seed how flat she smashed him when she sot down upon 'im " Sat down upon him ? " "Yes, mashed 'im flatener than a pan- cake. No wonder he thort she waide two hundred and fifty pounds." " I do not understand ? " " Wy kicked 'im, man. She thest ups with her foot an' sent 'im a windin'. She wouldent a wiped her shoe on ' im, I don't care zif they is pegbottoms. I was rite glad, I waz, fer I didn't like 'im at all. He allers waz a whig." " And you tell me seriously that Lawson addressed your daughter ? " " Courted Abby, yer means ? Yes, that waz thest what he done, but she hed too much sense ter bother long with his sort, 150 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. an' she told him to go summers else, an' he went, an' the verry nex' week he went an' roped in the ole Widder Tuppin. An' Jedge, I tells yer what hit is, it is that what's the matter with Hanner. He's mad yit kaze she kicked 'im, an' David hez got her, an' ter pay 'em back he started them lies 'bout her waying two hundred an' fifty pounds, an' wearin' false hair. Why, the lyin' 'raskill had mout as well a 'cused her ov havin' a wooden leg, an' a glass eye. I tells yer what's a fac' Jedge, I had ter talk mity saft to her, to keep 'er fom bilein' over, fer az shore'ze yer born, that thing sticks. You may 'cuse a gurrill ov annything else, but when hit comes ter 'cusing 'em ov paintin' or stuffin' their buzzoms with cotton, or wearin' false hair, when she don't, yer thest gits yer head in a hornit's nest. He drapped his tater thar, an' I 'tends ter make the lyin' raskill wish he'd a bin borned dum afore he ever sed it. " "I think it best, Mr. Hardie, to drop the matter where it is, as quietly as possible. " "In course, I hain't a gwine ter make a big blow about hit, but I'ze thest a gwine ter move round 'mungst the pegbottoms an' if we thest don't knoc' the socks off'en the gentleman you may shoot me for a DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 151 'possum. I'm a gwine ter go over in Sain'- Clair an' buy a pare ov pegbottom shoes fer every blamed little tow-head in the county an' I'll tell 'thar mammys what's its for, an' ef they don't make it warm for ole Miss Tuppin's little man, then I don't know nuthin' 'bout 'uman nater. An' now, Jedge, I wants yer to write ter David an' tell 'im thest how it stands. I've bin a studdyin' mity serious 'bout hit fer the last ' night er so, an' I begins ter feel a little jubus 'bout the way things looks. 'Splain hit all ter 'im, Jedge, thest perzactly az hit iz." " I am going myself to-morrow to join him. I am apprehensive of trouble between them, or their friends. The personal bitter- ness of the discussion will lead to a serious rencontre unless it is stopped. I have seen the executive committee of both parties, and they agree that all further personalities must be eliminated from the discussion. It must be stopped or they will be shooting each other's heads off. Both committees have so agreed and so instructed. And as for this unfortunate scandal, I sincerely wish, Mr. Hardie, that you will let it rest." " As I tells yer, I don't spect ter make a blowin' horn ov it, nor to stir up a fuss, but 152 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. I'm thest a gwine ter do my level best ter beat this sneakin' raskill. I'm gwine ter show 'im that hit ain't healthy fer a two hundred and fifty-pound pegbottom ter set down on a pot-stum'micked Jake like tiim. Humph ! the idee ov sich a gurrill as Abby wareing a passel ov tuther fokeses hair ; I tells ye, Jedge, thar's whar hit hurts. " f ' Yes ; but we who love her know that it is false and can afford to laugh at it. We need not care what others think. My greatest anxiety now, is for David." " Oh, never mind David ; he'll know when he comes home an' fines out. Abby's all rite, an' don't yer go ter botherin' David 'bout her, but' thest sic' 'im on the fight. What I wants is fer 'im ter wallup this Mr. Smarty. Ole Munny-bags ; humph ! I'll make 'im wish as he'd never hearn tell ov a munny-bag. You tell David ter thest draw on the Bank fer all the munny he wants, an let the ole widder Tuppin see his bline if she wants ter.. An now I reckon I'd best git back home an' see if the gurrills is tore the house down. I'm jubus that they haz. I'm glad as I talked ter you, Jedge, an' be shore yer don't forgit ter tell David that I never in all my born days thought ov sich a thing as selling my darter. Good-bye ; " and with a cordial DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 153 shake of the hands the two gentlemen parted. By sunrise the next morning Judge Win- ston, in a buggy behind a spanking team, was driving across the country to intercept the itinerant campaigners. The canvass, after sweeping the south, had swung around to the western part of the district, and by a hard day's driving the Judge found himself at night, within easy reach of Gos- port, the appointed place of meeting for the next day. After a nearly breakfast, he was on his way. The gathering hosts of bronze-faced, hard-handed voters, who came pouring down the hills and up the valleys, by bridle- path and carriage-road, filling the broad highway with dust and noisy confusion, as he pushed on his way, told what a lively interest these rural sovereigns felt in the coming election, and despite its humiliating reflection, it was an encouraging sign to hear the lusty slogan; "Hooray fer the pegbottoms," as group met group in the gathering stream. It seemed that the sneering witticism of Lawson at Phillippi, had been accepted as a grave issue and instead of whiggery or de- mocracy, high tariff or free trade, State's 154 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. rights or centralization, the one grand, all- absorbing issue upon which the fate of the universe depended was pumpsole or peg- bottom. The fastidious Judge felt a little ashamed of the connection, but for all that there was a comfortable enthusiasm in the boisterous unanimity of the pegbottom huzza. When he arrived at the court-house he found his son busied with the county ex- ecutive committee. After the introduction and exchange of friendly civilities, the matter of the canvass was resumed. " I tell you what it is, boys ; we have got them on the hip. This thing takes like hot cakes and is spreading like wild-fire. Three days ago it was all the other way ; as I wrote you, Winston, I should have been will- ing to give them three hundred majority, in this county, but they only laughed at the concession ; nothing short of four hundred would satisfy them, but now the thing has turned and they are the sickest roosters you ever saw. We will carry the county, without a doubt. You see, old man Hardie was one of the pioneers of this county, and was married upon Hurricane, and he has always stuck to his people. There is not a church in the county, nor school-house DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 155 either that he did not help to build ; even the church we speak in to-day was largely paid for by him." " Yes," spoke in another, " and last year when the frost destroyed all the wheat he sent hundreds of bushels of seed for the poor. They all know him and they will all, to a man, vote for you, whigs, though they be." "Yes, the pegbottoms are on top and don't you forget it !" burst in another, " only listen now," turning and raising the win- dow. " There comes the Hurricane delega- tion now ; all solid pegbottoms and yet Hurricane is the strongest whig beat in the county ! Listen ! ' Hurray f er the peg- bottom ! ' Ah ! boys, we are solid. Lawson dropped his candy when he tackled the peg- bottoms. Winston, you must ride him on that to-day." " Ah, no ! I cannot do such a thing. It is too humiliating. I wish the whole thing could be wiped out," answered the young man with a flush of shame. ' ' Well, I don't. It's the luckiest thing that ever happened for you, and for us. It elects you most assuredly, and I think we can hold them on the county ticket." "I think that quite likely; but I had rather been beaten than to have had this 156 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. iron thrust in my soul ; and if you please, gentlemen, we will dismiss it. You must not expect me to employ such a reproachful argument ; to parade my own infamy as a badge of martyrdom," he answered, firmly. "Of course you need not refer to your own connection ; but you just curry down the pegbottoms. To be sure it would be in bad taste for you to allude to your family affairs, but you can let them know what a dignity there is in labor, and what a glori- ous thing it is to be a free, independent, horny-handed pegbottom." "That I shall do, and do it conscientiously as I have always done, for all my sym- pathies are really with the rural workers of the land, not the bread-winners only, but the bread-makers, as well ; and I think, gentle- men, without affectation, that I should be willing to exchange places with the most de- spised one of them all, who may hear me to- day." "Very well; you just do that. Sugar- coat the rural sovereign from stem to stern, and let Lawson spout as much as he pleases about the esoteric principles of constitu- tional law ; the ancient glories of Greece and Rome, of Hannibal and of Julius Caesar, of Cromwell and of Napoleon, these fellows DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 157 don't care a fiddler's cuss about such things ; but you just come down to ' craps ' and colts, and the nice little cottage with the smoke so gracefully curling, and a fire full of yam 'taters,' then you strike a tender chord that always responds." " Yes ! that is legitimate, and I shall use it," answered Winston, and the caucus was ended. But while this, the democratic caucus was in such harmonious and satisfactory session, Lawson was closeted with his own com- mittee, uneasily discussing the gravity of the situation. "Yes! I made a mistake," he confessed, with a grin, after the damaging effect of his laches had been laid before him, with its im- pending consequences. " It was a mistake ; but the infernal fools didn't understand my meaning. It wasn't at the pegbottoms, the girl and her parvenue father, I was striking, but at this aristocratic 'kid, the pumpsoled exquisite, who, for the sake of the woman's gold, stooped to marry her." "Yes, but you ought to have known that you could not strike one without hitting the other," said one of his committee-men. "So I see now. But what is best to be done ? " 158 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Well ! you'll have to eat a little humble pie ; soft-solder the pegbottoms and apolo- gize to the girl's people. Smooth it over the best way possible. You know how it can be done. The Hardies are mighty strong in this county, and old Israel is im- mensely popular. He was born here, you know ! and there is hardly a poor man in the county who has not tasted his bounty. That is the best plan, I think ; smooth it over with the Hardies and the Sneads, and then curry the pegbottoms." "Yes," added another, "if I was you I should get a pair of the coarsest-thickest soled pegbottoms that I could find and cock my feet on the stand as high as my legs would reach. We are licked like a sack if you don't. I know fifty votes in my own beat that you have lost." "That is bad, and I am truly sorry," and with this the unsatisfactory conference was ended. It was again Winston's turn to open the discussion, and Esquire Wheeler, the florid chairman of the democratic executive com- mittee, introduced him with effusive gusto, the audience fairly lifting the rafters with the swell of a mighty roar, as he concluded by saying : DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 159 " He comes as a stranger to the most of us, but it is almost to his own home, and as a kinsman that he comes, for it is to the ever open hand and ready bounty of his father-in-law, that good old pegbottom, Israel Hardie, whom you all know, that we owe this very house in which we sit. Let us welcome him, then, as one of us, to the manor born." The young man arose, and gracefully bowing his acknowledgments, waited a few moments for the redoubled applause to cease, and then he said : "I must thank you, my fellow-citizens, for the unmistakable cordiality of your wel- come. I must thank you also for the hearty response to the reference my friend made to the name of your former fellow-citizen, Mr. Hardie, " (applause and vociferous hurrays for the pegbottoms.) " But while sharing with you, your high appreciation of that gentle- man's worth, I must repudiate all claim to your kindness, based upon my connection with him or his family. I solicit your friendship and support upon my own merits." (Applause and a voice : "That's right, every tub on hits own bottom, specially if hits a pegbottom.") "Yes, that's the way, my friends, I prefer to stand." (Hooray for 160 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. the pegbottoms ! ) And waiting again for the noise to subside, he plunged at once into his argument, warming up to his work as he went, and finally concluding with a burst of eloquence that fairly set his audience wild with enthusiasm. Lawson followed. It was plain to be seen that he was badly hacked. With a sickly grace he began : " I have just received from the chairman of the congressional committee, a request that is so consonant with my own feelings, that I shall cheerfully adopt it. It is the request that in future all irrelevant person- alities be eliminated from our joint discus- sions. As I say, the request is so much in harmony with my own inclinations, that I shall cheerfully accede to it, but before I cut myself entirely off from the privilege, I find myself constrained to make a personal explanation. A few days ago, betrayed by the acerbities of debate, and while smarting under the knout of satire, which my honor- able opponent knows so well how to wield, I made an unfortunate allusion to the social standing, and to the family, of a gentleman, who, though nameless then, and who shall be nameless now, should not have been re- ferred to at all. The remarks were made in DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 161 a spirit of pleasantry, but they were unjust to the gentleman, who appropriated them, as they were unjust and discourteous to his excellent daughter. I have too high an opinion of the character of the man and of the sterling worth of the class to which he belongs, and which he so worthily represents, to have willfully aspersed the one or belit- tled the other ; and I beg now, to thus pub- licly retract every word I then said which may be construed into a reflection upon the integrity of his character, or the respecta- bility of his daughter. This I do, my fellow- citizens, of my own volition and without the knowledge of my opponent, who so seriously regarded the little bit of badinage, as per- haps applied to himself." And thus having eaten his little bit of hum- ble pie, he proceeded to curry the pegbot- toms in the most approved style. But the pegbottoms were disposed to be mulish and save the racket kept up by his claqueurs, his speech was received in sullen silence. It was not until the speaking was over, and they had had their dinner that the Judge could find a fifteen minutes, privacy with his son. "I think, David, that I can safely con- 162 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. gratulate you upon your election. This sur- prising turn of affairs has done it." "Yes, I feel very secure, and I do not know whether to laugh or to cry over it. To owe my exultation, to such an abase- ment ! Was there ever a more tantalizing irony of fortune ? " " Yes, it is strange ; but it is not upon your political prospects that you are to be congratulated. You have the sweetest woman in all the world for a wife. " " That can only humiliate me the more." " No ; she is worthy the love of any man, of the best of men." " That puts us the further apart." " Why should it?" "If she is worthy a good man, I am not worthy of her. Her worth completes the measure of my own unworthiness. Father, I am very sorry, but I have quite resolved never to see her again." "No ! that would be cowardly, unmanly, cruel ! It would be adding insult to injury, to strike the woman you have already wounded." " The wound cannot be deep ; her pride, or vanity rather, might possibly be hurt, but her affections can hardly be touched. She cannot be a woman of any sensibility, or she DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 163 never would have married as she did. But we need not discuss it. I am quite deter- mined. You can take her home and keep her in countenance, if you will. To avoid tlie ruinous effect of a scandal, perhaps it would be best for you to do so, only it will be a grave injustice to inflict her upon my poor sister. But as for me, I must avoid her as a man should avoid a lurking tempta- tion to commit murder. I must despise her as long as I live, or else I must despise my- self." " This is very wicked, David, and very foolish." " Wicked it may be, but not foolish. It is the logical conclusion of a well-considered proposition. It was wicked to marry her, but the unfortunate extremity of our affairs dictated its wisdom. It may be wicked to abandon her, but my own self-respect demands it. Were there no other alterna- tive, I should be tempted to strangle her, or else to hang myself. Is it folly to avoid such a temptation ? " " But you do not, you cannot realize all that she is. She is not what you think." " Let her be what she may, or even more ; were she an angel itself, it could not be dif- ferent. The fairer she is, the fouler I must 164 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. necessarily be. That is the whole of it. Were it not that I wish to put my heel upon the neck of this fellow Lawson, the cowardly cur who insulted her, I should withdraw from the canvass, and quit the country at once and forever ; but as it is, I shall stay to triumph over his malice and in the mad whirl of politics at Washington, I shall try to forget who and what I am, leaving her free to do as she pleases with- out responsibility to me. Perhaps when she tires of the false position into which she has been lifted by her father's gold, she will apply for a divorce, and sinking back to her proper level she may find a man who would not have to despise himself to respect her." "I am sorry to have to, listen to such as this from you." " I, too, am sorry to have to speak it, but such are my feelings. I would not have to endure again another five minutes of the humiliating sense of debauched manhood that I experienced that day in her presence, for a lustrum of the happiest years that can be crowded in a human life. I felt, then, how utterly impossible it would, be for us two to ever be any other than strangers to each other. I hope Augusta is well ; poor sister ; I left her sadly upset." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 165 "Augusta is well," answered his father a little coldly. ' ' But I am taking too much of your valuable time. You should be out among the people." "Shaking hands with my new relations," laughed David, and both, glad of the diver- sion, went out to mingle with the throng that still lingered in the town. CHAPTER X. DRIFTING APART. THE next day at Clinton, David Winston received his mail. Crushed out of shape in the midst of a mass of political correspon- dence, inquiries, suggestions, instructions, committee reports, " And other brilliant matters of the sort," he found a letter from his gentle sister Augusta. It was dated, and read as fol- lows : " HOME, October 28, 1854. " MY DEAREST BROTHER DAVE : I suppose that you have seen the Clarion, with all that wretched stuff in it, Why didn't you horsewhip that cowardly fellow ? 166 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " I have just come from Grace; I slept with her last night, and she is the sweetest girl in all the wide, wide world. I went to her as soon as I saw it; I somehow felt that we were the cause of it all, and I wanted to get down on my knees and ask her forgiveness for the insult that man had put upon her. I found her much more amiable than I could have been, had it been me and Walter the wretched dog had slandered. She had read it before I got there, and had recovered from her first hurt. Of course she was angry still, as she had the right to be, for it was a cruel thing for a sensitive girl to have to bear. But she bore it bravely; and, what is strange, she didn't seem to mind it at all for herself. It was only that she thought it would hurt you, that she cared. ' Ah,' she said, and I just wish you could have seen her as she said it ; it was really tragic, ' ah, that the wretch should try to hurt him ! She calls you him and he, she seems afraid to call you David, or dear, or husband, it is only him and he, and there is a world of feeling in her voice as she says it. ' Ah, that the wretch should try to wound him through mo ; I, who would gladly give my right arm to shield him from the least harm.' It was really pretty; Ristori her- self could not have surpassed it, and I know that she meant it every word, for her eyes fairly sparkled; but then she brightened up a little when I told her no, it was her whom the wretch intended to strike, and you ought to have seen how proudly she drew herself up, and what a pretty scorn was on her lip, as she said: 'The creature's spite could never touch me.' And then, last night when we were fix- ing for. bed, and Xanny, her girl, took down her hair, she laughed and said: 'Look here, Augusta, what do you suppose Mrs. Lawson would give for such a chignon ? ' and she really has the most beautiful hair I ever saw, just as fine and flossy as silk, and comes down to her knees. You know that I am proud of my own hair, but I would give the world if I only had hers. But now, Brother Pave, I must tell you all about her, for I never was so sur- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 167 prised before in all my life as I was when I first saw her, for instead of the awkward, gawky fright I expected to see, I found her the sweetest girl I ever met in all my life. Well, you know that you left me that morning sadly in the mullygrubs (I reckon I have spelled it right, but I can't find it in the dictionary), I cried myself quite sick and was utterly miserable when father came back from the wedding and asked me to go with him to see her. I couldn't bear the idea, and positively refused to go, when he got real angry, and peremptorily commanded me to go: and I had to go, which I did just as I was, all frowsled up as you teft me, only I had cried my eyes all red and bloated. But when we got there and found everything so splendidly elegant, and in the presence of such a queenly looking lady, I felt like sinking through the floor, and when I further saw that my shabbiness hurt her, I just couldn' t stand it, and with- out going in the parlor I begged her to excuse me and I drove back home just as fast as Jake could whip up the horses, to dress and go back to her. Well, I dressed and went back, and she received me so kindly and so sweetly that my heart went out to her completely at once, and now if she was my very own flesh-and-blood twin-sister, I could not love her any better than I do, " We stayed all day, and had a magnificent dinner, as fine as the governor gave last month, when Ida was married ; and wasn't it funny ? we hail it all to ourselves, just we three, father, Grace and myself, when there was enough for a hundred. You may imagine, though, what a feast the darkies had. And then she told me all about the wedding, and how frightened she was that you might not come ; and showed me where you two stood under the roses ; and she gave me a cluster of rose-buds from the bell wasn't it a beautiful bell ? I want just such a one when I marry and she wanted to pin one to your coat the sweetest one she could find, she said but was afraid, so I send one in this for you ; you must wear it for her sake, and let her see it when you come, it will do her so 168 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. much good, for she has the nicest of feelings, and I know she loves you with all her heart, and she has a sweet and tender heart ; and oh, Brother Dave, I must ask you to lorgive me for speaking so shamefully of her to you, that morning ; please forgive me, for I did not know then what a true lady and sweet girl she was. And, brother, I should like to tell you something the most surprising thing you ever could imagine, only I promised her upon my life that I wouldn't never tell, and so I can't, but if that wretch should ever say anything more about her, you just ask him if he ever courted a certain young lady, and got ingloriously kicked. He can't deny it, for she showed me the letter itself ; and you just ought to have seen the look of supreme contempt on her face as she put it in the fire and burned it up. She don't want you ever to know, or I would tell you all about it, but I promised her that I wouldn't ever breathe it to a mortal soul, so I can't. She is somehow afraid that you might not like it, but you should not care, as she n ally despised the fellow's offer. It was the most conceited letter you ever read, and the next week he went and married the old Widow Turpin. No wonder he hates Grace, and hates you for marrying her. But this letter is long enough, already ; I only write in a hurry to beg your forgiveness and to send you my sisterly congratulations. I am willing to divide your love with Grace, but I don't want you to give it quite all to her. " Your affectionate sister, " AUGUSTA. "P.S. I must tell you, all the young men here are for you ; they have formed a PEGBOTTOM club, and are all wearing pegbottom boots. I was a little ashamed at first, but Walter says I need not mind it ; that he didn't care for it a bit, and now I do not. He has got a pair of peg- bottoms, too, and says that Lawson lost his trick when he played that card, and that now he is bound to be euchred. I do hope it is so, and that you will beat him, as much for DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 169 her sake as for your own. She would think that she was the cause of your defeat, and it would kill her. Bye-bye. " GUSSIE. " P.S. again. But the funniest thing of all is the old gentleman, her father, buying a pair of shoes for all the pegbottom women and children in St. Glair county, and sending them to the democratic executive committee of that county to be distributed out to them. " Walter says it is the best campaign trick he ever saw. He bought five hundred pairs, and Walter says that every pair is good for a vote, and besides the poor children need them this cold w r eather. I think it real good in the old man, don't you? But then he will do anything for Grace. Gus. "Nota Bcna. I have begged Grace to come home with me, but she will not. I know that she wants to come though by the wistful look in her eyes when she said no. She never said why, but I know she is waiting for you to come and fetch her, so you must hurry up and get through with the election and bring her home ; I do so long to kiss her welcome. " Your loving sister, " AUGUSTA V. WINSTON." It would have been a difficult psycho- logical operation to have analyzed David Winston's feelings, as he read this letter. The warm terms of admiring approval in which his father had spoken, the day before, of her, the wife of whom he knew so little, had been taken with a large grain of salt. Being himself accessory to, if not particeps crimines, in the humiliating bargain, by which he bartered his manhood for sordid 170 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. gold, it was but natural, he thought, that his father should try to make the best of the dicker, by presenting the brightest side of the young lady's picture. But here, in the unaffected enthusiasm of a truthful and loving sister, he found testimony that could not be questioned. She had protested in indignant scorn against the marriage ; all her womanly pride and her womanly prej- udice had been arrayed against the wo- man he married, and now she was the first to come with paeans of praise to the beauty and grace and sweetness of the bride. His own senses, too, began to arouse in corroborative energy. Visions of her loveliness, glimpses of which he had caught even through the nigrescent cloud of dis- gust and loathing that had so cruelly blinded him on that unhappy morning, had been, despite his efforts to shut them out, continually floating before his inner sight, like angel Sittings in a dream. Try as he might to dismiss them as distempered illu- sions, they would still haunt his senses, and he had to despise himself for unconsciously blessing the radiant presence. And now his sister's enthusiastic tribute to the loveli- ness which he had felt rather than seen strangely touched him. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 171 For a moment he felt a lifting up of soul, a strange thrill of gladness and of pride shooting through his being, and tenderly taking the little rosebud, now withered and flattened out of all shape, but fragrant still, he unconsciously kissed it and lovingly put it away in his pocket-book, and softly he whis- pered her name, when in a flash, like the sharp plunge of a dagger in his heart, came the damning sense of his own unworthiness, the pitiful meanness by which he must claim a lordly possession of all this sweetness. "My God, this is horrible !" he cried, the very reverence he began to feel for the lady exaggerating the contempt he felt for him- self. " I must put this away, or it will drive me mad. How could I do such a des- picable thing ! But it must be undone ; such an iniquity must not be permitted to stand. I must write to her now, before the delusion becomes a reality to her, and tell her how utterly impossible it will ever be for us two to be anything but strangers to each other. And yet and yet it would be very sweet for me to look in her face and tell her how much I wish I was not so wholly unfit to stand in her presence. But I cannot ; her truth would palsy my tongue with the poi- son of its lie." 172 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. And then, as if indicting a renunciation of all claim and hope or expectation to a place in heaven, he wrote : " MRS. WINSTON : My father and my sister have both told ine how sadly I have misunderstood you, and with the knowledge comes the humiliating conviction of how cruelly I have wronged you. I would gladly die to undo the wrong, but as I lack the courage of Judas, the only possi- ble atonement left for me to make is to banish myself from the heaven it would be a pollution for me to enter. You can understand what a dishonorable thing it was for mo to marry you as I did, and so understanding you must know what a debasing thing it will ever be for me to stand in your presence again. Under the icy shadow of such a humilia- tion it would be impossible for the seeds of even a conven- tional affection to fructify. It would be folly, then nay, worse than folly it would be an additional crime against your happiness for me to attempt to plant them ; and cruel as it may seem, and painful as it is to me, I write this to absolve you from all further sense of duty or affection to me, and to ask you to put aside, as an unwomanly reproach, all further thought or interest in my being. I trust that it may not pain you to do this. I shall see to it that society must hold me entirely responsible for any scandal that may grow out of the separation by assuming for myself all blame, and by availing myself of the first occasion to pro- claim to the world the innocence which is yours, and the infamy which is mine. "If you understand me, I have written enough; and, with a reverence I am too vile to speak, I bid you a sad fare- well. "D. R. WINSTON." Carefully folding the letter, he addressed it, and then, fearful that his purpose might DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 173 fail, he hurried to the village post-office and mailed it. Then he came back to his room and wrote to his sister : " MY SWEET SISTER : Tour pleasant letter is received, and my heart blesses you for the goodness that inspired it. The knowledge of Miss Hardie's worth comes too late. Had I known her before I debauched my manhood I should have sought to win her, but now she is all too pure and good for me, and I have just written her that she may never expect to see my face again. I shall avoid her as the vampire shuns the light which guards the couch of sleeping innocence. We are too far apart in moral worth to ever be nearer in affection ; I should feel it a sacrilege on my part to venture to kiss even her finger-tips. It was a sad thing I had to write, and no one may ever know the pain it cost me to write it, but I feel that my punishment is just, and I may not complain. If it does not hurt her too much, I shall be content to bear it all. " I have not the heart to write more now, but will write you again when I am in a better mood. I may not dictate your associations, but it may be wise for you to avoid her. The association cannot, I opine, be otherwise than embar- rassing to you both. I thank you for the rose, and shall keep it always. Your loving brother, "DAVID R. WINSTON." The mails, in those days, were mostly car- ried across the country in hacks, and were more slow in transit than they are now in this age of steam. But all slowly as they moved, they brought their sad, sad freight of disappointment and sorrow and misery all too soon to the gentle heart which leaped in 174 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. such glad expectancy as she recognized the already familiar hand in which it was ad- dressed. Ah ! a letter for me, and from him ; yes, it is from him and for me, all for me ! " And in a flutter of maiden coyness she blushed for her eagerness, and seizing the letter she ran up to her room, that no one might see the gladness that thrilled her. Tenderly she opened it, and tenderly she kissed the dear name, softly murmuring : "Ah, sweetheart, sweetheart!" and then, kissing it again, she read. Her eyes first opened with a dim surprise, and then dilated with a startled look of fear, and then they dropped, pathetic as a stricken fawn's in mortal agony, as it all came to her what it meant. He had indeed written enough; she did understand, and if the crucifixion of a mortal hope could have paralyzed a human heart, her heart would have ceased to beat. All her newly-found gladness, which she had nursed into such a beautiful joy, gone like a breath ; all her new-born hopes which had so suddenly blossomed into living, breathing actualities, the sweetest, and dearest part of her own being, vanished like a midsummer morning's dream. He, the idol of her newly- DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 175 awakened adoration, the man whom her reverential affection had apotheosized into a god, had crumbled into dust, and all that was left of the fond foolish dream was only this, a white sheet of paper, blackened and bristling with lines that glared and stung like adders. For a moment she stood, as if mentally burying her beautiful dead, and then she gathered courage to write, for Grace Winston, Abigail no more, for David was dead to her, and Abigail must no longer be sweet. Grace Winston was a woman whose courage was as strong as her beauty was rare. Not a tremor of nerve broke the even, graceful sweep of her pen as she wrote : " MY DEAR MB. WINSTON : I have read your letter, and I do understand. It is very sad, but thinking as you do, perhaps it is best. It was very foolish in me to build such pleasant hopes upon what nay sober reason should have told me was a chimerical impossibility, and I must thank you for putting an end to them, at once and forever. I may not blame you, and I very willingly absolve you from all further interest in my life. You need not even concern yourself on my account for any scandal that may grow out of the separation. My position in society is not such at to subject my goings to that supersensitive deference to its criticisms, that one ' to the manor born ' may be expected to feel. My womanly honor cannot be assailed, and now I am perfectly indifferent to all things else. Should you 176 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. take any steps in the matter, at all, let them be only such as will protect your own reputation, and best advance your own interest. If a legal annulment of the ceremony I cannot call it a marriage should suggest itself to your in- terest, you have my consent to institute suit, whenever, in your judgment, it is necessary. I shall interpose no defense. I return you the two letters, all that I have from you. I do not return the wedding-ring, because it was my mother's. I shall, however, discard it from my hand and put it away, where its sight may not be a reminder of the mockery it commemorates. The name you gave me, and by which you last addressed me, 1 suppose I will have to retain until legal steps are taken to divest me of it ? " Wishing you a happy realization of all your political hopes, and the fullest measure of success in all your under- takings, I shall ever remain, Your sincere friend and well-wisher, "GKACE HABDIE WINSTON." "And now," she said, as she sealed and addressed it, "I must break it to father. I must not let him see that it hurts me so. Ah, poor father! he did this for him as much as for me," and gathering all her courage she went down to her father. His quick, loving glance detected the trouble she so- bravely tried to hide, and he asked : " Was yer letter from David ? " "Yes, it was from him; and I must tell you, father, and you must not let it trouble you, for I am quite sure that it is all for the best. He thinks that a marriage such as DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 177 ours, so mercenary, so unholy and unloving, cannot not be right in the sight of God, and -and- " He wants ter renig?" interrupted the old man. "He wishes to release me," she an- swered. "I wouldn't 'a' thort that ov David." "But it is best, father. I am quite sure that it is best." "Well! well! meb-by hit is. An' if it don't hurt you, Abby, if you kin stand it I kin, only I'ze monstus sorry fer David." "Yes, it is hard upon him too." " Yes, an' the Jedge. Hit's mity bad. But sense I come ter think about hit, I mout a knowed hit. You kin tie a hen on a nest but yer can't make her lay. I wonder though zif hit's all along 'bout these tales as Lawson's been a telling on you as makes him kick ? 'Bout yer wearin' false hair, Abby ? Shorely David is got more sense than ter believe such a yarn as that ! An' asides, if yer did ware it, what would that hurt zif yer tuck it off at night. Don't all the tippy- bobs wear 'em ? an' as fer his wife, ole Miss Tuppin, I'll lay a coon -skin that the top ov her head iz as slick as a peeled ingern." Oh! it was not that, father. I think 12 178 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. that I understand him better than that. It was because because oh ! I cannot explain it to you, father, as I feel it, and as I am sure he feels it. And, father, he is right, and you must not blame him so much. I am sure that if you were in his place that you would do as he has done." " Mebby so. I thinks as how I sees hit as it iz. David thinks thest as his daddy thort, as how I had sold you ter him ; an' that I had hired him ter marry you. An' that's how this hocky tale started 'bout yer waite in gold 11 1 do not understand ? " " Well, hold on a minnit an' I will 'splain. Yer see we waz a talking in thar office, an' some eavesdropper must 'a' hearn us, an' David sed as he wouldn't marry no 'umman on God's green yeath for her waite in gold, an' I sez, sez I, Abby is worth her waite in gold, an' the man as got her will git it too, with a nigger flung in with every pound " Oh, father ! " with a cry of pain. "Yes, but I didn't go ter mean that I'd give him yer waite in gold, thest ter marry you. I wouldn't agin no man that. I thest meant as the man as was lucky enuff ter get you would git a fortin' flung in, an' I'd a DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 179 heap ruther that David Winston had a got you than any other chap in all creation. That's what I meant, hunny." " I see it all now, father, and I understand. You intended it for our mutual good, and it was good in you to do it, but it has been a mistake a sad mistake. He feels the dishonor, and it will kill us both to to "Try ter hide it," interrupting the stam- mering effort. "Well, mebby hit would. Sich things can't well be hid. The skellitin in the closet iz allers a tumlin' out an' allers a grinnin'. But, hunny," brightening up a little, "I'z glad ter see that yer don't mine hit so bad ?" "Yes, it is better now, before I had learned to love him too dearly," with the ghost of a smile. "Yes, that's so. But, Abby, I tends ter stick ter David, tell the 'lection's over, anny- how. I thest wants him ter knock the stufifin' outen Tom Lawson." "And I shall want you to stick to him always, father." "I shall that, kaze I sees yer wants me to. I wonder zif I had better see the Jedge, an' see zif he's got annything to say 'bout it!" 180 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Oh ! no, no ! Whatever is said or done, leave it for them to do. Please do not let us interfere. Leave it all with them, father." " But I thinks the Jedge likes you." "I am very sure that ho does, and for that assurance I am willing to trust him." "Very well, then, I'll thest be tolled by you, Abby, seein' as what a purty mess I've already made ov it. Ole fokes had better mine an' keep thay fingers outen young folks' pies. I've found that out." " Oh, no ! You intended it for my good, father, and I shall always bless you for your goodness. But now we will put it all away." "Yes, what can't be cured must be en- dured, an' we'll thest heve ter grin an' bear it, so : " ' Molly put the kettle on, Jinny blow the bellus strong,'" he broke out in a heroic effort to silence his disappointment in a song. That same afternoon Augusta came. She saw at a glance in the sorrowing eye that her brother's cruel arrow had sped home to the bleeding heart. "I came to see if you had heard from my DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 181 brother ? " she asked, after silent kisses had been exchanged. "Yes, I have heard." " And have you answered ? " "Yes, I have answered. All is over be- tween us." " Please tell me ? " with the tears coming up. "I simply told him that in considering what was best to "be done, he did well to put all thought of me and mine out of the ques- tion." " Oh, why did you not hold him loyal to his duty?" "Because I hold his happiness dearer to my heart than I do my own. It was a sad mistake he made, and I cannot let its shadow darken all of the future of his life. Oh ! he may yet have great things before him, fame, and honor and glory, and, mayhap, at the last a life of love and of happiness, while I I I am only a woman. It must not matter for me. I am not known only as the despised daughter of the old parvenu. I can go away and no one need to care. It has been one of the most pleasing fancies of my girlhood to travel abroad ; to see some of the cities and castles and grand old ca- thedrals of which I had read such wonderful 182 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. stories when a child. Before this this sorrow came, I was preparing to go this winter ; a friend one of my school-girl friends, now married, a Mrs. Whiting of Charleston, she with her husband and sister, are going this winter, and I had arranged to go with them. Mr. Whiting is a cotton merchant and has a branch house in Liver- pool, and he goes over to look after his interests there until spring, when the tour of the Continent is to be made. They sail on the second, and father says I may go with them. I have just telegraphed Mrs. Whit- ing that I will join them. I start this even- ing by the eight o'clock train. Mrs. Grundy will of course think it very naughty in me to run away and leave my husband so soon after marriage, but then nothing better could have been expected from such a mesal- liance, and Mrs. Grundy will find in the circumstance a splendid chance to point a moral. Mrs. Grundy, you know, must have something to wonder at, and her wonder will affect me less than any other woman in the world. You must let her wonder, Augusta, only please, do not you think me utterly and hopelessly bad," and break- ing down in a sob she held out her arms in a piteous appeal to the lady. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 183 The yearning appeal was met by a sisterly clasp of arms about her neck, and between sobs and kisses she answered : " Oh, darling, darling ! I shall not think you anything but the dearest, best and sweetest girl in all the world, and I intend to love you as my sister always, I do not care what brother Dave may say." "Oh!" with a jealous start, "does he say that you must not love me ? " " He is mean enough to say anything, but I do not intend to mind. I shall love you, even if I have to choose between you, dar- ling, and him. Oh, you need not push me away. I do love you, and I intend to love you in spite of them all," passionately cling- ing to her neck. " No, no, blood is thicker than water," firmly putting her away. " It would pain me to know that I stood between you and your brother. I shall soon be gone and you must learn to forget me, the sooner the better. Let me see," reflectively, "he told me that he would not return before the election; that is on the seventh. By then I shall be gone; out upon the ocean, and far, far away, and he need not ever think of, or care for, or hear from me again any more. And now, darling, your love has been very sweet to me 184 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. and I shall always bless you for it, but I must give it up. Since he does not wish it, I will put it away too. And now, darling, let us say good-bye. I shall be too weak to speak it at all unless I say it now. Good-bye, darling, good-bye," and with a passionate kiss she strained her to her heart and then pushing her, aside she turned, and running to her room she locked herself in. . Augusta looked after her a moment, and then she too turned sorrowfully away. The speaking had closed for the day at Spring Garden, and the speakers had retired to their hotels when Winston's mail was handed him. Scarcely expecting to hear, and certainly not so soon, from his wife, the sight of her letter 1 stirred him with a little wonder. Quickly dropping all others he opened, and with something of the feelings of a convicted felon reading his own death-warrant he read it. "Ah!" he murmured as he finished, "I wonder if Lucifer, looking up into the heaven from which he had fallen could have felt half the remorse that unmans me now ? Oh ! why could I not have known her before ! Alas, alas, all of light, of life, and of love gone ; what have I to hope for now ! Ah me, she returns me my letters that I need DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 185 not ever fear that they may be used against me. What a thoughtful goodness ! But then she is altogether good. And she takes off the wedding-ring. Oh, bless the ring ! I would freely give my right hand for that poor little ring. God ! if it be not a blasphemy for such a wretch as I to ask a blessing upon her, bless her ! do Thou, God, bless her ! Bless her and keep her alway ! " and feeling better for the prayer, he read the letter again: '"My womanly honor cannot be assailed ; ' All, sweet ! and the man, or the woman either, who dares to breathe aught against thy womanly pro- priety thy womanly goodness or thy wo- manly sweetness shall eat the vile slander at the butt of my horsewhip." CHAPTER XI. PAYING FOR THEIR WHISTLES. THE campaign had ended, the discussions had closed, the election was over, and in the grateful relaxation that followed the strained and drunken excitement of the canvass, the candidates were feverishly awaiting the 186 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. .result. The returns came in slowly ; less time is required now to know the result of a Bulgarian Plebiscite, than it took then to hear from the outlying precincts of a con- gressional district. Only a few counties had been heard from, but these few gave unmis- takable forecast of the final result. There could be no question of the triumphant elec- tion of Winston. "Yes," sighed Lawson, as the latest news came into his campaign headquarters, giving one of his strongest counties to his opponent, "Yes, I am licked. The thing is lost and there is no chance to save it." "Yes, and if it wasn't for the party, and the money I will lose, I would be blamed glad of it. You deserved to be beaten," angrily retorted the chairman of his com- mittee, who had rashly backed his partisan zeal with five hundred dollars, bet on a majority of five hundred votes over all others. "I knew when you commenced your mud- slinging, and began to daub the pegbottoms that you had niggled it. I saw then tbat you were beaten and I advised the committee to haul you down and put up a more prudent man. And I do wish to the Lord that we had done it. You have killed yourself, sir, as dead as Hector, and, what is worse, you DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 187 have given our party a blow from which it will be hard to recover. We never had a better prospect before ; and to think that it should all be lost through your devilish spleen." " I am very sorry," whined the discomfited and thoroughly beaten politician. " Sorry ! I should think so. We have lost the district, now ; the banner district of the State, and its loss means the loss of the State, itself, in the Presidential election. Why the dickens couldn't you let the woman alone ? What had she ever done to you that you had to pull down her back hair and turn up her pegbottoms ? " " Rumor has it," interrupted the secretary of the committee, the facetious Mr. Thom- son, " that the lady, once upon a time, had applied the dainty toe (she wears a number ten) of her pegbottom to the seat the seat of Tom's most tender susceptibilities." "What do you mean ? " angrily interrupted Lawson. *'Why, I mean that she once kicked you yourself. Put the heavy weight of her peg- bottoms upon your matrimonial bread-basket and squashed you flat as a flounder." ' ' Please speak common English ; I cannot understand your labored metaphors." 188 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. "Very well, then, in plain talk, it is the social on dit that you yourself courted Miss Hardie, and that she everlastingly sat down on you. No wonder you thought she weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, and that you should feel sore. Only think of a two hundred and fifty pound pegbottom, with an uncertain weight of chignon and ear-bobs flopped down upon a man's tender affections ! I don't see how you survived." "It's an impertinent gossip," gasped the poor fellow. " There isn't a particle of truth in it ; I do not even know the woman." "It is pretty direct any way. It seems that a letter has turned up "Damn the letter," hissed Lawson, now fairly cornered. " Well, you may damn the letter, for the letter damns you. I wonder what your wife will say when she sees it in the Clarion to- morrow ! " " Good God ! Is that being done ? " aghast at the possibility. " Yes. Walter Graves, who is to be mar- ried to Miss Winston next week, told me they were having a fac-simile of the letter engraved, and as soon as the cuts came they would flood the district with them. They sent the letter to Philadelphia to have it DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 189 engraved, and there has been some delay in the work, or it would have been published before now. Old Yates has just gotten it, and it will be in to-morrow's Clarion. Society is on tiptoe to see it." "My gracious! Thompson, this must be stopped. You must see old Yates and buy him off. Tell him that the election is over, and it can do no good to publish it now. I will give him a thousand dollars to suppress it. It will kill me to have the infernal stuff published. I was drunk when I wrote it." " Well, I will see him, but you ought to be punished for your folly, not in writing the letter, but in attacking the woman." " And I have been punished, the Lord knows. If ever a mill-stone was hung around a man's neck this thing has been one around mine. From the day I uttered it I would willingly have cut off my left ear to have recalled the words. But here, here is a check for the money ; see the old hound and buy him off. And if you can't do that, let me know, and I will take my shot-gun and blow his addled brains out. I shah 1 burn his office and him in it before this thing shall get to my wife. " " I think I can buy him," accepting the check. "And now, gentlemen, we had just 190 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. as well break up the rendezvous. There is no further need of gathering here to hear the news." "No," acquiesced Lawson, "the news will reach us soon enough, God knows. If there is any deficiency in the campaign funds, let me know and I will settle it," and the crestfallen and badly beaten man seized his hat and made a dash for the door, strongly debating in his own mind whether to go out and hang himself, or else to get gloriously drunk and go home and have it out, at once, with his wife. "Served the blasted fool right. I knew his election last time was the result of acci- dent, and that his renomination was a mis- take ; the conceited puppy," muttered the chairman, as he adjourned the committee sine die, and went out to console himself for the loss of his money in the inspiring bouquet of a brandy cock-tail. Thompson went straight to the bank, and getting his check cashed, walked over to the office of the Clarion, where he found the editor too busy arranging and jubilating over a column of roosters, to even notice his presence, until the urgency of his busi- ness made itself known. " I came to see you, Mr. Yates, in behalf of my friend Lawson DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 191 " He wants a retraction ? Damned if I do it. And if he wants a fight he can get it." "No, no ! You mistake the tenor of my visit. My mission is one of peace altogether. Now that the canvass is over, we all can afford to be friends again. He, Lawson, feels his defeat keenly, and is truly sorry for any personal bitterness that has been engendered by the campaign, and now that the election is over, and we concede our defeat, he begs that the personalities be stopped." "You mean that we are not to crow? That I am to suppress my roosters ? Egad, sir, that I'll never do. This is the first time since the Clarion has been ringing that we've had a chance to crow, and egad, sir, I intend to let her crow. See here, sir, a -hundred dollars worth of new roosters just in from Philadelphia, bought on purpose for this occasion, and you must take me for a bald- headed idiot, if you think I will go and wring their necks off without one of the longest and loudest crows that ever sent the whigs sneaking back to their dens. No, sir ; we've whipped the fight and we are .bound ter crow." " Oh, yes ! I understand that. We expect you to crow. As you well say, it is the first 192 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. chance you have ever had to crow, and it will be the last, so you should make the best of the opportunity, and crow your loudest. But what I want is that spoony letter of Lawson's ? " " What letter ? " wonderingly but sly. " Oh, you know, that infernal silly stuff he wrote to Miss Hardie ? " " Oh, ho, that's it, is it ? I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for that, the best trick in the hand. What a pity we hadn't got it before the election ; the blankest, spooniest, softest sugar a love-sick feller ever tried to poke in a girl's ear ; ha-ha-ha," laughed the jolly editor, catching the cue. "Yes, its use before the election would have been legitimate, although in question- able taste, but now, Mr. Yates, after the thing is all over, and you have licked us so infer- nally slick, don't you think that it would be magnanimous to suppress it? Consider his wife, she is really an excellent lady." "Yes, and he should have considered Winston's wife." " Oh, yes, of course it was very wrong in him, outrageous, in fact, but a blanked lucky thing for your sidel It turned the tide and lost us the election." "Yes, it was a boomerang that kicked DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 193 back worse than an old army musket," laughed Yates. " Indeed it was, and I should think that the mortification of knowing this would be punishment enough without taunting him with his asinine folly." ' ' Folly ! it was something worse than folly ; it was pure, low, down, unadulterated cussedness. " "Well, let us call it that, and I need not assure you that his friends were equally indignant when they heard of it. But now, that is all over, and the laches proved as you know such a lucky thing for Winston, I must try to get you to let the matter drop. In fact, Mr. Yates, to corne down to busi- ness, I will say that Lawson is willing to pay you dearly for any expense in cuts or composition you have been at, if you will suppress all further publications on the sub- ject. Here," displaying the roll of bills, "he sends you one thousand dollars which I am authorized to give you if you will kill all the matter you have on it; on the subject of the letter, I mean, and will not publish another line on the subject." " For all time, you mean ? " " Oh, no, only for this. If we are fools enough to ever nominate him again, you are "I Q 194 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. welcome to resurrect and use it then. It is only now that he wishes it suppressed on account of his wife." 1 'Very well, I will take it," grasping the money, "for the sake of his wife and the peace of his family. I don't like to do it though." " And you will destroy the cuts ?" " What, my roosters ? Suppress my roost- ers and hush my crow ? No sir ee bob. Here, take your money back. I wouldn't do without my crow for twice this amount," offering the money back. " No, not the roosters ; blank the roosters, let them burst their leaden throats crowing, for all I care. I mean the cut of that infer- nal letter." " Ah, yes," with a sudden revelation. "I see now, I see. I didn't quite understand at first. I thought you wanted the roosters too. But I see now, ah, I see! Well, yes-er, yes, I see, I see, yes, I will suppress it. And not another line about the letter shall appear in the Clarion, that is, until the next campaign. " "Very well, I can trust you. Good-day, sir," bowing himself out. "Good-day, sir," closing the door after his visitor, "Well, well, well! if this don't DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 195 beat old Tucker himself. The best joke of the whole campaign ! Ha-ha-he-he-ho-ho, the blamed fool, ha-ha-he-he, thought that I had an engraved copy of the letter, ho-ho! I wonder what letter he means, ha-ha, and was going to publish it, ho-ho, and sends me all this money to suppress it ! he-he-ho- ho! Cock-a-doodle-doo! I feel like crowing myself. Let me see," counting the bills, " yes, a cool thousand, bully for me, I ought not to take it, perhaps," sobering up a little at the honest qualm, " seeing as it was all a mistake. No, I ought not. But then it is too good a joke to lose, ha-ha-he-he, yes, it is too good to lose, and it serves the cuss right, ha-ha, and besides it will get Carrie a piano. Bless her sweet heart! I will make her a Christmas present. Yes, I'll do that very thing. I'll order it right away one of Knabe's best. My ! my ! what a lucky streak ! I think I must tell Wat and the boys. It's too good to keep, ha-ha-he-he, bully bully bully ! The fool isscaredof his wife ! A thousand dollars to keep her from seeing the letter ! What a tennigant she must be, to be sure! I'll get Wat and the boys and we'll have a spree, mulct me for a parson if I don't, ha-ha-ha! " and holding his sides to keep them from splitting, the jolly 196 DAVID AND ABIGAIL, editor turned to resume his muster of crow- ing roosters. But he was too exuberant to do anything, and, turning the exultant col- ume over to his foreman, he seized his hat and hurried out to find Wat and the boys, and to have a drink and a laugh and then a laugh and a drink over the joke. It is needless to say that Wat and the boys were easily found and enjoyed the joke and the glass and then the laugh and another glass, each glass giving pungency to the risibility of the joke, and each laugh calling for another glass. Indeed, the risibility of the joke and the exhilarating effects of the glass, combined with the general enthusiasm in- spired by the good news which continued to pour in upon the democratic headquar- ters, had such an inspiriting effect upon the usually sober and decorous Walter Graves, as to completely upset the equilibrium of his dignity, and he astonished his gentle fiancee, a few minutes after, to say nothing of the little fright he gave her, by bursting into her drawing-room with a Comanchee yell, and a ' ' Whoop-pee huzza, for the peg bot- toms ! I Golly, Gussie, we've got 'em. Here let's take a kiss in honor of our victory," and before the startled lady could protest the had her in his arms exploding kisses like the popping of a string of fire-crackers. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 197 " Why, Walter, Mr. Graves! What do you mean ? " she gasped as soon as she could catch her breath, and pushing him away with instinctive energy, and hardly knowing whether to laugh or to cry. "I mean, darling, there, Gussie, you needn't run, don't be scared, I am not drunk, only the news is just too good for anything. It's enough to make a fellow feel good all over ; I could hug the whole of creation ; now don't, Gussie, I just can't help it. Why the bottom pegs or I mean the peg- bottoms are on top. Yes, they are for a fact. They just came down like a thousand of brick and have smashed the everlasting demnition bow-wows out of the pumpsoles. Dave is elected, world without end, amen, whoop-pee ! " "Hush, Walter, you must not. But please tell me, is it true ? " the pleasing pos- sibility overcoming the little fright and puzzled anger that so womanly resented her lover's boisterous intrusion. "True ! To be sure it is true. Do you think that I would go whooping around town with the boys like a boiled owl if it wasn't true. Certain, it is true. The pump- soles have given it up and gone home, the sickest looking set youj ever saw, Lawsou 198 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. has caved ; and, Gussie, lemme tell you, it's the richest thing that ever happened, ha-ha-he-he, it's enough to make the statue of Mobe herself laugh ; I have just laughed until I have bursted half my buttons off, ha-ha-ho-ho, now, darling, come, don't get scared again ; I am not drunk ; I pledge you my word and honor that I am not drunk ; I'm as sober as as the last man in a funeral procession. I haven't drank a drop before to-day since Christmas. You needn't be frightened, Gussie, I tell you I am so-so-o-ber, and will behave myself, only this thing is is too dev'lish good for any- thing. Oh ! I do wish Dave was here to help me laugh, ha-ha-ha ! Oh ! Gussie, come back, please don't run ; stay just a minute and let me tell you," and sobered a little by the lady's rising, color and an unmistakable movement towards the door, he lowered his voice and went on. " It's about the letter you know the letter ? " "What letter?" "The letter Tom Lawson wrote Miss Hardie, the one you told me about " Oh Walter ! you know I never told you any such thing. I promised her that I never would tell," with a quick protest. " Yes, I know, Qf course you never told, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 199 but I only guessed it, or else somehow it got out, and some wag went to Lawson and told him that we had the letter and that we intended publishing it in the Clarion, sand- wiched among the roosters, and the poor fool was so scared that his wife would get hold of it ; you see, Gussie, he stands in mortal terror of his wife, and so he sent Dick Thompson with a thousand dollars to old Yates to buy him off, and get him to suppress it "But they could not publish it, for no one ever sa'w it but me, and I saw Grace put it in the fire myself," again protested the lady, still in a confused puzzle to know whether her lover was really drunk or threatened with a mild attack of lunacy. " No ! of course not, there was no copy, and no one would have dreamed of publish- ing it if there had been one. It was only a joke played on Lawson. Yates himself, at first didn't know what Dick was driving at, but it flashed upon him at last and he just scooped it in. Only think ! a thousand dollars ! " " Did he really give a thousand dollars ? " "Yes! a round thousand; I saw the money myself." "And Mr. Yates took it?" 200 DA FID ^i^D ABIGAIL. " Yes ! and he went straight to Crews and sent it off for a piano for his daughter. And now tell me, Gussie, if it isn't the best thing that ever happened, and that you don't mind me taking a little spree over it ? " " If he, the wretch didn't deserve every- thing that is mean, I should say that it was mean in Mr. Yates to take the money." "Yes, but you see it served him right ; it's a part of his punishment. If it hadn't been for that, old Yates would not have touched a single cent of it, but just to pay him for his malicious fling he took it. But now, won't he look blank when he finds it out?" " He should demand his money back." "No, he cannot do that. Yates only promised not to publish anything more about the letter, a thing he had no idea of doing at first. But now, Augusta, I see that I have somehow frightened you, and I shall go. You must not be too severe on me ; the news is so good and the joke was so laugh- able and the boys are all such jolly good fellows, that I just couldn't help it, I've swored off though, as old Rip says, and I'll not do so any more. Please forgive me ! " "Yes, I understand; but oh! Walter, this is all so sad, so hard and cruel to poor DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 201 Grace, and so happy and jolly and ludi- crous to everybody else. Please promise me, Walter, that that you will will noi^ "Touch a single drop?" he interrupted, touched and sobered by the tears that came swelling in the eyes of his sweetheart. " Oh, darling, I promise." " No, not that, but that you will have nothing more to do with this unseemly revel. It should not be a matter of levity to us, when it was such a hurt to her. Of course we are glad that brother Dave is elected, but but oh, you cannot know ! " " Well well, never mind ; I shall not ask to know ; I see that you are distressed and your distress has sobered me. I shall go straight to my office and go to work ; bye-bye !" "Bye-bye;" and to show her forgiveness she gave him a kiss, very sweet but scarcely so sweet as the one he had so incontinently stolen. "I wonder," he queried to himself as he went away, sobered in truth by the gravity of the lady's manner, "I wonder what makes Augusta so sad of late. I am sure that at any other time she would not 202 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. have minded so seriously this little jollity of mine. It must be something about David and his wife. I wonder if there is anything wrong about the girl ? she has never been received in the family yet ; and only last evening when I asked Gussie to introduce me to her she was positively upset. It would be very foolish in them to be ashamed of her low origin now that he has married her. He should have thought about all this before. There is something not altogether clear about the matter. The marriage itself was a surprise to everybody. However, it was a lucky thing for Dave, for it has elected him dead certain. He would have been badly beaten, had it not been for the pegbottom alliance. He will be home to-morrow, and then I will know ; he cannot fail to introduce me to his wife, and from what Gussie first said about her he need not be ashamed to introduce her to any one." It was in the evening of the next day before David Winston returned, and though he came back in the flush of a proud tri- umph, with the laurel crown of victory circling his brow, he felt for the first time in his life, a shrinking back in shame as he entered his father's house and made his way unannounced into the presence of his sister. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 203 They exchanged silent kisses, and stood some moments speechless-, and then Augusta had to break the silence. " I suppose that you are elected ? " "Yes ! Thanks to the irony of Momus ; How his sardonic chops must have grinned with grim delight as he saw what a travesty on Democracy he was making ! Vox populi, vox Dei pah ! what a lie. It is the laugh of the gods. I am utterly disgusted with the whole thing, and had it not been that I could spit my scorn in the face of that scoun- drel, I would be glad to-night if I had been beaten. It is only that it avenges her upon him that I am glad." " Ah ! I am glad that you have won, and especially from him. But, oh ! my brother, what a humiliating thought that you owe your election to one whom you have so cruelly wronged," she answered sadly. "It is not the humiliation ; that could be endured. It is a weightier sense than that ; a remorse more gnawing than any hurt of wounded pride is eating in my soul. I could be content to owe everything that I have, or ever expect to have -all the good that is possible to be in my life to her and her alone, if I could only recall the blasphemous words and thoughts I had registered in my soul 204 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. against her. But, sister, I must not think or speak about her. It will be best for her name never to be spoken between us. I am going away to-morrow, and shall be gone all winter "To avoid her ?" interrupting. "Yes! I must be frank with you. I could not dare to meet her." " Then you need not go for that. She is already gone ' : "Gone!" "Yes. She left the very day she received your letter. She went to Charleston and from there sailed to Liverpool. She is by this time nearly across the ocean " To Liverpool ; across the ocean ! " he re- peated. " Did her father go with her ? " "No. She went with a lady friend, a Mrs. Whiting, the wife 6f a cotton mer- chant. She is in good hands." " This is horrible ! " "No. It seems that they had already ar- ranged for the trip, before you came in and interrupted the arrangement, but when you so meanly cast her off again, she thought that it would be best for you that she should go, and now she is gone. It was very good in her, I am sure, and very brave ; I should not have gone a step, but would have DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 205 stayed and plagued your life out. If Walter was to treat me so when we marry I wouldn't speak to him ever again to save his life." " Ah ! But Wat could not do such a cruel thing. I doubt if in all the wide, wide world another man could be found capable of such a despicable meanness. But I am. very sorry that she is gone. I could not have asked such a sacrifice of her. I had rather have gone myself to Australia, to Hin- dostan, to Timbuctoo, to the uttermost parts of the earth, than to have further disturbed her life. It does seem that she is determined to overwhelm me utterly with the proofs of her goodness and the sense of my own un- worthiness. I was wretched enough be- fore, but this this is the hardest blow of all," and sinking down he hid his face in his hands and sobbed like a woman. For more than a moment he cried, and then putting away the weakness he started up and asked : "And does she not know that her going thus will compromise her reputation ; will subject her name to scandal ? " " Oh, yes ; she is fully sensible of all the danger. She said that Mrs. Grundy must have some one to talk about and her talking would 206 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. affect her as little as it could any one ; and then she begged me so piteously not to think her utterly bad, and then she kissed me good- bye, and oh ! my brother, it was the saddest good-bye that was ever spoken, and you can never, never know what a treasure you have lost," and now it was the sister's turn to go off into a little heart-burst of tears. CHAPTER XII. AFTER THE DARKNESS COMETH LIGHT. A MONTH had gone by since the wedding of Miss Augusta Winston and Mr. Walter Graves. The brilliancy of that fashionable event gave society a toothsome pabulum for a fortnight, and then its ravenous alembic began to hunger for a mess of scandal. It is strange that the same delicate taste that revels in the dainty lusciousness of a rich, ripe strawberry, can lapse into the malo- dorous pungency of Limburger cheese, and codfish balls ; but so it is, and so, too, with society ; the same little pinky ears, cocked, so charmingly, to hear the pleasing and deli- cate details of a marriage fete, are equally DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 207 ready to flop in prurient delight to hear the shocking concomitants of a divorce, or an elopement. Bergavonia having surfeited itself upon the dainty tid-bits of Miss Winston's wed- ding, began to long, with a kind of dyspep- tic peccancy for the titillating pungency of the cheese. This Mrs. Grundy had, extra flavored by its long-keeping. The absence of Mrs. David Winston, whom they were all on the qui vive to see, from the wedding of his sister, had been noted and silently wondered at, but, in deference to her husband's prominence, had not been openly spoken of. It was only when, by a questionable dickering with the servants and a surreptitious peep for herself through the back witidow, that that amiable lady stood aghast at the horrid discovery of the bride's absence, not only from her young husband's bed, but from her sorrowing father's board, as well. And then, with the hearty zest of a modern evangelist preach- ing hell-fire and damnation to a gathering of Sunday-school children, she began the delectable task of " telling it in Gath " and admonishing prudery by expatiating upon the shocking particulars of the flight of the naughty, naughty bride of a week. 208 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. It had perplexed the family to determine how best to meet the matter. David had proposed to take Mrs. Grundy boldly by the nose and forestall her evil tongue by publicly acquitting his wife of all blame, and proclaim his own sorrowful condem- nation. Against this Judge Winston pro- tested : "Until the finger of reproach points to her name, there is no occasion for us to speak. Meanwhile it can be given out that, in pursuance of a previously arranged pro- gramme, Abigail had, with the consent and approbation of her father, and of our family, gone on a traveling tour to Europe, with friends whom she knew, and whom we could trust, and that when she was to return, was a matter that could not concern any one but her family." "Yes," supplemented Augusta, "and I can tell everybody, all my friends and every- body else, what a sweet lady she really and truly is, and how very, very dearly we all love her." " Very well," acquiesced David, " only no taint of blame or wrong must be attached to her," and then supplementing the pro- viso with a punitive corollary, "and I shall pull the vile, slandering tongue out by the DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 209 roots that shall dare to whisper a doubt against her honor." And so, for its little day, Mrs. Grundy detailed the spice and society sneezed on the sly, but the spice soon lost its titillating pun- gency, and the Christmas gayeties coming on, set the pumpsoles to dancing, and in the winking at, and trying to hide their own little frailties and follies, the poor exiled wife was left to pursue her loveless wander- ings in the lands across the sea, unnoticed if not unforgotten. Only in one home was she missed, in one sad heart was her absence an ever present, ever aching void. The poor old man, her father, had never smiled since the day she went away. And now Christmas was near, and the growing brightness in other homes and in other hearts seemed only to make the darkness more dreary and cold in his. It was the day before Christmas that he called Sam to his room : " Sam, tell Bob ter run over an' tell Jedge Winston ter come over. I wants ter see 'im on a pint ov law," he ordered. Bob hurried away, and within an hour Judge Winston was with the old man. " I sent fer ye, Jedge, ter ax you ter sorter 14 210 DA PID AND ABIGAIL. look over this paper, an' see zif hit is right. I've bin a tryin' ter fix up a will, an' I'd like fer you ter look over this an' see if hit will stick ? " The Judge adjusted his glasses and read, written in a remarkably firm hand for such stiff fingers. In the name ov God, aymen ; this endenture witnesses that I, Israel Hardie, bein' ov soun' mine an' in my rite senses, makes this iny will and testimony, an' hit bein' the onliest one I ever maid in my life, I wants hit ter stand : Fust an' foermost, I don't owe enny dels as I knows ov, but if I do, I wants them all pade. Nex, an' secind, an' strongest ov all, I wills and bequethe, an' gives to my lovin', darter Grace Abigail ever' thing I have on God's green yeath, ter have an' ter keep hit all, to witt : Namely, Houses an' Lans, an' Niggers, Hosses and Muils an Kattle, Hogs an' Sheeps, an' Gotes, Craps an' waggins, House, an' kichen furnitur, Tools, et Cet e Ra, Munny, Noats, Rale rode stocks, Bank stocks, Stait an' County bons, an' all. Everthing ter be hern, ter do with tliest as she pleases, only I'd like fer her ter give all the Niggers a Chrismus present ter remember me by, an' I laves hit ter her ter say how much. I also don't ever want her ter let ole Ben an' his wife Sharlit be soled, but ter see that they is allers tooked good kare ov, kase they corned by her Mammy. Nex', third, I appint Jedge Arther Winston as administrator, ad cap tandem, de bon is non, or what yer ma' call it, ov the es Tate, ter look arter it, tell Abby conies hoam. Also ter act as gardeen fer her as long as six- needs one. Nex', fourth, an' last, all my papers is in good shape, an' will be found in the lurn safe Sam will givo him the key, az soon az I am dead an' gone. In witness ov all this, I've signed, sealed and delivered this, on this the twenty DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 211 seckun' day ov December, in the Year Of Our Lord anny dommyny 18 hundred an' 54. Sined in the presence ov two witnesses : " ISRAEL HAKDIE." Witnesses,] oIte' (both freellolders )- "Will hit do, Jedge?" after the judge had finished the reading. "Yes, this will hold in law. It might be put in better form, perhaps, but it could not be made more intelligible or explicit. Only I note a hiatus after the name of your daughter, do you wish that filled ? " "Nan?" "I mean a blank after the names, Grace Abigail do you wish that filled ? " "Ah, yes ! I sees. Well, yes only, Jedge, 1 waz a leetle jubus on that pint. I waz unsertain thest how Abby stan's in law, an' so I left hit blank until I axed you 'bout it." " Yes, it is very sad, and I am very sorry, but there is no legal difficulty about her name. She has the right by law to the name of Winston. That is her legal name." " Well, I warn't perzactly sertin, and so I left it out. You thest fill it in, or no, mebby I'd best ter do it myseff, az I writ the rest ov it," and taking the pen he filled the blank, making it read Grace Abigail Winston. 212 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. " An' you'll tend ter this, Jedge ? I hates ter bother you with sich foolishness, but I'd rather trust you than anny one else, an' so hadAbby." " Yes, God being my helper, I will be both a guardian and a father to your daughter. But I hope, Mr. Hardie, that you do not apprehend any danger of a speedy dissolution, and that this is but a prudent precaution that every man ought to take against the certainty of death ? " "Oh, yes! I hain't skeered ter die, an' don't much care when hit comes. If hit warn't fer Abby, I bleeves as I'd like ter go ter-night. I allers did sorter want ter die in Chrismus times. Hit seems ter me it would be a good time ter die when the angels war all a singing over the horning ov Christ. Mebby so hit wouldn't be sich a tight squeeze fer an ole sinner like me ter slip in. Yes, Jedge, zif hit warn't fer Abby I bleeves I'd like ter peg out this blessed night, but I hates ter leave the pore gurrill away out yander, knockin' about through the world all by her lone seff. An' asides somehow I'd a liked ter see her one more time afore I started. But mebby hit's best that she's away. Hit won't hurt her so bad, I know, fer if she waz here she'd have nothing else ter do but ter cry, DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 213 while thar she'll have strange sights ter see an' friends ter talk to, an' hit won't be so bad nor so lonesum. Yes, hit's best, Jedge, fer her that she iz gone." " Have you heard from her ? " with a pain- ful yearning for the wanderer. " Oh, yes, I got a letter yisterdy, an.' she writes that she's having a rael nice time. Thay iz monstus good ter her her friends are, an' does ever'thing they kin ter pacify her. They had a good trip an' landed safely. She writ as they had a nice cottage by the river-side ter live in, an' thay waz a havin' lots er fun seein' the theaters an' the opper- rys, an' sich like, an' ever'thing is so strange an' new ter her. Yes, Jedge, hit's best as she iz away ; she won't mind it so much. An' when it do come, Jedge, I wants yer ter write ter her yourseff an' sorter saffen hit down-like ter her, az much az yer kin. Tell her that hit waz all well with me, an' fer her not ter cry, and fer her not ter come home on my account at all, but thest ter make herseff at home annywhar she's a mine ter. The same God as would bless her here kin bless her thar. You muss send her all the munny she wants, hit's all hern, nohow, an' she must have thest az much az she wants. I sent her yisterdy a bill ov exchange fer 214 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. three thousan' pounds, but she must have as much more every month if she wants hit. Hit seems like hit 'as only made her trubble, an' the sooner she spends hit, mebby, the better. I'm not skeered ov her wastin' hit; though. Abby hain't a wasteful gurrill, an' kin do more good with a little munny than anny other feller I ever seed. She writ that zif hit warn't fer sellin' an' scat- terin' the niggers that she'd like fer me ter sell out, lock, stock an' barrell an' go over an' let us liv' together over thar. If I thort as I could hole out ter reach thar, I'd start this verry minnit. This place here in this grate big house is gettin' so lonesum 'thout her, that I skacely kin stan' it. Hit 'ill never be home agin ter me nor ter her." Judge Winston was not a very sym- pathetic man, and was rarely demonstrative in the expression of his feelings, but some- how he now found his hand unconsciously reaching out to the old man's and a strange moisture gathering in his eyes as he an- swered : "I shall do all that you ask, Mr. Hardie, and I do wish that I could add something to the cheer of your home. My own is Lonely now that my daughter is gone. I do trust that the sunshine may soon gladden yours DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 215 again, and that the future may hold many pleasant hours yet in store for you. To- morrow is Christmas ; Augusta is coming home to dinner. Would you mind coming too ? It might be pleasant to you." "No, I reckon not. I skasely feels strong anuff. I feels myseff a failin' mity fast. But, Jedge, you may think me foolish like, but somehow I can't help the hankerin', but I'd like ter see David. Is he at home ? " ' ' He is at home. He returned this morn- ing. He has been to Eichmond, before the United States district court, attending to my case. And by the by, Mr. Hardie, it may please you to know that I have won my suit and the chances are now favorable for a satisfactory adjustment of the matter without any further litigation." ' ' Ah, has you ? I am hones'ly glad, shore's yer born I am. Hit '11 serve ter put you on yer feet agin." " Yes, and now I can pay you back all that you have been so good as to advance for me." "Please don't say that, Jedge, yer orten ter say that. You knows as I didn't mean that, yer knows I didn't, " with a hurt look. "No no I know that you never meant anything but good-will to me and 216 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. mine, only, Mr. Hardie, you cannot under- stand what a humiliating weight it is we have to bear. Of course, we may never hope to be able to repay the full debt of gratitude we owe you, but its pecuniary obligations should and must be satisfied. I can then look you so much straighter in the face." "Very well, then, zif the munny is ter sta'n atwixt us, I will take it an' put hit ahine us, or you kin thes gin it ter Abby when I'm gone. Hit will hurt her ter take it, but then you needn't ter let on ter her how it come. She don't know nuffin' about it now, an' it would be like rippin' up ole sores fer you ter ever tell her." "And you have never told her ? " "No, no, Abby knows nuffin' 'bout my bizness affairs. I never pestered her about bizness, kaze I never thort it was a umman's bizness. She only knows as I've got a heap an' hit's all fer her, nor it don't make a fool of her nuther; so if you do this thing you kin thes slip it in with the tuther an' she'll never know the difference. It would hurt her monstus, Jedge, fer her ter know ; an' I think as how we've hurt the pore gurrill anuff a' ready without rubbin' salt on the whelks." DAVID AND ABIGAIL 217 "Yes, yes. I shall never knowingly hurt her, and would give much to undo the wrong we have already put upon her fair young life." "To be shore, but hit's all gone now, an' Abby is a brave gurrill, or 'umman, ruther, for she's a 'umman now; this thing haz made a f ull-growed 'umman outen her. She hain't no longer the frisky laughin' gurrill she was afore that mornin', but she's a sober- faced 'umman. She's a brave one, though, she's true grit an' will git over this, only I waz monstus sorry ter see her so cut down. Hit hurt her wuss nor you think, an' wuss nor she lets on. But then, Jedge, I reckon hit hurt you an' David too, as well's her an' me ; sich things allers do. One can't expect ter lick a skillet without gittin' his nose smutty. Hit was a bad thing all roun' an' we must try to make the best outen hit we can. She's gone now, plum, outen the way ov it, an' we mustn't let it bother us anny more. I wuz ter blame more than annybody. Hit warn't Abby's fault at all. I 'suaded her in it, an' I seed it went agin the grain, an' had it a been anny uther feller than David I don't believe she would a stood it. I am monstus sorry, but as I sed afore, I would love ter see David." 218 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 11 Then I will come to-morrow and he will come with me. We will take a nogg with you." " Will you shore anuff ? " brightening up. " I'll be mighty glad ; hit's so lonesome here all alone by myseff , with no one but the nig- gers ter talk to. I hopes as he won't mine the coming. Tell him, Jedge, that hit's nuthin' 'bout Abby I wants ter see him for. Hit's thes fer my own seff, I wantster see 'im. Nex' ter Abigail I loves David best ov anny, don't you mine ? " " Ah, yes. I understand, and I will bring him. And now, Mr. Hardie, I must go. We will come to-morrow to help you make a merry Christmas," playfully shaking the bony hand, now somehow strangely cold. " David," he said, with a solemnity of tone that startled his son from his study as he found him in the library at home, " I have just come from Mr. Hardie, and if a strong, robust man can die of a broken heart, that old man is dying." -Dying?" " Yes, dying ; I could feel the very shadow of death in his presence." "But is he ill ? Does he need attention ? We should see to it that he lacks for noth- ing." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 219 "He made no complaint, but I am sure that he is ill, mortally ill. He has made his will and sent for me to review it. He is fully conscious of his approaching end and is ready for it. His heart hungers for his child, but for her sake he is glad that she is away. ' She is among friends there, ' he said, 'and will soon get over it, but here she would have no one to comfort her, and she would have nothing else to do but to cry.' It was piteous to hear him, and I could hardly keep from crying myself. He leaves his property intact and all for her, and has appointed me executor of the will " You cannot be that ? " , "Yes, I have promised, and God helping me to keep the trust, I intend to accept it. It is little enough for me to do after putting all this shame and sorrow upon her. " " Did he speak of her ?" " Oh, yes ; his heart is full of nothing else but her. He expects her to live abroad ; that seems to be her wish, and % if he could live long enough he would join her in England." " But where is she now ? " " He had just heard from her. She is pleasantly installed in a home with friends, 220 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. in or near Liverpool. I did not see the letter, but he seemed well satisfied about her surroundings. But, David, he wants us to call on him to-morrow." "But I cannot go. I haven t the im- pudence for that." 11 But you should go. It is not to reopen the old matter that he wishes to see you, but out of the kindest feelings for yourself. He begged me to assure you that it was not about his daughter that he wished to see you, but only for yourself. He understands that the gulf between you two is impassable now, that your lives must forever be apart, but he says that he loves you all the same "Next to Abigail,' he said, 'I love David the best of any.' It was really touching, and I had to inwardly bless the good old man for his strong affection for my son." " But why should he love me ? Is it to punish me that he would shame me with his love?" "No ! It is an artless, unaffected love, and I believe, David, that it is that that has act- uated him in all this unhappy matter. You should not despise an affection so unselfish and sincere." " No, I do not despise it ; I only wish that I was worthy if it. But knowing what you DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 221 know, father, you must understand that his kindness can only be a reproach to me. Oh ! how glad I am that we can pay him back his accursed gold." " I spoke to him about that ; I really hurt the old man, but finally he said ' Well I ex- pect to be gone, but you can just slip it in with the other assets and let Abby know nothing about it.' It seems that she is ignorant of the transaction now, and it would hurt her to ever know. 'And I think,' he added with a pathos that was simply touch- ing, ' that we have slashed the poor girl enough without rubbing salt in the wound." " And she knows nothing of all this moun- tain of debt we owe her father ? " " Nothing ! absolutely nothing ; and he thinks it best for her that she may never know. As I said, he requested me when he was gone to 'slip it in along with the rest,' and she would never know that it was ever out. It was a thoughtful consideration of his both for his daughter's feelings and for ours. But then he is a remarkable man, David, a most extraordinary man. Had he been born to the station to which he has raised himself, he would have been distin- guished for something more than his wealth. But you must go with me to-morrow. We 222 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. must do all we can to comfort and cheer him in his desolate loneliness." "Yes, I shall go. It is just that I should be punished and I shall bow to the curse ! And oh ! what curse could lie heavier on my soul than the blessing of her dying father ! " "No, my son, you must not let a morbid remorse overcome your reason and affect the better instincts of your nature. This has been an unfortunate affair from the begin- ning, but it is over now, and we must not exaggerate its miseries. She is gone now, and as her father says she is a brave woman, and among new friends and in a strange land she will soon learn to forget all the little she had learned to know of us here. And you, too, my son, are young and can outlive it. You have much to live for, a high and noble destiny to fill, only do your duty like a man and trust the good God to bless the effort. And now let us go over the Willoughby matter again. Give me a synopsis of General Hull's argument. " And in a crit- ical review of the opposing argument, in that interesting case, a diversion from the subject so much nearer both their hearts, was had, if not a complete nepenthe for all its humiliation and sorrow. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 223 " Howdy, boys, howdy ! " cried the old gen- tleman that cheery Christmas morning, as he went out in the hall himself to welcome his honored guests ; " I'm glad ter see yer, Jedge, monstus 'glad, an' you too, David, I'z glad ter see you too ; yes, I shorely iz," grasping the young man's hand and dragging him in. "Iwuz a little jubus as yer wan't a coming," he added in unconscious extenu- ation of the effusiveness of his greeting, " Young fokses iz young fokses, yer know, an' in jolly times like Chrismus hain't much time ter be foolin' long with old codgers like me. Howsumever, I iz monstus glad az you've come ; fer I waz gitting- sorter lone- sum all by myseff, so come erlong right in' both, on yer, an' we'll have a nogg an a sig- gar. Chrismus is Chrismus, yer know, an' don't come but once a year. I 'av' thes bin a givin' the niggers all ov thay leetle presents, and thay Chrismus dram. Chrismus iz a good day fer niggers, hain't it ? Hit allers make me glad ter see 'em, " and, as if to belie the cadaverous look of pain and sorrow in his face, the old man put on a jollity of manner, almost ghastly in its mockery. The young man noticed that hollow look of care and sorrow on his countenance, and was shocked at the change that had come DAVID AND ABIGAIL. since he had last seen him on that un- lucky morning, when, like a serpent, he had crept into the fair Eden of his home. 11 Here, Jedge, take this seat here, close to the h'ath so'z yer can cock yer feet on the mantilpiece, an' yere David yer can set yere, by the winder so'z yer kin look outer doors. Sam, pile on a leetle more wood ; gin us a armful ov sassifac. Thar's nubbuddy yere but we uns, an' I thes wants yer ter make yerseffs at home. Now, Sam, send in the nog an' let's have the siggars; them outen the top buro drawer, thay's thest splendid. 'Tain't offen I smokes a siggar, I'd ruther have my ole cob-pipe, but thay's the best I ever tasted, an' asides, David, I won 'em offen yer 'lection, so ye must help me smoke 'em. Yes, Jedge, I won 'em offen ole Square Dox, in Sin-clare county. He bet me that Tom Lawson would carry Sin-clare by two hunderd votes an I thes tuck 'im up, a box of the finest siggars in the store, an so I had Mr. Hill ter pick 'em out, an' thay is good, fer a fac. Yes, Sam, these am thay," as Sam presented a box of Havanas. ' ' But fust fill the mugs." The mugs were filled with the foamy nectar. "An' now, my frien's, here's good hick an' plenty ov it, to you both, an' ter yer famblys." DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 225 The toast was drunk in solemn gravity, and then the cigars were lit. " Eh, Jedge ! what yer think ov hit ? " as the Judge in epicurean delight sent the fragrant smoke daintily curling about his head. "It is delightful ! I never drew a better." ' ' Yes, I thinks so, an' I sent the Square a han'ful thest ter tantalize 'im. But warn't it bully, though, David, the way you socked it to Tom?" "Yes. It was very gratifying to me and to my friends, but I have to thank you, Mr. Hardie, for my election. Without you and the help of your friends I should have been beaten." "Shoo, man, that's nothin'. Hit done me a power ov good, I kin tell you. I thes wanted ter see the demmycrats on top once more afore I died, an' when the news come that you waz elected shore enough, I waz thes willin' ter go 'long rite then, at once, zif hit had a been the will ov the good Lord to a tucked me." "We were all very proud of the victory," said the Judge. "In course we ar', an' if David'll do hiz level best f er the State an' f er our people an' 15 220 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. never go back on the demmycrats, hit 'ill thes be the makin' ov 'ira, shore. But I needn't ter tell 'im, fer I knows as he'll never renig." "I should think, sir," the young man answered gravely, "that if I was ever tempted to betray the trust my friends have so generously placed in me, the remem- brance of your goodness, and the thought that it would hurt you for me to fail, would be sufficient to hold me loyal and faithful to the trust. I shall always remember your kindness and the remembrance will inspire me to duty." ' ' Yes, I hain't af eard ter trust yer, David. Only, Jedge, somehow I iz a feelin' monstus quare. That nog somehow or 'nuther don't set well on my stummick, or else hits the siggar. I I feels a little sick. Sam, I bleeves yer will have ter come and help me ter bed. Jedge, an' you too, David, I'm sorry, but yer 11 have ter 'scuse me a minnit, I'll have ter lay down a minnit I'm thest ableeged ter lay down." " Yes, yes, let me help you. Lean on my arm, please," cried the young man, springing to his side; and almost bodily lifting him in his arms he carried the old gentleman to his room. DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 227 "Send for his physician, at once," said the Judge, as they placed him on the bed. " No, no, Jedge, hit's no yuse; the jig's up with me now. I thes feels hit in my bones. This iz death as iz makin' me feel so quare. Hit ain't the nog, nor hit ain't the siggars nuther, but hit's death. Well hit's got ter come, an' az I sed yistrrdy I'd ruther it 'ould come on a Chrismus than army nuther time in the world. Only lemme tell ye, Jedge, afore I can't ; I forgot ter tell ye yisterdy but I'll tell yer now. Hit don't make anny difference whar a man's put, but somehow I'd ruther sleep 'long side ov Abby, my own Abby, as has gone afore, an' so, Jedge, you'll see ter hit that I'm burried 'long side ov her, at Hepsiby Church, over on Harrycane. She sleeps thar under the violits, an' I wants ter sleep thar too, close by her side, so we'll both be together when ole Gabrill comes ter toot his trumpet. You'll mine hit now, won't yer, Jedge ? " "Yes, oh yes. Sam, hurry for the doctor," turning to Sam. "And you, David," continued the old man without noticing the Judge's interruption, "I'ze monstus glad that you's yere by me. As I wuz a telliu' the Jedge yisterday, nex' 228 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. ter Abby I loves you better 'an anny one else in all the wurrill, an' sense she hain't yere ter hole my han' I wants you ter lem- me hole ter yourn. Hit sorter steddys me like, as I steps off in the dark, an' hit's gittin' monstus dark, David, monstus dark. God bless you my boy, an' Abigail Ha ! hit's gittin' lighter now, you may let go now, I kin see now," and before the startled friends could realize it the eyes closed, the lips quivered, and without a moan the old man was dead. -CHAPTER XIII. THE ESTATE IS INVENTORIED AND BERGAVONIA IS ASTONISHED. THE grave, thoughtful words of warning that her father had written her had filled Grace's heart with a nameless dread, and with the dread came the yearning wish to be with him again. She was seriously djfecuss- ing arrangements for a speedy return to America, when a letter came. She started back with a nameless dread, as' she saw the strange superscription, and she hurried aside to solve the dread. Her first DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 229 glance was at the signature, and then a little cry of relief, and hope as well, escaped her lips, as the thought flashed over her senses that it was of his son Judge Winston had written. " Oh, it is of him, of him ! Perhaps he has relented and has asked his father to intercede. Oh, why did he not write him- self ? " she murmured, and then she hushed her gladness and commenced to read : My DEAR CHILD: " " Ah that is sweet ; bless his kind good heart ! " she interjected, "My dear child: I know not how to begin the sorrowful task that is mine ; what words of love and sympathy to say to soften the blow. I can only pray the good God, who loves us all and who doeth all things well, to strengthen, support and comfort you in this sad hour of your affliction. Your father, your kind good father, whom you loved so dearly, and who loved you so well, is dead.. He died this Christmas morning, fully con- scious of his approaching end, and seemingly without pain. It was my sad pleasure to be with him at the last. We had called to wish him a happy Christmas, and to share his ever friendly cheer. I had seen him the day before and was adinpnished of the approaching dissolution, but hardly expected it so soon. His death was one that the happiest of us might envy. I looked upon him, as he lay with such a happy smile on his face, and I could wish, without sacri- lege, to be in his place. He spoke of you lovingly, even to the end, and his only grief at going was that it might grieve you. He prayed that you might be comforted, and wished that his demise might make no change in your plans. He spoke of the friends you were with and expressed his glad- ness that you were away, and that in the sympathy of your friends you might find a balm for your sorrow. " I wish I knew what words to say that I might comfort 230 DAVID AND ABIGAIL. you, but I know how vain is human consolation. I can only pray that the blessed Saviour who died for us all may comfort and bless you." " Your sincere friend. " ARTHUR WINSTOX." To the young heart, already bruised and bleeding, this was a heavy blow. For a while she was stunned by its pain, and could only sit in mute anguish, too miserable even for tears. But at last the agony softened, and slipping on her knees she found voice for prayer : "Alone, alone, all, all alone! God, most merciful Father, let my orphaned deso- lation draw me the closer to Thee ! " and strengthened by the prayer she rose and went in to her friends to tell them of this new and greatest sorrow. She had at the first confided to Mrs. Whit- ing all the sad secret of her marriage, and the confidence had all the more strongly knit the ties of their friendship, and now that the poor girl had no one else in all the world to look to for counsel and sympathy, the good lady's heart yearned over her sorrow i as :she would have yearned over a sister. r ' n With the cooing-' words of sympathy only " tnV j^einfle lips" of a" good woman know so T * well now |p, ,spe$^ $fie comforted the stricken the next American mail DAVID AND ABIGAIL. 231 brought another letter from Judge Winston, she had gathered back sufficient of her native courage to read it with something like her usual calmness. The letter was a business one, but written with a tender deference that made it less hard for her to understand. It gave first the details of the funeral, stating that in accord with her father's dying request, he had been buried in the country churchyard at Hephzibah, by the side of her mother, and then it gave a synopsis of the will ; notifying her of his appointment as executor of the will, and asking to be informed of her wishes in the matter ; begging, in conclusion, her friendly confidence, and giving assurance of his fatherly interest in her welfare, and sincere wish to serve her, but making no reference to the past, or to their -anomalous relations by law, not once alluding to the name of his son. She noticed the omission, seemingly stud- ied, and somehow it became an additional burden laid upon her fair young life^ i -uL vm It seemed a hopeless cutting off &f the desperate but sweet possibility of 'a . r * J