The Bondwoman Part 24

"Yo' servant, Miss Sajane, Miss Lena; yo' servant, Mahstah," he said with a bow to each. "I done come pay my respects to the family what got back. I'm powerful glad to heah they got safe ovah that ocean."

"Oh, yes; you're very thankful when you wait two whole weeks before you come around to say 'howdy.' Have you moved so far into the swamp you can't even hear when the family comes home? Sit down, you're tired likely. Tell us all the news from your alligator pasture."

"My king! Miss Lena, you jest the same tant'lizin' little lady. Yo'

growen' up don't make you outgrow nothen' but yo' clothes. My 'gatah pasture? I show yo' my little patch some o' these days--show yo' what kind 'gatahs pasture theah; why, why, I got 'nigh as many hogs as Mahs Matt has n.i.g.g.ahs these days."

"Yes, and he hasn't so many as he did have," remarked Mrs. Nesbitt, significantly. "You know anything about where Scip and Aleck are gone?"

"Who--me? Miss Sajane? You think I keep time on all the runaway boys these days? They too many for me. It sutenly do beat all how they scatter. Yo' all hear tell how one o' Cynthy's boys done run away, too? Suah as I tell you--that second boy, Steve! Ole Mahs Masterson got him dogs out fo' him--tain't no use; nevah touched the track once.

He'll nevah stop runnen' till he reach the Nawth an' freeze to death.

I alles tole Cynthy that Steve boy a bawn fool."

"Do you mean your son Steve, or your grandson?" queried Mrs. Nesbitt.

"No'm, 'taint little Steve; his mammy got too much sense to let him go; but that gal, Cynthy--humph!" and his disdain of her perceptive powers was very apparent.

"But, Uncle Nelse, just remember Aunt Cynthy must be upwards of seventy. Steve is fifty if he is a day. How do you suppose she could control him, even if she knew of his intention, which is doubtful."

"She nevah would trounce that rascal, even in his youngest days,"

a.s.serted Nelse, earnestly; "and as the 'bush is bent the tree's declined.' I use to kote that scripper to her many's the day, but how much good it do to plant cotton seed on stony groun' or sow rice on the high lan'? Jes' that much good scripper words done Cynthy, an' no more."

His tone betrayed a sorrowful but impersonal regret over the refractory Cynthia, and their joint offspring. Evilena laughed.

"Where did you get so well acquainted with the scripture, Nelse?" she asked. "I know you never did learn it from your beloved old Mahs Duke Loring. I want you to tell this gentleman all about the old racing days. This is Dr. Delaven (Nelse made a profound bow). He has seen great races abroad and hunted foxes in Ireland. I want you to tell him of the bear hunts, and the horses you used to ride, and how you rode for freedom. The race was so important, Dr. Delaven, that Marmaduke Loring promised Nelse his freedom if he won it, and he had been offered three thousand, five hundred dollars for Nelse, more than once."

"Nevah was worth as much to myself as I was to Mahs Duke," said Nelse, shaking his head. "I tell yo' true, freedom was a sure enough hoodoo, far as I was concerned; nevah seemed to get so much out o' the horses after I was my own man; nevah seemed to see so much money as I owned befo', an' every plum thing I 'vested in was a failure from the start; there was that gal o' Mahs Masterson's--that there Cynthy--"

The old man's garrulity was checked by the noiseless entrance of Margeret. He gave a distinct start as he saw her.

"I--I s'lute yo', Miss Retta," he said, sweeping his cap along the floor and bowing from where he sat. She glanced at him, bent her head slightly in acknowledgment, but did not address him.

"Miss Loring asks to see you in the dining room, Mistress Nesbitt,"

she said softly; then drawing a blind where the sun was too glaring, and opening another that the breeze might be more apparent, she pa.s.sed silently out.

The old man never spoke until she disappeared.

"My king!--she get mo' ghost-like every yeah, that Retta," he said, while Evilena gathered up the ball of stocking yard and wound it for Mrs. Nesbitt; "only the eyes o' that woman would tell a body who she is, these days; seems like the very shape o' her face been changed sence she--"

"Nelse," said Mrs. Nesbitt, a trifle sharply, "whatever you do you are not to let Mr. Loring know about those runaways; maybe you better keep out of his sight altogether this visit, for he's sure to ask questions about everything, and the doctor's orders are that he is not to see folks or have any business talks--you understand? and nothing ever does excite him so much as a runaway."

"Oh, yes, Miss Sajane, I un'stan'; I'll keep out. Hearen' how things was I jes' come down to see if Miss Gertrude needs any mo' help looken' after them field n.i.g.g.ahs. They nevah run away from _me_."

"Well"--and she halted doubtfully at the door--"I'll tell her. And if you want Dr. Delaven to hear about the old racing days, honey, hadn't you better take him into the library where the portraits are? I'm a trifle uneasy lest Mr. Loring should take a notion to come in here.

Since he's commenced to walk a little he is likely to appear anywhere but in the library. He never does seem to like the library corner."

Delaven glanced at the library walls as the three advanced thereto--walls paneled in natural cedar, and hung with large gilt frames here and there between the cases of books. "I should think any man would like a room like this," he remarked, "especially when it holds one's own family portraits. There is a picture most attractive--a fine make of a man."

"That Mahs Tom Loring, Miss Gertrude's father," explained Nelse. "Jest as fine as he looks theah, Mahs Tom was, and ride!--king in heaven!

but he could ride. 'Taint but a little while back since he was killed, twenty yeahs maybe--no, eighteen yeahs come Christmas. He was followen' the houn's, close on, when his horse went down an' Mahs Tom picked up dead, his naik broke. His wife, Miss Leo Masterson, she was, she died some yeahs befo', when Miss Gertrude jest a little missy. So they carried him home from Larue plantation--that wheah he get killed--an' bury him back yonder beside her," and he pointed to a group of pines across the field to the north; "so, after that--"

"Oh, Nelse, tell about live things--not dead ones," suggested Evilena, "tell about the races and your Mahs Duke, how he used to go horseback all the way to Virginia, to the races, and even to Philadelphia, and how all the planters gathered for hundreds of miles, some of the old ones wearing small clothes and buckled shoes, and how--"

"Seems like you done mind them things so well 'taint no use tryen' to rake up the buried reck'lections o' the pas' times," said the old man, rebukingly, and with a certain pomposity. "I reckon now you 'member all the high quality gentlemen. The New Market Jockey Club, an' how they use to meet reg'lar as clock-work the second Tuesday in May and October; an' how my Mahs Duke, with all the fine ruffles down his s.h.i.+rt front, an' his proud walk, an' his voice soft as music, an' his grip hard as steel, was the kingpin o' all the sports--the grandest gentleman out o' Calliny, an' carried his head high as a king ovah all Jerusalem--I reckon you done mind all that theah, Miss Lena."

"I will, next time," laughed the girl, "go on, Nelse, we would rather hear what you remember."

"I don't reckon the names o' the ole time sportin' gentlemen, an'

old time jockeys, an' old time stock, would count much with a gentleman from foreign lan's," said the old man, with a deprecating bow to Delaven. "But my Mahs Duke Loring nevah had less than six horses in trainen' at once. I was stable-boy, an' jes' trained up with the colts till Mahs Duke saw I could ride. I sartainly had luck with racin' stock, seein' which he gave me clean charge o' the whole racin' stable; 'sides which, keepen' my weight down to eighty pounds let me in for the jockey work--them was days. I was sent ovah into Kaintucky, an' up Nawth far as Long Island, to ride races fo'

otha gentlemen--friends o' Mahs Duke's, an' every big race I run put nigh onto a hundred dollar plump into my own pocket. Money?--my king! I couldn't see cleah how I evah could spend all the money I got them days, cause I didn't have to spend a cent fo' clothes or feed, an' I had mo' presents give to me by the quality folks what I trained horses fer than I could count or reck'lect.

"The ride Miss Lena done tole yo' of--that happen the yeah Mahs Duke imported Lawd Chester, half brother to Bonnie Bell, that won the sweepstakes at Petersburg, an' sire o' Glenalven out o' Lady Clare, who was owned by Mahs Hampton ovah in Kaintucky. Well, sah, the yeah he imported Chester was the yeah he an' Mr. Enos Jackson had the set-to 'bout their two-yeah-olds--leastwise the colts _seemed_ to be the cause; but I don't mind tellen', now, that I nevah did take stock in that notion, my own self. Women folks get mixed up even in race fights an' I mind one o' the han'some high steppers o' Philadelphia way down theah that time, an' Mistah Jackson he got a notion his chances mighty good, till long come Mahs Duke an' glance out corner of his eye, make some fine speeches, an'--farwell, Mistah Jackson!

Mistah Jackson wa'nt jes' what you'd call the highest quality, though he did own powerful stretches o' lan'--three plantations in Nawth Calliny, 'sides lots o' other property. He had a colt called Darker he 'lowed nothen' could keep in sight of, an' he _was_ good stuff--that colt. Mistah Jackson would a had easy riden' fo' the stakes if me an'

Mahs Duke hadn't fetch Betty Pride up to show 'em what we could do.

Well, the upshot of it was that part on account o' that Nawthen flirtatious young pusson what liked Mahs Duke the best, an' part on account o' Betty Pride, Mistah Jackson act mighty mischievous-like, an' twenty minutes afo' time was called I 'scovered that boy, Jim Peters, what was to ride Betty Pride, had been drugged--jest a trifle, not enough to leave him stupid--but too much to leave him ride, bright as he need be that day. He said Mistah Jackson's stable boss had give him a swallow o' apple jack, an' king heaven!--but Mahs Duke turn white mad when I tole him. He say to Jim's brother Mose--Mose was his body servant--'Moses, fetch me my pistols,' jest quiet like that; 'Moses, fetch me my pistols.' Whew!--but I was scared, an' I says, 'No, sah,' I says, 'Mahs Duke, fo' heaven's sake, don't stop the race, an' I'll win it fo' you yet. Mistah Jackson betten nigh bout all he own on Darker; get yo' frien's to take all bets fo' you, an' egg him on. Betty Pride ain't been tampered with!--take my word fo' it, she'll win even with my extra weight--now, Mahs Duke, fo' G.o.d's sake,' says I, 'go out theah an' fool them rascals; don't let on you know 'bout their trick; take all theah bets, an' trust me. I trained that colt, an' we'll _win_, Mahs Duke--if we don't--well, sah, you can jest use them pistols on _me_.' I mos' got down on my knees a' beggen' him, an' his blue eyes, like steel, measuren' me an' weighen' my words, then he said: 'I'll risk it, Nelse, but--heaven help yo' if yo' fail me!'

"I knew good enough I'd need _some_ powerful help if I come in second, fo' he had a monstrous temper, but kindest man you evah met when things went his way. Well, jest as I was jumpen' into my clothes, an'

Mahs Duke had started to the ring, I called out, half joken: 'Oh, Mahs Duke, I'm a dead n.i.g.g.ah if I come in second, but what yo' gwine to give me if I come in first?'

"He turned at that an' said, sharp an' quick an' decided--'Yo'

freedom, Nelse.' My king!--that made me shaky, I could scarce get into my clothes. I knew he been offered big money fo' me, many's the time, an' now I was gwine to get it all my own self.

"Mahs Duke done jes' like I begged him--kep' steady an' cool an' take up all Mistah Jackson's bets, and _he_ was jest betten wild till he saw who was on Betty Pride, an' I heah tell he come a nigh fainten'

when he got sight o' me; but Mahs Duke's look at 'im must a jes'

propped him up an' sort o' fo'ced him to brave it out till we come aroun'. It was a sweepstakes an' repeat, an' Betty Pride come in eighteen inches ahead, an' that Nawthen lady what conjure Mistah Jackson so, she fastened roses in Betty Pride's bridle, an' gave me a whole bouquet--with one eye on Mahs Duke all the time, of course, but Lordy!--he wan't thinken' much about ladies jes' that minute. He won ovah thousand dollars in money, 'sides two plantations off Mistah Jackson, who nevah dared enter the jockey club aftah that day. An'

Mahs Duke was good as his word 'bout the freedom--he give it to me right theah; that's my Mahs Duke."

"And a fine sort of a man he was, then," commented Delaven, looking more closely at the strong, fine pictured face, and the bushy, leonine shock of tawny hair and the eyes that smiled down with a twinkle of humor in their blue depths. There was a slight likeness to Matthew Loring in the heavy brows and square chin, but the smile of the father was genial--that of the son, sardonic.

"Yes, sah," agreed Nelse, when comment was made upon the likeness, "Mahs Matt favor him a mite, but none to speak of. Mahs Tom more like him in natur'. Mahs Matt he done take mo' likeness to his gran'ma's folks, who was French, from L'weesiana. A mighty sharp eye she got, an' all my Mahs Duke's n.i.g.g.ahs walk straight, I tell yo', when she come a visiten' to we all. I heard tell how _her_ mother was some sort o' great lady from French court, packed off to L'weesiana 'cause o'

some politics like they have ovah theah; an' in her own country she was a princess or some high mightiness, an' most o' her family was killed in some rebeloution--woman, too! All saved her was getten to Orleans, an' _her_ daughter, she married ole Matthew Loring, the daddy o' them all, so far back as I know."

The old man had warmed to his task, as floods of reminiscences came sweeping through his memory. He grew more important, and let fall the borrowed cloak of servility; his head was perched a little higher and a trifle askew as he surveyed them. The reflected grandeur of past days was on him, and in comparison modernity seemed common-place. All these brilliant, das.h.i.+ng, elegant men and women of his youth were gone. He was the only human echo left of their greatness, and his diminutive person grew more erect as he realized his importance as a landmark of the past.

"There!" said Evilena, triumphantly, "isn't that as interesting as your Irish romances? Where would you find a landlord of England or Ireland who would make a free gift of three thousand dollars to a servant? They simply could not conceive of such generosity unless it were the gift of a king or a prince, and then it would be put down in their histories for all men to remember."

"True for you," a.s.sented Delaven, with the brogue he was fond of using at times when with those elected to comrades.h.i.+p; "true for you, my lady, but you folks who are kings and queens in your own right should be a bit easy on the unfortunates who can be only subjects."

"They don't need to be subjects," she insisted; "they could a.s.sert their independence just as we did."

"Oh, sometimes it isn't so bad--this being a subject. I've found life rather pleasant down here in the South, where you are all in training for the monarchy you mean to establish. I don't mind being a subject at all, at all, if it's to the right queen."

"But we didn't come in here to talk politics," she said, hastily.

"Uncle Nelse, do tell Dr. Delaven about your freedom days, and all. He is a stranger here and wants to learn all about the country and customs. You've traveled, Nelse, so you can tell him a lot."

"Yes, reckon I could. Yes, sah, I done travelled considerable; the onliest advantage I could conjure up in freedom was goen' wherever the fit took me to go--jes' runnen' roun' loose. My king! I got good an'

tiahed runnen, I tell yo'. Went cleah out to the Mississippi river, I did--spent all my money, an' started back barefoot, deed I did, an' me worth three thousan' five hundred dollars! Nevah did know how little sense I got till I was free to get myself in trouble if I liked, an'

didn't have no Mahs Duke to get me out again. More'n that, seem like I done lost my luck some way--lost races I had no right to lose, till seem like owners they got scary 'bout me, an' when I git far away from my own stamping groun', seem like I wasn't no sort o' use at all. Bye and bye I fell in with Judge Warner, who was a great friend o' Mahs Dukes, and I jes' up an' tells him I done been conjured along o' that freedom Mahs Duke done give me. My king!--how he did laugh. He offered me a good berth down on his place, but I say, 'no, sah; all I want is Mahs Duke an' old Calliny'; so he helps me to some races an' seems like the very notion o' goen' home done fetch me good luck right off, 'cause I made good winnen' on his bay filly, Creole, an' soon as I got some money I bid far'well to wanderen' an' made fo' home.