第17章

company's wo'th, as much as OUR property's wo'th, as much maybe as yo' life's wo'th! Don't lift yo' comb, co'nnle; if you don't care for THAT, others may.Sit still, I tell yo'! Well, yo' come here from the No'th to run this property for money--that's square and fair business; THAT any fool here can understand--it's No'th'n style; it don't interfere with these fools' family affairs; it don't bring into their blood any No'th'n taint; it don't divide their clannishness; it don't separate father and son, sister and brother; and even if yo' got a foothold here and settled down, they know they can always outvote yo' five to one! But let these same fools know that yo' 're courtin' a So'th'n girl known to be 'Union'

during the wah, that girl who has laughed at their foolishness; let them even THINK that he wants that girl to mix up the family and the race and the property for him, and there ain't a young or old fool that believes in So'th'n isolation as the price of So'th'n salvation that wouldn't rise against yo'! There isn't one that wouldn't make shipwreck of yo'r syndicate and yo'r capital and the prosperity of Redlands for the next four years to come, and think they were doing right! They began to suspect yo' from the first!

They suspected yo' when yo' never went anywhere, but stuck close to the fahm and me.That's why I wanted yo' to show yourself among the girls; they wouldn't have minded yo' flirting with them with the chance of yo' breaking yo' heart over Tave Reed or Lympy Morris! They're fools enough to believe that a snub or a jilt from a So'th'n girl would pay them back for a lost battle or a ruined plantation!"For the first time Miss Sally saw Courtland's calm blood fly to his cheek and kindle in his eye."You surely do not expect ME to tolerate this blind and insolent interference!" he said, rising to his feet.

She lifted her ungloved hand in deprecation."Sit still, co'nnle.

Yo' 've been a soldier, and yo' know what duty is.Well! what's yo' duty to yo' company?""It neither includes my private affairs nor regulates the beating of my heart.I will resign.""And leave me and Aunt Miranda and the plantation?""No! The company will find another superintendent to look after your aunt's affairs and carry out our plans.And you, Sally--you will let me find you a home and fortune North? There is work for me there; there is room for you among my people."She shook her head slowly with a sweet but superior smile."No, co'nnle! I didn't believe in the wah, but the least I could do was to stand by my folks and share the punishment that I knew was coming from it.I despise this foolishness as much as yo', but Ican't run away from it.Come, co'nnle, I won't ask yo' to forget this; mo', I'll even believe yo' MEANT it, but yo' 'll promise me yo' won't speak of it again as long as yo' are with the company and Aunt Miranda and me! There mustn't be more--there mustn't even SEEM to be more--between us.""But then I may hope?" he said, eagerly grasping her hand.

"I promise nothing, for yo' must not even have THAT excuse for speaking of this again, either from anything I do or may seem to do." She stopped, released her hand, as her eyes were suddenly fixed on the distance.Then she said with a slight smile, but without the least embarrassment or impatience: "There's Mr.

Champney coming here now.I reckon he's looking to see if that wreath is safe."Courtland looked up quickly.He could see the straw hat of the young Englishman just above the myrtle bushes in a path intersecting the avenue.A faint shadow crossed his face."Let me know one thing more," he said hurriedly."I know I have no right to ask the question, but has--has--has Mr.Champney anything to do with your decision?"She smiled brightly."Yo' asked just now if yo' could have the same chance he and Chet Brooks had.Well, poor Chet is dead, and Mr.Champney--well!--wait and see." She lifted her voice and called, "Mr.Champney!" The young fellow came briskly towards them; his face betrayed a slight surprise, but no discomfiture, as he recognized her companion.

"Oh, Mr.Champney," said Miss Sally plaintively, "I've lost my glove somewhere near pooah Brooks's tomb in the hollow.Won't you go and fetch it, and come back here to take me home? The co'nnle has got to go and see his sick niggers in the hospital." Champney lifted his hat, nodded genially to Courtland, and disappeared below the cypresses on the slope."Yo' mustn't be mad," she said, turning in explanation to her companion, "but we have been here too long already, and it's better that I should be seen coming home with him than yo'.""Then this sectional interference does not touch him?" said Courtland bitterly.

"No.He's an Englishman; his father was a known friend of the Confederacy, and bought their cotton bonds."She stopped, gazing into Courtland's face with a pretty vague impatience and a slight pouting of her lip.

"Co'nnle!"

"Miss Sally."

"Yo' say yo' had known me for three years before yo' saw me.Well, we met once before we ever spoke to each other!"Courtland looked in her laughing eyes with admiring wonder.

"When?" he asked.

"The first day yo' came! Yo' moved the ladder when I was on the cornice, and I walked all ever yo' head.And, like a gentleman, yo' never said a word about it.I reckon I stood on yo' head for five minutes.""Not as long as that," said Courtland laughing, "if I remember rightly.""Yes," said Miss Sally with dancing eyes."I, a So'th'n girl, actually set my foot on the head of a No'th'n scum of a co'nnle!

My!"

"Let that satisfy your friends then."

"No! I want to apologize.Sit down, co'nnle.""But, Miss Sally"--

"Sit down, quick!"

He did so, seating himself sideways on the bank.Miss Sally stood beside him.

"Take off yo' hat, sir."

He obeyed smilingly.Miss Sally suddenly slipped behind him.He felt the soft touch of her small hands on his shoulders; warm breath stirred the roots of his hair, and then--the light pressure on his scalp of what seemed the lips of a child.

He leaped to his feet, yet before he could turn completely round--a difficulty the young lady had evidently calculated upon--he was too late! The floating draperies of the artful and shameless Miss Sally were already disappearing among the tombs in the direction of the hollow.