la 
 
 
 ROGER CAREY CRAVEN
 
 And then to both returned the vision of the little heaven 
 on earth they so fondly contemplated.
 
 In the 
 Twilight Zone 
 
 By 
 
 ROGER CAREY CRAVEN 
 
 The C. M. Clark Publishing Company 
 
 Boston, Massachusetts 
 
 1909
 
 Copyright, 1909 
 
 THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 
 U. S. A. 
 
 All Right* Rrvcd
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 I THE WINGED OMEN 1 
 
 II THE SILVER SERPENT 9 
 
 III GENESIS OF THE OLD PLANTATION . . 24 
 
 IV "SHIFTLESS HENRY" 41 
 
 V PUCK, PREACHER AND PROPOSAL . . 52 
 VI IN A CEMETERY BUT NOT SAD ... 73 
 
 VII AN INTRUDER 88 
 
 VIII A NOTABLE FOURTH OF JULY ... 95 
 
 IX A LOVER ALARMED 109 
 
 X IN PERPLEXITY 125 
 
 XI A BETTER DAY 134 
 
 XII LED BY BENIGNANT GIANTS . . . 139 
 XIII WHOSE GUEST? 152 
 
 22? ( y?08 
 
 >w (~* ^j v> JL \J O
 
 CONTENTS Continued 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIV ENCHANTMENT 164 
 
 XV DISMANTLEMENT OF PARADISE . . . 178 
 
 XVI STRUGGLE OF Two HEARTS . . . .190 
 
 XVII "A MINISTER'S WOOING" .... 205 
 
 XVIII THE COMING OF THE DEAD . . . .216 
 
 XIX BITTEN BY THE SILVER SERPENT . . 225 
 
 XX AN ORPHAN 241 
 
 XXI AWAY FROM HOME 252 
 
 XXII GASSLER'S STRIVINGS 277 
 
 XXIII His MASK OFF FOR GOOD .... 290 
 
 XXIV FICTION AND FACT 303 
 
 XXV RESTORATION AND EPILOGUE . 315
 
 
 Jllufitrattntta 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 AND THEN TO BOTH RETURNED THE VISION OP THE LITTLE 
 HEAVEN ON EARTH THEY SO FONDLY CONTEMPLATED 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 THE LIGHT IMPARTED A REFINED GLORY TO HER HEAD . 14 
 HE TURNED HIS FACE TO THE SKY 53 
 
 No KNIGHT EVER RODE FORTH BETTER SATISFIED WITH 
 
 THE HORSE UNDER HIM 139 
 
 AND THEN INTO THIS GLORY SHE WALKED 169 
 
 "STAND ASIDE! OTHERS WILL DO YOUR WORK" . 235
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 "WHAT do you think of your divine wench now, 
 my foolish son, eh? " 
 
 "I may take her yet, father." The older man's 
 face crimsoned with wrath. 
 
 "Then you need never call me father again," he 
 said bitterly. "Think what an insufferable disgrace 
 it would be to your whole family as well as to yourself. 
 We could never put up with it. I would be compelled, 
 much as I love you, to disown you. Your mother, 
 lying hi her grave would you cast a reproach on her 
 now that would poison her memory with all those 
 who knew her in life, the saint that she was? " 
 
 " Was not Mary a very angel to my mother? " 
 
 "A very angel to your mother? She was your 
 mother's maid and servant; a good one, I allow, doing 
 always her duty as she ought, but still a maid and a 
 servant a slave, sir. And you remember what your 
 mother herself said about this very thing, do you not? 
 Now, see, the girl has a child a thing excusable enough 
 in one of the ordinary working women, perhaps, but 
 something that one hi Mary's position ought to have 
 avoided. I suppose you would become father to the 
 child, too?" 
 
 "I may take both Mary and the child," said the 
 son firmly. 
 
 "Then curses would follow you all your life, and 
 may they if you do that thing; but you shall not, for 
 I will sell them both at once."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE WINGED OMEN. 
 
 ABNER GARRETT was seated on his west porch, as 
 was his wont at the close of a summer day. The sky, 
 just beyond the tall beech woods that now shaded 
 the large farmyard, was an unusual crimson, radiately 
 streaked with shafts that seemed to be real flame. 
 
 It was a fancy passing through his mind for the mo- 
 ment that, as the day had been very hot, the sun had 
 determined hi departing, to set the parched old earth 
 on fire and at length have done with it forever. 
 
 And then, thought he, what a spectacle it would be 
 if every top leaf on every top branch of every tree hi 
 that sixty acres of woods should catch the heat and 
 blaze up, a little taper! What magnificent candelabra! 
 A forest for fairies then! 
 
 Suddenly a hawk on slow wing outlined itself against 
 the fiery background of this sky and reached the cen- 
 tral point in the luminous picture. 
 
 "And there the messenger," was Mr. Garrett's con- 
 ceit, " to bring the brand for the kindling of the leaves." 
 
 The hawk came flying over the tree-tops and lowered 
 1
 
 2 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 its flight over a stack of freshly thrashed straw that 
 rose like a mountain of gold just this side the beeches. 
 
 Garrett started to his feet, for at nearer view the 
 bird looked big enough to be an eagle, and little Bertha 
 was playing about the straw pile. He had not time, 
 however, to think that she might really be carried 
 away or that she would be too heavy a burden for the 
 largest of eagles. There was only time for him to feel 
 that she was menaced and to be pierced with the fear 
 that his darling was threatened with a danger from 
 which he might not rescue her, for in an instant the 
 hawk came flying straight forward and perched on the 
 post of the garden gate. 
 
 The man observed this simple spectacle with sur- 
 prise and then with alarm. He turned pale, went 
 quickly through the open doors of the house to the 
 kitchen and in a moment came out with a shotgun 
 in his hand. 
 
 Mrs. Garrett followed close behind him, although 
 he kept saying, "Stay back, Mary, stay back." She 
 had never seen him use a gun and she knew by his 
 strange look that he was acting under some extraor- 
 dinary impulse. Therefore she would not heed his 
 injunction to remain behind. 
 
 A rod from the door he reached a point where the 
 smokehouse no longer kept the gate from view, and 
 there he lifted the gun awkwardly to his shoulder. 
 Mrs. Garrett, the instant she saw the mark, raised 
 both her hands and cried frantically, "Don't shoot; 
 don't shoot."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 3 
 
 The frightened hawk flew rapidly away. 
 
 Garrett brought down the gun and turned towards 
 his wife with a broad smile which, from being counter- 
 feit, became in a moment nearly genuine, for, thinking 
 at first only of concealing, if possible, his inward 
 agitation, he had almost banished it, and passed with 
 relief from the serious to the amusing features of the 
 situation. The idea that he, who had never pulled 
 a trigger in his life, should go all in haste to war 
 on a hawk! As for capping the gun, he had never 
 thought of that. And Mrs. Garrett was standing 
 before him, ashamed, he knew, because she had given 
 him for the first time anything like a command. 
 
 He knew, too, she was still clinging to that old 
 superstition of hers. 
 
 Ah, if he could only have thought that amusing as well. 
 But, as against her shame, he said, still smiling, " Never 
 mind, Mary, never mind," and as against her super- 
 stition and her fear he repeated, with the smile gone 
 and indeed with a tremor in his voice, "Never mind, 
 never mind." The fear had returned to himself. 
 
 "Lucky you didn't shoot, Mr. Garrett," said his 
 wife. ' ' 'T would only have made it worse. I wonder 
 what'll happen," and she shook her head slowly and 
 sighed. 
 
 "Nothing, Mary. Those things mean nothing." 
 
 "You acted as if you thought it meant something 
 this time. Yo' just as scared as I am, and you know 
 what's happened befo'." 
 
 Bertha had noticed the hawk plunging along like
 
 4 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 an erratic cloud from the straw pile to the post. It 
 was her nearest observation of any of the fowls of the 
 higher air, and she came running after with all her 
 might, full of curiosity to inspect this strange visitor 
 at rest. 
 
 "No, he flew away again," Mrs. Garrett said to her. 
 " You saw the hawk, didn't you, chile? But he didn't 
 hurt you, did he, honey?" 
 
 Garrett regarded the child solemnly and with a look 
 of wondrous tenderness, but said nothing. He put 
 the gun hi its place in the kitchen and returned to 
 his chair on the porch. 
 
 "Why did I pay any attention to it?" he asked 
 himself, though it was probably plain enough to him 
 why he did ; " and why did I try to shoot it and so let 
 her find out it was there? " 
 
 This, possibly, was not quite so plain. Yet he found 
 little comfort in thus questioning himself and so im- 
 plying at least that there was a mystery as to both 
 points and therefore as to his whole action in the 
 matter. 
 
 He then became more frank with himself. He turned 
 his face toward the front yard and looked at a spot 
 in the corner where no tree was now but where one 
 had stood a few years before. The very vacancy 
 brought him a feeling of uneasiness and dread. 
 
 "It's all on account of that," he resumed. "If the 
 hawk had stayed out where I first noticed him I would 
 not have thought of it." 
 
 And yet he had often thought of it on seeing a hawk
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 5 
 
 or even a crow, because it bears general resemblance 
 to a hawk, flying through the air or lighting on a limb. 
 
 "I might not have thought of it if the hawk had 
 flown away somewhere else from the straw pile, but 
 that it should come flying straight for me and then 
 turn to light on the post so near the house and at this 
 time of day why did it act that way at the straw 
 pile and what brought it to the post here at sundown? " 
 
 His mind was filled with the image of Bertha. 
 Could it be that she was now overshadowed; that 
 some evil fate had already, almost before she could 
 talk, pointed thus its finger at her? Then a retro- 
 spect. 
 
 Seven years before, on a summer evening, Julia, 
 his oldest child and then a young woman, lay bedfast 
 in one of the front rooms of the house. Her father's 
 affection for her was very great. They had been close 
 companions since her days of infancy. He had ob- 
 served with the proudest satisfaction and with a sin- 
 gular pleasure how she had grown into the admiration 
 of all the friends of the family and how her beauty 
 and her manners had come to be talked about in the 
 whole neighborhood and by chance acquaintances. His 
 means had permitted him to bestow upon her a thou- 
 sand little luxuries not easily within the reach of other 
 girls in the vicinity. Her dresses were richer. She had 
 finer ornaments. Her riding pony was handsomer. 
 
 Once her father had presented her with a pretty 
 side-saddle, but there was just one strap about it that 
 she thought too coarse. He made all the haste of a
 
 6 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 lover to change it, contriving some excuse to go to 
 town for this sole purpose. 
 
 The few terms the girl spent in a boarding school 
 in Cincinnati were seasons of considerable discontent 
 and restlessness with her father, and her coming home 
 was always a holiday with him. 
 
 He had not been much disturbed on account of her 
 sickness until a physician "from town," whom the 
 family doctor from a nearer village brought down with 
 him one day, said something about quick consumption. 
 Mr. Garrett feigned now and then to himself, to Mrs. 
 Garrett and to others, to make light of this, but hi 
 fact the depth of his depression was extreme, and when 
 he looked at Julia he imagined he could catch glimpses 
 of the shadowy finger of an enemy disfiguring her 
 fair face. And he could do nothing for her! He 
 would leave the room in helpless agony. 
 
 But one day the doctor said she was better, and 
 surely she was livelier and stronger than for many 
 weeks. In the evening they had her sit, wrapped up 
 in a big chair, just inside the front door. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Garrett and the boys sat without on the porch. At 
 sundown a hawk lighted in a small catalpa tree in the 
 corner of the yard. Before the boys could work them- 
 selves slyly down the steps to the gravel walk to throw 
 stones at it, it flew away. 
 
 "Oh, it means trouble," exclaimed Mrs. Garrett. 
 "Something bad's going to happen." 
 
 "Nonsense, Mary," said her husband. "What 
 makes you stick to that old notion?"
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 7 
 
 That night Julia had a hemorrhage and before dawn 
 she was gone. 
 
 Garrett, when the end came, went out and looked 
 through his tears for a long time at the still, shining 
 stars, yearning to see among them the face of his angel. 
 
 A week after the funeral, and against the protest 
 of his wife, who happened to learn what he intended 
 to do and who told him it might provoke further ill, he 
 with his own hands grubbed the tree out by the roots. 
 
 Garrett had not anticipated that Bertha would be 
 a second Julia, but the little thing was pretty, bright 
 and affectionate, and he found himself loving her much 
 as he had loved Julia at her age. 
 
 When on this night of the second hawk the child 
 sat on his knee, she was puzzled that he did not so 
 promptly as usual answer the legions of questions 
 which she kept marshalling up and that he did not 
 undertake to tell her any story at all, but, child as she 
 was, she noticed that he pressed her closer to him 
 than at other times and held her little hand with a 
 tighter grasp. 
 
 When all the others had gone to bed Garrett walked 
 out through the little side gate into the farmyard. He 
 went along a private roadway, flanked on one side by 
 a fence, passed through two wagon gates, and entered 
 by a well-worn path the beech woods. 
 
 South of the woods, and at the farther side, so that 
 it might be reached by the highway that ran there, 
 was a little graveyard. It did not contain more than 
 three-quarters of an acre of ground. Garrett had set
 
 8 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 it apart out of his own land for the use of the community 
 and especially for the accommodation of the colored 
 people who sometimes had difficulty in securing places 
 in other cemeteries to lay away their dead. 
 
 At this time there were few graves here. One 
 of them, and the only one with a marble headstone, 
 was Julia's, and to this sacred spot Abner Garrett was 
 going. He had often been there in the last seven years, 
 but rarely when another was present. This night, 
 climbing over the fence from out the woods, he has- 
 tened to the mound, and there he wept as he had 
 wept before, and dropping on his knees, he so remained 
 for a long time.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SILVER SERPENT. 
 
 ANOTHER summer evening. The dust lay deep on 
 the road that ran in front of the house and wound 
 around the bluff down to the bottom lands. The few 
 who were on the highways, whether afoot, on horseback 
 or in vehicle, were enveloped in dry clouds risen from 
 the earth. The dilated nostrils of the horses that 
 struggled up the long, steep hill were fringed with 
 yellow slime. Everything out of doors had been 
 sprayed with soil. Every leaf bore a thin covering of 
 it. Not a blade of grass but was gritty with it. The 
 full green on either side of the deeply-worn roadways 
 had taken on a lighter hue from the yellow clay. 
 
 Though it was but early in July the summer had the 
 appearance of being old, yet only a dash of rain would 
 have restored all its beauty. Not a bird could put its 
 foot on the roof without leaving its track, and the pig- 
 eons, as they lighted on the top of the big barn or the 
 carriage house or the long corn bins, fanned up little 
 storms of sand. Even the bees could scarcely have 
 secured unadulterated pollen, and the "tiny masons 
 building roofs of gold" must for once have become 
 disheartened at the sight of their work. Indeed, all 
 trees and shrubs and flowers seemed to have disap- 
 peared and to have left standing in their stead earthen- 
 
 9
 
 10 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 modelled copies of themselves, wrought fine enough, 
 to be sure, but lacking the freshness of life. 
 
 Only one fresh spot there was, and this the flower 
 garden. Old Maggie visited it every morning and 
 evening with the watering pot. Bertha was usually 
 with her, for could not Bertha carry water in a dipper? 
 These two were sisters of mercy to the delicate and 
 perfumed denizens of this place, nor did they forget 
 in their ministrations the plots by the front fence, 
 where other roses grew, nor the parquets that bor- 
 dered the front walk. 
 
 They had completed their pleasant task once more 
 and were come to j oin the other members of the house- 
 hold on the west porch, for it was a habit with them 
 all to sit there of an evening when twilight came on. 
 Old Maggie, as usual, took a seat on the steps a little 
 apart from the rest, and Bertha was sometimes sitting 
 by her, sometimes frolicking about her, getting occa- 
 sionally a reproof of mock severity when she threw 
 an uncommonly big handful of grass into Maggie's 
 hair or tickled her too harshly with one of the straws 
 from that blessed new stack. 
 
 Maggie never had reproof of any serious kind or 
 degree for Bertha. She was too much pleased with 
 her childish attentions to speak out against a chance 
 admixture of rudeness. 
 
 It was now dusk. All the doors of the house were 
 open to admit whatever of freshness there might be 
 in the evening air. 
 
 "Maggie, I s'pose that's Mrs. Anthony comin' for
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 11 
 
 her ice," said Mrs. Garrett, when the latch of the 
 front gate, which could not be seen from where they 
 were sitting, was heard to click. " I wonder how Henry 
 is today. Give her a big piece, Maggie, it's so hot." 
 
 They were having typhoid fever at Anthony's, and 
 had been getting ice from the Garretts to cool the tongue 
 and brow of Henry. He was known hi the neighbor- 
 hood as " Shiftless Henry," a nickname first applied to 
 him, and rightly enough, it was said, by Mrs. Garrett, 
 because, being a tall, lean, bony, loose-jointed, easy- 
 going fellow, he had the faculty of imparting to his 
 work, even if at it for only five minutes, the character 
 of himself. When a boy, his strings were always 
 coming loose because he never tied the knots tight 
 enough. He was twenty-two now, and had it not been 
 for a more energetic younger brother, poor old Mrs. 
 Anthony and Henry himself surely would have had a 
 much sorrier time of it. 
 
 Old Maggie had risen to make a trip to the ice house 
 and Bertha was dancing in expectancy of a piece of 
 "cold candy," as Maggie told her it was, when, instead 
 of the familiar Mrs. Anthony, a large man came striding 
 heavily around the corner of the house, closely fol- 
 lowed by two others. This was all that at first could 
 be discerned. 
 
 " Some of the thrashers," said Mrs. Garrett in a low 
 tone to the others. They were probably returning 
 for a half-bushel measure or a neckyoke, perhaps, 
 that had been forgotten. 
 
 But as the men came nearer it could be seen that
 
 12 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 all were masked, and the first, besides, had a heavy, 
 red beard, so that his features were absolutely con- 
 cealed. Abner Garrett felt at once that rude business 
 was on foot, for, besides the appearance of the men, he 
 had in a flash remembered the hawk, and for the same 
 reason Mrs. Garrett was frightened to the marrow of 
 her bones. 
 
 "Good evening," said the first of the intruders 
 gruflfly. 
 
 "Good evening, gentlemen," answered Garrett in 
 that deliberate and hesitating manner common when 
 there is no recognition. 
 
 The son, Dan, was convinced that friends had come 
 in disguise for a joke and was expecting every instant 
 that they would pull off their masks and burst into a 
 great laughter. 
 
 "Gome up and sit down. We know you," said he 
 confidently. 
 
 As the three men put their feet on the steps the leader 
 lifted a revolver with the command : 
 
 " Now, all keep your places. Don't move and don't 
 say a word." 
 
 His companions were now on the porch, one by 
 Dan, and the other by one of the hired men, George. 
 The leader himself was gazing directly and intently 
 at Maggie. 
 
 "Humph," he exclaimed. 
 
 At this little Bertha drew away from Maggie and 
 bounded to the side of Abner Garrett, clutching his 
 sleeve in a paroxysm of terror. To her the "humph"
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 13 
 
 had been the grunt of some terrible beast that she 
 had been told about in stories, and she could face the 
 monster no longer. 
 
 The gentle Abner, whose soft ways every animal on 
 the plantation knew and every human acquaintance 
 marvelled at, was ready, when he felt the press of 
 those little fingers on his arm, to spring like a giant, 
 but Bertha's movement broke the spell that appeared 
 to be holding the rough leader, who now ordered 
 Maggie to sit down, and, quickly mounting the steps, 
 held his revolver in front of Garrett's face. 
 
 "What do you mean?" demanded the planter, 
 more as a protest than as a query. 
 
 "You won't have long to wait to find out. Don't 
 move and you won't be 'hurt," he was answered. 
 
 "An outrage on me; an outrage on me, you brutes, 
 whoever you are," cried Garrett, straightening himself 
 in his chair. 
 
 "I say keep still," shouted the ruffian. 
 
 By this time, though there were but six of the robbers 
 in all, the house seemed to be full of men. Footsteps 
 were heard in every part of it. They were mingled 
 with the indefinite sounds of confusion that came from 
 the parlor, the sitting room and the dining room. 
 
 "Good Lawd, help us," exclaimed Mrs. Garrett. 
 
 In saying this she raised her hands, which were 
 rudely seized and pushed back into her lap again. 
 
 "You low down white trash, you. How da' you!" 
 cried the woman. This was the only way she knew 
 of cursing. She had, however, never used the words
 
 14 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 before. She had only heard them used by those who 
 were angry. 
 
 " Be still," the ruffian commanded. 
 
 "Mary, we must do as they tell us," said her hus- 
 band resignedly. " We are in their power and cannot 
 help ourselves." 
 
 The villains inside were deliberate enough to light 
 a lamp which they found on the mantelpiece. Mrs. 
 Garrett started when the match was struck just inside 
 the window before which she was sitting, and a glare 
 of light which her shadow divided fell on the low railing 
 and on the lawn below, but her alarm lest they were 
 about to set fire to the house subsided when she heard 
 the ill-adjusted chimney of the lamp break to pieces 
 on the bricks of the fireplace. 
 
 Carried past another window, the flare of the lamp, 
 which, with nothing to steady the flame, was now burn- 
 ing like a torch, fell full on Bertha. The light imparted 
 a refined glory to her head. A singular beauty was 
 given to her flaxen hair, setting off a face white with 
 fear. It was pitiful to see how strained was every 
 muscle of her hand in its grasp of her protector's arm. 
 She could flee no further from the terrible looking man 
 with the red beard and black face and such ghastly 
 holes for eyes, for Garrett was always her last resort. 
 In desperate cases he had never failed her. When 
 her dolls were sick and had died had he not been the 
 sympathetic and skilful physician? When in making 
 a playhouse her ambition carried her beyond her 
 ability to execute, and the boards and blocks would
 
 The light imparted a refined glory to her head.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 15 
 
 totter and fall whether or no, he was the only architect 
 who could yet rear a palace out of the dismal ruin. 
 The cows did not dare try to hook her when he was 
 by, and when the run was high and the water splashed 
 and whirled furiously under the narrow footbridge, 
 he only could safely guide her over. 
 
 The light, as it disappeared into another part of the 
 house, glimmered fitfully on her face, as if loath to 
 leave it. 
 
 Glorified in that flickering illumination, Bertha 
 seemed like an apparition from another world, a sight 
 that might well have awed the ruffian who stood 
 guard over Mr. Garrett. 
 
 "By gad, a mighty fine little gal, that," said he, 
 and he extended a hand as if he would caress her. 
 She shrank from it as she might from the paw of a 
 bear, and what further horrified her was that she saw, 
 as she thought, a glistening little serpent coiled around 
 one of those coarse fingers. It had just crawled out 
 from under the skin, she thought, for she could see a 
 hole in the ball of the thumb and a callous path there- 
 from, and seemingly, also, it darted out its tongue at 
 her. 
 
 But the light was gone in an instant and she hoped 
 the snake could not see her. She got further behind 
 Mr. Garrett's shoulder, but was yet in awful dread lest 
 the loathsome little reptile might glide from the rob- 
 ber's hand and wiggle its way across Garrett's lap to 
 bite her. 
 
 Abner had noticed the object, too, but to him it
 
 16 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 appeared as it really was, a silver ring in the semblance 
 of a snake. 
 
 " Don't be afraid, Sissy, I won't hurt you," said the 
 man and she pressed closer still to Garrett and tightened 
 her hold on his arm. 
 
 A moment later it could be seen that the men were 
 in the parlor and were pulling out the drawers of the 
 cabinet, which were the sacred depositories of Julia's 
 dresses, jewelry and keepsakes. The stranger who 
 touched them were worse than Uzzah, who put forth 
 his hand upon the ark of God. It was the holy of 
 holies in that household. 
 
 With a strange cry, at the same time a prayer and 
 a defiance, Garrett sprang from his chair. The des- 
 perado struck him above the eye with the barrel of 
 his revolver and pushed him roughly back. 
 
 Bertha uttered a long and piercing scream. The 
 family never forgot the sound. Garrett always after- 
 ward said that he could hear it over again, just as dis- 
 tinctly as at first, every time he recalled the events of 
 that night. 
 
 " Mercy on us, he's killed him ! " cried Mrs. Garrett. 
 
 Dan dared to lean forward so far that his guard 
 caught him by the shoulder. He began a question: 
 " Father, are you " 
 
 But in the light thrown along the porch from the 
 parlor Bertha could see the blood running from the 
 gash in Garrett's forehead, and she screamed again. 
 
 "Choke that brat," said one of the inside men with 
 an oath, as he stepped to the door.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 17 
 
 "Hurry up in there/' he was answered by one of 
 those standing guard. 
 
 "Father, are you hurt?" Dan made haste to ask, 
 now that he had another opportunity. 
 
 " No, not much," replied his father, and then to the 
 men: "Don't take my dead daughter's things. Take 
 anything else or everything else, but don't take them." 
 
 "Don't worry. We don't want anything but your 
 money," he was answered. 
 
 "Come on," shouted the men at the parlor door, 
 as they threw the smoking lamp into the yard. 
 
 "Sorry I can't take that gal with me," said the leader 
 as the three backed their way to the corner of the house. 
 "Now you try to follow us and we'll have a shot for 
 you." 
 
 All six then ran out the gate and down the road 
 toward the river. 
 
 Dan proposed to George that they follow them, and 
 this they did against the protest of Mrs. Garrett, who 
 declared that they would be killed "sho" by those 
 desperate men who were ready to do anything. 
 
 Dan ran into the kitchen and got the shotgun, and 
 he and George took a short cut down the bluff through 
 the timber to a point commanding a view of the road 
 at no great distance from it. 
 
 While the pursuit, if pursuit it could be called, was 
 being arranged, Abner Garrett walked about dis- 
 tractedly. Suddenly, without waiting to discover 
 what had been taken, disregarding the sobbing of 
 Bertha, and saying a word to no one, he hurried
 
 18 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 bareheaded out through the woodyard and across the 
 orchard, and plunged into the trees and bushes. He 
 had no confidence that the robbers would leave Julia's 
 pretty and valuable jewelry if they saw it, but on the 
 contrary he now imagined it jingling in the dirty pockets 
 of the fleeing villains. He had no intentions of any 
 definable sort only he must follow after. Even his 
 determination to trace the robbers as far as he could 
 came to him after he started. 
 
 He was disappointed, when he reached a ledge of 
 the bluff, to find that for darkness he could not see the 
 road that, farther down, ran along the base of the hills. 
 He was about to turn back when the report of the 
 shotgun indicated to him where the boys were. It 
 came from a point a hundred yards to the north of 
 him and nearer the road. He hastened in that di- 
 rection. 
 
 He found the boys about to proceed down the hill. 
 They had caught an indistinct glimpse of the men 
 still running, and had fired at them or rather after 
 them. The men were intending, it was thought, to 
 get to the river. The boys had determined to cut 
 across the cornfields in the bottoms and get near 
 enough to the boat landing to be able to make sure if 
 the robbers should leave that way. Mr. Garrett ap- 
 proved this plan, counselled them to be cautious, and 
 returned to the house. 
 
 Meantime, the women, left alone, were scarcely in 
 less fear than before. They imagined a masked face 
 looking around every corner. They fancied that ene-
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 19 
 
 mies were peering in at them through the fence. They 
 hardly dared step into the house for fear they would 
 see uncouth strangers under the tables and hear the 
 shuffling of feet under the beds or, worse still, be seized 
 and foully dealt with. The rooms smelled strongly of 
 oily smoke and soot. At the foot of the lilac bush, 
 whither it had rolled after it had struck the ground, 
 the dismantled lamp was still blazing and smoking 
 and sputtering as if in demoniac rage from the violence 
 and indignities it had suffered. 
 
 " Run git it," Mrs. Garrett had said to Maggie. 
 
 "No, no," gasped the simple woman. "I couldn't 
 think of tetching it." 
 
 For to her it seemed utterly transformed from the 
 peaceful and familiar luminary of the house into a 
 brand dropped by some devil; besides, to get it would 
 require too venturesome a journey for her bewildered 
 and distracted mind to in any manner resolve on. It 
 lay full ten yards from where she stood. Happily 
 she had left a candle burning in the kitchen, with 
 which she had been to the cellar to put away the milk, 
 and this she was bold enough to go after, though on 
 her way through the sitting room and to the little back 
 porch on which the kitchen door opened, she had dread 
 of being seized at every step. 
 
 And what a host of comfort the candle was! What 
 a troop of evil images its unsteady rays drove away, 
 and the plain features of the old sitting room never 
 looked so friendly as at this moment in its light! 
 
 Save the disordered drawers of the bureau and the
 
 20 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 broken glass in the fireplace, the face of things, the 
 women were quite surprised to see, was unchanged. 
 They had expected to behold some sort of ugly trans- 
 formation. The clock was quietly ticking away as it 
 had always done, as much as to say reassuringly to 
 their fearful spirits: "All's well; all's well; all's well." 
 
 But neither Mrs. Garrett nor Maggie could muster 
 up courage enough to examine the other rooms. Indeed 
 they closed the doors tight and sat still. Bertha, after 
 a long cry, was beginning to be relieved enough to 
 use her tongue. 
 
 " Where's papa, mama? Did the neg'oes take him 
 away?" 
 
 "No, no, chile," replied Mrs. Garrett. "Papa'll 
 be here hi a minute. He went to see if he could ketch 
 those bad men here he's comin' now." 
 
 She made the last remark as well to assure herself 
 as Bertha, for footfalls on the porch had made her 
 start. Then Garrett came in, holding in one hand the 
 lamp that Maggie had been afraid to rescue. He had 
 blown out the flame. 
 
 "Gone down to the river, I guess," said he, antici- 
 pating the first question which he supposed his wife 
 would ask. "Probably had a skiff there and crossed 
 over to the Kentucky side. Boys went down that way 
 to see. What did they take? Everything, I suppose." 
 
 " 'Deed we haven't looked. We been so sca'ed 
 all the time we ha'dly da'ed move. That was an awful 
 lick ove' yo' eye. Just look at yo' eye." 
 
 "Oh, nothing but a little cut. But let's see what 
 they've done."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 21 
 
 Taking the candle, he made straight, followed by 
 the others, for Julia's cabinet. The drawers were on 
 the floor, but all of Julia's things were there. The only 
 thing taken from the house was Mr. Garrett's big 
 pocketbook containing nine hundred dollars in bills. 
 
 "That fellow told the truth, didn't he?" said Garrett 
 with something of a smile of satisfaction and surprise. 
 "All they wanted was the money and the family is 
 unharmed." 
 
 "Not one of po' Julia's things taken," said Mrs. 
 Garrett with inexpressible content. "My, what hard 
 creatures they must be! Just think what they were 
 doing in here, and Dan's Lawd's prayer right befo' 
 their eye starin' 'em in the face all the time. " 
 
 She referred to a large and beautiful scroll of the 
 Lord's prayer, the son's pen work, that hung framed 
 on the wall. 
 
 "Such men don't stop for prayers, Mary, spoken or 
 written, the Lord's or yours," said her husband with 
 a little shake of the head and a faint smile, and he re- 
 peated the remark louder for Maggie's sake. 
 
 "No, but just to think of that. Who could it have 
 been? Some of the thrashers? Did you have the 
 pocketbook at the barn when you paid them off?" 
 
 "Yes, I had it at the barn, and the men I suppose 
 saw it, but I think it could have been none of them." 
 
 " Little they care for the Lord's prayer or the Lord 
 either," put in Maggie very seriously. 
 
 "For that matter," said Garrett, who had now so 
 far recovered himself as to be able to joke a little,
 
 22 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "there's the family Bible on that stand, which they 
 had to move to open the drawers." 
 
 Maggie nodded. This moving of the Bible was, 
 under these circumstances, a peculiarly atrocious sac- 
 rilege in her view. 
 
 "Was it a man, papa?" asked Bertha, to whom 
 the gruff leader was still a mystery. 
 
 " Why, yes, my child, didn't you think it was a man? " 
 
 "Then he was a neg'o, wasn't he?" 
 
 " His face was black, but it was only black cloth he 
 had put on, so we could not tell who he was. But 
 didn't you see his hands were white?" 
 
 "Yes, his hand was white I saw a snake in his 
 hand a little snake and it was white, too." 
 
 "Why, Bertha!" said Mrs. Garrett deprecatingly, 
 and yet with some inquiry in her tone, for really it 
 would not have surprised her if he had had his pockets 
 full of snakes. 
 
 "Come to think of it, she's right," said Abner with 
 a little laugh. "He did have a snake coiled around 
 his finger." 
 
 Mrs. Garrett now shifted her "why" from Bertha 
 to her husband, who directly explained it was nothing 
 but a ring. To Garrett the ring was a trifling incident 
 soon forgotten, but it remained in Bertha's memory. 
 
 The boys had now returned. The robbers, sure 
 enough, had gone to the river, and got away in two 
 skiffs. Dan and George could hear them laughing as 
 they reached their boats, but could catch no words 
 distinctly until they were out on the water and the
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 23 
 
 boys had crept closer to the river's edge, when one of 
 the men was heard to say: "The old man wasn't 
 going to stand it, was he, Zach? I thought you had a 
 fight on your hands." 
 
 "Zach?" queried Maggie, deeply interested and 
 inclining her head toward Dan. 
 
 " Zach or Jack I couldn't be sure which." 
 "How that child did scream," said Garrett. "You 
 didn't like to see me hurt, did you, dear?" And he 
 lifted Bertha high in his arms and kissed her.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENESIS OF THE OLD PLANTATION. 
 
 IT was a memorable conversation held years before 
 with his father which kept repeating itself over and 
 over again in Abner Garrett's mind as he lay all the 
 night after the robbery, restless and nervous on his 
 bed. The amount of the money taken he had not 
 thought of twice. Though he had good reason to 
 believe that robbery alone was the purpose of the out- 
 rage he had suffered, yet he suspected that it was 
 really secondary to a motive of humiliation, and this 
 suspicion opened the way for a host of past sorrows to 
 come trooping back. He had often met them all 
 together, just as now, and buffeted the evil legion 
 single-handed, as he must, but each time they went 
 away he felt that he had been left weaker than before, 
 and on this night they well nigh overcame him. 
 
 "Tonight is one more added," thought he. "How 
 many must they be before I am no longer able to endure 
 them? My mother would bid no spirits afflict me. 
 My father was no conjurer. He is not now, but 'then 
 curses would follow you all your life, and may they 
 if you do that thing' and they have been following me 
 all my life. An unusually proud and distinguished 
 group they are, too, for they have heralds. They 
 must be held in honor by the power that controls 
 
 24
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 25 
 
 them. They must be creatures of rank in their woful 
 country. For ordinary occasions only common ones 
 are sent out, but when a man is to be followed up for 
 a lifetime, the aristocrats are called on. In some dark 
 way they move living things to carry warnings and 
 threats and signs for them. Make hawks fly, cause 
 owls to hoot at unseemly hours of the day and night. 
 Send squirrels or other wild things close to your house 
 to try to peep in at your window. Going to kill one 
 of your family? Have a bird flit into your room to 
 warn you of it. Break a looking-glass and then some 
 one's heart. Contrive all sorts of strange little acci- 
 dents to put you in dread before striking you. But 
 then all this is nonsense." 
 
 Nonsense? Could he make himself believe it? 
 Even with this word on his tongue, in his distressful 
 no-sleep and half -sleep, he felt himself in the darkness 
 of the shadow cast by indefinite omens of fate. 
 
 Dreaming, he observed in the distance the sky 
 becoming overcast by a cloud, and the wind blew 
 strong. At length it was to rain. But as the cloud 
 approached, it took on to his fevered vision the outlines 
 of a huge bird, and, as its wings moved up and down, 
 the wind strained the trees and filled the air with dust. 
 The sight, indeed, was like that of the approach of 
 a terrible storm. And as on the bird came, it hid the 
 whole sky and its passage was like that of a tempest. 
 It uttered a cry. The sound was like that of sharp 
 thunder. It turned its head and cast an eye down- 
 ward. It was like a flash of lightning. It shed feathers
 
 26 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 that filled the air. They were foul and wet. It 
 screamed again. 
 
 Garrett awoke with a start. 
 
 "Oh, that hawk," he mumbled. "Is it so that 
 harpies will come to pollute every dish of happiness 
 prepared for me?" 
 
 His mind ran back to the fateful talk with his father, 
 and even farther back than that to his happy life in 
 youth on the old southern plantation. Then he lived 
 over his life for the last twenty-six years, and this 
 was the panorama of time: 
 
 Mary was the prettiest slave girl ever sold in the old 
 market at Louisville, in the state of Georgia. So 
 striking was her beauty, heightened at the moment 
 by those refined touches which sadness sometimes adds 
 to the human face, that after she had been placed on 
 the block a hush came over the noisy multitude of 
 planters and speculators, and men crowded about and 
 beheld her in silent astonishment, forgetting, as it 
 seemed, that she was to be bid for. 
 
 The girl was perhaps twenty years of age, to all 
 appearances white, and of graceful figure. Even the 
 auctioneer desisted from his vociferous occupation for 
 a few moments, being either under the same spell as 
 his patrons or shrewd enough to know that such an 
 interval of silence would have much effect in enhancing 
 the offers. 
 
 "What!" he finally exclaimed with a roguish twinkle, 
 " none of you want her? " 
 
 The bidding then started and soon grew spirited.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 27 
 
 The girl after a famous contest went to the elder 
 Garrett, Abner's father, who had come over from 
 his Alabama plantation to transact business, a part of 
 which was to secure at the block another female ser- 
 vant for the house. 
 
 Curious to know more about his new slave than could 
 be learned while the sale was in progress, he ascertained 
 that she had been brought to market by a dapper, 
 jovial young man acting as agent for a worn-out gentle- 
 man of Spanish extraction who, it was stated, had his 
 own special reasons for selling. 
 
 "She's choice property," said the young man. 
 "You'll not be fooled on her. Not often you get her 
 breed. Her mammy came from the West Indies." 
 
 This was as definite information as her purchaser 
 got regarding her origin. He feared for a time that 
 some grievously bad quality might appear in her, but 
 she proved to be a perfect servant, and in truth so 
 comported herself in this capacity that it was thought 
 none other had ever equalled or could equal her. 
 Never failing in the least particular to show the defer- 
 ence proper to her station, she exhibited all the tender 
 assiduities and, so far as was possible under the cir- 
 cumstances, performed all the functions, of a thought- 
 ful and affectionate daughter in a household to which 
 a daughter had been denied. 
 
 Abner Garrett, the son, was a sensitive and somewhat 
 fanciful young man, independent in both his intellectual 
 and emotional moods. He was the same age as Mary. 
 She had been in the family two or three years when,
 
 28 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 in spite of the social disparity between them, he fell 
 in love with her. He was startled when he first found 
 that frankness required him to admit it to himself, for 
 he realized, even though no worshipper of tradition, 
 how strong were the barriers that lay between him and 
 a union with her. But he became bold enough to level 
 them all. 
 
 The relation between him and his father had always 
 been confidential, and he therefore, not without many 
 misgivings, opened his heart to the elder Garrett on 
 this matter of his affection for the bondsmaid. He 
 proposed to take her north and there marry her, and 
 so avoid scandal and social ostracism. He denied, and 
 perhaps with some reason, that there was a drop of 
 negro blood in her veins. 
 
 The father's surprise quickly turned into positive 
 anger. He ridiculed the idea that was in his son's 
 mind, declared that by mentioning the subject even in 
 this private way he had disgraced the family, and said 
 he hoped he would never think or speak of it again. 
 
 It was not long after that, and when his love had 
 been intensified by observation of the specially attentive 
 and kind ministrations of Mary to his afflicted mother, 
 that young Garrett spoke out of the abundance of 
 his heart also to his gentler parent. She raised her 
 head from her pillow and with a look of disgust said : 
 "Shocking!" 
 
 That was all. 
 
 A year after his mother had been laid in her grave 
 Abner had the conversation with his father which was
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 29 
 
 set forth at the beginning of this story. He left the 
 room abruptly in silent rage, and, repeating in his mind 
 "Your divine wench," "A slave," "Would father the 
 child/' " Will sell them both," he went straightway to 
 the cabin near by, where Mary now lodged, picked up 
 the four-weeks-old baby, kissed it fervently, and looked 
 for the first time and for a long time on the face of his 
 own child. 
 
 Shortly the death of his father permitted young 
 Garrett to execute without remonstrance the plans he 
 had cherished. He freed the negroes that came to him 
 with the estate, and sold the old plantation. For some 
 time he had been making inquiries cautiously about a 
 desirable locality for a home in the not too distant 
 north, and on one pretext and another he had made 
 excursions into several portions of it. 
 
 He now chose a spot on the banks of the Ohio river 
 in Indiana, and this for two reasons chiefly. One was 
 that he would still be in sight of the old home, as he 
 called the whole south now, for always in view were the 
 Kentucky hills, and the steamboats passing up the 
 river, bearing cargoes of stuffs with which he was so 
 familiar, would exhale a fragrance of the sunny land 
 and convey intangible messages soothing to the home- 
 sickness which he feared he might always feel. The 
 other reason was that in this county some abolitionists 
 from Ohio had just established a general school, known 
 as Eleutherian College, open to children and youth, 
 black or white. Garrett presumed that such an insti- 
 tution would not be located amid environments uncon-
 
 30 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 genial, and he therefore took it for granted that he and 
 his wife were entering a social atmosphere of a sort that 
 would be agreeable to them or at least not offensive. 
 He did not then know that the erection of the school 
 buildings had been delayed by incendiaries and that 
 there were elements in the whole country roundabout 
 that later would furnish recruits to the "Knights of 
 the Golden Circle." 
 
 Though Mrs. Garrett might pass for a white woman, 
 it was her husband's expectation that, sooner or later, 
 it would become known she had been a slave, and such 
 knowledge would necessarily involve her being regarded 
 as of tainted blood; a conclusion, too, to which even 
 the beauty of her face and figure, having the volup- 
 tuousness and some of the hue and fire of the tropics 
 in it, would contribute. Garrett surmised, however, 
 that, under all the circumstances, this fact would have 
 no considerable influence in determining the nature 
 of the social treatment they would receive. 
 
 Garrett's new farm stretched along the top of the 
 bluff for a mile and a half, and back from the bluff a 
 third of that distance. It had all the main appoint- 
 ments of a southern plantation. The owner fondly 
 called it a plantation, and by that designation it came 
 to be known for miles around. In remote parts of it 
 were log cabins for the occupancy of the men who were 
 hired by the year. Picked up and put down on the 
 banks of some Alabama river, the house yard set with 
 a few of the more delicate warm-climate shrubs, one 
 field shorn of its wheat and covered with the deep
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 31 
 
 green of a tobacco crop, and another stripped of its 
 corn and blanched with cotton, it would not have 
 seemed out of place among its new neighbors. Only, 
 before this transportation, it would have been neces- 
 sary to fill up the ice pond, excavated in the midst of 
 the beech woods, and substitute for the beech another 
 tree. 
 
 A southern atmosphere seemed over it all, so that 
 indeed it did appear out of place where it was. But 
 this gave it a singular interest and a picturesqueness 
 which never failed to impress everyone who became 
 acquainted with the place. 
 
 The river, a mile away and below, flowed straight 
 south here, and the house might have been built to 
 face the magnificent scene presented, but it was the 
 whim, if we should call it that, of Garrett that it should 
 front north, and in this direction the view was almost 
 as grand, though not so expanded. For across the 
 highway one looked down into a deep dell with wealth 
 of romantic character in rugged rock and noble tree, 
 whose lowest point was marked by a little stream, the 
 waters of which had always such merriment and vi- 
 vacity that they seemed just to have heard that there 
 was such a big playground as the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 were in haste, foolish waters, to rush thither away. 
 
 The house, partly of brick and partly of wood, all 
 painted white, was in its general aspect of typical 
 southern style, and in all its interior was the air of 
 comfort, refinement and good cheer. 
 
 And often was welcome spoken at the door, for Mr.
 
 32 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Garrett was fond of entertaining a friend. Sometimes 
 it was the doctor or the preacher from College Hill or 
 a judge of the district court at Madison or one of the 
 county officers. Sometimes, in the earlier years of 
 his residence, the congressman from the district would 
 drive down to spend the day with him. Not infre- 
 quently he had several of these together. 
 
 And the Old Plantation was a delightful place to 
 visit. Not only was it a well-kept and well-appointed 
 country seat, but it had that unique attraction due to 
 the southern taste of its owner, which had been made 
 to express itself in so many physical manifestations. 
 And to these allurements must always be added 
 Garrett's excellencies as a host. 
 
 But erelong a chilling wind began to blow against 
 him. There were certain men who had never, save 
 when their acquaintance with him was new, brought 
 their wives to his house. He found before long that 
 the people of culture, both in Madison and in the 
 country, were "talking" about Mrs. Garrett, and he 
 observed that something like that very sentiment was 
 abroad that he had fled north to escape. At first he 
 was inclined to suppose that it was confined to a few, 
 and those of the most fastidious sort. He had, how- 
 ever, opportunity soon to know that it was prevalent 
 in what was recognized as the best society. 
 
 The knowledge fell upon his spirit like a pall. It 
 was no great consolation to him that, as the slavery 
 contest waxed warmer and others drew away from him, 
 the abolitionists seemed to draw closer to him, for he
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 33 
 
 had not enough of the martyr disposition to relish 
 belonging to a despised sect. He had been wearied 
 often, also, by the continual reform talk which he heard 
 from his friends among the abolitionists, and his 
 patience had been sorely tried by listening to denun- 
 ciations of slaveholders which he knew were unjust and 
 undeserved. 
 
 However, he allowed the good people who came down 
 from College Hill to get no suspicion of his whole sen- 
 timent toward them, and it was easy for him to main- 
 tain such a degree of confidence and familiarity with 
 them as could be based on a rational respect that did 
 not amount to affection. 
 
 Finding himself thus neglected by most of those 
 whose esteem he prized and whose society he coveted, 
 Mr. Garrett, strongly prone to melancholy, had many 
 an hour of black depression. Occasionally he would 
 resolve to boldly contradict the now commonly accepted 
 report that Mrs. Garrett had negro blood by an open 
 and positive announcement to the contrary, and by 
 giving out the facts concerning her origin as she held 
 them, which were, in short, that she was of white and 
 Creole parentage, and that the curse of servitude first 
 fell on her line through some cunning and wicked 
 device of which her mother was the victim. 
 
 But the only progress Garrett could make with this 
 resolution was to unresolve it, for, aside from a pride 
 that could not bend to a defence in a matter of this kind, 
 sure to bring on argument and controversy, what posi- 
 tive proof had he? Only the legend of a slave girl to
 
 34 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 which constant credence had not been given even by 
 himself. 
 
 And there was the chief fact that his wife had been 
 a slave. And it would be asked, too, why he had come 
 north then. If his wife had not the fatal ingredient 
 that damned the whole result, fair as it was, why did 
 he not prove this and remain in the south that he loved 
 so well? 
 
 Therefore Garrett concluded that by saying a word 
 he would only make himself laughed at. So he said 
 nothing, but he began a suffering that ended only with 
 his last breath. 
 
 "They like very well to get out for a day's drive," 
 he would observe bitterly, in speaking of certain men 
 in Madison who continued, when the weather was good, 
 to call occasionally and remain for dinner. "They 
 like to come down the road along the river. They like 
 the country feast I give them, and to smack their lips 
 over my wine. Then they go home and crack jokes 
 about my wife." 
 
 His demeanor toward these coarse spirits became 
 colder. He found a quiet way of decreasing the fre- 
 quency of their visits by insinuating that he was not 
 running a club house for the entertainment of Jefferson 
 county gentlemen. 
 
 The beautiful wife was not made acquainted with 
 the full depth of her husband's disappointment. Even 
 if he had been inclined to communicate it to her 
 it would have been quite impossible, for she had not 
 the profundity of feeling to appreciate it. Her dispo-
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 35 
 
 sition was rather that of a child. She was less sensitive 
 to the judgment of the world. Her spirits were of 
 such a natural liveliness as that a long-continued de- 
 pression of them was out of the question. She could 
 on the occasion feel with keenness the smart of offense, 
 but the pain was over with the hour. Her home and 
 her immediate neighborhood were large enough a 
 world for her to be perfectly happy in. 
 
 Garrett's ambition, like that of a southern planter, 
 had been to have a large circle of acquaintances, to 
 be on close terms with families of standing and dis- 
 tinction near and far, to maintain a home whose soft 
 influences would be so charming that it would be held 
 worth the while and the pains to make even a long 
 journey to get for a day or a week within their imme- 
 diate operation. He aspired to be, in short, a man held 
 in esteem and considered of importance in his county 
 and state. 
 
 His progress toward this altogether worthy eminence 
 had now been stopped, and he realized that the closed 
 way would never be reopened. Continuing to be an 
 interested observer of the general events of his time, his 
 activities were henceforth to be confined to the world 
 with which his wife was content his home and his 
 neighborhood. Living around him were few people of 
 superior intelligence and means. It could be noticed 
 that some of these grew cold, though not to the point 
 of withholding any of the common civilities, while the 
 friendship and regard of others of their class remained 
 to all outward appearances unimpaired.
 
 36 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 The rest of the nearby population, composed exclu- 
 sively of farmers, did not much trouble itself with the 
 problem that those of higher pretensions had felt 
 called on to solve. Sometimes the neighbors would 
 discuss Mrs. Garrett in the most private and confidential 
 way, and thus give voice in a whisper to what was 
 the prevailing substratum of sentiment respecting her. 
 This it is hard to exactly describe. There was, as has 
 been indicated, just enough in her looks to give plau- 
 sibility to the charge for that it was that the blood 
 of the abased race had tinged her skin. This and the 
 fact that she had once been yoked with the blackest 
 of that race in bondage told against her. But little 
 Julia hair like the sunshine and face like a peach; 
 followed by Walter, as if by a handful of stormcloud, 
 for his hair was as black as night and his countenance 
 was swarthy; but he by Dan, blue eye, light hair and 
 fair complexion, like his sister and his father the 
 children illustrated 'the alternation of conviction and 
 doubt with respect to the mother of them all. She 
 was in the twilight zone between the races where each 
 might claim her, and in this same atmosphere all who 
 stood near her were in varying degrees and with 
 varying results enveloped. 
 
 Garrett henceforth, outside of his own family circle, 
 conducted himself with more reserve than had been 
 his wont; but within that circle his affections, always 
 warm, came to be in a state of glow. His tenderness 
 toward his children was lavish and unvarying, and, in 
 the case of his boys, carried him into indulgence that
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 37 
 
 was harmful to them, for they were high-spirited and 
 imperious fellows who could not relinquish at a hint, 
 as Julia could, a desire that found not instant favor 
 with their father. His judgment was good, but 
 intensity of affection mingled with a fusive sympathy 
 the very thing that causes some parents to be stern 
 prevented him from being firm. 
 
 While his fatherly attention to the two sons and 
 his pride in them were unusual, his favorite was Julia. 
 He could not be with the boys so much as with her, 
 for their various and frequent enterprises of diversion 
 or amusement took them much from home into all 
 the surrounding country. Julia was a home girl, and 
 more available as a companion on little horseback 
 journeys or skiff rides on the river or numberless 
 aesthetic undertakings about the house and garden, 
 in which she shared all the interest and pleasure shown 
 by her father. 
 
 But Abner Garrett's beneficence could not be con- 
 fined within the walls of his own house. It diffused 
 itself over the community and stole quietly into the 
 home of many a neighbor soon after strait or distress 
 was known to have made its way in there. Besides, 
 he had built at his own expense, a mile away, a church 
 edifice which he gave over to a congregation of Bap- 
 tists, and contributed the larger part of the not enor- 
 mous pay of a preacher who held services once a month. 
 Before the building of this church Garrett had been 
 accustomed to attend frequently, with his family, the 
 church at College Hill, but one day, as they were passing
 
 38 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 out, they heard the whisper, "She's colored," from a 
 knot of women at one side. To that church they went 
 no more, and presently the roof of the new edifice 
 could be seen from Garrett's house rising beyond the 
 hill-top in the pasture. 
 
 He had, as well, furnished more than half the money 
 for the purchase of a township library of several 
 hundred volumes, one of the first and one of the best 
 of such institutions of popular education and culture, 
 still too few, as in most places else, in southern Indiana. 
 
 The people of the community, taken as a whole, 
 were grateful enough for these kindnesses, and, as 
 occasion came, were frank enough to express their 
 appreciation. They felt, too, that the Plantation, a 
 novelty among the farming establishments in that part 
 of the countiy, always well kept up, the seat of a 
 family which was the object of much interest and hi 
 which there was some mystery, distinguished the 
 vicinity and threw a glamor over the entire township. 
 Garrett knew all this, but he felt that there was in 
 the common minds of others a stigma upon himself 
 and his own. 
 
 Until Julia died Mr. Garrett had never failed to 
 make sport of the superstition of his wife as it from 
 time to time came to the surface. But from that 
 hour it began to take hold on him. In his lighter 
 moods he would scout the notion still. But let him 
 think of the early morning when Julia went away, and 
 the vision would appear of the catalpa tree with the 
 sombre death-herald in its top. Then he would re-
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 39 
 
 member the lore that his wife had taught him in these 
 gloomy matters. 
 
 Had not the plaintive chirping of the canary in its 
 cage in the next room aroused his mother a half hour 
 before her end came so that she might face death fully 
 awake? 
 
 Did he do right to make light of it when his wife 
 told him that at the very moment when he must have 
 been listening to the imprecations of his father, baby 
 Julia, though only a month old, appeared, like a grown 
 person, to be listening attentively to something, and 
 ended by giving her mother a strangely serious look? 
 Had not that hour been a crisis? 
 
 Was it not a fact that a swallow came and left on 
 the porch a red dogwood leaf a few days before the 
 night when the whole Plantation was lighted up by 
 the burning of the barn? 
 
 A week before he had been defrauded in a business 
 transaction had not Walter found a black snake coiled 
 up on the front walk? 
 
 Had not a squirrel been found scratching its ear 
 on the top of the pump the very day before the report 
 came that Mayor Ripley of Madison had said: "Mr. 
 Garrett is a very fine man, a polite, perfect gentleman, 
 but he spoiled himself when he married a nigger"? 
 
 These things and a hundred like them were running 
 through Abner Garrett's mind on this restless night 
 following the robbery. He recalled, too, that Walter's
 
 40 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 favorite pony one afternoon had come up near the 
 house, put its head over the fence and whinnied pite- 
 ously and long at about the same hour, it was after- 
 wards learned, as Walter had been insulted at his 
 college in Ohio by a coarse remark about his mother, 
 and that the pony, about as soon as Walter had had 
 time to thrash the rowdy, kicked up its heels, held high 
 its head, and pranced proudly about the orchard. 
 
 This recollection reminded Garrett that he must in 
 the morning send a letter to Walter, who was spending 
 the early part of his vacation under the tutelage of 
 one of the college professors. 
 
 " Well will it be if the hawk had only to do with the 
 robbery," thought the distressed man. "But it 
 lowered itself over Bertha. Was she designated too? 
 Or did the hawk fly on only because her time was not 
 yet come?" 
 
 The dawn broke and Mr. Garrett arose.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 "SHIFTLESS HENRY." 
 
 "HEY there, 'Shif/ why have you a white shirt on 
 today, and why are you chalking it? " 
 
 Walter Garrett thus accosted "Shiftless Henry" 
 one bright morning in June. Walter and his father 
 occupied easy chairs on the shaded front porch, and 
 Henry was shambling his way through the gate. He 
 was pushing against it with his body to make progress, 
 for both hands were engaged at his bosom. A white 
 front beamed forth there as if glad to be out in the 
 daylight again, and Henry was using a piece of school 
 crayon on it with a dexterity of movement quite 
 uncommon with him. 
 
 The lank, genial fellow came stalking along up the 
 walk with a smile which spread over every part of his 
 countenance. He shook hands with both men and 
 then, turning to Walter, said : 
 
 "You athk two quethtionth though they are ex- 
 theedingly clothe together. I will anther them in 
 the order in which they were athked. Firtht, I have 
 a white shirt on for the reathon that thith ith surely 
 a day to celebrate. You think it ith a day to celebrate, 
 do you not?" 
 
 And he laughed so loud that everyone about the house 
 had instant and unmistakable intelligence that he was 
 on the ground. 
 
 41
 
 42 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "But besidth your affair," he continued, "I alwayth 
 have a white shirt on on the eighteenth of June, for 
 you see thith ith the anniverthary of the battle of 
 Waterloo, and you know my father wath a soldier on 
 the Britith thide in that great conflict. Yeth, thir, 
 sixty-three yearth ago today. If my father wath 
 alive today he would be eighty-three yearth old, and 
 he would have a white shirt on too, I allow." 
 
 "Why, this is something new," said Walter. "You 
 didn't use to do it." 
 
 "Ever sinth I had a white shirt and coming to the 
 yearth of understanding. Now you see, besidth, Dan 
 ith going to start hith new boat today. Leavth Cin- 
 cinnati thith morning, don't he? And will get down 
 here thith evening to take you to New Orleanth. I 
 thought that wath worth celebrating." 
 
 "Yes, I see," said Walter. "Your white shirt is 
 eminently proper. You have lots of cause to celebrate." 
 
 "Well, you have cauthe to celebrate yerself, I allow," 
 and Henry's gaunt form bent almost double while he 
 coughed out a huge volume of laughter. Walter and his 
 father were both shaking at the spectacle he presented. 
 He vomited forth his mirth. At this moment he might 
 with the utmost propriety have been sent away to 
 an emergency hospital for the tickled. So convoluted 
 was his face that it seemed the bones beneath must 
 have been wrinkled too. 
 
 But presently he had convalesced as far back as to 
 his flesh-deep smile. 
 
 "Now ath to the second quethtion," said he, "why
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 43 
 
 I chalk my shirt. My primary object, of courthe, ith 
 to cover up defekth. Shirt geth a little soiled or some 
 tobacco juith geth on it, can cover it up so that it ith 
 just ath good ath at firtht. I can make a shirt last 
 me a long time that way. I do thith further for 
 reathonth of philanthropy and convenient!!. It savth 
 washing, and henth my mother, who ith getting pretty 
 old now, ith relieved of a good deal of a burden, and it 
 ith very convenient to wear the same shirt for a long 
 time." 
 
 "'Shif,' you are getting to be an inventor," said 
 Walter. "You will do some great thing yet. But 
 where do you get the chalk?" 
 
 "Oh, the neighborth children bring it from the 
 schoolhouse for me. It don't take but one pieth a 
 year. But now let me offer my congratulathionth. 
 Who'd ever thought you'd be married at last? My best 
 wisheth," and Henry bent again with loud haw-haws. 
 
 "Thank you, 'Shif,' and I know you mean it," said 
 Walter as he grasped tightly his friend's big hand. 
 " But you must see my wife," and he ran into the house 
 to bring her. He was not long gone. 
 
 " Ida, this is Mr. Anthony," he said as he led out the 
 door a frail little doll of a woman. Then followed an 
 exhibition of much grace on the one side and much 
 awkwardness on the other which ended with Henry's 
 saying : 
 
 " Now let me wish to you ath I did to your husband, 
 and to both of you here together, much happineth and 
 a safe voyage on the sea of matrimony."
 
 44 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Saying which, Henry gave the dainty woman whom 
 Walter had chosen for his wife a pretty thorough 
 looking-over. She was not a little embarrassed at the 
 directness with which he gazed upon her and took her 
 measure and her weight with his eye. But he had no 
 suspicion that he was violating any of the canons of 
 decorum. Once in a while she would glance up at 
 him, expecting each tune that his scrutiny would be 
 intermitted, but she would find his eyes still on her, 
 and he would smile such a smile, though, as everyone 
 could see, was simply benignant. He was not quick 
 enough to satisfy himself in regard to her without this 
 intent survey. Had he not a right to look at her, 
 to really look at her? He had had opportunity, and 
 been welcome, to make a far closer examination of 
 every other novelty her husband had ever secured in 
 his whole life up to that hour the ponies, the watches, 
 the dogs, the guns and was his inspection to be 
 less faithful when so interesting a thing as a wife was 
 brought home? No, indeed. He was too conscientious. 
 
 The new Mrs. Garrett went through the ordeal very 
 bravely. She told Henry she was delighted to meet 
 any of Walter's old friends. He replied that he was 
 so to meet any of his new ones, and "espethially a 
 friend that wath to stick closer than a brother." 
 
 "He's just as long and lean and lank as ever, Ida," 
 said Walter. 
 
 "Better long and lean and lank than fat," said 
 Henry. "You know that if you must be too lean or 
 too fat, it ith better to be the former. Do you know 
 why?"
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 45 
 
 He directed the inquiry to Ida. She answered that 
 she was not sure that she did. 
 
 "It ith just the differenth between one load and 
 two loadth," he informed her. "He who ith too fat 
 carrieth both the reproach of being too fat and the 
 fat itself. He who ith too lean hath only the reproach. 
 He hath no physical burden along with it, and the 
 reproach alone may not be very heavy." 
 
 Henry then proceeded to make his apology for not 
 having called sooner, for Walter and his wife had been 
 there three days. It was that he had not heard about 
 their arrival until late the evening before, and it was 
 one of his tenets that ignorance was a valid excuse for 
 any delinquency. He said that one of the greatest 
 mistakes of jurisprudence was that this doctrine was 
 not allowed in case of violation of law. 
 
 It was an eventful day. Walter was there with his 
 bride, whom the family had never seen before. After 
 a good deal of fruitless dabbling in art and of travel- 
 ing, Walter had decided to be a lawyer and on the very 
 day that he received his diploma as bachelor of laws at 
 Ann Arbor he was married and set off with his bride 
 for a year in Europe. He was now going to set up in 
 his profession in New Orleans, a plan which consid- 
 erably pleased his father, who thought that perhaps it 
 was not too soon for the family to get back to the dear 
 south, a new south now, after the exile of one genera- 
 tion. 
 
 Dan had at length realized his dream of having a 
 steamboat of his own, the finest on the river, and
 
 46 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 what a pleasant thing it was that on the vessel's first 
 trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans it was to carry 
 his brother and his wife to their chosen home. This 
 matter of the boat, also, was one that the elder Garrett 
 liked, for that would make Dan as much a southerner 
 as northerner and would at length get him at some- 
 thing worth while. 
 
 Walter had spent at college, to say nothing of the 
 years before and since, what ten poor boys might 
 have comfortably gone through on, and Dan had squan- 
 dered several little fortunes in ill-judged and foolishly 
 managed business adventures. The father had grieved 
 a good deal about this, not more because it had told 
 sadly on his holdings than because it gave him the 
 apprehension that the loved sons were not going to 
 make their mark. He was glad they had been able to 
 lord it over those who, as it did happen from time to 
 time, threw out the slyest of hints about their blood. 
 The more readily he kept them in funds on this account. 
 He was delighted that Walter had been accepted 
 without hesitation by so amiable a girl, but he was 
 dreading lest here under his own roof her mind might 
 become poisoned by suspicion, for Mrs. Garrett's 
 physical peculiarities were being rather accentuated 
 by age. 
 
 But were the boys cursed through him? 
 
 Here at last was to be a turning point. 
 
 And Professor Augustus Bland of College Hill was 
 coming down to take dinner with them and be one of 
 the party to go down to the boat to see the happy
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 47 
 
 couple off. The same carriage that had been sent to 
 bring him would bring Bertha, too, who was about to 
 finish her third year at the Hill. 
 
 "So, 'Shif,' you are well to be on the ground," said 
 Walter, "and if you hadn't come we would have sent 
 for you. You shall stay and see us off at the river." 
 
 Henry allowed he had already "calkilated" as much. 
 
 The elder Mrs. Garrett appeared just as this ar- 
 rangement was being made, and said "Yes indeed" 
 both to Walter's imperious invitation and to Henry's 
 answer, and she added: "How could we have any big 
 doin's like this without you bein' aroun', Henry?" 
 
 Henry laughed a little very complacently at the 
 compliment implied in this. 
 
 "Well, I'm a little like molasseth," said he. "I do 
 seem to stick to everything I wunth touch, and I allow 
 I'm something of a nuisanthe thometimeth." 
 
 "Of cou'se you ah. We'll have you make up fo' 
 it by tyin' some of the boxiz we'ah fixin' up fo' these 
 young folks," said Mrs. Garrett. 
 
 The two women went into the house to attend to 
 some of the packing they had on hand, and the three 
 men had most of the forenoon to themselves on the 
 porch. 
 
 "So Bertha hath not come down yet," observed 
 Henry. 
 
 "No," said Abner Garrett, "they're just now finish- 
 ing up the work of the year at the school, and it is a 
 bad time for her to get away even for a day. She will 
 get to see her brother and her sister-in-law only today,
 
 48 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 but we've told her we'll let her take a trip to New 
 Orleans to visit them later in the summer." 
 
 "That will be nithe for her. I reckon she ith right 
 smart of a student, ithn't she? " 
 
 "She's doing fine," answered Garrett. 
 
 Henry nodded his head with much satisfaction, and 
 then, turning to Walter, said : 
 
 "So, Walter, you've been reading the lawth. Well, 
 you ought to make a good lawyer. Must be quite a 
 job to read over all of 'em, but you ought to make a 
 good one. Reckon you know more about the lawth 
 than you did twelve yearth ago, eh? " and he began to 
 laugh, but he stopped, for a look of pain passed over 
 Mr. Garrett's face and a cloud came across Walter's. 
 He could never make a laughing matter of those 
 events of twelve years ago. 
 
 The robbery had been followed by something worse. 
 
 Walter had been promptly informed by letter of all 
 the circumstances of the crime, and had hastened home 
 in wrathful impetuosity to avenge the outrage on his 
 family. He berated Dan and the hired man George 
 with much warmth for tamely submitting, as he put it, 
 to such insult and injury. Why did they not collar 
 the villains and choke or kick the life out of them on 
 the spot? And, anyway, why did they not continue 
 in pursuit of them until they had at least made sure 
 who they were? Were there not other skiffs at the 
 river? 
 
 For a week the infuriated lad stormed about the 
 neighborhood like a Harry Hotspur, and by the end of
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 49 
 
 that time had convinced himself and several others 
 that the leader of the robbers must have been Jack 
 Simpson, a good-for-nothing, mysterious vagabond 
 who lived with two disreputables like unto himself 
 several miles down the river. How could there be any 
 doubt about it? Had not Dan heard his very name 
 at the river as they put off? Did not Simpson have 
 red whiskers, and was it not certain that he had had 
 more money about him recently than ever before in 
 his life? And how did he live, how could he live, 
 except by stealing? Mr. Garrett, it was true, and Dan 
 and the hired man agreed that the leader was a larger 
 man than Simpson, but Walter explained this discrep- 
 ancy in an instant by saying that in the excitement 
 and terror of the moment they had magnified Simpson 
 into a giant. 
 
 Against their judgment, George and Dan, as readily 
 as any other of twenty young men in the neighborhood, 
 agreed to help lynch Simpson, for that was the sort 
 of justice that the still angry and hot-headed Walter 
 had decreed he should receive. 
 
 The plan wellnigh carried through. Simpson's head 
 had twice struck the under side of a limb with a violent 
 bump, when, since he still protested his innocence in 
 answer to commands that he confess, Walter himself, 
 who with most force had pulled the rope, was stricken 
 with doubt and gave the order to gallop away. 
 
 The sequel to the night's madness was that every one 
 of these young men was found guilty of assault and 
 battery and fined twenty-five dollars and costs at
 
 50 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Madison a few weeks later, and Abner Garrett footed 
 the bill. 
 
 The judgment and the fines, however, which had, 
 indeed, been anticipated from the first, carried small 
 odium compared with another matter at the trial. 
 When, to prove something or other, in extenuation 
 (for no justification was attempted) Mrs. Garrett was 
 called as a witness, she was challenged by the prose- 
 cuting attorney, who had himself feasted at the Garrett 
 board and grown merry over the wine poured out for 
 him there, on the ground that she was a colored person 
 and therefore under the law of the state incompetent to 
 testify. The question might have been argued, but 
 the husband would not allow it, and at a suggestion 
 from him the defending attorney simply withdrew the 
 call. 
 
 The circumstance, happening, as it did, hi a public 
 place, in the presence of some of the most respectable 
 men in the county, a matter to go down in the records 
 of the court, mentioned in the report of the case in the 
 town papers, reviving the offensive gossip regarding 
 Mrs. Garrett which for years had been quiet, sounding 
 forth as with blast of trumpet what had hitherto been 
 spoken only in whispers, was to Abner Garrett a terrible 
 calamity. It affected him as the death of a child, the 
 loss of property or some overwhelming personal dis- 
 grace would have affected another man. For weeks 
 afterward he brooded over it silently and constantly, 
 and kept ransacking his memory to discover if just 
 before the trial he had seen any strange sight or heard
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 51 
 
 any strange sound that might have portended this 
 galling misfortune. 
 
 But there was no time for the unfortunate reference 
 just made by "Shiftless Henry" to turn Garrett's mind 
 into a gloomy channel, for in an instant the carriage 
 bearing Bertha and Prof. Bland was observed coming 
 down the road, with Bertha waving her handkerchief 
 above the driver's shoulder.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 PUCK, PREACHER AND PROPOSAL. 
 
 A BALLOON view of the scene as the carriage stopped 
 at the little gate to the west of the house would have 
 shown the black top of the vehicle and six other phe- 
 nomena crowding to its side, and all so various and 
 animated as to give the impression of some gay colors 
 encircling the black. 
 
 In an instant a lively pink object bounds from 
 underneath the sable shelter and is seized by tentacles 
 thrown out from either side of a point of gray. Re- 
 leased from this embrace, it collides in turn, as if there 
 were a mutual attraction of affinity, with three of the 
 other contiguous bodies. In the case of the fifth the 
 pink seems to be seized against its will, for its arms 
 are extended as if repellent; and when the turn of the 
 sixth comes, which is a more irregular object than any 
 of the others, it is observed to reach out a long arm 
 with a long, flat extremity, which action is met with a 
 similar but far more graceful maneuver on the part of 
 the pink. The two extensions join, and the cable thus 
 formed vibrates noticeably at the sagging point in the 
 middle. 
 
 But so interesting a performance attracts us closer, and 
 we descend, indeed, to the very spot, where we arrive just 
 in time to see Henry all in a blush on some account, 
 
 52
 
 He turned his face to the sky and with a most kindly smile.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 53 
 
 and pretty Bertha evidently quite put out because Old 
 Maggie took the liberty of kissing her before company, 
 and would do it although Bertha sought to prevent so 
 familiar an approach. 
 
 Professor Eland's exit from the carriage was perforce 
 much more deliberate and careful than Bertha's. 
 First came a crutch whose lower end was placed with 
 great precision on the ground; then a leg with the be- 
 longing foot which tried its bearing on the step; and 
 then the professor himself, his well-worn, old, stove- 
 pipe hat and his hard-worked shoulder first, dragging 
 on his other side a dangling, shrunken leg, which 
 frail as it was, was too heavily weighted with a half- 
 grown and misshapen foot; then the other arm and 
 cane, and with the assistance of Walter the dear, 
 afflicted old gentleman was safely disembarked and 
 cordially saluted by the whole company. 
 
 He turned his face to the sky and with a most kindly 
 smile quoted Thompson : 
 
 But happy they, the happiest of their kind, 
 
 Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
 
 Their hearts, their fortunes and their beings blend. 
 
 As he concluded he bestowed a benedictory look, 
 for an Amen to his quotation, upon Walter and his 
 bride. 
 
 The happy company then passed through the gate 
 and moved in careless procession to the house. Right 
 of way on the narrow walk was given to the late arrivals, 
 the others forming on either side an attentive escort.
 
 54 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Here in the van, as she well deserved to be, was Bertha, 
 of beautiful face and form, vivacious, with a delicate 
 spring and suppleness in her every movement, and 
 endowed with a thousand outward and inward graces, 
 blooming in the morning of life like a rose in the morning 
 of day with a freshness as of dawn still upon her. 
 
 Behind her the old professor, maimed and deformed 
 from his birth, hobbling along between crutch and cane, 
 with the shrunken leg and the hanging foot, exhibiting 
 in every movement that pitiful awkwardness which 
 his infirmity imposed; his clothes well-worn but not 
 quite shabby; his face wrinkled and his hair whitened 
 by suffering and by age; alone in the world; one on 
 whom, even though he was a cripple, time had laid its 
 hand as harshly as on another. More pathetic than 
 this it was that the professor was keenly sensitive to 
 it all. A poet's soul in such a tenement as this! It 
 was like a jewel wrapped in a rag but his face was fine, 
 as the rag might still have upon it one bit of pretty 
 tapestry. To hear him talk about the things he loved 
 it was like listening to the singing of a bird with a 
 broken wing. 
 
 "To think, mamma, that Old Maggie should grab 
 me and hug me and kiss me like that before all these 
 people," said Bertha to Mrs. Garrett up in her room, 
 where she had gone to lay off her hat and restore all 
 those trifles of face and dress disarranged by the 
 j ourney . "What will Ida think ? " 
 
 "Why, Bertha, she won't think about it at all. She 
 knows Maggie's been in our family sence you was a
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 55 
 
 baby. She won't reckon it strange that she loves you 
 enough to kiss you when you've been away. You 
 remember Maggie used to tend you fo' yeahs and yeahs 
 when you was a chile, and she thinks as much of you 
 as any of us." 
 
 "As much as papa or you? No, she doesn't. Any- 
 how, she should not act that way before all these people. 
 She's always treating me as if I were a baby. I don't 
 mind if she likes me, but I don't want her to make a 
 fuss over me when company is here." 
 
 At that very moment poor Old Maggie was sitting in 
 the kitchen crying because Bertha had struggled in her 
 arms and had seemed angry because she kissed her. 
 
 Ida had noticed the struggle at the carriage, but was 
 astonished that it should affect the broken old servant 
 so deeply. She said nothing, for Old Maggie was now 
 quite hard of hearing, but she placed her hand on the 
 woman's head. 
 
 Old Maggie wiped her eyes. Rising from her chair 
 and bringing her sad face close to Ida's, she said with 
 brightening countenance and much animation : 
 
 "She's a good girl. She's a smart girl, and she's 
 making a perfect lady. I've tended her since she was 
 a child. Don't you think she's pretty?" 
 
 Ida nodded her head with an assuring compression 
 of the lips and a sparkle in her eyes. Old Maggie 
 nodded to make the agreement perfect, shifted the 
 coffee pot on the stove and resumed the slicing of 
 potatoes. 
 
 Coming down stairs, Bertha hastened to see to it that
 
 56 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 the venerable professor was given a cool place at the 
 north side of the house, for she knew how fond he was 
 of sitting out of doors. She plucked him a fragrant 
 rose from the climbing bush at the porch. He put the 
 stem between his teeth and thus held the flower. 
 She had hoped he would do this. It was a habit of 
 his which all his friends liked to observe. Many and 
 many a time, as he hobbled into church or the college 
 chapel with a flower hanging from his mouth, did he 
 seem thus to bring a tiny bit more of holiness into the 
 sanctuary or a little brightness and freshness to con- 
 trast with the dead old walls and benches in the school- 
 room. 
 
 Here he sat talking with Walter and his father, 
 while "Shif" ceased not to give him close and curious 
 consideration. Bertha re-entered the house to rejoin 
 Mrs. Garrett and Ida, delaying only to give her assist- 
 ance in arranging for the dinner until she should bring 
 Ida to a window that the latter might see what a picture 
 the crippled old man made with the rose in his mouth. 
 
 Abner Garrett, in response to Prof. Eland's inquiry, 
 began to explain why Dan would not tie up his boat 
 at the landing and spend a day or two at the old home. 
 In doing this he proudly recited, though with some 
 misgiving, his son's own reason as communicated a 
 few days earlier by letter. This was that Dan was 
 anxious to make as good time as possible with the 
 freight that was going aboard for different points, 
 seeing this was the boat's first trip down. The father 
 was continuing to give the substance of what Dan
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 57 
 
 said about the importance of a good record for the first 
 trip when he was interrupted by the appearance of 
 " Brother Charles " at the gate. 
 
 "Why, no preaching nex' Sunday?" queried "Shif," 
 looking at Mr. Garrett. 
 
 "No," was the reply, "and I can't imagine what 
 brings him over here unless there is to be a funeral or 
 a wedding in the Stony Greek neighborhood." 
 
 Rev. Charles Warner, whose home was several miles 
 over on the Kentucky side, was the preacher who once 
 a month conducted what he always called "divine 
 service " at Good Hope church. The next Sunday was 
 not his "regular day" either here or at the other 
 church, five miles away, over which he also had charge, 
 and hence Mr. Garrett conjectured that some unusual 
 occasion had brought him thus out of time to this side 
 of the river. 
 
 This surmise was strengthened when it was observed 
 as he came up the walk that the preacher wore a con- 
 fused expression on his face. It seemed, also, though 
 one could not be sure, that his embarrassment had 
 some serious cause. 
 
 He took the first moment after he was greeted by 
 "Shif," who looked a good deal puzzled, and by Mr. 
 Garrett, who in spite of himself looked a trifle so, to 
 explain that he had decided to spend the week in 
 "pastoral visitation" among the members of his two 
 Indiana congregations. He professed to be much 
 surprised to find Walter at home, and more so to hear 
 that he had brought with him a bride. The presence
 
 58 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 of Prof. Bland, with whom he had a slight acquaintance, 
 and of Bertha, was equally, he declared, outside of his 
 expectations. 
 
 Now, as a matter of fact, the preacher had been 
 informed in a roundabout way of the whole matter 
 even before he had left his home on the Kentucky side. 
 (Nobody so close to the river as this ever spoke of 
 anyone, unless indeed far down in the state, as living 
 hi Kentucky. It was always "on the Kentucky side.") 
 And the prospective events at the Old Plantation had 
 been the subject of conversation with a family on whom 
 the preacher had called not an hour before. 
 
 But " Brother Charles " was welcome. Both Garrett 
 and his son declared how glad they were that they 
 could have the greetings and felicitations of the 
 preacher on this happy day. 
 
 "And how proper it is," said the old professor half 
 seriously and with a kind of smile, of which no one 
 could ever be quite sure of the significance, " that such 
 an important day in the family history as this has the 
 presence of the minister to impart to the events a kind 
 of sanctity and priestly auspice." 
 
 With this, Mr. Warner began to feel as if, after all, 
 he really had some business there, though he did not 
 seem at ease and was far from acting like a priest. 
 He acted more like a boy. Boyish indeed was his per- 
 sonal appearance, though he was of manly stature and 
 something over twenty-five years old. He realized 
 this fact of his youthful appearance, and sought to 
 offset it, since he was a preacher, by a careful gravity
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 59 
 
 of deportment. It is likely that to this was due 
 also a manner in the pulpit that, except when he forgot 
 himself, was grossly affected. It probably explains 
 why he pronounced Jerusalem "Gee-rooz-alum." 
 
 It was not a pleasure to him that in the whole 
 neighborhood of Good Hope church he was known as 
 "Brother Charles." This nickname, if such it can 
 be called, was a matter in which he himself had overshot 
 the mark. A couple of years before this he had told 
 Bertha to call him that. She laughed at the suggestion 
 in such a pretty way that he was greatly pleased and 
 she immediately took up with it, much to his satis- 
 faction. But from the Garrett house it spread. All 
 the other girls of the neighborhood began to say 
 "Brother Charles," and then the older people, so that 
 now he was commonly so addressed and mentioned. 
 
 Prof. Bland took it for granted that he had heretofore 
 been mistaken as to Mr. Warner's name, and now 
 addressed him as Mr. Charles, but, discovering presently 
 that this appellation was based on a familiarity which 
 his meagre acquaintance with the preacher would not 
 justify him in assuming, he was careful next time to 
 say very distinctly "Brother Warner," and so continued 
 to do throughout the day. On this account the 
 preacher was exceedingly grateful because for some 
 reason he had the notion that on this day above all 
 others he must be upon his dignity and affect a serious- 
 ness of a degree scarcely inferior to that which he 
 thought becoming in the pulpit. 
 
 It was by mere accident that Bertha and Mr. Warner
 
 60 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 were seated side by side at the dinner table, while the 
 chairs of Prof. Bland and "Shiftless Henry" were 
 together on the other side. For a moment "Shif" 
 thought that he, too, was going to be at Bertha's elbow, 
 but this would require that Walter and his wife be 
 seated apart. There was some pleasant discussion on 
 this point, settled by Prof. Bland who declared that 
 "'two bosoms interchained with an oath"' should not 
 be separated. So, mentally grumbling at chains and 
 oaths, " Shif " lost the coveted place. 
 
 As Old Maggie brought in a fine potato soup seasoned 
 with thyme, which was always kept growing in the 
 garden and which was a favorite relish with Abner 
 Garrett, the professor asked : 
 
 "Bertha, do you 'know a bank on which the wild 
 thyme blows, where ox-lips and the nodding violet 
 grows'?" And as he said this he peered at the girl 
 from beneath his shaggy eyebrows and smiled his 
 old, old smile. 
 
 " Oh, yes," replied the girl gaily, " We have that very 
 bank in our garden, but the thyme has been there so 
 long that it must be tame." 
 
 " And does there sleep Titania at some time of night, 
 lulled in these flowers by music and delight? We must 
 hope she never will awake to love an ass." 
 
 Now, for some reason this remark made the preacher 
 feel uncomfortable, but he managed to laugh with all 
 the others, not noticing, as he might, that " Shiftless " 
 was more keenly amused than all the rest, just as if 
 there were in it somewhere a plain and pointed joke.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 61 
 
 "A great thing to know the poetth thometimeth," 
 said Henry. 
 
 "But," resumed the professor, "little Puck has told 
 me that she shall not." 
 
 "Now, Professor, not another word," said Bertha 
 playfully, and raising a finger at the old man. 
 
 " Oh, go on, Professor," besought Ida. 
 
 "I see you have not yet lost your interest in such 
 matters," said Garrett to his daughter-in-law. 
 
 "Yes," said the elder Mrs. Garrett, "we want to 
 know all about her doin's. No tellin' what these 
 chil'en do when they go off to school." And with a 
 sly wink she nudged Walter. 
 
 "Not going to be surprised next time, Mother?" 
 said Walter. 
 
 "No, we'll keep a better look-out again." 
 
 "Yes, we must know all about Bertha; she's ours, 
 you know," remarked " Brother Charles " with what he 
 meant to be a very grave smile, at the same time turning 
 his face toward the girl, who had been trying to laugh 
 away a blush which, if she had known how sweetly it 
 became her, she might have wished to keep. 
 
 " But would I not be bold to proceed under such an 
 injunction? " answered the professor. " Besides, I have 
 no secrets to tell on Bertha, and girls so love, I am told, 
 to tell their own." 
 
 The professor had really no sort of proper justification 
 for his hint, though no doubt he himself thought he 
 had. He imagined that he had detected in young Jim 
 Pressley, one of his pupils at the college, a genuine
 
 62 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 fondness for Bertha, which was not unreciprocated. 
 He had seen them studying together and walking 
 together, as boys and girls will at school. He knew 
 that they had gone to a picnic together and to a berry- 
 picking, and finally one evening he might have called 
 it late though it really was not while going back to 
 his lonely room after a visit with a friend, he encoun- 
 tered the two at a certain gate on the college grounds 
 through which he must pass. That quite settled it in 
 his mind. They might have studied and walked to- 
 gether and "kept company" still longer possibly 
 without their actions leading him to a conviction as 
 to the nature of their friendship, though he would not 
 have failed to notice these things; but the gate episode 
 was decisive. The old man had read much about 
 lovers and gates, and had come to think of a gate as the 
 only proper swinging or revolving altar over which 
 mutual troth should be plighted. Certainly this was 
 the only purpose for which a young couple would in 
 the eventide linger at a gate. 
 
 Poor old Professor Bland! He had a sensitive soul 
 that loved the clouds and the light, flowers and music, 
 poetry, romance and beauty; to whom, indeed, earth 
 did seem "crammed with heaven and every common 
 bush afire with God." Hopelessly lamenting, like a 
 Byron, his bodily imperfections; hurt, yet forgiving, 
 by any look that seemed to take note of his deformity, 
 he had more than once, in confidential moments, deeply 
 touched his listeners by expressing a longing for the 
 time to hasten and come when he might lay aside his
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 63 
 
 poor, lame body of flesh, and be clothed with a perfect 
 and celestial body. Once a tear was seen in his eye as 
 he lingered over a picture of Apollo which he had 
 shown to his class. 
 
 But his temper continued sweet. Woman ever 
 remained to him the blessed mystery that she is to 
 youth. He was always a little shy in her presence. 
 Himself excluded from the lists of gallantry, he yet 
 did not lose his interest in the tender affairs of young 
 people. Without hope of a personal participation in 
 the joys of love, he became the lover of all lovers, and 
 every successful suitor, no matter how ordinary had 
 been the wooing, or how ready the yielding, was in his 
 eyes a conqueror. He threw the halo of romance about 
 even every common courtship. Somehow every " yes " 
 was a surrender, every bride a captive, and every 
 wedding the celebration of a victory. 
 
 Both "Shiftless Henry" and the preacher were much 
 disturbed by the innuendoes of the professor. So bad 
 did "Brother Charles" feel that he immediately began to 
 talk about "the church." He asked about the next 
 Coffee Creek Baptist association and the success that 
 Brother Stillwell was having at Mud Lick. 
 
 While the conversation then became general regarding 
 Walter's plans, Ida's family, matters at College Hill 
 and Dan's boat, Old Maggie kept coming and going 
 with her tray, showing a partiality, which a spectator 
 might have observed, for Bertha. Once she forgot 
 herself and served Bertha first. 
 
 "To Ida," said Bertha, lifting the plate.
 
 64 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "She must have taken you for the bride, Bertha," 
 said Mrs. Garrett; at which there was a little laugh on 
 the part of all, a little blush on the part of the preacher 
 and a little fidgeting on the part of " Shiftless Henry." 
 
 "Oh, Maggie, you know, is very fond of Bertha," 
 remarked Mr. Garrett with much deliberation. 
 
 The preacher announced quite abruptly that he was 
 not sure but that he ought to drop his work at this 
 charge. 
 
 "Indeed?" responded Mr. Garrett, and looked at 
 the preacher inquiringly. 
 
 "Why, 'Brother Charlie'!" exclaimed Bertha pro- 
 testingly and very quickly. 
 
 It relieved the preacher, but it was a shock to " Shift- 
 less Henry," just as if Bertha had been some pretty 
 cloud in human form, and lightning had proceeded 
 from her. He was disconcerted. He was during these 
 two or three hours experiencing emotions that wrought 
 with might through the texture of his slow-moving 
 mind. 
 
 While he was recovering his composure, "Brother 
 Charles " went on to say, not with the greatest sincerity, 
 that he had thought perhaps he was not covering the 
 field as well as another might. 
 
 Who ever knew a preacher, and especially a young 
 one, who did not talk about the "field"? 
 
 " Oh, I think so," said Abner Garrett reassuringly. 
 
 " Of course you are," remarked Bertha with emphasis, 
 as settling the matter for good and all. 
 
 Whereat the preacher's spirits took a lighter turn,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 65 
 
 so that he fell into pleasantry respecting the prenuptial 
 affairs of Walter and Ida, concluding with a reference 
 to their trip to New Orleans and the remark that it 
 was evident they were to embark not on the sea but 
 the river of matrimony. 
 
 "A safer thing to do, perhaps," said Prof. Bland. 
 "Always near to land and less danger of shipwreck." 
 
 While Henry proceeded to tell how many boats had 
 foundered or been burned on the Ohio the professor 
 took from his coat a bit of newspaper in which he 
 carefully wrapped a piece of apple pie. A moment 
 later, when the company arose from the table, he slipped 
 the mushy package into his coat-tail pocket, access to 
 which had now become convenient. He was plainly 
 much mortified an instant afterward on discovering his 
 absent-mindedness, for it was his habit to thus carry 
 pie from his boarding place to his school-room for lunch. 
 It was with a face as red with shame as that of a school 
 girl that he replaced the package on the table, saying : 
 " How forgetful. This is no school day and I need no 
 lunch," and, then adroitly, and with a bow to Mrs. 
 Garrett: "but the pie is so good that anyone might 
 have wished to carry away a piece." 
 
 Walter proposed to take Ida for a walk of an hour 
 about the plantation, and Bertha invited the professor 
 down into the wood in front of the house to see her 
 little Niagara, as she called it, in the dell. "Brother 
 Charles" and "Shiftless Henry" accompanied them. 
 They were some little distance down the declivity 
 when the professor stopped and leaned hard back upon
 
 66 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 his crutch while he turned his beaming face upward 
 and around. Already his mind was full of the Forest 
 Hymn. He quoted with much feeling and expression: 
 Here is continual worship nature here 
 In the tranquility that thou dost love 
 Enjoys thy presence. 
 
 * * * 
 
 My heart is awed within me when I think 
 Of the great miracle that still goes on 
 In silence round me. 
 
 At which the boy preacher looked exceedingly 
 grave, and said: "Yes, indeed." 
 
 Henry was much impressed with the solemn air of 
 the professor who, he imagined, was doing some act of 
 consecration. It caused him to call to mind a camp- 
 meeting he had once attended. 
 
 "I can beat you there, 'Shif,'" cried Bertha viva- 
 ciously, pointing to the little waterfall now plainly 
 in sight, and starting onward at a lively pace. 
 
 Though confused at the suddenness of the challenge 
 and the quick call of his thought from camp-meeting to 
 contest, Henry accepted with what was certainly a 
 very reasonable promptness for him, and for the first 
 time in at least a dozen years found himself running, 
 and that too, down hill over flat rocks and loose earth. 
 But Bertha won easily. Henry was quite out of breath 
 when he reached the fall, and said in an amusingly 
 pleading way : 
 
 " Now, Bertha, I think you might tell me who thith 
 little Puck ith up there that Profethor Bland 
 talkth about."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 67 
 
 Bertha drew a long breath of surprise, and laughed 
 at him with a truly beautiful and feminine hilarity. 
 
 "Oh, he is a mischievous little fellow," she at length 
 replied. 
 
 "He don't know anything about your affairth, 
 doth he?" 
 
 "He may know more than I do myself." 
 
 "I thought so," said Henry, trying to feel that the 
 stranger really knew nothing; but he was not entirely 
 satisfied, and when he had a private opportunity he 
 asked Prof. Bland about this Mr. Puck. 
 
 The professor, though much amused, answered as 
 an instructor might to a schoolboy. 
 
 "Why, have you not heard of the meddlesome little 
 fellow who can go round the earth in forty minutes? " 
 
 "Oh, yeth," replied Henry, realizing at last that 
 there must be some play in the matter and Puck a part 
 of the poetry the professor had used when the dinner 
 began. 
 
 "What book can I get to read about him?" the new 
 pupil inquired, and a few days later " Shiftless Henry " 
 might have been seen ransacking the township library 
 copy of Shakespeare for mention of Puck. 
 
 " Shiftless " had been hoping, as the time for going to 
 the river approached, that he might ride alone with 
 Bertha in the one-seated top-buggy, but he was doomed 
 to bitter disappointment the bitterest, because this 
 great pleasure fell, it just so happened, to the lot of
 
 68 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Brother Charles" whom only today Henry had come 
 to look on as a rival. 
 
 Dan's entry upon the career of a river man had 
 aroused great interest, and the fame of his boat was 
 spread far and wide in the region of his home. Some 
 had "heared" that it was the largest boat on the river; 
 others that it had both an up and a down speed that 
 were not matched, and all sorts of qualities not usually 
 belonging to boats were ascribed to it. Such a thing 
 as its arrival at The Landing, owned as it was by a 
 home man whom they all knew, was a notable event, 
 and so, not only the Garretts, but several score of their 
 neighbors were at the riverside to cheer the handsome 
 steamer as she bore in toward the little wharf, resplen- 
 dent in her yet untarnished paint and bedecked with 
 flags from bow to stern. 
 
 Underneath the window of the pilot house was the 
 name, ABNER GARRETT, the first announcement to 
 Dan's family of the christening of the boat, for he had 
 kept this as a surprise for his father. Dan stood on 
 the lower deck as proud as a Columbus returning home 
 after the discovery of a continent, and no majesty's 
 servant ever received at court a more flattering and 
 grateful reception than he from the company on the 
 wharf. In the minds of the simple country people 
 he had become a water king. 
 
 The whole company was invited aboard to inspect 
 the boat. When the last person was on, the gang 
 plank was drawn in, and the boat pushed out into the 
 stream. There was much fright and some screaming
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 69 
 
 before the playful Dan allowed it to be plainly under- 
 stood that he was no pirate, but simply wanted his 
 friends to have a ride with him. 
 
 "Four or five miles up and back," said he to his 
 captain, and while the voyage was in progress the de- 
 lighted excursionists promenaded the decks, peered 
 into the state rooms and the boiler rooms, and watched 
 the big wheel turn. Dan, of course, took special charge 
 of the family party. He was in rollicking mood. He 
 showed them the specialties he had put in the room 
 which Walter and Ida were to occupy, saying that he 
 would have a bridal chamber for one trip at least and 
 promising to reserve it for awhile " if any of you other 
 people want to get married." 
 
 "Shif " allowed that this "wath enough to make a 
 man hurry up." 
 
 "I tell you, Dan," said Bertha, "you know I'm 
 going to see Walter and Ida in two or three months, 
 and you keep this room for me." 
 
 "But will you bring a husband along?" he asked 
 mischievously, while all laughed all but "Shif" who 
 simply grinned broadly and waited intently for Bertha's 
 reply to what he thought was a perfectly rational, 
 straightforward and matter-of-fact question. 
 
 "No, of course not," Bertha said, "but I'll promise 
 to dream about orange blossoms all the way down to 
 New Orleans if you'll let me have the room." 
 
 As the boat was nearing The Landing Abner Garrett 
 called Dan aside and said quietly : " You better change 
 the name of the boat."
 
 70 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Dan felt hurt at the suggestion because it seemed 
 to indicate that his father did not appreciate the com- 
 pliment, which he had hoped would please him. 
 
 "Why, father?" he asked. 
 
 " You might, you know, have better luck under some 
 other name," answered Mr. Garrett with such an air 
 that Dan could not tell whether he were serious or 
 in fun. 
 
 He guessed the latter and replied only: 
 
 "No, that name stays on. It'll bring luck. I'll 
 take my chances under it." 
 
 And when the temporary passengers had disem- 
 barked, the boat steamed on down the river, Walter 
 and Ida waving their handkerchiefs until they disap- 
 peared around a bend in the stream. 
 
 As "Brother Charles" and Bertha were nearing the 
 house on the return, he said to her: 
 
 "I wish you might have an orange blossom dream 
 right away, in which I stood by your side, and that 
 when the time came I might accompany you to New 
 Orleans." 
 
 " Do you want me, then, to have a troubled dream? " 
 asked Bertha with softened protest. 
 
 "Would that be a troubled dream?" 
 
 "I'm afraid it would. Indeed, I know it would," 
 said the girl with more seriousness. 
 
 " You are so young yet that your affections couldn't 
 have been centered on anyone by this time?" ventured 
 the preacher half affirmatively and half inquisitively. 
 
 "Too young, of course, to have thought about such
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 71 
 
 things at all or to begin to think about them now," 
 replied Bertha in a tone implying that the present 
 conversation was the most unreasonable thing in the 
 world. 
 
 "Not to make a beginning just a very beginning. 
 Perhaps if you thought about it awhile, in your waking 
 hours, the dream would then come to you with the 
 vividness and power of a vision, and be welcome." 
 
 "Oh, I'm afraid of visions!" exclaimed Bertha with 
 a feigned shudder. 
 
 Her reverend suitor sought to be more impressive. 
 
 "Bertha, you were cut out to be a minister's 
 wife" 
 
 "I never dreamed that!" Bertha claimed the fact 
 quickly and eagerly as being to her advantage. 
 
 " And I think you were cut out to be my wife," the 
 preacher went on gravely. " I did not think you would 
 be prepared at this time to make a response to what I 
 have said, but I wanted you to know that I love you, 
 Bertha, and I will be the happiest man in the world 
 when you tell me that you love me. You think about 
 it. I would even like to have you pray over it. Try 
 to imagine what a noble work a minister's wife can do. 
 Then, after a while, perhaps you'll dream that dream 
 and some time we'll go together to New Orleans." 
 
 " No, when I come to orange blossoms none but you 
 can be the officiating clergyman. I might put you in 
 the dream that way." 
 
 " I should want a more vital interest in the occasion." 
 
 "And besides," Bertha went on triumphantly,
 
 72 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "your relation to me has been fixed for some time. 
 You would not want to be simply Charlie. You must 
 always be Brother Charlie." 
 
 "Oh, no, that isn't good enough," pleaded the pastor 
 as he brought the horse to a stop at the front gate.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 IN A CEMETERY BUT NOT SAD. 
 
 "HERE we come once more to our temple and our 
 altar," said Jim Pressley to Bertha, "and let us not 
 pass it without stopping to offer our propitiation, for 
 the old gentleman saw us as we started away and has 
 probably kept his eyes on us. If he sees us stop here 
 he will think we have not forgotten to seek Sunday 
 edification in serious things and will excuse us. Let 
 us make a respectful pause and gaze reverently on 
 what is before us." 
 
 "Jim!" said Bertha in the manner of reproof, so that 
 there was a whole condemnatory sentence in just this 
 utterance of his name, but the rebuke was attended by 
 such a bewitching portion of forgiving sweetness that 
 he would have been glad to thus transgress all day for 
 the reward of the like charming protestation. 
 
 They stopped before two tall tombstones that stood 
 like saintly sentinels within a small, four-walled 
 redoubt of rough stone masonry. The monuments 
 could be seen above the parapet a long distance away 
 fixed in calm and steadfast vigil. 
 
 The youthful couple, leaning against the low wall, 
 looked down into the now familiar court of this mor- 
 tuary castle. The mounds and the flat ground around 
 them were covered with a thick matting of verdant 
 
 73
 
 74 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 myrtle, the vines crossing and recrossing each other in 
 manifold entanglement, because while full of vigor they 
 were hopelessly restrained by the stern barriers from 
 creeping away from the solemn place of their con- 
 finement. 
 
 A dozen sugar maples shaded the spot, which was 
 on the summit of a hill separated by a wide and deep 
 ravine from the hill on which the college building, the 
 boarding house and the president's house stood, and 
 in view of them all. It was by itself, detached, and in 
 the rear of a graveyard that occupied the slope running 
 down to the road. 
 
 In this enclosure were the graves of the president's 
 father and mother. His attachment to his father, 
 with whom he had collaborated in establishing the 
 college, had been unusually strong, so that this place 
 of rest was the more hallowed in his eyes and oft visited 
 by him. 
 
 On the father's tombstone, beneath the name and 
 dates, was an inscription which Jim now, as he had done 
 several times before, read aloud : 
 
 "My flesh shall slumber in the ground 
 Till the last trumpet's joyful sound; 
 Then burst the chains with sweet surprise, 
 And in my Savior's image rise. 
 Oh, glorious hour! Oh, blest abode! 
 I shall be near and like my God. 
 
 "There, that concludes our ceremony," said Jim. 
 "Now we may go on."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 75 
 
 "Jim, really it is too much of a mockery," said 
 Bertha as if she at least half meant it. 
 
 Bertha roomed and boarded at Rev. President 
 Boyce's house. He was an austere man who had very 
 strict notions of what was proper conduct for people 
 of all ages, and was exceedingly severe when concerned 
 with anything like levity or giddiness in the young. 
 
 Especially did President Boyce feel called upon to 
 maintain a close watch over any communications, 
 except of the most indifferent sort, between the sexes, 
 In no respect was his nature so stern as in these very 
 matters. There was always a kind of battle going on 
 between the young people and him on this account. 
 He discouraged, but they pressed forward. They dared 
 and he scowled. He was reputed by some whom he 
 had offended to hold that any protracted politeness or 
 entertaining conduct on the part of a boy toward 
 a girl was a sign that he was losing his head and getting 
 into a perilous snare. 
 
 He used to deliver precepts and admonitions touching 
 these things in the school room to faintly smiling and 
 unappreciative audiences. Students were there to 
 study, he was wont to say, and not to "gad about." 
 It was his habit on evenings when the literary society 
 met to take a front, side seat, the better to see, it was 
 believed, who came in with whom, how the girls and 
 boys acted toward each other, and to take the exact 
 temperature, so far as possible, of any intimacies of a 
 special or suspected sort. 
 
 As may be imagined, therefore, the president's
 
 76 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 house was not a hospitable place for beaux and gallants. 
 Jim probably fared better than any other young fellow 
 would, for Mr. Boyce liked him and thought him more 
 mature than most young men of his age. He also had 
 much respect for Bertha's good sense, but Jim did not 
 try to spend an evening with Bertha there after the 
 first attempt. On that occasion they had been alone 
 in the parlor not longer than ten minutes when Mr. 
 Boyce entered in the most matter of course manner, 
 and, by making the company three, made it none. 
 
 However, Jim adopted admirable tactics. He would 
 not permit it to appear that he was put out, but sailed 
 the channel into which his bark had been diverted with 
 a fictitious zest that could not have been distinguished 
 from genuine enthusiasm. He found the president 
 an exceedingly interesting man, and himself in sur- 
 prising concordance with his views on a wide range of 
 matters. He carried every theme a little beyond where 
 Mr. Boyce seemed about to leave it, and if through some 
 indiscreet impetuosity he hazarded at first hand an 
 affirmative proposition, and the president dissented, 
 he contrived to agree with his adversary quickly. 
 
 Bertha kept her boat trimmed with equal skill. 
 
 Mr. Boyce stood in the door with Bertha when Jim 
 made his adieux, and turning about with a yawn, and 
 scratching his head, remarked : 
 
 "A young man of considerable promise. He seems 
 to have thought to some purpose on a number of 
 matters." 
 
 Bertha, as she should have done, conveyed the
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 77 
 
 compliment to Jim, but, though pleased with the success 
 of his maneuvers, he did not desire to risk a repetition 
 of just that kind of interview. 
 
 He and Bertha took more to walking out, and, as 
 lovers for some reason are prone to do, in walking out 
 they took to the tombs. Maybe in this case it was because 
 the graveyard, though not far away, was a sequestered 
 spot, a pretty place, and on the way down to the 
 winding and the wooded, the shallow and the rocky 
 creek. 
 
 They were there one Sunday the first or second 
 time when over the hill, which they had left but a 
 little while before, they saw Mr. Boyce evidently headed 
 their way. 
 
 "Bertha, when he gets down in the hollow," said 
 Jim, "let's go up and be found looking at his father's 
 grave." 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 "Why, then, maybe, he'll think it's all right for us 
 to be out here together. It will disarm him. It will 
 propitiate him." 
 
 And so they went, and so he found them looking 
 very seriously, and, to tell the truth, not by any means 
 without seriousness, at the monumental marble. 
 
 It did commend them to him. There was no reproof 
 in his face as he came up. He did not make his eye- 
 brows two clouds. He thought they had done well 
 to halt there, and Jim many times gravely nodded his 
 head while Mr. Boyce spoke in a solemn half-soliloquy 
 about the good works and the manly traits of his father.
 
 78 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 After some silence that followed Mr. Boyce asked: 
 
 " Are you out for an extended walk? " 
 
 "We had thought of taking a little ramble," Jim 
 replied. 
 
 " You will find a number of pleasant places up along 
 the creek yonder," said Mr. Boyce. 
 
 "Perhaps we won't go farther than down here," 
 said Jim, pointing to the graveyard, " and take a walk 
 up the creek another time." 
 
 The president gave a jerk of the head as if to say 
 "Just as you please." 
 
 Presently the young couple moved rather awkwardly 
 away and went down into the graveyard again. 
 
 "Worked like a charm," said Jim. "We must stop 
 there every time we come over this way, and perhaps, 
 whatever direction we take, we better always start 
 this way." 
 
 "Jim, I believe you're wicked," said Bertha with a 
 grimace that showed she did not believe it at all. 
 
 And so that is why it was that, through Jim's humor, 
 he and Bertha were at these graves on the day with 
 which this chapter opens and to which we have finally 
 returned. 
 
 "Let's not do it any more," said Bertha as they 
 descended into the cemetery. "We've joked it out 
 now, don't you think so?" 
 
 "You haven't joked much about it at any time. 
 You've let me do it all. Now you do some yourself." 
 
 "I've kept you close company in it. I really do 
 think it was a good thing for us to be found there that
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 79 
 
 day Mr. Boyce came over. I believe it was just that 
 that reconciled him for good and all to my 'gadding 
 about/ because he's never said a word to me about it." 
 
 "Of course. Just think, Bertha, what we owe to 
 those old people up there who never saw us. Why " 
 
 " Owe to them? A debt we can never pay." 
 
 "Because they're dead, I suppose. Why, they've 
 saved us" 
 
 "Yes, they died for us." 
 
 "Gall me wicked? What are you? They've saved 
 us from we don't know how much annoyance, and we 
 can never thank them" 
 
 "Not 'till the last trumpet's joyful sound,' and we 
 ought to be up very early that morning and hasten 
 to make our acknowledgments to them." 
 
 " Never thank them as their great services" 
 
 "Why, to be sure, the elder Boyce was a preacher, 
 too, wasn't he, and used to hold services." 
 
 "Their great services require. What a picture" 
 
 "Yes, I intend to get a photograph of it." 
 
 "Do it, Bertha, do it, and get a big one. We'll 
 frame it and hang it up as a companion piece to our 
 marriage certificate. A pair of turtle doves on one 
 side and a pair of tombstones, with a stone wall around 
 them, on the other." 
 
 "It would really be very appropriate. We will be 
 about as white and as solemn as tombstones when we 
 stand up to be married, and the stone wall will signify 
 that we can never be on this side of that event again." 
 
 "Now, Bertha, since it's going to be such a solemn
 
 80 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 thing as all that, don't you think you better take the 
 preacher? " 
 
 "Oh, that would make it unendurably solemn. 
 That would be like marrying a tombstone, and I would 
 feel that I lived in a church and heard about Je-rooz- 
 alem every day." 
 
 "I'll tell you what it's really going to be like," said 
 Jim with a face as full of fondness as ever that of a 
 youth was " with you and me I mean it's going to be 
 something beyond sermons and hymns and baptisms 
 and churches, preachers, funerals and tombstones, and 
 even the far-away heaven in the sky somewhere, for 
 it's going to be a heaven on earth not a high up, 
 distant, hazy, angel, harp and pearly-gate heaven, but 
 one you can enter by turning a plain door knob; made 
 out of boards and plaster and pretty wall paper, 
 carpets, rocking chairs, pictures, books, trees, grass 
 and flowers and all the common materials we know. 
 The best heaven the mind of man has ever conceived 
 was located right here in this world. The old Garden 
 of Eden, growing out of the familiar, ordinary dirt 
 that children make mud pies out of, beat the heaven 
 in the sky all to pieces. Man thought he was making 
 his heaven the better the farther he got it away from 
 him, but he made it worse. Old Peter had a dream for 
 all the race when he saw the New Jerusalem descending 
 down out of the sky to the solid earth. He seems to 
 have had some idea that this was where it belonged. 
 He was right. The heavens on earth are the thing, and 
 angels without wings are the best kind, because they're
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 81 
 
 more likely to stay where they can do some good. It's 
 too easy for the other kind to fly away from you." 
 
 "Why, Jim Pressley, I believe that I'm going to 
 marry a preacher, after all, and a good one," cried the 
 girl, " but you must remember that a heaven on earth 
 is out of the question for a great many people. Just 
 think of those so situated that they cannot possibly be 
 very happy. Think of Prof. Bland." 
 
 " Yes, that's true," returned the young man thought- 
 fully, "Prof. Bland deserves to have a heaven all to 
 himself if he wants it that way, and I suppose there are 
 a great many just like him. Heavens are not thick 
 enough, I know. Probably there would not be too 
 many if there were one on every star, but if there were 
 more in this world, how much more contented people 
 would be, and if they only really tried to make them 
 they could reach them without having to die to get 
 to them." 
 
 They were now down in the part of the cemetery 
 near the road, where, in the almost constant shade of 
 a number of sturdy beeches, the gravestones had taken 
 on a dull, dark green not unlike the bark on the neigh- 
 boring trunks. Jim continued to be enraptured with 
 his vision of an earthly paradise, and spoke, as his 
 exalted spirit gave him utterance, to never so sympa- 
 thetic an auditor. 
 
 "Oh, when we get that lamp with the porcelain 
 shade," said Jim, as a kind of peroration and certainly 
 as a reiteration, " and that big, round table with a green 
 cloth, and are seated beside them, there will be no two
 
 82 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 persons in the world so happy as you and I, will there, 
 Bertha?" and he risked or defied or forgot altogether 
 to think about the view of any human eye, and leaned 
 over and kissed her. 
 
 "You mustn't leave out the lamp and the shade," 
 said Bertha, "for it will be a very important part of 
 your heaven. You can make a whole little universe 
 with that. You see, the concave side of the shade 
 will be the sky of the hearth and household. 
 The flame of the lamp will be the sun, and 
 think of all the dear little industries that will 
 flourish in its soft light. Think what a pretty little 
 world the big, dark world will then shut in. When 
 the large sun sets then the little sun will rise. You 
 shall start the tiny horses of a tiny Aurora with the 
 crack of a match. We will forget the wider sky that 
 covers the whole world and get under one the size only 
 of our lampshade, that covers just you and me. That 
 will be a world, I hope, we can comprehend. I hope 
 there will be no unhappy person in that little world; 
 and if we must ever be unhappy, Jim, let's be so while 
 the big sun is shining and not after the little sun has 
 risen under the lampshade." 
 
 TJnhappiness seemed a thing so foreign to the world 
 which had begun for Jim and to that which he believed 
 he saw developing for him, that he was a little dis- 
 turbed by the quiet seriousness of Bertha's last words. 
 
 "But we'll not be unhappy at all," said he. "At 
 least we'll not make each other so; and I can picture a 
 very pretty and sufficient world without even the table
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 83 
 
 and the lampshade. I see it now under the brim of 
 your hat," and with his two hands he described a 
 circle around her face. 
 
 " You'll get tired of that some day." 
 
 He protested he never would, never could. 
 
 There was a noise in a field of early corn across the 
 rail fence thirty yards away, as if a stalk had been 
 pulled down or a green ear ripped open. 
 
 "A groundhog, I guess," said Jim, and he threw 
 a stone in that direction. 
 
 "So you wouldn't tell the preacher you were en- 
 gaged," remarked Jim, inviting a repetition of certain 
 passages in Bertha's narration of the events of the day 
 when she was last at home, just as if they had not been 
 full and explicit enough as given by her already several 
 times over. "You might have saved yourself annoy- 
 ance from him if you had." 
 
 "But Jim, he was not entitled to know," Bertha 
 explained again. "It was enough for him to be told 
 that I didn't want him, and when I had given him to 
 understand that, it was an impertinence for him to 
 ask me if my affections were 'centered on another/ 
 as he put it." 
 
 "Of course it was," said Jim, yet wishing that she 
 had said something to utterly crush " Brother Charles " 
 and leave him without the faintest shadow of a hope 
 or expectation. 
 
 "And he told you he was praying for it," Jim con- 
 tinued, "and that he thought you would make an 
 excellent minister's wife; and for you to think how
 
 84 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 useful you could be as a handmaid of the Lord; and 
 that you were still young and could take plenty of 
 time to think it over; and that you might consult your 
 father and mother about it; and that it might not do 
 any harm to find out what Old Maggie thought about 
 it; and he could wait; and that he hoped you would 
 in time see your way clear to become his wife." 
 
 These were not questions. They were rather a 
 recapitulation. They needed no answer or correction 
 or confirmation, and Bertha gave none, but kept silent 
 all the while, smiling and looking love to the man who 
 loved her. 
 
 " He must have thought that everybody around the 
 place would urge you to accept him quick," Jim went 
 on. " Oh, he'll be buzzing about you for a long time," 
 and he gave Bertha a look as if to say that she had not 
 fully calculated that part of it. 
 
 " Well, I must not be rude with him, you know," 
 she said, "for he's always been friendly and is a nice 
 fellow." And she added with a prettily shrewd look: 
 " I don't believe he'll bother me very much." 
 
 Jim said he hoped not. 
 
 "But there is one thing I did not tell you," said 
 Bertha. 
 
 "What is that?" asked Jim eagerly. 
 
 " He no doubt thought he was very cunning when he 
 said that it might do no harm to find out what Old Mag- 
 gie thought about it. He knows that she has seen me 
 grow up from a baby and cared for me a great deal 
 when I was a child. This has given him the notion,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 85 
 
 I think, that she has a strong influence over me. 
 Indeed I'm sure he has an exaggerated estimate of her 
 importance in our family. Just as soon as he mentioned 
 her that day I could remember that he had been paying 
 more than usual attention to her in the last few months. 
 One Sunday afternoon about a month ago I guess all 
 the rest of us had been taking a nap or something 
 I looked out of my window, and there he and Old 
 Maggie were walking around in the garden, and in a 
 little while they came sauntering along toward the 
 house. She was carrying a little bouquet that he had 
 picked for her, and seemed as honored and delighted as 
 anyone could be. They did look comical. It seemed 
 as if he might be trying to make love to her." 
 
 "That's your chance, Bertha," said Jim, laughing. 
 "Tell him to marry Old Maggie." 
 
 " I wonder, too," said Bertha, as if a surprising idea 
 had just come to her, "if from anything papa has been 
 saying to him he has learned that papa and mamma 
 talk over everything about me with Old Maggie; for 
 they do, Jim, I know they do, because she often asks 
 me questions and makes remarks about affairs of mine 
 that could come to her knowledge only from what papa 
 and mamma had told her. Of course it's all right, for 
 she's interested in me and likes me, just as she does 
 everyone in the family, but sometimes I think she's a 
 little too inquisitive and meddlesome. Now, I wonder 
 if 'Brother Charlie' knows anything about that." 
 
 " I wouldn't call him ' Brother Charlie ' all the time," 
 said Jim.
 
 86 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Oh, that's just a little notion of his, and we've 
 humored him and got in the habit of it," replied Bertha, 
 noticing plainly enough that Jim's protest was based 
 on a trifling jealousy which really did not merit the 
 little conciliation she offered it. 
 
 " If he doesn't want to be called Mr. Warner, call him 
 'Brother Chump' ; that will be all right," said Jim with 
 a vindictive little emphasis. 
 
 "I'll call him Mr. Warner, that's what I'll do. I'm 
 glad you spoke about it. For that will be a little cold 
 now, you know, and that is what he needs." 
 
 "Just the thing to do," Jim quickly agreed, exulting 
 that a blessed formality was at length to push the 
 presuming preacher out of his comfortable relation as 
 a familiar of Bertha's and especially out of the glorious 
 position of seeming to be anything in the world like 
 a pet of hers. 
 
 And now the well-pleased and triumphant Jim was 
 prepared to talk again about marrying the preacher 
 to Old Maggie. 
 
 " He went at you in regular military fashion," said he. 
 "If he thought she was one of the outworks, and he 
 seems to have thought she was, it was good tactics for 
 him to try to get possession of her." 
 
 They were seated beneath a beech which had been 
 scarred and seamed all over, from within two feet of 
 the ground to up among the branches, with initials cut 
 in the bark. 
 
 "'The groves were God's first temples,'" said Jim. 
 " Having your name on a tree is next to having it on a
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 87 
 
 church register. Let's join the Druids and put our 
 initials up there. That will be another rite for a Sunday 
 afternoon." 
 
 Bertha assented, so, grasping a low limb, Jim swung 
 himself up into the tree and cut their initials higher 
 up on the trunk than any others. When he descended 
 Bertha asked : 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me you were going to buy a 
 new suit?" 
 
 "Buy a new suit? What makes you ask that?" 
 
 " Why, here's a measuring worm on you, and that's 
 a sign you are to have a new suit of clothes. Now I 
 must catch a butterfly a pretty one and bite its 
 head off, and I'll have a new dress of its color. There 
 comes one," and she began a chase for it.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AN INTRUDER. 
 
 THE two in the exuberance of their joy and youth 
 were darting about hither and thither and running in 
 all directions at once after the winged flower when 
 they were startled by the sounds of footsteps in 
 the gravel at the gate, and, looking in that direction, 
 saw Gassier, the shoemaker, coming in. He was very 
 red in the face, was grinning, and altogether looked 
 sheepish. Possibly that is why Jim at once felt the 
 suspicion that he might have been the groundhog in 
 the corn, a suspicion, however, that a large bunch of 
 ferns and wild flowers, which he had in his hand, 
 would tend to alleviate. 
 
 " Little too lively fo' ye, eh?" he said as he jerkingly 
 nodded his head to our young friends. "Takes wings 
 to ketch wings. Oh, them's spry little critters. But 
 my, a butterfly'd ought to let such a person as you 
 ketch it," grinning at Bertha harder than ever. 
 "They'd ought to come and light on you and be 
 glad of the chance." 
 
 Jim was surprised at the audacity and suddenness 
 with which Gassier had trespassed on what he con- 
 sidered his own exclusive ground, and was quite 
 confused. 
 
 Bertha, burning with blushes and almost overcome 
 88
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 89 
 
 with embarrassment for Gassier continued to grin 
 and gaze upon her managed to say: 
 
 "Butterflies are very foolish things, whatever they 
 do." 
 
 "Just like some people, eh?" and Gassier laughed, 
 or pretended to, while Jim and Bertha, feeling like 
 doing something else, went through the mechanical 
 part of smiling. 
 
 " When I see you in here from out there in the road," 
 said Gassier, "I couldn't think of any better girl in 
 the whole world to give these posies to, and so I've 
 come in to give 'em to you." And he proffered the 
 wild flowers to Bertha. 
 
 Jim would have gloried in seeing her curtly refuse 
 them, but she took them with a very indifferent 
 "Thank you." 
 
 Gassier then proceeded to tell where he had been 
 in his afternoon ramble; where he had found this one 
 of the wild flowers and where that one; where he had 
 plucked up the ferns; where Bertha might find them 
 if she went for them; and how few the wild flowers 
 were in these parts compared with places in Kentucky; 
 and, ingeniously marshalling a most remarkable host 
 of petty and inconsequential minutiae so it seemed 
 to Bertha and Jim he told a story insufferably longer 
 than any to which these two people, together or apart, 
 had ever in all their lives given compulsory attention. 
 
 And a somewhat singular circumstance was that he 
 addressed himself almost exclusively to Bertha, glancing 
 only now and then at Jim, not as recognizing that Jim
 
 90 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 might be at all concerned in what was being said, but 
 rather as watching him. 
 
 Bertha and Jim were not careful to conceal their 
 impatience. Nor can there be any doubt that Gassier 
 correctly interpreted their manner, but, far from 
 abashing him, it seemed only to make him more eager 
 to press forward in his discourse and to draw Bertha 
 into conversation. 
 
 " I reckon you'll be glad when school's out," he said 
 to her. 
 
 "Students usually are at the end of a school year, 
 I believe," she answered. 
 
 "You'll be back next year?" he asked just as one 
 would who was intensely interested in whether she 
 would or not. 
 
 "I don't know," she replied. 
 
 "Not done? Not goin' anywhere else?" 
 
 "I can't say." 
 
 "You like it up here?" 
 
 "I think most of the students do." 
 
 " Folks are all well down below? " 
 
 "I hope so." 
 
 "I hear Walter's married." 
 
 Bertha chose to take this as simply a plain statement 
 of fact, and made no response. 
 
 "It doesn't begin to make you think about your 
 own turn?" 
 
 He said this as one might who was trying to banter 
 her, and yet there was also something in his manner 
 that suggested a serious and curious personal interest.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 91 
 
 Bertha keenly felt that she was the victim of imperti- 
 nence, and the impatience of herself and her lover was 
 far on the way to indignation, which, however, they 
 were still restrained from expressing, on account of a 
 certain kindliness, distinguished from ordinary friend- 
 liness, (for of that he had made a most awkward if 
 not equivocal exhibition), which from the first had 
 marked Gassler's manner. 
 
 Bertha hesitated for some moments in a struggle to 
 overcome an impulse to answer with full rein to her 
 feeling, and replied : 
 
 " I'm not so old as Walter." 
 
 "Coin' to bide your time. That's right. I see 
 you're fond of horseback ridin' down home, but never see 
 you at it here. Seems like you've rather taken to 
 walkin' here. Next year you just let me know when- 
 ever you'd like to take a horseback ride, an' I'll see 'at 
 you get the horse. Well, I been a good deal longer 
 givin' you them flowers 'n I 'xpected to be. I'll have 
 to be goin' on." And he walked away. 
 
 He had scarcely pushed the gate shut behind him 
 when the wrathful Jim exclaimed : 
 
 " What infernal impudence ! " 
 
 "There's another Sunday afternoon exercise for 
 you," said Bertha. "I've been put through a cate- 
 chism." And she hurled away Gassler's floral offering 
 with disgusted vehemence. 
 
 It happened, though neither Bertha nor Jim noticed 
 it, that the rejected flowers, expelled thus furiously 
 from a hand so soft and delicate that the beautiful
 
 92 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 blossoms could have found no fitter place, with their 
 stems cut and torn, to wither and die in, yet fell gently 
 and scattered, upon a child's grave. 
 
 "And to think that I had scarcely ever spoken to 
 him before ! " said Bertha. 
 
 "Your woes are coming all at once," said Jim. 
 "The preacher and 'Shiftless Henry' and myself, and 
 now Gassier. He is your fate." 
 
 "The silly old vagabond! What hi the world did 
 he mean?" 
 
 "He's smitten with you, Bertha. How long ago 
 did you say it was that he first came to your neigh- 
 borhood?" 
 
 "About two years I think. He has a little shop near 
 the postoffice down there a shop there and one here, 
 and works part of the time at one and part of the 
 time at the other. He has seen me frequently on 
 horseback to get the mail down home, but never tried 
 to do anything more than nod to me or say 'Good 
 evening/ and he didn't get to do that very often, 
 because I took care to avoid noticing him when I 
 could. He associates with the lowest kind of people 
 and his habits are bad. He doesn't know our folks at 
 all, and I was as surprised as could be when he took 
 a notion of speaking to me." 
 
 "But up here," said Jim, "he attends Sunday 
 school and church and comes to our 'sings.'" 
 
 "And he spends his evenings with loafers," Bertha 
 added. 
 
 They now retraced a large part of the way they had
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 93 
 
 come, and went to the college chapel where many of 
 the students met every Sunday afternoon at half past 
 four to sing. It was an informal entertainment of a 
 very common concert character that a number of the 
 village people were fond of attending, coming, as it 
 did, at a time of the day when naps were over and 
 drowsy minds were ready for an inspiring reawakening. 
 
 Bertha and Jim, since this was the last Sunday on 
 which they were to be together for some time, would 
 have been glad to absent themselves, but Bertha was 
 the organist and on this account they felt obliged to 
 be there. 
 
 Gassier had chanced to look back at the very moment 
 when Bertha threw away the flowers. He determined 
 to return and pick them up. 
 
 "She has thrown them away," he said to himself, 
 "but they have been in her hand." 
 
 He stopped and pretended to be observing the 
 view presented by the opposite bank of the creek, 
 rocky and wooded, until Bertha and Jim had gone up 
 the hill out of the cemetery and descended into the 
 hollow in the pasture. He then went back to the spot 
 where he had seen the flowers cast into the air. But 
 he paused before the stone at the grave. 
 
 "Child buried here," he observed thoughtfully. "A 
 child's grave. Then I'll leave 'em there." 
 
 And he, too, went to the college chapel. 
 
 Bertha and Jim were together again that evening. 
 
 " I believe he understood how we felt," said Bertha. 
 "Did you notice how sad he looked all through the 
 'sing'?"
 
 94 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Yes, he looked as if he had lost his only friend on 
 earth," replied Jim. "He kept his eyes on you most 
 of the time. Come to think of it, I've noticed him do 
 that a good deal before. I overheard him say to Mr. 
 Perry that you were a Number One player, and he 
 brightened up a little when he said it. And Perry 
 said to him: 'I allow she's Number One prett' near 
 everything.' "
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 A NOTABLE FOURTH OF JULY. 
 
 THE same cause, the same sweet expectation, had 
 never before shortened Jim's sleep on the morning of 
 an Independence Day. He rose early on the Fourth of 
 July, 1878. He had in years gone by been up earlier 
 to ring a church bell or fire off the old army musket 
 for which his brother had traded a fiddle, but the arous- 
 ing agency this time was a calmer and deeper sentiment 
 than the common, youthful, holiday enthusiasm. 
 
 Still he felt at moments the loss of what he had 
 experienced on previous advents of this anniversary, 
 and in one of the intervals, when his thoughts were off 
 their lately constant theme, he became a parodist 
 and wrote: 
 
 Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
 Wherein our nation's birth is celebrated, 
 The boy and cracker sleep near all night long; 
 And then they get them up and 'gin to stir abroad; 
 Their fellows join them. Then few crackers fail; 
 Most of them burst and each hath power to charm, 
 So boy-st'rous and so popping is the time. 
 
 "That is the way it is out in Iowa," thought Jim, 
 "but it isn't the way here. Why, it comes nearer to 
 describing Christmas here than the Fourth of July, for 
 Christmas is when they have their firecrackers down 
 
 95
 
 96 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 in this country. But I ought not to quarrel with this 
 Fourth. I wonder what time Bertha and her people 
 will get up here. I mustn't forget my speech. I'm 
 glad father's not coming out I wouldn't want him 
 today, not today." 
 
 Jim then went to thinking again about the difference 
 between a Fourth of July among the southern Hoosiers 
 and the same occasion in his own beloved little town 
 in eastern Iowa. On the evening before, notwith- 
 standing a celebration had been arranged for, none of 
 the premonitory demonstrations to which he had been 
 accustomed were to be seen or heard. No small, 
 impatient boy was testing by samples the virtue of his 
 bunch of firecrackers or proving the capacity of his 
 popgun for making noise. No band was heard rehears- 
 ing. No flag was unfurled to herald the approach of 
 the day on which the Star Spangled Banner always 
 waves most inspiringly. No charming maiden could 
 be seen, as the sun went down, seated under her father's 
 trees, arranging the ribbons of her pretty hat so as to 
 produce the best holiday effect. 
 
 This, to Jim's mind, was all wrong. The people 
 should be more interested, thought he. And it was 
 strange that among the children even there was no sign 
 of delightful excitement. Old musket and anvil firing, 
 bell ringing, and ragamuffin memories came trooping 
 up; and memories less boyish pleasant recreations in 
 shaded groves, picnic associations, the annual conspir- 
 acy with friends to seize a large booty of fun and 
 enjoyment
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 97 
 
 "Still," said Jim as he looked out over the village 
 from the window of his room on the hill, " the natives " 
 he frequently called them the natives " the natives 
 have prepared to celebrate this holiday with vast and 
 appropriate ceremonies, and I have consented to figure 
 on the occasion as the patron and interpreter of that 
 time-honored charter, the Declaration of Independence. 
 Not going to dispose of it in the usual way by solemnly 
 reading it, but make it the text and chapter of a dis- 
 course. I am to hold it up to honor before the mul- 
 titude, expatiate with fervor upon its import, and, 
 after calling in review Jefferson and the signers of the 
 instrument and giving them a few handsome turns, 
 remand them for another year to the quieter enjoyment 
 of their blessed and glorious immortality. That will 
 be good" but Jim almost wished yes, he did really 
 wish that he had not agreed to do it, for he feared 
 he was convinced that it would not give him as 
 much time for something else as he was sure he would 
 desire. 
 
 He then ran over in his mind the steps leading up to 
 the celebration. It was an unusual undertaking for 
 College Hill or its vicinity, and had not been finally 
 determined on without difficulty. Several obstacles 
 caused the advancing spirit of patriotism to stumble. 
 There was want of harmony and a great diversity of 
 sentiment as to the distribution of honors. 
 
 The design originated with a debating club which, 
 until spring work on the farms began, had held regular 
 meetings in a big schoolhouse a half mile outside the
 
 98 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 village. The club had a called meeting and resolved 
 to celebrate. Twelve committees were appointed, no 
 less a number than this being commensurate with the 
 ambitions of the members severally and collectively, 
 for no one in the club could have suffered his fellows 
 to be exalted above himself. By the happy contri- 
 vance of many committees each member was raised 
 to the dignity of a committee-man, a distinction which 
 he prized as highly as in old times an Englishman, 
 just returned with a fortune from the Indies, would 
 have rated a peerage. 
 
 The committee to choose a scene for the grand 
 affair waited on a young storekeeper to ascertain on 
 what conditions he would allow the use of a piece of 
 woods owned by him. 
 
 "Well, you can have the grove," he said, "if you 
 don't have any dancin', and if you're goin' to have 
 stands and charge fur 'em I want my pick of a place 
 fur a stand, and I'll charge you ten dollars fur the grove; 
 but if you're going to have it free fur everybody you 
 can have the grove fur nothin', only I don't want any 
 dancin'. " 
 
 The storekeeper was a United Presbyterian, hence 
 the dancing stipulation would not have been remark- 
 able had it not been that the young man himself had 
 indulged occasionally in the joyful practice of spreading 
 music out on the floor with the ends of his toes. He 
 might have been less pronounced on this point had he 
 not been cautioned beforehand to be firm by his mother 
 and young wife who were uncompromisingly opposed
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 99 
 
 to the amusement, the first on account of her age and 
 the latter on account of her principles. 
 
 The committee intimated that the storekeeper was 
 illiberal, and applied to a Methodist brother who owned 
 twenty acres of beeches adjoining the site first desired. 
 Now, there was no Methodist church in the vicinity, 
 and the man was known as one without intimate " re- 
 ligious connections" which, by the way, have often 
 been found embarrassing. To the inquiries of the 
 committee this kind and sympathetic man responded : 
 
 "Well, I 'low you can have my woods for nothing, 
 and dance your heels off if you want to." 
 
 This was certainly all the committee could desire, 
 but for some reason the whole project for which the 
 twelve committees had been named was abandoned. 
 The pleasant expectations of the inhabitants of the 
 village and the country round that there would be some 
 fine "dom's" were annihilated. 
 
 At this contingency, fatal alike to an interesting 
 holiday and to growth in patriotic grace, two energetic 
 and brave-hearted men came to the rescue. One was 
 a jingling disciple of Dives and the other a pounding 
 son of Vulcan. They put their heads together and 
 decided to buy out and forge out a finished article. 
 They determined to make all the arrangements them- 
 selves. They were promised the use of a beech grove 
 just outside the hamlet, although, much to the distress 
 of many, with the unwelcome understanding that 
 there was to be no dancing for they had struck 
 another Presbyterian.
 
 100 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 The hopes of the villagers revived. The wives began 
 to bake cakes. Though the efforts of the debating 
 club had been unavailing, the club was not ignored. 
 It was honored and its good will won by the selection 
 of its chief to be president of the day and master of 
 ceremonies. 
 
 And now the wagons of lumber going to the grounds, 
 the sounds of boards and of hammers, indicate that 
 the speakers will have a platform to speak from, that 
 the people will have seats to sit on, and, above all, 
 that the huckster and the blacksmith have had eyes 
 to business, for the most of the noise has recorded the 
 growth of a spacious stand down yonder beneath the 
 beeches, over the counters of which will be exchanged 
 sweetmeats and dimes. The hammering and the plac- 
 ing of planks continue to the very eve of the eventful 
 day. These are the only signs of preparation. 
 
 Jim was out walking back and forth on the broad, 
 beaten path leading from the boarding house to the 
 college, mumbling over his speech, when, an hour after 
 sunrise, a loud report came from down the stony road. 
 
 There was no mistaking it though it was delayed. It 
 was the firing of the anvils and made Jim a very boy 
 again. Bareheaded as he was, he went on the run to 
 the blacksmith shop and was more excited than the 
 smith or the half dozen hurriedly-dressed lads who 
 hastily gathered about while the next charge was put 
 in, the anvils again doubled and the paper a second 
 time lighted. 
 
 " Well, now again," cried Jim when the conveniently
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 101 
 
 improvised artillery boomed once more the suggestion 
 of Bunker Hill and all the glorious battles of American 
 history. " Keep her up," he shouted. 
 
 " No more powder," said the blacksmith. 
 
 Jim was disgusted, but kept his feelings to himself. 
 
 "I'll get some more," he said, and started off, run- 
 ning for the huckster's store just over the creek, making 
 his way across the shallow water rather than to take 
 time to run up stream to the foot-bridge. 
 
 He came back with such a package of powder as 
 made the boys open their eyes, and with the greater 
 part of the little stock of firecrackers that the huckster 
 had on hand. He threw a bunch of crackers to each 
 boy, saying: "Open 'em up and set 'em going," and 
 then joined the smith in producing the heavier detona- 
 tions with the anvils. It was a lively half hour on the 
 corner, and Jim felt himself to be a missionary of 
 patriotism. 
 
 "More powder 'n I've smelt fur fourteen year," 
 said the shoemaker, who had been standing quietly by 
 smoking a pipe. "Yes, sir ; n since the war. Ol' 
 Morgan's men smelt 'nough of it then I can tell ye. We 
 was through this here country right here, too few 
 miles south and north. 
 
 "Big day fur fellers and their gals, I reckon," con- 
 tinued Gassier. "Say, Jim, I don't wonder you're 
 feelin' peert 's morning. Y'll have the finest gal in 
 the hull pack, eh?" 
 
 Jim was not pleased with what was said. He felt 
 that any reference to Bertha by Gassier was a kind of
 
 102 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 contamination of her, and altogether he did not like 
 the familiarity the man had assumed. He therefore 
 asked soberly : 
 
 "How do you know with whom I'll be?" 
 
 "Oh, I've got eyes in my head," Gassier replied, 
 smiling and with a nod. "I can see what's going on." 
 And Jim's feeling suddenly changed so far that he was 
 foolish enough to be a little gratified at even such a 
 recognition of his position. 
 
 What Jim wanted to find out was how it was that 
 the shoemaker happened to be acquainted with Bertha's 
 plans, but he was not inclined to ask more questions 
 and contented himself with supposing that Bertha had 
 told some of her girl friends and Gassier had heard it 
 as gossip in his shop or at the store, for Bertha, on 
 going home at the close of the term in the very last 
 days of June, had promised she would come up to the 
 celebration. 
 
 "You may be right," was all Jim said as he started 
 away, leaving Gassier plainly eager to continue the 
 conversation. 
 
 Jim got back to the boarding house just as Prof. 
 Bland came hobbling out on the low, sunken flagstones 
 to squint at the sun and sniff the morning air. The 
 noise had first awakened and then delighted him. 
 
 "I see you have been down to listen close by to 
 Freedom's annual proclamation," he said to Jim. 
 " This is the day when 
 
 " Cannon to cannon shall repeat her praise, 
 Banner to banner flap it forth in flame.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 103 
 
 " 'Tis grand that on this day all men may hear 
 How terrible the voice of Liberty may be, 
 When, on the ears of tyrants bursting near, 
 It says in thunder that a people shall be free." 
 
 "Hardly an annual proclamation here, is it?" asked 
 Jim. " I'm sure it's done more thundering in this 
 little place this morning than it ever did before, but 
 where is the 'Banner to banner' part of it? We ought 
 to have a flag but I have none. Let's see if Mrs." 
 
 " I have a small one," said the professor, and with 
 such haste as he could he went back into the house and 
 presently reappeared with a flag carefully wrapped in 
 paper. It was small, as he had said, but of silk and 
 with all the colors bright. 
 
 "Pretty one!" exclaimed Jim as he unrolled it and 
 held it high in the air. 
 
 "Given me," the professor said with some pride, 
 "by the students here the night they played a little 
 drama which I wrote, entitled 'The Great Rebellion.' 
 It was soon after the war. I was sorry we played it, 
 for several people, and they were my friends, too, were 
 offended because I made Jeff Davis quote, as applicable 
 to himself, the language of Satan: 
 
 " ' Me miserable, which way shall I fly 
 Infinite wrath and infinite despair? 
 Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell.' " 
 
 Jim said that he must read the drama. The professor 
 told him that the manuscript had been lost. " But," 
 he continued, "here is the flag with 'not a stripe
 
 104 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured.'" 
 It so happened that the flag had not for many a year 
 been hung out to the breeze, and its singular old owner, 
 as he moved about talking with Jim, looked up at it 
 from time to time with beaming eyes. It mattered 
 not that Jim had found no loftier place for it than the 
 top of a high gate post. That was just as good as a 
 house gable or a staff; better, the professor felt, for there 
 it was near at hand and people going in and out would 
 pass close under it, and, besides, in so lowly and common 
 a place it seemed to more properly represent the sen- 
 timent of the home. It domesticated patriotism. 
 
 Breakfast over, Prof. Bland and Jim took chairs in 
 the cool morning shade at the west of the house, a place 
 commanding a view of the road running by the woods 
 in which the celebration was to be held. Jim had 
 brought down the paper on which he had scribbled 
 the parody, and read the lines to his teacher, who was 
 as much amused as anyone might be by such a perfor- 
 mance. Very well it was, he said to Jim, that so great 
 a poet as Shakespeare should be made in any way to 
 contribute to so grand a theme as the Fourth of July. 
 In the year that Jim had attended school at College 
 Hill he and the professor had come to be warm friends 
 and were often together. Jim was one of those rare 
 young people who enjoy the society of their elders as 
 much as association with companions of their own age, 
 and, besides, he found the professor, with his deformity 
 and all his oddities, intensely interesting. He loved to 
 observe the expression and feeling with which he quoted
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 105 
 
 poetry and talked about the souls of great writers of 
 both prose and verse. He was amused and entertained 
 by many of the old-fashioned, pedagogic manners of 
 the professor and perhaps he was attracted most of all 
 by the mystery that seemed to surround the inner life 
 of the old man, for with respect to himself and his family 
 connections the professor was always silent. He 
 seemed never to have had a brother or sister or relative, 
 though there was a rumor that out of his meager means 
 he was supporting a helpless sister somewhere. 
 
 Jim was a favorite with the professor on account 
 of the young man's buoyant and hopeful spirit, the 
 intelligence with which he discussed subjects which 
 often those of his age had not begun to think about, 
 and the interest he took in all the professor said. Per- 
 haps the professor also felt, without being really con- 
 scious of it, that there was sympathy for him in the 
 youth's heart, for Jim was discerning enough to have 
 perceived that in the history of Prof. Eland's life, though 
 the record could not be easily read, there had been many 
 a bitter chapter. 
 
 Since daylight the huckster's wagon had been rattling 
 back and forth between his store and the grounds. 
 
 "I see that the huckster is very diligent in getting 
 the grounds prepared for us today," said the professor. 
 "I hope we will have a good time, for it has been a 
 number of years since we attempted to have a cele- 
 bration here." 
 
 "I would have liked it better," Jim said, "if the 
 arrangements had not been left alone to the huckster
 
 106 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 and the blacksmith, for their interest seems to be too 
 mercenary." 
 
 " But somebody must always take the lead in such a 
 matter/' the professor replied, "and I suppose the two 
 men are entitled to compensation some way for their 
 time and pains, and they cannot hope to make a great 
 amount. Even if their interest is only personal, I 
 would rather have this celebration than none at all." 
 
 "So would I," said Jim, thinking that it was only 
 this that gave him an opportunity to see Bertha again 
 so soon; "for," he added, "it will be a good thing for 
 the people." 
 
 "Do you know that Miss Bertha and some of her 
 family are coming up?" asked the professor. 
 
 Jim blushed, and answered, as if it were nothing at all 
 in the world : " Yes, she told me the day she went home." 
 
 "She is developing into an elegant lady and I am 
 glad she is evidently a little fond of us up here." 
 
 The implication of a diffusion of the girl's affection 
 touched a jealous nerve in Jim and impelled him to say : 
 
 "She told me she must come up to hear my speech." 
 
 "Ah? Well, I have no doubt it will be worth coming 
 some distance to hear." 
 
 "Far from it, Professor, but did she tell you, too, 
 that she was coming up?" 
 
 " No, I heard it from Mr. Gassier. He has li ved more 
 or less in her neighborhood, and, being down there a 
 few days ago, happened to hear something said about 
 her coming. I think it was last Sunday probably. 
 
 " And Mr. Gassier told me, that he guessed that there
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 107 
 
 was a special attraction for Bertha here since you were 
 to remain over the Fourth" ; and he looked at Jim very 
 pleasantly. "You know her parents and family?" 
 he added. 
 
 " No, I have not met them yet." 
 
 "Yet?" and the professor turned his face triumph- 
 antly toward the young man. And then, as if fully 
 satisfied: "You will find them very pleasant and in- 
 teresting people." 
 
 Jim was laughing a little at himself and his "yet," 
 which he told the professor might, after all, mean 
 nothing, but he spoke as if suggesting only that he have 
 the benefit of a doubt. He felt not a little gratified 
 that there appeared to be no question with the professor 
 but that he was full old enough to have to do seriously 
 with such matters. 
 
 By this time the people who lived at some distance 
 were beginning to gather at the grove, and Jim was in- 
 terested in observing the "outfits" as they passed up 
 the road. It was not a region where prosperity attended 
 ordinary farming, and the unpainted and occasionally 
 dilapidated wagons creaked along, drawn by horses 
 showing plainly the effects of overwork or short rations. 
 No pretty little flags adorned their bridles, and for 
 minutes at a time there could have been doubt whether 
 it were a holiday pageant or a funeral procession. 
 
 Jim on another occasion might have been critical, 
 but at this moment the whole spectacle had somewhat 
 of the air of chivalry, an illusion to which the young man 
 was assisted by the appearance now and then of a really
 
 108 
 
 gay rig. For instance, that of Al Romans, a self-taught 
 farmer-lawyer, distinguished for his vehement and big- 
 worded discussion of intricate subjects and for his skill 
 in discomfiting and oftentimes putting to rout the " town 
 lawyers" when they at rare intervals came out to try 
 cases before a rural justice. Al drove a pair of smart, 
 nimble blacks to a well-kept buggy, himself wearing on 
 his legal head a stovepipe hat and carrying a line of flags 
 on his whip. At sight of this Jim felt like clapping his 
 hands. 
 
 Presently was heard the sound of fife and drum, and 
 looking in the direction from which it came, it could be 
 seen that the celebrated " Five Boys " were approaching 
 with a small following from their part of the country. 
 
 Jim believed that Bertha and her party might now 
 arrive at any time, and at his suggestion he and the pro- 
 fessor started for the grove.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 A LOVER ALARMED. 
 
 "BROTHER CHARLIE'S" week of pastoral visitation 
 had been shortened to two days, but he came to the 
 Good Hope neighborhood again two weeks later, and 
 this time with what no one could doubt was a perfectly 
 sound excuse, for it was to officiate at a marriage of 
 members of his congregation. 
 
 Never had Cupid, he thought, done him so good a turn 
 by shooting arrows into the hearts of others, and it was 
 with a vague sense of some sort of advantageous nuptial 
 incense clinging to his garments that he went over to 
 the Old Plantation on the evening of July third. He 
 felt that he was taking with him an atmosphere, was 
 enveloped in some tenuous, dainty cloud of sentiment 
 and suggestion that would exercise a subtle and power- 
 ful spell needed in his behalf. 
 
 Bertha, while she listened with much interest to the 
 description he gave of the ceremony and the occasion, 
 asked no questions about it herself, not knowing, since 
 the evening they rode from the river together, just what 
 a conversation between her and the preacher about 
 weddings might lead to even in the presence of others or 
 what it might put into his head to say to her in private 
 afterwards. So the talk was mainly between " Brother 
 Charlie " and Mr. and Mrs. Garrett, Bertha making only 
 
 109
 
 110 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 casual remarks, so long as the subject was the recent 
 wedding, to show she had not been stricken dumb. 
 
 This wedding, coming on the top of a week spent 
 in reading and re-reading "A Midsummer Night's 
 Dream/' had an exciting influence on " Shiftless Henry." 
 He also was at the Plantation on the evening of the third 
 to report the final arrangements for the trip to the 
 College Hill celebration on the morrow. The spring 
 wagon was to be used. One of Bertha's friends and her 
 beau, Bertha and himself and one of the Plantation's 
 hired men would compose the party, the hired man to 
 sit in the front seat and do the driving this was the 
 way Henry "calkilated" it. 
 
 Finding this little excursion afoot, the preacher, 
 exercising a peculiar faculty of his calling, contrived to 
 get himself invited, and remarked that now, perhaps, it 
 would be necessary for two of them to ride in the single 
 carriage. 
 
 " That would be the thing for you and me, wouldn't 
 it, Bertha?" he asked. 
 
 Henry's old school teacher would have been astonished 
 and refreshed, had he been there, at the promptness 
 with which his dull pupil assumed to answer this 
 question himself. The response was bold and firm. 
 
 " Not nethethary at all," he said. " Only make more 
 hitchin' up. They ith six of uth. They ith three 
 theath, two on a theat, an' the springth ith good an' 
 sound." 
 
 Henry, without being aware of it, had sniffed the 
 substanceless nuptial aroma on the preacher and had
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 111 
 
 been by it inspirited. He looked about him with firm 
 regard, surprised at himself. 
 
 "You will not be quite so crowded, with your lunch 
 baskets and so on, if you take the carriage," quietly 
 remarked Mr. Garrett to them all. 
 
 " Only differenth will be with the driver," said Henry 
 very respectfully. 
 
 "And, papa, it will be so much nicer for us all to be 
 together," Bertha said almost pleadingly. 
 
 And there the matter was left. 
 
 Only the spring wagon was at the gate in the morning. 
 
 "'Shif ," Bertha whispered when the time for starting 
 had about arrived, " you be sure to get in the back seat 
 with me." 
 
 "I will," he answered, thrilled and electrified. 
 
 But in an unguarded moment he was adjusting some 
 part of the harness when Abner Garrett assisted Bertha 
 into the wagon, and, lo ! the preacher followed her up 
 so quickly that Bertha's warning hint, "Well, 'Shif '," 
 was without avail. 
 
 Henry trembled with vexation as he clambered up to 
 the only remaining place beside the hired man, pausing 
 only for a moment of astonishment and mortification at 
 the slip betwixt that sweet cup and his lips. He could 
 not comprehend how it happened. In his mourning as 
 they drove on he thought of enchantment. He had 
 read about that in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." 
 
 Henry observed before a great while that there was 
 very little conversation directly between Bertha and 
 "Brother Charlie," and he was well pleased at the
 
 112 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 alacrity with which she responded to his own efforts to 
 divert her attention to himself and show the preacher 
 how really unimportant he was. 
 
 They probably did not pass a single house on the road 
 without ' ' Shif V ' asking Bertha if she knew that So-and-So 
 lived there or who did live there, and at one place, seeing 
 some hens on the top of a corn crib, he repeated the old 
 saw about chickens being wise enough to perch high 
 when preachers were about. This was the worst he 
 could do and there was enough laughter at it to gratify 
 him exceedingly. 
 
 It was new work for "Shif," this trying to annoy a 
 rival, and so interested did he become at it that his 
 disappointment in not being Bertha's seatmate passed 
 away. An hour after the start, if he had been given his 
 choice, he would probably have elected to remain where 
 he was. 
 
 As Professor Bland and Jim were about to leave the 
 road and enter the beeches at one side they could see 
 the wagon containing Bertha and her party entering at 
 the other. And then for the first time the old man 
 became a burden to the youth, for Jim could not follow 
 his strong impulse to hasten his steps without deserting 
 his crippled companion. But he hurried him along as 
 much as possible by keeping a lead of several feet, 
 though not without reproaching himself for causing the 
 professor to struggle in a precipitate manner over roots 
 and fallen branches in his effort to keep up, for the pro- 
 fessor, poor man, prided himself on his agility and 
 would never have been willing to admit that anyone
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 113 
 
 was going too fast for him unless actually running. 
 They presently saw the Plantation party halting 
 under the branches of a mammoth beech, all yet seated in 
 the wagon, apparently undecided whether this were the 
 best place to make their camp. While the professor 
 and Jim were still several yards away salutations were 
 exchanged with nods and gestures, and "Shif" cried 
 loudly : 
 
 "Profethor, at the duke'th oak we meet." 
 The professor, now almost breathless on account of 
 the exertion Jim had put him to, was smiling and evi- 
 dently about to reply when the quintuple fife and drum 
 corps started up a deafening din, playing "The Girl I 
 Left Behind Me." Jim felt that there was just suffi- 
 cient suggestiveness in the piece to constitute some sort 
 of joke on him and Bertha, and smiled at her. He and 
 the professor were now quite up to the wagon, and 
 "Shif, " looking first at the professor and then at all 
 the others, shouted so that his voice might overcome 
 
 the music: 
 
 " I never heard 
 So muthickal a dithcord, thuch thweet thunder. 
 
 "Those fellowth mutht be Quinth, Thnug, Bottom, 
 Flute an' Thnout. Ith that lean fellow thtanding 
 near 'em Thtarveling? " 
 
 "Well, certainly, they are going to play for us," 
 said the professor; and now Bertha, who had already 
 shaken hands with Jim, greeted the professor warmly, 
 and found an opportunity, which "Shif " had delayed, 
 of introducing such of those present as were strangers 
 to one another.
 
 114 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Shif" had never in his life, save when he was baptized 
 (for many years before at a revival and on his mother's 
 earnest solicitation he had professed religion and been 
 admitted into the fellowship of the Good Hope church) 
 never save this once had he heard his full name 
 pronounced. "Henry Anthony," the preacher had 
 said just before laying him back into the water 
 "Henry Anthony, I baptize thee, " etc. From the 
 solemnity of the circumstance he had come to have the 
 impression that, however it might be with other people, 
 it was proper for him to expect the use of his stately 
 full name only on occasions of serious import. He was 
 therefore peculiarly impressed when Bertha said : " Mr. 
 Pressley, this is Mr. Henry Anthony." Bertha's voice 
 seemed to him like that of a priestess. He felt that 
 some sacrament was going on. His odd spirit exulted. 
 He was now sure, anyway, that he, Mr. Henry Anthony, 
 had carried the day over the preacher, but before he 
 knew it Bertha walked away with Jim, and "Shif" was 
 again puzzled and troubled. Why had she told him to 
 be sure to get in the back seat with her, and why had 
 she called him Mr. Henry Anthony? 
 
 The crowd was by no means a lively one. Most of 
 the people appeared to be simply in the attitude of 
 expectancy. The most noticeable figure was that of a 
 man running hither and thither as if eagerly in search 
 of somebody on whom great interests were depending. 
 This apparition, it was soon observed, was one of the 
 ministering spirits of the stand. He appeared to be 
 working in two capacities looking after things in
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 115 
 
 general at the stand, and after things in general out- 
 side of and away from that post. It was Zach 
 Gassier. He had on the blacksmith's wife's apron, 
 which flew about more lively on him that day than 
 it had ever done before. 
 
 The stand was on one side of the grounds beneath 
 the shade of a large beech. Several confectionery 
 dignitaries were behind the rough board counters, 
 chief of whom was the huckster in all his glory, attired 
 in his best Sunday suit, which was protected by a large 
 white apron that reached from chest to knees and de- 
 fined in an immense smooth disk the proportions of an 
 ample stomach. He was in his most amiable mood and 
 was dispensing delicacies to occasional customers with 
 much grace and animation. The blacksmith, too, was 
 busy providing water and ice and superintending the 
 manufacture of ice cream and lemonade. 
 
 The president of the debating society, who was 
 master of ceremonies, moved about with an air of 
 great importance. As a mark of distinction he wore 
 a scarlet sash which passed diagonally over his chest. 
 The responsibility of his position impressed him 
 strongly, and all through the day he betrayed great 
 nervousness lest he should commit some blunder. He 
 made a strong effort to comport himself with such dig- 
 nity and wisdom as to show that the sash had not 
 been tied about him unworthily. In his hand he carried 
 a pocket ledger in which he made an entry every little 
 while, and when Jim introduced himself and told him 
 what part on the program he was to take, he wrote 
 his name in the little book.
 
 116 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Little now remained but to set the machinery of the 
 celebration in motion. Effecting a series of beats on 
 the snare drum, the Nabob announced that "the per- 
 formances " were about to begin, and invited the people 
 forward. Then he began at the top of his list and 
 called out the names of those on the program. He 
 would keep calling the name of each until there was a 
 response or the party appeared, so that those of the 
 group who had happened to be on the outskirts of the 
 assembly had to advertise themselves by a loud re- 
 sponsive shout or suffer rapid and vociferous publicity 
 from the mouth of the Nabob. 
 
 Jim reluctantly left Bertha's side when he found what 
 the plan was and, hastening to the front, escaped 
 notoriety handsomely. The orator of the day was 
 aroused from his seat on a pile of lumber where he had 
 quietly been chewing his tobacco. This man was 
 called "Silver Top," from his closely cropped white 
 hair. He was dressed in a dusty and worn suit of blue, 
 with dusty and worn shoes to match. He was followed 
 by "Brother Charlie." The village doctor and the 
 maidens and a few young men were in their place around 
 an old cabinet organ. 
 
 The celebrated " Five Boys " had disappeared, (there 
 was at first a misunderstanding about their pay), and 
 the choir for an opening was called on to sing. Then 
 the people on waves of sound not wholly pleasing or 
 thoroughly harmonious were carried away to "Beulah 
 Land," and smelled "the sweet perfume upon the 
 breeze." The perfume, Jim declared afterwards, must
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 117 
 
 have been old Cologne water or some kind of rose water, 
 with which part of the young people in the choir had 
 evidently saturated their clothing. 
 
 A "zephyr seemed to float" to Silver Top, for he 
 arose delighted while the singing was in progress and 
 at the conclusion of the piece took the liberty of 
 smiling upon the choristers as he said: "Thank you, 
 young ladies, and fellers, too." 
 
 After this interruption the Nabob jumped up, 
 spread out his arms and announced the invocation thus : 
 
 "Now, let's all stand right straight up in the air 
 while Mr. Warner prays"; and "Brother Charlie" 
 prayed, the Nabob in the meanwhile looking with wide 
 open eyes up into the tree-tops. It is supposed that he 
 thought his reputation for skepticism, of which he was 
 very proud, would be compromised if he showed a 
 respectful deference to the religious sentiments of 
 others by bowing his head or even looking to the ground. 
 
 Music by the choir was next announced, and the 
 doctor and his band sang " Hold The Fort," which, if 
 not patriotic in character, has a martial ring to it. 
 Whether "Brother Charlie" had intended to descend 
 from the platform while the choir was singing, what- 
 ever the selection, or the words of the hymn suggested 
 some practical militancy cannot be told with certainty, 
 but he whispered to Jim : " I must get down where I 
 can see you and hear you better," and, quietly leaving 
 the platform, he made his way around to where Bertha 
 was sitting and took a place by her side, beating by 
 several rods "Shif," who but a moment before had
 
 118 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 waked up to the fact that, with both Jim and the 
 preacher on the platform, there was an opportunity 
 for him to take possession of the deserted field. 
 
 The preacher's movements somewhat disconcerted 
 Jim, who had arranged to rejoin Bertha as soon as the 
 speech was over, but he labored to compose himself, 
 for his part of the program was at hand. His youth, 
 the excellence of his production and the forcefulness of 
 his delivery combined caused a murmur of admiration 
 on all sides which more than once broke forth into 
 vigorous cheering. 
 
 A hundred times in one-tenth as many minutes the 
 young orator's eyes fell on Bertha's sweet and animated 
 face. Nor did he fail to observe a less sympathetic 
 but not less close attention on the part of "Brother 
 Charlie." Prof. Bland, with the pride of a teacher and 
 friend, followed very carefully every sentence his 
 bright pupil uttered, and written on the honest face of 
 Shiftless Henry was the undisguised rapture of a simple 
 mind. Zach Gassier, too, gave expression to the 
 liveliest enthusiasm. It was a great success for Jim. 
 
 "Pretty well for a boy," said "Brother Charlie" to 
 Bertha as the final applause subsided and Jim, who 
 had at first resumed his seat, was stepping to the 
 ground. 
 
 "Pretty well?" the girl repeated. "Why, it was 
 just splendid, and he is more of a man than any of them. 
 I must go and congratulate him," and, bouncing up, 
 she went to meet him, leaving the preacher to such 
 reflections as might come.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 119 
 
 The reputation of "Silver Top" caused much to be 
 expected from him. It was anticipated that a profuse 
 stream of eloquence and humor would issue forth from 
 his mouth, but he proved to be a disappointment. 
 Leaning on one elbow and shooting one hand toward 
 the sky, he began : "The day we celebrate thank Gahd 
 for the Fourth of July," and then followed for fifteen 
 minutes a marvelous train of ill-formed but high- 
 sounding sentences and stale patriotic platitudes, 
 eulogies and encomiums. It was the spreading of a 
 moulted eagle. Weary of his task, he declared that 
 the wind had been taken out of his sails by "the elo- 
 quent young man" who had preceded him, and that 
 he didn't believe " much in chin music on the Fourth of 
 July, anyway." It was dinner time, he said, and if 
 the people felt as he did they wanted something to eat. 
 
 The Nabob, conscious that his program was being 
 sadly disarranged by this unexpected falling off, 
 pressed "Silver Top" to continue twenty minutes or 
 half an hour longer, (as it yet lacked forty-five minutes 
 of noon and it would be a frightful mismanagement of 
 things to stop for dinner so early). But all urging was 
 thrown away on the old colonel, who could say no more. 
 The father of the Five Boys, who had an honorary seat 
 on the platform, the "lean feller" to whom "Shif" had 
 referred, was entreated to " make some remarks," but 
 he declared he was not "in a speakin' humor," so the 
 disappointed Nabob had no alternative but to proclaim 
 an intermission until beat of the drum. 
 
 Of course Jim and Prof. Bland were invited to take
 
 120 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 picnic dinner with the company from the Old Plan- 
 tation. This was an event for which Bertha had made 
 solicitous preparation, and the contents of the basket 
 which she now unpacked represented the choicest of all 
 the choice products that had ever come out of the 
 Garrett kitchen. 
 
 Here was a cake with parapet and mounted cannon 
 in the frosting; here another with an American flag in the 
 real colors spread on the top, and a bunch of sponge- 
 rolls in imitation of firecrackers was handed to Jim. 
 Prof. Bland called it patriotic poetry in pastry. 
 
 "Brother Charlie," too, and Jim and indeed all of 
 the company were each having some fine thing to say 
 about the virtue and variety of the dainties when 
 Gassier came over from the stand, lugging a pail of 
 lemonade and a smaller pail of ice cream. Running 
 his eyes over the party and addressing no one in par- 
 ticular, he said : " Want you to have my compliments." 
 
 Bertha thanked him very indifferently and told him 
 that they had brought with them from home materials 
 for both lemonade and ice cream, and plenty, too, as 
 he could see. But Gassier put down the pails, saying : 
 " Well, they're your'n, anyway, and you can see which 
 makes better, you or me," and he went back to the 
 stand. 
 
 About the time the dinner was over he returned in 
 haste, carrying another pail of lemonade which he said 
 he would exchange for the first, of which he said he 
 hoped they had drunk little, because there was some- 
 thing wrong with it. It was not, however, with satis-
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 121 
 
 faction that he noticed, as he took it up, that not a 
 drop had been taken from it, but his disappointment 
 on this account was partially offset when he observed 
 that a liberal draught had been made on the ice cream 
 which he had brought. He would have taken no 
 pleasure in this if he had known that it was only the 
 preacher's doing. " Brother Charlie, " in a little fit of 
 petulance at not having received from Bertha the at- 
 tention that he usually did, would not agree with her 
 that they must all have the ice cream that she had 
 made, and insisted himself on scooping up and passing 
 around several dishes of that which Gassier had so 
 urgently presented. 
 
 Gassier having again departed, Jim determined to 
 find out what was the matter with the lemonade. It 
 was at the dinner hour that a scandalous rumor spread 
 abroad reflecting on the excellent reputation that the 
 huckster and his assistants had so far through the day 
 sustained. 
 
 Some were of the opinion that the water for the 
 mixture had been carried over in an old, unwashed 
 vinegar barrel that had lain perhaps for months about 
 the huckster's store. Others were inclined to believe 
 that the taint was from coal oil. Jim tasted carefully 
 and gave his verdict in favor of the vinegar, though 
 when he reported to his own party he said that he had 
 expressed his judgment with great diffidence, inasmuch 
 as an old mechanic who was well versed in paints, oils 
 and varnishes had said it was undoubtedly coal oil. 
 
 Since there were on the grounds no amusements even
 
 122 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 for young people, and an hour of promiscuous visiting 
 was beginning to wear itself out, the beat of the drum 
 which the Nabob had promised was hailed with a 
 general welcome. 
 
 Jim and Bertha, having now spent two hours with 
 the others of the Plantation party, felt at liberty to be 
 more exclusive, and contrived it the easiest in the world 
 to detach themselves from the rest. 
 
 "Brother Charlie" was walking aimlessly about, 
 without, however, having been abruptly deserted by 
 anyone, when he was joined by Gassier. They talked 
 for some time. The preacher's face was a picture of 
 gloom. 
 
 "I believe," said he, "that you better do what you 
 said a few weeks ago you would do if the case seemed 
 to be really serious." 
 
 "Have you made your proposition to her?" asked 
 Gassier. 
 
 " I suppose you might say I had." 
 
 " Refuse ye? " was the incisive query. It cut like a 
 knife. 
 
 "Not quite in so many words, but just the same 
 thing. She's infatuated with this young fellow, 
 Pressley you can see how's she's acting today. 
 Never treated me this way before." 
 
 "I swear I thought ye had an edge on him you'd 
 keep all day when I saw you ridin' in this morning 
 settin' right aside of her." 
 
 "That was nothing. Scarcely spoke a word to me 
 all the way up."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 123 
 
 " Well, I don't 'xactly like to tell the young feller a 
 lie 'bout her," said Gassier scratching his head. 
 
 The preacher's lip curled. 
 
 "It would be practically the truth," he replied, "and 
 something I might just as well have the advantage 
 of if there is any advantage in it." 
 
 "But these things are all likely to come out some 
 day, and if ye get her in such a way as that ye wouldn't 
 want 'em to." 
 
 "What has made you change your mind so soon? 
 You thought it would be a good plan. I thought so. 
 You suggested it yourself. You promised to do it, 
 and I want you to do it. It may work all right. If 
 not, no harm's done." 
 
 "Harm's done either way, but I told you I'd do it 
 and I'll keep my word I'll do it," was the dogged 
 response. The fulfilment came swiftly. 
 
 Jim had seen the Plantation party off for home and 
 was starting to leave the grove himself when Gassier 
 accosted him and said with an affectation of merriment : 
 
 " Have all the fun out of it you can. It's all right 
 as long as you don't know, but don't let the thing go 
 too far, 'cause you'll want to drop it when you come to 
 know. Maybe you do know. If you do it's all right. 
 Then you know just where you are." 
 
 "What do you mean?" asked Jim in astonishment 
 and not without a sense of outrage that the rough 
 Gassier had thus intruded upon so tender a matter. 
 
 "I 'lowed as p'rhaps I'd ought to tell you," said 
 Gassier, assuming a serious air. "The girl's a peach,
 
 124 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 but she's got darkey blood in her. If you're thinkin' 
 much of her I'm sorry to blurt it out to you, but it's a 
 fact. Her mother's a nigger. It don't show a great 
 sight, but it's there." 
 
 Jim looked at Gassier a moment in great disgust, 
 and then walked away without a word, but with poison 
 dropped in his heart,
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 IN PERPLEXITY. 
 
 JIM PRESSLEY'S only feeling at first, as he left Gassier, 
 was one of mingled wonder and resentment wonder 
 that he had become the object of the cobbler's enmity; 
 resentment, unbounded, on account of the meanness 
 and coarseness of an insult which was made to reach 
 him only by including the rare and fair being whom 
 of all the world he loved best. 
 
 Before he had reached the boarding house a thousand 
 thoughts were in his mind, and every one tormented 
 him. On reflection he had realized that, after all, if 
 Gassier spoke with malice, he had dissembled it, and 
 indeed his outward manner had been that of a friend, 
 rather than an enemy, seeking awkwardly, abruptly 
 and out of season, it is true, to end the delusion of one 
 whom he esteemed. 
 
 Gassler's tone had not been one of spite or triumph. 
 Pressley now realized that there was even a trace of 
 regret in it, as if duty or, at any rate, a not unworthy 
 personal interest had compelled the words, and there- 
 fore, on this sole account, he began to fear and so be 
 disloyal to Bertha! So soon, too, and on account of 
 the words of one for whom Bertha had said she had an 
 aversion ! 
 
 He would not think of it, and straightway began 
 125
 
 126 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 quite wilfully to kindle again into full flame the anger 
 at Gassier which his late reflections had caused some- 
 what to subside. 
 
 Then the poison resumed its work. 
 
 Why did Bertha so dislike the man? Was it because 
 she knew he possessed knowledge which, if he revealed 
 it, would injure her? 
 
 Jim also thought, with a start, that the College had 
 been founded primarily for the instruction of colored 
 people who could take advantage of the opportunity 
 it afforded. Had this fact any present significance? 
 
 And was there anything back of Prof. Eland's ques- 
 tion when he had asked Jim that very morning if he 
 had seen Bertha's parents? 
 
 Or did any unusual meaning lie in the professor's 
 remark that Jim would find them very interesting 
 people? No, there could not possibly have been. 
 
 And, after all, were not his own eyes good? Had he 
 not a thousand times witnessed with the highest satis- 
 faction and admiration her complexion undergo all 
 manner of tests with eminent glory the sunlight, the 
 moonlight, the lamplight, wind, dust and the dark? 
 Was she not a blonde? Was her skin not fairer and 
 more delicate than that of any of ten thousand blondes? 
 Was not her hair finer and softer? How, then, could 
 it be possible that she had the faintest trace of the 
 Ethiopian about her? More likely, thought Jim, that 
 he himself had. 
 
 It was in spite of himself that Jim thought about 
 these things, for he tried again and again to drive them
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 127 
 
 from his mind, and he cursed himself for allowing so 
 foolish a suspicion to disturb him. After all the vari- 
 ous assurances of a lover, which he had repeated to 
 Bertha with ever and ever renewed emphasis, he 
 was forced to admit that they were too strong, since 
 so quickly and with such poor excuse he felt distrust. 
 
 As he walked along through the student's play- 
 ground, which was also the president's horse pasture, 
 on the crown of the hill, toward the boarding house 
 the tombstones of the president's parents, on the next 
 hill, were plainly visible. They were still looking out 
 over the stone wall and seemed to Jim to have a calm 
 expression of solemn and holy vindictiveness, as if they 
 were saying to him : 
 
 "In words of folly and recklessness and vanity you 
 profaned this spot. It was in the passion of a lover 
 and in behalf of your love, but your punishment is 
 upon you." 
 
 And Jim remembered what he and Bertha had said 
 there A photograph of those graves and headstones 
 as a companion piece for their marriage certificate 
 " A pair of turtle doves on one side and a pair of tomb- 
 stones, with a stone wall around them, on the other." 
 
 And he remembered his discourse about a heaven on 
 earth, and Bertha's description of a precious little 
 universe under a lamp shade, and his own sufficient 
 little world under the rim of her hat. This little world 
 seemed farther away now and that light under the 
 lamp shade more distant. Was it to recede and be far 
 away forever like a star?
 
 128 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 And from the tombstones Jim's eyes turned down 
 into the graveyard, to the clump of beech trees where 
 in the bark Bertha's initials and his own were cut. He 
 tried to keep himself from wishing they were not there, 
 and went on to the boarding house. 
 
 "I think Mr. Pressley must be suffering from the 
 reaction of his exertions today," said Mrs. Stephens, 
 the matron, at the supper table. "See how pale and 
 worried he looks." 
 
 He inquired how the children had enjoyed the 
 Fourth, and when the meal was over, he proposed as a 
 project for the relief of his own feelings and to divert 
 careful notice from himself, a grand frolic with fire- 
 crackers and such minor and meager contrivances for 
 spectacular fireworks as might be found in the huckster's 
 store. 
 
 Fearing that he might meet Gassier if he went for 
 them himself, he sent the matron's boy. He handed 
 out a sum of money that made the little purchasing 
 agent feel like a man who is the trustee of millions, 
 and instructed him to buy every variety of powder- 
 plaything there was in the shop. The lad discharged 
 his mission with such enthusiastic fidelity that, though 
 Pressley suspected he would have all too little to choose 
 from, he presently returned quite loaded down with 
 red and yellow cylinders, big and little. 
 
 Pressley superintended the carnival of fire and noise 
 as soon as it was grown dusk, and managed success- 
 fully to make it appear that there was not a youngster 
 in the village that night more boyish and light-hearted
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 129 
 
 than he. The explosions and illuminations attracted 
 what few children had not been already drawn by 
 the fame of the Stephens boy's purchase, and Jim was 
 again a ten-year-old and the king of the crowd. 
 
 Nor was his enjoyment of the sport wholly simulated. 
 While it lasted he succeeded well in forgetting what 
 had so recently troubled him, but when it was all over 
 and he went to his room those visions of happiness on 
 which he had so often and so fondly dwelt returned, 
 to be bright only for the instant they were freshly 
 caught, and then they grew pale again. So was his 
 strife renewed to give them the color that they had but 
 less than a half a day before. 
 
 Jim made but a poor night of it. In the black 
 hours a great resolution came to him. Seeking an 
 opportunity in the morning to speak with Prof. Bland 
 alone, he asked with diffidence : 
 
 "You have known Miss Garrett's people for some 
 time?" 
 
 "A good many years." 
 
 "She has told me they came north on account of 
 their feeling regarding slavery." 
 
 "Yes. It was not pleasant for those in the south 
 whose consciences led them to oppose slavery." 
 
 " I suppose that is the only reason that brought them 
 north?" the young man suggested, with a mingled 
 sense of timidity and dread. 
 
 "That is the only reason they ever gave." 
 
 "It doesn't seem possible that there could be any 
 race mixture in Miss Garrett from either side of the 
 house."
 
 130 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Prof. Bland was not so much surprised at this sug- 
 gestion as Jim had hoped he would be. 
 
 "In Miss Bertha?" the professor said, seeming to be 
 thinking faster than he was speaking. "Ridiculous! 
 Her parents are as white as I am." 
 
 "Well I had only heard some insinuations," said 
 Jim, whose brother Fred arrived at this moment from 
 Madison in a buggy to take him home. 
 
 Since early in the spring Fred had been working on 
 a peach farm, belonging to a friend of his father's, 
 located in Kentucky twelve miles from Madison. 
 His work was not hard and he found his situation most 
 agreeable, affording him, as it did, an opportunity to 
 observe ways and manners far different from those 
 with which he had been familiar in a western and a 
 prairie state. All the hands, Fred told Jim, as they 
 rode along, were pleasant to work with and some of 
 them were exceedingly interesting for personal pecul- 
 iarities. 
 
 "Any darkies working over there?" asked Jim. 
 
 " Country's full of 'em. Only one or two about our 
 place now. There will be lots of them when they get 
 to shipping, I presume. Say, Jim, it will be picking 
 time pretty soon and you can have a job over there 
 for three or four weeks if you want it. And I believe 
 you would like it. You will see things over there that 
 we never saw in Iowa. You can get to know some- 
 thing about 01' Kaintuck. All the peaches you can 
 eat, pretty good board, pretty decent place to sleep, 
 and not very hard work."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 131 
 
 "I believe I would like it," said Jim. "Those 
 darkies over there " 
 
 "Oh, they eat by themselves and have their own 
 sleeping quarters, of course." 
 
 "I don't mean that. Are there any white darkies 
 among them? " 
 
 "Once in a while you see one who is so white that 
 you would not know from his appearance that there 
 was a drop of negro blood in him straight hair, thin 
 lips, everything." 
 
 "How, then, do people who are strangers to them 
 know them to be negroes?" 
 
 "Where their antecedents are unknown many of 
 them are no doubt taken all their lives for white men." 
 
 " I suppose, then, they sometimes marry whites, and 
 no one ever knows the difference," said Jim. 
 
 " Yes, but the thing might come out in the children. 
 You know, they say a child sometimes bears no re- 
 semblance to either of its parents, but takes after 
 some one farther back the family line. Now, suppose 
 you married a girl with negro blood in her so little 
 that no one could see it and a child came along that 
 took after its dusky grandfather how would you feel? " 
 Jim's face flushed. 
 
 "Anyone would feel queer I should think," he replied. 
 
 "And in another case the child might take after the 
 white grandfather and be all right. That reminds me 
 of what one of the men over there was telling us. He 
 was sure that negro parents were always pleased if 
 their children were not so dark as themselves, and that,
 
 132 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 the whiter the children were, the better they liked it. 
 To prove this he described a Sunday school Christmas 
 entertainment at a colored Baptist church up in Cin- 
 cinnati or Covington. They had a scene representing 
 the Nativity. They had a stable with a big, tin star 
 glittering above it, and a floor covered with straw. 
 They had a colored woman for the Virgin Mary, but 
 the part of the infant Jesus was taken by a snow-white 
 flaxen-haired doll which had been bought at a store. 
 And he said every darkey there thought it was just 
 fine." 
 
 "Their color has been a badge of servitude and dis- 
 grace so long that it is not surprising they should like 
 to get rid of some of it," said Jim. 
 
 "I don't know whether that is it exactly," responded 
 his brother. "A man might marry an Indian or a 
 Chinese or a woman of any other race under the sun, 
 and no one think that he had unpardonably disgraced 
 himself, but as to the Ethiopian it is different. There 
 is something repugnant in this race not present in the 
 others. Slavery does not account for it all. It is a 
 natural antipathy." 
 
 "If you fell in love with a girl who was fairer and 
 prettier than any other girl you ever saw, and you 
 became engaged to her, and then found out that she 
 had a negro taint, what would you do?" asked Jim. 
 
 "I would break the engagement, not only for the 
 fact itself, but because she would have been in honor 
 bound to reveal it to me. If she had not known it 
 herself, which is most unlikely, and there had been no
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 133 
 
 concealment, and I were dead in love with her, I sup- 
 pose my heart and my head would have to fight it out. 
 But if there is negro blood hi a person it is sure to 
 appear somehow, or some one is sure to know, and, if 
 sure to know, sure to tell. Such a thing as that could 
 never be more of a secret than an open secret." 
 
 "That's exactly what I think," said Jim with an 
 alacrity and emphasis that made Fred turn and look 
 at him. Jim was alarmed lest the manner of his 
 utterance had betrayed his concern, and quickly 
 reverted to his brother's suggestion that he take an 
 outing at the peach farm. 
 
 Fred returned to the peach farm the next morning.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A BETTER DAY. 
 
 CONSIDER and reconsider it as he might, Pressley 
 could not get rid of the doubt which Gassler's remark 
 and manner had put in his mind. And what hurt him 
 most was a sense of unfaithfulness to Bertha in that he 
 had found it impossible not to give some credence to 
 the first thing said against her, and that, too, by the 
 man whom she disliked most. Pretty lover thus to be 
 so quick to believe what he should have been the last 
 to believe! After all his tendernesses, his promises, 
 his assurances, his protestations to her he was so ready 
 to desert her! 
 
 Such were the self-censuring thoughts he had. But 
 he loved her, and if he could not keep himself assured 
 more than a minute at a time that Gassier had spoken 
 falsely assured by recalling the closing part of his 
 conversation with Fred, assured by the positive 
 answer of Prof. Bland, assured by his own knowledge 
 of Bertha's open and honest character if he could 
 not thus keep himself certain, he would resolve, anyhow, 
 to stand by her, negro taint or anything else, and then 
 he would break the resolution. 
 
 Sometimes Pressley thought he could find out the 
 facts by making discreet and apparently indifferent 
 inquiries of those who must know all about the Garrett 
 
 134
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 135 
 
 family. He had ventured this with Prof. Bland, but 
 not with decisive result, and to deliberately go about it 
 further would be to countenance fully the suspicion 
 that he hated. 
 
 Sometimes he thought he would at once sit down 
 and write Bertha all about it, and add, of course, that 
 he knew it was not so, but would not Gassler's remark, 
 or the substance of it, be a pretty thing to repeat to 
 her! His manhoood revolted at the mere idea. 
 
 Sometimes he determined that he would go down 
 and see Bertha at her home, where he would have an 
 opportunity to satisfy himself as to her mother with 
 his own eyes, but would he like it that the very first 
 time he went to her home he should go as a spy? 
 
 The truth is that young Pressley's sense of a lover's 
 honor forbade him to do anything which would be an 
 admission that he had any suspicion that Bertha had 
 deceived him or that he had been deceived in her. 
 But he was like a man who stops his ears to keep from 
 hearing his own words. 
 
 He decided that he would overcome his doubts 
 and fears by will power alone, and his thoughts kept 
 coming and going in a circle. A hundred times a day 
 he would review all the evidence and acquit Bertha. 
 Then he would review and be undecided; then review 
 again and acquit. 
 
 He was exasperated with himself because he could 
 not consider Prof. Bland's answer as a competent and 
 positive settlement of the question that had been 
 forced into his mind, but as he revolved it and revolved
 
 136 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 it he found himself always returned to the conviction 
 that the professor had left something unsaid, and he 
 conceived that the professor, honest as to everything 
 else, might, through friendship for the Garrett family, 
 practice some deception thought to be to its advantage. 
 
 Before the end of the first week at home he got a 
 letter from Bertha, saying she would be up to Madison 
 to do some shopping the next day, and asking him to 
 meet her at a certain drug store, which he did. 
 
 Now he had intended to tell her his trouble, but 
 from the moment he saw her it was impossible for him 
 to speak of it or scarcely to think of it. It is true that 
 he searched her face for any sign of coquetry or cun- 
 ning that the absence of any suspicion heretofore might 
 have caused him to overlook, but her countenance was 
 as guileless as an angel's. 
 
 He scrutinized her complexion for any telltale 
 shadow, but it was as clear and soft as the face of a lily. 
 
 He scanned her head for even one eccentric hair, 
 but all was fineness and undulation. 
 
 And here she was, as gentle, as vivacious, and in 
 every way as lovely as ever radiant to see him. 
 Shame on him, he thought, that in his mind he had 
 allowed a doubt to dim the beauty of this vision! 
 
 And so in her blessed presence he was happy again 
 and as the weight that had depressed his spirits was 
 removed they arose by reaction to an unwonted 
 buoyancy, the like of which even Bertha had never 
 before observed. 
 
 "Jim, I don't think you studied real, real hard
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 137 
 
 during the last two months of school," she said play- 
 fully, "but already, I think, your vacation has done 
 you good." 
 
 "This is the best day and the best moment of it," 
 he replied, and was instantly rewarded for this gallant 
 telling of the truth by seeing something in Bertha's 
 eyes that came there for him alone. 
 
 In Bertha's company was a neighbor's little 
 girl, to whom a partnership in the day, with its long 
 ride and the rare sights of the town, had been offered 
 as a treat. It was being enjoyed with an excitement 
 that the timid little creature did her best every moment 
 to repress lest she should break the bounds of decorum, 
 a matter concerning which her mother had strictly 
 charged her. 
 
 Had this little girl not been along Jim might have 
 proposed to go with Bertha on her shopping round, but 
 he felt that three in the party would be a crowd. It 
 was arranged, however, that they should meet at a 
 restaurant and take lunch together, and that in the 
 afternoon, when Bertha was ready to start for home, 
 Jim should act as coachman while she called at the 
 stores for her bundles. 
 
 At the restaurant Bertha and Jim had an opportunity 
 to agree, in dear and cautious undertones, that he 
 should take a horseback ride down to her home the 
 following Monday. The little girl, of course, had noth- 
 ing to do with the negotiation of this fond contract, 
 but Jim was in an overflowing mood, and, since she 
 was close at hand, his thank-offering went to her
 
 138 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 a bag of candy bought on the spot, and of a size such 
 as the child had never dreamed about. 
 
 When, later, the bundles had all been collected, 
 Jim remained in the buggy until the very last house 
 that could make any pretense to be hanging to the 
 skirts of the city had been passed. Had Bertha 
 driven up alone that day, it is ten to one that now the 
 horse would have been forced to make so many cir- 
 cumvolutions before getting away from the vicinity of 
 the town and turned into the direct way homeward 
 that, had he any knowledge of frail human nature, 
 he would have suspected his mistress had given over 
 the reins to some tipsy stranger. 
 
 Adieux were said perforce, at a length curtailed and 
 with a tenderness restrained. But as Pressley walked 
 toward town he had never looked forward with so lively 
 a pleasure to a next meeting with Bertha. 
 
 "If there were any truth in that," he mused, reas- 
 suring assurance, "would she have been so free about 
 inviting me to her home? She is as frank as the open 
 sky. She is as free from deception as a flower."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LED BY BENIGNANT GIANTS. 
 
 No knight ever rode forth better satisfied with the 
 horse under him, the journey before him or the pros- 
 pect at the journey's end than Jim Pressley the 
 following Monday morning when he started out to 
 fulfill the appointment made with Bertha. 
 
 No aborigine, no hunter, no emigrant, no pioneer 
 had ever looked on the Ohio river with more delight 
 or followed it for a foot of its course for his road lay 
 along the stream more thankfully. He had received 
 minute directions as to the way, and understood them 
 perfectly well, but he preferred to feel that he was 
 totally ignorant concerning the matter and that the 
 beautiful river, about which he had often heard Bertha 
 speak and which he knew she loved, was his guide as 
 he now went to her. 
 
 He chose to fancy that the stream was her old and 
 confidential companion whose sole purpose in flowing 
 was to please her and which was gladly doing her 
 bidding today in escorting him to her. Blessed river 
 to be loved by her and to have been established since 
 the continent was built only to wind by her home! 
 Pressley saw a dainty nymph on every little wave, 
 Bmilingly directing him onward. 
 
 As for the huge and rugged bluffs that silently tow- 
 139
 
 140 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 ered above him on his right hand, Pressley thought he 
 had never seen objects so large that were at the same 
 time so gentle. They had to his eyes the air of kindly 
 giants, the Titanic body guard of the river, and all of 
 them the out-watch, loyal to his lady, of those en- 
 chanted precincts whither he was proceeding. 
 
 So he rode along, proud of this august companionship 
 and honored above any prince by this rare and noble 
 array sent forth to bid him welcome. 
 
 When Bertha arose that morning she found, as usual 
 on Monday mornings, Old Maggie and Mrs. Garrett in 
 the summer kitchen quite surrounded with suds, 
 starch and bluing water and the weekly recurring 
 material to which these things are applied. A house- 
 hold activity was in progress in which Bertha had 
 scarcely ever failed in late years to take a part, having 
 a pride in the appearance of certain ornamental por- 
 tions of apparel, which could be gratified only through 
 the deftness of her own manipulation in doing them up. 
 But on this occasion it was soon apparent that her sole 
 interest in the task was that it should be accomplished 
 and out of the way with the least possible delay. 
 
 "Because, mamma," she said, "when I was in 
 Madison Saturday I saw Jim Pressley, and he said he 
 was going out for a long horseback ride today and might 
 be down this way and make a call. I wouldn't want 
 to introduce him to you over a wash tub. And he may 
 be here for dinner, too." 
 
 "Why, Bertha!" exclaimed Mrs. Garrett, "and you 
 waitin' till now to tell us about it"?
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 141 
 
 "And what things is gettin' into yo' head?" she 
 added with an air of grave suspicion. "Why should 
 Jim Pressley or Jim Anybody come down all this way 
 to see you? I reckon he's not coming without an 
 invitation? And so soon after school's out? And you 
 nothin' but a young girl? " 
 
 "Well, mamma, he's only one of the boys up there 
 and a nice fellow, and if he told me he was going horse- 
 back riding, what could I do but ask him to come down 
 and see me? Anyway, he's coming, mamma, and we 
 must not have things looking too bad." 
 
 "Bertha!" Mrs. Garrett turned her head slightly to 
 one side and looked at the girl from over her spectacles, 
 speaking as a parent sometimes does to a little child 
 when it is thought that a show of protest must be made. 
 
 Bertha understood this deportment well, but, fearing 
 she had already made a blunder in her diplomacy, she 
 would trust herself to make no fuller explanation or 
 argument and simply kept smiling, not without a cer- 
 tain embarrassment that is delightful to behold, 
 whenever occasion creates it, in maidens of her age. 
 
 "Since you are so wonderfully pleased," said Mrs. 
 Garrett, "the rest of us ought not to cry over it." 
 And Bertha then knew that, blunder or no blunder, 
 there would be perfect agreement in the household 
 that the visitor should be most decently received. 
 
 "Well, we'll not be all day about this," said Mrs. 
 Garrett, looking over to where Old Maggie was working 
 a wringer. And then Bertha, by a feminine instinct 
 impelled, went to see just what was the amplitude of
 
 142 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 ^ 
 
 delicate bounty in the larder, which is probably always 
 to the true housekeeper, actual or prospective, an 
 armory containing a sort of ammunition which, though 
 non-metallic, has been known a hundred thousand 
 times to be mightily effective. 
 
 "Mamma, you'll make a cake and a blackberry 
 pie, won't you?" asked Bertha as she returned, "and 
 I'll tidy up the rooms a bit." 
 
 " Me make a cake and pie? " was the answer. " Isn't 
 it yo' cakes and pies that ought to be on the table 
 today? And have you told yo' father about it?" 
 
 "About what?" asked the girl, startled by the sus- 
 picion that the shrewd woman had conjectured the 
 whole situation and regarded it as admitted. 
 
 "About what? About yo' company." 
 
 Even this explanation seemed somewhat equivocal 
 to Bertha, but she realized that people with secrets 
 can be over-anxious about what knowledge their 
 friends possess, and she refrained from showing 
 further doubt by asking further questions. She only 
 said: "No, but I'll tell him." 
 
 From the number of times Bertha appeared on the 
 small front porch thereafter and cracked her cloth in 
 the air one would have supposed that she was dusting 
 out a grist mill, but it would have been readily observed 
 that every time she came out she took a careful look 
 down the hill toward the river, and then it would have 
 been understood that some eager expectation was 
 distracting her. 
 
 Abner Garrett, alter being in the fields awhile,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 143 
 
 watching the men get well started at the day's work, 
 returned and for some time walked slowly to and fro 
 in the shade of the long west porch. At length he 
 intercepted Bertha as she was returning from one of 
 her look-outs and said : 
 
 "Dusting, dusting all this while? Why, everything 
 is neat enough. Come, sit out in front and tell me all 
 about your year at school." 
 
 " Very well, papa," she replied. "And do you know 
 the best part of the school is coming down here today? " 
 
 "Do I know? This is the first I have heard of it. 
 A company of your friends coming down? " 
 
 "No, not a company. Only one person." 
 
 Now, President Boyce had thought it his duty on 
 one or two occasions to tell Mr. Garrett about the 
 attentions Bertha was receiving from young Pressley, 
 and he expressed it as his opinion that the two young 
 people might be making, or fancying they were, plans 
 of a far-reaching scope. 
 
 This information and the freedom with which 
 Bertha had just spoken made Mr. Garrett at once think 
 of Pressley, but, if his guess were right, he was deter- 
 mined to embarrass Bertha with a presumption, so he 
 asked : 
 
 "And who may she be?" 
 
 "Oh, it's not a girl. It's Jim Pressley." 
 
 Mr. Garrett seated himself on a rustic bench and 
 drew Bertha down beside him with his arm around her. 
 
 "And why," he asked, "do you call Jim Pressley the 
 best part of the school?"
 
 144 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 The old man's hand trembled as it lay lightly on the 
 girl's shoulder, but she was herself fluttering with ex- 
 citement and did not notice it. 
 
 " Oh, I like Jim better than any of the other students 
 up there," she answered. And, in spite of the resolution 
 that she and Jim had agreed on, she was beginning to 
 feel the bubbling up of that abundance of the heart 
 out of which the mouth speaketh, and the more easily 
 did she fail to keep guard on her lips in this matter of 
 supreme interest to herself, because her mind had 
 always been open to Mr. Garrett. She forthwith added : 
 
 "I like him better than any other young man I 
 ever met." 
 
 " Do you think you like him better than any young 
 man you might ever meet?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Then you are in love with him, darling? " 
 
 "Yes and isn't it all right, papa?" cried Bertha, 
 furnishing, as she spoke, some such anomaly as would 
 be presented by the spectacle of an angel in a con- 
 fessional. 
 
 "We must trust so. But how far my little girl has 
 ventured all by herself! Was she not afraid? And 
 so soon? " 
 
 "Afraid? Why, no, papa. I could not be, because 
 I knew him and could not help liking him and trusting 
 him. Everybody likes him. Besides, we have so long 
 to wait that our love will be tested by time." 
 
 " Is there, then, some doubt or reservation? " 
 
 "Not on the part of ourselves, but it seems to me
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 145 
 
 that the certainty of a long engagement ought to excuse 
 us in the eyes of those who may learn or suspect what 
 our relation is and who may be disposed to think we 
 were too young to enter into it." 
 
 "Perhaps the world has some such notion as that, 
 but really, Bertha, at Cupid's court no candidates for 
 matrimony are ever received on probation, yet I have 
 no doubt you carefully considered what you were 
 doing. Have you spoken to your mother? " 
 
 " No, but when I told her Jim was coming today I 
 fear she suspected the truth." 
 
 " Leave it to me to tell her, then. Do any of your 
 friends or Pressley's know it?" 
 
 "No. We resolved we would tell no one for two 
 or three years, but I couldn't keep it a secret from 
 you." 
 
 "Two or three years will be soon enough for other 
 people to know." 
 
 Mr. Garrett continued after a short pause: "I have 
 heard Mr. Boyce speak about Pressley, and he praises 
 him very highly. I understand, too, that his father is 
 a most respectable man, and the whole family one of 
 good standing. I hope the young man will like your 
 family." 
 
 He said the last words with so much evident concern 
 and apprehension that the girl felt touched at what 
 she regarded as her own father's deprecation of himself 
 in the contemplation of her lover, and, with her arms 
 around his neck, she was swift to assure him that she 
 had told Jim all about her people and that he had said
 
 146 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 to her he was sure he would like them all, as indeed he 
 would have to do to be her lover at all. 
 
 " But suppose he did not after he became acquainted 
 with us?" asked Mr. Garrett. 
 
 " Oh, but papa, he will/' Bertha replied in a manner 
 almost impatiently positive, never doubting the pleni- 
 tude of her authority to speak for Jim and make 
 promises for him in such a matter as this. 
 
 "And papa," she continued as if indeed she had 
 fully settled the question, "I have another secret to 
 tell you." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "You remember 'Brother Charlie' rode in the 
 carriage with me the evening we went down to the 
 river to see Walter and Ida off. Well, coming home, 
 he said he wished that I would be his wife." 
 
 "What! So many all at once trying to steal my 
 daughter away from me!" said Mr. Garrett, seriously 
 enough at heart, but with an outward levity that at 
 least half disguised his feeling. 
 
 "And you like Mr. Pressley better than 'Brother 
 Charlie'?" he asked, affecting the air of some gossipy 
 girl of Bertha's own age. 
 
 "Of course I do," Bertha answered, and, though of 
 course she did, she spoke timidly and with not a little 
 confusion, for this talking about her love with any 
 other than the one other in whose heart half the precious 
 treasure lay was strange to her and the comparison 
 suggested gave her a not well-defined but uneasy 
 feeling that a thief was about.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 147 
 
 "Sometimes one's opinion of another is affected by 
 an acquaintance with that other's family and relatives," 
 said Mr. Garrett. " ' Brother Charlie' " 
 
 Just then was heard a dismaying confusion of noises 
 and exclamations at the summer kitchen, and in ah 
 instant Mrs. Garrett and Old Maggie came running 
 around the corner of the house, looking backward with 
 faces full of fear. 
 
 "Shep's gone mad!" cried Mrs. Garrett. 
 
 Taking up a pitchfork, with which early that morning 
 he had been loosening the soil in some flower beds, 
 Mr. Garrett led the way cautiously to the rear, followed 
 at a little distance by the three women who were meas- 
 urably reassured by the formidable character of the 
 weapon which had been so convenient to Mr. Garrett's 
 hand, though the kinetoscope of the imagination was 
 revealing to their minds the most horrible sort of 
 hydrophobic pictures. 
 
 Old Maggie, trembling violently, took hold of Bertha's 
 arm, and walked rather in front of her than by her side, 
 as if to protect her. 
 
 The beloved dog of the household was rolling over 
 and over on the familiar ground, and making the 
 domestic premises a scene of awful dread by his foaming 
 at the mouth, his fiery staring, his snarling at nothing, 
 his snapping at the air. Garrett and Bertha spoke to 
 him in turn, timidly and pleadingly. And then all 
 spoke to him together, but his insanity was not in the 
 least beguiled or intermitted and he seemed all at once 
 to have completely put off his docility and gentleness
 
 148 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 for the ferocity of the fiercest brute in the animal king- 
 dom save that he showed no inclination to make a 
 direct attack. 
 
 Still keeping carefully on guard with the fork, Garrett 
 got a basin of water and put it on the ground close to 
 Shep's nose. The dog turned away from it apparently 
 in greater delirium than before. 
 
 " Sho' he's mad," exclaimed Mrs. Garrett, " he won't 
 take watah." 
 
 "Oh, it's probably just a hot weather fit lots of 
 dogs have them," said Mr. Garrett quietly, but with a 
 tremor in his voice that a louder tone might have slurred 
 over and made unnoticeable. He coaxed and pleaded 
 with the dog to return to his senses, but in vain. 
 
 " Oh, he's mad sho," repeated Mrs. Garrett. " He'll 
 have to be killed." And then, turning to Bertha, she 
 exclaimed with a gravity quite overwhelming in the 
 excitement of the moment: "Oh, I wish Mr. Pressley 
 wa'n't comin' today." 
 
 Bertha took the words to mean that a calamity was 
 fallen on the house which had utterly demoralized it 
 and put it in mourning. Already she had struggled 
 hard to control herself, and now, alarmed as she was 
 by the supposed danger of horrible injury to herself 
 or the others, suffering out of sympathy for her pet in 
 his agony, and keenly stricken by the suggestion of his 
 fate, this intimation that the day had been spoiled for 
 the reception of her lover proved too much for her and 
 she burst into tears. 
 
 Mr. Garrett alone had understood the full meaning
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 149 
 
 of his wife's remark. He turned around and said, 
 shaking his head and with his eyes closely upon her: 
 "This will make no difference." 
 
 Nevertheless he was unnerved by what she had said. 
 He dropped the fork, and almost as much overcome as 
 Bertha, went to her side. She was sobbing like a child, 
 supported by Old Maggie who had thrown her arms 
 around her and was cooing to her the old, soft and inar- 
 ticulate expressions which she had often found potent 
 to soothe the sorrows of the girl's earliest years. It had 
 been long since the poor old servant held Bertha so, 
 and if an observer had been present, not under the 
 excitement by which the others were distracted, he 
 would have noted it as singular that, among the many 
 emotions written on the woman's face, an expression of 
 satisfaction was predominant, and mingled with it, 
 if not superseding it, was as singular an air of sub- 
 missiveness when Garrett laid his hand tenderly on 
 Bertha's shoulder. 
 
 He had scarcely done this, however, when he saw a 
 young man on horseback drawing up at the front gate. 
 The rider had noticed as he rode up that the family 
 was excited by some unusual incident and he had also 
 observed that Bertha was in trouble, and so it was with 
 a solemn concern that, after dismounting, he stood at 
 his horse's head and waited while she crossed the long 
 lawn. 
 
 Try as hard as she might, Bertha could not wholly 
 quiet the agitation that had so recently overcome her, 
 nor were the tears quite banished from her eyes.
 
 150 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Pressley had determined to be very discreet in 
 saluting her, but what control has gallantry ever had 
 over itself in the presence of beauty in distress? He 
 straightway was rilled with compassion for her, and, 
 heedless of a scrutiny that was parental and therefore 
 the most trying a lover ever has to undergo, he put his 
 arms around her and kissed her with reckless and 
 passionate tenderness. 
 
 Simultaneously Shep took to rolling again, and cast 
 himself through an open window into the cellar. 
 
 Garrett advanced with the intention of bidding 
 Pressley welcome and then taking his horse to the 
 barn, but he had gone only a few steps when he saw 
 that Bertha and Jim were already on the way to the 
 barn with the horse, so he turned back and followed 
 his wife and Old Maggie into the house at a rear door. 
 He descended to the cellar to make sure that the door 
 was securely closed. He found it shut. He opened 
 it and cautiously peeped in to see if any change had 
 come over Shep. The dog was quiet but made no sign 
 when called. Mr. Garrett carefully reclosed the door 
 and came up stairs. 
 
 Bertha had scarcely completed her description of the 
 excitement and terror of the morning when young 
 Pressley felt more than ever like a knight, and one, too, 
 who had arrived just in time to save his lady from an 
 awful fate. He was become a St. George with the 
 satisfaction and the pride of a hero who had slain a 
 dragon; and as he walked along he thrust his riding 
 whip out before him as if it had been a spear, and
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 151 
 
 patted his horse on the neck as the charger that had 
 borne him hi the perilous encounter. It was a horse 
 hired from a livery stable, but Jim resolved that when 
 he returned home he would buy it so that he might 
 always own and honor it. 
 
 But Jim's fancy took even a more extravagant flight 
 when, after his horse had been stalled, Bertha showed 
 him her riding pony. Most blessed of brutes ever 
 created! Here indeed was a thoroughly tamed and 
 domesticated Pegasus, finding Mr. Garrett's barn a 
 finer home than the clouds, and the highways of Hoosier 
 dirt freer than the infinite avenues of the sky, and 
 content to be even shorn of his wings so long as Bertha 
 was his mistress. 
 
 Jim did not say quite all this, but he felt it all and 
 much more to the like effect though perhaps not so 
 expressible.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHOSE GUEST? 
 
 BARNS have a romance for childhood, but are so 
 barren of any suggestion of bowers or balconies that 
 they have never been put forward in poetry or prose 
 as places convenient or appropriate for the meetings 
 of lovers. 
 
 Yet Bertha may be pardoned if she detained Jim 
 where they were until those at the house had had time 
 to change the stage, arrange their costumes and com- 
 pose their minds for a more tranquil scene than that 
 which had just been enacted a transformation which 
 she well knew was in active progress. 
 
 Jim was soon seeing a beauty in bridles that he had 
 never dreamed of before, and side-saddles appeared to 
 him the most ingenious and elegant of all things 
 upholstered. He could have rubbed the nose and 
 patted the neck of the riding pony all the rest of the 
 day as a choice privilege. 
 
 But Bertha found a balcony. 
 
 "Gome up to the haymow," said she. "I will go 
 in and sit down where I have sat a thousand times, 
 and you must enter, just as I often wished, when I was 
 little, a knight might do, and fall in love with me, a 
 peasant girl, there, and at once arrange with my parents 
 to take me off to his splendid castle." 
 
 152
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 153 
 
 And so the two played this fascinating game. It 
 would have made silly sport if any others had joined. 
 They say the wisest men have intimate friends before 
 whom they are not afraid to play the fool as much as 
 they like. If lovers are not always wise they never fail 
 to arrogate wisdom unto themselves, and they play the 
 fool, one to another, blessed beings, at the same time. 
 
 But the game, as has been intimated, was an art- 
 fully supplied performance on Bertha's part, and, 
 guessing well the time it would take for the household 
 to rehabilitate itself, she at length conducted Jim to 
 the portals of the family mansion. 
 
 They walked slowly along the broad and well-beaten 
 path across the big lot. Jim was continually looking 
 near and far around in survey of the prospect pre- 
 sented, and was delighted to convey to Bertha the 
 pleasing impression of rural comfort and luxury that 
 the sight suggested. 
 
 As they approached the house Bertha observed with 
 the highest satisfaction that perfect order was on 
 guard beneath the roof and felt assured that the 
 traditional family hospitality was prepared for a most 
 decorous and gracious act of dispensation. 
 
 "This is where we were sitting when the robbers 
 came," said Bertha as they reached the steps of the 
 west porch. 
 
 Mr. Garrett was just coming out, and heard the words 
 as he passed through the doorway. 
 
 "And here comes a robber worse than they," thought 
 he with grave humor and resignation.
 
 154 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 But there was no sign in his face of such a sentiment 
 when, the next instant, he extended his greetings to 
 the young man. He did not wait for the ceremony 
 of introduction. 
 
 "You have already been introduced, Mr. Pressley, 
 and who could Bertha's father be but myself? " said he, 
 giving his hand. "It gives me great pleasure to bid 
 welcome to one of Bertha's friends." 
 
 "And anyone would feel complimented at being 
 cordially received for her sake," said Jim. 
 
 "I hope you enjoyed your ride," said Mr. Garrett. 
 
 "Very much. These thick woods on every side, and 
 the rocks, are quite new to me, and to come to such a 
 place as this is like getting into another part of the 
 United States." 
 
 " But Shep, papa? " said Bertha. 
 
 " Yes, the dog? " seconded Jim. 
 
 "Rolled into the cellar," said Mr. Garrett, "and I 
 think he is quiet. He was when I peeped in to see 
 only a few minutes ago." 
 
 Jim demanded to be conducted to the cellar forth- 
 with, saying he had always been quite a hand with 
 dogs and that perhaps he could coax and pet the animal 
 back into his wonted temper. So all three went to a 
 door that afforded an entrance into the cellar from the 
 outside, and as Jim unhesitatingly descended the 
 stairs, pushed the door open and stepped partly in, 
 Bertha was fearful of the consequences of his rashness 
 almost to the point of pulling him back, though she 
 admired the act as the bravest she had ever witnessed
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 155 
 
 and just such a one as Jim might be expected to 
 perform. 
 
 The dog had evidently heard the footsteps on the 
 outside, for he seemed to have awaited the opening of 
 the door with eager expectancy. In an instant he was 
 at Jim's feet, and with the abundant and affecting 
 testimony of joyful barks and whines and f awnings 
 upon even a stranger he signified his release from the 
 demons that had tormented him. Catching sight of 
 Mr. Garrett and Bertha at the top of the steps, he was 
 up the flight at a bound to show by every sign his 
 delight at finding himself free from bewilderment and 
 again in normal relations with his human familiars. 
 
 Contrary to all calculations, Jim was received among 
 the wash tubs, for most of the utensils and still a large 
 part of the raw material of the laundry were outside 
 the house in the shade of the kitchen wing where the 
 restoration of Shep had just been so satisfactorily 
 demonstrated. 
 
 Old Maggie had resumed her work and was an 
 intensely interested spectator of what was happening, 
 though silent and standing apart near the door. 
 
 Presently, to Bertha's great surprise, Garrett, when 
 the party had come near to the house in play with 
 the dog, introduced Pressley to Mrs. Crowell, the seldom 
 spoken name Old Maggie bore. Mr. Garrett had never 
 introduced strangers to Old Maggie before, nor had 
 any other member of the family, and Bertha scarcely 
 knew what to make of the novelty. She was uncertain 
 whether it was due to excitement in Mr. Garrett or
 
 156 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 was a testimony thus soon in honor of her lover, the 
 blessing of whose acquaintance, certainly, should not 
 be denied to the most lowly person connected with 
 the family. 
 
 Bertha had just suggested that all go to the front 
 porch when Mrs. Garrett appeared. 
 
 "Mamma, this is Mr. Pressley," said Bertha, "and 
 see," she added while Mrs. Garrett and Jim exchanged 
 salutations, " the first thing we did was to bring him to 
 the back yard and we've kept him here all this while." 
 
 "We set the dog on him even," said Garrett. "But 
 no, we did not bring him into the back yard. The truth 
 is we had all abdicated and it was Shep that was to do 
 the honors of the family. Therefore it was necessary 
 to knock at Shep's door." 
 
 Then to the front porch they went, and sat down 
 there in easy chairs. Shaded from the sun of a warm 
 July day, now well advanced, and after a morning 
 so filled with unwonted activity and excitement, it was 
 a delightfully refreshing spot. Outward for eighty feet 
 stretched the yard, carpeted and lightly bowered with 
 the deepest verdure of grass and leaf, while the profuse 
 bloom of a variety of flowers furnished the livelier tints 
 in a most pleasing spectacle of color. Farther on, 
 beyond the fence and the road, were the forest trees, 
 gradually sinking at first into a dell. To the right, 
 over an expanse of tree-tops and the gleaming river, 
 was a view of the Kentucky hills. 
 
 The scene, near and far, always furnished theme of 
 remark to strangers, and Garrett, to whom year after
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 157 
 
 year it remained originally fresh, never ceased to be 
 fond of discussing its beauties with anyone who was 
 in the raptures of a first vision. 
 
 Into this subject, the view, the wooded and hilly 
 landscapes as compared with those he had been used 
 to in his native prairie state; the original selection of 
 the site; the flowers and the shrubs, many of which had 
 been imported from the south and were therefore new 
 to him, Jim entered with all the ardor it was calculated 
 to arouse in a lover of the graceful in nature. 
 
 He addressed himself rather oftener to Mrs. Garrett 
 than to either her husband or Bertha, but the latter 
 soon observed what she took to be an embarrassment 
 in the manner of her lover whose habit it had always 
 been to conduct himself with the most engaging ease 
 in the presence of company, whether familiar or strange. 
 
 At first the girl felt a trifle flattered by his pre- 
 occupation, as a queen might feel herself complimented 
 by the mild confusion of a lord admitted to her court. 
 That Jim should be especially concerned about the 
 quality of his behavior on this occasion she justly re- 
 garded as bestowing a peculiar distinction on his hosts 
 and as showing a most satisfactory solicitude as to the 
 opinion they might form respecting him. 
 
 Bertha supposed it was most natural that a mamma 
 and a lover should be to each other persons of great 
 interest, especially at the first meeting, but it seemed 
 to her that in this case they were seeking to hasten 
 knowledge in a rare manner by an unusual intensity of 
 observation.
 
 158 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 As the young man conversed with the woman his 
 look was direct and searching, as if he were anxious 
 that not the faintest of her outward features should 
 escape his scrutiny, nor did he appear to be less at- 
 tentive to the manner in which she expressed herself. 
 
 Bertha believed that it was when the conversation 
 was particularly between Jim and Mrs. Garrett that 
 his peculiar behavior was most marked, and several 
 times felt an impulse to withdraw him from the com- 
 pany of the older people. But now Mrs. Garrett 
 excused herself by saying that she must go to see how 
 Old Maggie was coming on, by which she really meant 
 that she must superintend the preparations for dinner, 
 and Bertha, thinking that Jim might fare better with 
 Mr. Garrett alone, the two being left as "men folks" 
 exclusively, soon found a pretext for leaving also. 
 
 In a few minutes Garrett and Jim were engaged in a 
 quiet conversation about the school at College Hill, 
 an interview that proved to be surpassingly interesting 
 to the young man. 
 
 "No colored students there now, I believe?" said 
 Mr. Garrett. 
 
 "Not any," said Jim. "Were there ever many 
 there?" 
 
 "Never many at the same time but, altogether, a 
 considerable number, and what it was to their char- 
 acters and lives no man can estimate. Mr. Boyce has 
 done a great work there. Standing on the border 
 between Slavery and Freedom, the school was a beacon 
 light during the anti-slavery struggle. For several
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 159 
 
 years Mr. Boyce's work was bold. He passed through 
 the fire. Often threatened himself with assassination 
 and the buildings with incendiarism, he was just as 
 brave as a soldier on the battlefield. 
 
 "Take Rev. Moses Broyles of Indianapolis," con- 
 tinued Mr. Garrett. "He is a monument to the 
 Eleutherian College, as we used to call the institution, 
 which was in fact its official name. Broyles was a 
 slave near Paducah, Kentucky. He paid his master 
 $400 for his freedom. He found his way to College 
 Hill. He had learned he would be taught there. 
 Had never been to school. Had the ambition of any 
 white man in him. He was there two or three years. 
 Supported himself by his own labor. Had a bright 
 mind and studied with avidity, as a famishing man 
 might eat. He became a Baptist minister and for 
 twenty-five years has been the pastor of a colored 
 Baptist church in Indianapolis which he has made 
 grow to a membership of several hundred. Consider 
 him and his influence alone. Worth all the school 
 cost to develop this one man worth all the sacrifice 
 made and all the danger incurred. A singular thing 
 is that, while the slaveholders cursed the school as an 
 instrument of the warfare against their 'peculiar 
 institution/ some of them sent their children to it to 
 be educated." 
 
 " Why, how's that? " asked Jim in surprise. 
 
 "Because some of them had children that were not 
 the children of white mothers," replied Mr. Garrett. 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Jim.
 
 160 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Though for all that you sometimes could not tell 
 but that the children were pure white." 
 
 Jim gave a little start. "And their mothers full- 
 blooded blacks?" he asked. 
 
 "Sometimes, but the most of these 'white' children 
 were from mixed mothers, in whom the grossness of 
 the African features was softened, frequently in a 
 beautiful blend, by Caucasian traits. At the school 
 were Juliet Wilson, from Jackson, Miss., and Eliza 
 Eisher, both so white that they could pass for white. 
 Both married white men." 
 
 "Did the men know they were not whites?" asked 
 Jim, who was listening to Mr. Garrett with a concen- 
 tration a juror might exhibit when an important 
 witness was testifying. 
 
 "Certainly they knew it but thought it would make 
 no difference. Yes, Juliet was her father's daughter 
 and slave property at the same time, like many another. 
 Then, there were Lucy and Georgiana Jefferson, 
 grand-daughters, and their father, a son, of Thomas 
 Jefferson." 
 
 "What!" exclaimed Jim. "Of President Thomas 
 Jefferson?" 
 
 " Of President Thomas Jefferson. Oh, some of them 
 were of illustrious parentage. The son's name was 
 Thomas also. He was a carpenter. He paid $4,200 
 for the freedom of himself and family. They went to 
 College Hill. He was fifty years old but he entered the 
 school with his daughters. He was almost white and 
 yet plainly showed his negro blood, but not a sign of it
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 161 
 
 in the girls. They could pass for white. Did pass for 
 white when they accompanied Mrs. Boyce on a visit 
 to her kindred in Ohio in '53. Lucy was smart, learned 
 fast, and taught school as a white girl where her origin 
 was not known. Another pupil who had a celebrated 
 father was Theodore Johnson, son of Vice-President 
 Richard M. Johnson. He served in the Union army 
 as a white man, was a brave soldier and died in a 
 hospital." 
 
 "Well, now, the children of those girls who were so 
 nearly white and who married white men what were 
 the children like?" asked Jim, taking care to exhibit 
 only a class-room interest in the matter. "Or do 
 you happen to know? " 
 
 "As to these particular cases I do not know, but I 
 have known a great many such instances. Sometimes 
 the children are as white as any, and sometimes the 
 negro features show very plainly." 
 
 " I should think that would be hard on the fathers," 
 said Jim. 
 
 " No doubt they always hope that the offspring will 
 be white, but they ought to abide by the result. They 
 know the chances." 
 
 Then Mr. Garrett went on: "The usefulness of the 
 school was much impaired by the passage of what was 
 called the ' black law/ prohibiting colored people from 
 coming into the state, and making it unlawful for any 
 person to aid or harbor such. Under this law Mr. 
 Boyce and the steward of the boarding house were 
 arrested, because colored pupils from other states were
 
 162 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 received at the school after its passage. They were 
 bound over and gave bail, but a defect was found in 
 the indictment and the case never came to trial." 
 
 In reply to Jim's successive questions Mr. Garrett 
 then gave a full exposition of the slaveholders' side of 
 the slavery question and of their feeling toward the 
 agitation for the abolition of slavery a chapter in 
 American history that Jim had never had an oppor- 
 tunity to learn so well. 
 
 "Did you ever see a black's pass?" asked Mr. 
 Garrett. 
 
 Jim never had. 
 
 "Here is Juliet Wilson's. Mr. Boyce was showing 
 it to me not long ago, and I asked him for it as a 
 curiosity. This is what Juliet came north on." And 
 he handed Jim a document bearing the following 
 writing : 
 
 State of Mississippi ) _. 
 
 Hinds County j City of Jackson 
 
 To All Who May See These Presents: 
 
 Know ye that we, John I. Guiow and Joshua Green, executors 
 of the last will and testament of Dr. Miller Wilson deceased, 
 and the testamentary guardians of his daughter, Juliet S. Wilson, 
 the bearer hereof, hereby give her leave to travel to Madison, 
 Indiana, and to school near there. We hope she will be per- 
 mitted to pass without interruption and be cared for and 
 properly protected by all persons who may desire to know where 
 she is travelling. 
 
 Given under our hands and seals this 31, May, 1854. 
 
 John I. Guiow [Seal] 
 Joshua Green [Seal]
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 163 
 
 State of Mississippi) 
 Hinds County ) 
 
 Before me, Richard Fletcher, mayor of the city of Jackson 
 and ex-officio justice of the peace and notary public, in and for 
 said county, personally appeared John I. Guiow and Joshua 
 Green, who severally acknowledged that they signed and executed 
 the foregoing instrument of writing on the day of the date 
 thereof for the purpose therein expressed. 
 
 Witness my hand and seal of office this 31st day of May, 1854. 
 
 Richard Fletcher, Mayor, 
 [Seal] Ex-officio Justice of the 
 
 Peace and Notary Public. 
 
 Jim was examining this grim and solemn evidence of 
 the days of human chattelage, almost as strange to him 
 as if it had been some palimpsest found in an ancient 
 tomb, when Mrs. Garrett returned. 
 
 "Juliet's pass, is it?" said she. "I was so glad 
 Mistah Garrett got it. Something to remind us of her. 
 She used to come down heah. Our Julia was a little 
 a-feared at first to have her come down, for what 
 folks might say about Juliet's bein' colo'd, but oh, she 
 was just the nicest, sweetest girl that evah was, and 
 people that saw any sign of colo'd blood in her had to 
 be told, and then they couldn't see it she was so 
 white." 
 
 "That should have been white enough to satisfy 
 anybody," said Jim. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Mrs. Garrett, "and 'pears like 
 it satisfied the man that married her."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 ENCHANTMENT. 
 
 AND now at length Pressley began exhibiting the 
 prime qualities of a guest. His preoccupation left 
 him and he showed a receptivity whose capacity was 
 finely measured to the various offerings of his hosts, a 
 responsiveness, vitalized by just the right amount of 
 appreciation, to the benign advances of his new and 
 important acquaintances. 
 
 Bertha, who rejoined the company about this time, 
 gloried in him. 
 
 Presently they were all in the parlor, a room furni- 
 tured with old-fashioned but elegant mahogany pieces, 
 where Mrs. Garrett, with a simple, maternal pride, 
 was careful to show the visitor some of the accomplish- 
 ments of her talented sons. 
 
 There was the Lord's prayer in ornamental penman- 
 ship, encased in a frame two feet by three, hanging on 
 the wall, the work of Dan, which Pressley duly admired. 
 
 Then an oil painting a couple on a bridge in a 
 gorge with "Walter Garrett, Pinxit, 1870" down hi 
 one corner, which Pressley declared was indeed very 
 well done. 
 
 Nor did the fond mother think that the old and 
 bedaubed palette and the stained brushes, the tools 
 with which genius had wrought, should be without a 
 
 164
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 165 
 
 somewhat reverential interest for anyone having a 
 decent esteem for the fine things in the world. And, 
 as if to make clear the aptitude of Walter in both art 
 and learning, she drew from a drawer a thesis which he 
 had written at the law school on " Trial by Jury." 
 
 The woman displayed all these objects with now and 
 then a word of slight apology, but in each case Pressley 
 found something to say which to her immense satis- 
 faction abundantly vindicated her for indulging herself 
 in bringing them to notice. 
 
 But from time to time Bertha could not refrain from 
 having a little fun over this "walk through a museum," 
 as she called it. 
 
 "I have told mamma that Dan ought to hang up 
 that Lord's prayer on the lower deck of his steamboat," 
 she said, "where they probably need it more than we 
 do who know it by heart." 
 
 " Sho' 'nough those lazy, swearin' roustabouts ought 
 to know what it says," said Mrs. Garrett, "but mo' 'an 
 likely they couldn't read it." 
 
 " It ought to be carefully kept," said Pressley. " That 
 particular copy is a second book of Daniel." 
 
 "And I have always wondered why mamma didn't 
 send that Mr. and Mrs. Napoleon Crossing the Alps to 
 the Centennial," said Bertha. 
 
 "Go 'long," said Mrs. Garrett. "You are always 
 too triflin' with yo' big brothahs." 
 
 But Bertha had no quip when Mrs. Garrett lifted a 
 ponderous album from the under shelf of the center 
 table and turned to the photographs of her sons.
 
 166 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Pressley bestowed upon them the compliment of an 
 observation that manifested very great interest. 
 His consideration of them amounted to a study, in 
 which one might have perceived a perplexity, especially 
 when he looked at the photograph of Walter. The 
 two pictures were on opposite sides as the album lay 
 open, and at times Pressley's eyes ran rapidly back 
 and forth between them as if he were seeking to catch 
 the main resemblance and difference. 
 
 Mrs. Garrett had no other thought than that, as 
 Pressley had admired the performances of these re- 
 markable young men, he was searching for physiog- 
 nomic signs of their talent. 
 
 Bertha supposed that he was attempting to catch 
 some further truth, though vague, about herself in the 
 countenances of the elder children of the family. 
 
 Garrett alone read Pressley's face and understood. 
 
 When looking at the photographs Pressley's concern 
 showed itself only for a moment, but from this time 
 on there was solicitude in the older man to put himself, 
 his whole family and even the buildings, fences, trees 
 and acres of the Old Plantation deep into the warmest 
 part of the young man's heart. Here was a stranger 
 who was come closer than any yet before him to the 
 inner life of that dear group in which Garrett stood as 
 elder brother in method of counsel and discipline, and 
 as patriarch in brooding affection and sense of respon- 
 sibility. The happiness of one member of the family, 
 and in a measure of all members of it, was now being 
 transferred to the keeping of another, and Garrett felt
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 167 
 
 that he must omit nothing to redeem to unclouded 
 propitiousness the assumption of so precious a charge. 
 
 Garrett proposed that he and Pressley get into the 
 buggy and make a tour of the Plantation, which was 
 conveniently divided by roadways, either fenced, 
 making lanes, or by beaten wagon tracks. By the 
 time they returned, he said, the ladies might invite 
 them to dinner. 
 
 And so they rode over the fields. Pressley had never 
 seen a farm of this sort. It was new to a youth who had 
 been used to the unfenced, open, prairie homesteads of 
 the west, too often carelessly cultivated and with houses 
 that seemed more like camping places than established 
 homes. Here was the air of thrift, comfort and 
 permanency, with many a testimony to pride in man- 
 agement and the artistic sense in arrangement. It 
 reminded Pressley of what he had read about old- 
 country estates, and it seemed to him that it must 
 fully represent the well-appointed rural seats of the 
 south, on which, and the life there, his fancy had often 
 dwelt. 
 
 The latter impression was assisted by a little patch 
 of growing tobacco and cotton. 
 
 " I plant it every year," said Mr. Garrett. " More to 
 remind me of the old days and the old home than for 
 anything else, though we make some use of the tobacco. 
 It furnishes the little in various forms that I need 
 or, rather, that I use, and even the cotton is serviceable 
 in raw form for packing or padding as occasion some- 
 times comes. There is only a little of them, you see,
 
 168 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 but the small crop is tended and cured with just as 
 much care as if it covered all my fields." 
 
 Garrett talked with the young man about his studies 
 and ambitions, and in this connection discussed to some 
 extent the training and achievements of his own sons; 
 nor was Bertha left out, and it soon appeared to Press- 
 ley that the kindly, gray-haired man beside him was 
 as ardent an admirer of that angelic young lady as he 
 was himself. Indeed, at moments he almost felt that 
 he had a rival here whose cunning he needed to fear, 
 and was not wholly untouched by a feeling of jealousy. 
 
 In a conversation on such matters some confidences 
 are inevitable, and before the tour was completed 
 Pressley was half under the illusion that he was talking 
 with a school chum of about his own age, recently 
 established as a country gentleman, whom solely he 
 had come to visit on a pressing and familiarly-worded 
 invitation, and not with an elderly man whose face 
 he had not seen until that morning. 
 
 It was into an enchanted chamber that Pressley was 
 conducted for dinner. The shutters were closed, the 
 curtains drawn, and the room was illumined with the 
 light of wax candles. They were disposed in silver 
 candelabra that towered moderately high above the 
 table and the tapers shed their rays through globular 
 shades of various hues. These, to Pressley, were 
 radiant orbs in a new firmament, for he felt that he had 
 just made a transition from one universe to another 
 whose elements were more refined. 
 
 Several vases of flowers were set here and there,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 169 
 
 that seemed to have a delicacy of glory and sweetness 
 of perfume not altogether of this earth, or, if so, to be 
 growing more beautiful still in this atmosphere of 
 ecstasy. And the cloth looked as if it might be of the 
 same composition as the lily, while the ware and the 
 plate, Pressley almost fancied, had also bloomed hi a 
 garden and been plucked, rather than that they were 
 products that had been moulded and burned, beaten 
 and burnished. 
 
 When Mr. Garrett presented himself to escort 
 Pressley to dinner he was wearing evening dress. 
 Pressley thought it singular, but supposed that perhaps 
 it was an odd custom with Mr. Garrett to take dinner 
 so attired, though in the middle of the day, or that it 
 was one of his ways of showing consideration for a 
 guest. Mr. Garrett did not tell him it had been a long 
 time since last he had the swallow-tail on. 
 
 Pressley had seen neither of the women since his 
 return from the fields. Mrs. Garrett was in the dining 
 room when he and her husband entered, dressed in 
 airy white. The three waited a moment for Bertha. 
 
 And then into this glory she walked, bringing a far 
 more abundant glory with her. Nay, walked not, as 
 it appeared to Pressley. She came by no locomotive 
 machinery of common joints and muscles. She simply 
 appeared in the midst, a door being open, and imme- 
 diately flowers, radiance and fragrance seemed to 
 refer to her alone. She wore a soft, flowing cream- 
 white, armless gown, cut low. A rose was in her hair 
 and from a necklace of pearls a diamond stole far down 
 the snowy field in front.
 
 170 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Pressley had never seen her thus arrayed. He did 
 not know that she had such resources in her wardrobe. 
 He had never imagined her in evening dress nor, 
 indeed, did he know much more about this costume 
 than he had learned from references to it in novels and 
 illustrations of it in the fashion pages of magazines. 
 He had been taught that it was a vanity or a snare. 
 But Bertha certainly never looked more like an angel 
 to him. She was talking gaily. All were talking. 
 Pressley was talking but he knew not what was being 
 said, no more his own words than those of others. 
 As they sat down, he had a sense of the meanness of his 
 own garb, though he wore a neat summer suit of serge. 
 But he was not awkward. He was excited with 
 delight. 
 
 Then came Old Maggie bearing a soup of early 
 potatoes flavored with thyme from the garden. How 
 vulgar and impudent seemed the daylight as it ob- 
 truded itself on all this elegance and daintiness through 
 the door that the servant must frequently open! 
 
 It was soon a merry party. But for the feminine 
 voices one might have supposed, being in the next 
 room, that a company of jolly youth were banquetting 
 at an inn. The finest cloth Mrs. Garrett possessed was 
 on the board, and several pieces of ware, choice for 
 their make or their history, and of late not often used, 
 seemed to show their satisfaction by gleaming still a 
 little brighter at being taken from sideboard or shelf 
 to do unwonted exercise on the table. And when 
 Old Maggie came with the first out-pour of wine the
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 171 
 
 venerable demijohn, though now long void and 
 but an idle spectator on this occasion, might have been 
 imagined as rejoicing to see this hour and winking at 
 the cheery little drinking glasses. 
 
 Pressley was not asked if he would have wine. 
 The liquor was served by Old Maggie from the bottle, 
 and she filled Pressley's glass as she made the round 
 of the table. 
 
 Pressley had not thought about wine. He was, 
 indeed, unfamiliar with drinking glasses. He had 
 noticed the dainty vessels before him but supposed 
 they were for ices or some other dessert. He had never 
 tasted wine save at a communion service. He had 
 grown up with a notion that it was something to be 
 used occasionally, only on a preacher's or a physician's 
 prescription, by saints or sick people. 
 
 Mr. Garrett supposed as much as this, and said in 
 way of explanation or apology, as he lifted his sauterne : 
 
 " Mr. Pressley, this is the only thing President Boyce 
 takes me to task about. You may not be accustomed 
 to it. Of late years we ourselves have scarcely been. 
 We, too, are pretty good temperance people, yet we 
 have not felt bound to abandon all use of this solvent 
 of souls, which, with us at least, is without danger, and 
 when dear friends come to see us, we feel like having 
 the company also of friendship's oldest friend. It is 
 not strong. Do no violence to your principles, and, 
 whether you lift your glass or not, I know you join me 
 in wishing health, happiness and prosperity to the 
 Old Plantation and everyone upon it."
 
 172 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 But Pressley made no scruple about the wine. He 
 was in a new world today. Whatever was here, he 
 was sure, was right. He met Mr. Garrett's goblet with 
 his own so vigorously that it is strange a shower of 
 glass did not mingle with the shower of wine which fell 
 upon the cloth. 
 
 "Oh, Mrs. Garrett, can a woman ever forgive that?" 
 cried Pressley, as he looked at the spotted linen. 
 
 "Just right," said Mr. Garrett. "A little of that 
 once in a while is a good thing for a table-cloth, and this 
 one hasn't had any for some time. " 
 
 " Nevah mind it," said Mrs. Garrett, " Indeed, we'll 
 try not to wash it out, so's we shall have something 
 to remembah you by." 
 
 "I was about to beg your pardon," said Mr. Garrett. 
 "I know that was a guest's toast, but I have always, 
 since coming to this place, had something of the 
 feeling of a guest of a guest who was made to 'feel 
 at home.' " 
 
 Mr. Garrett was pleased that Pressley had taken the 
 wine. He held the southern gentleman's tradition that 
 it is one of the choice instruments of elegant manners. 
 So much the better if this was Pressley's first introduc- 
 tion to the marvelous medium through which social 
 amenities are so delicately communicated. The effect 
 would be the more definite, and would be prolonged if 
 the experience remained singular. 
 
 To put the table under the refining witchery of 
 candle light had also been Mr. Garrett's idea. It was 
 his readily adopted suggestion, too, that the ladies
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 173 
 
 appear in evening dress, for Bertha was delighted to 
 observe in him a zest to please her lover; nor was it 
 by chance that she was a moment tardy in coming to 
 the dining room, thus imparting to her entry something 
 of the nature of a climax. 
 
 "But no other toast is good enough to be proposed 
 until that one has been drunk twice," said Pressley in 
 reply to Mr. Garrett. " I propose it again." 
 
 " Good for you, Jim," said Bertha. 
 
 Maggie filled the glasses again, and a second libation 
 was offered to this sentiment. 
 
 And thus the way was cleared for a troop of toasts 
 in the course of the banquet to the guest who had 
 always been "at home"; to the guest who had but just 
 come; to the absent members of the family; to the 
 mistress of the Old Plantation. 
 
 "To the girl," Pressley was saying. 
 
 "WE ALL LOVE," cried Mr. Garrett, laughing, and 
 ending the sentence for him. 
 
 Old Maggie's duties as a waitress gave her an oppor- 
 tunity for studying this important stranger, which she 
 improved with an assiduity that at times jeopardized 
 the safety of her bountiful burdens. The dinner had 
 not far progressed before it was plain that messengers 
 from her heart were seeking to make their way out upon 
 the bleak field of her face to light it up with signals of 
 approval. 
 
 At length, in the dessert stage of the feast, Pressley 
 praised the blackberry pie, and, on being informed 
 that really Bertha herself made it, proposed a toast to
 
 174 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 the baker, whereupon Old Maggie, when she had been 
 given to understand what had happened, started as 
 if to throw her arms around him, and then drew back 
 in most shamefaced confusion, while Mrs. Garrett 
 feigned a stern air and Bertha laughed gaily. 
 
 But Pressley at once redeemed the old servant from 
 mortification by toasting her, in which he was heartily 
 seconded by Mr. Garrett. She could not well hear 
 what was said, but she comprehended their gestures, 
 and she proceeded to her next duty in much excitement, 
 feeling that she had suddenly been exalted into the 
 company of the great ones of earth. 
 
 In the afternoon Pressley and Bertha spent a few 
 hours together, visiting spots on the Old Plantation 
 or in the vicinity, notable in Bertha's happy childhood 
 and girlhood history, such as the tree in the orchard 
 under which she used to play house; the beech wood 
 where in infancy she seemed so far, far from home; 
 the brook under the bridge, which she used to dam; 
 the huge grape vine in the dale that for many summers 
 was her swing, and the little school house where as a 
 five-year-old standing on a desk she would recite 
 "pieces" to the big girls and be told she was a smart 
 little thing all scenes of more interest to Pressley 
 than could have been any Washington Elms, Black 
 Forests, Tibers, monuments or battlefields. 
 
 He could not hear her say enough about her childish 
 experiences. He wished he, too, had been a child 
 in this neighborhood, so that he might always have 
 known Bertha. He was sure he would have loved her
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 175 
 
 even as a tot and would have continued to be her 
 adorer up through all the years. Quarrels could not 
 have come between them, and no other little miss 
 could possibly have alienated his affections. 
 
 "Bertha, your father acts as if he knew," said 
 Pressley. 
 
 "I told him this morning," she replied. "I couldn't 
 help it. I can never keep anything from him." 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 "He didn't scold me a bit," she said playfully. 
 
 "Did he ever scold you for anything?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "And your mother?" 
 
 "I didn't tell her, but I believe she understands 
 well enough. " 
 
 "Well, I think your father is a good person to let 
 into the secret," said Pressley in a manner that indi- 
 cated a liking for the old man. 
 
 When they returned to the house it was late in the 
 afternoon and Jim spoke of starting home. He was 
 invited to prolong his stay and ride back after sundown, 
 which suggestion he would have been exceedingly glad 
 to follow, but, as he had already told Bertha, he had 
 agreed to be one of a boating party that evening, and 
 he conceived, too, that it would be appreciated by 
 the older folks if, on his first visit to Bertha at her 
 home, he did not stay as long as he possibly could. 
 
 But they all insisted that he yet remain long 
 enough to enjoy with them, out under a tree, a little 
 feast of ice cream and cake.
 
 176 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Cream from our Jerseys and ice from Beechwood 
 Lake," said Mr. Garrett. 
 
 When this was over Mr. Garrett went with Pressley 
 to the barn to saddle the horse. As Pressley was 
 buckling the girths the old man slipped off his ringer 
 a middling heavy, plain, gold ring and offered it to 
 Pressley, saying : 
 
 " Wear it in memory of this day." 
 
 Pressley was astonished at this token and request, 
 so rarely passing from man to man, and hesitated. 
 
 " Wear it in memory of today," repeated Mr. Garrett. 
 
 There was great kindliness in the voice, even tender- 
 ness, and a minor tone of pleading that Pressley could 
 not understand. He was deeply moved. 
 
 "I will," said Pressley, "though I never could forget 
 today. On what finger Oh, yes, I see, on your third 
 finger. I shall wear it the same," and Pressley was 
 further moved when he observed a slightly sunken 
 band of flattened flesh on the finger where the band of 
 gold had been, indicating that it had been long worn. 
 
 Mounted at the front gate Pressley bade the little 
 company collectively good-by, and started his horse. 
 
 "Wait a moment," said Mr. Garrett. 
 
 With one arm around Bertha's waist and the other 
 behind her knees, he lifted her up against the shoulder 
 of the horse. 
 
 "You must kiss the children, you know," said he 
 roguishly. 
 
 "Why, of course," said Pressley, and he leaned 
 forward and kissed the girl, not without some blushes 
 on both sides.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 177 
 
 "Proper!" exclaimed Mr. Garrett as he lowered the 
 precious burden. 
 
 And then, with final adieux, the young man rode 
 away.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DISMANTLEMENT OF PARADISE. 
 
 WHEN Pressley awoke the next morning he was in 
 a strange mental condition. 
 
 It seemed to him that it was himself, indeed, who 
 had gone down to Bertha's home the morning before, 
 but that another person, wearing his face and figure, 
 had soon superseded him there and completed the visit. 
 
 In his own person he had received Bertha's greeting, 
 had been introduced to Mr. Garrett, had brought the 
 dog out of the cellar, had been stunned by conviction 
 on the testimony of his own senses that Mrs. Garrett 
 was not pure white, had struggled a while in this state, 
 and then the other person had entered him and was 
 Jim Pressley for the rest of the day. 
 
 ' " I I I myself a white man an Anglo-Saxon 
 I it doesn't fit me," was the bewildering thought in 
 the young man's mind. 
 
 "How could such a thing happen hi reality as that 
 I should be in love with a girl part negro? How could 
 I un-race myself, ex-genate myself, and in an hour 
 become in feeling as much Ethiopian as Caucasian? 
 
 "And wine I do not drink wine. And this gold 
 ring on my finger, a present from a man I do not get 
 gold rings from men. It is here on my finger, but I 
 I myself did not use this hand yesterday. Another 
 
 178
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 179 
 
 person like me used it. He received the ring from a 
 kind old gentleman who was making love to him. 
 When he got out of my body and let me into it again, 
 of course I got back my hand, and the ring is on it. I 
 do not want the ring. 
 
 "And these hands lifting goblets of wine; and this 
 tongue, my own tongue, proposing toasts and clattering 
 merrily at a negro evening party! What a strange 
 place that other fellow took my body to, my hands, 
 my face, my hair, my eyes every part of me except 
 my real self! I I all of me that can be seen made 
 to act as the lover of a negro belle as the worshipper of 
 a beautiful African goddess! And where was I all this 
 time I mean I, Jim Pressley where was I?" 
 
 Pressley could not regret, however, that the "other 
 person" had taken possession of him just when the 
 mystical stranger did, for Jim was satisfied that the 
 usurper had behaved very agreeably as a guest, while 
 the Pressley who was superseded must have cut his 
 visit off abruptly or been miserable all day himself and 
 by his troubled state of mind caused uneasiness 
 and distress to his entertainers. 
 
 As yet there had been no conduct on his part that 
 would require explanation and he could at his leisure 
 consider the situation in which he now found himself. 
 
 When he went down to Bertha's home he had quite 
 forgotten that his mind had been vexed by any question 
 about her mother, but his very first sensation on seeing 
 Mrs. Garrett was a distinction of race. Slight, indeed, 
 must be the admixture of the baser blood, but un-
 
 180 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 doubtedly it was there, and he had been instantly and 
 utterly overcome by the particular significance of 
 the fact, to wit: that as it sharply defined a barrier 
 between him and Mrs. Garrett, it raised a like obstacle 
 between him and Bertha. 
 
 He had looked at Bertha, and, as she thought, 
 strangely, for his mind had gone swiftly to a com- 
 parison between the older and the younger woman, 
 inquiring if, now that he had seen the mother, he would 
 not be assisted hi discerning some shadows of race 
 traits that had heretofore eluded his detection in the 
 daughter. He could see a resemblance in no detail 
 whatsoever, but he was not relieved, holding that 
 Bertha's composition, so fair to every sense, must 
 nevertheless contain an element of crude and despised 
 alloy. 
 
 How generously and gallantly, he now reflected 
 bitterly, had he repelled the thought of this, only at 
 length to be rewarded by being brought face to face 
 with the phantom he had denied, to find it was sub- 
 stance and truth! 
 
 The fond present in which he was dwelling, the 
 blissful future, on which for months he had been musing, 
 that blessed time to come, filled with love and joy and 
 dignified and glorified by the companionship of Bertha 
 all vanished in an instant. 
 
 His resentment at first was against fortune, but in 
 a moment it was directed against Bertha, for he felt 
 that it was an unpardonable outrage upon him that 
 she had concealed a fact which she must well have
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 181 
 
 known was of vital pertinency to the relation that was 
 being formed between them. 
 
 To be angry, to be even displeased, with Bertha 
 was a sensation absolutely new to him and as painful 
 as it was novel. He strove to subdue his inward 
 perturbation, but, as we have seen, without full success. 
 It was aggravated when Mrs. Garrett conversed with 
 him, because her manner of speaking and frequently 
 the expression on her face continued to confirm the 
 unwelcome truth which he believed he had just 
 discovered. 
 
 But when he became engaged alone in conversation 
 with Abner Garrett a singular calm came over his 
 feelings. As Garrett talked about the various phases 
 of the institution of slavery, the characteristics of the 
 enslaved race, the philanthropy of the anti-slavery 
 agitation, and the devotion of heroic souls to the cause 
 of emancipation, a sympathy with the colored race 
 that went remarkably far found a place in Pressley's 
 heart. It was the product of Mr. Garrett's own 
 sympathy, inculcated by the speaker's intelligence, 
 candor and nobly human sensibilities. Pressley was 
 not the first who had fallen under the spell of this 
 man's words when he was talking on a serious subject 
 with which he was familiar, and especially if his con- 
 victions trembled with the electricity of the emotions. 
 
 Pressley made a race concession and personally what 
 might be called a race surrender, not unconditional, 
 indeed, but sufficiently indulgent to put him at perfect 
 ease regarding a- union with Bertha, and an alliance
 
 182 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 with her family. If he could not see the slightest in- 
 dication of colored blood in Bertha, Pressley concluded 
 it was foolish and unreasonable, as well as tormenting, 
 to worry about the matter, and he resolved he would 
 do so no more. And besides, had he not a lesson 
 before his eyes? Were not the races, as observable, 
 mingled in this very home, and yet was it not a home 
 of tender affections, of intelligence, of comfort, of 
 elegance? What in a home could a man want more? 
 
 This impression kept growing in decisiveness and 
 confirming itself hi Pressley's mind the longer he 
 remained at the Old Plantation and the more the 
 influences there, personal and impersonal, operated 
 upon his susceptibilities. For, besides the overflow 
 of graciousness on all sides from the hearts of his hosts, 
 not the least part of which was the fine affability of 
 Mr. Garrett, Pressley was sensible of a most pleasing 
 charm coming from the atmosphere that lay over the 
 place. 
 
 But on awakening in the morning he was, as indicated 
 by the inarticulate soliloquy we have quoted, confused, 
 disappointed, ashamed, even remorseful. It seemed 
 to him, and possibly the remembrance of the wine 
 suggested it, that he had been on some refined debauch, 
 induced not by any gross or common excitant, but by 
 a subtle element that had stolen upon his senses 
 unawares. 
 
 He was sick of the day before. 
 
 His conduct then now seemed to him most strange. 
 He remembered it as if it had been a dream. So far
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 183 
 
 away from himself, as he now understood himself, 
 had his excitement carried him that he was prone to 
 attribute it to impulses of a wholly exterior origin. A 
 possession, at least an obsession, "that other fellow," 
 was the explanation which presented itself, to his 
 bewildered faculties as the most plausible. He felt 
 that he had been tricked. Mr. Garrett's charming 
 manners? They had been but wiles to seduce him 
 into a position that no white man could assume. 
 The illuminated dining room? Artfully contrived 
 stage for a matinee performance in which he was to 
 be an actor but which nevertheless was to produce 
 upon him a perfect illusion. 
 
 He pulled from his finger the gold ring Mr. Garrett 
 had given him and flung it to the floor. 
 
 " In memory of this day," he repeated in disgust. 
 
 Then a wave of shame overcame him, and he picked 
 the ring up, affected even again and now by the manner 
 of Mr. Garrett's address when the memento was be- 
 stowed. 
 
 "I wonder if she really meant not to tell me," he 
 said, moving his lips to the words but not speaking 
 aloud, "thinking that when I found out, the matter 
 would have g9ne so far that I couldn't let her go. 
 Oh, I do love you I did love you, darling girl but 
 I cannot give up my manhood! I cannot lose the 
 respect of all white men! I cannot make myself over 
 and be somebody else ! " 
 
 But there was Mr. Garrett. Had he lost the respect 
 of all white men? Did not President Boyce and Prof.
 
 184 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Bland express high esteem for him? Did they not go 
 to his home to dine? And yet would they imitate him 
 hi the particular about which Pressley was just now 
 thinking most? 
 
 And the preacher was also hi love with Bertha, and 
 he must know. "Shiftless Henry," too, had a fancy 
 for her, though, to be sure, how "Shif" was affected 
 by any person or thing did not signify much. 
 
 And thus began a long conflict between Pressley'a 
 judgment and his affection, torturing to the mind in 
 which it raged. 
 
 On this particular morning his love, heretofore at 
 all times steadily ardent, was most woefully capricious, 
 agitated as violently as a barometer when the forces 
 of calm and storm are contending for mastery in the 
 air. At one moment he was hi the nightmare of de- 
 spising her. At another all his former seasons of 
 tenderest adoration were surpassed. 
 
 It was his intention to write to her this very day 
 to declare that all communication between them must 
 cease, assigning the reason therefor, and return the 
 ring Mr. Garrett had given him. But he did not carry 
 out this resolution. The ruin was too awful to be so 
 soon recognized as inevitable. As yet the crisis lay 
 wholly within his own breast. Perhaps, after all, it 
 might there be subdued. Possibly his thoughts and 
 feelings, after a hard wrestling with it, might yet turn 
 it away. 
 
 Later hi the day Pressley had occasion to go to the 
 drug store kept by J. E. C. F. Harper, commonly
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 185 
 
 called "Alphabet" Harper from the number of his 
 initials, and it was even while asking himself if it were 
 not possible that he might be mistaken about Mrs. 
 Garrett that he overheard the last part of a conversation 
 between the druggist and a stranger, both old residents, 
 that was relevant to this question. 
 
 "No, she wasn't allowed to testify," the druggist 
 was saying as Pressley went in. "She claimed, and 
 always did claim, though they didn't insist on it at the 
 trial, that there was no African blood in her, but said 
 there was some Creole in her. People generally thought 
 this was only an excuse, and I guess it was. I didn't 
 see her very often. It didn't show much, but what 
 did show looked darkey to me. She was a mighty 
 pretty woman, just the same, when she was young. 
 One boy shows it more than she does, and you wouldn't 
 call it creole hi him. The other boy is whiter than 
 I am." 
 
 "I never saw much of Garrett," said the stranger. 
 " 'Feared like a nice kind of a man, but, of course, his 
 wife being what she was, the family 'peared kind of 
 unnat'ral." 
 
 Plain enough to Pressley. Of course it was an 
 excuse because it was the only thing that could have 
 been made to serve as such. And Pressley did not 
 fail to note in the conversation he had just heard the 
 use of the past tense, when the present might have been 
 employed, as if the Garrett family, in real interest, had 
 ceased to be. Besides, Pressley was now reminded of 
 an impression he had received, but scarcely recognized,
 
 186 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 when at the Old Plantation, that the life of Abner 
 Garrett and his wife was one of considerable seclusion. 
 This fact, for such he took it to be, he now compre- 
 hended the more clearly because a significance was 
 apparent. 
 
 "I guess the old gentleman's not so rich as he used 
 to be," said the stranger, resuming after a pause, to 
 the druggist. 
 
 "Not by any means," replied Mr. Harper. "His 
 boys have been heavy spenders. Always had anything 
 they wanted and he was never able to deny them a 
 cent. The one who came down the river the other 
 day with a new steamboat a steamboat is a pretty 
 costly plaything." 
 
 Pressley lingered in the store, hoping to hear more, 
 but that was all. 
 
 For several days he avoided being on the streets 
 save early in the morning or in the evening, lest by 
 chance Bertha should have come to town and he should 
 meet her. Meanwhile he did not write to her, for his 
 state of mind alternated so rapidly that he feared any 
 expression he made to her might be repented of before 
 the letter could reach her, and to write to her and 
 refrain from any reference to his distress, it seemed to 
 him, would amount to dissimulation if, indeed, it 
 would not be altogether impossible. 
 
 Near the end of the week Pressley received an 
 urgent invitation to spend the summer with old friends 
 on an Iowa farm where in years past he had frequently 
 been received as a member of the family and where
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 187 
 
 through two vacations he had as a farm hand re- 
 ceived the dues of a hired servant and at the same time 
 enjoyed the privileges of a son. In the family was a 
 youth of his own age who had been his chum at the 
 high school, and Pressley was loved by the parents. 
 In this instance, also, he was promised recompense of 
 two kinds, from the hand and from the heart, and the 
 double offer was instantly and gladly accepted. 
 
 Pressley felt that there was a kindly fortune in his 
 receipt of this invitation, opening up to him something 
 like a refuge or at least an entire change in his sur- 
 roundings, where he would be sure to find some relief 
 from his present distraction. He was anxious to run 
 away, hoping that at a distance he might get such a 
 view of College Hill, the Old Plantation and Bertha 
 as to give him a clearer apprehension of what his 
 situation required. 
 
 So, giving no more thought of going over into Ken- 
 tucky to engage in the novel labor of picking peaches, 
 he prepared forthwith to depart for Iowa. 
 
 And now he wrote to Bertha, but only a short note, 
 informing her that he was going, and in a style calcu- 
 lated to imply that his haste to get off might excuse 
 the brevity of his announcement. Those words that 
 belong pre-eminently in the vocabulary of love were 
 few, and Pressley's ingenuousness and sense of honor 
 were outraged by his consciousness that such as were 
 there were now used conventionally or with mental 
 reservation. He purposely omitted telling her where 
 to address a letter to him, not being sure that he would
 
 188 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 desire to receive one from her. He felt like burning 
 some, if not all, bridges behind him as he fled. He 
 closed his note, however, by saying that he would 
 write again soon. He left for Iowa that evening. 
 
 The deficiencies in this note alarmed Bertha. Cer- 
 tainly it would be a joy to Pressley to spend the summer 
 with old friends in Iowa, but if he felt that he would 
 be paying anything for it in a long absence from her 
 he did not say so. He expressed no regret that he 
 was going so far away nor a hope that he might often 
 hear from her. And would it have taken more than 
 a dozen words to tell who and where his friends were, 
 a matter which he must have known would have been 
 of great interest to her? Nor could she understand, 
 when her home was but two hours from his, why his 
 love had not impelled him to see her again, in the 
 prospect of so long an absence, and say farewell hi 
 person. The announcement that he would write again 
 soon, instead of being simply a pleasing assurance, 
 seemed rather an apology, inadequate enough, for the 
 brevity, the reticence and the coldness of the com- 
 munication. 
 
 Bertha's first tears as a maiden in love were shed 
 over these few lines signed "Jim." She felt that she 
 was no longer all the world to a serious, steadfast and 
 devoted lover, but that as a boy's plaything she had 
 been quickly abandoned for a holiday. Yet it was 
 through consideration of the boy in him that, in the 
 following days, she fully forgave him. He had seen 
 her but a few days ago. He might be reluctant to
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 189 
 
 run the risk of having his ardor declared foolishness 
 by older heads on account of a speedy reappearance 
 at her home, and a schoolboy's enthusiasm over a 
 vision of familiar and beloved fields and faces, on a 
 vacation, and an impulse to leap into the reality of it 
 might have distracted one, who was still a novice at 
 writing love letters, sufficiently to make a wholly 
 satisfactory letter impossible. 
 
 On the Iowa farm Pressley imagined, as if looking 
 with the sun down from the sky, College Hill, Madison, 
 the stony roads, the smooth pikes, the heavy woods 
 and the Old Plantation, five hundred miles away, 
 and saw even himself as an actor in tender scenes 
 there. The fact of intervening distance did, indeed, 
 somewhat fortify him as he recollected all that had 
 happened there and contemplated the dismantlement 
 of the paradise that this quiet little corner of the 
 world had been to him. For no more would he there 
 walk in the company of an angel. And so in the 
 summer love's springtime work was undone. Not 
 because it had not been well done, not through levity 
 or fickleness or faithlessness, but with reluctance on 
 the one side and pleading on the other, under the griev- 
 ous and compelling goad of what is always a woeful 
 surprise to lovers a sentiment more imperious than 
 love itself.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 STRUGGLE OF Two HEARTS. 
 
 ONE evening as Bertha was riding home from the 
 country postoffice a few people, at different points on 
 the road, saw her crying, and one or two persons caught 
 a glimpse of her thus when at the same time they 
 observed that she held a letter in her hand. 
 
 It was her first letter from Pressley in Iowa, and 
 its effect on Bertha, thus noticed as she read it on 
 horseback, furnished the neighborhood, as time proved, 
 with a clue to the distress she was soon known to feel. 
 
 Along with the letter, in a little package by itself, 
 came the ring that Abner Garrett had given to Pressley. 
 
 It happened that as Bertha drew near home she met 
 the former, who, on an evening walk, had gone a little 
 distance up the highway. He saw at once that she 
 was deeply troubled. Before he could ask a question 
 she handed him the opened box in which lay the ring, 
 and then began to cry afresh. 
 
 "The ring!" said Garrett in almost a whisper. 
 " Which I gave him to remember that happy day ! So 
 soon ! " 
 
 " Pressley, then? " he continued, looking up at Bertha. 
 
 With her face still in her handkerchief she handed 
 him the letter. 
 
 "Get down, child," said he. 
 190
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 191 
 
 She dismounted and he put his arms around her. 
 Child again in the old man's arms, but not this time 
 with a broken doll. A graver perplexity. A broken 
 heart! 
 
 As they stood thus, close to the pony that was 
 nibbling the grass by the roadside, Mr. Garrett read 
 the letter. It was not long, but in it the young man 
 recapitulated the whple of the recent experience of 
 his heart. He described how sincere had been his 
 affection, how great had been his joy, and he did not 
 omit a lamentation that both had been built on a 
 false foundation. He told her that what he had first 
 learned from Gassier, and refused to believe, he had 
 confirmed by personal observation. 
 
 He asked for no information or explanation from 
 Bertha, assuming, as if beyond question, not only 
 that, through her mother, though Bertha's appearance 
 seemed to abundantly contradict it, she was of mixed 
 blood, but that with unpardonable design of imposition 
 she had refrained from acquainting him with this 
 fundamental fact concerning herself, which he had an 
 imperative right to know. 
 
 There was no upbraiding further than his plain 
 statement of the essential facts as he now felt sure 
 they were. He intimated, in short, that, while he 
 had acted with the good faith and perfectly open heart 
 of an honest and ardent lover, her conduct had been 
 somewhat like that of an adventuress. He did not, 
 indeed, deny that she fondly loved him, but she had 
 sought to guard his love for her with an unjustifiable 
 concealment.
 
 192 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 " I wish I had told him," said Mr. Garrett regretfully 
 as he finished reading the letter. 
 
 "Told him what, papa?" eagerly asked the tearful 
 
 girl- 
 Mr. Garrett had not spoken to her but to himself, 
 as if momentarily forgetful of her presence. Her 
 quick question, therefore, put him into a confusion 
 which, however, she was in no state to notice. 
 
 "Why, told him told him that if at any time 
 anything, no matter what, should seem to rise between 
 you he should see me." 
 
 "Isn't mamma just as white as you?" asked Bertha. 
 "Your mother is just as white as I." 
 "Well, there's no negro in you, is there?" 
 " Not a drop, nor in your mother." 
 "What could Jim mean what could he mean?" 
 repeated the girl, while Mr. Garrett remained silent 
 pretending to appear as one seeking in his mind for 
 some hypothesis to hazard as the possible solution of 
 a mystery. 
 
 "What could he mean?" again repeated Bertha 
 with still more emphasis. " He says that what he had 
 already learned from Gassier was confirmed by per- 
 sonal observation." 
 
 "My child, in the bitterness of the anti-slavery 
 agitation people used to tell all sorts of stories about 
 those who were friends of the negro. A man once 
 travelled thirty miles for the sole purpose of seeing 
 Mrs. Boyce and so finding out for himself if she was a 
 colored woman, as he had been told she was. Perhaps
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 193 
 
 stories like that have been told about my wife, and an 
 echo of them has reached Pressley's ears at this late 
 day. As for his personal observation, his judgment might 
 have been vitiated by the prejudice of the report." 
 
 Mr. Garrett now suggested that they go on home. 
 He led the horse and Bertha walked with him. 
 
 "It does seem hard, very hard, my dear child," 
 said he on the way, "but think of all the love and 
 sunshine still about you." 
 
 " But, papa, if I should tell Jim he was mistaken " 
 but she interrupted herself with " Yet think of what he 
 has imputed to me!" and a high resentment could be 
 seen in her face, accompanied by an impressive pride. 
 
 " I believe he means it to be final," said Mr. Garrett. 
 
 "Now, Bertha," he continued with much concern, 
 "let us keep this entirely from your mother not that 
 Pressley has ceased to feel interest in you, for she will 
 know that before long, but the reason for it you can 
 easily understand how much pain that would give her." 
 
 To this Bertha assented, and while the two walked 
 home no further word was spoken between them. 
 
 No sleep came that night to either. 
 
 The next day Bertha wrote the following letter to 
 Pressley : 
 
 Dear Jim: 
 
 Your letter seems to forbid that I should still call you so, but 
 I will say "dear," though now it is but a fond tradition. 
 
 You invite no reply, but I must let you know how surprised I 
 am at the " conviction " you express, and at the summary man- 
 ner in which you have acted upon it, inasmuch as it is wholly 
 false. I cannot account for it.
 
 194 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 I thought that our love had the good foundation of an ad- 
 miring understanding of each other's character. I thought it 
 well-grounded, and certainly a love so full of the promise of 
 happiness ought not to be wrecked for any reason not founded 
 on fact, and, though I cannot see how the truth can restore it 
 now, I must tell you with all the assurance any statement of 
 mine ever carried that you are entirely mistaken in the charge 
 you make against my mother. 
 
 But, bad as was this mistake and humiliating and disgraceful 
 as was the opinion of me it gave you, you made another much 
 worse. Your presumption that I sought to hold your love by 
 concealment, by fraud it seems to me you could have sunk me 
 to no lower depth than that. If your own heart would not pro- 
 tect me from that blow, then any word from me is useless. 
 
 It is inconceivable to me how you came to think or write as 
 you did. If you had desired an excuse for breaking an attach- 
 ment of which you had grown tired, it seems to me you might 
 have found one less absurd, cruel and insulting. 
 
 BERTHA. 
 
 She did not recount, as she might, in regret that it 
 was turned to bitterness, the happiness she had recently 
 experienced and that which she had been anticipating 
 from the golden chain of years in the future. She did 
 not review the delightful hours they had spent to- 
 gether. She did not protest the depth and ardor of her 
 love. She did not remind him of the preciousness of 
 their mutual affection, which should not be sacrificed 
 on any conceivable account. She did not implore that, 
 now his error was made known, he love her still. 
 
 She did not, in short, tell him, as she might have 
 done, that her heart was breaking. 
 
 Overcoming the excuse-finding, the magnanimity, 
 the forgiveness there is in love, the dominant feeling 
 in Bertha's heart was indignation. There was mourn- 
 ing; there were inward prayers; there was longing for
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 195 
 
 return; there were times when all passions were fused 
 in nothing but tears, yet above these again would 
 anger arise, moderate but ruling. 
 
 As to mending this love, thus broken with a crash, 
 Bertha had little hope of that, for so deeply offended 
 was her sense of personal and family pride that, what- 
 ever Pressley might do now, she feared she never could 
 forgive him. 
 
 Abner Garrett was grieving also to a degree Bertha 
 did not suspect and for reasons, going beyond paternal 
 sympathy, which lay hidden from her. 
 
 On her return from the postoffice, after mailing 
 her reply to Pressley, Garrett was again up the road 
 a little way to meet her. 
 
 " You have replied to him? " he asked. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, and then in response to the 
 further inquiry written on his face she continued : 
 
 " It was very short. I only told him it was not true 
 and that he had insulted us all." 
 
 "Suppose he takes your word for it?" 
 
 " I don't know. I feel it would seem to me that the 
 fact that he ever could have those things in his mind 
 about us spoiled him forever." 
 
 "But I fear he will not take your word," said the 
 old man. " Well, you ride along, and I'll be in shortly." 
 
 On the receipt of Bertha's letter Pressley was thrown 
 again into a distressful period of repentance, doubt 
 and vacillation. Of course it could not be true. 
 Bertha had given him her solemn assurance, and 
 Bertha could not be untruthful. Moreover, there
 
 196 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 never was enough evidence of it to justify the throwing 
 away of the choicest jewel in all the world and the 
 relinquishment of such happiness, actual and pros- 
 pective, as was never a man's before. If she could 
 only forgive him his hasty error and gross offense he 
 would be her lover again as he had been before his 
 mind was poisoned by that miserable Gassier and 
 vitiated further by his own ill-considered thoughts. 
 He would hasten to ask her forgiveness and pray to be 
 restored, blessed above all other mortals, to that place 
 in her heart which he had so foolishly abandoned. 
 
 These were his thoughts for an hour, to be succeeded 
 in the next by the former suspicion and conviction, 
 which, when a few days were passed by, were again 
 predominant. The common opinion, he thought, was 
 not likely to be wrong. He had heard it expressed by 
 Mr. Harper at the drug store. And he himself, who 
 had seen with his own eyes, could not be mistaken, 
 else there were things about the appearances of white 
 and colored people that he was not aware of. 
 
 But Bertha's letter and some reflection had con- 
 vinced him of one mistake, which was thinking that 
 the girl had concealed from him a knowledge which 
 she knew must be incompatible with the relation they 
 had assumed. This he' did not now believe. He 
 could understand how likely it was that she was brought 
 up in ignorance of a fact which was disgraceful to the 
 family and which, though commonly known, was yet 
 not so patent as to come to her notice without special 
 obtrusion. Pressley found a great satisfaction in this
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 197 
 
 conception which left Bertha's character as fair as 
 before. In his reply to her, therefore, he relieved her 
 of any odium in this respect with the most gracious 
 phrases he could construct, while at the same time 
 reiterating his conviction of the main fact, on account 
 of which he declared any thought of marriage must be 
 abandoned. 
 
 By Bertha this was interpreted as but offering a 
 disingenuous compromise to her feelings, and in her 
 mind she could not allow to Pressley the full integrity 
 which he had ended by conceding to her, for she 
 believed that Jim was fickle and, moreover, not without 
 malevolence in resorting to so offensive a subterfuge 
 to cover his inconstancy. 
 
 And it was what Pressley had first learned from 
 Gassier! So, then, he had been discussing her and her 
 family with the vagabond shoemaker, whom he knew 
 she despised, and had received from him a calumny of 
 her that he, a lover, had nursed and fostered hi secret 
 and finally adopted for his own! And this man, for 
 whom she had always felt a strong aversion without 
 knowing exactly why, was become the author of her 
 present great misfortune! He was now developed in 
 her mind to something like an evil genius. 
 
 A notion this was which in a few days there was 
 some reason to consider confirmed, for Gassier had 
 again migrated back to the neighborhood, and, following 
 her one evening out of the postoffice near which was 
 his little shop, he said to her: 
 
 "Noticed ye goin' home the other night with a
 
 198 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 letter and cryin'. Makes me feel awful bad to see ye 
 cryin'. Thought maybe it was your feller. Must 
 remember there hain't no feller in the world worth 
 cryin' over. If ever ye get into any trouble and I can 
 do the least thing fer ye, be sure to let me know." 
 
 While he was speaking, Bertha was untying her 
 horse and preparing to mount, and did not look around, 
 but as he finished she turned and said angrily: 
 
 " I don't thank you for any curiosity or concern you 
 have about my affairs, Mr. Gassier." 
 
 " Oh, don't be mad at me," said he. " I'm the best 
 friend ye got." 
 
 Bertha had mounted and was riding away. She 
 made no reply, but gave the pony the whip. 
 
 "I 'low that old granddaddy's tryin' to shine up 
 to that girl," said one man to another in a little gi'oup 
 under a tree. 
 
 There was really a tenderness in Gassler's first re- 
 marks to Bertha and a tone of genuine coaxing in the 
 last, but in his words the girl heard only meddling 
 impudence and taunt. 
 
 "After all that," thought she, "he is mean and 
 brazen enough to try to get me to say something from 
 which he might judge whether his slander had borne 
 fruit or not." 
 
 It was not long before the curiosity of certain ones 
 in the neighborhood carried them so far as to embolden 
 them to attempt to learn directly from the Garrett 
 family the cause of Bertha's weeping on horseback 
 with a letter in her hand. Reports of Pressley's at-
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 199 
 
 tentions to Bertha had given rise to some gossip in 
 the community, but it was of a languid sort inasmuch 
 as it was based on information from which no important 
 inferences could be well drawn; but this little scrap of 
 evidence, confirming the rumors of an engagement by 
 announcing its peril or rupture, set many tongues to 
 a welcome exercise. Evidence, certainly, for what but 
 lover's letter can make a young lady of eighteen weep? 
 
 In a few days Mrs. Anthony heard the news and 
 immediately hurried herself to the Old Plantation to 
 express to Mrs. Garrett her concern lest the family had 
 received bad tidings, and, in this event, to ask if she 
 could be of any possible service. But Mrs. Garrett 
 could only show her surprise, not having heard of the 
 weeping until now. 
 
 "Oh, well, then, 'twas no bad news from any of the 
 folks," said Mrs. Anthony, pretending to feel relieved. 
 "Jest somethin' on Bertha's account, and couldn't 
 have been anything much or she'd have mentioned it." 
 
 Just then Mrs. Anthony took new hope, for Bertha 
 came in, and the old lady again explained the object 
 of her visit. 
 
 Bertha affected to be astonished. Been seen crying 
 while holding a letter? She couldn't understand it. 
 Might, of course, have been rubbing dust from her eyes. 
 
 And Mrs. Anthony went away, greatly disappointed, 
 to inquire from "Shiftless" at the supper table more 
 particularly about the preciseness of his information, 
 and to be assured that it was tears, not dust, that 
 Bertha had wiped from her eyes.
 
 200 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Shiftless" now took the matter in hand, and 
 luckily Mr. Garrett had engaged him to do some 
 mending of the fences the very next day, when he had 
 an opportunity of speaking to Bertha in the most 
 informal and familiar way. She had stepped across 
 the yard to watch him for a few minutes at his work. 
 
 "Whath thith I hear about you, Bertha?" said he. 
 "Havin' trouble with your feller already?" 
 
 " Did you hear I was having trouble with some one? " 
 she asked listlessly. 
 
 "Well, next thing to it," he replied. "Cryin' over 
 a letter he thent you." 
 
 " You know, then, the letter was from him? " 
 
 "Well, I 'low mutht ha' been from him or you 
 wouldn't ha' been cryin' over it." 
 
 " Sure I was crying? " 
 
 " Oh, I reckon you'll deny the hull thing, but I 'low 
 there ith something right smart in it, and I don't care, 
 'cauthe if Prethley ithn't the feller, it'll be some one 
 nearder to home 'at will make you probably a better 
 huthband. When it cometh to marryin' you couldn't 
 do better 'n to take thome feller 'at don't put on any 
 airs or pretenthion, but 'th knowed you all your life." 
 
 Bertha was laughing for the first time in several 
 days, and " Shiftless " for the first time in his life seemed 
 vexed by her. He reddened, drove a nail wrong and 
 said: 
 
 "What I thay ith tho, Bertha." 
 
 But he got from her no word by which he might 
 in the least degree confirm the hope of an estrangement.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 201 
 
 In the next week or ten days a few others threw out 
 "feelers," all of them to Mr. Garrett, as they chanced 
 to meet him, and always with the excuse that they had 
 heard a report that bad news had come from one of 
 the boys. Mr. Garrett assured them all that there 
 was no foundation for the apprehension that ill-fortune 
 had arrived from any quarter to any member of the 
 family. 
 
 Nevertheless the conjecture prevailed in the com- 
 munity that Bertha had been a party to a lover's 
 quarrel, for, the essential data having been resolved 
 and digested, several points were established : 
 
 Bertha and Pressley had been fond of each other in 
 the spring at school. 
 
 He had visited her later at her home. 
 
 The postmaster attested that she received a letter 
 addressed with a man's hand from a town in Iowa. 
 
 Bertha was seen crying while reading this letter. 
 
 She had the next day mailed a letter to Pressley 
 in Iowa. 
 
 She received before long another letter from the 
 Iowa town, no doubt in response, and none since. 
 
 And it was plain that a deep trouble was in her heart. 
 
 It was true that her buoyancy and gaiety had van- 
 ished and given place to a seriousness through which 
 could be observed frequently the melancholy on which 
 it was based. It was as if a sunny landscape had be- 
 come beclouded or, rather, laid waste. None of her 
 formerly engaging faculties were in vigor. No flowers 
 of grace were blooming. When she went out on her
 
 202 
 
 pony she did not go galloping over the neighborhood 
 highways to draw up at front gates here and there and, 
 with a merry cry, call out girl friends for a chat, or 
 pitch over the fence some informal salutation to a 
 family group. 
 
 Rather, for her now infrequent journeys on horse- 
 back, would she choose the road by the river where, 
 if she met people, they were as likely as not to be 
 strangers, or she would confine her equestrian exercise 
 to the fieldside roadways within the borders of the 
 home acres. She gave up going to the postoffice, for 
 in the window of the cobbler's shop or at its door she 
 was sure to see the unwelcome face of Gassier if she 
 did not squarely encounter his whole form and figure 
 between dismounting and remounting. 
 
 Acquaintances of Bertha's own age, who made 
 friendly calls, soon marked the absence of her whole- 
 some and contagious vivacity and discovered her 
 listless on the whole range of topics commonly coming 
 up at such interviews. 
 
 And likewise Bertha's habits changed toward 
 members of her own family. Heretofore Abner 
 Garrett's horse had often been beside her own on the 
 short excursions in the saddle, but now it was never 
 seen there, nor did the gray-haired man and the bloom- 
 ing girl now engage in various lawn sports or mere 
 wanton child's play, as they had not infrequently 
 done of yore. 
 
 The girl never spoke to Mr. Garrett about her heart- 
 ache after telling him the contents of Pressley's second
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 203 
 
 letter. She preferred to let the trouble be her own, 
 especially since it could not be mended by intervention, 
 sympathy or counsel, and Mr. Garrett seemed to think 
 it was better so. Yet he little suspected the nature of 
 some of the thoughts that occasionally, as time passed 
 on, arose in Bertha's mind. They were, indeed, of the 
 purport that, after all, Pressley might be right. And 
 if he were, then she had been the victim since her 
 infancy, as she expressed it to herself, of a parental 
 policy of secrecy and even of deceit. But could this 
 be from the tenderest of fathers, who had been her 
 mentor, her companion and her confidant at all the 
 ages of her life? 
 
 It was hard for her to harbor this thought, but come 
 it would. It was sometimes this which impelled her 
 to resist when Mr. Garrett, for her much-needed diver- 
 sion, sought to coax her into a frolic of some sort in 
 the yard or into the playing of some simple game, and 
 he sometimes found her eyes resting upon him with 
 such a look of scrutiny and inquiry as would make 
 him wince. To him it was a thousand times worse 
 than it ordinarily is to a parent when he finds that his 
 child, of whatever age, is intent on reading him deeper 
 than he has been willing to open the book. 
 
 At such times Mr. Garrett would forthwith find 
 solitude to wonder at the strangeness of the girl, and 
 engage in gloomy reflection. He was not indifferent to 
 the trial that was upon her. Indeed, if both hearts 
 could have been looked into it might have been hard 
 to tell which of these two persons was grieving most,
 
 204 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 she as the direct sufferer, or he on her account. But 
 it was to her the first and, so far, the only great sorrow. 
 It was to him but one more added to many sorrows. 
 
 If Bertha had this questioning in her mind it may 
 be readily imagined that Mrs. Garrett became the 
 subject of her most anxious consideration. Loving her 
 fondly, Bertha felt some sense of unfaithfulness and 
 wrong-doing in trying the experiment of looking at 
 her through Pressley's eyes, but she could not refrain, 
 and sometimes she would turn and hurry away in a 
 fright, believing she saw what Pressley believed he 
 had seen. The effect upon her was as if she had 
 witnessed some sorcery that had made beloved features 
 repugnant; that had spirited away her mother and set 
 some gross travesty in the place of her. Then would 
 the poor girl, following the uncertain impulses of her 
 confused heart, feel that she had sinned a great sin 
 and break into tears. Repentance and self-correction 
 would soon ensue. The illusion would be banished 
 and there again was just the same simple, constant, 
 darling, motherly mother as ever.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "A MINISTER'S WOOING." 
 
 BERTHA had often thought over every detail of 
 Pressley's visit at her home, and now at last she be- 
 lieved she had discovered the secret of his strange 
 behavior in the early part of that day. It was the 
 physical appearance of her mother. This was the 
 confirmation by personal observation that Pressley 
 meant. She went to the parlor, opened the big album 
 and looked at the photographs of Walter and Dan to 
 see if the view would create any new impression, and 
 for the first time in her life she was struck by the 
 difference in their features. It seemed so fundamental 
 as almost to deny that they were brothers, and at this 
 moment she was conscious that, like Jim, she looked 
 with more favor upon the face of Dan than upon that 
 of Walter. But the preference was strange to her, 
 and seemed evil, and she loathed and strove to belie it. 
 
 However, these hours when Bertha completely 
 yielded the argument to Jim were not constant. They 
 were but occasional. When they came they brought 
 with them a large if not a full measure of vindication 
 in her sore heart for Jim. She could then concede 
 that a powerful motive had impelled him to wreck the 
 beautiful fabric their two hearts had wrought, and 
 could understand how bitter must have been the 
 
 205
 
 206 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 strivings in his mind before the blow of ruin was 
 struck. She could even sympathize with him in his 
 struggle, and, all fault being removed from him and 
 laid on necessity, she was fully in love with him again. 
 
 Then would follow an alternate and far longer 
 period of reaction, with Bertha penitent and remorseful 
 for having been a traitress, as she felt, to parental and 
 fraternal affection, to family pride and dignity. At 
 such times Mr. and Mrs. Garrett, but especially the 
 latter, would be surprised at the multitude of filial 
 kindnesses on Bertha's part, and Walter, in these sea- 
 sons, always received so many letters from his "little 
 sister" that really he could not find time to answer 
 them. 
 
 Mrs. Garrett, who had not at any time been taken 
 into confidence respecting this important matter, and, 
 left only to a mother's usually shrewd conjectures in 
 such cases, made no mistake except in estimating the 
 depth of the attachment that existed, or had existed, 
 between Bertha and Pressley. She was perhaps dis- 
 qualified by nature from doing so. 
 
 Without authority from Bertha, and with Mr. 
 Garrett pretending that he had no more knowledge 
 than she, Mrs. Garrett had not assumed that the 
 mutual attraction had matured into an engagement, 
 and now that disaster was evident she chose to regard 
 the whole matter as no more serious than a school-boy 
 and school-girl affair. Sometimes, therefore, when she 
 noticed that Bertha was unusually sad or preoccupied 
 she would say to her :
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 207 
 
 "I'm afraid yo' bein' foolish again ovah that boy 
 Pressley." 
 
 "Oh, Pressley's nothing, mamma," Bertha would 
 answer. 
 
 "Well, I wish you thought so all the time," would 
 be the response as Mrs. Garrett looked at her with an 
 air of mild reproach. 
 
 And half -blind, half -deaf, diligent Old Maggie 
 how had she seen or heard the secret of Bertha's 
 trouble? Or from her imperfect observation of the 
 girl's behavior had she simply divined it? For it was 
 evident that she knew it well, and it was in the secluded 
 heart of this plain creature, partly cut off from ordinary 
 communication with others, that the only full, un- 
 bounded sympathy for Bertha lay. 
 
 This showed itself in simple and quiet ways. Never 
 had Old Maggie, though always neat and precise, been 
 so particular about the care of Bertha's room. Never 
 were the bedclothes so softly laid, the pillows so plump 
 with yielding balm. If Bertha's rubbers got muddy 
 and were laid off even for but a short while, lo! they 
 were clean again. The girl found her favorite dishes 
 coming with unwonted frequency but with well- 
 managed rotation to the table. 
 
 Sometimes, when Bertha was about to undertake 
 some common, menial task, Old Maggie would offer to 
 relieve her, and when, as occasionally happened, Old 
 Maggie combed and brushed the young lady's hair, 
 her hand was as careful as a mother's dressing a baby's 
 curls. In short, she treated her, so far as she min-
 
 208 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 istered to her, with the extraordinary tenderness 
 commonly accorded to the ill. Now and then, after 
 putting Bertha's room in order, she would set a little 
 bouquet on the table. 
 
 "Brother Charlie" had been quick to learn all that 
 the neighborhood knew about Miss Bertha, her letters 
 and her tears. Indeed, many of the women of his 
 flock on this side the river, who had expected to have 
 the joy of imparting to him his original information on 
 this engaging theme, were disappointed and mortified 
 at the frequency with which he said "So I have 
 heard " as the details were delivered. 
 
 On coming to fill his first regular monthly appoint- 
 ment after this gossip arose he had at once an interview 
 with Gassier, and he forthwith determined that another 
 season of pastoral visitation was immediately required. 
 
 It was observed that on the occasion of this interview 
 the preacher remained a long while in the cobbler's 
 shop. It was supposed by the few whose errands to 
 the postoffice gave them a knowledge of it that the 
 faithful minister was now giving Sinner Gassier "a 
 good one," and one or two pious persons offered mental 
 prayers that the quick-tempered and profanity-prone 
 shoemaker might be moved. Some who passed by 
 noticed that the conversation was in a low tone and 
 so earnest that now and then Gassier stopped work 
 and shook his awl, his knife or his hammer in " Brother 
 Charlie's" face. As the latter did not draw back, it 
 was supposed that these gestures stopped at being 
 emphatic and did not go on to become really menacing.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 209 
 
 It was well recognized that Gassler's singing at 
 Sunday school was with an unconsecrated voice and 
 with only a profane love of song, and that he was on 
 the whole a tough block for an evangelist. 
 
 But the preacher was not seeking to Convert him. 
 The sole theme of their discussion was Bertha, and 
 when their talk was ended the preacher got on his 
 horse and rode to the Old Plantation, having a notion 
 that Bertha's heart might now, torn and broken, more 
 readily admit him than heretofore, and answering a 
 feeble remonstrance of conscience with the adage that 
 all is fair in love and war. 
 
 "Brother Charlie," without much real expense of 
 wit for jokes, had secured a reputation for being "full 
 of fun," and at once on meeting the family at the old 
 Plantation he undertook some verbal sport. Bertha 
 gave him kind for kind, as in former times, putting the 
 smiles and laughter in the figurative brackets set up 
 for them in the lively exchange of pleasantry. The 
 preacher had been told that the girl had not been seen 
 to smile for a month, and he was delighted with the 
 conclusion that his presence was most welcome to her. 
 He had had no hope of beginning his visit under such 
 propitious auspices. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Garrett were likewise astonished and 
 pleased, and immensely increased the preacher's joy 
 by uniting in saying that whereas, for some reason, 
 Bertha had been acting very soberly this summer, 
 "Brother Charlie" seemed to have brought her to 
 herself again.
 
 210 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 It was with great pleasure that Mrs. Garrett learned 
 from her husband several weeks previously that 
 "Brother Charlie" had proposed to Bertha. Mrs. 
 Garrett had the notion, that was still quite prevalent 
 among devout people a generation or two ago, that 
 ministers of the gospel stood close to angels and that, 
 as the latter were not eligible for husbands, preachers 
 were next best. The girl who married a minister might 
 forego alluring temporal prospects, but was more than 
 compensated by intimate companionship with one in 
 a holy calling. 
 
 Though Abner Garrett justly rated the ministry the 
 noblest profession in the world, he was yet of such a 
 disposition as that in giving a daughter in marriage 
 he would, under ordinary circumstances, attach very 
 great importance to the merely temporal qualifications 
 of the prospective husband, like family connections, 
 social position and prosperity; yet, as suggested in a 
 previous chapter, he seemed to have peculiar reasons 
 for desiring that Bertha should meet the preacher's 
 advances. So he and his wife contrived, with one 
 excuse and another, that Bertha and " Brother Charlie " 
 should be left alone together the greater part of the 
 evening. The young preacher prided himself on his 
 facility in throwing off ministerial dignity unbending, 
 he called it and only once in the evening did he fall 
 into the style of the parson. This was when he thought 
 a fine opening had presented itself for a telling expa- 
 tiation on the wonderful opportunities for doing good 
 possessed by a minister's wife.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 211 
 
 Bertha responded by an expression of pity for the 
 being so fortunately situated and treating the whole 
 subject with flippant irony. 
 
 " Brother Charlie " had been getting so certain that 
 Bertha, pushed from Pressley's arms, was now ready to 
 fly to his, that he was about to break the resolution with 
 which he came to the house and speak to her directly 
 on the matter, but her latter remarks disquieted and 
 disturbed him. He decided to further test his ground 
 a little. 
 
 "What is the latest word about your friend, Mr. 
 Pressley?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh, Jim is spending his vacation in Iowa," Bertha 
 replied, "and is having a splendid time. I hear from 
 him. He writes very interesting letters from there." 
 
 This was painfully perplexing to " Brother Charlie." 
 
 Mr. Garrett, approaching from the lawn, where he 
 had been musing, heard it, too, and observed with 
 regret, but yet with admiration, that Bertha was 
 something of a strategist. When he had sat down, 
 the girl, breaking under the strain of the part she had 
 been playing, hurried to her room and sobbed herself 
 to sleep. 
 
 The next morning Bertha was apparently as gay as 
 the traditional lark and fully ready, as on the previous 
 evening, to meet the preacher at badinage; observing 
 the change in her behavior Old Maggie was mani- 
 festly delighted, and flitted to and fro and about the 
 breakfast table so lightly and so cheerily that the family 
 were surprised, for none of them had realized how
 
 212 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 much she knew of Bertha's heart or how much her 
 own had suffered on account of the girl's disap- 
 pointment. 
 
 Nor did Bertha seek to circumvent the parental 
 plan that she and "Brother Charlie" should be com- 
 panions afoot up through the woodside pasture to 
 church, where the pastor in his discourse said "Je- 
 rooz-alum" many times with all the unction he could 
 muster. He returned with the Garretts for dinner, 
 but soon thereafter saddled his horse and went directly 
 for a further interview with Gassier to verify his infor- 
 mation concerning the recent history and deportment 
 of the belle of the Old Plantation. 
 
 He made several visits to the Garrett home later in 
 the season, sometimes in mid-week, and on each occa- 
 sion Bertha affected an air of contentment and light- 
 heartedness to receive him, yet he knew that this was 
 but a cloak worn while he was being entertained, and, 
 realizing that she was seeking to deceive him regarding 
 the lay of the ground, he felt that his advances should 
 be most cautious, and that for the time being he should 
 rely on his mere manner and general conversation, 
 rather than on any pointed words, to further his 
 progress. 
 
 And so the summer passed. The only real diversion 
 Bertha had was when, on several occasions too rare, 
 indeed " Shiftless " would ask her if it was not about 
 time she "wath having another feller, thome feller 
 who really knowed her and who she really knowed." 
 He did not allow that the preacher really knew her.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 213 
 
 This would furnish Bertha with material for laughter 
 that, as memory drew on it every hour or two, would 
 sometimes last a whole day. So acceptable, so re- 
 storative was it that the girl more than once sought, 
 when convenient, a renewal of the supply. " Shiftless " 
 was always ready with this bounty, but, constituted 
 by nature for extremely deliberate motions, he besides 
 held the doctrine that one should never proceed so 
 slowly as when in love, and he never allowed his passion 
 to become so impetuous as to hasten him. 
 
 All told, though she had been abruptly and rudely 
 repelled, Bertha could not move her heart, as, indeed, 
 she at last wilfully tried to do, away from Pressley. 
 He entered many of her night dreams, some of which 
 were so joyful that her heart ached the more on wak- 
 ing to find them but dreams; some so grievous with 
 the waking trouble in them that a flood of real tears 
 would awake her. 
 
 Often she found herself wishing she might get a 
 letter from Jim saying he might be mistaken, and, 
 whether or no, that he would cleave unto her forever. 
 
 As for Pressley, he had his continuing agony, too. 
 His friends in Iowa thought he had changed much in 
 the short time he had been in Indiana. They were 
 surprised that the rollicking, fun-loving boy had 
 developed into so sober, not to say gloomy, a young 
 man. 
 
 Many a time he fought the whole battle over, and 
 always to the same stern issue, against the acceptance 
 of which, however, though his judgment did not relent
 
 214 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 in commanding it, his affections were always in re- 
 bellion. He longed for some means of circumvention. 
 If she were only Abner Garrett's daughter and not 
 Mrs. Garrett's as well! If she only were an adopted 
 child, daughter of anybody! Or if he might take her 
 far away where nobody knew about her, and abide 
 with her there 1 
 
 In the autumn a grief more easily understood by 
 the common mind than the woe of a heart bruised at 
 love, and one eliciting a sympathy unmixed with jest, 
 fell upon the whole household at the Old Plantation, 
 for the word came that Walter had died of yellow 
 fever in New Orleans under unusual and mysterious 
 circumstances. 
 
 His wife had been stricken, and while suffering with 
 this dreadful malady was forced to undergo the added 
 jeopardy involved in bringing a child into the world. 
 Her peril was extreme and in proportion was the anxiety 
 of her husband. She was soon convalescent from her 
 double illness, and it was reported as the conjecture 
 of the physician that only in the danger attending the 
 production of a new life were the conditions that had 
 so menacingly encompassed her own dissolved. 
 
 On a sunny day Walter stood before the mantel in 
 his wife's room, peeling an orange for her, rejoicing 
 that she was increasing in strength, and glorying in 
 his first born. 
 
 And then, without being touched by hand or other 
 object and as if by some invisible impulsion, a vase 
 that stood on the mantel at Walter's back, fell forward
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 215 
 
 and was shattered on the tiling at his feet. Next day 
 he was in the grip of the fever. In a few days came the 
 black vomit and death. 
 
 The body could not be brought north at once, and 
 it was arranged that it should lie in a small vault 
 until the time should expire within which it could not 
 be transported. 
 
 Beneath this dark shadow Bertha entered with other 
 members of the family, and for a time it was almost 
 forgotten that she had a private sorrow all her own.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE COMING OF THE DEAD. 
 
 THE circumstances surrounding Walter's death and 
 the temporary disposition of his remains made the 
 people of the Good Hope neighborhood feel that the 
 body was a distinguished corpse. 
 
 For the pieces of that shattered vase had rattled 
 even against Walter's heels, and how close he must 
 have come to being touched by the very finger of God 
 or of a demon! A sign, surely, whether of a power 
 good or bad, had been wrought over him, while yet he 
 lived, to mark him for the sudden and awful death 
 that he died a death which so contaminated his 
 flesh that even the cold clay must be hurried out of 
 sight lest it be the curse of those who might linger 
 over and look upon it ! 
 
 And Authority that strangely fabricated engine 
 of high civil potencies called Authority had had 
 reason to take hasty cognizance of this poor body, 
 wrecked by the agencies of a power so malignant and 
 mysterious. Authority had seized it, indeed, while 
 yet it lay upon the bed and when the spirit had been 
 even but a short time gone, and carried it away, with 
 no time for mourning or for tears, to a little white, 
 marble prison on the city's edge. It had had the 
 special attention of officers. It had been dealt with 
 
 216
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 217 
 
 by the city of New Orleans and by the state of Louisiana. 
 It had been made subject to laws and rules not often 
 heard of near a quiet country cemetery. 
 
 Therefore the Good Hope people felt that it was no 
 common corpse. Imagine all the natural causes they 
 might for the falling of the vase and nobody pre- 
 tending to know the facts had ever said that a sudden 
 puff of wind did not come in at an open window against 
 the frail vessel or that Walter, in the exuberance of his 
 spirits over his wife's recovery, did not lean back and 
 tip it, unknown to himself or Ida, with his shoulder 
 imagine as they might, most of the people had the 
 apprehension that some invisible hand pushed the 
 vase from the mantel. 
 
 As the day now approached when this historic bit 
 of mortality was to be released from its low-vaulted 
 prison and make a silent journey northward to seek 
 its final rest, the pride of the people around the Old 
 Plantation in the fact that in their midst, in their own 
 little graveyard, was to occur a burial about which 
 so much might be said, began to struggle with their 
 fear lest certain awful things might also be drawing 
 near. 
 
 It was in their minds that in some way the corpse 
 was a nomad. They had often imagined that that 
 white tomb in the south was but a tent, and now its 
 occupant was to issue forth, bound in grave-clothes, 
 and come hitherward. And how singularly he was to 
 travel! As if asleep, yet moving! Lying on his back 
 with his hands folded across his breast, yet constantly
 
 218 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 coining, coming! Always looking toward the sky, mak- 
 ing no sign, and getting nearer and nearer every hour! 
 A mute and distressed wanderer! 
 
 But this was not the worst. Minds were startled at 
 the thought that about the mortuary box there might 
 be a subtle, intangible odor which it would be death to 
 inhale, or that from the open grave, as the mournful 
 burden was lowered into the earth, an invisible essence 
 might arise to poison the wholesome air with the 
 infection of a plague! 
 
 For a whole month before the body arrived were 
 told and retold frightful stories from anywhere of all 
 manner of singular afflictions and terrible deaths. 
 Every home became a hospital with a hundred imagi- 
 nary patients. It was as if every lazar house in the 
 world had been called on to contribute its most shocking 
 picture for the temporary contemplation of the 
 community. 
 
 To go the whole length of making much out of the 
 alleged danger, to carry the scare to its last degree of 
 consistency and so add something as nearly as possible 
 like earnestness to a situation in which, after all, the 
 common consciousness recognized there was a good 
 deal of pretense, it began to be suggested that Abner 
 Garrett, in bringing the body home for burial, was 
 putting the lives of his neighbors in peril. It was 
 hinted, too, as a kind of corollary, that if people had a 
 due regard for their safety they would not go near the 
 corpse. 
 
 Meantime the hearts in the Garrett home, which had
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 219 
 
 been fraught to crushing by the grievous intelligence 
 flashed from the south in the early autumn, and which 
 afterwards had lightened for a time, grew heavy again. 
 Mr. Garrett's paleness, scarce gone, returned. He bore 
 the look of some hopeless, weary one. To him the 
 intervening time had been like one long vigil at the 
 bedside of the sick. 
 
 His intellect knew that his son must be dead, but the 
 bad news came from so far away, and he had not seen 
 the closed eyes and waxen face of his boy; and his heart 
 would have it most of the time, something like a half- 
 consciousness, that Walter was half alive. Half alive, 
 and so the fearful father watched, willing to live in a 
 dream and unwilling to wake from it until Walter was 
 borne home. That would be the real death day. 
 Walter should die at home. The old man often went 
 up to what was called the " boys' room," unused now 
 and unfurnished, and sat there until chilled. 
 
 One morning, a week before the body came, Bertha 
 found him there. She was startled at first when his 
 white face was turned full upon her, for she had ex- 
 pected when she opened the door to see only the dreary 
 emptiness of that now doubly cheerless place. Mr. 
 Garrett smiled sadly as she entered, extended his arm 
 and drew her into his lap. 
 
 " It used to be a cozy place before the boys left home," 
 said he, "and I've had many a good time with them 
 up here. Now Walter's coming home again, and we 
 must fix it up for him just as it was then. He may not 
 occupy the bed nor sit in one of the chairs nor look
 
 220 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 dreamily into the fire as he used to do, but he'll see 
 the room; he'll see it and he'll like it. He'll be glad to 
 get back. He'll be glad," and Mr. Garrett's sad smile 
 turned into one that was almost joyful. 
 
 As for Bertha, she laid her head upon his shoulder 
 and sobbed. 
 
 At length she spoke, and said: "And yet, father, 
 the people are talking. They say we ought not to 
 bring him home." 
 
 "What's that, my child, what's that?" asked Mr. 
 Garrett with a look of the utmost incredulity in his face. 
 
 " They say we ought not to bring him home because 
 it's dangerous; that it may cause yellow fever up here 
 or something else, because he died of such an awful 
 thing." 
 
 "Do they criticize us for doing it, for bringing our 
 own dear, dead son home so that he may lie near us 
 and we may visit his grave? " 
 
 "Yes, they say we ought not to do it, at least for a 
 year or two." 
 
 The old man's face at this moment was pitiful to see. 
 It was like the room in which he sat, cold, dismantled, 
 reflecting its suggestion of sorrow and of the hopeless 
 finality of those events that separated the dismal 
 present from the happier past. The clouds had become 
 just a little thicker and it was raining just a little harder 
 in the old man's heart. He stared at the small fire- 
 place, the empty bed frame and the bare walls. 
 
 " Reproached by my neighbors," said he slowly and 
 but half -audibly, "for bringing him home a year or
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 221 
 
 two yet they think I'm bound to do it even if it 
 should spread a pestilence among them how could 
 they think that? think me so selfish in my sorrow or 
 in my affection as to put them to such a risk as that? 
 
 "Whom did you hear speak of it?" he asked, raising 
 his voice. 
 
 " Henry said he had heard a good many talking about 
 it," answered Bertha. 
 
 "Well, they must know it's perfectly safe," said Mr. 
 Garrett in an assuring tone, but he himself was not 
 assured that they did know, and he felt pained as with 
 a dart at the imputation the vain gossip implied. 
 
 Then he spoke again about fitting up the room, and 
 seemed presently to forget the distressing report that 
 he had just heard, for his eyes brightened, pleasant 
 smiles came once more and his voice showed a glad 
 interest as he discussed with Bertha what it would be 
 necessary to do to furnish the room just as nearly as 
 possible as it was when years before it had been the 
 headquarters of the boys, a favorite resort of their 
 father's and a place, oh, so high up but always so inter- 
 esting that it never failed to well repay the little tot 
 Bertha for the pains and endeavor of her clambering 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 And Bertha, too, grew animated and almost cheerful 
 over the undertaking to rehabilitate this old and, since 
 many years, lonely corner. 
 
 They determined to commence it that very day. 
 They went down stairs. When they informed Mrs. 
 Garrett of their plan she had the appearance of one
 
 222 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 who is in the presence of strange beings. The moment 
 the announcement was made she looked at her husband 
 and at Bertha as if she were afraid of them, and indeed 
 she was. 
 
 The very thought of acting as if Walter were alive, 
 of preparing to receive him as if he were to come 
 walking in the flesh, with buoyant step and beaming face, 
 struck the poor woman as so unnatural that she could 
 have been scarcely less dumbfounded and bewildered 
 had she heard a voice from the tomb itself. Did they 
 expect that those stiff and shrivelled arms would grow 
 supple and embrace them? Or to hear a joyous 
 salutation from that closed mouth or receive a kiss 
 from those cold and wasted lips? To her the conceit 
 was uncanny. No thought of insanity entered her 
 head, but Mr. Garrett and Bertha seemed to her to 
 have become the spell-bound messengers of the dead 
 and to speak in the language of shadows. 
 
 She knew not what to answer them, for her simple 
 mind was filled with alarm. She was overcome by 
 the impression that the mysterious things of the world 
 of darkness were boldly thrusting themselves into the 
 world of substance and light, to confuse the dull senses 
 of common nature. The suspicion came to her that 
 Mr. Garrett, on his frequent visits to that upper, 
 deserted chamber, might have strange communings 
 with their dead son and that her husband's pallid face 
 and cold extremities, on coming down, might have 
 been due, not alone to the chilly air, but also to the 
 frigid touch of some hidden hand.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 223 
 
 "Why, mamma, what's the matter?" asked Bertha 
 as Mrs. Garrett sank into a chair, still dazed and 
 speechless. 
 
 "Oh, it seems go strange to do that," replied the 
 troubled woman, somewhat withdrawn from her un- 
 earthly vagaries and conjectures by a question showing 
 an interest so plainly human. 
 
 "But we want to do something that will seem to 
 welcome him. We don't want to just sit and let him 
 come." 
 
 This did not help the situation for Mrs. Garrett, but 
 she feared to express dissent though feeling that an 
 evil was brooding. So she said no more, and Mr. 
 Garrett and Bertha proceeded with the task they had 
 set for themselves. However, Mr. Garrett had observed 
 that his wife regarded their work as portentous. To 
 her the refurnished room, no matter how cheery and 
 inviting and home-like they might make it, and perhaps 
 all the more in the degree they made it so, would be 
 filled with a cloud, and he began with uneasy misgivings. 
 
 But the forebodings which his wife's manner had 
 forced into his heart vanished a few hours later when, 
 standing before a radiant, crackling fire that his own 
 hand had kindled, the mere fact that the dear old 
 room was warm again was a solace to his spirit. 
 
 The refurnishing took two days. It lightened the 
 melancholy of Mr. Garrett and Bertha, and the hoarse 
 whistling of the steamboats as they passed up the river 
 did not seem so mournful; but Mrs. Garrett could not 
 become reconciled to the proceeding. There was a
 
 224 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 boldness or impiety about it, a trifling with awful 
 things, which she felt must sooner or later bring on a 
 judgment. But she said nothing. 
 
 When the neighbors learned what had been going 
 on they shared Mrs. Garrett's feelings. It was some- 
 thing they could not understand, and magnified in a 
 welcome manner the general mystery with which the 
 community was now engrossed.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 BITTEN BY THE SILVER SERPENT. 
 
 THE burial was on a Sunday afternoon in February. 
 The people came for miles around. The more intimate 
 acquaintances of the Garretts, comprising generally 
 the most intelligent families in the vicinity, were 
 moved by feelings in which the desire to express a 
 kindly interest and sympathy was predominant over 
 less worthy sentiments. 
 
 Others were actuated by curiosity, which, though 
 commonly on such occasions it lacks positive virtue 
 and is, indeed, likely to be morbid, could not be regarded 
 in this instance, considering all that had been said, as 
 very unnatural. And as curiosity is never less intru- 
 sive than at a funeral or where great grief is, these 
 latter ones stood afar off. They grouped themselves 
 out by the gate or looked over the shoulders of those 
 in advance. 
 
 And those a large number in whom a curiosity, 
 begotten by fear, was mingled with fear, and fear was 
 the stronger, avoided the house and straggled of 
 common accord to the graveyard where they inspected 
 at their will the open grave that was soon to receive 
 a charge so notable, and poked their toes into the pile 
 of clay that presently was to hide the object which 
 while unhidden was so menacing. 
 
 225
 
 226 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 From here they would saunter on singly and in twos 
 and threes up a gentle hill to the dingy little district 
 schoolhouse, a hundred yards away, for the teacher 
 had come down, unlocked the door and built a fire so 
 that they might be warm while waiting. 
 
 Such a session of school had never been held in that 
 room before. Such a motley company, big and little, 
 black and white, male and female, and all how needing 
 instruction! So, while over at the Plantation home, 
 with strange horses gnawing irreverently at the fence 
 boards, and the porches black with men and women 
 who could not get inside, "Brother Charlie" was 
 reading the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians and 
 talking about New Orleans and New Je-rooz-alum, 
 the more timid people in the schoolhouse were at class 
 to one another. 
 
 A noisy school! No order was kept. Teachers 
 were unceremoniously interrupted. A question asked 
 of one would be answered by another or by a half 
 dozen at once in as many different ways. There was 
 whispering, talking aloud, changing of seats, going 
 out and in doors, and, withal, the attention was con- 
 stantly detracted by expectancy. 
 
 The subjects of instruction were many: 
 
 Why could yellow fever not be carried in cold as 
 well as in warm weather? 
 
 Was not its prevalence in the south alone due simply 
 to chance? 
 
 Why did Mr. Garrett furnish Walter's room as if he 
 were coming home alive?
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 227 
 
 Could not the seeds of yellow fever produce other and 
 quite as terrible diseases in cold climates? 
 
 The best thing for croup. 
 
 The latest " diptheory " epidemic. 
 
 The power of small potatoes to keep away 
 rheumatism. 
 
 The horror hovering about a hearse. 
 
 Had there been cases of smallpox leaving the patient 
 unmarked? 
 
 Could it possibly be true that Walter's wife escaped 
 the yellow fever simply because she had been lately 
 confined? 
 
 The virtues of assafoetida bags. 
 
 At length there was a hush, for a company of men 
 and women, who had taken the short cut afoot from 
 the house, were seen emerging from the wood and en- 
 tering the graveyard. It was a column hi black, 
 for every wardrobe and clothes chest had been ran- 
 sacked and the blackest garments in every house 
 were worn that day. 
 
 The schoolhouse was at once deserted, and its late 
 occupants moved down the hill and climbed over the 
 fence into the sacred enclosure at the corner diagonally 
 opposite to that in which the grave was dug. 
 
 The high, dead grass was surging to and fro deso- 
 lately beneath the rude monuments there, and a flock 
 of crows were cawing in a tree on the edge of the wood 
 overlooking the scene when the funeral procession 
 came up. 
 
 First, " Brother Charlie " in a carriage by the side of a
 
 228 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 person never before seen in this country place, Cornelius 
 Vaii of Madison, undertaker and funeral director, 
 who had buried ten thousand people, tall, pale and 
 with white hair, as if he had grown to be like the White 
 Horse the sound of whose hoofs he had followed so 
 long and so closely a sufficient curiosity in himself 
 to the simple folks who regarded him. 
 
 Then, that dread, solemn, significant, black-plumed 
 vehicle that always accompanied him, drawn by 
 shining black horses, covered, as if their color were 
 not enough, with black netting fringed with tiny 
 black tassels. A man always looking into tearful 
 eyes, talking cruel business to broken hearts, getting 
 his orders out of mouths struck almost dumb a 
 vehicle always making a sad journey, carrying away 
 someone's hope, leading sorrowing ones as with an 
 iron chain to where the earth opens those gulfs of 
 despair and the dear form is swallowed up to be 
 seen no more. 
 
 Then, Abner Garrett, who had prepared to receive 
 his son as if he were dive, supporting the young widow 
 who had seen the vase fall at Walter's feet and on 
 whom herself had been wrought something so like a 
 miracle; Dan, the blonde hero of wave and rope and 
 gangplank, by the side of his mother, the slave girl 
 once, the white-black woman, a reader of signs; Old 
 Maggie, of singular history, stooped, blind in one eye, 
 hard of hearing; Bertha, a dew-drenched flower, 
 disappointed in love, the unhappy belle of the region. 
 And with the family came Professor Bland, mourning
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 229 
 
 with those who mourned, halt, misshapen, but with a 
 face and head worthy of a royal form and stature. 
 He had come down from College Hill to see his old 
 pupil laid away and to attest his sympathy with his 
 old friends. 
 
 All these were observed with an attentiveness and 
 intensity that fell short of a stare only because the 
 mournful circumstances imposed a sentiment of respect 
 to which even the inquisitiveness and curiosity of the 
 untutored and uncultivated minds of that multitude 
 yielded. 
 
 "Shiftless Henry" was one of the pallbearers. It 
 was a trying time for him. Mrs. Garrett had over him 
 a dominion that no other human being possessed. 
 He always worked for her better than for anyone 
 else, though this is not saying a great deal. In the 
 last eighteen or twenty months he had worked better 
 than before a fact Bertha had noticed and laughed 
 at. He had, of course, heard the general talk in the 
 neighborhood for the last month, but it had not fright- 
 ened him. Mrs. Garrett, he knew, had no fear that 
 Walter's corpse would bring contagion, and so he had 
 none. But when he found out Mrs. Garrett was 
 troubled about the refurnishing of Walter's room and 
 the fact that Mr. Garrett slept in it with a blazing 
 fire two nights before the body came he had creeping 
 of the flesh. He struggled with himself. He did his 
 best to think that there could be nothing wrong or 
 non-human about it, because Bertha had a part in it, 
 but he could not so ease his mind. Bertha was in
 
 230 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 league with Mr. Garrett, and Henry imagined in the 
 last few days that he could see a strange light in Mr. 
 Garrett's eyes and that his voice was not natural. 
 
 He would not worry about the seeds of pestilence 
 or the germs of disease, because, so far as he knew, 
 Mrs. Garrett did not, but he could never bear to medi- 
 tate on the subject of ghosts and had always been 
 afraid of the dark. 
 
 And he could not keep away from the Garrett home 
 now when the family was in bereavement and needed 
 the kind offices of friends. As an old friend of the 
 family, a near neighbor, a boyhood companion of 
 Walter and Dan, a patient and plodding aspirant for 
 Bertha's hand, he could not absent himself even if 
 he had not already proffered any services that it was 
 in his power to render. 
 
 But, as he came every day to inquire what he might 
 do, he went about the house with fear and trembling. 
 It was worse after he had assisted in bringing the 
 corpse from the wharf, for he had been stricken as if 
 with palsy when, in handling the box, a noise was 
 heard on the inside. Going home in the evening, 
 after having been asked to act as a pallbearer the com- 
 ing Sunday, he fancied he could hear Walter calling 
 him at a distance in the woods. He would have been 
 glad to get a thousand miles away until it was all over, 
 but, since he was in for it, he strove to put on it the 
 best face possible. 
 
 He would journey to the postoffice and argue with 
 as many of his acquaintances as he could engage in
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 231 
 
 conversation, whether they took the opposite side or 
 not, that there could be no such thing as a ghost. 
 
 "It ith thith way," said he to the postmaster with 
 emphatic deliberation, "ath far ath the body ith con- 
 therned, when a man ith dead he'th dead, and ath 
 for hith thpirit, we are taught in the Bible that the 
 thpirit of every man goeth to Heaven or to Hell, 
 and wunth there, it thtayth." 
 
 This was supplemented by a reference to the Spirit- 
 ualists, many of them men of the most acute sort, in 
 Henry's opinion, who would be able, if any men were, 
 to hold communication with departed souls; but all 
 of them, he declared, had failed, and, as for spirit- 
 ualistic seances, he was convinced that there never 
 was one that was not a humbug. They might be puz- 
 zling for a time but were always finally " ekthploded." 
 
 Neither did he lose sight of the proposition that 
 shadow cannot harm substance, which to state put 
 his tongue to a most violent contortional exercise. 
 With respect to spirits that never had bodies, with 
 whom he had never had any sort of acquaintance, 
 and they presumably none with him, who could not 
 call him Henry and did not know where he lived, 
 they did not disquiet him. He would have been glad 
 to see or hear an angel, and the devil never but once 
 seemed to be coming his way and that was years ago 
 when for a few revival days his untried soul wrestled 
 with the dogma of total depravity and groaned under 
 a conviction of sin. 
 
 On the morning of the funeral day he dressed him-
 
 232 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 self with unwonted care and with a scrupulous regard, 
 so far as his lights could direct him, for the conven- 
 tionalities and proprieties of the solemn occasion 
 before him. He knew that black was the color. He 
 began with his boots. Shoeblacking was a footgear 
 cosmetic never known in the Anthony household. 
 Henry had discovered a substitute which recommended 
 itself to him because always on hand and more con- 
 venient for use than the commercial article. It was 
 sometimes suggested to him by those occasionally 
 present at his somewhat rare toilets that this blacking 
 was not susceptible of so fine a polish as the "store 
 stuff," but an answer perfectly satisfactory to himself 
 was that "if a boot ith ath black ath a thtove it ith 
 black enough." 
 
 So, on this morning he went as usual to the kitchen, 
 inverted a kettle, and exercising alternately his max- 
 illary glands and his brush, arrayed his coarse boots 
 in a coat of black positive enough, in his view, for 
 any sermon-hearing or any funeral two things which 
 he was like a great many other people in regarding 
 as closely akin; differing mainly in this, that at a 
 funeral an actual corpse of some known person is 
 present, while at sermon a corpse is but imagined, 
 and there is far less mourning, because the imagined 
 corpse is that of some indefinite unfortunate whom 
 somewhere, somehow, some tune death overtook. 
 Oh, how many funerals this stranger has had, and he 
 is not yet buried ! 
 
 But Henry, through sorrowful piety and reverence,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 233 
 
 applied a double portion of sombre and solemn soot. 
 His boot could not say to the kettle " Thou art black." 
 
 A couple of years before this Henry was present 
 when Walter was discarding some old clothes. Walter 
 held up a swallow-tail coat and surveyed it from top 
 to bottom. It was a garment such as Henry had never 
 beheld and he observed it with wonder. 
 
 "What d'ye call that?" he asked. "That mutht 
 be a houthe that the carpenterth forgot to build the 
 cornerth onto." 
 
 "That? Oh, that's what we call a claw hammer," 
 answered Walter. "You may have it if you like," and 
 he tossed the coat to Henry. 
 
 "That mutht be thome new thtyle that you ketched 
 at your college. Do they wear them thingth up 
 there?" 
 
 "Well, once in a while. That'll do for you when 
 you go to some big party or wedding or funeral," 
 said Walter with a disposition to joke which Henry 
 did not perceive. 
 
 " All right, thir, thankth. I'll wear it and remember 
 you." 
 
 So Henry put it on, this day that he was to help 
 carry Walter to his grave, and it must be confessed 
 that, though sincere sorrow and mourning were in 
 his heart, a little vanity and pride found their way 
 in, too, and Mrs. Anthony, as she gazed upon the 
 queerly fashioned garment hanging from the shoul- 
 ders of her son, was surprised at the air of gentility 
 and grace that it imparted to the form and figure
 
 234 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 of her lank, loose-jointed, bony and awkward Henry. 
 
 Henry was conscious of this pride in himself and, 
 feeling it a sin, strove, with but a moment's success, 
 to drive it away with the following reflection: 
 
 "Little did he think, I reckon, that it wath goin' 
 to be to hith own funeral that I would wear it firtht." 
 
 "No, no," sighed his mother, "we can never tell 
 what's goin' to happen. It may be one of ours turn 
 next." 
 
 After which moralizing the pride returned. Henry 
 would not wear his overcoat on the pretext that it 
 was too shabby, but perhaps he left it off only because 
 he was unwilling that the solemn glory of his new 
 habiliment should be hidden by gross and common 
 fabric. 
 
 It was a cut of cloth with which the community, 
 also, was not familiar. A few, indeed, understood the 
 functions of this style of coat, but a funeral is not an 
 occasion when one stops to be critical and they regarded 
 its appearance only as an extreme informality among 
 the innumerable informalities of commoner brood that 
 thrive in country districts. Others had now and then 
 seen preachers thus arrayed at meetings of Baptist 
 associations, and were therefore struck with no sus- 
 picion of particular impropriety, since if a preacher 
 might wear such a coat at an Association a layman 
 might wear one at a funeral. But to all the rest this 
 coat was something wholly new and broke upon their 
 vision as a veritable revelation, an unheard-of 
 phenomenon.
 
 "Stand aside! Others will do your work."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 235 
 
 The people felt that under it Henry's character was 
 changed, that it had un-Henried or trans-Henried 
 him. Part of the Henry, anyway, was somehow gone 
 from him or had been submerged or overwhelmed by 
 the garb that was upon him. 
 
 Once they felt that the coat was in the nature of a 
 robe. Again, they would scarcely have been surprised 
 if Henry had spread the scant, black skirts, leaped 
 from the earth and flown awkwardly away. 
 
 This impression of Henry's strangeness had been 
 deepened by his manner. His face was pale, his 
 hands shook and his legs quaked. His excitement 
 increased, the nearer the grave was approached, and 
 as the bier was taken up at the graveyard gate and 
 the burden borne forward, his trembling became so 
 violent and his weakness so great that half the time 
 he leaned heavily against the box and became himself 
 a burden as well. 
 
 As the solemn procession moved on, some of those 
 who had held off followed at some distance, but the 
 most timid ones still remained in the place they had 
 first taken and a few believed themselves safer out- 
 side the enclosure altogether. 
 
 Reaching the grave, Abner Garrett, Bertha and 
 Henry were equally surprised to find Gassier awaiting 
 the cortege there, for it was he who had been engaged 
 by some of the friends of the family, without con- 
 sulting Mr. Garrett in this particular, to dig the grave 
 and act as sexton. Garrett and Bertha were both 
 surprised and shocked, the former because he felt that
 
 236 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Gassier had meddled cruelly in the affairs of his family, 
 and Bertha because she looked upon him as the wretch 
 that by fiendish lying had robbed her of her lover. 
 Her indignation now consumed even her sorrow. 
 The box had been placed over the grave, "Brother 
 Charlie" had offered a prayer. Bertha turned to 
 Gassier and said : 
 
 " Please stand aside." 
 
 "What do you mean?" he asked, surprised. 
 
 "Stand aside. Others will do your work," she 
 said in a louder voice and in the undoubted tone of 
 command. 
 
 At the same time she stepped toward him. He 
 stepped back, but as he did so his foot struck one end 
 of the board supporting the foot of the box. The 
 earth beneath began to crumble and fall into the grave, 
 and the box to sink. Gassier stooped quickly to 
 support it with his hand. Bertha caught sight on 
 one finger of a silver ring in the semblance of a coiled 
 serpent. Then the geography of the whole hand, 
 quick as a flash of lightning, became outlined in her 
 sight with the distinctness of a map. 
 
 She had shrunk back in terror from the same shining 
 serpent and that same uncouth hand, seen in the glare 
 of the lamplight on the porch fourteen years before. 
 She was now equally unnerved and overcome by the 
 sight. As her eye fell upon it her pale face grew still 
 paler. She gave a shrill scream and sprang to grasp 
 Mr. Garrett's arm. Gassier had caught the box just 
 in time to keep it from going down, but the board fell 
 into the grave.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 237 
 
 Not all had heard just what Bertha had said to 
 Gassier, but they had observed her anger, Gassler's 
 stepping back and quick stooping, the dull, hollow 
 sound that came from the grave when the board 
 struck the hard bottom, Bertha's piercing cry and 
 bound, and all were seized with consternation and 
 fright. It was in every mind that the dread truth, 
 whatever it might be, in all the gossip, all the con- 
 jectures and all the fears that had filled the air for a 
 month had come out sure enough in some awful un- 
 earthly climax. 
 
 The little graveyard became like a madhouse. 
 Bertha's scream was immediately echoed by a score 
 of screams in different parts of the cemetery. A 
 portion of the people, though cold with fear, rushed 
 to the grave and surged about it, not stopping in their 
 frenzied impetuosity to pollute with their feet the 
 sacred pile of fresh earth, upon which, ankle deep in 
 the loose clay, they pressed against one another for 
 position. Others turned and fled in panic. 
 
 Men, women and children were scrambling over the 
 fences. A score of colored people of both sexes rushed 
 from the yard, shrieking, imagining that the very 
 tombstones had forsaken the holy mounds over which 
 through long days and nights they had kept silent 
 sentry and were in pursuit of them. 
 
 Gassier, angered at Bertha's command, was, through 
 the stupefaction of the men about him, left so long 
 alone in his cramped position, supporting the heavy 
 box, though it was but a moment, that he was still
 
 238 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 furthered angered, and, beside himself with rage, he 
 ordered them with an oath to take hold of the straps 
 and lower the box into the grave. 
 
 Hearing the profane words, Prof. Bland with an 
 inarticulate exclamation of horror raised his eyes 
 toward heaven. Mrs. Garrett sank down on Julia's 
 grave, moaning and wringing her hands. Dan was 
 by her side seeking to compose her. Henry was 
 seized by his old mother who was endeavoring to drag 
 him away. Old Maggie was running distractedly 
 from one to another, saying words no one could under- 
 stand and to which, indeed, no one listened. Abner 
 Garrett had Bertha folded in his arms, patting hsr 
 on the back and saying such things as a mother might 
 say to a frightened child. 
 
 Hearing Gassler's oath, the frenzied girl cried: 
 
 "The robber! The robber! The robber! Look at 
 his hand!" 
 
 People thought at first that she had lost her reason, 
 but Garrett, just as the first faint apprehension of her 
 meaning was beginning to be caught, staggered, pale 
 and desperate, toward Gassier with the command: 
 
 "Show us your left hand." 
 
 And now there were some who fully understood the 
 significance of Bertha's actions and words. 
 
 "Show us your left hand," repeated Garrett as 
 Gassier drew back and hesitated. Then, with defiant 
 impatience the man shot forth his hand. 
 
 There was the serpent of silver coiled around the 
 third finger, and from the base of the finger a scar ran
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 239 
 
 up the palm to a depression in the ball of the thumb. 
 
 Sure enough, and some remarked it was strange 
 they had never noticed it, though, indeed, the slight 
 fame about this mark in the days following the rob- 
 bery had remained but a short time in the common 
 recollection. 
 
 " You must be the man," said Garrett with firmness 
 but with no indication of a personal resentment. 
 
 A murmur of astonishment ran through the crowd, 
 and all eyes were upon Gassier. Garrett looked 
 around at his wife and the family group, and, turning 
 again to Gassier, he said with a patriarchal authority 
 as he pointed into the grave : 
 
 "You shall not throw one clod of dirt upon that 
 coffin." 
 
 "You tried to kill papa! You robbed us! You 
 have been a curse to us all! You dare to bury our 
 brother! He ought to have hanged you!" cried 
 Bertha. 
 
 Gassler's face was as red as fire. 
 
 " Your papa," he yelled ; " your brother, eh? I 
 guess it's time you knowed who your papa is. I'm 
 your papa, and there," pointing to Old Maggie, whose 
 mouth was wide open with apprehension and wonder, 
 "there's your mammy. That may take some o' the 
 fine feathers off ye. You've got too many of 'em." 
 
 Bertha had naught to reply. She could not have 
 spoken had she tried, for the memory of a childish 
 teasing, long forgotten, now returned and overwhelmed 
 her. Nor would she have spoken if she could. Gass-
 
 240 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 lei's was the taunt of an angry man, but it had not 
 seemed merely a madly-aimed, insulting jest, and 
 Bertha stood mute and motionless, dreading in any- 
 wise to provoke a look, a sign, a breath of confirmation 
 that would dash away the slight hope still left to her, 
 in spite of the memory and Gassier' s manner, that the 
 words might be untrue. Oh, she could bear that 
 teasing again, for if that were the same truth it seemed 
 so little a one; but now, coming on a torrent of anger, 
 it was full grown, savage and a monster. If she could 
 resist it even by turning into a statue of stone she 
 would wish to do that. 
 
 The silence of all, which endured for several moments, 
 was a mercy to her. At length Abner Garrett turned 
 around, saying: 
 
 "Let us go. Neighbors, some of you will please 
 see that the grave is filled." 
 
 He and Bertha taking the lead, the company of 
 mourners went to the gate. There all except these 
 two took the carriages, for the planter had assented 
 to Bertha's suggestion that he and she walk home 
 together through the woods.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 AN ORPHAN. 
 
 THE rugged old beeches along the oft-trodden way 
 which Garrett and Bertha now walked, close together, 
 and, for a little distance, in silence, extended, so it 
 seemed to them, a something like sympathy to their 
 troubled spirits, and Garrett here and there, as he 
 passed, actually caught the end of a low-swinging 
 branch as if it were the hand of a plain and faithful 
 friend. 
 
 Bertha was in agony with a doubt that was making 
 a whirlwind in her soul, and the man with a truth 
 which, while it remained a secret from the girl, had, 
 indeed, sometimes tortured him, but which now, he 
 felt, must rend him as it passed from him. 
 
 " Father," cried the girl as she threw back the black 
 veil that hung before her face and, turning about, 
 caught Mr. Garrett convulsively by the arm "Father, 
 is it so?" 
 
 Garrett did not fail to notice that it was the first 
 or second time in her life that, in addressing him, she 
 had used the word Father, nor that she repeated it 
 and dwelt upon it as if pleading that he should call 
 her his own. The appeal made him doubly tender 
 toward her, if that were possible, for it was infinitely 
 pitiful; and doubly miserable, if that, too, were pos- 
 
 241
 
 242 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 sible, that he could not give her the answer for which 
 her heart yearned. 
 
 " Daughter daughter daughter," he almost sobbed 
 as he threw his arms about her and looked down into 
 her face (and he could see already tears of joy welling 
 in her eyes); "daughter you have been since before 
 you can remember; daughter you shall always be, but" 
 and the old man scarcely knew his own voice as he 
 said it " have not always been." 
 
 Perplexity and distress returned to Bertha's face. 
 
 "What do you mean?" she asked. "Is it so, 
 then?" 
 
 "We are not your real flesh and blood parents. It 
 is true that Maggie is your mother. I suppose Gassier 
 is your father. But it shall make no difference, 
 Bertha. You are our daughter by adoption; ours by 
 love and care. You have always been our darling 
 just the same as if you had been really our own child. 
 We have always loved you as we loved Julia. It 
 can't make any difference, can it, dear? " 
 
 Bertha was already sobbing, and her tears were 
 those of the orphan, for the voice of Abner Garrett 
 even now sounded like that of another and his words 
 simply as the consolation of some kind stranger. She 
 felt that he had at last forsaken her in a woeful ex- 
 tremity and had taken the cruel part of the detested 
 Gassier against her. 
 
 " Oh, father," she said for she clung to that name 
 "it makes me feel so lonely. I feel as if you all were 
 dead, you and mamma and Dan, buried today in the
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 243 
 
 same grave with Walter, and Gassier standing over it, 
 and I left without any parents or home at all." 
 
 "Bertha, we are just as much your parents as if 
 you had been born to us," replied the old man stoutly. 
 "We have always treated you as if you were our own 
 child, and we always shall. You cannot remember 
 when it was otherwise, so let it make no difference, 
 for, anyway, it could be only a fancied difference. 
 Your home is with us. Our love and care are with 
 you." The girl smiled sadly. 
 
 "I shall never leave you," she said, "but I cannot 
 bear the thought that Gassier is my father and Old 
 Maggie my mother. It degrades me. It makes me 
 ashamed and will torment me every day of my life. 
 I can never lift up my head again have other people 
 known it?" 
 
 "They have known Maggie was your mother that 
 is, the most of them but not that Gassier was your 
 father, so far as I know, until this day. Gassier must 
 be an assumed name. His name must be Crowell 
 Maggie's name." 
 
 "But it is so strange. How did it happen? Why 
 have they not lived together? Was I not born in 
 the house?" 
 
 "They were married hi Kentucky just before the 
 war. He soon deserted' her and joined the Con- 
 federate army, leaving her entirely destitute and 
 alone without relatives or friends. As your birth 
 approached she became a public charge. A few weeks 
 after you were born I brought you and Maggie here
 
 244 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 where you have ever since been. I knew nothing 
 about Gassier until he came to the neighborhood, for 
 what purpose I don't know, two or three years ago, 
 though we find today that he was one of the men who 
 robbed us. You were still a baby when we grew so 
 fond of you that we told Maggie that, if she were 
 willing, we would adopt you and treat you as our own 
 child. She consented, but said she wanted you to 
 grow up considering us as your parents. At the same 
 time we told her that she need never leave you, but 
 that we wanted her to remain in our household." 
 
 "And so I must think of Old Maggie as my mother!" 
 and the tears came again. 
 
 "But, Bertha, think what the good soul has done 
 for you. Given you up, priceless treasure that you 
 are, all her life long. Proud of you as any mother 
 ever was of a child so proud of you that, being 
 ashamed of her own simplicity, her physical defects 
 and her indifferent extraction, she has been pleased 
 though with many a real mother's sorrowful moment, 
 no doubt to have you pass for our daughter and to 
 have you think of yourself as our daughter, imagining 
 that we were more respectable and more highly con- 
 sidered than she could ever be. Coupled with that, 
 she wanted to make sure that, whatever became of 
 herself, as she said, you would have a home where 
 you would be loved and be in comfort." 
 
 "Poor Old Maggie!" said Bertha in a tone of com- 
 passion, " but I can't bear to think of her as my mother 
 where was she living when I was born?"
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 245 
 
 "She was in a poorhouse managed by a relative of 
 mine, but it was not her fault. Many worthy people 
 find themselves forced there." 
 
 The girl flushed and paled by turns. 
 
 "Poorhouse! Oh, it is all so strange, so strange!" 
 she murmured, " I can't believe it. I'm only dreaming 
 it." 
 
 "And I often reproached myself," continued Mr. 
 Garrett, "for at first consenting to Maggie's request 
 and then continuing to carry it out, until the time came 
 when I felt I could not give you up as mine, and could 
 not have you know the truth. I felt that my wife 
 and I were stealing you from Maggie, kidnapping 
 you from her, taking advantage of her poor state, and 
 I have doubly reproached myself and felt a sense of 
 guilt on those occasions when Maggie seemed particu- 
 larly tender toward you, and proud of you, and I could 
 see she was yearning to have you call her mamma. 
 But she never once spoke about these things." 
 
 "But why have you never told me before? You 
 could have told just me." 
 
 "To save you what you suffer now, my darling, 
 and, as I told you a moment ago, I was so selfish I 
 could not give you up. When Julia died" and the 
 poor old man's lips quivered and his voice was trem- 
 ulous " when Julia died we had no longer a daughter. 
 You seemed sent to take her place you looked much 
 like her, and you were so sweet a child, so affectionate, 
 so fond of us." 
 
 And here the old man and the girl wept together.
 
 246 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "Gassier my father?" murmured Bertha. "What 
 will you do with Gassier, papa?" 
 
 " I would not, if I could, harm a hair of his head." 
 
 "But why? He robbed us. He struck you. He 
 has lied about me, and he swore at Walter's grave." 
 
 " Yes, he is a hard man, but had it not been for him 
 I would never have seen you." 
 
 Bertha answered nothing. They were still face to 
 face with their arms around each other, heedless of 
 the chilling wind that blew through the wood, half 
 forgetful of where they were, looking around to see 
 only that they were alone. 
 
 "I don't want to let go of you," said Bertha, "for 
 I feel that we are taking leave of each other." The 
 words were hurried out of her throat by a lump that 
 was just behind them. " I feel that I am losing you 
 and you are losing me. I fear that you will not seem 
 the same to me, and that I shall myself be some other 
 person." 
 
 "No, no, my dear," said Mr. Garrett with gentle 
 deprecation. "But, Bertha, have you thought that 
 this may be all for the best? Have you thought of 
 Pressley?" 
 
 The girl's face must have looked like the faces of 
 those who after anxious search have at last found 
 what was long lost, or of those who in the morning 
 have found peace after a night of turmoil. Mr. Garrett 
 could see that a new and mighty hope was hi her breast. 
 
 "Bertha, I felt it cruel not to tell you then," said 
 he, meaning a time that she understood perfectly
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 247 
 
 well, "but I was so selfish I could not give you up, 
 and then, my wife, your mother, it would have so hurt 
 her to tell you under those circumstances. And I 
 could not give you up in a more literal sense. I could 
 not bear to think of your marrying and going away 
 from us. So all your suffering has been for us, has 
 been my fault" 
 
 "No, no, father," said Bertha, for his pains of re- 
 pentance pained her. But he was determined to con- 
 fess himself to the child whom, through his too selfish 
 fondness, he had caused to suffer, and from whom, 
 now become his priestess, he would ask forgiveness. 
 
 "Yes, it has been my fault," he said with a frank 
 insistence and a self-condemnation which he would 
 not hold back from inflicting with all due rigor as a 
 penance. "Every night for months I have made up 
 my mind to tell you in the morning, but when the 
 morning came, somehow I would not or could not 
 speak the words, even though your sorrow distressed 
 me." 
 
 And then, so prone is even the most contrite soul 
 to seek excuses for itself, he added : 
 
 "And I might have told you had it not occurred to 
 me that possibly it would be useless, as Pressley 
 might be no better satisfied with your new parents, 
 considering their standing, than with the old. But 
 now let him know everything, and, since you love him, 
 I hope he will come back to you. We must go on. 
 I'm chilled through." 
 
 But Bertha's new hope was like a dream and it
 
 248 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 passed like a dream. It was gone when they reached 
 the other side of the wood, for Bertha had begun to 
 suspect that Jim might think she had become purged 
 of one kind of dross only by the revelation of another 
 equally intolerable; and the dear old house and the 
 almost as dear big playhouse of a barn had come into 
 view. There was a strangeness about the familiar 
 premises now. There was not the old look of welcome 
 from the windows. The big, ornamentally-capped gate 
 posts, several pairs of them, seemed like foreign sentry 
 captains that had thrown their lines about the place. 
 She had something like a fear that as she passed near 
 them they would challenge her as an intruder. 
 
 This impression and a kindred feeling of loneliness 
 made her as miserable as ever, and she was impatient 
 to be once more hi the shelter and privacy of her own 
 room, for there, at any rate, some things were her 
 own and would beam forth a gladness at her coming. 
 
 As the two drew near the house Bertha hastened in 
 such a measure as to surprise Garrett, who found it 
 hard to keep pace with her. He looked at her and 
 could see from her face that some change in the direc- 
 tion of her thoughts had renewed her agitation. 
 
 "But perhaps it is only because she is cold," 
 thought he. 
 
 The others had already returned and were gathered 
 about the fire in the sitting room, absorbed in their 
 reflection on the melancholy and startling occurrences 
 of the afternoon, and saying only those commonplace 
 things that are more than ever commonplace when
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 249 
 
 minds have been so wrought on that tongues are not 
 yet trusted to speak. 
 
 Old Maggie was ill at ease with only such knowledge of 
 what had happened as her imperfect senses had allowed 
 her to get, and her mind was toiling hard and fast to 
 guess what were the words at the grave that attended 
 the actions which she had observed, for she had not 
 again asked to be informed. She presumed she under- 
 stood the significance of Gassler's showing his hand, 
 but he had afterward pointed to her in excited declama- 
 tion, and as to what this meant she had been left to 
 her own unaided and anxious conjectures. 
 
 She opened the door when Garrett and Bertha 
 stepped on the porch. At a glance Bertha scanned 
 the faces of those within. It was not sympathy or 
 pity that she saw, though these were not wholly lacking, 
 but it seemed to her that even the members of the 
 family, Dan and Ida and Mrs. Garrett herself, were 
 looking at. her with curiosity and expectation. They 
 all appeared to be asking the question: "How is she 
 going to take it?" and to be looking for some sign as 
 to what had passed between her and Abner Garrett on 
 the way from the graveyard. She found herself, so it 
 seemed to her, merely some object of wonder, some 
 rare and unique person in a class by herself, and she 
 doubly felt her loneliness. 
 
 She had not up to this time turned her eyes upon 
 Maggie. She now looked at her with a frown, as if 
 she had suffered an injury from her, and then speaking 
 not a word, she opened the door to the stairway and
 
 250 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 went up to her own room. She had expected to find 
 it cold, but a fire crackled on the hearth, that Old 
 Maggie's thoughtfulness had suggested and her hands 
 had kindled. Bertha knew it and reflected upon it, 
 but the operation only further confused her feelings. 
 She threw herself on the bed in a bewilderment and 
 anguish too intense for tears. 
 
 Down stairs Old Maggie stood motionless for several 
 moments after the door closed behind Bertha, in a 
 state of mind little short of stupefaction. 
 
 "I have told the poor girl all about herself," said 
 Garrett sadly to the company. "She feels bad about 
 it. You can imagine how strange it must be to her. 
 Probably it ought to have been done long ago, but it 
 is done now because it had to be done, and we must 
 hope it is for the best." 
 
 Old Maggie could not catch what was said. She 
 passed through the room straightway with a most 
 pitiful expression in her face and sought her wonted 
 place on a plain chair by the kitchen window. Her 
 devoted soul was filled with an indescribable sense of 
 disaster and loss. 
 
 It was but a few minutes until she recrossed the 
 sitting room, carrying a few sticks of wood. The wood 
 may have been but an excuse. Perhaps her only 
 object was to confirm a sudden hope that she had 
 mistaken Bertha's manner or, if not, to get, if possible, 
 from her darling daughter a kinder look. Garrett 
 could not force himself to bid her wait. She climbed 
 the stairs and tapped on the door.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 251 
 
 Bertha opened it. Maggie made a motion as if to 
 bear her burden in, but Bertha took the sticks she . 
 carried at the threshold and seemed to expect her 
 immediate retirement. 
 
 Maggie came down, and with tears hi her eyes 
 again passed out.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 AWAY FROM HOME. 
 
 I AM sure that if H. Kirk White had been authori- 
 tatively informed that Prof. Bland would be the only 
 person ever in all the world to sing his hymn, "The 
 Star of Bethlehem," but had been told also just how 
 the professor would sing it, he would still be content 
 to have composed it and rate it the product of a 
 gracious inspiration. 
 
 Let the hymn here enter fully into our story, as it 
 was sure to do sooner or later after the advent of Prof. 
 Bland, and the close companions, already too long 
 separated, be united again: 
 
 When, marshalled on the nightly plain 
 The glittering hosts bestud the sky, 
 
 One star alone of all the train 
 Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. 
 
 Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks 
 From every host, from every gem, 
 
 But one alone the Savior speaks 
 It is the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 Once on the raging seas I rode. 
 
 The storm was loud, the night was dark. 
 The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed 
 
 The wind that tossed my foundering bark 
 
 252
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 253 
 
 Deep horror then my vitals froze. 
 
 Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem; 
 When suddenly a star arose 
 
 It was the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 It was my guide, my light, my all; 
 
 It bade my dark forebodings cease; 
 And through the storm and danger's thrall 
 
 It led me to the port of peace. 
 
 Now safely moored my perils o'er, 
 
 I'll sing first in night's diadem 
 Forever and forevermore. 
 
 The Star the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 This hymn was a favorite with Prof. Bland, and 
 whenever he sang it or joined others in singing it, as 
 he often did at Sunday school or prayer meeting, his 
 whole soul came out in the song. As one listened to 
 his voice and watched the varying expressions of his 
 countenance with his noble and scholarly face up- 
 turned, the words, as they were uttered, unrolled to 
 the mental eye a sublime and terrible picture wonder- 
 fully vivid. One could see the marshalling of the 
 glittering hosts, the sinner's wandering eye, the frightful 
 storm, the awful peril, the agony of the lone navigator 
 in the wrath of the deep, the beam of the saving star, 
 and the secure port from which arose the grateful song 
 of deliverance. All the peril, the despair and the escape 
 were there, a graphic, orthodox description of man's 
 lost state and only hope of salvation. 
 
 And to the mind of no listener, probably, was the 
 picture thus drawn more distinct and real than to 
 that of Gassier.
 
 254 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 On this robust, unlettered, impulsive, quick-tempered 
 man, the maimed, the reserved, the studious, the ven- 
 erable, the poetry-quoting, the devotional school- 
 master had made a profound impression. The ardent 
 temperament of the cobbler warmed into a glow at 
 sight or thought of his benign friend, the professor. 
 He often looked out of his shop window with pity on 
 the crippled savant as the latter went hobbling by 
 on the gravelly street, and considered himself highly 
 honored, and was good enough to feel even ennobled 
 whenever the professor shambled up the steep, narrow, 
 short flight of steps and sat down in the shop for a 
 little chat and to observe the shoemaker at his craft. 
 
 Gassier used to eye the physical peculiarities of 
 Prof. Bland as closely as he dared. The shrunken 
 and poorly controlled leg and foot seemed to him the 
 most curious of all blighted things, and he was put in 
 a kind of awe of the professor by the suspicion that for 
 bodily imperfection he had been compensated by a 
 kind Providence with an inner nature that surpassed 
 the merely human and had something of the celestial 
 about it. 
 
 The fact that the professor habitually wore light 
 shoes with elastic tops, commonly called gaiters, was 
 a detail not without its effect in the aggregate of 
 circumstances that determined Gassler's estimate of 
 him. He would have thought it a sign of effeminacy 
 in any other man to wear gaiters, and so he did, indeed, 
 in the case of Prof. Bland, yet in this instance an 
 effeminacy not implying an inherent weakness, but
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 255 
 
 softening and gracing a masculine character with some 
 of the finer feminine attributes by virtue of a stern 
 and chastening infirmity. 
 
 Once Gassier was given the gaiters to mend. In 
 the work of repair he lost time by musing over them. 
 He handled them much as he might the wings from 
 off the heels of Mercury, or the sandals of Gabriel. He 
 turned them over and over. He peered into them and 
 explored the toe with a finger where the eye could not 
 reach. Finer, he observed, than the coarse boots and 
 shoes usually dropped at his bench by men. Singular 
 footgear of a singular man. He dallied with them. 
 He delayed, and when the professor called for them 
 they were not done. Finally he cut, sewed and patched 
 as gently as if they were the very skin on their owner's 
 feet, reluctantly relinquished them and charged 
 nothing. 
 
 When on a summer Sabbath morning Prof. Bland 
 would come up the aisle of the chapel, lifting himself 
 along on crutch and cane and with a rose in his mouth, 
 Gassier felt that this afflicted man was close akin to 
 all the finer things in the universe. He never had such 
 a sense of his own meanness as when the professor 
 was near, and when the latter sang "The Star of 
 Bethlehem" the rough shoemaker inwardly groaned 
 and prayed that his feet might be set upon a solid 
 rock, and that he might constantly live the noble life 
 that he felt aroused in him at moments. For there 
 were chords in his heart responsive to the touch of 
 angel hands.
 
 256 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Raised on a small tobacco plantation, without 
 schooling, he was scarcely more than a boy when he 
 married, rather under an impulse of generosity than 
 for affection, a friendless girl at domestic service. 
 They were not happy together and when, soon after- 
 ward, the war broke out, he was glad to leave his 
 poorly furnished and uncongenial home and join the 
 Lexington Rifles raised by John H. Morgan, with 
 whose fortunes his own were identified until he saw 
 his admired and beloved chief shot down by Federal 
 cavalry at a Tennessee farmhouse. At the close of 
 the war he became a Jack-of-all-trades in Louisville, 
 and one of those old soldiers who after the long riot 
 of guerrilla warfare found it hard to accustom them- 
 selves to the restraints and the tame activities of a 
 regime of peace. 
 
 He fell in with a few of his old comrades in arms, 
 and, lamenting the end to their period of adventures, 
 as well as smarting under the larger defeat, they 
 resolved to compensate themselves by "touching up 
 some men over the line" who had escaped loss or 
 indignity on the occasion of the Morgan raid into 
 Indiana and Ohio. As they put it, they would " con- 
 tinue the war a little," and, indeed, this euphemistic 
 phrasing did to a trifling extent mitigate to the con- 
 sciences of some of them their projected robberies. 
 
 In camp one night three years before, not a dozen 
 miles from the Old Plantation, Gassier had heard 
 something about the life and the wealth of Abner Garrett, 
 and this he now recalled, proposing, since it was not
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 257 
 
 far away, that the new raiders call first at the home 
 of this man who had married "one of his niggers and 
 turned his back on the South." The suggestion was 
 adopted, but the execution of the plan put Gassier 
 entirely out of conceit with the whole series of enter- 
 prises of which it was to have been the inauguration. 
 
 Gassier was greatly surprised to find his deserted 
 wife on the Garrett porch. He had heard that after 
 his going away to the army she had become a public 
 charge, had given birth to a daughter in the poorhouse 
 and had soon afterward, taking her child with her, 
 entered upon domestic service again in a wealthy 
 family, but what family or where his informants did 
 not know, and, indeed, at that time he cared little. 
 
 He beheld with admiration, too, and not without a 
 sudden swelling of paternal affection, of course new and 
 strange to him, the beautiful little girl by Maggie's 
 side, for his first inference was that she was his own 
 child, based on the fact that she was evidently in 
 Maggie's loving care, of the age Maggie's child should 
 be, and on a resemblance to himself which he fancied 
 he saw in her face as he caught its features in the 
 twilight. 
 
 When, however, on taking fright at him, the little 
 cherub ran to Garrett and clutched his arm, Gassier 
 became doubtful, for at a time like this surely the 
 actions of a fearful child would indicate its natural 
 protector. Where, then, was Maggie's child? Already 
 put to bed? Or dead? At which latter thought 
 Gassier felt a strange sorrow within him. Yet his first
 
 258 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 impression prevailed, and he felt, all the time he was 
 superintending the atrocious business at the Garrett 
 home, that he was outraging the benefactor of his 
 wife and child. 
 
 The knowledge that he was a father had never 
 before this affected him deeply. He had thought of 
 the unseen babe simply as something connected with 
 Maggie, a consequence, indeed, of his association with 
 her, but a kind of accidental inheritance falling to her 
 by nature, and under all the circumstances essentially 
 one of her own affairs. 
 
 Here now on the porch, with a family in terror under 
 his revolver, and desperate accomplices looting the 
 house at this incongruous and extraordinary moment 
 something like an ordinary and normal sense of father- 
 hood for the first time charged his soul with novel and 
 dignifying emotions. 
 
 What the common father feels in the first hour of 
 his promotion to parentage he was now, in large part, 
 feeling. Here in this most unexpected and unpro- 
 pitious time and place the pride of paternity had but 
 just come to him. It was of a quality sufficiently 
 fine to bring with it self-reproach and repentance on 
 account of desertion, neglect and indifference, for the 
 heart, steeled to commit a felony, suddenly softened 
 and expanded, and in opening wide enough to receive 
 the child, gave admittance to the mother also. 
 
 Hence he stretched forth his hand to caress his babe, 
 but she shrank from him. He felt a momentary 
 impulse to call off his companions, announce himself,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 259 
 
 and on his knees beg forgiveness and mercy, but he 
 had been schooled in four years of small-body warfare 
 to be faithful to comrades unto the end in desperate 
 undertakings, and he feared an accusation of dis- 
 loyalty which even these unforeseen and unprecedented 
 circumstances could not adequately extenuate. 
 Besides, he realized that in the essentials of this adven- 
 ture he was without authority to compromise his 
 fellows. And so he failed them not. 
 
 When, safely escaped and the money counted, the 
 other men congratulated themselves on the success of 
 the first of the new raids and anticipated the profits 
 of those that were to follow, Gassier stated point- 
 blank that he was done with this kind of work, that 
 it did not suit his fancy, but he gave to his friends no 
 hint of the discovery he had made at the Old 
 Plantation. 
 
 The money was equally divided. Gassier intended 
 to return his share at once, but on the morrow his 
 capricious conscience was not pricking him so keenly. 
 It was not a robbery in the common meaning of the 
 word. It was but a kind of retaliation. For four 
 years of hard and unrequited endeavor hi an unsuc- 
 cessful cause it was proper enough that he should 
 recoup himself, if somewhat irregularly and out of 
 time, at the expense of those who had been on the 
 enemy's side and who had not in their persons or 
 property felt the struggle. 
 
 Not long afterward Gassier went west, where for 
 several years he knocked about. He was a common
 
 260 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 laborer on the construction of the Union Pacific Rail- 
 road. He took up a homestead in Kansas, but 
 abandoned it after the second grasshopper season, and 
 joined in the gold rush to the Black Hills. He was un- 
 successful in the quest for metal wealth, but in a 
 community where prices were high he made good 
 income as a cobbler, the greater part of which he saved 
 by the economy of boarding himself and avoiding the 
 gaming tables. 
 
 He found much in the free, unconventional life of 
 the frontier and the gold camp congenial to his nature, 
 but, though he had no particular home in Kentucky, 
 he often longed to be back on his native soil. 
 
 Recollections, too, of the pretty little flaxen- 
 haired girl whom he had seen at an hour evil in all 
 else were frequently in his mind. He imagined her 
 growing bigger, still as sweet and pretty as ever, and 
 he pictured a plain and reasonably comfortable home 
 somewhere with her in it to delight him, and in which 
 Maggie also would be treated with consideration. He 
 would drop his rough ways, and all three of them would 
 be very happy. 
 
 Pursuing this vision, and sick for this home in his 
 fancy as well as for home in a wider sense, he returned 
 to Kentucky. He determined to have an interview 
 with Maggie without delay. His prudence dictated 
 that it should be clandestine. Going to the neighbor- 
 hood of the Old Plantation, he chose the church hour 
 of a "service day" Sunday as being the most likely 
 time at which he could see Maggie alone.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 261 
 
 He watched the house and noticed that as the time 
 for services approached, all of the family, apparently, 
 save Maggie, left home for the church. He then 
 called at the house, rapping at the rear door, and 
 Maggie met him there. 
 
 Amazement seized the woman when she found 
 herself face to face with the recreant husband she had 
 not seen for long and had expected never to see again. 
 She was not a little alarmed lest his appearance por- 
 tended a change in the fortunes of herself and daughter. 
 
 Noting her excitement, he told her quickly that he 
 had not come to harm her and wanted only to ask 
 some questions, at which assurance she became calm, 
 and listened to his further words with the greatest 
 interest. 
 
 He asked if the girl in the family was her daughter, 
 and on being answered he proceeded to tell Maggie 
 at length about his love for their child, his new affection 
 for herself (though Gassier was not quite candid on 
 this point), and, begging her forgiveness for past 
 conduct, he presented his proposition of a reunion. 
 
 Old Maggie then explained to him fully the status 
 of herself and their daughter in the household, and, 
 though without comprehension of the obstacle to 
 Gassler's plan which lay in the fact of Bertha's adoption, 
 she unhesitatingly expressed her opposition to his 
 desire. She herself was perfectly content as things 
 were, she said, and as for Bertha, the girl now passed 
 for the daughter of somebody worth while and would 
 some day share in the inheritance of a rich estate.
 
 262 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 She also acquainted Gassier with the fact that the 
 girl supposed Mr. and Mrs. Garrett to be her real 
 father and mother. 
 
 Gassier told Maggie that he might frequently be in 
 the neighborhood so that occasionally he might get 
 so much as a sight of his daughter, and that he would 
 go under the assumed name of Gassier, and secured 
 from her a promise that she would never disclose his 
 identity or intimate that she had ever known him or 
 seen him. He was then about to go when Maggie 
 asked : 
 
 "Were you ever at the house before?" 
 
 "No," he replied. "What makes ye ask that?" 
 
 "I wasn't sure but that you were here with several 
 other men one evening a good many years ago," said 
 Maggie. " I couldn't see their faces, but one of 'em had 
 a voice that sounded like yours when he talked loud, 
 and the others called him by a name that sounded like 
 Zach." 
 
 " T wa'n't me. What was the men doin'?" 
 
 "They were robbers." 
 
 "Now, Maggie," said Gassier pleadingly, "I have 
 done a good many mean things, but you wouldn't 
 think I'd been as bad as that, would ye?" 
 
 "Well, I didn't know," she said. 
 
 Gassier reminded her of the promise she had just 
 given, and hurried away, going directly to the church. 
 He entered, took a seat near the door, and then with 
 his eyes searched the forward part of the room for 
 Bertha.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 263 
 
 He, of course, could get a view only of the back of 
 her head until the service was over, when, as she was 
 coming down the aisle, he kept his eyes intently fixed 
 upon her. She noticed his persistent gaze which was 
 not diverted even when her eyes squarely met his 
 and she thought there was something brazen and 
 impudent in his stare. He fell in immediately behind 
 her and followed her out of the church where he con- 
 tinued to observe her until she and Mr. and Mrs. 
 Garrett got into their surrey and drove away. He 
 then mounted his horse and began his journey back to 
 the little town on the Kentucky side of the river where 
 he had opened a shoemaker's shop. 
 
 Gassier now recognized that it would be impossible 
 to realize the ambition that for years had been growing 
 in his heart. The daughter whom he would like to 
 claim was in law the daughter of another man who, 
 it was plain to see, loved her as his own, and Maggie, 
 poor soul, who had redeemed herself in her faithless 
 husband's eyes by becoming the mother of a pretty 
 daughter and whom he would now shelter, provide 
 for and respect for the daughter's sake she had for a 
 dozen years and more suspected him of felonious out- 
 rage on the man who had befriended his destitute 
 wife and babe. Gassier owned to himself that he had 
 forfeited all the rights of a husband and father, and 
 though he might lament the circumstances that forbade 
 him now to assert them, he was not at all disposed 
 to question that the verdict of the years was just. 
 
 With the passing of time Gassler's crime had lain
 
 264 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 heavier and heavier on his conscience. He had not 
 successfully tricked his moral sense by calling it a 
 "continuation of the war" or a belated, but still 
 legitimate, reprisal. He had perceived distinctly 
 enough the hour when social convention and civil law 
 resumed their sway after the disorder and lawlessness 
 of war. He had not been constituted by nature to be 
 a doer of the darker iniquities. His vices, for the most 
 part, lay well on the surface, such as profanity and 
 intemperance. Fixed in his heart was a love for his 
 fellows and reverence for the Deity. Indeed, he was 
 peculiarly susceptible to religious influences and might 
 have lived a notably pious and exemplary life but for 
 his unsteadiness of will, his impulsiveness and quick 
 temper. He was a backslider of oft-repeated experi- 
 ence. He got so he dreaded to go, yet was irresistibly 
 attracted, to convenient campmeeting or revival. He 
 was sure to be one of the first fruits of earnest exhor- 
 tation, and then, the special influence withdrawn, 
 came as regularly the " fall from grace." In his earlier 
 years his confessions were always fairly complete and 
 sincere, but later there was one big, unmanageable sin 
 on which he was determined to keep a cloak. This was 
 the Garrett robbery. He would argue with it and seek 
 to make it own itself less ugly, but every time it insisted 
 it was hideous and an abhorrence to his conscience. 
 
 For this reason Gassler's successive reconversions 
 in later years had not been so satisfactory as formerly. 
 With this burden, which he could not throw off, his 
 advance was irresolute and shorter and his retreat was
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 265 
 
 quicker. This finally caused him sometimes to suc- 
 cessfully avoid exposing himself to the fervor of 
 evangelistic eloquence even when it was near at hand. 
 He expected all the time to make headway against 
 this memory and force the deed into the catalogue of 
 his mere indiscretions or, at worst, his misdemeanors, 
 but he found that he could not thus mitigate it, and 
 that on the contrary, as all the circumstances of that 
 evening were over and over again recollected, the 
 wrong he had done grew in enormity. 
 
 Gassier was startled when he heard bluntly from 
 Maggie's own lips that all these years she had sus- 
 pected him. He wished he had asked her if she had 
 ever expressed her suspicion to anybody. He feared 
 she had. When he went west he could not belie to 
 himself a frequently recurring feeling that he was 
 going as a fugitive from justice, and when he returned 
 he knew that he was not without a notion that he was 
 running some risk of being finally detected. He 
 understood well enough that the limitation of prose- 
 cution had been passed but this did not decrease his 
 dread lest one day he should be loaded with popular 
 odium as one of the participants in the crime. 
 
 When he recognized Maggie on Mr. Garrett's porch, 
 though he knew her partial deafness was to his advan- 
 tage, yet he took the precaution of attempting to 
 disguise his voice, and, with this and the mask and a 
 growth of beard, he was confident that when he left 
 she was none the wiser as to his identity than when 
 he came.
 
 266 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 His discovery now of what was in her mind on this 
 point alarmed him, and impelled him to refrain from 
 taking up his trade in the vicinity of the Old Plantation, 
 as he would have liked to do so as to have at least a 
 stranger's observation of, or perchance a neighbor's 
 acquaintance with, his daughter. He feared to go 
 nearer. Therefore he resolved to settle down for the 
 present where he now was, and to get such accounts of 
 Bertha as he might in a roundabout way. 
 
 When Gassier went to the Good Hope neighborhood 
 for his interview with Maggie he bore in his mind the 
 vision of a sweet-faced, flaxen-haired child, whom, 
 failing to take account of the intervening years, he 
 expected to see there again, and his surprise was great 
 when he saw departing from the house with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Garrett a girl of adult stature. 
 
 " Yes, of course," he quickly said to himself. " Think 
 of all these years. She couldn't be little always." 
 
 Still he felt a painful disappointment that the child, of 
 whom he had so often fondly thought, was past child- 
 hood, and keenly regretted that she had made so fast and 
 so far a progress in life without the slightest companion- 
 ship with him. He had never heard a word addressed 
 to him from her lips. He had touched her life but once 
 and had then drawn forth only a scream of fright. 
 
 At the church, as she passed down the aisle, he 
 stood, undiverted by anything, in full admiration of 
 her beauty and in half-skeptical, self-congratulatory 
 wonder that so lovely a being could have had an origin 
 even partly in himself.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 267 
 
 This was the vision he brought away, but it did not 
 wholly crowd out the other, and by exercise of the 
 imagination alone he added still another, that of an 
 infant in arms. He was fond of occupying his mind 
 with these, seeking thus to get a conception of Bertha's 
 life in its continuity from babyhood until now, supply- 
 ing from his own fancy a record inevitably lacking to 
 his memory. 
 
 Hearing, after some time, that Rev. Charles Warner, 
 the pastor of the Baptist church in this place, and 
 who lived here, also had the charge at Good Hope, he 
 improved the first opportunity to invite him into his 
 shop, and without showing a particular personal 
 interest, to engage him in conversation about the 
 prominent families in his congregation north of the 
 river. He soon learned all that the preacher had to 
 tell about the Garretts, and fully agreed with him that 
 it was a most interesting family. 
 
 Gassier plied him with questions about Bertha, 
 making her singular situation, which the preacher had 
 explained, the excuse for his curiosity, and he was 
 pleased to learn from Brother Warner that she was 
 universally regarded as a remarkably attractive and 
 accomplished young lady. While, the preacher said, 
 this was due in part to the advantages of her situation, 
 yet her beauty and talents must have been natural 
 endowments, and, since her mother was a very common 
 sort of woman, it was thought that her father must 
 have been a man of some superiority. 
 
 The preacher could see that Gassier was very much
 
 268 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 pleased with this remark, but he took it only as evidence 
 that he was a sympathetic listener, and thought no 
 more about it. 
 
 "And if he had known," continued the preacher, 
 " that he was to have so fine a daughter, I don't think 
 he would have abandoned her mother and her, too, 
 before her birth." 
 
 "Well, I reckon he wouldn't," said Gassier, as if 
 such conduct were absolutely unthinkable. 
 
 "And, say," cried the preacher mischievously, "he 
 must have been some tribesman of yours. His name 
 was Crowell. Old Maggie's name is Mrs. Crowell. 
 'Fess up." 
 
 " Well, if they'll give the girl and the woman to any 
 man of my name that'll claim 'em," said Gassier 
 (who went by his real name at this place) , " I'd better 
 put in a bid, hadn't I?" And then, affecting a return 
 from levity to seriousness: "Never heard anything 
 about the feller in that part of the country, eh?" 
 
 "No," said Mr. Warner, shaking his head. "No- 
 body there knows anything about him. His wife 
 completely lost him when he went off to the war. 
 You were in the army, too, weren't you? Oh, I guess 
 it's you." 
 
 " Does look as if you were makin' out a case against 
 me, don't it? Well, to tell the truth, I wouldn't be a 
 carin' much if you did if that girl's all you're crackin' 
 her up to be. Woman never speaks of him?" 
 
 "Never heard her mention his name, or anybody 
 else in that neighborhood/' said Warner. "I don't
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 269 
 
 believe half the people up there know her name's 
 Crowell. I had almost forgotten it myself. She's 
 just simply Old Maggie." 
 
 "Well enough if he was that sort of a feller," said 
 Gassier with a satisfaction which Warner observed but 
 did not comprehend, for it arose from Gassler's assur- 
 ance now that Old Maggie had not expressed her 
 suspicion to anybody, since, if she had done so even 
 a long time ago, thought he, the name of her husband 
 would not yet be forgotten. And he was emboldened 
 to press the point a trifle further. 
 
 "And that there robbery" (for he had been told 
 about that, too), "they never got the least track of 
 the fellers?" 
 
 "I never heard that they ever had a clue to any of 
 them," said Brother Warner. 
 
 "You've got me right smart interested in that 'ere 
 family," said Gassier, "and since you see 'em once a 
 month or oftener you'll have to keep me posted on 
 'em or I'll have to move up there myself." 
 
 And after that, whenever the preacher returned from 
 filling his appointment at Good Hope it would not be 
 long before he was in the shoemaker's shop giving 
 Gassier the latest news about the Garretts, and it so 
 happened that the greater part of his report always 
 had reference particularly to Miss Bertha Garrett, as 
 naturally, indeed, there would be more to say about 
 an engaging and talented girl, already maturing early 
 into womanhood, than about the elder or the absent 
 members of the family.
 
 270 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Noticing how frequently the preacher called at the 
 shop of the shoemaker and how long, sometimes, he 
 stayed, the people of the place wondered what hidden 
 affinity existed between these diverse characters. 
 But it was pleasing to both the righteous and the 
 wicked, to the former because showing that their 
 Christian teacher, like his divine Master, was conde- 
 scending enough to consort with sinners, and to the 
 latter as testifying that they must be pretty good 
 company after all. 
 
 The two friends came to be spoken of as cronies, 
 and so full and satisfactory were the reports that 
 Gassier thus received of his daughter that he finally 
 abandoned, as he believed, the intention of some day 
 removing to the vicinity of the Old Plantation. 
 
 One day, just home from Good Hope, Brother 
 Warner showed him a photograph of Bertha. He 
 seized it from the preacher's hand and looked at it 
 long and intently. 
 
 "Mighty fine lookin' gal," said he. "Fine as they 
 make 'em. Guess you haven't stretched things any 
 in talkin' about her." 
 
 And the preacher was astonished at seeing a tear in 
 Gassler's eye just a single tear that did not trickle, but 
 all Brother Warner could see in it was that the shoe- 
 maker was emotionally impressionable to real womanly 
 loveliness, and probably loveliness in any form. 
 
 Gassier begged to keep the picture. 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't let you have it," said Brother 
 Warner. "Only one I have."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 271 
 
 "But you can easily get another. They'll let a 
 preacher have anything." 
 
 "But it would be unpardonable for me to give her 
 photograph to a stranger. And what could I say to 
 her?" 
 
 "Tell her you lost it." 
 
 And, overborne by persistency and intensity of 
 importunity, Brother Warner, half fearing that Gassier, 
 who still held the photograph in his hand, would go to 
 the length of retaining it, by force, finally consented. 
 
 "Does look funny," said Gassier when Brother 
 Warner came into the shop for the first time after the 
 photograph had been placed there, "for an old man 
 like me" he was still under forty "to have the 
 picture of a big gal that I never see hangin' there, but, 
 Mr. Warner, I jest couldn't help it she's such a 
 handsome gal." 
 
 But the youthful divine smiled only feebly at this 
 explanation, and could hold no easy conversation with 
 the shoemaker for jealousy. This was the beginning 
 of a coldness between them or, rather, on Mr. Warner's 
 part alone toward Gassier. The latter noticed the 
 change very soon but could not account for it. 
 Several times he tested Brother Warner to see if he 
 was not mistaken, but the preacher would not respond 
 to his friendly advances. 
 
 The preacher ceased coming to the shop, and when 
 it chanced that he and Gassier met he never had time 
 to exchange more than a few words. Gassier wondered 
 what the reason might be. He supposed that perhaps
 
 272 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 in their last extended conversation he had told some 
 uncommonly coarse joke that was unpardonably 
 offensive in the pious ear of the parson or that the 
 latter had at length found himself degraded in the 
 estimation of the elect by the frequency of his asso- 
 ciation with one so often profane and impure of word. 
 
 This painful relation between the two existed for 
 several weeks and was happily reformed by the events 
 of a "protracted meeting." Rev. Charles Warner 
 made nightly raids into the domains of Satan, and 
 one of his first captives was Gassier. In explaining it 
 afterwards the cobbler said he believed it was all in 
 the way the preacher said " the heavenly Je-rooz-alum." 
 
 "I couldn't help it," said Gassier. "I jest had to 
 start for the place again." 
 
 And he was resolved this time to cast aside every 
 weight. He would make a general confession of his 
 sins in public, as he had done heretofore, and besides 
 he would acknowledge to Brother Warner the big sin 
 of his life. In doing so he would tell him also his 
 relation to Miss Garrett. 
 
 This program he carried out, and was at first so 
 well pleased with his performance that he insisted 
 on being baptized again after the Baptist manner of 
 immersion, though he had once before submitted 
 himself to this sacrament, administered in the same 
 way, at the hands of a Campbellite minister. 
 
 Brother Warner was, of course, astonished at the 
 revelation made to him, and congratulated Gassier 
 that he had at last relieved his conscience of so black
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 273 
 
 a secret. It may be that the joy the preacher felt 
 should have been purely that which he might share 
 with Heaven over a sinner that had repented, but 
 nevertheless, he experienced an intense satisfaction 
 on his own individual account, for there was no longer 
 any reason for him to be annoyed because Bertha's 
 picture hung on the rude wall of Gassler's shop in full 
 view as he worked at his bench, and since Gassier had 
 taken him into his confidence in his professional 
 capacity as a spiritual adviser, he was moved to recip- 
 rocate with a confidence of an entirely personal 
 character. So he told him that he hoped some day to 
 make Bertha his wife. He further told him that he 
 had not yet declared his love, she was yet so young; 
 that there was plenty of time for that. 
 
 Meanwhile, he was contriving only that she should 
 become well acquainted with him, and seeking only 
 to prepare the way for her to love him. At this he 
 flattered himself he was making good progress. 
 
 Gassier appeared to be greatly pleased with the 
 prospect, though obviously indefinite, the preacher 
 thus unveiled. For his part, he said, he didn't know 
 what better any girl could do than become the help- 
 meet of a minister of the gospel. Surely it was exactly 
 the fortune he would choose for a daughter of his. 
 
 Then the two conversed as to what would be 
 Gassler's further duty in the matter of the great 
 wrong he had done to Mr. Garrett. In this direction 
 the preacher laid out no harsh road for the penitent 
 and the future father-in-law to follow. He counselled
 
 274 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 him that, since the crime had grown too old for the 
 cognizance of the law, all that could remain were the 
 moral acquitments. These were an acknowledgment 
 of his wrong to the person wronged and a restitution 
 of damages. But in this case the circumstances were 
 peculiar. Gassier (or Crowell, as the preacher and 
 everybody else yet called him) could not in his own 
 proper name of Crowell go to Mr. Garrett and own his 
 fault and ask forgiveness, without raising possible 
 inquiries regarding his relation to Old Maggie, if not 
 provoking positive information from her, that might 
 work immense mischief to all the hearts in that house- 
 hold. And, if not this, it was quite likely that the 
 identity and contrition of the robber, after all these 
 years, would not compensate Mr. Garrett for the pain 
 the robber's presence would cause, arousing again the 
 specter of a wellnigh forgotten horror, reviving the 
 old burning sense of the indignity. 
 
 As to restitution, it would have been well if Gassier 
 could have clandestinely returned the stolen money; 
 might be well if he could still do so, and yet in this 
 respect had not circumstances made something like 
 restitution for him? Were not his wife and his now 
 dearly beloved daughter members of the Garrett 
 family, the first in the very useful capacity of domestic 
 and the second filling a void in the hearts of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Garrett that the death of their own daughter had 
 left? And were not these relations on such terms as 
 precluded a now yearning husband and father from 
 returning to his own? After all, too, the amount
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 275 
 
 stolen was trifling when the wealth of the loser 
 was considered. In ordinary cases a personal avowal 
 of the wrong and full material amends were required 
 by the moral law, but in this instance their omission 
 seemed to be dictated by the wholly unusual circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Gassier was surprised at the leniency of the spiritual 
 tribunal to which he had committed himself, for it had 
 been his understanding that no lapses or waivers 
 modified the operation of the moral statutes, and, 
 though he felt a willingness to do some heroic penance, 
 he was greatly relieved to be spared the shame and 
 mortification of a personal acknowledgment to Mr. 
 Garrett of his trespass and his identity. 
 
 The preacher was touched by the predicament of 
 the unhappy man, thus now beginning to suffer from 
 the forfeiture of all paternal rights and the lack of the 
 least requital of belated but fervent fatherly affection, 
 and he promised him he would do all he could to bring 
 him into a personal acquaintanceship with his daughter 
 if Gassier would be careful to abstain from showing 
 by any sign his special interest in her. He assented 
 to Gassler's plan, now revived, of going to the Good 
 Hope neighborhood and living under the assumed 
 name he had told Old Maggie he would go by, and the 
 preacher said he would himself caution the woman 
 never to break, through forgetfulness or surprise, the 
 compact of secrecy into which she had entered. 
 
 In this situation Gassier might often see his child 
 and occasionally converse with her. And when Brother
 
 276 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Warner should make Bertha his wife, possibly before, 
 he would be in a position to prepare her for the know- 
 ledge of her true parentage, and so open the way at last 
 for some sort of intimacy between her and her real 
 father. 
 
 So satisfactory a prospect even as this had never 
 been definitely outlined in Gassler's mind. He at 
 once agreed to the condition imposed. Bertha was 
 now at Granville to spend a school year in the seminary, 
 and when she returned in the early summer she found 
 by the side of the familiar rural postofnce a shoe- 
 maker's shop and a man gazing at her from the door 
 whose stare had annoyed her at the church a year 
 before.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 GASSLER'S STRIVINGS. 
 
 ON mail days, which were three in the week, Bertha 
 usually went to the postoffice on her pony, and Gassier 
 never failed to be on the look-out for her. When it 
 was about time for her to arrive he would leave his 
 shop and go into the postoffice where, as if tarrying 
 after receiving his own mail or stopping to chat, he 
 had an excellent opportunity to get a near view of 
 Bertha and hear the sound of her voice. 
 
 She was conscious always that he was closely ob- 
 serving her and sometimes a glance at him would 
 reveal to her an expression of pleasure and kindness 
 in his face. Such conduct in a younger and more 
 refined man might have pleased her vanity, of which, 
 however, she had no larger a portion than any other 
 comely young woman, but in a man apparently of the 
 vulgar sort, a total stranger and of more than twice 
 her own age it was offensive, and her resentment was 
 deepened on her noticing that her glance never put 
 him out of countenance, but he would look at her still 
 as if hoping or expecting she would speak. 
 
 If Gassier was not at the postoffice his face would 
 be seen at the door or window of his shop, with his 
 eyes always on Bertha. Or if others happened to be 
 standing outside the postoffice near the hitching posts 
 
 277
 
 278 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 he would be among them. Once he offered to hold 
 Bertha's pony while she went in for her mail, but she 
 rejected his offer with no consideration at all and for 
 the first time showed so plainly the contempt for him 
 that had been growing in her mind from the first that 
 the man could not mistake it. He retreated quickly 
 to his shop. There could be no doubt that his daughter 
 despised her unknown father, and he could not imagine 
 why, unless an over-refinement, due to her bringing 
 up in a wealthy family, caused her to look with disdain 
 upon those in common or poor circumstances. 
 
 On the preacher's next visit to the neighborhood 
 Gassier described Bertha's demeanor toward him with 
 deep pain and discouragement, and the preacher, not 
 knowing, of course, what Gassler's behavior toward 
 Bertha had been, was at a loss to account for the 
 girl's feeling. 
 
 But at church that day by observing Gassier through- 
 out the meeting he obtained a hint of the cause, and 
 after talking to Bertha at her home he fully understood 
 the situation. For she entertained him with a descrip- 
 tion of "the new settler" and the annoyance she had 
 suffered from his habit of undivertible staring. 
 
 Brother Warner promptly communicated to Gassier 
 the solution of his perplexity, and the shoemaker was 
 surprised that he had not himself perceived that the 
 avidity with which he had improved occasions to 
 look upon his daughter had carried him quite beyond 
 the limits of good manners. He was relieved to find 
 that her disdain was not due to her haughtiness, nor,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 279 
 
 in the preacher's opinion, was it a discipline of Provi- 
 dence, and so he felt very confident he could correct 
 her disposition toward him. 
 
 Gassier spent the following day in town, and on 
 next mail day he was wearing a new suit of clothes, 
 stiff linen shirt and collar, and was freshly shaved, 
 for he had bethought him that it was important to 
 present no physical repugnance to Bertha's eye. 
 When his idol appeared at the office he was careful 
 that she should see him and as careful not to look 
 once in her direction. 
 
 For a time he was very resolute and successful in 
 carrying out this policy, but at last, in the entire 
 absence of the normal relation between parent and 
 child, without a single one of the ordinary occasions of 
 communication between them, and yet with a paternal 
 love of belated growth becoming fonder each day and 
 constantly yearning for some sort of satisfaction, 
 Gassier unconsciously fell back into the old way of 
 using practically the only avenue of cognition open to 
 him the visual sense. 
 
 He was perhaps more cautious and furtive in the 
 use of his eyes than before, but not sufficiently so to 
 keep out of Bertha's mind a constant and deep im- 
 pression of his impertinence. Besides, he again took 
 to being in the postoffice when she entered, so as 
 merely to hear the sound of her voice as she exchanged 
 commonplace or badinage with the postmaster or his 
 wife, a contiguity which aggravated in her the sense 
 of his espionage. The girl soon learned, too, to refrain
 
 280 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 at such times from making any remarks in a light 
 vein, for her feeblest attempt at humor was sure 
 to provoke audible and unwelcome appreciation from 
 the shoemaker. 
 
 The preacher was as good as his word, and strove 
 quite valiantly in conversation with Bertha to exalt 
 Gassier in her opinion, emphasizing the good traits in 
 his character, and finding excuses for his manners in 
 the rough life he had led, first in the army and then 
 in the mining camp, and in his lack of home and family 
 associations, but Bertha continued to speak of him as 
 a boor. She described Gassler's conduct more fully 
 and expressed her aversion more freely to Abner 
 Garrett, who, however, treated the matter lightly. 
 
 "Why, I'd look at you that way, too," said he, "if 
 I didn't have a chance to see you any oftener than he 
 does. He thinks you are the loveliest girl he ever 
 saw, and I think he's correct. No doubt it does him 
 good to look at you. Pay no attention to him and 
 let him look." 
 
 But she had a sentiment regarding Gassier which 
 she did not express even to Mr. Garrett. It was not 
 very definite in her own mind, but was akin to fear of 
 him as having some sinister purpose toward her. 
 
 When Bertha went to College Hill in the fall she 
 was therefore little less than startled one day at a 
 sight of Gassier entering a shoemaker's shop which 
 she presently learned was his own, recently opened 
 with the intention of dividing his time between College 
 Hill and the Good Hope neighborhood.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 281 
 
 Here, by attending church and Sunday school in 
 the college chapel, Gassier could see his daughter once 
 a week and could hear her voice in song and her re- 
 sponses in class. He joined the adult Bible class, 
 in which she sat, and so felt that at last there was one 
 feeble visible bond between him and her. They were 
 fellow pupils taking instruction in the Scriptures 
 under the saintly tutelage of Prof. Bland. 
 
 In the chapel Gassier often turned to the person 
 who was sitting next to him to praise Bertha's singing 
 or her reply or remark of other character in class, and 
 the admiring manner in which he invariably regarded 
 her when within his view did not go without common 
 notice, nor had he been at College Hill two months 
 before it was recognized as his habit at all times, when 
 talking with persons who had recently made Miss 
 Garrett's acquaintance, to urge their assent to 
 eulogiums of her which his own mouth freely uttered. 
 And so it came to be whispered about with merriment 
 that the shoemaker, silly old bachelor, was smitten 
 with the indeed very interesting and attractive school 
 girl from down the country. 
 
 Until her friends joked her on this account Bertha 
 had never had it in her mind that Gassler's conduct 
 might be interpreted as exhibiting an infatuation with 
 her. If she could have fully accepted this explanation 
 of his actions it might have relieved her of those 
 indefinite suspicions of unknown purposes in him 
 which she had herself formed and by which she was 
 sometimes depressed. She did, indeed, occasionally
 
 282 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 laugh with others over her "first conquest," but 
 when her thought upon the subject was serious the 
 fearful feeling that she was being shadowed by this 
 strange man was as strong as ever. 
 
 She avoided him as much as possible. He had 
 never received an introduction to her. Probably he 
 had never thought about a formal introduction, but 
 he improved the first opportunity that their attendance 
 at the same Sunday school and in the same class 
 afforded to speak to her. She allowed no light in her 
 countenance as she recognized him with a slight and 
 begrudged bow. Their salutations were not frequent, 
 for Bertha was constantly on her guard to prevent 
 them, and they did not improve in character of cor- 
 diality over the first exchange. 
 
 Privately the shoemaker felt Bertha's coldness to 
 the center of his heart and at length grew discouraged 
 in his attempt to cultivate an acquaintanceship of 
 ordinary friendliness with his daughter. 
 
 Going once to Good Hope to meet Brother Warner 
 when the latter had an appointment there, Gassier 
 besought the preacher to give him leave to make known 
 his identity to Garrett which would not necessarily 
 imply a revelation that he committed the robbery 
 and implore Garrett to grant him an unobstructed 
 opportunity to openly persuade his wife and child to 
 return to him. He thought it possible, once Bertha 
 knew he was her father, that she might soon conceive 
 a natural affection for him and for her real mother 
 that would promote the reunion of the little family.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 283 
 
 The preacher pronounced this but a dream. He 
 again described to him Bertha's love for Mr. Garrett 
 and Mr. Garrett's for her, saying that to disturb the 
 girl's illusion and the sweet affections built upon it 
 would be equivalent to bereaving a father of his 
 daughter and a daughter of her father, and that instead 
 of transferring Bertha's filial affection to himself he 
 might be certain only of incurring her bitterest resent- 
 ment. 
 
 It would be perpetrating upon Mr. Garrett an 
 outrage worse than the robbery of years ago, and if, 
 as might happen through Maggie's denunciation or 
 otherwise, his connection with that affair were brought 
 to light, the shadow of his disgrace would fall heavily 
 on the very person whose character in all respects he 
 should be most anxious to save from any hazard or 
 reproach. 
 
 Brother Warner reminded Gassier again that, as he 
 had no legal claims on his wife and daughter, so also 
 he had no moral claims, and ought not to be selfish 
 enough to desire to change in the least their happy 
 situation. He urged him to discipline himself to 
 patience and wait until the situation itself should be 
 inevitably changed by time. 
 
 This counsel subdued Gassler's desperation, and he 
 returned with the intention of abandoning special 
 efforts to direct to himself a share of the smiles and 
 pleasant words which Bertha had in varying measure 
 for her acquaintances, or to secure an occasional 
 friendly interview with his daughter. He had himself
 
 284 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 been twitted with a fondness for Miss Garrett, exhibited 
 with less reserve than a younger man would have 
 sought to maintain, and it was judged from his com- 
 portment under such chaffing that it teased him as it 
 might a boy. It did, indeed, grate upon him, but for 
 reasons which his tormentors little imagined. 
 
 Sacred and vital as was his passion for his child, he 
 could show it, then, only in such a way as made him 
 the butt of jest! 
 
 He resolved that no longer should the tender, grave 
 and noble ambition which preoccupied him, uncom- 
 prehended and unsuspected by others, furnish but 
 material for ridicule. He was sick at heart. His 
 mental state led him to be less careful than for some 
 time he had been of his personal conduct, and the 
 reports of his being often in the well-worn seats of 
 the ungodly in the rear of one of the village stores or 
 in the blacksmith shop, and of his having been in the 
 company of those returning boisterous from the 
 larger town caused the saints of the place to shake 
 their heads gravely. 
 
 Gassier continued to attend church and Sunday 
 school, which, in the opinion of the elect, was much in 
 his favor, half scandalized though they were by it, for 
 it showed that in his nature there was still protest 
 against being led captive by Satan. The truth is 
 that, while Gassier sometimes tarried long in conver- 
 sation in the store of an evening, if he was not busy 
 in his shop, he was in a mixed company of good, bad 
 and indifferent, all of whom were managing somehow to
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 285 
 
 make their own living and none of whom had ever 
 been in jail. 
 
 Gassier was successful in refraining in public from 
 taking any notice of Bertha that might attract par- 
 ticular attention, but often, as she passed on one 
 street or another in view from his shop (for from the 
 shop one could see a large part of the village), he 
 stealthily observed her through his window, and 
 frequently at other times one looking in at the window 
 might have caught the shoemaker fondly scanning a 
 photograph of Miss Garrett which he had just taken 
 from an old leathern pocketbook in his coat. 
 
 Bertha had a feeling of relief when Gassler's eyes 
 ceased to be constantly turned her way on public 
 occasions, and with a continuation of his indifference 
 believed that the motive of his singular conduct, 
 whatever it might have been, had lost its force, but 
 she was troubled anew, a day after going home for the 
 Christmas vacation of two weeks, to learn that Gassier 
 had decided to spend the coming fortnight, or such a 
 matter, mending the shoes of people in the Good Hope 
 neighborhood. When the two weeks were past and 
 Bertha had returned to school he "would be kept 
 busier" at College Hill. He was apparently as in- 
 different to Bertha as of late he had been, but these 
 coincident moves revived in her mind the unpleasant 
 suspicion that he was keeping a watch on her. 
 
 Early in the school year Gassier and Jim Pressley 
 had become acquainted. Jim liked to hear Gassier 
 tell war stories as well as to listen to his interesting
 
 286 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 conversation on common affairs. The youth was 
 fond, too, of watching the shoemaker at his work, and 
 he therefore often dropped in to sit for a while in the 
 shop. Gassier was well pleased with his society and 
 many a time felt flattered by the apparently lively 
 interest shown in his views of affairs of all sorts by so 
 bright and intelligent a young man. Pressley was one 
 of those who were drafted by Gassier to fully agree 
 to statements made by himself in praise of Miss Garrett, 
 and the enthusiasm with which Pressley did so also 
 contributed to his advancement in Gassler's esteem. 
 Pressley believed that Gassier was foolishly infatuated 
 with the girl until one day, when Gassier had been 
 complimenting her and Pressley had been assenting, 
 the shoemaker said with a twinkle in his eye : 
 
 " But no chance for you. I think she's spoken for." 
 
 "Who?" asked Pressley. 
 
 " Oh, I can't say who, but it's not me. I'm in love 
 with her, but jest as a friend of the family, you know. 
 I'm afraid, though, that she don't like me as well as 
 she'd ought to." 
 
 And then Pressley concluded the shoemaker was, 
 after all, only a friend of the family, but an unusually 
 ardent and, as one might say, disinterested admirer 
 of this particular member of it. 
 
 Pressley, too, had been thus far a disinterested 
 admirer of Miss Garrett, as much so as any free youth 
 of ordinary susceptibility can be of a fascinating young 
 woman into whose society he is thrown, but late in 
 the winter it was plain enough that he was seeking to
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 287 
 
 become, temporarily or permanently, the special 
 beneficiary of her gracious attentions. 
 
 Gassier, affecting the listless manner of some gossips, 
 made careful inquiry about this matter from students of 
 his acquaintance as he met them, and observed for 
 himself as well as he might whenever opportunity 
 offered. Though he had never discussed with Brother 
 Warner the progress of the friendship between the 
 preacher and Bertha, he had supposed that of course 
 the pastor knew exactly what he was about and had 
 his tender enterprise all well in hand. It had never en- 
 tered his head that there might be any reluctance on 
 Bertha's part to put herself for life under such safe 
 and saintly care as that of a minister of the gospel, 
 and since Brother Warner's first announcement on the 
 subject Gassier had considered Bertha as practically 
 betrothed. 
 
 He was, therefore, not disposed to believe at first 
 that the relations between her and Pressley would 
 become more than very friendly, but the reports of 
 others and his own limited observation convinced him 
 ere long that Miss Garrett was acting as if her heart 
 were still all her own, to be disposed of according to her 
 inclination. She and Pressley were much together 
 out of class at school. He was often her escort to the 
 literary society or to an evening party, and when 
 spring was come they took walks together on Sunday 
 afternoons. 
 
 This might all be true without making Miss Garrett 
 false to the preacher, if she were promised, but Gassier
 
 288 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 feared his reckoning was wrong somewhere, and went 
 to Good Hope next appointment day to compare 
 notes with the minister. Perhaps the minister knew 
 all about it. 
 
 But "Brother Charlie" knew nothing about it. 
 However, he made light of it, yet he said that perhaps 
 he had made a mistake in not definitely expressing to 
 Bertha what was in his heart. He was sure, neverthe- 
 less, that she had divined it and would be fully ready 
 to meet a plain statement of his affection. He would 
 make it at the first opportunity and thus get the 
 tender matter finally settled. 
 
 Gassier was disappointed at this revelation of the 
 nature of the bond between Bertha and the preacher. 
 That their marriage was waiting only for the com- 
 pletion of her education and her further maturity he 
 had presumed with satisfaction, for he was relying on 
 the preacher, one skilful in the use of influence, as he 
 supposed, to turn the heart of the child unto the father, 
 at present insinuatingly and with all the advantage 
 possessed by a lover, and later to advocate his cause 
 openly if need be. 
 
 If Bertha were to marry another it would be necessary 
 for him to negotiate his important case anew while 
 leaving with the preacher a dreadful secret which the 
 jilted suitor would no longer have strong personal 
 reasons for keeping covered and might through mere 
 pique reveal. Were it not for this Gassier might be 
 well pleased if Bertha chose Pressley rather than the 
 preacher, for Gassier liked him better. He had found
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 289 
 
 him companionable, and there was a roundness, a 
 vigor and wholesome spice to his character lacking to 
 the preacher's. On the whole, he hoped the preacher's 
 plan would not miscarry; yet, if the preacher were 
 rejected for Pressley, then Gassier was resolved to 
 give the young man the same facts and beg the same 
 offices. 
 
 But he was soon grievously discouraged by the 
 changed attitude of Pressley, which seemed now to 
 have become the same as Bertha's, a circumstance due 
 as Gassier held, to her influence and significant of the 
 progress of the intimacy between them. Bertha's 
 contempt he had thus far borne with no bitter sen- 
 timent toward her in return, but Pressley's coldness 
 and slights he could not abide without inward 
 resentment.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 His MASK OFF FOR GOOD. 
 
 As the weeks passed away the recurring incidents 
 that might denote a serious mutual attachment be- 
 tween Pressley and his daughter put Gassler's mind 
 into a strange state of vacillation. At times he was 
 in a rage and wished the youth were in his presence so 
 that he might berate him. At other times he found 
 himself loving Pressley for Bertha's sake (granted she 
 was really in love with him) and felt like taking an 
 occasion to throw his arms around the young fellow 
 and hug him. 
 
 One day, in incertitude and dismay, he would wish 
 that the preacher might hurry and make sure of the 
 prize. On the next he would feel as if he would like 
 to surprise Pressley and Bertha together, raise his 
 hands over them and say " God bless you both." 
 
 He had occasionally seen them together and at such 
 times Bertha, he thought, looked prettier and sweeter 
 than ever, which caused him even to dream of being 
 bold enough some time to approach her and her lover, 
 when thus she seemed most like an angel, and, telling 
 her a secret long concealed, beg at last, though almost 
 a stranger, as he must, his child's affection, or, if she 
 could not at once grant that, to beseech her that at 
 least, for nature's sake, she cease to despise him. 
 
 290
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 291 
 
 It was with a vague, timid intention to do this that 
 he went into the graveyard where Bertha and Pressley 
 were sitting, on a Sunday afternoon heretofore men- 
 tioned, and gave to Bertha a bunch of flowers. After 
 he left, as has been told, Bertha tossed the bouquet 
 away, and Gassier, noticing this as he looked back, 
 returned, when they had left the cemetery, found the 
 flowers on the grave of a child, and left them there 
 his own child's grave in symbol, for he felt that she, 
 too, was dead, that as a little child he had loved her 
 and laid her in the ground. 
 
 At last the preacher, observing how coldly Bertha 
 received his suggestion of marriage when it was plainly 
 communicated to her, told Gassier he believed that 
 the attachment between her and Pressley must be 
 genuine. An extraordinary effort must therefore be 
 made to break it, when he might renew his own advance 
 and, as he felt sure, with every prospect of success. 
 To accomplish this object he believed effective means 
 lay at hand in the peculiar relation existing between 
 Bertha and her foster parents. Only those in the 
 vicinity of the Old Plantation or those who had long 
 known the family well were aware of the fact that 
 Bertha was not actually a daughter. Even many 
 who were fully informed respecting the affairs of the 
 family at an earlier period regarded Bertha as what 
 she passed for a later child of the family for among 
 Mr. Garrett's neighbors there had been such deference 
 to his well-known, earnest desire in recent years that 
 nothing was ever said, except in small groups and then
 
 292 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 guardedly, about the truth of Bertha's position in the 
 household, and so well had even the children of the 
 neighborhood been instructed that, while most of them 
 knew who Bertha's mother was, not one of them ever 
 pretended in Bertha's hearing to be wiser than she 
 herself was on this point, except once, in her childhood, 
 when a playmate in pique taunted her with not knowing 
 her mother and almost gave the secret away. 
 
 At the same time, while the mixture of race in Mrs. 
 Garrett was seldom mentioned, there was no lack of 
 freedom in speaking about it when occasion arose. But 
 this fact did not go abroad as formerly, and it was under- 
 stood that no one should refer to it in Bertha's presence. 
 
 It was, therefore, the preacher's plan that Pressley 
 should be informed by Gassier, as if it were a dis- 
 agreeable but friendly act, that Bertha's mother was 
 a colored woman. The preacher calculated that 
 Pressley would be too gallant to catechize Bertha 
 herself while at the same time he would make inquiries, 
 with cautious diffidence, in fear of displaying his per- 
 sonal concern, with the sure result of confirming his 
 information. Only by taking others fully into his 
 confidence, which was not to be expected, would he 
 find what alone would furnish him an escape from his 
 predicament the real truth about Bertha's parentage. 
 
 "Oh, no, let's not do that," said Gassier when the 
 preacher had concluded. " It wouldn't be fair." 
 
 "It would be legitimate," replied the preacher with 
 an air of shrewdness. " We are only rating the family 
 at their own terms conceding what they represent."
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 293 
 
 "They don't allow the old lady's colored, do they?" 
 objected Gassier. 
 
 " No, but that is a patent fact that can't be ignored." 
 
 "Well, while we're concedin' all they reppizent, 
 let's concede she's Creole or Indian anything but 
 black. Besides, I wouldn't tell the devil himself the 
 lie that my own daughter's a nigger." 
 
 Gassier said this with such vehemence that the 
 preacher turned pale. 
 
 "Saying so, of course, would not make it so," said 
 " Brother Charlie," " and you would not be saying it of 
 your own daughter exactly. You would be saying it 
 so that she might sooner be your own daughter. You 
 would be furthering the execution of the contract we 
 entered into." 
 
 Gassier did have an agreement with the preacher. 
 Perhaps it was a contract and bound him to do as he 
 was told, besides, he was reluctant to possibly offend 
 by disobedience the holder of his secret. So he was 
 persuaded to promise that he would inform Pressley 
 as the preacher had suggested. But he found it hard 
 to fulfil the promise. His spirit revolted against his 
 doing so unfair and mean a thing. He felt much more 
 like calling Pressley into his shop and laying the whole 
 truth before him, binding him not at present to break 
 Bertha's illusion, and trusting that the young man's 
 gratitude would impel him to promote as best he might 
 the object that Gassier himself had most at heart. 
 
 Yet when the Fourth of July was come Gassier had 
 done neither the one thing nor the other, and " Brother
 
 294 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 Charlie," exasperated by the conduct of Bertha and 
 Pressley on that day, was impatient with Gassier for 
 his procrastination and insisted that without further 
 delay he should "start the trouble," which Gassier, 
 still afraid to rebel against the preacher, at last, as we 
 have seen, awkwardly and bluntly did, and yet with 
 such diffidence and timidity as to give Pressley the 
 impression that it was not wholly through malice. 
 
 The next day Gassier packed his tools, his pegs, 
 his lasts and his leathers and went to his Good Hope 
 shop, bitterly ashamed of what he had done, being 
 sure that he now deserved Pressley's contempt and 
 with a remorseful sense of having done a wanton 
 injury to that worthy young man as well as to his own 
 daughter. He, however, experienced some feeling of 
 relief a few days later when he learned that Pressley 
 had spent a day at the Old Plantation. 
 
 "Why didn't we think of that?" thought Gassier. 
 "He was sure to visit her home pretty quick and find 
 it out for himself, anyway. He has found it out now 
 an' much more 'an likely he'll think now that I was 
 only speakin' to him out of friendship to put him on 
 to something he'd ought to know." 
 
 Gassier wondered if Pressley had gone on invitation 
 or had "just seemed to happen down," urged, by what 
 Gassier had told him, to a speedy investigation. 
 
 " It was bound to happen, sooner or later, anyway," 
 thought he, and now felt that, whatever might be the 
 issue, it would be attributable not to his words but to 
 the visit.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 295 
 
 Yet he was scarcely made happier on this account, 
 for, a little while later, when he knew that Bertha was 
 mourning in her heart, his own grieved also. It was 
 the father in him lamenting that anything had sad- 
 dened his child. He did not, indeed, rate himself as 
 the cause of her misfortune, but he repented that he 
 had desired and contrived to invite it. 
 
 He could not follow with satisfaction the progress 
 of her sorrow. He hardly ever saw her now. He 
 would go to the preaching service in the country church, 
 hoping in vain she might be there. She quit making 
 her trips to the postoffice, and if he sometimes spoke 
 about her with seeming indifference to others it was 
 only to draw from them, possibly, some little bit of 
 news or gossip concerning her. He hoped that Abner 
 Garrett, who, he surmised, must be fully cognizant of 
 the cause of her trouble, would remove it by permitting 
 her and her lover to know the truth, and as time passed 
 on and the girl's spirits showed no sign, so far as he 
 could learn, of return to their wonted liveliness, he 
 thought again of going to Mr. Garrett with a full 
 revelation of the past, asking forgiveness for himself 
 and mercy now for his daughter. He suggested this 
 to "Brother Charlie," who shook his head. 
 
 "You would be far from doing her a service," said 
 he. "She would rather lose Pressley as her lover 
 than Garrett as her father." 
 
 At which Gassier was no less than jealous, his passion, 
 for the time, being unmitigated by any appreciation 
 of Garrett's loving kindness and inestimable beneficence
 
 296 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 to the wife he had cast away and the child of whom he 
 had not known. 
 
 The situation was all gone over again by him and 
 the preacher, with the same result as before, and 
 Gassier remained under the same dominion of argument 
 and fear. The preacher could not reconcile Bertha's 
 cheerful and animated disposition, as he observed it 
 when in her company, with a love-sorrow that lay 
 leaden on her soul, and did not, therefore, believe that 
 her attachment had been so strong or her disappoint- 
 ment so deep as Gassier represented. 
 
 But just at this time occurred the death of Walter 
 Garrett, an event which Gassier, while he was not 
 wanting in common human sympathy, deplored chiefly 
 because the grave decorum it imposed on family and 
 friends would require, as he supposed, a suspension 
 for many months of the amatory enterprise of the 
 preacher, for he was not firmly assured by "Brother 
 Charlie's" declaration that on the contrary the period 
 of mourning might establish the best condition for the 
 growth of Bertha's affection, since, as he put it, hearts 
 sometimes see best into other hearts through tears. 
 
 After the shocking revelations so dramatically unfolded 
 at the hour of Walter's burial, Gassier quickly left the 
 little cemetery. He passed close by those who thought 
 they had known him well, to whom he now seemed an 
 utter stranger of terrible manner and words, and not 
 a man spoke to him. 
 
 His face was burning. His eyes looked wild. People 
 stood to one side for him to pass, and looked after him,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 297 
 
 all in amazement, and many of them in fear, as he has- 
 tened away. 
 
 He went to his shop, pitched a few garments into a 
 carpet bag, and set out for College Hill, walking still, 
 as some said who saw him, like one mad. 
 
 After an hour or two a carriage in which was Prof. 
 Bland overtook him. There was room for one more 
 in the vehicle, and the professor with very grave and 
 timorous kindness invited him to ride. 
 
 "No, no, I will walk," said the wretched man with 
 great firmness. Noting well the manner of his reply 
 and his air of distraction, the professor did not repeat 
 the invitation. 
 
 Gassier was, indeed, wellnigh mad. No one was 
 more astonished than himself at the events of the 
 afternoon. That a mighty flood of anger should have 
 submerged all sense and judgment! 
 
 That at last, after years of reserve and control, he 
 should have announced Bertha's parentage to her 
 tauntingly and with upbraiding! 
 
 That his old crime should be proclaimed where his 
 mere presence under the circumstances was an outrage 
 scarcely less flagrant . 
 
 That he should have shocked both Heaven and earth 
 by profaning so sacred and solemn an hour with an 
 oath. All this deranged his mind with remorse and 
 despair. As he walked along heedlessly in the growing 
 darkness he wept and groaned and cursed again in turn. 
 
 Pretty father, he! Likely that Bertha would be 
 glad to give up the sedate, the gentle, the benevolent,
 
 298 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 the reputable Mr. Garrett, and own him, the vagabond 
 shoemaker, the ruffian, the swearer at graves, the 
 highwayman as her father. She would never recognize 
 him now. She was wholly out of his future, which 
 looked black indeed with shame and disgrace and with 
 the contempt of everybody. 
 
 He loathed himself. He loathed his life. He was 
 himself more dissatisfied with it than anybody else 
 could be. He knew that in no act would he be more 
 himself than in repudiating it before all the world. 
 Would that not rightly secure him some pity and 
 sympathy? He thought of himself as like the man in 
 the hymn, on a raging sea in a foundering bark, wind- 
 tossed, rudely blown, and in the dark. 
 
 On reaching College Hill long after dark, he went 
 directly to the boarding house, traversed the hall and 
 knocked at the door of Prof. Bland. 
 
 The professor had been for some time sitting by his 
 fire, still in a state of high excitement on account of 
 the remarkable events of the day, though wearied by 
 unwonted travel and exposure in the chilly air. As he 
 opened the door he was much struck by Gassler's 
 abject appearance, and might have been alarmed, after 
 bidding him come in, at finding himself alone with 
 him, had he not observed that his face was tear- 
 stained, reassuring proof that softer passions had been 
 stirring in his breast than those that made the moments 
 at the graveside so horrible. 
 
 "The 'Star of Bethlehem'!" exclaimed Gassier, 
 looking with desperate earnestness at the professor.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 299 
 
 The utterance was a pleading groan that just reached 
 the definiteness of articulation. The professor did not 
 at first understand that it was a request. 
 
 "Sing 'The Star of Bethlehem,'" said Gassier. 
 
 Professor Bland realized now that he had heard the 
 cry of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and began 
 singing the hymn in a low voice, so that it would not 
 be heard through all the house. When he had come to 
 the end of the third stanza; 
 
 Once on the raging seas I rode. 
 
 The storm was loud, the night was dark. 
 The ocean yawned, and rudely blowed 
 
 The wind that tossed my foundering bark, 
 
 Gassier was sobbing and the old singer was so deeply 
 moved that his voice trembled as he proceeded, but 
 became firm, clear and triumphant as he reached the 
 
 lines: 
 
 But suddenly a star arose 
 It was the Star of Bethelem, 
 
 and so he continued to the end. 
 
 " Sing it again," said Gassier. 
 
 And once more the professor sang it with deep 
 feeling arising from a new appreciation of its power as 
 illustrated in the particular case of the distressed 
 penitent before him. 
 
 Those in the rooms adjoining or close by had heard 
 some one come in and be admitted to the professor's 
 apartment, and they were surprised when soon the 
 professor began to sing. They supposed at first some 
 question had arisen as to the hymn between him and
 
 300 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 his caller or that he was singing it as a pious relief to 
 his mind from oppressive reflections on the awful 
 incidents of the day. 
 
 But even through intervening walls the low tones 
 of his voice presently carried with them the evidence 
 of singular earnestness and intensity of emotion, and 
 listeners then felt that the singing was really a serious 
 work of grace and that the visitor, whoever he might 
 be, had sought the professor's room as a sanctuary. 
 
 When the professor had concluded, Gassier, who had 
 by this time become more composed, said : 
 
 "Professor, you are too good for me to ride with. 
 That's the reason I didn't get in. I was too ashamed 
 of myself. That was awful this afternoon. But what 
 I said was right. She is my daughter. Only I hadn't 
 ought to say it that way. And what she said was 
 right, too. I did it. Seems as though they remem- 
 bered my scarred hand. Yes, I did it. But I ain't 
 any better suited with my life 'an anybody else is. 
 I hate it worse 'an anybody. If I do, then I'm not 
 as bad as if I liked it. And I want people to know I 
 hate it. I want to square myself with the world. 
 
 " I'll own up to it all. I wore a mask on the night of 
 the robbery and 'pears to me as if I'd been wearin' it 
 ever since, but it's comin' off now and comin' off for 
 good. I'd ha' done it before this if I hadn't been 
 advised not to, though I 'low I didn't want to. But 
 I liked that girl so as I wanted to get things squared 
 up. I've tried to live without squarin' 'em up, but 
 I can't.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 301 
 
 "I wouldn't ha' cared at things comin' out today if 
 I hadn't ha' told my daughter she was stuck up, and 
 got mad and swore right there at the buryin'. I 
 reckon she'll never like me now. People won't like 
 my life, now a^ they've found out what I did, but I 
 don't like it, either, and it's goin' to be something 
 different from this time on. 
 
 " Pressley's goin' to know her mother ain't a darkey, 
 and then he'll love her ag'in, maybe, and they'll be 
 happy. He'd be lots better for her than the preacher. 
 As I was walkin' along I didn't know what to do till 
 you ketched up with me, and then the sight of you 
 made me think o' 'The Star of Bethlehem/ and I had 
 to come right here to hear ye sing it." 
 
 And there in that plain abode of peace, refine- 
 ment and the virtues, the shoemaker made the 
 professor his confessor, as he had made the preacher 
 some time before, but adding to his grievous state- 
 ment a chapter covering his efforts to form an ac- 
 quaintance with his daughter and his conspiracy with 
 Brother Warner to spoil the match between her and 
 Pressley. 
 
 Prof. Bland listened with great interest and sympathy 
 to the plain tale, congratulated Gassier on his disgust 
 with what was evil in his past, expressed confidence 
 in his ability to make future conduct testify to better 
 character, and expressed the hope that he would yet 
 gain such recognition from his daughter as would not 
 leave his paternal yearnings wholly ungratified. 
 
 Gassier spent the night in the little room in the rear
 
 302 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 of his shop, and the next morning before the village 
 was awake he was on his way afoot to the Old Plantation 
 to beg the forgiveness of Mr. Garrett and, if he could 
 see her, of his child.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 FICTION AND FACT. 
 
 NEITHER Bertha nor Abner Garrett slept a moment 
 on the night of the day when Walter's remains were laid 
 finally away in the little home cemetery. 
 
 The girl was part of the time lying, part of the time 
 sitting, in her bed; now in tears, now in a distraction 
 too fearful for tears, thinking of the great change 
 the day had wrought. 
 
 What a transformation of persons, herself included! 
 Two who had stood nearest moved she could no* 
 yet tell how far, but a distance, away. One who had 
 stood a little apart, brought close, and one, who had 
 stood afar off and whose face she hated, also brought 
 near, even to her side ! And all wearing new faces ! 
 
 And her lover no gulf now between her and him, 
 but a plain space, over which, however, since there had 
 been a gulf, could they now approach each other? 
 
 And this dear old place which she had always loved 
 as home was become just so strange as to make her 
 homesick. Homesick, then, for a home where? 
 
 Nowhere in all the world. 
 
 Lying in the room which since she was a little girl 
 had been hers, yet homeless and parentless. A situation 
 that did not seem real, yet too real to be a dream. 
 
 Garrett, lamenting anew the loss of his son, was 
 303
 
 304 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 grieving also almost as for another Julia dead, and 
 regretting the cruelty with which Bertha's illusion 
 had been dispelled. Nor did he omit to reproach 
 himself with being the author of the catastrophe in 
 having selfishly established the condition that made 
 it possible. He sat by the fireplace or reclined on the 
 lounge, without undressing, all night. As had before 
 been the experience of his mind, this new trouble was 
 accompanied by the whole familiar troop of old ones, 
 and by still another, which, neither new nor old, was 
 becoming more serious every day. 
 
 He had never been able to make the income from 
 his capital sufficient to offset the family expenditures. 
 His sons had spent money like princes. The amounts 
 they called for increased instead of diminishing as they 
 grew up to be men. 
 
 Walter, after spending heavily all through his 
 college course and in the following years at various 
 unremunerative employments, had recently required 
 thousands of dollars to fit up a home and office in New 
 Orleans. 
 
 Dan had taken thousands more in the building of 
 his boat, which was not being operated profitably, 
 and thousands more would soon be necessary to 
 prevent the foreclosure of a mortgage on the steamer. 
 
 Abner Garrett, himself, though inclined to no extrav- 
 agance on his personal account, had always been proud 
 to furnish luxuries of all sorts to his family, while as 
 an agriculturist he seldom managed so that the returns 
 from his fields were more than large enough to pay
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 305 
 
 the cost of cultivating and maintaining and embellishing 
 the Old Plantation. The result now was that such 
 part of his former fortune as was not realty had become 
 exhausted, and he was reduced to a reliance upon his 
 acres alone, a prospect which caused him much 
 misgiving. 
 
 When Gassier arrived early in the morning at the 
 Old Plantation mansion Mr. Garrett met him at the 
 door. 
 
 "Mr. Garrett, I want to speak to you alone," said 
 Gassier. 
 
 Gassier presented a sorry appearance, wearied with 
 foot travel and loss of sleep, and showing in his face 
 an excitement that disregarded any of the ordinary 
 demands for physical rest. 
 
 Mr. Garrett surveyed him with grave surprise. Then, 
 still standing at the door, he said : 
 
 "Proceed. I am the only one up." 
 
 "I wish I had told you long ago," began Gassier. 
 "I've been ashamed enough of it. I was one of ; em. 
 I was the feller that stood over you. An' then's when 
 I got the first sight o' the little girl. Might seem as if 
 I wouldn't care, but I did. An' when I seed the kind 
 of folks we'd come to I wanted to back out right then, 
 but I didn't durst to. I knowed the other fellers 
 wouldn't stand it. An' so we went ahead, but I can 
 tell you it wa'n't a nice job for me. I'd heared that 
 she an' a baby she had was took up north by some 
 rich man, an', tell the truth, I didn't care then, only 
 was glad they'd got into good hands, an' I never
 
 306 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 calkilated to see 'em again; but when I see the little 
 girl there on your porch I knowed it was her, an' 
 '.Dears like all the love I'd ought to been doin' since she 
 was born began on me right then, an' it kept increasing 
 though I couldn't see her. An' when she screamed 
 there through bein' afeared o' me an' thinkin' some- 
 body was goin' to be hurt I tell you it took me up a 
 mighty lot." 
 
 Gassier moistened his lips with his tongue, as if to 
 accelerate his confession, then proceeded hastily: 
 
 "Well, I wanted to send back all the money. I 
 told the other fellers you wasn't the kind of people 
 we'd ought to do a thing o' that kind on. We was a 
 lot of old rebels as thought we hadn't got quite as much 
 out o' the war as we'd ought to. But they wouldn't 
 hear to sendin' it back, so I couldn't get it from 'em. 
 
 "I knowed I was held to you fer the hull amount 
 we stole an' I'd thought o' tryin' to get it back to you, 
 but I was afeared to do it fear I'd be found out, an' 
 a feller I talked to said I'd better not, an' besides I 
 held it a little ag'in' you that you was holdin' o' my 
 wife and child so as there was no chance fer me to get 
 'em back without makin' a bad mess o' the whole 
 thing, an' mebbe I couldn't get 'em anyway. 
 
 "That's the reason I been hangin' around here last 
 two years jest to see my daughter. Thought I 
 might get on speakin' terms with her without her 
 knowin' who I was an' see her at churches an' so on, 
 but she jest took a dislikin' to me from the start 
 'parently. Can't blame her much, but it went hard
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 307 
 
 with me when I was lovin' her all the time. I see 
 Maggie an' sounded her, but she wouldn't hear to 
 comin' back to me, an' I knowed you'd adopted 
 Bertha, an' the way seemed pretty well hedged up 
 to me. 
 
 "I jest got mad in the graveyard, that's all. My 
 temper got away with me. I couldn't stand things 
 any longer. It was an awful thing to do. I'm sorrier 
 fer it than anybody, an' I came here to ask yer fergive- 
 ness fer it an' fer the robbery an' the hull business. 
 I'm tired livin' the way I've lived. There's the past. 
 No help fer it, but the future's goin' to be different. 
 
 "I don't want Bertha to leave you. I don't allow 
 she can ever think much of me, but I wish I could be 
 on speakin' terms with her. Mebbe she'll come that 
 fur after while. An' there's nothin' now standin' in 
 the way of her marryin' Pressley. I told him her 
 mother was a wench jest to throw him off the track 
 'cause another feller wanted her. I want yer fergive- 
 ness fer that, too. I want to own up to everything, 
 an' as fer the money, why, I've had no one but myself 
 to take care of, an' here's the nine hundred dollars. 
 Now, won't you fergive the hull thing?" 
 
 Gassier offered Garrett a roll of bills. 
 
 Without taking the money, the planter invited 
 Gassier, who all this time had been standing outside 
 the open door, to come in and sit down. 
 
 "I do forgive you," said Garrett when they were 
 seated, "and I forgive you the money too. I don't 
 want it. You have paid all debts you owe me by
 
 308 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 saying what you have just said. I hope you have 
 entered on a new life. I trust nothing will divert you 
 from it. I also hope you will in time get the recog- 
 nition from your daughter you desire. I shall tell her 
 what you have told me, but for the present, until 
 her mind has had time to change, if it will change, I 
 think you had better not seek to bring yourself to her 
 notice. She has two fathers. She just now feels as 
 if she had none. I had two daughters. I lost one. 
 I now feel as if I had lost the other. And you loved 
 her?" 
 
 Mr. Garrett asked the question as if musing. The 
 other bowed his head; yet there was pride even in his 
 shame. 
 
 "I was late, too late, beginnin' to feel like a father 
 toward her," he moaned, "but when I see her an' got 
 to thinkin' she was my own daughter, my own child, 
 my heart commenced warmin' up an' got gettin' 
 warmer all the time. I thought better o' Maggie, 
 too, when I see she was the mother of such a child." 
 
 A sudden thought set the kind lines of Abner Gar- 
 rett's face into sternness. 
 
 "You said you tried to throw Pressley off the track 
 because some other person wanted Bertha," he in- 
 quired. "Did he know what you told Pressley?" 
 
 " Yes, he put me on to tellin' of him." 
 
 "May I ask who that was?" 
 
 "It was Brother Warner. He allowed it would be 
 better fer me if he married her." 
 
 " He knew, then, you were her real father? "
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 309 
 
 " Yes, I told him all about myself when I got religion 
 two years ago over in Kentucky. But I didn't keep 
 it. I've got religion before and didn't keep it. I 
 couldn't keep it an' my secrets both. Now I've 
 got rid of my secrets, an' I'm goin' to keep my religion." 
 
 "I trust you will," said Garrett, rising from the 
 chair, which Gassier correctly interpreted as an inti- 
 mation that the interview was ended. 
 
 "Think as kind o' me as you can," said he in leaving. 
 
 " I will," was the reply. 
 
 Gassier immediately set out on his return to College 
 Hill. He met a few of his acquaintances as he left 
 the neighborhood. They stopped as if they would 
 speak with him, but he passed on, saying to each of 
 them in turn : 
 
 "I've been over to the Old Plantation, told him 
 everything, an' asked his fergiveness fur everything." 
 
 That day "Brother Charlie" called at the Old 
 Plantation. Mrs. Garrett treated him with customary 
 consideration, but he observed a deportment in Mr. 
 Garrett which he would have been glad to be assured 
 was only abstraction due to grief. He felt, however, 
 that while his old friend eyed him coldly so did he 
 also reproachfully. 
 
 "Brother Charlie" asked, with the latitude com- 
 monly allowed spiritual physicians in time of stress, 
 if he had not better "have a word with Bertha." 
 
 "I don't believe she would desire to see anyone 
 today," said Garrett in a manner that seemed almost 
 stern.
 
 310 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 " Brother Charlie " never received another invitation 
 to the Garrett home. He never afterward saw any 
 member of the Garrett family in his congregation. 
 He ventured to call a few times on the standing invi- 
 tation he held as pastor, but the former hospitality 
 was not extended. Abner Garrett, however, governed 
 the conduct of his wife and Bertha toward the preacher 
 merely by the expression of his wishes without giving 
 further reason therefor than to say he had heard things 
 which left no doubt in his mind that Mr. Warner was 
 not a sincere man nor a true friend of the family. He 
 was not pressed to be more explicit. It was not the 
 first time that he had thus given direction to family 
 policy while making it understood that his motive 
 must not be the subject of exacting inquiry. 
 
 As soon as "Brother Charlie" learned that Gassier 
 had had an interview with Mr. Garrett he speculated 
 with great misgiving as to whether or not any of hia 
 own confidences with the shoemaker had been held 
 back. He hoped in vain to see Gassier at his local 
 shop, and a few months later, convinced that the 
 change in the disposition of the Garretts was perma- 
 nent, he made a trip to College Hill to ask Gassier if 
 he had divulged his secret counsel to Mr. Garrett. 
 Gassier told him the facts of the matter, and soon 
 afterward "Brother Charlie" retired from the pas- 
 torate of the church. 
 
 As a branch torn from its tree by tempest might 
 feel, if it had sensation, so Bertha felt after the recent 
 rude wind of circumstance had blown upon her. It
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 311 
 
 seemed to her that all vital connection between herself 
 and the family of which she never mistrusted she was 
 a part was broken asunder, and her spirit was prostrate 
 and helpless. 
 
 Instead of the cherished child of the affection of a 
 dear father and mother, she had been living, then, 
 but in a friend's house. The love given and returned 
 was only make-believe. The threads of gold that 
 bound their hearts to hers and hers to theirs were but 
 tinselled sham. The warmth of love was not from 
 life but from an artifice. In the exchange of what is 
 most precious in being she had been the victim of 
 fraud. The truth which, beginning before she could 
 remember, in her baby heart, she had held the dearest 
 in the world, was now converted at a word into a 
 fiction. 
 
 The changing consciousness of the girl continued 
 to bewilder her. Every object she beheld, however 
 familiar all the surroundings were, was imbued with 
 a quality of remoteness. "Ours," even "mine," had 
 to give place to "theirs," as in the house of some 
 stranger, and it may be hard for one to imagine how 
 deeply affected she was when, looking, say at the 
 parlor table cover, she realized that she had lost a 
 joint-proprietary interest in it and held only that of a 
 pensioner. 
 
 Bertha's mind could make no progress toward any- 
 thing like a practical adjustment of itself to the 
 knowledge that Gassier and Old Maggie were her 
 parents. For Old Maggie, indeed, she had always
 
 312 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 had a warm affection such as her fervent nature would 
 have conceived for any other woman with whom she 
 had been on like terms of intimacy and from whom 
 since infancy she had received like loving kindnesses, 
 but by no process could this long formed affection, 
 even though maternal in its counterpart, be now 
 transmuted into the superior gold of filial love. 
 
 Sometimes, impelled in part by conscience, in part 
 by personal pride, Bertha found herself seeking to 
 invest Gassier with a more worthy character than she 
 had hitherto allowed him. In this she was assisted with 
 suggestions adroitly made from time to time by Mr. 
 Garrett. In light of the fact that Gassler's interest 
 in her had been a fatherly one she could condone to 
 some extent the purely personal annoyances she had 
 suffered from him, but the deeper impression he had 
 made on her mind was little changed. The harsh 
 details of her mental images of him as desperado and 
 desecrator were not softened. 
 
 Gassier and Old Maggie too late now to make 
 these two persons over into parents! Bertha could, 
 indeed, conceive she was descended from them, but 
 her feeling in this respect, as nearly as it can be de- 
 scribed, was that they were ancestors, separated from 
 herself by some va.gue intermediate generations. 
 
 At the same time Bertha found it was no use trying 
 still to hold Mr. and Mrs. Garrett in her heart as father 
 and mother. They had inevitably receded from her, 
 and, with the dissolution of the bonds of natural 
 affection, she indulged the melancholy license of
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 313 
 
 applying to these two persons a more critical con- 
 sideration than her sentiments as a daughter would 
 ever have allowed her to exercise. 
 
 Once more she tried to look through Pressley's eyes, 
 and this time with more freedom, if she chose, to con- 
 cede the verity of his view. Perhaps there had been 
 another well-kept secret in the family. She recalled 
 that those questions she had asked as a child, and 
 even hi later years, about the childhood of her supposed 
 mother were never directly answered and that she was 
 soon diverted from them. But now she asked Abner 
 Garrett point blank : 
 
 "Was Pressley right in thinking there was colored 
 blood in my mother in Mrs. Garrett?" 
 
 She was almost sorry, for he quailed as if one had 
 struck him a blow. 
 
 "Can you not see for yourself, child?" he answered. 
 
 "See that there is or is not?" 
 
 "Can you not satisfy yourself?" 
 
 " It seems to me there might be." 
 
 "She says not." 
 
 "But do you not know positively? What do you 
 think?" 
 
 "I do not allow myself to know or to think beyond 
 what she says." 
 
 "Then Pressley was right." 
 
 As the whole matter revolved itself in Bertha's 
 mind, she rated her prime affections, tender and ardent 
 as they had been, fictitious save one. Her lover had 
 been her lover and her love for him had alone been
 
 314 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 genuine. Was it still not possible to save this? If 
 he only knew, would not this lead to the union of their 
 hearts again? 
 She was not sure, but she wished he knew.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 RESTORATION AND EPILOGUE. 
 
 PRESSLEY was a student this year at Franklin 
 College. One day in March he received a letter ad- 
 dressed in a strange hand, but bearing the familiar 
 postmark of College Hill. It was from Gassier, short 
 and laboriously composed. With orthographical re- 
 vision it may be reproduced as follows : 
 
 I'm no hand at writin', so excuse how short this is goin' to 
 be. I allowed you might not find out and I wanted you to 
 know is the reason I have for writin'. It turns out Bertha is 
 not the daughter of Mr. Garrett and his wife. She's adopted. 
 Her parents is white folks. I knowed this all the time, which 
 don't excuse me for tellin' you she had darkey blood, which 
 God forgive. I ask your pardon for it, too. I tell you so you 
 can act accordingly if you want to, and I wish you would. 
 
 Pressley's eyes were moist before he raised them 
 from the page, in joy that the way might yet be open 
 for him to follow the leadings of his heart; in compas- 
 sion for her to whom he had been needlessly cruel; 
 in pity of himself that he also had suffered. 
 
 "I knew it could not be so," said he bitterly to 
 himself. "I knew it could not be so. Then why did 
 I act as if it were? I knew she was bred an angel, 
 and when she came into my heart why did I thrust 
 her out? Why did I not give myself to her as she 
 
 315
 
 316 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 gave herself to me? Why did I pretend to find a 
 blemish on her and fling her away?" 
 
 Thus his thoughts ran on in tenderness toward her 
 and in contempt of himself. 
 
 He would hurry to her, if she would let him, and 
 confess his own abasement, his own meanness. It 
 would be in shame and manifold contrition, and if 
 she only would, if she only could, forgive him, if the 
 same old, free, unmixed light of love was in her eyes, 
 he would be happy again. 
 
 He lost no time in mailing a note to Bertha. " May 
 I come to you? " it asked only. In a few days a thrice 
 blessed "yes" was received, and Bertha had added: 
 
 "Mrs. Garrett has never been informed of your 
 opinion respecting her." 
 
 How truly, thought Jim, she had anticipated his 
 feelings and how considerately she had saved him 
 embarrassment by telling him that Mrs. Garrett had 
 never been told the reason for his conduct. 
 
 He took the train for Madison. His information 
 implied a mystery over which his mind could not cease 
 to exercise itself. What could have happened? If 
 Mr. and Mrs. Garrett were not her parents, who could 
 her parents be? The girl at once began to be dreamily 
 strange to him, and the reflection startled him that 
 there he was speeding on to a reunion with a sweet- 
 heart whose real name he did not know. 
 
 He felt he would be better prepared to present him- 
 self at Bertha's home if he could only learn something 
 further regarding the enigma, and he suddenly decided
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 317 
 
 to stop at College Hill and see Prof. Bland, so, instead 
 of proceeding directly to Madison, he got off at Dupont. 
 He had sometimes done this before, when going home, 
 just to pay his friends at the Hill, and especially Prof. 
 Bland, a visit. 
 
 It was quite dark when, afoot, he had reached the 
 stoniest part of the road running from Dupont to 
 College Hill. From an eminence behind he had 
 already seen the lights in the boarding house, and was 
 satisfied when he made sure that one of them was 
 shining from Prof. Eland's window. 
 
 At length he found himself at the boarding house 
 door. It was a portal which for old acquaintance' 
 sake he was privileged to open without knocking. 
 Going the length of the hall, he tapped on Prof. Bland's 
 door and was bidden to enter. 
 
 "Once more the wayfaring youth is welcomed to 
 the hermit's cell," said the professor, leaning forward 
 in his chair to grasp Jim's hand. 
 
 "You a hermit? Why, no; you like mankind too 
 well." 
 
 "But hermits are ever kindly to youth. Yes, 
 James, a good deal of a hermit, not of choice, but of 
 necessity, a sometimes hard necessity, for you know 
 it is a labor for me to get about. Even to rise to greet 
 my friends is a task so slow that in the doing it loses 
 all grace of compliment." 
 
 "But is it not the better action in a master simply 
 to sit? Kings' words need no gesture. It is only the 
 utterances of common men that need the emphasis of
 
 318 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 motions, and the most regal hail is the welcome merely 
 spoken." 
 
 "No master and no king, James, but, if you will, 
 your etiquette would not hold between two royalties." 
 
 "Will you not let me give you your proper rank?" 
 
 "Not if it puts a grade between us." 
 
 "Well, we are met and well met for me, and surely 
 if it lacked ceremony we have by after argument made 
 it ceremonious enough, for we have crowned two kings 
 protesting against their own investiture." 
 
 "And now that it is done, let's have a revolution 
 and depose us both; keeping the truer nobility of com- 
 moner men, showing how we despise a sovereignty 
 not shared by all republicans. Better for the land of 
 Washington and the commonwealth of Indiana poor 
 country for a heraldry and for the growing of that 
 crop of weeds that blossom into crowns. But we began 
 wrong, James. I have been thinking much about you 
 lately, and was never so glad to have you come. I 
 knew those were your footsteps in the hall." 
 
 "And I had a special object in coming. Until I got 
 on the train I had not thought of dropping by this 
 way. But what was your special desire to see me?" 
 
 " I believe you know it already. I was not sure that 
 you would hear of the matter. Go down there, James. 
 If things can be fixed up it will be a blessed mending. 
 But have you heard what's been going on?" asked 
 the professor, suddenly reflecting that he might have 
 presumed too much, " or have you of yourself changed 
 your mind? "
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 319 
 
 "All I know was contained in a short note that I 
 got from Mr. Gassier. He said that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Garrett were not her parents." 
 
 " Oh, then it will be all right, and while it is through 
 a great trial to Bertha, you are both to be congratu- 
 lated. It is something that ought to have been told 
 her long ago, and then it would not have been so hard. 
 James, be as diplomatic as you can when talking to 
 Mrs. Garrett. Beware the fury of ' a woman scorned.' " 
 
 "She has known nothing about my motives," said 
 Jim, " if that is what you mean. Bertha told me that." 
 
 "Ah, then, so much the better. You will no doubt 
 be received gladly by them all." 
 
 "But what has happened?" asked Jim. "I came 
 expressly to see if you could tell me, so that I would 
 not need to go to Bertha's home so much in the dark. 
 How is it? Who are her parents? " 
 
 "Gassier didn't tell you that? She is an adopted 
 daughter without knowing it until now. You have 
 heard her speak of Old Maggie? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Old Maggie is her mother, and her father is Mr. 
 Gassier, though Gassier is an assumed name. His real 
 name is Crowell." 
 
 "Good gracious!" exclaimed Jim, starting in his 
 chair. "When did it become known, and how?" 
 
 Prof. Bland then told him all about the funeral. 
 
 "Strangest thing I ever heard in my life," was the 
 best way the young man could express his mightily 
 wrought up and mingled feelings.
 
 320 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 The professor then narrated to him the Garrett 
 family history and repeated Gassier' s story as the shoe- 
 maker had given it. 
 
 " Explains it all," said Jim. 
 
 The young man excused himself for a moment to 
 go to the matron to speak for a bed. She asked him 
 why he looked so frightened. He laughed at her for 
 what he called her notion. 
 
 "It invigorates me to come in contact with some- 
 body who has been traveling," said Professor Bland to 
 Jim when he returned. " I feel as if my windows were 
 up and fresh air were coming in; as if I were a stagnant 
 pool stirred by the inflowing of a running stream. When 
 one has been making a railroad trip I always fancy he 
 brings with him what I may call the scent of activity, 
 the odor of bustle and movement. It's good to get 
 such things as that into my old room sometimes. If 
 I should get a new book I suppose I should feel that 
 it brought up a little the dates of all the others on my 
 shelves. I mean, brightened them a trifle." 
 
 " I know it does a young man good to get into this 
 room now and then," said Jim. He was much inter- 
 ested in these references of the professor to himself. 
 He was surprised at them, for they were opening up 
 recesses in the old man's heart which he supposed had 
 long been closed for all time. He had never before 
 that night heard Prof. Bland say a word, except in 
 the most indirect way, about his loneliness or seclusion, 
 about any of his belongings, his books or anything 
 else being old.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 321 
 
 Everything he had was old. The backs of half his 
 books showed pits and furrows where worms had 
 held their banquets. Some had no backs, and all 
 their leaves had the yellow which is the gray of books. 
 His cane and crutch were worn and bruised, and 
 seemed as if once they might have had an infant 
 stature and grown up and aged with the frame they 
 supported. His clothes bore the gloss of the smoothing 
 iron of time. 
 
 But Prof. Bland was simply wishing he were youthful 
 and handsome and standing in the young man's place. 
 
 "I feel as if I had travelled a long way," said Jim. 
 " In fact, it seems to me that I have come into another 
 world." 
 
 "I might have saved you most of your trouble if 
 I had only told you in the first place the secret that 
 has now come out," said the professor, "and I was 
 more than once strongly tempted to trust that you 
 would never let Bertha know, and do so, but I could 
 not. I felt that somehow I would be violating Bertha's 
 confidence, and I could not be sure that you would 
 be better pleased to have her the child of those who 
 are really her parents than of those who you supposed 
 were." 
 
 "Oh, as to that, I wish Mr. Garrett were still her 
 father. He must be a thousand times the man Gassier 
 is; and I suppose, compared as individuals, Mrs, 
 Garrett is far superior to Old Maggie, but there is the 
 fact of her race. Do you still think that Mrs. Garrett 
 is fully white? You say she was a slave."
 
 322 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 "I never thought she was white." 
 
 " But you told me once, when I asked you, that she 
 surely was, though from all I saw and heard I could 
 not believe it." 
 
 "No, James, you asked me if I thought there was 
 any negro blood in Bertha's mother." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I told you no." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "But which mother did you mean, and which did 
 I mean?" 
 
 " Oh, I see," said Jim quietly. 
 
 "It was a truth you could see but one side of, but, 
 as I said, I could not tell you that, and could but 
 leave the words with you, hoping the assurance I 
 thus gave might blind the eyes of a love that I could 
 not make to see all, and that, so far as it was seeing, 
 was seeing wrongly. And, besides, I was then informed 
 only by my own observation as to just what the re- 
 lation was between you and Bertha, and I could not 
 on what was, after all, a presumption, hazard the 
 revelation of which we have been speaking." 
 
 Pressley was by this time beginning to be absorbed 
 with reflection on what he had just heard and on how 
 far the facts had left him out of their confidence in 
 the most important matter of his life, and he was 
 disposed to be silent. The professor, also, was inclined 
 this way, hah 7 mistrusting whether he had prudently 
 proceeded to the extremity in this matter whither his 
 sympathy for his two young friends had led him.
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 323 
 
 But they fell to talking about everyday affairs, 
 school matters and small current events, and thus 
 ended the evening in common sociability. 
 
 After that the young man needed common sleep, 
 but the chords of his being had been set vibrating by 
 rare influences, and the subtle fingers kept at work, 
 playing more and more, as consciousness became be- 
 guiled of judgment, a fantastic medley of all airs from 
 a ditty to a dirge. 
 
 The next morning he was early out of the village, and 
 on to Good Hope. 
 
 Good Hope! In the name, as it proved, lay a 
 revival, for final fulfillment, of the promise formerly 
 read therein by the now returning lover. Love pre- 
 sided over the court instituted for a review of his 
 conduct, and a plenitude of mercy was shown which, 
 though he craved it all, he could not accept without 
 some protest in his heart. 
 
 Pressley found no indictment against him save the 
 mere record of what Bertha had suffered, as it came 
 from the trembling lips of the girl herself, yet this 
 was harsh enough to bow down his soul in utter abjec- 
 tion. She was not otherwise his accuser, but on this 
 recital he based a self-arraignment of which he felt 
 strict justice could give him no acquitment and from 
 which a pardon, through grace alone, could absolve 
 him. 
 
 "Forgive you?" Bertha repeated. "I had already 
 done so in my heart." 
 
 All the motives and emotions that had tortured
 
 324 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 these two hearts for the last ten months were reviewed 
 by both together. They were, indeed, in part re-felt 
 in the effort to express them in words, and tears com- 
 pelled many a pause. 
 
 Pressley did not make excuse, nor did Bertha suggest 
 it was required, for the action to which he had felt 
 himself forced by the facts as he understood them to 
 be. The cardinal fault with which he reproached 
 himself was that, even against such opposing testimony, 
 he had not held to the uttermost the faith love had 
 bidden him hold. 
 
 After they had been long together, and as they stood 
 with their arms about each other, both their faces 
 lighted by a love that had survived throughout, but 
 now clear of clouds, Bertha thus summed up the 
 inquisition : 
 
 "All for a mistake! Yes, you made a mistake, 
 but it was founded on one which I had been making 
 all my life. No, I didn't make it. It was made for 
 me and I grew up in it. Nor did you make your 
 mistake, Jim. It was made for you. Two mistakes. 
 Mine had to carry yours. With mine gone yours is 
 gone." 
 
 And then to both returned the vision of the little 
 heaven on earth they so fondly contemplated, as clear 
 now as then, and nearer, and never to vanish again. 
 
 Bertha continued to call Mrs. Garrett her mother, 
 but, as time passed, her conduct toward Old Maggie,
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 325 
 
 on the long visits that she and Pressley made every 
 summer, became more and more of a filial character, 
 though never without reserve. As if to supply, as 
 far as possible, what was inevitably lacking in this 
 particular, after the diversion of Bertha's affection 
 from the natural course, Pressley treated Old Maggie 
 with a respectful, cordial and constant attentiveness 
 which often confused while it gratified her. 
 
 A dearer compensation was hers in the full aban- 
 donment of Bertha's children, first one, then two, 
 and then three, to her care and company on these 
 summer visits at the old home. Two grandmas here, 
 they told the little ones, and Old Maggie could not 
 reproach herself for her jealousy of them nor for a 
 distinct feeling of satisfaction on perceiving, as she 
 thought, that of the two grandmas she herself, handi- 
 capped as she was, was the favorite. Nor did she fail 
 to discern gratefully that Pressley interested himself 
 to promote this friendship. 
 
 Pressley performed a like good office for Gassier. 
 Soon after Bertha and Jim were married and went 
 to Indianapolis Gassier followed and opened a shoe- 
 maker's shop in that city. When Bertha had learned 
 about all his yearning for her, her heart softened 
 somewhat toward him, so that she was able to think 
 of him with indifference and even bear his infrequent 
 presence in her home. His whole story had created 
 a great deal of sympathy for him in Jim's heart, 
 and the young man sought to facilitate an inter- 
 course, limited as it must be at best, between the
 
 326 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 
 
 man and his daughter's children that might even 
 in a slight measure make up to Gassier the grand- 
 father what Gassier the father had too late come to 
 long for. 
 
 Pressley and the children often dropped into the 
 cobbler's shop, where, though the little people ran- 
 sacked shelves and cubby-holes and handled all the 
 curious things there at will, yet were they not com- 
 plained of as meddlesome. Gassier, too, might often 
 have been seen at a few minutes of sport with them 
 in their own yard or on the walk in front, and friends 
 used to wonder why it was that on Sunday afternoons 
 in pleasant weather the shoemaker so often took the 
 young lawyer's children for an outing in the parks or 
 some near rural spot, for at Bertha's wish, conveyed 
 by her husband, Gassier kept his relationship to her 
 unknown, but he was allowed to play "uncle" to the 
 children. Their parents had but one anxiety respecting 
 their intimacy with their fond friend, and that was 
 lest his ever-ready indulgence of them in sweetmeats 
 might at any time be followed by physical pains and 
 penalties. 
 
 Abner Garrett did not live long enough by a year 
 to witness the marriage of Bertha and Pressley. He 
 suffered no malady well enough defined for the doctors 
 to give it a name. He only grew paler and more mel- 
 ancholy to the end. Mrs. Garrett preserved a broken 
 looking-glass as that which had been the visible 
 prophecy of his demise. 
 
 And, as the years went by, the Old Plantation
 
 IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE 327 
 
 home and acres became but a faded and mutilated 
 copy of what it had been in the days of its simple 
 splendor, and there was no one to wonder if the fates 
 were done with it now.
 
 The UNTAMED 
 PHILOSOPHER 
 
 AT HOME AND WITH 
 
 THE PLUGONIANS 
 OF PLUGOLIA 
 
 Being a Tale of Hens and some other People 
 
 by FRANK W. HASTINGS 
 
 AUTHOR OF SEVERAL WIDELY UNKNOWN WORKS 
 
 The book is a series of deliciously funny essays on such 
 things as Marriage, Work, Love, Country, Church, Wrecks, 
 Politics, Sundries, etc. 
 
 The book bears this unique dedication, "Totheeyer- 
 lasting, ever present, ever dignified, ever-plentiful and never 
 murmuring weather these evidences of dementia are inscribed." 
 
 It is quite the funniest book of philosophy ever published 
 and one of the best works of humor that have been issued in 
 many yean. 
 
 
 THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. 
 BOSTON, MASS.
 
 A 000116033 2 
 
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