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THE LATE MRS NULL 
 
THE LATE MRS NULL 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK R. STOCKTON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "RUDDER GRANGE," "THE LADY OR T;:S TIGER?" ETC 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 1886 
 
COPYRIGHT, iSS6, 
 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS. 
 
 Press of J. J- Little & Co. 
 Astor Place, New York. 
 
THE LATE MRS NULL- 
 
 CHAPTER i. 
 
 THERE was a wide entrance gate to the old family 
 mansion of Midbranch, but it was never opened to 
 admit the family or visitors ; although occasionally 
 a load of wood, drawn by two horses and two mules, 
 came between its tall chestnut posts, and was taken 
 by a roundabout way among the trees to a spot at 
 the back of the house, where the chips of several 
 generations of sturdy wood-choppers had formed a 
 ligneous soil deeper than the arable surface of any 
 portio n of the nine hundred and fifty acres which 
 formed the farm of Midbranch. This seldom-opened 
 gate was in a corner of the lawn, and the driving of 
 carriages, or the riding of horses through it to the 
 porch at the front of the house would have been the 
 ruin of the short, thick grass which had covered that 
 lawn, it was generally believed, ever since Virginia 
 became a State. 
 
 But there had to be some way for people who 
 came in carriages or on horseback to get into the 
 house, and therefore the fence at the bottom of 
 
 269281 
 
Mrs 
 
 the lawn, at a point directly in front of the porch, 
 was crossed by a set of broad wooden steps, five out 
 side and five inside, with a platform at the top. 
 These stairs were wide enough to accommodate eight 
 people abreast ; so that if a large carriage load of 
 visitors arrived, none of them need delay in crossing 
 the fence. At the outside of the steps ran the 
 narrow road which entered the plantation a quarter 
 of a mile away, and passed around the lawn and the 
 garden to the barns and stables at the back. 
 
 On the other side of the road, undivided from it 
 by hedge or fence, stretched, like a sea gently moved 
 by a groundswell, a vast field, sometimes planted in 
 tobacco, and sometimes in wheat. In the midst of 
 this field stood a tall persimmon tree which yearly 
 dropped its half-candied fruit upon the first light 
 snow of the winter. It is true that persimmons, 
 quite fit to eat, were to be found on this tree at an 
 earlier period than this, but such fruit was never 
 noticed by the people in those parts, who would not 
 rudely wrench from Jack Frost his one little claim 
 to rivalry with the sun as a fruit-ripener. To the 
 right of the field was a wide extent of pasture land, 
 running down to a small stream, or " branch," which, 
 flowing between two other streams of the same kind 
 a mile or two on either side of it, had given its name 
 to the place. In front, to the left, lay a great forest 
 of chestnut, oak, sassafras, and sweet gum, with here 
 and there a clump of tall pines, standing up straight 
 and stiff with an air of Puritanic condemnation of 
 the changing fashions of the foliage about them. 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 3 
 
 - On one side of the platform of the broad stile, 
 which has been mentioned, sat one summer after 
 noon, the lady of the house. She was a young woman, 
 and although her face was a good deal shadowed by 
 her far-spreading hat, it was easy to perceive that 
 she was a handsome one. She was the niece of Mr 
 Robert Brandon, the elderly bachelor who owned 
 Midbranch; and her mother, long since dead, had 
 called her Roberta, which was as near as she could 
 come to the name of her only brother. 
 
 Miss Roberta s father was a man whose mind and 
 time were entirely given up to railroads ; and al 
 though he nominally lived in New York, he was, for 
 the greater part of the year, engaged in endeavors to 
 forward his interests somewhere west of the Missis 
 sippi. Two or three months of the winter were 
 generally spent in his city home. At these times he 
 had his daughter with him, but the rest of the year 
 she lived with her uncle, whose household she di 
 rected with much good will and judgment. The old 
 gentleman did not keep her all the summer at Mid- 
 branch. He knew what was necessary for a young 
 lady who had been educated in Germany and Swit 
 zerland, and who had afterwards made a very favor 
 able impression in Paris and London ; and so, during 
 the hot weather, he took her with him to one of 
 the fashionable Southern resorts, where they always 
 stayed exactly six weeks. 
 
 The gentleman who was sitting on the other side 
 of the platform, with his face turned towards her, 
 had known Miss Roberta for a year or more, having 
 
4 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 met her at the North, and also in the Virginia 
 mountains ; and being now on a visit to the Green 
 Sulphur Springs, about four miles from Midbranch, 
 he rode over to see her nearly every day. There 
 was nothing surprising in this, because the Green 
 Sulphur, once a much frequented resort, had seen 
 great changes, and now, although the end of the 
 regular season had not arrived, it had Mr Lawrence 
 Croft for its only guest. There was a spacious 
 hotel there ; there was a village of cottages of vary 
 ing sizes ; there were buildings for servants and 
 managers ; there was a ten-pin alley and a quoit 
 ground ; there were arbors and swings ; and a square 
 hole in a stone slab, through which a little pool of 
 greenish water could be seen, with a tin cup, some 
 what rusty, lying by it. But all was quiet and de 
 serted, except one cottage, in which the man lived 
 who had charge of the place, and where Mr Croft 
 boarded. It was very pleasant for him to ride over 
 to Midbranch and take a walk with Miss Roberta ; 
 and this was what they had been doing to-day. 
 
 Horseback rides had been suggested, but Mr 
 Brandon objected to these. He knew Mr Croft to 
 be a young man of good family and very comfort 
 able fortune, and he liked him very much when he 
 had him there to dinner, but he did not wish his 
 niece to go galloping around the country with him. 
 To quiet walks in the woods, and through the 
 meadows, he could, of course, have no objection. A 
 good many of Mr Brandon s principles, like certain 
 of his books, were kept upon a top shelf, but Miss 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 5 
 
 Roberta always liked to humor the few which 
 the old gentleman was wont to have within easy 
 reach. 
 
 This afternoon they had rambled through the 
 woods, where the hard, smooth road wound pictur 
 esquely through the places in which it had been 
 easiest to make a road, and where the great trunks 
 of the trees were partly covered by clinging vines, 
 which Miss Roberta knew to be either Virginia 
 creeper or poison oak, although she did not remem 
 ber which of these had clusters of five leaves, and 
 which of three. 
 
 The horse on which Mr Croft had ridden over 
 from the Springs was tied to a fence near by, and he 
 now seemed to indicate by his restless movements 
 that it was quite time for the gentleman to go home ; 
 but with this opinion Mr Croft decidedly differed. 
 He had had a long walk with the lady and plenty of 
 opportunities to say anything that he might choose, 
 but still there was something very important which 
 had not been said, and which Mr Croft very much 
 wished to say before he left Miss Roberta that after 
 noon. His only reason for hesitation was the fact 
 that he did not know what he wished to say. 
 
 He was a man who always kept a lookout on 
 the bows of his daily action ; in storm or in calm, in 
 fog or in bright sunshine that lookout must be at 
 his post ; and upon his reports it depended whether 
 Mr Croft set more sail, put on more steam, reversed 
 his engine, or anchored his vessel. A report from 
 this lookout was what he hoped to elicit by the re- 
 
6 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 mark which he wished to make. He desired greatly 
 to know whether Miss Roberta March looked upon 
 him in the light of a lover, or in that of an intimate 
 acquaintance, whose present intimacy depended a 
 good deal upon the propinquity of Midbranch and 
 the Green Sulphur Springs. He had endeavored to 
 produce upon her mind the latter impression. If he 
 ever wished her to regard him as a lover he could 
 do this in the easiest and most straightforward way, 
 but the other procedure was much more difficult, 
 and he was not certain that he had succeeded in it. 
 How to find out in what light she viewed him with 
 out allowing the lady to perceive his purpose was a 
 very delicate operation. 
 
 " I wish," said Miss Roberta, poking with the end 
 of her parasol at some half-withered wild flowers 
 which lay on the steps beneath her, " that you would 
 change your mind, and take supper with us." 
 
 Mr Croft s mind was very busy in endeavoring to 
 think of some casual remark, some observation re 
 garding man, nature, or society, or even an anecdote 
 or historical incident, which, if brought into the 
 conversation, might produce upon the lady s coun 
 tenance some shade of expression, or some variation 
 in her tone or words which would give him the in 
 formation he sought for. But what he said was: 
 "Are they really suppers that you have, or are they 
 only teas ? " 
 
 " Now I know," said the lady, " why you have 
 sometimes taken dinner with us, but never supper. 
 You were afraid that it would be a tea." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 7 
 
 Lawrence Croft was thinking that if this girl 
 believed that he was in love with her, it would make 
 a great deal of difference in his present course of 
 action. If such were the case, he ought not to 
 come here so often, or, in fact, he ought not to come 
 at all, until he had decided for himself what he 
 was going to do. But what could he say that would 
 cause her, for the briefest moment, to unveil her 
 idea of himself. " I never could endure," he said, 
 " those meals which consist of thin shavings of bread 
 with thick plasters of butter, aided and abetted by 
 sweet cakes, preserves, and tea." 
 
 " You should have reserved those remarks," she 
 said, " until you had found out what sort of evening 
 meal we have." 
 
 He could certainly say something, he thought. 
 Perhaps it might be some little fanciful story which 
 would call up in her mind, without his appearing to 
 intend it, some thought of his relationship to her as 
 a lover that is, if she had ever had such a notion. 
 If this could be done, her face would betray the fact. 
 But, not being ready to make such a remark, he 
 said : " I beg your pardon, but do you really have 
 suppers in the English fashion ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," answered Miss Roberta, " we don t 
 have a great cold joint, with old cheese, and pitchers 
 of brown stout and ale, but neither do we content 
 ourselves with thin bread and butter, and preserves. 
 We have coffee as well as tea, hot rolls, fleecy and 
 light, hot batter bread made of our finest corn meal, 
 hot biscuits and stewed fruit, with plenty of sweet 
 
8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 milk and buttermilk; and, if anybody wants it, he 
 can always have a slice of cold ham." 
 
 "If I could only feel sure," thought Mr Croft, 
 " that she looked upon me merely as an acquaintance, 
 I would cease to trouble my mind on this subject, 
 and let everything go on as before. But I am not 
 sure, and I would rather not come here again until 
 I am." " And at what hour," he asked, "do you 
 partake of a meal like that ? " 
 
 " In summer time," said Miss Roberta, " we have 
 supper when it is dark enough to light the lamps. 
 My uncle dislikes very much to be deprived, by the 
 advent of a meal, of the out-door enjoyment of a 
 late afternoon, or, as we call it down here, the eve 
 ning." 
 
 " It would be easy enough," thought Mr Croft, 
 " for me to say something about my being suddenly 
 obliged to go away, and then notice its effect upon 
 her. But, apart from the fact that I would not do 
 anything so vulgar and commonplace, it would not 
 advantage me in the slightest degree. She would 
 see through the flimsiness of my purpose, and, no 
 matter how she looked upon me, would show nothing 
 but a well-bred regret that I should be obliged to go 
 away at such a pleasant season." " I think the hour 
 for your supper," said he, " is a very suitable one, 
 but I am not sure that such a variety of hot bread 
 would agree with me." 
 
 " Did you ever see more healthy-looking ladies 
 and gentlemen than you find in Virginia? " asked 
 Miss March. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 9 
 
 " It is not that I want to know if she looks favor 
 ably upon me," said Lawrence Croft to himself, " for 
 when I wish to discover that, I shall simply ask her. 
 What I wish now to know is whether, or not, she 
 considers me at all as a lover. There surely must 
 be something I can say which will give me a clew." 
 u The Virginians, as a rule," he replied, " are cer 
 tainly a very well-grown and vigorous race." 
 
 " In spite of the hot bread," she said with a 
 smile. 
 
 Just then Mr Croft believed himself struck by a 
 happy thought. " You are not prepared, I suppose, 
 to say, in consequence of it ; and that recalls the 
 fact that so much in this world happens in spite of 
 things, instead of in consequence of them." 
 
 " I don t know that I exactly understand," said 
 Miss Roberta. 
 
 " Well, for instance," said Mr Croft, " take the 
 case of marriage. Don t you think that a man is 
 more apt to marry in spite of his belief that he 
 would be much better off as a bachelor, than in con 
 sequence of a conviction that a Benedict s life would 
 suit him better? " 
 
 " That," said she, " depends a good deal on the 
 woman." 
 
 As she said this Lawrence glanced quickly at her 
 to observe the expression of her countenance. The 
 countenance plainly indicated that its owner had 
 suddenly been made aware that the afternoon was 
 slipping away, and that she had forgotten certain 
 household duties that devolved upon her. 
 
io The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Here comes Peggy," she said, " and I must go 
 into the house and give out supper. Don t you 
 now think it would be well for you to follow our 
 discussion of a Virginia supper by eating one? " 
 
 At this moment, there arrived at the bottom of 
 the inside steps, a small girl, very black, very sol 
 emn, and very erect, with her hands folded in front 
 of her very straight up-and-down calico frock, her 
 features expressive of a wooden stolidity which noth- 
 but a hammer or chisel could alter, and with large 
 eyes fixed upon a far-away, which, apparently, had 
 disappeared, leaving the eyes in a condition of idle 
 out-go. 
 
 " Miss Rob," said this wooden Peggy, " Aun 
 Judy says it s more n time to come housekeep." 
 
 " Which means," said Miss Roberta, rising, " that 
 I must go and get my key basket, and descend into 
 the store-room. Won t you come in ? We shall find 
 uncle on the back porch." 
 
 Mr Croft declined with thanks, and took his leave, 
 and the lady walked across the smooth grass to the 
 house, followed by the rigid Peggy. 
 
 The young man approached his impatient horse, 
 and, not without some difficulty, got himself 
 mounted. He had not that facility of sympathetic 
 ally combining his own will and that of his horse 
 which comes to men who from their early boyhood 
 are wont to consider horses as objects quite as 
 necessary to locomotion as shoes and stockings. 
 But Lawrence Croft was a fair graduate of a riding 
 school, and he went away in very good style to his 
 
The Late Mrs Null. n 
 
 cottage at the Green Sulphur Springs. " I believe," 
 he said to himself, as he rode through the woods, 
 "that Miss March expects no more of me than she 
 would expect of any very intimate friend. I shall 
 feel perfectly free, therefore, to continue my investi 
 gations regarding two points : First, is she worth 
 having ? and : Second, will she have me ? And I 
 must be very careful not to get the position of these 
 points reversed." 
 
 When Miss Roberta went into the store-room, it 
 was Peggy, who, under the supervision of her mis 
 tress, measured out the fine white flour for the bis 
 cuits for supper. Peggy was being educated to do 
 these things properly, and she knew exactly how 
 many times the tin scoop must fill itself in the barrel 
 for the ordinary needs of the family. Miss Roberta 
 stood, her eyes contemplatively raised to the narrow 
 window, through which she could see a flush of sun 
 set mingling itself with the outer air ; and Peggy 
 scooped once, twice, thrice, four times ; then she 
 stopped, and, raising her head, there came into the 
 far-away gloom of her eyes a quick sparkle like a 
 flash of black lightning. She made another and en 
 tirely supplementary scoop, and then she stopped, 
 and let the tin utensil fall into the barrel with a gen 
 tle thud. 
 
 " That will do," said Miss Roberta. 
 
 That night, when she should have been in her 
 bed, Peggy sat alone by the hearth in Aunt Judy s 
 cabin, baking a cake. It was a peculiar cake, for 
 she could get no sugar for it, but she had supplied 
 
12 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 this deficiency with molasses. It was made of Miss 
 Roberta s finest white flour, and eggs there were in 
 it and butter, and it contained, besides, three raisins, 
 an olive, and a prune. When the outside of the 
 cake had been sufficiently baked, and every portion 
 of it had been scrupulously eaten, the good little 
 Peggy murmured to herself : " It s pow ful com- 
 fortin for Miss Rob to have sumfin on her min ." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ABOUT a week after Mr Lawrence Croft had had 
 his conversation with Miss March on the stile steps 
 at Midbranch, he was obliged to return to his home 
 in New York. He was not a man of business, but 
 he had business ; and, besides this, he considered if 
 he continued much longer to reside in the utterly 
 attractionless cottage at the Green Sulphur Springs, 
 and rode over every day to the very attractive house 
 at Midbranch, that the points mentioned in the pre 
 vious chapter might get themselves reversed. He 
 was a man who was proud of being, under all circum 
 stances, frank and honest with himself. He did not 
 wish, if it could be avoided, to deceive other people, 
 but he was prudent and careful about exhibiting his 
 motives and intended course of action to his asso 
 ciates-. Himself, however, he took into his strictest 
 confidence. He was fond of the idea that he went 
 into the battle of life covered and protected by a 
 great shield, but that the inside of the shield was a 
 mirror in which he could always see himself. Look 
 ing into this mirror, he now saw that, if he did not 
 soon get away from Miss Roberta, he would lay 
 down his shield and surrender, and it was his intent 
 that this should not happen until he wished it to 
 happen. 
 
14 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 It was very natural when Lawrence reached New 
 York, that he should take pleasure in talking about 
 Miss Roberta March and her family with any one 
 who knew them. He was particularly anxious, if he 
 could do so delicately and without exciting any sus 
 picion of his object, to know as much as possible 
 about Sylvester March, the lady s father. In doing 
 this, he did not feel that he was prying into the 
 affairs of others, but he could not be true to himself 
 unless he looked well in advance before he made the 
 step on which his mind was set. It was in this way 
 that he happened to learn that about two years 
 before, Miss March had been engaged to be married, 
 but that the engagement had been broken off for 
 reasons not known to his informants, and he could 
 find out nothing about the gentleman, except that 
 his name was Junius Keswick. 
 
 The fact that the lady had had a lover, put her in 
 a new light before Lawrence Croft. He had had an 
 idea, suggested by the very friendly nature of their 
 intercourse, that she was a woman whose mind did 
 not run out to love or marriage, but now that he 
 knew that she was susceptible of being wooed and 
 won, because these things had actually happened to 
 her, he was very glad that he had come away from 
 Midbranch. 
 
 The impression soon became very strong upon the 
 mind of Lawrence that he would like to know what 
 kind of man was this former lover. He had known 
 Miss March about a year, and at the time of his 
 first acquaintaince with her, she must have come 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 15 
 
 very fresh from this engagement. To study the man 
 to whom Roberta March had been willing to engage 
 herself, was, to Lawrence s mode of thinking, if not 
 a prerequisite procedure in his contemplated course 
 of action, at least a very desirable one. 
 
 But he was rather surprised to find that no one 
 knew much about Mr Junius Keswick, or could give 
 him any account of his present whereabouts, al 
 though he had been, at the time when his engage 
 ment was in force, a resident of New York. To 
 consult a directory was, therefore, an obvious first 
 step in the affair; and, with this intent, Mr Croft 
 entered, one morning, an apothecary s shop in a 
 street which, though a busy one, was in a rather 
 out-of-the-way part of the city. 
 
 " We haven t any directory, sir," said the clerk, 
 "but if you will step across the street you can find 
 one at that little shop with the green door. Every 
 body goes there to look at the directory." 
 
 The green door on the opposite side of the street, 
 approached by a single flat step of stone, had a tin 
 sign upon it, on which was painted : 
 
 "INFORMATION 
 
 OF EVERY VARIETY 
 
 FURNISHED WITHIN." 
 
 Pushing open the door, Lawrence entered a long, 
 narrow room, not very well lighted, with a short 
 counter on one side, and some desks, partially 
 screened by a curtain, at the farther end. A boy was 
 
1 6 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 behind the counter, and to him Lawrence addressed 
 himself, asking permission to look at a city direc 
 tory. 
 
 "One cent, if you look yourself; three cents, if 
 we look," said the boy, producing a thick volume 
 from beneath the counter. 
 
 " One cent ? " said Lawrence, smiling at the oddity 
 of this charge, as he opened the book and turned 
 to the letter K. 
 
 " Yes," said the boy, " and if the fine print hurts 
 your eyes, we ll look for three cents." 
 
 At this moment a man came from one of the desks 
 at the other end of the room, and handed the boy 
 a letter with which that young person immediately 
 departed. The new-comer, a smooth-shaven man of 
 about thirty, with the air of the proprietor or head 
 manager very strong upon him, took the boy s po 
 sition behind the counter, and remarked to Law 
 rence : " Most people, when they first come here, 
 think it rather queer to pay for looking at the di 
 rectory, but you see we don t keep a directory to 
 coax people to come in to buy medicines or anything 
 else. We sell nothing but information, and part of 
 our stock is what you get out of a directory. But 
 it s the best plan all round, for we can afford to give 
 you a clean, good book instead of one all jagged and 
 worn; and as you pay your money, you feel you can 
 look as long as you like, and come when you please." 
 
 " It is a very good plan," said Lawrence, closing 
 the book, " but the name I want is not here." 
 
 " Perhaps it is in last year s directory," said the 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 17 
 
 man, producing another volume from under the coun 
 ter. 
 
 " That wouldn t do me much good," said Law 
 rence. " I want to know where some one resides 
 this year." 
 
 " It will do a great deal of good," said the other, 
 " for if we know where a person has lived, inquiries 
 can be made there as to where he has gone. Some 
 times we go back three or four years, and when we 
 have once found a man s name, we follow him up 
 from place to place until we can give the inquirer 
 his present address. What is the name you wanted, 
 sir? You were looking in the K s." 
 
 " Keswick," said Lawrence, " Junius Keswick." 
 
 The man ran his finger and his eyes down a col 
 umn, and remarked : " There is Keswick, but it is 
 Peter, laborer; I suppose that isn t the party." 
 
 Lawrence smiled, and shook his head. 
 
 " We will take the year before that," said the man 
 with cheerful alacrity, heaving up another volume. 
 " Here s two Keswicks," he said in a moment, "one 
 John, and the other Stephen W. Neither of them 
 right? " 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " my man is Junius, and we 
 need not go any farther back. I am afraid the per 
 son I am looking for was only a sojourner in the 
 city, and that his name did not get into the direc 
 tory. I know that he was here year before last." 
 
 " All right, sir," said the the other, pushing aside 
 the volume he had been consulting. " We ll find 
 the man for you from the hotel books, and what is 
 
1 8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 more, we can see those two Keswicks that I found 
 last. Perhaps they were relations of his, and he was 
 staying with them. If you put the matter in our 
 hands, we ll give you the address to-morrow night, 
 provided it s an ordinary case. But if he has gone 
 to Australia or Japan, of course, it ll take longer. 
 Is it crime or relationship ? " 
 
 " Neither," replied Lawrence. 
 
 " It is generally one of them," said the man, " and 
 if it s crime we carry it on to a certain point, and 
 then put it into the hands of the detectives, for 
 we ve nothing to do with police business, private or 
 otherwise. But if it s relationship, we ll go right 
 through with it to the end. Any kind of informa 
 tion you may want we ll give you here; scientific, bio 
 graphical, business, healthfulness of localities, genu 
 ineness of antiquities, age and standing of individuals, 
 purity of liquors or teas from sample, Bible items 
 localized, china verified ; in fact, anything you want 
 to know we can tell you. Of course we don t pre 
 tend that we know all these things, but we know the 
 people who do know, or who can find them out. 
 By coming to us, and paying a small sum, the most 
 valuable information, which it would take you years 
 to find out, can be secured with certainty, and gener 
 ally in a few days. We know what to do, and where 
 to go, and that s the point. If it s a new bug, or a 
 microscope insect we put it into the hands of a man 
 who knows just what high scientific authority to ap 
 ply to ; if it s the middle name of your next door 
 neighbor we ll give it to you from his baptismal 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 19 
 
 record. I m getting up a pamphlet-circular which 
 will be ready in about a week, and which will fully 
 explain our methods of business, with the charges 
 for the different items, etc." 
 
 " Well," said Lawrence, taking out his pocket- 
 book, " I want the address of Junius Keswick, and I 
 think I will let you look it up for me. What is your 
 charge ? " 
 
 " It will be two dollars," said the man, " ordinary ; 
 and if we find inquiries run into other countries 
 we will make special terms. And then there s seven 
 cents, one for your look, and two threes for ours. You 
 shall hear from us to-morrow night at your hotel or 
 residence, unless you prefer to call here." 
 
 " I will call the day after to-morrow," said Law 
 rence, producing a five-dollar note. 
 
 " Very good," replied the proprietor. " Will you 
 please pay the cashier?" pointing at the same time 
 to a desk behind Lawrence which the latter had not 
 noticed. 
 
 Approaching this desk, the top of which, except 
 for a small space in front, was surrounded by short 
 curtains, he saw a young girl busily engaged in 
 reading a book. He proffered her the note, the 
 proprietor at the same time calling out: "Two, 
 seven." 
 
 The girl turned the book down to keep the place ; 
 then she took the note, and opened a small drawer, 
 in which she fumbled for some moments. Closing 
 the drawer, she rose to her feet and waved the note 
 over the curtain to her right. 
 
20 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Haven t any change, eh ? " said the man, com 
 ing from behind the counter, and putting on his hat. 
 " As the boy s not here, I ll step out and get it." 
 
 The girl turned up her book, and began to read 
 again, and Lawrence stood and looked at her, won 
 dering what need there was of a cashier in a place 
 like this. She appeared to be under twenty, rather 
 thin-faced, and was plainly dressed. In a few 
 moments she raised her eyes from her book, and 
 said : " Won t you sit down, sir ? I am sorry you 
 have to wait, but we are short of change to-day, and 
 sometimes it is hard to get it in this neighborhood." 
 
 Lawrence declined to be seated, but was very 
 willing to talk. " Was it the proprietor of this es 
 tablishment," he asked, "who went out to get the 
 money changed ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir," she answered. "That is Mr Candy." 
 
 " A queer name," said Lawrence, smiling. 
 
 The girl looked up at him, and smiled in return. 
 There was a very perceptible twinkle in her eyes, 
 which seemed to be eyes that would like to be merry 
 ones, and a slight movement of the corners of her 
 mouth which indicated a desire to say something in 
 reply, but, restrained probably by loyalty to her 
 employer, or by prudent discretion regarding con 
 versation with strangers, she was silent. 
 
 Lawrence, how r ever, continued his remarks. " The 
 whole business seems to me very odd. Suppose I 
 were to come here and ask for information as to 
 where I could get a five-dollar note changed ; would 
 Mr Candy be able to tell me?" 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 21 
 
 "He would do in that case just as he does in all 
 others/ she said ; " first, he would go and find out, 
 and then he would let you know. Giving informa 
 tion is only half the business; finding things out 
 is the other half. That s what he s doing now." 
 
 " So, when he comes back," said Lawrence, " he ll 
 have a new bit of information to add to his stock on 
 hand, which must be a very peculiar one, I fancy." 
 
 The cashier smiled. " Yes," she said, " and a very 
 useful one, too, if people only knew it." 
 
 " Don t they know it ? " asked Lawrence. " Don t 
 you have plenty of custom? " 
 
 At this moment the door opened, Mr Candy en 
 tered, and the conversation stopped. 
 
 " Sorry to keep you waiting, sir," said the propri 
 etor, passing some money to the cashier over the 
 curtain, who, thereupon, handed two dollars and 
 ninety-three cents to Lawrence through the little 
 opening in front. 
 
 " If you call the day after to morrow, the infor 
 mation will be ready for you," said Mr Candy, as 
 the gentleman departed. 
 
 On the appointed day, Lawrence came again, and 
 found nobody in the place but the cashier, who 
 handed him a note. 
 
 " Mr Candy left this for you, in case he should 
 not be in when you called," she said. 
 
 The note stated that the search for the address of 
 Junius Keswick had opened very encouragingly, but 
 as it was quite evident that said person was not now 
 in the city, the investigations would have to be car- 
 
22 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ried on on a more extended scale, and a deposit of 
 three dollars would be necessary to meet expenses. 
 
 Lawrence looked from the note to the cashier, 
 who had been watching him as he read. u Does Mr 
 Candy want me to leave three dollars with you ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " That s what he said, sir." 
 
 " Well," said Lawrence, " I don t care about pay 
 ing for unlimited investigation in this way. If the 
 gentleman I am in search of has left the city, and 
 Mr Candy has been able to find out to what place 
 he went, he should have told me that, and I would 
 have decided whether or not I wanted him to do 
 anything more." 
 
 The face of the cashier appeared troubled. " I 
 think, sir," she said, " that if you leave the money, 
 Mr Candy will do all he can to discover what you 
 wish to know, and that it will not be very long be 
 fore you have the address of the person you are 
 seeking." 
 
 " Do you really think he has any clew?" asked 
 Lawrence. 
 
 This question did not seem to please the cashier, 
 and she answered gravely, though without any show 
 of resentment : " That is a strange question after I 
 advised you to leave the money." 
 
 Lawrence had a kind heart, and it reproached him. 
 " I beg your pardon," said he. " I will leave the 
 money with you, but I desire that Mr Candy will, 
 in his next communication, give me all the informa 
 tion he has acquired up to the moment of writing, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 23 
 
 and then I will decide whether it is worth while to 
 go on with the matter, or not." 
 
 He, thereupon, took out his pocket-book and 
 handed three dollars to the cashier, who, with an air 
 of deliberate thoughtfulness, smoothed out the two 
 notes, and placed them in her drawer. Then she 
 said : " If you will leave your address, sir, I will see 
 that you receive your information as soon as pos 
 sible. That will be better than for you to call, 
 because I can t tell you when to come." 
 
 a Very well," said Lawrence, " and I will be 
 obliged to you if you will hurry up Mr Candy as 
 much as you can." And, handing her his card, he 
 went his way. 
 
 The way of Lawrence Croft was generally a very 
 pleasant one, for the fortunate conditions of his life 
 made it possible for him to go around most of the 
 rough places which might lie in it. His family was 
 an old one, and a good one, but there was very little 
 of it left, and of its scattered remnants he was the 
 most important member. But although circum 
 stances did not force him to do anything in partic 
 ular, he liked to believe that he was a rigid master 
 to himself, and whatever he did was always done 
 with a purpose. When he travelled he had an ob 
 ject in view ; when he stayed at home the case was 
 the same. 
 
 His present purpose was the most serious one of 
 his life : he wished to marry ; and, if she should 
 prove to be the proper person, he wished to marry 
 Roberta March ; and as a preliminary step in the 
 
24 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 carrying out of his purpose, he wanted very much to 
 know what sort of man Miss March had once been 
 willing to marry. 
 
 When five days had elapsed without his hearing 
 from Mr Candy, he became impatient and betook 
 himself to the green door with the tin sign. Enter 
 ing, he found only the boy and the cashier. Ad 
 dressing himself to the latter, he asked if anything 
 had been done in his business. 
 
 u Yes, sir," she said, " and I hoped Mr Candy 
 would write you a letter this morning before he 
 went out, but he didn t. He traced the gentleman 
 to Niagara Falls, and I think you ll hear something 
 very soon." 
 
 " If inquiries have to be carried on outside of the 
 city," said Lawrence, " they will probably cost a 
 good deal, and come to nothing. I think I will 
 drop the matter as far as Mr Candy is concerned." 
 
 " I wish you would give us a little more time," 
 said the girl. " I am sure you will hear something 
 in a few days, and you need not be afraid there will 
 be anything more to pay unless you are satisfied 
 that you have received the full worth of the money." 
 
 Lawrence reflected for a few moments, and then 
 concluded to let the matter go on. "Tell Mr Candy 
 to keep me frequently informed of the progress of 
 the affair," said he, " and if he is really of any service 
 to me I am willing to pay him, but not otherwise." 
 
 " That will be all right," said the cashier, u and if 
 Mr Candy is is prevented from doing it, I ll write 
 to you myself, and keep you posted." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 25 
 
 As soon as the customer had gone, the boy, who 
 had been sitting on the counter, thus spoke to the 
 cashier: "You know very well that old Mintstick 
 has given that thing up ! " 
 
 " I know he has," said the girl, " but I have not." 
 
 " You haven t anything to do with it," said the 
 boy. 
 
 " Yes, I have," she answered. " I advised that 
 gentleman to pay his money, and I m not going to 
 see him cheated out of it. Of course, Mr Candy 
 doesn t mean to cheat him, but he has gone into that 
 business about the origin of the tame blackberry, 
 and there s no knowing when he ll get back to this 
 thing, which is not in his line, anyway." 
 
 " I should say it wasn t ! " exclaimed the boy with 
 a loud laugh. " Sendin me to look up them two 
 Keswicks, who was both put down as cordwainers 
 in year before last s directory, and askin em if 
 there was any Juniuses in their families." 
 
 " Junius Keswick, did you say ? Is that the name 
 of the gentleman Mr Candy was looking for?" 
 
 " Yes," said the boy. 
 
 Presently the cashier remarked : " I am going to 
 look at the books." And she betook herself to 
 the desk at the back part of the shop. 
 
 In about half an hour she returned and handed to 
 the boy a memorandum upon a scrap of paper. "You 
 go out now to your lunch," she said, " and while you 
 are out, stop at the St. Winifred Hotel, where Mr 
 Candy found the name of Junius Keswick, and see 
 if it is not down again not long after the date which 
 
26 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 I have put on this slip of paper. I think if a person 
 went to Niagara Falls he d be just as likely to make 
 a little trip of it and come back again as to keep 
 travelling on, which Mr Candy supposes he did. If 
 you find the name again, put down the date of arri 
 val on this, and see if there was any memorandum 
 about forwarding letters." 
 
 "All right," said the boy. " But I ll be gone 
 an hour and a half. Can t cut into my lunch time." 
 
 In the course of a few days Lawrence Croft re 
 ceived a note signed Candy & Co. " per" some illeg 
 ible initials, which stated that Mr Junius Keswick 
 had been traced to a boarding-house in the city, but 
 as the establishment had been broken up for some 
 time, endeavors were now being made to find the 
 lady who had kept the house, and when this was 
 done it would most likely be possible to discover 
 from her where Mr Keswick had gone. 
 
 Lawrence waited a few days and then called at the 
 Information Shop. Again was Mr Candy absent ; 
 and so was the boy. The cashier informed him that 
 she had found that is, that the lady who kept the 
 boarding-house had been found and she thought 
 she remembered the gentlemen in question, and 
 promised, as soon as she could, to look through a 
 book, in which she used to keep directions for the 
 forwarding of letters, and in this way another clew 
 might soon be expected. 
 
 " This seems to be going on better," said Law 
 rence, " but Mr Candy doesn t show much in the 
 affair. Who is managing it ? You ? " 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 27 
 
 The girl blushed and then laughed, a little confus 
 edly. " I am only the cashier," she said. 
 
 "And the laborious duties of your position would, 
 of course, give you no time for anything else," re 
 marked Lawrence. 
 
 " Oh, well," said the girl, u of course it is easy 
 enough for any one to see that I haven t much to do 
 as cashier, but the boy and Mr Candy are nearly 
 always out, looking up things, and I have to do other 
 business besides attending to cash." 
 
 " If you are attending to my business," said Law 
 rence, " I am very glad, especially now that it has 
 reached the boarding-house stage, where I think 
 a woman will be better able to work than a man. 
 Are you doing this entirely independent of Mr 
 Candy?" 
 
 " Well, sir," said the cashier, with an honest, 
 straight-forward look from her gray eyes that pleased 
 Lawrence, " I may as well confess that I am. But 
 there s nothing mean about it. He has all the same 
 as given it up, for he s waiting to hear from a man 
 at Niagara, who will never write to him, and prob 
 ably hasn t any thing to write, and as I advised you 
 to pay the money I feel bound in honor to see that 
 the business is done, if it can be done." 
 
 " Have you a brother or a husband to help you in 
 these investigations and searches ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " No," said the cashier with a smile. " Sometimes 
 I send our boy, and as to boarding houses, I can go 
 to them myself after we shut up here." 
 
 " I wish," said Lawrence, " that you were married, 
 
28 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 and that you had a husband who would not interfere 
 in this matter at all, but who would go about with 
 you, and so enable you to follow up your clew 
 thoroughly. You take up the business in the right 
 spirit, and I believe you would succeed in finding 
 Mr Keswick, but I don t like the idea of sending 
 you about by yourself." 
 
 " I won t deny/ said the cashier, " that since I 
 have begun this affair I would like very much to 
 carry it out ; so, if you don t object, I won t give it 
 up just yet, and as soon as anything happens I ll let 
 you know." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 AUTUMN in Virginia, especially if one is not too 
 near the mountains, is a season in which greenness 
 sails very close to Christmas, although generally 
 veering away in time to prevent its verdant hues 
 from tingeing that happy day with the gloomy in 
 fluence of the prophetic proverb about church 
 yards. Long after the time when the people of the 
 regions watered by the Hudson and the Merrimac 
 are beginning to button up their overcoats, and to 
 think of weather strips for their window-sashes, the 
 dwellers in the land through which flow the Appo- 
 mattox and the James may sit upon their broad 
 piazzas, and watch the growing glories of the forests, 
 where the crimson stars of the sweet gum blaze 
 among the rich yellows of the chestnuts, the linger 
 ing green of the oaks, and the enduring verdure of 
 the pines. The insects still hum in the sunny air, 
 and the sun is now a genial orb whose warm rays 
 cheer but not excoriate. 
 
 The orb just mentioned was approaching the hori 
 zon, when, in an adjoining county to that in which 
 was situated the hospitable mansion of Midbranch, a 
 little negro boy about ten years old was driving 
 some cows through a gateway that opened on a 
 public road. The cows, as they were going home- 
 
30 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ward, filed willingly through the gateway, which led 
 into a field, at the far end of which might be dimly 
 discerned a house behind a mass of foliage ; but the 
 boy, whose head and voice were entirely too big for 
 the rest of him, assailed them with all manner of re 
 proaches and impellent adjectives, addressing each 
 cow in turn as : " You, sah ! " When the compliant 
 beasts had hustled through, the youngster got upon 
 the gate, and giving it a push with one bare foot, he 
 swung upon it as far as it would go ; then lifting 
 the end from the surface of the ground he shut it 
 with a bang, fastened it with a hook, and ran after 
 the cows, his wild provocatives to bovine haste ring 
 ing high into the evening air. 
 
 This youth was known as Plez, his whole name 
 being Pleasant Valley, an inspiration to his mother 
 from the label on a grape box, which had drifted into 
 that region from the North. He had just stooped to 
 pick up a clod of earth with which to accentuate his 
 vociferations, when, on rising, he was astounded by 
 the apparition of an elderly woman wearing a purple 
 sun-bonnet, and carrying a furled umbrella of the 
 same color. Behind the spectacles, which were fixed 
 upon him, blazed a pair of fiery eyes, and the soul 
 of Plez shrivelled and curled up within him. His 
 downcast eyes were bent upon his upturned toes, 
 the clod dropped from his limp fingers, and his 
 mouth which had been opened for a yell, remained 
 open, but the yell had apparently swooned. 
 
 The words of the old lady were brief, but her um 
 brella was full of jerky menace, and when she left 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 31 
 
 him, and passed on toward the outer gate, Plez fol 
 lowed the cows to the house with the meekness of a 
 suspected sheep dog. 
 
 The cows had been milked, some by a rotund 
 black woman named Letty, and some, much to their 
 discomfort, by Plez himself, and it was beginning to 
 grow dark, when an open spring wagon driven by a 
 colored man, and with a white man on the back seat 
 came along the road, and stopped at the gate. The 
 driver having passed the reins to the occupant on the 
 back seat, got down, opened the gate, and stood hold 
 ing it while the other drove the horse into the road 
 which ran by the side of the field to the house be 
 hind the trees. At this time a passer-by, if there 
 had been one, might have observed, partly protrud 
 ing from behind some bushes on the other side of 
 the public road, and at a little distance from the 
 gate, the lower portion of a purple umbrella. As the 
 spring wagon approached, and during the time that 
 it was turning into the gate, and while it was wait 
 ing for the driver to resume his seat, this umbrella 
 was considerably agitated, so much so indeed as to 
 cause a little rustling among the leaves. When the 
 gate had been shut, and the wagon had passed on 
 toward the house, the end of the umbrella disap 
 peared, and then, on the other side of the bush, there 
 came into view a sun-bonnet of the same color as the 
 umbrella. This surmounted the form of an old lady, 
 who stepped into the pathway by the side of the 
 road, and walked away with a quick, active step 
 which betokened both energy and purpose. 
 
32 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 The house, before which, not many minutes later, 
 this spring wagon stopped, was not a fine old fam 
 ily mansion like that of Midbranch, but it was a 
 comfortable dwelling, though an unpretending one. 
 The gentleman on the back seat, and the driver, 
 who was an elderly negro, both turned toward the 
 hall door, which was open and lighted by a lamp 
 within, as if they expected some one to come out on 
 the porch. But nobody came, and, after a moment s 
 hesitation, the gentleman got down, and taking a 
 valise from the back of the wagon, mounted the 
 steps of the porch. While he was doing this the 
 face of the negro man, which could be plainly seen 
 in the light from the hall door, grew anxious and 
 troubled. When the gentleman set his valise on 
 the porch, and stood by it without making any 
 attempt to enter, the old man put down the reins 
 and quickly descending from his seat, hurried up 
 the steps. 
 
 " Dunno whar ole miss is, but I reckon she done 
 gone to look after de tukkies. She dreffle keerful 
 dat dey all go to roos ebery night. Walk right in, 
 Mahs Junius." And, taking up the valise, he fol 
 lowed the gentleman into the hall. 
 
 There, near the back door, stood the rotund black 
 woman, and, behind her, Plez. " Look h yar Letty," 
 said the negro man, " whar ole miss ? " 
 
 " Dunno, " said the woman. " She done gib out 
 supper, an I ain t seed her sence. Is dis Mahs 
 Junius ? Reckon you don member Letty ? " 
 
 " Yes I do," said the gentleman, shaking hands 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 33 
 
 with her ; " but the Letty I remember was a rather 
 slim young woman." 
 
 " Dat s so," said Letty, with a respectful laugh, 
 u but, shuh nuf, my food s been blessed to me, 
 Mahs Junius." 
 
 " But whar s ole miss ? " persisted the old man. 
 " You, Letty, can t you go look her up ? " 
 
 Now was heard the voice of Plez, who meekly 
 emerged from the shade of Letty. " Ole miss done 
 gone out to de road gate," said he. " I seen her 
 when I brung de cows." 
 
 " Bress my soul ! " ejaculated Letty. " Out to de 
 road gate ! An spectin you too, Mahs Junius ! " 
 
 " Didn t she say nuffin to you ? " said the old man, 
 addressing Plez. 
 
 " She didn t say nuffin to me, Uncle Isham," an 
 swered the boy, " cept if I didn t quit skeerin dem 
 cows, an makin em run wid froin rocks till dey 
 ain t got a drip drap o milk lef in em, she d whang 
 me ober de head wid her umbril." 
 
 " Tain t easy to tell whar she done gone from 
 dat," said Letty. 
 
 The face of Uncle Isham grew more troubled. 
 "Walk in de parlor, Mahs Junius," he said, u an 
 make yourse f comf ble. Ole miss boun to be back 
 d reckly. I ll go put up de hoss." 
 
 As the old man went heavily down the porch 
 steps he muttered to himself : " I was feared o 
 sumfin like dis ; I done feel it in my bones." 
 
 The gentleman took a seat in the parlor where 
 Letty had preceded him with a lamp. u Reckon 
 3 
 
34 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ole miss didn t spec you quite so soon, Mahs Jun- 
 ius, cos de sorrel hoss is pow ful slow, and Uncle 
 Isham is mighty keerful ob rocks in de road. 
 Reckon she s done gone ober to see ole Aun Patsy, 
 who s gwine to die in two or free days, to take her 
 some red an yaller pieces for a crazy quilt. I know 
 she s got some pieces fur her." 
 
 " Aunt Patsy alive yet ?" exclaimed Master Jun- 
 ius. " But if she s about to die, what does she want 
 with a crazy quilt ? " 
 
 " Dat s fur she shroud, said Letty. " She tends 
 to go to glory all wrap up in a crazy quilt, jus chock- 
 full ob all de colors of the rainbow. Aun Patsy 
 neber did tend to have a shroud o bleached do 
 mestic like common folks. She wants to cut a 
 shine mong de angels, an her quilt s most done, 
 jus one corner ob it lef. Reckon ole miss done 
 gone to carry her de pieces fur dat corner. Dere 
 ain t much time lef, fur Aun Patsy is pretty nigh 
 dead now. She s ober two hunnerd years ole." 
 
 "What!" exclaimed Master Junius, "two hun 
 dred?" 
 
 " Yes, sah," answered Letty. " Doctor Peter s 
 old Jim was more n a hunnerd when he died, an we 
 all knows Aun Patsy is twice as ole as ole Jim." 
 
 "I ll wait here," said Master Junius, taking up a 
 book. " I suppose she will be back before long." 
 
 In about half an hour Uncle Isham came into the 
 kitchen, his appearance indicating that he had had 
 a hurried walk, and told Letty that she had better 
 give Master Junius his supper without waiting any 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 35 
 
 longer for her mistress. "She ain t at Aim Patsy s," 
 said the old man, " and she s jus done gone some- 
 whar else, and she ll come back when she s a mind 
 to, an dar ain t nuffin else to say bout it. 
 
 Supper was eaten ; a pipe was smoked on the 
 porch; and Master Junius went to bed in a room 
 which had been carefully prepared for him under 
 the supervision of the mistress ; but the purple sun- 
 bonnet, and the umbrella of the same color did not 
 return to the house that night. 
 
 Master Junius was a quiet man, and fond of walk- 
 .ing ; and the next day he devoted to long rambles, 
 sometimes on the roads, sometimes over the fields, 
 and sometimes through the woods ; but in none of 
 his walks, nor when he came back to dinner and sup 
 per, did he meet the elderly mistress of the house to 
 which he had come. That evening, as he sat on the 
 top step of the porch with his pipe, he summoned 
 to him Uncle Isham, and thus addressed the old 
 man: 
 
 " I think it is impossible, Isham, that your mis 
 tress started out to meet me, and that an accident 
 happened to her. I have walked all over this neigh 
 borhood, and I know that no accident could have 
 occurred without my seeing or hearing something 
 of it." 
 
 Uncle Isham stood on the ground, his feet close 
 to the bottom step ; his hat was in his hand, and 
 his upturned face wore an expression of earnestness 
 which seemed to set uncomfortably upon it. 
 " Mahs Junius," said he, " dar ain t no acciden come 
 
36 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 to ole miss ; she s done gone cos she wanted to, an j 
 she ain t come back cos she didn t want to. Dat s 
 ole miss, right fru." 
 
 " I suppose," said the young man, " that as she 
 went away on foot she must be staying with some 
 of the neighbors. If we were to make inquiries, it 
 certainly would not be difficuit to find out where 
 she is." 
 
 "Mans Junius," said Uncle Isham, his black eyes 
 shining brighter and brighter as he spoke, " dar s 
 culled people, an white folks too in dis yer county 
 who d put on dere bes clothes an black dere shoes, 
 an skip off wid alacrousness, to do de wus kin o 
 sin, dat dey knowed for sartin would send em 
 down to de deepes and hottes gullies ob de lower 
 regions, but nuffin in dis worl could make one o 
 dem people go quirin bout ole miss when she 
 didn t want to be quired about." 
 
 The smoker put down his pipe on the top step 
 beside him, and sat for a few moments in thought. 
 Then he spoke. " Isham," he began, " I want you 
 to tell me if you have any notion or idea 
 
 " Mahs Junius," exclaimed the old negro, " scuse 
 me fur int ruptin , but I- can t help it. Don you go, 
 an ax an ole man like me if I tinks dat ole miss 
 went away cos you was comin an if it s my true 
 b lief dat she ll neber come back while you is h yar. 
 Don ask me nuffin like dat, Mahs Junius, Ise 
 libed in dis place all my bawn days, an I ain t neber 
 done nuffin to you, Mails Junius, cept keepin you. 
 from breakin you neck when you was too little to 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 37 
 
 know better. I neber jected to you marryin any 
 lady you like bes , an tain t far Mahs Junius, now 
 Ise ole an gittin on de careen, fur you to ax me 
 wot I tinks about ole miss gwine away an comin 
 back. I begs you, Mahs Junius, don ax me dat." 
 
 Master Junius rose to his feet. " All right, Isham," 
 he said ; " I shall not worry your good old heart with 
 questions." And he went into the house. 
 
 The next day this quiet gentleman and good walker 
 went to see old Aunt Patsy, who had apparently 
 consented to live a day or two longer ; gave her a little 
 money in lieu of pieces for her crazy bed-quilt ; and 
 told her he was going away to stay. He told Uncle 
 Isham he was going away to stay away ; and he said 
 the same thing to Letty, and to Plez, and to two 
 colored women of the neighborhood whom he hap 
 pened to see. Then he took his valise, which was 
 not a very large one, and departed. He refused to 
 be conveyed to the distant station in the spring 
 wagon, saying that he much preferred to walk. 
 Uncle Isham took leave of him with much sadness, 
 but did not ask him to stay ; and Letty and Plez 
 looked after him wistfully, still holding in their 
 hands the coins he had placed there. With the ex 
 ception of these coins, the only thing he left behind 
 him was a sealed letter on the parlor table, directed 
 to the mistress of the house. 
 
 Toward the end of that afternoon, two women 
 came along the public road which passed the outer 
 gate. One came from the south, and rode in an 
 open carriage, evidently hired at the railroad station ; 
 
38 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the other was on foot, and came from the north ; 
 she wore a purple sun-bonnet, and carried an um 
 brella of the same color. When this latter individual 
 caught sight of the approaching carriage, then at 
 some distance, she stopped short and gazed at it. 
 She did not retire behind a bush, as she had done on 
 a former occasion, but she stood in the shade of a 
 tree on the side of the road, and waited. As the 
 carriage came nearer to the gate the surprise upon 
 her face became rapidly mingled with indignation. 
 The driver had checked the speed of his horses, and, 
 without doubt, intended to stop at the gate. This 
 might not have been sufficient to excite her emo 
 tions, but she now saw clearly, having not been quite 
 certain of it before, that the occupant of the carriage 
 was a lady, and, apparently, a young one, for she 
 wore in her hat some bright-colored flowers. The 
 driver stopped, got down, opened the gate, and then, 
 mounting to his seat, drove through, leaving the 
 gate standing wide open. 
 
 This contempt of ordinary proprietary require 
 ments made the old lady spring out from the shelter 
 of the shade. Brandishing her umbrella, she was 
 about to cry out to the man to stop and shut the 
 gate, but she restrained herself. The distance was 
 too great, and, besides, she thought better of it. 
 She went again into the shade, and waited. In 
 about ten minutes the carriage came back, but with 
 out the lady. This time the driver got down, shut 
 the gate after him, and drove rapidly away. 
 
 If blazing eyes could crack glass, the spectacles of 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 39 
 
 the old lady would have been splintered into many 
 pieces as she stood by the road-side, the end of her 
 umbrella jabbed an inch or two into the ground. 
 After standing thus for some five minutes, she sud 
 denly turned and walked vigorously away in the 
 direction from which she had come. 
 
 Uncle Isham, Letty, and the boy Plez, were very 
 much surprised at the arrival of the lady in the 
 carriage. She had asked for the mistress of the 
 house, and on being assured that she was expected 
 to return very soon, had alighted, paid and dismissed 
 her driver, and had taken a seat in the parlor. Her 
 valise, rather larger than that of the previous visitor, 
 was brought in and put in the hall. She waited for 
 an hour or two, during which time Letty made 
 several attempts to account for the non-appearance 
 of her mistress, who, she said, was away on a visit, 
 but was expected back every minute; and when 
 supper was ready she partook of that meal alone, 
 and after a short evening spent in reading she went 
 to bed in the chamber which Letty prepared for 
 her. 
 
 Before she retired, Letty, who had shown herself 
 a very capable attendant, said to her : " Wot s your 
 name, miss ? I allus likes to know the names o 
 ladies I waits on. 
 
 " My name," said the lady, u is Mrs Null." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE Autumn sun was shining very pleasantly 
 when, about nine o clock in the morning, Mrs Null 
 came out on the porch, and, standing at the top of 
 the steps, looked about her. She had on her hat 
 with the red flowers, and she wore a short jacket, 
 into the pockets of which her hands were thrust 
 with an air which indicated satisfaction with the 
 circumstances surrounding her. The old dog, lying 
 on the grass at the bottom of the steps, looked up at 
 her and flopped his tail upon the ground. Mrs Null 
 called to him in a cheerful tone and the dog arose, 
 and, hesitatingly, put his forefeet on the bottom 
 step ; then, when she held out her hand and spoke 
 to him again, he determined that, come what might, 
 he would go up those forbidden steps, and let her 
 pat his head. This he did, and after looking about 
 him to assure himself that this was reality and 
 not a dog dream, he laid down upon the door-mat, 
 and, with a sigh of relief, composed himself to sleep. 
 A black turkey gobbler, who looked as if he had 
 been charred in a fire, followed by five turkey hens, 
 also suggesting the idea that water had been thrown 
 over them before anything but their surfaces had 
 been burned, came timidly around the house and 
 stopped before venturing upon the greensward in 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 41 
 
 front of the porch ; then, seeing nobody but Mrs 
 Null, they advanced with bobbing heads and sway 
 ing bodies to look into the resources of this seldom 
 explored region. Plez, who was coming from the 
 spring with a pail of water on his head, saw the dog 
 on the porch and the turkeys on the grass, and 
 stopped to regard the spectacle. He looked at them, 
 and he looked at Mrs Null, and a grin of amused 
 interest spread itself over his face. 
 
 Mrs Null went down the steps and approached 
 the boy. " Plez," said she, " if your mistress, or any 
 body, should come here this morning, you must run 
 over to Pine Top Hill and call me. I m going there 
 to read." 
 
 " Don you want me to go wid yer, and show you 
 de way, Miss Null? "asked Plez, preparing to set 
 down his pail. 
 
 " Oh, no," said she, " I know the way." And with 
 her hands still in her pockets, from one of which 
 protruded a rolled-up novel, she walked down to the 
 little stream which ran from the spring, crossed the 
 plank and took the path which led by the side of 
 the vineyard to Pine Top Hill. 
 
 This lady visitor had now been here two days 
 waiting for the return of the mistress of the little 
 estate ; and the sojourn had evidently been of benefit 
 to her. Good air, the good meals with which Letty 
 had provided her, and a sort of sympathy which had 
 sprung up in a very sudden way between her and 
 everything on the place, had given brightness to her 
 eyes. She even looked a little plumper than when 
 
42 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 she came, and certainly very pretty. She climbed 
 Pine Top Hill without making any mistake as to the 
 best path, and went directly to a low piece of sun- 
 warmed rock which cropped out from the ground 
 not far from the bases of the cluster of pines which 
 gave the name to the hill. An extended and very 
 pretty view could be had from this spot, and Mrs 
 Null seemed to enjoy it, looking about her with 
 quick turns of the head as if she wanted to satisfy 
 herself that all of the scenery was there. Appar 
 ently satisfied that it was, she stretched out her feet, 
 withdrew her gaze from the surrounding country, 
 and regarded the toes of her boots. Now she 
 smiled a little and began to speak. 
 
 " Freddy," said she, " I must think over matters, 
 and have a talk with you about them. Nothing 
 could be more proper than this, since we are on our 
 wedding tour. You keep beautifully in the back 
 ground, which is very nice of you, for that s what I 
 married you for. But we must have a talk now, for 
 we haven t said a word to each other, nor, perhaps, 
 thought of each other during the whole three nights 
 and two days that we have been here. I expect 
 these people think it very queer that I should keep 
 on waiting for their mistress to come back, but I 
 can t help it ; I must stay till she comes, or he comes, 
 and they must continue to think it funny. And as 
 for Mr Croft, I suppose I should get a letter from 
 him if he knew where to write, but you know, Fred 
 dy, we are travelling about on this wedding tour 
 without letting anybody, especially Mr Croft, know 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 43 
 
 exactly where we are. He must think it an awfully 
 wonderful piece of good luck that a young married 
 couple should happen to be journeying in the very 
 direction taken by a gentleman whom he wants to 
 find, and that they are willing to look for the gentle 
 man without charging anything but the extra ex 
 penses to which they may be put. We wouldn t 
 charge him a cent, you know, Freddy Null, but for 
 the fear that he would think we would not truly act 
 as his agents if we were not paid, and so would 
 employ somebody else. We don t want him to 
 employ anybody else. We want to find Junius Kes- 
 wick before he does, and then, maybe, we won t 
 want Mr Croft to find him at all: But I hope it 
 will not turn out that way. He said, it was neither 
 crime nor relationship and, of course, it couldn t be. 
 What I hope is, that it is good fortune ; but that s 
 doubtful. At any rate, I must see Junius first, if I 
 can possibly manage it. If she would only come 
 back and open her letter, there might be no more 
 trouble about it, for I don t believe he would go 
 away without leaving her his address. Isn t all this 
 charming, Freddy ? And don t you feel glad that 
 we came here for our wedding tour ? Of course you 
 don t enjoy it as much as I do, for it can t seem so 
 natural to you ; but you are bound to like it. The 
 very fact of my being here should make the place 
 delightful in your eyes, Mr Null, even if I have for 
 gotten all about you ever since I came." 
 
 That afternoon, as Mrs Null was occupying some 
 of her continuous leisure in feeding the turkeys at 
 
44 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the back of the house, she noticed two colored men 
 in earnest conversation with Isham. When they had 
 gone she called to the old man. " Uncle Isham," 
 she said, " what did those men want? " 
 
 "Tell you what tis, Miss Null," said Isham, re 
 moving his shapeless felt hat, "dis yere place is 
 gittin wus an wus on de careen, an wat s gwine to 
 happen if ole miss don come back is more n I kin 
 tell. Bar s no groun ploughed yit for wheat, an 
 dem two han s been gaged to come do it, an dey 
 put it off, an put it off till ole miss got as mad as 
 hot coals, an* now at las dey ve come, an she s not 
 h yar, an nuffin can be done. De wheat ll be free 
 inches high on ebery oder farm fore ole miss git 
 dem plough han s agin." 
 
 " That is too bad, Uncle Isham," said Mrs Null. 
 " When land that ought to be ploughed isn t 
 ploughed, it all grows up in old field pines, don t 
 it?" 
 
 " It don do dat straight off, Miss Null," said the 
 old negro, his gray face relaxing into a smile. 
 
 " No, I suppose not," said she. " I have heard that 
 it takes thirty years for a whole forest of old field 
 pines to grow up. But they will do it if the land 
 isn t ploughed. Now, Uncle Isham, I don t intend 
 to let everything be at a standstill here just because 
 your mistress is away. That is one reason why I 
 feed the turkeys. If they died, or the farm all 
 went wrong, I should feel that it was partly my 
 fault." 
 
 " Yaas m," said Uncle Isham, passing his hat from 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 45 
 
 one hand to the other, as he delivered himself a little 
 hesitatingly " yaas m, if you wasn t h yar p raps 
 ole miss mought come back." 
 
 " Now, Uncle Isham," said Mrs Null, " you mustn t 
 think your mistress is staying away on account 
 of me. She left home, as Letty has told me over 
 and over, because your Master Junius came. Of 
 course she thinks he s here yet, and she don t know 
 anything about me. But if her affairs should go to 
 rack and ruin while I am here and able to prevent 
 it, I should think it was my fault. That s what I 
 mean, Uncle Isham. And now this is what I want 
 you to do. I want you to go right after those 
 men, and tell them to come here as soon as they 
 can, and begin to plough. Do you know where the 
 ploughing is to be done ? " 
 
 " Oh, yaas m," said Uncle Isham, " dar ain t on y 
 one place fur dat. It s de clober fiel , ober dar, on 
 de udder side ob de gyarden." 
 
 " And what is to be planted in it ? " asked Mrs 
 Null. 
 
 " Ob course dey s gwine to plough for wheat," an 
 swered Uncle Isham, a little surprised at the ques 
 tion. 
 
 " I don t altogether like that," said Mrs Null, her 
 brows slightly contracting. " I ve read a great deal 
 about the foolishness of Southern people planting 
 wheat. They can t compete with the great wheat 
 farms of the West, which sometimes cover a whole 
 county, and, of course, having so much, they can, 
 afford to sell it a great deal cheaper than you can 
 
46 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 here. And yet you go on, year after year, paying 
 every cent you can rake and scrape for fertilizing- 
 drugs, and getting about a teacupf ul of wheat, that 
 is, proportionately speaking. I don t think this sort 
 of thing should continue, Uncle Isham. It would be 
 a great deal better to plough that field for pickles. 
 Now there is a steady market for pickles, and, so 
 far as I know, there are no pickle farms in the 
 West." 
 
 " Pickles ! " ejaculated the astonished Isham. 
 " Do you mean, Miss Null, to put dat fiel down in 
 kukumbers at dis time o yeah ? " 
 
 "Well," said Mrs Null, thoughtfully, "I don t 
 know that I feel authorized to make the change at 
 present, but I do know that the things that pay 
 most are small fruits, and if you people down here 
 would pay more attention to them you would make 
 more money. But the land must be ploughed, and 
 then we ll see about planting it afterward ; your 
 mistress will, probably, be home in time for that. 
 You go after the men, and tell them I shall expect 
 them to begin the first thing in the morning. And 
 if there is anything else to be done on the farm, you 
 come and tell me about it to-morrow. I m going to 
 take the responsibility on myself to see that matters 
 go on properly until your mistress returns." 
 
 Letty and her son, Plez, occupied a cabin not far 
 from the house, while Uncle Isham lived alone in a 
 much smaller tenement, near the barn and chicken 
 house. That evening he went over to Letty s, tak 
 ing with him, as a burnt offering, a partially con- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 47 
 
 sumed and still glowing log of hickory wood from 
 his own hearth-stone. " Jes lemme tell you dis 
 h yar, Letty," said he, after making up the fire and 
 seating himself on a stool near by, " ef you want to 
 see ole miss come back rarin an chargin , jes you 
 let her know dat Miss Null is gwine ter plough de 
 clober fiel for pickles." 
 
 " Wot s dat fool talk ? " asked Letty. 
 
 " Miss Null s gwine to boss dis farm, dat s all," 
 said Isham. " She tole me so herse f, an ef she s 
 lef alone she s gwine ter do it city fashion. But 
 one thing s sartin shuh, Letty, if ole miss do fin out 
 wot s gwine on, she ll be back h yar in no time ! 
 She know well nuf dat dat Miss Null ain t got no 
 right to come an boss dis h yar farm. Who s she, 
 anyway?" 
 
 " Dunno," answered Letty. " I done ax her 
 six or seben time, but pears like I dunno wot she 
 mean when she tell me. P raps she s one o ole 
 miss little gal babies growed up. I tell you, Uncle 
 Isham, she know dis place jes as ef she bawn h yar." 
 
 Uncle Isham looked steadily into the fire and 
 rubbed the sides of his head with his big black 
 fingers. " Ole miss nebber had no gal baby cept 
 one, an dat died when twas mighty little." 
 
 " Does you reckon she kill her ef she come back 
 an fin her no kin?" asked Letty. 
 
 Uncle Isham pushed his stool back and started to 
 his feet with a noise which woke Plez, who had 
 been soundly sleeping on the other side of the fire 
 place ; and striding to the door, the old man went 
 
48 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 out into the open air. Returning in less than a 
 minute, he put his head into the doorway and ad 
 dressed the astonished woman who had turned 
 around to look after him. "Look h yar, you Letty, 
 I don want to hear no sech fool talk bout ole miss. 
 You dunno ole miss, nohow. You only come h yar 
 seben year ago when dat Plez was trottin roun wid 
 nuffin but a little meal bag for clothes. Mahs John 
 had been dead a long time den ; you nebber knowed 
 Mahs John. You nebber was woke up at two 
 o clock in the mawnin wid de crack ob a pistol, an 
 run out spectin twas somebody stealin chickens an 
 Mahs John firm at em, an see ole miss a cuttin 
 for de road gate wid her white night-gown a floppin 
 in de win behind her, an when we got out to de 
 gate dar we see Mahs John a stannin up agin de 
 pos , not de pos wid de hinges on, but de pos wid 
 de hook on, an a hole in de top ob de head which 
 he made hese f wid de pistol. One-eyed Jim see de 
 whole thing. He war stealin cohn in de fiel on de 
 udder side de road. He see Mahs John come out 
 wid de pistol, an he lay low. Not dat it war Mahs 
 John s cohn dat he was stealin , but he knowed well 
 nuf dat Mahs John take jes as much car o he 
 neighbus cohn as he own. An den he see Mahs 
 John stan up agin de pos an shoot de pistol, an 
 he see Mahs John s soul come right out de hole in 
 de top ob his head an go straight up to heben like 
 a sky-racket." 
 
 " Wid a whizz ?" asked the open-eyed Letty." 
 " Like a sky-racket, I tell you," continued the old 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 49 
 
 man, " an den me an ole miss come up. She jes 
 tuk one look at him and then she said in a wice, 
 not like she own wice, but like Mahs John s wice, 
 wot had done gone forebber: You Jim, come out 
 o dat cohn and help carry him in ! And we free 
 carried him in. An you dunno ole miss, nohow, 
 an I don want to hear no fool talk from you, 
 Letty, bout her. Jes you member dat ! " 
 
 And with this Uncle Isham betook himself to the 
 solitude of his own cabin. 
 
 " Well," said Letty to herself, as she rose and ap 
 proached the bed in the corner of the room, " Ise 
 pow ful glad dat somebody s gwine to take de key 
 bahsket, for I nebber goes inter dat sto -room by 
 myse f widout tremblin all froo my back bone fear 
 ole miss come back, an fin me dar lone." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHEN Lawrence Croft now took his afternoon 
 walks in the city, he was very glad to wear a light 
 overcoat, and to button it, too. But, although the 
 air was getting a little nipping in New York, he 
 knew that it must still be balmy and enjoyable in 
 Virginia. He had never been down there at this 
 season, but he had heard about the Virginia au 
 tumns, and, besides he had seen a lady who had had 
 a letter from Roberta March. In this letter Miss 
 March had written that as her father intended mak 
 ing a trip to Texas, and, therefore, would not come 
 to New York as early as usual, she would stay at 
 least a month longer with her Uncle Brandon ; and 
 she was glad to do it, for the weather was perfectly 
 lovely, and she could stay out-of-doors all day if she 
 wanted to. 
 
 Lawrence s walks, although very invigorating on 
 account of the fine, sharp air, were not entirely cheer 
 ing, for they gave him an opportunity to think that 
 he was making no progress whatever in his attempt 
 to study the character of Junius Keswick. He had 
 intrusted the search for that gentleman s address to 
 Mr Candy s cashier, who had informed him, most 
 opportunely, that she was about to set out on a 
 wedding tour, and that she had possessed herself of 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 51 
 
 clues of much value which could be readily followed 
 up in connection with the projected journey. But a 
 fortnight or more had elapsed without his hearing 
 anything from her, and he had come to the con 
 clusion that hymeneal joys must have driven all 
 thoughts of business out of her little head. 
 
 After hearing that Roberta March intended pro 
 tracting her stay in the country the desire came to 
 him to go down there himself. He would like to 
 have the novel experience of that region in autumn, 
 and he would like to see Roberta, but he could not 
 help acknowledging to himself that the proceeding 
 would scarcely be a wise one, especially as he must 
 go without the desired safeguard of knowing what 
 kind of man Miss March had once been willing to 
 accept. He felt that if he went down to the neigh 
 borhood of Midbranch one of the battles of his life 
 would begin, and that when he held up before him 
 his figurative shield, he would see in its inner mirror 
 that, on account of his own disposition toward the 
 lady, he was in a condition of great peril. But, for 
 all that, he wanted very much to go, and no one will 
 be surprised to learn that he did go. 
 
 He was a little embarrassed at first in regard to 
 the pretext which he should make to himself for 
 such a journey. Whatever satisfactory excuse he 
 could make to himself in this case would, of course, 
 do for other people. Although he was not prone to 
 make excuses for his conduct to other people in 
 general, he knew he would have to give some reason 
 to Mr Brandon and Miss Roberta for his return to 
 
52 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Virginia so soon after having left it. He deter 
 mined to make a visit to the mountains of North 
 Carolina, and as Midbranch would lie in his way, of 
 course he would stop there. This he assured himself 
 was not a subterfuge. It was a very sensible thing 
 to do. He had a good deal of time on his hands 
 before the city season, at least for him, would begin, 
 and he had read that the autumn was an admirable 
 time to visit the country of the French Broad. 
 How long a stop he would make at Midbranch 
 would be determined by circumstances. He was 
 sorry that he would not be able to look upon Miss 
 Roberta with the advantage of knowing her former 
 lover, but it was something to know that she had 
 had a lover. With this fact in his mind he would 
 be able to form a better estimate of her than he 
 had formed before. 
 
 The man who lived in the cottage at the Green 
 Sulphur Springs was somewhat surprised when Mr 
 Croft arrived there, and desired to make arrange 
 ments, as before, for board, and the use of a saddle 
 horse. But, although it was not generally con 
 ceded, this man knew very well that there was no 
 water in the world so suitable to remedy the wear 
 and tear of a city life as that of the Green Sulphur 
 Springs, and therefore nobody could consider the 
 young gentleman foolish for coming back again 
 while the season permitted. 
 
 Lawrence arrived at his cottage in the morning ; 
 and early in the afternoon of the same day he rode 
 over to Midbranch. He found the country a good 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 53 
 
 deal changed, and he did not like the changes. His 
 road, which ran for much of its distance through the 
 woods, was covered with leaves, some green, and 
 some red and yellow, and he did not fancy the 
 peculiar smell of these leaves, which reminded him, 
 in some way, of that gathering together of the char 
 acters in old-fashioned comedies shortly before the 
 fall of the curtain. In many places where there 
 used to be a thick shade, the foliage was now quite 
 thin, and through it he could see a good deal of the 
 sky. The Virginia creepers, or " poison oaks," which 
 ever they were, were growing red upon the trunks 
 of the trees as if they had been at table too long 
 and showed it, and when he rode out of the woods 
 he saw that the fields, which he remembered as wide, 
 swelling slopes of green, with cattle and colts feed 
 ing here and there, were now being ploughed into 
 corrugated stretches of monotonous drab and brown. 
 If he had been there through all the gradual changes 
 of the season, he, probably, would have enjoyed them 
 as much as people ordinarily do ; but coming back 
 in this way, the altered landscape slightly shocked 
 him. 
 
 When he had turned into the Midbranch gate, 
 but was still a considerable distance from the house, 
 he involuntarily stopped his horse. He could see 
 the broad steps which crossed the fence of the lawn, 
 and on one side of the platform on the top sat a 
 lady whom he instantly recognized as Miss Roberta ; 
 and on the other side of the platform sat a gentle 
 man. These two occupied very much the same 
 
54 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 positions as Lawrence, himself, and Miss March 
 had occupied when we first became acquainted with 
 them. Lawrence looked very sharply and earnestly 
 at the gentleman. Could it be Mr Brandon ? No, 
 it was a much younger person. 
 
 His first impulse was to turn and ride away, but 
 this would be silly and unmanly, and he continued 
 his way to the stile. His disposition to treat the 
 matter with contempt made him feel how important 
 the matter was to him. The gentleman on the plat 
 form first saw Lawrence, and announced to the lady 
 that some one was coming. Miss March turned 
 around, and then rose to her feet. 
 
 " Upon my word ! " she exclaimed, elevating her 
 eyebrows a good deal more than was usual with 
 her, " if that isn t Mr Croft ! " 
 
 " Who is he? " asked the other, also rising. 
 
 " He is a New York gentleman whom I know 
 very well. He was down here last summer, but I 
 can t imagine what brings him here again." 
 
 Lawrence dismounted, tied his horse, and ap 
 proached the steps. Miss Roberta welcomed him 
 cordially, coming down a little way to shake hands 
 with him. Then she introduced the two gentlemen. 
 
 " Mr Croft," she said, let me make you ac 
 quainted with Mr Keswick." 
 
 The afternoon, or the portion of it that was left, 
 was spent on the porch, Mr Brandon joining the 
 party. It was to him that Lawrence chiefly talked, 
 for the most part about the game and scenery of 
 North Carolina, with which the old gentleman was 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 55 
 
 quite familiar. But Lawrence had sufficient regard 
 for himself and his position in the eyes of this 
 family, to help make a good deal of general con 
 versation. What he said or heard, however, occu 
 pied only the extreme corners of his mind, the main 
 portion of which was entirely filled with the chilling 
 fear that that man might be the Keswick he was 
 looking for. Of course, there was a bare chance 
 that it was not, for there might be a numerous 
 family, but even this little stupid glimmer of com 
 fort was extinguished when Mr Brandon familiarly 
 addressed the gentleman as " Junius." 
 
 Lawrence took a good look at the man he was 
 anxious to study, and as far as outward appearances 
 were concerned he could find no fault with Roberta 
 for having accepted him. He was taller than Croft, 
 and not so correctly dressed. He seemed to be a per 
 son whom one would select as a companion for a hunt, 
 a sail, or a talk upon Political Economy. There was 
 about him an air of present laziness, but it was also 
 evident that this was a disposition that could easily 
 be thrown off. 
 
 Lawrence s mind was not only very much occupied, 
 but very much perturbed. It must have been all a 
 mistake about the engagement having been broken 
 off. If this had been the case, the easy friendliness 
 of the relations between Keswick and the old gentle 
 man and his niece would have been impossible. Once 
 or twice the thought came to Lawrence that he 
 should congratulate himself for not having avowed 
 his feelings toward Miss Roberta when he had an 
 
56 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 opportunity of doing so ; but his predominant 
 emotion was one of disgust with his previous mode 
 of action. If he had not weighed and considered 
 the matter so carefully, and had been willing to take 
 his chances as other men take them, he would, at 
 least, have known in what relation he stood to Rob 
 erta, and would not have occupied the ridiculous 
 position in which he now felt himself to be. 
 
 When he took his leave, Roberta went with him 
 to the stile. As they walked together across the 
 smooth, short grass, a new set of emotions arose in 
 Lawrence s mind which drove out every other. 
 They were grief, chagrin, and even rage, at not hav 
 ing won this woman. As to actual speech, there 
 was nothing he could say, although his soul boiled 
 and bubbled within him in his desire to speak. But 
 if he had anything to say, now was his chance, for 
 he had told them that he would proceed with his 
 journey the next day. 
 
 Miss Roberta had a way of looking up, and look 
 ing down at the same time, particularly when she 
 had asked a question and was waiting for the answer. 
 Her face would be turned a little down, but her eyes 
 would look up and give a very charming expression 
 to those upturned eyes ; and if she happened to allow 
 the smile, with which she ceased speaking, to remain 
 upon her pretty lips, she generally had an answer of 
 some sort very soon. If for no other reason, it 
 would be given that she might ask another question. 
 It was in this manner she said to Lawrence : " Do 
 you really go away from us to-morrow? " 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 57 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I shall push on." 
 
 " Do you not find the country very beautiful at 
 this season ? " asked Miss Roberta, after a few steps 
 in silence. 
 
 " I don t like autumn," answered Lawrence. 
 " Everything is drying up and dying. I would 
 rather see things dead." 
 
 Roberta looked at him without turning her head. 
 " But it will be just as bad in North Carolina," she 
 said. 
 
 " There is an autumn in ourselves," he answered, 
 " just as much as there is in Nature. I won t see 
 so much of that down there." 
 
 " In some cases," said Roberta, slowly, "autumn 
 is impossible." 
 
 They had reached the bottom of the steps, and 
 Lawrence turned and looked toward her. " Do you 
 mean," he asked, " when there has been no real 
 summer? " 
 
 Roberta laughed. " Of course," said she, " if there 
 has been no summer there can be no autumn. But 
 you know there are places where it is summer all 
 the time. Would you like to live in such a clime ? " 
 
 Lawrence Croft put one foot on the step, and 
 then he drew it back. " Miss March," said he, " my 
 train does not leave until the afternoon, and I am 
 coming over here in the morning to have one more 
 walk in the woods with you. May I ? " 
 
 "Certainly," she said, " I shall be delighted ; that 
 is, if you can overlook the fact that it is autumn." 
 
 When Miss Roberta returned to the house she 
 
58 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 found Junius Keswick sitting on a bench on the 
 porch. She went over to him, and took a seat at 
 the other end of the bench. 
 
 " So your gentleman is gone/ he said. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, " but only for the present. 
 He is coming back in the morning." 
 
 " What for ? " asked Keswick, a little abruptly. 
 
 Miss Roberta took off her hat, for there was no 
 need of a hat on a shaded porch, and holding it by 
 the ribbons, she let it gently slide down toward her 
 feet. " He is coming," she said, speaking rather 
 slowly, " to take a walk with me, and I know very 
 well that when we have reached some place where 
 he is sure there is no one to hear him, he is going 
 to tell me that he loves me ; that he did not intend 
 to speak quite so soon, but that circumstances have 
 made it impossible for him to restrain himself any 
 longer, and he will ask me to be his wife." 
 
 " And what are you going to say to him ? " asked 
 Keswick. 
 
 " I don t know," replied Roberta, her eyes fixed 
 upon the hat which she still held by its long rib 
 bons. 
 
 The next morning Junius Keswick, who had been 
 up a long, long time before breakfast, sat, after that 
 meal, looking at Roberta who was reading a book in 
 the parlor. " She is a strange girl," thought he. " I 
 cannot understand her. How is it possible that she 
 can sit there so placidly reading that volume of 
 Huxley, which I know she never saw before and 
 which she has opened just about the middle, on a 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 59 
 
 morning when she is expecting a man who will say 
 things to her which may change her whole life. I 
 could almost imagine that she has forgotten all 
 about it." 
 
 Peggy, who had just entered the room to inform 
 her mistress that Aunt Judy was ready for her, 
 stood in rigid uprightness, her torpid eyes settled 
 upon the lady. " I reckon," so ran the thought 
 within the mazes of her dark little interior, u dat 
 Miss Rob s wuss disgruntled dan she was dat 
 ebenin when I make my cake, fur she got two 
 dif ent kinds o shoes on." 
 
 The morning went on, and Keswick found that 
 he must go out again for a walk, although he had 
 rambled several miles before breakfast. After her 
 household duties had been completed, Miss Roberta 
 took her book out to the porch ; and about noon 
 when her uncle came out and made some remarks 
 upon the beauty of the day, she turned over the 
 page at which she had opened the volume just after 
 breakfast. An hour later Peggy brought her some 
 luncheon, and felt it to be her duty to inform Miss 
 Rob that she still wore one old boot and a new 
 one. When Roberta returned to the porch after 
 making a suitable change, she found Keswick there 
 looking a little tired. 
 
 " Has your friend gone ? " he asked, in a very 
 quiet tone. 
 
 " He has not come yet," she answered. 
 
 " Not come ! " exclaimed Keswick. " That s odd ! 
 However, there are two hours yet before dinner." 
 
 
60 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 The two hours passed and no Lawrence Croft 
 appeared ; nor came he at all that day. About 
 dusk the man at the Green Sulphur Springs rode 
 over with a note from Mr Croft. The note was to 
 Miss March, of course, and it simply stated that 
 the writer was very sorry he could not keep the 
 appointment he had made with her, but that it 
 had suddenly become necessary for him to return 
 to the North without continuing the journey he 
 had planned ; that he was much grieved to be de 
 prived of the opportunity of seeing her again ; but 
 that he would give himself the pleasure, at the 
 earliest possible moment, of calling on Miss March 
 when she arrived in New York. 
 
 When Miss Roberta had read this note she handed 
 it to Keswick, who, when he returned it, asked : 
 " Does that suit you ? " 
 
 4< No/ said she, " it does not suit me at all." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IT was mail day at the very small village known 
 as Hewlett s, and to the fence in front of the post- 
 office were attached three mules and a horse. In 
 side the yard, tied to the low bough of a tree, was a 
 very lean and melancholy horse, on which had lately 
 arrived Wesley Green, the negro man who, twice a 
 week, brought the mail from Pocohontas, a railway 
 station, twenty miles away. There was a station 
 not six miles from Hewlett s, but, for some reason, 
 the mail bag was always brought from and carried to 
 Pocohontas ; Wesley Green requiring a whole day 
 for a deliberate transit between the two points. 
 
 In the post-office, which was the front room of a 
 small wooden house approached by a high flight of 
 steps, was the postmistress, Miss Harriet Corvey, 
 who sat on the floor in one corner, while before her 
 extended a semicircle of men and boys. In this 
 little assemblage certain elderly men occupied seats 
 which were considered to belong to them quite as 
 much as if they had been hired pews in a church, 
 and behind them stood up a row of tall young men 
 and barefooted boys of the neighborhood, while, 
 farthest in the rear, were some quiet little darkies 
 with mail bags slung across their shoulders. 
 
 On a chair to the right, and most convenient to 
 
62 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Miss Harriet, sat old Madison Chalkley, the biggest 
 and most venerable citizen of the neighborhood. Mr 
 Chalkley never, by any chance, got a letter, the only 
 mail matter he received being, " The Southern Bap 
 tist Recorder," which came on Saturdays, but, like 
 most of the people present, he was at the post- 
 office every mail day to see who got anything. Next 
 to him sat Colonel Iston, a tall, lean, quiet old 
 gentleman, who had, for a long series of years, oc 
 cupied the position of a last apple on a tree. He 
 had no relatives, no friends with whom he corre 
 sponded, no business that was not conducted by 
 word of mouth. In the last fifteen years he had re 
 ceived but one letter, and that had so surprised him 
 that he carried it about with him three days before 
 he opened it, and then he found that it was really 
 intended for a gentleman of the same name in 
 another county. And yet everybody knew that if 
 Colonel Iston failed to appear in his place on mail 
 day, it would be because he was dead or prostrated 
 by sickness. 
 
 With the mail bag on the floor at her left, 
 Miss Harriet, totally oblivious of any law for 
 bidding the opening of the mails in public, would 
 put her hand into its open mouth, draw forth a letter 
 or a paper, hold it up in front of her spectacles, and 
 call out the name of its owner. Most of the letters 
 went to the black boys with the mail bags who came 
 from country houses in the neighborhood, but who 
 ever received letter, journal, or agricultural circular, 
 received also at the same time the earnest gaze of 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 63 
 
 everybody else in the room. Sometimes there was 
 a letter for which there was no applicant present 
 and then Miss Harriet would say : " Is anybody go 
 ing past Mrs Willis Summerses ? " And if any 
 body was, he would take the letter, and it is to be 
 hoped he remembered to deliver it in the course of a 
 week. 
 
 In spite of the precautions of the postmistress 
 uncalled for letters would gradually accumulate, 
 and there was a little bundle of these in one of the 
 few pigeon holes in a small desk in the corner of the 
 room, in the drawer of which the postage stamps 
 were kept. Now and then a registered letter would 
 arrive, and this always created considerable sensa 
 tion in the room, and if the legal recipient did not 
 happen to be present, Miss Harriet never breathed 
 a quiet breath until he or she had been sent for, had 
 taken the letter, and given her a receipt. Sometimes 
 she sat up as late as eleven o clock at night on mail 
 days, hoping that some one who had been sent for 
 would arrive to relieve her of a registered letter. 
 
 All the mail matter had been distributed, every 
 body but Mr Madison Chalkley had left the room ; 
 and when the old gentleman, as was his wont on 
 the first day of the month, had gone up to the desk, 
 untied the bundle of uncalled-for letters, the outer 
 ones permanently rounded by the tightness of the 
 cord, and after carefully looking over them, one by 
 one, had made his usual remark about the folly of 
 people who wouldn t stay in a place until their 
 letters could get to them, had tied up the bundle 
 
64 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 and taken his departure; then Miss Harriet put the 
 empty mail bag under the desk, and went up-stairs 
 where an old lady sat by the window, sewing in the 
 fading light. 
 
 " No letters for you to-day, Mrs Keswick," said 
 she. 
 
 " Of course not," was the answer, " I didn t ex 
 pect any." 
 
 " Don t you think," said Miss Harriet, taking a 
 seat opposite the old lady, " that it is about time 
 for you to go home and attend to your affairs ? " 
 
 " Well, upon my word ! " said Mrs Keswick, let 
 ting her hands and her work fall in her lap, " that s 
 truly hospitable. I didn t expect it of you, Harriet 
 Corvey." 
 
 " I wouldn t have said it," returned the postmis 
 tress, " if I hadn t felt dead certain that you knew 
 you were always welcome here. But Tony Miles 
 told me, just before the mail came in, that the lady 
 who s at your place is running it herself, and that 
 she s going to use pickle brine for a fertilizer." 
 
 " Very likely," said Mrs Keswick, her face totally 
 unmoved by this intelligence " very likely. That s 
 the way they used to do in ancient times, or some 
 thing of the same kind. They used to sow salt 
 over their enemy s land so that nothing would ever 
 grow there. That woman s family has sowed salt 
 over the lands of me and mine for three generations, 
 and it s quite natural she should come here to finish 
 up." 
 
 There was a little silence after this, and then Miss 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 65 
 
 Harriet remarked : "Your people must know where 
 you are. Why don t they come and tell you about 
 these things ? " 
 
 " They know better/ answered Mrs Keswick, 
 with a grim smile. " I went away once before, and 
 Uncle Isham hunted me up, and he got a lesson 
 that he ll never forget. When I want them to 
 know where I am, I ll tell them." 
 
 " But really and truly " said Miss Harriet " and 
 you know I only speak to you for your own good, 
 for you pay your board here, and if you didn t 
 you d be just as welcome do you intend to keep 
 away from your own house as long as that lady 
 chooses to stay there ? " 
 
 " Exactly so long," answered the old lady. " I 
 shall not keep them out of my house if they choose 
 to come to it. No member of my family ever did 
 that. There is the house, and they are free to enter 
 it, but they shall not find me there. If there was 
 any reason to believe that everything was dropped 
 and done with, I would be as glad to see him as any 
 body could be, but I knew from his letter just what 
 he was going to say when he came, and as things 
 have turned out, I see that it was all worse than I 
 expected. He and Roberta March were both com 
 ing, and they thought that together they could 
 talk me down, and make me forgive and be happy, 
 and all that stuff. But as I wasn t there, of course 
 he wouldn t stay, and so there she is now by herself. 
 She thinks I must come home after a while, and the 
 minute I do that, back he ll come, and then they ll 
 5 
 
66 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 have just what they wanted. But I reckon she ll 
 find that I can stick it out just as long as she can. If 
 Roberta March turns things upside down there, it ll 
 be because she can t keep her hands out of mischief, 
 and that proves that she belongs to her own family. 
 If there s any harm done, it don t matter so much 
 to me, and it will be worse for him in the end. 
 And now, Harriet Corvey, if you ve got to make up 
 the mail to go away early in the morning, you d bet 
 ter have supper over and get about it." 
 
 Meanwhile, at Mrs Keswick s house Mrs Null 
 was acting just as conscientiously as she knew how. 
 She had had some conversations with Freddy on the 
 subject, and she had assured him, and at the same 
 time herself, that what she was doing was the only 
 thing that could be done. " It was dreadfully hard 
 for me to get the money to come down here," she 
 said to him, " you not helping me a bit, as ordinary 
 husbands do and I can t afford to go back until I 
 have accomplished something. It s very strange 
 that she stays away so long, without telling anybody 
 where she has gone to, but I know she is queer, and 
 I suppose she has her own reasons for what she 
 does. She can t be staying away on my account, 
 for she doesn t know who I am, and wouldn t have 
 any objections to me if she did know. I suspect it 
 is something about Junius which keeps her away, 
 and I suppose she thinks he is still here. But one 
 of them must soon come back, and if I can see him, 
 or find out from her where he is, it will be all right. 
 It seems to me, Freddy, that if I could have a good 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 67 
 
 talk with Junius things would begin to look better 
 for you and me. And then I want to put him on 
 his guard about this gentleman who is looking for 
 him. By the way, I suppose I ought to write a 
 letter to Mr Croft, or he ll think I have given up 
 the job, and will set somebody else on the track, and 
 that is what I don t want him to do. I can t say 
 that I have positively anything to report, but I can 
 say that I have strong hopes of success, considering 
 where I am. As soon as I found that Junius had 
 really left the North, I concluded that this would 
 be the best place to come to for him. And now, 
 Freddy, there s nothing for us to do but to v/ait, and 
 if we can make ourselves useful here I m sure we 
 will be glad to do it. We both hate being lazy, and 
 a little housekeeping and farm managing will be 
 good practice for us during our honeymoon." 
 
 Putting on her hat, she went down into the 
 garden where uncle Isham was at work. She could 
 find little to do there, for he was merely pulling 
 turnips, and she could see nothing to suggest in re 
 gard to his method of work. She had found, too, 
 that the old negro had not much respect for her 
 agricultural opinions. He attended to his work as 
 if his mistress had been at home, and although, in re 
 gard to the ploughing, he had carried out the orders 
 of Mrs Null, he had done it because it ought to be 
 done, and because he was very glad for some one 
 else to take the responsibility. 
 
 " Uncle Isham," said she, after she had watched 
 the process of turnip pulling for a few minutes, " if 
 
68 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 you haven t anything else to do when you get 
 through with this, you might come up to the house, 
 and I will talk to you about the flower beds, I sup 
 pose they ought to be made ready for the winter." 
 
 " Miss Null," said the old man, slowly unbending 
 his back, and getting himself upright, " dar s allus 
 sumfin else to do. Eber sence I was fus bawn dar 
 was sumfin else to do, an I spec s it ll keep on dat 
 ar way till de day I dies." 
 
 " Of course there will be nothing else to do then 
 but to die," observed Mrs Null ; " but I hope that 
 day is far off, Uncle I sham." 
 
 " Dunno bout dat, Miss Null," said he. " But 
 den some people do lib dreffle long. Look at ole 
 Aun Patsy. Ise got to live a long time afore I s as 
 ole as Aun Patsy is now." 
 
 "You don t mean to say," exclaimed Mrs Null, 
 " that Aunt Patsy is alive yet ! " 
 
 " Ob course she is. Miss Null/ said Uncle Isham. 
 " If she d died sence you ve been here we d a tole 
 you, sartin. She was gwine to die las week, but two 
 or free days don make much dif rence to Aun 
 Patsy, she done lib so long anyhow." 
 
 " Aunt Patsy alive ! " exclaimed Mrs Null again. 
 " I m going straight off to see her." 
 
 When she had reached the house, and had in 
 formed Letty where she was going, the rotund 
 maid expressed high approbation of the visit, and 
 offered to send Plez to show Miss Null the way. 
 
 " I don t need any one to go with me," said that 
 lady, and away she started. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 69 
 
 "She don neber want nobody to show her no- 
 whar," said Plez, returning with looks of much dis 
 approbation to his business of peeling potatoes for 
 dinner. 
 
 When Mrs Null reached the cabin of Aunt Patsy, 
 after about fifteen minutes walk, she entered with 
 out ceremony, and found the old woman sitting on 
 a very low chair by the window, with the much- 
 talked-of, many-colored quilt in her lap. Her white 
 woolly head was partially covered with a red and 
 yellow handkerchief, and an immense pair of iron- 
 bound spectacles obstructed the view of her small 
 black face, lined and seamed in such a way that it 
 appeared to have shrunk to half its former size. In 
 her long, bony fingers, rusty black on the outside, 
 and a very pale tan on the inside, she held a coarse 
 needle and thread and a corner of the quilt. Near 
 by, in front of a brick-paved fireplace, was one of 
 her great-granddaughters, a girl about eighteen 
 years old, who was down upon her hands and knees, 
 engaged with lungs, more powerful than ordinary 
 bellows, in blowing into flame a coal upon the 
 hearth. 
 
 "How d ye Aunt Patsy?" said Mrs Null. "I 
 didn t expect to see you looking so well." 
 
 " Dat s Miss Null," said the girl, raising her eyes 
 from the fire, and addressing her ancestor. 
 
 The old woman stuck her needle into the quilt, 
 and reached out her hand to her visitor, who took 
 it cordially. 
 
 "How d ye, miss?" said Aunt Patsy, in a thin 
 
70 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 but quite firm voice, while the young woman got up 
 and brought Mrs Null a chair, very short in the legs, 
 very high in the back, and with its split-oak bottom 
 very much sunken. 
 
 " How are you feeling to-day, Aunt Patsy ? " asked 
 Mrs Null, gazing with much interest on the aged face. 
 
 " Bout as common," replied the old woman. " I 
 didn t spec to be libin dis week, but I ain t got my 
 quilt done yit, an I can t go mong de angels wrop 
 in a shroud wid one corner off." 
 
 " Certainly not," answered Mrs Null. "Haven t 
 you pieces enough to finish it ? " 
 
 " Oh, yaas, I got bits enough, but de trouble is to 
 sew em up. I can t sew very fas nowadays." 
 
 " It s a pity for you to have to do it yourself," 
 said Mrs Null. " Can t this young person, your 
 daughter, do it for you ? " 
 
 " Dat s not my darter," said the old woman. 
 " Dat s my son Tom s yaller boy Bob s chile. Bob s 
 dead. She can t do no sewin for me. I m not 
 gwine ter hab folks sayin , Aun Patsy done got so 
 ole she can t do her own sewin ." 
 
 "If you are not going to die till you get your 
 quilt finished, Aunt Patsy," said Mrs Null, " I hope 
 it won t be done for a long time." 
 
 " Don do to be waitin too long, Miss. De fus 
 thing you know some udder culled pusson ll be 
 dyin wrop up in a quilt like dis, and git dar fus . 
 
 Mrs Null now looked about her with much in 
 terest, and asked many questions in regard to the 
 old woman s comfort and ailments. To these the 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 71 
 
 answers, though on the whole satisfactory, were 
 quite short, Aunt Patsy, apparently, much prefer 
 ring to look at her visitor than to talk to her. And 
 a very pretty young woman she was to look at, with 
 a face which had grown brighter and plumper dur 
 ing every day of her country sojourn. 
 
 When Mrs Null had gone, promising to send 
 Aunt Patsy something nice to eat, the old woman 
 turned to her great-grand-daughter, and said, " Did 
 anybody come wid her?" 
 
 " Nobody corned/ said the girl. " Reckon she 
 done git herse f los some o dese days." 
 
 The old woman made no answer, but folding up 
 the maniac coverlid, she handed it to the girl, and 
 told her to put it away. 
 
 That night Uncle Isham, by Mrs Null s orders, 
 carried to Aunt Patsy a basket, containing various 
 good things considered suitable for an aged colored 
 woman without teeth. 
 
 "Miss Annie sen dese h yar?" asked the old 
 woman, taking the basket and lifting the lid. 
 
 " Miss Annie ! " exclaimed Uncle Isham. " Who 
 she ? " 
 
 " Git out, Uncle Isham ! " said Aunt Patsy, some 
 what impatiently. " She was h yar dis mawnin ." 
 
 "Dat was Miss Null," said Isham. 
 
 " Miss Annie all de same," said Aunt Patsy, " on y 
 growed up an married. D ye mean to stan dar, 
 Uncle Isham, an tell me you don know de little 
 gal wot Mahs John use ter carry in he arms ter feed 
 de tukkies?" 
 
72 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " She and she m udder dead long ago/ said Isham. 
 " You is pow ful ole, Aun Patsy, an you done forgit 
 dese things." 
 
 " Done forgit nuffin," curtly replied the old woman. 
 " Don tell me no moh fool stuff. Dat Miss Annie, 
 growed up an married." 
 
 " Did she tell you dat?" asked Isham. 
 
 " She didn t tell me nuffin . She kep her mouf 
 shet bout dat, an I kep my mouf shet. Don talk 
 to me ! Dat s Miss Annie, shuh as shootin . Ef she 
 hadn t fotch nuffin long wid her but her eyes I d a 
 knowed dem ; same ole eyes dey all had. An sides 
 dat, you fool Isham, ef she not Miss Annie, wot she 
 come down h yar fur?" 
 
 " Neber thinked o dat ! " said Uncle Isham, re 
 flectively. " Ef you s so pow ful shuh, Aun Patsy, 
 I reckon dat is Miss Annie. Couldn t spec me to 
 member her. I wasn t much up at de house in 
 dem times, an she was took away fore I give much 
 tention ter her." 
 
 " Don ole miss know she dar? " asked Aunt Patsy. 
 
 " She dunno nuffin bout it," answered Isham. 
 "She s stayin away cos she think Mahs Junius dar 
 yit." 
 
 " Why don you tell her, now you knows it s Miss 
 Annie wot s dar?" 
 
 "You don ketch me tellin her nuffin ," replied 
 the old man shaking his head. "Wish you was 
 spry nuf ter go, Aun Patsy. She d b lieve you ; 
 an she couldn t rar an charge inter a ole pusson 
 like you, nohow." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 73 
 
 " Ain t dar nobody else in dis h yar place to go 
 tell her ? " asked Aunt Patsy. 
 
 " Not a pusson," was Isham s decided answer. 
 
 " Well den I is spry nuf ! " exclaimed Aunt Patsy, 
 with a vigorous nod of her head which sent her 
 spectacles down to her mouth, displaying a pair of 
 little eyes sparkling with a fire, long thought to be 
 extinct. " Ef you ll carry me dar, to Miss Harriet 
 Corvey s, I ll tell ole miss myse f. I didn t spec to 
 go out dat dohr till de fun ral, but I ll go dis time. 
 I spected dar was sumfin crooked when Miss Annie 
 didn t tole me who she was. Ise not feared to tell 
 ole miss, an you jes carry me up dar, Uncle Isham." 
 
 " I ll do dat," said the old man, much delighted 
 with the idea of doing something which he supposed 
 would remove the clouds which overhung the house 
 hold of his mistress. " I ll fotch de hoss an de 
 spring waggin an dribe you ober dar." 
 
 " No, you don do no sech thing ! " exclaimed 
 Aunt Patsy,, angrily. " I ain t gwine to hab no hosses 
 to run away, an chuck me out on de road. Ef you 
 kin fotch de oxen an de cart, I go long wid you, 
 but I don want no hosses." 
 
 " Dat s fus rate," said Isham. " I ll fotch de ox 
 cart, an carry you ober. When you want ter go ? " 
 
 " Dunno jes now," said Aunt Patsy, pushing 
 away a block of wood which served for a footstool, 
 and making elaborate preparations to rise from her 
 chair. " I ll sen fur you when I s ready." 
 
 The next morning was a very busy one for Aunt 
 Patsy s son Tom s yellow boy Bob s child ; and by 
 
74 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 afternoon it was necessary to send for two colored 
 women from a neighboring cabin to assist in the pre 
 parations which Aunt Patsy was making for her pro 
 jected visit. An old hair covered trunk, which had 
 not been opened for many years, was brought out, 
 and the contents exposed to the unaccustomed light 
 of day ; two coarse cotton petticoats were exhumed 
 and ordered to be bleached and ironed ; a yellow 
 flannel garment of the same nature was put aside to 
 be mended with some red pieces which were rolled 
 up in it ; out of several yarn stockings of various 
 ages and lengths two were selected as being pretty 
 much alike, and laid by to be darned ; an old black 
 frock with full " bishop sleeves, "a good deal mended 
 and dreadfully wrinkled, was given to one of the 
 neighbors, expert in such matters, to be ironed ; 
 and the propriety of making use of various other 
 ancient duds was eagerly and earnestly discussed. 
 Aunt Patsy, whose vitality had been wonderfully 
 aroused, now that there was some opportunity for 
 making use of it, spent nearly two hours turning 
 over, examining, and reflecting upon a pair of old- 
 fashioned corsets, which, although they had been 
 long cherished, she had never worn. She now hoped 
 that the occasion for their use had at last arrived, 
 but the utter impossibility of getting herself into 
 them was finally made apparent to her, and she 
 mournfully returned them to the trunk. 
 
 Washing, starching, ironing, darning, patching, and 
 an immense deal of talk and consultation, occupied 
 that and a good deal of the following day, the rest 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 75 
 
 of which was given up to the repairing of an im 
 mense pair of green baize shoes, without which Aunt 
 Patsy could not be persuaded to go into the outer 
 air. It was Saturday morning when she began to 
 dress for the trip, and although Isham, wearing a 
 high silk hat, and a long black coat which had once 
 belonged to a clergyman, arrived with the ox cart 
 about noon, the old woman was not ready to start 
 till two or three hours afterward. Her assistants, 
 who had increased in number, were active and 
 assiduous. Aunt Patsy was very particular as to the 
 manner of her garbing, and gave them a great deal 
 of trouble. It had been fifteen years since she had 
 set foot outside of her house, and ten more since 
 she had ridden in any kind of vehicle. This was a 
 great occasion, and nothing concerning it was to be 
 considered lightly. 
 
 " Tain t right," she said to Uncle Isham when he 
 arrived, " fur a pow ful ole pusson like me to set out 
 on a jarney ob dis kin thout ligious sarvices. Tain t 
 spectable." 
 
 Uncle Isham rubbed his head a good deal at this 
 remark. " Dunno wot we gwine to do bout dat," 
 he said. " Brudder Jeemes lib free miles off, an 
 mos like he s out ditchin . Couldn t git him h yar 
 dis ebenin , nohow." 
 
 " Well den," said Aunt Patsy, " you conduc sar 
 vices yourse f, Uncle Isham, an we kin have prar 
 meetin , anyhow." 
 
 Uncle Isham having consented to this, he put his 
 oxen under the care of a small boy, and collecting 
 
76 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 in Aunt Patsy s room the five colored women and 
 girls who were in attendance upon her, he con 
 ducted " prars," making an extemporaneous petition 
 which comprehended all the probable contingencies 
 of the journey, even to the accident of the right 
 wheel of the cart coming off, which the old man 
 very reverently asserted that he would have lynched 
 with a regular pin instead of a broken poker handle, 
 if he could have found one. After the prayer, with 
 which Aunt Patsy signified her entire satisfaction 
 by frequent Amens, the company joined in the 
 vigorous singing of a hymn, in which they stated 
 that they were " gwine down to Jurdun, an tho 
 the road is rough, when once we shuh we git dar, 
 we all be glad enough ; de rocks an de stones, an* 
 de jolts to de bones will be nufrin to de glory an 
 de jiy." 
 
 The hymn over, Uncle Isham clapped on his 
 hat, and hurried menacingly after the small boy, 
 who had let the oxen wander along the roadside 
 until one wheel of the cart was nearly in the ditch. 
 Aunt Patsy now partook of a collation, consisting 
 of a piece of hoe-cake dipped in pork fat, and a cup 
 of coffee, which having finished, she declared herself 
 ready to start. A chair was put into the cart, and 
 secured by ropes to keep it from slipping; and then, 
 with two women on one side and Uncle Isham on 
 the other, while another woman stood in the cart 
 to receive and adjust her, she was placed in posi 
 tion. 
 
 Once properly disposed she presented a figure 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 77 
 
 which elicited the lively admiration of her friends, 
 whose number was now increased by the arrival of 
 a couple of negro boys on mules, who were going 
 to the post-office, it being Saturday, and mail day. 
 Around Aunt Patsy s shoulders was a bright blue 
 worsted shawl, and upon her head a voluminous 
 turban of vivid red and yellow. Since their eman 
 cipation, the negroes in that part of the country 
 had discarded the positive and gaudy colors that 
 were their delight when they were slaves, and had 
 transferred their fancy to delicate pinks, pale blues, 
 and similar shades. But Aunt Patsy s ideas about 
 dress were those of by-gone days, and she was too 
 old now to change them, and her brightest hand 
 kerchief had been selected for her head on this im 
 portant day. Above her she held a parasol, which 
 had been graciously loaned by her descendant of 
 the fourth generation. It was white, and lined 
 w r ith pink, and on the edges still lingered some 
 fragments of cotton lace. 
 
 Uncle Isham now took his position by the side 
 of his oxen, and started them ; and slowly creaking, 
 Aunt Patsy s vehicle moved off, followed by the 
 two boys on mules, three colored women and two 
 girls on foot, and by two little black urchins who 
 were sometimes on foot, but invariably on the tail 
 of the cart when they could manage to evade the 
 backward turn of Uncle Isham s eye. 
 
 " Ef I should go to glory on de road, Uncle 
 Isham/ said Aunt Patsy, as the right wheel of the 
 cart emerged from a rather awkward rut, " I don 
 
78 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 want no fuss made bout me. You kin jes bury me 
 in de clothes I got on, cep n de pararsol, ob course, 
 which is Liza s. Jes wrop de quilt all roun me, an 
 hab a extry size coffin. You needn t do nuffin 
 more n dat." 
 
 * Oh, you s not gwine to glory dis time, Aun 
 Patsy," replied Uncle Isham, who did not want to 
 encourage the idea of the old woman s departure 
 from life while in his ox cart. But after this re 
 mark of the old woman he was extraordinarily care 
 ful in regard to jolts and bumps. 
 
 When the procession reached the domain of Miss 
 Harriet Corvey, there was gathered inside the yard 
 quite a number of the usual attendants on mail days, 
 awaiting the arrival of Wesley Green with his wad 
 dling horse and leather bag. But all interest in the 
 coming of the mail was lost in the surprise and ad 
 miration excited by the astounding apparition of 
 old Aunt Patsy in the ox cart, attended by her 
 retinue. As the oxen, skilfully guided by Uncle 
 Isham s long prod, turned into the yard, everybody 
 came forward to find out the reason of this un 
 looked-for occurrence. Even old Madison Chalkley, 
 his stout legs swaddled in home-made overalls, dis 
 mounted from his horse, and Colonel Iston raised 
 his tall form from the porch step where he had 
 been sitting, and approached the cart. 
 
 " Upon my word," said a young fellow, with high 
 boots, slouched hat, and a riding whip, " if here ain t 
 old Aunt Patsy come after a letter ! Where do you 
 expect a letter from, Aunt Patsy ? " 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 79 
 
 The old woman fixed her spectacles on him for 
 an instant, and then said in a clear voice which 
 could be heard by all the little crowd : " Tain t from 
 nobody dat I owes any money to, nohow, Mahs Bill 
 Trimble." 
 
 A general laugh followed this rejoinder, and Uncle 
 Isham grinned with gratified pride in the enduring 
 powers of his charge. The old woman now put 
 down her parasol, and made as if she would descend 
 from the cart. 
 
 " You needn t git out, Aun Patsy," said several 
 negro boys at once. " We ll fotch your letters to 
 you." 
 
 " Git long wid you ! " said the old woman 
 angrily. " I didn t come here fur no letters. Ef 
 I wanted letters I d sen Liza fur em. Git out de 
 way." 
 
 A chair was now brought, and placed near the cart ; 
 a woman mounted into the vehicle to assist her ; 
 Uncle Isham and another colored man stood ready 
 to receive her, and Aunt Patsy began her descent. 
 This, to her mind, was a much more difficult and 
 dangerous proceeding than getting into the cart, 
 and she was very slow and cautious about it. First, 
 one of her great green baize feet was put over the 
 tail of the cart, and resting her weight upon the 
 two men, Aunt Patsy allowed it to descend to the 
 chair, where it was gradually followed by the other 
 foot. Having safely accomplished this much, the 
 old woman ejaculated : " Bress de Lor ! " When, 
 in the same prudent manner, she had reached the 
 
8o The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ground, she heaved a sigh of relief, and fervently ex 
 claimed: " De Lor be bressed ! " 
 
 Supported by Uncle Isham, and the other man, 
 Aunt Patsy now approached the steps. She was so 
 old, so little, so bowed, and so apparently feeble, 
 that several persons remonstrated with her for 
 attempting to go into the house when anything she 
 wanted would be gladly done for her. " Much 
 bliged," said the old woman, " but I don want no 
 letters nor nuffin . Fs come to make a call on de 
 white folks, an I s gwine in." 
 
 This announcement was received with a laugh, 
 and she was allowed to proceed without further hin 
 drance. She got up the porch steps without much 
 difficulty, her supporters taking upon themselves 
 most of the necessary exertion ; but when she reached 
 the top, she dispensed with their assistance. Shuf 
 fling to the front door, she there met Miss Harriet 
 Corvey, who greeted the old woman with much 
 surprise, but shook hands with her very cordially. 
 
 u Ebenin , Miss Har et," said Aunt Patsy. And 
 then, lowering her voice she asked : " Is ole miss 
 h yar?" 
 
 Miss Harriet hesitated a moment, and then she 
 answered : " Yes, she is, but I don t believe she ll 
 come down to see you." 
 
 "Oh, I ll go up-stars," said Aunt Patsy. "Whar 
 she ? " 
 
 " She s in the spare chamber," said Miss Harriet ; 
 and Aunt Patsy, with a nod of the head signifying 
 that she knew all about that room, crossed the hall, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 81 
 
 and began, slowly but steadily, to ascend the stairs. 
 Miss Harriet gazed upon her with amazement, for 
 Aunt Patsy had been considered chair-ridden when 
 the postmistress was a young woman. Arrived at 
 the end of her toilsome ascent, Aunt Patsy knocked 
 at the door of the spare chamber, and as the voice 
 of her old mistress said, " Come in ! " she went in. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHEN Lawrence Croft reached the Green Sul 
 phur Springs, after his interview with Miss March, 
 his soul was still bubbling and boiling with emotion, 
 and it continued in that condition all night, at least 
 during that great part of the night of which he was 
 conscious. The sight of the lady he loved, under 
 the new circumstances in which he found her, had 
 determined him to throw prudence and precaution 
 to the winds, and to ask her at once to be his wife. 
 
 But the next morning Lawrence arose very late. 
 His coffee had evidently been warmed over, and his 
 bacon had been cooked for a long, long time. The 
 world did not appear to him in a favorable light, 
 and he was obliged to smoke two cigars before he 
 was at all satisfied with it. While he was smoking 
 he did a good deal of thinking, and it was then that 
 he came to the conclusion that he would not go 
 over to Midbranch and propose to Roberta March. 
 Such precipitate action would be unjust to himself 
 and unjust to her. In her eyes it would probably 
 appear to be the act of a man who had been sud 
 denly spurred to action by the sight of a rival, and 
 this, if Roberta was the woman he believed her to 
 be, would prejudice her against him. And yet he 
 knew very well that these reasons would avail 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 83 
 
 nothing if he should see her as he intended. He 
 had found that he was much more in love with her 
 than he had supposed, and he felt positively certain 
 that the next time he was alone with her he would 
 declare his passion. 
 
 Another thing that he felt he should consider 
 was that the presence of Keswick, if looked upon 
 with a philosophic eye, was not a reason for im 
 mediate action. If the old engagement had posi 
 tively been broken off, he was at the house merely 
 as a family friend ; while, on the other hand, if the 
 rupture had not been absolute, and if Roberta really 
 loved this tall Southerner and wished to marry him, 
 there was a feeling of honor about Lawrence which 
 forbade him to interfere at this moment. When 
 she came to New York he would find out how 
 matters really stood, and then he would determine 
 on his own action. 
 
 And yet he would have proposed to Roberta that 
 moment if he had had the opportunity. Her per 
 sonal presence would have banished philosophy, and 
 even honor. 
 
 Lawrence was a long time in coming to these 
 conclusions, and it was late in the afternoon when 
 he despatched his note. Having now given up his 
 North Carolina trip one object of which had been 
 still another visit to Midbranch on his return he 
 was obliged to wait until the next day for a train to 
 the North ; and, consequently, he had another eve 
 ning to devote to reflections. These, after a time, be 
 came unsatisfactory. He had told the exact truth in 
 
84 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 his note to Roberta, for he felt that it was necessary 
 for him to leave that part of the country in order to 
 make impossible an interview for which he believed 
 the proper time had not arrived. He was consult 
 ing his best interests, and also, no doubt, those of 
 the lady. And yet, in spite of this reasoning, he 
 was not satisfied with himself. He felt that his 
 note was not entirely honest and true. There was 
 subterfuge about it, and something of duplicity. 
 This he believed was foreign to his nature, and he 
 did not like it. 
 
 Lawrence had scarcely finished his breakfast the 
 next morning when Mr Junius Keswick arrived at 
 the door of his cottage. This gentleman had walked 
 over from Midbranch and was a little dusty about 
 his boots and the lower part of his trousers. Law 
 rence greeted him politely, but was unable to re 
 strain a slight indication of surprise. It being more 
 pleasant on the porch than in the house, Mr Croft 
 invited his visitor to take a seat there, and the latter 
 very kindly accepted the cigar which was offered 
 him, although he would have preferred the pipe he 
 had in his pocket. 
 
 " I thought it possible," said Keswick, as soon as 
 the two had fairly begun to smoke, " that you might 
 not yet have left here, and so came over in the hope 
 of seeing you." 
 
 "Very kind," said Lawrence. 
 
 Keswick smiled. " I must admit," said he," that 
 it was not solely for the pleasure of meeting you 
 again that I came, although I am very glad to have 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 85 
 
 an opportunity for renewing our acquaintance. I 
 came because I am quite convinced that Miss March 
 wished very much to see you at the time arranged 
 between you, and that she was annoyed and dis 
 composed by your failure to keep your engagement. 
 Considering that you did not, and probably could 
 not, know this, I deemed I would do you a service 
 by informing you of the fact." 
 
 " Did Miss March send you to tell me this?" ex 
 claimed Lawrence. 
 
 " Miss March knows nothing whatever of my com 
 ing," was the answer. 
 
 " Then I must say, sir," exclaimed Lawrence, 
 " that you have taken a great deal upon yourself." 
 
 Keswick leaned forward, and after knocking off 
 the ashes of his cigar on the outside of the railing, 
 he replied in a tone quite unmoved by the reproach 
 of his companion : " It may appear so on the face 
 of it, but, in fact I am actuated only by a desire to 
 serve Miss March, for whom I would do any service 
 that I thought she desired. And, looking at it from 
 your side, I am sure that I would be very much 
 obliged to any one who would inform me, if I did 
 not know it, that a lady greatly wished to see me." 
 
 "Why does she want to see me?" asked Croft. 
 " What has she to say to me? " 
 
 " I do not know," said Keswick. " I only know 
 that she was very much disappointed in not seeing 
 you yesterday." 
 
 " If that is the case, she might have written to 
 me," said Lawrence. 
 
86 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I do not think you quite understand the situa 
 tion," observed his companion. " Miss March is not 
 a lady who would even intimate to a gentleman that 
 she wished him to come to her when it was obvious 
 that such was not his desire. But it seemed to me 
 that if the gentleman should become aware of the 
 lady s wishes through the medium of a third party, 
 the matter would arrange itself without difficulty." 
 
 " By the gentleman going to her, I suppose," 
 remarked Croft. 
 
 " Of course," said Keswick. 
 
 " There is no of course about it," was Lawrence s 
 rather quick reply. 
 
 At that moment some letters were brought to 
 him from a little post-office near by, to which he 
 had ordered his mail to be forwarded. As the ad 
 dress on one of these letters caught his eye, the 
 somewhat stern expression on his face gave place to 
 a smile, and begging his visitor to excuse him, he 
 put his other letters into his pocket, and opened this 
 one. It was very short, and was from Mr Candy s 
 cashier. It was written from Howlett s, Virginia, 
 a place unknown to him, and stated that the writer 
 expected in a very short time to give him some 
 accurate information in regard to Mr Keswick, and 
 expressed the hope that he would allow the affair to 
 remain entirely in her hands until she should write 
 again. It was quite natural that, under the circum 
 stances, Lawrence should smile broadly as he folded 
 up this note. The man in question was sitting be 
 side him, and, in a measure, was turning the tables 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 87 
 
 upon him. Lawrence had been very anxions to find 
 out what sort of a man was Keswick, and the latter 
 now seemed in the way of making some discoveries 
 in the same line in regard to Lawrence. One thing 
 he must certainly do ; he must write as soon as 
 possible to his enterprising agent, and tell her that 
 her services were no longer needed. She must have 
 pushed the matter with a great deal of energy to 
 have brought her down to Virginia, and he could 
 not help hoping that her discretion was equal to her 
 investigative capacity. 
 
 When, after this little interruption, Lawrence 
 again addressed Junius Keswick his manner was so 
 much more affable that the other could not fail but 
 notice it. 
 
 " Mr Keswick," he said, " as our conversation 
 seems to be based upon personalities, perhaps you 
 will excuse me if I ask you if I am mistaken in be 
 lieving that you were once engaged to be married to 
 Miss March ? " 
 
 " You are entirely correct," said Junius. " I was 
 engaged to her, and I hope to be engaged to her 
 again." 
 
 " Indeed ! " exclaimed Croft, turning in his chair 
 with a start. 
 
 u Yes," continued Keswick, u our engagement 
 was dissolved in consequence of a certain family 
 complication, and as I said before, I hope in time to 
 be able to renew it." 
 
 Lawrence threw away his cigar, and sat for a few 
 moments in thought. The engagement, then, did 
 
88 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 not exist. Roberta was free. Recollections came 
 to him of his own intercourse with her during the 
 past summer, and his heart gave a bound. " Mr 
 Keswick," said he, " upon consideration of the mat 
 ter I think I will call upon Miss March this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 If Keswick had expressed himself entirely satis 
 fied with this decision he would have done injustice 
 to his feelings. The service he had taken upon 
 himself to perform for Miss March he had consid 
 ered a duty, but if his mission had failed he would 
 have been better pleased than with its success. He 
 made, however, a courteous reply to Croft s remark, 
 and rose to depart. But this the other would not 
 allow. 
 
 " You told me," said Croft, " that you walked 
 over here ; but it is much warmer now, and you 
 must not think of such a thing as walking back. 
 The man here has a horse and buggy. I will get 
 him to harness up, and I will drive you over to 
 Midbranch." 
 
 As there was no good reason why he should de 
 cline this offer, Junius accepted it, and in half an 
 hour the two were on their way. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OLD Mr Brandon of Midbranch was not in a very 
 happy frame of mind, and he had good reasons for 
 dissatisfaction. He was an ardent supporter of a 
 marriage between his niece and Junius Keswick ; and 
 when the engagement had been broken off he had 
 considered that both these young people had acted 
 in a manner very foolish and contrary to their best 
 interests. There was no opposition to the match 
 except from old Mrs Keswick, who was the aunt of 
 Junius, but who considered herself as occupying the 
 position of a mother. Junius was the son of a 
 sister who had also married into the Keswick family, 
 and his parents having died while he was a boy, his 
 aunt had taken him under her charge, and her house 
 had then became his home ; although of late years 
 some of his absences had been long ones. Mrs Kes 
 wick had no personal objections to Roberta, never 
 having seen that lady, and knowing little of her ; but 
 an alliance between her Junius and any member of 
 that branch of the Brandons, " which," to use the old 
 lady s own words, " had for four generations cheated, 
 stripped, and scornfully used my people, scattering 
 their atoms over the face of three counties," was 
 monstrous. Nothing could make her consent to 
 such an enormity, and she had informed Junius that 
 
90 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 if he married that March girl three of them should 
 live together himself, his wife, and her undying 
 curse. In order that Miss March might not fail to 
 hear of this post-connubial arrangement, she had 
 been informed of it by letter. Of course this had 
 broken off the engagement, for Roberta would not 
 live under a curse, nor would she tear a man from 
 the only near relative he had in the world. Keswick 
 himself, like most men, would have been willing to 
 have this tearing take place for the sake of uniting 
 himself to such a charming creature as Roberta 
 March. But the lady on one side was as inflexible 
 as the lady on the other, and the engagement was 
 definitely and absolutely ended. 
 
 Mr Brandon considered all this as stuff and non 
 sense. He could not deny that his branch of the 
 Brandons had certainly got a good deal out of Mrs 
 Keswick s family. But here was a chance to make 
 everything all right again, and he would be de 
 lighted to see Junius, a relative, although a distant 
 one, come into possession of Midbranch. As for 
 the old lady s opposition, that should not be consid 
 ered at all, he thought. It was his opinion that her 
 mind had been twisted by her bad temper, and noth 
 ing she could say could hurt anybody. 
 
 Of late Mr Brandon had been much encouraged 
 by the fact that Junius had begun to resume his 
 position as a friend of the family. This was all 
 very well. If the young people, by occasional meet 
 ings, could keep alive their sentiments toward each 
 other, the time would come when all opposition 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 91 
 
 would cease, and the marriage would become an 
 assured fact. He did not believe either of the 
 young people would care enough for a post-mortem 
 curse, if there should be one, to keep themselves 
 separated from each other on its account for the rest 
 of their lives. 
 
 But the recent quite unexpected return of Law 
 rence Croft to Midbranch, combined with the evi 
 dent discomposure into which Roberta had been 
 thrown by his failure to come the next day, had 
 given the old gentleman some unpleasant ideas. 
 His niece had mentioned that she expected Mr 
 Croft that day, and although she said nothing in re 
 gard to her subsequent disappointment and vexa 
 tion, his mind was quite acute enough to perceive 
 it. Exactly what it all meant he knew not, but it 
 augured danger. For the first time he began to 
 look upon Mr Croft in the light of a suitor for 
 Roberta. If a jealous feeling at finding another per 
 son on the ground was the cause of his not coming 
 again, it showed that he was in earnest, and this, 
 added to the evident disturbance of mind of both 
 Roberta and Junius, was enough to give Mr Bran 
 don most serious fears that an obstacle to his cher 
 ished plan was arising. Roberta was fond of city 
 life, of society, of travel, and if she had really made 
 up her mind that her union with Junius was no 
 .longer to be thought of, the advent of a man like 
 Croft, who had been making her acquaintance all 
 summer, and who had now returned to Virginia, no 
 doubt for the sole purpose of seeing her again was, 
 
92 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 to say the least, exceedingly ominous. One thing 
 only could correct this deplorable state of affairs. 
 The absurd bar to the union of Junius and Roberta 
 should be removed, and they should be allowed to 
 enter upon the happiness that was their right. 
 
 Above all, the estate of Midbranch should not be 
 suffered to go into the possession of an outsider, who 
 might be good enough, but who was of no earthly 
 moment or interest to the Brandons. He would go 
 himself, and see the widow Keswick, and talk her 
 out of her nonsense. It was a long time since he 
 had met the old wild cat, as he termed her, and his 
 recollection of the last interview was not pleasant, 
 but he was not afraid of her, and he hoped that the 
 common sense of what he would say would bring 
 her to reason. 
 
 Mr Brandon made up his mind during the night ; 
 and when he came down to breakfast he was very 
 glad to find that Junius had already gone out for a 
 walk. The distance to the widow Keswick s house 
 was about fifteen miles, a pleasant day s ride for the 
 old gentleman, and as he did not expect to return 
 until the next day, he felt obliged to inform Roberta 
 of his destination, although, of course, he said noth 
 ing about the object of his visit. He told his niece 
 that he was obliged to see the widow Keswick on 
 business, to which remark she listened without 
 reply. 
 
 Soon after breakfast he mounted his good horse, 
 Albemarle, and early in the afternoon he arrived at 
 the widow Keswick s gate. He had looked for a 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 93 
 
 stormy reception, in which the thunder-bolts of rage 
 should burst around him, and he was surprised, 
 therefore, to be received with the frigidity of the 
 North Pole. 
 
 " I never expected," she said, without any pre 
 vious courtesy, " to see one of your people under 
 my roof, and it is not very long ago since I would 
 have gone away from it the moment any one of you 
 came near it." 
 
 " I am happy, madam," said Mr Brandon, in his 
 most courteous manner, " that that day is past." 
 
 " My staying won t do you any good," said the 
 old lady, whose purple sun-bonnet seemed to heave 
 with the uprisal of her hair, " except, perhaps, to 
 get you a better meal than the servants would have 
 given you. But I want a lawyer, and I can t afford 
 to pay for one either, and when I saw you coming 
 I just made up my mind to get something out of 
 you, and if I do it, it ll be the first red mark for my 
 side of the family." 
 
 Mr Brandon assured her that nothing would give 
 him more pleasure than to assist her in any way in 
 his power. 
 
 " Very well, then," said Mrs Keswick, " just sit 
 down on that bench, and, when we have got 
 through, your horse can be taken, and you can rest 
 a while, though it seems a very curious thing that 
 you should want to stop here to rest." 
 
 "Well, madam," said Mr Brandon, seating himself 
 as comfortably as possible on a wooden bench, " I 
 shall be happy to hear anything you have to say." 
 
94 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 The old lady did not sit down, but stood up in 
 front of him, leaning on her umbrella, with which 
 faithful companion she had been about to set out 
 on her walk. " When my son Junius came home 
 a while ago " she began. 
 
 " Do you still call him your son ? " interrupted 
 Mr Brandon. 
 
 " Indeed I do ! " was the very prompt answer. 
 " That s just what he is. And, as I was going to 
 say, when he wrote me a short time ago that he was 
 coming here, I believed, from his letter, that he had 
 some scheme on hand in regard to your niece, and 
 I made up my mind I wouldn t stay in the house to 
 hear anything more said on that subject. I had 
 told him that I never wanted him to say another 
 word about it ; and it made my blood boil, sir, to 
 think that he had come again to try to cozen me 
 into the vile compact." 
 
 " Madam ! " exclaimed Mr Brandon. 
 
 " The next day," continued Mrs Keswick, " a lady 
 arrived ; and as soon as I saw her drive into the gate 
 I felt sure it was Roberta March, and that the two 
 had hatched up a plot to come and work on my 
 feelings, and so I wouldn t come near the house." 
 
 " Madam ! " exclaimed Mr Brandon, " how could 
 you dream such a thing of my niece ? You don t 
 know her, madam." 
 
 " No," said the old lady, " I don t know her, but I 
 knew she belonged to your family, and so I was not 
 to be surprised at anything she did. But I found 
 out I was mistaken. An old negro woman recog- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 95 
 
 nized this young person as the daughter of my 
 younger sister you know there were three of us. 
 The child was born and raised here, but I have not 
 seen and have scarcely heard of her since she was 
 eight years old." 
 
 " That s very extraordinary, madam," said Mr 
 Brandon. 
 
 " No, it isn t, when you consider the stubborn 
 ness, the obstinacy, and the wickedness of some 
 people. My sister sickened when the child was 
 about six years old, and her husband, Harvey Pey 
 ton - 
 
 " I have frequently heard of him, madam," said 
 Mr Brandon. 
 
 " And I wish I never had," said she. " Well, he 
 was travelling most of the time, a thing my sister 
 couldn t do ; but he came here then and stayed, off 
 and on, till she died. And not long afterward, just 
 because I told him that I intended to consider the 
 child as my child, and that she should have the name 
 of Keswick instead of his name, and should know 
 me as her mother, and live with me always, he got 
 angry and flared up, and actually took the child 
 away. I gave it to him hot, I can tell you, before 
 he left, and I never saw him again. He was so 
 eaten up with rage because I wanted to take the 
 little Annie for my own, that he filled her mind with 
 such prejudices against me that when he died a year 
 or two ago, she actually went to work to get her own 
 living instead of applying to me for help. But now 
 she has come down here, and I was really filled with 
 
96 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 joy to have her again and carry out the plan on 
 which my heart had long been set that is to marry 
 her to her cousin Junius, and let them have this farm 
 when I am gone, " 
 
 At this Mr Brandon raised his eyebrows, and low 
 ered the corners of his mouth. 
 
 " But I suddenly discover," continued the old 
 lady, " that the little wretch is married actually 
 married." 
 
 At this Mr Brandon lowered his eyebrows and 
 raised the corners of his mouth. " Did her husband 
 come with her ? " he asked, pleasantly. And he 
 gave a few long, free breaths as if he had just passed 
 in safety a very dangerous and unsuspected rock. 
 
 " No, he didn t," replied the old lady. " I don t 
 know where he is, and, from what I can make out, 
 he is an utterly good-for-nothing fellow, allowing his 
 wife to go where she pleases, and take care of her 
 self. Now this abominable marriage stands square 
 in the way of the plan which again rose up in my 
 mind the moment I heard that the girl was in my 
 house. If Junius and she should marry, there 
 would be no more dangers for me to look out for." 
 
 " But the existence of a husband," said Mr Bran 
 don blandly, " puts an end to all thoughts of such 
 an alliance." 
 
 " No it don t," said the old lady, bringing her um 
 brella down with force on the porch. " Not a bit 
 of it. Such an outrageous marriage should not be 
 suffered to exist. They should be divorced. He 
 does nothing for her, and neglects and deserts her 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 97 
 
 absolutely. There s every ground for a divorce, or 
 enough grounds, at any rate. All that s necessary is 
 for a lawyer to take it up. I don t know any law 
 yers, and when I saw you riding up from the road 
 gate I said to myself : Here s the very man I 
 want, and it s full time I should get something 
 from people who have taken nearly everything 
 from me. " 
 
 Mr Brandon bowed. 
 
 " And now," continued the old lady, " I am going 
 to put the case into your hands. The man is, evi 
 dently, a good-for-nothing scoundrel, and has prob 
 ably spent the little money that her miserable 
 father left her. It s a clear case of desertion, and 
 there should be no trouble at all in getting the 
 divorce." 
 
 Mr Brandon looked down upon the floor of the 
 porch, and smiled. This was a pretty case, he 
 thought, to put into his hands. Here was a mar 
 riage which was the strongest protection in the 
 promotion of his own plan, and he was asked to 
 annul it. " Very good," thought Mr Brandon, " very 
 good." And he smiled again. But he was an old- 
 fashioned gentleman, and not used to refuse re 
 quests made to him by ladies. " I will look into it, 
 madam," said he. " I will look into it, and see what 
 can be done." 
 
 " Something must be done," said the old lady ; 
 " and the right thing too. How long do you intend 
 to stay here ? " 
 
 " I thought of spending the night, madam, as my 
 
98 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 horse and myself are scarcely in condition to con 
 tinue our journey to-day." 
 
 " Stay as long as you like," said Mrs Keswick. 
 " I turn nobody from my doors, even if they belong 
 to the Brandon family. I want you to talk to my 
 niece, and get all you can out of her about this 
 thing, and then you can go to work and blot out 
 this contemptible marriage as soon as possible." 
 
 " The first thing," said Mr Brandon, " will be to 
 talk to the lady." 
 
 This reply being satisfactory to Mrs Keswick, 
 Uncle Isham was called to take the horse and at 
 tend to him, while the master was invited into the 
 house. 
 
 Mr Brandon first met Mrs Null at supper time, 
 and her appearance very much pleased him. " It is 
 not likely," he said to himself, " that the man lives 
 who would willingly give up such a charming 
 young creature as this." They were obliged to in 
 troduce themselves to each other, as the lady of the 
 house had not yet appeared. After a while Letty, 
 who was in attendance, advised them to sit down as 
 "de light bread an de batter-bread was gittin cole." 
 
 " We could not think of such a thing as sitting at 
 table before Mrs Keswick arrives," said Mr Brandon. 
 
 " Oh, dar s no knowin when she ll come," said 
 the blooming Letty. " She may be h yar by break- 
 fus time, but dar ain t nobuddy in dis yere worl kin 
 tell. She s down at de bahn now, blowin up Plez 
 fur gwine to sleep when he was a shellin de cohnfiel 
 peas. An when she s got froo wid him she s got a 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 99 
 
 bone to pick wid Uncle Isham bout de gyardin . 
 Tain t no use waitin fur ole miss. She nebber do 
 come when de bell rings. She come when she git 
 ready, an not afore." 
 
 Mr Brandon now felt quite sure that it was the 
 intention of his hostess not to break bread with one 
 of his family, and so he seated himself, Mrs Null 
 taking the head of the table and pouring out the tea 
 and coffee. 
 
 " It has been a long time, madam, since you were 
 in this part of the country," said the old gentleman, 
 as he drew the smoking batter-bread toward him 
 and began to cut it. 
 
 " Yes," said Mrs Null, " not since I was a little 
 girl. I suppose you have heard, sir, that Aunt 
 Keswick and my father were on very bad terms, and 
 would not have anything to do with each other ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Mr Brandon, " I have heard that." 
 
 " But my father is not living now, and I am down 
 here again." 
 
 "And your husband? He did not accompany 
 you ? " said Mr Brandon. 
 
 " No," replied Mrs Null, very quickly. " We were 
 both very sorry that it was not possible for him to 
 come with me." 
 
 Mr Brandon s spirits began to rise. This did not 
 look quite like desertion. " I have no doubt you 
 have a very good husband. I am sure you deserve 
 such a one," he said with the air of a father, and the 
 purpose of a lawyer. 
 
 "Good !" exclaimed Mrs Null, her eyes sparkling. 
 
ioo The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 "He couldn t be better if he tried ! Will you have 
 sweet milk, or buttermilk ? " 
 
 " Buttermilk, if you please," said Mr Brandon. 
 "Of course your aunt was delighted to have you 
 with her again." 
 
 " Oh," said Mrs Null, with a laugh, " she was not 
 at home when I arrived, but when she returned 
 nothing could be too good for me. Why, she had 
 been here scarcely half an hour, and hadn t taken off 
 her sun-bonnet, before she told me I was to marry 
 Junius and we two were to have this farm." 
 
 " A very pleasant plan, truly," said Mr Brandon. 
 
 " But then, you see," continued the young girl, 
 " Mr Null stood dreadfully in the way of such an ar 
 rangement ; and when Aunt Keswick heard about 
 him you can t imagine what a change came over 
 her." 
 
 " Oh, yes I can ; yes I can," exclaimed Mr Bran 
 don " I can imagine it very well." 
 
 " But she didn t give up a bit," said Mrs Null. 
 " I don t think she ever does give up." 
 
 " You are right, there," said Mr Brandon, " quite 
 right. But what does she propose to do ? " 
 
 " I don t know, I m sure ; but she said I had no 
 right to marry without the consent of my surviving 
 relatives, and that she was going to look into it. I 
 can t think what she means by that." 
 
 Mr Brandon made no immediate answer. He 
 gave Mrs Null some damson preserves, and he 
 took some himself, and then he helped himself to a 
 great hot roll, from a plate that Letty had just 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 101 
 
 brought in, and carefully opening it he buttered it 
 on the inside, and covered one-half of it with the 
 damson preserves. This he began slowly to eat, 
 drinking at times from the foaming glass of butter 
 milk at the side of his plate, from which the coffee- 
 cup had been removed. When he had finished 
 the half roll he again spoke. " I think, my dear 
 young lady, that your aunt is desirous of having 
 your marriage set aside." 
 
 " How can she do that ? " exclaimed the girl, her 
 face flushing. " Has she been talking to you about 
 it?" 
 
 " I cannot deny that she has spoken to me on the 
 subject," he answered, " I being a lawyer. But I 
 will say to you, in strict confidence, please, that if 
 you and your husband are sincerely attached to each 
 other there is nothing on earth she can do to sepa 
 rate you." 
 
 " Attached ! " exclaimed Mrs Null. " It would 
 be impossible for us to be more attached than we 
 are. We never have had the slightest difference, 
 even of opinion, since our wedding day. Why, I 
 believe that we are more like one person than any 
 married couple in the world." 
 
 " I am very glad to hear it," said Mr Brandon, 
 finishing his buttermilk " very glad indeed. And, 
 feeling as you do, I am certain that nothing your 
 aunt can say will make any impression on you in re 
 gard to seeking a divorce." 
 
 " I should think not ! " said Mrs Null, sitting up 
 very straight. " Divorce indeed ! " 
 
iO2 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I fully uphold you in the stand you have taken," 
 said Mr Brandon. " But I beg you will not men 
 tion this conversation to your aunt. It would only 
 annoy her. Is your cousin expected here shortly? " 
 
 " I believe so," she said. " To be sure, my aunt 
 left the house the last time he came, but she has 
 his address, and has written for him. I think she 
 wants us to get acquainted as soon as possible, so 
 that no time will be lost in marrying us after poor 
 Mr Null is disposed of." 
 
 " Very good, very good," said Mr Brandon with a 
 laugh. "And now, my dear young friend, I want 
 to give you a piece of advice. Stay here as long as 
 you can. Your aunt will soon perceive the absurd 
 ity of her ideas in regard to your husband, and will 
 cease to annoy you. Make a friend of your cousin 
 Junius, whom I know and respect highly; and he 
 certainly will be of advantage to you. Above all 
 things, endeavor to thoroughly reconcile him and 
 Mrs Keswick, so that she will cease to oppose his 
 wishes, and to interfere with his future fortune. If 
 you can bring back good feeling between these two, 
 you will be the angel of the family." 
 
 " Thank you," said Mrs. Null, as they rose from 
 the table. 
 
 The next morning, after Mr Brandon and Mrs 
 Null had breakfasted together, the mistress of the 
 house, having apparently finished the performance 
 of the duties which had kept her from the breakfast- 
 table, had some conversation with her visitor. In 
 this he repeated very little of what he had said to the 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 103 
 
 younger lady the night before, but he assured Mrs 
 Keswick that he had discovered that it would be a 
 very delicate thing to propose to her niece a divorce 
 from her husband, a thing to which she was not at 
 all inclined, as he had found. 
 
 " Of course not! of course not !" exclaimed Mrs 
 Keswick. " She can t be expected to see what a 
 wretched plight she has got herself into by marry 
 ing this straggler from nobody knows where." 
 
 " But, madam," said Mr Brandon, " if you worry 
 her about it, she will leave you, and then all will be 
 at an end. Now, let me advise you as your lawyer. 
 Keep her here as long as you can. Do everything 
 possible to foster friendship and good feeling be 
 tween her and Junius; and to do this you must 
 forget as far as possible all that has gone by, and be 
 friendly with both of them yourself." 
 
 " Humph ! " said the widow Keswick. " I didn t 
 ask you for advice of that sort." 
 
 " It is all a part of the successful working of the 
 case, madam," said Mr Brandon. " A thorough 
 good feeling must be established before anything 
 else can be done." 
 
 " I suppose so," said the old lady. " She must 
 learn to like us before she begins to hate him. And 
 how about your niece ? Are you going to send her 
 down here to help on in the good feeling ? " 
 
 " I have not brought my niece into this affair," 
 replied Mr Brandon, with dignity. 
 
 " Well, then, see that you don t," was the widow 
 Keswick s reply. And the interview terminated. 
 
104 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 When Mr Brandon rode away on his good horse 
 Albemarle, he looked at the post of the road gate 
 from which he was lifting the latch by means of the 
 long wooden handle arranged for the convenience of 
 riders, and said to himself: "John Keswick was a 
 good man, but I don t wonder he came out here and 
 shot himself. It is a great pity though that it wasn t 
 his wife who did it, instead of him. That would 
 have been a blessing to all of us. But," he added, 
 contemplatively, as he closed the gate, " the people 
 in this world who ought to blow out their brains, 
 never do." 
 
 Soon after he had gone, Mrs Null went up Pine 
 Top Hill, and sat down on the rock to have a 
 " think." " Now, then, Freddy," she said, " every 
 thing depends on you. If you don t stand by me 
 I am lost that is to say, I must go away from 
 here before Junius comes; and you know I don t 
 want to do that. I want to see him on my account, 
 and on his account too ; but I don t want him cram 
 med down my throat for a husband the moment he 
 arrives, and that is just what will happen if you 
 don t do your duty, Mr Null. Even if it wasn t for 
 you, I don t want to look at him from the husband 
 point of view, because, of course, he is a very differ 
 ent person from what he used to be, and is a total 
 stranger to me. 
 
 " It is actually more than twelve years since I 
 have seen him, and besides that, he is just as good 
 as engaged to that niece of Mr. Brandon s, who is a 
 horrible mixture of a she-wolf and a female mule, if 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 105 
 
 I am to believe Aunt Keswick, but I expect she is, 
 truly, a very nice girl. Though, to be sure, she can t 
 have much spirit if she consented to break off her 
 marriage just on account of the back-handed bene 
 diction which Aunt Keswick told me she offered 
 her as a wedding gift. If I had wanted to marry a 
 man I would have let the old lady curse the heels off 
 her boots before I would have paid any attention to 
 her. Cursing don t hurt anybody but the curser. 
 
 " What I want of Junius is to make a friend of him, 
 if he turns out to be the right kind of a person, and 
 to tell him about this Mr Croft who is so anxious to 
 find him. The only person I have met yet who 
 seems like an ordinary Christian is old Mr Brandon, 
 and he s a sly one, I m afraid. Aunt Keswick thinks 
 he stopped here on his way somewhere, but I don t 
 believe a word of it. I believe he came for reasons 
 of his own, and went right straight back again. You 
 are almost as much to him, Freddy, as you are to 
 me. It would have made you laugh if you could 
 have seen how his face lighted up when he heard we 
 were happy together, and that I would not listen to 
 a divorce. And yet I am sure he has promised 
 Aunt Keswick to see what he can do about getting 
 one. He wants me to stay here and make friends 
 of Aunt Keswick and Junius, but he wouldn t like 
 that if it were not for you, Mr Null. You make 
 everything safe for him. 
 
 " And now, Freddy, I tell you again, that all de 
 pends upon you. If I m to stay here and I want to 
 do that, for a time any way, for although Aunt Kes- 
 
io6 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 wick is so awfully queer, she s my own aunt, and 
 that s more than I can say for anybody else in the 
 world you must stiffen up, and stand by me. It 
 won t do to give way for a minute. If necessary 
 you must take tonics, and have a steel rod down 
 your back, if you can t keep yourself erect without 
 it. You must have your legs padded, and your 
 chest thrown out ; and you must stand up very 
 strong and sturdy, Freddy, and not let them push 
 you an inch this way or that. And now that we 
 have made up our minds on this subject, we ll go 
 down, for it s getting a little cool on the top of this 
 hill." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON the morning of her uncle s departure from 
 Midbranch, Roberta came out on the porch, and 
 took her seat in a large wooden arm-chair, putting 
 down her key basket on the floor beside her. The 
 day was bright and sunny, and the shadows of two 
 or three turkey buzzards, who were circling in the 
 air, moved over the field in front of the house. In 
 this field also moved, not so fast, nor so gracefully 
 as th3 shadows, two ploughs, one near by, and the 
 other at quite a distance. The woods which shut 
 out a great part of the horizon showed many a bit 
 of color, but the scene, although bright enough in 
 some of its tones, was not a cheering one to Ro 
 berta ; and she needed cheering. 
 
 Had it not been for the delay of her father in mak 
 ing his winter visit to New York, she would now be in 
 that city, but if things had gone on as she expected 
 they would, she would have been perfectly satisfied 
 to remain several weeks longer at Midbranch. Jun- 
 ius Keswick, who had not visited the house for a 
 long time, had come to them again ; and, now that 
 the subject of love and marriage had been set aside, 
 it was charming to have him there as a friend. They 
 not only walked in the woods, but they took long 
 rides over the country, Mr Brandon having waived 
 
io8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 his objections in regard to his niece riding about 
 with gentlemen. She had even been pleased with 
 the unexpected return of Lawrence Croft, for, for 
 reasons of her own, she wished very much to have a 
 talk with him. But he had not fulfilled his promise 
 to her, and had gone away in a very unsatisfactory 
 manner. 
 
 This morning she felt a little lonely, too, for 
 Junius had left the place before breakfast, and she 
 did not know where he had gone ; and her uncle had 
 actually ridden away to see that horrible widow 
 Keswick, merely stating that his errand was a busi 
 ness one, and that he would be back the next day. 
 Roberta knew that there had been a great deal of 
 business, particularly that of an unpleasant kind, be 
 tween the two families, but she did not believe that 
 there was any ordinary affair concerning dollars and 
 cents which would require the presence of her uncle 
 at the house of his old enemy. She was very much 
 afraid that he had gone there to try to smooth 
 up matters in regard to Junius and herself. The 
 thought of this made her indignant. She did not 
 know what her uncle would say, and she did not 
 want him to say anything. He could not make the 
 horrible old creature change her mind in regard to 
 the marriage, and if this was not done, there was 
 no use discussing the matter at all, and she did not 
 wish people to think she was anxious for the match. 
 
 It was plain, however, that her uncle s desire 
 for it had experienced a strong revival ; and the un 
 expected return of Lawrence Croft had probably had 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 109 
 
 a great effect on him. He had not objected to the 
 visits of that gentleman during the summer, but he 
 had never shown any strong liking for him, and Ro 
 berta said to herself that she could not see, for her 
 part, why this should be ; Mr Croft was a thorough 
 gentleman, an exceedingly well educated and agree 
 able man. 
 
 As to Junius, she was afraid that he had not the 
 spirit which she used to think he possessed. There 
 was something about him she could not understand. 
 In former days, when Junius was in New York, 
 she compared him with the young men there, very 
 much to his advantage, but now Mr Croft seemed 
 to throw him somewhat in the background. When 
 Croft wanted to do anything he did it ; even his 
 failure to come to her when he said he would do so 
 showed strength of will. If Junius had promised to 
 come he would have come, even if he had not 
 wanted to do so, and there would have been some 
 thing weak about that. 
 
 While she thus sat thinking, and gazing over the 
 landscape, she saw afar off, on a portion of the road 
 which ran along-side the woods, a vehicle slowly 
 making its way to the house. Roberta had large 
 and beautiful eyes, but they were not of the kind 
 which would enable her to discover at so great a 
 distance what sort of vehicle this was, and who was 
 in it. As the road led nowhere but to Midbranch 
 she was naturally desirous to know who was coming. 
 She stepped into the hall, and, taking a small bell, 
 rang it vigorously, and in a moment her youthful 
 
i io The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 handmaiden, Peggy, appeared upon the scene. 
 Peggy s habit of projecting her eyes into the far 
 away could often be turned to practical account 
 for her vision was, in a measure, telescopic, 
 
 "What is that coming here along the road?" 
 asked Miss Roberta, stepping upon the porch, and 
 pointing out the distant vehicle. 
 
 Peggy stood up straight, let her arms hang close 
 to her sides, and looked steadfastly forth. " Wot s 
 comin , Miss Rob," said she, " is the buggy longin 
 to Mister Michaels, at de Springs, an his ole mud- 
 colored hoss is haulin it. Dem dat s in it is Mahs 
 Junius an Mister Crof ." 
 
 " Are you sure of that ? " exclaimed Miss Roberta 
 in astonishment. " Look again." 
 
 " Yaas m," replied Peggy. " I s sartin shuh. But 
 dey jes gwine behin de trees now." 
 
 The road was not again visible for some distance, 
 but when the buggy reappeared Peggy gave a start, 
 and exclaimed : " Dar s on y one pusson in it now, 
 Miss Rob. " 
 
 " Which is it ? " exclaimed her mistress quickly, 
 shading her eyes, and endeavoring to see for her 
 self. 
 
 "It s Mister CroP," said Peggy. " Mahs Junius 
 mus done gone back." 
 
 " It is too bad ! " exclaimed Miss Roberta. " I 
 will not see him. " Peggy," she said, snatching up 
 the key basket, and stepping toward the hall door, 
 " when that gentleman, Mr Croft, comes, you must 
 tell him that I am up-stairs lying down, that I am 
 
The Late Mrs Null. in 
 
 not well, and cannot see him, and that your Master 
 Robert is not at home." 
 
 " Ef Mahs Junius come, does you want me to tell 
 him de same thing? " 
 
 " But you said he was not in the buggy," said her 
 mistress. 
 
 " No m," answered Peggy, " but p raps he done 
 cut acrost de plough fiel , an git h yar fus ." 
 
 " If he comes first," said Miss Roberta, a shade of 
 severity pervading her handsome features, " I want 
 to see him." And with this, she went up-stairs. 
 
 Peggy, with her shoes on, possessed the stolid 
 steadiness of a wooden grenadier, for the heaviness 
 of the massive boots seemed to permeate her whole 
 being, and communicated what might be considered 
 a slow and heavy footfall to her intellect. Peggy, 
 without shoes, was a panther on two legs, and her 
 mind, like her body, was capable of enormous leaps. 
 Slipping off her heavy brogans, she made a single 
 bound, and stood upon the railing of the porch, and, 
 throwing her arm around a post, gazed forth from 
 this point of vantage. 
 
 " Bress my eberlastin soul ! " she exclaimed, " if 
 Mister Crof ain t got ter de road gate, and is a 
 wait in dar fur somebody to come open it ! Does 
 he think anybody gwine to see him all de way from 
 de house, and come open de gate? Reckin he don 
 know dat ole mud-color hoss. He mought git out 
 and let down de whole fence, an dat ole hoss ud 
 nebber move. Bress my soul moh p intedly ! ef 
 Mahs Junius ain t comin long ter open de gate ! " 
 
1 1 2 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 For a few moments Peggy stood and stared, her 
 mind not capable of grasping this astounding situa 
 tion. " No, he ain t nudder!" she presently ex 
 claimed with an air of relief. Mans Junius done 
 tole him dat ef he want dat gate open he better git 
 down and open it hese f. Dat s right Mahs Junius ! 
 Stick up to dat ! Dar go Mahs Junius into de 
 woods an Mister Crof he git out, an go after him. 
 Dey s gwine to fight, sartin, shuh ! Lordee ! wot 
 fur dey low dem bushes ter grow long de fence to 
 keep folks from seem wot s gwine on ! " 
 
 There was nothing now to be seen from the rail 
 ing, and Peggy jumped down on the porch. Her ac 
 tivity seemed to pervade her being. She ran down 
 the front steps, crossed the lawn, and mounted the 
 stile. Here she could catch sight of the two men 
 who seemed to be disputing. This was too much 
 for Peggy. If there was to be a fight she wanted to 
 see it ; and, apart from her curiosity, she had a loyal 
 interest in the event. Down the steps, and along 
 the road she went at the top of her speed, and soon 
 reached the gate. Her arrival was not noticed by 
 any one except the mud-colored horse, who gazed 
 at her inquiringly ; and looking through the bars, 
 without opening the gate, Peggy had a good view of 
 the gentlemen. 
 
 The situation was a more simple one than Peggy 
 had imagined. The road, for the last half mile, 
 had been an up-hill one, and Keswick, as much 
 to stretch his own legs as to save those of the horse, 
 had alighted to walk, while Lawrence, as in duty 
 
The Late Mrs Nut/. 113 
 
 bound, had waited for him at the gate. Here a lit 
 tle argument had arisen. Keswick, who did not 
 wish to be at the house, or indeed about the place 
 while Roberta was having her conference with Mr 
 Croft, had said that he had concluded not to go up 
 to the house at present, but would take a walk 
 through the woods instead. Lawrence, who thought 
 he divined his reason, felt an honorable indisposition 
 to accept this advantage at the hands of a man who 
 was, most indisputably, his rival. If they went 
 together it would not appear as if he had waited 
 for Keswick s absence to return ; and there would 
 still be no reason why he should not have his private 
 walk and talk with Miss March. 
 
 At all events, it seemed to him unfair to leave 
 Keswick at the gate while he went up to the house 
 by himself, and the notion of it did not please him 
 at all. Keswick, however, was very resolute in his 
 opposition. He objected even to seeing Roberta 
 and Croft together. He thought, besides, if he and 
 Croft came to the house at the same time it would 
 appear very much as if he, Junius, had brought the 
 other, and this was an appearance he wished very 
 much to avoid. He had walked away, and Law 
 rence had jumped from the buggy to continue the 
 friendly argument which was not finished when 
 Peggy arrived. Almost immediately after this 
 event Keswick positively insisted that he would go 
 for a walk, and Lawrence reluctantly turned toward 
 the vehicle. 
 
 Peggy s mind was filled with horror. Master Jun- 
 
 8 
 
H4 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ius had been frightened away, and the other man 
 was coming up to the house ! She could not stand 
 there and allow such a catastrophe. Jerking open 
 the gate, she rushed into the road and confronted 
 Keswick. 
 
 " Mahs Junius," she exclaimed, " Miss Rob s orful 
 sick wid her back an her j ints, an she say she can t 
 see no kump ny folks, an Mahs Robert he done gone 
 away to see ole Miss Keswick. I jes run down 
 h yar to tell you to hurry up." 
 
 Keswick started. " Where did you say your Mas 
 ter Robert had gone ? " 
 
 " To ole Miss Keswick s. He went dis mawnin ." 
 
 Junius turned slightly pale, and addressing Mr 
 Croft, said : " Something very strange must have 
 happened here ! Miss March is ill, and Mr. Brandon 
 has gone to a place to which I think nothing but 
 a matter of the utmost importance could take 
 him." 
 
 " In that case," said Mr Croft, " it will be highly 
 improper for me to go to the house just now. I am 
 very glad that I heard the news before I got there. 
 I will return to the Springs, and will call to-morrow 
 and inquire after Miss March s health. Do not let 
 me detain you as your presence is evidently much 
 needed at the house." 
 
 "Thank you," said Keswick, hurriedly shaking 
 hands with him. " I am afraid something very un 
 expected has happened, and so beg you will excuse 
 me. Good-morning." And passing through the 
 gateway, he rapidly strode toward the house, while 
 
The Late Mrs N<u II. 115 
 
 Lawrence prepared to turn his horse s head toward 
 the Springs. 
 
 But, although Junius Keswick walked rapidly, 
 Peggy, who had started first for the house, kept well 
 in advance of him. Away she went, skipping, run 
 ning, dancing. Once she stopped and turned, and 
 saw that the buggy, with the mud-colored horse, 
 was being driven aw r ay, and that Master Junius was 
 coming along the road to the house. Then she 
 started off, and ran steadily, the rapid show of the 
 light-colored soles of her feet -behind her suggestive 
 of a steamer s wake. Up the broad stile she went, 
 two steps at a time, and down the other side in a 
 couple of jumps ; a dozen skips took her across the 
 lawn ; and she bounded up to the porch as if each 
 wooden step had been a springing board. She 
 rushed up-stairs, and stood at the open door of Miss 
 Roberta s room where that lady reclined upon a 
 lounge. 
 
 " Hi , Miss Rob ! " she exclaimed, involuntarily 
 snapping her fingers as she spoke. Mahs Junius 
 comin , all by hese f, an I done sent de udder gem- 
 man clean off, kitin ! " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 JUNIUS KESWICK was received by Miss Roberta 
 in the parlor. Her face was colder and sterner than 
 he had ever seen it before, and his countenance was 
 very much troubled. Each wished to speak first, 
 and ask questions, but the lady went immediately 
 to the front. 
 
 " How did it happen that you and Mr Croft were 
 coming here together ? Where had you been ? " 
 
 " We came from the Green Sulphur Springs, 
 where I called on him this morning." 
 
 " I thought he was obliged to return immediately 
 to the North. What made him change his mind ? " 
 
 " Perhaps it will be better not to discuss that 
 now," said Junius. 
 
 " I wish to discuss it," was the reply. " What 
 induced him not to go ? " 
 
 " I did," answered Junius," looking steadfastly at 
 her. " Did you not wish to see him ? " 
 
 For a moment Miss Roberta did not answer, but 
 her face grew pale, and she threw herself back in the 
 chair in which she was sitting. " Never in my life," 
 she said, " have I been subjected to such mortifica 
 tion ! Of course I wished him to come, but to 
 come of his own accord, and not at my bidding. 
 How do you suppose I would have felt if he had 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 117 
 
 presented himself, and asked me what I wished to 
 say to him ? It is an insult you have offered me." 
 
 " It is not an insult," said Keswick quietly. " It 
 was a service of of affection. I saw that you were 
 annoyed and troubled by Mr. Croft s failure to keep 
 his engagement, and what I did was simply " 
 
 " Stop ! " said Roberta peremptorily. " I do not 
 wish to talk of it any more." 
 
 Junius stood before her a moment in silence, and 
 then he said : " Will you tell me if my Aunt Kes 
 wick is ill or dead, and why did Mr Brandon go 
 there ? " 
 
 " She is neither ; " answered Roberta, " and he 
 went there on business." And with this she arose 
 and left the room. 
 
 Peggy, who had been in the hall, now made a bolt 
 down the back stairs into the basement regions, 
 where was situated the kitchen. In this spacious 
 apartment she found Aunt Judy, the cook, sitting 
 before a large wood fire, and holding in her hand a 
 long iron ladle. There was nothing near her which 
 she could dip or stir with a ladle, and it was 
 probably retained during her period of leisure as a 
 symbol of her position and authority. 
 
 Peggy squatted on her heels, close to Aunt Judy s 
 side, and thus addressed her : " Aun Judy, ef I tell 
 you sumfin , soul an honor, hope o glory, you ll 
 neber tell ? " 
 
 " Hope o glory, neber ! " said Aunt Judy, turning 
 a look of interest on the girl. 
 
 "Well, den, look h yar. You know Miss Rob she 
 
ii8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 got two beaux ; one is Mahs Junius, an de udder 
 is de gemman wid de speckle trousers from de 
 Norf." 
 
 " Yes, I know dat," said Aunt Judy. " Has dey 
 fit?" 
 
 " Not yit, but dey wos gvvine to," said Peggy, 
 "but I seed em, an* I tore down de road to de gate 
 whar dey wos gittin ready to fight, an* I jes let dat 
 dar Mister Crof know wot low-down white trash 
 Miss Rob think he wos, an den he said ef dat war 
 so twant no use fur to come in, an he turn roun* 
 de buggy, an cl ar d out. Den Mahs Junius he 
 come to de house, an dar Miss Rob in de parlor 
 wait in fur him. I stood jes outside de doh , so s to 
 be out de way, but Mahs Junius he kinder back 
 agin de doh , an shet it. But I clap d my year ter 
 de crack, an I hear ebery thing dey said." 
 
 "Wot dey say?" asked Aunt Judy, her mouth 
 open, her eyes dilated, and the long ladle trembling 
 in her hand. 
 
 " Mahs Junius he say to Miss Rob that he lub 
 her better n his own skin, or de clouds in de sky, or 
 de flowers in de fiel wot perish, an dat de udder man 
 he done cut an run, an would she be Miss Junius 
 all de res ob der libes foreber an eber, amen?" 
 
 " Dat wos pow ful movin ! " ejaculated Aunt 
 Judy. " An wot did Miss Rob say ? " 
 
 " Miss Rob she say, * I cept your kind offer, sah, 
 wid pleasure. An den I hearn em comin , an I 
 cut down h yar." 
 
 " Glory ! Hallelujah ! " exclaimed Aunt Judy, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 119 
 
 bringing her ladle down upon the brick hearth. 
 " Now is I ready to die when my time comes, fur 
 Mahs Junius 11 have dis farm, an de house, an de 
 cabins, an dey won t go to no strahnger from de 
 Norf." 
 
 " Amen," said Peggy. " An Aun Judy, dat ar 
 piece ob pie ain t no count to nobuddy." 
 
 " You kin hab it, chile," said Aunt Judy, rising, 
 and taking from a shelf a large piece of cold apple 
 pie, " an* bressed be de foots ob dem wot fotch good 
 tidin s." 
 
 Junius Keswick did not see Miss Roberta again 
 that day, and early in the morning he borrowed one 
 of the Midbranch horses, and rode away. He did 
 not wish to be at the house when Mr Croft should 
 come ; and, besides, he was very anxious and dis 
 turbed in regard to matters at the Keswick farm. 
 Of all places in the world why should Mr Brandon 
 go there ? 
 
 It was not a very pleasant ride that Junius Kes 
 wick took that morning. He had anxieties in regard 
 to what he would meet with at his aunt s house, 
 and he had even greater anxieties as to what he 
 was leaving behind him at Midbranch. It was quite 
 evident that Roberta was angry with him, and this 
 was enough to sadden the soul of a man who loved 
 her as he loved her, who would have married her at 
 any moment, in spite of all opposition, all threats, 
 all curses. He was not in the habit of looking at 
 himself after the manner of Lawrence Croft, but on 
 this occasion he could not help a little self-survey. 
 
120 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Was it a purely disinterested motive he asked him 
 self, that took him over to the Springs to bring 
 back Lawrence Croft ? Did he not believe in his 
 soul that Roberta would never have spoken so 
 freely to him in regard to what the gentleman from 
 the North would probably say to her if she had not 
 intended to decline that gentleman s offer ? And 
 was there not a wish in his heart that this matter 
 might be definitely and satisfactorily settled before 
 Roberta and Mr Croft went to New York for the 
 winter? He could not deny that this issue to the 
 affair had been in his mind ; and yet he felt that he 
 could conscientiously assure himself that if he had 
 thought things would turn out otherwise, he still 
 would have endeavored to make the man perform the 
 duty expected of him by Roberta, in whose service 
 Junius always felt himself to be. But, apparently, 
 he had not benefited himself or anybody else, ex 
 cept, perhaps, Croft, by this service which he had 
 performed. 
 
 It was late in the forenoon when Junius met Mr 
 Brandon returning to Midbranch. In answer to 
 his expressions of surprise, Mr Brandon, who ap^ 
 peared in an exceptionally good humor, informed 
 Junius of his reasons for the visit to the widow 
 Keswick, and what he had found when he arrived 
 there. 
 
 " Your little cousin," said he, " is a most charming 
 young creature, and on interested motives I should 
 oppose your going to your aunt s house, were it not 
 for the fact that she is married, and, therefore, of no 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 121 
 
 danger to you. I was very glad to find her there. 
 Her influence over your aunt will, I think, be highly 
 advantageous, and the first fruit of it is that the old 
 lady will now welcome you with open arms. Would 
 you believe it ! she has already announced that she 
 wishes to make a match between you and this little 
 cousin ; and in order to do so, has actually engaged 
 me to endeavor to bring about a divorce between 
 the young lady and her absent husband. The 
 widow Keswick has as many cranks and crotchets in 
 her head as there are seeds in a tobacco pod ; but 
 this is the queerest and the wildest of them all. 
 The couple seem very much attached to each other, 
 and nothing can be said against the husband except 
 that he did not accompany his wife on her visit to 
 her relatives ; and if he knew anythi-ng about the 
 old lady I don t blame him a bit. Now your course, 
 my dear boy, is perfectly plain. Let your aunt talk 
 as much as she pleases about this divorce, and your 
 union with the little Annie, It won t hurt anybody, 
 and she must talk herself out in time. In the mean 
 time take advantage of the present circumstances to 
 mollify and tone down, so to speak, the good old 
 lady. Make her understand that we are all her 
 friends, and that there is no one in the connection 
 who would wish to do her the slightest harm. This 
 would be our Christian duty at any time, but it is 
 more particularly our duty now. I would like you 
 to bring your cousin over to see us before Roberta 
 goes away. I invited her to come, and told her that 
 my niece would first call upon her were it not for 
 
122 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the peculiar circumstances. But if the families can 
 be in a measure brought together and I shall make 
 it a point to ride over there occasionally if your 
 aunt can be made to understand the kindly feelings 
 we really have toward her, and can be induced to set 
 aside, even in a slight degree, the violent prejudice 
 she now holds against us, all may yet turn out well. 
 Now go, my boy, and may the best of success go 
 with you. Don t trouble yourself about sending 
 back the horse. Keep him as long as you want 
 him." 
 
 Mr Brandon rode on, leaving Junius to pursue 
 his way. " It is very pleasant," thought the young 
 man, who had said scarcely a word during the inter 
 view, " to hear Mr Brandon talk about all turning 
 out well, but when he gets home he may discover 
 that there is something to be done at Midbranch as 
 well as on the Keswick place." 
 
 Mr Brandon s reflections were very different from 
 those of Junius. It appeared to him that a recon 
 ciliation between the two families, even though it 
 should be a partial one, was reasonably to be ex 
 pected. That newly arrived cousin was an angel. 
 She was bound to do good. A marriage between 
 his niece and Junius Keswick was the great object of 
 the old gentleman s heart, and he longed to see the 
 former engagement between them re-established be 
 fore Roberta went to New York, where her beauty 
 and attractiveness would expose his cherished plan 
 to many dangers. 
 
 The road he was on led directly north, and it was 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 123 
 
 joined about a quarter of a mile above by the road 
 which ran through the woods to the Green Sulphur 
 Springs. On this road, at a point nearly opposite 
 to him, he could see, through the foliage, a horse 
 man riding toward the point of junction. Some 
 thing about this person attracted his attention, and 
 Mr Brandon took out a pair of eye-glasses and put 
 them on. As soon as he had obtained another good 
 view of the horseman he recognized him as Mr 
 Croft. The old gentleman took off his glasses and 
 returned them to his vest pocket, and his face began 
 to flush. In his early acquaintance with Mr Croft 
 he had not objected to him, because he wished his 
 niece to have company, and he had a firm belief in 
 the enduring quality of her affection for Junius. 
 But, latterly, his ideas in regard to the New York 
 gentleman had changed. He had thought him some 
 what too assiduous, and when he had unexpectedly 
 returned from the North, Mr Brandon had not been 
 at all pleased, although he had been careful not to 
 show his displeasure. This condition of things 
 made him feel uneasy, and had prompted his visit to 
 the widow Keswick. And now that everything 
 looked so fair and promising, here was that man, 
 whom he had supposed to have left this part of the 
 country, riding toward his house. 
 
 Mr Brandon was an easy-going man, but he had a 
 backbone which could be greatly stiffened on occa 
 sion. He sat up very straight on his horse, and 
 urged the animal to a better pace, so that he arrived 
 first at the point where the roads met. Here he 
 
124 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 awaited Mr Croft, who soon rode up. The old gen 
 tleman s greeting was very courteous. 
 
 " You are on the way to my house, I presume," 
 he said. 
 
 Mr Croft assured him that he was, and hoped that 
 Miss March was quite well. 
 
 " I have been from home for a little while," said 
 Mr Brandon, " but I believe my niece enjoys her 
 usual health. I have had a long ride this morning," 
 he continued, " and feel a little tired. Would it in 
 convenience you, sir, if we should dismount and sit 
 for a time on yonder log by the roadside ? It would 
 rest me, and I would like to have a little talk with 
 you." 
 
 Lawrence wondered very much that the old gen 
 tleman should want to rest when he was not a mile 
 from his own house, but of course he consented to 
 the proposed plan, and imitated Mr Brandon by 
 riding under a large tree, and fastening his bridle to 
 a low-hanging bough. The two gentlemen seated 
 themselves on the log, and Mr Brandon, without 
 preface, began his remarks. 
 
 " May I be pardoned for supposing, sir," he said, 
 " that your present visit to my house is intended for 
 my niece ? " 
 
 Lawrence looked at him a little earnestly, and re 
 plied that it was so intended. 
 
 " Then, sir, I think I have the right to ask, as my 
 niece s present guardian, and almost indeed as her 
 father, whether or not your visit is connected in any 
 way with matrimonial overtures toward that lady?" 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 125 
 
 Not wishing to foolishly and dishonorably deny 
 that such was his purpose in going to Midbranch ; 
 and feeling that it would be as unwise to decline an 
 swering the question as it would be unmanly to re 
 sort to subterfuge about it, Lawrence replied, that 
 his object in visiting Miss March that day was to 
 make matrimonial overtures to her. 
 
 " I think," said Mr Brandon, " that you will be 
 obliged to me if I make you acquainted with the 
 present condition of affairs between Miss March 
 and Mr Junius Keswick." 
 
 " Has not their engagement been broken off ? " 
 interrupted Lawrence. 
 
 "Only conditionally," answered the old gentle 
 man. " They love each other. They wish to be 
 married. With one exception, all their relatives de 
 sire that they should marry. It would be a union, 
 not only congenial in the highest degree to the par 
 ties concerned, but of the greatest advantage to our 
 family and our family fortunes. There is but a sin 
 gle obstacle to this most desirable union, and that 
 is the unwarrantable opposition of one person. But, 
 I am happy to say that this opposition is on the 
 point of being removed. I consider it to be but a 
 matter of days when my niece and Mr Keswick, with 
 the full approbation of the relatives on either side, 
 will renew in the eyes of the world that engagement 
 which I consider still exists in fact." 
 
 " If this is so," said Lawrence, grinding his heel 
 very deeply into the ground, " why was I not told 
 of it?" 
 
126 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " My dear sir ! " exclaimed Mr Brandon, " have 
 you ever intimated to me or to any of my family, that 
 your intentions in visiting Midbranch were other 
 than those of an ordinary friend or acquaintance ? " 
 
 Lawrence ^admitted that he had never made any 
 such intimation. 
 
 " Then, sir," said Mr Brandon, "what reason could 
 we have for mentioning this subject to you a sub 
 ject that would not have been referred to now, had 
 it not been for your admission of your intended ob 
 ject in visiting my house ? " 
 
 Lawrence had no answer to make to this, but it 
 was not easy to turn him from his purpose. " Ex 
 cuse me, sir," he said, " but I think a matter of this 
 sort should be left to the lady. If she is not in 
 clined to receive my addresses she will say so, and 
 there is an end of it." 
 
 The face of Mr Brandon slightly reddened, but 
 his voice remained as quiet and courteous as before. 
 " You do not comprehend, sir, the state of affairs, or 
 you would see that a procedure of that kind would 
 be extremely ill-judged at this time. Were it known 
 that at this critical moment Miss March was ad 
 dressed by another suitor, it would seriously jeopar 
 dize the success of plans which we all have very 
 much at heart." 
 
 Lawrence did not immediately reply to this crafty 
 speech. His teeth were very firmly set, and he 
 looked steadfastly before him. " I do not under 
 stand all this," he said, presently, "nor do I see that 
 there is any need for my understanding it. In fact 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 127 
 
 I have nothing to do with it. I wish to propose 
 marriage to Miss March. If she declines my offer 
 there is an end of the matter. If she accepts me, 
 then it is quite proper that all your plans should fall 
 to the ground. She is the principal in the affair, and 
 it is due to her and due to me that she should make 
 the decision in this case." 
 
 Mr Brandon had not quite so many teeth as his 
 younger companion, but the very fair number which 
 remained with him were set together quite as firmly 
 as those of Lawrence had been. He remarked, 
 speaking very distinctly but without any show of 
 emotion : " I see, sir, that it is quite impossible for 
 us to think alike on this subject, and there is, there 
 fore, nothing left for me to do but to ask you and 
 1 assure you, sir, that the request is as destitute of 
 any intention of discourtesy as if it were based upon 
 the presence of sickness or family affliction that 
 you will not visit my house at present. " 
 
 Lawrence rose to his feet with a good deal of 
 color in his face. " That settles the matter for the 
 present," he saicT " Of course I shall not go to a 
 house which is forbidden to me. I wish you good- 
 morning, sir." And he stalked to his horse, and en 
 deavored to pull down the limb to which its bridle 
 was attached. 
 
 Mr Brandon followed him. " You must mount 
 before you can unfasten your bridle," he said. " And 
 allow me to assure you, sir, that as soon as this lit 
 tle affair is settled I shall be very happy indeed to 
 see you again at my house." 
 
128 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Lawrence having succeeded in loosening his bridle 
 from the tree, made answer with a bow, and galloped 
 away to the Green Sulphur Springs. 
 
 Mr Brandon now mounted and rode home. This 
 was the first time in his life that he had ever for 
 bidden any one to visit Midbranch, and yet he did 
 not feel that he had been either discourteous or in 
 hospitable. " There are times," he said to himself, 
 " when a man must stand up for his own interest ; 
 and this is one of the times." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IN the little dining-room of the cottage at the 
 Green Sulphur Springs sat that evening Lawrence 
 Croft, a perturbed and angry, but a resolute man. 
 He had been quite a long time coming to the con 
 clusion to propose to Roberta March, and now that 
 he had made up his mind to do so, even in spite of 
 certain convictions, it naturally aroused his indigna 
 tion to find himself suddenly stopped short by such 
 an insignificant person as Mr Brandon, a gentleman 
 to whom, in this affair, he had given no considera 
 tion whatever. The fact that the lady wished to 
 see him added much to his annoyance and discom 
 fiture. He had no idea what reason she had for 
 desiring an interview with him, but, whatever she 
 should say to him, he intended to follow by a de 
 claration of his sentiments. He had not the slightest 
 notion in the world of giving up the prosecution of 
 his suit ; but, having been requested not to come to 
 Midbranch, what was he to do ? He might write to 
 Miss March, but that would not suit him. In a 
 matter like this he would wish to adapt his words and 
 his manner to the moods and disposition of the lady, 
 and he could not do this in a letter. When he 
 wooed a woman, he must see her and speak to her. 
 To any clandestine approach, any whispered con- 
 9 
 
130 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 versation beneath her window, he would give no 
 thought. Having been asked by the master of the 
 house not to go there, he would not go ; but he 
 would see her, and tell his love. And, more than 
 that, he would win her. 
 
 That morning, while waiting for the time to ap 
 proach when it would be proper for him to go to 
 Midbranch, he had been reading in a bound volume 
 of an old English magazine, which was one of the 
 five books the cottage possessed, an account of a 
 battle which had interested him very much. The 
 commander of one army had massed his forces along 
 and below the crest of a line of low hills, the ex 
 treme right of his line being occupied by a strong 
 force of cavalry. The army opposed to him was 
 much stronger than his own, and it was not long 
 before the battle began to go very much against 
 him. His positions on the left were carried by the 
 combined charge of the larger portion of the en 
 emy s forces, and, in spite of a vigorous resistance, 
 his lines were forced back, down the hill, and into 
 the valley. It was quite evident he could make no 
 stand, and was badly beaten. Thereupon, he sent 
 orders to his generals on the left to retreat, in as 
 good order as possible, across a small river in their 
 rear. While this movement was in progress, and 
 the enemy was making the greatest efforts to pre 
 vent it, the commander put himself at the head of 
 his cavalry and led them swiftly from the scene of 
 battle. He took them diagonally over the crest of 
 the hill, down the other side, and then charging 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 131 
 
 with this fresh body of horse upon the rear and 
 camp of the enemy, he swiftly captured the general- 
 in-chief, his staff, and the Minister of War, who had 
 come down to see how things were going on. With 
 these important prisoners he dashed away, leaving 
 the acephalous enemy to capture his broken col 
 umns if he could. 
 
 This was the kind of thing Lawrence Croft would 
 like to do. For an hour or more he puzzled his brains 
 as to how he should make such a cavalry charge, 
 and at last he came to a determination ; he would 
 ask Junius Keswick to assist him. There was some 
 thing odd about this plan which pleased Croft. 
 Keswick was his rival, with the powerful backing of 
 Mr Brandon and a whole tribe of relatives, and it 
 might naturally be supposed that he was the last 
 man in the world of whom he would ask assistance. 
 But, looking at it from his point of view, Lawrence 
 thought that not only would he be taking no undue 
 advantage of the other in asking him to help him in 
 this matter, but that Keswick ought not and would 
 not object to it. If Miss March really preferred 
 Croft, Keswick should feel himself bound in honor 
 to do everything he could to let the two settle the 
 affair between themselves. This was drawing the 
 point very fine, but Lawrence persuaded himself 
 that if the case were reversed he would not marry a 
 girl who had not chosen another man, simply be 
 cause she had had no opportunity of doing so. He 
 had a strong belief that Keswick was of his way of 
 thinking, and before he went to bed he wrote his 
 
132 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 rival a note, asking him to call upon him the follow 
 ing day. 
 
 Early the next morning the note was carried over 
 to Midbranch by a messenger, who returned, saying 
 that Mr Keswick had gone away, and that his 
 present address was Hewlett s in the same county. 
 This piece of information caused Lawrence Croft to 
 open his eyes very wide. A few days before he 
 had received a letter from Mrs Null, written at 
 Hewlett s, and now Keswick had gone there. He 
 had been very much surprised when he found that 
 the cashier had so successfully carried on the search 
 for Keswick as to come into the very county in 
 Virginia where he was ; and he intended to write to 
 her that he had no further occasion for her services; 
 but he had not done so, and here were the pursuer and 
 the pursued in the same town, or village, or whatever 
 Howlett s was. He gave Mrs Null credit for being 
 one of the best detectives he had ever heard of ; for, 
 apparently, she had not only been able to success 
 fully track the man she was in search of, but to find 
 out where he was going, and had reached the place 
 in question before he did. But he also berated her 
 soundly in his mind for her over-officiousness. He 
 had not wished her to swoop down upon the man, 
 but only to inform him of his whereabouts. The 
 next thing that would probably happen would be 
 the appearance of Mrs Null at the Green Sulphur 
 Springs, holding Keswick by the collar. He deeply 
 regretted that he had ever intrusted this young 
 woman with the investigation, not because he had 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 133 
 
 since met Keswick himself, but for the reason that 
 she was entirely too energetic and imprudent. If 
 Keswick should find out from her that she had been 
 in search of him, and why, it might bring about a- 
 very unpleasant state of affairs. 
 
 Croft saw now, quite plainly, what he must do. 
 He must go to Hewlett s as quickly as possible. 
 Perhaps Keswick and the cashier had not yet met, 
 and, in that case, all he would have to do would be 
 to remunerate the young woman and her husband 
 for she had informed him that she intended to com 
 bine this business with a wedding tour and send 
 them off immediately. He could then have his con 
 ference with Keswick there as well as at the Springs. 
 If any mischief had already been done, he did not 
 know what course he might have to pursue, but it 
 was highly necessary for him to be on the spot as 
 soon as possible. He greatly disliked to leave the 
 neighborhood of Roberta March, but his absence 
 would only be temporary. 
 
 After an early dinner, he mounted the horse which 
 he had hired from his host of the Springs, and, with 
 a valise strapped behind him, set out for Hewlett s. 
 He had made careful inquiries in regard to the road, 
 and after a ride somewhat tiresome to a man not 
 used to such protracted horseback exercise, arrived 
 at his destination about sundown. When he reached 
 the scattered houses which formed, as he supposed, 
 the outskirts of the village, for such he had been told 
 it was, he rode on, but soon found that he had left 
 Hewlett s behind him, and that those supposed out- 
 
134 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 skirts were the place itself. Hewlett s was nothing, 
 in fact, but a collection of eight or ten houses quite 
 widely separated from each other, and the only one 
 of them which exhibited any public character what 
 ever, was the store, a large frame building standing a 
 little back from the road. Turning his horse, Law 
 rence rode up to the store and inquired if there was 
 any house in the neighborhood where he could get 
 lodging for the night. 
 
 The storekeeper, who came out to him, was a very 
 little man whose appearance recalled to Croft the 
 fact that he had noticed, in this part of the State, a 
 great many men who were extremely tall, and a 
 great many who were extremely small, which pecu 
 liarity, he thought, might assist a physiologist in 
 discovering the different effects of hot bread upon 
 different organizations. He was quite as cordial, 
 however, as the biggest, burliest, and jolliest host 
 who ever welcomed a guest to his inn, as he in 
 formed Mr Croft that there was no house in the vil 
 lage which made a business of entertaining strangers, 
 but if he chose to stop with him he would keep him 
 and his horse for the night, and do what he could to 
 make him comfortable. 
 
 Lawrence ate supper that night with the store 
 keeper, his wife, and five of his children ; but as he 
 was very hungry, and the meal was a plentiful one, 
 he enjoyed the experience. 
 
 " I suppose you re goin on to Westerville in the 
 mornin ?" said the little host. 
 
 " No," replied Croft, " I am not going any farther 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 135 
 
 than this place. Do you know if a gentleman named 
 Keswick arrived here recently ? " 
 
 " Why, yaas," said the man, " if you mean Junius 
 Keswick." 
 
 " Certainly he did," said Mrs Storekeeper. " He 
 rode through here yesterday, and he stopped at the 
 store to see if we had any of that Lynchburg tobacco 
 he used to smoke when he lived here. He s gone on 
 to his aunt s." 
 
 " Where is that ? " asked Croft. 
 
 " It s about two miles out on the Westerville 
 road," said the little man. " If I d knowed you 
 wanted to see him, I d a told you to keep right on, 
 and you could a stopped with Mrs Keswick over 
 night." 
 
 Lawrence wished to ask some questions about 
 Mrs Null, but he was afraid to do so lest he might 
 excite suspicions by connecting her with Keswick. 
 If the latter had gone two miles out of town, per 
 haps she had not yet seen him. 
 
 The room in which Lawrence slept that night was 
 to him a very odd one. It was a long apartment, at 
 one end of which was a clean, comfortable bed, a 
 couple of chairs, and a table on which was a basin 
 and pitcher. At the other end were piles of new- 
 looking boxes, containing groceries of various kinds, 
 rolls of cotton cloth and other dry goods, and, what 
 attracted his attention more than anything else, a 
 vast number of bright tin cans, bearing on their 
 sides brilliant pictures of tomatoes, peaches, green 
 corn, and other preservable eatables. These were 
 
136 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 evidently the reserved stores of the establishment, 
 and they were so different from the bedroom decora 
 tions to which he was accustomed, that it quite 
 pleased Lawrence to think that with all his experi 
 ence in life he was now lodged in a manner entirely 
 novel to him. As he lay awake looking at the 
 moonlight glittering on the sides of the multitude 
 of cans, the thought came into his mind that this 
 had probably been the room of the Nulls when they 
 were here. 
 
 "As this is the only house in the place where 
 travellers are entertained," he said to himself, " of 
 course they must have come to it. And as they are 
 not here now, it is quite plain that they must have 
 gone away. I am very glad of it, especially if they 
 left before Keswick arrived, for their departure prob 
 ably prevented an awkward situation. But I shall 
 ask the storekeeper no questions about these people. 
 There is no better way of giving inquisitive folk the 
 entree to your affairs than by asking questions. Of 
 course there was no reason why they should stay 
 here after they had successfully traced Keswick to 
 this part of the country ; and every reason, if they 
 wanted to enjoy themselves, why they should go 
 away. But I can t help being sorry that I did not 
 meet the young woman, and have an opportunity of 
 paying her for her trouble, and giving her a few 
 words of advice in regard to her action, or, rather, 
 non-action in this matter. She has a fine head for 
 business, but I should like to feel certain that she 
 understands that her business with me is over." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 137 
 
 And he turned his eyes from the glittering cans, and 
 slept. 
 
 The next morning, Lawrence Croft rode on to 
 Mrs Keswick s house, and when he reached the 
 second, or inner gate, he saw, on the other side of it, 
 an elderly female, wearing a purple sun-bonnet and 
 carrying a purple umbrella. There was something 
 very eccentric about the garb of this elderly person 
 age, and many an inexperienced city man would 
 have taken her for a retired nurse, or some other 
 domestic retainer of the family, but there was a 
 steadfastness in her gaze, and a fire in her eye, 
 which indicated to Lawrence that she was one much 
 more accustomed to give orders than to take them. 
 He raised his hat very politely, and asked if Mr 
 Keswick was to be found there. 
 
 If the commander of the army, about whom Mr 
 Croft had recently been reading, had beheld in the 
 earlier stages of the battle a strong, friendly force 
 advancing to his aid, he would not have been more 
 delighted than Lawrence would have been had he 
 known what a powerful ally to his cause stood be 
 neath that purple sun-bonnet. 
 
 " Do you mean Junius Keswick?" said the old 
 lady. 
 
 " Yes, madam," answered Croft. 
 
 " He is here, and you will find him at the house." 
 
 The gate was partly open, and Lawrence rode in. 
 The old lady stepped aside to let him pass. 
 
 " Do you want to see him on business ? " she said. 
 14 How did you know he was here ? " 
 
138 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I inquired at Hewlett s, madam." 
 
 Mrs Kesvvick would have liked to ask some fur 
 ther questions, but there was something about Law 
 rence s appearance that dete/red her. 
 
 " You can tie your horse under that tree over 
 there," she said, pointing to a spot more trampled 
 by hoofs than the old lady wished any other portion 
 of her house-yard to be. 
 
 When Lawrence had tied his bridle to a hook sus 
 pended by a strap from one of the lower branches of 
 the indicated tree, he advanced to the house ; and a 
 very much astonished man was he to see, sitting side 
 by side on the porch, Junius Keswick and Mr 
 Candy s cashier. They were seated in the shade of 
 a mass of honeysuckle vines, and were so busily en 
 gaged in conversation that they had not perceived 
 his approach. Even now Lawrence had time to 
 look at them for a few moments before they turned 
 their eyes upon him. 
 
 Equally astonished were the two people on the 
 porch, who now arose to their feet. Junius Keswick 
 naturally wondered very much why Mr Croft should 
 come to see him here ; and as for the young lady, 
 she was almost as much terrified as surprised. Had 
 this man come down from New York to swoop upon 
 her cousin ? Had it been possible that she could 
 have given him any idea of the whereabouts of 
 Junius ? In her last note to him she had been very 
 careful to promise information, but not to give any, 
 hoping thus to gain time to get an insight into the 
 matter, and to keep her cousin out of danger, if, in- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 139 
 
 deed, any danger threatened. But here the pursuer 
 had found Junius in less than a day after she had first 
 met him herself. But when she saw Junius advance 
 and shake hands in a very friendly way with Mr 
 Croft, her terror began to decrease, although her 
 surprise continued at the same high-water mark, 
 and Keswick found himself in a flood of the same 
 emotion when Croft very politely saluted his cousin 
 by name, which salutation was returned in a manner 
 which indicated that the parties were acquainted. 
 
 At first Croft had been prompted to ignore all 
 knowledge of the cashier, and meet her as a stranger, 
 but his better sense prevented this, for how could 
 he know what she had been saying about him. 
 
 " I was about to introduce you to my cousin," 
 said Keswick, " but I see that you already know 
 each other." 
 
 " I have had the pleasure of meeting Mrs Null in 
 New York," said Lawrence, to whom the word 
 cousin gave what might be called a more important 
 surprise than anything with which this three-sided 
 interview had yet furnished its participants. He 
 gave a quick glance at the lady, and discovered her 
 very steadfastly gazing at him. " I hope," he said, 
 " that you and your husband have had a very pleas 
 ant trip." 
 
 " Mr Null did not come with me," she quietly re 
 plied. 
 
 Lawrence Croft was a man to whom it gave pleas 
 ure to deal with problematic situations, unexpected 
 developments, and the like ; but this was too much 
 
140 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 of a conundrum for him. That the man, whose ad 
 dress he had employed this girl to find out, should 
 prove to be her cousin, and that she should start on 
 her bridal trip without her husband, were points on 
 which his reason had no power to work. One thing, 
 however, he quickly determined upon. He would 
 have an interview with Madam Cashier, and have 
 her explain these mysteries. She was, virtually, his 
 agent, and had no right to conceal from him what 
 she had been doing, and why she had done it. 
 
 It was necessary, however, that he should waste 
 no time in thoughts of this kind, but should imme 
 diately state to Mr Keswick the reason of his visit ; 
 for it could not be supposed he had called in a 
 merely social way. " I wish to speak to you," he 
 said, "on a little matter of business." 
 
 At these words Mrs Null excused herself, and 
 went into the house. Her mind was troubled as 
 she wondered what the business was which had 
 made this New York gentleman so extraordinarily 
 desirous to find her cousin. Was it anything that 
 would injure Junius? She looked back as she 
 entered the door, but the object of her solicitude 
 was sitting with a face so calm and composed that it 
 showed very plainly he did not expect any commu 
 nication which would be harmful to him. 
 
 " It is a satisfaction," thought Mr Croft, " a very- 
 great satisfaction that I can enter upon the object 
 of my visit knowing that my affairs and my actions 
 have not been discussed by this gentleman and Mrs 
 Null." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OLD Mrs Keswick would willingly have followed 
 the strange gentleman to the house in order to 
 know the object of his visit, but as he had come to 
 see Junius she refrained, for she knew her nephew 
 would not like any appearance of curiosity on her 
 part. Her reception of Junius had been very dif 
 ferent indeed from that she had previously accorded 
 him when she declined to be found under the same 
 roof with him. Now he was here under very differ 
 ent auspices, and for him the very plumpest poultry 
 was slain, and everything was done to make him 
 comfortable and willing to stay and become ac 
 quainted with his cousin, Mrs Null. A. match be 
 tween these two young people was the present 
 object of the old lady s existence, and she set about 
 making it with as much determination and confi 
 dence as if there had been no such person as Mr 
 Null. Of this individual she had the most con 
 temptible opinion. She had never asked many 
 questions about him, because, in her intercourse 
 with her niece, she wished, as far as possible, to 
 ignore him. Having mentally pictured him in var 
 ious mean conditions of life, she had finally settled 
 it in her mind that he was an agent for some patent 
 fertilizer ; a man of this kind being a very obnoxious 
 
142 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 person to her. This avocation, however, constituted 
 in the old lady s mind no excusable reason for his 
 protracted absence ; and if ever a wife was deserted, 
 she believed that her niece Annie was such a wife. 
 
 u If he should stay away much longer," she said to 
 herself, " we shall have no more trouble in getting 
 a divorce than to have his funeral sermon preached. 
 And if there is any talk of his coming here, or of 
 her going to him, I ll put my foot down on that 
 sort of thing, if I ve a foot left to do it with." 
 
 When she had first perceived the approach of Mr 
 Croft, a fear had seized her that this might be the 
 recreant husband, but the gentlemanly appearance 
 of the stranger soon dispelled this idea from her 
 prejudiced mind. Apart from the fact that she had 
 no business at the house with her nephew s visitor, 
 she had positive business in the garden with old 
 Uncle Isham, and there she repaired. There was 
 some work to be done in regard to a flower pit, in 
 which some of her choicest plants were to be domi 
 ciled during the winter, and this she wished person 
 ally to oversee. Although the autumn was well 
 advanced, the day was somewhat warm ; and as the 
 pair, whom Mr Croft had seen on the porch, had 
 been glad to shelter themselves in the shade of the 
 honeysuckle vines, so Mrs Keswick seated herself on 
 a little bench behind a large arbor, still covered by 
 heavy vines, which stood on the boundary line be 
 tween the garden and the front yard, and opened 
 on the latter. This bench, which was always shady 
 in the morning, she had had placed there that she 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 143 
 
 might comfortably direct the labors of old Isham, 
 the boy Plez, or whoever, for the time being, hap 
 pened to be her gardener. 
 
 Mr Croft did not immediately begin the state 
 ment of the business which had brought him to see 
 Junius Keswick. Several windows of the house 
 opened on the porch, and he did not wish what he 
 had to say to be heard by any one except the person 
 he was addressing. " I desire to talk to you on some 
 private matters," he said. " Could we not walk a 
 little away from the house ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said Junius, rising. "We will step 
 over to that arbor by the garden. We shall be quite 
 comfortable and secluded there. This is the place," 
 said Junius, as they seated themselves in the arbor, 
 "where, when a boy, I used to come to smoke. My 
 aunt did not allow this diversion, but I managed to 
 do a good deal of puffing before I was found out." 
 
 " Then you used to live here ? " asked Croft. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Keswick, " my parents died when 
 I was quite a little fellow, and my aunt had charge 
 of me until I had grown up." 
 
 u Was that your aunt whom I met at the gate ? 
 There was something about her bearing and general 
 appearance which greatly interested me." 
 
 " She is a most estimable lady," returned Junius. 
 And not wishing further to discuss his relative, he 
 added : " And now, what is it, sir, that I can have 
 the pleasure of doing for you?" 
 
 " The matter regards Miss March," said Croft. 
 
 " I presumed so," remarked the other. 
 
144 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I will state it as briefly as possible," continued 
 Croft. " In consequence of your visit to me at the 
 the Springs, I set out, the day before yesterday, to 
 make another attempt to call on Miss March, the 
 first one having been frustrated, as you may remem 
 ber, by the information we received at the gate in 
 regard to Miss March s indisposition, which, as I 
 have heard nothing more of it, I hope was of no 
 importance." 
 
 " Of none whatever," said Junius. 
 
 "When I was within a mile or so of Midbranch," 
 continued Croft, "I met Mr Brandon, who requested 
 me not to come to his house, and, in fact, to cease 
 my visits altogether." 
 
 " What ! " cried Keswick, very much surprised. 
 " That is not at all like Mr Brandon. What reason 
 could he have for treating you in such a manner?" 
 
 " The very best in the world," said Croft. " Hav 
 ing, as the guardian of his niece, asked me the object 
 of my visit to Miss March, and, having been in 
 formed by me that it was my intention to propose 
 matrimony to the lady, he requested that I would 
 not visit at his house." 
 
 " On what ground did he base his objection to 
 your visit ? " asked Keswick. 
 
 " He made no objection to me ; he simply stated 
 that he did not desire me to come, because he 
 wished his niece to marry you." 
 
 " Quite plainly spoken," remarked Keswick. 
 
 " Nothing could be more so," replied Croft. " I 
 could not expect any one to be franker with me 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 145 
 
 than he was. He went on to inform me that a 
 match between the lady and yourself was greatly de 
 sired by the whole family connection, with a single 
 exception, which, however, he did not name, and, 
 while he gave me to understand that he had no rea 
 son to fear that, so far as the lady was concerned, 
 my proposal would interfere with your prospects, 
 still, were it known that there was another aspirant 
 in the field, a very undesirable state of things might 
 ensue. What this state of affairs was he did not 
 state, but I presume it had something to do with the 
 exceptional opposition to which he referred." 
 
 " And what did you say to all that ? " asked 
 Junius. 
 
 " I said very little. When a man asks me not to 
 come to his house, I don t go. But, nevertheless, I 
 have fully made up my mind to propose to Miss 
 March as soon as I can get an opportunity. I have 
 nothing to do with family arrangements or family 
 opposition. You have told me that you are not en 
 gaged to her, and I am going to try to be engaged 
 to her. She is the one to decide this matter. And 
 now I have called upon you, Mr Keswick, to see if 
 there is any way in which you can assist me in ob 
 taining an interview with Miss March." 
 
 "Don t you think," said Junius, " that it is rather 
 cool in you to ask me to assist you in this matter?" 
 
 "Not at all," replied the other. "If it had not 
 been for you I should now be in New York, with no 
 thought of present proposals of marriage. But you 
 came to me, and insisted that I should see the lady." 
 
 10 
 
146 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " That was simply because she had expressed a 
 strong desire to see you." 
 
 " Very good," said Lawrence. " I tried to go to 
 her, as you know, and was prevented. Now all I 
 ask of you is to help me to do what you so strongly 
 urged me to do. There is nothing particularly cool 
 in that, I think." 
 
 Keswick did not immediately reply. " I am not 
 sure," he said, " that Miss March still wishes to see 
 you." 
 
 " That may be," replied Croft, speaking a little 
 warmly. " None of us exactly know what she thinks 
 or wishes. But I want to find out what she thinks 
 about me by distinctly asking her. And I should 
 suppose you would consider it to your advantage, as 
 well as mine, that I should do so." 
 
 " I have my own opinion on that point," said Kes 
 wick, "which it is not necessary to discuss at present. 
 If I were to assist you to an interview with Miss 
 March it would be on the lady s account, not on 
 yours or mine. But apart from the fact that I do 
 not know if she now desires an interview, I would 
 not do anything that would offend or annoy Mr 
 Brand&n." 
 
 " I don t ask that of you," said Croft, " but 
 couldn t you use your influence with him to give me 
 a fair chance with the lady ? That is all I ask, and, 
 whether she accepts me or rejects me, I am sure 
 everybody ought to be satisfied." 
 
 Keswick smiled. " You don t leave any margin 
 for sentiment," he said, " but I suppose it is just as 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 147 
 
 well to deal with this matter in a practical way. I 
 do not think, however, that any influence I can 
 exert on Mr Brandon would induce him to allow 
 you to address his niece if he is opposed to it, and I 
 am sure he would have a very strange opinion of me 
 if I attempted such a thing. At present I do not 
 see that I can help you at all, but I will think over 
 the matter, and we will talk of it again." 
 
 "Thank you," said Croft, rising. "And when 
 shall I call upon you to hear your decision ? " 
 
 It was rather difficult for Junius Keswick to an 
 swer a question like this on the spur of the moment. 
 He arose and walked with Croft out of the arbor. 
 His first impulse, as a Virginia gentleman, was to 
 invite his visitor to stay at the house until the mat 
 ter should be settled, but he did not know what 
 extraordinary freak on the part of his aunt might be 
 caused by such an invitation. But before he had 
 decided what to say, they were met by Mrs Keswick 
 coming from the garden. Junius thereupon pre 
 sented Mr Croft, who was welcomed by the old lady 
 with extended hand and exceeding cordiality. 
 
 " I am very glad," she said, " to meet a friend of 
 my nephew. But where are you going, Sir? Cer 
 tainly not toward your horse. You must stay and 
 dine with us." 
 
 Lawrence hesitated. He had no claims on the 
 hospitality of these people, but he wished very 
 much to have an opportunity to speak to Mrs Null. 
 " Thank you," he said, " but I am staying down 
 here at the village, and it is but a short ride." 
 
148 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Staying at Hewlett s?" exclaimed Mrs Kes- 
 wick. " At which hotel, may I ask?" 
 
 Lawrence laughed. " I am stopping with the 
 storekeeper," he said. 
 
 " That settles it ! " said the old lady, giving her 
 umbrella a jab into the ground. " Tom Peckett s 
 accommodations may be good enough for pedlers 
 and travelling agents, but they are not fit for gen 
 tlemen, especially one of my nephew s friends. You 
 must stay with us, sir, as long as you are in this 
 neighborhood. I insist upon it." 
 
 Junius was very much astonished at his aunt s 
 speech and manner. The old lady was not at all in 
 hospitable ; so far was it otherwise the case, that, 
 rather than deprive an objectionable visitor of the 
 shelter of her roof, she would go from under it her 
 self ; but he had never known her to " gush " in this 
 manner upon a stranger. He now felt at liberty, 
 however, to obey his own impulses, and urged Mr 
 Croft to stay with them. 
 
 " You are very kind, indeed," said Lawrence, " and 
 I shall be glad to defer for the present my return to 
 my * hotel. This will give me the additional pleas 
 ure of renewing my acquaintance with Mrs Null." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Mrs Keswick, " do you know 
 her, too ? And to think of you stopping at Peckett s ! 
 Your home, sir, while you stay in these parts, is here." 
 
 Before the three reached the house, Mrs Keswick 
 had inquired how long Mr Croft had known her 
 niece ; and had discovered, much to her disappoint 
 ment, that he had never met Mr Null. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 149 
 
 Shortly after the arrival at the house of the gen 
 tleman on horseback little Plez ran into the kitchen, 
 where Letty was engaged in preparing vegetables 
 for dinner. 
 
 " Who d ye think is done come ? " he exclaimed. 
 " Miss Annie s husband ! Jes rid up to de house." 
 
 " Dat so ?" cried Letty, dropping into her lap the 
 knife and the potato she was peeling. " Well, truly, 
 when things does happen in dis woiT dey comes all 
 in a lump. None ob de fam ly been nigh de house 
 for ebber so long; an den, long comes Mahs Jun- 
 ius hisse f, an Miss Annie dat s been away sence she 
 was a chile, an ole Mr Brandon, wot Uncle Isham 
 say ain t been h yar fur years and years, an now 
 Miss Annie s husband comes kitin up ! An dar s 
 ole Aun Patsy wot says dat if dat gemman ebber 
 come h yar she want to know it fus thing. She 
 was dreffle p inted about dat. An now, look 
 h yar, you Plez, jus you cut round to your Aun 
 Patsy s, an tell her Miss Annie s husband s done 
 come." 
 
 " Whar ole Miss ? " inquired Plez. " She sleep ? " 
 
 " No, she mighty wide awake," said Letty. " But 
 you take dem knives an dat board an brick, an run 
 down to de branch to clean em. An , when you gits 
 dar, you jus slip along, hind de bushes, till you s got 
 ter de cohn fiel , an den you cut cross dar to Aun 
 Patsy s. An don you stop no time dar, fur if ole 
 Miss finds you s done gone, she ll chop you up wid 
 dem knives." 
 
 Plez was quite ready for a reckless dash of this 
 
150 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 kind, and in less than twenty minutes old Patsy 
 was informed that Mr Null had arrived. The old 
 woman was much affected by the information. She 
 was uneasy and restless, and talked a good deal to 
 herself, occasionally throwing out a moan or a la 
 ment in the direction of her " son Tom s yaller boy 
 Bob s chile." The crazy quilt, which was not yet 
 finished, though several pieces had been added since 
 we last saw it, was laid aside ; and by the help of 
 the above mentioned great granddaughter the old 
 hair trunk was hauled out and opened. Over this 
 hoard of treasures, Aunt Patsy spent nearly two 
 hours, slowly taking up the various articles it con 
 tained, turning them over, mumbling over them, 
 and mentally referring many of them to periods 
 which had become historic. At length she pulled 
 out from one of the corners of the trunk a pair of 
 very little blue morocco shoes tied together by 
 their strings. These she took into her lap, and, 
 shortly afterward, had the trunk locked, and pushed 
 back into its place. The shoes, having been thor 
 oughly examined through her great iron-bound 
 spectacles, were thrust under the mattrass of her 
 bed. 
 
 That evening, Uncle Isham stepped in to see the 
 old woman, who was counteracting the effects of 
 the cool evening air by sitting as close as possible 
 to the remains of the fire which had cooked the 
 supper. She was very glad to see him. She 
 wanted somebody to whom she could unburden her 
 mind. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 151 
 
 " Wot you got to say bout Miss Annie s hus 
 band," she asked, " wot done come to-day?" 
 
 " Was dat him? " exclaimed the old man. " No 
 body tole me dat." 
 
 This was true, for the good-natured Letty, hav 
 ing discovered the mistake that had been made, 
 had concluded to say nothing about it and to keep 
 away from Aunt Patsy s for a few days, until the 
 matter should be forgotten. 
 
 " Well, I spec Miss Annie s mighty glad to git 
 him back agin," continued the old man, after a 
 moment s reflection. " He s right much of a nice 
 lookin gemman. I seed him this ebenin a ridin 
 wid Mahs Junius." 
 
 " P raps Miss Annie is glad," said the ole woman, 
 " coz she don know. But I ain t." 
 
 "Wot s de reason fur dat?" inquired Isham. 
 
 " It s a pow ful dreffle thing dat Miss Annie s 
 husband s done come down h yar. He don know 
 ole miss." 
 
 " Wot s de matter wid ole miss ? " asked Isham, 
 in a quick tone. 
 
 " She done talk to me bout him," said the old 
 woman. " She done tole me jus wot she think of 
 him. She hate him from he heel up. I dunno wot 
 she ll do to him now she got him. Mighty great 
 pity fur pore Miss Annie dat he ever come h yar." 
 
 " Ole miss ain t gwine ter do nuffin to him," said 
 Isham, in a gruff and troubled tone. 
 
 " Don you b lieve dat," said Aunt Patsy. "When 
 ole miss don like a pusson, dat pusson had better 
 
152 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 look out. But I ain t gwine to be sottin h yar an 
 see mis ry comin to Miss Annie." 
 
 " Wot you gwine to do ?" asked Isham. 
 
 " I s gwine ter speak my min to ole miss. I s 
 gwine to tell her not to do no kunjerin to Miss 
 Annie s husban . She gwine to hurt dat little gal 
 more n she hurt anybody else." 
 
 Old Isham sat looking into the fire with a very 
 worried and anxious expression on his face. He 
 was intensely loyal to his mistress, aware as he was 
 of her short-comings, or rather her long-goings. 
 Although he felt a good deal of fear that there 
 might be some truth in Aunt Patsy s words, he 
 was very sure that if she took it upon herself to 
 give warning or reproof to old Mrs Keswick, a storm 
 would ensue ; and where the lightning would strike 
 he did not know. "You better look out, Aun 
 Patsy," he said. "You an ole miss been mighty 
 good fren s fur a pow ful long time, an now don 
 you go gittin yourse f in no fraction wid her, jus as 
 you bout to die." 
 
 "Ain t gwine to die," said the old woman, " till I 
 done tole her wot s on my min ." 
 
 " Aun Patsy," said Uncle Isham, after gazing 
 silently in the fire for a minute or two, " dar was a 
 brudder wot come up from Melia County to de las 
 big preachin , an he tole in his sarment a par ble wot 
 I b lieve will ply fus rate to dis casion. I s gwine 
 to tell you dat." 
 
 " Go long wid it," said Aunt Patsy. 
 
 "Well, den," said Isham, " dar was once a cullud 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 153 
 
 angel wot went up to de gate ob heaben to git in. 
 He didn t know nuffin bout de ways ob de place, 
 bein a strahnger, an when he see all de white 
 angels a crowdin in at de gate where Sent Peter 
 was a settin , he sorter looked round to see if dar 
 warn t no gate wot he might go in at. Den ole 
 Sent Peter he sings out : Look h yar, uncle, whar 
 you gwine? Dar ain t no cullud gal ry in dis stab- 
 lishment. You s got to come in dis same gate wid 
 de udder folks. So de cullud angel he come up to 
 de gate, but he kin a hung back till de udders had 
 got in. Jus den long comes a white angel on hoss- 
 back, wot was in a dreffle hurry to git in to de gate. 
 De cullud angel, he mighty p lite, an he went up an 
 tuk de hoss, an when de white angel had got down 
 an gone in, he went roun lookin fur a tree to hitch 
 him to. But when he went back agin to de gate, 
 Sent Peter had jus shet it, and was lockin it up 
 wid a big padlock. He jus looks ober de gate 
 at de cullud angel an he says : No mittance 
 ahfter six o clock. An den he go in to his sup 
 per." 
 
 " An wot dat cullud angel do den ? " asked Eliza, 
 who had been listening breathlessly to this narra 
 tive. 
 
 " Dunno," said Isham, " but I reckin de debbil 
 come long in de night an tuk him off. Dar s a 
 lesson in dis h yar par ble wot ud do you good to 
 clap to your heart, Aun Patsy. Don you be gwine 
 roun tryin to help udder people jus as you is all 
 ready to go inter de gate ob heaben. Ef you try 
 
154 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 any ob dat dar foolishness, de fus thing you know 
 you ll find dat gate shet." 
 
 " Is dat your Melia County par ble ? " asked the 
 old woman. 
 
 " Dat s it," answered Isham. 
 
 " Reckon dat country s better fur bacca dan fur 
 par bles," grunted Aunt Patsy. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LAWRENCE CROFT had no idea of leaving the 
 neighborhood of Hewlett s until Keswick had made 
 up his mind what he was going to do, and until he 
 had had a private talk with Mrs Null ; and, as it was 
 quite evident that the family would be offended if a 
 visitor to them should lodge at Peckett s store, he 
 accepted the invitation to spend the night at the 
 Keswick house ; and in the afternoon Junius rode 
 with him to Hewlett s, where he got his valise, and 
 paid his account. 
 
 But no opportunity occurred that day for a ttte- 
 a-tete with Mrs Null. Keswick was with him nearly 
 all the afternoon ; and in the evening the family sat 
 together in the parlor, where the conversation was 
 a general one, occasionally very much brightened 
 by some of the caustic remarks of the old lady in re 
 gard to particular men and women, as well as society 
 at large. Of course he had many opportunities of 
 judging, to the best of his capacity, of certain 
 phases of character appertaining to Mr Candy s cash 
 ier ; and, among other things, he came to the con 
 clusion that probably she was a young woman who 
 would get up early in the morning, and he, there 
 fore, determined to do that thing himself, and see 
 
156 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 if he could not have a talk with her before the rest 
 of the family were astir. 
 
 Early rising was not one of Croft s accustomed 
 habits, but the next morning he arose a good hour 
 before breakfast time. He found the lower part of 
 the house quite deserted, and when he went out on 
 the porch he was glad to button up his coat, for the 
 morning air was very cool. While walking up and 
 down with his hands in his pockets, and looking in 
 at the front door every time he passed it, in hopes 
 that he might see Mrs Null coming down the stairs, 
 he was greeted with a cheery good morning," by 
 a voice in the front yard. Turning hastily, he be 
 held Mrs Keswick, wearing her purple sunbonnet, 
 but without her umbrella. 
 
 " Glad you like to be up betimes, sir," said she. 
 "That s my way, and I find it pays. Nobody works 
 as well, and I don t believe the plants and stock 
 grow as well, while we are asleep." 
 
 Lawrence replied that in the city he did not get 
 up so early, but that the morning air in the country 
 was very fine. 
 
 " And pretty sharp, too," said Mrs Keswick. 
 " Come down here in the sunshine, and you will find 
 it pleasanter. Step back a little this way, sir," she 
 said, when Lawrence had joined her, " and give me 
 your opinion of that locust tree by the corner of 
 ,the porch. I am thinking of having it cut down. 
 Locusts are very apt to get diseased inside, and 
 break off, and I am afraid that one will blow over 
 some day and fall on the house." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 157 
 
 Lawrence said he thought it looked like a very 
 good tree, and it would be a pity to lose the shade 
 it made. 
 
 * I might plant one of another sort," said the old 
 lady, u but trees grow too slow for old people, 
 though plenty fast enough for young ones. I 
 reckon I ll let it stand awhile yet. You were talk 
 ing last night of Midbranch, sir. There used to be 
 fine trees there, though it s many years since I ve 
 seen them. Have you been long acquainted with 
 the family there ? " 
 
 Lawrence replied that he had known Miss March 
 a good while, having met her in New York. 
 
 " She is said to be a right smart young lady," said 
 Mrs Keswick, " well educated, and has travelled in 
 Europe. I am told that she is not only a regular 
 town lady, but that she makes a first-rate house 
 keeper when she is down here in the country." 
 
 Lawrence replied that he had no doubt that all 
 this was very true. 
 
 " I have never seen her," continued the old lady, 
 " for there has not been much communication be 
 tween the two families of late years, although they 
 used to be intimate enough. But my nephew and 
 niece have been away a great deal, and old people 
 can t be expected to do much in the way of visiting. 
 But I have a notion," she said, after gazing a few 
 moments in a reflective way at the corner of the 
 house, " that it would be well now to be a little 
 more sociable again. My niece has no company 
 here of her own sex, except me, and I think it 
 
158 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 would do her good to know a young lady like Miss 
 March. Mr Brandon has asked me to let Annie 
 come there, but I think it would be a great deal 
 better for his niece to visit us. Mrs Null is the 
 latest comer." 
 
 Lawrence, speaking much more earnestly than 
 when discussing the locust tree, replied that he 
 thought this would be quite proper. 
 
 " I think I may invite her to come here next 
 week," said Mrs Keswick, still meditatively and with 
 out apparent regard to the presence of Croft, "prob 
 ably on Friday, and ask her to spend a week. And, 
 by the way, sir," she said, turning to her companion, 
 " if you are still in this part of the country I would 
 be glad to have you ride over and stay a day or two 
 while Miss March is here. I will have a little party 
 of young folks in honor of Mrs Null. I have done 
 nothing of the kind for her, so far." 
 
 Lawrence said he had no doubt that he would 
 stay at the Green Sulphur a week or two longer, 
 and that he would be most happy to accept Mrs 
 Keswick s kind invitation. 
 
 They then moved toward the house, but, sud 
 denly stopping, as if she had just thought of some 
 thing, Mrs Keswick remarked : " I shall be obliged 
 to you, sir, if you will not say anything about this 
 little plan of mine, just now. I have not spoken of 
 it to any one, having scarcely made up my mind to 
 it, and I suppose I should not have mentioned it to 
 you if we had not been talking about Midbranch. 
 There is nothing I hate so much as to have people 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 159 
 
 hear I am going to give them an invitation, or that 
 I am going to do anything, in fact, before I have 
 fully made up my mind about it." 
 
 Lawrence assured her that he would say nothing 
 on the subject, and she promised to send him a note 
 to the Green Sulphur, in case she finally determined 
 on having the little company at her house. 
 
 "Now," triumphantly thought Croft, "it matters 
 not what Keswick decides to do, for I don t need his 
 assistance. An elderly angel in a purple sun-bonnet 
 has come to my aid. She is about to do ever so 
 much more for me than I could expect of him, and 
 I prefer her assistance to that of my rival. Alto 
 gether it is the most unexpected piece of good 
 luck." 
 
 After breakfast there came to Lawrence the op 
 portunity of a private conference with Mrs Null. 
 He was standing alone on the porch when she came 
 out of the door with her hat on and a basket in her 
 hand, and said she was going to see a very old col 
 ored woman who lived in the neighborhood, who 
 was considered a very interesting personage ; and 
 perhaps he would like to go there with her. Noth 
 ing could suit Croft better than this, and off they 
 started. 
 
 As soon as they were outside the yard gate the 
 lady remarked : " I have been trying hard to give you 
 a chance to talk to me when the others were not by. 
 I knew you must be perfectly wild to ask me what 
 this all meant ; why I never told you that Mr Kes 
 wick was my cousin, and the rest of it." 
 
160 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I can t say," said Lawrence, " that I am abso 
 lutely untamed and ferocious in regard to the matter, 
 but I do really wish very much that you would give 
 me some explanation of your very odd doings. In 
 fact, that is the only thing that now keeps me here." 
 
 " I thought so," said Mrs Null. u As I supposed 
 you had got through with your business with Junius, 
 I did not wish to detain you here any longer than 
 was necessary." 
 
 44 Thank you," said Lawrence. 
 
 "You are welcome," she said. "And when I saw 
 you standing on the porch by yourself, the idea of 
 being generous to old Aunt Patsy came into my 
 mind. And here we are. Now, what do you want 
 to know first ? " 
 
 " Well," said Mr Croft, " I would like very much 
 to know how a young lady like you came to be Mr 
 Candy s cashier." 
 
 " I supposed you would want to know that," she 
 said. " It s a dreadfully long story, and as it is a 
 strictly family matter I had almost made up my 
 mind last night that I ought not to tell it to you at 
 all, but as I don t know how much you are mixed 
 up with the family, I afterward thought it best, for 
 my own sake, to explain the matter to you. So I 
 will give you the principal points. My mother was 
 a sister of Mrs Keswick, and Junius mother was an 
 other sister. Both his parents died when he was a 
 boy, and Aunt Keswick brought him up. My 
 mother died here when I was quite small, and I 
 stayed until I was eight years old. Aunt Keswick 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 161 
 
 and my father were not very good friends, and when 
 she came to look upon me as entirely her own child, 
 and wished to deprive him of all rights and privileges 
 as a parent, he resented it very much, and, at last, 
 took me away. I don t remember exactly how this 
 was done, but I know there was a tremendous quar 
 rel, and my father and aunt never met again. 
 
 "He took me to New York; and there we lived 
 very happily until about two years ago, when my 
 father died. He was a lawyer by profession, but 
 at that time held a salaried position in a railroad 
 company, and when he died, of course our income 
 ceased. The money that was left did not last very 
 long, and then I had to decide what I was to do. 
 It would have been natural for me to go to my only 
 relatives, Aunt Keswick and Junius. But my father 
 had been so opposed to my aunt having anything to 
 do with me that I could not bear to go to her. He 
 had really been so much afraid that she would try 
 to win me away from him, or in some way gain pos 
 session of me, that he would not even let her know 
 our address, and never answered the few letters 
 from her which reached him, and which he told 
 me were nothing but demands that her sister s child 
 should be given back to her. Junius had written to 
 me, how many times I do not know, but two letters 
 had come to me that were very good and affection 
 ate, quite different from my aunt s, but even these 
 my father would not let me answer ; it would be all 
 the same thing, he said, as if I opened communica 
 tion with my Aunt Keswick. 
 11 
 
1 62 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Therefore, out of respect to my father, and also 
 in accordance with my own wishes, I gave up all idea 
 of coming down here, and went to work to support 
 myself. I tried several things, and, at last, through 
 a friend of my father, who was a regular customer 
 of Mr Candy, I got the position of cashier in the 
 Information Shop. It was an awfully queer place, 
 but the work was very easy, and I soon got used to 
 it. Then you came making inquiries for an address. 
 At first I did not know that the person you wanted 
 was Junius Keswick and my cousin, but after I be 
 gan to look into the matter I found that it must be 
 he who you were after. Then I became very much 
 troubled, for I liked Junius, who was the only one 
 of my blood whom I had any reason to care for ; 
 and when one sees a person setting a detective for 
 it is all the same thing upon the track of another 
 person, one is very apt to think that some harm is 
 intended to the person that is being looked up. I 
 did not know what business Junius was in, nor what 
 his condition was, but even if he had been doing 
 wrong, I did not wish you to find him until I had 
 first seen him, and then, if I found you could do him 
 any harm, I would warn him to keep out of your 
 way." 
 
 " Do you think that was fair treatment of me ? " 
 asked Croft. 
 
 "You were nothing to me, and Junius was a great 
 deal," she answered. " And yet I think I was fair 
 enough. The only money you paid was what Mr 
 Candy charged ; and when I spoke of receiving 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 163 
 
 money for my services when the affair was finished 
 I only did it that it might all be more business like, 
 and that you should not drop me and set somebody 
 else looking after Junius. That was the great thing 
 I was afraid of, so I did all I could to make you 
 satisfied with me." 
 
 " I don t see how your conscience could allow you 
 to do all this," said Croft. 
 
 " My conscience was very much pleased with me," 
 was the answer. " What I did was a stratagem, and 
 perfectly fair too. If I had found that it was right 
 for you to see Junius, I would have done everything 
 I could to help you communicate with him. But 
 when I did at last see him, down you swooped upon 
 us before \ had an opportunity of saying a word 
 about you." 
 
 "Your marriage was a very fortunate thing for 
 you," said Mr Croft, " for if it had not been for that 
 I should never have allowed you to go about the 
 country looking up a gentleman in my behalf. But 
 how did you get over your repugnance to your 
 aunt?" 
 
 " I didn t get over it," she said, " I conquered it, 
 for I found that this was the most likely place to 
 meet Junius. And Aunt Keswick has certainly 
 treated me in the kindest manner, although she is 
 
 o 
 
 very angry about Mr Null. But when I first came 
 and she did not know who I was, she behaved in 
 the most extraordinary manner." 
 
 " What did she do ?" asked Croft. 
 
 " Never you mind," she answered, with a little 
 
1 64 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 laugh. " You can t expect to know all the family 
 affairs." 
 
 They had now arrived at Aunt Patsy s cabin, and 
 Mrs Null entered, followed at a little distance by 
 Croft. The old woman had seen them as they were 
 walking along the road, and her little black eyes 
 sparkled with peculiar animation behind her great 
 spectacles. Her granddaughter happened not to 
 be at home, but Aunt Patsy got up, and with her 
 apron rubbed off the bottoms of two chairs, which 
 she placed in convenient positions for her expected 
 visitors. When they came in they found her in a 
 very perturbed condition. She answered Mrs Null s 
 questions with a very few words and a great many 
 grunts, and kept her eyes fixed nearly all the time 
 upon Mr Croft, endeavoring to find out, perhaps, if 
 he had yet been subjected to any kind of conjuring. 
 
 When all the questions which young people gen 
 erally put to old servants had been asked by Mrs 
 Null, and Croft had made as many remarks as might 
 have been expected of him in regard to the age and 
 recollections of this interesting old negress, Aunt 
 Patsy began to be much more disturbed, fearing 
 that the interview was about to come to an end. 
 She actually got up and went to the back door to 
 look for Eliza. 
 
 " Do you want her?" anxiously inquired Mrs 
 Null, going to the old woman s side. 
 
 " Yaas, I wants her," said Aunt Patsy. " I spec 
 she at Aggy s house dat cabin ober dar but I 
 can t holler loud nuf to make her h yere me." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 165 
 
 " I ll run over there and tell her you want her," 
 said Mrs Null, stepping out of the door. 
 
 " Dat s a good chile," said Aunt Patsy, with more 
 warmth than she had yet exhibited. " Dat s your 
 own mudder s good chile ! " And then she turned 
 quickly into the room. 
 
 Croft had risen as if he were about to follow Mrs 
 Null, or, at least, to see where she had gone. But 
 Aunt Patsy stopped him. " Jus you stay h yar 
 one little minute," she said, hurriedly. " I got one 
 word to say to you, sah." And she stood up before 
 him as erect as she could, fixing her great spectacles 
 directly upon him. " You look out, sah, fur ole 
 miss," she said, in a voice, naturally shrill, but now 
 heavily handicapped by age and emotion, " ole Miss 
 Keswick, I means. She boun to do you harm, sah. 
 She tole me so wid her own mouf." 
 
 " Mrs Keswick ! " exclaimed Croft. " Why, you 
 must be mistaken, good aunty. She can have no 
 ill feelings towards me." 
 
 " Don you b lieve dat ! " said the old woman. 
 " Don you b lieve one word ob dat ! She hate you, 
 sah, she hate you ! She not gwine to tell you dat. 
 She make you think she like you fus rate, an den de 
 nex thing you knows, she kunjer you, an shribble 
 up de siners ob your legs, an gib you mis ry in your 
 back, wot you neber git rid of no moh . Can t tell 
 you nuffin else now, for h yar comes Miss Annie," 
 she added hurriedly, and, stepping to the bedside, 
 she drew from under the mattrass a pair of little blue 
 shoes, tied together by their strings. " Jes you take 
 
1 66 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 dese h yar shoes," she said, " an ef eber you think 
 ole miss gwine ter kunjer you, jes you hoi up dem 
 shoes right afore her face. Dar now, stuff em in 
 your pocket. Don you tell Miss Annie wot I 
 done say to you. Member dat, sah. It ud kill her, 
 shuh." 
 
 At this moment Mrs Null entered, just as the 
 shoes had been slipped into the side-pocket of Mr 
 Croft s coat by the old woman. And as she did so, 
 she whispered, in a tone that could not but have its 
 effect upon him, " Now, nebber tell her, honey." 
 
 " Here is Eliza," said Mrs Null, as she came in, fol 
 lowed by the great granddaughter. " And I think," 
 she said to Mr Croft, " it is time for us to go. Good 
 bye, Aunt Patsy. You can send back the basket by 
 Eliza." 
 
 When the two left the cabin, Croft walked 
 thoughtfully for a few moments, wondering what in 
 the world the old woman could have meant by her 
 strange words and gift to him. Concluding, how 
 ever, that they could have been nothing but the 
 drivelings of weak-minded old age, he dismissed 
 them from his mind and turned his attention to his 
 companion. " We were speaking," he said, " of Mr 
 Null. Do you expect him shortly?" 
 
 " Well, no, said the lady. " I can t say that I do." 
 
 " That is odd," said Lawrence. " I thought this 
 was your wedding journey." 
 
 " So it is, in a measure," said she, " but there is no 
 necessity of his coming here. Didn t I tell you that 
 my aunt was opposed to the marriage ? " 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 167 
 
 " But she might as well make up her mind to it 
 now," he said. 
 
 " She is not in the habit of making up her mind to 
 things she don t like. Do you know," she added, 
 looking around with a half smile, as if she took pleas 
 ure in astonishing him, " that Aunt Keswick is going 
 to try to have us divorced ? " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Croft. " Divorced ! Is there 
 any ground for it ? " 
 
 " She has other matrimonial plans for me, that s 
 all." 
 
 " What an extraordinary individual she must be ! " 
 he exclaimed. " But she can never carry out such a 
 ridiculous scheme as that." 
 
 " I don t know," she said. " She has already con 
 sulted Mr Brandon on the subject." 
 
 " What nonsense ! " cried Croft. " If you and Mr 
 Null are satisfied, nobody else has anything to do 
 with it." 
 
 " Mr Null and I are of one mind," said she, " and 
 agree perfectly. But don t you think it is a terrible 
 thing to know you must always face an irritated 
 aunt?" 
 
 u Oh," said Croft, looking around at her very 
 coldly and sternly, " I begin to see. I suppose a 
 separation would improve your prospects in life. 
 But it can t be done if your husband is opposed 
 to it." 
 
 " Mr Croft," said the lady, her face flushing a 
 good deal, " you have no right to speak to me in 
 that way, and attribute such motives to me. No 
 
1 68 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 matter who I had married, I would never give him up 
 for the sake of money, or a farm, or anything you 
 think my aunt could give me." 
 
 " I beg your pardon/ said Croft, " if I made a 
 mistake, but I don t see what else I could infer from 
 your remarks." 
 
 " My remarks," said she, " were, well, they have 
 a different meaning from what you supposed." She 
 walked on in silence for a few moments, and then, 
 looking up to her companions, she said : " I have 
 a great mind to tell you something, if you will 
 promise, at least for the present, not to breathe it to 
 a living soul." 
 
 Instantly the lookout on the bow of Lawrence 
 Croft s life action called out : " Breakers ahead ! " 
 and almost instantly its engine was stopped, and 
 every faculty of its commander was on the alert. 
 " 1 do not know," he said, " that I am entitled to 
 your confidence. Would it be of any advantage to 
 you to tell me what you propose ? " 
 
 " It would be of advantage, and you are entitled," 
 she added quickly. " It is about Mr Null, and you 
 ought to know it, for you instigated my wedded life." 
 
 " I instigated ! " exclaimed Mr Croft. And then 
 he stopped short, both in his speech and walk. 
 
 "Yes," said the lady, stopping also, and turning 
 to face him, " you did, and you ought to remember 
 it. You said if I had a husband to travel about 
 with me you would like very much to employ me in 
 the search for Mr Keswick, and it was solely on that 
 account that I went and got married." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 169 
 
 Observing the look of blank and utter amazement 
 on his face, she smiled, and said : " Please don t look 
 so horribly astonished. Mr Null is void." 
 
 As she made this remark the lady looked up at 
 her companion with a smile and an expression 
 of curiosity as to how he would take the announce 
 ment. Lawrence gazed blankly at her for a mo 
 ment, and then he broke into a laugh. " You don t 
 mean to say," he exclaimed, " that Mr Null is an 
 imaginary being? " 
 
 " Entirely so," she replied. u My dear Freddy 
 is nothing but a fanciful idea, with no attribute 
 whatever except the name." 
 
 "You are a most extraordinary young person," 
 said Lawrence ; " almost as extraordinary as your 
 aunt. What in the world made you think of doing 
 such a thing? and why do you wish to keep up the 
 delusion among your relatives, even so far as to 
 drive your aunt to the point of getting you divorced 
 from your airy husband ? " And he laughed again. 
 
 " I told you how I came to think of it," she said, 
 as they walked on again. " It was very plain that 
 if I wanted to travel about as your agent I must be 
 married, and I have found a husband quite a pro 
 tection and an advantage, even when he doesn t go 
 about with me; and as to keeping up the delusion, 
 as you call it, in my own family, I have found that 
 to be absolutely necessary, at least for the present. 
 My aunt, even when I was a little girl, determined 
 to take my marriage into her own hands ; and since I 
 have returned to her, this desire has come up again 
 
1 70 The Late Mrs NulL 
 
 in the most astonishing way. It is her principal 
 subject of conversation with me. Were it not for 
 the protection which my dear Freddy Null gives 
 me I should be thrown bodily into the arms of the 
 person whom my aunt has selected, and he would 
 be obliged to take me, whether he wanted to or not, 
 or be cast forth forever. So you see how important 
 it is that my aunt should think I am married ; and 
 I do hope you will not tell anybody about Mr 
 Null." 
 
 " Of course I will keep your secret," said Croft. 
 "You may rely upon that; but don t you think 
 do you believe that this sort of thing is altogether 
 right?" 
 
 She did not answer for a few moments, and then 
 she said : " I suppose you must consider me a very 
 deceptive sort of person, but you should remember 
 that these things were not done for my own good, 
 and, as far as I can see, they were the only things 
 that could be done. Do you suppose I was going 
 to let you pounce down on my cousin and do him 
 some injury, for, as you kept your object such a 
 secret, I did not suppose it could be anything but an 
 injury you intended him." 
 
 " A fine opinion of me ! " said Croft. 
 
 "And then, do you suppose," she continued, 
 "that I would allow my aunt to quarrel with Junius 
 and disinherit him, as she says she will, should he 
 decline to marry me. I expected to drop my mar 
 ried name when I came here, but I had not been 
 with my aunt fifteen minutes before I saw that it 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 171 
 
 would never do for me to be a single woman while I 
 stayed with her ; and so I kept my Freddy by me. 
 I did not intend, at all, to tell you all these things 
 about my cousin, and I only did it because I did not 
 wish you to think that I was a sly, mean creature, 
 deceiving others for my own good." 
 
 " Well," said Croft, " although I can t say you are 
 right in making your relatives believe you are mar 
 ried when you are not, still I see you had very fair 
 reasons for what you did, and you certainly showed 
 a great deal of ingenuity and pluck in carrying out 
 your remarkable schemes. By-the-way," he con 
 tinued, somewhat hesitatingly, " I am in your debt 
 for your services to me." 
 
 " Not a bit of it ! " she exclaimed quickly. " I 
 never did a thing for you. It was all for myself, or, 
 rather, for my cousin. The only money due was 
 that which you paid to Mr Candy before I took 
 charge of the matter." 
 
 Lawrence felt that this was rather a sore subject 
 with his companion, and he dropped it. " Do you 
 still hold the position of cashier in the Information 
 Shop ? " 
 
 "No," she said. "When I started out on my 
 lonely wedding tour I gave up that, and if I should 
 go back to New York, I do not think I should want 
 to take it again." 
 
 " Do you propose soon to return to New York? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " No ; at least I have made no plans in regard 
 to it. I think it would grieve my aunt very much 
 
172 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 if I were to go away from her now, and as long as I 
 have Mr Null to protect me from her matrimonial 
 schemes, I am glad to stay with her. She is very 
 kind to me." 
 
 " I think you are entirely right in deciding to stay 
 here," he said, looking around at her, and contrast 
 ing in his mind the bright-faced, and somewhat 
 plump young person walking beside him with the 
 thin-faced girl in black whom he had seen behind 
 the cashier s desk. 
 
 " Now," said she, with a vivacious little laugh, " I 
 have poured out my whole soul before you, and, in 
 return, I want you to gratify a curiosity which is 
 fairly eating me up. Why were you so anxious to 
 find my Cousin Junius? And how did you happen 
 to come here the very day after he arrived ? And, 
 more than that, how was it that you had seen him 
 at Midbranch so recently ? You were talking about 
 it last night. It couldn t have been my letter from 
 Howlett s that brought you down here?" 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " my meeting with Mr 
 Keswick at Midbranch was entirely accidental. 
 When I arrived there, a few days ago, I had no 
 reason to suppose that I should meet him. But I 
 must ask you to excuse me from giving my reasons 
 for wishing to find your cousin, and for coming to 
 see him here. The matter between us has now 
 become one of no importance, and will be dropped." 
 
 The lady s face flushed. " Oh, indeed ! " she said. 
 And during the short remainder of their walk to 
 the house she made no further remark. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHEN Lawrence and his companion reached the 
 house, they found on the porch Mrs Keswick and 
 her nephew ; and, after a little general conversation, 
 the latter remarked to Mr Croft that he had found 
 it would not be in his power to attend to that 
 matter he had spoken of ; to which Croft replied 
 that he was very much obliged to him for thinking 
 of it, and that it was of no consequence at all, as he 
 would probably make other arrangements. He then 
 stated that he would be obliged to return to the 
 Green Sulphur Springs that day, and that, as it was 
 a long ride, he would like to start as soon as his 
 horse could be brought to him. But this procedure 
 was condemned utterly by the old lady, who insisted 
 that Mr Croft should not leave until after dinner, 
 which meal should be served earlier than usual in 
 order to give him plenty of time to get to the 
 Springs before dark, and as Lawrence had nothing 
 to oppose to her very urgent protest, he consented 
 to stay. Before dinner was ready he found out 
 why the protest was made. The old lady took him 
 aside and made inquiries of him in regard to Mr 
 Null. He had already informed her that, he was 
 not acquainted with that gentleman, but she thought, 
 as Mr Croft seemed to be going about the country 
 
174 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 a good deal, he might possibly meet with her niece s 
 husband ; and, if he should do so, she would be 
 very glad to have him become acquainted with him. 
 
 To this Lawrence replied with much gravity that 
 he would be happy to do so. 
 
 "Mr Null has not yet come to my house," said 
 Mrs Keswick, " and it is very natural that one 
 should desire to know the husband of her only niece 
 who is, or should be, the same as a daughter to 
 her." 
 
 " A very natural wish indeed," said Lawrence. 
 
 " I am not quite sure in what business Mr Null is 
 engaged," she continued, " and, although I asked 
 my niece about it, she answered in a very evasive 
 way, which makes me think his occupation is one 
 she is not proud of. I have reason to suppose, 
 however, that he is an agent for the sale of some 
 fertilizing compound." 
 
 At this Lawrence could not help smiling very 
 broadly. 
 
 " It may appear very odd and ridiculous to you," 
 she said, u that a person connected with my family 
 should be engaged in a business like that, for those 
 fertilizers, as you ought to know, are all humbugs 
 of the vilest kind. The only time I bought any it 
 took my whole wheat crop to pay for it, and as for 
 the clover I got afterward, a grasshopper could have 
 eaten the whole of it. I am afraid he didn t tell 
 her his business before he married her, and I m glad 
 she s ashamed of it. As far as I can find out, it does 
 not seem as if Mr Null has any intention of coming 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 175 
 
 here for some time ; and, as I said before, I do very 
 much want to know something about him that is 
 from a disinterested outsider. One cannot expect 
 a recently married young woman to give a correct 
 account of her husband." 
 
 " I do not believe," said Mr Croft, " that there is 
 any probability that I shall ever meet the gentleman 
 our walks in life being so different." 
 
 " I should hope so, indeed ! " interrupted Mrs 
 Keswick. " But people of all sorts do run across 
 each other." 
 
 " But if I do meet with him," he continued, " I 
 shall take great pleasure in giving you my impres 
 sions by letter, or in person, of your nephew-in-law." 
 
 " Don t call him that ! " exclaimed the old lady 
 with much asperity. " I don t acknowledge the 
 title. But I won t say any more about him," with 
 a grim smile, " or you may think I don t like him." 
 
 " Some of these days," he said, " you may come to 
 be of the opinion that he is exactly the husband 
 you would wish your niece to have." 
 
 "Never!" she cried. "If he were an angel in 
 broadcloth. But I mustn t talk about these things. 
 I mentioned Mr Null to you because you are the 
 only person of my acquaintance who, I suppose, is 
 likely to meet with him. In regard to that little 
 company I spoke of to you, I have not quite made 
 up my mind about it, and, therefore, haven t men 
 tioned it ; but if I carry out the plan I will write to 
 you at the Springs, and shall certainly expect you 
 to be one of us." 
 
176 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " That would give me great pleasure," said Law 
 rence, in a tone which indicated to the quick brain 
 of the old lady that he would like to make a con 
 dition, but was too polite to do so. 
 
 " If Miss March should agree to come," she said, 
 " it might be pleasant for you to make one of her 
 party and ride over at the same time. However, I ll 
 let you know if she is coming, and then you can join 
 her or not, as suits your convenience." 
 
 " Thank you very much," said Lawrence, in a tone 
 which betrayed no reserves. 
 
 As he rode away that afternoon, Lawrence Croft, 
 as his habit was on such occasions, revolved in his 
 mind what he had heard and said and done during 
 this little visit to the Keswick family. " Nothing 
 could have turned out better," he thought. " To be 
 sure the young man could not or would not be of 
 any assistance to me, which is probably what I ought 
 to have expected, but the strong-tempered old lady, 
 his aunt, promises to be of tenfold more service than 
 he could possibly be. As to that very odd young 
 lady, Mrs Keswick s niece, I imagine that she does 
 not regard me very favorably, for she was quite cool 
 after I refused to let her into the secret of my desire 
 to find her cousin, but as I did not ask for her confi 
 dences, she had no right to expect a return for them. 
 And, by-the-way, it s odd how many confidences have 
 been reposed in me since I ve been down here. 
 Keswick begins it ; then old Brandon takes up the 
 strain ; after that Mr Candy s ex-cashier tells me the 
 story of her life, and entrusts me with the secret of 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 177 
 
 her marriage with a man of wind that most useful 
 Mr Null ; after that, her aunt makes me understand 
 how much she hates Mr Null, and how she would 
 like me to find out something disreputable about 
 him ; and then , by George ! I forgot the old 
 negro woman in the cabin ! " At this he put his 
 hand in the side-pocket of his coat, and drew out 
 the pair of little blue shoes. " Why in the name 
 of common sense did the old hag give me these ? 
 And why should she suppose that Mrs Keswick 
 intended me a harm ? The old lady never saw or 
 heard of me until yesterday, and her manner cer 
 tainly indicated no dislike of me. But, of course, 
 Aunt Patsy s brain is cracked, and she didn t know 
 what she was talking about. I shall keep the shoes, 
 however, and if ever the venerable purple sun- 
 bonnet runs afoul of me, I shall hold them up before 
 it and see what happens." 
 
 And so, very well satisfied with the result of his 
 visit to Hewlett s, he rode on to the Green Sulphur 
 Springs. 
 
 On the afternoon of the next day Miss March re 
 ceived an invitation from Mrs Keswick to spend 
 a few days with her, and make the acquaintance 
 of her niece who had recently returned to the 
 home of her childhood. The letter, for it was 
 much more than a note of invitation, was cordial, 
 and in parts pathetic. It dwelt upon the sundered 
 pleasant relations of the two families, and expressed 
 the hope that Mr Brandon s visit to her might be 
 the beginning of a renewal of the old intimacy. 
 
 12 
 
178 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Mrs Keswick took occasion to incidentally mention 
 that the house would be particularly dull for her 
 niece just now, as Junius was on the point of start 
 ing for Washington, where he would be detained 
 some weeks on business ; and she hoped, most earn 
 estly, that Miss Roberta would accept this invita 
 tion to make her acquaintance and that of her 
 niece ; and she designated Thursday of the follow 
 ing week as the day on which she would like her to 
 come. 
 
 As may reasonably be supposed, this letter greatly 
 astonished Miss March, who carried it to her uncle, 
 and asked him to explain, if he could, what it meant. 
 The old gentleman was a good deal surprised when 
 he read it ; but it delighted him in a far greater 
 degree. He perceived in it the first fruits of his 
 diplomacy. Mrs Keswick saw that it would be to 
 her interest, for a time at least, to make friends 
 with him ; and this was the way she took to do it. 
 She would not come to Midbranch herself, and bring 
 the niece, but she would have Roberta come to her. 
 In the pathos and cordiality Mr Brandon believed 
 not at all. What the old hypocrite probably wanted 
 was to enlist his grateful sympathy in that ridiculous 
 divorce case. But, whatever her motives might 
 be, he would be very glad to have his niece go to 
 her ; for if anything could make an impression upon 
 that time-hardened and seasoned old chopping-block 
 of a woman, it was Roberta s personal influence. 
 If Mrs Keswick should come to know Roberta, 
 that knowledge would do more than anything else 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 179 
 
 in the world to remove her objections to the mar 
 riage he so greatly desired. 
 
 He said nothing of all this to his niece ; but he 
 most earnestly counselled her to accept the invita 
 tion and make a visit to the two ladies. Of course 
 Roberta did not care to go, but as her uncle ap 
 peared to take the matter so much to heart, she 
 consented to gratify him, and wrote an acceptance. 
 She found, also, when she had thought more on the 
 matter, that she had a good deal of curiosity to see 
 this Mrs Keswick, of whom she had heard so much, 
 and who had had such an important influence on 
 her life. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ON the afternoon of the day on which Mrs Kes- 
 wick s letter arrived at Midbranch, Peggy had great 
 news to communicate to Aunt Judy, the cook : 
 " Miss Rob s gwine to Mahs Junius house in de 
 kerridge, an I s gwine long wid her to set in front 
 wid Sam." 
 
 " Mahs Junius aint got no house," said Aunt 
 Judy, turning around very suddenly. " Does you 
 mean she gwine ter old Miss Keswick s ? " 
 
 " Yaas," answered Peggy. 
 
 " Well, den, why don you say so ? Dat aint 
 Mahs Junius house nohow, though he lib dar as 
 much as he lib anywhar. Wot she gwine dar fur ? " 
 
 "Gwine to git married, I reckon," said Peggy. 
 
 "Git out!" ejaculated Aunt Judy. "Wid you 
 fur bride maid ? " 
 
 "Dunno," answered Peggy. "She done tole me 
 she didn t think she d have much use fur me, but 
 Mahs Robert, he said it were too far fur her to go 
 widout a maid ; but ef she want me fur bride maid 
 I ll do dat too." 
 
 "You bawn fool!" shouted Aunt Judy. "You 
 ain t got sense nuf to hook the frocks ob de brides 
 maids. An dat s all fool talk about Miss Rob gwine 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 181 
 
 dar to be married. When she an Mahs Junius hab 
 de weddin , dey ll hab it h yar, ob course. She 
 gwine to see ole Miss Keswick, coz dat s de way de 
 fus fam lies allus does afore dey hab dere weddin . 
 I s pow ful glad she s gwine dar, instid ob ole Miss 
 Keswick comin h yar. I don wan her kunjerin 
 me, an she d do dat as quick as winkin ef de batter 
 bread s a leetle burned, or dar s too much salt in de 
 soup. You s got to keep youse f mighty straight, 
 you Peggy, when you gits whar ole Miss Keswick is. 
 Don you come none ob your fool tricks, or she kun- 
 jer you, an one ob your legs curl up like a pig s tail, 
 an neber uncurl no moh . How you like dat ? " 
 
 To this Peggy made no reply, but with her eyes 
 steadfastly fixed on Aunt Judy, and her lower jaw 
 very much dropped, she mentally resolved to keep 
 herself as straight as possible during her stay at the 
 Keswick s. 
 
 " Dar s ole Aun Patsy," continued the speaker. 
 " It s a mighty long time sence I ve seen Aun 
 Patsy. Dat was when I went ober dar wid Miss 
 Rob s mudder when de two fam lys was fren s. I 
 was her maid, an went wid her jes as Mahs Robert 
 wants you ter go long wid Miss Rob. He ain t 
 gwine to furgit how they did in de ole times when 
 de ladies went visitin in dere kerridges fur to stay 
 free, four days. Aun Patsy were pow ful ole den, 
 but she didn t die soon nuf, an ole Miss Keswick 
 she kunjer her, an now she can t die at all." 
 
 " Neber die ! " ejaculated Peggy. 
 
 " Neber die, nohow ! " answered Aunt Judy. 
 
1 82 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Mighty often she thought she gwine to die but 
 twarnt no use. She can t do it. An de las time I 
 hear ob her, she alibe yit, jes de same as eber. An 
 dar was Mahs John Keswick. She cunjer him coz 
 he rode de gray colt to de Coht House when she 
 done tole him to let dat gray colt alone, coz twarnt 
 hisen but hern, an he go shoot hese f dead by de 
 gate pos . You s got to go fru by dat pos when 
 you go inter de gate." 
 
 " Dat same pos ! " cried Peggy. 
 
 " Yaas," said Aunt Judy, " dat same one. An 
 dey tells me dat on third Chewsdays, which is Coht 
 day, de same as when he took de gray colt, as soon 
 as it git dark he ghos climb up to de top ob dat 
 pos , an set dar all night." 
 
 With a conjuring old woman in the house, and a 
 monthly ghost on the gate-post outside, the Kes 
 wick residence did not appear as attractive to Peggy 
 as it had done before, but she mentally determined 
 that while she was there she would be very careful 
 to look out sharp for herself, a performance for 
 which she was very well adapted. 
 
 It was on a pleasant autumn morning that Mr 
 Brandon very carefully ensconced his niece in the 
 family carriage, with Peggy and a trusty negro man, 
 Sam, on the outside front seat. " I would gladly 
 go with you, my dear," he said, " even without the 
 formality of an invitation, but it is far better for 
 you to go by yourself. My very presence would 
 provoke an antagonism in the old lady, while with 
 you, personally, it is impossible that any such feeling 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 183 
 
 should exist. I hope your visit may do away with 
 all ill feeling between our families." 
 
 " I want you to understand, uncle," said Miss 
 Roberta, " that I am making this visit almost en 
 tirely to please you, and I shall do everything in 
 my power to make Mrs Keswick feel that you and 
 I are perfectly well disposed toward her ; but you 
 can t expect me to exhibit any great warmth of 
 friendship toward a person who once used such 
 remarkable and violent expressions in regard to 
 me." 
 
 " But those feelings, my dear," said Mr Brandon, 
 " if we are to believe Mrs Keswick s letter, have 
 entirely disappeared." 
 
 " It is quite natural that they should do so," said 
 Roberta, " as there is no longer any reason for them. 
 And there is another thing 1 want to impress on 
 your mind, Uncle Robert, you must expect no re 
 sult from this visit except a renewal of amity be 
 tween yourself and Mrs Keswick." 
 
 " I understand it perfectly," said the old gentle 
 man, feeling quite confident that if his family and 
 Mrs Keswick should once again become friendly, 
 the main object of his desires would not be difficult 
 of accomplishment. " And now, my dear, I will not 
 detain you any longer. I hope you may have a very 
 pleasant visit, and I advise you to cultivate that 
 young Mrs Null, whom I take to be a very sensible 
 and charming person." And then he kissed her 
 good-bye and shut the carriage door. 
 
 It was about the middle of the afternoon when 
 
1 84, The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Sam drove through the outer Keswick gate, and 
 Peggy, who had jumped down to open said gate, 
 had made herself positively sure that, at present, 
 there was no ghost sitting upon the post. Before 
 she reached the house, Roberta began to wonder 
 a good deal if she should find Mrs Keswick the 
 woman she had pictured in her mind. But when 
 the carnage drew up in front of the porch there 
 came out to meet her, not the mistress of the es 
 tate, but a much younger lady, who tripped down 
 the steps and reached Roberta as she descended 
 from the carriage. 
 
 " We are very glad to see you, Miss March," she 
 said. " My aunt is not here just now, but will be 
 back directly." 
 
 "This is Mrs Null, isn t it ?" said Roberta, and 
 as the other smiled and answered with a slight flush 
 that it was, Roberta stooped just the little that was 
 necessary, and kissed her. Mrs Keswick s niece 
 had not expected so warm a greeting from this 
 lady, to whom she was almost a stranger, and in 
 stantly she said to herself: "In that kiss Freddy 
 dies to you." For some days she had been turning 
 over and over in her mind the question whether or 
 not she should tell Roberta March that she was not 
 Mrs Null. She greatly disliked keeping up the de 
 ception where it was not necessary, and with Rob 
 erta, if she would keep the secret, there was no need 
 of this aerial matrimony. Besides her natural de 
 sire to confide in a person of her own sex and age, 
 she did not wish Mr Croft to be the only one who 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 185 
 
 shared her secret ; and so she had determined that her 
 decision would depend on what sort of girl Roberta 
 proved to be. " If I like her I ll tell her ; if I don t, 
 I won t," was the final decision. And when Roberta 
 March looked down upon her with her beautiful 
 eyes and kissed her, Freddy Null departed this life 
 so far as those two were concerned. 
 
 Mrs Keswick had, apparently, made a very great 
 miscalculation in regard to the probable time of arrival 
 of her guest, for Miss March and Peggy, and even Sam 
 and the horses, had been properly received and cared 
 for, and Miss March had been sitting in the parlor 
 for some time, and still the old lady did not come 
 into the house. Her niece had grown very anx 
 ious about this absence, and had begun to fear that 
 her aunt had treated Miss March as she had treated 
 her on her arrival, and had gone away to stay. 
 But Plez, whom she had sent to tell his mistress 
 that her visitor was in the house, returned with 
 the information that " ole miss " was in one of the 
 lower fields directing some men who were digging 
 a ditch, and that she would return to the house in a 
 very short time. Thus assured that no permanent 
 absence was intended, she went into the parlor to en 
 tertain Miss March, and to explain, as well as she 
 could, the state of affairs ; when, as she entered the 
 door, she saw that lady suddenly arise and look stead 
 fastly out of the window. 
 
 " Can that be Mr Croft ? " Miss March exclaimed. 
 
 The younger girl made a dash forward and also 
 looked out of the window. Yes, there was Mr Croft, 
 
1 86 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 riding across the yard toward the tree where horses 
 were commonly tied. 
 
 "Did you expect him?" asked Roberta, quickly. 
 
 " No more than I expected the man in the moon/ 
 was the impulsive and honest answer of her compan 
 ion. 
 
 " I am very glad to see you, Mrs Null," said Law 
 rence, when that lady met him on the porch. And 
 when he was shown into the parlor, he greeted Miss 
 March with much cordiality, but no surprise. But 
 when he inquired after other members of the family, 
 he was much surprised to find that Mr Keswick 
 had gone to Washington. " Was not this very unex 
 pected, Mrs Null?" he asked. 
 
 " Why, no," she answered. "Junius told us, al 
 most as soon as he came here, that he would have to 
 be in Washington by the first of this week." 
 
 Mr Croft did not pursue this subject further, but 
 presently remarked : " Are you and I the first comers, 
 Miss March?" 
 
 Roberta looked from one of her companions to 
 the other, and remarked : " I do not understand 
 you." 
 
 Lawrence now perceived that he was treading a 
 very uncertain and, perhaps, dangerous path of con 
 versation, and the sooner he got out of it the better ; 
 but, before he could decide what answer to make, a 
 silent and stealthy figure appeared at the door, beck 
 oning and nodding in a very mysterious way. This 
 proved to be the plump black maid, Letty,\vho, hav 
 ing attracted the attention of the company, whis- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 187 
 
 pered loudly, " Miss Annie ! " whereupon that young 
 lady immediately left the room. 
 
 " What other comers did you expect ? " then 
 asked Roberta of Mr Croft. 
 
 " I certainly supposed there would be a small 
 company here," he said, " probably neighborhood 
 people, but if I was mistaken, of course I don t 
 wish to say anything more about it to the family." 
 
 " Were you invited yourself ? " asked Roberta. 
 
 Croft wished very much that he could say that 
 he had accidentally dropped in. But this he could 
 not do, and he answered that Mrs Keswick asked 
 him to come about this time. He did not consider 
 it necessary to add that she had written to him at 
 the Springs, renewing her invitation very earnestly, 
 and mentioning that Miss March had consented to 
 make one of the party. 
 
 This was as far as Roberta saw fit to continue the 
 subject, on the present occasion ; and she began to 
 talk about the charming weather, and the pretty 
 way in which the foliage was reddening on the side 
 of a hill opposite the window. Mr Croft was de 
 lighted to enter into this new channel of speech, 
 and discussed with considerable fervor the attract 
 iveness of autumn in Virginia. 
 
 Miss Annie found Letty in a very disturbed state 
 of mind. The dinner had been postponed until the 
 arrival of Miss March, and now it had been still 
 further delayed by the non-arrival of the mistress 
 of the house, and everything was becoming dried 
 up, and unfit to eat. 
 
1 88 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 "This will never do!" exclaimed Miss Annie. 
 " I will go myself and look for aunt. She must 
 have forgotten the time of day, and everything 
 else." 
 
 Putting on her hat she ran out of the back door, 
 but she did not have to go very far, for she iound 
 the old lady in the garden, earnestly regarding a 
 bed of turnips. " Where have you been, my dear 
 aunt?" cried the girl. " Miss March has been here 
 ever so long, and Mr Croft has come, and dinner has 
 been waiting until it has all dried up. I was afraid 
 that you had forgotten that company was coming 
 to-day." 
 
 " Forgotten ! " said the old lady, glaring at the 
 turnips. " It isn t an easy thing to forget. I in 
 vited the girl, and I expected her to come, but I tell 
 you, Annie, when I saw that carriage coming along 
 the road, all the old feeling came back to me. I 
 remembered what its owners had done to me and 
 mine, and what they are still trying to do, and I felt 
 I could not go into the house, and give her my hand. 
 It would be like taking hold of a snake." 
 
 "A snake!" cried her niece, with much warmth. 
 " She is a lovely woman ! And her coming shows 
 what kindly feelings she has for you. But, no mat 
 ter what you think about it, aunt, you have asked 
 her here, and you must come in and see her. Din 
 ner is waiting, and I don t know what more to say 
 about your absence." 
 
 " Go in and have dinner," said Mrs Keswick. 
 "Don t wait for me. I ll come in and see her 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 189 
 
 after a while ; but I haven t yet got to the point of 
 sitting down to the table and eating with her." 
 
 "Oh, aunt ! " exclaimed Annie, "you ought never 
 to have asked her if you are going to treat her in 
 this way! And what am I to say to her? What 
 excuse am I to make? Are you not sick? Isn t 
 something the matter with you ?" 
 
 "You can tell them I m flustrated," said the old 
 lady, " and that is all that s the matter with me. 
 But I m not coming in to dinner, and there is no 
 use of saying anything more about it." 
 
 Annie looked at her, the tears of mortification 
 still standing in her eyes. " I suppose I must go 
 and do the best I can," she said, " but, aunt, please 
 tell me one thing. Did you invite any other people 
 here ? Mr Croft spoke as if he expected to see other 
 visitors, and if they ask anything more about it, I 
 don t know what to say." 
 
 " The only other people I invited," said the old 
 lady with a grim grin, " were the King of Norway, 
 and the Prime Minister of Spain, and neither of 
 them could come." 
 
 Annie said no more, but hurrying back to the 
 house, she ordered dinner to be served immediately. 
 At first the meal was not a very lively one. The 
 young hostess pro temporc explained the absence of 
 the mistress of the house by stating that she had had 
 a nervous attack which was quite true and that she 
 begged them to excuse her until after dinner. The 
 two guests expressed their regret at this unfortunate 
 indisposition, but each felt a degree of embarrass- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 ment at the absence of Mrs Keswick. Roberta, who 
 had heard many stories of the old woman, guessed 
 at the true reason, and if the distance had not been 
 so great, she would have gone home that afternoon. 
 Lawrence Croft, of course, could imagine no reason 
 for the old lady s absence, except the one that had 
 been given them, but he suspected that there must 
 be some other. He did his best, however, to make 
 pleasant conversation ; and Roberta, who began to 
 have a tender feeling for the little lady at the head 
 of the table, who, she could easily see, had been 
 placed in an unpleasant position, seconded his efforts 
 with such effect that, when the little party had con 
 cluded their dinner with a course of hot pound cake 
 and cream sauce, they were chatting together quite 
 sociably. 
 
 In about ten minutes after they had all gone into 
 the parlor, Miss Annie excused herself, and pres 
 ently returned with a message to Miss March that 
 Mrs Keswick would be very glad to see her in an 
 other room. This was a very natural message from 
 an elderly lady, who was not well, but Roberta arose 
 and walked out of the parlor with a feeling as if she 
 were about to enter the cage of an erratic tigress. 
 But she met with no such creature. She saw in the 
 back room, into which she was ushered, a small old 
 woman, dressed very plainly, who came forward to 
 meet her, extending both hands, into one of which 
 Roberta placed one of her own. 
 
 " I may as well say at once, Roberta March/ said 
 Mrs Keswick, " that the reason I didn t come to 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 191 
 
 meet you when you first arrived was, that I couldn t 
 get over, all of a sudden, the feelings I have had 
 against your family for so many years." 
 
 " Why then, Mrs Keswick," said Roberta, very 
 coldly, " did you ask me to come ? " 
 
 " Because I wanted you to come," said Mrs Kes 
 wick, " and because I thought I was stronger than I 
 turned out to be ; but you must make allowances 
 for the stiffness which gets into old people s disposi 
 tions as well as their backs. I want you to under 
 stand, however, that I meant all I said in that letter, 
 and I am very glad to see you. If anything in my 
 conduct has seemed to you out of the way, you must 
 set it down to the fact that I was making a very 
 sudden turn, and starting out on a new track in 
 which I hope we shall all keep for the rest of our 
 lives." 
 
 Roberta could not help thinking that the sudden 
 turn in the new track began with the visit of her 
 uncle to this house, and that the old lady need not 
 have inflicted upon her the disagreeable necessity 
 of witnessing a hostess taking a very repulsive cold 
 plunge ; but all she said was that she hoped the 
 families would now live together in friendly relations; 
 and that she was sure that, if this were to be, it 
 would give her uncle a great deal of pleasure. She 
 very much wanted to ask Mrs Keswick how Mr 
 Croft happened to be here at this time, but she felt 
 that her very brief acquaintance with the lady would 
 not warrant the discussion of a subject like that. 
 
 " She is very much the kind of woman I thought 
 
1 92 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 she was/ said Roberta to herself, when, after some 
 further hospitable remarks from Mrs Keswick, the 
 two went to the parlor together to find Mr Croft. 
 But that gentleman, having been deserted by all 
 the ladies, was walking up and down the greensward 
 in front of the house, smoking a cigar. Mrs Kes 
 wick went out to him, and greeted him very cor 
 dially, begging him to excuse her for not being able 
 to see him as soon as she came. 
 
 Lawrence set all this aside in his politest manner, 
 but declared himself very much disappointed in not 
 seeing Mr Keswick, and also remarked that from what 
 she had said to him on his last visit he had expected 
 to find quite a little party here. 
 
 "I am sorry," said the old lady, " that Junius is 
 away, for he would be very glad to see you, and it 
 never came into my mind to mention to you that 
 he was obliged to be in Washington at this time. 
 And, as for the party, I thought afterwards that it 
 would be a great deal cosier just to have a few per 
 sons here." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Lawrence, " most certainly, a 
 great deal cosier." 
 
 Mrs Keswick ate supper with her guests, and 
 behaved very well. During the evening she sus 
 tained the main part of the conversation, giving 
 the company a great many anecdotes and reminis 
 cences of old times and old families, relating them 
 in an odd and peculiar way that was very interest 
 ing, especially to Croft, to whom the subject matter 
 was quite new. But, although her three companions 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 193 
 
 listened to the old lady with deferential attention, 
 interspersed with appropriate observations, each one 
 made her the object of severe mental scrutiny, and 
 endeavored to discover the present object of her 
 scheming old mind. Roberta was quite sure that 
 her invitation and that of Mr Croft was a piece 
 of artful management on the part of the old lady, 
 and imagined, though she was not quite sure about 
 it, that it was intended as a bit of match-making. 
 To get her married to somebody else, would be, of 
 course, the best possible method of preventing her 
 marrying Junius; and this, she had reason to believe, 
 was the prime object of old Mrs Keswick s exist 
 ence. But why should Mr Croft be chosen as the 
 man with whom she was to be thrown. She had 
 learned that the old lady had seen him before, but 
 was quite certain that her acquaintance with him was 
 slight. Could Junius have told his aunt about the 
 friendship between herself and Mr Croft ? It was 
 not like him, but a great many unlikely things take 
 place. 
 
 As for Lawrence, he knew very well there was a 
 trick beneath his invitation, but he could not at all 
 make out why it had been played. He had been 
 given an admirable opportunity of offering himself 
 to Miss March, but there was no reason, apparent 
 to him, why this should have been done. 
 
 Miss Annie, watching her aunt very carefully, 
 
 and speaking but seldom, quite promptly made up 
 
 her mind in regard to the matter. She knew very 
 
 well the bitter opposition of the old woman to a 
 
 13 
 
194 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 marriage between Junius and Miss March ; and saw, 
 as plainly as she saw the lamp on the table, that 
 Roberta had been brought here on purpose to be 
 sacrificed to Mr Croft. Everything had been made 
 ready, the altar cleared, and, as well as the old lady s 
 grindstone would act, the knife sharpened. " But," 
 said Miss Annie to herself, " she needn t suppose 
 that I am going to sit quiet and see all this going 
 on, with Junius away off there in Washington, 
 knowing nothing about any of it." 
 
 Miss Roberta retired quite early to her room, 
 having been fatigued by her long drive, and she was 
 just about to put out her light when she heard a 
 little knock at the door. Opening it slightly, she 
 saw there Junius Keswick s cousin, who also ap 
 peared quite ready for bed. 
 
 " May I come in for a minute?" said Annie. 
 
 " Certainly," replied Miss March, admitting her, 
 and closing the door after her. 
 
 " I have something to tell you," said the younger 
 lady, admiring as she spoke, the length of her com 
 panion s braided hair. " I intended to keep it 
 until to-morrow, but since I came up stairs I felt I 
 could not let you sleep a night under the same 
 roof with me without knowing it. I am not Mrs 
 Null." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Roberta, in a tone which 
 made Annie lift up her hands and implore her not 
 to speak so loud, for fear that her aunt should hear 
 her. " I know she hasn t come up stairs yet, for she 
 sits up dreadfully late, but she can hear things, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 195 
 
 almost anywhere. No, I am not Mrs Null. There 
 is no such person as Mr Null, or, at least, he is a 
 mere gaseous myth, whom I married for the sake of 
 the protection his name gave me." 
 
 " This is the most extraordinary thing I ever 
 heard," said Roberta. "You must tell me all about 
 it." 
 
 " I don t want to keep you up," said Annie, " you 
 must be tired." 
 
 " I am not tired," said Roberta, " for every par 
 ticle of fatigue has flown away." And with this she 
 made Annie sit down beside her on the lounge. 
 " Now you must tell me what this means," she 
 said. " Can it be that your aunt does not know 
 about it?" 
 
 " Indeed, she does not," said Annie. " I married 
 Freddy Null in New York, for reasons which we 
 need not talk of now, for that matter is all past and 
 gone ; but when I came here, I found almost imme 
 diately, that he would be more necessary to me in 
 this house than anywhere else." 
 
 " I cannot imagine," said Roberta, " why a gaseous 
 husband should be necessary to you here." 
 
 " It is not a very easy thing to explain," said the 
 other, " that is, it is easy enough, but : " 
 
 " Oh," said Roberta, catching the reason of her 
 companion s hesitation, " I don t think you ought to 
 object to tell me your reason. Does it relate to 
 your cousin Junius ? " 
 
 " Well," said Annie, " not altogether, and not so 
 much to him as to my aunt." 
 
196 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I think I see," said Roberta. " A marriage be 
 tween you two would suit her very well. Are 
 you afraid that she would try to force him on 
 you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ; " said Annie, " that would be bad enough, 
 but it would not be so embarrassing, and so dread 
 fully unpleasant, as forcing me on him, and that is 
 what aunt wants to do. And you can easily see 
 that, in that case, I could not stay in this house at 
 all. I scarcely know my cousin as a man, my strong 
 est recollection of him being that of a big and very 
 nice boy, who used to climb up in the apple-trees to 
 get me apples, and then come down to the very low 
 est branch where he could drop the ripest ones 
 right into my apron, and not bruise them. But, 
 even if I had been acquainted with him all these 
 years, and liked him ever so much, I couldn t stay 
 here and have aunt make him take me, whether he 
 wanted to, or not. And, unless you knew my aunt 
 very well, you could not conceive how unscrupu 
 lously straightforward she is in carrying out her 
 plans." 
 
 " And so," said Roberta, " you have quite baffled 
 her by this little ruse of a marriage." 
 
 " Not altogether," said Annie with a smile, " for 
 she vows she is going to get me divorced from Mr 
 Null." 
 
 " That is funnier than the rest of it," said Roberta, 
 laughing. And they both laughed together, but in 
 a subdued way, so as not to attract the attention of 
 the old lady below stairs. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 197 
 
 " And now, you see," said Annie, " why I must be 
 Mrs Null while I stay here. And you will promise 
 me that you will never tell any one ? " 
 
 " You may be sure I shall keep your queer secret. 
 But have you not told it to any one but me? " 
 
 " Yes," said Annie, " but I have only told it to 
 one other, Mr Croft. But please don t speak of it 
 to him." 
 
 " Mr Croft ! " exclaimed Roberta. " How in the 
 world did you come to tell him ? Do you know him 
 so well as that ? " 
 
 "Well," said Annie, "it does seem out of the 
 way, I admit, that I should tell him, but I can t 
 give you the whole story of how I came to do 
 it. It wouldn t interest you at least, it would, 
 but I oughtn t to tell it. It is a twisty sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " Twisty ? " said Roberta, drawing herself up, and 
 a little away from her companion. 
 
 Annie looked up, and caught the glance by which 
 this word was accompanied, and the tone in which 
 it was spoken went straight to her soul. " Now," 
 said she, " if you are going to look at me, and speak 
 in that way, I ll tell you every bit of it." And she 
 did tell the whole story, from her first meeting with 
 Mr Croft in the Information Shop, down to the 
 present moment. 
 
 " What is your name, anyway ? " said Roberta, 
 when the story had been told. 
 
 " My name," said the other, " is Annie Peyton." 
 
 "And now, do you know, Annie Peyton," said 
 
198 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Roberta, passing her fingers gently among the short, 
 light-brown curls on her companion s forehead, "that 
 I think you must have a very, very kindly rec 
 ollection of the boy who used to come down to the 
 lowest branches of the tree to drop apples into your 
 apron." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SHORTLY after Peggy arrived with her mistress at 
 the Keswick residence, her mind began to be a good 
 deal disturbed. She had been surprised, when the 
 carriage drew up to the door, that " Mahs Junius" 
 had not rushed down to meet his intended bride, and 
 when she found he was not in the house, and had, 
 indeed, gone away from home, she did not at all 
 know what to make of it. If Miss Rob took the 
 trouble to travel all the way to the home of the man 
 that the Midbranch people had decided she should 
 marry, it was a very wonderful thing, indeed, that 
 he should not be there to meet her. And while 
 these thoughts were turning themselves over in the 
 mind of this meditative girl of color, and the out 
 going look in her eyes was extending itself farther 
 and farther, as if in search of some solution of the 
 mystery, up rode Mr Croft. 
 
 " Dar he ! " exclaimed Peggy, as she stood at the 
 corner of the house where she had been pursuing her 
 meditations. " He ! " she continued in a voice that 
 would have been quite audible to any one standing 
 near. " Upon my libin soul, wot brung him h yar ? 
 Miss Rob don wan him round, nohow. I done 
 druv him off wunst. Upon my libin soul, he s done 
 
200 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 brung his bag behin him on de saddle, an I reckon 
 he s gwine to stay." 
 
 As Mr Croft dismounted and went into the house, 
 Peggy glowered at him ; sundry expressions, sound 
 ing very much like odds and ends of imprecations 
 which she had picked up in the course of a short but 
 investigative existence, gurgling from her lips. 
 
 " I wish dat ole Miss Keswick kunjer him. Ef 
 she knew how Miss Rob hate him, she curl he legs 
 up, an gib him mis ry spranglin down he back." 
 
 The hope of seeing this intruder well " kunjered " 
 by the old lady was the only thing that gave a prom 
 ise of peace to the mind of Peggy ; and though her 
 nature was by no means a social one, she determined 
 to make the acquaintance of some one or other in 
 the house ; hoping to find out how Mrs Keswick 
 conducted her conjurations ; at what time of day or 
 night they were generally put into operation ; and 
 how persons could be brought under their influence. 
 
 The breakfast hour in the Keswick house was a 
 variable one. Sometimes the mistress of the estab 
 lishment rose early and wanted her morning meal 
 before she v/ent out of doors ; at other times she 
 would go off to some distant point on the farm to 
 see about something that was doing or ought to be 
 done, and breakfast would be kept waiting for her. 
 The delays, however, were not all due to the old 
 lady s irregular habits. Very often Letty would 
 come up stairs with the information that the " bread 
 ain t riz ; " and as a Virginia breakfast without hot 
 bread would be an impossibility, the meal would be 
 
The Late Mrs AW/. 201 
 
 postponed until the bread did conclude to rise, or 
 until some substitute, such as " beaten biscuit " had 
 been provided. 
 
 On the morning after his arrival, Lawrence Croft 
 came down stairs about eight o clock, and found the 
 lower part of the house deserted ; and glancing into 
 the dining-room as he passed its open door, he saw 
 no signs of breakfast. The house was cool, but the 
 sun appeared to be shining warmly outside, and he 
 stepped out of the open back door into a small 
 flower garden, with a series of broad boards down 
 the walk which lay along the middle of it. Up and 
 down this board walk Lawrence strode, breathing the 
 fresh air, and thinking over matters. He was not at 
 all satisfied at being here during Keswick s absence, 
 feeling that he was enjoying an advantage which, 
 although it was quite honorable, did not appear so. 
 What he had to do was to get an interview with 
 Miss March as soon as possible, and have that matter 
 over. When he had been definitely accepted or re 
 jected, he would go away. And, whatever the result 
 might be, he would write to his rival as soon as he 
 returned to the Springs, and inform him of it, and 
 would also explain how he had happened to be here 
 with Miss March. While he was engaged in planning 
 these honorable intentions, there came from the 
 house Mrs Keswick s niece, with a basket in one 
 hand, and a pair of scissors in the other, and she im 
 mediately applied herself to cutting some geraniums 
 and chrysanthemums, which were about the last 
 flowers left blooming at that season in the garden. 
 
202 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 "Good morning," said Croft, from the other end 
 of the walk. " I am glad to see you out so early." 
 
 " Good morning," she replied, with a look which 
 indicated that she was not at all glad to see him, 
 " but I don t think it is early." 
 
 Croft had noticed on the preceding day that her 
 coolness towards him still continued, but it did not 
 suit him to let her know that he perceived it. He 
 went up to her, and in a very friendly way remarked : 
 " There is something I wish very much you would 
 tell me. What is your name ? It is very odd that 
 during all the time I have been acquainted with you 
 I have never known your name." 
 
 " You must have taken an immense interest in 
 it," she said, as she snipped some dried leaves off a 
 twig of geranium she had cut. 
 
 " It was not that I did not take any interest," said 
 Croft, " but at first your name never came forward, 
 and I soon began to know you by the title which 
 your remarkable condition of wedlock gave you." 
 
 " And that is the name," said the lady, very de 
 cidedly, " by which I am to be known in this house. 
 I am very proud of my maiden name, but I am not 
 going to tell it to you for fear that some time you 
 will use it." 
 
 "Oh!" ejaculated Mr Croft." "Then I suppose 
 I am to continue even to think of you as Mrs Null." 
 
 "You needn t think of me at all," said she, "but 
 when you speak to me I most certainly expect you 
 to use that name. It was only by a sort of accident 
 that you came to know it was not my name." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 203 
 
 "I don t consider it an accident at all," said 
 Croft. " I look upon it as a piece of very kindly 
 confidence." 
 
 Miss Annie gave a little twist to her mouth, which 
 seemed to indicate that if she spoke she should ex 
 press her contempt of such an opinion, and Croft 
 continued : 
 
 " I am very sorry that upon that occasion I should 
 have felt myself obliged to refuse your request that 
 I should make you acquainted with my reasons for 
 desiring to know Mr Keswick s whereabouts. But 
 I am sure, if you understood the matter, you would 
 not be in the least degree " 
 
 " Oh, you need not trouble yourself about that," 
 she interrupted. u I don t want you to tell me any 
 thing at all. It is quite easy, now, to see why you 
 wished to know where my cousin was." 
 
 " It is impossible that you should know ! " ex 
 claimed Croft. 
 
 " We will say no more about it," replied Annie. 
 " I am quite satisfied." 
 
 " I would give a good deal," said Lawrence, after 
 looking steadily at her for a few moments, " to know 
 what you really do think." 
 
 Annie had cut all the flowers she wanted, or, 
 rather, all she could get ; and she now stood up and 
 looked her companion full in the face. " Mr Croft," 
 she said, " it has been necessary, and it is necessary 
 now for me to have some concealments, and I am 
 sorry for it ; but it isn t at all necessary for me to 
 conceal my opinion of your reasons for wanting to 
 
204 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 know about Junius. You were really in pursuit of 
 Miss March, and knowing that he was in love with 
 her, you wanted to make sure that when you went 
 to her, he wouldn t be there. It is my firm opinion 
 that is all there is about it ; and the fact of your 
 turning up here just after my cousin left, proves it." 
 
 " Miss Annie," exclaimed Croft " I have heard 
 you called by that name, and I vow I won t call you 
 Mrs Null, when there is no need for it you were 
 never more mistaken in your life, and I am very 
 sorry that you should have such a low opinion of 
 me as to think I would wish to take advantage of 
 your cousin during his absence." 
 
 " Then why do you do it?" asked Miss Annie, 
 with a little upward pitch of her chin. 
 
 At this moment the breakfast-bell rang, and Mrs 
 Keswick appeared in the back door, evidently some 
 what surprised to see these two conversing in the 
 garden. 
 
 " I am very much vexed," said Lawrence, as he 
 followed his companion, who had suddenly turned 
 towards the house, u that you should think of me in 
 this way." 
 
 But to this remark Miss Annie had no opportunity 
 to reply. 
 
 After breakfast, Mrs Keswick proved the truth of 
 what her niece had said about her unscrupulous 
 straightforwardness when carrying out her projects. 
 She had invited Mr Croft and Miss March to her 
 house in order that the former might have the oppor 
 tunity which she had discovered he wanted and 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 205 
 
 could not get, of offering himself in marriage to the 
 lady ; and she now made it her business to see that 
 Mr Croft s opportunity should stand up very clear 
 and definite before him ; and that all interfering 
 circumstances should be carefully removed. She 
 informed her niece that she wished her to go with 
 her to a thicket on the other side of the wheat 
 field which that young lady had advised should be 
 ploughed for pickles, to look for a turkey-hen which 
 she had reason to believe had been ridiculous enough 
 to hatch out a brood of young at this improper 
 season. Annie demurred, for she did not want to go 
 to look for turkeys, nor did she want to give Mr Croft 
 any opportunities ; but the old lady insisted, and 
 carried her off. Croft felt that there was some 
 thing very bare and raw-boned about the position 
 in which he was left with Miss March ; and he 
 thought that lady might readily suppose that Mrs 
 Kcswick s object was to leave them together. He 
 imagined that, himself, though why she should be so 
 kind to him he could not feel quite certain. How 
 ever, his path lay straight before him, and if the old 
 lady had whitewashed it to make it more distinct, 
 he did not intend to refuse to walk in it. 
 
 " I have been looking at that hill over yonder," 
 said he, " with a cluster of pine trees on the brow of 
 it. I should think there would be a fine view from 
 that hill. Would you not like to walk up there ? " 
 
 Lawrence felt that this proposition was quite in 
 keeping with the bareness of the previous proceed 
 ings, but he did not wish to stay in the house and 
 
206 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 be subject to the unexpected return of the old lady 
 and her niece. 
 
 " Certainly," said Miss March ; " nothing would 
 please me better." And so they walked up Pine 
 Top Hill. 
 
 When they reached this elevated position, they 
 sat down on the rock on which Mrs Null had once 
 conversed with Freddy, and admired the view, which 
 was, indeed, a very fine one. After about five min 
 utes of this, which Lawrence thought was quite 
 enough, he turned to his companion and said : 
 
 " Miss March, I do not wish you to suppose that I 
 brought you up here for the purpose of viewing 
 those rolling hills and distant forests." 
 
 "You didn t ?" exclaimed Roberta, in a tone of 
 surprise. 
 
 " No," said he ; "I brought you here because it is 
 a place where I could speak freely to you, and tell 
 you I love you." 
 
 "That was not at all necessary," said Miss March. 
 " We had the lower floor of the house entirely to 
 ourselves, and I am sure that Mrs. Keswick would 
 not have returned until you had waved a handker 
 chief, or given some signal from the back of the house 
 that it was all over." 
 
 Croft looked at her with a troubled expression. 
 "Miss March," said he, "do you not think I am in 
 earnest? Do you not believe what I have said? " 
 
 " I have not the slightest doubt you are in ear 
 nest," she answered. " The magnitude of the prepa 
 ration proves it." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 207 
 
 " I am glad you said that, for it gives me the op 
 portunity for making an explanation," said Law 
 rence. " Our meeting at this place may be a care 
 fully contrived stratagem, but it was not contrived 
 by me. I am very well aware that Mr Keswick also 
 wishes to marry you " 
 
 " Did you see that in the Richmond DispatcJi or 
 in one of the New York papers?" interrupted Miss 
 March. 
 
 " That is a point," said Lawrence, overlooking 
 the ridicule, " which we need not discuss. I am 
 perfectly aware that Mr Keswick is my rival, but 
 I wish you to understand that I am not volun 
 tarily taking any undue advantage of his ab 
 sence. I believe him to be a very fair and generous 
 man, and I would wish to be as open and gene 
 rous as he is. When I came, I expected to find him 
 here, and, standing on equal ground with him, I 
 intended to ask you to accept my love." 
 
 " Well, then," said Roberta, " would it not be more 
 fair and generous for you to go away now, and post 
 pone this proposal until some time when you would 
 each have an equal chance ? " 
 
 " No, it would not," said Lawrence, vehemently. 
 " I have now an opportunity of telling you that I 
 love you ardently, passionately ; and nothing shall 
 cause me to postpone it. Will you not consider what 
 I say ? Will you make no answer to this declaration 
 of most true and honest love?" 
 
 " I am considering wltet you have said," she an 
 swered ; " and I am very glad to hear that you did 
 
208 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 not know of this cunning little trap that Mrs Kcs- 
 wick has laid for me. It is all very plain to me, but 
 I do not know why she should have selected you as 
 one of the actors in the plot. Have you ever told 
 her that you are a suitor for my hand?" 
 
 " Never ! " exclaimed Lawrence. " She may have 
 imagined it, for she heard I was a frequent visitor to 
 Midbranch. But let us set all that aside. I am on 
 fire with love for you. Will you tell me that you 
 can return that love, or that I must give up all 
 hope? This is the most important question of my 
 whole life. I beg you, from the bottom of my heart, 
 to decide it." 
 
 " Mr Croft," said she, " when you used to come, 
 nearly every day, to see me at Midbranch, and we 
 took .those long walks in the woods, you never 
 talked in this way. I considered you as a gentleman 
 whose prudence and good sense would not allow him 
 to step outside of the path of perfectly conventional 
 social intercourse. This is not conventional and not 
 prudent." 
 
 " I loved you then, and I love you now ;"exclaimed 
 Lawrence. "You must have known that I loved 
 you, for my declaration does not in the least sur 
 prise you." 
 
 " Once it was the last time you visited Midbranch 
 I suspected, just a little, that your mind might be 
 affected somewhat in the way you speak of, but 
 I supposed that attack of weakness had passed 
 away." 
 
 " I know what you mean," said Lawrence, " but 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 209 
 
 I can t endure to talk of such trifles. I love you, 
 Roberta " 
 
 u Miss March," she interrupted. 
 
 " And I want you to tell me if you love me in re 
 turn." 
 
 Miss March rose from the rock where she had 
 been sitting, and her companion rose with her. 
 After a moment s silence, during which he 
 watched her with intense eagerness, she said : " Mr 
 Croft, I am going to give you your choice. Would 
 you prefer being refused under a cherry tree, or 
 under a sycamore ? " 
 
 There was a little smile on her lips as she said 
 this, which Lawrence could not interpret. 
 
 " I decline being refused under any tree," he said 
 with vehemence. 
 
 " I prefer the cherry tree," said she, " there is a 
 very pretty one over there on the ridge of this hill, 
 and its leaves are nearly all gone, which would 
 make it quite appropriate but what is the mean 
 ing of this? There comes Peggy. It isn t possible 
 that she thinks it s time for me to give out some 
 thing to Aunt Judy." 
 
 Croft turned, and there was the wooden Peggy, 
 marching steadily up the hill, and almost upon 
 them. 
 
 " What do you want, Peggy ? " asked Miss Ro 
 berta. 
 
 " Dar s a man down to de house dat wants him," 
 pointing to Mr Croft. 
 
 Lawrence was very much surprised. " A man 
 14 
 
210 The Late Mrs AW/. 
 
 who wants me ! " he exclaimed. " You must be 
 mistaken." 
 
 " No sah," replied Peggy, "you s de one." 
 For a moment Lawrence hesitated. His disposi 
 tion was to let any man in the world, be he presi 
 dent or king, wait until he had settled this matter 
 with Miss March. But with Peggy present it was 
 impossible to go on with the love-making. He 
 might, indeed, send her back with a message, but 
 the thought came to him that it would be well to 
 postpone for a little the pressing of his suit, for the 
 lady was certainly in a very untoward humor, and 
 he was not altogether sorry to have an excuse for 
 breaking off the interview at this point. He had not 
 yet been discarded, and he would like to think over 
 the matter, and see if he could discover any reason 
 for the very disrespectful manner, to say the least 
 of it, with which Miss March had received his ama 
 tory advances. " I suppose I must go and see the 
 man," he said, " though I can t imagine who it can 
 possibly be. Will you return to the house?" 
 
 " No," said Miss Roberta, " I will stay here a 
 little longer, and enjoy the view." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 As Lawrence Croft walked down Pine Top Hill 
 his mind was in a good deal of a hubbub. The mind 
 of almost any lover would be stirred up if he came 
 fresh from an interview, in which his lady had 
 pinned him, to use a cruel figure, in various places on 
 the wall to see how he would spin and buzz in differ 
 ent lights. But the disdainful pin had not yet gone 
 through a vital part of Lawrence s hopes, and they 
 had strength to spin and buzz a good deal yet. As 
 soon as he should have an opportunity he would rack 
 his brains to find out what it was that had put Ro 
 berta March into such a strange humor. No one who 
 simply desired to decline the addresses of a gentle 
 man would treat her lover as Miss March had treated 
 him. It was quite evident that she wished to punish 
 him. But what had been his crime ? 
 
 But the immediate business on his hands was to 
 go and see what man it was who wished to see him. 
 Ordinarily the fact that a man had called upon him 
 would not be considered by Lawrence a matter for 
 cogitation, but as he walked toward the house it 
 seemed to him very odd that any one should call 
 upon him in such an out-of-the-way place as this, 
 where so few people knew him to be. He was not 
 a business man/but a large portion of his funds 
 
212 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 were invested in a business concern, and it might be 
 that something had gone wrong, and that a message 
 had been sent him. His address at the Green Sul 
 phur Springs was known, and the man in charge 
 there knew that he was visiting Mrs Keswick. 
 
 These considerations made him a little anxious, 
 and helped to keep his mind in the hubbub which 
 has been mentioned. 
 
 When he reached the front of the house, Law 
 rence saw a lean, gray horse tied to a tree, and a 
 man sitting upon the porch ; and as soon as he made 
 his appearance the latter came down the steps to 
 meet him. 
 
 " I didn t go into the house, sir," he said, " because 
 I thought you d just as lief have a talk outside." 
 
 " What is your business ? " asked Croft. 
 
 The man moved a few steps farther from the 
 house, and Lawrence followed him. 
 
 " Is it anything secret you have to tell me?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " Well, yes, sir, I should think it was," replied the 
 other, a tall man, with sandy hair and beard, and 
 dressed in a checkered business suit, which had lost 
 a good deal of the freshness of its early youth. " I 
 may as well tell you at "once who I am. I am an 
 anti-detective. Never heard of that sort of person, 
 I suppose ? " 
 
 " Never," said Lawrence, curtly. 
 
 " Well, sir, the organization which I belong to is 
 one which is filling a long felt want. You know 
 very well, sir, that this country is full of detective 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 213 
 
 officers, not only those who belong to a regular po 
 lice force, but lots of private ones, who, if anybody 
 will pay them for it, will go to Jericho to hunt a 
 man up. Now, sir, our object is to protect society 
 against these people. When we get information 
 that a man is going to be hounded down by any of 
 these detectives and we have private ways of know 
 ing these things we just go to that man, and if he 
 is willing to become one of our clients, we take him 
 into our charge ; and our business, after that, is to 
 keep him informed of just what is being done against 
 him. He can stay at home in comfort with his 
 wife, settle up his accounts, and do what he likes, and 
 the day before he is to be swooped down on, he gets 
 notice from us, and comfortably goes to Chicago, or 
 Jacksonville, where he can take his ease until we 
 post him of the next move of the enemy. If he 
 wants to take extra precautions, and writes a letter 
 to anybody in the place where he lives, dated from 
 London or Hong Kong, and sends that letter under 
 cover to us, we ll see that it is mailed from the place 
 it is dated from, and that it gets into the hands of 
 the detectives. There have been cases where a gen 
 tleman has had six months or a year of perfect com 
 fort, by the detectives being thrown off by a letter 
 like this. That is only one of the ways in which 
 we help and protect persons in difficulties who, if 
 it wasn t for us, would be dragged off, hand-cuffed, 
 from the bosom of their families ; and who, even if 
 they never got convicted, would have to pay a lot of 
 money to get out of the scrape. Now, I have put 
 
214 The Late Mrs Nidi. 
 
 myself a good deal out of the way, sir, to come to 
 you, and offer you our assistance." 
 
 * Me ! " exclaimed Croft. " What are you talking 
 about ? " 
 
 The man smiled. " Of course, it s all right to 
 know nothing about it, and it s just what we would 
 advise ; but I assure you we are thoroughly posted 
 in your affair, and to let you know that we are, I ll 
 just mention that the case is that of Croft after 
 Keswick, through Candy." 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! " exclaimed Lawrence, get 
 ting red in the face. " There is no such case ! " 
 
 He was about to say more, when a few words 
 from the anti-detective stopped him suddenly. 
 
 " Look here, Mr Keswick," said the man, leveling 
 a long fore-finger at him, and speaking very earn 
 estly, " don t you go and flatter yourself that this 
 thing has been dropped, because you haven t heard 
 of it for a month or two ; and if you ll take my ad 
 vice, you ll make up your mind on the spot, either 
 to let things go on and be nabbed, or to put your 
 self under our protection, and live in entire safety 
 until this thing has blown over, without any trouble, 
 except a little travelling." 
 
 At the mention of Keswick s name, Lawrence had 
 seen through the whole affair at a single mental 
 glance. The man was after Junius Keswick, and his 
 business was to Lawrence more startling and repug 
 nant than it could possibly be to any one else. It 
 was necessary to be very careful. If he immediately 
 avowed who he was, the man might yet find Kes- 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 215 
 
 rack, before warning and explanation could be got 
 to him, and not only put that gentleman in a very 
 unpleasant state of mind, but do a lot of mischief 
 besides. He did not believe that Mr Candy had re 
 commenced his investigations without consultation 
 with him, but this person evidently knew that such 
 an investigation had been set on foot, and that would 
 be sufficient for his purposes. Lawrence decided 
 to be very wary, and he said to the man, " Did you 
 ask for me here by name ? " 
 
 " No, sir" said the other, " I had information that 
 you were here, and that you were the only gentle 
 man who lived here and although you are in your own 
 home, I did not know but this was one of those cases 
 in which names were dropped and servants changed, 
 to suit an emergency. I asked the little darkey I 
 saw at the front of the house if she lived here, and 
 she told me she had only just come. That put me on 
 my guard, and so I merely asked if the gentleman 
 was in, and she went and got you. We re very care 
 ful about calling names, and you needn t be afraid 
 that any of our people will ever give you away on 
 that line." 
 
 Lawrence reflected for a moment, and then he 
 said : " What are your terms and arrangements for 
 carrying on an affair of this kind? " 
 
 " They are very simple and moderate," said the 
 man, taking a wallet from his pocket. " There is one 
 of our printed slips, which we show but don t give 
 away. Tc become a client all you have to do is to 
 send fifteen dollars to the office, or to pay it to me, 
 
2i6 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 if you think no time should be lost. That will en 
 title you to protection for a year. After that we 
 make the nominal charge of five dollars for each let 
 ter sent you, giving you information of what is 
 going on against you. For extra services, such as 
 mailing letters from distant points, of course there 
 will be extra charges." 
 
 Lawrence glanced over the printed slip, which con 
 tained information very similar to that the man had 
 given him, and as he did so, he came to the conclusion 
 that there would be nothing dishonest in allowing 
 the fellow to continue in his mistake, and to en 
 deavor to find out what mischief was about to be 
 done in his, Lawrence s, name, and under his appar 
 ent authority. " I will become a subscriber," said he, 
 taking out his pocketbook, " and request that you 
 give me all the information you possess, here and 
 immediately." 
 
 " That is the best thing to do," said the man, 
 taking the money, " for, in my opinion, no time is 
 to be lost. I ll give you a receipt for this." 
 
 " Don t trouble yourself about that," said Law 
 rence ; " let me have your information." 
 
 u You re very right," said the man. " It s a great 
 deal better not to have your name on anything. 
 And now for the points. Candy, who has charge of 
 Croft s job, is going more into the detective busi 
 ness than he used to be, and we have information 
 that he has lately taken up your affair in good, solid 
 earnest. He found out that Croft had put some 
 body else on your track, without regularly taking 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 217 
 
 the business out of his hands, and this made him 
 mad ; and I don t wonder at it, for Croft, as I under 
 stand, has plenty of money, and if he concluded to 
 throw Candy over, he ought to have done it fair 
 and square, and paid him something handsome in 
 consideration for having taken the job away. But 
 he didn t do anything of the kind, and Candy con 
 siders himself still in his employment, and vows he s 
 going to get hold of you before the other party 
 does ; so, you see, you have got two sets of detec 
 tives after you, and they ll be mighty sharp, for the 
 first one that gets you will make the money." 
 
 " Where are Candy s detectives now ? " asked 
 Lawrence. 
 
 " That I can t tell you positively, as I am so far 
 from our New York office, to which all information 
 comes. But now that you are a subscriber, I ll 
 communicate with head-quarters and the necessary 
 points will be immediately sent to you by telegraph, 
 if necessary. All that you have to do is to stay here 
 until you hear from us." 
 
 " From the way you spoke just now," said Law 
 rence, " I supposed the detective would be here to 
 day or to-morrow." 
 
 " Oh no," said the other," Candy has not the facil 
 ities for finding people that we have. But it takes 
 some time for me to communicate with head-quarters 
 and for you to hear from there ; and so, as I said 
 before, there isn t an hour to be lost. But you re all 
 right now." 
 
 " I expected you to give me more definite infor- 
 
218 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 mation than this," said Lawrence, " but now, I sup 
 pose, I must wait until I hear from New York, at 
 five dollars a message." 
 
 " My business is to enlist subscribers," said the 
 other. u You couldn t expect me to tell you any 
 thing definite when I am in an out-of-the-way place 
 like this." 
 
 " Did you come down to Virginia on purpose to 
 find me? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " No," said the man, " I am on my way to Mobile, 
 and I only lose one train by stopping here to attend 
 to your business." 
 
 " How did you know I was here ? " 
 
 "Ah," said the anti-detective, with a smile, " as I 
 told you, we have facilities. I knew you were at 
 this house, and I came here, straight as a die." 
 
 " It is truly wonderful," said Lawrence, " how ac 
 curate your information is. And now I will tell you 
 something you can have, gratis. You have made 
 one of the most stupid blunders that I ever heard 
 of. Mr Keswick went away from here, nearly a week 
 ago, and I am the Mr Croft whom you supposed to 
 be in pursuit of him." 
 
 The man started, and gave vent to an unpleasant 
 ejaculation. 
 
 " To prove it," said Lawrence, " there is my card, 
 and," putting his hand into his pocket, " here are 
 several letters addressed to me. And I want to 
 let you know that I am not in pursuit of Mr Kes 
 wick ; that he and I are very good friends ; and that 
 I have frequently seen him of late ; and so you can 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 219 
 
 just drop this business at once. And as for Candy, 
 he has no right to take a single step for which I have 
 not authorized him. I merely employed him to get 
 Mr Keswick s address, which I wished for a very 
 friendly motive. I shall write to Candy at once." 
 
 The man s face was not an agreeable study. He 
 looked angry ; he looked baffled ; and yet he looked 
 incredulous. " Now, come," said he, " if you are 
 not Keswick, what did you pay me that money 
 for?" 
 
 " I paid it to you," said Lawrence, " because I 
 wanted to find out what dirty business you were do 
 ing in my name. I have had the worth of my money, 
 and you can now go." 
 
 The man did not go, but stood gazing at Law 
 rence in a very peculiar way. " If Mr Keswick isn t 
 here," he said, " I believe you are here waiting for 
 him, and I am going to stay and warn him. People 
 don t set private detectives on other men s tracks 
 just for friendly motives." 
 
 Lawrence s face flushed and he made a step for 
 ward, but suddenly checking himself, he looked at 
 the man for a moment and then said : " I suppose 
 you want me to understand that if I become one of 
 your subscribers in my own name, you will be willing 
 to withhold the information you intended to give 
 Mr Keswick." 
 
 " Well," said the man, relapsing into his former 
 confidential tones, "business is business. If I could 
 see Mr Keswick, I don t know whether he would em 
 ploy me or not. I have no reason to work for one 
 
22O The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 person more than another, and, of course, if one 
 man comes to me and another doesn t, I m bound to 
 work for the man who comes. That s business ! " 
 
 " You have said quite enough," said Lawrence. 
 " Now leave this place instantly ! " 
 
 " No, I won t ! " said the man, shutting his mouth 
 very tightly, as he drew himself up and folded his 
 arms on his chest. 
 
 Lawrence was young, well-made, and strong, but 
 the other man was taller, heavier, and perhaps 
 stronger. To engage in a personal contest to compel 
 a fellow like this to depart, would be a very unpleas 
 ant thing for Lawrence to do, even if he succeeded. 
 He was a visitor here, the ladies would probably be 
 witnesses of the conflict, and although the natural 
 impulse of his heart, predominant over everything 
 else at that moment, prompted him to spring upon 
 the impudent fellow and endeavor to thrash him, still 
 his instincts as a gentleman forbade him to enter 
 into such a contest, which would probably have no 
 good effect, no matter how it resulted. Never be 
 fore did he feel the weakness of the moral power of 
 a just cause when opposed to brutal obstinacy. Still 
 he did not retreat from his position. " Did you 
 hear what I said ? " he cried. " Leave this place ! " 
 
 " You are not master here," said the other, still 
 preserving his defiant attitude, " and you have no 
 right to order me away. I am not going." 
 
 Despite his inferiority in size, despite his gentle 
 manly instincts, and despite his prudent desire not 
 to make an exhibition of himself before Miss March 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 221 
 
 and the household, it is probable that Lawrence s 
 anger would have assumed some form of physical 
 manifestation, had not Mrs Keswick appeared sud 
 denly on the porch. It was quite evident to her, 
 from the aspect of the two men, that something was 
 wrong, and she called out : " Who s that ? " 
 
 " That, madam," said Lawrence, stepping a little 
 back, " is a very impertinent man who has no busi 
 ness here, and whom I ve ordered off the place, and, 
 as he has refused to go, I propose 
 
 " Stop ! " cried the old lady. And turning, she 
 rushed into the house. Before either of the men 
 could recover from their surprise at her sudden ac 
 tion, she reappeared upon the porch, carrying a 
 double-barreled gun. Taking her position on the top 
 of the flight of steps, with a quick movement of her 
 thumb she cocked both barrels. Then, drawing her 
 self up and resting firmly on her right leg, with the 
 left advanced, she raised the gun ; her right elbow 
 well against her side, and with her extended left arm 
 as steady as one of the beams of the roof above her. 
 She hooked her forefinger around one of the trig 
 gers, her eagle eye glanced along the barrels straight 
 at the head of the anti-detective, and, in a clarion 
 voice she sang out " Go ! " 
 
 The man stared at her. He saw the open muzzles 
 of the gun barrels ; beyond them, he saw the bright 
 tops of the two- percussion caps ; and still beyond 
 them, he saw the bright and determined eye that was 
 taking sight along the barrels. All this he took in 
 at a glance, and, without word or comment, he made 
 
222 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 a quick dodge of his head, jumped to one side, made 
 a dash for his horse, and, untying the bridle with a 
 jerk, he mounted and galloped out of the open gate, 
 turning as he did so to find himself still covered by 
 the muzzles of that gun. When he had nearly 
 reached the outer gate and felt himself out of range, 
 he turned in his saddle, and looking back at Law 
 rence, who was still standing where he had left him, 
 he violently shook his fist in the air. 
 
 " Which means," said Lawrence to himself, " that 
 he intends to make trouble with Keswick." 
 
 "That settled him," said the old lady, with a 
 grim smile, as she lowered the muzzle of the gun, 
 and gently let down the hammers. 
 
 " Madam," said Lawrence, advancing toward her, 
 " may I ask if that gun is loaded ? " 
 
 " I should say so," replied the old lady. " In 
 each barrel are two thimblefuls of powder, and half- 
 a-box of Windfall s Teaberry Tonic Pills, each one 
 of them as big and as hard as a buckshot. They 
 were brought here by a travelling agent, who sold 
 some of them to my people ; and I tell you, sir, 
 that those pills made them so sick that one man 
 wasn t able to work for two days, and another for 
 three. I vowed if that agent ever came back, I d 
 shoot his abominable pills into him, and I ve kept 
 the gun loaded for the purpose. Was this a pill 
 man ? I scarcely think he was a fertilizer, because 
 it is rather late in the season for those bandits." 
 
 " He is a man," said Lawrence, coming up the 
 steps, "who belongs to a class much worse than 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 223 
 
 those you have mentioned. He is what is called a 
 blackmailer." 
 
 " Is that so ?" cried the old lady, her eyes flash 
 ing as she brought the butt of the gun heavily upon 
 the porch floor. " I m very glad I did not know it; 
 very glad, indeed ; for I might have been tempted 
 to give him what belonged to another, without wait 
 ing for him to disobey my order to go. I am very 
 much troubled, sir, that this annoyance should have 
 happened to you in my house. Pray do not allow 
 it to interfere with the enjoyment of your visit here, 
 which I hope may continue as long as you can make 
 it convenient." 
 
 The words and manner convinced Lawrence that 
 that they did not merely indicate a conventional 
 hospitality. The old lady meant what she said. 
 She wanted him to stay. 
 
 That morning he had become convinced that he 
 had been invited there because Mrs Keswick wished 
 him to marry Miss March ; and she had done this, 
 not out of any kind feeling toward him, because that 
 would be impossible, considering the shortness of 
 their acquaintance, but because she was opposed to 
 her nephew s marriage with Miss March, and because 
 he, Lawrence, was the only available person who 
 could be brought forward to supplant him. " But 
 whatever her motive is," thought Lawrence, " her 
 invitation comes in admirably for me, and I hope I 
 shall get the proper advantage from it." 
 
 Shortly after this, Lawrence sat in the parlor, by 
 himself, writing a letter. It was to Junius Keswick ; 
 
224 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 and in it he related the facts of his search for 
 him in New York, and the reason why he desired 
 to make his acquaintance. He concealed nothing 
 but the fact that Keswick s cousin had had any 
 thing to do with the affair. " If she wants him to 
 know that," he thought, " she can tell him herself. 
 It is not my business to make any revelations in 
 that quarter." He concluded the letter by inform 
 ing Mr Keswick of the visit of the anti-detective, 
 and warning him against any attempts which that 
 individual might make upon his pocket, assuring 
 him that the man could tell him nothing in regard 
 to the affair that he now did not know. 
 
 After dinner, during which meal Miss March ap 
 peared in a very good humor, and talked rather 
 more than she had yet done in the bosom of that 
 family, Lawrence had his horse saddled, and rode 
 to the railroad station, about six miles distant, 
 where he posted his letter ; and also sent a telegram 
 to Mr Junius Keswick, warning him to pay no at 
 tention to any man who might call upon him on 
 business connected with Croft and Keswick, and 
 stating that an explanatory letter had been sent. 
 
 The anti-detective had left on a train an hour 
 before, but Lawrence felt certain that the telegram 
 would reach Keswick before the man could possi 
 bly get to him, especially as the latter had probably 
 not yet found out his intended victim s address. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 As Lawrence Croft rode back to Mrs Keswick s 
 house, after having posted to his rival the facts in 
 the case of Croft after Keswick, he did not feel in a 
 very happy or triumphant mood. The visit of the 
 anti-detective had compelled him to write to Kes 
 wick at a time when it was not at all desirable that 
 he should make any disclosures whatever in regard 
 to his love affair with Miss March, except that very 
 important disclosure which he had made to the lady 
 herself that morning. Of course there was no great 
 danger that any intimation would reach Miss March 
 of Mr Croft s rather eccentric search for his prede 
 cessor in the position which he wished to occupy 
 in her affections. But the matter was particularly 
 unpleasant just now, and Lawrence wished to occupy 
 his time here in business very different from that 
 of sending explanations to rivals and warding off 
 unfriendly entanglements threatened by a black 
 mailer. 
 
 It was absolutely necessary for him to find out 
 what he had done to offend Miss March. Offended 
 that lady certainly was, and he even felt that she was 
 glad of the opportunity his declaration gave her to 
 inflict punishment upon him. But still he did not 
 despair. When she had made him pay the penalty 
 15 
 
226 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 she thought proper for whatever error he had com 
 mitted, she might be willing to listen to him. He 
 had not said anything to her in regard to his failure 
 to make her the promised visit at Midbranch, for, 
 during the only time he had been alone with her here, 
 the subject of an immediate statement of his feelings 
 toward her had wholly occupied his mind. But it 
 now occurred to him that she had reason to feel 
 aggrieved at his failure to keep his promise to her, 
 and she must have shown that feeling, for, other 
 wise, her most devoted friend, Mr Junius Keswick, 
 would-never have made that rather remarkable visit 
 to him at the Green Sulphur Springs. Of course he 
 would not allude to that visit, nor to her wish to see 
 him, for she had sent him no message, nor did he 
 know what object she had in desiring an interview. 
 But it was quite possible that she might have taken 
 umbrage at his failure to come to her when expected, 
 and that this was the reason for her present treat 
 ment of him. To this treatment Lawrence might 
 have taken exception, but now he did not wish to 
 judge her in any way. His only desire in regard to 
 her was to possess her, and therefore, instead of con 
 demning her for her unjust method of showing her 
 resentment, he merely considered how he should set 
 himself right with her. Cruel or kind, just or un 
 just, he wanted her 
 
 And then, as he slowly trotted along the lonely 
 and uneven road, it suddenly flashed upon him, as if 
 in mounting a hill, a far-reaching landscape, hitherto 
 unseen, had in a moment, spread itself out before 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 227 
 
 him, that, perhaps, Miss March had divined the 
 reason of his extremely discreet behavior toward 
 her. Was it possible that she had seen his motives, 
 and knew the truth, and that she resented the pru 
 dence and caution he had shown in his intercourse 
 with her ? 
 
 If she had read the truth, he felt that she had 
 good reason for her resentment, and Lawrence did 
 not trouble himself to consider if she had shown too 
 much of it or not. He remembered the story of the 
 defeated general, and, feeling that so far he had been 
 thoroughly defeated, he determined to admit the 
 fact, and to sound a retreat from all the positions he 
 had held ; but, at the same time, to make a bold 
 dash into the enemy s camp, and, if possible, capture 
 the commander-in-chief and the Minister of War. 
 
 He would go to Roberta, tell her all that he had 
 thought, and explain all that he had done. There 
 should be no bit of truth which she could have 
 reasoned out, which he would not plainly avow and 
 set before her. Then he would declare to her that 
 his love for her had become so great, that, rushing 
 over every barrier, whether of prudence, doubt, or 
 indecision, it had carried him with it and laid him at 
 her feet. When he had come to this bold conclu 
 sion, he cheered up his horse with a thump of his 
 heel and cantered rapidly over the rest of the road. 
 
 Peggy, having nothing else to do, was standing by 
 the yard gate when he came in sight, and she 
 watched his approach with feelings of surprise and 
 disgust. She had seen him ride away, and not con- 
 
228 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 sidering the fact that he did not carry his valise 
 with him, she supposed he had taken his final de 
 parture. She had conceived a violent dislike to Mr 
 Croft, looking upon him in the light of an inter 
 loper and a robber, who had come to break up that 
 expected marriage between Master Junius and Miss 
 Rob, which the servants at Midbranch looked for 
 ward to as necessary for the prosperity of the family ; 
 and the preliminary stages of which she had taken 
 upon herself the responsibility of describing with so 
 much minuteness of detail. With the politeness 
 natural to the Southern negro, she opened the gate 
 for the gentleman, but as she closed it behind him, 
 she cast after him a look of earnest malevolence. 
 " Ef dot ole Miss Keswick don kunjer you, sah," 
 she said in an undertone, " I s gwine to do it myse f. 
 So, dar ! " And she gave her foot a stamp on the 
 ground. 
 
 Lawrence, all ignorant of the malignant feeling he 
 had excited in this, to him, very unimportant and 
 uninteresting black girl, tied his horse and went into 
 the house. As he passed the open door of the par 
 lor he saw a lady reading by a window in the farthest 
 corner. Hanging up his hat, he entered, hoping 
 that the reader, whose form was partially concealed 
 by the back of the large rocking chair in which she 
 was sitting, was Miss March. But it was not ; it 
 was Mrs Keswick s niece, deeply engrossed by a 
 large-paged novel. She turned her head as he 
 entered, and said : u Good evening." 
 
 " Good evening, Miss Annie," said Lawrence, seat- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 229 
 
 ing himself in a chair opposite her on the other side 
 of the window. 
 
 " Mr Croft," said she, laying her book on her lap, 
 and inclining herself slightly toward him, "you 
 have no right to call me Miss Annie, and I wish you 
 would not do it. The servants in the South call 
 ladies by their first names, whether they are married 
 or not, but people would think it very strange if 
 you should imitate them. My name in this house is 
 Mrs Null, and I wish you would not forget it." 
 
 " The trouble with me is," said Lawrence, with a 
 smile, " that I cannot forget it is not Mrs Null, but, 
 of course, if you desire it, I will give you that 
 name." 
 
 " I told you before how much I desired it," said 
 she, " and why. When my aunt finds out the exact 
 state of this affair, I shall wish to stay no longer 
 in this house ; and I don t want my stay to come to 
 an end at present. I am very happy here with the 
 only relatives I have in the world, who are ever so 
 much nicer people than I supposed they were, and 
 you have no right to come here and drive me 
 away." 
 
 " My dear young lady," said Croft, " I wouldn t 
 do such a thing for the world. I admit that I am 
 very sorry that it is necessary, or appears to you to 
 be so, that you should be here under false colors, 
 but 
 
 " Appears to be," said she, with much emphasis 
 on the first word. " Why, can t you see that it 
 would be impossible for me, as a young unmarried 
 
230 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 woman, to come to the house of a man, whose pro 
 prietor, as Aunt Keswick considers herself to be, 
 has been trying to marry to me, even before I was 
 grown up ; for the letters that used to make my 
 father most angry were about this. I hate to talk 
 of these family affairs, and I only do it so that you 
 can be made understand things." 
 
 " Mrs. Null," said Lawrence, " do not think I wish 
 to blame you. You have had a hard time of it, and 
 I can see the peculiarities of your residence here. 
 Don t be afraid of me ; I will not betray your secret. 
 While I am here, I will address you, and will try to 
 think of you as a very grave young matron. But I 
 wish very much that you were not quite so grave 
 and severe when you address me. When I was here 
 last week your manner was very different. We 
 were quite friendly then." 
 
 " I see no particular reason," said Annie, " why 
 we should be friendly." 
 
 " Mrs. Null," said Lawrence, after a little pause, 
 during which he looked at her attentively, " I don t 
 believe you approve of me." 
 
 "No," said she, "I don t." 
 
 He could not help smiling at the earnest direct 
 ness of her answer, though he did not like it. " I am 
 sorry," he said, " that you should have so poor an 
 opinion of me. And, now, let me tell you what I 
 was going to say this morning, that my only object 
 in finding your cousin was to know the man who 
 had been engaged to Miss March." 
 
 " So that you could find out what she probably 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 231 
 
 objected to in him, and could then try and not let her 
 see anything of that sort in you." 
 
 "Mrs Null," said Lawrence, "you are unjust. 
 There is no reason why you should speak to me in 
 this way." 
 
 " I would like to know," she said, * what cause 
 there could possibly be for your wanting to become 
 acquainted with a man who had been engaged to 
 the lady you wished to marry, if you didn t intend 
 to study him up, and try to do better yourself." 
 
 " My motive in desiring to become acquainted 
 with Mr Keswick," said Lawrence, " is one you could 
 scarcely understand, and all I can say about it is, 
 that I believed that if I knew the gentleman who had 
 formerly been the accepted lover of a lady, I should 
 better know the lady." 
 
 " You must be awfully suspicious," said she. 
 
 " No, I am not," he answered, " and I knew you 
 would not understand me. My only desire in speak 
 ing to you upon this subject is that you may not 
 unreasonably judge me." 
 
 " But I am not unreasonable," said Annie. " You 
 are trying to get Miss March away from my cousin; 
 and I don t think it is fair, and I don t want you to 
 do it. When you were here before, I thought you 
 two were good friends, but now I don t believe it." 
 
 How friendly might be the relations between 
 himself and Keswick, when the latter should read 
 his letter about the Candy affair, and should 
 know that he was in this house with Miss March, 
 Lawrence could not say ; but he did not allude to 
 
232 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 this point in his companion s remarks. " I do not 
 think," he said, " that you have any reason to object 
 to my endeavoring to win Miss March. Even if she 
 accepts me, it will be to the advantage of your 
 cousin, because if he still hopes to obtain her, the 
 sooner he knows he cannot do so, the better it will 
 be for him. My course is perfectly fair. I am 
 aware that .the lady is not at present engaged to 
 any one, and I am endeavoring to induce her to en 
 gage herself to me. If I fail, then I step aside." 
 
 " Entirely aside, and out of the way?" asked Mrs 
 Null. 
 
 * Entirely," answered Lawrence. 
 
 " Well," said Annie, leaning back in her chair, in 
 which before she had been sitting very upright, 
 " you have, at last, given me a good deal of your 
 confidence ; almost as much as I gave you. Some 
 of the things you say I believe, others I don t." 
 
 Lawrence was annoyed, but he would not allow 
 himself to get angry. " I am not accustomed to being 
 disbelieved," he said, gravely. " It is a very unusual 
 experience, I assure you. Which of my statements 
 do you doubt ?" 
 
 " I don t believe," said Annie, " that you will give 
 her up if she rejects you while you are here. You 
 are too wilful. You will follow her, and try again." 
 
 " Mrs Null," said Lawrence, " I do not feel justi 
 fied in speaking to a third person of these things, 
 but this is a peculiar case, and, therefore, I assure 
 you, and request you to believe me, that if Miss 
 March shall now positively refuse me, I shall feel 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 233 
 
 convinced that her affections are already occupied, 
 and that I have no right to press my suit any 
 longer." 
 
 " Would you like to begin now ? " said Annie. 
 " She is coming down stairs." 
 
 " You are entirely too matter-of-fact," said Law 
 rence, smiling in spite of himself, and, in a moment, 
 Roberta entered the room. 
 
 If the young lady in the high-backed rocking-chair 
 had any idea of giving Mr Croft and Miss March an 
 opportunity of expressing their sentiments toward 
 each other, she took no immediate steps to do so ; 
 for she gently rocked herself; she talked about the 
 novel she had been reading; she blamed Miss March 
 for staying so long in her room on such a beautiful 
 afternoon ; and she was the primary cause of a con 
 versation among the three upon the differences 
 between New York weather and that of Virginia; 
 and this continued until old Mrs Keswick joined 
 the party, and changed the conversation to the 
 consideration of the fact that a fertilizer agent, a 
 pill man, or a blackmailer would find out a person s 
 whereabouts, even if he were attending the funeral 
 of his grandmother on a desert island. 
 
 The next morning, about an hour after breakfast, 
 Lawrence was walking up and down on the grass in 
 front of the house, smoking a cigar, and troubling 
 his mind. He had had no opportunity on the 
 previous evening to be alone with Miss March, for 
 the little party sat together in the parlor until they 
 separated for bed ; and so, of course, nothing was 
 
234 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 yet settled. He was overstaying the time he had 
 expected to spend here, and he felt nervous about 
 it. He had hoped to see Miss March after break 
 fast, but she seemed to have withdrawn herself 
 entirely from observation. Perhaps she considered 
 that she had sufficiently rejected him on the pre 
 vious morning, and that she now intended, except 
 when she was sure of the company of the others, to 
 remain in her room until he should go away. But 
 he had no such opinion in regard to their interview 
 on Pine Top Hill. He believed that he had been 
 punished, not rejected, and that when he should be 
 able to explain everything to her, he would be for 
 given. That, at least, was his earnest hope, and 
 hope makes us believe almost anything. 
 
 But, although there were so many difficulties in 
 his way, Lawrence had a friend in that household 
 who still remained true to him. Mrs Keswick, with 
 sun-bonnet and umbrella, came out upon the porch, 
 and said cheerily : " I should think a gentleman like 
 you would prefer to be with the ladies than to be 
 walking about here by yourself. They have gone 
 to take a walk in the woods. I should have said 
 that Pvtiss March has gone on ahead, with her little 
 maid Peggy. My niece was going with her, but I 
 called her back to attend to some housekeeping 
 matters for me, and I think she will be kept longer 
 than she expected, for I have just sent Letty to her 
 to be shown how to cut out a frock. But you 
 needn t wait ; you can go right through the flower- 
 garden, and take the path over the fields into the 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 235 
 
 woods." And, having concluded this bit of con 
 scienceless and transparent management, the old 
 lady remarked that she, herself, was going for a walk, 
 and left him. 
 
 Lawrence lost no time in following her suggestions. 
 Throwing away his cigar, he hurried through the 
 house and the little flower-garden, a gate at the 
 back of which opened into a wide pasture-field. 
 This field sloped down gentiy to a branch, or little 
 stream, which ran through the middle of it, and then 
 the ground ascended until it reached the edge of 
 the woods. Following the well-defined path, he 
 looked across the little valley before him, and could 
 see, just inside the edge of the woods the trees and 
 bushes being much more thinly attired than in the 
 summer time the form of a lady in a light-colored 
 dress with a red scarf upon her shoulders, sometimes 
 moving slowly, sometimes stopping. This was Rob 
 erta, and those woods were a far better place than 
 the exposed summit of Pine Top Hill, in which to 
 plight his troth, if it should be so that he should be 
 able to do it, and there were doubtless paths in those 
 woods through which they might afterwards wander, 
 if things should turn out propitiously. At all events, 
 in those woods would he settle this affair. 
 
 His intention was still strong to make a very clean 
 breast of it to Roberta. If she had blamed him for his 
 prudent reserve, she should have full opportunity to 
 forgive him. All that he had been she should know, 
 but far more important than that, he would try to 
 make her know, better than he had done before, what 
 
236 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 he was now. Abandoning all his previous positions, 
 and mounted on these strong resolutions, thus would 
 he dash into her camp, and hope to capture her. 
 
 Reaching the Jittle ravine, at the bottom of which 
 flowed the branch, now but two or three feet wide, 
 he ran down the rather steep slope and stepped 
 upon the stout plank which bridged the stream. The 
 instant he did so, the plank turned beneath him as 
 if it had been hung on pivots, and he fell into the 
 stony bed of the branch. It was an awkward fall, for 
 the leg which was undermost came down at an 
 angle, and his foot, striking a slippery stone, turned 
 under him. In a moment he was on his feet, and 
 scrambled up the side of the ravine, down which 
 he had just come. When he reached the top 
 he sat down and put both his hands on his right 
 ankle, in which he felt considerable pain. In a few 
 minutes he arose, and began to walk toward the 
 house, but he had not taken a dozen steps before he 
 sat down again. The pain in his ankle was very se 
 vere, and he felt quite sure that he had sprained it. 
 He knew enough about such things to understand 
 that if he walked upon this injured joint, he 
 would not only make the pain worse, but the 
 consequences might be serious. He was very much 
 annoyed, not only that this thing had happened to 
 him, but that it had happened at such an inauspi 
 cious moment. Of course, he could not now go on 
 to the woods, and he must get somebody to help 
 him to the house. Looking about, he saw, at a dis 
 tance, Uncle Isham, and he called loudly to him. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 237 
 
 As soon as Lawrence was well away from the edge 
 of the ravine, there emerged from some thick bushes 
 on the other side of it, and at a short distance from 
 the crossing-place, a negro girl, who slipped noise 
 lessly down to the branch ; moved with quick steps 
 and crouching body to the plank ; removed the two 
 round stones on which it had been skilfully poised, 
 and replaced it in its usual firm position. This done, 
 she slipped back into the bushes, and by the time 
 I sham had heard the call of Mr. Croft, she was slowly 
 walking down the opposite hill, as if she were com 
 ing from the woods to see why the gentleman was 
 shouting. 
 
 Miss March also heard the call, and came out of 
 the woods, and when she saw Lawrence sitting on 
 the grass on the other side of the branch, with 
 one hand upon his ankle, she knew that something 
 had happened, and came down toward him. Law 
 rence saw her approaching, and before she was even 
 near enough to hear him, he began to shout to her 
 to be careful about crossing the branch, as the board 
 was unsafe. Peggy joined her, and walked on in 
 front of her ; and when Miss March understood 
 w r hat Lawrence was saying, she called back that she 
 would be careful. When they reached the ravine, 
 Peggy ran down, stepped upon the plank, jumped 
 on the middle of it, walked over it, and then back 
 again, and assured her mistress that it was just as 
 good as ever it was, and that she reckoned the city 
 gentleman didn t know how to walk on planks, and 
 that "he jes done fall off." 
 
238 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Miss March crossed, stepping a little cautiously, 
 and reached Lawrence just as Uncle Isham, with 
 strong arms and many words of sympathy, had as 
 sisted him to his feet. " What has happened to you, 
 Mr. Croft ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " I was coming to you," he said ; " and in crossing 
 the stream the plank turned under me, and I am 
 afraid I have sprained my ankle. I can t walk on 
 it." 
 
 " I am very sorry," she said. 
 
 " Because I was coming to you," he said, grimly, 
 " or because I hurt myself ? " 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed to speak in that way," 
 she answered, " but I won t find fault with you, now 
 that you are in such pain. Is there anything I can 
 do for you?" 
 
 " No, thank you," said Lawrence. " I will lean on 
 this good man, and I think I can hop to the house." 
 
 " Peggy," said Miss Roberta, "walk on the other 
 side of the gentleman, and let him lean upon your 
 shoulder. I will go on and have something prepared 
 to put on his ankle." 
 
 With one side supported by the stout Isham, and 
 his other hand resting on the shoulder of the good 
 little Peggy, who bore up as strongly under it as if 
 she had been a big walking-stick, Lawrence slowly 
 made his way to the house. Miss March got there 
 sometime before he did, and was very glad to find that 
 Mrs Keswick had not yet gone out on the walk for 
 which she was prepared. That circumspect old lady 
 had found this and that to occupy her, while she so 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 239 
 
 managed her household matters, that one thing 
 should follow another, to detain her niece. But 
 when she heard what had happened, all other im 
 pulses gave way to those which belonged to a head 
 nurse and a mistress of emergencies. She set down 
 her umbrella; shouted an order to Letty to put a ket 
 tle of water on the fire ; brought from her own room 
 some flannel and two bottles of embrocation ; and 
 then stopping a moment to reflect, ordered that the 
 office should be prepared for Mr Croft, for it would 
 be a shame to make a gentleman, with a sprained 
 ankle, clamber up stairsc 
 
 The office was a small building in the wide front 
 yard, not very far from the house, and opposite to 
 the arbor, which has been before mentioned. It was 
 one story high, and contained one large and comfor 
 table room. Such buildings are quite common on 
 Virginian farms, and although called offices are sel 
 dom used in an official way, being generally appropri 
 ated to the bachelors of the family or their gentle 
 man visitors. This one was occupied by Junius 
 Keswick, when he was at home, and a good many 
 of his belongings were now in it ; but as it was at 
 present unoccupied, nothing could be more proper 
 than that Mr Croft should have it. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ABOUT noon of the day of Mr Croft s accident, 
 Uncle Isham had occasion to go to the cabin of the 
 venerable Aunt Patsy, and, of course he told her 
 what had happened to the gentleman v/hom he and 
 Aunt Patsy still supposed to be Miss Annie s 
 husband. The news produced a very marked effect 
 upon the old woman. She put down the crazy 
 quilt, upon the unfinished corner of which she was 
 making a few feeble stiches, and looked at Uncle 
 Isham with a troubled frown. She was certain that 
 this was the work of old Mrs Keswick, who had 
 succeeded, at last, in conjuring the young husband ; 
 and the charm she had given him, and upon which 
 she had relied to avert the ill will of " ole miss," had 
 proved unavailing. T*he conjuring had been accom 
 plished so craftily and slyly, the bewitched plank 
 in one place, and Mrs Keswick far off in another, 
 that there had been no chance to use the counter 
 acting charm. And yet Aunt Patsy had thought 
 it a good charm, a very good one indeed. 
 
 Early in her married life Mrs Keswick had been 
 the mother of a little girl. It had died when it was 
 very small, and it was the only child she ever 
 had. Of this infant she preserved, as a momento, 
 a complete suit of its clothes, which she regarded 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 241 
 
 with a feeling almost religious. Years ago, how 
 ever, Aunt Patsy, in order to protect herself against 
 the conjuring powers of the mistress of the house, 
 in which she then served as a sort of supervising 
 cook, had possessed herself of the shoes belonging 
 to the cherished suit of clothes. She knew the 
 sacred light in which they were regarded by their 
 owner, and she felt quite sure that if " ole miss " 
 ever attempted, in one of her fits of anger, to exer 
 cise her power of limb twisting or back contortion 
 upon her, that the sight of those little blue shoes 
 would create a revulsion of feeling, and, as she put 
 it to herself, " stop her mighty short." The shoes 
 had never been missed, for the box containing the 
 suit was only opened on one day of the year, and 
 then all the old lady could endure was a peep at the 
 little white frock which covered the rest of the con 
 tents ; and Aunt Patsy well knew that the sight of 
 those little blue shoes would be to her mistress 
 like two little feet coming back from the grave. 
 
 Patsy had been much too old to act as nurse to 
 the infant, Annie Peyton, then regarded as the 
 daughter of the house, but she had always felt for 
 the child the deepest affection ; and now that she 
 herself was so near the end of her career that she 
 had little fear of being bewitched, she was willing to 
 give up the safeguards she had so long possessed, 
 in order that they might protect the man whom 
 Miss Annie had loved and married. But they had 
 failed, or rather it had been impossible to use them, 
 and Miss Annie s husband had been stricken down. 
 16 
 
242 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " It s pow ful hard to git roun ole miss/ she 
 groaned. " She too much fur ole folks like I is." 
 
 At this remark Uncle Isham fired up. Although 
 the conduct of his mistress troubled him at times 
 very much he was intensely loyal to her, and he 
 instantly caught the meaning of this aspersion 
 against her. " Now, look h yar, Aim Patsy," he 
 exclaimed, "wot you talkin bout? Wot ole miss 
 got to do wid Mister Crof sprainin he ankle ? Ole 
 miss warn t dar ; an when I done fotch him up to 
 de house, she cut roun an do more fur him dan 
 anybody else. She got de hot water, an she dipped 
 de flannels in it, an she wrop up de ankle all herse f, 
 an when she got him all fixed comfable in de ofris, 
 she says to me, says she, * Now, Isham, you wait on 
 Mister Crof, an you gib him eberything he want, 
 an when de cool ob de ebenin comes on you make 
 a fire in dat fire-place, an stay whar he kin call you 
 wheneber he wants you to wait on him. I didn t 
 eben come down h yar till I axed him would he 
 want me fur half an hour." 
 
 " Well," said Aunt Patsy, her eyes softening a 
 little, " p raps she didn t do it dis time. It mout a 
 been his own orkardness. I hopes to mussiful 
 goodness dat dat was so. But wot fur you call him 
 Mister Crof ? Is dat he fus name ? " 
 
 " I reckon so," said Isham. " He one ob de fam - 
 ly now, an I reckon dey calls him by he fus name. 
 An now, look h yar, Aun Patsy, I wants you not 
 to disremember dis h yar. Don you go imaginin 
 ebery time anything happens to folks, that ole miss 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 243 
 
 done been kunjerin em. Dat ain t pious, an taint 
 suitable fur a ole pusson like you, Aun Patsy, wot s 
 jus settin on de poach steps ob heaben, a waitin 
 till somebody finds out you s dar, an let s you in." 
 
 Aunt Patsy turned her great spectacles full upon 
 him, and then she said: "You, Isham, ef eber you 
 gits a call to preach to folks, you jus sing out : 4 Oh, 
 Lor , I aint fit ! And den you go crack your head 
 wid a mill-stone, fur fear you git called agin, fru mis 
 take." 
 
 Uncle Isham made no answer to this piece of ad 
 vice, but taking up some clothes which Aunt Patsy s 
 great granddaughter* had washed and ironed for 
 him, he left the cabin. He was a man much given 
 to attending to his own business, and paying very 
 little attention to those affairs of his mistress s 
 household, with which he had no personal concern. 
 When Mr Croft first came to the house he, as well as 
 Aunt Patsy, had been told that it was Mr Null, the 
 husband of Miss Annie ; and although not thinking 
 much about it, he had always supposed this to be 
 the case. But now it struck him as a very strange 
 thing that Miss Annie did not attend to her hus 
 band, but allowed his mistress and himself to do 
 everything that was done for him. It was a question 
 which his mind was totally incapable of solving, but 
 when he reached the house, he spoke to Letty on 
 the subject. 
 
 " Bress your soul !" exclaimed that well-nourished 
 person, " dat s not Mister Null, wot married Miss 
 Annie. Dat s Mister Crof, an he aint married to 
 
244 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 nobody. Mister Null he aint come yet, but I reckon 
 he ll be along soon." 
 
 " Well den," exclaimed Isham, much surprised, 
 " how come Aun Patsy to take he for Miss Annie s 
 husband ?" 
 
 " Oh, git out !" contemptuously exclaimed Letty, 
 " don you go put no count on dem fool notions wot 
 Aun Patsy got in she old head. Nobody knows 
 how dey come dar, no more n how dey eber manage 
 to git out. Taint no use splainin nothin to Aun 
 Patsy, an if she b lieves dat s Miss Annie s husband, 
 you can t make her b lieve it s anybody else. Jes you 
 lef her alone. Nuffin she b lieves aint gwine to hurt 
 her." 
 
 And Isham, remembering his frequent ill success 
 in endeavoring to make Aunt Patsy think as she 
 ought to think, concluded that this was good 
 advice. 
 
 At the time of the conversation just mentioned, 
 Lawrence was sitting in a large easy chair in front 
 of the open door of the room of which he had been 
 put in possession. His injured foot was resting upon 
 a cushioned stool, a small table stood by him, on 
 which were his cigar and match cases ; a pitcher of 
 iced water and a glass, and a late copy of a semi- 
 weekly paper. Through the doorway, which was but 
 two steps higher than the grass sward before it, his 
 eyes fell upon a very pleasing scene. To the right 
 was the house, with its vine-covered porch and 
 several great oak trees overhanging it, which still 
 retained their heavy foliage, although it was begin- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 245 
 
 ning to lose something of its summer green. In front 
 of him, at the opposite end of the grassy yard, was 
 the pretty little arbor in which he had told Mr Junius 
 Keswick of the difficulties in the way of his speaking 
 his mind to Miss March. Beyond the large garden, 
 at the back of this arbor, stretched a wide field with 
 a fringe of woods at its distant edge, gay with the 
 colors of autumn. The sky was bright and blue, 
 and fair white clouds moved slowly over its surface ; 
 the air was sunny and warm, with bumble-bees hum 
 ming about some late-flowering shrubs ; and, high 
 in the air, floated two great turkey-buzzards, with a 
 beauty of motion surpassed by no other flying thing, 
 with never a movement of their wide-spread wings, 
 except to give them the necessary inclination as 
 they rose with the wind, and then turned and de 
 scended in a long sweep, only to rise again and com 
 plete the circle ; sailing thus for hours, around and 
 around, their shadows moving over the fields below 
 them. 
 
 Fearing that he had sustained some injury more 
 than a mere sprain, Lawrence had had the Hewlett s 
 doctor summoned, and that general practitioner had 
 come and gone, after having assured Mr Croft that 
 no bones had been broken; that Mrs Keswick s 
 treatment was exactly what it should be, and that 
 all that was necessary for him was to remain quiet 
 for a few days, and be very careful not to use the 
 injured ankle. Thus he had the prospect of but a 
 short confinement ; he felt no present pain ; and there 
 was nothing of the sick-room atmosphere in his sur- 
 
246 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 roundings, for his position close to the door almost 
 gave him the advantage of sitting in the open air of 
 this bright autumnal day. 
 
 But Lawrence s mind dwelt not at all on these 
 ameliorating circumstances ; it dwelt only upon the 
 fact that he was in one house and Miss March was in 
 another. It was impossible for him to go to her, and 
 he had no reason to believe that she would come to 
 him. Under ordinary circumstances it would be natu 
 ral enough for her to look in upon him and inquire 
 into his condition, but now the case was very differ 
 ent. She knew that he desired to see her, that he 
 had been coming to her when he met with his acci 
 dent, and she knew, too, exactly what he wanted to 
 say ; and it was not to be supposed that a lady would 
 come to a man to be wooed, especially this lady, 
 who had been in such an unfavorable humor when 
 he had wooed her the day before. 
 
 But it was quite impossible for Lawrence, at this 
 most important crisis of his life, to sit without 
 action for three or four days, during which time 
 it was not unlikely that Miss March might go 
 home. But what was he to do ? It would be re- 
 diculous to think of sending for her, she knowing 
 for what purpose she was wanted ; and as for writing 
 a letter, that did not suit him at all. There was too 
 much to be explained, too much to be urged, too 
 much to be avowed, and, probably, too many con 
 tingencies to be met, for him to even consider the sub 
 ject of writing a letter. A proposal on paper would 
 most certainly bring a rejection on paper. He could 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 247 
 
 think of no plan ; he must trust to chance. If his 
 lucky star, and it had shown a good deal in his life, 
 should give him an opportunity of speaking to her, 
 he would lose not an instant in broaching the impor 
 tant subject. He was happy to think he had a friend 
 in the old lady. Perhaps she might bring about the 
 desired interview. But although this thought was 
 encouraging, he could not but tremble when he re 
 membered the very plain and unvarnished way she 
 had of doing such things. 
 
 While these thoughts were passing through his 
 mind, a lady came out upon the porch, and de 
 scended the steps. At the first sight of her through 
 the vines, Lawrence had thought it might be Miss 
 March, and his heart had given a jump. But it was 
 not ; it was Mrs Null, and she came over the grass 
 toward him, and stopped in front of his door. 
 " How are you feeling now ? " she asked. " Does 
 your foot still hurt you ? " 
 
 " Oh, no," said Lawrence, " I am in no pain. The 
 only thing that troubles me is that I have to stay 
 just here." 
 
 " It might have been better on some accounts," 
 said she, " if you had been taken into the house ; but 
 it would have hurt you dreadfully to go up stairs, 
 unless Uncle Isham carried you on his back, which 
 I don t believe he could do." 
 
 " Of course it s a great deal better out here," said 
 Lawrence. " In fact this is a perfectly charming place 
 to be laid up in, but I want to get about. I want 
 to see people." 
 
248 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " Many people ? " asked she, with a significant 
 little smile. 
 
 Lawrence smiled in return. " You must know, 
 Mrs Null, from what I have told you/ he said, 
 " that there is one person I want to see very much, 
 and that is why I am so annoyed at being kept here 
 in this chair." 
 
 "You must be of an uncommonly impatient turn 
 of mind," she said, " for you haven t been here three 
 hours, altogether, and hundreds of persons sit still 
 that long, just because they want to." 
 
 " I don t want to sit still a minute," said Lawrence. 
 " I very much wish to speak to Miss March. 
 Couldn t you contrive an opportunity for me to do 
 so?" 
 
 u It is possible that I might," she said, " but I 
 won t. Haven t I told you that I don t approve of 
 this affair of yours ? My cousin is in love wkh Miss 
 March, and all I should do for you would be di 
 rectly against him. Aunt so managed things this 
 morning that I was actually obliged to give you an 
 opportunity to be with her, but I had intended 
 going with Roberta to the woods, as she had asked 
 me to do." 
 
 " You are very cruel," said Lawrence. 
 
 " No, I am not," said she, " I am only just." 
 
 " I explained to you yesterday," said he, " that 
 your course of thinking and acting is not just, and is 
 of no possible advantage to anybody. How can it 
 injure your cousin if Miss March refuses me and I 
 go away and never see her again ? And, if she ac- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 249 
 
 cepts me, then you should be glad that I had put an 
 end to your cousin s pursuit of a woman who does 
 not love him." 
 
 " That is nonsense," said she. " I shouldn t be 
 glad at all to see him disappointed. I should feel 
 like a traitor if I helped you. But I did not come 
 to talk about these things. I came to ask you what 
 you would have for dinner." 
 
 " I had an idea," said Lawrence, not regarding 
 this remark, " that you were a young lady of a 
 kindly disposition." 
 
 " And you don t think so, now ? " she said. 
 
 " No," answered Lawrence, " I cannot. I cannot 
 think a woman kind who will refuse to assist a 
 man, situated as I am, to settle the most important 
 question of his life, especially as I have told you, be 
 fore, that it is really to the interest of the one you 
 are acting for, that it should be settled." 
 
 Miss Annie, still standing in front of the door, now 
 regarded Lawrence with a certain degree of thought- 
 fullness on her countenance, which presently changed 
 to a half smile. " If I were perfectly sure," she 
 said, " that she would reject you, I would try to get 
 her here, and have the matter settled, but I don t 
 know her very well yet, and can t feel at all certain 
 as to what she might do. 
 
 " I like your frankness," said Lawrence, " but, as 
 I said before, you are very cruel." 
 
 " Not at all," said she, " I am very kind, only 
 
 " You don t show it," interrupted Lawrence. 
 
 At this Miss Annie laughed. " Kindness isn t of 
 
250 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 much use, if it is shut up, is it ? " she said. " I sup 
 pose you think it is one of those virtues that we 
 ought to act out, as well as feel, if we want any credit. 
 And now, isn t there something I can do for you 
 besides bringing another man s sweetheart to you ? " 
 
 Lawrence smiled. " I don t believe she is his 
 sweetheart," he said, " and I want to find out if I 
 am right." 
 
 " It is my opinion," said Miss Annie, " that you 
 ought to think more about your sprained ankle and 
 your general health, than about having your mind 
 settled by Miss March. I should think that keep 
 ing your blood boiling, in this way, would inflame 
 your joints." 
 
 " The doctor didn t tell me what to think about," 
 said Lawrence. " He only said I must not walk." 
 
 " I haven t heard yet," said Miss Annie, " what 
 you would like to have to eat." 
 
 " I don t wish to give the slightest trouble," an 
 swered Lawrence. " What do you generally give 
 people in such scrapes as this ? Tea and toast ? " 
 
 Annie laughed. " Nonsense," said she. " What 
 you want is the best meal you can get. Aunt 
 said if there was anything you particularly liked 
 she would have it made for you." 
 
 " Do not think of such a thing," said Lawrence. 
 " Give me just what the family has." 
 
 "Would you like Miss March to bring it out to 
 you ? " she asked. 
 
 " The word cruel cannot express your disposition," 
 said Lawrence. " I pity Mr Null." 
 
The Late Mrs NulL 251 
 
 " Poor man," said she ; " but it would be a good 
 thing for you if you could keep your mind as quiet 
 as his is." And with that she went into the house. 
 
 After dinner, Miss March did come out to inquire 
 into Mr. Croft s condition, but she was accompanied 
 by Mrs Keswick. Lawrence invited the ladies to 
 come in and be seated, but Roberta stood on the 
 grass in front of the door, as Miss Annie had done, 
 while Mrs Keswick entered the room, looked into 
 the ice-water pitcher, and examined things generally, 
 to see if Uncle Isham had been guilty of any sins of 
 omission. 
 
 " Do you feel quite at ease now ? " said Miss March. 
 
 " My ankle don t trouble me," said Lawrence, 
 " but I never felt so uncomfortable and dissatisfied 
 in my life." And with these latter words he gave 
 the lady a look which was intended to be, and which 
 probably was, full of meaning to her. 
 
 " Wouldn t you like some books?" said Mrs Kes 
 wick, now appearing from the back of the room. 
 " You haven t anything to read. There are plenty 
 of books in the house, but they are all old." 
 
 " I think those are the most delightful of books," 
 said Miss March. " I have been looking over the 
 volumes on your shelves, Mrs Keswick. I am sure 
 there are a good many of them Mr Croft would like 
 to read, even if he has read them before. There are 
 lots of queer old-time histories and biographies, and 
 sets of bound magazines, some of them over a hun 
 dred years old. Would you like me to select some 
 for you, Mr Croft ? Or shall I write some of the 
 
252 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 titles on a slip of paper, and let you select for your 
 self?" 
 
 " I shall be delighted," said Lawrence, " to have 
 you make a choice for me ; and I think the list 
 would be the better plan, because books would be so 
 heavy to carry about." 
 
 " I will do it immediately," said Miss March, and 
 she walked rapidly to the house. 
 
 " Now then," said Mrs Keswick, " I ll put a chair 
 out here on the grass, close to the door. It s shady 
 there, and I should think it would be pleasant for 
 both of you, if she would sit there and read to you 
 out of those books. She is a fine woman, that Miss 
 March a much finer woman than I thought she 
 could be, before I knew her." 
 
 "She is, indeed," said Lawrence. 
 
 "I suppose you think she is the finest woman in 
 the world ? " said the old lady, with a genial grin. 
 
 " What makes you suppose so ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " Haven t I eyes ? " said Mrs Keswick. " But you 
 needn t make any excuses. You have made an ex 
 cellent choice, and I hope you may succeed in get 
 ting her. Perhaps you have succeeded ? " she added, 
 giving Lawrence an earnest look, with a question in 
 it. 
 
 Lawrence did not immediately reply. It was not 
 in his nature to confide his affairs to other people, 
 and yet he had done so much of it, of late, that he 
 did not see why he should make an exception 
 against Mrs Keswick, who was, indeed, the only per 
 son who seemed inclined to be friendly to his suit. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 253 
 
 He might as well let her know how matters stood. 
 " No," he said, " I have not yet succeeded, and I am 
 very sorry that this accident has interfered with my 
 efforts to do so." 
 
 " Don t let it interfere," said the old lady, her eyes 
 sparkling, while her purple sun-bonnet was suddenly 
 and severely bobbed. " You have just as good a 
 chance now as you ever had, and all you have to do 
 is to make the most of it. When she comes out 
 here to read to you, you can talk to her just as 
 well as if you were in the woods, or on top of a hill. 
 Nobody ll come here to disturb you ; I ll take care 
 of that." 
 
 " You are very kind," said Lawrence, somewhat 
 wondering at her enthusiasm. 
 
 " I intended to go away and leave her here with 
 you," continued Mrs Keswick, " if I could find a good 
 opportunity to do so, but she hit on the best plan 
 herself. And now I ll be off and leave the coast 
 clear. I will come again before dark and put some 
 more of that stuff on your ankle. If you want any 
 thing, ring this bell, and if Isham doesn t hear you, 
 somebody will call him. He has orders to keep about 
 the house." 
 
 " You are putting me under very great obligations 
 to you, madam," said Lawrence. 
 
 But the old lady did not stop to hear any thanks, 
 and hastened to clear the coast. 
 
 Lawrence had to wait a long time for his list of 
 books, but at last it came ; and, much to his surprise 
 and chagrin, Mrs Null brought it. " Miss March 
 
254 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 asked me to give you this/ she said, " so that you 
 can pick out just what books you want." 
 
 Lawrence took the paper, but did not look at it. 
 He was deeply disappointed and hurt. His whole 
 appearance showed it. 
 
 "You don t seem glad to get it," said Miss Annie. 
 
 Lawrence looked at her, his face darkening. " Did 
 you persuade Miss March," he said, " to stay in the 
 house and let you bring this?" 
 
 " Now, Mr Croft," said the young lady, a very de 
 cided flush coming into her face, " that is going too 
 far. You have no right to accuse me of such a thing. 
 I am not going to help in your love affairs, but I 
 don t intend to be mean about it, either. Miss March 
 asked me to bring that list, and at first I wouldn t 
 do it, for I knew, just as well as I know anything, 
 that you expected her to come to you with it, and I 
 was very sure you wanted to see her more than the 
 paper. I refused two or three times, but she said, at 
 last, that if I didn t take it, she d send it by some 
 one in the house ; so I just picked it up and brought 
 it right along. I don t like her as much as I did." 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " You needn t accept a man if you don t want 
 him," said Miss Annie, "but there is no need of 
 being cruel to him, especially when he is laid up. 
 If she didn t intend to come out to you again, she 
 ought not to have made you believe so. You did 
 expect her to come, didn t you ?" 
 
 " Most certainly," said Lawrence, in rather a dole 
 ful tone. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 255 
 
 " Yes, and there is the chair she was to sit in/* 
 said Miss Annie, "while you said seven words about 
 the books and ten thousand about the way your 
 heart was throbbing. I see Aunt Keswick s hand 
 in that, as plain as can be. I don t say I d put her 
 in that chair if I could do it, but I certainly am 
 sorry she disappointed you so. Would you like 
 to have any of those books? If you would, I ll 
 get them for you." 
 
 " I am much obliged, Mrs Null," said Lawrence, 
 " but I don t think I care for any books. And let 
 me say that I am very sorry for the way I spoke 
 to you, just now." 
 
 "Oh, don t mention that, said she. " If I d been 
 in your place, I should ha\e been mad enough to 
 say anything. But it s no use to sit here and be 
 grumpy. You d better let me go and get you a 
 book. The " Critical Magazine" for 1767 and 1768, 
 is on that list, and I know there are lots of queer, 
 interesting things in it, but it takes a good while 
 to hunt them out from the other things for which 
 you would not care at all. And then there are all the 
 " Spectators," and " Ramblers," and " The World 
 Displayed" in eight volumes, which, from what I 
 saw when I looked through it, seems to be a dif 
 ferent kind of world from the one I live in ; and 
 there are others that you will see on your list. But 
 there is one book which I have been reading lately 
 which I think you will find odder and funnier than 
 any of the rest. It is the " Geographical Grammar " 
 by Mr Salmon. Suppose I bring you that. It is a 
 
256 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 description of the whole world, written more than 
 a hundred years ago, by an Irish gentleman who, I 
 think, never went anywhere." 
 
 " Thank you," said Lawrence, " I shall be obliged 
 to you if you will be kind enough to bring me that 
 one." He was glad for her to go away, even for a 
 little time, that he might think. The smart of the 
 disappointment caused by the non-appearance of 
 Miss March was beginning to subside a little. Look 
 ing at it more quietly and reasonably, he could see 
 that, in her position, it would be actually unmaidenly 
 for her to come to him by herself. It was altogether 
 another thing for this other girl, and, therefore, 
 perhaps it was quite proper to send her. But, in 
 spite of whatever reasonableness there might have 
 been in it, he chafed under this propriety. It would 
 have been far better, he thought, if she had come 
 and told him that she could not possibly accept him, 
 and that nothing more must be said about it. But 
 then he did not believe, if she had given him time 
 to say the words he wished to say, that she would 
 have come to such a decision ; and as he called up 
 her lovely face and figure, as it stood framed in the 
 open doorway, with a background of the sunlit 
 arbor and fields, the gorgeous distant foliage, with 
 the blue sky and its white clouds and circling 
 birds, he thought of the rapture and ecstacy which 
 would have come to him, if she had listened to his 
 words, and had given him but a smile of encourage 
 ment. 
 
 But here came Mrs Null, with a fat brown book 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 257 
 
 in her hand. " One of the funniest things," she 
 said, as she came to the door, " is Mr Salmon s 
 chapter on paradoxes. He thinks it would be 
 quite improper to issue a book of this kind without 
 alluding to geographical paradoxes. Listen to this 
 one." And then she read to him the elucidation of 
 the apparent paradox that there is a certain place 
 in this world where the wind always blows from 
 the south ; and another explaining the statement 
 that in certain cannibal islands the people eat them 
 selves. " There is something he says about Vir 
 ginia," said she, turning over the pages, "which I 
 want you to be sure to read." 
 
 " Won t you sit down," said Lawrence, " and read 
 to me some of those extracts? You know just 
 where to find them." 
 
 " That chair wasn t put there for me," said Miss 
 Annie, with a smile. 
 
 " Nonsense," said Lawrence. " Won t you please 
 sit down ? I ought to have asked you before. Per 
 haps it is too cool for you, out there." 
 
 " Oh, not at all," said she. " The air is still quite 
 warm." And she took her seat on the chair which 
 was placed close to the door-step, and she read to 
 him some of the surprising and interesting facts 
 which Mr Salmon had heard, in a Dublin coffee 
 house, about Virginia and the other colonies, and also 
 some of those relating to the kindly way in which 
 slave-holders in South America, when they killed 
 a slave to feed their hounds, would send a quarter 
 to a neighbor, expecting some day to receive a 
 17 
 
258 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 similar favor in return. When they had laughed 
 over these, she read some very odd and surprising 
 statements about Southern Europe, and the people 
 of far-away lands ; and so she went on, from one 
 thing to another, talking a good deal about what 
 she had read, and always on the point of stopping 
 and giving the book to Lawrence, until the short 
 autumnal afternoon began to draw to its close, 
 and he told her that it was growing too chilly 
 for her to sit out on the grass any longer. 
 
 " Very well," said she, closing the book, and hand 
 ing it to him, " you can read the rest of it yourself, 
 and if you want any other books on the list, just let 
 me know by Uncle Isham, and I will send them to 
 you. He is coming now to see after you. I won 
 der," she said, stopping for a moment as she turned 
 to leave, " if Miss March had been sitting in that 
 chair, if you w r ould have had the heart to tell her to 
 go away; or if you would have let her sit still, and 
 take cold." 
 
 Lawrence smiled, but very slightly. " That sub 
 ject," said he, " is one on which I don t joke." 
 
 "Goodness!" exclaimed Miss Annie, clasping her 
 hands and gazing with an air of comical commis 
 eration at Mr Croft s serious face. " I should think 
 not ! " and away she went. 
 
 Just before supper time, when Lawrence s door 
 had been closed, and his lamp lighted, there came a 
 knock, and Mrs Keswick appeared. " That plan of 
 mine didn t \vork," she said, " but I will bring Miss 
 March out here, and manage it so that she ll have to 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 259 
 
 stay till I come back. I have an idea about that. 
 All that you have to do is to be ready when you get 
 your chance." 
 
 Lawrence thanked her, and assured her he would 
 be very glad to have a chance, although he hoped, 
 without much ground for it, that Roberta would not 
 see through the old lady s schemes. 
 
 Mrs Keswick lotioned and rebandaged the 
 sprained ankle, and then she said. " I think it would 
 be pleasant if we were all to come out here after 
 supper, and have a game of whist. I used to play 
 whist, and shouldn t mind taking a hand. You could 
 have the table drawn up to your chair, and, let 
 me see yes, there are three more chairs. It won t 
 be like having her alone with you," she said, with the 
 cordial grin in which she sometimes indulged, " but 
 you will have her opposite to you for an hour, and 
 that will be something." 
 
 Lawrence approved heartily of the whist party, 
 and assured Mrs Keswick that she was his guardian 
 angel. 
 
 " Not much of that," she said, " but I have been 
 told often enough that I m a regular old match 
 maker, and I expect I am." 
 
 "If you make this match," said Lawrence, "you 
 will have my eternal gratitude." 
 
 The supper sent out to Lawrence w r as a very 
 good one, and the anticipation of what was to fol 
 low made him enjoy it still more, for his passion 
 had now reached such a point that even to look at 
 his love, although he could only speak to her of 
 
260 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 trumps and of tricks, would be a refreshing solace 
 which would go down deep into his thirsty soul. 
 
 But bedtime and old Isham came, and the whist 
 players came not. It needed no one to tell Law 
 rence whose disinclination it was that had pre 
 vented their coming. 
 
 " I reckon," said Uncle Isham, as he looked in at 
 Letty s cabin on his way to his own, " dat dat ar 
 Mister Crof aint much use to gittin hisse f hurt. 
 All de time I was helpin him to go to bed he was 
 a growlin* like de bery debbil." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ALTHOUGH October in Southern Virginia can 
 generally be counted upon as a very charming 
 month, it must not be expected that her face will 
 wear one continuous smile. On the day after Law 
 rence Croft s misadventure the sky was gray with 
 low-hanging clouds, there was a disagreeable wind 
 from the north-east, and the air was filled with the 
 slight drizzle of rain. The morning was so cool that 
 Lawrence was obliged to keep his door shut, and 
 Uncle Isham had made him a small wood fire on 
 the hearth. As he sat before this fire, after break 
 fast, his foot still upon a stool, and vigorously 
 puffed at a cigar, he said to himself that it mat 
 tered very little to him whether the sun shone, or 
 all the rains of heaven descended, so long as Roberta 
 March would not come out to him ; and that she 
 did not intend to come, rain or shine, was just as 
 plain as the marks on the sides of the fireplace, 
 probably made by the heels of Mr Junius Keswick 
 during many a long, reflective smoke. 
 
 On second thoughts, however, Lawrence concluded 
 that a rainy day was worse for his prospects than a 
 bright one. If the sun shone, and everything was 
 fair. Miss March might come across the grassy yard 
 and might possibly stop before his open door to bid 
 
262 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 him good morning, and to tell him that she was 
 sorry that a headache had prevented her from coming 
 to play whist the evening before. But this last, he 
 presently admitted, was rather too much to expect, 
 for he did not think shj was subject to headaches, 
 or to making excuses. At any rate he might have 
 caught sight of her, and if he had, he certainly would 
 have called to her, and would have had his say 
 with her, even had she persisted in standing six 
 feet from the door-step. But now this dreary day 
 had shut his door and put an interdict upon strolls 
 across the grass. Therefore it was that he must 
 resign any opportunity, for that day, at least, of 
 soothing the harrowing perturbations of his passion 
 by either the comforting warmth of hope, or by 
 the deadening frigidity of a consummated despair. 
 This last, in truth, he did not expect, but still, if it 
 came, it would be better than perturbations ; they 
 must be soothed at any cost. But how to incur this 
 cost was a difficult question altogether. So, puffing, 
 gazing into the fire, and knitting his brows, he sat 
 and thought. 
 
 As a good-looking young man, as a well-dressed 
 young man, as an educated and cultured man, as a 
 man of the clubs, and of society, and, when occasion 
 required, as a very sensible man of business, Mr Croft 
 might be looked upon as essentially a commonplace 
 personage, and in our walks abroad we meet a great 
 many like him. But there dwelt within him a cer 
 tain disposition, which, at times, removed him to 
 quite a distance from the arena in which common- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 263 
 
 place people go through their prescribed perform 
 ances. He would come to a determination, gener 
 ally quite suddenly, to attain a desired end in his 
 own way, without any reference to traditionary or 
 conventional methods ; and the more original and 
 startling these plans the better he liked it. 
 
 This disposition it was which made Lawrence read 
 with so much interest the account of the defeated 
 general who made the cavalry charge into the camp 
 of his victorious enemy. Defeat had been his, all 
 through his short campaign, and it now seemed that 
 the time had come to make another bold effort to 
 get the better of his bad luck. As he could not woo 
 Miss March himself, he must get some one else to 
 do it for him, or, if not actually to woo the lady, to 
 get her at least into such a frame of mind that she 
 would allow him to woo her, even in spite of his 
 present disadvantages. This would be a very bold 
 stroke, but Lawrence put a good deal of faith in it. 
 
 If Miss March were properly talked to by one of 
 her own sex, she might see; as perhaps she did not 
 now see, how cruel was her line of conduct toward 
 him, and might be persuaded to relent, at least 
 enough to allow his voice to reach her ; and that was 
 all he asked for. He had not the slightest doubt 
 that the widow Keswick would gladly consent to 
 carry any message he chose to send to Miss March, 
 and, more than that, to throw all the force of her 
 peculiar style of persuasion into the support of his 
 cause. But this, he knew very well, would finish 
 the affair, and not at all in the way he desired. The 
 
264 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 person he wanted to act as his envoy was Mrs Null. 
 To be sure, she had refused to act for him, but he 
 thought he could persuade her. She was quiet, she 
 was sensible, and could talk very gently and confid 
 ingly when she chose ; she would say just what he 
 told her to say, and if a contingency demanded that 
 she should add anything, she would probably do it 
 very prudently. But then it would be almost as dif 
 ficult to communicate with her as with Miss March. 
 
 While he was thus thinking, in came the old lady, 
 very cross. " You didn t get any rubber of whist 
 last night, did you ? " said she, without salutatory 
 preface. " But I can tell you it wasn t my fault. I 
 did all that I could, and more than I ought, to 
 make her come, but she just put her foot down and 
 wouldn t stir an inch, and at last I got mad and went 
 to bed. I don t know whether she saw it or not, but 
 I was as mad as hops ; and I am that way yet. I 
 had a plan that would have given you a chance to 
 talk to her, but that ain t any good, now that it is 
 raining. Let me look at your ankle ; I hope that 
 is getting along all right, any way." 
 
 While the old lady was engaged in ministering to 
 his needs, he told her of his plan. He said he 
 wished to send a message to Miss March by some 
 one, and if he could get the message properly deliv 
 ered, it would help him very much. 
 
 "I ll take it," said she, looking up suddenly from 
 the piece of soft, old linen she was folding; " I ll go 
 to her this very minute, and tell her just what you 
 want me to." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 265 
 
 " Mrs Keswick," said Lawrence, " you are as kind 
 as you can possibly be, but I do not think it would 
 be right for you to go on an errand like this. Miss 
 March might not receive you well, and that would 
 annoy me very much. And, besides, to speak frankly, 
 you have taken up my cause so warmly, and have 
 been such a good friend to me, that I am afraid your 
 earnest desire to assist me . might perhaps carry you 
 a little too far. Please do not misunderstand me. 
 I don t mean that you would say anything impru 
 dent, but as you are kind enough to say that you 
 really desire this match, it will be very natural for 
 you to show your interest in it to a degree that would 
 arouse Miss March s opposition." 
 
 " Yes, I see," said the old lady, reflectively, " she d 
 suspect what was at the bottom of my interest. 
 She s a sharp one. I ve found that out. I reckon 
 it will be better for me not to meddle with her. I 
 came very near quarreling with her last night, and 
 that wouldn t do at all." 
 
 " You see, madam," said Lawrence, well satisfied 
 that he had succeeded in warding off the old lady s 
 offer without offending her, " that I do not want any 
 one to go to Miss March and make a proposal for me. 
 I could do that in a letter. But I very much object 
 to a letter. In fact it wouldn t do at all. All I wish 
 is, that some one, by the exercise of a little female 
 diplomacy, should induce her to let me speak to her. 
 Now, I think that Mrs Null might do this, very 
 well." 
 
 " That is so," said the old lady, who, having now 
 
266 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 finished her bandaging, was seated on a chair by the 
 fireplace. " My niece is smart and quick, and could 
 do this thing for you just as well as not. But she 
 has her quips and her cranks, like the rest of us. I 
 called her out of the room last night to know why 
 she didn t back me up better about the whist 
 party, and she said she couldn t see why a gentle 
 man, who hadn t been confined to the house for quite 
 a whole day, should be so desperately lonely that 
 people must go to his room to play whist with 
 him. It seemed to me exactly as if she thought 
 that Mr Null wouldn t like it. Mr Null indeed ! 
 As if his wishes and desires were to be considered 
 in my house ! I never mention that man now, and 
 Annie does not speak of him either. What I want 
 is that he shall stay away just as long as he will ; and 
 if he will only stay away long enough to make his 
 absence what the law calls desertion, I ll have those 
 two divorced before they know it. Can you tell me, 
 sir, how long a man must stay away from his wife 
 before he can be legally charged with desertion ?" 
 
 "No, madam, I can not," said Lawrence. "The 
 laws, I believe, differ in the various States." 
 
 "Well, I m going to make it my business to find 
 out all about it," said Mrs Keswick. "Mr Brandon 
 has promised to attend to this matter for me, and 
 I must write to him, to know what he has been 
 doing. Well, Mrs Null and Miss March seem to be 
 very good friends, and I dare say my niece could 
 manage things so as to give you the chance you 
 want. I ll go to the house now, and send her over 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 267 
 
 to you, so that you can tell her what you want her 
 to say or do." 
 
 " Do you think she will come, madam ? " asked 
 Lawrence. 
 
 The old lady rose to her feet, and knitted her 
 brows until something like a perpendicular mouth 
 appeared on her forehead. " No," said she, " now I 
 come to think of it I don t believe she will. In fact I 
 know she won t. Bother take it all, sir ! What 
 these young women want is a good whipping. Noth 
 ing else will ever bring them to their senses. 
 What possible difference could it make to Mr Null 
 whether she came to you and took a message for 
 you, or whether she didn t come ; especially in a 
 case like this, when you can t walk, or go to any 
 body ?" 
 
 " I don t think it ought to make any difference 
 whatever," said Lawrence. " In fact I don t believe 
 it would." 
 
 " It s no use talking about it, Mr. Croft," said the 
 old lady, moving toward the door. " I can go to 
 my niece and talk to her, but the first thing I d know 
 I d blaze out at her, and then, as like as not, she d 
 blaze back again, and then the next thing would be 
 that she d pack up her things and go off to hunt up 
 her fertilizer agent. And that mustn t be. I don t 
 want to get myself in any snarls, just now. There 
 is nothing for you to do, Mr Croft, but to wait till 
 it clears off, so that dainty young woman can come 
 out of doors, and then I think I can manage it so 
 that you can get a chance to speak to her." 
 
268 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you," said Lawrence. 
 "I suppose I must wait." 
 
 "I ll see that Isham brings you a lot of dry hick 
 ory, so that you can have a cheerful fire, even if you 
 can t have cheerful company," said Mrs Keswick, as 
 she closed the door after her. 
 
 Lawrence looked thiough the window at the sky, 
 which gave no promise of clearing. And then he 
 gazed into the fire, and considered his case. He had 
 spent a large portion of his life in considering his 
 case, and, therefore, the operation was a familiar one 
 to him. This time the case was not a satisfactory 
 one. Everything in this love affair with Miss March 
 had gone on in a manner in which he had not in 
 tended, and of which he greatly disapproved. No 
 one in the world could have planned the affair more 
 prudently than he had planned it. He had been 
 so careful not to do anything rash, that he had, 
 at first, concealed, even from the lady herself, the 
 fact that he was in love with her, and nothing 
 could be farther from his thoughts and desires than 
 that any one else should know of it. And yet, how 
 had it all turned out ? He had taken into his con 
 fidence Mr Junius Keswick, Mr Brandon, old Mrs 
 Keswick, Mrs Null, as she wished to be called, and 
 almost lastly, the lady herself. " If I should lay 
 bare my heart to the colored man, Isham," he said 
 to himself, "and the old centenarian in the cabin 
 down there, I believe there would be no one else to 
 tell. Oh, yes, there is Candy, and the anti-detective. 
 By rights, they ought to know." He did not include 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 269 
 
 the good little Peggy in this category, because he 
 was not aware that there was such a person. 
 
 After about an hour of these doleful cogitations, 
 he again turned to look out of his front window, 
 which commanded a view of the larger house, when 
 he saw, coming down the steps of the porch, a not 
 very tall figure, wrapped in a waterproof cloak, with 
 the hood drawn over its head. He did not see the 
 face of the figure, but he thought from the light 
 way in which it moved that it was Mrs Null ; and 
 when it stepped upon the grass and turned its head, 
 he saw that he was right. 
 
 " Can her aunt have induced her to come to me?" 
 was Lawrence s first thought. But his second was 
 very different, for she began to walk toward the 
 large gate which led out of the yard. Instantly 
 Lawrence rose, and hopped on one foot to the win 
 dow, where he tapped loudly on the glass. The 
 lady turned, and then he threw up the sash. 
 
 " Won t you step here, please ?" he called out. 
 
 Without answering, she immediately came over 
 the wet grass to the window. 
 
 " I have something to say to you," he said, " and 
 I don t want to keep you standing in the rain. 
 Won t you come inside for a few minutes?" 
 
 " No, thank you," said she. " I don t mind a 
 slight rain like this. I have lived so long in the city 
 that I can t imagine how country people can bear to 
 shut themselves in, when it happens to be a little 
 wet. I can t stand it, and I am going out for a 
 walk." 
 
270 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " It is a very sensible thing to do," said Lawrence, 
 * and I wish I could go with you and have a good 
 long talk." 
 
 " What about ? " said she. 
 
 " About Miss March." 
 
 " Well, I am rather tired of that subject," she said, 
 " and so I reckon it is just as well that you should 
 stay here by your fire I see you have one there 
 and that I should take my walk by myself." 
 
 " Mrs Null," said Lawrence, " I want to implore 
 you to do a favor for me. I don t see how it can be 
 disagreeable to you, and I am sure it will confer the 
 greatest possible obligation upon me." 
 
 <4 What is it ? " she asked. 
 
 " I want you to go to Miss March, and endeavor, 
 in some way you will know how, better than I can 
 tell you to induce her to let me have a few words 
 with her. If it is only here at this open window it 
 will do." 
 
 Mrs Null laughed. " Imagine," she said, "a 
 woman putting on a waterproof and overshoes, and 
 coming out in the rain, to stand with an umbrella 
 over her head, to be proposed to ! That would be 
 the funniest proceeding I ever heard of !" 
 
 Lawrence could not help smiling, though he was 
 not in the mood for it. " It may seem amusing to 
 you," he said, " but I am very much in earnest. I 
 am in constant fear that she will go away while I 
 am confined to this house. Do you know how long 
 she intends to stay r* " 
 
 " She has not told me," was the answer. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 271 
 
 " If you will carry it," he said, " I will give you a 
 message for her." 
 
 " Why don t you write it ? " said Miss Annie. 
 
 "I don t want to write anything," he said. "I 
 should not know how it had been received, nor 
 would it be likely to get me any satisfaction. I want 
 a live, sympathetic medium, such as you are. Won t 
 you do this favor for me ?" 
 
 " No, I won t," said Miss Annie, her very decided 
 tone appearing to give a shade of paleness to her 
 features. " How often must I tell you that I will 
 not help you in this thing ? " 
 
 " I would not ask you," said Lawrence, "if I could 
 help myself." 
 
 It is not right that you should ask me any 
 more," she said. " I am not in favor of your coming 
 here to court Miss March, while my cousin is away, 
 and I should feel like a traitor if I helped you at all, 
 especially if I were to carry messages to her. Of 
 course, I am very sorry for you, shut up here, and I 
 will do anything I can to make you more comfortable 
 and contented ; but what you ask is too hard for 
 me." And, as she said this, a little air of trouble 
 came into the large eyes with which she was stead 
 fastly regarding him. " I don t want to seem unkind 
 to you, and I wish you would ask me something 
 that I can do for you. I ll walk down to Hewlett s 
 and get you anything you may like to have. I ll 
 bring you a lot of novels which I found in the house, 
 and which I expect, anyway, you will like better than 
 those old-time books. And I ll cook you anything 
 
272 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 that is in the cook-book. But I really cannot go 
 wooing for you, and if you ask me to do that, every 
 time I come near you, I really must " 
 
 " My dear Mrs Null," interrupted Lawrence, " I 
 promise not to say any more to you on this subject. 
 I see it is distasteful to you, and I beg your pardon 
 for having mentioned it so often. You have been 
 very kind to me, indeed, and I should be exceed 
 ingly sorry to do anything to offend you. It would 
 be very bad for me to lose one of my friends, now 
 that I am shut up in this box, and feel so very de 
 pendent." 
 
 " Oh, indeed," said Miss Annie. " But I suppose 
 if you were able to step around, as you used to do, 
 it wouldn t matter whether you offended me or 
 not." 
 
 " Mrs Null," said Lawrence, " you know I did not 
 mean anything like that. Do you intend to be 
 angry with me, no matter what I say?" 
 
 " Not a bit of it," she answered, with a little smile 
 that brought back to her face that warm brightness 
 which had grown upon it since she had come down 
 here. " I haven t the least wish in the world to be 
 angry with you, and I promise you I won t be, pro 
 vided you ll stop everlastingly asking me to go about 
 helping you to make love to people." 
 
 Lawrence laughed. " Very good," said he. " I 
 have promised to ask nothing more of that sort. 
 Let us shake hands on it." 
 
 He stretched his hand from the window, and Miss 
 Annie withdrew from the folds of her waterproof a 
 
The Late Mrs Nidi. 273 
 
 very soft and white little hand, and put it into his. 
 " And now I must be off," she said. " Are you cer 
 tain you don t want anything from the store at 
 Hewlett s?" 
 
 " Surely, you are not going as far as that," he said. 
 
 " Not if you don t want anything," she answered. 
 " Have you tobacco enough to last through your 
 imprisonment ? They keep it." 
 
 " Now, miss," said Lawrence ; " do you want to 
 make me angry by supposing I would smoke any 
 tobacco that they sell in that country store?" 
 
 " It ought to be better than any other," said Miss 
 Annie. " They grow it in the fields all about here, 
 and the storekeepers can get it perfectly fresh and 
 pure, and a great deal better for you, no doubt, than 
 the stuff they manufacture in the cities." 
 
 "When you learn to smoke," said Lawrence, 
 " your opinion concerning tobacco will be more 
 valuable." 
 
 " Thank you," she said, "and I will wait till then 
 before I give you any more of it. Good morning." 
 And away she went. 
 
 Lawrence shut down the window, and hopped 
 back to the fire. " There is my last chance gone," 
 said he to himself. " I suppose I may as well take 
 old Mrs Keswick s advice, and wait for fair weather. 
 But, even then, who can say what sort of sky Roberta 
 March will show?" And, not being able to answer 
 this question, he put two fresh sticks on the fire, and 
 then sedately sat and watched their gradual annihila 
 tion. 
 
 18 
 
274 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 As for Miss Annie, she took her walk, and stepped 
 along the road as lightly and blithely as if the skies 
 had been blue, and the sun shining ; and almost 
 before she knew it, she had reached the store at 
 Hewlett s. Ascending the high steps to the porch, 
 quite deserted on this damp, unpleasant morning, 
 she entered the store, the proprietor of which imme 
 diately jumped up from the mackerel kit at the 
 extreme end of the room, where he had been sitting 
 in converse with some of his neighbors, and hurried 
 behind the counter. 
 
 " Have you any tea," said Miss Annie, " better 
 than the kind which you usually sell to Mrs Kes- 
 wick?" 
 
 " No, ma am," said he. " We send her the very 
 best tea we have." 
 
 "I am not rinding fault with it," she said, "but 
 I thought you might have some extra kind, more 
 expensive than people usually buy for common 
 use." 
 
 " No, ma am," said he, " there is fancy teas of that 
 kind, but you d have to send to Philadelphia or New 
 York for them." 
 
 " How long would that take?" she asked. 
 
 " I reckon it would be four or five days before 
 you d get it, ma am," said the storekeeper. 
 
 " I am afraid," said Miss Annie, looking reflectively 
 along the counter, " that that would be too long." 
 And then she turned to go, but suddenly stopped. 
 " Have you any guava jelly?" she asked. 
 
 The man smiled. " We don t have no call for any- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 275 
 
 thing as fancy as that, ma am," he said. " Is there 
 anything else ?" 
 
 " Not to-day," answered Miss Annie, after throw 
 ing a despairing glance upon the rolls of calicoes, 
 the coils of clothes-lines, the battered tin boxes of 
 tea and sugar, the dusty and chimneyless kerosene 
 lamps, and the long rows of canned goods with their 
 gaudy labels ; and then she departed. 
 
 When she had gone, the storekeeper returned to 
 his seat on the mackerel kit, and was accosted by a 
 pensive neighbor in high boots who sat upon the up 
 turned end of a case of brogans. " You didn t make 
 no sale that time, Peckett," said he. 
 
 " No," said the storekeeper, " her idees is a little 
 too fancy for our stock of goods." 
 
 "Whar s her husband, anyway?" asked a stout, 
 elderly man in linen trousers and faded alpaca coat, 
 who was seated on two boxes of pearl starch, one on 
 top of the other. " I ve heard that he was a mem 
 ber of the legislator . Is that so ? " 
 
 " He s not that, you can take my word for it," 
 said Tom Peckett. "Old Miss Keswick give me to 
 understand that he was in the fertilizing business." 
 
 " That ought to be a good thing for the old lady/* 
 said the man on the starch boxes. " She ll git a dis 
 count off her gwarner." 
 
 " I never did see," said the pensive neighbor on 
 the brogan case, " how such things do git twisted. 
 It was only yesterday that I met a man at Tyson s 
 Mill, who d just come over from the Valley, and he 
 said he d seen this Mr Noles over thar. He s a 
 
276 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 hoss doctor, and he s going up through all the farms 
 along thar." 
 
 " I reckon when he gits up as fur as he wants to 
 go," said the man on the starch boxes, " he ll come 
 here and settle fur awhile." 
 
 "That won t be so much help to the old lady," 
 said the storekeeper, " for it wouldn t pay to keep 
 a neffy-in-law just to doctor one sorrel horse and a 
 pa r o oxen." 
 
 " I reckon his wife must be spectin him," said 
 the man on the brogan case, " from her comin after 
 fancy vittles." 
 
 " If he do come," said the stout, elderly neighbor, 
 " I wish you d let me know, Tom Peckett, fur my 
 black mar has got a hitch in her shoulder I can t 
 understand, and I d like him to look at her." 
 
 The storekeeper smiled at the pensive man, and 
 the pensive man smiled back at the storekeeper. 
 "You needn t trouble yourself about that young 
 woman s husband," said Mr Peckett. " There ll be 
 a horse doctor coming along afore you know it, 
 and he ll attend to that old mar of yourn without 
 chargin you a cent." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE second afternoon of Lawrence Croft s con 
 finement in the little building in Mrs Keswick s yard, 
 passed drearily enough. The sky retained its sombre 
 covering of clouds, and the rain came down in a 
 melancholy, capricious way, as if it were tears shed 
 by a child who was crying because it was bad. The 
 monotony of the slowly moving hdurs was broken 
 only by a very brief visit from the old lady, who was 
 going somewhere in the covered spring wagon, and 
 who looked in, before she started, to see if her pa 
 tient wanted anything ; and by the arrival of a 
 bundle of old novels sent by Mrs Null. These 
 books Lawrence looked over with indifferent in 
 terest, hoping to find one among them that was 
 not a love story, but he was disappointed. They 
 were all based upon, and most of them permeated 
 with, the tender passion, and Lawrence was not in 
 the mood for reading about that sort of thing. A 
 person afflicted with a disease is not apt to find 
 agreeable occupation in reading hospital reports 
 upon his particular ailment. 
 
 The novels were put aside, and although Lawrence 
 felt that he had smoked almost too much during 
 that day, he was about to light another cigar, when 
 he heard a carriage drive into the yard. Turning to 
 
278 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the window he saw a barouche, evidently a hired 
 one, drawn by a pair of horses, very lean and bony, 
 but with their heads reined up so high that they 
 had an appearance of considerable spirit, and driven 
 by a colored man, sitting upon a very elevated seat, 
 with a jaunty air and a well-worn whip. The car 
 riage drove over the grass to the front of the house 
 there was no roadway in the yard, the short, crisp, 
 tough grass having long resisted the occasional action 
 of wheels and hoofs and there stopping, a gentle 
 man, with a valise, got out. He paid the driver, who 
 immediately turned the vehicle about, and drove 
 away. The gentleman put his foot upon the bottom 
 step as if he were about to ascend, and then, appar 
 ently changing his mind, he picked up his valise, and 
 came directly toward the office, drawing a key from 
 his pocket as he walked. It was Junius Keswick, 
 and in a few minutes his key was heard in the lock. 
 As it was not locked the key merely rattled, and 
 Lawrence called out : " Come in." 
 
 The door opened, and Junius looked in, evidently 
 surprised. " I beg your pardon," said he, " I didn t 
 know you were in here." 
 
 " Please walk in," said Lawrence. " I know I am 
 occupying your room, and it is I who should ask 
 your pardon. But you see the reason why it was 
 thought well that I should not have stairs to ascend." 
 And he pointed to his bandaged foot. 
 
 " Have you hurt yourself ? " asked Junius, with 
 an air of concern. 
 
 And then Lawrence gave an account of his acci- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 279 
 
 dent, expressing at the same time his regret that he 
 found himself occupying the room which belonged 
 to the other. 
 
 "Oh, don t mention that," said Junius, who had 
 taken a seat near the window. " There are rooms 
 enough in the house, and I shall be perfectly com 
 fortable. It was quite right in my aunt to have you 
 brought in here, and I should have insisted upon it, 
 myself, if I had been at home. I expected to be 
 away for a week or more, but I have now come back 
 on account of your letter." 
 
 " Does that need explanation ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " Not at all," said Junius. " I had no difficulty in 
 understanding it, although I must say that it sur 
 prised me. But I came because I am not satisfied 
 with the condition of things here, and I wish to be 
 on the spot. I do not understand why you and Miss 
 March should be invited here during my absence." 
 
 " That I do not understand either," said Lawrence, 
 quickly, " and I wish to impress it on your mind, Mr 
 Keswick, that when I came here, I not only ex 
 pected to find you, but a party of invited guests. I 
 will say, however, that I came with the express in 
 tention of meeting Miss March, and having that in 
 terview with her which I could not have in her 
 uncle s house." 
 
 " I was not entirely correct," said Junius, "when 
 I said that I did not know why these rather peculiar 
 arrangements had been made. My aunt is a very 
 managing person, and I think I perceive her purpose 
 in this piece of management." 
 
28o 7^ he Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " She is opposed to a marriage between you and 
 Miss March?" 
 
 " Most decidedly," said Junius. " Has she told 
 you so? " 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " but it has gradually 
 dawned upon me that such is the case. I believe 
 she would be glad to have Miss March married, and 
 out of your way." 
 
 Junius made no answer to this remark, but sat 
 silent for a few moments. Then he said : " Well, 
 have you settled it with Miss March?" 
 
 " No, I have not/ said Lawrence. " If the mat 
 ter had been decided, one way or the other, I should 
 not be here. I have no right to trespass on your 
 aunt s hospitality, and I should have departed as 
 soon as I had discovered Miss March s sentiments 
 in regard to me. But I have not been able to settle 
 the matter, at all. I had one opportunity of see 
 ing the lady, and that was not a satisfactory inter 
 view. Yesterday morning, I made another attempt, 
 but before I could get to her I sprained my ankle. 
 And here I am ; I can not go to her, and, of course, 
 she will not come to me. You cannot imagine how 
 I chafe under this harassing restraint." 
 
 " I can imagine it very easily," said Junius. 
 
 " The only thing I have to hope for," said Law 
 rence, " is that to-morrow may be a fine day, and that 
 the lady may come outside and give me the chance 
 of speaking to her at this open door." 
 
 Junius smiled grimly. " It appears to me," he 
 said, " as if it were likely to rain for several days. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 281 
 
 But now I must go into the house and see the 
 family. I hope you believe me, sir, when I say I am 
 sorry to find you in your present predicament." 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence, smiling, although he did 
 not feel at all gay, " for, otherwise, I might have been 
 finally rejected and far away." 
 
 "If you had been rejected," said Junius, " I 
 should have been very glad, indeed, to have you stay 
 with us." 
 
 " Thank you," said Lawrence. 
 
 " I will look in upon you again," said Junius, as 
 he left the room. 
 
 Lawrence s mind, which had been in a very un 
 pleasant state of troubled restiveness for some days, 
 was now thrown into a sad turmoil by this arrival of 
 Junius Keswick. As he saw that tall and good- 
 looking young man going up the steps of the house 
 porch, with his valise in his hand, he clinched both 
 his fists as they rested on the arm of his chair, and 
 objurgated the anti-detective. 
 
 " If it had not been for that rascal," he said to him 
 self, " I should not have written to Keswick, and he 
 would not have thought of coming back at this 
 untimely moment. The only advantage I had was a 
 clear coast, and now that is gone. Of course Keswick 
 was frightened when he found I was staying in the 
 same house with Roberta March, and hurried back 
 to attend to his own interests. The first thing he 
 will do now will be to propose to her himself; and, 
 as they have been engaged once, it is as like as not 
 she will take him again. If I could use this foot, I 
 
282 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 would go into the house, this minute, and have the 
 first word with her." At this he rose to his feet 
 and made a step with his sprained ankle, but the 
 sudden pain occasioned by this action caused him to 
 sit down again with a groan. Lawrence Croft was 
 not a man to do himself a physical injury which 
 might be permanent, if such doing could possibly be 
 avoided, and he gave up the idea of trying to go 
 into the house. 
 
 " I tell you what it is, Letty," said Uncle Isham, 
 when he returned to the kitchen after having carried 
 Lawrence s supper to him, " dat ar Mister Croft in 
 de offis is a gittin wuss an* wuss in he min , ebery 
 day. I neber seed a man more pow ful glowerin 
 dan he is dis ebenin." 
 
 " I reckin he j ints is healin up," said Letty. 
 " Dey tells me dat de healin pains mos gen rally 
 runs into de minV 
 
 About nine o clock in the evening Junius Keswick 
 paid Lawrence a visit ; and, taking a seat by one 
 side of the fireplace, accepted the offer of a cigar. 
 
 " How are things going on in the house?" asked 
 Lawrence. 
 
 " Well," said Keswick, speaking slowly, " as you 
 know so much of our family affairs, I might as well 
 tell you that they are in a somewhat upset condi 
 tion. When I went in, I saw, at first, no one but my 
 cousin, and she seemed so extraordinarily glad to see 
 me that I thought something must be wrong, some 
 where; and when my aunt returned she was not at 
 home when I arrived she was thrown into such a 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 283 
 
 state of mind on seeing me, that I didn t know 
 whether she was going to order me out of the house 
 or go herself. But she restrained herself, wonder 
 fully, considering her provocation, for, of course, I 
 have entirely disordered her plans by appearing 
 here, when she had arranged everything for you to 
 have Miss March to yourself. But, so far, the peace 
 has been kept between us, although she scarcely 
 speaks to me." 
 
 " And Miss March ? " said Lawrence. " You have 
 seen her? " 
 
 " Yes," said Junius, " I saw her at supper, and for 
 a short time afterwards, but she soon retired to her 
 room." 
 
 a Do you think she was disturbed by your re 
 turn?" asked Lawrence. 
 
 "I won t say that," said Junius, " but she was 
 certainly not herself. Mrs Null tells me that she ex 
 pects to go home to-morrow morning, having written 
 to her uncle to send for her." 
 
 " That is bad, bad, very bad," said Lawrence. 
 
 After that there was a pause in the conversation, 
 during which Mr Croft, with brows very much knit, 
 gazed steadfastly into the fire. " Mr Keswick," he 
 said presently, " what you tell me fills me with con 
 sternation. It is quite plain that I shall have no 
 chance to see Miss March, and, as there is no one 
 else in the world who will do it for me, I am going 
 to ask you to go to her, to-morrow morning, and 
 speak to her in my behalf." 
 
 When this had been said, Junius Keswick dropped 
 
284 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 his cigar upon the floor, and sat up very straight in 
 his chair, gazing fixedly at Lawrence. " Upon my 
 word ! " he said, " I knew you were a cool man, but 
 that request freezes my imagination. I cannot 
 conceive how any man can ask another to try to 
 win for him a lady whom he knows the other man 
 desires to win for himself. You have made some 
 requests before that were rather astounding, but 
 this one overshadows them all." 
 
 u I admit," said Lawrence, " that what I ask is 
 somewhat out of the way, but you must consider 
 the circumstances. Suppose I had met you in mor 
 tal combat, and I had dropped my sword where you 
 could reach it and I could not ; would you pick it 
 up and give it to me ? or would you run me 
 through?" 
 
 " I don t think that comparison is altogether a 
 good one," said Junius. 
 
 " Yes, it is," said Lawrence, "and covers the case 
 entirely. I am here, disabled, and if you pick up 
 my sword, as I have just asked you to do, it is not 
 to be assumed that your action gives me the victory. 
 It merely gives me an equal chance with yourself." 
 
 " Do you mean," said Junius, " that you want me 
 to go to Miss March, and deliberately ask her if she 
 will marry you ? " 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " I have done that myself. 
 But there are certain points in regard to which 
 I want to be set right with Miss March. And now 
 I wish you to understand me, Mr Keswick. I 
 speak to you, not only as a generous and honorable 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 285 
 
 man, which I have found you to be, but as a rival. 
 I cannot believe that you would be willing to profit 
 by my present disadvantages, and, as I have said 
 two or three times before, it would certainly be for 
 your interest, as a suitor for the lady, to have this 
 matter settled." 
 
 " Wouldn t it be better, then," said Junius, " if I 
 were to go immediately, and speak to her for my 
 self?" 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " I don t think that would 
 settle the affair at all. From what I understand of 
 your relations with Miss March, she knows you are 
 her lover, and yet she neither accepts nor declines 
 you. If you were to go to her now, it is not likely 
 she would give you any definite answer. But in re 
 gard to me, it would be different. She would say 
 yes or no. And if she made the latter answer I 
 think you could walk over the course. I am not 
 vain enough to say that I have been an obstacle to 
 your success, but I assure you that I have tried very 
 hard to make myself such an obstacle." 
 
 " It seems to me," said Junius, imitating his com 
 panion in the matter of knitting his brows and gaz 
 ing into the fire, " that this affair could be managed 
 very simply. Miss March is not going at the break 
 of day. Why don t you contrive to see her before 
 she starts, and say for yourself what you have to 
 say ? " 
 
 " Nothing would please me better than that," said 
 Croft, " but I don t believe she would give me any 
 chance to speak with her. Since my accident, she 
 
286 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 has persistently and pointedly refused to grant me 
 even the shortest interview." 
 
 " That ought to prove to you," said Keswick, 
 " that she does not desire your attentions. You 
 should consider it as a positive answer." 
 
 " Not at all," said Lawrence, " not at all. And 
 I don t think you would consider it a positive an 
 swer if you were in my place. I think she has taken 
 some offence which is entirely groundless, and if you 
 will consent to act for me it will enable me to set 
 straight this misunderstanding." 
 
 " Confound it ! " exclaimed Keswick. " Can t you 
 write to her? or get some one else to take your love 
 messages ? " 
 
 " No," said Lawrence, " I cannot write to her, for 
 I am not sure that under the circumstances she 
 would answer my letter. And I have already asked 
 Mrs Null, the only other person I could ask, to 
 speak for me, but she has declined." 
 
 " By the Lord Harry ! " exclaimed Junius, " you 
 are the rarest wooer I ever heard of." 
 
 u I assure you," said Lawrence, his face flushing 
 somewhat, " that it is not my desire to carry on 
 my wooing in this fashion. My whole soul is op 
 posed to it, but circumstances will have it so. And 
 as I don t intend, if I can help it, to have my life 
 determined by circumstances, I must go ahead in 
 despite of them, although I admit that it makes the 
 road very rough." 
 
 " I should think it would," said Junius. And 
 then there was a pause in the conversation. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 287 
 
 " Well, Mr Keswick," said Lawrence, presently, 
 "will you do this thing for me?" 
 
 "Am I to understand," said Junius, "that if I 
 don t do it, it won t be done?" 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence, " you are positively my last 
 chance. I have racked my brains to think of some 
 other way of presenting my case to Miss March, but 
 there is no other way. I might stand at my door, 
 and call to her as she entered the carriage, but that 
 would be the height of absurdity. I might hop on 
 one foot into the house, but, even if I wished to pre 
 sent myself in that way, I don t believe I could get 
 up that long flight of steps. It would oe worse than 
 useless to write, for T should not know what was 
 thought of my letter, or even if it had been read. Mrs 
 Keswick cannot carry my message ; Mrs Null will 
 not ; and I have only you to call upon. I know it 
 is a great deal to ask, but it means so much to me 
 to both of us, in fact that I ask it." 
 
 " You were kind enough to say a little while ago," 
 said Junius, " that you considered me an honorable 
 man. I try to be such, and, therefore, will frankly 
 state to you that I can think of but three motives, 
 satisfactory to myself, for undertaking this business 
 for you, and not one of them is a generous one. In 
 the first place, I might care to do it in order to have 
 this matter settled, for you are such an extraordinary 
 suitor, that I don t know in what form you may 
 turn up, the next time. Secondly, from what you 
 tell me of Miss March s repugnance to meet you, 
 I don t believe my mission will have an issue favor- 
 
288 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 able to you, and the more unfavorable it is, the 
 better I shall like it. My third reason for acting for 
 you is, that the whole affair is such an original one 
 that it will rather interest me to be engaged in it. 
 This last reason would not hold, however, if I had 
 the least expectation of being successful." 
 
 " You consent then?" said Lawrence, quickly, 
 turning towards the other. "You ll go to Miss 
 March for me ?" 
 
 "Yes, I think I will," said Junius, " if you will 
 accept the services of a man who is decidedly op 
 posed to your interests." 
 
 " Of course I never expected you to favor them," 
 said Lawrence, " nor is it necessary that you should. 
 All I ask is, that you carry a message to Miss March, 
 and if she needs any explanation of it, that you will 
 explain in the way that I shall indicate ; that you 
 shall tell me how she received my message ; and that 
 you shall bring me back her answer. There is no 
 need of your making any proposition to her ; that 
 has already been done ; what I want is, that she 
 should not go away from here with a misunderstand 
 ing between us, and that she shall give me at least 
 the promise of a hearing." 
 
 "Very good," said Junius, "now, what is it that 
 you want me to say?" 
 
 This was not an easy question for Lawrence to 
 answer. He knew very well what he wanted to say, 
 if he had a chance of saying it himself. He 
 wanted to pour his whole heart out to Roberta 
 March, and, showing her its present passion, to ask 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 289 
 
 her to forgive those days in which his mind only 
 had appeared to be engaged. He believed he could 
 say things that would force from her the pardon of 
 his previous short-comings, if she considered them 
 as such. She had been very gracious to him in time 
 past, and he did not see why she should not be still 
 more gracious now, if he could remove the feelings 
 of resentment, which he believed were occasioned 
 by her womanly insight into the motives of his 
 conduct toward her, during those delightful summer 
 days at Midbranch. 
 
 But to get another person to say all this was a 
 very different thing. He was sure, however, that if 
 it were not said now, it would never be said. It 
 would be death to all his hopes if Miss March 
 went away, feeling towards him as she now felt ; 
 therefore he stiffened his purpose which was quite 
 used to being stiffened ; hardened his sensibilities ; 
 and took his plunge. Gazing steadfastly at the back 
 of the fireplace while he spoke, he endeavored to 
 make Junius Keswick understand the nature, and 
 the probable force of the objections to his line of 
 action as a suitor, which had grown up in the mind 
 of Miss March ; and he also endeavored to show how 
 completely and absolutely he had been changed by 
 the vigor and ardor of his present affection ; and 
 how he was entitled to be considered by Miss March 
 as a lover who had but one thought and purpose, 
 and that was to win her ; and, as such, he asked her 
 to give him an opportunity to renew his proposal to 
 her. " Now, then," said Lawrence, " I have placed 
 19 
 
290 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the case before you, and I beg you will present it, 
 as nearly as possible, in the form in which I have 
 given it to you." 
 
 " Mr Croft," said Junius, " this case of yours is 
 worse than I thought it was. What woman of spirit 
 would accept a man who admitted, that during the 
 whole of his acquaintance with her he had had his 
 doubts in regard to suitability, etc., but who, when 
 a crisis arrived, and another man turned up, had 
 determined to overlook all his objections and take 
 her, anyway." 
 
 "That is a very cold-blooded way of putting it," 
 said Lawrence, " and I don t believe at all that she 
 will look upon it in that light. If you will set the 
 matter before her as I have put it to you, I believe 
 she will see it as I wish her to see it." 
 
 " Very well," said Junius, rising, and taking out 
 his watch, " I will make your statement as accurately 
 as I can, and without any interpretations of my own. 
 And now I must bid you good-night. I had no idea 
 it was after twelve o clock." 
 
 "And you will observe her moods?" asked Law 
 rence. 
 
 "Yes," said Junius as he opened the door, "I will 
 carefully observe her moods." 
 
 When Junius had gone, Lawrence turned his face 
 again toward the fireplace, where the last smoulder 
 ing stick had just broken apart in the middle, and 
 the two ends had wearily fallen over the andirons as 
 if they wished it understood that they could do no 
 more burning that night. Taking this as a hint, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 291 
 
 Lawrence prepared to retire. " Old Isham must 
 have gone to bed long ago," he said, " but as I have 
 asked for so much assistance to-day, I think it is 
 well that I should try to do some things for myself." 
 
 It was, indeed, very late, but behind the partially 
 closed shutters of a lower room of the house sat old 
 Mrs Keswick, gazing at the light that was stream 
 ing from the window of the office, and wondering 
 what those two men were saying to each other that 
 was keeping them sitting up together until after 
 midnight. 
 
 Annie Peyton, too, had not gone to bed, and 
 looking through her chamber window at the office, 
 she hoped that cousin Junius would come away be 
 fore he lost his temper. Of course she thought he 
 must have been very angry when he came home and 
 found Mr Croft here at the only time that Roberta 
 March had ever visited the house, and it was quite 
 natural that he should go to his rival, and tell him 
 what he thought about it. But he had been there 
 a long, long time, and she did hope they would not 
 get very angry with each other, and that nothing 
 would happen. One thought comforted her very 
 much. Mr Croft was disabled, and Junius would 
 scorn to take advantage of a man in that condition. 
 
 At an upper window, at the other end of the 
 house, sat Roberta March, ready for bed, but with 
 no intention of going there until Junius Keswick 
 had come out of the office. Knowing the two men 
 as she did, she had no fear that any harm would 
 come to either of them during this long conference, 
 
292 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 whatever its subject might be. That she, herself, 
 was that subject she had not the slightest doubt, and 
 although it was of no earthly use for her to sit there 
 and gaze upon that light streaming into the dark 
 ness of the yard, but revealing to her no more of 
 what was going on inside the room than if it had 
 been the light of a distant star, still she sat and 
 speculated. At last the office door opened, and 
 Junius came out, turning to speak to the occupant 
 of the room as he did so. The brief vision of him 
 which the watchers caught, as he stood for a mo 
 ment in the lighted doorway before stepping out into 
 the darkness, showed that his demeanor was as quiet 
 and composed as usual ; and one of the three women 
 went to bed very much relieved. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FROM breakfast time the next morning until ten 
 o clock in the forenoon, at which hour the Mid- 
 branch carnage arrived, Junius Keswick had been 
 vainly endeavoring to get an opportunity to speak 
 with Miss March. That lady had remained in her 
 own room nearly all the morning, where his cousin 
 had been with her ; and his aunt, who had her own 
 peculiar ways of speeding the parting guest, had re 
 tired to some distant spot on the estate, either to 
 plan out some farming operation for the ensuing 
 season, or to prevent her pent-up passion from boil 
 ing over in her own house. 
 
 Thus Junius had the lower floor to himself, and he 
 strode about in much disquietude, debating whether 
 he ought to send a message to Roberta, or whether 
 he should wait till she had finished her packing, or 
 whatever it was, that was keeping her upstairs. His 
 last private interview with her had not been a pleas 
 ant one, and if he had intended to speak to her for 
 himself, he would not have felt much encouraged by 
 her manner of the preceding evening; but he was 
 now engaged on the affairs of another, and he be 
 lieved that a failure to attend to them would be re 
 garded as a breach of faith. 
 
 When Mr Brandon s carriage drove into the yard 
 
294 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 he began to despair, but now Roberta came running 
 down stairs to speak to Sam, the driver, and ask him 
 how long it would be necessary to rest his horses. 
 Sam thought an hour would be long enough, as they 
 would have a good rest when they got home ; and 
 this matter having been settled, Junius came for 
 ward, and requested Roberta to step in the parlor, 
 as he had something to say to her. Without reply, 
 she followed him into the room, and he closed the 
 door. They sat down, one on one side of the round 
 centre table, and one on the other, and Junius began 
 his statement. 
 
 He was by profession a lawyer, and he had given 
 a great deal of attention to the art of putting 
 things plainly, and with a view to a just effect. He 
 had carefully prepared in his mind what he should 
 say to Roberta. He wished to present this man s 
 message without the slightest exhibition of desire 
 for its success, and yet without any tendency to that 
 cold-blooded way of stating it, to which Croft had 
 objected. He had, indeed, picked up his adversary s 
 sword, and while he did not wish, in handing it to 
 him, to prick him with it, or do him some such un 
 derhand injury, he did not think it at all necessary 
 to sharpen the weapon before giving it back. 
 
 What Junius had to say occupied a good deal of 
 time. He expressed himself carefully and deliber 
 ately ; and as nearly as a skilfully stuffed and pre 
 pared animal in a museum resembles its wild original 
 of the forest, so did his remarks resemble those that 
 Lawrence would have made had he been there. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 295 
 
 Roberta listened to him in silence until he had 
 finished, and then she rose to her feet, and her man 
 ner was such that Junius rose also. " Junius Kes 
 wick," she said, " you have deliberately come to me, 
 and offered me the hand of another man in mar 
 riage." 
 
 " Not that," said Junius, " I merely came to ex 
 plain- 
 
 " Do not split hairs," she interrupted, " you did 
 exactly that. You came to me because he could 
 not come himself, and offered him to me. Now go 
 to him from me, and tell him that I accept him." 
 And, with that, she swept out of the room, and 
 came down stairs no more until bonneted, and ac 
 companied by Miss Annie, she hurried to the front 
 door, and entered the carriage which was there 
 waiting for her, with Peggy by the driver. With 
 some quick good-byes and kisses to Annie, but 
 never a word to Junius, or anybody else, she drove 
 away. 
 
 If Junius Keswick had been nervous and anxious 
 that morning, as he strode about the house, waiting 
 for an opportunity to speak to Miss March, it may 
 well be supposed that Lawrence Croft, shut up in 
 his little room at the end of the yard, would be 
 more so. He had sat at his window, waiting, and 
 waiting. He had occasionally seen Mr Keswick 
 come out on the porch, and with long strides pace 
 backward and forward, and he knew by that sign 
 that he had yet no message to bring him. He had 
 seen the Midbranch carriage drive into the yard ; 
 
296 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 he had seen Miss March come out on the porch, 
 and speak to the driver, and then go in again; he 
 had seen the carriage driven under a large tree, 
 where the horses were taken put and led away to be 
 refreshed ; in an hour or more, he saw them brought 
 back and harnessed to the vehicle, which was turned 
 and driven up again to the door, when some baggage 
 was brought down and strapped on a little platform 
 behind. Shortly afterwards Peggy came round the 
 end of the house, with a hat on, and a little bundle 
 under her arm, and approached the carriage, mak 
 ing, however, a wide turn toward the office, at 
 which, and a mile or two beyond, her far-off gaze 
 was steadily directed. 
 
 Lawrence threw up the sash and called to her, and 
 his guardian imp approached the window. " Are 
 you Miss March s maid ? I think I have seen you 
 at Midbranch." 
 
 " Yaas, sah, you s done seen me, offen," said 
 Peggy. 
 
 4< Does Miss March intend to start immediately?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " Yaas, sah," said the good Peggy, " she ll be out 
 in a minute, soon as she done kissin Man s Junius 
 good-bye in de parlor." And then, noticing a look 
 of astonishment on the gentleman s face, she added : 
 " Dey s gwine to be mar ed, Chris mus." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Lawrence. 
 
 " Good-bye, Mister Crof, " said Peggy, " I s got to 
 hurry up." 
 
 Lawrence made no answer, but mechanically tossed 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 297 
 
 her a coin, which, picking up, she gave him a fare 
 well grin, and hastened to take her seat by the 
 driver. 
 
 Very soon afterward Lawrence saw Roberta come 
 out, accompanied only by Mrs Null, and hurry down 
 the steps. Forgetting his injured ankle, he sprang 
 to his feet, and stepping quickly to the door, opened 
 it, and stood on the threshold. But Miss March did 
 not even look his way. He gazed at her with wide- 
 open eyes as she hastily kissed Mrs Null, and sprang 
 into the carriage, which was immediately driven off. 
 As Mrs Null turned to go into the house, she looked 
 toward the office and nodded to him. He believed 
 that she would have come to him if he had called 
 her, but he did not call. His mind was in such a 
 condition that he would not have been capable of 
 framing a question, had she come. He felt that he 
 could speak to no one until he had seen Keswick. 
 Closing the door he went back to his chair ; and as 
 he did so, his ankle pained him sadly, but of this 
 he scarcely thought. 
 
 He did not have to wait long for Junius Keswick, 
 for in about ten minutes that individual entered. 
 Lawrence turned, as his visitor opened the door ; 
 and he saw a countenance which had undergone 
 a very noticeable change. It was not dark or low 
 ering ; it was not pale ; but it was gray and hard ; 
 and the eyes looked larger than Lawrence had re 
 membered them. 
 
 Without preface or greeting Junius approached 
 him, and said : " I have taken your message to Miss 
 
298 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 March, and have brought you one in return. You 
 are accepted." 
 
 Lawrence pushed back his chair, and stared 
 blankly at the other. " What do you mean ? " he 
 presently asked. 
 
 " I mean what I say," said Keswick. " Miss 
 March has accepted you." 
 
 A crowd of emotions rushed through the brain of 
 Lawrence Croft ; joy was among them, but it was a 
 joy that was jostled and shaken and pushed, this 
 way and that. " I do not understand," he said. " I 
 did not expect such a decisive message. I supposed 
 she might send me some encouragement, some . 
 Why didn t she see me before she left?" 
 
 " I am not here to explain her actions if I could," 
 said Junius, who had not sat down. "She said: 
 * Tell him I accept him. That is all. Good morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " But, stop ! " cried Lawrence, on his feet again. 
 " You must tell me more than that. Did you say 
 to her only what I said to you ? How did it affect 
 her?" 
 
 " Oh," said Junius, turning suddenly at the door, 
 " I forgot that you asked me to observe her mood. 
 Well, she was very angry." 
 
 "With me?" cried Lawrence. 
 
 " With me," said Junius. And closing the door 
 behind him, he strode away. 
 
 The accepted lover sat down. He had never 
 spoken more truly than when he said he did not 
 understand it. " Is she really mine? " he exclaimed. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 299 
 
 And with his eyes fixed on the blank wall over the 
 mantel-piece, he repeated over and over again : " Is 
 she mine? Is she really mine?" He had well de 
 veloped mental powers, but the work of setting this 
 matter straight and plain was too difficult for him. 
 
 If she had sent him some such message as this : 
 " I am very angry with you, but some day you can 
 come and explain yourself to me ; " his heart would 
 have leaped for joy. He would have believed that 
 his peace had been made, and that he had only to 
 go to her to call her his own. Now his heart de 
 sired to leap with joy, but it did not seem to know 
 how to do it. The situation was such an anomalous 
 one. After such a message as this, why had she not 
 let him see her ? Why had she been angry with 
 Keswick ? Was that pique ? And then a dark 
 thought crossed his mind. Had he been accepted 
 to punish the other ? No, he could not believe that ; 
 no woman such as Roberta March would give her 
 self away from such a motive. Had Keswick been 
 joking with him ? No, he could not believe that ; 
 no man could joke with such a face. 
 
 Even the fact that Mrs Keswick had not bid Miss 
 March farewell, troubled the mind of Lawrence. It 
 was true that she might not yet know that the match, 
 which she had so much encouraged, had been finally 
 made, but something must be very wrong, or she 
 would not have been absent at the moment of her 
 guest s departure. And what did that beastly little 
 negro mean by telling him that Keswick and Miss 
 March were to be married at Christmas, and that 
 
300 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 the two were kissing each other good-bye in the 
 parlor ? Why, the man had not even come out to 
 put her in the carriage, and the omission of this 
 courtesy was very remarkable. These questions 
 were entirely too difficult for him to resolve by him 
 self. It was absolutely necessary that more should 
 be told to him, and explained to him. Seeing the 
 negro boy Plez crossing the yard, he called him and 
 asked him to tell Mr Keswick that Mr Croft wished 
 to see him immediately. 
 
 "Mails Junius," said the boy, " he done gone to 
 de railroad to take de kyars. He done took he knap 
 sack on he back, an walk cross de fiel s." 
 
 When, about an hour or two afterwards, Uncle 
 Isham brought Mr Croft his dinner, the old negro 
 appeared to have lost that air of attentive geniality 
 which he usually put on while waiting on the gen 
 tleman. Lawrence, however, took no notice of this, 
 but before the man reached the table, on which he 
 was to place the tray he carried, he asked : " Is it 
 true that Mr Keswick has gone away by train ? " 
 
 " Yaas, sah," answered Isham. 
 
 "And where is Mrs Keswick?" asked Lawrence. 
 " Isn t she in the house?" 
 
 " No, sah, done gwine vis tin, I spec." 
 
 " When will she return ? " 
 
 " Dunno," said Isham. " She nebber comes to me 
 an tells me whar she gwine, an when she comin 
 back." 
 
 And then, after satisfying himself that nothing 
 more was needed of him for the present, Isham left 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 301 
 
 the room ; and when he reached the kitchen, he ad 
 dressed himself to its plump mistress : " Letty," 
 said he, " when dat ar Mister Crof has got froo wid 
 his dinner, you go an fotch back de plates an 
 dishes. He axes too many questions to suit me, dis 
 day." 
 
 " You is poh ly to-day, Uncle Isham," said Letty. 
 
 " Yaas," said the old man, " I s right much on the 
 careen." 
 
 Uncle Isham, perhaps, was not more loyal to the 
 widow Keswick than many old servants were and 
 are to their former mistresses, but his loyalty was 
 peculiar in that it related principally to his regard 
 for her character. This regard he wished to be very 
 high, and it always troubled and unsettled his mind, 
 when the old lady herself or anybody else interfered 
 with his efforts to keep it high. For years he had been 
 hoping that the time would come when she would 
 cease to " rar and chawge," but she had continued, at 
 intervals, to indulge in that most unsuitable exercise ; 
 and now that it appeared that she had reared and 
 charged again, her old servant was much depressed. 
 She had gone away from the house, and, for all he 
 knew, she might stay away for days or weeks, as she 
 had done before, and Uncle Isham was never so 
 much " on the careen " as when he found himself 
 forced to believe that his old mistress was still a 
 woman who could do a thing like that. 
 
 Letty had no objections to answering questions, 
 but much to her disappointment, Lawrence asked 
 her none. He had had enough of catechising ne- 
 
302 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 groes. But he requested her to ask Mrs Null if she 
 would be kind enough to step out, for a few minutes, 
 and speak to him. When, very shortly thereafter, 
 that lady appeared, Lawrence was seated at his open 
 door ready to receive her. 
 
 " How are you ? " she said. " And how is your 
 ankle to-day ? You have had nobody to attend to 
 it." 
 
 " It has hurt me a good deal," he answered. " I 
 think I must have given it a wrench this morning, 
 but I put on it some of the lotion Mrs Keswick left 
 with me, and it feels better." 
 
 " It is too bad," said Mrs Null, " that you have to 
 attend to it yourself." 
 
 " Not at all," said Lawrence. " Now that I know 
 how, I can do it, perfectly well, and I don t care a 
 snap about my ankle, except that it interferes with 
 more important affairs. Why do you suppose Miss 
 March went away without speaking to me, or taking 
 leave of me in any way ? " 
 
 " I thought that would trouble you," said she, 
 " and, to speak honestly, I don t think it was right. 
 But Roberta was in a very agitated condition, when 
 she left here, and I don t believe she ever thought of 
 taking leave of you, or any one, except me. She 
 and I are very good friends, but she don t confide 
 much in me. But one thing I am pretty sure of, 
 and that is that she is dreadfully angry with my 
 cousin Junius, and I am very sorry for that." 
 
 " How did he anger her ? " asked Lawrence, wish 
 ing to find out how much this young woman knew. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 303 
 
 " I haven t the least idea," said Miss Annie. " All 
 I know is, she had quite a long talk with him, in the 
 parlor, and after that she came flying upstairs, just 
 as indignant as she could be. She didn t say much, 
 but I could see how her soul raged within her." 
 And now the young lady stopped speaking, and 
 looked straight into Lawrence s face. " It isn t pos 
 sible," she said, " that you have been sending my 
 cousin to propose to her for you ? " 
 
 This was not a pleasant question to answer, and, 
 besides, Lawrence had made up his mind that the 
 period had passed for making confidants of other 
 persons, in regard to his love affairs. " Do you sup 
 pose I would do that ? " he said. 
 
 " No, I don t," Miss Annie answered. " Cousin 
 Junius would never have undertaken such a thing, 
 and I don t believe you would be cruel enough to 
 ask him." 
 
 " Thank you for your good opinion," said Law 
 rence. " And now can you tell me when Mr Kes- 
 wick is expected to return ? " 
 
 " He has gone back to Washington, and he told 
 me he should stay there some time. 
 
 " And why has not Mrs Keswick been out to see 
 me ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 "You are dreadfully inquisitive," said Miss Annie, 
 " but to tell you the simple truth, Mr Croft, I don t 
 believe Aunt Keswick takes any further interest in 
 you, now that Roberta has gone. She had set her 
 heart on making a match between you two, and do 
 ing it here without delay ; and I think that every- 
 
304 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 thing going wrong about this has put her into the 
 state of mind she is in now." 
 
 " Has she really gone away ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " Oh, that don t amount to anything," said Miss 
 Annie. " She went over the fields to Hewlett s, to 
 see the postmistress, who is an old friend, to whom 
 she often goes for comfort, when things are not right 
 at home. But I am going after her this afternoon 
 in the spring wagon. I ll take Plez along with me 
 to open the gates. I am sure I shall bring her 
 back." 
 
 " I must admit, Mrs Null," said Lawrence, " that 
 I am very inquisitive, but you can easily understand 
 how much I am troubled and perplexed." 
 
 " I expect Miss March s going away troubled you 
 more than anything else," said she. 
 
 "That is true," he answered, u but then there are 
 other things which give me a great deal of anxiety. 
 I came here to be, for a day or two, the guest of 
 a lady on whom I have no manner of claim for pro 
 longed hospitality. And now here I am, compelled 
 to stay in this room and depend on her kindness 
 or forbearance for everything I have. I would go 
 away, immediately, but I know it would injure me to 
 travel. The few steps I took yesterday have prob 
 ably set me back for several days." 
 
 " Oh, it would never do for you to travel," said she, 
 " with such a sprained ankle as you have. It would 
 certainly injure you very much to be driven all the 
 way to the Green Sulphur Springs. I am told the 
 road is very rough, between here and there, but 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 305 
 
 perhaps you didn t notice it, having come over on 
 horseback." 
 
 " Yes, I did notice it, and I could not stand that 
 drive. And, even if I could be got to the train, to 
 go North, I should have to walk a good deal at the 
 stations." 
 
 " You simply must not think of it," said Miss 
 Annie. " And now let me give you a piece of ad 
 vice. I am a practical person, as you may know, 
 and I like to do things in a practical way. The very 
 best thing that you can do, is to arrange with Aunt 
 Keswick to stay here as a boarder, until your ankle 
 is well. She has taken boarders, and in this case I 
 don t think she would refuse. As I told you before, 
 you must not expect her to take the same interest 
 in you, that she did when you first came, but she is 
 really a kind woman, though she has such dread 
 fully funny ways, and she wouldn t have neglected 
 you to-day, if it hadn t been that her mind is en 
 tirely wrapped up in other things. If you like, 
 I ll propose such an arrangement to her, this after 
 noon." 
 
 " You are very kind, indeed," said Lawrence, " but 
 is there not danger of offending her by such a propo 
 sition ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think there is," answered Miss Annie, " and 
 I have no doubt she will fly out into a passion when 
 she hears that the gentleman, whom she invited here 
 as a guest, proposes to stay as a boarder, but I think 
 I can pacify her, and make her look at the matter in 
 the proper way." 
 
 20 
 
306 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " But why mention it at all, and put yourself to 
 all that trouble about it ? " said Lawrence. 
 
 " Why, of course, because I think you will be so 
 much better satisfied, and content to keep quiet and 
 get well, if you feel that you have a right to stay 
 here. If Aunt Keswick wasn t so very different 
 from other people, I wouldn t have mentioned this 
 matter for, really, there is no necessity for it ; but I 
 know very well that if you were to drop out of her 
 mind for two or three days, and shouldn t see any 
 thing of her, that you would become dreadfully ner 
 vous about staying here." 
 
 u You are certainly very practical, Mrs Null, and 
 very sensible, and very, very kind ; and nothing could 
 suit me better under the circumstances than the 
 plan you propose. But I am extremely anxious not 
 to give offence to your aunt. She has treated me 
 with the utmost kindness and hospitality." 
 
 "Oh, don t trouble yourself about that," said Miss 
 Annie, with a little laugh. " I am getting to know her 
 so well that I think I can manage an affair like this, 
 very easily. And now I must be off, or it will be 
 too late for me to go to Hewlett s, this afternoon, 
 and I am a very slow driver. Are you sure there is 
 nothing you want ? I shall go directly past the 
 store, and can stop as well as not." 
 
 " Thank you very much," said Lawrence, " but I 
 do not believe that Hewlett s possesses an article 
 that I need. One thing I will ask you to do for me 
 before you go. I want to write a letter, and I find 
 that I am out of paper ; therefore I shall be very 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 307 
 
 much obliged to you, if you will let me have some, 
 and some envelopes." 
 
 " Why, certainly," said Miss Annie, and she went 
 into the house. 
 
 She looked over the stock of paper which her 
 aunt kept in a desk in the dining-room, but she did 
 not like it. " I don t believe he will want to write 
 on such ordinary paper as this," she said to herself. 
 Whereupon she went upstairs and got some of her 
 own paper and envelopes, which were much finer in 
 material and more correct in style. " I don t like it 
 a bit," she thought, " to give this to him to write 
 that letter on, but I suppose it s bound to be written, 
 anyway, so he might as well have the satisfaction 
 of good paper." 
 
 " You must excuse these little sheets," she said, 
 when she took it to him, u but you couldn t expect 
 anything else, in an Amazonian household like ours. 
 Cousin Junius has manly stationery, of course, but I 
 suppose it is all locked up in that secretary in your 
 room." 
 
 " Oh, this will do very well indeed," said Law 
 rence ; " and I wish I could come out and help you 
 into your vehicle," regarding the spring wagon which 
 now stood at the door, with Plez at the head of the 
 solemn sorrel. 
 
 " Thank you," said Miss Annie, " that is not at all 
 necessary." And she tripped over to the spring 
 wagon, and mounting into its altitudes without the 
 least trouble in the world, she took up the reins. 
 With these firmly grasped in her little hands, which 
 
3o8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 were stretched very far out, and held very wide apart, 
 she gave the horse a great jerk and told him to " Get 
 up ! " As she moved off, Lawrence from his open 
 door called out : " Bon voyage" and in a full, clear 
 voice she thanked him, but did not dare to look 
 around, so intent was she upon her charioteering. 
 
 Slowly turning the horse toward the yard gate, 
 which Plez stood holding open, her whole soul was 
 absorbed in the act of guiding the equipage through 
 the gateway. Quickly glancing from side to side, 
 and then at the horse s back, which ought to occupy 
 a medium position between the two gateposts, she 
 safely steered the front wheels through the danger 
 ous pass, although a grin of delight covered the face 
 of Plez as he noticed that the hub of one of the hind 
 wheels almost grazed a post. Then the observant 
 boy ran on to open the other gate, and with many 
 jerks and clucks, Miss Annie induced the sorrel to 
 break into a gentle trot. 
 
 As Lawrence looked after her, a little pang made 
 itself noticeable in his conscience. This girl was 
 certainly very kind to him, and most remarkably 
 considerate of him in the plan she had proposed. 
 And yet he felt that he had prevaricated to her, 
 and, in fact, deceived her, in the answer he had made 
 when she asked him if he had sent her cousin to 
 speak for him to Miss March. Would she have such 
 friendly feelings toward him, and be so willing to 
 oblige him, if she knew that he had in effect done 
 the thing which she considered so wrong and so 
 cruel? But it could not be helped; the time had 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 309 
 
 passed for confidences. He must now work out this 
 affair for himself, without regard to persons who 
 really had nothing whatever to do with it. 
 
 Closing his door, he hopped back to his table, 
 and, seating himself at it, he opened his travelling 
 inkstand and prepared to write to Miss March. It 
 was absolutely necessary that he should write this 
 letter, immediately, for, after the message he had re 
 ceived from the lady of his love, no time should be 
 lost in putting himself in communication with her. 
 But, before beginning to write, he must decide upon 
 the spirit of his letter. 
 
 Under the very peculiar circumstances of his ac 
 ceptance, he did not feel that he ought to indulge in 
 those rapturous expressions of ecstacy in which he 
 most certainly would have indulged, if the lady had 
 personally delivered her decision to him. He did 
 not doubt her, for what woman would play a joke 
 like that on a man upon two men, in fact ? Even 
 if there were no other reason she would not dare to 
 do it. Nor did he doubt Keswick. It would have 
 been impossible for him to come with such a mes 
 sage, if it had not been delivered to him. And yet 
 Lawrence could not bring himself to be rapturous. 
 If he had been accepted in cold blood, and a hand, 
 and not a heart, had been given to him, he would 
 gladly take that hand and trust to himself to so 
 warm the heart that it, also, would soon be his. But 
 he did not know what Roberta March had given him. 
 
 On the other hand, he knew very well if, in 
 his first letter as an accepted lover, he should ex- 
 
310 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 hibit any of that caution and prudence which, in the 
 course of his courtship, had proved to be shoals on 
 which he had very nearly run aground, that Rob 
 erta s resentment, which had shown itself very 
 marked in this regard, would probably be roused to 
 such an extent that the affair would be brought to 
 a very speedy and abrupt termination. If she had 
 been obliged to forgive him, once, for this line of 
 conduct, he could not expect her to do it again. 
 To write a letter, which should err in neither of 
 these respects, was a very difficult thing to do, and 
 required so much preparatory thought, that when, 
 toward the close of the afternoon, Miss Annie drove 
 in at the yard gate, with Mrs Keswick on the seat 
 beside her, not a line had been written. 
 
 Mrs Keswick descended from the spring wagon 
 and went into the house, but Miss Annie remained 
 at the bottom of the steps, for the apparent purpose 
 of speaking to Plez ; perhaps to give him some in 
 structions in regard to the leading of a horse to its 
 stable, or to instil into his mind some moral princi 
 ple or other ; but the moment the vehicle moved 
 away, she ran over to the office and tapped at the 
 window, which was quickly opened by Lawrence. 
 
 " I have spoken to her about it," she said, " and 
 although she blazed up at first, so that I thought I 
 should be burned alive, I made her understand just 
 how matters really are, and she has agreed to let 
 you stay here as a boarder." 
 
 " You are extremely good," said Lawrence, " and 
 must be a most admirable manager. This arrange- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 311 
 
 ment makes me feel much better satisfied than I 
 could have been, otherwise." Then leaning a little 
 further out of the window, he asked : " But what 
 am I to do for company, while I am shut up here ? " 
 
 "Oh, you will have Uncle Isham, and Aunt Kes- 
 wick, and sometimes me. But I hope that you will 
 soon be able to come into the house, and take your 
 meals, and spend your evenings with us." 
 
 " You have nothing but good wishes for me," he 
 said, " and I believe, if you could manage it, you 
 would have me cured by magic, and sent off, well 
 and whole, to-morrow." 
 
 " Of course," said Miss Annie, very promptly. 
 " Good night." 
 
 Just before supper, Mrs Keswick came in to see 
 Lawrence. She was very grave, almost severe, and 
 her conversation was confined to inquiries as to the 
 state of his ankle, and his general comfort. But 
 Lawrence took no offence at her manner, and was 
 very gracious, saying some exceedingly neat things 
 about the way he had been treated ; and, after a lit 
 tle, her manner slightly mollified, and she remarked : 
 " And so you let Miss March go away, without set 
 tling anything." 
 
 Now Lawrence considered this a very incorrect 
 statement, but he had no wish to set the old lady 
 right. He knew it would joy her heart, and make 
 her more his friend than, ever if he should tell her 
 that Miss March had accepted him, but this would 
 be a very dangerous piece of information to put in 
 her hands. He did not know what use she would 
 
312 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 make of it, or what damage she might unwittingly 
 do W his prospects. And so he merely answered : 
 " I had no idea she would leave so soon." 
 
 " Well," said the old lady, " I suppose, after all, 
 that you needn t give it up yet. I understand that 
 she is not going to New York before the end of the 
 month, and you may be well enough before that to 
 ride over to Midbranch." 
 
 " I hope so, most assuredly," said he. 
 
 Lawrence devoted that evening to his letter. It 
 was a long one, and was written with a most earnest 
 desire to embrace all the merits of each of the two 
 kinds of letters, which have before been alluded to, 
 and to avoid all their faults. When it was finished, 
 he read it, tore it up, and threw it in the fire. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE next day opened bright and clear, and before 
 ten o clock, the thermometer had risen to seventy 
 degrees. Instead of sitting in front of the fireplace, 
 Lawrence had his chair and table brought close to 
 his open door-way, where he could look out on the 
 same beautiful scene which had greeted his eyes a 
 few days before. " But what is the good," he 
 thought, " of this green grass, this sunny air, that 
 blue sky, those white clouds, and the distant tinted 
 foliage, without that figure, which a few days ago 
 stood in the foreground of the picture?" But, as 
 the woman to whom, in his soul s sight, the whole 
 world was but a background, was not there, he 
 turned his eyes from the warm autumnal scene, and 
 prepared again to write to her. He had scarcely 
 taken up his pen, however, when he was interrupted 
 by the arrival of Miss Annie, who came to bring him 
 a book she had just finished reading, a late English 
 novel which she thought might be more interesting 
 than those she had sent him. The book was one 
 which Lawrence had not seen and wanted to see, but 
 in talking about it, to the young lady, he discovered 
 that she had not read all of it. 
 
 " Don t let me deprive you of the book," said Law- 
 
314 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 rence. " If you have begun it, you ought to go on 
 with it." 
 
 " Oh, don t trouble your mind about that/ she 
 said, with a laugh. " I have finished it, but I have 
 not read a word of the beginning. I only looked at 
 the end of it, to see how the story turned out. I 
 always do that, before I read a novel." 
 
 This remark much amused Lawrence. " Do you 
 know," said he, u that I would rather not read novels 
 at all, than to read them in that way. I must begin 
 at the beginning, and go regularly through, as the 
 author wishes his readers to do." 
 
 " And perhaps, when you get to the end," said 
 Miss Annie, " you ll find that the wrong man got her, 
 and then you ll wish you had not read the story." 
 
 " As you appear to be satisfied with this novel," 
 said Lawrence, " I wish you would read it to me, 
 and then I would feel that I was not taking an un- 
 courteous precedence of you." 
 
 " I ll read it to you," said she, " or, at least, as 
 much as you want me to, for I feel quite sure that 
 after you get interested in it, you will want to take 
 it, yourself, and read straight on till it is finished, 
 instead of waiting for some one to come and give 
 you a chapter or two at a time. That would be the 
 way with me, I know." 
 
 " I shall be delighted to have you read to me," said 
 Lawrence. " When can you begin ? " 
 
 " Now," she said, " if you choose. But perhaps 
 you wish to write." 
 
 " Not at this moment," said Lawrence, turning 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 315 
 
 from the table. " Unfortunately I have plenty of 
 leisure. Where will you sit ?" And he reached out 
 his hand for a chair. 
 
 " Oh, I don t want a chair," said Annie, taking her 
 seat on the broad door-step. " This is exactly what 
 I like. I am devoted to sitting on steps. Don t 
 you think there is something dreadfully stiff about 
 always being perched up in a chair ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence, " on some occasions." 
 
 And, forthwith, she began upon the first chapter ; 
 and having read five lines of this, she went back and 
 read the title page, suddenly remembering that Mr 
 Croft liked to begin a book at the very beginning. 
 Miss Annie had been accustomed to read to her 
 father, and she read aloud very well, and liked it. 
 As she sat there, shaded by a great locust tree, 
 which had dropped so many yellow leaves upon the 
 grass, that, now and then, it could not help letting a 
 little fleck of sunshine come down upon her, some 
 times gilding for a moment her light-brown hair, 
 sometimes touching the end of a crimson ribbon she 
 wore, and again resting for a brief space on the toe 
 of a very small boot just visible at the edge of her 
 dress, Lawrence looked at her, and said to himself : 
 " Is it possible that this is the rather pale young 
 girl in black, who gave me change from behind 
 the desk of Mr Candy s Information Shop ? I don t 
 believe it. That young person sprang up, tempo 
 rarily, and is defunct. This is some one else." 
 
 She read three chapters before she considered it 
 time to go into the house to see if it was necessary 
 
316 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 for her to do anything about dinner. When she left 
 him, Lawrence turned again to his writing. 
 
 That afternoon, he sent Mrs Null a little note on 
 the back of a card, asking her if she could let him 
 have a few more sheets of paper. Lawrence found 
 this request necessary, as he had used up that day 
 all the paper she had sent him, and the small torn 
 pieces of it now littered the fireplace. 
 
 " He must be writing a diary letter," said Miss 
 Annie to herself when, she received this message, 
 " such as we girls used to write when we were at 
 school." And, bringing down a little the corners 
 of her mouth, she took from her stationery box 
 what she thought would be quite paper enough to 
 send to a man for such a purpose. 
 
 But, although the means were thus made abun 
 dant, the letter to Miss March was not then written. 
 Lawrence finally determined that it was simply 
 impossible for him to write to the lady, until he 
 knew more. What Keswick had told him had 
 been absurdly little, and he had hurried away 
 before there had been time to ask further ques 
 tions. Instead of sending a letter to Miss March, 
 he would write to Keswick, and would put to him 
 a series of interrogations, the answers to which 
 would make him understand better the position 
 in which he stood. Then he would write to Miss 
 March. 
 
 The next day Miss Annie could not read to him 
 in the morning, because, as she came and told him, 
 she was going to Hewlett s, on an errand for her 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 317 
 
 aunt. But there would be time to give him a 
 chapter or two before dinner, when she came back. 
 
 " Would it be any trouble," said Lawrence, " for 
 you to mail a letter for me?" 
 
 " Oh, no," said Miss Annie, but not precisely in 
 the same tone in which she would have told him 
 that it would be no trouble to read to him two or 
 three chapters of a novel. And yet she would 
 pass directly by the residence of Miss Harriet 
 Corvey, the post-mistress. 
 
 As Miss Annie walked along the narrow path 
 which ran by the roadside to Hewlett s, with the 
 blue sky above her, and the pleasant October sun 
 shine all about her, and followed at a little distance 
 by the boy Plez, carrying a basket, she did not seem 
 to be taking that enjoyment in her walk which was 
 her wont. Her brows were slightly contracted and 
 she looked straight in front of her, without seeing 
 anything in particular, after the manner of persons 
 whose attention is entirely occupied in looking 
 into their own minds, at something they do not 
 like. " It is too much!" she said, almost loud, her 
 brows contracting a little more as she spoke. " It 
 was bad enough to have to furnish the paper, but for 
 me to have to carry the letter, is entirely too much ! " 
 And, at this, she involuntarily glanced at the thick 
 and double stamped missive, which, having no 
 pocket, she carried in her hand. She had not 
 looked at it before, and as her eyes fell upon the 
 address, she stopped so suddenly that Plez, who 
 was dozing as he walked, nearly ran into her. 
 
318 The Late Mrs Null 
 
 "What! "she exclaimed, " Junius Keswick, five 
 Q street, Washington, District of Columbia ! Is 
 it possible that Mr Croft has been writing to 
 him, all this time?" She now walked on; and 
 although she still seemed to notice not the ma 
 terial objects around her, the frown disappeared 
 from her brow, and her mental vision seemed 
 to be fixed upon something more pleasant than 
 that which had occupied it before. As it will be 
 remembered, she had refused positively to have any 
 thing to do with Lawrence s suit to Miss March, 
 and it was a relief to her to know that the letter 
 she was carrying was not for that lady. " But why," 
 thought she, " should he be writing, for two whole 
 evenings, to Junius. I expected that he would 
 write to her, to find out why she went off and left 
 him in that way, but I did not suppose he would 
 want to write to Junius. It seems to me they had 
 time enough, that night they were together, to talk 
 over everything they had to say." 
 
 And then she began to wonder what they had to 
 say, and, gradually, the conviction grew upon her 
 that Mr Croft was a very, very honorable man. Of 
 course it was wrong that he should have come here 
 to try to win a lady who, if one looked at it in the 
 proper light, really belonged to another. But it 
 now came into her mind that Mr Croft must, by 
 degrees, have seen this, for himself, and that it was 
 the subject of his long conference with Junius, and 
 also, most probably, of this letter. The conference 
 certainly ended amicably, and, in that case, it was 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 319 
 
 scarcely possible that Junius had given up his claim. 
 He was not that kind of a man. 
 
 If Mr Croft had become convinced that he ought 
 to retire from this contest, and had done so, and 
 Roberta had been informed of it, that would explain 
 everything that had happened. Roberta s state of 
 mind, after she had had the talk in the parlor 
 with Junius, and her hurried departure, without 
 taking the slightest notice of either of the gen 
 tlemen, was quite natural. What woman would 
 like to know that she had been bargained about, 
 and that her two lovers had agreed which of them 
 should have her ? It was quite to be expected that 
 she would be very angry, at first, though there was 
 no doubt she would get over it, so far as Junius was 
 concerned. 
 
 Having thus decided, entirely to her own satis 
 faction, that this was the state of affairs, she thought 
 it was a grand thing that there were two such young 
 men in the world, as her cousin and Mr Croft, who 
 could arrange such an affair in so kindly and honorable 
 a manner, without feeling that they were obliged to 
 fight that horribly stupid way in which such things 
 used to be settled. 
 
 This vision of masculine high-mindedness, which 
 Miss Annie had called up, seemed very pleasant to 
 her, and her mental satisfaction was denoted by a 
 pretty little glow which came into her face, and 
 by a certain increase of sprightliness in her walk. 
 " Now then, " she said to herself ; and although 
 she did not finish the sentence, even in her own 
 
320 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 mind, the sky increased the intensity of its beau 
 tiful blue ; the sun began to shine with a more 
 golden radiance ; the little birds who had not yet 
 gone South, chirped to each other as merrily as 
 if it had been early summer ; the yellow and purple 
 wild flowers of autumn threw into their blossoms a 
 richer coloring; and even the blades of grass seemed 
 to stretch themselves upward, green, tender, and 
 promising ; and when the young lady skipped up 
 the step of the post-office, she dropped the letter 
 into Miss Harriet Corvey s little box, with the air 
 of a mother-bird feeding a young one with the first 
 ripe cherry of the year. 
 
 A day or two after this, Lawrence found himself 
 able, by the aid of a cane and a rude crutch, which 
 Uncle Isham had made for him and the top of 
 which Mrs Keswick had carefully padded, to make 
 his way from the office to the house ; and, after that, 
 he took his meals, and passed the greater part of his 
 time in the larger edifice. Sometimes, he ransacked 
 the old library ; sometimes, Miss Annie read to him ; 
 and sometimes, he read to her. In the evening, there 
 were games of cards, in which the old lady would 
 occasionally take a hand, although more frequently 
 Miss Annie and Mr Croft were obliged to content 
 themselves with some game at v/hich two could play. 
 But the pleasantest hours, perhaps, were those which 
 were spent in talking, for Lawrence had travelled a 
 good deal, and had seen so many of the things in 
 foreign lands which Miss Annie had always wished 
 that she could see. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 321 
 
 Lawrence was waiting until he should hear from 
 Mr Keswick ; so that, with some confidence in his 
 position, he could write to Miss March. His trunk 
 had been sent over from the Green Sulphur Springs, 
 and he was much better satisfied to wait here than 
 at that deserted watering-place. It was, indeed, a 
 very agreeable spot in which to wait, and quite near 
 enough to Midbranch for him to carry on his desired 
 operations, when the time should arrive. He was a 
 little annoyed that Keswick s answer should be so 
 long in coming, but he resolved not to worry himself 
 about it. The answer was, probably, a difficult letter 
 to write, and one which Keswick would not be likely 
 to dash off in a hurry. He remembered, too, that 
 the mail was sent and received only twice a week at 
 Hewlett s. 
 
 Old Mrs Keswick was kind to him, but grave, and 
 rather silent. Once she passed the open door of 
 the parlor, by the window of which sat Miss Annie 
 and Lawrence, deeply engaged, their heads together, 
 in studying out something on a map, and as she 
 went upstairs she grimly grinned, and said to her 
 self : " If that Null could look in and see them now, 
 I reckon our young man would wish he had the use 
 of all his arms and legs." 
 
 But if Mr Null should disapprove of his wife and 
 that gentleman from New York spending so much 
 of their time together, old Mrs Keswick had not the 
 least objection in the world. She was well satisfied 
 that Mr Croft should find it interesting enough to 
 stay here until the time came when he should be 
 
 21 
 
322 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 able to go to Midbranch. When that period arrived 
 she would not be slow to urge him to his duty, in 
 spite of any obstacles Mr Brandon might put in his 
 way. So, for the present, she possessed her soul in 
 as much peace as the soul of a headstrong and very 
 wilful old lady is capable of being possessed. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE letter which Lawrence Croft had written to 
 Junius Keswick was not answered for more than a 
 week, and when the answer arrived, it did not come 
 through the Hewlett s post-office, but was brought 
 from a mail station on the railway by a special mes 
 senger. In this epistle Mr Keswick stated that he 
 would have written much sooner but for the fact 
 that he had been away from Washington, and hav 
 ing just returned, had found Mr Croft s letter wait 
 ing for him. The answer was written in a tone 
 which Lawrence did not at all expect. It breathed 
 the spirit of a man who was determined, and almost 
 defiant. It told Mr Croft that the writer did not 
 now believe that Miss March s acceptance of the said 
 Mr Croft, should be considered of any value, what 
 ever. It was the result of a very peculiar condition 
 of things, in which he regretted having taken a part, 
 and it was given in a moment of pique and indigna 
 tion, which gave Miss March a right to reconsider 
 her hasty decision, if she chose to do so. It would 
 not be fair for either of them to accept, as conclu 
 sive, words said under the extraordinary circum 
 stances which surrounded Miss March when she 
 said those words. 
 
324 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " You asked me to do you a favor," wrote Jun- 
 ius Keswick, " and, very much against my incli 
 nation, and against what is now my judgment, I did 
 it. I now ask you to do me a favor, and I do not 
 think you should refuse it. I ask you not to com 
 municate with Miss March until I have seen her, 
 and have obtained from her an explanation of the 
 acceptance in question. I have a right to this 
 explanation, and I feel confident that it will be 
 given to me. You ask me what I truly believe 
 Miss March meant by her message to you. I an 
 swer that I do not know, but I intend to find 
 out what she meant, and as soon as I do so, I 
 will write to you. I think, therefore, considering 
 what you have asked me to do, and what you have 
 written to me, about what I have done, that you 
 cannot refuse to abstain from any further action in 
 the matter, until I am enabled to answer you. I 
 cannot leave Washington immediately, but I shall 
 go to Midbranch in a very few days." 
 
 This letter was very far from being a categorical 
 answer to Lawrence s questions, and it disappointed 
 and somewhat annoyed that gentleman ; but after he 
 had read it for the second time, and carefully con 
 sidered it, he put it in his pocket and said to himself, 
 " This ends all discussion of this subject. Mr Kes 
 wick may be right in the position he takes, or he 
 may be wrong. He may go to Midbranch ; he may 
 get his explanation ; and he may send it to me. 
 But, without any regard to what he does, or says, 
 or writes, I shall go to Miss March as soon as I am 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 325 
 
 able to use my ankle, and, whether she be at her 
 uncle s house, or whether she has gone to New 
 York, or to any other place, I shall see her, and, 
 myself, obtain from her an explanation of this ac 
 ceptance. This is due to me as well. as to Mr Kes- 
 wick, and if he thinks he ought to get it, for himself, 
 I also think I ought to get it, for myself." 
 
 The good results of Lawrence s great care in regard 
 to his injured ankle soon began to show themselves. 
 The joint had slowly but steadily regained its strength 
 and usual healthy condition ; and Lawrence now 
 found that he could walk about without the assist 
 ance of his rude crutch. He was still prudent, how 
 ever, and took but very short walks, and in these he 
 leaned upon his trusty cane. The charming autumn 
 days, which often come to Virginia in late October 
 and early November, were now at their best. Day 
 after day, the sun shone brightly, but there was in 
 the air an invigorating coolness, which made its 
 radiance something to be sought for and not 
 avoided. 
 
 It was just after dinner, and it was Saturday 
 afternoon, when Miss Annie announced that she was 
 going to see old Aunt Patsy, whom she had some 
 what neglected of late. 
 
 " May I go with you ? " said Lawrence. 
 
 Miss Annie shook her head doubtfully. " I should 
 be very glad to have your company," she said, " but 
 I am afraid it will be entirely too much of a walk 
 for you. The days are so short that the sun will be 
 low before we could get back, and if you should be 
 
326 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 tired, it would not do for you to sit down and rest, 
 at that time of day." 
 
 " I believe," said Lawrence, " that my ankle is 
 quite strong enough for me to walk to Aunt Patsy s 
 and back, without sitting down to rest. I would be 
 very glad to go with you, and I would like, too, to 
 see that venerable colored woman again." 
 
 <k Well," said Miss Annie, " if you really think you 
 can walk so far, it will be very nice indeed to have 
 you go, but you ought to feel very sure that it will 
 not hurt you." 
 
 " Come along," said Lawrence, taking up his hat 
 and cane. 
 
 After a man has been shut up, as Lawrence had 
 been, a pleasant ramble like this is a most delightful 
 change, and he did not hesitate to manifest his 
 pleasure. This touched the very sensitive soul of 
 his companion, and with such a sparkle of talk did 
 she evince her gratification, that almost any one 
 would have been able to see that she was a young 
 lady who had an earnest sympathy with those who 
 had undergone afflictions, but were now freed from 
 them. 
 
 Aunt Patsy was glad to see her visitors, particu 
 larly glad, it seemed, to see Mr Croft. She was 
 quite loquacious, considering the great length of her 
 days, and the proverbial shortness of her tongue. 
 
 " Why, Aunt Patsy," said Miss Annie, "you seem 
 to have grown younger since I last saw you ! I do 
 believe you are getting old backwards ! What are 
 you going to do with that dress-body ?" 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 327 
 
 " I s lookin at dis h yar," said Aunt Patsy, turn 
 ing over the well-worn body of a black woollen dress 
 which lay in her lap, instead of the crazy quilt 
 on which she was usually occupied, " to see if it s 
 done gib way in any ob de seams, or de elbers. 
 Twas a right smart good frock once, an I s gwine 
 to wear it ter-morrer." 
 
 " To-morrow !" exclaimed Annie. "You don t 
 mean to say you are going to church ! " 
 
 " Dat s jus wot I s gwine to do, Miss Annie. I s 
 gwine to chu ch ter-morrer mawnin . Bar s gwine to 
 be a big preachin . Brudder Enick Hines is to be 
 dar, an dey tell me dey allus has pow ful wakenin s 
 when Brudder Enick preaches. I ain t ever heered 
 Brudder Enick yit, coz he was a little boy when I 
 use to go to chu ch." 
 
 " Will it be in the old church, in the woods just 
 beyond Hewlett s?" asked Annie. 
 
 " Right dar," replied Aunt Patsy, with an approv 
 ing glance towards the young lady. " You mem 
 bers dem ar places fus rate, Miss Annie. Why you 
 didn t tole me, when you fus come h yar, dat you 
 was dat little Miss Annie dat I use to tote roun 
 afore I gin up walkin ? " 
 
 " Oh, that s too long a story," said Miss Annie, 
 with a laugh. " You know I hadn t seen Aunt Kes- 
 wick, then. I couldn t go about introducing myself 
 to other people before I had seen her." 
 
 Aunt Patsy gave a sagacious nod of her head. 
 " I reckon you thought she d be right much dis 
 gruntled when she heered you was mar ed, an you 
 
328 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 wanted to tell her youse f. But I s pow ful glad dat 
 it s all right now. You all don know how pow ful 
 glad I is." And she looked at Mr Croft and Miss 
 Annie with a glance as benignant as her time-set 
 countenance was capable of. 
 
 " But Aunt Patsy," said Annie, quite willing to 
 change the conversation, although she did not know 
 the import of the old woman s last remark, " I 
 thought you were not able to go out." 
 
 The old woman gave a little chuckle. " Dat s 
 wot eberybody thought, an to tell you de truf, Miss 
 Annie, I thought so too. But ef I was strong nuf 
 to go to de pos -offis, an I did dat, Miss Annie, an 
 not long ago nuther, I reckon I s strong nuf to go 
 to chu ch, an Uncle Isham is a comin wid de ox 
 cart to take me ter-morrer mawnin . Dar ll be 
 pow ful wakenin s, an I ain t seen de Jerus lum 
 Jump in a mighty long time." 
 
 "Are they going to have the Jerusalem Jump?" 
 asked Miss Annie. 
 
 " Oh, yaas, Miss Annie," said the old woman, 
 " dey s sartin shuh to hab dat, when dey gits wak- 
 en d." 
 
 " I should so like to see the Jerusalem Jump 
 again," said Miss Annie. " I saw it once, when I 
 was a little girl. Did you ever see it ? " she said, 
 turning to Mr Croft. 
 
 " I have not," he answered. " I never even heard 
 of it." 
 
 " Suppose we go to-morrow, and hear Brother 
 Enoch," she said. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 329 
 
 " I should like it very much," answered Lawrence. 
 
 " Aunt Patsy," said Miss Annie, " would there 
 be any objection to our going to your church to 
 morrow ? " 
 
 The old woman gave her head a little shake. 
 "Dunno," she said. "As a gin ral rule we don t 
 like white folks at our preachin s. Dey s got dar 
 chu ches, an dar ways, an we s got our chu ches, an 
 our ways. But den it s dif rent wid you all. An 
 you all s not like white folks in gin ral, an specially 
 strawngers. You all isn t strawngers now. I don t 
 reckon dar ll be no jections to your comin , ef you 
 set sollum, an I know you ll do dat, Miss Annie, 
 coz you did it when you was a little gal. An I 
 reckon it ll be de same wid him?" looking at Mr 
 Croft. 
 
 Miss Annie assured her that she and her com 
 panion would be certain to " sit solemn," and that 
 they would not think of such a thing as going to 
 church and behaving indecorously. 
 
 "Dar is white folks," said Aunt Patsy, "wot 
 comes to a culled chu ch fur nothin else but to larf. 
 De debbil gits dem folks, but dat don do us no 
 good, Miss Annie, an we d rudder dey stay away. 
 But you all s not dat kine. I knows dat, sartin 
 shuh." 
 
 When the two had taken leave of the old woman, 
 and Miss Annie had gone out of the door, Aunt 
 Patsy leaned very far forward, and stretching out 
 her long arm, seized Mr Croft by the skirt of his 
 coat. He stepped back, quite surprised, and then 
 
330 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 she said to him, in a low but very earnest voice : " I 
 reckon dat dat ar sprain ankle was nuffm but a acci- 
 den ; but you look out, sah, you look out! Hab 
 you got dem little shoes handy?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Lawrence. " I have them in my 
 trunk." 
 
 u Keep em whar you kin put your han on em/ 
 said Aunt Patsy, impressively. " You may want 
 em yit. You min my wuds." 
 
 " I shall be sure to remember," said Lawrence, as 
 he hastened out to rejoin Annie. 
 
 " What in the world had Aunt Patsy to say to 
 you ? " asked that somewhat surprised young lady. 
 
 Then Lawrence told her how some time before 
 Aunt Patsy had given him a pair of blue shoes, 
 which she said would act as a preventive charm, in 
 case Mrs Keswick should ever wish to do him harm, 
 and that she had now called him back to remind 
 him not to neglect this means of personal protec 
 tion. " I can t imagine," said Lawrence, " that your 
 aunt would ever think of such a thing as doing me 
 a harm, or how those little shoes would prevent her, 
 if she wanted to, but I suppose Aunt Patsy is crack- 
 brained on some subjects, and so I thought it best 
 to humor her, and took the shoes." 
 
 " Do you know," said Miss Annie, after walking a 
 little distance in silence, " that I am afraid Aunt 
 Patsy has done a dreadful thing, and one I never 
 should have suspected her of. Aunt Keswick had 
 a little baby once, and it died very young. She 
 keeps its clothes in a box, and I remember when I 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 331 
 
 was a little girl that she once showed them to me, 
 and told me I was to take the place of that little 
 girl, and that frightened me dreadfully, because I 
 thought that I would have to die, and have my 
 clothes put in a box. I recollect perfectly that 
 there was a pair of little blue shoes among these 
 clothes, and Aunt Patsy must have stolen them." 
 
 " That surprises me," said Lawrence. " I sup 
 posed, from what I had heard of the old woman, 
 that she was perfectly honest." 
 
 " So she is," said Annie. " She has been a trusted 
 servant in our family nearly all her life. But some 
 negroes have very queer ideas about taking certain 
 things, and I suppose Aunt Patsy had some particu 
 lar reason for taking those shoes, for, of course, they 
 could be of no value to her." 
 
 "I am very sorry," said Lawrence, "that such 
 sacred relics should have come into my possession, 
 but I must admit that I would not like to give them 
 back to your aunt." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Annie, " that would never do ; and 
 I wouldn t dare to try to find her box, and put them 
 in it. It would seem like a desecration for any hand 
 but her own to touch those things." 
 
 " That is true," said Lawrence, " and you might 
 get yourself into a lot of trouble by endeavoring to 
 repair the mischief. Before I leave here, we may 
 think of some plan of disposing of the little trotters. 
 It might be well to give them back to Aunt Patsy 
 and tell her to restore them." 
 
 " I don t know," said Miss Annie, with a slowness 
 
332 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 of reply, and an irrelevance of demeanor, which in 
 dicated she was not thinking of the words she was 
 speaking. 
 
 The sun was now very near the horizon, and that 
 evening coolness which, in the autumn, comes on so 
 quickly after the sunshine fades out of the air, made 
 Lawrence give a little shrug with his shoulders. 
 He proposed that they should quicken their pace, 
 and as his companion made no objection, they soon 
 reached the house. 
 
 The next day being Sunday, breakfast was rather 
 later than usual, and as Lawrence looked out on 
 the bright morning, with the mists just disengag 
 ing themselves from the many-hued foliage which 
 crowned the tops of the surrounding hills ; and on 
 the recently risen sun, hanging in an atmosphere of 
 grey and lilac, with the smile of Indian summer on 
 its face ; he thought he would like to take a stroll, 
 before that meal ; but either the length of his 
 walk on the previous day, or the rapidity of the lat 
 ter portion of it, had been rather too much for the 
 newly-recovered strength of his ankle, which now felt 
 somewhat stiff and sore. When he mentioned this 
 at the breakfast table, he received a good deal of 
 condolence from the two ladies, especially Mrs Kes- 
 wick. And, at first, it was thought that it might be 
 well for him to give up his proposed attendance at 
 the negro church. But to this Lawrence strongly 
 objected, for he very much desired to see some of 
 the peculiar religious services of the negroes. He 
 had been talking on the subject the evening before 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 333 
 
 with Mrs Keswick, who had told him that in this 
 part of the country, which lay in the " black belt " 
 of Virginia, where the negro population had always 
 been thickest, these ceremonies were more charac 
 teristic of the religious disposition of the African, 
 than in those sections of the State where the white 
 race exerted a greater influence upon the manners 
 and customs of the colored people. 
 
 " But it will not be necessary to walk much/ said 
 Miss Annie. " We can take the spring-wagon, and 
 you can go with us, aunt." 
 
 The old lady permitted herself a little grin. 
 " When I go to church," she said, u I go to a white 
 folks church, and try to see what I can of white 
 folks Christianity, though I must say that Christian 
 ity of the other color is often just as good, as far as 
 works go. But it is natural that a stranger should 
 want to see what kind of services the colored people 
 have, so you two might as well get into the spring- 
 wagon and go along." 
 
 " But shall we not deprive you of the vehicle ? " 
 said Lawrence. 
 
 " I never go to church in the spring-wagon," said 
 the old lady, " so long as I am able to walk. And, 
 besides, this is not our Sunday for preaching." 
 
 It seemed to Lawrence that an elderly person who 
 went about in a purple calico sun-bonnet, and with 
 an umbrella of the same material, might go to 
 church in a wheelbarrow, so far as appearances were 
 concerned, but he had long ceased to wonder at Mrs 
 Keswick s idiosyncrasies. 
 
334 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I remember very well," said Miss Annie, after 
 the old lady had left the table, which she always did 
 as soon as she had finished a meal, " when Aunt 
 Keswick used to go to church in a big family car 
 riage, which is now sleeping itself to pieces out 
 there in the barn. But then she had a pair of big 
 gray horses, one of them named Doctor and the other 
 Colonel. But now she has only one horse, and I am 
 going to tell Uncle Isham to harness that one up 
 before he goes to church himself. You know he is 
 to take Aunt Patsy in the ox-cart, so he will have to 
 go early." 
 
 They went to the negro church in the spring- 
 wagon, Lawrence driving the jogging sorrel, and 
 Miss Annie on the seat beside him. When 
 they reached the old frame edifice in the woods be 
 yond Hewlett s, they found gathered there quite a 
 large assemblage, for this was one of those very at 
 tractive occasions called a " big preaching." Horses 
 and mules, and wagons of various kinds, many of the 
 latter containing baskets of refreshments, were 
 standing about under the trees ; and Mrs Keswick s 
 cart and oxen, tethered to a little pine tree, gave 
 proof that Aunt Patsy had arrived. The inside of 
 the church was nearly full, and outside, around the 
 door, stood a large number of men and boys. 
 The white visitors were looked upon with some 
 surprise, but way was made for them to approach 
 the door, and as soon as they entered the building two 
 of the officers of the church came forward to show 
 them to one of the uppermost seats; but this honor 
 
The Late Mrs Nitll. 335 
 
 Miss Annie strenuously declined. She preferred a 
 seat near the open door, and therefore she and Mr 
 Croft were given a bench in that vicinity, of which 
 they had sole possession. 
 
 To Lawrence, who had never seen anything of 
 the sort, the services which now began were ex 
 ceedingly interesting ; and as Annie had not been 
 to a negro church since she was a little girl, and 
 very seldom then, she gave very earnest and ani 
 mated attention to what was going on. The sing 
 ing, as it always is among the negroes, was powerful 
 and melodious, and the long prayer of Brother 
 Enoch Hines was one of those spirited and emo 
 tional statements of personal condition, and wild 
 and ardent supplication, which generally pave the 
 way for a most powerful awakening in an assem 
 blage of this kind. Another hymn, sung in more 
 vigorous tones than the first one, warmed up the 
 congregation to such a degree that when Brother 
 Hines opened the Bible, and made preparations for 
 his discourse, he looked out upon an audience as 
 anxious to be moved and stirred as he was to move 
 and stir it. The sermon was intended to be a long 
 one, for, had it been otherwise, Brother Hines had 
 lost his reputation ; and, therefore, the preacher, after 
 a few prefatory statements, delivered in a grave and 
 solemn manner, plunged boldly into the midst of his 
 exhortations, knowing that he could go either back 
 ward or forward, presenting, with equal acceptance, 
 fresh subject matter, or that already used, so long as 
 his strength held out. 
 
336 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 He had not preached half an hour before his 
 hearers were so stirred and moved, that a majority 
 of them found it utterly impossible to merely sit 
 still and listen. In different ways their awakening 
 was manifested ; some began to sing in a low voice ; 
 others gently rocked their bodies ; while fervent 
 ejaculations of various kinds were heard from all 
 parts of the church. From this beginning, arose 
 gradually a scene of religious activity, such as Law 
 rence had never imagined. Each individual allowed 
 his or her fervor to express itself according to the 
 method which best pleased the worshipper. Some 
 kept to their seats, and listened to the words of the 
 preacher, interrupting him occasionally by fervent 
 ejaculations ; others sang and shouted, sometimes 
 standing up, clapping their hands and stamping their 
 feet ; while a large proportion of the able-bodied 
 members left their seats, and pushed their way for 
 ward to the wide, open space which surrounded the 
 preacher s desk, and prepared to engage in the ex 
 hilarating ceremony of the "Jerusalem Jump." 
 
 Two concentric rings were formed around the 
 preacher, the inner one composed of women, the 
 outer one of men, the faces of those forming 
 the inner ring being turned towards those in the 
 outer. As soon as all were in place, each brother 
 reached forth his hand, and took the hand of the 
 sister opposite to him, and then each couple began 
 to jump up and down violently, shaking hands and 
 singing at the top of their voices. After about a 
 minute of this, the two circles moved, one, one 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 337 
 
 way and one another, so that each brother found 
 himself opposite a different sister. Hands, were 
 again immediately seized, and the jumping, hand 
 shaking, and singing went on. Minute by minute 
 the excitement increased ; faster the worshippers 
 jumped, and louder they sang. Through it all 
 Brother Enoch Hines kept on with his sermon. It 
 was very difficult now to make himself heard, and 
 the time for explanation or elucidation had long 
 since passed ; all he could do was to shout forth cer 
 tain important and moving facts, and this he did 
 over and over again, holding his hand at the side of 
 his mouth, as if he were hailing a vessel in the wind. 
 Much of what he said was lost in the din of the 
 jumpers, but ever and anon could be heard ringing 
 through the church the announcement : " De wheel 
 ob time is a turnin* roun ! " 
 
 In a group by themselves, in an upper corner of 
 the congregation, were four or five very old women, 
 who were able to manifest their pious enthusiasm in 
 no other way than by rocking their bodies back 
 wards and forwards, and singing with their cracked 
 voices a gruesome and monotonous chant. This 
 rude song had something of a wild and uncivilized 
 nature, as if it had come down to these old people 
 from the savage rites of their African ancestors. 
 They did not sing in unison, but each squeaked or 
 piped out her, " Yi, wiho, yi, hoo ! " according to the 
 strength of her lungs, and the degree of her exalta 
 tion. Prominent among these was old Aunt Patsy ; 
 her little black eyes sparkling through her great 
 
 22 
 
338 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 iron-bound spectacles ; her head and body moving 
 in unison with the wild air of the unintelligible chant 
 she sang ; her long, skinny hands clapping up and 
 down upon her knees ; while her feet, encased in 
 their great green baize slippers, unceasingly beat 
 time upon the floor. 
 
 So many persons being absent from their seats, 
 the group of old women was clearly visible to Annie 
 and Lawrence, and Aunt Patsy also could easily see 
 them. Whenever her head, in its ceaseless moving 
 from side to side, allowed her eyes to fall upon the 
 two white visitors, her ardor and fervency increased, 
 and she seemed to be expressing a pious gratitude 
 that Miss Annie and he, whom she supposed to be 
 her husband, were still together in peace and safety. 
 
 Annie was much affected by all she saw and 
 heard. Her face was slightly pale, and occasionally 
 she was moved by a little nervous tremor. Mr 
 Croft, too, was very attentive. His soul was not 
 moved to enthusiasm, and he did not feel, as his 
 companion did, now and then, that he would like to 
 jump up and join in the dancing and the shouting ; 
 but the scene made a very strong impression upon 
 him. 
 
 Around and around went the two rings of men 
 and women, jumping, singing, and hand-shaking. 
 Out from the centre of them came the stentorian 
 shout: " De wheel ob time is a turnin roun ! " 
 From all parts of the church rose snatches of 
 hymns, exultant shouts, groans, and prayers ; and, 
 in the corner, the shrill chants of the old women 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 339 
 
 were fitfully heard through the storm of discordant 
 worship. 
 
 In the midst of all the wild din and hubbub, the 
 soul of Aunt Patsy looked out from the habitation 
 where it had dwelt so long, and, without giving the 
 slightest notice to any one, or attracting the least 
 attention by its movements, it silently slipped away. 
 
 The old habitation of the soul still sat in its chair, 
 but no one noticed that it no longer sang, or beat 
 time with its hands and feet. 
 
 Not long after this, Lawrence looked round at his 
 companion, and noticed that she was slightly trem 
 bling. " Don t you think we have had enough of 
 this? " he whispered. 
 
 " Yes," she answered. And they rose and went 
 out. They thought they were the first who had 
 left. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 WHEN Mr Croft and Miss Annie got into the 
 spring-wagon, and the head of the sorrel was turned 
 away from the church, Lawrence looked at his 
 watch, and remarked that, as it was still quite early, 
 there might be time for a little drive before going 
 back to the house for dinner. The face of the 
 young lady beside him was still slightly pale, and 
 the thought came to him that it would be very well 
 for her if her mind could be diverted from the ab 
 normally inspiriting scene she had just witnessed. 
 
 11 Dinner will be late to-day," she said, " for I 
 saw Letty doing her best among the Jerusalem 
 Jumpers." 
 
 " Very well," said he, " we will drive. And now, 
 where shall we go ?" 
 
 " If we take the cross-road at the store," said Miss 
 Annie, " and go on for about half a mile, we can 
 turn into the woods, and then there is a beautiful 
 road through the trees, which will bring us out on 
 the other side of Aunt Keswick s house. Junius 
 took me that way not long ago." 
 
 So they turned at the store, much to the disgust 
 of the plodding sorrel, who thought he was going 
 directly home, and they soon reached the road that 
 led through the woods. This was hard and sandy, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 341 
 
 as are many of the roads through the forests in that 
 part of the country, and it would have been a very 
 good driving road, had it not been for the occasional 
 protrusion of tree roots, which gave the wheels a lit 
 tle bump, and for the branches which, now and then, 
 hung down somewhat too low for the comfort of 
 a lady and gentleman, riding in a rather high spring- 
 wagon without a cover. But Lawrence drove slowly, 
 and so the root bumps were not noticed ; and when 
 the low-hanging boughs were on his side, he lifted 
 them so that his companion s head could pass 
 under and, when they happened to be on her side, 
 Annie ducked her head, and her hat was never 
 brushed off. But, at times, they drove quite a dis 
 tance without overhanging boughs, and the pine 
 trees, surrounded by their smooth carpet of brown 
 spines, gave forth a spicy fragrance in the warm, 
 but sparkling air ; the oak trees stood up still dark 
 and green ; while the chestnuts were all dressed 
 in rich yellow, with the chinquepin bushes by the 
 roadside imitating them in color, as they tried to 
 do in fruit. Sometimes a spray of purple flowers 
 could be seen among the trees, and great patches 
 of sunlight which, here and there, came through the 
 thinning foliage, fell, now upon the brilliantly scarlet 
 leaves of a sweet-gum, and now upon the polished 
 and brown-red dress of a neighboring black-gum. 
 
 The woods were very quiet. There was no sound 
 of bird or insect, and the occasional hare, or " Molly 
 Cotton-tail," as Annie delightedly called it, who 
 hopped across the road, made no noise at all. A 
 
342 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 gentle wind among the tops of the taller trees made 
 a sound as of a distant sea ; but, besides this, little 
 was heard but the low, crunching noise of the 
 wheels, and the voices of Lawrence and Miss Annie. 
 
 Reaching a place where the road branched, Law 
 rence stopped the horse, and looked up each leafy 
 lane. They were completely deserted. White 
 people seldom walked abroad at this hour on Sun 
 day, and the negroes of the neighborhood were at 
 church. "Is not this a frightfully lonely place?" 
 he said. " One might imagine himself in a desert." 
 
 " I like it," replied Annie. " It is so different 
 from the wild, exciting tumult of that church. I 
 am glad you took me away. At first I would not 
 have missed it for the world, but there seemed to 
 come into the stormy scene something oppressive, 
 and almost terrifying." 
 
 u I am glad I took you away," said Lawrence, 
 " but it seems to me that your impression was not 
 altogether natural. I thought that, amid all that 
 mad enthusiasm, you were over-excited, not de 
 pressed. A solemn solitude like this would, to my 
 thinking, be much more likely to lower your spirits. 
 I don t like solitude, myself, and therefore, I sup 
 pose it is that I thought an impressible nature, like 
 yours, would find something sad in the loneliness of 
 these silent woods." 
 
 Annie turned, and fixed on him her large blue 
 eyes. " But I am not alone," she said. 
 
 As Lawrence looked into her eyes he saw that 
 they were as clear as the purest crystal, and that he 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 343 
 
 could look through them straight into her soul, and 
 there he saw that this woman loved him. The 
 vision was as sudden as if it had been a night scene 
 lighted up by a flash of lightning, but it was as clear 
 and plain as if it had been that same scene under 
 the noonday sun. 
 
 There are times in the life of a man, when the 
 goddess of Reasonable Impulse raises her arms 
 above her head, and allows herself a little yawn. 
 Then she takes off her crown and hangs it on the 
 back of her throne ; after which she rests her sceptre 
 on the floor, and, rising, stretches herself to her 
 full height, arid goes forth to take a long, refreshing 
 walk by the waters of Unreflection. Then her 
 minister, Prudence, stretches himself upon a bench, 
 and, with his handkerchief over his eyes, composes 
 himself for a nap. Discretion, Worldly Wisdom, 
 and other trusted officers of her court, and even, 
 sometimes, that agile page called Memory, no sooner 
 see their royal mistress depart than, by various 
 doors, they leave the palace and wander far away. 
 Then, silently, with sparkling eyes, and parted lips, 
 comes that fair being, Unthinking Love. She puts 
 one foot upon the lower step of the throne ; she 
 looks about her; and, with a quick bound, she 
 seats herself. Upon her tumbled curls she hastily 
 puts the crown ; with her small white hand she 
 grasps the sceptre ; and then z rising, waves it, and 
 issues her commands. The crowd of emotions 
 which serve as her satellites, seize the great seal from 
 the sleeping Prudence, and the new Queen reigns ! 
 
344 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 All this now happened to Lawrence. Never 
 before had he looked into the eyes of a woman 
 who loved him ; and, leaning over towards this 
 one, he put his arm around her and drew her 
 towards him. " And never shall you be alone," he 
 said. 
 
 She looked up at him with tears starting to her 
 eyes, and then she put her head against his breast. 
 She was too happy to say anything, and she did 
 not try. 
 
 It was about a minute after this, that the sober 
 sorrel, who took no interest in what had occurred 
 behind him, and a great deal of interest in his 
 stable at home, started in an uncertain and hesi 
 tating way ; and, rinding that he was not checked, 
 began to move onward. Lawrence looked up from 
 the little head upon his breast, and called out, 
 " Whoa ! " To this, however, the sorrel paid no 
 attention. Lawrence then put forth his right hand 
 to grasp the reins, but having lately forgotten all 
 about them, they had fallen out of the spring-wagon, 
 and were now dragging upon the ground. It was 
 impossible for him to reach them, and so, seizing the 
 whip, he endeavored with its aid to hook them up. 
 Failing in this, he was about to jump out and run 
 to the horse s head ; but, perceiving his intention, 
 Annie seized his arm. " Don t you do it ! " she 
 exclaimed. " You ll ruin your ankle ! " 
 
 Lawrence could not but admit to himself that he 
 was not in condition to execute any feats of agility, 
 and he also felt that Annie had a very charming 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 345 
 
 way of holding fast to his arm, as if she had a 
 right to keep him out of danger. And now the 
 sorrel broke into the jog-trot which was his usual 
 pace. " It is very provoking," said Lawrence, " I 
 don t think I ever allowed myself to drop the reins 
 before." 
 
 " It doesn t make the slightest difference," said 
 Annie, comfortingly. " This old horse knows the 
 road perfectly well, and he doesn t need a bit of 
 driving. He will take us home just as safely as if 
 you held the reins, and now don t you try to get 
 them, for you will only hurt yourself." 
 
 "Very well," said Lawrence, putting his arm 
 around her again, " I am resigned. But I think 
 you are very brave to sit so quiet and composed, 
 under the circumstances." 
 
 She looked at him with a smile. " Such a little 
 circumstance don t count, just now," she said. " You 
 must stop that," she added, presently, " when we 
 get to the edge of the woods." 
 
 Before long, they came out into the open country 
 and found themselves in a lane which led by a 
 wide circuit to the road passing Mrs Keswick s 
 house. The old sorrel certainly behaved admirably; 
 he held back when he descended a declivity ; he 
 walked over the rough places ; and he trotted stead 
 ily where the road was smooth. 
 
 " It seems like our Fate," said Annie, who now 
 sat up without an arm around her, the protecting 
 woods having been left behind, "he just takes us 
 along without our having anything to do with it." 
 
346 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 u He is not much of a horse," said Lawrence, 
 clasping, in an unobservable way, the little hand 
 which lay by his side, " but the Fate is charming." 
 
 Fortunately there was no one upon the road to 
 notice the reinless plight in which these two young 
 people found themselves, and they were quite as well 
 satisfied as if they had been doing their own driving. 
 After a little period of thought, Annie turned an 
 earnest face to Lawrence, and she said : " Do you 
 know that I never believed that you were really in 
 love with Roberta March." 
 
 Lawrence squeezed her hand, but did not reply. 
 He knew very well that he had loved Roberta 
 March, and he was not going to lie about it. 
 
 " I thought so," she continued, " because I did 
 not believe that any one, who was truly in love, 
 would want to send other people about, to propose 
 for him, as you did." 
 
 " That is not exactly the state of the case," he 
 said, " but we must not talk of those things now. 
 That is all passed and gone." 
 
 " But if there ever was any love," she persisted, 
 " are you sure that it is all gone ? " 
 
 " Gone," he answered, earnestly, " as utterly and 
 completely as the days of last summer." 
 
 And now the sorrel, of his own accord, stopped 
 at Mrs Keswick s outer gate; and Lawrence, getting 
 down, took up the reins, opened the gate, and drove 
 to the house in quite a proper way. 
 
 When Mr Croft helped Annie to descend from 
 the spring-wagon, he did not squeeze her hand, nor 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 347 
 
 exchange with her any tender glances, for old Mrs 
 Keswick was standing at the top of the steps. 
 " Have you seen Letty ?" she asked. 
 
 "Letty?" said Miss Annie. " Oh, yes," she added, 
 as if she suddenly remembered that such a person 
 existed, " Letty was at church, and she was very 
 active." 
 
 " Well," said the old lady, " she must have taken 
 more interest in the exercises than you did, for it is 
 long past the time when I told her she must be 
 home." 
 
 " I do not believe, madam," said Lawrence, "that 
 any one could have taken more interest in the exer 
 cises of this morning, than we have." 
 
 At this, Annie could not help giving him a little 
 look which would have provoked reflection in the 
 mind of the old lady, had she not been very ear 
 nestly engaged in gazing out into the road, in the 
 hope of seeing Letty. 
 
 When Lawrence had gone into the office, and had 
 closed the door behind him, he stood in a medita 
 tive mood before the empty fireplace. He was 
 making inquiries of himself in regard to what he 
 had just done. He was not accusing himself, nor 
 indulging in regrets; he was simply investigating 
 the matter. Here he stood, a man accepted by two 
 women. If he had ever heard of any other man 
 in a like condition, he would have called that man 
 a scoundrel, and yet he did not deem himself a 
 scoundrel. 
 
 The facts in the case were easy enough to under- 
 
348 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 stand. For the first time in his life he had looked 
 into the eyes of a woman who loved him, and he 
 had discovered to his utter surprise that he loved 
 her. There had been no plan ; no prudent outlook 
 into her nature and feelings ; no cautious insight into 
 his own. He had taken part in a most unpremedi 
 tated act of pure and simple love; and that it was 
 real and pure love on each side, he no more doubted 
 than he doubted that he lived. And yet, had he 
 been an impostor when, on that hill over there, he 
 told Roberta March he loved her? No, he had been 
 honest, he had loved her ; and, since the time that 
 he had been roused to action by the discovery of 
 Junius Keswick s intentions to renew his suit, it had 
 been a love full of a rare and alluring beauty. But its 
 charm, its fascination, its very existence, had disap 
 peared in the first flash of his knowledge that Annie 
 Peyton loved him. Had his love for Roberta been 
 a perfect one, had he been sure that she returned it, 
 then it could not have been overthrown ; but it had 
 gone, and a love, complete and perfect, stood in its 
 place. He had seen that he was loved, and he 
 loved. That was all, but it would stand forever. 
 
 This was the state of the case, and now Lawrence 
 set himself to discover if, in all ways, he had acted 
 truly and honestly. He had been accepted by Miss 
 March, but what sort of acceptance was it ? Should 
 he, as a man true to himself, accept such an accept 
 ance? What was he to think of a woman who, 
 very angry as he had been informed, had sent him a 
 message, which meant everything in the world to 
 
The Late Mrs NidL 349 
 
 him, if it meant anything, and had then dashed 
 away without allowing him a chance to speak to her, 
 or even giving him a nod of farewell? The last 
 thing she had really said to him in this connection 
 were those cruel words on Pine Top Hill, with which 
 she had asked him to choose a spot in which to 
 be rejected. Could he consider himself engaged ? 
 Would a woman who cared for him act towards him 
 in such a manner ? After all, was that acceptance 
 anything more than the result of pique ? And 
 could he not, quite as justly, accept the rejection 
 which she had professed herself anxious to give him. 
 
 A short time before, Lawrence had done his best 
 to explain to his advantage these peculiarities of his 
 status in regard to Miss March. He had said to 
 himself that she had threatened to reject him be 
 cause she wished to punish him, and he had intended 
 to implore her pardon, and expected to receive it. 
 Over and over again, had he argued with himself in 
 this strain, and yet, in spite of it all, he had not 
 been able to bring himself into a state of mind in 
 which he could sit down and write to her a letter, 
 which, in his estimation, would be certain to seal and 
 complete the engagement. " How very glad I am," 
 he now said to himself, " that I never wrote that 
 letter ! " And this was the only decision at which 
 he had arrived, when he heard Mrs Keswick calling 
 to him from the yard. 
 
 He immediately went to the door, when the old 
 lady informed him, that as Letty had not come back, 
 and did not appear to be intending to come back, and 
 
350 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 that as none of the other servants on the place had 
 made their appearance, he might as well come into 
 the house, and try to satisfy his hunger on what cold 
 food she and Mrs Null had managed to collect. 
 
 The most biting and spicy condiments of the little 
 meal, to which the three sat down, were supplied 
 by Mrs Keswick, who reviled without stint those 
 utterly thoughtless and heedless colored people, 
 who, once in the midst of their crazy religious ex 
 ercises, totally forgot that they owed any duty 
 whatever to those who employed them. Law 
 rence and Annie did not say much, but there was 
 something peculiarly piquant in the way in which 
 Annie brought and poured out the tea she had 
 made, and which, with the exception of the old 
 lady s remarks, was the only warm part of the 
 repast ; and there was an element of buoyancy in 
 the manner of Mr Croft, as he took his cup to drink 
 the tea. Although he said little at this meal, he 
 thought a great deal, listening not at all to Mrs 
 Keswick s tirades. " What a charmingly incon 
 siderate affair this has been ! " he said to himself. 
 " Nothing planned, nothing provided for, or against ; 
 all spontaneous, and from our very hearts. I never 
 thought to tell her that she must say nothing to 
 her aunt, until we had agreed how everything 
 should be explained, and I don t believe the idea 
 that it is necessary to say anything to anybody, 
 has entered her mind. But I must keep my eyes 
 away from her if I don t want to bring on a prema 
 ture explosion." 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 351 
 
 Whatever might be the result of the reasoning 
 which this young man had to do with himself, it 
 was quite plain that he was abundantly satisfied 
 with things as they were. 
 
 It was beginning to be dark, when Letty and 
 Uncle Isham returned and explained why they had 
 been so late in returning. 
 
 Old Aunt Patsy had died in church. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " LAWRENCE," said Annie, on the forenoon of 
 the next day, as they were sitting together in 
 the parlor with the house to themselves, Mrs Kes- 
 wick having gone to Aunt Patsy s cabin to super 
 vise proceedings there, " Lawrence, don t you feel 
 glad that we did not have a chance to speak to dear 
 old Aunt Patsy about those little shoes? Perhaps 
 she had forgotten that she had stolen them, and so 
 went to heaven without that sin on her soul." 
 
 " That is a very comfortable way of looking at 
 it," said Lawrence, " but wouldn t it be better to 
 assume that she did not steal them ? " 
 
 "I am very sorry," said Annie, "but that is 
 not easy to do. But don t let us think anything 
 more about that. And, don t you feel very glad 
 that the poor old creature, who looked so happy 
 as she sat singing and clapping her hands on her 
 knees, didn t die until after we had left the church? 
 If it had happened while we were there, I don t 
 believe " 
 
 " Don t believe what ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " Well, that you now would be sitting with your 
 arm on the back of my chair." 
 
 Lawrence was quite sure, from what had been 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 353 
 
 told him, that Aunt Patsy s demise had taken place 
 before they left the church, but he did not say so 
 to Annie. He merely took his arm from the back 
 of her chair, and placed it around her. 
 
 " And do you know/ said she, u that Letty told 
 me something, this morning, that is so funny and yet 
 in a certain way so pathetic, that it made me laugh 
 and cry both. She said that Aunt Patsy always 
 thought that you were Mr Null." 
 
 At this, Lawrence burst out laughing, but Annie 
 checked him and went on; "And she told Letty in 
 church, when she saw us two come in, that she 
 believed she could die happy now, since she had 
 seen Miss Annie married to such a peart gentleman, 
 and that it looked as if old miss had got over her 
 grudge against him." 
 
 "And didn t Letty undeceive her?" asked Law 
 rence. 
 
 " No, she said it would be a pity to upset the 
 mind of such an old woman, and she didn t do it." 
 
 " Then the good Aunt Patsy died," said Law 
 rence, " thinking I was that wretched tramp of a 
 bone-dust pedler, which the fancy of your aunt has 
 conjured up. That explains the interest the vene 
 rable colored woman took in me. It is now quite 
 easy to understand ; for, if your aunt abused your 
 mythical husband to everybody, as she did to me, I 
 don t wonder Aunt Patsy thought I was in danger." 
 
 " Poor old woman," said Annie, looking down at 
 the floor, u I am so glad that we helped her to die 
 happy." 
 
 23 
 
354 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " As she was obliged to anticipate the truth," 
 said Lawrence, " in order to derive any comfort 
 from it, I am glad she did it. But although I am 
 delighted, more than my words can tell you, to take 
 the place of your Mr Null, you must not expect me 
 to have any of his attributes." 
 
 "Now just listen to me, sir," said Annie. "I 
 don t want you to say one word against Mr Null. 
 If it had not been for that good Freddy, things 
 would have been very different from what they are 
 now. If you care for me at all, you owe me en 
 tirely to Freddy Null." 
 
 " Entirely ? " asked Lawrence. 
 
 " Of course I mean in regard to opportunities of 
 finding out things and saying them. If Aunt Kcs- 
 wick had supposed I was only Annie Peyton, she 
 would not have allowed Mr Croft to interfere with 
 her plans for Junius and me. I expected Mr Null 
 to be of service to me, but no one could have 
 imagined that he would have brought about any 
 thing like this." 
 
 "Blessed be Null!" exclaimed Lawrence. 
 
 Annie asked him to please to be more careful, for 
 how did he know that one of the servants might not 
 be sweeping the front porch, and of course, they 
 would look in at the windows. 
 
 " But, my dear child," said Lawrence, pushing 
 back his chair to a prudent distance, " we must seri 
 ously consider this Null business. We shall have 
 to inform your aunt of the present state of affairs, 
 and before we do that, we must explain what sort of 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 355 
 
 person Frederick Null, Esquire, really was I am not 
 willing to admit that he exists, even as a myth." 
 
 " Oh dear ! oh dear ! " exclaimed Annie. " We 
 shall have a dreadful time ! When Aunt Keswick 
 knows that there never was any Mr Null, and then 
 hears that you and I are engaged, it will throw her 
 into the most dreadful state of mind that she has 
 ever been in, in her life ; and father has told me of 
 some of the awful family earthquakes that Aunt 
 Keswick has brought about, when things went 
 wrong with her." 
 
 " We must be very cautious," said Lawrence, 
 " and neither of us must say a word, or do anything 
 that may arouse her suspicion?, until we have settled 
 upon the best possible method of making the facts 
 known to her. The case is indeed a complicated one." 
 
 " And what makes it more so," said Annie, " is 
 Aunt Keswick s belief that you are in love with 
 Miss March, and that you want to get a chance to 
 propose to her. She does think that, doesn t she ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence, " I must admit that she 
 does." 
 
 " And she must be made to understand that that 
 is entirely at an end," continued Annie. " All this 
 will be a very difficult task, Lawrence, and I don t 
 see how it is to be done." 
 
 " But we shall do it," he answered, "and we must 
 not forget to be very prudent, until it is fully set 
 tled how we shall do it." 
 
 When Lawrence retired to his room, and sat 
 down to hold that peculiar court in which he was 
 
356 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 judge, jury, lawyers, and witnesses, as well as the 
 prisoner at the bar, he had to do with a case, a great 
 deal more complicated and difficult than that which 
 perplexed the mind of Miss Annie Peyton. He 
 began by the very unjudicial act of pledging him 
 self, to himself, that nothing should interfere with 
 this new, this true love. In spite of all that might 
 be said, done, or thought, Annie Peyton should be 
 his wife. There was no indecision, whatever, in re 
 gard to the new love ; the only question was : 
 " What is to be done about the old one ? " 
 
 Lawrence could not admit, for a moment, that he 
 could have spoken to Roberta March as he had 
 spoken, if he had not loved her ; but he could now 
 perceive that that love had been in no small degree 
 impaired and weakened by the manner of its accept 
 ance. The action of Miss March on her last day 
 here had much more chilled his ardor than her 
 words on Pine Top Hill. He had not, before, ex 
 amined thoroughly into the condition of that ardor 
 after the departure of the lady, but it was plain 
 enough now. 
 
 There was, therefore, no doubt whatever in re 
 gard to his love for Miss March ; he was quite 
 ready and able to lay that aside. But what about 
 her acceptance of it ? How could he lay that 
 aside ? 
 
 This was the real case before the court. The wit 
 nesses could give no available testimony, the law 
 yers argued feebly, the jury disagreed, and Law 
 rence, in his capacity of judge, dismissed the case. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 357 
 
 In his efforts to conduct his mind through the 
 channels of law and equity, Lawrence had not satis 
 fied himself, and his thoughts began to be moved 
 by what might be termed his military impulses. 
 " I made a charge into the camp," he said with a 
 little downward drawing of the corners of his 
 mouth, " and I did not capture the commander-in- 
 chief. And now I intend to charge out again." 
 
 He sat down to his table, and wrote the following 
 note : 
 
 " MY DEAR Miss MARCH : 
 
 " I have been waiting for a good many days, hoping to receive, 
 either from you or Mr Keswick, an explanation of the message you 
 sent to me by him. I now believe that it will be impossible to give a 
 satisfactory explanation of that message. I therefore recur to our last 
 private interview, and wish to say to you that I am ready, at any time, 
 to meet you under either a sycamore or a cherry tree." 
 
 And then he signed it, and addressed it to Miss 
 March at Midbranch. This being done, he put on 
 his hat, and stepped out to see if a messenger could 
 be found to carry the letter to its destination, for 
 he did not wish to wait for the semi-weekly mail. 
 Near the house he met Annie. 
 
 " What have you been doing all this time ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I have been writing a letter," he said, " and am 
 now looking for some colored boy who will carry it 
 for me." 
 
 " Who is it to ? " she asked. 
 
 " Miss March," was his answer. 
 
 " Let me see it," said Annie. 
 
358 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 At this, Lawrence looked at her with wide-open 
 eyes, and then he laughed. Never, since he had 
 been a child, had there been any one who would 
 have thought of such a thing as asking to see a 
 private letter which he had written to some one 
 else ; and that this young girl should stand up 
 before him with her straightforward expectant gaze 
 and make such a request of him, in the first in 
 stance, amused him. 
 
 " You don t mean to say," she added, " that you 
 would write anything to Miss March which you 
 would not let me see." 
 
 " This letter," said Lawrence, " was written for 
 Miss March, and no one else. It is simply the wind 
 ing up of that old affair." 
 
 " Give it to me," said Annie, " and let me see 
 how you wound it up." 
 
 Lawrence smiled, looked at her in silence for a 
 moment, and then handed her the letter. 
 
 " I don t want you to think," she said, as she 
 took it, " that I am going to ask you to show me all 
 the letters you write. But when you write one to a 
 lady like Miss March, I want to know what you say 
 to her." And then she read the letter. When she 
 had finished, she turned to Lawrence, and with her 
 countenance full of amazement, exclaimed : " I 
 haven t the least idea in the world what all this 
 means ! What message did she send you ? And 
 why should you meet her under a tree ? " 
 
 These questions went so straight to the core of 
 the affair, and were so peculiarly difficult to answer. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 359 
 
 that Lawrence, for the moment, found himself in 
 the very unusual position of not knowing what to 
 say, but he presently remarked : " Do you think it 
 is of any advantage to either of us to talk over this 
 affair, which is now past and gone ? " 
 
 " I don t want to talk over any of it," said 
 Annie, very promptly, " except the part of it 
 which is referred to in this letter; but I want to 
 know about that." 
 
 " That covers the most important part of it," said 
 Lawrence. 
 
 " Very good," she answered, " and so you can tell 
 it to me. And now, that I think of it, you can tell 
 me, at the same time, why you wanted to find my 
 cousin Junius. You refused once to tell me that, 
 you know." 
 
 " I remember," said Lawrence. " And if you 
 have the least feeling about it I will relate the whole 
 affair, from beginning to end." 
 
 " That, perhaps, will be the best thing to do, after 
 all," said Annie. " And suppose we take a walk 
 over the fields, and then you can tell it without be 
 ing interrupted." 
 
 But Lawrence did not feel that his ankle would 
 allow him to accept this invitation, for it had hurt 
 him a good deal since his walk to Aunt Patsy s 
 cabin. He said so to Annie, and excited in her the 
 deepest feelings of commiseration. 
 
 " You must take no more walks of any length," 
 she exclaimed, " until you are quite, quite well ! It 
 was my fault that you took that tramp to Aunt 
 
360 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Patsy s. I ought to have known better. But then," 
 she said, looking up at him, "you were not under 
 my charge. I shall take very good care of you 
 now." 
 
 " For my part, he said, " I am glad I have this 
 little relapse, for now I can stay here longer." 
 
 " I am very, very sorry for the relapse," said she, 
 " but awfully glad for the stay. And you mustn t 
 stand another minute. Let us go and sit in the 
 arbor. The sun is shining straight into it, and that 
 will make it all the more comfortable, while you are 
 telling me about those things." 
 
 They sat down in the arbor, and Lawrence told 
 Annie the whole history of his affair with Miss 
 March, from the beginning to the end ; that is if the 
 end had been reached ; although he intimated to 
 her no doubt upon this point. This avowal he had 
 never expected to make. In fact he had never 
 contemplated its possibility. But now he felt a 
 certain satisfaction in telling it. Every item, as it 
 was related, seemed thrown aside forever. " And 
 now then, my dear Annie," he said, when he had 
 finished, " what do you think of all that ?" 
 
 " Well," she said, " in the first place, I am still 
 more of the opinion than I was before, that you 
 never were really in love with her. You did entirely 
 too much planning, and investigating, and calcula 
 ting; and when, at last, you did come to the conclu 
 sion to propose to her, you did not do it so much of 
 your own accord, as because you found that another 
 man would be likely to get her, if you did not make 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 361 
 
 a pretty quick move yourself. And as to that 
 acceptance, I don t think anything of it at all. I 
 believe she was very angry at Junius because he 
 consented to bring your messages, when he ought to 
 have been his own messenger, and that she gave 
 him that answer just to rack his soul with agony. 
 I don t believe she ever dreamed that he would take 
 it to you. And, to tell the simple truth, I believe, 
 from what I saw of her that morning, that she was 
 thinking very little of you, and a great deal of him. 
 To be sure, she was fiery angry with him, but it is 
 better to be that way with a lover, than to pay no 
 attention to him at all." 
 
 This was a view of the case which had never 
 struck Lawrence before, and although it was not 
 very flattering to him, it was very comforting. He 
 felt that it was extremely likely that this young 
 woman had been able to truthfully divine, in a case 
 in which he had failed, the motives of another young 
 woman. Here was a further reason for congratula 
 ting himself that he had not written to Miss 
 March. 
 
 " And as to the last part of the letter," said 
 Annie, " you are not going under any cherry tree, 
 or sycamore either, to be refused by her. What 
 she said to you was quite enough for a final answer, 
 without any signing or sealing under trees, or any 
 where else. I think the best thing that can be done 
 with this precious epistle is to tear it up." 
 
 Lawrence was amused by the piquant earnestness 
 of this decision. " But what am I to do," he asked, 
 
362 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I can t let the matter rest in this unfinished and 
 unsatisfactory condition." 
 
 " You might write to her," said Annie, " and tell 
 her that you have accepted what she said to you on 
 Pine Top Hill as a conclusive answer, and that you 
 now take back everything you ever said on the sub 
 ject you talked of that day. And do you think it 
 would be well to put in anything about your being 
 otherwise engaged ? " 
 
 At this Lawrence laughed. " I think that expres 
 sion would hardly answer," he said, " but I will 
 write another note, and we shall see how you like it." 
 
 " That will be very well," said the happy Annie, 
 " and if I were you I d make it as gentle as I could. 
 It s of no use to hurt her feelings." 
 
 " Oh, I don t want to do that," said Lawrence, " and 
 now that we have the opportunity, let us consider 
 the question of informing your aunt of our engage 
 ment." 
 
 " Oh dear, dear, dear ! " said Annie, " that is a 
 great deal worse than informing Miss March that 
 you don t want to be engaged to her." 
 
 "That is true," said Lawrence. " It is not by any 
 means an easy piece of business. But we might as 
 well look it square in the face, and determine what 
 is to be done about it." 
 
 " It is simple enough, just as we look at it," said 
 Annie. " All we have to do, is to say that, knowing 
 that Aunt Keswick had written to my father that 
 she was determined to make a match between cousin 
 Junius and me, I was afraid to come down here 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 363 
 
 without putting up some insurmountable obstacle 
 between me and a man that I had not seen since I 
 was a little girl. Of course I would say, very decid 
 edly, that I wouldn t have married him if I hadn t 
 wanted to ; but then, considering Aunt Keswick s 
 very open way of carrying out her plans, it would 
 have been very unpleasant, and indeed impossible 
 for me to be in the house with him unless she saw 
 that there was no hope of a marriage between us ; 
 and for this reason I took the name of Mrs Null, or 
 Mrs Nothing; and came down here, secure under the 
 protection of a husband who never existed. And 
 then, we could say that you and I were a good deal 
 together, and that, although you had supposed, 
 when you came here, that you were in love with 
 Miss March, you had discovered that this was a 
 mistake, and that afterwards we fell in love with 
 each other, and are now engaged. That would be a 
 straightforward statement of everything, just as it 
 happened ; but the great trouble is : How are we 
 going to tell it to Aunt Keswick ?" 
 
 " You are right," said Lawrence. " How are we 
 going to tell it ? " 
 
 " It need not be told ! " thundered a strong voice 
 close to their ears. And then there was a noise of 
 breaking lattice-work and cracking vines, and through 
 the back part of the arbor came an old woman wear 
 ing a purple sun-bonnet, and beating down all ob 
 stacles before her with a great purple umbrella. 
 "You needn t tell it!" cried Mrs Keswick, standing 
 in the middle of the arbor, her eyes glistening, her 
 
364 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 form trembling, and her umbrella quivering in the 
 air. "You needn t tell it ! It s told ! " 
 
 Graphic and vivid descriptions have been written 
 of those furious storms of devastating wind and del 
 uging rain, which suddenly sweep away the beauty 
 of some fair tropical scene ; and we have read, too, of 
 dreadful cyclones and tornadoes, which rush, in mad 
 rage, over land and sea, burying great ships in a vast 
 tumult of frenzied waves, or crushing to the earth 
 forests, buildings, everything that may lie in their 
 awful paths ; but no description could be written 
 which could give an adequate idea of the storm 
 which now burst upon Lawrence and Annie. The 
 old lady had seen these two standing together in the 
 yard, conversing most earnestly. She had then seen 
 Annie read a letter that Lawrence gave her; and 
 then she had perceived the two, in close converse, 
 enter the arbor, and sit down together without the 
 slightest regard for the rights of Mr Null. 
 
 Mrs Keswick looked upon all this as somewhat 
 more out-of-the-way than the usual proceedings of 
 these young people, and there came into her mind 
 a curiosity to know what they were saying to each 
 other. So she immediately repaired to the large 
 garden, and quietly made her way to the back of the 
 arbor, in which advantageous position she heard the 
 whole of Lawrence s story of his love-affair with Miss 
 March ; Annie s remarks upon the same, and the 
 facts of this young lady s proposed confession in 
 regard to her marriage with Mr Null, and her en 
 gagement to Mr Croft. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 365 
 
 Then she burst in upon them ; the tornado and 
 the cyclone raged ; the thunder rolled and crashed ; 
 and the white lightning of her wrath flashed upon 
 the two, as if it would scathe and annihilate them, as 
 they stood before her. Neither of them had ever 
 known or imagined anything like this. It had been 
 long since Mrs Keswick had had an opportunity of 
 exercising that power of vituperative torment, which 
 had driven a husband to the refuge of a reverted 
 pistol ; which had banished, for life, relatives and 
 friends ; and which, in the shape of a promissory 
 curse, had held apart those who would have been 
 husband and wife ; and now, like the long stored 
 up venom of a serpent, it burst out with the direful 
 force given by concentration and retention. 
 
 At the first outburst, Annie had turned pale and 
 shrunk back, but now she clung to the side of Law 
 rence, who, although his face was somewhat blanched 
 and his form trembled a little with excitement, still 
 stood up bravely, and endeavored, but ineffectually, 
 to force upon the old lady s attention a denial of her 
 bitter accusations. With face almost as purple as 
 the bonnet she wore, or the umbrella she shook in 
 the air, the old lady first addressed her niece. With 
 scorn and condemnation she spoke of the deceit 
 which the young girl had practised upon her. But 
 this part of the exercises was soon over. She seemed 
 to think that although nothing could be viler than 
 Annie s conduct towards her, still the fact that Mr 
 Null no longer existed, put Annie again within her 
 grasp and control, and made it unnecessary to say 
 
366 The Late Mrs NulL 
 
 much to her on this occasion. It was upon Law 
 rence that the main cataract of her fury poured. It 
 would be wrong to say that she could not find words 
 to express her ire towards him. She found plenty 
 of them, and used them all. He had deceived her 
 most abominably ; he had come there, the expressed 
 and avowed lover of Miss March ; he had connived 
 with her niece in her deceit ; he had taken advan 
 tage of ail the opportunities she gave him to attain 
 the legitimate object of his visit, to inveigle into his 
 snares this silly and absurd young woman ; and he 
 had dared to interfere with the plans, which, by day 
 and by night, she had been maturing for years. In 
 vain did Lawrence endeavor to answer or explain. 
 She stopped not, nor listened to one word. 
 
 " And you need not imagine," she screamed at 
 him, " that you are going to turn round, when you 
 like, and marry anybody you please. You are en 
 gaged, body and soul, to Roberta March, and have 
 no right, by laws of man or heaven, to marry any 
 body else. If you breathe a word of love to any 
 other woman it makes you a vile criminal in the eyes 
 of the law, and renders you liable to prosecution, 
 sir. Your affianced bride knows nothing of what 
 her double-faced snake of a lover is doing here, but 
 she shall know speedily. That is a matter which I 
 take into my own hands. Out of my way, both of 
 you ! " 
 
 And with these words she charged by them, and 
 rushed out of the arbor, and into the house. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THEY were not a happy pair, Lawrence Croft and 
 Annie Peyton, as they stood together in the arbor, 
 after old Mrs Keswick had left them. They were 
 both a good deal shaken by the storm they had 
 passed through. 
 
 " Lawrence/ said Annie, looking up to him with 
 her large eyes full of earnestness, " there surely is 
 no truth in what she said about your being legally 
 bound to Miss March?" 
 
 " None in the least," said Lawrence. " No man, 
 under the circumstances, would consider himself en 
 gaged to a woman. At any rate, there is one thing 
 which I wish you to understand, and that is that I 
 am not engaged to Miss March, and that I am en 
 gaged to you. No matter what is said or done, you 
 and I belong to each other." 
 
 Annie made no answer, but she pressed his hand 
 tightly as she looked up into his face. He kissed 
 her as she stood, notwithstanding his belief that old 
 Mrs Keswick was fully capable of bounding down on 
 him, umbrella in hand, from an upper window. 
 
 "What do you think she is going to do?" Annie 
 asked presently. 
 
 " My dear Annie," said he, " I do not believe that 
 there is a person on earth who could divine what 
 
368 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 your Aunt Keswick is going to do. As to that, we 
 must simply wait and see. But, for my part, I know 
 what I must do. I must write a letter to Miss 
 March, and inform her, plainly and definitely, that I 
 have ceased to be a suitor for her hand. I think 
 also that it will be well to let her know that we are 
 engaged ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Annie, " for she will be sure to hear it 
 now. But she will think it is a very prompt pro 
 ceeding." 
 
 " That s exactly what it was," said Lawrence, 
 smiling, " prompt and determined. There was no 
 doubt or indecision about any part of our affair, was 
 there, little one ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it," said Annie, proudly. 
 
 At dinner that day Annie took her place at one 
 end of the table, and Lawrence his at the other, but 
 the old lady did not make her appearance. She was 
 so erratic in her goings and comings, and had so 
 often told them they must never wait for her, that 
 Annie cut the ham, and Lawrence carved the fowl, 
 and the meal proceeded without her. But while 
 they were eating Mrs Keswick was heard coming 
 down stairs from her room, the front door was 
 opened and slammed violently, and from the dining- 
 room windows they saw her go down the steps, 
 across the yard, and out of the gate. 
 
 " I do hope," ejaculated Annie, " that she has not 
 gone away to stay ! " 
 
 If Annie had remembered that the boy Plez, in 
 a clean jacket and long white apron, officiated as 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 369 
 
 waiter, she would not have said this, but then she 
 would have lost some information. " Ole miss 
 not gone to stay," he said, with the license of 
 an untrained retainer. u She gone to Howlettses, 
 an she done tole Aun Letty she ll be back agin dis 
 ebenin ." 
 
 " If Aunt Keswick don t come back," said Annie, 
 when the two were in the parlor after dinner, u I 
 shall go after her. I don t intend to drive her out 
 of the house." 
 
 " Don t you trouble yourself about that, my dear," 
 said Lawrence. " She is too angry not to come 
 back." 
 
 " There is one thing," said Annie, after a while, 
 " that we really ought to do. To-morrow Aunt 
 Patsy is to be buried, and before she is put into the 
 ground, those little shoes should be returned to 
 Aunt Keswick. It seems to me that justice to poor 
 Aunt Patsy requires that this should be done. Per 
 haps now she knows how wicked it was to steal 
 them." 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence, " I think it would be well 
 to put them back where they belong; but how can 
 you manage it ?" 
 
 " If you will give them to me," said Annie, " I 
 will go up to aunt s room, now that she is away, 
 and if she keeps the box in the same place where it 
 used to be, I ll slip them into it. I hate dreadfully 
 to do it, but I really feel that it is a duty." 
 
 When Lawrence, with some little difficulty, walked 
 across the yard to get the shoes from his trunk, 
 
 24 
 
370 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Annie ran after him, and waited at the office door. 
 " You must not take a step more than necessary," 
 she said, " and so I won t make you come back to 
 the house." 
 
 When Lawrence gave her the shoes, and her hand 
 a little squeeze at the same time, he told her that 
 he should sit down immediately and write his letter. 
 
 " And I," said Annie, "will go, and see what I can 
 do with these." 
 
 With the shoes in her pocket, she went up stairs 
 into her aunt s room, and, after looking around 
 hastily, as if to see that the old lady had not left 
 the ghost of herself in charge, she approached the 
 closet in which the sacred pasteboard box had 
 always been kept. But the closet was locked. 
 Turning away she looked about the room. There 
 was no other place in which there was any proba 
 bility that the box would be kept. Then she 
 became nervous ; she fancied she heard the click 
 of the yard gate ; she would not for anything have 
 her aunt catch her in that room ; nor would she 
 take the shoes away with her. Hastily placing 
 them upon a table she slipped out, and hurried into 
 her own room. 
 
 It was about an hour after this, that Mrs Keswick 
 came rapidly up the steps of the front porch. She 
 had been to Hewlett s to carry a letter which she had 
 written to Miss March, and had there made arrange 
 ments to have that letter taken to Midbranch very 
 early the next morning. She had wished to find 
 some one who would start immediately, but as there 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 371 
 
 was no moon, and as the messenger would arrive 
 after the family were all in bed, she had been 
 obliged to abandon this more energetic line of 
 action. But the letter would get there soon enough; 
 and if it did not bring down retribution on the 
 head of the man who lodged in her office, and who, 
 she said to herself, had worked himself into her 
 plans, like the rot in a field of potatoes, she would 
 ever after admit that she did not know how to write 
 a letter. All the way home she had conned over 
 her method of action until Mr Brandon, or a letter, 
 should come from Midbranch. 
 
 She had already attacked, together, the unprin 
 cipled pair who found shelter in her house, and she 
 now determined to come upon them separately, and 
 torment each soul by itself. Annie, of course, 
 would come in for the lesser share of the punish 
 ment, for the fact that the wretched and depraved 
 Null was no more, had, in a great measure, mitigated 
 her offence. She was safe, and her aunt intended 
 to hold her fast, and do with her as she would, when 
 the time and Junius came. But upon Lawrence she 
 would have no mercy. When she had delivered 
 him into the hands of Mr Brandon, or those of 
 Roberta s father, or the clutches of the law, she 
 would have nothing more to do with him, but until 
 that time she would make him bewail the day when 
 he deceived and imposed upon her by causing her to 
 believe that he was in love with another when he 
 was, in reality, trying to get possession of her niece. 
 There were a great many things which she had 
 
372 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 not thought to say to him in the arbor, but she 
 would pour the whole hot mass upon his head that 
 evening. 
 
 Stamping up the stairs, and thumping her um 
 brella upon every step as she went, hot vengeance 
 breathing from between her parted lips, and her 
 eyes flashing with the delight of prospective fury, 
 she entered her room. The light of the afternoon 
 had but just begun to wane, and she had not made 
 three steps into the apartment, before her eyes fell 
 upon a pair of faded, light blue shoes, which stood 
 side by side upon a table. She stopped suddenly, 
 and stood, pale and rigid. Her grasp upon her um 
 brella loosened, and, unnoticed, it fell upon the 
 floor. Then, her eyes still fixed upon the shoes, 
 she moved slowly sidewise towards the closet. She 
 tried the door, and found it still locked ; then she 
 put her hand in her pocket, drew out the key, 
 looked at it, and dropped it. With faltering steps 
 she drew near the table, and stood supporting her 
 self by the back of a chair. Any one else would 
 have seen upon that table merely a pair of baby s 
 shoes ; but she saw more. She saw the tops of the 
 little socks which she had folded away for the last 
 time so many years before ; she saw the first short 
 dress her child had ever worn ; it was tied up with 
 pink ribbons at the shoulders, from which hung two 
 white, plump, little arms. There was a little neck, 
 around which was a double string of coral fastened 
 by a small gold clasp. Above this was a face, a 
 baby face, with soft, pale eyes, and its head covered 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 373 
 
 with curls of the lightest yellow, not arranged in 
 artistic negligence, but smooth, even, and regular, as 
 she so often had turned, twisted, and set them. It 
 was indeed her baby girl who had come to her as 
 clear and vivid in every feature, limb, and garment, 
 as were the real shoes upon the table. For many 
 minutes she stood, her eyes fixed upon the little 
 apparition, then, slowly, she sank upon her knees by 
 the chair, her sun-bonnet, which she had not re 
 moved, was bowed, so the pale eyes of the little one 
 could not see her face, and from her own eyes came 
 the first tears that that old woman had shed since 
 her baby s clothes had been put away in the box. 
 
 Lawrence s letter to Miss March was a definitely 
 expressed document, intended to cover all the 
 ground necessary, and no more ; but it could not be 
 said that it was entirely satisfactory to himself! 
 His case, to say the least of it, was a difficult one to 
 defend. He was aware that his course might be 
 looked upon by others as dishonorable, although he 
 assured himself that he had acted justly. It might 
 have been better to wait for a positive declaration 
 from Miss March, that she had not truly accepted 
 him, before engaging himself to another lady. But 
 then, he said to himself, true love never waits for 
 anything. At all events, he could write no better 
 letter than the one he had produced, and he hoped 
 he should have an opportunity to show it to Annie 
 before he sent it. 
 
 He need not have troubled himself in this regard, 
 
374 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 for he and Annie were not disturbed during the rest 
 of that day by the appearance of Mrs Keswick ; but 
 after the letter had been duly considered and ap 
 proved, he found it difficult to obtain a messenger. 
 There was no one on the place who would under 
 take to walk to Midbranch, and he could not take 
 the liberty of using Mrs Keswick s horse for the 
 trip, so it was found necessary to wait until the 
 morrow, when the letter could be taken to Hew 
 lett s, where, if no one could be found to carry it im 
 mediately, it would have to be entrusted to the 
 mail which went out the next day. Lawrence, of 
 course, knew nothing of Mrs Keswick s message to 
 Midbranch, or he would have been still more desir 
 ous that his letter should be promptly dispatched. 
 
 The evening was not a very pleasant one ; the 
 lovers did not know at what moment the old lady 
 might descend upon them, and the element of un 
 pleasant expectancy which pervaded the atmos 
 phere of the house was somewhat depressing. 
 They talked a good deal of the probabilities of Mrs 
 Keswick s action. Lawrence expected that she 
 would order him away, although Annie had stoutly 
 maintained that her aunt would have no right to do 
 this, as he was not in a condition to travel. This 
 argument, however, made little impression upon 
 Lawrence, who was not the man to stay in any house 
 where he was not wanted ; besides, he knew very 
 well that for any one to stay in Mrs Keswick s 
 house when she did not want him, would be an im 
 possibility. But he did not intend to slip away in 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 375 
 
 any cowardly manner, and leave Annie to bear 
 alone the brunt of the second storm. He felt sure 
 that such a storm was impending, and he was also 
 quite certain that its greatest violence would break 
 upon him. He would stay, therefore, and meet the 
 old lady when she next descended upon them, and, 
 before he went away, he would endeavor to utter 
 some words in defence of himself and Annie. 
 
 They separated early, and a good deal of thinking 
 was done by them before they went to sleep. 
 
 The next morning they had only each other for 
 company at breakfast, but they had just risen from 
 that meal when they were startled by the entrance 
 of Mrs Keswick. Having expected her appearance 
 during the whole of the time they were eating, they 
 had no reason to be startled by her coming now, 
 but for their subsequent amazement at her appear 
 ance and demeanor, they had every reason in the 
 world. Her face was pale and grave, with an air of 
 rigidity about it, which was not common to her, for, 
 in general, she possessed a very mobile countenance. 
 Without speaking a word, she advanced towards 
 Lawrence, and extended her hand to him. He was 
 so much surprised that while he took her hand in 
 his he could only murmur- some unintelligible form 
 of morning salutation. Then Mrs Keswick turned 
 to Annie, and shook hands with her. The young 
 girl grew pale, but said not a word, but some tears 
 came into her eyes, although why this happened 
 she could not have explained to herself. Having 
 finished this little performance, the old lady walked 
 
376 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 to the back window, and looked out into the flower 
 garden, although there was really nothing there 
 to see. Now Annie found voice to ask her aunt if 
 she would not have some breakfast. 
 
 " No," said Mrs Keswick, " my breakfast was 
 brought up-stairs to me." And with that she 
 turned and went out of the room. She closed the 
 door behind her, but scarcely had she done so, when 
 she opened it again and looked in. It was quite 
 plain, to the two silent and astonished observers of 
 her actions, that she was engaged in the occupation, 
 very unusual with her, of controlling an excited 
 condition of mind. She looked first at one, and 
 then at the other, and then she said, in a voice which 
 seemed to meet with occasional obstructions in its 
 course : " I have nothing more to say about any 
 thing. Do just what you please, only don t talk to 
 me about it." And she closed the door. 
 
 " What is the meaning of all this ? " said Lawrence, 
 advancing towards Annie. " What has come over 
 her?" 
 
 "I am sure I don t know," said Annie, and with 
 this she burst into tears, and cried as she would 
 have scorned to cry, during the terrible storm of the 
 day before. 
 
 That morning, Lawrence Croft was a very much 
 puzzled man. What had happened to Mrs Kes 
 wick he could not divine, and at times he imagined 
 that her changed demeanor was perhaps nothing but 
 an artful cover to some new and more ruthless attack. 
 
 Annie took occasion to be with her aunt a good 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 377 
 
 deal during the morning, but she reported to Law 
 rence that the old lady had said very little, and that 
 little related entirely to household affairs. 
 
 Mrs Keswick ate dinner with them. Her manner 
 was grave, and even stern ; but she made a few re 
 marks in regard to the weather and some neighbor 
 hood matters ; and before the end of the meal both 
 Lawrence and Annie fancied that they could see some 
 little signs of a return to her usual humor, which 
 was pleasant enough when nothing happened to 
 make it otherwise. But expectations of an early re 
 turn to her ordinary manner of life were fallacious ; 
 she did not appear at supper; and she spent the 
 evening in her own room. Lawrence and Annie 
 had thus ample opportunity to discuss this novel 
 and most unexpected state of affairs. They did 
 not understand it, but it could not fail to cheer and 
 encourage them. Only one thing they decided 
 upon, and that was that Lawrence could not go 
 away until he had had an opportunity of fully com 
 prehending the position, in relation to Mrs Keswick, 
 in which he and Annie stood. 
 
 About the middle of the evening, as Lawrence 
 was thinking that it was time for him to retire to 
 his room in the little house in the yard, Letty came 
 in with a letter which she said had been brought 
 from Midbranch by a colored man on a horse; the 
 man had said there was no answer, and had gone 
 back to Hewlett s, where he belonged. 
 
 The letter was for Mr Croft and from Miss March. 
 Very much surprised at receiving such a missive, 
 
378 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Lawrence opened the envelope. His letter to Miss 
 March had not yet been sent, for the new state of 
 affairs had not only very much occupied his mind, 
 but it also seemed to render unnecessary any haste 
 in the matter, and he had concluded to mail the 
 letter the next day. This, therefore, was not in 
 answer to anything from him ; and why should she 
 have written ? 
 
 It was with a decidedly uneasy sensation that 
 Lawrence began to read the letter, Annie watch 
 ing him anxiously as he did so. The letter was a 
 somewhat long one, and the purport of it was as 
 follows: The writer stated that, having received 
 a most extraordinary and astounding epistle from 
 old Mrs Keswick, which had been sent by a special 
 messenger, she had thought it her duty to write im 
 mediately on the subject to Mr Croft, and had de 
 tained the man that she might send this letter by 
 him. She did not pretend to understand the full 
 purport of what Mrs Keswick had written, but it 
 was evident that the old lady believed that an 
 engagement of marriage existed between herself 
 (Miss March) and Mr Croft. That that gentleman 
 had given such information to Mrs Keswick she 
 could hardly suppose, but, if he had, it must have 
 been in consequence of a message which, very much 
 to her surprise and grief, had been delivered to Mr 
 Croft by Mr Keswick. In order that this message 
 might be understood, Miss March had determined 
 to make a full explanation of her line of conduct 
 towards Mr Croft. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 379 
 
 During the latter part of their pleasant inter 
 course at Midbranch during the past summer, she 
 had reason to believe that Mr Croft s intentions in 
 regard to her were becoming serious, but she had also 
 perceived that his impulses, however earnest they 
 might have been, were controlled by an extra 
 ordinary caution and prudence, which, although it 
 sometimes amused her, was not in the least degree 
 complimentary to her. She could not prevent her 
 self from resenting this somewhat peculiar action of 
 Mr Croft, and this resentment grew into a desire, 
 which gradually became a very strong one, that she 
 might have an opportunity of declining a proposal 
 from him. That opportunity came while they were 
 both at Mrs Keswick s, and she had intended that 
 what she said at her last interview with Mr Croft 
 should be considered a definite refusal of his suit, 
 but the interview had terminated before she had 
 stated her mind quite as plainly as she had purposed 
 doing. She had not, however, wished to renew the 
 conversation on the subject, and had concluded to 
 content herself with what she had already said; 
 feeling quite sure that her words had been sufficient 
 to satisfy Mr Croft that it would be useless to make 
 any further proposals. 
 
 When, on the eve of her departure from the 
 house, Mr Keswick had brought her Mr Croft s 
 message, she was not only amazed, but indignant ; 
 not so much at Mr Croft for sending it, as at Mr Kes 
 wick for bringing it. Miss March was not ashamed 
 to confess that she was irritated and incensed to a 
 
380 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 high degree that a gentleman who had held the posi 
 tion towards her that Mr Keswick had held, should 
 bring her such a message from another man. She 
 was, therefore, seized with a sudden impulse to 
 punish him, and, without in the least expecting that 
 he would carry such an answer, she had given him 
 the one which he had taken to Mr Croft. Having, 
 until the day on which she was writing, heard 
 nothing further on the subject, she had supposed 
 that her expectations had been realized. But on 
 this day the astonishing letter from Mrs Keswick 
 had arrived, and it made her understand that not 
 only had her impulsive answer been delivered, but 
 that Mr. Croft had informed other persons that he 
 had been accepted. She wished, therefore, to lose 
 no time in stating to Mr Croft that what she had 
 said to him, with her own lips, was to be received as 
 her final resolve ; and that the answer given to Mr 
 Keswick was not intended for Mr Croft s ears. 
 
 Miss March then went on to say that it might be 
 possible that she owed Mr Croft an apology for the 
 somewhat ungracious manner in which she had 
 treated him at Mrs Keswick s house; but she assured 
 herself that Mr. Croft owed her an apology, not only 
 for the manner of his attentions, but for the peculiar 
 publicity he had given them. In that case the apol 
 ogies neutralized each other. Miss March had no 
 intention of answering Mrs Keswick s letter. Under 
 no circumstances could she have considered, for a 
 moment, its absurd suggestions and recommenda 
 tions ; and it contained allusions to Mr. Croft and 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 381 
 
 another person which, if not founded upon the 
 imagination of Mrs Keswick, certainly concerned 
 nothing with which Miss March had anything to do. 
 
 The proud spirit of Lawrence Croft was a good 
 d^al ruffled when he read this letter, but he made 
 no remark about it. "Would you like to read it?" 
 he said to Annie. 
 
 She greatly desired to read it, but there was some 
 thing in her lover s face, and in the tone in which he 
 spoke, which made her suspect that the reading of 
 that letter might be, in some degree, humiliating to 
 him. She was certain, from the expression of his 
 face as he read it, that the letter contained matter 
 very unpleasant to Lawrence, and it might be that 
 it would wound him to have another person, especi 
 ally herself, read them ; and so she said : " I don t 
 care to read it if you will tell me why she wrote to 
 you, and the point of what she says." 
 
 " Thank you," said Lawrence. And he crumpled 
 the letter in his hand as he spoke. " She wrote," he 
 continued, "in consequence of a letter she has had 
 from your aunt." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Annie. " Did Aunt Keswick 
 write to her ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Lawrence, "and sent it by a special 
 messenger. She must have told her all the heinous 
 crimes with which she charged you and me, partic 
 ularly me ; and this must have been the first intima 
 tion to Miss March that her cousin had given me 
 the answer she made to him ; therefore Miss March 
 writes in haste to let me know that she did not 
 
382 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 intend that that answer should be given to me, 
 and that she wishes it generally understood that I 
 have no more connection with her than I have with 
 the Queen of Spain. That is the sum and substance 
 of the letter." 
 
 " I knew as well as I know anything in the world," 
 said Annie, " that that message Junius brought you 
 meant nothing." And, taking the crumpled letter 
 from his hand, she threw it on the few embers that 
 remained in the fireplace ; and, as it blazed and 
 crumbled into black ashes, she said : " Now that is 
 the end of Roberta March ! " 
 
 "Yes," said Lawrence, emphasizing his remark 
 with an encircling arm, "so far as we are concerned, 
 that is the end of her." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 ON the next day, old Aunt Patsy was buried. 
 Mrs Keswick and. Annie attended the ceremonies in 
 the cabin, but they did not go to the burial. After 
 a time, it might be in a week or two, or it might be 
 in a year, the funeral sermon would be preached in 
 the church, and they would go to hear that. Aunt 
 Patsy never finished her crazy quilt, several pieces 
 being wanted to one corner of it ; but in the few 
 days preceding her burial two old women of the 
 congregation, with trembling hands and uncertain 
 eyes, sewed in these pieces, and finished the quilt, in 
 which the body of the venerable sister was wrapped, 
 according to her well-known wish and desire. It is 
 customary among the negroes to keep the re 
 mains of their friends a very short time after 
 death, but Aunt Patsy had lived so long upon 
 this earth that it was generally conceded that her 
 spirit would not object to her body remaining above 
 ground until all necessary arrangements should be 
 completed, and until all people who had known or 
 heard of her had had an opportunity of taking a 
 last look at her. As she had been so very well 
 known to almost everybody s grandparents, a good 
 many people availed themselves of this privilege. 
 
384 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 After Mrs Keswick s return from Aunt Patsy s 
 cabin, where, according to her custom, she made her 
 self very prominent, it was noticeable that she had 
 dropped some of the grave reserve in which she had 
 wrapped herself during the preceding day. It was 
 impossible for her, at least but for a very short time, 
 to act in a manner unsuited to her nature ; and re 
 serve and constraint had never been suited to her 
 nature. She, therefore, began to speak on general 
 subjects in her ordinary free manner to the various 
 persons in her house ; but it must not be supposed 
 that she exhibited any contrition for the outrageous 
 way in which she had spoken to Annie and Law 
 rence, or gave them any reason to suppose that the 
 laceration of their souls on that occasion was a 
 matter which, at present, needed any consideration 
 whatever from her. An angel, born of memory and 
 imagination, might come to her from heaven, and so 
 work upon her superstitious feelings as to induce 
 her to stop short in her course of reckless vengeance ; 
 but she would not, on that account, fall upon any 
 body s neck, or ask forgiveness for anything she had 
 done to anybody. She did not accuse herself, nor 
 repent ; she only stopped. " After this," she said, 
 "you all can do as you please. I have no further 
 concern with your affairs. Only don t talk to me 
 about them." 
 
 She told Lawrence, in a manner that would seem 
 to indicate a moderate, but courteous, interest in his 
 welfare, that he must not think of leaving her house 
 until his ankle had fully recovered its strength ; and 
 
The Late Mrs Null 385 
 
 she even went so far as to suggest the use of a patent 
 lotion which she had seen at the store at Howlett s. 
 She resumed her former intercourse with Annie, but 
 it seemed impossible for her to entirely forget the 
 deception which that young lady had practised upon 
 her. The only indication, however, of this resent 
 ment was the appellation which she now bestowed 
 upon her niece. In speaking of her to Lawrence, or 
 any of the household, she invariably called her " the 
 late Mrs Null," and this title so pleased the old lady 
 that she soon began to use it in addressing her niece. 
 Annie occasionally remonstrated in a manner which 
 seemed half playful, but was in fact quite earnest, 
 but her aunt paid no manner of attention to her 
 words, and continued to please herself by this half- 
 sarcastic method of alluding to her niece s fictitious 
 matrimonial state. 
 
 Letty, and the other servants, were at first much 
 astonished by the new title given to Miss Annie, and 
 the only way in which they could explain it was by 
 supposing that Mr Null had gone off somewhere 
 and died ; and although they could not understand 
 why Miss Annie should show so little grief in the 
 matter, and why she had not put on mourning, they 
 imagined that these were customs which she had 
 learned in the North. 
 
 Lawrence advised Annie to pay no attention to 
 this whim of her aunt. " It don t hurt either of us," 
 he said, " and we ought to be veiy glad that she has 
 let us off so easily. But there is one thing I think 
 you ought to do ; you should write to your cousin 
 25 
 
386 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Junius, and tell him of our engagement ; but I would 
 not refer at all to the other matter ; you are not 
 supposed to have anything to do with it, and Miss 
 March can tell him as much about it as she chooses. 
 Mr Keswick wrote me that he was going to Mid- 
 branch, and that he would communicate with me 
 while there, but, as I have not since heard from him, 
 I presume he is still in Washington." 
 
 A letter was, therefore, written by Annie, and ad 
 dressed to Junius, in Washington, and Lawrence 
 drove her to the railroad station in the spring-wagon, 
 where it was posted. The family mail came bi 
 weekly to Hewlett s, as the post-office at the rail 
 road station was entirely too distant for convenience ; 
 and as Saturday approached it was evident, from Mrs 
 Keswick s occasional remarks and questions, that she 
 expected a letter. It was quite natural for Law 
 rence and Annie to surmise that this letter was ex 
 pected from Miss March, for Mrs Keswick had not 
 heard of any rejoinder having been made to her 
 epistle to that lady. W T hen, late on Saturday after 
 noon, the boy Plez returned from Howlett s, Mrs 
 Keswick eagerly took from him the well-worn letter- 
 bag, and looked over its contents. There was a 
 letter for her and from Midbranch, but the address 
 was written by Junius, not by Miss March. There 
 was another in the same hand-writing for Annie. As 
 the old lady looked at the address on her letter, and 
 then on its post-mark, she was evidently disappoint 
 ed and displeased, but she said nothing, and went 
 away with it to her room. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 387 
 
 Annie s letter was in answer to the one she had 
 sent to Washington, which had been promptly for 
 warded to Midbranch where Junius had been for 
 some days. It began by expressing much surprise 
 at the information his cousin had given him in 
 regard to her assumption of a married title, and 
 although she had assured him she had very good 
 reasons, he could not admit that it was right and 
 proper for her to deceive his aunt and himself in 
 this way. If it were indeed necessary that other 
 persons should suppose that she were a married 
 woman, her nearest relatives, at least, should have 
 been told the truth. 
 
 At this passage, Annie, who was reading the let 
 ter aloud, and Lawrence who was listening, both 
 laughed. But they made no remarks, and the read 
 ing proceeded. 
 
 Junius next alluded to the news of his cousin s 
 engagement to Mr Croft. His guarded remarks on 
 this subject showed the kindness of his heart. He 
 did not allude to the suddenness of the engagement, 
 nor to the very peculiar events that had so recently 
 preceded it ;. but reading between the lines, both 
 Annie and Lawrence thought that the writer had 
 probably given these points a good deal of con 
 sideration. In a general way, however, it was im 
 possible for him to see any objection to such a 
 match for his cousin, and this was the impression 
 he endeavored to give in a very kindly way, in his 
 congratulations. But, even here, there seemed to 
 be indications of a hope, on the part of the writer, 
 
388 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 that Mr Croft would not see fit to make another 
 short tack in his course of love. 
 
 Like the polite gentleman he was, Mr Keswick 
 allowed his own affairs to come in at the end of the 
 letter. Here he informed his cousin that his en 
 gagement with Miss March had been renewed, and 
 that they were to be married shortly after Christmas. 
 As it must have been very plain to those who were 
 present when Miss March left his aunt s house, that 
 she left in anger with him, he felt impelled to say 
 that he had explained to her the course of action 
 to which she had taken exception, and although 
 she had not admitted that that course had been a 
 justifiable one, she had forgiven him. He wished 
 also to say at this point that he, himself, was not at 
 all proud of what he had done. 
 
 " That was intended for me/ interrupted Law 
 rence. 
 
 " Well, if you understand it, it is all right," said 
 Annie. 
 
 Junius went on to say that the renewal of his 
 engagement was due, in great part, to Miss March s 
 visit to his aunt ; and to a letter she had received 
 from her. A few days of intercourse with Mrs 
 Keswick, whom she had never before seen, and the 
 tenor and purpose of that letter, had persuaded 
 Miss March that his aunt was a person whose mind 
 had passed into a condition when its opposition or 
 its action ought not to be considered by persons 
 who were intent upon their own welfare. His 
 own arrival at Midbranch, at this juncture, had 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 389 
 
 resulted in the happy renewal of their engage 
 ment. 
 
 " I don t know Junius half as well as I wish I 
 did," said Annie, as she finished the letter, " but I 
 am very sure, indeed, that he will make a good hus 
 band, and I am glad he has got Roberta March as 
 he wants her. 
 
 " Did you emphasize he ?" asked Lawrence. 
 
 " I will emphasize it, if you would like to hear me 
 do it," said she. 
 
 " It s very queer," remarked Annie, after a little 
 pause, " that I should have been so anxious to pre 
 serve poor Junius from your clutches, and that, after 
 all I did to save him, I should fall into those clutches 
 myself." 
 
 Whereupon Lawrence, much to her delight, told 
 her the story of the anti-detective. 
 
 Mrs Keswick sat down in her room, and read her 
 letter. She had no intention of abandoning her 
 resolution to let things go as they would ; and, there 
 fore, did not expect to follow up, with further words 
 or actions, anything she had written in her letter to 
 Roberta March. But she had had a very strong 
 curiosity to know what that lady would say in 
 answer to said letter, and she was therefore disap 
 pointed and displeased that the missive she had 
 received was from her nephew, and not from Miss 
 March. She did not wish to have a letter from 
 Junius. She knew, or rather very much feared, 
 that it would contain news which would be bad 
 news to her, and although she was sure that such 
 
39 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 news would come to her sooner or later, she was 
 very much averse to receiving it. 
 
 His letter to her merely touched upon the points 
 of Mrs Null, and his cousin s engagement to Mr 
 Croft ; but it was almost entirely filled with the an 
 nouncement, and most earnest defence, of his own 
 engagement to Roberta March. He said a great deal 
 upon this subject, and he said it well. But it is 
 doubtful if his fervid, and often affectionate, expres 
 sions made much impression upon his aunt. Noth 
 ing could make the old lady like this engagement, 
 but she had made up her mind that he might do as 
 he pleased, and it didn t matter what he said about 
 it ; he had done it, and there was an end of it. 
 
 But there was one thing that did matter : That un 
 principled and iniquitous old man Brandon had had 
 his own way at last ; and she and her way had been 
 set aside. This was the last of a series of injuries 
 to her and her family with which she charged Mr 
 Brandon and his family ; but it was the crowning 
 wrong. The injury itself she did not so much de 
 plore, as that the injurer would profit by it. Arrested 
 in her course of raging passion by a sudden flood of 
 warm and irresistible emotion, she had resigned, 
 as impetuously as she had taken them up, her pur 
 poses of vengeance, and consequently, her plans for 
 her nephew and niece. But she was a keen-minded, 
 as well as passionate old woman, and when she had 
 considered the altered state of affairs, she was able 
 to see in it advantages as well as disappointment 
 and defeat. From what she had learned of Law- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 391 
 
 rence Croft s circumstances and position, and she 
 had made a good many inquiries on this subject of 
 Roberta March, he was certainly a good match for 
 Annie ; and, although she hated to have anything to 
 do with Midbranch, it could not be a bad thing for 
 Junius to be master of that large estate, and that 
 Mr Brandon had repeatedly declared he would be, if 
 he married Roberta. Thus, in the midst of these 
 reverses, there was something to comfort her, and 
 reconcile her to them. But there was no balm for 
 the wound caused by Mr Brandon s success and her 
 failure. 
 
 With the letter of Junius open in her hand, she 
 sat, for a long time, in bitter meditation. At length 
 a light gradually spread itself over her gloomy 
 countenance. Her eyes sparkled ; she sat up 
 straight in her chair, and a broad smile changed the 
 course of the wrinkles on her cheeks. She arose to 
 her feet ; she gave her head a quick jerk of affirma 
 tion ; she clapped one hand upon the other; and 
 she said aloud : " I will bless, not curse ! " 
 
 And with that she went happy to bed. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ON the following Monday, Lawrence announced 
 that his ankle was now quite well enough for him to 
 go to New York, where his affairs required his 
 presence. Neither he, nor the late Mrs Null, re 
 garded this parting with any satisfaction, but their 
 very natural regrets at the necessary termination of 
 these happy autumn days were a good deal tem 
 pered by the fact that Lawrence intended to return 
 in a few weeks, and that then the final arrange 
 ments would be made for their marriage. It was 
 not easy to decide what these arrangements would 
 be, for in spite of the many wrongnesses of the old 
 lady s head and heart, Annie had conceived a good 
 deal of affection for her aunt, and felt a strong dis 
 inclination to abandon her to her lonely life, which 
 would be more lonely than before, now that Junius 
 was to be married. On the other hand, Lawrence, 
 although he had discovered some estimable points 
 in the very peculiar character of Mrs Keswick, had 
 no intention of living in the same house with her. 
 This whole matter, therefore, was left in abeyance 
 until the lovers should meet again, some time in 
 December. 
 
 Lawrence and Annie had desired very much that 
 Junius should visit them before Mr. Croft s depart- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 393 
 
 lire for the North, for they both had a high esteem 
 for him, and both felt a desire that he should be as 
 well satisfied with their matrimonial project as they 
 were with his. But they need not have expected 
 him. Junius had conceived a dislike for Mr Croft, 
 which was based in great part upon disapprobation 
 of what he himself had done in connection with that 
 gentleman ; and this manner of dislike is not easily 
 set aside. The time would come when he would 
 take Lawrence Croft and Annie by the hand, and 
 honestly congratulate them, but for that time they 
 must wait. 
 
 Lawrence departed in the afternoon ; and the 
 next day Mrs Keswick set about that general reno 
 vation and rearrangement of her establishment 
 which many good housewives consider necessary at 
 certain epochs, such as the departure of guests, the 
 coming in of spring, or the advent of winter. 
 These arrangements occupied two days, and on the 
 evening that they were finished to her satisfaction, 
 the old lady informed her niece, that early the next 
 morning, she was going to start for Midbranch, and 
 that it was possible, nay, quite probable, that she 
 would stay there over a night. " I might go and 
 come back the same day," she said, "but thirty 
 miles a day is too much for Billy, and besides, I am 
 not sure I could get through what I have to do, if I 
 do not stay over. I would take you with me but 
 this is not to be a mere visit ; I have important 
 things to attend to, and you would be in the way. 
 You got along so well without me when you first 
 
394 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 came here that I have no doubt you will do very 
 well for one night. I shall drive myself, and take 
 Plez along with me, and leave Uncle Isham and 
 Letty to take care of you." 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances Annie would have 
 been delighted to go to Midbranch, a place she 
 had never seen, and of which she had heard so much, 
 but she had no present desire to see Roberta March, 
 and said so ; further remarking that she was very 
 willing to stay by herself for a night. She hoped 
 much that her aunt would proceed with the con 
 versation, and tell her why she had determined upon 
 such an extraordinary thing as a visit to Midbranch ; 
 where she knew the old lady had not been for many, 
 many years. But Mrs Keswick had nothing further 
 to say upon this subject, and began to talk of other 
 matters. 
 
 After a very early breakfast next morning, Mrs 
 Keswick set out upon her journey, driving the sorrel 
 horse with much steadiness, intermingled with sever 
 ity whenever he allowed himself to drop out of his 
 usual jogging pace. Plez sat in the back part of the 
 spring-wagon, and whenever the old lady saw an un 
 usually large stone lying in the track of the road, 
 she would stop, and make him get out and throw it 
 to one side. 
 
 " I believe," she said, on one of these occasions, 
 " that a thousand men in buggies might pass along 
 this road thrice a day for a year, and never think of 
 stopping to throw that rock out of the way of peo 
 ple s wheels. They would steer around it every time, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 395 
 
 or bump over it, but such a thing as moving it would 
 never enter their heads." 
 
 The morning was somewhat cool, but fine, and the 
 smile which occasionally flitted over the corrugated 
 countenance of Mrs Keswick seemed to indicate that 
 she was in a pleasant state of mind, which might have 
 been occasioned by the fine weather and the good 
 condition of the roads, or by cheerful anticipations 
 connected with her visit. 
 
 It was not very long after noonday that, with a 
 stifled remark of disapprobation upon her lips, she 
 drew up at the foot of the broad flight of steps by 
 which one crossed the fence into the Midbranch 
 yard. Giving Billy into the charge of Plez, with di 
 rections to take him round to the stables and tell 
 somebody to put him up and feed him, she mounted 
 the steps, and stopped for a minute or so on the 
 broad platform at the top ; looking about her as she 
 stood. Everything, the house, the yard, the row of 
 elms along the fence, the wide-spreading fields, and 
 the farm buildings and cabins, some of which she 
 could see around the end of the house, were all on a 
 scale so much larger and more imposing than those 
 of her own little estate that, although nothing had 
 changed for the better since the days when she was 
 familiar with Midbranch, she was struck with the 
 general superiority of the Brandon possessions to 
 her own. Her eyes twinkled, and she smiled ; but 
 there did not appear to be anything envious about 
 her. 
 
 She presented a rather remarkable figure as she 
 
396 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 stood in this conspicuous position. Annie had 
 insisted, when she was helping her aunt to array her 
 self for the journey, that she should wear a bonnet 
 which for many years had been her head-gear on 
 Sundays and important occasions, but to this the 
 old lady positively objected. She was not going on 
 a mere visit of state or ceremony ; her visit at Mid- 
 branch would require her whole attention, and she 
 did not wish to distract her mind by wondering 
 whether her bonnet was straight on her head or not, 
 and she was so unaccustomed to the feel of it that 
 she would never know if it got turned hind part 
 foremost. She could never be at her ease, nor say 
 freely what she wished to say, if she were dressed in 
 clothes to which she was not accustomed. She was 
 perfectly accustomed to her sun-bonnet, and she in 
 tended to wear that. Of course she carried her pur 
 ple umbrella, and she wore a plain calico dress, blue 
 spotted with white, which was very narrow and 
 short in the skirt, barely touching the tops of her 
 shoes, the stoutest and most serviceable that could 
 be procured in the store at Hewlett s. She covered 
 her shoulders with a small red shawl which, much to 
 Annie s surprise, she fastened with a large and some 
 what tarnished silver brooch, an ornament her niece 
 had never before seen. Attired thus, she certainly 
 would have attracted attention, had there been any 
 one there to see, but the yard was empty, and the 
 house door closed. She descended the steps, crossed 
 the yard with what might be termed a buoyant gait, 
 and, mounting the porch, knocked on the door with 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 397 
 
 the handle of her umbrella. After some delay a 
 colored woman appeared, and as soon as the door 
 was opened, Mrs Keswick walked in. 
 
 " Where is your master?" said she, forgetting all 
 about the Emancipation Act. 
 
 " Mahs Robert is in the libery," said the woman. 
 
 " And where are Miss Roberta March and Master 
 Junius Keswick ? " 
 
 " Miss Rob went Norf day fore yestiddy," was the 
 answer, " an Mahs Junius done gone long to scort 
 her. Who shall I tell Mahs Robert is come ? " 
 
 " There is no need to tell him who I am," said Mrs 
 Keswick. "Just take me in to him. That s all you 
 have to do." 
 
 A good deal doubtful of the propriety of this pro 
 ceeding, but more doubtful of the propriety of oppos 
 ing the wishes of such a determined-looking visitor, 
 the woman stepped to the back part of the hall, and 
 opened the door. The moment she did so, Mrs 
 Keswick entered, and closed the door behind her. 
 
 Mr Brandon was seated in an arm chair by a table, 
 and not very far from a wood fire of a size suited to 
 the season. His slippered feet were on a cushioned 
 stool; his eye-glasses were carefully adjusted on the 
 capacious bridge of his nose ; and, intent upon a 
 newspaper which had arrived by that morning s mail, 
 he presented the appearance of a very well satisfied 
 old gentleman, in very comfortable circumstances. 
 But when he turned his head and saw the Widow 
 Keswick close the door behind her, every idea of 
 satisfaction or comfort seemed to vanish from his 
 
398 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 mind. He dropped the paper; he rose to his feet ; 
 he took off his eye-glasses ; he turned somewhat red 
 in the face ; and he ejaculated : " What ! madam ! So 
 it is you, Mrs Keswick ? " 
 
 The old lady did not immediately answer. Her 
 head dropped a little, on one side, a broad smile be- 
 wrinkled the lower part of her well-worn visage, and 
 with her eyes half-closed, behind her heavy spectacles, 
 she held out both her hands, the purple umbrella 
 in one of them, and exclaimed in a voice of happy 
 fervor : " Robert ! I am yours ! " 
 
 Mr Brandon, recovered from his first surprise, had 
 made a step forward to go round the table and greet 
 his visitor ; but at these words he stopped as if he 
 had been shot. Perception, understanding, and even 
 animation, seemed to have left him as he vacantly 
 stared at the elderly female with purple sun-bonnet 
 and umbrella, blue calico gown, red shawl and coarse 
 boots, who held out her arms towards him, and who 
 gazed upon him with an air of tender, though de- 
 crepid, fondness. 
 
 " Don t you understand me, Robert ?" she con 
 tinued. " Don t you remember the day, many a 
 good long year ago, it is true, when we walked 
 together down there by the branch, and you asked 
 me to be yours ? I refused you, Robert, and, 
 although you went down on your knees in the 
 damp grass and besought me to give you my heart, 
 I would not do it. But I did not know you then as 
 I know you now, Robert, and the words of true love 
 which you spoke to me that morning come to me 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 399 
 
 now with a sweetness which I was too young and 
 trifling to notice then. That heart is yours now, 
 Robert. / am yours." And, with these words, she 
 made a step forward. 
 
 At this demonstration Mr Brandon appeared sud 
 denly to recover his consciousness and he precip 
 itately made two steps backwards, just missing 
 tumbling over his footstool into the fireplace. 
 
 " Madam ! " he exclaimed, " what are you talking 
 about ? " 
 
 " Of the days of our courtship, and your love, 
 Robert," she said. " My love did not come then, 
 but it is here now. Here now," she repeated, put 
 ting the hand with the umbrella in it on her breast. 
 
 " Madam," exclaimed the old gentleman, "you 
 must be raving crazy ! Those things to which you 
 allude, happened nearly half a century ago ; and 
 since that you have been married and settled, 
 and " 
 
 " Robert," interrupted the Widow Keswick, " you 
 are mistaken. It is not quite forty-five years since 
 that morning, and why should hearts like ours allow 
 the passage of time or the mere circumstance of what 
 might be called an outside marriage, but now ex 
 tinct, to come between them ? There is many a 
 spring, Robert, which does not show when a man 
 first begins to dig, but it will bubble up in time. 
 And, Robert, it bubbles now." And with her head 
 bent a little downwards, although her eyes were 
 still fixed upon him, she made another step in his 
 direction. 
 
400 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Mr Brandon now backed himself flat against some 
 book-shelves in his rear. The perspiration began to 
 roll from his face, and his whole form trembled. 
 " Mrs Keswick ! Madam ! " he exclaimed, " You 
 will drive me mad !" 
 
 The old lady dropped the end of her umbrella on 
 the floor, rested her two hands on the head of it, 
 settled herself into an easy position to speak, and, 
 with her head thrown back, fixed a steady gaze upon 
 the trembling old gentleman. " Robert," she said, 
 " do not try to crush emotions which alv/ays were a 
 credit to you, although in those days gone by I didn t 
 tell you so. Your hair was black then, Robert, and 
 you looked taller, for you hadn t a stoop, and your face 
 was very smooth, and so was mine, and I remember 
 I had on a white dress with a broad ribbon around 
 the waist, and neither of us wore specs. What you 
 said to me was very fresh and sweet, Robert, and it 
 all comes to me now as it never came before. You 
 have never loved another, Robert, and you don t 
 know how happy it makes me to think that, and to 
 know that I can come to you and find you the same 
 true and constant lover that you were when, forty- 
 five years ago, you went down on your knees to me 
 by the branch. We can t stifle those feelings of by 
 gone days which well up in our bosoms, Robert. 
 After all these years I have learned what a prize 
 your true love is, and I return it. I am yours." 
 
 At this Mr Brandon opened his mouth with a 
 spasmodic gasp, but no word came from him. He 
 looked to the right and left, and then made a lunge 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 401 
 
 to one side, as if he would run around the old lady 
 and gain the door. But Mrs Keswick was too quick 
 for him. With two sudden springs she reached the 
 door and put her back against it. 
 
 " Don t leave me, Robert," she said, " I have not 
 told you all. Don t you remember this breastpin ? " 
 unfastening the large silver brooch from her shawl 
 and holding it out to him. "You gave it to me, 
 Robert ; there were almost tears of joy in your eyes 
 on the first day I wore it, although I was careful to 
 let you know it meant nothing. Where are those 
 tears to-day, Robert ? It means something now. I 
 have kept it all these years, although in the life 
 time of Mr Keswick it was never cleaned, and I 
 wore it to-day, Robert, that your eyes might rest 
 upon it once again, and that you might speak to 
 me the words you spoke to me the day after I let 
 you pin it on my white neckerchief. You waited 
 then, Robert, a whole day before you spoke, but 
 you needn t wait now. Let your heart speak out, 
 dear Robert." 
 
 But dear Robert appeared to have no power to 
 speak, on this or any other subject. He was half 
 sitting, half leaning on the corner of a table which 
 stood by a window, out of which he gave sudden 
 agonized and longing glances, as if, had he strength 
 enough, he would raise the sash and leap out. 
 
 The old lady, however, had speech enough for 
 
 two. " Robert," she exclaimed, " how happy may 
 
 we be, yet ! If you wish to give up, to a younger 
 
 couple, this spacious mansion, these fine grounds and 
 
 26 
 
402 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 noble elms, and come to my humble home, I shall 
 only say to you, * Robert, come ! I shall be alone 
 there, Robert, and shall welcome you with joy. I 
 have nobody now to give anything to. The late 
 Mrs Null, by which I mean my niece, will marry a 
 man who, if reports don t lie, is rich enough to make 
 herwant nothing that I have; and as for Junius, he 
 is to have your property, as we all know. So all I 
 have is yours, if you choose to come to me, Robert. 
 But, if you would rather live here, I will come to 
 you, and the young people can board with us until 
 your decease ; after that, I ll board with them. And 
 I m not sure, Robert, but I like the plan of coming 
 here best. There are lots of improvements we could 
 make on this place, with you to furnish the money, 
 and me to advise and direct. The first thing I d do 
 would be to have down those abominable steps over 
 the front fence, and put a decent gate in its place ; 
 and then we would have a gravelled walk across the 
 yard to the porch, wide enough for you and me, 
 Robert, to walk together arm-in-arm when we would 
 go out to look over the plantation, or stroll down to 
 that spot on the branch, Robert, where the first 
 plightings of our troth began." 
 
 The words of tender reminiscence, and of fond 
 though rather late devotion, with which Mrs Keswick 
 had stabbed and gashed the soul of the poor old 
 gentleman, had at first deranged his senses, and then 
 driven him into a state of abject despair, but the 
 practical remarks which succeeded seemed to have a 
 more direful effect upon him. The idea of the being 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 403 
 
 with the sun-bonnet and the umbrella entering into 
 his life at Midbranch, tearing down the broad steps 
 which his honored father had built, cutting a grav 
 elled path across the green turf which had been the 
 pride of generations, and doing, no man could say 
 what else, of advice and direction, seemed to strike 
 a chill of terror into his very bones. 
 
 The quick perception of Mrs Keswick told her 
 that it was time to terminate the interview. " I will 
 not say anything more to you now, Robert," she 
 said. " Of course you have been surprised at my 
 coming to you to-day, and accepting your offer of 
 marriage, and you must have time to quiet your 
 mind, and think it over. I don t doubt your affec 
 tion, Robert, and I don t want to hurry you. T am 
 going to stay here to-night, so that we can have 
 plenty of time to settle everything comfortably. I ll 
 go now and get one of the servants to show me to a 
 room where I can take off my things. I ll see you 
 again at dinner." 
 
 And, with a smile of antiquated coyness, she left 
 the room. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 MR BRANDON was not a weak man, nor one very 
 susceptible to outside influences, but, in the whole 
 course of his life, nothing so extraordinarily nerve- 
 stirring had occurred to him as this visit of old Mrs 
 Keswick, endeavoring to appear in the character of 
 the young creature he had wooed some forty-five 
 years before. For a long time, Mrs Keswick had 
 been the enemy of himself and his family ; and 
 many a bitter onslaught she had made upon him, 
 both by letter, and by word of mouth. These he 
 had borne with the utmost bravery and coolness, 
 and there were times when they even afforded him 
 entertainment. But this most astounding attack 
 was something against which no man could have 
 been prepared ; and Mr Brandon, suddenly pounced 
 upon in the midst of his comfortable bachelordom 
 by a malevolent sorceress and hurled back to the 
 days of his youth, was shown himself kneeling, not 
 at the feet of a fair young girl, but before a horrible 
 old woman. 
 
 This amazing and startling state of affairs was 
 too much for him immediately to comprehend. It 
 stunned and bewildered him. Such, indeed, was 
 the effect upon him that the first act of his mind, 
 when he was left alone, and it began to act, was 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 405 
 
 to ask of itself if there were really any grounds 
 upon which Mrs Keswick could, with any reason, 
 take up her position ? The absolute absurdity of 
 her position, however, became more and more evi 
 dent, as Mr Brandon s mind began to straighten 
 itself and stand up. And now he grew angry. 
 Anger was a passion with which he was not at all 
 unfamiliar, and the exercise of it seemed to do him 
 good. When he had walked up and down his li 
 brary for a quarter of an hour, he felt almost like his 
 natural self ; and with many nods of his head and 
 shakes of his fist, he declared that the old woman 
 was crazy, and that he would bundle her home just 
 as soon as he could. 
 
 By dinner-time he had cooled down a good deal, 
 and he resolved to treat her with the respect due to 
 her age and former condition of sanity ; but to take 
 care that she should not again be alone with him, 
 and to arrange that she should return to her home 
 that day. 
 
 Mrs Keswick came to the table with a smiling 
 face, and wearing a close-fitting white cap, which 
 looked like a portion of her night gear, tied under 
 her chin with broad, stiff strings. In this she ap 
 peared to her host as far more hideous than when 
 wearing her sun-bonnet. Mr Brandon had arranged 
 that two servants should wait upon the table, so 
 that one of them should always be in the room, but 
 in his supposition that the presence of a third per 
 son would have any effect upon the expression of 
 Mrs Keswick s fond regard, he was mistaken. The 
 
406 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 meal had scarcely begun, when she looked around 
 the room with wide-open eyes, and exclaimed: 
 " Robert, if we should conclude to remain here, I 
 think we will have this room re-papered with some 
 light-colored paper. I like a light dining-room. 
 This is entirely too dark." 
 
 The two servants, one of whom was our old 
 friend, Peggy, actually stopped short in their duties 
 at this remark; and as for Mr Brandon, his appe 
 tite immediately left him, to return no more during 
 that meal. 
 
 He was obliged to make some answer to this 
 speech, and so he briefly remarked that he had no 
 desire to alter the appearance of his dining-room, 
 and then hastened to change the conversation by 
 making some inquiries about that interesting young 
 woman, her niece, who, he had been informed, was 
 not a married lady, as he had supposed her to be. 
 
 At this intelligence, Peggy dropped two spoons 
 and a fork ; she had never heard it before. 
 
 " The late Mrs Null," said Mrs Keswick, " is a 
 young woman who likes to cut her clothes after her 
 own patterns. They may be becoming to her when 
 they are made up, or they may not be. But I am 
 inclined to think she has got a pretty good head on 
 her shoulders, and perhaps she knows what suits 
 her as well as any of us. I can t say it was easy to 
 forgive the trick she played on me, her own aunt, 
 and just the same, in fact, as her mother. But 
 Robert," and as she said this the old lady laid down 
 her knife and fork, and looked tenderly at Mr 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 407 
 
 Brandon, " I have determined to forgive everybody, 
 and to overlook everything, and I do this as much 
 for your sake, dear Robert, as for my own. It 
 wouldn t do for a couple of our age to be keeping 
 up grudges against the young people for their ways 
 of getting out of marriages or getting into them. 
 We will have my niece and her husband here some 
 times, won t we, Robert ? " 
 
 Mr Brandon straightened himself and remarked : 
 " Mr Croft, whom I have heard your niece is to 
 marry, will be quite welcome here, with his wife." 
 Then, putting his napkin on the table, and pushing 
 back his chair, he said : " Now, madam, you must 
 excuse me, for I have orders to give to some of my 
 people which I had forgotten until this moment. 
 But do not let me interfere with your dinner. Pray 
 continue your meal." 
 
 Never before had Mr Brandon been known to 
 leave his dinner until he had finished it, and he was 
 not at all accustomed to give such a poor reason for 
 his actions as the one he gave now, but it was 
 simply impossible for him to sit any longer at table, 
 and have that old woman talk in that shocking 
 manner before the servants. 
 
 " Robert," cried Mrs Keswick, as he left the 
 room, " I ll save some dessert for you, and we ll eat 
 it together." 
 
 Mr Brandon s first impulse, when he found him 
 self out of the dining-room, was to mount his 
 horse and ride away ; but there was no place to 
 which he wished to ride ; and he was a man who 
 
408 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 was very loath to leave the comforts of his home. 
 " No," he said. " She must go, and not I." And 
 then he went into his parlor, and strode up and 
 down. As soon as Mrs Keswick had finished her 
 dinner, he would see her there, and speak his mind 
 to her. He had determined that he would not 
 again be alone with her, but, since the presence of 
 others was no restraint whatever upon her, it had 
 become absolutely necessary that he should speak 
 with her alone. 
 
 It was not long before the Widow Keswick, with a 
 brisk, blithe step, entered the parlor. " I couldn t 
 eat without you, Robert," she cried, " and so I 
 really haven t half finished my dinner. Did you 
 have to come in here to speak to your people?" 
 
 Mr Brandon stepped to the door, and closed it. 
 " Madam," he said, " it will be impossible for me, 
 in the absence of my niece, to entertain you here 
 to-night, and so it would be prudent for you to 
 start for home as soon as possible, as the days are 
 short. It would be too much of a journey for your 
 horse to go back again to-day, and your vehicle is an 
 open one ; therefore I have ordered my carriage to 
 be prepared, and you may trust my driver to take 
 you safely home, even if it should be dark before 
 you get there. If you desire it, there is a young 
 maid-servant here who will go with you." 
 
 " Robert," said Mrs Keswick, approaching the old 
 gentleman and gazing fondly upward at him, " you 
 are so good, and thoughtful, and sweet. But you need 
 not put yourself to all that trouble for me. I shall 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 409 
 
 stay here to-night, and in your house, dear Robert, I 
 can take care of myself a great deal better than any 
 lady could take care of me." 
 
 44 Madam," exclaimed Mr Brandon, " I want you 
 to stop calling me by my first name. You have no 
 right to do so, and I won t stand it." 
 
 44 Robert," said the old lady, looking at him with 
 an air of tender upbraiding, " you forget that I am 
 yours, now, and forever." 
 
 Never, since he had arrived at man s estate, anc 
 probably not before, had Mr Brandon spoken in 
 improper language to a lady, but now it was all he 
 could do to restrain himself from the ejaculation of 
 an oath, but he did restrain himself, and only ex 
 claimed : " Confound it, madam, I cannot stand 
 this ! Why do you come here, to drive me crazy 
 with your senseless ravings?" 
 
 " Robert," said Mrs Keswick, very composedly 
 44 1 do not wonder that my coming to you and ac 
 cepting the proposals which you once so heartily 
 made to me, and from which you have never gone 
 back, should work a good deal upon your feelings. It 
 is quite natural, and I expected it. Therefore don t 
 hesitate about speaking out your mind ; I shall not 
 be offended. So that we belong to each other for 
 the rest of our days, I don t mind what you say now^ 
 when it is all new and unexpected to you. You and 
 I have had many a difference of opinion, Robert, 
 and your plans were not my plans. But things 
 have turned out as you wished, and you have what 
 you have always wanted ; and with the other good 
 
410 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 things, Robert, you can take me." And, as she 
 finished speaking, she held out both hands to her 
 companion. 
 
 With a stamp of his foot, and a kick at a chair 
 which stood in his way, Mr Brandon precipitately 
 left the room, and slammed the door after him ; and 
 if Peggy had not nimbly sprung to one side, he 
 would have stumbled over her, and have had a very 
 bad fall for a man of his age. 
 
 It was not ten minutes after this, that, looking out 
 of a window, Mrs Keswick saw a saddled horse 
 brought into the back yard. She hastened into the 
 hall, and found Peggy. " Run to Mr Brandon," she 
 said, "and bid him good-bye for me. I am going 
 up stairs to get ready to go home, and haven t 
 time to speak to him, myself, before he starts on 
 his ride." 
 
 At the receipt of this message the heart of Mr 
 Brandon gave a bound which actually helped him 
 to get into the saddle, but he did not hesitate in his 
 purpose of instant departure. If he staid, but for a 
 moment, she might come out to him, and change 
 her mind, so he put spurs to his horse and galloped 
 away, merely stopping long enough, as he passed the 
 stables, to give orders that the carriage be prepared 
 for Mrs Keswick, and taken round to the front. 
 
 As he rode through the cool air of that fine Novem 
 ber afternoon, the spirits of Mr Brandon rose. He 
 felt a serene satisfaction in assuring himself that, 
 although he had been very angry, indeed, with Mrs 
 Keswick, on account of her most unheard of and out- 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 411 
 
 rageous conduct, yet he had not allowed his indig 
 nation to burst out against her in any way of which 
 he would afterward be ashamed. Some hasty 
 words had escaped him, but they were of no impor 
 tance, and, under the circumstances, no one could 
 have avoided speaking them. But, when he had ad 
 dressed her at any length, he had spoken dispas 
 sionately and practically, and she, being at bottom a 
 practical woman, had seen the sense of his advice, 
 and had gone home comfortably in his carnage. 
 Whether she took her insane fancies home with her, 
 or dropped them on the road, it mattered very little 
 to him, so that he never saw her again ; and he did 
 not intend to see her again. If she came again to 
 his house, he would leave it and not return until she 
 had gone ; but he had no reason to suppose that he 
 would be forced into any such exceedingly disagree 
 able action as this. He did not believe she would 
 ever come back. For, unless she were really crazy 
 and in that case she ought to be put in the lunatic 
 asylum she could not keep up, for any length of 
 time, the extraordinary and outrageous delusion 
 that he would be willing to renew the feelings that 
 he had entertained for her in her youth. 
 
 Mr Brandon rode until nearly dark, for it took a 
 good while to free his mind from the effects of the 
 excitements and torments of that day. But, when he 
 entered the house and took his seat in his library 
 chair by the fire, he had almost regained his usual 
 composed and well satisfied frame of mind. 
 
 Then, through the quietly opened door, came Mrs 
 
412 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Keswick, and stealthily stepping towards him in the 
 fitful light of the blazing logs, she put her hand on 
 his arm and said : " Dear Robert, how glad I am to 
 see you back ! " 
 
 The next morning, about ten o clock, Mrs Keswick 
 sent her eighteenth or twentieth message to Mr 
 Brandon, who had shut himself up in his room since 
 a little before supper-time on the previous evening. 
 The message was sent by Peggy, and she was in 
 structed to shout it outside of her master s door until 
 he took notice of it. Its purport was that it was 
 necessary that Mrs Keswick should go home to-day, 
 and that her horse was harnessed and she was now 
 ready to go, but that she could not think of leaving 
 until she had seen Mr Brandon again. She would 
 therefore wait until he was ready to come down. 
 
 Mr Brandon looked out of the window and saw 
 the spring-wagon at the outside of the broad stile, 
 with Plez standing at the sorrel s head. He re 
 membered that the venerable demon had said, at the 
 first, that she intended to stay but one night, and 
 he could but believe that she was now really going. 
 Knowing her as he did, however, he was very well 
 aware that if she had said she would not leave until 
 she had seen him, she would stay in his house for a 
 year, unless he sooner went down to her; therefore 
 he opened his door, and slowly and feebly descended 
 the stairs. 
 
 " My dear, dear Robert ! " exclaimed Mrs Kes 
 wick, totally regardless of the fact that Peggy was 
 standing at the front door with her valise in her 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 413 
 
 hand, and that there was another servant in the 
 hall, " how pale, and haggard, and worn you look 
 You must be quite unwell, and I don t know but 
 that I ought to stay here and take care of you." 
 
 At these words a look of agony passed over the 
 old man s face, but he said nothing. 
 
 " But I am afraid I cannot stay any longer 
 this time," continued the Widow Keswick, " for my 
 niece would not know what had become of me, and 
 there are things at home that I must attend to ; but 
 I will come again. Don t think I intend to desert 
 you, dear Robert. You shall see me soon again. 
 But while I am gone," she said, turning to the two 
 servants, " I want you maids to take good care of 
 your master. You must do it for his sake, for he 
 has always been kind to you, but I also want you to 
 do it for my sake. Don t you forget that. And 
 now, dear Robert, good-bye." As she spoke, she 
 extended her hand towards the old gentleman. 
 
 Without a word, but with a good deal of apparent 
 reluctance, he took the long, bony hand in his, and 
 probably, would have instantly dropped it again, had 
 not Mrs Keswick given him a most hearty clutch, 
 and a vigorous and long-continued shake. 
 
 " It is hard, dear Robert," she said, " for us to part, 
 with nothing but a hand-shake, but there are people 
 about, and this will have to do." And then, after 
 urging him to take good care of his health, so valu 
 able to them both, and assuring him that he would 
 soon see her again, she gave his hand a final shake, 
 and left him. Accompanied by Peggy, she went out 
 
414 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 to the spring-wagon and clambered into it. It al 
 most surpasses belief that Mr Brandon, a Virginia 
 gentleman of the old school, should have stood in 
 his hall, and have seen an old lady leave his house 
 and get into a vehicle, without accompanying and 
 assisting her ; but such was the case on this occa 
 sion. He seemed to have forgotten his traditions, 
 and to have lost his impulses. He simply stood 
 where the Widow Keswick had left him, and gazed 
 at her. 
 
 When she was seated, and ready to start, the old 
 lady turned towards him, called out to him in a 
 cheery voice : " Good-bye, Robert ! " and kissed her 
 hand to him. 
 
 Mrs Keswick slowly drove away, and Mr Brandon 
 stood at his hall door, gazing after her until she was 
 entirely out of sight. Then he ejaculated : " The 
 Devil s daughter! " and went into his library. 
 
 " I wonders," said Peggy when she returned to the 
 kitchen, " how you all s gwine to like habin dat ole 
 Miss Keswick libin h yar as you all s mistiss." 
 
 " Who s gwine to hab her?" growled Aunt Judy. 
 
 " You all is," sturdily retorted Peggy. " Dar ain t 
 no use tryin to git out ob dat. Dat old Miss Kes 
 wick done gone an kunjered Mahs Robert, an dey s 
 boun to git mar ed. I done heered all bout it, an 
 she s comin h yar to lib wid Mahs Robert. But dat 
 don make no dif rence to me. I s gwine to lib wid 
 Mahs Junius an Miss Rob in New York, I is. But 
 I s mighty sorry for you all." 
 
 " You Peggy," shouted the irate Aunt Judy, " shut 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 415 
 
 up wid your fool talk ! When Mahs Robert marry 
 dat ole jimpsun weed, de angel Gabr el blow his hohn, 
 shuh." 
 
 Slowly driving along the road to her home, the 
 Widow Keswick gazed cheerfully at the blue sky 
 above her, and the pleasant autumn scenery around 
 her ; sniffed the fine fresh air, delicately scented with 
 the odor of falling leaves ; and settling herself into a 
 more comfortable position on her seat, she compla 
 cently said to herself : " Well, I reckon the old scape 
 grace has got his money s worth this time ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THERE were two reasons why Peggy could not go 
 to live with " Mahs Junius and Miss Rob * in New 
 York. In the first place, this couple had no inten 
 tion of setting up an establishment in that city ; 
 and secondly, Peggy, as Roberta well knew, was not 
 adapted by nature to be her maid, or the maid of 
 any one else. Peggy s true vocation in life was to 
 throw her far-away gaze into futurity, and, as far as in 
 her lay, to adapt present circumstances to what she 
 supposed was going to happen. It would have de 
 lighted her soul if she could have been the adept in 
 conjuring, which she firmly believed the Widow Kes- 
 wick to be ; but, as she possessed no such gift, she 
 made up the deficiency, as well as she could, by mix 
 ing up her mind, her soul, and her desires, into a sort 
 of witch s hodge-podge, which she thrust as a spell 
 into the affairs of other people. Twice had the de 
 vices of this stupid-looking wooden peg of a negro 
 girl stopped Lawrence Croft in the path he was fol 
 lowing in his pursuit of Roberta March. If Law 
 rence had known, at the time, what Peggy was doing, 
 he would have considered her an unmitigated little 
 demon ; but afterward, if he could have known of it, 
 he would have thought her a very unprepossessing 
 and conscienceless guardian angel. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 417 
 
 As it was, he knew not what she had done, and 
 never considered her at all. 
 
 Junius Keswick took much more delight in farm 
 ing than he did in the practice of the law, and it was 
 only because he had felt himself obliged to do so, 
 that he had adopted the legal profession. To be a 
 farmer, one must have a farm ; but a lawyer can 
 frequently make a living from the lands of other 
 men. He was very willing, therefore, to agree to 
 the plan which, for years, had been Mr Brandon s 
 most cherished scheme ; that he and Roberta should 
 make their home at Midbranch, and that he should 
 take charge of the estate, which would be his wife s 
 property after the old gentleman s decease. Roberta 
 was as fond of the country as was Junius, but she 
 was also a city woman ; and it was arranged that the 
 couple should spend a portion of each winter in New 
 York, at the house of Mr March. 
 
 Junius, and Roberta, as well as her father, hoped 
 very much that they might be able to induce Mr 
 Brandon to come to New York to attend the wed 
 ding, which was to take place the middle of January ; 
 but they were not confident of success, for they 
 knew the old gentleman disliked very much to travel, 
 especially in winter. Three very pressing letters 
 were therefore written to Mr Brandon ; and the 
 writers were much surprised to receive, in a short 
 time, a collective answer, in which he stated that he 
 would not only be present at the wedding, but that 
 he thought of spending several months in New York. 
 It would be very lonely at Midbranch, he wrote, 
 27 
 
4i 8 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 without Roberta though why it should be more 
 so this year, than during preceding winters, he did 
 not explain and he felt a desire to see the changes 
 that had taken place in the metropolis since he had 
 visited it, years ago. 
 
 They would not have been so much surprised had 
 they known that Mr Brandon did not feel himself 
 safe in his own home, by night or by day. Frequently 
 had he gazed out of a window at the point in the road 
 on which the first sight of an approaching spring- 
 wagon could have been caught ; and had said to 
 himself : " If only Roberta were here, that old hag 
 would not dare to speak a word to me ! I don t 
 want to go away, but, by George ! I don t see how 
 I can stay here without Rob." 
 
 There was a short, very black, and somewhat bow- 
 legged negro man on the place, named Israel Bona 
 parte, who lived in a little cabin by himself, and was 
 noted for his unsocial disposition, and his taciturn 
 ity. To him Mr Brandon went one day, and said : 
 " Israel, I want you to go to work on the fence rows 
 on my side of the road to Hewlett s. Grub up 
 the bushes, clear out the vines and weeds, and see 
 that the rails and posts are all in order. That will 
 be a job that I expect will last you until the roads 
 begin to get heavy. And, by the way, Israel, while 
 you are at work, I want you to keep a lookout for 
 any visitors that may turn into our road, especially 
 if they happen to be ladies. Now that Miss Rob is 
 away, I am very particular about knowing, before 
 hand, when ladies are coming to visit me ; and when 
 
77*? Late Mrs Null. 419 
 
 you see any wagon or carriage turn in, I want you to 
 make a short cut across the fields, and let me know 
 it, and I will give you a quarter of a dollar every 
 time you do so." This was a very pleasant job of 
 work for the meditative Israel. He was not very 
 fond of grubbing, but he earned the greater part of 
 his ten dollars a month and rations, by sitting on the 
 fence, smoking a corn-cob pipe, and attending to the 
 second division of the work which his employer had 
 set him to do. 
 
 Lawrence Croft was in New York at this time, a very 
 busy man, arranging his affairs in that city, so that 
 they would not need his personal attention for some 
 time to come ; he sub-let, for the remainder of his 
 lease, the suite of bachelor apartments he had occu 
 pied, and he stored his furniture and books. One 
 might have imagined that he was taking in all possi 
 ble sails ; close reefing the others ; battening down 
 the hatches; and preparing to run before a storm ; 
 and yet his demeanor did not indicate that he ex 
 pected any violent commotion of the elements. On 
 the contrary, his friends and acquaintances thought 
 him particularly blithe and gay. He told them he 
 was going to be married. 
 
 " To that Virginia lady, I suppose," said one. " I 
 remember her very well; and consider you for 
 tunate." 
 
 " I don t think you ever met her," said Mr 
 Croft. "She is a Miss Peyton, from King Thomas 
 County." 
 
 " Ah ! " remarked his interlocutor. 
 
420 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 Lawrence walked to the window of the club- 
 room, and stood there, slowly puffing his cigar. 
 Had anybody met this one ? he thought. He knew 
 she had seen but little company during her father s 
 life, but was it likely that any of his acquaintances 
 had had business at Candy s Information Shop? As 
 this idea came into his mind, there seemed to be 
 something unpleasant in the taste of his cigar, and 
 he threw it into the fire. A few turns, however, up 
 and down the now almost deserted rooms, restored 
 his tone ; he lighted another cigar, and now there 
 came up before him a vision of the girl who, from 
 loyalty to her dead father, preferred to sit all day 
 behind Candy s money desk rather than go to a 
 relative who had not been his friend. And then he 
 saw the young girl who took up so courageously the 
 cause of one of her own blood the boy cousin of 
 her childhood ; and with a lover s pride, Lawrence 
 thought of the dash, the spirit, and the bravery 
 with which she had done it. 
 
 " By George ! " he said to himself, his eyes spark 
 ling, and his step quickening, " she has more in her 
 than all the rest of them put together!" 
 
 Who were included in " the rest of them," Law 
 rence was not prepared just then to say, but the 
 expression was intended to have a very wide range. 
 
 It was about the middle of December, when Law 
 rence paid another visit to Mrs Keswick s house. 
 The day was cold, but clear, and as he drove up to 
 the outer gate, he saw the old lady returning from 
 a walk to Hewlett s. She stepped along briskly, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 421 
 
 and was in a very good humor, for she had just 
 posted a carefully concocted letter to Mr Brandon, 
 in which she had expatiated, in her peculiar style, on 
 the pleasure which she expected from an early visit 
 to Midbranch. She had not the slightest idea 
 of going there, at present, but she thought it 
 quite time to freshen up the old gentleman s an 
 ticipations. 
 
 Descending from his carriage to meet her, Law 
 rence was very warmly greeted, and the two went 
 up to the house together. 
 
 " I expect the late Mrs Null will be very glad to 
 see you," said Mrs Keswick. " I think she has 
 burned up all her widow s weeds." 
 
 " You should be very much obliged to your 
 niece," said Mr Croft, " for so delicately ridding 
 you of that dreadful fertilizer man." 
 
 "Humph!" said the old lady. "She cheated 
 me out of the pleasure of telling him what I 
 thought of him, and I shall never forgive her for 
 that." 
 
 As Lawrence and Annie sat together in the par 
 lor that evening, he told her what he had been doing 
 in New York, and this brought to her lips a ques 
 tion, which she was very anxious to have answered. 
 She knew that Lawrence was rich ; that his methods 
 of life and thought made him a man of the cities; 
 and she felt quite certain that the position to which 
 he would conduct her was that of the mistress of a 
 handsome town-house, and the wife of a man of 
 society. She liked handsome town-houses, and she 
 
422 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 was sure she would like society ; but it would all be 
 very new and strange to her, and, although she was 
 a brave girl at heart, she shrank from making such a 
 plunge as this. 
 
 "How are we going to live?" repeated Law 
 rence. " That, of course, is to be as you shall choose, 
 but I have a plan to propose to you, and I want 
 very much to hear what you think about it. And 
 the plan is, that we shall not live anywhere for a year 
 or two, but wander, fancy free, over as much of the 
 world as pleases us ; and then decide where we shall 
 settle down, and how we shall like to do it." 
 
 If Annie s answer had been expressed in words, it 
 might have been given here. It may be said, how 
 ever, that it was very quick, very affirmative, and, 
 in more ways than one, highly satisfactory to Law 
 rence. 
 
 "Is it London, and a landlady, and tea?" she 
 presently asked. 
 
 " Yes, it is that," he said. 
 
 " Is it the shops on the Boulevards?" 
 
 " Yes," said Lawrence. 
 
 " And the Appian Way ? And the Island of Capri? 
 And snow mountains in the distance?" she asked. 
 
 " In their turn, most certainly," said her lover, 
 " and it shall be the midnight sun, and the Nile, if 
 you like." 
 
 " Freddy," exclaimed the late Mrs Null, " I thank 
 thee for what thou hast given me !" And she clasped 
 the hand of Lawrence in both her own. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE marriage of Junius Keswick and Roberta 
 March was appointed for the fifteenth of January, 
 and Mr Brandon had arranged to be in New York a 
 few days before the event. He intended, however, 
 to leave Midbranch soon after the first of the year, 
 and to spend a week with some of his friends in 
 Richmond. 
 
 It was on the afternoon of New Year s Day, and 
 Mr Brandon was sitting in his library with Colonel 
 Pinckney Macon, an elderly gentleman of social 
 habits and genial temper, whom Mr Brandon had 
 invited to Midbranch to spend the holidays, and 
 who was afterwards to be his travelling companion 
 as far as Richmond. The two had had a very good 
 dinner, and were now sitting before the fire smoking 
 their pipes, and paying occasional attention to two 
 tumblers of egg-nogg, which stood on a small table 
 between them. They were telling anecdotes of 
 olden times, and were in very good humor indeed, 
 when a servant came in with a note, which had just 
 been brought for Mr Brandon. The old gentleman 
 took the missive, and put on his eye-glasses, but the 
 moment he read the address, he let his hand fall on 
 his knee, and gave vent to an angry ejaculation. 
 
 " It s from that rabid old witch, the Widow Kes- 
 
424 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 wick ! " he exclaimed, " I ve a great mind to throw 
 it into the fire without reading it." 
 
 " Don t do that," cried Colonel Macon. " It is a 
 New Year present she is sending you. Read it, sir, 
 read it by all means." 
 
 Mr Brandon had given his friend an account of 
 his unexampled and astounding persecutions by the 
 Widow Keswick, and the old colonel had been 
 much interested thereby ; and it would have greatly 
 grieved his soul not to become acquainted with this 
 new feature of the affair. "Read it, sir," he cried; 
 " I would like to know what sort of New Year con 
 gratulations she offers you." 
 
 Congratulations indeed!" said Mr Brandon; 
 " you needn t expect anything of that kind." But 
 he opened the note ; and, turning, so that he could 
 get a good light upon it, began to read aloud, as 
 follows : 
 "Mv DEAREST ROBERT," 
 
 " Confound it, sir," exclaimed the reader, " did 
 you ever hear of such a piece of impertinence as 
 that ? " 
 
 Colonel Pinckney Macon leaned back in his chair, 
 and laughed aloud. " It is impertinent," he cried, 
 " but it s confoundedly jolly ! Go on, sir. Go on, I 
 beg of you." 
 
 Mr Brandon continued : 
 
 "It is not for me to suggest anything of the kind, but I write this 
 note simply to ask you what you would think of a triple wedding ? 
 There would certainly be something very touching about it, and it 
 would be very satisfactory and comforting, I am sure, to our nieces 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 425 
 
 and their husbands to know that they were not leaving either of us to 
 a lonely life. Would we not make three happy pairs, dear Robert ? 
 Remember, I do not propose this, I only lay it before your kindly 
 
 and affectionate heart. 
 
 " Your own 
 
 " MARTHA ANN KESWICK." 
 
 Colonel Macon, who, with much difficulty and 
 redness of face, had restrained himself during the 
 reading of this note, now burst into a shout of 
 laughter, while Mr Brandon sprang to his feet, and 
 crumpling the note in his hand, threw it into the 
 fire ; and then, turning around, he exclaimed : 
 " Did the world ever hear anything like that ! Triple 
 wedding, indeed ! Does the pestiferous old shrew 
 imagine that anything in this world would induce 
 me to marry her?" 
 
 " Why, my dear sir," cried Colonel Macon. "of 
 course she don t. I know the Widow Keswick as 
 well as you do. She wouldn t marry you to save 
 your soul, sir. All she wants to do is to worry and 
 persecute you, and to torment your senses out of 
 you, in revenge for your having got the better of 
 her. Now, take my advice, sir, and don t let her 
 do it. 
 
 " I d like to know how I am going to hinder her," 
 said Mr Brandon. 
 
 " Hinder her!" exclaimed Colonel Macon. "No 
 thing easier in this world, sir ! Just you turn right 
 square round, and face her, sir ; and you ll see 
 that she ll stop short, sir; and, what s more, she ll 
 run, sir! " 
 
 "How am I to face her? "asked Mr Brandon. 
 
426 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 " I have faced her, and I assure you, sir, she didn t 
 run." 
 
 " That was because you did not go to work in the 
 right way," said the colonel. " Now, if I were in 
 your place, sir, this is what I would do. I d turn on 
 her and I d scare her out of all the wits she has left. 
 I d say to her : Madam, I think your proposition is 
 an excellent one. I am ready to marry you to-day, 
 or, at the very latest, to-morrow morning. I ll come 
 to your house, and bring a clergyman, and some of 
 my friends. Don t let there be the least delay, for 
 I desire to start immediately for New York, and to 
 take you with me. Now, sir, a note like that would 
 frighten that old woman so that she would leave her 
 house, and wouldn t come back for six weeks ; and 
 the letter you have just burned would be the last 
 attack she would make on you. Now, sir, that is 
 what I would do if I were in your place." 
 
 Mr Brandon sat down, drained his tumbler of egg- 
 nogg, and began to think of what his friend had said. 
 And, as he thought of it, the conviction forced itself 
 upon him that this idea of Colonel Macon s was a 
 good one ; in fact, a splendid one. Now that he 
 came to look upon the matter more clearly than he 
 had done before, he saw that this persecution on the 
 part of the Widow Keswick was not only base, but 
 cowardly. He had been entirely too yielding, had 
 given way too much. Yes, he would face her ! By 
 George ! that was a royal idea ! He would turn 
 round, and make a dash at her, and scare her out of 
 her five senses. 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 427 
 
 Pens, ink, and paper were brought out ; more egg- 
 nogg was ordered ; and Mr Brandon, aided and abet 
 ted by Colonel Macon, wrote a letter to Mrs Kes- 
 wick. 
 
 This letter took a long time to write, and was very 
 carefully constructed. With outstretched hands, Mr 
 Brandon met the old lady on the very threshold 
 of her proposition. He stated that nothing would 
 please him better than an immediate wedding, and 
 that he would have proposed it himself had he not 
 feared that the lady would consider him too impor 
 tunate. (This expression was suggested by Colonel 
 Macon.) In order that they might lose no time in 
 making themselves happy, Mr Brandon proposed 
 that the marriage should take place in a week, and 
 that the ceremony should be performed in Rich 
 mond. (The colonel wished him to say that he 
 would immediately go to her house for the purpose, 
 but Mr Brandon would not consent to write this. 
 He was afraid that the widow would sit at her front 
 door with a shot-gun and wait for him, and that 
 some damage might thereby come to an unwary 
 neighbor.) Each of them had many old friends in 
 Richmond, and it would be very pleasant to be mar 
 ried there. He intended to start for that city in a 
 day or two, and he would be rejoiced to meet her at 
 eleven o clock on the morning of the fifth instant, in 
 the corridor, or covered bridge, connecting the Ex 
 change and Ballard hotels, and there arrange all the 
 details for an immediate marriage. The letter closed 
 with an earnest hope that she would accede to this 
 
428 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 proposed plan, which would so soon make them the 
 happiest couple upon earth; and was signed "Your 
 devoted Robert." 
 
 " By which I mean," said Mr Brandon, "that I am 
 devoted to her destruction." 
 
 The letter was read over by Colonel Macon, and 
 highly approved by him. "If you had met that 
 woman, sir, when she first came to you," he said to 
 Mr Brandon, " with the spirit that is shown in this 
 letter, you would have put a shiver through her, sir, 
 that would have shaken the bones out of her um 
 brella, and she would have cut and run, sir, before 
 you knew it." 
 
 The messenger from Hewlett s was kept at Mid- 
 branch all night, and the next morning he was sent 
 back with Mr Brandon s note. Two days afterward 
 Colonel Macon and Mr Brandon started for Rich 
 mond, and in the course of a few hours, they were 
 comfortably sipping their " peach and honey " at 
 the Exchange and Ballard s. 
 
 The next day was most enjoyably spent with a 
 number of old friends ; and in reminiscences of the 
 past war, and in discussions of the coming political 
 campaign, Mr Brandon had thrown off every sign 
 of the annoyance and persecution to which he had 
 lately been subjected. 
 
 " By George, sir ! " said Colonel Macon to him the 
 next morning, * do you know that you are a most 
 untrustworthy and perfidious man?" 
 
 " Sir ! " exclaimed Mr Brandon, " what do you 
 mean?" 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 429 
 
 " I mean," replied Colonel Pinckney Macon, with 
 much dignity, " that you promised at eleven o clock 
 to-day to meet a lady in the corridor connecting 
 these two hotels. It wants three minutes of that 
 time now, sir, and here you are reading the 
 Dispatch as if you never made a promise in your 
 life." 
 
 " I declare," said Mr Brandon, rising, " my conduct 
 is indefensible, but I am going to my room, and, on 
 my way, will keep my part of the contract." 
 
 " I will go with you," said the colonel. 
 
 Together they mounted the stairs, and approached 
 the corridor ; and, as they opened its glass doors, 
 they saw, sitting in a chair on one side of the pas 
 sage, the Widow Keswick. 
 
 If Mr Brandon had not been caught by his friend 
 he would have fallen over backwards. Regaining 
 an upright position, he made a frantic turn, as if he 
 would fly, but he was not quick enough ; Mrs Kes 
 wick had him by the arm. 
 
 " Robert ! " she exclaimed. " I knew how true 
 and faithful you would be. It has just struck eleven. 
 How do you do, Colonel Macon ? " And she ex 
 tended her hand. 
 
 There was no one in the corridor at the time but 
 these three, but the place was much used as a passage 
 way, and Colonel Macon, who was very pale, but still 
 retained his presence of mind, knew well, that if any 
 one were to come along at this moment, it would 
 be decidedly unpleasant, not only for his friend, 
 but himself. " I am glad to meet you again, Mrs 
 
430 The Late Mrs Nidi. 
 
 Keswick," he said. 4< Let us go into one of the 
 parlors. It will be more comfortable." 
 
 " How kind," murmured Mrs Keswick, as she 
 clung to the arm of Mr Brandon, " for you to bring 
 our good friend, Colonel Macon." 
 
 They went into a parlor, which was empty, and 
 where they were not likely to be disturbed. Mr 
 Brandon walked there without saying a word. His 
 face was as pallid as its well-seasoned color would 
 allow, and he looked straight before him with an air 
 which seemed to indicate that he was trying to re 
 member something terrible, or else trying to forget 
 it, and that he himself did not know which it was. 
 
 Colonel Macon did not stay long in the parlor. 
 There was that in the air of Mrs Keswick which 
 made him understand that there were other places in 
 Richmond where he would be much more welcome 
 than in that room. He went down into the large 
 hall where the gentlemen generally congregate ; and 
 there, in great distress of mind, he paced up and down 
 the marble floor, exchanging nothing but the briefest 
 salutations and answers with the acquaintances he 
 occasionally encountered. The clerk, behind his 
 desk at one side of the hall, had seen men walking 
 up and down in that way, and he thought that the 
 colonel had probably been speculating in tobacco or 
 wheat ; but he knew he was good for the amount of 
 his bill, and he retained his placidity. 
 
 In about half an hour, there came down the stairs, 
 at one end of the hall, an elderly person who some 
 what resembled Mr Brandon of Midbranch. The 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 431 
 
 clothes and the Hat were the same that that gentle* 
 man wore, and the same heavy gold chain with 
 dangling seal-rings hung across his ample waistcoat ; 
 but there was a general air of haggardness and stoop 
 about him which did not in the least suggest the 
 upright and portly gentleman who had written his 
 name in the hotel register the day before yesterday. 
 
 Colonel Macon made five strides towards him, and 
 seized his hand. " What," said he, " how ? " 
 
 Mr Brandon did not look at him ; he let his eyes 
 fall where they chose ; it mattered not to him what 
 they gazed upon ; and, in a low voice, he said : " It 
 is all over." 
 
 " Over ! " repeated the colonel. 
 
 Mr Brandon put a feeble hand on his friend s arm, 
 and together they walked into the reading room, 
 where they sat down in a corner. 
 
 " Have you settled it then ? " asked Colonel Macon 
 with great anxiety. " Is she gone ? " 
 
 " It is settled," said Mr. Brandon. " We are to 
 be married." 
 
 " Married ! " cried Colonel Macon, springing to his 
 feet. " Great Heavens, man ! What do you mean?" 
 
 Not very fluently, and in sentences with a very 
 few words in each of them, but words that sank like 
 hot coals into the soul of his hearer, Mr Brandon 
 explained what he meant. It had been of no use, 
 he said, to try to get out of it ; the old woman had 
 him with the grip of a vise. That letter had done 
 it all. He ought to have known that she was not to 
 be frightened, but it was needless to talk about that. 
 
432 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 It was all over now, and he was as much bound to 
 her as if he had promised before a magistrate. 
 
 " But you don t mean to say," exclaimed the 
 colonel in a voice of anguish, " that you are really 
 going to marry her ? " 
 
 " Sir," said Mr. Brandon, solemnly, " there is no 
 way to get out of it. If you think there is, you 
 don t know the woman." 
 
 " I would have died first ! " said the colonel. " I 
 never would have submitted to her ! " 
 
 "I did not submit," replied Mr. Brandon. "That 
 was done when the letter was written. I roused 
 myself, and I said everything I could say, but it was 
 all useless, she held me to my promise. I told her 
 I would fly to the ends of the earth rather than 
 marry her, and then, sir, she threatened me with 
 a prosecution for breach of promise ; and think 
 of the disgrace that that would bring upon me ; 
 upon my family name ; and on my niece and her 
 young husband. It was a mistake, sir, to suppose 
 that she merely wished to persecute me. She wished 
 to marry me, and she is going to do it." 
 
 The colonel bowed his face upon his hands, and 
 groaned. Mr Brandon looked at him with a dim 
 compassion in his eyes. " Do not reproach your 
 self, sir," he said. " We thought we were acting for 
 the best." 
 
 But little more was said, and two crushed old 
 gentlemen retired to their rooms. 
 
 In the days of her youth, Mrs Keswick had been 
 very well known in Richmond ; and there were a 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 433 
 
 good many elderly ladies and gentlemen, now living 
 in that city, who remembered her as a handsome, 
 sparkling, and somewhat eccentric young woman, 
 and who had since heard of her as a decidedly ec 
 centric old one. Mr Brandon, also, had a large 
 circle of friends and acquaintances in the city ; and 
 when it became known that these two elderly 
 persons were to be married and the news began to 
 spread shortly after Mrs Keswick reached the house 
 of the friend with whom she was staying it excited 
 a great deal of excusable interest. 
 
 Mrs Keswick, according to her ordinary methods 
 of action, took all the arrangements into her own 
 hands. She appointed the wedding for the eighth 
 of January, in order that the happy pair might 
 go to New York, and be present at the nuptials of 
 Junius and Roberta. Mr Brandon had thought of 
 writing to Junius, in the hope that the young man 
 might do something to avert his fate, but remember 
 ing how utterly unable Junius had always been to 
 move his aunt one inch, this way or that, he did not 
 believe that he could be of any service in this case, 
 in which all the energies of her mind were evidently 
 engaged, and he readily consented that she should 
 attend to all the correspondence. It would, indeed, 
 have been too hard for him to break the direful truth 
 to his niece and Junius. He ventured to suggest 
 that Miss Peyton be sent for, having a faint hope 
 that he might in some manner lean upon her ; but 
 Mrs Keswick. informed him that her niece must 
 stay at home to take charge of the place. There 
 28 
 
434 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 were two women in the house, who were busy sew 
 ing for her, and it would be impossible for her to 
 come to Richmond. 
 
 Her correspondence kept the Widow Keswick 
 very busy. She decided that she would be married 
 in a church which she used to attend in her youth ; 
 and to all of her old friends, and to all those of Mr 
 Brandon whose names she could learn by diligent 
 inquiry, invitations were sent to attend the cere 
 mony ; but no one outside of Richmond was in 
 vited. 
 
 The old lady did not come to the city with a 
 purple sun-bonnet and a big umbrella. She wore 
 her best bonnet, which had been used for church- 
 going purposes for many years, and arrayed her 
 self in a travelling suit which was of excellent 
 material, although of most antiquated fashion. 
 She discussed very freely, with her friends, the 
 arrangements she had made, and protuberant can 
 dor being at times one of her most noticeable char 
 acteristics, she did not leave it altogether to others 
 to say that the match she was about to make was a 
 most remarkably good one. For years it had been 
 a hard struggle for her to keep up the Keswick 
 farm, but now she had fought a battle, and won a 
 victory, which ought to make her comfortable and 
 satisfied for the rest of her life. If Mr Brandon s 
 family had taken a great deal from her, she would 
 more than repay herself by appropriating the old 
 gentleman, together with his possessigns. 
 
 After the depression following the first shock, 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 435 
 
 Mr Brandon endeavored to stiffen himself. There 
 was a great deal of pride in him, and if he was 
 obliged to go to the altar, he did not wish his old 
 friends to suppose that he was going there to be 
 sacrificed. He had brought this dreadful thing 
 upon himself, but he would try to stand up like a 
 man, and bear it ; and, after all, it might not be for 
 long ; the Widow Keswick was a good deal older 
 than he was. Other thoughts occasionally came to 
 comfort him ; she could not make him continually 
 live with her, and he had plans for visits to Rich 
 mond, and even to New York; and, better than 
 that, she might want to spend a good deal of time 
 at her own farm. 
 
 " For the sake of my name, and my niece," he said 
 to himself, " I must bear it like a man." 
 
 And, in answer to an earnest adjuration, Colonel 
 Pinckney Macon solemnly promised that he would 
 never reveal, to man or woman, that his friend did 
 not marry the Widow Keswick entirely of his own 
 wish and accord. 
 
 It was the desire of Mrs Keswick that the mar 
 riage, although conducted in church, should be very 
 simple in its arrangements. There would be no 
 bridesmaids or groomsmen ; no flowers ; no breakfast ; 
 and the couple would be dressed in travelling cos 
 tume. The friends of the old lady persuaded her to 
 make considerable changes in her attire, and a cos 
 tume was speedily prepared, which, while it sug 
 gested the fashions of the present day, was also cal 
 culated to recall reminiscences of those of a quarter 
 
436 The Late Mrs Null. 
 
 of a century ago. This simplicity was the only 
 thing connected with the affair which satisfied Mr 
 Brandon, and he would have been glad to have the 
 marriage entirely private, with no more witnesses 
 than the law demanded. But to this Mrs Keswick 
 would not consent. She wanted to have her former 
 friends about her. Accordingly, the church was 
 pretty well filled with old colonels, old majors, old 
 generals, and old judges, with their wives and their 
 sisters, and, in a few cases, their daughters. All the 
 elderly people in Richmond, who, in the days of their 
 youth, had known the gay Miss Matty Pettigrew, 
 and the handsome Bob Brandon, felt a certain reju 
 venation of spirit as they went to the wedding of the 
 couple, who had once been these two. 
 
 The old lady looked full of life and vigor, and, de 
 spite the circumstances, Mr Brandon preserved a 
 good deal of his usual manly deportment. But, 
 when in the course of the marriage service, the cler 
 gyman came to the question in which the bride 
 groom was asked if he would have this woman to be 
 his wedded wife, to love and keep her for the rest of 
 their lives, the answer, " I will," came forth in a 
 feeble tone, which was not wholly divested of a tinge 
 of despondency. 
 
 With the lady it was quite otherwise. When the 
 like question was put to her, she stepped back, and 
 in a loud, clear voice, exclaimed : " Not I ! Marry 
 that man, there ? " she continued in a higher tone, and 
 pointing her finger at the astounded Mr. Brandon. 
 " Not for the world, sir ! Before he was born, his 
 
The Late Mrs Null. 437 
 
 family defrauded and despoiled my people, and as 
 soon as he took affairs into his own hands, he con 
 tinued the villainous law robberies until we are poor, 
 and he is rich ; and, not content with that, he basely 
 wrecks and destroys the plans I had made for the 
 comfort of my old age, in order that his paltry 
 purposes may be carried out. After all that, does 
 anybody here suppose that I would take him for a 
 husband ? Marry him ! Not I ! " And, with these 
 words, the old lady turned her back on the clergy 
 man, and walked rapidly down the centre aisle, until 
 she reached the church door. There she stopped, 
 and turning towards the stupefied assemblage, she 
 snapped her bony ringers in the air, and exclaimed : 
 "Now, Mr Robert Brandon of Midbranch, our ac 
 count is balanced." 
 
 She then went out of the door, and took a street 
 car for the train that would carry her to her home. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
NEW DOLLAR NOVELS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS. 
 
 Each One Volume, 121110 Clotb, - $1.00 
 
 VALENTINO. 
 
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2 SCRIBNER S NEW DOLLAR NOVELS. 
 
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 The scene is laid in New York. 
 
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 WITHIN THE CAPES. 
 
 By HOWARD PYLE, 
 
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 Mr. Pyle s novel is, first of all, an ab orbingly interesting one. As a sea 
 story, pure and simple, it compares well with the best of Lla k Russell s 
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SCRIBXER S NEW DOLLAR NOVELS. 3 
 
 A WHEEL OF FIRE. 
 
 By ARLO BATES. 
 
 Mr. Bates novel is so unusually strong in its conception that it makes a 
 strong impression on th : s account alone. It is not only a striking ^tory, 
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 <A STORY OF NORTH AND SOUTH. 
 
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 The cleverness of the sketch ng, the admirable fairness of the whole, 
 and a cap tal plot make the novel one of the brightest of recent years. 
 
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 COLOR STUDIES. 
 
 By T. A. JANVIER (Ivory Black). 
 
 A series of most delightful pictures of artists life in New York which first 
 attracted the attention of readers to Mr. Janvier as a writer of very 
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 roundings there have never been written better tales than the e which 
 are collected in this beautiful little volume. 
 
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 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, 
 
 & 74=) Broadway, New York. 
 
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 A TtALE OF THE IMPERIAL CITY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER, 
 
 Author of "Nothing to IVear," etc. 
 
 I volume, I2mo, - - $1*25 
 
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 x, 
 
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