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i .pjj:ji!UJxijc:ji saE 



Series. "? :■ Series. 






Tappan Presbulerlan flssociatton 

LaIBRARY 






Presented by V JWijr iiriaju , 

^^<XxahX,.\ 



ONE DOLLAR PER VOLUME. 



Having thus the advantages of lilerarj- eicellence, convtnicnt size, 
iltractive exterior, and reasonable prite, it is hoped that the " Round- 
RoiuN ScBiEs" ivill commend itself to all lovers and readers of the best 
ficlion. The following volumes, 

A NAMELESS NOBLEMAN, THE GEORGIANS, 

A LESSON IN LOVE. PATTY'S p^pVERSlTlES, 

ire now ready. Other volumes will follow at suitable i [W*^'' 
The series is sold by booksellers everywhere. " 

JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., 811 TREMq^i,^ 



c,^„TO^TON, 



I "SPARKLIHG." " FASCIHATIHG." "CHARMING." 



A FAIR BARBARIAN, 



By Mrs. Frances H. Burnett. One volume i6mo, har.dsomcly bound. 

Price $1.00. 

'' It has a good plot, excellent character-drawing, and the story is told in dclighiful style. 
There is a certain freshness and purity about Mrs. Burnett's writings that can never lose 
their charm, and * A Fair Barbarian ' is among her best productions." — Bisioti rest. 

'* In her latest novel, * A Fair Barbarian,' we find Mrs. Burnett amid still other scenes 
and characters; and here she seems likely to eclipse, at least as far as populaniy is con- 
cenred, all her earlier triumphs. The title of the story is in itself a most happy conception. 
The * Fair Barbarian' is a young American lady who has lived in Nevada, and who comes 
upon an English country town with the suggestive name of * Slowbridgc,' to asionihh its 
inhabitants by an individuality of character wholly unique. . . . The raciness of the 
scenes that attend the meeting of these parties is indescribable. This American girl is not 
an untaimed hoidcn by any means: she is, on the contrary, true-womanly in the bcbt 
sense of the term. She is kmd of heart, sympathetic, and sell-respecting, — a really lovely, 
if a somewhat unconventional person. She is high-spirited too: and, while she manifests 
a willingness to learn the standards of those among whom her lot is temporarily cast, there 
is a charming youthful dignity about her which is one of the best points in her delineation. 
Of course she finds her lover. Of the results that attend his wooing, we leave the reader 
to Icarp from the story. The merit of the novjjl is largely in its admirable pur}>ose, and 
the exquisite skill with which it is carried out. It is a refreshing vindication of the Ameri- 
can girl, whom it has been too much the custom of writers to depreciate of late. Mrs. 
Burnett knows her well, and does her ample justice. She knows England too, and we 
have the benefit of that knowledge in the types of English character presented. 

'* Her book is likely, not only to succeed in favor beyond her own previous productions, 
but to gain a popularity which none' other of those novels which have treated this phase of 
the American-girl question have obtained." — Boston Journal. 

" If a more amusing or clever novelette than ' A Fair Barbarian ' has ever been given 
the American public, we fail to recall it." — Pittsburgh Telegraph. 

** The * Fair Barbarian ' is that charming indigenous production of ours, * an American 
girl,* who goes to England, and makes John Bull open his eyes in surprise, and frequently 
admiration." — Louisville Courier-Joitrnal. 

" Mrs. Burnett fascinates her readers without appearing to make an effor*, and plays 
upon the human heart at will, making it thrill and vibrate under the magic influence of her 
genius." — New Orleans Democrat. 

*' We have no hesitation in saying that there is no living writer (man or woman) who 
has Mrs. Burnett's dramatic power in telling a story." — Xe7v-yorh Herald. 

" The brightest and wittiest of Mrs. Burnett's stories." — Baltimore Every Saturday. 

" A particularly sparkling story, the subject being the young heiress of a Pacific-slope 
silver-mine, thrown amid the very proper petty aristocracy of an English rural town." — 
Springfield Republican. 

*' Mrs. Burnett's new and charming story, which is much dlRerent from, and much bet- 
ter than, * The Lass of Lowric's.' " — Philadelphia Evening News. 



FOR SALE EVERYWHETRE. 



JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO PUBLISHERS. 



BOSTON. 



Round-Robin SmRZEa 



S-? Ilo 



' Homosell§ 



BOSTON 

JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY 

iS8i 



Copyright, x88i, 
By JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 



All rights reserved. 



- • 

• • • •• 



Stereotyped and Printed hy Rand^ Avery, &* Co,, 
ii'j Franklin Street, Boston. 






CONTENTS. 



CHAFTBK. PAGB. 

I. A Blundering Englishman . . . . i 

^^ II. The Shadow in the Looking-Glass . i8 

"^ III. The Question that was always cropping 

>-A UP .......... 32 

-^^^ IV. Fine Ear . \ . . . . . 41 

^ V. The Early Bird 59 

VI. Birth of a Soul 72 

VII. "Bless me, even me also" . . . .87 

VIII. Raising the Wind 98 

IX. Phil 109 

X. The Haunted Church • • . . 122 

XI. Picked up 131 

XII. The Rose-Bower 143 

XIII. A Hard Bargain 162 

XIV. Brother Gabriel 172 

XV. Sunday Morning 190 

XVI. The Miller's Boy of Horn's Neck . 206 

XVII. The Ghost 218 

XVIII. The Lost Music-Lesson .... 226 

XIX. On a Bad Footing 241 

XX. The Challenge . . . • . . 252 

XXI. The Card-Party 268 



IV CONTENTS. 

CaiAPTBR. PAGB. 

XXII. Suspicion 281 

XXIII. The Capture 291 

XXIV. The Major 301 

XXV. Chloe 310 

XXVI. Making the Amend 325 

XXVII. Burial 335 

XXVIIL "In Prison, and yb visited me" . -347 

XXIX. Conclusion 354 



HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER I. 

A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. 

IT was summer-time under our old rSgime, — a 
breezy day in June, with a cloudless sky over- 
head, and the air full of blossomy odors and rustling, 
twittering music. Several persons were collected be- 
fore a kitchen-door on a Southern farm known by 
the name of Dunmore. The centre of attraction was 
a primitive charcoal brazier, surmounted by a huge 
preserving-kettle, in which were heaps of luscious red 
strawberries. The air was heavy with the rich per- 
fume of the fruit, simmering slowly over the glowing 
coals ; and this perfume, floating away into space, had 
attracted numerous companies of bees that hummed 
and buzzed and sipped, here and there, as they got a 
chance. It had also attracted a dark little cloud of 
negro-children, in the least possible amount of cloth- 
ing, who hovered in the neighborhood, kicking up 
their heels and sniffing the air. The woman who 
presided over the preserving-kettle was stout, middle- 



2 HOMOSELLE. 

aged, and cofTee-colored. She was seated in a low 
chair made of white-oak splits, and wore a blue cotton 
dress, and a brilliant plaid kerchief as a coif. Her 
badge of office was a long iron spoon, with which she 
skimmed from time to time the impurities that rose 
from the sugar and fruit to the surface of the bub- 
bling sirup. Standing by her side was a mulatto-girl, 
likewise in a blue cotton dress, but with a Hberal 
display of bare arms and legs, who, with a feathery 
branch of asparagus, kept off the bees and flies. But 
this occupation was varied by frequent skirmishes with 
a young gentleman of tender years, who hung about 
the preserves with all the persistency, and more than 
the troublesomeness, of the bees. Dozing in the sun- 
shine, in a broad patch of light just beyond the 
shadow of the kitchen walls, lay a white setter, moving 
his fringed, liver-colored ears uneasily because of the 
flies. 

The person who in turn presided over all these was 
a tall, slender girl, with a pale face and a pair of large, 
expressive eyes, — peculiar eyes, the centre of the iris 
being clear, pale blue, while the outer edges were dark 
and radiating, which, with their long lashes, gave them 
the appearance of blue fringed flowers. She was sit- 
ting by a large basket filled with a fresh supply of 
strawberries awaiting their turn to be preserved, from 
which she was removing the stems; and her fingers 
were dyed a lovely red. The skirt of her light sum- 
mer dress was turned up and pinned round the waist ; 
and her short white petticoat revealed glimpses of 
slender ankles and a pair of small, stout shoes. She 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. 3 

wore a long sunbonnet, and it was like looking down 
a well to get a peep at her face. 

"Cinthy, I think they are done now," she said 
suddenly, taking a long straw, and poking it into the 
kettle like a divining-rod, by which mysterious process 
the condition of the fruit was tested. " By the smell 
I should think they were a little overdone. Quick 1 
Take them off ! " 

" Whar dat yaJler imp Chloe?" responded Cinthy, 
rising slowly, and looking round for her attendant with 
the fly-brush. "She know it take two to git dis 
kittle off de fiah. Here, gal," she cried to Chloe, 
who, with a broad grin, was returning from a pitched 
battle with the boy Skip. " Why can't you let white 
folks* childun *lone ? Ef you want to wrastle, wrastle 
wid de niggers," she continued, grumbling, as, with 
the girl's assistance, the preserves were taken from the 
fire. "I tell you ev'ry day to let Mars Skip 'lone. 
Too much freedery breeds despisery, gal." 

" La ! Mars Skip come ticklin' my ear wid a switch, 
and you think I ain't goin' to take it 'way from him ? 
No, ma^aniy^ said Chloe, breaking up a willow wand 
in triumph, and throwing it away. 

Here Cinthy, about to resume her seat, incautiously 
placed her plump black hand on the back of a 
chair where a little wanton bee was idly sipping sweets 
from a drop of sirup. He made his presence quickly 
felt by a sting, and then flew airily out of sight. Cin- 
thy howled with rage and pain ; and, as the real culprit 
had made his escape, by way of giving vent to her 
feelings she aimed a blow at Chloe's head with the 



4 HOMOSELLE, 

iron spoon. But that young person dodged the blow, 
and began tittering behind her fly-brash. Skip rolled 
over in the grass, screaming with laughter; Dash 
roused himself from his slumbers with a short, snap- 
ping bark ; while the group of lightly clad young ne- 
groes scampered off pell-mell, to hide their delight at 
Cinthy*s discomfiture. 

The young lady with the blue eyes, who had been 
bending over the steaming preserves, looked up hastily 
to discover the cause of the commotion. 

"What on earth is the matter, Cinthy?" she asked, 
pushing back the long bonnet from her scorched face, 
and wondering why the woman should be dancing 
about and wringing her hands in that absurd manner. 

"O Miss Ullal dem bees, and dat yaller imp 
Chloe 1 She ain't no use at all, shakin' dat sparrow- 
grass bush, and pertendin' to keep off de bees." 

At this inauspicious moment two new persons ap- 
peared on the scene. A lady in fresh crisp muslin, 
a coquettish broad-brimmed hat, and delicate gloves, 
came tripping over the grass in the direction of the 
group before the kitchen. By her side a tall, broad- 
shouldered young fellow strode with those long, plun- 
ging steps that make an Englishman's walk appear an 
altogether different action from that of an American. 
He carried a stout walking-stick, but apparently not for 
use ; for he held it horizontally, and it swayed lightly 
back and forth with the motion of his body. He had 
a glass in his eye, and looked about him with the air 
of a conscientious sight-seer, resolved to lose none 
of the characteristics of the country. He seemed to 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN 5 

be an appreciative observer, and, if one could judge 
by the expression of his face, keenly alive to the 
enjoyable features of his surroundings. An exclama- 
tion of pleasure escaped him as he came within range 
of the odors floating from Cinthy's preserving-kettle. 

" Ha ! Cooking? Do you cook flowers here. Miss 
Despard ? " he asked, inhaling the fragrance with frank 
enjoyment. 

" I am sure I don't know," answered his compan- 
ion with high-bred ignorance, as she led him to the 
place where Cinthy was still groaning over her sting. 
" But we can investigate. Homoselle ! " 

Thus addressed, the owner of the blue eyes turned 
quickly, and saw with consternation that Miss Despard 
was accompanied by a stranger, a gentleman too, 
arid an exceedingly good-looking one, who regarded 
her with smiling eyes as she flushed and frowned and 
held out her hands deprecatingly. " Homoselle," re- 
peated Miss Despard coolly, without noticing these 
signs of distress, " here is the major's English friend, 
Mr. Halsey. — Mr. Halsey, my niece, Miss Homoselle 
Despard." 

Homoselle bowed stifily in acknowledgment of the 
stranger's salutation. 

" Don't you think, Bertie," she said with some impa- 
tience, as she lowered the skirt of her dress, " Mr. Hal- 
sey would have preferred making my acquaintance in 
the drawing-room ? " 

" Not at all," said Miss Despard : " Mr. Halsey is an 
intelligent foreigner, taking notes on the products of 
our country, and the manners and customs of our 
people." 



6 HOMOSELLE, 

While these words were being spoken, the stranger 
was rapidly taking in the details of the scene, not only 
as an intelligent foreigner, but with sentiments he 
would have found difficulty in expressing. 

It is probable he noted them in his memory as an 
artistic view of the situation. Certain it is, his eye was 
pleased with the grouping of the picture ; and he en- 
joyed, with more senses than one, the fragrant heap of 
ripe red fruit. But he was conscious, also, of an un- 
dercurrent of feeling deeper than mere artistic interest 
in what, to him, was a perfectly new variety of life. 
Cinthy's plump, brown countenance, smoothed into 
propriety by the appearance of the new-comers; 
Chloe's yellow-skinned face, in which the character- 
istics of two races were blended ; the black fringe of 
arms and legs belonging to the scampering httle ne- 
groes ; and in the midst, rising like some fair flower 
above them all, the tall, slender figure of the girl his 
companion called Homoselle, — combined to make an 
impression which can scarcely be realized by one to 
whom such scenes are familiar. "If Mr. Halsey is 
taking notes," said Homoselle with a half-smile at the 
humor of the situation and the stranger's perfectly un- 
embarrassed manner, " I hope he will not put me 
down until I have changed my dress and washed my 
hands." 

"If you will excuse me," said the gentleman, "I 
think I shall put you down just as you are, fingers 
and all, and call my sketch Aurora." 

" And why Aurora? " 

"Why, wasn't she the mythological girl with rosy 
fingers who represented the dawn ? " 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN / 

" Please don't explain, Mr. Halsey," said Miss Des- 
pard. " It is like breaking a butterfly to interpret a 
joke or a sentiment to Homoselle. She is the most 
matter-of-fact person alive." 

Halsey smiled. "What splendid strawberries you 
have ! " he said, changing the subject. " It gives one 
quite an appetite to look at them." 

" You shall have some at dessert, with cream." 

" Thanks : I don't deserve them, for having given so 
broad a hint. But my admiration is not confined 
to your strawberries. The climate seems perfection 
to me. This blue sky and clear atmosphere make a 
Paradise for a man whose lungs have been suffering 
from a climate of eternal fog and rain." 

"Unfortunately it is not always so pleasant here. 
We often have weather warm enough to suggest anoth- 
er climate than Paradise," said Miss Despard, siu^ey- 
ing the preserves distantly through her eye-glasses. 

"You don't like this kind of thing?" asked Halsey, 
laughing. 

" What? Preserves? Oh, yes I I like them to eat." 

" Ah ! but I like their manufacture," said the gentle- 
man enthusiastically. " This is the prettiest picture of 
Southern life I have yet seen. Even that old-fashioned 
brazier and the copper kettle are charming." 

During this speech Miss Despard's short-sighted 
eyes were occupied in studying her gloves, a "trick of 
hers when she was not interested. It was curious to 
observe how long and closely she could scrutinize what 
must have been perfectly familiar in every detaiL 

Halsey turned to Homoselle for sympathy in his 
light-hearted enjoyment of the new scene. 



8 HOMOSELLE, 

Her countenance looked responsive, and he went on : 
'' I will have that old woman in the gay turban to sit 
for her portrait some day ; and the beautiful mulatto 
looks like a copy of Miss Homoselle done in bronze. 
Don't you see the likeness, Miss Despard?" 

Bertie was startled out of the contemplation of her 
gloves by this question. She looked at Halsey with 
raised eyebrows and a haughty smile, but she did not 
reply. 

Homoselle's eyes appeared black as she shot a swift, 
reproachful glance into his innocent, wondering face. 
He colored and stammered ; but, even as he winced, he 
felt that he would like to see her eyes flash again. 

The boy Skip, who was returning from the* chase and 
capture of what he called a June-bug, — which unhap- 
py insect he had tied by the leg with a string, and was 
whirling round his head for the sake of its plaintive, 
humming song, — dashed into the circle in time to 
witness the peculiar expression that had fallen on the 
faces of the party. 

"Whew!" he whistled, "Homo's mad. She looks 
just that way when she catches me in a whopper. Has 
Chloe or anybody been misbehavin' ? " 

Bertie was the first to recover firom the littie shock 
caused by Halsey's speech. 

" Do, Skip, stop your noise," she said. " Come, Mr. 
Halsey, and I will show you the tobacco-fields you 
wished to see." As they walked away she asked, 
"How long have you been in this. country?" 

"Just three days," he answered, pulling viciously at 
his moustache. 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN 9 

'^ I thought so. Yott have not had time to leam the 
bienseances of our peculiar society." 

'* What have I done ? " he asked in an eager, peni- 
tent voice. " I know I have made a blunder. I rec- 
ognize the signs but too well. All my life, like a true 
Englishman, I have been blundering into things ; and, 
if I had not the luck sometimes to blunder out, I 
should be a miserable fellow." 

'^ You have not done any thing so dreadful, for a 
foreigner, after all. Only offended one of our race 
prejudices." 

''But the girl is beautiful," he exclaimed with 
warmth. 

'' Is she? I had not thought about it. But she is 
also a negress." 

"Only partially so." 

" Oh I " said Miss Despard with heightened color, 
" we will not discuss that question. But in England 
you perfectiy well understand the prejudices of caste ; 
and here you must learn to understand the prejudices 
of caste and race combined." 

" Thank you for my first lesson," said Halsey, not 
very humbly ; for he was smarting under a sense of 
injustice, and, like most persons, inclined to think 
everybody's prejudices unreasonable but his own. 

" If you were to tell an English duchess she resem- 
bled one of her servants, she would be offended at be- 
ing compared to a person of such inferior rank. Think 
how much greater her indignation would be if the 
servant was also of inferior race," said Bertie, in her 
loftiest manner. 



lO ffOMOSELLE. 

" You are right. I see I have made a terrible blun- 
der. But I lost sight of conventionalities in my thor- 
ough enjoyment of every thing. To tell you the truth, 
I did not expect to find you so hampered by verbal 
etiquette on this side of the water. But in making 
comparisons between the women of the two countries, 
do American ladies always put themselves on a plane 
with English duchesses?" 

" Of course, / do." 

" Of course," said Halsey with courteous gravity, as 
he gave his companion a sidelong glance to contem- 
plate anew the proprietor of so much importance. 
"But I have supposed from your books and papers 
that aU Americans were on a social level v/ith our high- 
est aristocracy. Now, you know, in England we have 
very few dukes and duchesses. I haven't the honor of 
being personally acquainted with one. I asked the 
question because I was going to tell you of a cousin of 
mine, who, though not a duchess, is an exceedingly 
nice person. She did not at all object to being consid- 
ered like one of her maids who was very pretty. We 
tried to tease her about the resemblance, but we found 
she liked it. Somehow I fancied most women felt the 
same about such things." 

The stealthy scrutiny Halsey made of his acquaint- 
ance of an hour only confirmed his first impression 
of her. She was a tiny creature, delicately made, with 
pretty hands and feet. Her complexion was rather 
inclined to be sallow, but her dark, vivacious eyes and 
brilliant teeth compensated for want of color. A small, 
decidedly tumed-up nose did not detract from the piq- 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. II 

uancy of her face, but gave a satirical touch to the 
lofty carriage of her head. On this occasion she was 
freshly, even prettily dressed, but with a negligence of 
details that indicated characteristic want of care ; while 
some grains of white powder lurking in her dark brows 
and lashes betrayed the means she had used to im- 
prove her complexion. She spoke rapidly in a sweet, 
thin voice which was almost childish in its clear treble, 
and so emphatically as to* give an air of importance to 
every thing she said. When she was not talking her- 
self, she was busily engaged in ejring, with near-sight- 
ed proximity, her dress, her hands, her buttons, any 
thing, in fact, of her own that came within range of her 
vision. 

" What a top-loftical little creature it is ! " thought 
the young man as he withdrew his eyes from her face, 
and looked round on the smiling landscape. 

" Suppose we don't go to the tobacco-fields to-day," 
she said with a sudden change of mood, pausing be- 
fore a rustic seat, under the shade of a wide-spreading 
locust whose clusters of pendent white bloom filled the 
air with honey-like fragrance. "The sun is getting 
warm, and I have on slippers : it wiU be uncomforta- 
ble overhead and under foot. You will have plenty 
of opportunities to see all our crops. Let us sit 
here." 

" With all my heart : this is the very day and hour 
to do nothing but enjoy one's self," answered Ilalsey, 
taking his seat beside her. 

A fine view of the house was had from the bench 
where they placed themselves. It was a long, low 



12 HO MOSELLE. 

Structure, built of brick imported from England in the 
colonial days; brick not comparable to our own in 
fineness and smoothness of grain, but greatly superior 
in color. Its nondescript gray tone made a charming 
point of relief amid the sun-bright hues of the sur- 
rounding landscape. The plan of the house was the 
simple one almost universal among the homes -of our 
colonial ancestors, — a large, square, two-storied build- 
ing, with a long one-storied wing on either side. It 
presented quite an imposing appearance, from its evi- 
dent antiquity and the great length of its frx)nt, which 
more than compensated for its want of height. Here, 
one felt sure, was the home of an easy, unhurried life, 
with plenty of room to spread one's self, and no steep 
flights of staurs to climb. It was situated not more 
than a quarter of a mile from the river James, which is 
several miles wide at this point. 

In front of the house, a beautiful lawn, dotted here 
and there with fine old forest-trees, sloped gently down 
to the road that skirted the water. The humid climate 
seemed peculiarly favorable to the cultivation of flow- 
ers, and the broad walk leading from the house to the 
river was bordered with plants flowering in richest 
luxuriance. Fringe-trees, with their trailing white 
blooms, alternating with trellises embowered in honey- 
suckle and yellow jessamine, enclosed one of the 
most charming promenades imaginable. 

Halsey and his companion had not been seated 
long before they became aware that Skip, with Dash 
at his heels, had followed them, and was standing at 
a respectful distance, regarding them wistfully. 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. 1 3 

His face was besmeared with strawberry-juice, and 
he was barefooted and bareheaded; but these defi- 
ciencies of toilet did not seem to make him imhappy. 
A pleasant, intelligent-looking lad, for all that he had 
a fireckled face, a wide mouth, and stubborn hair. He 
eyed Halsey curiously, not half satisfied with that mode 
of examination ; for Skip, like most children, thought 
he had not properly seen, until he had also handled. 
He would have liked to pass his fingers over the rough 
tweed of Halsey's well-fitting coat, to have touched 
the snowy cuffs, the watch-chain, the eyeglasses, and 
even the soft brown beard ; but Halsey's spotless neat- 
ness bore a touch-me-not expression, which awed even 
Skip's adventurous spirit of investigation. One thing 
only seemed to be within reach of close inspection. 

" What is it, my man? " asked Halsey at length, un- 
able to resist the boy's appealing eyes. 

" Your stick," answered the child promptly, with his 
most ingratiating smile. 

" My stick? Certainly ; but you will bring it back? " 

" Oh, yes ! " said Skip, walking off" with the cane, in 
deep contemplation of the beautifiilly-carved dog*s- 
head which formed the handle. 

Dash, meanwhile, after sniffing at the stranger, lay 
contentedly down at his feet, and watched the boy's 
movements drowsily, through half-closed eyes. ' 

" Sensible old dog," said Halsey, stroking his head. 
" You know me for a fellow hunter, don't you ? " 

Dash lazily wagged his tail in reply. 

" Skip is not diffident in society, as you see," re- 
marked Bertie. 



14 HO MOSELLE. 

" No. Is he your brother ? " 

" No : he is my nephew. His father, my brother, 
lives in town; but Skip always spends the summer 
vacation here. He is turned out to grass when he 
comes, and allowed to run wild. Like all bo3rs, he is 
somewhat of a nuisance, and, as he is the only son, 
horribly spoiled." 

"You called your niece Homoselle. May I ask 
where such a pretty name came from ? It is surely not 
English, but it is as dulcet as a flute." 

" It is a pretty name ; and, strange to say, it is the 
result of an idiotic fashion we have here in Virginia of 
calling girls by family names. Homoselle's mother 
was of Huguenot extraction, — a Miss Homoselle. 
Luckily for my niece, it has quite a feminine sound. 
But think of calling a young lady Carter, or Champe 1 
such manly, I might say horsey names ! " 

"It is an odd fashion. I wonder how it came 
about," said Halsey. 

" Ah ! I can tell you. We are all so exceedingly 
well bom, and so proud of our families, that we like 
the world to know not only who were our forefathers, 
but our foremothers. If there are no boys to dub 
Champe and Carter, we give the names to the girls. 
This is especially the case if our mothers happen to 
be a litde more aristocratic than our fathers. We have 
in this very neighborhood a Miss Champe Tompkins, 
and a Miss Randolph Jones." 

" Homoselle," repeated Halsey sofdy, returning to 
the name originally under discussion. "Your niece 
does not look French." 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. 1 5 

" Not in the least : nor do I suppose she can feel 
so. Homoselle is phlegmatic. All trace of her French 
ancestry is lost except the name, which, as you say, 
is a pretty one, and has the advantage of being capa- 
ble of division and subdivision to suit every one*s 
fancy. Her father calls her EUie, for so he called her 
mother. The servants think they are following their 
master's example, when they call her something they 
intend for Ella. Skip calls her Homo, which has a 
masculine ring about it. I am the only person in the 
family who gives her the benefit of her whole name." 

" And you are right." 

While Miss Despard and Halsey were exchanging 
bits of information, which served to make them better 
acquainted, Skip was exhibiting the cane and its won- 
derful head to his colored comrades, whose costume 
surpassed his own in scantiness. When their admira- 
tion was exhausted, he began to look about for a new 
source of amusement. 

As Bertie had intimated, he was fond of society, 
especiadly that of men, strong, manly-looking men, 
like the stranger, who had evidently found favor in his 
eyes. He went back to the place where Halsey and 
his aunt were seated. 

"Well, Skip," said the young man, "you have 
brought back the cane all right?" 

Skip nodded. 

" Ah ! " exclaimed Halsey, taking the cane, and 
dropping it again, " you have given it a liberal supply 
of preserves. You took it away a stick, and have 
brought it back sticky." 



1 6 HO MOSELLE. 

This sally Skip found irresistibly funny. He shouted 
with laughter as only a boy can. 

Halsey was by no means displeased with this appre- 
ciation on the part of his small interlocutor. 

Encouraged by his smile, Skip drew nearer. Miss 
Despard gathered up her draperies, to prevent their 
coming in contact with her nephew. 

" Go away. Skip ! You are getting troublesome," 
she said. 

But Skip was making up his mind to ask a favor he 
had been thinking of ever since he saw Halsey perform 
the amazing feat of fixing a glass in his eye, and then, 
by a sudden elevation of the eyebrow, let it fall again. 

" Please," he said insinuatingly. 

"Yes," answered Halsey encouragingly. 
Please screw your spectacle in your eye, and drop 
it out again, like you did when you were talkin' to 
Homo." 

Both Halsey and Miss Despard laughed. "Rim 
away. Skip," said the lady again. 

"Don't drive him away," interposed Halsey good- 
humoredly. "Your nephew is putting me through 
my paces, and I have no objection. — Here goes, my 
man." He put his glass in his eye, and let it fall 
again, while Skip looked on with intense interest. 

" Won't you let me try ?" he asked at length. 

" Yes, when you have washed your liands." 

"I like you. / don't think you are conceited," 
exclaimed Skip, with a burst of boyish enthusiasm, and 
with such a decided emphasis on the / as to awaken 
suspicion. 



A BLUNDERING ENGLISHMAN. IJ 

" Who does ? " asked Halsey. 
" Homo says she don't like you, — that you are one 
of them conceited Englishmen." 



1 8 HO MOSELLE. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS. 

HALSEY did not drop down at Dunmore out of 
the clouds, but found himself there quite natu- 
rally in consequ&ce of antecedent circumstances. 
He had had the good fortune, the winter before, to 
render very efficient service to an American gentle- 
man, a Major Carter, whom he met travelling in Italy. 
This Major Carter happened to be the Despards* near- 
est neighbor, and lived at Westover, the adjoining es- 
tate. Halsey, who was supposed by his family to be 
threatened with some lung trouble which his native 
air tended to aggravate, had been sent to travel in 
milder climates. He had been over Southern Europe, 
and was meditating a tour in the East, when he met 
Carter, who pei-suaded him to turn his steps westward. 
" A young man like you," the major had said, " should 
be studying the country of the future : when you get 
old, you can go and meditate over the tombs of the 
past." 

This philosophy, or the warm hospitality with which 
Carter urged a visit from him, prevailed, and here Hal- 
sey was. For the sake of the sea-air he had made the 
voyage in a sailing-vessel, which rendered the time of 
his arrival uncertain. When he reached Westover his 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS. I9 

* host was absent ; but the house had been left open foi 
the expected guest, who found a note commending 
him to the kindness of the Despards for a few days. 
Carter-being a bachelor, his establishment was not par- 
ticularly enlivening for a young man in the absence of 
its master ; and Halsey lost no time in presenting his 
credentials at Dunmore, where he fell imder the soft 
spell of the easy Southern life as soon as he crossed 
the threshold. Mr. Despard was in the hall buckling 
on a pair of spurs when he entered. 

He was a man of middle age and medium height, 
with the sun-embrowned face, and compact, firmly-knit 
figure that bespeak an active out-of-door life. Hi? 
countenance was very grave ; but his features were of a 
high type, and the expression of his clear eyes was sin- 
gularly attractive and intelligent. 

He knew Halsey at once. 

" Ah ! you are Carter's English friend," he said with 
quiet warmth. " No need of this," putting aside Car- 
ter's note as he grasped the stranger's hand : " I have 
been looking for you for several days, and am very 
glad to see you. Come in here," opening the draw- 
ing-room door. " When did you arrive ? " 

" Two days ago, but I scarcely feel as if I had ar- 
rived yet. I seem still to be dancing on the waves." 

"Yes. I know that feeling after a voyage. Will 

you take a glass of sherry, or the wine of the country, 

' Old Bourbon? No? Ah! here is my sister. Miss 

Despard. — Bertie, this is Carter's English fiiend, Mr. 

Halsey." 

"So you have come at last," said Bertie, smiling, 



20 HOMOSELLE, 

and extending her hand as if to a long-expected friend 
" Major Carter said we were to make much of you in 
his absence. Are you prepared to be made much of 
Mr. Halsey?" 

The young man felt the litde cloud of shyness and 
anxiety which had oppressed his spirits in anticipation 
of the first meeting with these strangers roll away like 
mists in the sunshine. 

It was not long before he and Miss Despard found 
themselves sauntering together over the lower floor of 
the old house, which possessed some points of interest 
for an Englishman. It had been built by a veritable 
English earl, Lord Dunmore, one of the early govern- 
ors of the colony of Virginia, from whom it had de- 
rived its name. It was so substantially built, and had 
so successfully withstood the wear and tear of time and 
revolution, that Halsey was disposed to be proud of its 
English origin. 

"It is the best house in the county now," Bertie 
had told him with some exultation, " for all it is so old 
and weather-stained." 

"I can easily believe it. Some of the houses I 
caught sight of on the way here were so fresh and new 
as to make my eyes blink." 

From the house they wandered to the grounds ; and 
it was at some distance, behind the screen of a vine- 
covered trellis, that they had come upon Homoselle 
and her preserves. 

" Life seems to be quite idyllic here," said Halsey, 
his eyes wandering from the venerable house to the 
still more venerable trees that dotted the lawn, with 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS, 21 

glimpses of the river flashing between, and then, far 
as the eye could reach, fields waving with wheat and 
com. " I wonder my friend the major has never 
married in the midst of all this peace and plenty." 

Miss Despard laughed. "Why, Major Carter is a 
confirmed bachelor." 

" You say that in a tone as disapproving as though 
it were a confirmed drunkard or something equally 
objectionable," said Halsey with a little feeling. 

" I did not imagine that you had taken any vows on 
the subject," said Bertie, arching her eyebrows. 

" Nor have I ; but a man's manying does not al- 
ways depend upon his own will." 

Bertie laughed again. " Pray excuse me. I can't 
help laughing, for what you have said would seem to 
imply that you had been crossed in love; and you 
look so litde like a man whose affections had been 
blighted." 

Halsey laughed too. " My looks do not belie me. 
I have never been the least in love." 

A morning visit, however pleasant, must come to an 
end j and Halsey was amazed to find how time had 
sped at Dunmore. The sincere regret with which he 
took leave of his hostess was greatly alleviated by an 
engagement to return to dinner. 

Nothing so disposes a man for the pleasures and 
refinements of home life as a protracted sea-voyage, 
and he looked forward to dining with his new friends 
with keen enjoyment. 

About an hour before the time appointed for din- 
ner, Homoselle Despard was lying asleep in her own 



22 HOMOSELLE. 

room. Sleep had overtaken her. It had been her 
intention to take not more than ten minutes rest before 
changing her morning-dress. But the ten minutes had 
already extended to an hour, and she had not stirred. 
A breeze from the south, fragrant with the breath of 
clover-fields and flower-beds, floated in at the window, 
and played with the loose tendrils of her hair, but did 
not succeed in moving the long lashes fast closed over 
her blue eyes. 

After a while the door opened softly, and a dark 
face peeped in ; then a pair of shoulders, and finally 
Chloe's whole person entered. 

A wide open smile spread over her countenance at 
the sight of her mistress. 

" La ! Miss UUa fast asleep," she chuckled to her- 
self. "Miss UUa! Miss Ulla 1" she called aloud. 
But the sleeper did not move. Then she passed her 
hand gently over Homoselle's feet, with an immis- 
takable expression of love and admiration in her dark 
velvety eyes. 

" Miss Ulla, time to git ready for dinner." 

Chloe*s rich but uncultivated voice seemed incapa- 
ble of producing a fine or acute sound. Her vowels 
were of the broadest character; and Ulla was the 
nearest approach she ever made to pronouncing the 
pretty name of Ella. 

" Miss Ulla, time to dress for dinner," she repeated ; 
and Homoselle awoke at last with a start. 

" Chloe, I have been asleep ! " 

" Yes, ma*am, dat you is. I come to see *bout you, 
'cos I hear Miss Bertie tell uncle Dick dar was a 
strange gen'l'man comin* to dinner." 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS, 23 

" A strange gentleman I I dare say it is that English- 
man who was here this morning," said Homoselle; 
" and oh, bother ! I suppose I shall have to do my 
hair all over again." 

" O Miss Ulla ! let me fix yo' ha'r," pleaded Chloe. 

" Well, be quick about it," said Homoselle, taking 
her seat before the mirror, and removing her comb. 

It was not often she thus indulged Chloe, and the 
girl began her task with eager delight. Like many of 
her race, she possessed a natural talent for arranging 
hair. Her slender fingers had a firm, light touch, and 
gentle movement, that made her manipulations a lux- 
ury; and, what was more surprising, she displayed 
undoubted taste in the grace and simplicity of her 
handiwork. She liked nothing better than the han- 
dling of her young lady's soft hair, which was of a 
pale brown color, with tlireads of a darker hue run- 
ning through it, like the rich shadings of a ripening 
nut. As she passed and repassed the comb through its 
shining lengths, Homoselle looked into the dim, old- 
fashioned mirror, and caught sight of the girFs face 
just above her own. There were the two reflections 
in juxtaposition ; and, as she glanced from one to the 
other, a new thought flashed upon her, or, rather, a 
thought first suggested a few hours before was vividly 
recalled. 

" Why, Chloe ! " she exclaimed, — and her surprised 
resentment betrayed itself in her voice, — "you are 
something like me, after all." 

Chloe laughed. "Well, if I is, Miss Ulla," she 
answered, in a honeyed, comforting tone, — for she 



24 HOMOSELLE. 

knew intuitively what Homoselle felt, — "I ain't noth- 
in* mo* like you than yo' dark shadder a-follerin* you 
round." 

Homoselle blushed. The affectionate humility of 
the girl's reply, and the gleam of unconscious poetry 
expressed in her uncouth negro dialect, touched her. 
With the quick impulse of a generous nature righting 
itself after momentary injustice, she began comparing 
mistress and maid, with rigid severity towards herself. 
There was certainly a resemblance in feature and 
general outline, though differing widely in color and 
expression. Homoselle smiled at her indignation of 
the morning, as she decided that her own pale, grave 
countenance, with its thoughtful eyes, and cloud of 
straight, light hair, looked cold and colorless by Chloe's 
golden-brown face, her soft dark eyes, her full red lips, 
and her glossy black hair rippling up in strong, vig- 
orous waves from brow and temples. But she said 
nothing as she contemplated the affectionate, laughter- 
loving slave from a new standpoint. But when the 
last hairpin had been put in place, and Chloe, in thor- 
ough admiration of her own work, exclaimed, — 

'^ Dar now, jest look at dat head. Miss UUa ! ban's 
and pins can't better it," she answered warmly, — 

"Yes, you have outdone yourself to-day, Chloe. 
By the by, have we cut out your summer clothes yet? 
I forget." 

"No, ma'am. Aunt Cinthy say she gwine do it 
to-morrer." 

" Tell her not to touch them until I see her. It is 
time for your dresses to be miade long." 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS. 2$ 

Chloe looked down at her shapely bare legs with a 
great smile, that seemed to swallow up her face in 
a flash of merriment. 

" La, Miss Ulla ! is I growed up? " 

" Yes : you are as tall as I am ; and that decides me 
to give my old blue dress to you instead of to Cinthy. 
Get it out of my wardrobe, and put it on ; and don't 
let me see those bare legs again." 

"Thanky, ma'am," said Chloe, delighted at the 
prospect of wearing one of her young lady's dresses. 
"But" — 

"But what?" 

" It will be mighty onconvenient when I runs wid 
Mars' Skip and de dog, and when I climbs trees, and 
gits over fences." 

" I can put long dresses on her," mused Homoselle, 
as she went down-stairs to dinner ; " but I shall never 
be able to make any thing of her but a child." 

When Halsey arrived, a few minutes before the spe- 
cified hour, he was shown into a darkened parlor, 
fragrant with the treasured roses and jessamines of 
many summers. The floor was bare, and so highly 
poUshed as to render walking dangerous. With his 
glass in his eye, he peered, into the sweet-scented 
darkness, and stepped cautiously, as if moving on ice. 
The first thing he knew, he had stumbled over an 
ottoman; and an ugly word was on the tip of his 
tongue, as he wondered at the stupidity of excluding 
Hght and air from a room where human beings lived 
and breathed. 

As he recovered his balance, some one partially 



26 HOMOSELLE. 

opened a shutter ; and the light that danced joyously 
in brought an agreeable picture out of the gloom, the 
pleasant, old-fashioned room he had seen in the morn- 
ing, and his host coming towards him with a smile ; 
Miss Despard was putting up her embroidery, in order 
to bid him welcome ; and behind, quite at the other 
end of the room, Homoselle was quietly arranging the 
blinds so as to admit an agreeable degree of light, 
without the glare of the Southern sun. 

"Women have curious fancies," Mr. Despard was 
saying; "and one of the most remarkable is their 
repugnance to sunshine, and another is their love of 
footstools. I have a battle about these things every 
day. But my dominion does not extend to this room. 
Ellie, come and make Mr. Halsey*s acquaintance." 

" Yes, papa : but we have met before," said Homo- 
selle, leaving the window, and greeting the stranger 
with a quiet gravity, from which every trace of the 
morning's annoyance had disappeared. 

Her deliberate movements, her calm face, and slow, 
distinct utterance, formed a fine contrast to the bird- 
like flutter of Miss Despard's manner. Halsey scarcely 
knew which to admire more, Bertie's diminutive figure, 
and little, piquant face, with its varying expression and 
flexible eyebrows, or the tall, rather massively-built 
girl, with tfie grave countenance and rare, beautiful 
smile. A strong family likeness existed between Bertie 
and her brother ; but Homoselle was of another type, 
inherited probably from the young mother, who died 
when she was bom. Bertie's impulsive vivacity took 
the form in her brother of a subdued restlessness, 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS, 2/ 

which betrayed the same temperament. A great deal 
of this he worked off in riding and hunting \ but in- 
doors he had a habit of pacing the floor, often to the 
discomposure of his sister, who did not like the air to 
be charged with two electric currents at once. He 
began walking up and down now. 

"Time for dinner, EUie," he said, with the impa- 
tience of a man whose appetite has been whetted by 
a morning in the saddle. 

Homoselle left the room; and the spirit of the 
^^mauvais quart d^heure " preceding dinner had begun 
to settle on the party, when the silence was enlivened 
by a cool, tinkling sound, that brought a look of 
contentment to Mr. Despard's face, and even raised 
bright anticipations in Halsey's unsophisticated mind. 
Homoselle returned, followed by a servant bearing on 
a waiter two tall glasses, beaded with coolness, fragrant 
with mint, and garnished with strawberries. They 
were equally irresistible to the man who had often 
slaked his thirst in such cups, and to him who had 
never seen the like before. 

"There, Mr. Halsey," said his host, "if you have 
never had the pleasure, let me make you acquainted 
with a mint-julep." 

" Thanks. I have never had the pleasure : this is 
a new, though long-looked-for experience. But is not 
this a great deal for a beginner? " said Halsey, regard- 
ing the tall tumbler with a smile. 

"Just try it, and tell me what you think of it." 

"Think of it ! " exclaimed Halsey, quaffing exhilara- 
tion through two senses at once, — the fresh tonic 



28 HO MOSELLE, 

smell of the mint being quite as effective in its way 
as the subtle fire that tingled through his veins to the 
very finger-tips. " I think every thing of it. It seems 
to possess every good quality, coolness, warmth, sweet- 
ness, strength. But these glasses do not hold as much 
as I thought," he added after a while, gravely contem- 
plating the bottom of his tumbler. 

Despard laughed. "Now I know you appreciate 
a julep. One never thinks a glass holds quite as 
much as it ought. But you will find it is enough." 

"I have never seen a man drink his first julep 
before," said Bertie. 

"The inventor of juleps," began Homoselle, — and, 
as it was the first remark she had volunteered, Halsey 
listened with interest, — "like the inventor of the 
guillotine, is said to have fallen a victim to his own 
invention." 

Her father's eyes twinkled. " Why don't you finish 
your story, or sermon, EUie?" he said, with a shrewd 
smile ; " and tell how the poor fellow's grave was kept 
green by a spontaneous growth of the mint he loved 
so well?" 

Further discussion was interrupted by the entrance 
of Skip and his dog, the boy's face shining and rosy 
from a recent scrubbing. 

"Come, Skip, you cannot dine with us to-day," 
said Miss Despard decidedly, pushing him gently 
towards the door. 

The child's bright countenance fell. "Oh, aunt 
Bert, let me stay 1 I want to see Mr. Horsely." 

"The gentleman's name is Halsey, and he does 
not wish to see you." 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS, 29 

" Horsely is a gooder name ; and I know he likes 
bo)rs. — Don't you ? " 

" Of course I do," said Halsey. " I was a boy once 
myself." 

" A little boy? " looking incredulously at the gentle- 
man's Titanic size. 

Halsey laughed. It was evident that here was a 
spoiled child, but he was a real boy, for all that ; and 
Skip's intuitions were correct, — the young man liked 
boys. 

" Be off, you little rascal ! " said Mr. Despard. 
"We are going to dinner." 

" O uncle ! let me go too," pleaded the little fellow, 
while Dash added his entreaties by persistently wag- 
ging his tail. 

" Not if aunt Bertie says no." 

" No : not to-day, young man," said Bertie. 

The child's face turned furiously red, but he kept 
back the rising tears. He ran out of the room, letting 
fly a Parthian shot, — 

" I hate aunt Bert, and my pa says her name ought 
to be spelled with a P." 

" Little scamp ! he thinks he is unanswerable when 
he quotes his father," said Bertie, leading the way to 
the dining-room. 

At dinner Homoselle sat opposite her father, at the 
head of the table ; and she was evidently the head of 
the house; in one sense. But Halsey was not long in 
discovering that to Bertie had fallen the rdle of chief 
speaker. She talked well, brilliantly at times, and had 
quite a genius for apt quotation. Her brother and 



30 HOMOSELLE. 

niece, proud of her cleverness, were quite willing that 
she should represent the family in conversation. Bertie 
herself never doubted, that, if any thing was to be 
said, she could say it better than any one else. Mr. 
Despard, often pre-occupied with harassing cares, was 
glad to have the burden shifted to such worthy shoul- 
ders; and HomosellQ, n^ver much of a talker, had 
fallen into a habit of silence when Bertie was present. 

She had little to say during the meal, beyond the 
ordinary courtesies of the dinner-table ; but when she 
and Bertie rose, to leave the gentlemen to their wine, 
she paused, near her father's chair, and, laying her 
hand on his shoulder, said playfully, "Don't stay 
long, papa ; " and then her glance rested for a mo- 
ment on Halsey's face, in mute, unconscious appeal. 
He felt his whole soul rush to his eyes in reply. 
Somehow, the unspoken thought that had passed be- 
tween them brought her nearer to him than all Bertie's 
sparkling vivacity. Homoselle went away plunged in 
revery. She rarely left her father at table with a 
guest without an anxious wish that he would not be 
detained long ; but never before had the thought been 
understood and answered. She believed implicitly the 
honest brown eyes, brimming with sympathy. She 
was not disappointed. After Halsey had finished a 
single glass of wine, he and Mr. Despard were back 
in the drawing-room. To reward him, Homoselle 
gave what she thought the best evidence of her grati- 
tude, by leaving him alone with Bertie, who looked 
very bewitching in her sheer white dress, fastened at 
the throat with a cluster of the crimson-flecked flowers 
known as bleeding-hearts. 



THE SHADOW IN THE LOOKING-GLASS, 3 1 

Bertie affected these flowers, partly because they 
were not general favorites (she aimed at originality 
above all things), and partly, it may be, to indicate 
that she had no objection to hearts bleeding, if they 
bled for her. Women have always delighted in sym- 
bpls as a delicate means of expressing unspoken 
thoughts. 

Homoselle followed her father to a small room ad- 
joining the drawing-room, with a package of newspa- 
pers that had accumulated at the country post-office ; 
and, while he smoked, she culled and read aloud their 
contents to him. The door between the two rooms, 
one side of which enclosed a full-length mirror, was 
left open at an angle that revealed the reflection of the 
occupants of the smaller apartment to Bertie and her 
companion. Halsey found his eyes often straying to 
the picture ; while his thoughts, like those of Wonder- 
land Alice, were occupied with what he saw in the 
looking-glass, — Mr. Despard's sturdy frame stretched 
at ease in an old arm-chair, and on a low seat by his 
side Homoselle, in a filmy dark-blue dress which threw 
out in beautiful contrast the ivory whiteness of her 
throat and face, bending over a pile of musty news- 
papers. 

As he rode away that evening, his mind dwelt with 
curious pertinacity on almost the only two things she 
had said to him, and those not with her lips, but with 
her eyes, — the quick, indignant glance of the morning, 
and the look of gentle entreaty she had given him at 
dinner. 



32 HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE QUESTION THAT WAS ALWAYS CROPPING UP. 

WHEN Halsey got back to Westover, he fcand 
that Major Carter had returned. 

The friends met again with sincere pleasure. The 
major, for a taciturn, undemonstrative man, was quite 
effusive in his welcome ; and the warmth of Halsey's 
greeting was increased by his concern at the change a 
few short months had wrought in Carter. Some un- 
dermining influence, more rapid in its effects than 
time, had aged his friend, who was more gaunt and 
hollow-eyed than when he passed the previous winter 
in Italy. Halsey knew of old that any allusion to his 
health was distasteful to the major, so he said nothing ; 
but his face expressed more than he knew, for Carter 
remarked briefly, — 

"Another attack lately, but I shall be better now 
that you are come. It is a terrible thing to be living 
all alone." 

Major Carter, a man of about fifty, had in his youth 
embraced the profession of arms with the enthusiasm 
of an ardent temperament. He was bred a soldier 
from boyhood : he said he believed he was bom one, 
and that his first cry was a battle-cry. At any rate, he 
was devoted to his profession, and had served witli 



THE QUESTION ALWAYS CROPPING UP, 33 

distinction on the frontier aad in Mexico. Then, in 
the full tide of an honorable career, he was stricken 
with a painful malady, which forced him to resign his 
position in the army, and with it all his plans and 
hopes. Instead of the active, hardy Hfe of a soldier, 
he was condemned henceforth to an existence of sofas 
and teas, easy travel, gentle horses, and freedom from 
sudden emotions and excitements. He submitted to 
the disappointment without complaint, but he became 
a changed man. The world after this bore a different 
aspect to him, and he assumed a different aspect to 
the world. 

The major was a man of small stature, but every 
inch a soldier in appearance. One knew at a glance 
to what profession he had been bred ; and there was 
still a gleam of subdued fire in his keen dark eyes. 

The evening he got home, he and HaJsey sat on 
the long portico in front of the house, smoking their 
pipes until the stars came out and the moon rose in 
her beauty, throwing a veil of enchantment over the 
silent earth, and the rushing, glancing river. 

" Did they treat you well here before I got back? " 
asked the major. 

"Well? Why, your servants nearly killed me with 
kindness. Six different warm breads at breakfast for 
solitary me, who gazed at them with helpless amaze- 
ment. Beefsteak, mutton-chops, ham, eggs, tea, 
coffee, chocolate, cream ! I tried to eat enough to 
make an impression, for your cook's sake ; but eat as 
I would (and you know I am a pretty good trencher- 
man)^ when I left the table, one would not have 



34 HOMOSELLE, 

supposed a mouse had been nibbling at it. My deai 
major, what does become of all the food that is sent 
untouched from your table? " 

The major gave only a grunt of satisfaction in reply. 
"Did you get your bath all right? I felt uneasy 
about that. I knew you would bring that confounded 
green tub along with you to America." 

"The morning after I arrived," said Halsey, smiling 
at the refminiscence, " I was wakened early by a scuf- 
fling, scrambling, tittering noise, as if an army of some 
unknown species of animal had congregated just out- 
side of my door. When I demanded to know the 
meaning of it, a little black nigger popped in, with 
about as much clothing on as a man in a ballet, 
and his face grinning all over. ' Momin', mas'r,' he 
said, with so much politeness and with such a deferen- 
tial inclination of his small black person, I felt quite 
mortified that my recumbent position prevented my 
making a suitable return. ' De major say we was to 
fix yo' barf ebery momin',*sah ! ' 

" * Come in and fix it, then,* I said, readily falling 
into his phraseology as the best way of making myself 
understood, but wondering what a little imp like that 
could do in the way of filling my tub. 

" He opened the door ; and I saw, pressing behind, 
a lot of little darkies, with buckets, pitchers, pans, 
and every conceivable contrivance for holding water. 
' Gad ! * I exclaimed. ' A troop cometh ! ' In the 
twinkling of an eye, but with much splashing and 
shufiling and giggling, my tub was sufficiently full, and 
with such clear, cold water too ! 



THE QUESTION ALWAYS CROPPING UP, 35 

" ' And who are you ? ' I asked of the spokesman, 
with a desire to make friends. 

" * I's Nafan, and we is de major*s treevers.* 

"Nafan I translated into Nathan; but what the 
deuce he meant by treevers, I could not imagine. I 
was not obliged to expose my ignorance, however : so 
I said, * Thank you, Nathan. I shall tell your master 
that you are remarkably good treevers.* " 

The major smiled, in the grim fashion which was 
his nearest approach to a laugh. 

"I should have thought," he said, "a hunter like 
you would guess he meant retrievers. I gave them 
that name the last time I went gunning, because they 
brought home a fine duck my dog had failed to find ; 
and it has stuck to them, because their only occupa- 
tion is to fetch and carry." 

" Of course," said Halsey : " I was an idiot, not to 
have thought of it." 

The major smoked in silence for some time, and 
then asked, rather abruptly^ — 

" How do you like my neighbors, the Despards? " 

" I never saw nicer people," said Halsey warmly. 
" Thanks to you, they received me most cordially, and 
I have spent a most delightful day with them." 

" I thought you would like them, especially my little 
favorite Bertie." 

" I liked them all," said Halsey stoutly. 

" Of course : Despard is a capital fellow ; and 
Homoselle seems to be the best of daughters, but I 
could never get much out of her." 

" Perhaps you never tried," said Halsey, who had 
the impression that there was a good deal in her. 



36 HOMOSELLE, 



It 



Perhaps so. Did you try ? " 
A little," the young man said diffidently, remem- 
Ijering his failure, " but not with brilliant success." 

" I thought so. I believe she is overshadowed by 
Bertie, who is a fine talker, especially in dialogue, I 
might say monologue. But the little minx has no 
taste for general conversation, and Homoselle has 
acquired the habit or art of listening. Now, I am a 
a listener myself, so I like chatterboxes. Nothing 
amuses me more than Bertie's prattle. Her quota- 
tions are immensely edifying. I never know if they 
are correct, but that makes no difference : they sound 
fine and instructive." 

The major had a dry way of putting things, which 
often puzzled Halsey. He mused over this unusually 
long speech of his fi:iend*s in silence ; and, when he 
spoke again, his thoughts had apparently taken another 
turn. 

"Excuse me, major, for seeming egotistical; but 
am I a conceited Englishman?" 

The major's eyes twinkled. " N — o," he answered 
slowly, as though it were a matter requiring considera- 
tion, " but I should not be surprised to hear that some 
one had been calling you so." 

" That's just it. Now, why should I be called con- 
ceited at sight?" 

" Why, in the first place, you are such an absurdly 
big fellow, you overtop everybody ; then, you walk 
with a swing, and look provokingly well satisfied; 
and, lastly, you have Englishman written all over you 
so decidedly as to arouse antagonistic nationality." 



THE QUESTION ALWAYS CROPPING UP. S7 

" Then," said Halsey, knocking the ashes out of his 
pipe, " I suppose there is no help for it." 

" My dear fellow, it wears off. I have not thought 
you conceited since the first week of our acquaint- 
ance," the major hastened to explain. 

Halsey laughed heartily at the confession. He had 
a thoroughly good-humored, pleasant laugh ; and the 
major pricked up his ears, and took heart of grace at 
the cheerful, familiar sound. It was better than wine 
to the broken spirits of the old soldier. 

" Halsey, my boy, I am so glad you are here ! " he 
said, with more warmth than was his wont ; " so glad 
to see you looking fresh and strong. I am sure you 
are all right now. Are you not?" 

" All right," answered Halsey cheerily. " The sea- 
voyage did me an immense amount of good ^ and this 
clear, dry atmosphere seems made for my lungs." 

They were about to separate for the night, when two 
dogs, that had been lying half asleep on the portico, 
started to their feet, with ears erect, and barking 
vociferously. 

The major rose quickly, to discover the cause of 
the disturbance, while Halsey sought for his eyeglass. 
The major's keen eye was the first to detect, through 
the openings of a low hedge that skirted the lawn, 
a stealthy movement, as of some one tr3dng to get 
away unperceived- 

" Halt ! " he cried in a martial, ringing voice that 
had lost none of its old power ; and the figure disap- 
peared in the shadow of the hedge. Followed closely 
by his dogs, he strode across the lawn, and threw open 



38 HOMOSELLE. 

the gate leading to the road beyond the hedge ; and 
there, to his surprise, he found a white man, limping 
along with slow, uncertain gait, and his face looking 
very pale in the moonlight. 

" I beg your pardon, sir," said the major sternly, 
" but I expected to find one of my negroes here, com- 
ing fi:om the quarters. You are aware, I suppose, that 
this road leads fi-om my negro-quarters; and your 
sneaking movements made me suspect mischief. 
Will you please tell me who you are, and what busi- 
ness you have on my land at this time of night? " 

" My name is Johnson," said the man, with a sickly 
smile, and a feeble attempt to put a bold face on the 
matter. " I am the tutor at Trenholms. I was only 
distributing a few tracts among your servants : I hope 
that was not wrong." 

" Tracts ! " thundered the major, " tracts that won't 
bear the light of day ! tracts, sir, for people who can- 
not read I What do you mean by talking such infer- 
nal nonsense to me? " 

" Oh ! " said the terror-stricken man deprecatingly, 
" I was only trying to give them some religious in- 
struction." 

" Religious instruction ! Why, a scoundrel who 
sneaks about my property in the dark like this doesn't 
know the first principles of religion. If you have any 
plan for the amelioration of my negroes* condition, 
why don't you come like a man to me? In future, 
you had better attend to your own business, and leave 
me to look after miiie. Now go ; and, if I catch you 
on my place again, I'll shoot you like a dog." 



THE QUESTION ALWAYS CROPPING UP. 39 

The terrified man was only too glad to avail himself 
of the permission to depart, and hurried away as fast 
as his ill-mated legs could carry him ; while the major 
with difficulty restrained the dogs from flying at his 
throat. 

Me^lntime, Halsey, who remained on the portico in 
some anxiety for his friend, who, he was sure, would 
be none the better for this excitement, overheard the 
conversation with mingled feelings. As an English- 
man, he detested every thing connected with slavery : 
but of late he had begun to perceive that it was a 
complicated question, with something to be said on 
both sides ; and at this moment, whatever moral S3rm- 
pathy he might have had with the man Johnson, his 
strong personal feeling was with the major, who now 
returned slowly to the portico, exhausted from his 
exertion. 

" I am too old, Halsey, to be losing my temper in 
this way," he said, with an attempt at jocularity, as he 
sank wearily into his chair. " I am like Queen Eliza- 
beth, whose physician said that her majesty's constitu- 
tion could not stand "more than one fit of passion a 
day. But this fellow Johnson is a miserable creature. 
I have heard of his tampering with the negroes in this 
neighborhood before ; and I wanted to teach him a 
lesson, as far as mine are concerned." 

" It seems to me, major, that this nigger question is 
always cropping up," said Halsey, laughing. " I feel 
as though I were walking on a powder-magazine. 
Miss Despard gave me a blowing-up quite as severe in 
its way as the one Johnson has just received fi-om 
you." 



40 HOMOSELLE, 

" You don't tell me you have been ventilating yoiu: 
views on bur peculiar institution to the Despards?" 
said the major, with some annoyance. 

" No, indeed. I made the most innocent remark 
imaginable, and was surprised at its effect. I said a 
remarkably pretty servant-girl looked a little like Miss 
Homoselle, and " — 

" What ! " exclaimed the major, leaning his hands 
on the arms of his chair, and raising himself in utter 
astonishment, and dropping his words slowly. " You 
— said — the — mulatto — girl — looked — like — Ho- 
moselle ! " And then a new thought seemed to strike 
him ; and he sank back in his chair, laughing softly to 
himself. " Come, Halsey," he said, " we will go in 
now. Johnson is a venomous beast, but you are a 
fine antidote." And, taking the younger man's arm, 
he went into the house ; and not long after they sepa- 
rated for the night. 



FINE EAR. 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

FINE EAR. 

HALSEY was alone in his room, busily engaged in 
jotting down his first impressions of the New 
World. He had a way of writing clever articles, and 
enhancing their value by far cleverer sketches, which in 
his travels had been very useful in eking out his slen- 
der means. He had not been writing long when he 
was interrupted by a knock at the door. 

" Come in," he said in his full, round voice, which 
was a welcome in itself. 

The door opened ; and, to his surprise, Skip, accom- 
panied by Chloe and Dash, entered. 

Skip had his hat in one hand, and in the other a 
card, which he held straight out at arm's length. 

Chloe came in with a little bob-courtesy, a bright 
smile, and a " sarvant, mars'r ; " her manner being the 
odd mixture of humility and ease which characterized 
the slaves of gentlefolk. The young man colored at 
the sight of her beautiful face, and the memory of his 
unlucky speech. 

" Good-momin*, Mr. Horsely," said Skip, advancing, 
and presenting his card. " I have come to see you. 
Homo says gentlemen visit with cards, and here's 
mine. She wrote it for me." 



42 HOMOSELLE. 

Halsey took the card from the boy, and read, " Mr. 
Skipwith Despard, Dunmore," written in a free femi- 
nine hand. 

" I am delighted to see you, Mr. Despard," he said, 
putting the card away in his desk, and placing a chair 
for his visitor. " Pray take a seat." 

" No. I don't want to sit down. I'd rather look 
at your things," said Skip, whose eyes had been at- , 
tracted and riveted by a sketch that lay among others 
on the table, entitled, " Country Life in Virginia." 

The boy could not read the words, but he could un- 
derstand the picture ; and, as he looked, his face con- 
tinued to brighten until at last he turned, to Halsey a 
countenance beaming with intelligence. "That's us 
makin* preserves ! " he cried in a tone of mingled 
pleasure and astonishment. 

He was right. Halsey had made a sketch of the 
group around Homoselle's preserving-kettle. No por- 
traiture had been attempted, as the drawing had been 
made from memory ; but there was enough individu- 
ality for Skip to recognize the figures without difficulty. 
"That's Aunt Cinthy; and that's Homo; and that's 
Chloe j and that's Dash ; and that's /«<?," he said, his 
voice rising in crescendo, until " that's me," came out 
with a scream of delight. 

Halsey smiled. • The expression of the boy's well- 
opened, dark eyes, was so bright, that the young man 
patted his head in token of appreciation. 

Chloe, in her old work-day short dress, stood by, 
looking on. In her hands she held a half-finished 
stocking on which, from time to time, she pretended 
to knit. 



FINE EAR. 43 

She was Skip's constant attendant. He would have 
scorned the idea of a nurse, so she was not called by 
that objectionable name. But she was told never to 
lose sight of him. The proximity of the river, and 
his love of the water, made this precaution necessary. 
Chloe usually carried her knitting with her, as a show 
of employment ; but the stocking grew very little dur- 
ing the long summer days in which she followed Skip's 
restless feet along the river-side, through fields, and by 
blooming hedges. 

Pretty soon Halsey began to feel the difficulty every 
one has experienced, of a sustained effort in the way 
of entertaining children and servants. The first few 
moments go swimmingly enough, then comes a drag. 

" Come, Skip," he cried, " you and Chloe and Dash 
keep still, and I will take your portraits to send to 
London as my first American visitors." 

Skip was dehghted with the idea, and fell into posi- 
tion at once, but he could not induce Dash to hold his 
tail still. Halsey assured him it would make no differ- 
ence, that he would put in the tail, wag and all. 
Chloe, with characteristic indolence, stood resting her 
back against the door, her "feet lightly crossed, and her 
hands with the knitting in them hanging idly before 
her. 

The outline of the boy's bright, ugly little face, and 
the dog's thorough-bred points, were soon transferred 
to paper ; but Chloe's portrait was a work of more time 
and care. 

" When did artist ever have a finer subject for his 
pencil?" thought Halsey, taking a loose, fresh sheet, 



44 HOMOSELLE. 

and beginning to sketch in the outlines of her oval 
face, — a face full of soft shadows, a beautiful pecul- 
iarity of Southern women, as if the sun fell on them 
through vine-covered trellises, flecking their counte- 
nances with golden light and shade. 

Halsey became so absorbed in his work that time 
flew by unheeded, and Skip began to get resdess. 
His host beguiled him into prolonging his visit by re- 
counting some of his own school-day adventures. 
This device succeeded admirably until the child got 
hungry, and then nothing could keep him. The littie 
company departed before the drawings were complet- 
ed : but enough had been done to secure an excellent 
likeness of Chloe, to which Halsey purposed putting 
the finishing touches another time; and Skip was 
more than satisfied with the sweep of the dog's express- 
ive tail. 

He went away deeply impressed with Halsey's va- 
ried accomplishments, — not only with his drawings, 
which seemed wonderful, but the boating, riding,. fish- 
ing, racing, and the like, that figured in the stories of 
his school-days. When Skip got home he confided to 
Homoselle that he would like to go to an England 
school. 

"An English school, you mean," said his cousin; 
"and pray why?" 

"Because they teach boys all about horses and 
boats and guns, and not such womanish things as 
jography and grammar." 

" I think you must be mistaken on the latter point. 
I have not perceived any defects in Mr. Halsey's 



FINE EAR, 45 

grammar: and, as to geography, he seems to know 
more about it than any woman of my acquaintance," 
said Homoselle, with a fine irony that was not lost on 
Skip, for the conversation was discontinued. 

Halsey, on Ws part, when he found himself alone, 
took Skip's card from his desk, and examined closely 
the firm, free writing, which vividly recalled the ap- 
pearance and manner of the girl who had penned it. 
Like herself, it was graceful and feminine, but with a 
certain dignity, a quality which never failed to impress 
an observer of Homoselle. 

It was a gracious crown to her other attractions, and 
one which a man would above all things desire in his 
own womenkind. The well-formed letters of Skip's 
name and address, with their flowing lines and absence 
of attempt at ornament, without any effort of the im- 
agination, suggested corresponding traits in the writer. 

The effect of Homoselle 's appearance on Halsey 
was that of beauty as interpreted by Greek art in its 
largeness and simplicity. Her tall figure, with its gen- 
erous fulness of chest ; her long, shapely limbs, round 
which drapery fell naturally in those flowing lines that 
give the beauty of life to inanimate objects ; her clear, 
pale coloring; the pose of her head, — all tended to 
produce the impression made by those grand, simple 
figures of an earlier age, which exist for us only in 
marble. Her movements, too, seemed to him to re- 
spond to the calm pulsations of a pure, tranquil heart \ 
for they were without superfluous action, as her dress 
was guiltless of unnecessary ornament, and her speech 
without exaggeration. 



46 HOMOSELLE, 

AH these fine thoughts came into Halsey's mind as 
he pondered over Skip's visiting-card. He was young, 
¥rith the artistic temperament, and a strong current of 
sentiment underneath. 

Chloe's face he had found a beautiful study for the 
brilliant effects of Ught and shade possible to a pencil ; 
but a face and figure like Homoselle's stirred in him a 
desire to be a sculptor ; for an artist instinctively seeks 
to reproduce whatever eirtemal beauty touches him, 
and Homoselle belonged to that rare class of women 
who are statuesque rather than picturesque. 

Ths result of his meditations this morning was a 
determination to pay a visit to Dunmore. He had 
been there several times since the first day, and had 
always. come away with a certain feeling of dissatisfac- 
tion. Once he had found Homoselle with hoe and 
rake, busy over a favorite bed of carnations : and he 
fancied she looked as if he were in the way ; at any 
rate, she had told him that " Bertie was in the parlor." 
On another occasion, while he sat in the wide, cool 
hall with Bertie and her never-ending embroidery, he 
caught sight of Homoselle on the portico at the back 
of the house, superintending and assisting in the re- 
plenishing and trimming of innumerable lamps, in 
fact, the whole illuminating apparatus of the Dunmore 
household. With some impatience, he mentally lik- 
ened her to the wise virgins in Scripture, who were 
never without oil in their lamps ; and he decided that 
it was quite exasperating for a girl to be so wise. Ber- 
tie, who caught the direction of his eyes, and guessed 
at his thoughts, expressed great disgust for such occu- 



FINE EAR. 47 

pations ; " that for her part, rather than soil her fin- 
gers with lamps, she would grope in utter darkness." 

" And that is what we have to do when Ellie goes 
away once in a while," said Mr. Despard, who liap- 
pened to be crossing the hall at this moment. " The 
lamps are dim, the soups are cold, and there's na luck 
about the house at a'. I don't know how it is with 
your well-trained English servants, Mr. Halsey, but 
our negroes require constant supervision." 

" Yes, I suppose they do," said Bertie, punching a 
hole in her embroidery ; " but any commonplace body 
can do that: brighter souls were meant for higher 
things." 

" Embroidery, for instance," said Halsey, examining 
the long strip of embroidered cambric that Bertie 
trailed about with her when she felt industrious. 

Yet another time he had found Homoselle with a 
pair of shears, cutting out garments, male and female, 
for the servants. Her life seemed so full of household 
cares as to exclude him altogether; and, what was 
mortifying, she seemed to be happy and contented 
with a very slight acquaintance with him. But he was 
a true Englishman, and not to be baffled by trifles. 
The more obstacles in the way, the more determined 
he became. 

After making some alterations in his dress, he 
started for a walk through the extended bit of wood- 
land which at one point lay between Westover and 
Dunmore. The dividing line was a small stream 
called Deep Run. Halsey had learned enough about 
the two estates to know that when he had crossed the 



48 HOMOSELLE. 

rustic bridge that spanned the little rivulet, which in 
dry weather might be easily leaped over, he was on 
the Dunmore land ; and then a pleasant, shady walk 
led direcdy to the grounds around the house. 

His toilet did not consume much time, for his dress 
was simplicity itself. There is no doubt that the cos- 
tume of an Englishman of the nineteenth century is at 
once the most appropriate and manly ever worn. It 
has all the beauty of fitness, without a superfluity to 
distract attention from the man to his clothing. Hal- 
sey had the special grace of always appearing scrupu- 
lously neat and well-dressed without an atom of fop- 
pery. 

He had adopted bne American comfort, a broad- 
brimmed straw hat ; and beneath its ample shade, and 
armed with his stout walking-stick, he soon found 
himself in the depths of the forest. He had nearly 
reached the bridge when, to his delight, he saw Homo- 
selle coming towards him. 

He had never before had the good fortune to meet 
her alone. When she caught sight of him, she looked 
surprised ; and he fancied she gkve a startled glance 
to the right and left, in search of some way of retreat. 

" Now, Miss Homoselle, you cannot avoid me with- 
out deliberately turning your back on me," he said, 
raising his hat, and standing aside fi*om the narrow 
woodland path to let her passv 

" I assure you, I have not the slightest desire, either 
to avoid you or turn my back on you," said Homo- 
selle, both amused and surprised at this form of ad- 
dress. " Why should I ? " 



FINE EAR. 49 

" I don't know. But I imagined I saw you looking 
for an easy way of escape." 

"Perhaps I thought my getting out of the way 
would be an escape for you." 

" Now, how can that be ? " Halsey blurted out, his 
voice expressing how very far wrong her conjecture 
had been. " Is it possible you have so little self-appre- 
ciation as to suppose your company does not give 
pleasiure ? " 

" My self-appreciation is by no means small, only it 
lies in another direction." 

"May I walk to the end of the wood with you 
while you tell me what that means?" looking pleased 
and earnest about what to her was the merest con- 
versational trifle. 

" I shall be very glad of your company ; but, as to 
my meaning, the truth is, I did not mean much be- 
yond the fact that I have more confidence in myself on 
other points than that of pleasing gentlemen." She 
colored faintly as she said this, for it was more of a 
confession than she intended. 

Halsey felt that it would be impertinent to tell her 
how little she knew her own power; but he said 
gravely, " I think you do not know yourself." 

Homoselle became grave too. They had unwit- 
tingly touched upon a subject over which she some- 
times pondered without arriving at any solution. 

" Oh, yes, I do ! " she answered earnestly. " I am 
not especially liked by gentlemen. Bertie says I am a 
woman's woman." 

" I do not see how you could have learned what 



so HOMOSELLE, 

sentiments men entertain towards you, if you keep 
out of every man's way as persistently as you have 
kept out of mine." 

"Have I appeared to keep out of your way?" she 
asked in genuine surprise. 

^^ Appeared ! ^^ exclaimed Halsey. "Now, think 
yourself. I have been to -your house nearly every day 
since I arrived in America, and this is the first time I 
have had five minutes' conversation with you." 

" That is true," mused Homoselle ; "but was that my 
fault ? Were you not talking to Bertie, or something 
of the sort?" 

" Could I talk to you when you were absorbed in 
reading to your father, or weeding flower-beds, or 
trimming lamps ? " 

" And did you want to talk to me at those times ? " 
she asked, turning to him with the beautiful smile that 
came at rare intervals, and only when she was well 
pleased. 

It was an effort on Halsey's part to answer the 
question and the smile as calmly as the occasion re- 
quired. " Of course I did," he said : " I tried over 
and over again to engage you in conversation ; but yoii 
only answered yea or nay, and went your way. Any- 
body but a pig-headed Englishman would have aban- 
doned the attempt long ago. But see how I have 
been rewarded to-day ! " 

" I am so glad you have told me this," said Homo- 
selle frankly. " I promise you it shall not spoil me : 
it only gives me a little more confidence as far as you 
are concerned. The next time you tell me it is a fine 
day, I shall know you mean conversation." 



FINE EAR. SI 

" And do you not like conversation ? " 

" Certainly I do, but I have no talent for it. Now, 
Bertie " — 

"Yes, I know," interrupted Halsey a little impa- 
tiently. " Miss Despard is bright and vivacious, but 
I am sure she is not the only member of the family 
who talks well." 

Homoselle shook her head. "I see you are in- 
credulous, Mr. Halsey ; but it is true that men, except 
a few married ones, friends of papa's, do not care to 
talk to me. I don't know why it is. I have some- 
times thought over it, myself." 

" I dare say your father's friends are the only men 
you have met who have any judgment." This opin- 
ion seemed to Halsey so much a matter of course, that 
it did not occur to him that it was also a compliment, 
until it had escaped his lips, and he saw a vivid pink 
color overspread Homoselle's left ear, the one turned 
a towards him. He found out afterwards that this was 
a physical idiosyncrasy. Any emotion or excitement 
would send the color stealing along the left side of her 
throat, and into her left ear. Her face was otherwise 
so calm that none but an acute observer would have 
noticed the peculiarity. Her father had long ago 
discovered it, and said that her ear was a sort of ba- 
rometer which indicated the state of the moral atmos- 
phere. She did not speak now for a moment ; then 
she said musingly, " Judgment, — yes, I suppose that 
is the word. But you know it is not judgment that 
makes a man fancy a girl. Men are often fascinated 
against their judgment." 



52 HOMOSELLE, 

This was so true that Halsey was silenced for a 
while; then he said with some warmth, "But think 
how irresistible must be attraction when the judgment 
is also satisfied." 

" And how happy the girl who possesses such at- 
traction ! " said Homoselle seriously, without a shadow 
of coquetry. Her simple directness and the calm 
expression of her clear blue eyes had a peculiar effect 
upon Halsey. He was conscious of an impression 
something like that produced by sea-shells, or the sea 
itself in its untroubled moods, pure, fresh, and free as 
it comes from the hands of its Creator. 

Walking through the sweet resinous woods with 
Homoselle by his side, was so pleasant an experience, 
that Halsey was dismayed when they began to emerge 
from the cool, leafy shadows, and the dusty road came 
in sight. 

"Must I leave you now?" he asked regretfully, 
when she paused as if to dismiss him. 

" Yes. I am afraid you would not enjoy bargaining 
for chickens and eggs ; and that is my errand to-day. 
Do you see that cabin yonder, with an old negro- 
woman at the window, and a pig at the door? I am 
going there in search of poultry." 

"I have never seen any one so absorbed in house- 
hold cares," said Halsey impatiently. 

" Yes," she answered with a ghost of a sigh. " I am 
in a rut, and I don't see how I am ever to get out. 
In the good old times we kept a housekeeper, but now 
there is no one to look after things but me." 

Halsey thought he knew of soipe one who dilly- 



FINE EAR. S3 

dallied over embroidery, who might help to look after 
things ; but he kept his thoughts to himself. 

"I find your life very different," he said, "fi-om 
what I have been led to expect by novelists. You 
know those veracious persons represent Southern 
women as utterly incapable of doing any thing for 
themselves. It seems to me you do every thing." 

Homoselle smiled. " Why, did you never hear the 
oft-told anecdote that represents the true state of the 
case? " 

"No. Tell it me, please." 

" Somebody asked the wife of gne of our wealthy 
planters how many slaves her husband owned; and 
she replied, — with much feeling, I dare say, — * Sir, 
my husband owns a thousand negroes, and only one 
slave, and that is myself." 

" Good ! " exclaimed Halsey. " That is the pith of 
the matter. But, as far as I am able to judge, slavery 
seems to develop two classes of whites, — the few who 
do every thing, the many who do nothing." 

A cloud flitted over Homoselle's serene counte- 
nance. "Don*t let us discuss the matter," she said 
earnestly ; " because there is no thoroughfare. Slavery 
is my Hill of Difficulty, that I cannot get over, or 
under, or around." 

" I understand perfectly," said Halsey heartily ; and 
then changing the subject, "But you won't forget 
your promise?" 

"My promise?" she said bewildered. "I don't 
understand." 

"Have you forgotten so soon? That, when I tell 



54 HO MOSELLE, 

you it is a fine day, you will know that it is my stupid 
English way of beginning a conversation, and what I 
want is a little encouragement, and not to be sent into 
the drawing-room to talk to some one else." 

Homoselle laughed. " Yes, that is agreed upon : 
* a fine day ' is to be the countersign." 

"You need not laugh," he said gayly, his spirits 
rising at this* concession. " * A fine day * is a far less 
commonplace remark in an Englishman than with 
you. We have so few fine days, that, when one does 
get an opportunity to say so, it sounds almost original. 
Good-by," he added, venturing to offer his hand. 

"What, are you not going to the house to see 
Bertie and papa? " she said, placing her hand in his ; 
and as the firm, cool touch met his grasp, he felt what 
a steady, trustworthy hand it was, and how it filled out 
the promise of the earnest eyes and kindly voice. 

"Not to-day," he said, relinquishing it, and hero- 
ically refiraining from the pressure which every drop of 
blood in his body prompted him to make. 

" Well, * the next fine day,' " she said with smiling 
emphasis, as she turned away. 

"I never saw a girl who afiected my nerves so 
strangely," thought Halsey, as he looked after her 
before retracing his steps to Westover. 

But the agitation of the nerves, if nerves it were, 
soon passed away ; and he walked home with a lighter 
step and a blither whistle, while his walking-stick, with 
sympathetic movement, swung to and fro more gayly 
than ever. 

His thoughts, meanwhile, were not idle. Like those 



FINE EAR, 55 

of most men, where woman is the theme, they lightly 
turned to love. But this was not for long: with a 
shrug of the shoulders he put the dangerous fancy 
aside. 

"Truly," he thought, "she is a girl to love; but 
then, love and matrimony are not for wanderers like 
me. I will make her my friend. There is no reason- 
on earth why we should not be friends." 

And on the broad, safe basis of friendship, he de- 
cided that their future intercourse was to rest. 

He was in the depths of the wood, where the under- 
growth was thickest and the foliage overhead densest, 
when he thought he heard voices. He stopped, and 
looked around. When at some littie distance he 
caught sight of Skip, he began to think the boy was 
ubiquitous. He and his attendant were ahvays crop- 
ping up. Halsey was unaccustomed to children, and 
hitherto his attention had not been attracted to them. 
He scarcely realized what an important part they play 
in life, how they wander in and out Uke some wild 
melody constantly recurring amid the graver move- 
ments of solemn music. 

Skip was seated on the trunk of a fallen tree beside 
the little stream that crept sluggishly through the 
forest. He was talking gravely to Chloe, who seemed 
to be in trouble. Halsey found, on a nearer approach, 
that her arm ha^ been badly torn, in a scramble 
through a hedge After Skip. Skip's clothes were in 
tatters; but his skin, with the exception of a few 
scratches on his face, was safe, while poor Chloe 's 
bare arms had suffered terribly. One deep gash '•* 



56 HOMOSELLE. 

particular bled profusely. The girl was sobbing, and 
Skip was trying to console her. 

" Now, Chloe, don't cry. Your arm will be well to- 
morrow. But look at me : my jacket and trousers 
won't never get cured, and Homo will make me learn 
extra lessons for a week. This is four jackets I'se 
wored out since last week. I wish clothes growed on 
a fellow like skin." 

"But jackets don't hurt," moaned Chloe, swaying 
back and forth with pain. 

•" But jography and 'rithmetic does," retorted Skip, 
who had a truly masculine way of offering consolation. 

"Why, Skip, what is the trouble?" asked Halsey, 
coming up at this moment. 

" Oh, Mr. Horsely ! " exclaimed the boy, turning 
quickly at this unexpected address. "Chloe have 
hurt herself." 

" Ah ! yes, I see," said Halsey commiseratingly, as 
he took the lacerated arm gently in one hand, while 
with the other he dipped water from the stream, and 
began washing the blood from the wound. 

Skip looked on open-eyed, and even Chloe's tears 
ceased to flow as she watched his movements with 
amazement. After bathing the arm for some time, 
until the burning pain was in a measure soothed, he 
drew his handkerchief from his pocket, and, pressing 
the edges of the wound together, bound it firmly round 
the girl's arm. Chloe drew back in dismay as she 
saw the beautifully fine cambric in contact with her 
dark skin. She seemed to think the handkerchiefs 
snowy whiteness would be contaminated by her touch. 



FINE EAR, 57 

But Halsey was decided, though gentle, in his manip- 
ulations. His finely formed hands, with the strong, 
dexterous fingers, and oval, rose-tinted nails, presented 
a great contrast to the girPs bronze coloring ; and she 
regarded him with a sort of fascination. Never before 
had she been the recipient of such ministrations. 
She glanced stealthily from the hands to the pleasant, 
fresh-colored face, and for one moment into the clear, 
bright eyes ; and a great wave of feeling passed over 
her, such as she had never felt before. Whether it was 
gratitude, or not, she did not think ; but the sensation 
was so new and strange that she trembled from head 
to foot, and closed her eyes with a shuddering sigh. 

" There," said Halsey, relinquishing the arm, " let 
it stay bandaged until td-morrow, and don't forget to 
return my handkerchief." 

" Thanky, mars'r," said Chloe, with her lowest courte- 
sy, and a world of grateful reverence in her voice: 
" I'll be sho' to bring yo' handkerchy back. I'se very 
thankful, sir." As she spoke, a quivering smile dis- 
closed glimpses of pearly teeth, even while the tears 
glistened on her dark curling lashes. 

"And now, Master Skip," said Halsey, turning to 
the boy, " another time I hope you will be more careful 
how you scramble through the bushes. Just see your 
coat : you look like the * man all tattered and torn,* 
while poor Chloe is like the ' maiden all forlorn.* " 

" No," said Skip, gravely shaking his head, " Chloe 
couldn't be the * maiden all forlorn.' " 

"Pray, why?" 

"Because the man all tattered and torn married 



5 8 HO MOSELLE. 

the maiden all forlorn ; and I couldn't marry Chloe, 
because — because " — 

" Cos I ain't nothin* but a nigger," said Chloe, fin- 
ishing the sentence which even Skip found awkward ; 
while her half smile became audible, as she laughed 
outright. 

Skip laughed too, and Halsey could not help smil- 
ing at their merriment. 

" Mr. Horsely," said Skip as he turned to cross the 
bridge on his way back to Westover, "you are the 
nicest man I ever saw." 

" Thanks, Skip," said Halsey, raising his hat in ac- 
knowledgment of the compliment. " I shall try to 
keep your good opinion. Good-by." 

He went away musing over his new experiences in 
the New World, and how these people, dark and fair, 
like many-colored threads, seemed to be weaving 
themselves into his life. 



THE EARLY BIRD. 59 



CHAPTER V. 

THE EARLY BIRD* 

THE next day Bertie, in a freshly-crimped white 
dress garnished with crimson ribbons, was daw- 
dling over her breakfast at noon. 

Homoselle, enveloped in a linen apron, was busy at 
a side-table with scissors and paste-pot, sealing innu- 
merable jars of preserves. 

The only other occupant of the room was a small 
negro-boy, who supplemented his height by standing 
on a stool, while, with a gorgeous plume of peacocks' 
feathers, he fanned the flies from the table. 

With the marvellous facility for sleeping in any posi- 
tion and under all circumstances which characterizes 
his race, he dozed while he fanned, and was every now 
and then rudely roused from his slumbers by tumbling 
from his pedestal, much to the discomposure of Ber- 
tie's nerves. 

"Homoselle," she said impatiently, "I wish you 
would not keep this creature in the dining-room : he 
disarranges my hair far more than he gets rid of the 
flies. Where is Dick?" 

" Dick has gone into the field to help the farm- 
hands, who are very busy just now. I can't possibly 
keep him idle in the dining-room until twelve o'clock. 



6o HOMOSELLE, 

Then, you know, I am bringing Tommy up for a din- 
ing-room servant, and he can't begin to learn too early. 
I think he does quite well for such a little fellow." 

'* I don't know what you call quite well, when he 
tumbles about as though he had epilepsy, and startles 
me out of any digestive powers I may have." 

" The only remedy I can suggest," answered Homo- 
selle gravely, " is coming down to breakfast four hours 
earlier." 

Bertie pushed back her plate, and began studying 
the crimson bows on her sleeves with eyes so short- 
sighted as seemed almost to require actual contact 
with an object in order properly to see it. The pro- 
priety of keeping regular hours had been so often and 
so thoroughly discussed at Dunmore, that she knew 
every thing to be said in their favor, and the subject 
bored her. She hastened to introduce a more pleas- 
ant topic. 

"What can have become of Mr. Halsey?" she 
asked, caressing her ribbons. " He is conspicuous by 
his absence. He was not here yesterday, and it is 
rather late for him to-day." 

Homoselle was silent for a moment. Then, fearing 
her silence was not quite honest, she said, while the 
delicate volutes of her ear turned pink, " Mr. Halsey 
was here for a few minutes yesterday, and for a longer 
time this morning." 

Bertie looked up quickly. " Well, that's cool. Why 
was not I told?" 

" I sent to tell you as soon as he came thi% morning, 
and learned that you were in bed and asleep." 



THE EARLY BIRD, 6 1 

" Pshaw ! " exclaimed Bertie, biting her lip with 
vexation, which was greatly aggravated by the fact of 
her pretty toilet having been made for nothing. " I 
thought he knew I rarely came down before twelve 
o'clock. Couldn't he wait ? " 

"He did wait," said Homoselle sententiously. 

"How long?" 

The color deepened in Homoselle's ear as she said 
with some hesitation. " About three hours, I think." 

" Three hours ! " said Bertie, rising, and sweeping 
her Watteau train into position as she impatiently 
crossed the floor. " To think of his waiting all that 
time, and not seeing me ! Three hours ! Why, he 
must have come to breakfast.". 

" Yes : we were at table when he came, bringing 
papa a beautiful bunch of perch he had caught this 
morning. That was one you have just enjoyed so 
much." 

" Three hours ! " exclaimed Bertie again : " I hadn't 
an idea he would be so patient. This must not hap- 
pen again. I must tell him I am not an early riser. 
But how was it that I did not see him when he called 
yesterday? Did he come at the same uncivilized 
hour?" 

" He was not at the house yesterday. I met him 
in our woods ; and he walked with me as far as the 
public road, and then went back to Westover." 

" Well, I am sorry to have missed him," said Bertie 
frankly, as she was leaving the room. " He is one of 
the few men I know worth talking to. Homoselle, 
should he ever come again when I am asleep, have 



62 HOMOSELLE. 

me waked up, and give him a book or something to 
amuse him until I can get into my clothes. It will 
not take me any thing like three hours." 

When her aunt had gone, Homoselle rang the bell 
for a servant to clear the table of the breakfast things : 
she relieved Tommy of his brush, and sent him out to 
play. Then she ranged her jars of preserves in shin- 
ing rows in one of the old-fashioned presses built in 
the wall on either side of the chimney. 

This done, she went into the adjoining pantry, and 
put away her scissors and paste-pot, washed her hands, 
and took off the apron that completely enveloped her 
neat morning-dress. These details were nothing in 
themselves : she had gone through them all, without 
thought, many times before. They were simple duties 
performed almost unconsciously ; and yet to-day they 
were performed with a difference, — a difference so 
subtle as scarcely to be explained except by illustra- 
tion. It is so, for instance, in the ordinary act of 
walking : we do it unconsciously and almost without 
thought. But let a grand, slow movement of music 
break upon the ear, and we begin at once to walk with 
a difference. Our pulses immediately set themselves 
to a more beautiful rhythm, and our steps keep time. 
Our walking, hitherto a careless getting over the 
ground, assumes a greater dignity ; and we realize that 
walking may become a sublime action, for men have 
walked to glory, to sacrifice, and to death. 

It was so now with Homoselle : a new, indefinable 
sense of happiness made poetry of life and its home- 
liest details. She had found, quite accidentally as it 



THE EARL Y BIRD. 63 

were, a friend who appreciated her ; and this sense of 
appreciation and sympathy from a manly young fellow 
like Halsey could not fail to add a new interest to an 
uneventful existence like hers. 

But it seems to be a condition of life, that happiness 
should ever be .accompanied by a foreboding of pain ; 
and Homoselle found hers mingled with anxiety in re- 
gard to her father's affairs. Troubles of a pecuniary 
nature that had long embarrassed the family — that had, 
in fact, begun in preceding generations — seemed to 
be culminating now. Her father, who had always felt 
their pressure more or less, had recently been greatly 
harassed by the difficulty he found in meeting obliga- 
tions of long standing. His ordinary gravity had 
deepened into gloom, and the cloud on his brow was 
reflected in Homoselle *s heart. 

She loved her father better than any thing in the 
world; and in some respects their positions seemed 
to be reversed, for she looked after him with the anx- 
ious, protecting affection that is oftener the character- 
istic of a parent's love for a child. 

But to-day, this beautiful June day, she tried to 
assure herself that his dear face was not so careworn 
after all, and that it was only her imagination that 
boded ill. 

It was such a perfect season, the skies were so cloud- 
less, and the out-door world so joyous and fresh, it 
seemed a sin against nature not to be happy. Then 
her own heart, despite its trouble, beat so lightly that 
she felt like singing : in fact, she did sing the refrain of 
an idle song as she left the house with a book in her 
hand. 



64 ffOMOSELLE. 

"What would Bertie say?" she thought, as she ar- 
ranged the cushions and settled herself comfortably in 
a hammock under the shade of a wide-spreading elm : 
" wouldn't she laugh to see me, prosaic me, hanging 
between earth and sky reading poetry?" Homoselle 
laughed herself, but none the less did she respond to 
the poet's soft spell; and the book that had been 
opened with a song was closed with shy, sweet tears. 

A mild epidemic, that invaded the kitchen nQ less 
than the parlor, seemed to have broken out at Dun- 
more. The symptoms, of course, varied according to 
the temperament of the individual ; but they were suf- 
ficiently like to justify an observer in attributing them 
all to the same cause. An eruption of fluted frills and 
pretty ribbons indicated its presence with Bertie, who, 
ordinarily, was not too careful about her dress ; while 
with Homoselle it betrayed itself in a slight accelera- 
tion of the pulse, and a tendency to unequal spirits. 

In order to note the workings of the Anglomania 
below stairs, it will be necessary to go into the kitchen, 
which is at a short distance .from the house, as most 
Southern kitchens are. It seems an odd arrangement 
to persons accustomed to consider the economy of 
space and the desirability of smoking-hot dinners. 
But it has its advantages, not the least of which is, that 
it leaves the dwelling absolutely free from kitchen 
odors. The refinement of many a beautiful home and 
sumptuous feast is marred by the smell of cooking. 
But it must not be supposed that 'triese old-time Vir- 
ginians did not have their meals served hot : doubtless 
they were at more trouble than other people, but they 
contrived to accomplish it in some way. 



• THE EARL Y BIRD. 65 

The Dunmore kitchen was quite a large building, 
with turret and belfiy. In the olden time the clangor 
of a great bell that could be heard all over the farm 
announced to the family and its dependents, scattered 
far and near, that dinner was about to be served. The 
custom had been retained, because it was a custom, 
until the time of the late Mrs. Despard. In her last 
illness she had objected to the noise ; and since her 
death, twenty years before, the bell had hung idle in 
its little ivy-covered tower. 

A trellis with an arched doorway^ and overgrown 
with GreviHe roses, screened the kitchen from the 
house. Within, a great yawning fireplace, in which an 
ox might have been roasted whole, testified to the 
bountiful hospitality that had always characterized the 
house. A bright fire was crackling on the hearth now \ 
and a savory smell, to which every fragrant herb that 
grows seemed to have contributed a share, issued from 
a soup-kettle simmering over the glowing logs. In an 
economical point of view, one could not help regret- 
ting the quantity of fine old timber required to boil 
that pot of soup ; but then, that is the African way of 
doing things, and reminds one of the Chinese way of 
roasting a pig. Cheerfiil voices, and loud but not un- 
musical laughter, rang gayly through the smoke-black- 
ened rafters. The cook, a woman of vast rotundity 
and jolly black countenance, was peeling potatoes, 
while she cracked jokes with the butler, who was 
cleaning knives, and the chambermaid, who was dan- 
dling a baby. 

In an adjoining room that served as a laundry, one 
caught sight of Cinthy and Chloe. 



(£ ffOMOSELLE, 

Cinthy's hands were in the wash-tub, and she 
scrubbed with a vehemence that was only equalled by 
the activity of her tongue. Indeed, Jiands and tongue 
seemed to stimulate each other. Chloe, towards whom 
her volubility was directed, was seated on the sill of an 
open window, putting a new bandage on her arm. 
Halsey's handkerchief, neatly washed and ironed, lay 
on the sill beside her. 

In the outer doorway of the laundry, blackening the 
sweet June sunshine, and casting an ugly shadow on 
the laundry floor, lounged the ungainly figure of a huge 
negro man. His hat and whip were lying on the floor 
beside him, and he was idly whittling a stick with a 
large clasp-knife ; but every now and then his sullen, 
blood-shot eyes threw a stealthy glance towards Chloe, 
who kept her head bent over her arm. He was not a 
pleasant-looking object, so it is not surprising that she 
avoided his glance. He had the short thick neck, 
low retreating forehead, and coarse cruel mouth, that 
belong to the worst type of man. But he was in his 
softest mood now, and his errand was a peaceful one 
if Chloe would allow it to be so. 

"What I want ter know is," Cinthy was sajdng, "ef 
you come by dat hankerchy honest? Dat never 
b'long to no nigger in dis worl'. Real linen cambric, 
fine as silk, wid French work* letters in de comder. 
I'se been washin' white folks' close too long not ter 
know quality things, and dat*s a gentleman's hanker- 
chy ef ever I seed one." 

" I never said a nigger gin it ter me," said Chloe 
scornfully. 



THE EARLY BIRD. 6/ 

" Well, den, ef you stole it, or a white man gin it 
ter you, dat's wuss," continued Cinthy, whose curi- 
osity, quite as much as her virtuous indignation, was 
aroused. 

Michael's red eyes gleamed with sudden fury. He 
buried the blade of his knife in the door-post with an 
oath. 

" A white man ! " he thundered, " by , ef I see 

a white man foolin* roun' Chloe 1*11 kill him." 

Chloe laughed. " La ! what will white man be do- 
in' to let a nigger like you kill him ? " 

"You'll see," answered Michael, grinning too ; for 
Chloe had at last vouchsafed to speak to him. 

" Ef you don't 'count for dat hankerchy proper," 
Cinthy went on, " I'll up and tell Miss Ulla. She'Vi let 
you know ef you can be flantin' roun' wid a gen'le- 
man's hankerchy." 

" I'se done tole Miss Ulla all about it," said Chloe 
triumphantly. "6!^^'s my mistis, and knows what's 
proper better'n you." 

" It's mo' dan her daddy did. Cuss him ! " mut- 
tered Michael. 

Cinthy alone caught his words ; and, being baffled 
by Chloe in her pursuit of knowledge, she turned her 
batteries on Michael. 

" Fo' de Lord, Mike Dray," she said, " ef you gwine 
ter talk in dat onchristian way, you got ter git out o' 
dis kitchen. You bark up de wrong tree when you 
come here, like a free nigger as you is, a-cussin' Mars' 
Frank Despard. Dere ain't a finer man in dis county. 
You jest look dar in dat glass, an* see eif you kin hole 



68 HOMOSELLE. 

a candle ter him. And who is you to be talkin* *bout 
proper and onproper? It's like 'possum callin* pig 
narrer-faced." 

Cinthy would have talked until sundown^ if Michael 
had not arrested her stream of words. He perceived 
he had made a mistake; and^ moreover, it was not 
Cinthy's voice he wished to hear. 

" La, sister Cinthy," he said, " don't jaw a feller so 
for jokin* a little." 

"Don't be a-sisterin' me," began Cinthy again. 
" You ain't none o* my kin, thank de Lord I and you 
ain't no brudder in de sperit, for you been tunned out 
of church a dozen times." 

" But I'se done reformed. I'se gwine to marry a 
putty gal, and settle down," said Michael with a leer 
at Chloe, which she pretended not to see. She had 
Halsey's handkerchief in her hand now, patting and 
smoothing it between her fingers. 

Just then Skip's voice was heard in the distance 
shouting, " Chlo-e ! Chlo-e ! " 

The girl started up. " Dar's Mars' Skip a-callin* 
me," she said, putting the handkerchief quickly in the 
pocket of her apron. 

"No, you don't," said Michael, barring the door 
with his great brawny arms. "You don't git out 
o'- here widout givin' me a kiss." 

" I'd see you dead and buried fust, and I kin go 
out by de other do'," said Chloe, turning her back on 
him. 

"Jest try it, and see ef I don't ketch you." 

Thus foiled, Chloe went back to her seat on the 



THE EARLY BIRD. 6o 

window-silL Any thing was better than a scuffle with 
Michael. Her eyes were bent down, but she watched 

his movements fiirtively. 

He stood in the doorway chucUing over her dis- 
comfiture. Throwing his head back with a loud guf- 
faw, for one moment she was out of his line of vision. 
Quick as thought she turned her feet outside of the 
window, and leaped into the garden ten or twelve feet 
below. 

Crash she went through vines and bushes; and 
Michael, in stupid, blank amazement, stood looking 
at the spot where she had been sitting. 

" Chloe ! Chloe ! " shouted Skip impatiendy. 

'^ Comin' ! comin' ! litde marster," shouted Chloe 
as she skipped over the asparagus-beds. 

It was Cinthy's turn to laugh. "Dar now," she 
said to Michael, who took up his hat and whip, and 
turned to depart with an oath, " you'll have ter git up 
very early in de momin' to ketch dat yaller imp." 

Chloe, delighted with her successful escape, and 
elated with her sense of freedom, as she flew along 
the garden to meet Skip, began singing "The Old Ship 
of Zion," an old-fashioned hymn her mistress had 
taught her. Her voice rang through the air, clear and 
sweet, with that plaintive tone peculiar to negroes 
and all captive peoples. Thus Israel must have sung, 
" We hanged our harps on the willows ; we sat down 
beside the waters, and wept." 

"Let's play circus-horses," said Skip, cracking a 
long-lashed whip as she joined him. 
• " No : you pertend to' be a gen'leman takin' a drive ; 



(C 



70 HOMOSELLE. 

and rU be yo* sorrel horse, and you kin drive over to 
Major Carter's." 

All right ; but I haven't any reins." 
I'll git you some in a minute," said Chloe, dash- 
ing off to the house at full speed, as was her custom, 
and returning with some listing, with which she impro- 
vised a pair of reins. 

" Gee ! " shouted Skip ; and in a few moments she 
was trotting through the woods, stimulated to her high- 
est speed by the frequent stinging of the boy's toy 
whip. 

When they came in sight of the major's house, the 
horse fell lame, and began limping in a pitiable 
manner. 

" 'Deed, Mars' Skip," it said, thereby imitating that 
famous steed of Balaam's, " I can't trot any mo*. I'se 
too lame." And the fast-trotting horse, slipping its 
reins, transformed itself into a pretty mulatto girl, with 
a quiet demure step. 

Mr. Halsey was hanging over the gate, smoking a 
cigar, when they approached. 

" Well, Skip," he said, nodding as they came up, 
and watching a wreath of smoke which he puffed into 
the ambient air. 

"I'se fotched you yo' hankerchy. Mars' Halsey," 
said Chloe, taking the handkerchief from her pocket, 
and presenting it to him with her ready little courtesy. 

" Now, really," said Halsey, shaking out the folds, 
" that's quite clever of you to bring it back so soon, 
and so nicely got up too. How's the arm ? " 

" Heap better, thanky, marster." 



THE EARLY BIRD, 7 1 



« 



I am glad to hear it ; and here," diving into his 
pockets, and bringing out a piece of money, " is an 
English shilling for returning my handkerchief so 
promptly." 

Chloe's countenance beamed with delight, and she 
made a series of courtesies as she took the coin of the 
British realm. 

" Goody 1^ " exclaimed Skip. " I never saw an Eng- 
lish shillin*. Let me look at it, Chloe. Why, it*s got 
a woman's head on it." 

" That's Vic," said Halsey, shaking the ashes fh)m 
his cigar. 

"Who's she?" asked Skip, turning the money over 
in his hand. 

"The Queen of England." 

" Whew ! " whistled Skip : " she ain't no great 
shakes. Presidents is better than queens. — Here, 
Chloe. — Good-by, Mr. Horsely." 

Halsey laughed. " Good-by, little republican," he 
called after the boy, who was walking thoughtfully 
away, cracking his whip. He was thinking he would 
like to have an English shilling with the head of the 
Queen of England too. 

When Chloe and he were fairly out of sight of the 
house once more, the girl resumed her reins ; and, as 
she and her driver tore through the woods, Skip won- 
dered how her lameness had been so suddenly cured. 



JZ HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BmTH OF A SOUL. 

SOME weeks later there came one of those op- 
pressively warm days that Bertie had said re- 
minded her of quite another climate than Paradise. 
So she remained in a darkened room, fanning herself 
and sniffing cologne-water. 

Homoselle was more Greek and statuesque than 
ever, in a white, semi-transparent wrapper that fell in 
soft folds from her throat to her feet, while her hair 
was brushed away from her face, and tied at the back 
of her head with a knot of ribbon. It was difficult 
to realize that she was suffering from the heat, so cool 
and fair she looked, her white arms, bare from the 
elbow, against her white dress, suggesting Coleridge's 
description of the statue of Hope, "snow embossed 
on snow." Only the languor of her movements and 
a slight droop of her eyelids betrayed that she, too, 
was feeling the. enervation of one of those terribly hot 
spells that paralyze energy, and excuse Southern iner- 
tia. She was seated in what her father called his 
office, a room situated at the extreme end of the 
right wing of the house, and far removed from the 
ordinary living-rooms of the family. In fact, to make 
it more private, the door which communicated with 



BIRTH OF A SOUL. 73 

the rest of the house was closed, and hidden from 
view by book-shelves. Its only entrance was from 
the outside, tlirough a small arched porch that cor- 
responded with a similar one at the other wing. Here 
Mr. Deflpard transacted his farm business, looked over 
his accounts, wrote letters, and, when occasion offered, 
brooded over his troubles. 

It was a small, darkly- wainscoted room, bare of 
furniture, except a few book-shelves, a large writing- 
table, a hat-rack, one or two stiff, old-fashioned chairs, 
and a hard, uncomfortable sofa, covered with leather. 
Every thing was well worn and shabby, but not ob- 
trusively so ; for room and furniture were of about the 
same date, and, through the lapse of time, had toned 
down to an uniform dull tint, in which Homoselle's 
fresh youth shone like a flower. Her dimpled elbows 
rested on the faded, ink-stained table, and her chin 
was supported by her hands, as, with dejected coun- 
tenance, she examined a blurred and blotted page of 
Skip's copy-book. All through the sultry morning she 
had been tryijig to make him study his lessons. Skip 
himself was fidgeting on one of the high-back chairs, 
fuming over a French Reader. He was not a brilliant 
scholar; he liked any thing better than his book: 
consequently any thing served to distract his atten- 
tion from his lesson. Homoselle's task was hke that 
of Sis)^hus. When, afler immense effort, she had 
succeeded in fixing his mind and eye on the page, an 
insect floating by, or a goose cackling in the yard, 
would recall him from the world of thought to the 
world of animated nature. It was clear that what- 



74 HOMOSELLE, 

ever ideas he possessed, contrived to shoot better in 
God's sunshine than in the forcing process of the 
school-room. Chloe was seated in the doorway, her 
knitting in her lap, and her head in the land of Nod ; 
the gentle swaying of the trees near the house cover- 
ing her with restless patches of light and shade. With- 
out, nature was throbbing with the intense life of 
summer in its prime. The air was full of the soft 
breathings and murmurings that we can scarcely be 
said to#hear, but rather to be conscious of with all 
our senses at once. Within, the only sound was 
Skip's mutterings over his French book. Presently 
he looks up, and his face is puckered with childish 
despair. 

" Homo, I can't learn French." 

"Why not?" said Homoselle with temper, the 
heat and Skip's dulness beginning to tell on her pa- 
tience : "are you more stupid than other boys? " 

"No, Homo, it is not that; but it tickles my 
tongue." 

Homoselle did not know whether to laugh or to 
cry. 

" If Skip would only use his mind to study, as he 
does to make ingenious excuses for not studying, what 
a scholar he would be I " she thought. " Nonsense," 
she said, with an accession of severity : " what do you 
mean?" 

" I have been trying to say * le roi^ and roll the r 
like you told me, and I can't do it. It makes my 
tongue feel so funny." 

" Skip, do you want to grow up an ignoramus? " 



BIRTH OF A SOUL, 75 

"Yes," said Skip, the puckers disappearing from his 
brow at the prospect of staving off his lesson by a 
discussion. 

" I don't believe you know what it is, or you would 
not say such a foolish thing." 

" Oh, yes, I do ! I saw one at the circus." 
"At the circus?'" echoed Homoselle, bewildered 
for a moment. 

"Yes, in the cage next to the hippopotamus." 
Homoselle buried her face in her hands, and 
groaned. What with the heat, the flies, and Skip, 
she felt as if she were being whipped with small, 
stinging thongs. Her heavy sigh disturbed Chloe's 
light slumbers. She opened her eyes, and said sleep- 

fly,- 

"Dar now. Mars' Skip, you done make Miss Ulla 
cry." 

"No," said Skip, putting up his under lip again, 
" she makes me cry." 

"Hold your tongue, Chloe. Don't speak another 
word. Skip," cried Homoselle sharply; and silence 
reigned once more, but not for long. 

Chloe's head had scarcely dropped to its former 
position, when Dash, who had been prowling about 
disconsolately outside, walked sedately -iiito the room, 
and, going straight to Skip, laid his head on the 
child's knees, and looked up in his face. Could Skip, 
could any boy, resist the appeal of those soft, be- 
seeching eyes? 

Skip dropped his book, and throwing his arms 
around the dog's neck, cried, "Dear old doggy, he 
wants me to go out and play." 



76 HOMOSELLE. 

This was the straw that broke the camel's back. 

Homoselle rose quickly, and, going to the rack, took 
down a small riding- whip. 

" Now, Skip, if that paragraph is not translated in 
ten minutes, I will switch you. — Go out. Dash." 

Dash, at sight of the instrument of punishment, 
slunk away with his tail between his legs, and Skip 
picked up his book with alacrity. He dreaded the 
whip, not so much for the possible pain, though that 
was bad enough, as for the ignominy of being thrashed 
by a woman. The wisdom of Solomon's views on the 
subject of corporal punishment was verified in this in- 
stance. The very sight of the rod had the happiest 
effect. 

In ten minutes Skip had read and translated the 
short, easy paragraph which had been assigned him 
for a lesson, and school was over for the day. 

He put up the pile of well-thumbed, dog-eared 
books that were his daily torment, and, with a whoop 
and halloo, bounded out of doors, followed by Chloe, 
to look for Dash. The dog was found curled up on 
the grass, half asleep, but with eye and ear alert for the 
first token of his play-fellow's liberation. Skip, who 
was not wanting in aptness out of school, rolled over 
on the grass with his four-footed friend, shouting at 
the top of his voice, — 

** The teacher turned him out 
But still he lingered near ; 
And on the grass he played about 
Till Skipwith did appear I " 

Homoselle could not help smiling as the words 



BIRTH OF A SOUL, 7/ 

reached her, but she drew a long sigh of relief that 
Skip was fairly out of the way. The most vexatious 
task of the daily round was over ; and she threw herself 
on the sofa with a view to enjoying a few moments' ^ 
dolce far niente, which is nowhere more dolce than in 
our Southern climate. 

She had scarcely straightened her limbs for repose, 
when a servant brought in the mail-bag, and deposited 
it on the table. She lay for some time looking lazily 
out of half-closed eyes at its plethoric fulness, with 
mingled feelings of curiosity and annoyance. She did 
not wish to move, and yet she wanted very much to 
know if there was a letter for her. 

Curiosity prevailed. Her disgust was great when, 
on examining the contents of the bag, she found a great 
many newspapers, several letters for Bertie, one for her 
father, and none for herself. The one for her father 
she recognized but too well. The post-mark, the yel- 
low envelope, the clerkly address, indicated the semi- 
annual grocery-bill, that twice a year threw a gloom 
over the family. Homoselle opened it, and ran her 
eye over the items. She had honestly tried, by all 
sorts of little economies, to reduce the housekeeping 
expenses ; and she was anxious to know the result of 
her management. She sighed when she found that 
economy in tea, coffee, sugar, and the like, went for 
very little when wine, liquors, and cigars made up 
three-fourths of the indebtedness. Leaning her head 
upon her hands, she pondered sadly over the heavy bill 
and all the pecuniary troubles that harassed her father, 
who, day by day, became more irritable and depressed. 



78 HOMOSELLE. 

She could not help seeing that every day he ate less, 
and drank more, than his accustomed habit ; that his 
clear, frank eyes were clouded, and even the fine chis- 
elling of his features seemed blunted and coarsened. 
While she meditated thus, her father came in. 

"Ah, Ellie ! Is it you? I expected to find Wat- 
son here. Whew I how warm it is ! " he said, as he 
hung up his hat and wiped his brow. "What have 
you there ? Another bill ! " 

" Yes, papa, Blair's bill. It is not quite so heavy as 
last half," she replied as cheerfully as she could. 

" Don't bother : my dear child, a few dollars and 
cents either way will make no difference. We are sure 
to end our days in the poorhouse." 

" O papa ! and I try so hard to be economical. I 
am afiraid I am a very bad manager." 

"Nonsense. You are the best manager in the 
world, but you have never had half a chance. Had 
your ancestors been as thrifty as you are, we shpuld be 
rich to-day. But there is no use in cr3dng over spilt 
milk, and I won't have you firetting over these con- 
founded bills. We'll weather the storm yet, my dar- 
ling," he said, caressing her cheek, and speaking more 
cheerfully than he felt. 

" Dear papa, it is you who have never had half a 
chance, with grandfather's debts to pay, and all your 
other troubles ; and then poor mamma dying so soon. 
I think, if she had lived, every thing would have been 
better." 

"/ certainly should have been better," said Mr. 
Despard moodily. " You are right, Ellie : your moth- 



BIRTH OF A SOUL. 79 

er's death was the greatest calamity that could have 
befallen us. Had she lived, I should not only have 
been better, but you would have been happier, my dar- 
ling. But come, no more tears to-day. I can stand 
any thing better than seeing you unhappy. Run away 
now. I have some letters to write." 

Homoselle pressed her lips to her father's cheek 
with yearning, passionate tenderness. "I am going, ^ 
papa," she said gently. " You always send me away 
now : I used to be a comfort to you." 

" You are always my only comfort, Ellie. But you 
see I am busy to-day : I am expecting Watson every 
moment. By and by I will come and talk to you. 
Go now." 

When Homoselle was gone, her father began pacing 
the floor in his restless fashion. He was in a state of 
anxious expectation. Watson, his man of business, 
had promised to do what he could to raise money to 
pay a note which would fall due at an early day. 
Every thing depended on his success. Amid all his 
pecuniary difficulties that might be staved off for a 
time, this was one that could not wait. 

Mr. Despard took up his hat, and went out of doors 
again. He could not keep still. The sun was beat- 
ing down on the broad gravel-walk that traversed the 
lawn, but he seemed unconscious of its heat. He 
continued walking to and fro, crunching the pebbles 
beneath his feet as though he would make them feel 
the weight that was pressing on his own spirit. 

All nature seemed to be fainting under the heat 
and burden of the day. The turf looked parched and 



80 HOMOSELLE. 

thirsty ; the flowers drooped ; even the river flowed by 
with a soft, lazy plash, as if incapable of greater exer- 
tion. Mr. Despard, who kept his eye on the road by 
which he expected Watson, alone seemed not to care 
for shelter from the searching power of the sun. 

Dash, soon tired of romping, was sleeping in a shady 
comer of the porch, while Skip played with Chloe at 
hide-and-seek in the shadow of the old house. Chloe 
flitted in and out, behind the lilac-bushes, under the 
porticp, and into nooks and crannies, where Skip 
would discover her with shouts of laughter. 

Having at last exhausted the hiding-places on the 
grounds, she slipped unperceived into the office, and, 
leaping over the back of the sofa, squatted down in the 
triangular space its position left across one comer of 
the room. She giggled to herself as Skip's perplexed 
voice reached her from time to time. 

" Where are you, Chloe ? Come, now, this is no fun. 
You must be up a tree, and you know that is against 
the rules. If you don't come down pretty soon I'll 
stop playing." 

Chloe was still hiding behind the sofa when Watson 
rode up, and, having dismounted from his handsome 
brown mare, walked with Mr. Despard to the house. 

"Well, Watson, what luck?" were the latter's first 
words as they entered the office, and closed the door. 

Chloe's titter of delight, at having so successfully 
eluded Skip, was quickly silenced when she found she 
had been caught in a trap of her own setting. She 
felt no qualms of delicacy about eavesdropping : she 
was never the wiser for any business talk she might 



BIRTH OF A SOUL, 8l 

overbear. Crops, stocks, and loans conveyed no 
meaning to her mind. But she was dismayed at the 
prospect of being a prisoner for an indefinite length of 
time. Mr. Watson generally paid long visits to her 
master \ and how could she keep still, for hours it might 
be ? Stretching herself at full length on the floor, she 
settled her head comfortably on her arm for a nap. 
Sleeping, she concluded, was the pleasantest occupa- 
tion under the circumstances : moreover, there was 
nothing she liked better at any time. 

Watson the manager, one of the best of his class, 
was a man whose family had seen better d^ys ; but the 
generations of which had been steadily descending 
the social scale through the gradations of prodigality, 
make-shift, poverty, and want of education, until now its 
latest representative was a needy, unlettered overseer 
of another man's slaves. But the office of overseer 
was in such disrepute that he had assumed the title of 
manager, — an innocent euphemism, which had been 
accorded to him at first as a joke, but which now 
seemed to belong to him as a right. He was a man of 
about fifty, witli a coarse, florid complexion, scrubby, 
ill-shaven beard, tobacco-stained lips, and hard homy 
hands ; but there was a shrewd expression in his light 
blue eyes not untempered with kindliness. 

His dress was a specimen of the want of attention 
to small things characteristic of Virginians. His linen 
was flabby and badly washed, his boots were rusty, and 
• his clothes rough and ill-fitting ; but he had a good, 
sturdy figure, and the boots, worn outside his trousers, 
displayed a well-made leg and a remarkably small foot, 
one last remnant of gentle birth. 



82 HOMOSELLE, 

"What luck?" asked Mr. Despard anxiously ; but, 
even as he spoke, his eye caught the reflection of the 
cheery look in the manager's face. 

" Better, sir, much better than I expected," said 
Watson in a slow, easy way, as he leisurely placed his 
hat and whip on the table, and took his seat by it, 
opposite his employer. " I think I see our way out 
of the difficulty this time with a leetle sacrifice on your 
part." 

" A little sacrifice ! " echoed the other with a sigh 
of relief. " Heaven knows there is no personal sacrifice 
I would not make, however great it might be." 

" I am glad to hear that, sir ; because I was afeard 
you would not altogether like the way of raisin' the 
money." 

Mr. Despard's brow contracted, and the hopeful light 
died but of his eyes. "You mean the negroes?" 

"Yes," answered Watson, with as much decision 
as his drawling voice was capable of expressing, "1 
mean one of the negroes. But" — he hastened to 
forestall the objections he saw in Mr. Despard's face 
— "in the easiest kind of way. I saw Miss Rut- 
ledge's overseer this mornin' ; and he says she has 
taken a liking to one of yo' young women for a lady's 
maid, and is willin* to give a fancy price for her. 
Thar's not a kinder mistress in the worl' than Miss 
Rutledge; and her servants, particularly them about 
the house, has an easy time of it." The manager 
paused for breath. Mr. Despard's brow cleared a 
little ; and Watson continued, " With regard to the 
girl herself, you won't be breakin' up any family in 



BIRTH OF A SOUL. 83 

partin' with her, because she is an orphan, without 
any relations that I know of." 

"Why, Watson," said Mr. Despard with a weary 
smUe, "there is no such girl on the place except Chloe." 

"And Chloe is the very one," replied Watson, 
throwing his head back, and liooking his thumbs in 
the armholes of his vest with the air of a man Vho 
has succeeded in hitting the right nail on the head. 

The blood rushed to Mr. Despard's face, and then 
receding, left it pale and rigid. " Impossible," he said 
shordy. 

" Impossible ! " exclaimed the manager, nettled at 
having cold water thrown on the only feasible plan 
of raising money, of which there was desperate need. 
" Then I am afraid I shall have to wash my hands 
of the business." 

"Watson," said his employer apologetically, "you 
know Chloe is my daughter's maid: they grew up 
together, and nothing would distress Homoselle more 
than to part with the girl." 

" I should be mighty sorry to distress Miss Homo- 
selle, of course," said Watson doggedly; "but she 
would do any thing for you, and this is a very serious 
matter." 

" But, Watson, you do not understand." 

" To tell you the truth, sir, I do not." 

Then Mr. Despard, the blood surging to his fece 
again, leaned across the table, and said, in a low but 
distinct tone, a few words that brought an answering 
flush to Watson's cheek. 

"Ah, I see!" murmured the manager in round- 
eyed amazement. 



84 HOMOSELLE. 

Mr. Despard looked hastily round the room. " Wat- 
son, did you hear something? " 

" No j but there's an awful lot of rats about the old 
place," said Watson, glad to break the awkward pause. 

" True ; " and Mr. Despard sank back into his chair 
again. 

Watson was not a man to wonder long over trifles : 
he soon recovered his self-possession, and returned to 
the charge. 

" You know the girl would be in the neighborhood," 
he said persuasively, "and some day you might be 
able to buy her back." 

" Tut, tut ! " said Mr. Despard, " no chance of get- 
ting any thing back. My fortunes are growing worse 
and worse every day. But it cannot be. I will not 
sell the girl. I mean to give her her freedom as soon 
as she is old enough to profit by it." 

Watson was silent for some time : then he said, " I 
have had another offer for the same girl. P'r'aps 
you'll think of it with more favor. The free negro 
Michael wants to buy her for a wife; and, if she is 
willin* to marry him, I don't think you could do better 
by her. You would be providin* her with a home and 
protector, and securin* her freedom at the same 
time." 

" Why did you not mention this first ? " asked Mr. 
Despard impatiently. 

Watson fidgeted in his chair. "To tell you the 
truth," he said, after much preliminary hesitation, 
" Michael is not able to give as much for the girl as 
Miss Rutledge ; and, viewin* the matter from my 



BIRTH OF A SOUL. 85 

Standpoint, I*d rather be Miss Rutledge's slave all 
my life, than belong to that brute Michael half an 
hour." 

"And is he such a beast?" asked Mr. Despard. 

" Tears so to me ; and then I think he tries to 
make the other negroes discontented. You see, he 
is free, and has quite a sum of money ; and he tells the 
others that they ought to be free and rich too." 

"Yes, yes. I remember, now, I have heard his 
name in connection with that fellow Johnson at Tren- 
holme's." 

"What do you say to Michael's offer?" urged 
Watson. 

" If Chloe wishes to marry him, I will consider the 
plan ; but I will not have her inclination forced. As 
you say, it would be better to sell her to Miss Rut- 
ledge. But I will never sell the girl into slavery. If 
we can get the money in no other way, then my note 
must go to protest," said Mr. Despard, rising. 

Watson rose too : the interview had come to an 
end, and the two men parted, bitterly disappointed. 

Watson mounted his sturdy, ill-groomed mare, and 
rode away, his face aflame with indignation at Mr. 
Despard's squeamishness and pig-headedness. The 
latter buried his hands in his pockets,' and, drawing 
his hat over his eyes, wandered off to the woods. 

When they were both gone, Chloe rose from her 
hiding-place, and looking cautiously round, to see 
that nobody was near, moved the sofa from its posi- 
tion so as to afford egress, and walked slowly into the 
middle of the room. A great change had come over 



86 HOMOSELLE, 

her in the few minutes, since, with naked flying legs, 
she had leaped over the sofa at a single bound. Into 
her childish face, so comely with all physical beauty, 
there seemed to be dawning, and with the pain that 
ever attends birth, the first glimmering of a soul. 
Her eyes shone with a strangely pathetic light as she 
stood by the chair Mr. Despard had just lefl, passing 
her small hand gentiy over the arms where his hands 
had so lately rested. " He wouldn't sell Chloe. He 
wouldn't sell Chloe," she repeated softly to herself; 
and then, hearing voices and footsteps, she started 
like a frightened hare, and ran out of the house. 

Several hours after. Skip found her lying on the 
ground in an old summer-house, her face buried in 
her arms. 

" Get up, Chloe," he cried, shaking her with all his 
small might. When at last she rose reluctantly, and 
he saw her troubled, tear-stained countenance, he 
asked solemnly, "What is the matter, Chloe? Has 
you got religion ? " 

" No, Mars' Skip : I'se been thinkm'." 

"Thinkin' ! Oh, no ! you couldn't have been doin' 
that ; because Homo says I haven't any thinkin' ma- 
chine, and I know I am sensibler than you." 



** BLESS ME, EVEN ME ALSOr 87 



CHAPTER VIL 

"bless me, even me also." 

A FEW days later, Homoselle waylaid Watson on 
his way to her father's office, and carried him 
off to the dining-room for a private conversation. 

" Now, Mr. Watson," she began, as soon as he was 
comfortably seated, and she had given him a glass of 
wine, "I want to know what it is that makes papa 
look so worried and out of sorts. He will not tell me 
for fear of distressing me. But nothing distresses me 
so much as being kept in the dark. I believe I could 
help him if I only knew what it is that troubles him." 

"Well," drawled Watson, who always began with 
" well," whether the subject were good or bad, " you 
see, Miss Homoselle, if yo' pa don't tell you about his 
affars, I am afeard he won't like my doin* of it." 

" But you mus^ do it," said Homoselle impatiently, 
and a little imperiously. 

" Well, if I must, I must, I suppose," he answered 
good-humoredly ; "and it'll not be tellin' any secrets to 
say it's all about money. You know, he is always hard 
up." 

"Is it any worse just now than usual?" asked 
Homoselle anxiously. 

" Well, yes ; because he is obleeged to raise a pretty 



88 HOMOSELLE. 

big sum in a short time, and he don't know whar the 
money is to com6 from." 

" Can't ^<?« suggest something?" 

"Well, you see, I have suggested the only plan I 
know of, and he won't hear of it. So thar it is." 

" I will persuade him to hear of it. Tell me what 
the plan is." 

" Thar, now ! I knowed you would take a sensible 
view of the matter." 

" But you have not told me what it is," said Homp- 
selle, after waiting some time for him to proceed. 

"Well" — 

"Well?" 

" You know the money is wanted mighty bad? " 
Yes, yes ; but your plan for getting it? " 
Well, it is to sell Chloe." 

Homoselle started to her feet, and sat down again, 
her face flushed with anger. 

" Sell Chloe ! " she exclaimed indignantly. " Of 
course papa will not hear of it, Mr. Watson. I should 
as §oon think of his selling me I " 

Watson scratched his head, and looked up at the 
ceiling. 

" Why," continued Homoselle, her eyes filling with 
tears, " when I was a little girl, her mother died j and 
papa brought her into the house, a wee, toddling thing, 
and told me she was to be my maid, and we grew up 
together. She is the most affectionate creature in the 
world, and devoted to me, — peculiarly so of late, as 
though she had some intuition of this dreadful scheme. 
I would rather starve than sell Chloe." 



« 
<( 



** BLESS ME, EVEN ME ALSOr 89 

" I don't doubt, Miss Homoselle, that you are fond 
of the girl ; but I know you are fond of yo* pa too." 

"So I am, so I am," cried Homoselle, burying her 
face in her hands. Presently she looked up; and, 
though her face was pale and troubled, her manner 
had recovered its usual calmness. " How much mon- 
ey is required?" she asked in a grave, determined 
voice. 

" Fifteen hundred dollars." 

" Fifteen hundred dollars ! Is it possible my poor 
little Chloe would sell for so much ? " 

" Well, you see, she is a well-favored, healthy young 
nigger ; and a lady has offered what we call a fancy 
price for her." 

" Fifteen hundred dollars ! How soon will this 
have to be paid?" 

"In three weeks." 

Homoselle was silent for a moment : then she said, 
" Mr. Watson, I have a plan, or rather a wild hope that 
I can get the money. I shall let you know if I suc- 
ceed, in a week, or a fortnight at the farthest. In the 
mean time don't tell papa." 

"Very well. Miss Homoselle," said Watson, rising, 
glad to have the interview over ; for, underneath the 
hard crust with which time and custom had incased 
his soul, his human heart was touched, and the sensa- 
tion was new and uncomfortable. 

Homoselle went at once in search of Chloe : she 
felt as though a great wrong had been done the girl, 
even to suggest selling her, and she wanted to make 
amends. She found her with Skip, who had been con- 



90 HOMOSELLE, 

fined to his bed for two or three days with a cold that 
made him feverish and cross. 

The bed was littered with pictures and broken toy- 
soldiers ; while against the wall stood the frame of a 
kite, partially covered with flaming red paper. The 
little invalid had evidently tried and tired of these 
sources of amusement, and was now lying back among 
the pillows, with flushed face and eager eyes, while 
Chloe exorcised the spirit of restlessness with a story. 

Homoselle entered at the most critical moment. 
Chloe was saying in a deep, sepulchral voice, " And 
the sperrit, all wrapped up in grave-clothes, beckoned 
him on and on, with a long bony finger; and he fol- 
lowed the sperrit until it stood by his mother's grave, 
and then " — 

Just here Homoselle opened the door, and Skip 
gave a little nervous shriek at the unexpected move- 
ment. But the substantial appearance of his cousin in 
the flesh fell very flat upon a mind wrought up by the 
horrors of a ghost-story. 

" Now, Homo," he said firetfully, " Chloe was just 
comin* to the pretty part. I wish you had staid 
away." 

"Why, you are not very hospitable this morning, 
Skip. I have come to see how you are, and if Chloe 
is a good nurse." 

Unconsciously her voice sofl:ened as she mentioned 
Chloe's name, and glanced towards her. 

She was answered by a look so full of mute, humble 
affection, from the girPs dark eyes, that she felt the 
tears rush to her own again, and turned hastily away. 



'* BLESS ME, EVEN ME ALSOr 9 1 

"Skip, no more ghost-stories to-day. You look a 
little feverish ; and, Chloe, remember you must never 
excite a sick person, especially a sick child." 

"Yes, Miss inia." 

"And now wouldn't you both like to have a tea- 
party?" 

" Dat we would," exclaimed Chloe, springing to her 
feet, and clapping heir hands; no sentiment in her 
nature too strong to overcome an ever-ready appetite 
for things good to eat. 

Skip's eyes brightened with languid pleasure. " Can 
we have preserves. Homo?" he asked. 

"Yes, a little preserves and some sponge-cake. 
Chloe can make the tea, and cut the bread and butter ; 
and you can invite all your old soldiers to the party. 
Won't that be nice ? " 

Skip nodded. " But, Homo, old soldiers like toddy 
better than tea." 

Homoselle laughed. "Yes, that is true, but they 
like toddy for dinner : this, you know, is to be high 
tea, as Mr. Halsey would call it. What kind of pre- 
serves do you like best?" 

" Peaches." 

"And you, Chloe?" 

"Blackberries, ma'am." 

"Then come with me, and I will give you the things 
for a grand party." 

Very little had been said or done, and yet Chloe felt 
intuitively something more than ordinarily kind and 
gentle in Homoselle's manner; and the girl's heart 
responded with a feeling of greater devotion than ever, 
if that were possible, to her young mistress. 



92 HOMOSELLE. 

When all the arrangements for the impromptu 
entertainment had been satisfactorily made, Homo- 
selle went to her room to write a letter, the first step 
in her plan for raising fifteen hundred dollars. 

After much deliberation as to what was best to say 
and what to leave unsaid, and many discarded begin- 
nings, she sent the foHowing letter to her aunt, a Mrs. 
Dinwiddie, the only surviving member of her mother's 
family : — 

Dear Auntie, — The day your more than kind letter ar- 
rived, inviting me to join you in a tour through Europe, I had 
no thought but to write and thank you with all my heart, and 
say, dearly as I should like to travel, it would be impossible for 
me to leave home and my father. But something has occurred 
to-day which induces me to beg that you will Extend your kind- 
ness to me in another direction. I know all the objections you 
will urge, dear auntie ; but Europe, Asia, and Africa combined 
could not yield me half the satisfaction, just now, that the 
money required for a tour would do. I am in terrible need of 
a very large sum, and I do not know where to turn for help but 
to you. I do not ask you to give, but to lend it to me. I sup- 
pose I shall have something one of these days, and I will return 
it, principal and interest. I have no idea how much money you 
had purposed to spend on my European trip, which you said 
would extend over a year ; but I hope it was as much as fifteen 
hundred dollars, for that is the sum I want you to lend me. 
With best love for uncle and the boys, 

Your devoted 

HOMOSELLE. 

She took the letter herself to the post-office ; and, as 
it happened to be near the time for the departure of 
the boat, she waited on the wharf until she saw the 
letter-bag safely deposited on the little steamer that 
carried the mails up and down the river. 



"BLESS ME, EVEN ME ALSO,"" 93 

Returning home she met the negro Michael, who 
was loitering in the road as if waiting for some one ; 
but as soon as he saw her he quickened -his pace, and 
passed her with the most servile obeisance, but none 
the less did she breathe more freely when he was quite 
out of sight. He was a creature of such immense 
physical force, and with such an evil countenance, that 
one shuddered to think of what he might be capable. 
Homoselle felt contaminated by the glance of his sul- 
len, blood-shot eyes. 

In the evening she was a httle surprised by her 
father asking her to have tea earlier than u&ual, that he 
had to go out on business, and would probably be gone 
all night. Something in his voice, as he made the 
request, made her look anxiously in his face. 
Is any thing the matter, papa?" 
No, nothing; that is, nothing to alarm you," he 
said, and went away. 

Some time after, when she went into his room to 
carry a small satchel into which she had put his night- 
clothes and some necessary toilet-articles, she found 
him examining a case of pistols. He smiled when he 
discovered her errand. 

" Very thoughtful of you, my child, but I shall not 
need any luggage," he said, putting aside the pistols, 
and kissing her perplexed brow. 

" Why, you said you would be gone all night." 

" So I did, but I shall not go to bed." 

" Now, papa, you know I hate mysteries ; and I shall 
be veiy unhappy imless I know what you are going to 
do." 






94 HOMOSELLE, 

Mr. Despard laughed. " I declare, I am the worst 
henpecked fellow in the country. It is a pretty bad 
case when a man is always obliged to tell where he is 
going, and what he is going to do." 

"So you are going to tell me, after all, there's a 
dear papa." 

"Then if I must, I must. The fact is, there has 
been some disturbance among the negroes in the 
neighborhood, — nothing serious, but the gentlemen 
in this district think it best to patrol the country for 
a night or two in order to let them know we are on 
the alert. Why, you are as pale as death ! You are 
not afraid, my daughter?" 

" Not for myself, papa." 

" Nonsense, EUie ! there is not the least danger. 
You know Jiow timid negroes are. If they see a few 
determined white men going about armed, they will 
slink away like spaniels." 

" Not all. I saw one to-day, a terrible creature, who 
looked as if he would not be afraid of the Evil One 
himself." 

"The Evil One, — is that the polite term for the 
Devil?" returned her father, smiling. "The man you 
saw must have been the free negro Michael : he seems 
to be the bogey of the neighborhood. By the by, he 
and a white man by the name of Johnson are said to 
be the ringleaders of the disturbance." 

" I thought so. As soon as you mentioned the sub- 
ject, my mind reverted to that man. He looked so 
sullen and discontented. I wish he would go and live 
in Africa." 



''BLESS MB, EVEN ME ALSOr 95 

" Don't bother about him, child. Let it be proved 
that he has incited any thing like rebellion, and you 
will never hear of him again." 

Hombselle shuddered. "I wish my lot had been 
cast in a land where there are no negroes," she said 
passionately. 

" Tut, tut ! don't talk nonsense : they are here now, 
through no fault of our own, and we must do the best 
we can with them." 

In the evening, while Mr. Despard was making a 
hearty meal at tea, in order to fortify himself for his 
night's ride, his gray horse Captain stood saddled and 
bridled at the gate. Chloe, coming home from the 
orchard, in the dusk, with her apron full of summer 
apples, seeing the horse, uttered an exclamation of 
dismay, and dropping her apples, even the one she 
was eating, ran into the house with a vague idea of 
trying to prevent her master from going out. 

She had seen Michael that very morning ; and he 
had threatened, in his violent way, that if Mr. Despard 
refused to let him have her for his wife, the gentleman 
would suffer for it, and that his life was not very safe 
under any circumstances. At another time she would 
have paid little heed to his swaggering bluster ; but of 
late she had been conscious, she hardly knew how, of 
a thunderous atmosphere among the negroes that por- 
tended a coming storm. The men had been unusually 
cautious, for negroes ; and the women, if they knew 
their hopes, had been kept in ignorance of their plans. 
Chloe, of course, was too young to be trusted in any 
degree ; but she had seen and heard enough to suspect 



96 HOMOSELLE. 

that something was going on that boded no good to 
the white people, and with rare intuition she feigned 
utter ignorance and unconcern. She went into the 
house now, and, hearing voices in the dining-room, 
stole in softly, her unshod feet making less noise than 
the violent beating of her heart. 

Mr. Despard had just risen from table ; and Homo- 
selle, with his hat and whip in her hand, was trying to 
persuade him to take a light overcoat. 

"This summer night, Ellie? Pooh, child! one 
would think I was going to Siberia." 

"But, papa, it will certainly turn cooler towards 
morning ; and, besides, it may rain." 

" It is very good of you to try and coddle your old 
father, but indeed that overcoat would bore me," said 
Mr. Despard, taking his hat and whip, and kissing 
Homoselle's forehead. 

" Dear father," she said, throwing her arms round 
his neck, and returning his caress on both cheeks. As 
he raised his head from his daughter's embrace with 
a tender, " God bless you," he saw Chloe standing in a 
comer of the room, regarding them with such a yearn- 
ing look that her eyes seemed almost to speak. 

In his heart he heard the piteous cry that of old 
stirred Israel's soul : " Bless me, even me also." 

"Chloe," he said gently, taking up the discarded 
overcoat, and throwing it across her shoulder, "put 
that over my saddle. Perhaps I may want it, after 
all." 

The girPs heart leaped at the kindly voice and ac- 
tion that included her in her master's service, but she 



" BLESS MEy EVEN ME ALSOr gj 

could not find courage to speak the warning she 
wished to give him. She followed him in silence to 
the gate where Captain stood, pawing the ground im- 
patiently; and, having arranged the coat as she was 
bidden, she opened the gate for horse and rider to 
pass through. 

Mr. Despard rode away, not knowing that the breast 
of his overcoat was wet with the tears of his young 
slave, and equally unconscious that she had formed a 
resolution, with a touch of the heroism always possible 
to a woman where her affections are concerned, to 
serve her master even at the sacrifice of herself. 



98 HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RAISING TOE WIND. 

THE patrol of the district continued for several 
nights ; and, no signs of rebellion being found 
among the negroes, the disaffection, if such existed, 
was supposed to have been suppressed by the display 
of so much energy and determination ; and the white 
people, gentle and simple, relapsed into their ordinary 
careless sense of security. 

At the end of a week Homoselle received a letter 
from her aunt, which in some respects made her 
cheeks tingle ; but, as it was satisfactory in the main, 
she swallowed her pride, and accepted both money and 
reproof meekly, for her father's sake. Mr. Despard 
was, undoubtedly, a man who inspired love of a very 
devoted and self-sacrificing character. It had always 
been so. However untoward his fortunes were in 
other respects, he had always possessed the power of 
making himself loved. Many another man would have 
given all he had in exchange for this power. But 
where the secret lay, it was diflScult to discover. He 
was not remarkable, either personally or mentally, and 
he was both reticent and undemonstrative ; and yet a 
look, a smile, a kindly word, from him, would often 
outweigh years of devotion in another. It was an in- 



RAISING THE WIND, 99 

definable charm, like the perfume of a flower or the 
wooing of the wind : no one knew whence it came. 

He himself seemed unconscious or indifferent to it, 
and yet through life he had been remarkable for the 
affection he inspired in both men and women. Homo- 
selle did not show her aunt's letter to her father, and 
he never knew at what sacrifice the money was ob- 
tained. 

Mrs. Dinwiddie wrote as follows : — 

Dear Homoselle, — I cannot disguise that I have been 
very much annoyed by your letter. It has disarranged all my 
plans for doing you a personal benefit, besides depriving me of 
a great deal of anticipated pleasure. For I must confess, that, 
though your enjoyment was my chief object, I had my own grati- 
fication in view too, when I asked you to join us in our contem- 
plated tour. You know, my dear child, I have always wanted 
to be of service to you, not only on your own account, but for 
your mother's sake; but a married woman is never quite a free 
agent, and it is only within the past year or two that my hus- 
band has felt himself in a position to gratify my wishes in this 
respect; and it was his proposition to take you with us to 
Europe. After much thought he concluded that you would 
derive more personal benefit from such a trip than from the 
same amount spent in any other way. But you have decided 
otherwise ; and the sum with which we hoped to give you so ' 
much pleasure, culture, and improvement in every respect, 
will be swallowed up in the expenses of the Dunmore estate, 
— whither your poor mother's littlb patrimony went, — and 
you will be none the betteV for it. . I am sorry, inexpressibly 
sorry ; and your uncle is so provoked that it will be many a long 
day before I can venture to suggest your name to hitn again. 
You must excuse my saying my say so very plainly : you know 
it is a failing of mine. My husband says I have my say, and 
other people have their way; which is true in this instance, for 
he has deposited to your credit at his banker's, Messrs. Worth 



lOO HOMOSELLE. . 

and Wiley, the sum of iifteen hundred dollars. It is a gift, my 
dear child, not a loan ; and I much fear it is all I shall ever be 
able to do for you. I hope, for your sake, you are right in 
supposing that some day you will have something ; but, unless 
there is better management in the future than in the past, I fear 
you will be disappointed. 

Your truly loving aunt, 

Mary H. Dinwiddie. 

Homoselle, being relieved from her pressing anxiety 
by her father's increased cheerfuhiess and the collapse 
of the negro insurrection, resumed her usual tranquillity, 
and felt free once more to enjoy life, and all the happy 
possibilities of youth. 

Halsey came every day, and infused an immense 
amount of energy into the pleasures of the home cir- 
cle. Southerners are apt to enjoy their pleasures in- 
dolently, but Halsey would none of this. He inspired 
even Bertie to become an early riser, and to brush the 
morning dew from the grass by a brisk canter before 
breakfast. She and Homoselle and Skip were his 
daily companions in walking, riding, rowing, fishing, — 
in fact, in all kinds of out-door recreations. Life was 
twice as full of movement and exertion since the 
young Englishman came, and Skip and Homoselle 
enjoyed it in every fibre of their vigorous youth ; and 
Berlie said she liked it, — at any rate, she liked Halsey, 
which amounted to the same thing at the time. 

It was difficult at first for Bertie to understand that 
Halsey really wanted Homoselle and Skip to join them 
in their various excursions by wood and water. She 
thought he merely invited them for politeness, and she 
intimated as much to her niece. 



w * 



RAISING THE WIND, lOI 

" Homoselle," she said one day, half in jest, half 
in earnest, " there is not the slightest necessity for your 
boring yourself by going with us in all our rambles." 

"It does not bore me in the least : I like it," said 
Homoselle with her usual frankness. 

" But then, it does not take two women to entertain 
one man, you know ; and I am perfectly capable of 
entertaining Mr. Halsey by myself," said Bertie, with 
less of jest and more of earnest in her manner. ' 

"Conversation would be very Hmited if it were 
never to include more than two persons," said Homo- 
selle, smiling. " Mr. Halsey has always asked me to 
go ; and I supposed he thought himself capable of 
entertaining two women, aiyl I am sure I have found 
him so." 

" Pshaw ! you may be sure a man never cares about 
talking to more than one woman at a time." 

" I don't see why that should be, unless he is in love 
with the woman. I have often heard Mr. Halsey say 
he preferred general conversation, except in very par- 
ticular cases." 

" Ah, yes ! in very particular cases," said Bertie with 
a great deal of meaning in her voice, and modestly 
casting down her eyes. 

Homoselle laughed. " Well, I will not go with you 
on the water this evening. Skip has asked me to walk 
with him to the mill, to give my opinion about a puppy 
the miller has promised him." 

In the evening when Halsey came, and found only 
Bertie with broad-brimmed hat and parasol waiting for 
him, on the portico, he looked round inquiringly. 
" Why, where is Miss Homoselle ? " 



I02 HOMOSELLE, 

" She is not going on the river this evening." 

Halsey's countenance fell. "Not going? Is she 
not well?" 

" Oh, yes ! But she and Skip are going on some 
expedition in search of puppies." 

" In search of puppies without me ! Why, I know 
more about puppies than anybody in the world. Have 
they gone ? " 

" I don't know. They were here a moment ago." 

"Ah, yes! I see," said HaJsey, who just then 
caught sight of Homoselle going through the garden 
gate, — Skip trotting delightedly by her side with a 
small, cotton-lined basket in his hand, in which he 
intende'd to bring home hj^ new-bom puppy. " Ah ! 
Miss Homoselle," he cried, striding over the grass, 
and arresting them. "Can't we come with you to 
look for puppies?- You know, there is nothing I like 
so much as puppies. It is really too sunny to go 
boating this evening. I'll tell Miss Despard so. I'll 
ten her she will get no end of freckles. You know, 
she does not hke freckles." 

".Yes, Homo, let him go with us," pleaded Skip, 
dropping his cousin's hand, and trying to possess 
himself of Halsey's. Homoselle, remembering the 
conversation of the morning, could not help smiling 
a little demure smile. " I should be very glad to have 
you, of course," she said; "but you must see what 
Bertie says." 

"By all means," said Halsey, striding (no other 
word will describe his long, plunging step) back again 
to the portico and Bertie. 



RAISING THE WIND, IO3 

What he said to her, Homoselle could not hear; 
but it ended in Bertie joining the party to the mill. 

After this there was no more question of the de- 
sirability of Homoselle's company ; but Bertie, whose 
conceit was invincible, decided that it was only Hal- 
sey's European notion of propriety that made a com- 
panion necessary. 

The next evening it happened to rain in torrents, 
but Halsey came as usual ; and, as usual, Bertie cap- 
tured him as soon as he entered the drawing-room, 
and began talking volubly about a new author, Currer 
Bell, who had electrified the novel-reading world by 
the publication of "Jane Eyre " and " Shirley." Hal- 
sey listened, and responded pleasantly ; but his eyes 
would wander off to the window-seat, where Homo- 
selle, who had not read "Jane Eyre," was silently 
making allumettes for her father's pipe. 

At the first breathing-spell in the conversation he 
turned towards her, and said eagerly, but with singular 
inappropriateness, " A fine day, Miss Homoselle." 

Homoselle looked in a bewildered way at the clouds 
and pouring rain before she remembered that " a fine 
day" was the countersign they had agreed upon. 
She laughed merrily, as she replied, " Yes, for ducks 
and geese J^ 

Halsey, who had evidently not thought about the 
weather, colored at his blunder, and, when Bertie 
asked him if he intended his remark for a joke, had 
nothing to say. But he had accomplished his purpose 
of bringing Homoselle into the conversation, and he 
soon recovered his equanimity. He was a clever 



I04 HOMOSELLE. 

young fellow enough, but he was utterly incapable of 
finesse. Any attempt of the kind was like the play- 
fulness of a bull in a china-shop. He belonged to 
that large class of Englishmen, who, when they have 
an objective point in view, a partridge or a Balaklava, 
go at it with a singleness of purpose that makes them 
blind to side issues. Difficulties and obstacles be- 
come invisible, and woe to every thing that comes 
between them and their aim ! 

The clouds passed away: the short-lived summer 
rain ceased, leaving the earth fresh and smiling through 
her veil of tears, while tree and shrub and flower ex- 
haled their sweetest odors. The sun declined in soft- 
ened splendor, filling the air with a golden glory. 

Halsey walked home in the mellow light, swinging 
his cane, and whistling, "The girl I left behind 
me." He had scarcely entered the wood, when, at a 
little distance ahead of him, he saw, seated on the 
trunk of a fallen tree, the slender, graceful figure of a 
woman. A nearer approach made him aware that 
it was Chloe : he had not recognized her at first, her 
long dress, in which he had never seen her, giving her 
a taller and more slender appearance ; and her hair, 
put up in some womanly fashion, unlike her ordinary 
mop of curls, made her look older and more sedate. 
The fact is, her childish, undeveloped nature had re- 
ceived an immense impetus in the last few days. The 
event which called one feeling into play seemed to 
have quickened all the rest. Ever since she had 
overheard Mr. Despard's confidences with his over- 
seer, her dormant faculties had been springing into 



RAISING THE WIND, I05 

life, and maturing with tropical rapidity ; and .what 
had been vague yearnings were now definite hopes 
and desires. Her personal appearance had kept pace 
with her mental development, and in an incredibly 
short time she seemed to have changed from a child 
to a woman. 

Halsey guessed, from her attitude and the expectant 
pose of her head, that she was waiting and watching 
for some one ; and the expression of her eyes as he 
came in view made him feel sure that she was wait- 
ing for him. He was a little annoyed, and yet his 
interest and curiosity were aroused to know what 
she could have to say to him. Ever since the affair 
of the handkerchief, he had been conscious of an 
humble, spaniel-like deference in her manner towards 
him; and often when he was at Dunmore, and she 
was about the house and grounds in attendance upon 
Skip, he would catch her eyes fastened upon him with 
peculiar earnestness. 

She rose as he approached, and stood in the narrow 
woodland pathway ; so he could not choose but know 
that she wished to speak to him. 

" Well, Chloe, do you want any thing with me ? " 
he asked kindly, in answer to her courtesy and her 
" Sarvent, mars'r." 

"Please, mars'r, I'se got a favor to ask you." 

" More scratches to bandage, eh ? " 

" No, mars*r, 'tain't that," she said, with a fleeting 
smile at the remembrance of her wounded arm. 

" Another shilling, perhaps? " 

Chloe's Up quivered. " No : I ain't spent the one 
you gin me yet. It's somethin' mo' importanter." 



I06 HOMOSELLE. 

" Then let us have it, by all means ; but be quick 
about it, for it is getting late," said Halsey, glancing 
towards the west, where the sun hung low in the 
heavens, sending its level rays through the woods that 
glistened with raindrops. 

" Please, sir, I want you to buy me." 

" Buy you ! " exclaimed the sturdy young English- 
man, fairly bouncing with astonishment. " Bless my 
soul ! Buy you ! " 

"Yes, mars'r: I*se got to be sold, and I want you 
to buy me," said the girl, the tears rolling down her 
cheeks, and her voice choked with sobs. 

" Nonsense ! I don^t believe Mr. Despard would 
sell a child hke you," Halsey said with a certain 
roughness, for he felt the tears rush to his own eyes. 
"Go home at once, and tell Miss Homoselle about 
it. She will never allow you to be sold." And he 
tried to move on. 

But Chloe kept her ground. "Ole mars'r don't 
want to sell me, but he's 'bleeged to raise a heap o' 
money." 

"How do you know?" he asked, looking at her 
keenly. 

She was silenced for a moment, but her ready wit 
did not desert her. "I hearn de overseer talkin' 
'bout it." 

" But why do you come to me to buy you? " 

" Cos, tho' I is willin' to be sold to git my marster 
de money, 'tain't everybody I'd like to b'long to. I 
would like to b'long to you,^^ 

" Oh ! I see. You are willing to sacrifice yourself 



RAISING THE WIND, lO/ 

to raise money for your master. But Mr. Despard has 
plenty of other property to dispo'se of, and I can't 
stop to hear his private affairs discussed. Let me 
pass." 

" Please, Mars* Halsey, buy me," pleaded the sob- 
bing girl. " Ef you don't, I'll have to marry Michael. 
He*^ give ole mars'r money for me. I'll be a good 
servant to you, and mind every thing you tell me." 

" But, Chloe, I cannot own a slave : I am an Eng- 
lishman." Then, reflecting that this argument would 
convey no meaning to her mind, "I haven't the 
money to buy you if I would." 

"I won't cost much, mars'r. The overseer say I 
am a likely young nigger, and will pay for myself in a 
little while." 

Halsey winced at this market-valuation of human 
flesh and blood. " Yes ; but in my country I cannot 
own a slave. If I bought you, I should set you free ; 
but I have not the money. I have not much more 
than you have, — victuals and clothes. Moreover, I 
am sure your master will make the best provision for 
you. Go home, and don't talk such nonsense to any 
one else." So saying, he placed his hand on the 
shoulder of the weeping girl, and gently turned her 
face homeward. Then he turned his own steps in the 
opposite direction to resume his walk to Westover, 
and was startled to see immediately in front of him 
the big, brawny figure of Michael, who had approached 
noiselessly over the soft, damp earth. It was impos- 
sible to mistake the expression of jealousy and hate 
on his repulsive black countenance. Halsey in- 



I08 HOMOSELLE, 

stinctively tightened his grasp on his heavy walking- 
stick. Michael saw the movement, and passed on. 
Halsey turned to assure himself that Chloe would not 
be molested, and smiled to see, at quite a distance, the 
flutter of her dress and the flash of her heels. She 
had taken the alann, and was fleeing through the 
woods with the speed of a frightened hare. 



PHIL. 109 



CHAPTER IX. 

1 

PHIL. 

THE summer wore on, and Halsey came and 
went J but no word of love passed his lips to 
either of the Despard girls. 

The young men in the neighborhood, who at first 
had eyed him askance as a presumptuous foreigner, 
and a possible wooer of one of the Despards, began 
to think him a very good fellow, and entirely too 
impartial in his attentions for a lover. 

Mr. Despard liked him cordially, and was grateful 
to him for waking up the old house, and amusing the 
young people ; and, though he was not disposed to 
look very closely into such matters, he did congratu- 
late himself that the young man was discreet enough 
to make his attentions general, including even Skip, 
so that there was no danger of a love-affair. 

One morning towards the end of July, Halsey came 
down to breakfast late. Major Carter, in dressing- 
gown and slippers, having finished his meal, was 
seated in his arm-chair by an open window, reading 
the paper and smoking a pipe. 

The major in his daily life approximated the regu- 
larity of clock-work as nearly as it is possible for a 
human being to do. He eat, read, smoked, wound 



no HO MOSELLE, 

up his watch, and went to bed, at the same time every 
day, winter and summer. 

Living in the house with him so long, Halsey knew 
pretty well how he would find his friend occupied at 
any given hour. So this morning, when he came 
down at nine o'clock, he knew the major would be at 
his pipe and paper. 

" Now, really, this is too bad. I am late again^" 
said the young man, trying to look penitent, but his 
shining morning face showing nothing but freshness 
and good-humor. 

The major only nodded with the odd half-smile 
which was his usual greeting to Halsey. 

The dining-room at Westover was a large, cheerful 
room with a sunny exposure, but full of those incon- 
gruities so often seen in houses where there are no 
women to round off the sharp edges of things, and 
throw illusion over prosaic details. The furniture was 
old-fashioned, delicate, and spindle-legged ; but the 
covering, which had not been renewed for fifty years, 
was worn and faded. The breakfast-table was boun- 
tifully, even luxuriously, supplied; but the waiters 
wore neither stockings nor shoes, and they kept off 
the flies with boughs of trees. Above the high, anti- 
quated mantelpiece, surmounted with heavy silver can- 
dlesticks, and bristling with pipes, hung from a nail 
in the wall a smoke-stained almanac of the current 
year. The walls were covered with a gorgeous paper, 
representing Capt. Cook's voyage round the world, 
a design that gave the largest scope to the artist's 
imagination. Every variety of climate, from the frozen 



PHIL, 1 1 1 

seas of the North to the wild luxuriance of the trop- 
ics, was pictured there ; and every grade of humanity, 
from obsequious Frenchmen dressed in the height 
of some past fashion, making bows in terraced gar- 
dens, to savages in no dress at all, dancing in triumph 
round a dead enemy. The paper had been the 
wonder and dehght of several generations of children ; 
and the major, who was the last representative of his 
race, remembered in his boyhood to have imbibed 
much of his spirit of adventure from his familiarity 
with Capt. Cook. The pictures, highly colored, 
and even grotesque, were very suggestive to the child- 
ish imagination, and prompted innumerable questions 
from an intelligent boy. Major Carter regarded them 
as having formed quite an important part of his 
education. Inquiries led naturally to reading every 
thing he could find about travels ; and from this cen- 
tral point radiated all the other branches of study 
that had delighted his youth. 

Thus, for the sake of old association Capt. Cook's 
adventures remained in the Westover dining-room, 
much the worse for wear, and in some places actually 
hanging in strips from the walls. 

Despite its air of faded aristocracy and glaring 
inconsistencies, it was a cheerful, habitable-looking 
apartment, and quite a paradise to a man who hated 
rooms filled with bric-a-brac that must not be touched, 
and gilt chairs not intended for use. 

An Englishman's meals form no small item in life, 
and he is apt to go through with them with the calm- 
ness and deliberation worthy their importance. Hal- 



1 1 2 HOMOSELLE. 

sey eat his breakfast leisurely ; and, when he had finally 
topped off with a new-laid tgg^ he rose and said brisk- 
ly, quite as though it were a new idea, " If you have 
no commands for me, major, I think I shall walk over 
to Dunmore while it is still cool, and see if the ladies 
would like to drive this morning." 

" By all means, Halsey. I think you have said that 
same thing, or something like it, every morning for the 
last six weeks. What is to be the end of it all? " 

Halsey was quite taken aback by the suddenness of 
the question. 

" End ? " he said, flushing and stammering. "I — 
I don*t quite understand." 

" Has Despard asked your intentions yet?" 

*' Indeed, no. Mr. Despard has the discernment to 
see that I am not in a position to have intentions'. 
He is good enough to treat me quite as an enfant de 
famille,^^ 

"And is it possible you have not made love to 
either of the girls? " 

On my honor, no," said Halsey very gravely. 
Excuse me, my dear fellow," said the major, his 
mind reverting to the time when he was a gallant and 
susceptible young officer ; " but at your age I think I 
should have found it impossible to be constantly in the 
society of two such nice girls, without being spoony on 
one, or both." 

" But at my age there was probably no reason why 
you should not be spoony as much as you pleased." 

" Nonsense, boy. Do you mean to say that a young 
fellow like you falls or does not fall in love, according 
to reason ? " 






PHIL, 1 1 3 

Halsey was silent a moment, then he answered slow- 
ly, " No, I do not ; but I do think a man's reason may 
prevent his trying to win a girPs love when it is impos- 
sible to marry her." 

"It may up to a certain point," said the major 
oracularly, " but I think the only real safety is in keep- 
ing away from the girl. One can never tell when a 
hidden flame will burst forth." 

Halsey laughed uneasily. " My dear major, why 
this caution now?" 

"You may well ask. I should have given it long 
ago. I have just waked up to the fact that you are in 
danger." 

" Never fear, my dear sir : I shall take care of my- 
self." 

"And the girls, is there no danger for them?" 

Halsey's countenance cleared. " Not the least : I 
should as soon think of a butterfly falling in love as 
Miss Despard, and Miss Homoselle Ukes and treats 
me as a brother." 

" All of which is very satisfactory. I see you are 
safe," said the major dryly, and he resumed his paper. 

It would be impossible to say why Major Carter 
spoke in this way at this time. He could not, himself, 
have told whether some outside circumstance sug- 
gested the subject, or whether it was one of those pro- 
phetic intuitions we call presentiments. 

Halsey went to Dunmore as usual, but his spirits 
had been dashed by his conversation with the major. 

He walked through the woods slowly, kicking the 
pebbles from his path, deep in meditation. His 



114 HOMOSELLE, 

friend's words had suggested thoughts that he pur- 
posely kept at bay. " Yes, it is hard," he mused, " that 
the strength of man's youth should be wasted in un- 
availing regret ; but in my case there is no help for it, 
and there is an end of it." 

He quickened his step, and tried to shake himself 
fi-ee of this unaccustomed mood, for he was not a man 
to brood over the inevitable. He had only partially 
succeeded when he arrived at Dunmore, where • he 
found Homoselle on the lawn beneath the shade of 
her favorite elm, reading aloud to Bertie and Skip. 

Her garden-hat was tilted over her eyes, which were 
bent on her book. Skip sprawled beside her, his chin 
supported by his hands while he listened intently. 
Bertie was yawning over her embroidery. Her quick 
eyes were the first to descry the new-comer. She mo- 
tioned him quietly to her side, and he made one of 
Homoselle 's audience some minutes before she was 
aware of it. At the first pause in the reading, Bertie, 
who had put on her glasses and scanned his face, said, 
"Why, Mr. Halsey, you are the knight of the rueful 
countenance to-day. What ails you? '* 

" I hope it is a guilty conscience for having stolen 
on me unawares," said Homoselle, closing her book 
with a snap. 

" Not at all," said Halsey : " I hoped your reading 
would exorcise my evil spirit. I wish you would go 



on." 



" Yes, Homo, do go on," urged Skip. 

"So you confess to an evil spirit? " said Bertie. 

'*•! confess to a fit of the blues." 



PHIL. 115 

« 

" And you wish to be cured ? " 

" NaturaUy." 

" It can't be done until the wind changes." 

"What do you mean?" 

" I mean, we are going to have a storm some time 
to-day. I feel it in the air." 

" And do you think one's spirits rise and fall with 
the barometer?" 

"Mine do." 

" O Bertie 1 " said Homoselle, "your spirits rise and 
fall a dozen times, while the barometer remains quite 
stationary." 

Bertie laughed : • " I believe they do. But for all that 
we are going to have a storm. I always feel creepy in 
advance." 

" I assure you my spirits do not depend upon the 
weather," said Halsey, " but upon people. The major 
made me quite gloomy to-day. But 1 began to revive 
as soon as I entered this charmed circle." 

" You so seldom make pretty speeches, you deserve 
a reward for that," said Bertie, tossing him a fragrant 
rose from her belt. "But I cannot understand the 
major making you gloomy. He is a crusty old bach- 
elor, and often irritates but never depresses me." 

"But you see, he has been reminding me in the 
most ruthless manner of some of my misfortunes. 
Like most men who have reached a certain age with- 
out manying, he thinks a great deal about the holy 
estate, and sometimes twits me with not having a wife ; 
and I get low-spirited over the prospect of never 
having one." 






tt 



Il6 HOMOSELLE. 

"Have you decided on the life of a celibate?" 
Bertie, what is a celibate ? " asked Skip. 
It has been decided for me, I think," said Halsey, 
not heeding the interruption. 

You are profoundly mysterious." 
And yet I am thinking the most prosaic thoughts 
of how in this age one cannot marry on nothing a 
year." 

" But you might furnish the sentiment, and the other 
party the income. Such things have been done," 
laughed Bertie. 

" You mean, I might marry money ? I don't know 
about that : I hardly think I should* bring much in the 
market. No one has bid for me yet." 

" I am glad you did not virtuously declare you 
would not marry a rich girl if you could : I have heard 
so many men say that, and then " — 

"Go and do it?" asked Halsey, filling up the un- 
finished sentence. 

" No, go and try to do it." 

Halsey laughed. The conversation, as usual, had 
taken a personal turn, which Homoselle did not care 
to join in. Sitting on the greensward, she leaned for 
support against the trunk of the elm, idly plucking 
buttercups from the grass. Her hat shaded the upper 
part of her face, and Halsey could only see the rounded 
contour of her chin and the soft curves of her perfect 
lips. They drooped a little at the corners, and he 
fancied she looked pale. 

"Miss Homoselle," he said, his voice softening as 
he spoke to her, " I am going down the river this even- 



PHIL, 1 1 7 

ing to see the haunted church you told me of. Will 
you go with me, and be my guide ? " 

Skip's eyes grew big and round as saucers at the 
word " haunted," and he waited for his cousin's reply 
with breathless interest. 

" I am afraid I cannot go this evening. Bertie says 
we are going to have a storm." 

" Jerusalem ! " cried Skip, viciously kicking the 
ground. " That's just like a girl, to spoil everybody's 
fun. Mr. Horsely might see the miller's boy." 

" And who may he be? " said Halsey, turning quick- 
ly to Skip to hide his disappointment. 

" He's a ghost," answered Skip solemnly. 

" Is it possible you have never heard of the miller's 
boy of Horn's Neck, Mr. Halsey?" asked Bertie. 

" Never." 

" Why, he is our local ghost,- — that is, the principal 
one : we have several, — the * sperrit * of a black boy 
murdered a hundred years ago, and the darkies are 
dreadfully afraid of him." 

" Is the ghost of a black boy white ? " asked Skip. 

" I am sure I don't know ; but, to be quite accurate, 
I think the miller's boy was yellow." 

Halsey laughed : " If he continues to walk, I may 
make his acquaintance this evening. If so I will let 
you know his color, Skip." 

Halsey was disappointed, not so much by Homo- 
selle's refusal, for the reason assigned was sufficiently 
good, but by the want of responsiveness in her voice 
and manner. He had never felt it before, and he 
wondered if she were not well. Her pale cheeks 



1 1 8 HOMOSELLE. 

seemed to indicate that this might be so. It is often 
difficult to distinguish sadness from coldness. Homo- 
selle was sad, she could not herself hare told why. 
While he was thinking what he could say to her to 
make her throw back her hat and let him get a glimpse 
of her eyes, Bertie, who had been sweeping the horizon 
with her glasses, started up, and, clapping her hands, 
cried in a tone of unmistakable delight, " Phil ! " 

All eyes turned in the direction hers had taken, and 
saw coming across the grass a handsome young man, 
whose light step and smiling countenance gave prom- 
ise of a pleasant addition to the party. 

" Homoselle echoed Bertie's delighted " Phil ! " and 
Skip was boisterous in his welcome, shouting " Phil ! " 
at the top of his voice. All three hastened to meet 
the coming man, and Halsey felt like the favorite of 
the hour suddenly deserted by a fickle populace. He 
had often heard of this cousin Phil Roy, who had been 
absent for several months ; and he was obliged to con- 
fess, that, as far as appearances were concerned, cousin 
Phil was a very attractive person. The stranger was 
introduced ; and, as the two men shook hands, it was 
curious to observe the strong contrast they presented. 

Phil was not so tall as Halsey, but much more slen- 
der ; the latter giving one the idea of massive, imper- 
turbable strength, whereas Phil was full of grace and 
activity. The features of Halsey's fresh, ruddy coun- 
tenance were hewn in broad, masculine lines of come- 
liness; while PhiPs were clear-cut and delicately 
chiselled, and his pale olive complexion bore no trace 
of the English roses, white and red, that formed so 



• PHIL. 1 19 

large a part of Halsey's good looks. Halsey looked 
at you with an expression of clear, steadfast serenity, 
while the light in Phil's dark eyes varied with every 
mood and thought. Never were two men more dif- 
ferent ; and yet Bertie, who made a rapid mental in- 
ventory of their merits, decided that each was good 
after his kind. 

Halsey did not remain long after the advent of the 
new-comer. He went away out of sorts with himself, 
and dissatisfied with his visit. 

"Don't go on the river this evening," said Bertie; 
pointing to the sky, as he took his leave : " see, yonder 
is the proverbial little cloud no bigger than a man's 
hand." 

" Reserve the ghosts for another time, when we can 
go with you," said Homoselle, recovering her usual 
cordial manner, and giving him her hand as she bade 
him good-by. 

"Where did you pick up that grenadier of a fel- 
low?" said Phil, as soon as he was out of sight. 

" He is a friend of Major Carter's. What do you 
think of him? " asked Bertie. 

" Conceited." 

" That is what all the men say, but it is not so," said 
Homoselle. 

"Then, why does he throw his head back, and look 
at a fellow as though his eyes were under his chin?" 
asked Phil. 

" He is so absurdly tall, it gives him a little super- 
cilious air; but he doesn't mean it," said Bertie sooth- 
ingly. 



120 HOMOSELLE. 

" Very kind of him, I am sure. How long has he 
been here ? He seems quite domesticated." 

" Nearly two months." 

" Two months ! Humph ! " 

" Isn't he handsome ? " 

" Well, yes, I suppose he is just the style women call 
handson^e, — big and high-colored." 

" Oh ! you don't like him because he * gorgonized 
you with a horrid British stare,* " said Bertie. 

Phil laughed. " Now I know I am at home, and 
that you are Bertie. I haven't heard a quotation 
since I have been gone. No, I did not mind his 
stare, but I don't like foreigners ; and I do mind his 
coming here and falling in love with one of my 



cousins." 



u 



Now you are entirely wrong : he is nothing more 
than kind and friendly," said Homoselle, 

" Pooh ! he sat here ten minutes, and in that time I 
discovered his secret." 

Phil was an expert in love-affairs. 

"Do tell us," said Bertie, lowering her eyes, and 
scrutinizing her gloves. 

" No : it is more interesting to find out such things 
for one's self, and I won't deprive you of the pleas- 
ure. And now, girls, tell me about yourselves. Ber- 
tie, you are the same cousin I left behind me, but I 
find a changed and improved Homoselle. As to Skip, 
the rascal, he has new gaps in his teeth, and his trou- 
sers are growing short." 

Bertie proved a true weather-prophet. The storm 
she had foretold came up about five o'clock in the 



PHIL, 121 

afternoon, with a high wind, and heavy scudding 
clouds. It increased rapidly in violence ; the heavens 
grew, black, the rain poured, and the wind raged so 
violently that men began to shake their heads, and 
talk ominously about the light craft on the river and 
the ships at sea. 

It continued so long, that it had not entirely sub- 
sided when Homoselle went up-stairs to bed. 

She sat in the window-seat for some time, watching 
the black, swollen river, and listening to the soughing 
of the wind as it sobbed itself to rest. At last the 
stars began to tremble out, and the moon to shed her 
soft light like a benediction of peace over the troubled 
waters and the storm-swept earth. Homoselle went 
to her rest with devout thanksgiving that none of those 
she cared for had been on the river that evening. 



122 HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE HAUNTED CHURCH. 

THERE is an element of melancholy interest 
about the ruins of the New World that does not 
attach to those of the Old. The latter connect us 
with the remote past ; and we wonder, while we rejoice, 
that they have so long survived to tell their pathetic 
tale of vanished greatness. But a ruin in America, of 
what was evidently intended by its founders to endure 
for ages, saddens us that it has so soon gone to decay. 

In one of the lower counties of Virginia there 
stands, not far from the river, an old church, dilapi- 
dated and long deserted, but probably more beautiful 
in its decay than it was in its youth. It had been a 
fine church in its day too, — solidly built of English 
brick, with porch and tower and belfry, after the rural 
English pattern. Only the roof and walls remained 
standing now ; and the materials of which they were 
composed were scarcely visible. 

Year by year Nature had been gently covering with 
verdure the breaches made by time and neglect, until 
now the building seemed a part of her own handiwork. 
The ivy, the trumpet-flower, and the beautiful Virginian 
creeper clambered over the rough cruciform walls, 
mantling them with green and russet and crimson, 



THE HAUNTED CHURCH 1 23 

festooning the empty window-spaces, wreathing the 
broken columns, and hanging garlands from gable, 
roof, and tower. 

The voice of prayer and praise, that once filled the 
mouldering arches, had given place to the melancholy 
chant of the bat and the owl ; and the first worship- 
pers were taking their long rest in the adjacent church- 
yard. 

Many a green hillock, and broken, moss-covered 
tablet, was scattered here and there in the shadow of 
the old ruin. God*s house and God's acre had long 
been deserted by men; but his lesser creatures had 
clothed them with beauty, and made them vocal with 
song. 

Many causes had contributed to the disuse of the 
old church; the confiscation of the glebe, the un- 
healthiness of the locality, and the gradual removal 
firom the neighborhood of the class of persons who 
attended its services, being among the chief. 

Travellers and strangers, to whom the ruin was al- 
ways pointed out as one of the most interesting relics 
of colonial times, were never surprised to hear that it 
had also the reputation of being haunted. Sombre, 
desolate, surrounded by neglected graves, it was the 
place, beyond all others, where the superstitious imagi- 
nation might run riot. The negroes had given the 
spot a very bad name. They reported mysterious lights 
and sounds as of nightly occurrence, and even in the 
daytime they would make a detour of miles rather 
than go near it. 

This was the haunted church of which Homoselle 



1 24 HOMOSELLE, 

had spoken to Halsey, and they had long planned an 
expedition to visit it together. 

But the expedition had never taken place ; and Hal- 
sey decided, that, in spite of Bertie's promised storm, 
he would go that evening, and explore the ruins by 
himself. It need not prevent his going again, with 
Homoselle, whenever she was ready. 

The church was several miles distant, a pleasant 
sail for a summer afternoon ; and Halsey wanted to be 
doing something. He felt as if he must work off the 
irritation he was harboring against somebody, he did 
not know whom, — the major, or Phil, or Homoselle, 
or all three. 

He left Westover early in the afternoon, saying he 
was going to see what the ghosts were about, and 
should be back to tea. 

The major, standing on the long portico, looked up 
at the sky. "Do you think," he asked, "that you 
quite understand how to manage ' The Cyrilla ' ? If 
not, should a gust come up, you will be likely to re- 
main among the ghosts." 

" Manage her ! " cried Halsey, who was a University 
man, and thought he knew all about boats, as well as 
about most other things : " I could take her across the 
Atlantic in an equinoctial gale." 

The major shook his head doubtfully. 

The boats, called canoes, used here on the river 
and bay, were very different from any crafl that Halsey 
had been accustomed to handle on the other side of 
the Atlantic. They were long, low, and narrow, usu- 
ally with two masts, and small triangular sails ; lineal 



THE HAUNTED CHURCH. 1 25 

descendants of the old Indian dug-outs, that, manned 
by red men, shot swiftly and silently over the Virginian 
waters when they were still shaded by virgin forests. 

"The Cyrilla" was a small boat, well suited to her 
softly-gliding name. Trim, arrowy, long in proportion 
to her breadth, which was scarcely three feet, with 
clean, daintily-curved lines, she sped through the water 
with incredible swiftness before a steady breeze ; but 
her management required some knowledge and skill in 
shifting, uncertain winds. 

Halsey set out with the wind in his favor, and "The 
Cyrilla " flew on her course like a great white-winged 
butterfly. The air, with a piquant flavor of salt from 
the bay, was so cool and bracing, it soon swept his 
blue devils away. 

The turbid James, shining like molten gold in the 
yellow light of the afternoon sun, rolled on, kissing the 
smiling shore, and bearing its likeness on his broad 
breast. 

Arriving at the church, Halsey was far more im- 
pressed by its melancholy beauty than he had antici- 
pated. He had explored so many ruins in his travels, 
that he hardly expected to find much of interest in 
one that did not count its age by centuries. But he 
experienced new emotions as he looked on this crum- 
bling relic of an English settlement in the New World. 

Here, on this deserted spot. Englishmen — and he 
thrilled to think what men they were that laid the 
foundations of the great Republic — had set up an 
altar which even in its decay testified to their faith 
and hope ; and now Nature was throwing a veil over 



126 HOMOSELLE. 

the ruin, and tenderly hiding its crumbling walls with 
her own freshness and beauty. 

The young man could not fail to be touched by 
these associations. 

Before entering the church he wandered thought- 
fully among the graves, deciphering the old epitaphs, 
most of which recorded good homely English names 
of men and women who were bom in England, but 
who had found their last resting-place on the distant 
shores of America. He took out a pencil and sketch- 
book, and, sitting on a broken tombstone, made a 
rapid sketch of the ivy-mantled tower and some fine 
old trees that grew near its entrance. Finally, with 
uncovered head, he reverently entered the deserted 
temple, and looked around on the scene of desolation 
it presented. The building was a mere shell, which 
had long ago been despoiled of its pews and other 
wood-work, either for fire-wood or from sheer wanton- 
ness. 

But, as Halsey examined the place more closely, it 
seemed to him that the interior was scarcely as wild 
and desolate in appearance as the exterior had led 
him to expect. He thought he discovered traces of 
human life about the old ruin. 

The dank weeds and grass, that grew between the 
flagstones of the flooring, were trodden down as if by 
many feet. At first he suspected that stray cattle or 
sheep found shelter here; but a nearer inspection 
revealed distinct impressions, here and there, of naked 
human feet. Ascending a few stone steps that led to 
the raised portion of the church, where the altar once 



THE HAUNTED CHURCH 12/ 

Stood, a ray of light from the setting sun, shining 
through the open doorway directly opposite, fell on a 
small white object in a crevice between the steps. 
Stooping down to see what it was, he found a tallow- 
candle end. He was at once reminded of the ghosts, 
which he had forgotten until now, and of the mysteri- 
ous lights that were reported to be seen in the church 
at night. 

"Truly," he said to himself, "the ghosts have large 
feet, and use gross materials for illuminating." 

He was absorbed in the train of thought suggested 
by this circumstance, when the fading light reminded 
him that it was growing late. He returned to the boat 
with the intention of going home, but the beauty of the 
afternoon lured him farther down the river. 

" When I wish to go back," he thought, " I shall 
have a fair wind ; and, with a free sheet, my gallant 
little bark will get me home in a twinkling." 

He floated on and on, bathed in a delicious golden 
atmosphere, dreaming of a pair of eyes blue as " sum- 
mer pools," reflecting heaven in their depths, until the 
declining sun reminded him, that, unless he hastened to 
return, the major would sup as companionless that 
night as he had breakfasted in the morning. 

Turning his face homeward, " The Cyrilla," with her 
two wings spread before the breeze, was soon gliding 
swiftly over the water in the direction of Westover. 
She had not proceeded far when Halsey suddenly 
became conscious that she had paused in her flight, 
and the southerly wind had fallen with an abruptness 
that surprised him. It had not languished and gone 



128 HOMOSELLE. 

down gradually, but seemed to expire with a gasp, a 
few light puffs, and then a dead calm. The rays of the 
setting sun fell upon the water with blinding intensity. 
Far up the river, and almost in the shadow of the high 
bluff to the westward, he saw a large schooner, with 
sails close furled, being towed still nearer to the shore 
by a small rowboat, the rowers pulling with an energy 
ill suited to the sultriness of the weather. As Halsey 
watched them he thought, "What impatient fellows 
these Americans are 1 a Httle waiting, and the storm 
would carry them whither they are going." 

Had he been better acquainted with the waters in 
which he sailed, he, too, would have sought the pro- 
tecting lee of the high bluff; nor would he have been 
surprised by the suddenness with which the wind 
dropped, but would have recognized a certain fore- 
runner of one of the violent storms so frequent in this 
semi-tropical climate. As it was, he contented him- 
self with furling his mainsail, and unstepping its mast. 
Then, with the foresail still spread, he waited the ap- 
proach of the storm to waft him on his homeward way. 
Nor had he long to wait. The cloud lifted, the sun 
sank behind its dark curtain, the gold vanished from 
the river, and a solemn stillness fell upon the shore 
where the trees stood black" and motionless in the sul- 
try twilight. 

Then he saw a dark line on the water to the west- 
ward, and the first breath of wind from the cloud 
fanned his brow with its refreshing coolness. The sail 
filled, and the rippling water murmured melodiously 
along the white sides of the gently-moving " Cyrilla." 



THE HAUNTED CHURCH, 1 29 

The next moment a blinding flash of lightning, a crash 
of thunder, and the storm was upon him. In an 
instant " The Cyrilla " was thrown on her beam-ends, 
and the water poured in over her lee gunwale. 

Halsey, releasing his hold upon the helm, instinct- 
ively sprang to the weather-quarter ; and it was fortu- 
nate he did so, for his weight on the upper side in 
some degree counterbalanced the force of the gale, 
and, the helm being free, she quickly luffed herself up 
into the eye of the wind. The next moment the boat 
fell on the other tack ; and again the tempest caught 
her sail, and threw her on her side. 

Halsey now saw that it was a struggle for life. But 
he was not easily discouraged, and it was a struggle he 
would not lightly surrender. 

He seized the helm again, and discovered that by 
keeping the sail close hauled, luffing a little when the 
heavy flaws of wind struck, he could just keep the 
gunwale out of the water. Although thus safe for 
the moment, he fully realized his peril, and felt all the 
impotence of ignorance. He knew, should it become 
necessary to change his course, his want of skill would 
insure disaster. 

While he rated his own powers so low, in the midst 
of his gravest apprehensions, he could not help admir- 
ing the speed and sea-going qualities of "The Cyrilla." 
She fairly flew through the water; and, as flaw after 
flaw struck her, she would settle down to her bearings 
with the grace and dignity of a sloop-of-war. Sailing 
with her sail close hauled, the boat's course was 
directly in the teeth of the storm ; and the rapidity of 



7 



1 30 ffOMOSELLE. 

her motion threw the spray over the bow with sting- 
ing force into Halsey's face. 

Night was fast approaching ; the rain fell in torrents ; 
and, as gust after gust swept over her, " The Cyrilla ** 
buried her side deeper and deeper in the water, and 
then slowly rose all dripping from the waves. The 
mast bent like a reed, and Halsey could feel beneath 
his hand the rudder quiver with the fierce rush of 
water along her keel. One more blast of the tempest, 
and "The Cyrilla" lay with her sail flat upon the 
water. The next moment it disappeared, and Hal- 
sey found himself clinging to the upturned bottom of 
the boat ; and he knew it needed but another move- 
ment of the storm to launch him into eternity. 



PICKED UP. 131 



CHAPTER XL 

HCKED UP. 

MEANWHILE the major at home was a prey to 
the keenest anxiety. 

At tea-time the storm was at its height; and the 
servants waiting at table, by way of improving mat- 
ters, looked uncomfortably solemn, saying "it was 
an awful night, and dey didn't know what was gwine 
'come of Mars' Halsey." 

" Hold your tongues, you black rascals : Mr. Halsey 
knows what he is about," thundered the major ; but 
his heart belied the valor of his words. 

Ten o'clock and bed-time came without bringing 
the young man. 

The major sat up until midnight, and then went to 
his room, miserable and almost hopeless. Morning 
dawned fresh and fair, well washed by the heavy rain 
of the night before. 

Nature seemed to have put on her gala dress. The 
blue, smiling heavens shone without a cloud; the 
river sparkled joyously, dimpling under the soft caress 
of the vagrant breeze ; while grass and leaf and flower 
looked as if they, bad been dipped anew in beautiful 
and vivid colors. ^ 

The major rose from his bed, where he had not 



132 HOMOSELLE. 

slept, and wandered disconsolately about the house. 
His pipe and his paper had no longer any solace 
for him. 

His young friend*s belongings met him at every 
turn. His sketching-apparatus, his guns, his canes 
and fishing-rods, even his boots and slippers, had a 
mute eloquence that intensified the old soldier's grief. 

The rumor soon reached Dunmore, that Halsey had 
gone sailing on the river the evening before, and had 
not returned. 

The news, of course, was received with consterna- 
tion. Mr. Despard went at once to Westover to see 
if it was true, and found the major nearly beside him- 
self with grief. He could not be made to see that 
there was the least ground for hope. 

Bertie ran, wringing her hands, to Homoselle : " Oh ! 
they say Mr. Halsey is drowned. He was out in that 
terrific storm yesterday, in a nasty little boat, and 
nothing has been heard of him since." 

She was so excited, she did not notice that her 
niece seemed stunned by the intelligence. 

Homoselle put her hand to her head in a bewil- 
dered kind of way, while a contraction of pain passed 
over her features. 

" Drowned ! " she gasped, — " drowned ? " . 

" Oh, it is too terrible ! " cried Bertie, burying her 
face in her hands, and sobbing outright. " Such a 
splendid, manly young fellow, and here with us only 
yesterday ! " 

Homoselle sat and looked on like one in a dream : 
she neither moved nor spoke. After a while she got 



PICKED UP, 133 

up, and went about her usual avocations, and Bertie 
did not see her again until luncheon. 

At luncheon she was pale and silent : there were 
dark rings around her eyes, and her brow was still 
contracted, apparently with pain. She eat nothing, 
and assigned a bad headache as the cause. 

Bertie, who always cried out when she was hurt, 
looked at her with astonishment, and decided that she 
was as cold and unimpressionable as marble. Even 
Mr. Despard thought his daughter singularly undemon- 
strative about the uncertainty of Halsey*s fate. 

Bertie could not keep still. She tried her needle, 
then a book, and at last took refuge in that solace 
of a restless woman's heart, a rocking-chair. She sat 
by the drawing-room window, rocking back and forth, 
with her eyes fixed on the walk leading up from the 
river, hoping some one would come who could bring 
her news. Every thing was bright and warm and still 
out of doors. No one was moving about at this hour ; 
though Bertie descried at a distance a solitary, im- 
movable figure on the horseblock, — a figure with 
the head bowed on the knees, round which the arms 
were clasped. As well as Bertie's near-sighted eyes 
could make out, it was Chloe ; and she was touched 
by the attitude of unmistakable grief. The tears 
started to her eyes, as she murmured, "Even the 
servants were fond of him." 

While she gazed sadly out of the front window 
on the pathway by which she had so often watched 
Halsey come up to the house, some one who had 
approached firom the rear entered the drawing-room. 



1 34 HOMOSELLE. 

Looking up, she saw Phil's dark, handsome face smil- 
ing down on her woe-begone countenance, with an 
expression that showed he had no gloomy forebod- 
ings. 

"What on earth is the matter?" he said. "One 
would think you were all mutes at a funeral. Even 
the darkies seem to have put on an extra amount 
of black. Is great Pan dead? " 

" O Phil ! have you not heard? Mr. Halsey " — 

" My prophetic soul ! I thought it must be some- 
thing about that great hulking Englishman. He seems 
to have bounded the horizon of everybody's ideas. 
It is Halsey this, and Halsey that. Figaro ciy Figaro 
lar 

" Come, Phil, this is no joking matter." 

" I should say not. Had I known the fellow was 
coming to Prince George, I should never have gone 
away. I come back, and find myself nobody." 

" Ah ! but he has gone forever, I am afraid. He'll 
not trouble you or anybody else again." 

" If he has gone back to England, you can't expect 
me to be sorry. America, especially the girls, for 
Americans, is my political creed." 

" Now, do be quiet. This is a very serious matter. 
Mr. Halsey was out on the river last night in the 
storm, and nothing has been heard of him since. We 
can but fear that he is lost." 

Phil's smiling face became grave and full of inter- 
est. " This is indeed a serious matter," he said ; 
" but don't be too down-hearted, Bertie, for there are 
many chances for his safety that you have not thought 



PICKED UP, 135 

of. I have been too often in such scrapes myself, not 
to know all about them. The river, you know, is our 
great highway, and vessels of every kind are constantly 
passing and repassing. It is not only possible, but 
very probable, that he has been picked up, and, for 
aught we know, he may now be on his way to Rio ; 
and," he added mischievously, "/should not be sorry 
if we were only sure of it." 

" Phil, you are the same dear, delightful fellow you 
always were, and have given me more comfort in five 
minutes than everybody else put together. But what 
are you going to do ? " 

"Going to the boat-landing to see if I can learn 
any thing; if not, then down the river to look for 
traces of * The Cyrilla.* 

"That's right," cried Bertie. "I want somebody 
to be doing something. It is so terrible to sit here 
and do nothing when one is full of anxiety ! " 

As Phil was leaving the house, Homoselle, who had 
been lying on the sofa in the little room adjoining the 
drawing-room, and heard the conversation, came out 
into the hall. 

" Phil," she said softly, and he was startled to see 
her white face, and the dark lines under her beautiful 
eyes which seemed to emphasize their expression of 
suffering, — " Phil," clasping her hands round one of 
his arms, and raising her lips to his as she used to do 
as a child bidding him good-night, " I did not tell you 
yesterday, because I did not know then, how glad I 
am that you have come back." 

The young man dropped a kiss as soft and light as 



1 36 HOMOSELLE, 

a snowflake on the upturned face, and left the house 
without looking behind him. 

Had Diana stepped down from her pedestal, and 
put up her mouth to be kissed, he could not have been 
more astonished. 

" Thunder ! " he exclaimed. " But it was not 
me she kissed : it was that beefy Englishman. She 
heard me say I was going in search of him. And how 
beautiful she looked ! — her face like a lily, and her 
sad eyes like crushed violets. Is it possible she was 
always beautiful, and I did not perceive it until I saw 
that fellow devouring her. with his great stupid eyes? 
No, something has waked her up. Homoselle has 
grown beautiful with a royal beauty. She looks a 
queen among women." 

• Phil's brain was in a whirl as he walked rapidly 
along the river-bank. Something had waked him up. 

Phil Roy was one of the most fortunate men in the 
world, — young, handsome, rich, sufficiently clever, 
and as little spoiled as possible with these attributes. 
He enjoyed his wealth rationally, but valued his per- 
sonal attractions higher; and it was for these latter 
advantages that he desired to be esteemed by others. 
Every thing that makes life pleasant had hitherto come 
to him so easily that he missed the spur of obstacle 
and difficulty to urge him to any great effort ; and he 
was generally called an indolent man. 

Curiously enough, he felt an immediate antagonism 
for Halsey, not exactly personally, but as an admirer 
of Homoselle. 

Up to this time he had regarded Homoselle simply 



PICKED UJP. 137 

as one of a host of pretty cousins, of whom he was 
very fond ; a nice, good girl, but not especially inter- 
esting. 

Halsey's evident admiration put her in a new light. 
Indeed, she had visibly improved since Phil went away. 
She was quite young enough to expand, like an opening 
flower, every day, in grace and beauty ; and Halsey's 
cordial friendship and appreciation had done much 
to bring her out. 

The attitude of PhiPs mind at present was, that it 
was a pity for so nice a girl, a cousin of his too, to 
become interested in a foreigner, and one not in a 
position to marry; for Bertie had told him, with a 
blush, what Halsey had said about the impossibility 
of marrying on nothing a year. 

Musing thus, he felt quite a glow of self-approba- 
tion : was he not looking after the peace of his cousin 
Homoselle*s heart, and at the same time taking a 
philanthropic interest in the safety of Halsey's body ? 

All this time Skip was taking Halsey's disaster very 
coolly : either he did not fully appreciate his friend's 
danger, or, being one-idead, like most children, was 
too much occupied with his latest hobby to give much 
thought to any thing else. Halsey, though still one of 
his chief favorites, had lost the freshness of novelty ; 
and the boy's absorbing passion now was the puppy he 
had brought home from the miller's. 

It was a Skye terrier of famous breed, and the best 
of the litter, thanks to Halsey's selection. 

The little creature was so young, so round and 
shaggy, when Skip came into possession, it looked like 



V 

f 



138 HOMOSELLE, 

nothing so much as a pair of soft brown eyes shining 
out of a ball of tangled gray silk. 

Its beauty and infantine helplessness brought out 
all the maternal in Skip's heart. He petted it from 
morning until night, and would have fed it every min- 
ute in the day, had the dog, fortunately, not possessed 
more sense than the boy, and refused to eat except 
when he was hungry. 

One day Homoselle actually caught Skip talking 
baby-talk to the fluffy little beast : — 

" Dash trouble you ? Naughty Dash sha*n*t trouble 
de most bufer itty dog in de world." 

Seeing his cousin, he changed his note to some- 
thing quite mannish. " O Homo ! isn't he a beauty ? 
Watson says there's no doubt about his thoroughbred- 
ness. I don't know yet what to call him. Do you 
think Smoke would be a good name? Mr. Halsey 
told the miller he was real smoke-color." . 

" I think," said Homoselle, smiling, and tapping the 
"bufer itty dog" with the tip of her slipper, "he 
requires so much petting and nursing, I should call him 
the Baby." 

Skip scouted the idea; but the name stuck, and, 
like so many names given in derision, became a title 
of honor. 

And where was Halsey all this time? Steaming 
leisurely, after the Southern mode of travel, up the 
river from Norfolk, where he had landed unpremedi- 
tatedly the night before, he could not restrain his 
impatience as he watched the steamboat's laggard 
pace. His thoughts flew on before : how he longed 



PICKED UP. 139 

to assure the major of his safety ; how he wondered 
if Bertie and Homoselle had been troubled by his 
absence ! 

When at last the boat touched at Westover, the 
entire negro population of the place seemed to have 
assembled on the wharf, drawn thither by a desire to 
learn something of his fate. 

Halsey's heart swelled at the sight of their tumult- 
uous joy oh seeing him again. 

" Glory be to de LrOrd ! Hallelujah ! De lost is 
foun*, de dead is 'live agin ! " cried one white-headed 
patriarch. ^ 

" Run, Sam, tell de major Mars* Halsey done come 
home, safe and sounV* cried another to one of the 
major's retrievers. 

Halsey shook hands all round; and the friendly 
grasp of those black, toil-hardened hands brought 
tears to his eyes. 

He found the major pale and feeble, suffering from 
the violent palpitation of the heart that so often af- 
flicted him, and unable to leave his chair. The dry, 
pleasant smile with which he always greeted Halsey, 
curled his gray moustache, and he leaned his head 
back with a long-drawn sigh of satisfaction. 

Halsey, with the consideration of a woman, avoided 
making any demonstration beyond taking a seat near 
his old friend, and quietly recounting his adventures 
since they parted. 

With grave simplicity he related how, when he 
thought his last moment had come, and had steadied 
his nerves to meet the shock, he saw, like twin stars 



I40 HOMOSELLE, 

of hope, the side-lights of a steamer slowly advancing 
towards him through the storm.; how at once Kis resig- 
nation to death gave way to a passionate desire to 
live ; how his wild cry for help actually made itself 
heard above the roar of the tempest, the din of ma- 
chinery, and the rush of waters ; and, finally, how he 
was rescued by the officers of the boat, wliich proved 
to be the steamer making its regular daily trip between 
Richmond and Norfolk. 

"And now, my dear major," he added, "you may 
write me down an ass, a conceited Englishman, or 
any thing abominable you choose, if ever I undertake 
to navigate your waters alone in a storm again." 

The major nodded : " You must go to the Despards 
now, and let them know my bad penny has turned up 
again," he said slowly, and with effort. "Despard 
was liere himself, this morning, to make inquiry about 
you. He said he thought the boat would bring news 
of you, but I did not agree with him." 

Halsey put himself into fresh clothing as quickly as 
possible, and went to Dunmore. He took the path 
through the wood, and so missed Phil, who had gone 
in search of him by the river-bank. 

Chloe was the first to see him ; but she did not dare 
to interrupt his quick, eager walk to the house. He 
passed by without perceiving her ; and she ran to the 
stables, where she embraced Skip, Dash, and the 
Baby. 

Mr. Despard and Bertie were on the portico when 
he reached the house. Bertie with a scream of delight 
caught him by both hands, and welcomed him with an 
April face of smiles and tears. 



PICKED UP, 141 

" If I were not so glad to see you safe, I should 
never forgive you for giving us such a fright. * Me- 
thought what pain it was to drown/ " she said with a 
laugh and a shudder. 

" Halsey, my lad," said Mr. Despard affectionately, 
" it is worth while being slightly shipwrecked, to dis- 
cover one's importance. We have been thrown into 
the greatest consternation and affliction by your 
absence."- 

" Yes," said Bertie, her spirits bubbling up now that 
her anxiety was removed, like champagne on the with- 
drawal of the cork. "Had the bark that held our 
prince gone down, we should never have smiled 
again." 

Halsey could not reply except by giving her little 
hands a squeeze. 

They went into the house, and found Homoselle in 
the drawing-room. 

As soon as she saw Halsey, she rose hastily from 
her seat, with her hands extended, and her lips parted 
with a joyous smile. A vivid line of color flamed 
along her left cheek, which receded as quickly as it 
came, leaving her deathly pale. Withdrawing her 
hands from his gentle clasp, she buried her face in 
them, and burst into tears. 

So nature avenged itself for the stoical self-repres- 
sion with which she had been concealing her anxiety 
all day. 

Halsey felt his own tears well up in response, deep 
calling unto deep; but he could say nothing. Mr. 
Despard was as much surprised by Homoselle's agi- 



142 



HOMOSELLE. 



tation now as he had been by her underoonstrative- 
ness in the morning. Girls were such queer cattle. 
He explained how she had not been well, and sent 
Bertie for the salts. 

Halsey went away. 

In the presence of Death the secrets of all hearts 
are opened. Yesterday, in that presence, Halsey had 
discovered the true meaning of his sentiments towards 
HomoseUe. To-day he exulted in the sweet hope 
that his danger had awakened some tenderness in her 
heart for him. 



THE ROSE-BOWER. I43 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ROSE-BOWER. 

THE foUowing morning Halsey went to Dunmore ; 
and as the hall-door, like that of most Southern 
country-houses, stood ever hospitably open, he en- 
tered without announcing himself, and wandered over 
the lower floor in search of some one. 

Finding nobody, he decided to reconnoitre the 
grounds before summoning a servant. He had no 
better luck out of doors, until he thought of the sta- 
bles, where he found Skip in the yard, having a 
fisticuff with Homoselle^s little dining-room servant 
Tommy, about a watermelon that lay in the grass 
near by, looking tempting enough with its green rind 
and crimson heart glistening with the coolness im- 
parted by a night in the ice-house. Skip was getting 
the worst of the encounter when Halsey made an 
opportune appearance. 

He called off the dogs of war by sending Tommy 
in search of a glove he thought he had dropped on 
the lawn, and engaging Skip in conversation. " Oh, 
Mr. Horsely ! " began the latter, red and panting from 
his tussle, " I was just thrashin' Tommy for bein* so 
greedy. He's just eat up one watermelon, and he 
wanted this other, and I wasn't goin' to let him have 
it." 






.144 HOMOSELLE, 

"And you are quite right. Two wate'rmelons are 
enough to give the brat the cholera, even if he found 
room to stow them away, which seems improbable," 
said Halsey, putting up his eye-glass, and gauging first 
the size of the watermelon, and then that of Tommy's 
retreating figure. 

"Mr. Horsely, please tell me about the haunted 
church," said Skip, forgetting Tommy in a more ab- 
sorbing interest. "Did you see the miller's boy?" 
dropping his voice to a whisper. 

" Not a sign of him." 

"Didn't you see any thing?" 
Yes, I saw something." 

Goody ! " exclaimed Skip, coming nearer, with 
round eyes. " What was it like ? " 

" It was something white." 

"My! What was it?" 

" A bit of tallow." 
Pshaw ! " cried Skip in deep disgust. 
But where is everybody?" asked Halsey. 
Uncle Frank is on the farm somewhere, and 
there's Bertie," replied Skip, nodding towards the 
house, where they could see the flutter of a white 
dress on the back porch. 

" Oh ! " ejaculated Halsey rather vacantly. 

Skip grinned, and looked up in the young man's 
face with a knowing wink, for which the latter could 
have thrashed him. 

" What will you give me if I tell you where every- 
body is?" said the boy, pushing back his ragged straw 
hat, and displaying an eager, commercial expression of 
countenance. 






THE ROSE-BOWER, I4S 

" You want to make a trade ? " 

Skip nodded. 

"My stick?" 

Skip studied Halsey's cane with its pretty carved 
handle for some time, but finally shook his head. 

"What then?" 

"An English shillin* with Vic's head on it." 

Halsey laughed. " Why, you are not such a repub- 
lican, after all. But you will never make your fortune 
at this rate. The stick is worth many shillings," 
he said, taking out his pocket-book, and wincing a 
little under the fire of Skip's laughing eyes, as he held 
up a shilling. " Now, then 1 " 

Skip's eyes gleamed at the sight of the bright new 
coin, but he was in no hurry. 

" Everybody told Chloe she was goin' out ; nowhere 
in particular, but I saw which way everybody went," 
he said coolly. 

"To the woods? " asked Halsey carelessly. 
^ " No." 

"To the dairy?" 

" No." 

"Ah ! well, I will call another day," said Halsey, 
putting the shilling back in his pocket-book, and 
turning to go. 

" You are in a tremendous hurry. Can't you wait a 
minute?^* cried Skip, holding out his hand for the 
money. " Everybody has gone to the summer-house ; 
he, he 1 " . 

Halsey tossed him the shilling, and turned on his 
heel. 



146 HOMOSELLE, 

In an out-of-the-way comer of the Dunmore garden, 
stood an old, tumble-down summer-house, covered 
with sweet climbing-roses. Its one entrance over- 
looked the river, and shut out the rest of the world, 
thus making a pleasant retreat in which to taste the 
sweets of solitude. 

It had formerly been a famous place for wooing and 
winning, and all that sort of thing. Mr. Despard said 
more matches had been made in " the bower of roses," 
as the idiots were apt to caU it, than any place he knew 
of; and there were many middle-aged couples living, 
who never looked at it without a sentimental sigh as 
the spot where, for them, the poetry of life had begun 
and — ended. 

One luckless youth, who met there an adverse fate 
in days so long past that his very name was forgotten, 
had carved above the door, in Italian, the well-known 
words from Dante, " Who enters here leaves hope be- 
hind." 

Bertie, being afraid of slugs, earwigs, and all creep- 
ing things, never entered the summer-house. She 
preferred taking her sentiment comfortably in a draw- 
ing-room, or behind fleet horses ; and since her day 
the bower of roses had fallen into disuse as a trysting- 
place. 

Homoselle, who had not been troubled with suit- 
ors, sometimes took refuge there to escape from Skip 
and the servants, or to avoid unwelcome visitors. She 
was there the morning after Halsey's adventure, gazing 
dreamily at the river, and the ships going out to sea. 
The hght in her eyes and the freshness of her cheeks 



THE ROSE-BOWER, I47 

showed that she had recovered from her headache of 
yesterday. Her broad-brimmed hat was tied gypsy- 
fashion, closely under her chin. Like most Southern 
girls, she dreaded the effect of the Southern sun, and 
the only sign she gave of personal vanity was the 
extreme care she took of her complexion. Indeed, 
the statuesque simplicity of her style greatly depended 
on the evenness of her coloring, and she was very 
careful that its purity should not be marred by sun- 
bum or freckles. Her parasols and veils were the 
source of endless teasing from her father, who de- 
clared that she had broken the knees of a favorite 
horse by riding into a ditch when she was blindfolded 
with half a dozen veils. 

But Homoselle had not thought of her complexion 
to-day. She tied on her hat mechanically, and stole 
away to the summer-house, taking every precaution 
to keep her whereabouts a secret. She wanted to 
be alone, to think, perhaps to pray, — for her finger 
was between the leaves of a book of devotion, — but 
somehow her thoughts would not mount upward. 
Like the smoke from the chimneys, here and there, 
that did not rise buoyantly into the clear upper air 
as usual, but which, from some atmospheric influence, 
fell and hovered over the earth, so her mind was irre- 
sistibly withdrawn from the contemplation of heaven 
to the memory of an honest, handsome face framed 
in nut-brown hair and beard, and illuminated by a 
pair of nut-brown eyes. 

The murder was out : she knew at last that she 
loved this face, and had given her heart away un- 



148 HOMOSELLE. 

asked. Waves of hot blushes swept over her as she 
wondered if her emotions of yesterday had led any 
one to suspect her secret. However that might be, 
she easily resolved to die rather than show any sign 
that would confirm such suspicion, — death, at her 
age, being the simplest way out of a difficulty. Even 
as she thought these things, she heard the crunching 
of the gravel on the walk outside ; and immediately 
her visor came down, and she was clothed in the full 
panoply of maidenly reserve, although she anticipated 
no more serious interruption than an emissary from 
the cook asking what there was for dinner. She had 
only time to slip her book into her pocket, when the 
little window of the summer-house was darkened ; and, 
looking up, she saw the very face she had been think- 
ing of, quietly reposing on a pair of folded arms, and 
the brown eyes shining serenely down on her. 

" So I have found you 1 " said the intruder, his 
voice indicating the search he had made, and the sat- 
isfaction crowning his success. 

" I did not know that I had been lost," said Homo- 
selle with a cool friendliness, that was as sweet and 
distant as the perfume of flowers wafted from the 
other side of the river. 

" What a pretty, tumble-down arbor this is ! " said 
Halsey, coming round to the door, and looking up at 
the decaying lattice-work, interwoven with luxuriant 
vines and showers of fragrant roses. " May I come 
in?" 

" I am afraid it is hardly high enough for you to 
stand upright." 



THE ROSE-BOWER. I49 

" But I do not purpose standing upright ! May I 
not sit down?" 

" Certainly," said Homoselle, gathering up her skirts 
and brushing some dead leaves from the bench, " if 
you are not afraid of cobwebs and spiders." 

"I am much more afraid of these ill-omened 
words," pausing a moment to decipher the blackened 
letters above the door. " Who could have put such a 
sentiment here ? As I came up the walk, I thought 
your summer-house looked like a shrine : but this in- 
scription gives it the air of a tomb ; or, rather, I took 
it for a paradise, and some other fellow seems to have 
found it an Inferno^ And Halsey, not yet perceiving 
Homoselle's cool, grand air, laughed good-humoredly 
at his own conceits. 

"Tradition," she replied, "says the inscription was 
put there by a love-sick youth. Luckily such have 
gone out of fashion." 

"Have they, though?" said Halsey incredulously, 
as he took his seat beside her. "And now may I 
scold you a little ? " 

" Of course : that is one of the privileges of friend- 
ship. But what can you have to scold me about? 
Have I not been exemplary of late? " 

" Yes, until to-day." 

" To-day 1 Is it possible that I have oflfended in 
the last ten minutes ? " 

"No. But I think you broke a promise before I 
came." 

"What do you mean?" she asked, really puzzled 
by his accusation. 



1 50 HOMOSELLE. 

" Long ago, when we made our compact of friend- 
ship, you promised that you would never run away 
from me again." 

" How could I run away from you when I did not 
know you were here?" she asked lightly, with the 
same distant sweetness with which she had received 
him. 

Halsey bit his lip : he was not accustomed to this 
kind of thing. With his usual directness he was 
going straight at an object; and he found his way 
impeded by a barrier, invisible but palpable, like a 
wire fence, that reveals all the temptingness of the 
fruit, while it effectually keeps out the intruder. 

Men are masterful creatures. They delay speaking 
until it suits their pleasure, and then women must 
straightway listen and respond ; and the pity of it is, 
they often do. 

" Did you not know that I would be here to-day? " 

" Of course I hoped you would come as usual, but I 
could not tell at what time. This is rather early, is it 
not?" looking at her watch. 

" You were not well yesterday : did you not suppose 
I would be here the first thing this morning to inquire 
about you ? " 

Homoselle flushed up at this. It reminded her of 
her unlucky tears. 

" Oh ! my headache is quite gone," she answered 
airily. " And you, have you recovered from your mis- 
adventure ? " 

Halsey made a motion of impatience. "Homo- 
selle ! " he cried in a deep, tender voice that stirred 



THE ROSE-BOWER, 151 

her soul with its vibrations, like the first note of a 
great cathedral beU. She turned her head away, that 
he might not read her countenance. It was her first 
unguarded movement, and he was quick to see its 
import. " Homoselle," he repeated softly, " why will 
you not let me speak? I have come on purpose to 
tell you that I love you, and you have made me lose 
several precious moments already." 

His words were almost abrupt, but his kindling eyes 
and unsteady voice were eloquent enough. 

"I am sorry to have wasted your time," she an- 
swered coldly, "but you must not tell me that you 
love me." 

" Not tell you ? But I must tell you. It is the one 
thing I have to say. Every feeling, every hope, that 
I have, is centred in the fact that I love you. Why 
must I not tell you so? " 

He had found his tongue, and spoke with a warmth 
and vehemence that delighted while it frightened her. 
She looked steadily before her, not daring to meet the 
fire in his eyes. 

"You must not tell me because — because, I am 
sure you are — mistaken." 

This was not exactly what she had intended to say, 
but it conveyed her meaning quite as well as a more 
conventional speech. 

Halsey looked puzzled and hurt. " Mistaken ! I 
don't understand. How can I be mistaken about a 
fact that I have been contemplating ever since I knew 
you, indeed, ever since " — 

He was arrested by Homoselle slowly and reprov- 



152 HOMOSELLE. 

ingly shaking her head. " Mr. Halsey, do not say that. 
If it were true, why have you told me so only to-day? " 

He was so unprepared for this question, that for 
a moment he could not find words to reply; and 
Homoselle continued, — 

" I am sure you have mistaken the nature of your 
feelings. You are my good friend, I know ; and you 
have been misled into saying you love me, because — 
because" — her voice faltered, and she broke down. 
How could she finish? How speak of the undis- 
guised weakness that had excited his pity? Her 
dignified Httle speech ended abruptly; and the last 
words, " I cried because I really had a dreadful head- 
ache that made me nervous," were almost inaudible. 

Surprise, amusement, tenderness, mingled in Halsey's 
mind, and showed themselves in his face as he listened. 
He took both her hands in his strong, gentle grasp. 
"Listen, my beloved, while I tell you that you are 
wrong, altogether wrong. There is no mistake about 
the nature of my feelings : the only uncertainty I have 
is about yours. Did you consider me such a coxcomb 
as to suppose you loved me, merely because you 
showed a keen interest in my fate? Why, it would 
have been very strange and unnatural if you had not. 
Have we not been constant companions, friends, com- 
rades even, for months ? Even the darkies shed some 
tears when I got back safe and sound to Westover. I 
assure you, that when for some moments I thought it 
impossible to escape drowning, it added a pang to the 
bitterness of death to think how you and all my friends 
would grieve for what would appear to you as a tragic 
and untimely end." 



THE ROSE-BOWER. 1 53 

"But," said Homoselle, trying, ever so gently, to 
free her hands, while a new light began to tremble 
over her face, like the soft dawn that precedes sun- 
rise, — "but you never told me before — before" — 
She hesitated : the calm, self-contained Homoselle, 
who seemed cast in the heroic mould, fit daughter of 
the gods, trembled like any other girl under the glow 
of her lover's eyes. 

"I know," he said, his voice falling to a tender 
monotone, while he bowed his head to look up into 
the eyes, veiled by downcast lashes ; " but it was not 
because I did not love you before. If need be, I can 
teU you the very day and hour it began. But what I 
want to know now is, will you love me ? And even this 
is not all I have to ask, or I should have spoken long 
ago : will you love me enough to wait until I can offer 
you a home ? And oh ! my love, this is the surest 
test of my devotion, that I dare to ask you to waste, 
for me, a part of your beautiful youth, that might so 
well be full of happiness with another more fortunate 
than myself." He pleaded earnestly, looking up into 
her face where the light was breaking. It was the old 
story, new every day, Pygmalion watching, with rap- 
ture, the marble quicken and glow while the statue 
was transformed into a trembling, blushing woman. 
But, even as he looked, a shadow fell on her counte- 
nance. Homoselle's life had been so busy and anx- 
ious, so prematurely given up to care and responsibility, 
that consideration for others had become the habit of 
her mind. She could not accept happiness without 
pausing to think how it would affect Halsey himself. 



1 54 HOMOSELLE. 

" What is it now, love ? " he asked, feeling the impris- 
oned fingers beginning to flutter again, and seeing the 
grave, troubled look in her eyes, as she raised them 
for a moment, that she might see in his glance the 
love she felt was burning there. 

"Do you think I would impose uppn your youth 
the burden of winning a home for me, even if I loved 
you?" 

" Even if you loved me ! ah ! that is the question. 
Only tell me if you love me, and I will take care of 
the rest. Work is to be my portion in life, at any rate : 
the only difference will be, that, with you to share it, 
life and its work will be dear to me, and, without you, 
a mere aimless existence. Homoselle, do you love 
me?" 

" Would you mind telling me the day and hour you 
began to care for me?" she asked, evading the ques- 
tion, and playing with the ribbons of her hat. 

" Not in the least ; only I don't approve of your 
American fashion of answering a question by asking 
another. Mine by right of priority deserves to be an- 
swered first ; but I will be magnanimous, and tell you 
it began about the time you called me a conceited 
Englishman." 

" Oh, dear ! Did I ever cal/ you that ? " 

" You agree that you thought me one ? " 

" Well, yes, at first ; but I don't remember telling 
any one so. • How could you have heard it? " 

" We are straying from the point." 

"Which is?" 

" Will you love me ? " 






THE ROSE-BOWER. 155 

" I can't say I wiUr 
Why not?" 

Because — I — do^^ — tilting her hat over her shy 
eyes by an impulsive movement of the ribbons. 

"Bless you for that, my own straightforward dar- 
ling ! " cried Halsey, drawing her to him, and gently 
removing the hat from her rose-red face. 

Halsey had been right in forecasting that the arbor 
would be a paradise. Nothing wais wanting. The 
sweet old-fashioned garden spread out before them as 
fair as Eden of old ; the skies were as cloudless, and 
the birds as blithe, as on the day when human love 
was first bom into the world. 

After a silence, which seemed to them the fulness 
of time to which all the currents of the universe had 
been tending from the beginning, Homoselle rose hast- 
ily at the sound of a ricl), pleasant voice calling in 
the distance, " Miss Ulla ! Miss Ulla ! Whar you ? " 

"There is Chloe calling. I am wanted," she said, 
as Halsey drew her back to the seat beside him. 

" Never mind for once ; they must do without you 
to-day," he pleaded. 

"Whatever happens, the world ftiust have its din- 
ner," she said, laughing and blushing, as, yielding to 
his entreaty, she resumed her seat. " But how did you 
come to fancy a girl like me, with such commonplace 
household cares ? My days seem to be all Mondays, — 
wash-days or cooking-days, without a peg of romance 
to hang a sentiment upon." 

" I did not fall in love with your days, sweet and 
dutiful as they seemed to me ; but with you,^^ 



156 HO MOSELLE. 



(( 



That was very discriminating of you," she said 
with a happy sigh ; " for I fancy elegant leisure, grace- 
ful accomplishments, rare old lace, and the rest of it, 
set off a girl so." 

" Yes, when she requires it ; but some girls are like 
lilies, and do not need to be set off." 

"Don't believe it. You have not an idea how I 
should look in satin and rare old lace : I should as- 
tonish you." 

" You shall try some day. But you know an Eng- 
lishman's ideal of woman includes the domestic vir- 
tues quite as "much as pretty clothes and what you 
are pleased to call graceful accomplishments." 

" I hate domestic virtues," she said, withdrawing her 
hand. " I like the poetry of life." 

" You forget that Milton, himself no inconsiderable 
poet, makes Eve a creature who fashions 'dulcet 
creams * for her Adam." 

" Yes ; and don't you remember how Charlotte Bronte 
scathes him for his conception of the character? She 
says, that, instead of painting the mighty mother of the 
human race, he painted his cook." 

" I do remember that she puts some such tall talking 
in Shirley's mouth, but it was all talk. Charlotte Bronte 
is too true an Englishwoman not to appreciate good 
housekeeping. I happen to know a friend of hers who 
says that she and her sisters are the daintiest littie 
housekeepers in the kingdom. It is a mistake to sup- 
pose that genius or poetry excludes the domestic vir- 
tues. Haworth Parsonage is the very home of genius, 
and it is as comfortable and well kept as though its 
distresses were dull, commonplace women." 



THE ROSE-BOWER. 15/ 

" How eloquent you are ! You have not hesitated, 
or once said, ' Now, really,' or ' It*s a fine day ! ' " mim- 
icking his deep voice, and usual stammering speech. 

"I am surprised you have not noticed that I am 
always rather eloquent when you will condescend to 
talk to me. But I am a little slow ; and I have not 
yet said what I wanted, about your graceful accom- 
plishments." 

" Now you are getting intensely interesting. Don't 
keep me in suspense : I am dying to know what are 
my graceful accomplishments; I did not know you 
could discover one with a microscope." 

"Remember, love, we do not study the heavenly 
bodies with a microscope." 

"Oh! I am telescopic, am I?" cried Homoselle 
with a burst of laughter in which Halsey joined 
heartily. 

Their nonsense seemed to give them as much enjoy- 
ment as philosophy could have done. 

"Come, now, I am impatient to learn what my 
graceful accomplishments are. I am inclined to think 
you are trying to invent one or two, for fear I shall be 
mortified at possessing only the homespun qualities." 

"Not at all. You walk" — 

"I walk! That is a good joke. Does not every 
woman who possesses the necessary requirements?" 

" Indeed, no. Most of them get over the ground, 
after a fashion, slouching, wriggling, waddling. But 
you walk, -. — walk like a Basque woman, like Diana, or, 
better still, like the lady whom ^neas met one day 
in the woods, and did not recognize until she moved. 



158 HOMOSELLE, 

Her walk was the crowning grace that proved her to 
be" — 

"Whom?" 

" The goddess of beauty." 

" You take my breath away ! Any thing else ? " 

" Yes : you ride, drive, and row, better than any girl 
I know." 

" You have made a rhyme. I declare, you are get- 
ting poetical." 

" Can I help it with such a theme ? " 

" They are calling me still," said Homoselle, rising 
again, and tying on her hat which had fallen off. 
" Heighho ! It is time to be going : it is always time 
to be going when one most wishes to stay," she sighed 
with charming naivete, 

" Ah ! Homoselle," said Halsey, echoing the deep- 
drawn, delicious sigh, "when you are my wife, you 
shall not be at the beck and call of cook, hostler, and 
scullion, as you are now." 

" I dare say we sha'n't have such tiresome creatures 
in our menage. What employment should we have 
for an hostler, for instance? " 

" One can't tell. A sudden turn of fortune might 
make us proprietors of a pair of high-steppers." 

" Possibly. I hope so. I suppose there is always 
fine stabling attached to castles in Spain." 

"I think it very hard that I can never have an 
hour's unintemipted talk with you. It has always been 
so," said Halsey, much aggrieved. " But it is particu- 
larly hard now, when I am going away so soon." 

Going away?" said Homoselle, her face suddenly 

coming grave. 






THE ROSE-BOWER. 1 59 

" Yes, darling, going away. You know, ' to make his 
crown a pound, her Jamie went to sea ; * and the first 
thing / shall have to do is to return to England and 
go to work. I am in perfect health, my holiday is 
over, and I must begin where I left off." 

" What is your work ? " 

" Law eked out with journalism, sketching, in fact 
any thing that comes to hand. I was not doing badly 
for a young fellow, when my mother's brother, who is 
the only near relative I have, sent me away from Eng- 
land for change of climate. It was not so much that 
there was any thing really the matter with me, as that 
I had a brother who died, at my age, of lung-trouble ; 
and my uncle thought, if I tided over a few years in 
a mild climate, I should escape. I am perfectly well 
now." 

It was difficult to associate ill health with Halsey's 
superb complexion and strong, well-made frame ; but 
the feminine instinct of coddling was well developed 
in Homoselle. 

" If you go back," she said, really alarmed, " you 
may get your brother's complaint. Can't you stay 
here, and eke out law with your pen and pencil? " 

"Now you know you are talking nonsense. You 
are worse than my uncle," said Halsey, laughing at her 
serious face. 

They wended their way slowly back to the house, 
their heads close together under Homoselle's parasol, 
talking very earnestly. They had entered upon a new 
world, the concerns of which stretched out inimita- 
bly before them, and seemed to afford subjects of dis- 
cussion for a lifetime. 



l6o HOMOSELLE, 

" What will your father say when I tell him of this 
Lttle plan of ours?" said Halsey, as they paused for 
a moment at the garden- gate. 

" You must let me tell papa first," said Homoselle 
quickly, blushing to think that for the first time in her 
life she had taken an important step without pausing 
to consider how it would affect her father. " I must 
prepare the way : you know, men require a little man- 
agement." 

" I perceive what I am to look forward to," smiling 
at her frankness : " I shall be the most managed man 
in the world. But do you think your father will be 
very difficult?" 

" I don't know. Papa has always been very indul- 
gent : but, you see, I am his only child, and he may 
find it inconvenient to give me up. No, don't come 
any farther," closing the low gate between them, and 
smiling at him over the bars with her shy, sweet eyes, 
that to-day seemed darker and deeper than ever. " I 
want to go home and think it all over by myself." 

Halsey folded his arms on the gate, and looked after 
her, as she went up the avenue leading to the house. 

He loved to see her walk ; her movements were so 
entirely worthy the dignity of a high-bred woman, the 
result not only of symmetry, but of character. For, 
though "one is apt to forget it, it is nevertheless true, 
that gait and gesture are surer indications of character 
ayd breeding than mere facial expression. Her well- 
poised head, free, light step, and simple dress, follow- 
ing the lines of her beautiful form, satisfied the eye 
with a sense of perfect harmony. 



THE ROSE-BOWER. l6l 

Gazing after her with his heart unreservedly in his 
eyes, unconscious that he was himself being observed, 
his face told a story that he who ran might read. 

Chloe, who had been roaming the grounds in search 
of her young mistress, was standing behind one of the 
jessamine-covered trellises, when Homoselle closed 
the gate between her lover and herself. Hearing the 
click of the latch, she peeped through the vines to see 
who was coming, and discovered Halsey, looking in- 
tently after the flutter of a light summer dress, pictured 
with leafy shadows from the over-arching trees. Glan- 
cing from one to the other, as a grub might watch the 
course of stars far above its reach, poor Cliloe under- 
stood the pretty love-story at once. 

" Dar now ! " she sighed to herself. " Miss Ulla 
done cotched a beau." 

When Homoselle reached the house, she met her 
father in the hall. 

"EUie, darlingi" he said, noticing the subdued 
excitement in her face and manner, "is any thing 
the matter?" 

"Yes, papa," she answered gravely;* "something w 
the matter. I am engaged to be married." 

"The deuce you are 1 " 



1 62 HO MOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A HARD BARGAIN. 

IT cannot be denied that Mr. Despard was surprised 
and distressed at the nature of his daughter's con- 
fidences. He was wholly unprepared for a love-affair ; 
but, now that it had taken place, he was amazed at his 
folly in not foreseeing that it was the most likely of 
all things to occur. He would not hear of an engage- 
ment, however. The most he would consent to, and 
that reluctantly, was, if at the end of a year they were 
of the same mind, aiid Halsey was in a position to 
marry, he would not oppose their wishes. But he did 
not wish the matter spoken of. He had no idea of 
Homoselle appearing to the world trammelled by an 
indefinite engagement. Halsey was very frank about 
his own affairs. In addition to his profession he had 
an income of two hundred pounds, and modest expec- 
tations from a bachelor uncle, a healthy, middle-aged 
man, who had promised, should nothing unforeseen 
occur, to make him his heir. 

Mr. Despard was entirely satisfied with Halsey him- 
self, but his want of fortune was a serious drawback. 
The elder gentleman had been so hampered all his 
life by the want of money, he probably over-estimat- 
ed its importance for his daughter. It was a great 



A HARD BARGAIN, 1 63 

disappointment that her affections were set upon a 
poor man. He had hoped her married life would 
make up in comfort and elegance for the privations 
and drudgery of her girlhood. And now, with a smile 
and a caress, she had dispelled all his illusions for her 
brilliant future, and made an entirely new disposition 
of things. 

Homoselle's romance had reached the inevitable, 
prosaic stage of discussing ways and means. For so- 
, ciety has made such developments and complications 
since the days of Adam and Eve, that many things 
beside the trousseau, not necessary then, have to be 
considered now. 

It was decided that Halsey should return at once to 
England in order to resume his profession, and put his 
affairs in train with a view to taking a wife. 

Meanwhile, another wooing was in progress at Dun- 
more, that did not fare so well as Halsey's. 

Since Homoselle had obtained the money from her 
aunt for her father, all talk of selling Chloe had been 
abandoned ; but Michael had not ceased his attentions 
to the girl. He found her very coy and not at all 
propitious to his suit ; but of late she had somewhat 
changed her tactics. For, whereas she had once 
treated him with undisguised scorn, she now some- 
times tolerated his presence, and even condescended, 
once in a while, to smile on him. She alone, of all 
who came in contact with him, was not afraid of him. 

He was an immense creature, ferociously ugly : and, 
in addition to his naturally repulsive physiognomy, his 
eyes were always blood-shot, the result of heavy drink- 



164 HO MOSELLE 

ing ; and this peculiarity gave him an exceedingly sin- 
ister expression. Besides all this, he was notoriously 
bad-tempered. He was the terror of the women and 
children in his neighborhood : even Skip, a remarka- 
bly fearless lad, quaked in Michael's presence. But 
Chloe laughed at his ugliness to his face ; eluded his 
fierce pursuit by a hundred mischievous wiles ; and, by 
her teasing, lashed his bad temper into fury. He was 
not daunted by these rebuffs, however, but continued 
to press his suit in season and out of season. 

One evening, not long after Halsey*s decimation in 
the summer-house, Michael was paying a visit to the 
negro-quarters at Dunmore. 

The day*s work was over; and the negroes were 
lounging before their doors, enjoying idleness in the 
open air, as only negroes can. 

In front of Cinthy's cabin, which was situated at the 
end of a long row of similar dwellings, and by far the 
tidiest and most attractive of them all, sat Cinthy her- 
self, smoking a pipe. In her yard, under the shade of 
fine old trees. Skip was playing marbles with Tommy 
and several other black boys. 

Since Chloe had shed her childhood, and assumed 
long dresses and pensive womanly airs, he did not 
enjoy her society as much as in the old romping days. 
He sought his amusements now in dogs, horses, and 
boys. But Chloe still mounted guard, following him 
everywhere to keep him out of mischief. She was 
seated, on this occasion, in a swing that hung from the 
sturdy bough of an old oak, listening listlessly to the 
melancholy strains Michael was drawing from a violin. 



A HARD BARGAIN. 1 65 

For, ruffian though he was, Michael had a fine ear and 
taste for music. It was the only influence that ever 
soothed his savage breast. All negroes love music; 
but with him it amounted to a passion, and it was re- 
markable with what precision and feeling he played, 
considering he was wholly untaught. He brought out 
all the old fiddle's pathetic jollity in his gay dance- 
pieces, and all the wailing sweetness of the sadder 
negro melodies. 

The influence of his music was felt all along the 
line of loiterers at the cabin-doors. Hands, feet, and 
heads kept time. Cinthy nodded, Chloe swung gently 
to and fro : even the boys seemed to shoot their mar- 
bles to the tune of " Suwanee River." 

Suddenly, with a flourish, Michael drew his bow 
sharply across the strings, and the performance was 
ended. 

" Dar now, Chloe," he said, resuming a conversation 
that had been interrupted by the musical interlude. 
" You ain't tole me yit what made you run away de 
oder day when I met you in de woods wid dat white 
man." 

'* Cos you is too ugly a nigger to meet in de woods 
arter dark." 

" Ugly or no, you better not let me see you wid him 
agin." 

"What you gwine do to me ef you does?" she 
asked, with provoking contempt. 

" Nothin' to you,^' he replied shortly. 

She looked at him a moment, and seemed to quail 
a little at the menace in his fi:own. 



1 66 HO MOSELLE. 

Changing her defiant tone, she dropped her voice 
to the coaxing sweetness that was as great a gift as 
the beauty of her eyes or the pliant grace of her figure. 

" La, Mike," she said, her words falling like honey 
on the negro's ear, while his whole countenance bright- 
ened and softened, "You ain't got no sense nohow. 
Don't you know what Mais' Halsey was a-talkin' to me 
'bout?" 

" 'Bout yo' pretty flesh an* blood, I dar' say," said 
Michael, scowling again. 

"Me pretty? go' long! I mout be pretty for a 
nigger, but I looks like dirty white 'iongside of Mars' 
Halsey. He's 'fraid of niggers, he is. One day I 
beam' him tell Miss Bertie, when he fust come here, he 
never like to see 'em touch any thing nice, he felt like 
dar color would come off; he, he ! " 

" I reckon he didn't see no color come off on his 
pocket-hankerchy you done up for him white as snow." 

"Who said de hankerchy was his'n?" she asked 
quickly. 

Michael chuckled : " I don't tell every thing I know." 

" Two kin play at dat game ; and I won't tell you 
nothin', nuther," said Chloe, averting her head with 
dignity. 

"Ydu mighty quick on de trigger," he answered 
apologetically, not wishing to scare her from her softer 
mood. " Ef you ask me pretty, like a lady, I'll tell 
you any thing." 

Chloe condescended to smile. " I'se always a lady. 
I'se blooded, I is," she said, tossing her head. 

Being a true Virginian, she thought a good deal 



A HARD BARGAIN. 1 6/ 

about blood : like master, like man. But Michael was 
a free negro, without the aristocratic instinct : more- 
over, he had been a jockey in his youth ; and blooded 
in his mind was connected with horse-flesh, of which 
every Virginian negro, in old times, was a judge. 

Instinctively he glanced at Chloe's ankles, which 
were as slim as those of a thoroughbred filly. 

" I see you is," he said with a loud guffaw : " I*d 
bet on them pasterns any day." 

" Go 'long, Mike Dray. I ain't no horse. What I 
want to know is, who tole you de hankerchy b'long to 
Mars' Halsey?" 

" I tole myself so." 

" Den it's boun' to be a lie : you never tole de truth 
in yo' life." 

" Truth dis time : seein' is believin* j I seen you gin 
him de hankerchy." 

" Did you foller me, you sneak? " she asked with a 
sudden burst of anger. 

" I'se always a-follerin' you, Chloe ; an' I am a-keep- 
in' an eye on ^//«." 

The girl moved uneasily. " La ! 'tain't wuth while 
watchin' him : I'se a-doin* that myself, comin' here 
arter my young mistiss." 

" Yo' young mistiss ? ahi ! is dat de way de cat 
jumps?" 

" Sartain sho' : he was a-sendin' a message to Miss 
Ulla 'bout de fishin'-rods when you seen us in de 
woods." 

Michael's face clouded again with doubt, as with a 
muttered oath he growled, " But he had his han' on 



1 68 HO MOSELLE. 

yo' shoulder when I seen him: was dat a message 
too?" 

" La, Mike, he was jest a-pushin' me to hurry me up 
like : I was creepin* 'long slow as a snail." 

" Cuss him ! I hate him for mo' things dan one. 
He's always a-pokin' his nose in every thing. I wish 
he had got drownded de oder night when de boat up- 
set ; sarve him right for prowlin* round de ole church." 

"De ole church!" echoed Chloe, darting a keen 
look at him. " Do de ole church b'long to you ? " 

" Dat it don't, dat it don't. It b'long to de 
dead," Michael hastened to reply. " But if dat white 
man go dar, he'll go anywhar. Some day he mout 
come pokin' in my watermillion-patch. But what I 
want to know is," he added, abruptly changing the 
subject, "when you gwine marry me?" 

To his surprise, instead of overwhelming him with 
contempt as usual, she answered in her most caressing 
voice — 

" Lem me see, Mike. Is you in a hurry? " 

" Yes, my beauty, dat I is," said the negro, quivering 
with astonishment and delight : " to-day is de best day 
for me." 

" La I you is quick," she replied with a soft little 
laugh : " can't you wait none ? " 

" Not long," he said, slinging his violin, which he 
had put carefully away in a bag, across his shoulder, 
and coming nearer to her. Chloe, who always watched 
his movements narrowly, sprang with the agility of a 
cat to her feet in the swing ; with arms extended as 
she grasped the ropes, she looked down on her ad- 



A HARD BARGAIN, 1 69 

mirer with a mischievous smile. She wore the ordi- 
nary working dress of h'ght-blue cotton, common on 
the plantation, but its scant draperies were as effective 
as a Parisian masterpiece in displaying the slender 
grace of her figure ; her mop of curls was tied up with 
one of Bertie's discarded red ribbons, but it was the 
color of all others to bring out the rich effects of her 
dark skin and hair and softly brilliant eyes. 

By a gentle movement of her body she set the swing 
in motion ; and, swaying slowly back and forth, she 
looked like some bright tropical bird swinging on its 
perch. 

" Can't you wait a yeah, Mike ? " 

" A yeah ! la, Chloe, I'd throw myself in de river 
befo' a yeah was out," he cried, passionately stretching 
out his arms to catch her as she swung towards him. 

"Till Christmas, den?" she asked with a quick 
movement that sent the swing back, and brought it 
forward again with such force that Mike was obliged 
to jump out of the way to avoid being knocked down. 

" Christmas is a long time," he growled, swallowing 
an oath at being obliged to cut this unexpected caper, 
and trying to catch the swing from the side. 

" Don't do dat ; don't do dat : you'll pitch me out ! " 
screamed Chloe, swinging higher and higher toward 
the tree-tops, and laughing at him from up among the 
leaves : " Christmas is de time for big weddin's : I won't 
marry nobody befo' den." 

" Ef you promise me on yo' Bibl' oath to marry me 
Christmas, I'll try to wait patient till den, an' you shell 
have de biggest kind o' weddin'; and, Chloe," he 



I/O HOMOSELLE, 

added, lowering his voice, with a knowing wink, "by 
dat time I 'specs to have a big house for you, an' 
plenty of folks to wait on you." 

" Niggers, you mean ? " said Chloe, slackening her 
flight,, and adopting his confidential tone. 

Michael laughed. 

" Whar you gwine to git a big house, and folks to 
wait on you, Mike Dray? " asked the girl imperatively. 

" Never you mind : de wheel tuns roun' an' roun', 
an' de fly on de top gits to be de fly on de bottom 
arter a while," he chuckled. 

" Mike," said Chloe softly, and with sudden deter- 
mination, " ef you tell me whar yo' big house, an' folks 
to wait on you, gwine come from, I'll marry you 
Christmas." 

"It's a bargain! it's a bargain!" cried Michael, 
clapping his hands, and shouting, as a true negro 
always does under excitement. "Jest wait a little 
while, an' I'll tell you all 'bout it. My ship's comin' 
home soon, an' we's goin' to have a good time, 
Chloe." 

He made a dart at the swing again ; but, as usual, 
she was too quick for him. 

" La ! " she exclaimed when she was at the highest 
point, and could overlook the road that was hid from 
him by trees and hedges. " Dar's Mr. Watson comin* 
down the road, gallin'up, gallin'up, on his brown 



mar'." 



Now, Michael was an abomination in the sight of 
overseers, — the arch-instigator of discontent and re- 
bellion. His very presence on a gentleman's planta- 



A HARD BARGAIN, I /I 

tion was considered a trespass; and many an oath 
and cowhide lash had he received from irate over- 
seers, for which, of course, there was no redress, and 
which could only be avoided by keeping out of the 
way. There was no love lost between Michael and 
this class of persons. They regarded him with sus- 
picion and disUke, but he hated them with a deadly 
hate. 

Hearing that Mr. Watson was coming down the 
road, — which, by the way, was one of Chloe*s facile 
fictions, — he turned to depart with one of his growls 
that were as savage as those of a wild beast. 

When he was fairly out of sight, Chloe fluttered 
down from her perch, and, seizing Skip, bore him 
off to the house to have his face and hands washed 
for the evening meal, which was being proclaimed by 
the cheerful tinkle of a bell. 

Cinthy, sitting before her cabin-door, had seen the 
dumb show, without hearing the words of Chloe's 
conversation with Michael ; and, as the latter walked 
discomfited away, she laughed to herself with the 
deep, husky, all-pervading negro mirth. 

" How often has I tole dat nigger he*d have to git 
up mighty early in de momin* to git ahead o' dat 

4 

yaller imp ! " she said, wiping her eyes with the back 
of her plump black hand. 

Weakness, subjection, inferiority of position, tend, 
as is well known, to develop dissimulation. Chloe, 
who was a woman, a negress, and a slave, proved 
no exception to this rule. Her ingenuity in circum- 
venting people sometimes amounted to genius. 



1/2 HOMOSELLE, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BROTHER GABRIEL. 

HALSEY, whom we left hanging over the garden- 
gate, watching Homoselle as she wended her 
way to the house, the memorable day on which he 
declared his love, returned to Westover in such an 
exalted frame of mind, he seemed to tread on air, 
with his head above the clouds. But a sight of Major 
Carter's kindly satirical face brought him to earth 
again. As he met the quiet glance (in which always 
lurked a shrewd but indulgent smile that seemed to 
say, " I understand, but am not disposed to be hard 
on the follies of the world"), he remembered, with a 
shock, that it was only yesterday the major had pre- 
dicted what took place to-day. But he did not speak 
of it until some days after, when they were alone in 
the evening, with their pipes, on the portico. Under 
cover of darkness and the influence of tobacco, it is 
easier to be confidential than in the garish light of 
day. 

The major had not yet recovered from his recent 
illness; and, though he had resumed his ordinary 
habits, he was perceptibly weaker and more taciturn. 
Not that he seemed depressed; only quiet, and not 
disposed to exertion. 



BROTHER GABRIEL. 1 73 

He sat in his easy-chair, pipe in mouth, his dogs 
at his feet, enjoying the mildness and beauty of the 
evening. The broad, bright face of the harvest-moon 
peeped tlirough the vines, and the air thrilled with the 
mysterious music of throat and wing that makes a 
part of the charm of a summer night. Tl^ough the 
old soldier said nothing, he was quite ready to listen 
and be entertained by his guest. 

Halsey hardly knew how to introduce the subject 
uppermost in his mind. It is difficult to make a 
confession of love abruptly : it seems a thing to be 
reached by gentle approaches. Even Halsey, less 
disposed than any man to beat about the bush, felt 
this. "I say, major," he began after much cogita- 
tion, and some British hemming and hawing, " I say, 
you are a wonderful man." 

The major grunted sympathetically, without remov- 
ing his pipe. 

"A prophet too," continued Halsey with the ris- 
ing inflection, but failing to elicit any expression of 
curiosity from his friend, who only grunted again. 
"Would you not like to know how? " 

"At your convenience," murmured the other 
through his teeth, which still held on to his pipe. 

This was not encouraging. Halsey saw that it was 
necessary to make a bold plunge. 

"I have gone and done it," he said at length 
without more ado. 

Ah 1 I hope it was satisfactory." 
Yes, I think so ; to both of us," — this very mod- 
estly. 






174 HOMOSELLE. 

" Then there were two of you ? " 

" Of course." 

"And the other fellow was pleased, you say?' 

" My dear major, what are you thinking of? " 

" Of what you are telling me, though I don't know 
yet what that is." 

"There was no other fellow in the case," — impa- 
tiently. 

" Then it was a woman ! " exclaimed the major, re- 
moving his pipe now. "How was I to know? So 
you have been making love to Bertie then, as I said." 

"To Bertie? No." 

" To Homoselle ? Well, I am surprised." 

" Now, don't say that. You predicted it, you know. 
To be sure, I said it could not be. But you were 
wiser than I." 

" Oh ! I am not surprised at your love-making, only 
at your being so long about it. But I should have 
thought you would prefer Bertie, she is such a lively 
little creature." 

" And HomoseUe ? " 

" Yes, she is a fine young woman too, with nice feet 
and a beautiful smile ; but she is almost too grandiose 
for me." 

" A beautiful smile ! " cried Halsey with enthusiasm. 
" You have hit it. A beautiful smile and a beautiful 
frown ! The first ten minutes of our acquaintance, she 
smiled and frowned, and then smiled again ; and my 
heart was caught inextricably between the two. You 
should see her eyes flash when she is angry ! " 

" Humph," murmured the major indulgently. " And 
is it a settled thing? " 



BROTHER GABRIEL. 1 7$ 

" Settled as far as she and I are concerned. But 
her father will not consent to our engagement, and 
does not wish it known that we are attached to each 
other. Even your friend Bertie is ignorant of my 
hopes and plans. You are the only person, except Mr. 
Despard, to whom I shall speak of them until I am 
able to return from England to claim my wife ; " and 
Halsey sighed happily over the last word, glad to con- 
template, even at a distance, the prospect of claiming 
his wife, and glad, too, to have made a clean breast of 
it to his friend. 

"Return from England?" said the major irritably. 
"What on earth do you mean by that? " 

The tone jarred on Halsey's tender mood. He 
looked up in surprise : " Why, you know I must return 
at once to England." 

" I don't know any such thing," said the other, rap- 
ping the ashes sharply out of his pipe, and speaking 
with temper. " Going now, when I am ill and want 
you most I Young people are so damned selfish 1 " 

" My dear major ! " said Halsey soothingly. " You 
are rather hard on a fellow. I thought you would be 
the last person to reproach me, considering your hav- 
ing anticipated what has happened." 

" Anticipated, yes. But I never imagined the thing 
would send you off at a tangent to England. I rather 
counted on its keeping you here a while, — at least 
until this illness of mine had ended — one way or 
another." 

" Oh ! " said Halsey cheerfully, " is that it? I had 
no idea of going until you were convalescent. You 
know we have pulled through several attacks before." 



1/6 HOMOSELLE, 

The major refilled his pipe. "I am a selfish old 
curmudgeon," he said, after it was lighted and drawing^ 
comfortably, " and I dare say I was deucedly cross just 
now. But I am not going to apologize, my dear fel- 
low. Age and infirmity have their privileges, and one 
of them is to be cross without let or hinderance." 

" The crosser you are, the better 1 like it. Every 
nurse knows that is a sign of getting well." 

" Humph ! I suppose you are in a great hurry for 
me to get well, so that you can be off as soon as 
possible." 

" I want you to get well as fast as possible on your 
own account. But I confess I am anxious to begin 
gathering the straws for building a little nest for 
myself." 

The major laughed grimly at this way of putting it. 
" A little nest for a huge creature like you ! Why, 
where would you put those absurd legs of yours in a 
nest?" 

" They could dangle outside, I suppose. I should 
not care so long as there was room for my mate to be 
comfortable," — looking up at the moon. 

" Why, Halsey, you talk as though you were a turtie- 
dove. I shall expect to hear you cooing soon." 

" I should not be surprised," — still gazing at the 
moon. 

Another long pause ; and then the major gave as the 
sum of his cogitations, " I wish you would build your 
nest under my eaves." 

"That would be pleasant, but not practicable, 
major." 



BROTHER GABRIEL, 1 7/ 

"Why not? I am longing to abdicate in favor of 
young blood. I should like, of all things, to see a new 
generation growing up around me." 

Halsey's heart swelled at the idea suggested by 
these words. He laughed gayly, but said he was afraid 
it could not be. 

"You do not like America?" said the major 
quickly. 

"Not like it? Don't I? Why, I have been as 
happy as possible here ; and I think the Americans are 
the kindest, most hospitable people in the world." 

" But it would not suit you to live here? " 

" Not in the least." 

The major was inclined to be miffed at the prompt- 
ness and decision of Halsey's reply ; but a moment's 
reflection showed him the injustice of being angry with 
a man for giving a direct answer to a direct question. 
When the irritation had passed, he said gravely, " Can 
you teU me your objections, Halsey? I have a special 
reason for wishing to know." 

" Let me see. In the first place, unless a man has 
the pioneer spirit, which I have not, it would be diffi- 
cult to exchange an old country for a new one. It 
would be like exchanging an old, easy, well-fitting shoe, 
for a new and untried one." The young fellow con- 
gratulated himself on the sagacity of his reply, which 
delicately conveyed his meaning, without a possibility 
of wounding the major's sensibilities. 

But the major was not satisfied. " What are your 
other objections? " he persisted. 

"You set me an ungracious task, my dear sir. I 



1 78 HO MOSELLE. 

have been content to like your country without criti- 
cising it. I have knocked about the world so much, 
that I have acquired the habit of taking things as I find 
them, — of enjoying what is enjoyable, and shutting my 
eyes to what is not. I think that is the best way for 
a traveller. But when a man means to make a home 
for himself, he must decide, not only what country 
suits him best, but the one to which he is best suited. 
Now, England is the best place for me, with the ex- 
ception of its climate." 

" And that is a great deal ; for a man without health 
is no man at all," said the major feelingly. " But you 
have not told me all your difficulties." 

Halsey beat the devil's tattoo impatientiy on the 
arms of his chair. 

" Much as I like America, major, I think it would 
be impossible for an Englishman willingly to exchange 
English life for American." 

" Pshaw I Our English forefathers were glad enough 
to do it." 

" I am not so sure they would have preferred to do 
it, if they could have had their own way in England. 
They were mostly poor men in search of fortune ; or 
adventurers ; or men with an idea, who wanted free 
scope for its development; or men with a religious 
craze, who wanted to persecute and not to be perse- 
cuted ; or pioneers who wanted to found a new empire. 
These, you know, are straws that float on the surface, 
and are easily detached, in every country." 

" By Jove ! " exclaimed the major, " they did not 
prove themselves straws in resisting the mother coun- 
try." 



BROTHER GABRIEL, 1 79 

"That is perfectly true," said Halsey, laughing good- 
naturedly. Seeing the major was getting excited, he 
did not wish to pursue the discussion in that direc- 
tion. " But it is not with the old issues we have to do. 
What I meant to say was, that now, to-day, it would 
be difficult to find a man in our class of life, — unless, 
indeed, he were imbued with the pioneer spirit, — who 
would enjoy the transition from an old, well-established 
order of society, to a new and chaotic one. There 
is a sense of incompleteness and instability in the 
New World that jars on a denizen of the Old. But, 
not to beat about the bush, with me individually it 
would be impossible to live in a country where slavery 
exists." 

" Thunder and Mars 1 I expected as much." 
"As a looker-on," continued Halsey, hurrying to 
bring the disagreeable discussion to a close, "I can 
see and appreciate all your difiiculties without med- 
dling. Were I a citizen, with a citizen's duties and 
privileges, I could not hold my peace ; aad in that 
case how long do you think it would take for me to 
get a coat of tar and feathers? " 
" Not twenty-four hours." 
" Exactly ; and yet you call this a fi:ee country." 
" Confound it, Halsey ! you do not understand. 
You do not see that this thing is an inheritance that 
we have to deal with as best we can; that, like in 
your Irish affairs, all the tangled questions of prop- 
erty are involved in it ; that our entire system of labor 
is dependent upon it ; that it is a thing we cannot 
abolish suddenly without bringing destruction on all 



l8o HOMOSELLE, 

parties ; a thing which must be worked out in tlie slow 
process of time ; and that the end is only delayed by 
outside interference. There ! " 

" I know all that. Since I have been here, I have 
seen how much is to be said on your side. But still 
it would not suit me. And now that I have made my 
confession, my dear sir, let us dismiss the subject." 

" Well, well," said the major wearily, " I shall have 
to let the matter drop here. I am not physically able 
to argue the question. But I have not extorted your 
confession for nothing." 

" By the by," said Halsey, not pausing to consider 
what this might mean, " it is a singular fact, that, in 
return for my sympathy with the negroes, I have man- 
aged to incur the enmity of at least on6 of the race." 

" What in the world makes you think so? " 

" Last week when I went to Dobbin's, I could have 
sworn that the negro they call Michael was dogging 
my steps ; and this week, in the loneliest part of that 
lonely road, I was shot at by some one concealed in 
the woods." 

" Good heavens 1 But it must have been an acci- 
dental shot from some one hunting." 

" I should like to think so, but the circumstances 
of the case make it impossible. When I stopped 
involuntarily to look in the direction from which the 
shots came, I heard and saw, by the movement in 
the undergrowth, that my assailant was running away. 
I am glad he was a negro : a white man would have 
proved a better marksman. Both barrels were dis- 
charged, and both went wide of their aim ; that is. 



BROTHER GABRIEL, l8l 

sufficiently wide not to hit me, but near enough to 
make a fellow very uncomfortable." 

"This is the strangest story," exclaimed the major. 
" A negro with arms ! I must look into the matter." 

" I beg you will not until I am sure of my man. It 
would not do to move on suspicion." 

" But, Halsey, can you imagine how you have made 
an enemy of the beast?" 

It was too dark for the major to see the color that 
shot up into Halsey's cheek at this question. 

" Yes, I think I can : a piece of negro stupidity," 
he answered shortly, without further explanation. 

The major wondered, but did not press the matter. 
His mind still dwelt on the old theme. 

" Halsey," he said presently, " tell me honestly, did 
you ever see a peasantry more well-to-do than our 
negroes ? " 

" Physically, no. Those I have seen are, for the 
most part, a healthy, jolly set. But intellectually and 
morally they have not a chance." 

Bless my life ! they have no intellect." 
How is it, then, that the house-servants are so 
much more intelligent and civilized than the field- 
hands?" 

They are imitative creatures, like monkeys." 
Humph ! " grunted Halsey incredulously. 

" Humph ! " returned the other pugnaciously. 

"There is one class especially to be pitied," began 
Halsey again. " I mean the mulattoes : they are nei- 
ther one thing nor another, — not good enough for the 
whites, too good for the blacks." 






<< 
it 



1 82 HOMOSELLE, 

"That is the fault of human nature, not slavery. 
Unfortunately, there is in every society a nameless, 
intermediate class of persons who are neither one thing 
nor another. The sins of the fathers, you know " — 

" Yes, I know ; but in a free country they are at 
least free, — free to work out a name and position for 
themselves. But here their condition is hopeless. 
For instance, at the Despards' there is a beautiful, in- 
telligent girl, who with education might become almost 
any thing. As it is, she can never rise above the mis- 
erable condition of a slave." 

" Pshaw ! Are there no beautiful, rosy-cheeked 
English girls, who can never rise above the miserable 
condition of an overworked factory-girl ? But we are 
arguing in a circle. My pipe is out, and I am going 
to bed. I am glad, however, to know your views on 
this subject. It is important to me and to you that I 
should." 

The major had occasion, not long after, to remem- 
ber this conversation. 

Halsey went to sleep wondering how it was possible 
that his views on the subject of slavery could be of 
importance to anybody but himself. 

He was roused some hours later by the major, who 
occupied the room adjoining his. The old gentleman 
had wakened with an unaccountable sense of weakness 
and exhaustion, and felt as if a julep would do him 
good. Would Halsey be so kind as to rouse the 
servants, and have one made ? 

" No," said Halsey, getting quickly into his dress- 
ing-suit, " I will do better : I will make one myself. I 



BROTHER GABRIEL, 1 83 

know all about it now ; and I know where the mint 
grows, and where the liquor- case and the ice are. In 
ten minutes you shall have an ' eye-opener.* " 

When Halsey got down-stairs, he found the house- 
door open; which did not surprise him, as it was 
oftener the case than not. He had long ago become 
accustomed to the careless security in which Southern 
planters slept, — as independent of bolts and bars as 
soldiers on the tented field. 

It was a splendid night. The moon at her meridian 
shone almost as bright as day. The homely old-fash- 
ioned garden, with its white walks and prim flower-beds, 
was transformed into a scene of enchantment. Myriads 
of stars sparkled in the heavens above ; myriads of 
dewdrops gemmed the earth beneath. A cool fra- 
grance hung in the air, — the breath of trees and plants 
giving their sweetest ocjprs to the night. Halsey saw 
and felt it all, as he hurried through the flower-garden 
to the kitchen-garden beyond. He had no difliculty 
in finding the mint-bed, the night was so bright ; and 
moreover he was led by the nose, for the smell of the 
mint made itself clearly distinguishable among" the 
sweet herbal odors of the truck-patch. As he stooped 
to gather some sprigs from the luxuriant bed that lay 
in the shelter of the garden fence, he heard a low 
voice quite near him, say, "Is you gwine to the 
buryin' groun' ? " He looked about him in astonish- 
ment ; but, before he could speak, an answer came in 
an equally subdued tone : " Yes, I*se on my way dar 
now ; " and Halsey, who had been startled at first, 
understood that just on the other side of the fence two 



1 84 ffOMOSELLE, 

negroes were conversing as they stole softly along in 
the shadow. 

" Ain't you afeerd ? " asked the first voice. " ' Spos- 
in' de overseer was to ketch us." 

"De overseer done gone to King William to buy 
a par o* horses, and won't be back till tomorrer. You'd 
better come 'long wid me. Mike Dray gwine to speak, 
and Mr. Johnson, and Brudder Gabriel." 

" I don't want to miss Brudder Gabriel" 

Halsey heard no more : he was in a hurry to get 
back to concoct the major's julep. But the words had 
excited his curiosity; and when he had made what 
he considered a masterpiece in the way of an Ameri- 
can mixed drink, and seen the major's eyes first twin- 
kle over it and then close in slumber under its benign 
influence, he thought he would go and hear Brother 
Gabriel too. 

He felt some interest in this man, of whom he had 
often heard but had never seen, — a man spoken of 
by the whites as a religious fanatic and a dangerous 
fellow; by the negroes, as a saint and a prophet. 
Had he been the angel Gabriel, he could not have 
been held in more esteem among his own people. 
Indeed, it was supposed they really believed that there 
was a mysterious connection between the negro Gabriel 
and his angelic namesake. Brother Gabriel was the 
burden of all their hymns, the theme of all their ser- 
mons and pious ejaculations. 

Halsey recognized the necessity of being very cau- 
tious in his movements. A white man's presence at 
this secret meeting in the small hours of the night 



BROTHER GABRIEL. 1 85 

would either break up the conclave, or change its 
character. Fortunately his jacket and trousers were 
of just that dusky gray which is almost invisible at 
night; and he thought, by stealing noiselessly along 
in the shadow of the worm fences, he should be able 
to reach the cemetery unnoticed. 

He had no intention of becoming a spy on their 
proceedings ; but as a student of human nature he felt 
a desire to see and hear the man who had made him- 
self a leader of his people, and whose eloquence had 
power to awaken in their sluggish natures the wildest 
enthusiasm. 

A strange, weird sight met the young Englishman's 
eyes, when, by stealthy approaches, he had reached 
the place of meeting, and secured a position where he 
could see and hear without being seen. 

The negro burial-ground was an acre or two of land 
enclosed in a belt of pines that cast black shadows 
over the lowly graves of generations of slaves. Crowd- 
ed in among the hillocks where their forefathers found 
rest, were hundreds of the slaves of to-day ; and the 
moon shining serenely down threw broad patches of 
light, here and there, on iheir dark, upturned faces. 
They were listening with rapt attention to a white man 
whom Halsey recognized as the Johnson whom the 
major had forbidden to set foot on his plantation. In 
a thin, nasal voice he was telling them how, when a 
child in his far-oft Northern home, he had read and 
wept over their wrongs and sufferings ; how, even at 
that early age, he had resolved to spend his life in try- 
ing to serve them ; how he had sought with his pen 



1 86 HOMOSELLE. 

and his means to improve their condition ; how, being 
poor and a cripple, he was not able to do much ; but, 
to advance their interests one jot, he would gladly lay 
down his life, " and more than this can no man do." 
He did not speak long ; and what he had to say, he 
said rapidly. Time was short, and there was much to 
be done. But he spoke with feeling ; and when he 
said, "More than this can no man do," his voice 
broke with emotion. 

A low, crooning murmur broke from the crowd that 
did not dare to raise its voice in applause. But the 
very suppression of excitement made it more intense. 
A magnetic current seemed to pass through the multi- 
tude, that shivered and trembled like the leaves of the 
forest before a mighty rushing wind. It reached even 
Halsey, hiding outside of the dense throng in a clump 
of bushy pines. 

Michael spoke next ; and his brutal nature showed 
itself in exultation over the triumph of revenge which 
he hoped would shortly crown the black man's efforts. 
Like every people who undertake warfare, there was 
" the beauty and booty " element among these negroes ; 
and to this, Michael appealed. To their credit be it 
said, that, though here and there his exultation found 
echo in the crowd, he utterly failed to move them as 
one man, in the way Johnson had done. 

But the crowning moment was when Gabriel ascend- 
ed a block that served as a rude monument to one of 
the graves. The moonlight falling on him seemed to 
etherealize his face and figure, which were not without 
a certain dignity of their own. He was tall, spare, 



BROTHER GABRIEL. 1 8/ 

broad-shouldered, long-limbed, and his head and face 
outlined against the sky, were massive and well-shaped 
He spoke rapidly and vehemently, with little, or no 
gesture except a nervous clutching of the hands as 
they hung by his side. His language was remarkably 
terse for a negro, and every point told like an electric 
shock. His voice was of a wonderfully pathetic qual 
ity ; and the first words uttered from such a man to 
such a people, — "Freedom ! I am here, my broth- 
ers, to talk to you of freedom ! " — fell like a spark of 
fire in their midst. In a moment the whole assembly 
caught the inspiration ; and there burst like a flame 
from every heart and tongue such a cry of "Freedom 1 " 
as might have waked the dead at their feet. Lucky was 
it that no patrol was scouring the country that night. 
Gabriel himself seemed startled by the outburst. He 
raised his hand quickly with a gesture of command, 
aqd immediately the tumult was stilled. When silence 
was restored, he took up his theme again : " Free- 
dom, my brothers, is a word we mus' keep burnin' like 
a steady light in our hearts, but de time ain*t come yit 
to proclaim it aloud to de worF. Dar is danger in de 
very ar ! But de day is comin', do*, is almos* at han', 
when every man among you will walk a free man, free 
as de birds of heaven, free as de souls of our dead 
now in de presence of de good Marster. Man can't 
buy and sell souls, and de Lord dat makes de sperrit 
free can free de body also. But as you mus' wuk out 
yo' own salvation, so you mus* wuk out yo' liberty too. 
De Lord always stan's ready wid a helpin' han*. In 
de ole times he led his peopile out o* de house o* 



1 88 HOMOSELLE, 

bondage, an' he wiU do it agin. But his people was 
a gainsayin' an' rebellious people, an' had to sarve a 
long time befo' dey was ripe for freedom; an' so it 
will be wid you ef you don't do de thing dat is right. 
De time of slavery is a time of schoolin'. De Lord 
means us to lam now what we couldn't never have 
known if we was free to-day in Africa as our fo'- 
fathers was. We has learned much, my brothers ; but 
we is very ign'ant still, so ign'ant dat we don't know 
yit all dat liberty means. We see through a glass 
darkly. But we know it don't mean laziness nor 
drinkin' an' stealin', nor freedom from de sorrow dat 
comes to every man bom into de worl'. You mus' do 
right, you mus' be brave an' perseverin' ; an' when de 
day of freedom comes, you'll know how to use de 
liberty de Lord is gwine to help you to win. For 
de Lord is on our side. He is always on dS side of 
de po', de miserable, an' de oppressed." 

As in the case of every orator, it was not so much 
in what Gabriel said, as in his way of saying it, that 
the secret of his power lay. For twenty minutes or 
more he held his audience spell-bound ; sobs and 
groans broke from the crowd, and so deeply was Hal- 
sey moved that it was with difficulty he repressed his 
own sobs. In after-life he was often heard to declare 
that no eloquence had ever touched him like Brother 
Gabriel's. The eloquence of the situation may have 
had much to do with the effect of the address. A 
slave speaking to slaves of freedom, the joys of which 
they had never tasted except in hope, as the soul 
with sin and sorrow laden tastes of the joys of heaven, 
was a sermon in itself. 



BROTHER GABRIEL, 1 89 

The homeliness of the negro dialect took nothing 
from the effect of GabriePs words. To Halsey's mind 
it made them all the more pathetic ; and the young 
man was surprised at the elevation of thought dis- 
cernible in every thing the untutored negro said. He 
spoke like a warrior of the daring and self-restraint 
needed to achieve an enslaved people's freedom, and 
like a woman in his exhortation to temper firmness 
with mercy. Halsey wondered where he got his' 
ideas, for they savored of inspiration. He seemed 
to be one of the few Heaven-taught leaders of men 
who have figured in the world's history. 

Before the proceedings of the meeting were over, 
Halsey had heard enough to make him a wiser and a 
graver man. 

" Heaven help me ! " he thought, as he stole away 
unperceived before the crowd dispersed : " I am be- 
tween the upper and the nether millstone. If I speak, 
I shall be a traitor to these poor creatures ; if I hold 
my peace, I shall be worse than a traitor to the 
major." 

He returned to the house with a heavier heart than 
when he came out, and his spirit oppressed with a 
painful sense of responsibility. 



190 HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XV. 

SUNDAY MORNINa 

Two carnages were drawn up in front of the 
Dunmore house on Sunday morning, and several 
saddle-horses were tied to the rack at the gate. The 
breakfast-table was spread in the dining-room.. Dick, 
the head waiter, stood behind his master's chair; 
Tommy, in his Sunday suit, sleepily waved his pea- 
cock-feathers ; the family were breakfasting leisurely 
by detachments, and a genial air of rest and holiday 
shone everywhere. 

Mr. Despard and Skip were still at table ; Homo- 
selle had risen, and was standing, habited in a dark- 
green riding-dress, at the window, admiring a pair of 
beautiful horses, attached to a stylish equipage and 
being held by a groom in livery. • Bertie had not yet 
come down. 

" The plot thickens," said Homoselle, as Phil Roy, 
the owner of the carriage and pair, ran up the front 
steps. "We shall have a grand cavalcade going to 
church this morning. Besides our carriage, there are 
the horses for papa, Skip, and myself, Mr. Halsey is 
coming presently, and now here is Phil in all his 
magnificence." 

" He ! " laughed Skip, " we'll look just like the 
circus I " 



SUNDA Y MORNING. 1 9 1 

"And who'll be the monkey?" asked uncle Des- 
pard, who had recovered his cheerfulness since the 
payment of his note, and the ingathering of an un- 
usually good wheat-crop. 

" My 1 Phil," exclaimed Homoselle to her cousin, 
who had entered and was exchanging pleasant morn- 
ing salutations with her father and Skip : " what a 
stylish turnout, and such horses ! I never saw any 
thing more perfect than all the appointments. Such 
beautiful harness and every thing I We don't often do 
things like that here." 

" Rope harness does just as good," mumbled Skip, 
his mouth full of buttered toast, disposed to resent any 
reflections on the customs of Virginia. 

"I am glad you like my horses," said Phil, not 
noticing the boy, " for I came to drive you to church. 
So you must change your riding-dress at once, or we 
shall be late." 

"Eut,Phil" — 

" Oh ! I will give you fifteen minutes." 

" But you see I am going to ride." 

" Can't you drive this once ? " said Phil, who was not 
accustomed to having himself or his horses slighted. 
" I promise you Jack and Gill shall go like the wind." 

" I should like that, of all things, but I have already 
promised Mr. Halsey to ride with him." 

"Ah ! Mr. Halsey? " said Phil, arching his eyebrows 
with a peculiar smile. " I passed him just now as I drove 
through the wood. He seems to be a fortunate fellow." 

"What do you mean by that?" asked Homoselle 
quickly, and with more eagerness than she intended. 



192 HOMOSELLE, 

"Mean by sa)ring he is a fortunate fellow to be 
going with you to church ! My dear cousin, what 
could I mean but a compliment to yourself ? " 

"Then I beg your pardon. I fancied I detected 
an arriere pensee in your smile that looked a little like 
a sneer." 

Roy laughed. "What an inquisitor you would 
make ! To think of analyzing a fellow's smile like 
that ! But you were quite right to shut down on me 
if you thought I sneered. Nothing is so ill-bred." 

" Now, didn't you give a queer little smile ? " 

" To be quite frank, I suppose I did look disagree- 
able, but chiefly because I was disappointed at not 
having you to drive with me. It is the perversity of 
fate that I should ask you when you have another 
engagement." 

" No, it is the perversity of man that you have never 
asked me until now." 

"Every thing has a beginning," said Roy with 
slightly heightened color. 

Homoselle, who was still looking at the horses, did 
not perceive the change in his manner. She was in 
fine spirits, and went on talking more volubly than 
her wont, out of pure light-heartedness : " Yes, I have 
been grown and in society two years, and you have 
never asked me to drive behind your horses, that 
are the envy of the neighborhood, until to-day when I 
have another engagement. All my opportunities come 
at oncel I must say I should prefer their being 
spread out thin. It is quite a serious matter to lose a 
drive in such an equipage and with such horses." 



SUNDAY MORNING, 1 93 

Phil bit his lip. " Equipage and horses are much 
obliged, and for the future are entirely at your ser- 
vice," he said gravely and with a bow so much more 
ceremonious than the occasion required, Homoselle 
saw that for some inexplicable reason he was hurt. 

" Now, don't look insulted," she said, smiling : "you 
know I can enjoy your society without the horses. 
Are you not coming to dine with us after church? " 

"Not to-day, thank you. By the by, I thought 
your English friend made it a point of etiquette to 
walk to church on Sunday." 

"So he does greatly prefer it. He says it is the 
habit of English country-folk, and he likes his beast to 
kick up his. heels in the pasture on Sunday." 

"A highly humane sentiment. Why does he not 
carry out his principles on this occasion? " 

" That is my fault, I am afraid. He asked me to 
walk with him ; but I told him, crossing a nice English 
field or two, in a cool, damp climate, was very different 
from trudging six miles under our September sun. He 
has not had a touch of James-River chills yet. So, as 
I "would not walk with him, he was obliged for this 
once to ride with me," said Homoselle, looking at her 
watch, and casting a furtive glance down the road. 

" Oh 1 he will be here presently. He was not far 
when I met him ; though, to be sure, he seemed thor- 
oughly absorbed in conversation." 

Homoselle turned, and looked at her cousin; but 
this time she could not detect whether he smiled or 
not. 

"Homo," cried Skip from the table, breaking the 



194 HO MOSELLE. 

pause that followed, ^' I wish you would ask Dick not 
always to give me the leg of the chicken. He gives 
me the worst things every day." 

" Who ought to have the worst things, young man, — 
I, or probably papa? " 

" And just look at this napkin I " continued Skip, 
not noticing the flimsy satire, but holding up a well- 
worn, oft-darned napkin, while he thrust his finger 
through a hole where an embroidered crest once fig- 
ured. " My pa says rags is the family coat-of-arms." 

" Ha, ha ! " laughed Mr. Despard. " Pretty good, 
pretty good, Skip : your pa is right. Nothing could 
be more appropriate for a family so out at the elbows. 
But how ought the device to be represented ? — you 
are up in heraldry, Ellie, — by a ragged-robin, or an 
*old-clo'-man ? " 

"Papa, you ought not to encourage Skip's pert- 
ness. He has shocking manners ; undertakes to be 
chief speaker on all occasions, and gives his father as 
an authority for his most impudent speeches." 

" So much for having a clever papa," laughed Mr. 
Despard. "Skip won't let his father's witticisms die 
for want of airing." 

" He may get his wit, as you call it," said Homo- 
selle severely, "from his father; but his grammar 
seems to come from .Chloe and Tommy." 

" Wit is the chief thing, Ellie : if you have that, 
you can learn grammar; but all the grammar in the 
world won't make ' Jack ' a bright boy." 

Skip, backed up by his uncle, was preparing to put 
in his tongue again, when his aunt Bertie sailed into 



SUNDAY MORNING, 1 95 

the room. Like many small women, she thought to 
make up for want of height by the length of her 
dresses; so, when she entered, laboriously dragging 
a train, the most of her seemed to be wriggling, 
serpentine fashion, along the floor. She often swept 
away cushions and other small articles, besides getting 
entangled in chairs and caught in doors ; but she 
was willing to put up with such inconveniences for the 
sake of additional grace and dignity. 

Phil greeted her at once with an invitation to drive 
with him to church, which she graciously acceded to, 
and then proceeded leisurely to eat her breakfast. 

No room for small boys' conversation now. Bertie 
chattered continuously, but cheerfully, about the heat 
that was killing her, the breakfast that was too sub- 
stantial for her languid appetite, the prospect of a dull 
sermon, and the stupidity of a world in which she 
condescended to live. "Yes, Phil," she rattled on, 
" you certainly have given a fillip, — excuse the pun : 
they say it is impolite to pun on a person's name, 
but it slipped out, — • a fillip to my intention of going 
to church. To think of driving six miles in such 
weather ! My heart failed me until I saw Jack and 
Gill's slim, thoroughbred legs glancing down the 
avenue. I knew you had come to take me to my 
Sunday devotions." 

Here Skip made a grimace, and was about to en- 
lighten his aunt as to Phil's original intention, but 
that gentleman checked him with a glare. " But I 
assure you," continued Miss Despard, "the warmth 
of my prayers is in inverse proportion to the warmth 
of the sun " — 



196 HOMOSELLE, 

"Stop growling about the weather, Bertie. No 
better weather anywhere in the world," interrupted 
Mr.Despard cheerfully. 

" Then the sermon we are going to have. If Mr. 
Berkeley would only let us off with the service ! " 

" Now, don't say any thing against Mr. Berkeley/* 
said Phil. " I don't often affect parsons ; but I have 
a warm place in my heart for this one, and the young 
fellow has a history in his face." 

" Yes," said Bertie, " but a history you will never 
learn from his lips. I never saw such a man. He 
never alludes in the most distant manner to himself or 
his belongings. He is as impersonal as the pronoun 
It. But he has an interesting face ; and that is some- 
thing in this humdrum world, where most people are 
not interesting at all." 

" It is very hard on you, Bertie, to have to put up 
with such a world," said Mr. Despard, rising, and 
Ughting his cigar. 

" It is very hard on me to be expected to eat beef- 
steak or chicken five days in the week. HomoseUe 
never seems to consider my delicate appetite, which 
really requires pampering to be of any use at all." 

In truth, though a valiant talker, Bertie was not 
much of an eater. Far more came out of her mouth 
than went in, and her breakfast did not consume 
much time. It was not long before she was ready to 
tuck herself and train in Phil's luxurious carriage, and 
be bowled over the level roads that make a pleasant 
feature in the low river-lands of Prince George County. 

At starting Skip, who was in a frenzy of excitement 



SUNDA Y MORNING. 1 97 

about riding a horse " all by himself," — a treat that 
rarely came to him except on Sunday, — begged to 
be allowed to go with Dick and Cinthy to the negro- 
church, which was of the Baptist persuasion. He 
had no especial preference for that form of religion ; 
but the church was two miles farther from Dunmore 
than the Episcopal church where the family wor- 
shipped, and two. miles additional riding, going and 
returning, was an immense consideration to a boy 
whose ideal of happiness was to have his legs astride 
a real live horse. 

" O uncle ! O Homo I let me go with Dick and 
Cinthy," pleaded the little fellow, running frantically 
from one to the other. 

* " But, Skip," said Homoselle, " Dick and Cinthy are 
Baptists : you are not a Baptist ; you are a little 
Churchman." 

" I ain't no Churchman : I won't be a Churchman," 
shouted the boy, with crimson face, and tears in his 
eyes : " my pa says we ain't nothin' but church mice,^^ 

" Ha, ha ! " laughed uncle Despard again. " EUie, 
we must let him go this once. And be sure, you 
young rascal, to remember all the preacher tells you, 
as well as what that father of yours says." 

At last the whole party, except Homoselle, rode 
away, leaving her at the window watching for Halsey, 
and wondering what could have got into Phil to make 
him so touchy. " A highly humane sentiment 1 Why 
does he not carry out his principles on this occa- 
sion? " she said to herself, mimicking his grand air. 

But at length Halsey made his appearance, and put 



1 98 HO MOSELLE. 

• 

an end to her soliloquy. She watched him dismount 
from his horse, and walk slowly up to the house, his 
head bent in thought, and twirling absently between 
his finger and thumb a spray of yellow jessamine. 
She smiled when she saw this, for he had often called 
it her flower. On one occasion he had helped her to 
gather great baskets of the fallen blossoms, which she 
used to scatter through her linen-presses ; and he had 
come to associate the fresh fragrance and beautiful 
bloom of this truly Southern flower with herself. 

" You are late," she said with a questioning look, as 
he entered the room, still deep in thought and very 
grave. 

" Late for the gossip in the churchyard before ser- 
vice, perhaps," his face brightening in answer to her 
smile ; " but not too late for the service itself, I think. 
How admirably your habit becomes you, Homoselle ! 
I tell you that with every change of dress ; but I really 
think your riding-habit is the best of all, — so simple, 
and close-fitting ; the very thing for your style." 

" Every day I get a little accession of vanity," said 
Homoselle, tying on her double veil, and concealing 
the glow of pleasure called up by her lover's admira- 
tion. " But what makes you late? " she asked with a 
touch of the curiosity awakened by Phil. 

His countenance clouded again. "I was detained 
by some very vexatious business." 

"For several days I have thought' you a wee bit 
grave," she said tenderly. " Can't you tell me what 
it is all about ? " * 

" Oh I several things. The major's continued illness, 
and the uncertainty of my movements." 



SUNDA Y MORNING. 1 99 

" But there is something else ? " 

" Yes, something else which I cannot tell you now. 
So you must bear with me a little while if I seem grave 
and anxious. But you must not betray me, love. It 
is important that you should help me to appear as if 
nothing were the matter. I can trust you for this?" 
His manner was serious almost to solemnity. 

"My hand on it," she said, with a warm, trusty 
clasp. 

They reached the church in better time than they 
anticipated. The gossip was stUl going on in the 
churchyard. Mr. Berkeley had just arrived, and had 
not yet put on his surplice, the signal for the congre- 
gation to take their places. Most of the elder mem- 
bers had entered the church; but the lambs of the 
flock were disporting themselves outside, under the 
trees. Carriage-loads of fresh country-girls in their 
Sunday finery, somewhat blown and tumbled by a 
drive in close quarters; sunbrowned young men in 
broad-brimmed hats and rustic attire, with horses like 
their masters in that their birth and breeding were 
better than their, coats, — these, with the children of 
the congregation, made a large and picturesque 
assembly. 

One peculiarity of the company was that they were 
all kinsfolk. 

A few families of good English lineage, and belong- 
ing to the Enghsh Church, had been the first settlers 
of this part of the State ; and they had married and 
intermarried with each other until everybody was 
cousin to everybody else. And there were only half a 



200 ffOMOSELLE, 

dozen family names among them. A visitor to the 
neighborhood once said that every man she met was 
either a Nelson or a Page, except one, and he was 
Nelson Page. 

This universal cousinship had a peculiar effect on 
society. For while the girls claimed affectionate re- 
lationship with each other, and were on the most 
intimate social footing, they treated the men with the 
formal courtesy due to strangers. The reason of this 
was, these male cousins were the only available 
matches in the county, it being impossible to marry 
out of their own circle. By some arrangement under- 
stood only among themselves, the young ladies re- 
garded each other as cousins, but gentlemen of exactly 
the same degree of relationship were no kin at all. 
Kate was dear cousin, embraced with effusion; but 
Tom, Kate's brother, was Mr. Page, with a ceremo- 
nious inclination of the head. 

Every society has litttle subterfuges peculiar to itself, 
and this is comparatively an innocent one as far as 
intention goes ; but it is not so certain that no harm 
has resulted from this continued intermarrying. 

Caste has its disadvantages, when, hke the Royal 
Family of England, it has but a limited circle from 
which to choose its mates. 

When Halsey and Homoselle, a goodly pair, well 
mounted, rode into the churchyard, which was exten- 
sive enough to accommodate not only the congrega- 
tion, but all its various means of conveyance, they were 
received on all sides with admiring smiles and cordial 
greetings. They might be a little stiff in manner, and 



SUNDAY MORNING, 201 

slow in conversation ; but they rode well, an accom- 
plishment, that never fails to elicit due admiration in 
Virginia. 

They tarried only long enough for Halsey to secure 
the horses, and went immediately into the church. 
On their way they met Bertie and Phil ; and as Homo- 
selle, her riding-skirt thrown jauntily over one arm, 
walked with a little bashful pride by the side of her 
handsome lover, she was struck by the scarcely per- 
ceptible nod with which Phil returned his cordial 
salutation. 

She was indignant at the rudeness, and glanced into 
Halsey's face to see if he had noticed it. But his 
placid countenance, as he drew his prayer-book from 
his bosom, told her nothing. The Englishman's 
prayer-book was the subject of a good deal of merri- 
ment among the young men, who could understand 
carrying a pistol — but a prayer-book! With them it 
would have seemed goody and effeminate to the last 
degree; but they had come to excuse it in Halsey. 
His prayer-book seemed as much a part of himself as 
his big cane, his eye-glasses, or even his English 
whiskers, and was on duty every time he appeared at 
church. There was certainly nothing of the milksop 
about him; and his big bass voice, that seemed to 
bear up the feeble choir's whole volume of chant and 
anthem, was only another evidence of his splendid 
masculine physique. " By Jove ! " exclaimed one of 
the Pages, the first time he heard the low-rolling thun- 
der of Halsey's voice chanting the Te Deum, "if a 
man does go in for that kind of thing, let him do it 



202 HOMOSELLE. 

like that. When he chanted, * Govern them, and lift 
them up forever,* I felt lifted out of my boots." 

" Pity you were not lifted a litde higher," said Mr. 
Berkeley, the parson with the history in his face, whose 
words were as keen as his smile was tender : " let us 
hope the next time you wiU be." To which Page had 
the grace to say " Amen." 

Halsey did not sit with Homoselle in the family 
pew, but retired to some out-of-the-way comer where 
she saw no more of him until she was ready to mount 
her horse. She did not ask him the reason of this ; 
for on a former occasion she had elicited the haldng 
response, " Now, really ! you see, I am a stupid fellow. 
I can't do two things at once. I go to church for one 
thing, and when I sit near you I am apt to think of 
another." 

When service and sermon were over, Homoselle 
was among the first to get out of church. She hurried 
a little, in order to avoid meeting Phil, who had an- 
noyed her by his mysterious smiles and supercilious 
greeting of Halsey. 

She paused a moment at the gate, round which 
were gathered a group of negroes. A few of them 
preferred the white people's religion, among them 
some catechumens of Homoselle's, whom she was 
bringing up stanch church-folk. Chloe was one of 
these, and Homoselle stopped to scold her for being 
late at service. Chloe stole a sidelong glance at Hal- 
sey, blushed, courtesied, and lowered her eyelashes, 
which, partaking of the nature of her hair, curled up 
at the ends, a peculiarity which gave a singularly soft 



SUNDA V MORNING. 203 

effect to her eyes. She promised, "nebber to do so. 
no mo\" 

Nobody ever looked more penitent than Chloe 
when reprimanded ; arid, though Homoselle knew from 
experience that the penitence was of the most short- 
lived character, it was impossible not to pronounce 
absolution to so much humility. 

" I am provoked with Phil for looking so stiff and 
conceited," said Homoselle, when she and Halsey 
were riding home by the longest and shadiest road, 
which they had to themselves. 

The rest of the congregation contrived to take in 
their route the little hamlet that clustered round the 
post-office, to inquire for letters or learn the news. 

"I can't think what is the matter with him." 

" I think you atre the matter," said Halsey, smiling. 

" I ! " she exclaimed, checking her horse, and stop- 
ping a moment in the road, the better to take in the 
idea. " Absurd ! Phil Roy does not care for me in 
the least. I have known him all my life, and until the 
last few weeks he has never taken the smallest notice 
of me." 

"Yes; and in the last few weeks he has been 
persistently scowling at me ; at first, I supposed, on 
national grounds, since he is always making compari- 
sons unfavorable to England. But I have recently 
come to the ^conclusion that it is all on your account. 
As long as your father withholds his consent to our 
engagement, I have no right to let Roy know his 
place," said Halsey, his smooth, good-tempered coun- 
tenance ruffled by an expression of extreme discontent. 



204 HOMOSELLE, 

" I shall take care of that," said Homoselle : " be- 
sides, you are mistaken about his caring for me." 

Halsey's brow cleared. " I ought to be magnani- 
mous," he said : " with England for a country, and you 
for a wife, I can overlook trifling annoyances. Let us 
think of something better than Mr. Phil Roy's imper- 
tinences. That sky, for instance," looking up at the 
radiant blue sky, shining down through the foliage. 
" Surely there are no fairer skies in the world than you 
have here ; " 

" Not even in Italy? " 

" Not even in Italy ; and surely, too, everybody must 
think that deep sapphire blue the most beautiful of 
all colors. Don't you? " he asked, glancing from the 
sky into the serene depths of her blue eyes that shone 
through a narrow opening in her veils, that reminded 
one of the headgear worn by Oriental women, with a 
slit for the eyes. 

" Beautiful ! but not the most beautiful of all," she 
said : " I confess to a passion for pink." 

"Roses, perhaps? " 

" Not exactly. But I could never make you under- 
stand how some shades of pink affect me. You would 
laugh at me for an enthusiast." 

" Who, I ? On the contrary, nobody is more sensi- 
tive to color. Tell me about your pink." 

" It goes very far back, and is a memory as well as 
a sentiment," she said earnestly, yet shyly, as if the 
aroma of her thought would exhale in giving it utter- 
ance. " You know country children are very dependent 
on the seasons for their enjoyment ; and when I was a 



SUNDA Y MORNING. 205 

little girl I hated winter. Then some mild day, after 
a long time of frost and cold, all of a sudden I would 
see a beautiful pink glory in the air, that made me so 
happy, I can't tell you. It was the peach-trees blos- 
soming. There is no color Hke it ; and to-day a peach- 
tree, or an orchard of peach-trees, in bloom is the most 
beautiful sight in the world to me, and stirs every sense 
of enjoyment. I am sure my feeling is a tiny note in 
the grand chorus of Nature's rejoicing on the return 
of spring. You may laugh; but my heart sings the 
same tune as the rippling of the melting waters, the 
twitter of birds, and the shooting of buds." 

Halsey did not laugh : his eyes shone with sympathy 
as Homoselle tried to express that buoyant sense of 
life that is bom anew every year at nature's sweet 
Easter-tide. 

" What an earnest creature you are ! " he said lov- 
ingly ; " and how you make me forget, when I am with 
you, that nature has its dark side ! " 

" Yes, let us forget it, dear, while we can. This is 
our spring-time ; that is, it is mine, and my life is full 
of bloom." 

The expression of her eyes made this tender flat- 
tery the sweetest and most delicate love-making. 

Halsey felt as if he were quaffing the daintiest cup 
of happiness ever offered to mortal lips ; but all the 
while his heart ached with a sense of impending evil 
that he could not for a moment forget. 



206 ffOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE miller's boy OF HORN'S NECK. 

HALSEY left Homoselle before the rest of the 
family got back from church. 

There are moods upon which the most friendly in- 
tercourse jars uncomfortably ; and he was in just the 
frame of mind that cannot enter lightly into the pass- 
ing interests of the moment. The others returned full 
of an incident that had taken place in the village. 

Michael had been arrested with a gun in his hands, 
it being unlawful for a negro to cafry arms ; and quite a 
hubbub of excitement was going on at the post-office, 
where all the loungers of the neighborhood — and they 
were not a few — congregated on Sundays. 

A very small thing will create a stir in the monotony 
of village-life ; and there was as much talk about Mi- 
chael and his gun, as if there had been an earthquake 
or some other unexpected convulsion of nature. But 
vigor of speech does not always insure vigor of action, 
and the affair ended in talk. 

Michael represented that the weapon had been bor- 
rowed from a white man, for the purpose of shooting a 
dangerous dog that had gone mad and was creating 
a panic among his neighbors. Upon being questioned 
as to who the white man was, he said it was Mr. John- 



THE MIZLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK. 20/ 

son, the tutor at Mr. Trenholra's. Mr. Johnson, being 
examined in turn, appeared surprised and confused, 
but finally confessed that he had lent the gun to Mi- 
chael, as he had said, for the purpose of killing a dog. 
The gun was then restored to Johnson, who did not 
seem to know what to do with it ; and Michael was 
dismissed with a warning. But there were men who 
shook their heads over the evident understanding be- 
tween Michael and the tutor, both of whom were sus- 
pected of disloyalty to the existing order of things. 

Skip was in high glee over MichaePs arrest. Perched 
aloft, like a mosquito on horseback, he had seen the 
gigantic negro, the one person of whom he stood in 
mortal terror, handcuffed, and pleading in his dogged, 
sullen way, to be let off. 

"Ahi!" laughed the child, "I" saw that big, red- 
eyed nigger chained at the post-office 1 I am so glad 
they took his gun away from him ! he'd just as soon 
kill anybody as look at 'em. I saw him beat a dog to 
death in the road one day ; and I wanted to be a man 
to kill him, *cos a dog is a heap sight nicer than he is." 

Halsey heard none of all this ; and in the afternoon 
when he went, as usual on Sunday, to see Dobbin, a 
fellow-countryman whom he had discovered and be- 
friended in his rambles, he was so absorbed in the 
train of thought which had recently taken possession 
of him, that, curiously enough, he forgot his adven- 
tures of the two preceding Sundays. 

It was only when he turned into a lonely road 
through the woods, that he remembered his suspicions 
with regard to Michael's animosity. He glanced un- 



208 HOMOSELLE. 

easily up and down the gloomy, unfrequented road, 
made gloomier still by the lengthening shadows of 
evening. But his uncomfortable sensations were quick- 
ly dispelled by a loud, clear whistle, as merry as the 
note of a blackbird. The cheerful human sound made 
him smile at his apprehensions. 

Directly in his path, about twenty feet ahead, a mu- 
latto boy sat on a stump by the wayside, whittling a 
stick, and whistling at the top of his pipes. As soon 
as he saw Halsey, he rose, with the alacrity a slave al- 
ways assumed when a white man appeared on the 
scene, and, shouldering a bag that was lying by him, 
trudged off as fast as his slim legs could carry him. 

It was surprising how fast he got over the ground. 
Halsey's long strides did not seem to lessen the dis- 
tance between them as they wended their way along 
the same road. An enormous plantation-hat, the 
broad brim of which covered neck and shoulders, a 
meal-bag, a slender body clad in blue jacket and trou- 
sers, and a pair of nimble yellow legs, composed a 
figure that Halsey thought he could sketch with a cir- 
cle and six straight lines, but which kept steadily in 
front of him all the way to Dobbin's gate, where he 
lost sight of it. 

Dobbin was a plain English farmer, who had settled 
in Virginia some years before. But, like so many of 
our later English settlers, the world had not gone well 
with him. He had been unfortunate in the choice of 
a farm, particlarly in the unhealthiness of its locality. 
He and his family had been harassed with the chills 
and fevers that lurk here and there along the course 
of the river. 



THE MILLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK, 2O9 

He had, moreover, found it almost impossible to get 
along with negro-labor, and his reserved English man- 
ners had not tended to make him popular with his 
white neighbors. Halsey's coming had been a most 
happy event for him ; and, though they were not on 
the same social footing, a very friendly intercourse had 
sprung up between them. 

It was in Halsey*s power to do many kind acts for 
his countryman, not the least of which was to take him 
every Sunday evening the English papers and periodi- 
cals that had accumulated the preceding week. Dob- 
bin, a rough, blunt, red-headed man, the very type of 
the middle-class rural Briton, said, " Halsey and his 
papers were like a fresh bit of the old country in this 
nigger-ridden, fever-stricken land." 

The visit having been paid, Dobbin and his wife 
cheered with friendly chat, and the children amused 
with a pile of pictorial papers, Halsey rose to go. 
" You have quite a stretch of forest between you and 
the main road," he said to his host, who accompanied 
him to the door. 

'^Yes ; and it's just my luck to have it between me 
and the road, instead of between me and the river. 
Folks about here tell me woods keep off the chills." 

" You had better begin at once, then, and plant trees 
between you and the river. I wonder you have not 
done it before," said Halsey. 

" Plant trees for some other fellow to reap the bene- 
fit when we are all dead with the ague," returned Dob- 
bin, who was not of a hopeful turn of mind. 

Halsey laughed at his friend's grumbling, and took 
his leave. 



2IO HO MOSELLE, 

Day was still lingering in the open fields and on the 
river ; but in the woods a solemn twilight reigned, and 
the mists rising from the water were gradually envelop- 
ing every thing in a soft, mysterious haze. 

The burning September heat was being tempered 
with a delicious coolness which the unwary would have 
enjoyed without misgiving. But Halsey had been so 
often warned against the malaria that stalks abroad 
after nightfall at this season, that he buttoned up his 
coat, and quickened his step, so as to reach home be- 
fore it was quite dark. 

Feeling the soft caress of the damp air on his cheek, 
he thought, what a seductive foe this malaria was! 
how it wooed its victim forth with balmy breath, and 
betrayed him with a kiss ! Swinging his cane lightly 
to and fro, indulging in fanciful thoughts about this 
deadly but invisible enemy of mankind, that so suc- 
^ cessfully eludes the pursuit of science, and wishing it 
had a tangible shape that he could fell it with an 
honest blow, he was startled by the dark and very tan- 
gible presence of Michael, who stood before him with 
frowning brow and menacing attitude. These shoe- 
less negro creatures had a very uncomfortable way of 
stealing noiselessly upon one, and Halsey was momen- 
tarily thrown off his guard. In the Arabian Nights, 
one reads of a merchant, who, travelling into a far coun- 
try, stopped, one day, beneath the shade of a tree, to 
refresh himself with a simple repast of bread and dates. 
Having eaten the dates, he cast aside the stones, quite 
. innocently as he supposed. His surprise and disgust 
were intense, when a great black genie, whose head 



THE MILLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK, 211 

touched the clouds, rose out of the ground, and accused 
him of having put out one of his — the genie's — eyes 
with a date-stone. 

Halsey's feelings were, for an instant, of a similar 
nature when he saw Michael barring his passage. The 
negro had evidently been lying in wait in a bend of 
the road, so as to come upon him unexpectedly. 

"What do you mean by getting in my way?" said 
Halsey angrily, as Michael planted himself in front of 
him. 

" Stop, mars'r : I*se got somethin' to say to you," 
replied Michael with mingled servility and defiance. 

" I have no time to listen to any thing you have to 
say," said Halsey, his blood rising, but restraining him- 
self with effort as he moved to one side with the inten- 
tion of passing on. Michael, without hat or shoes, his 
shirt open at the throat disclosing a black, brawny 
chest, was such a repulsive-looking creature, Halsey 
recoiled from touching him, to thrust him aside, which 
was his first impulse. The young Englishman felt his 
gorge rise with the race-prejudice which has clung so 
persistently to the Anglo-Saxon in this country. Mi- 
chael saw the movement, and changed his position so 
as to bring himself directly in Halsey*s way again. 

"No, you don't, mars'r," he said with a sardonic 
grin : " you mus' stay here long enough for me to tiell 
you dat de yaller gal Chloe done promise to marry 
me Christmus, an' if I ketch you foolin* roun' her agin 
I'll kill you. I don't keer if dey does hang me den." 

This was unbearable. With a swift movement Halsey 
raised his heavy cane, and brought it down with all his 



212 HOMOSELLE. 

strength; and Michael, who was unprepared for the 
attack, received the full force of the powerful blow on 
his head. 

Halsey, who had had no experience of the hardness 
of the African skull, was astounded to find that Mi- 
chael, instead of being stunned, scarcely winced, but 
was quick enough to take advantage of his adversary's 
surprise, to wrest the cane from his grasp, and hurl it 
into the woods. 

" Dey done take my gun away from me, and dey 
mout say yo* stick was arms, and I want ter talk peace- 
able to you, mars'r, widout no arms 'cep* dese black 
fellows ; " and the negro grinned complacently at his 
own great sinewy arms. 

" I will not hear,'' said Halsey infuriated, and aim- 
ing a straight-out blow between the negro's eyes. 
Michael's method was utterly unscientific ; but he was 
a capital dodger, and Halsey's well-aimed fist beat 
the air. The blood of both combatants was up now, 
and they closed with a hand-to-hand tussle. 

They were pretty fairly matched; and the contest 
would probably have been a protracted one, if Halsey 
had not, imluckily, caught his heel in a root that 
straggled across the unfrequented road, and lost his 
balance. This gave Michael the advantage ; and Hal- 
sey felt that it was all up with him, when there broke 
cheerily upon the air a loud, shrill whistle, which Hal- 
sey recognized as that of his merry little friend of the 
meal-bag. The lad was returning the way he came, 
and Halsey, whose back was turned, did not see him ; 
but Michael, looking over his adversary's shoulder. 



THE MILLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK. 213 

saw through the evening mist the dim outline of the 
boy's figure coming towards them. Instantly his arms 
relaxed their hold on Halsey, his eyes protruded with 
horror, his breath came quick, and his face assumed 
the ashy hue which is a negro's way of turning pale. 

" De Lord Almighty ! " he gasped, and, turning on 
his heel, ran away at the top of his speed without once 
looking round. This unaccountable behavior seemed 
to Halsey the strangest part of his strange adventure. 
It was incredible that the unexpected appearance of 
a mere boy, a mulatto at that, should have caused such 
undisguised terror in an immense brute like Michael. 
The boy, too, had disappeared, frightened, probably, 
by the sight of angry disputants, and had either taken 
refuge in the woods, or vanished in upper air, for 
aught Halsey knew, so strange and sudden had the 
whole thing been. He was disgusted with himself for 
having been drawn into a contest with a filthy negro. 

This institution of negro slavery, that he had so pru- 
dently resolved to ignore and have nothing to do with, 
so long as he was a guest in a Southern home, met 
him in some disagreeable or dangerous form at every 
turn. His feet were becoming, day by day, more 
entangled in a network of difficulties from which he 
could not escape. He shook himself to see if he were 
not in some horrid dream ; and, finding that his recent 
encounter had been only too real, he hurried home 
to take a bath, and change his dress. " Faugh ! The 
filthy brutes ! Pity they were not left in Africa to 
make pyramids of each other's wooden skulls," were 
the ejaculations forced from him by his latest experi- 
ence with one of the race. 



2 14 HOMOSELLE, 

Had Halsey lived in Lower Virginia all his life, he 
would have known the story of "the miller's boy 
of Horn's Neck " from his childhood, and been suffi- 
ciently acquainted with negro superstitions to better 
understand what seemed to him MichaeFs inexplicable 
terror. 

Ignorance, as the proverb goes, is the mother of 
superstition; and there are no people so densely 
ignorant, or so wildly superstitious, as the negroes. 

The constitution of their minds makes it easier for 
them to believe the improbable than the probable; 
and, besides the superstitions they have adopted from 
the ignorant whites ia this country, they have inherited 
dark, uncanny traditions from their African ancestors. 

They have mysteries connected with every occur- 
rence, from the falling of a pin to the shooting of a 
star. Ghosts, demons, witches, warnings, presenti- 
ments, are more real to them than the common things 
of hfe. 

One of the most popular ghost-stories, one that had 
been in circulation and implicitly believed among 
them for a hundred years or more, was that of the 
miller's boy. It was said that a miller by the name 
of Horn, a tnan of ungovernable temper, on one 
occasion becoming impatient and angry with his ser- 
vant-boy for remaining on an errand longer than was 
necessary, beat him to death. Ever since the tragic 
occurrence, the boy's spirit was reported at certain 
times to walk the earth ; and it had been remarked 
that his appearance always foreshadowed danger or 
disaster to the negro, individually or collectively. 



THE MILLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK, 21$ 

MichaePs mind at this time was peculiarly sensitive to 
portents, omens, and the like. He believed, like the 
Puritans of old, that he and his people were in a 
special manner under Divine guidance, — that the signs 
of earth and sky were all intended as encouragements 
or warnings to his race. 

Not possessing the key to these supernatural mys- 
teries, Halsey had been bewildered by Michael's sud- 
den flight ; but he was glad to be rid of the fellow on 
any terms, and to get back to Westover without further 
adventure. 

It was about dusk, and nearly tea-time when he 
reached the house : so he went at once to the dining- 
room in search of the major, in order to excuse him- 
self until he had taken the self-promised bath ; but the 
major was not there. The tea-table was spread, how- 
ever, and the candles were lighted. Halsey was more 
tired than he realized ; and, not finding his friend, he 
dispossessed some dogs of the sofa, and threw himself 
wearily thereon to wait for the major's appearance. 

The immense room was dimly lighted by a single 
pair of candles, whose flame was protected from the 
flare of the open windows by the tall glass shades 
of pre-gaslight times, which the next generation will 
look upon as relics of the ancients, and speculate as 
to their possible use. But the two tiny points of light 
had not been without attraction : a bat had wandered 
in from the twilight, and was circling above Halsey's 
head in a frightened flutter, searching for egress. One 
moment its black outstretched wings, flying above the 
candles, spread a dark canopy of shadow on the ceil- 



2l6 HOMOSELLE, 

ing ; the next it had disappeared in the distant^ dusky 
comers of the room. 

The bat flying round and round, the dogs dozing 
in an arm-chair, Capt. Cook circumnavigating the 
globe, seemed to get into Halsey's brain in the most 
inconsequent manner. He made several ineffectual 
attempts to disentangle them, and then fell into a 
profound slumber. He slept for some time, and woke 
suddenly from one of those dreams that seem to be 
of long duration, but which probably begin and end 
in a moment of time, and are occasioned by the very 
sound that awakens. 

He dreamed that he was drilling an awkward squad 
of soldiers, a blundering set of fellows that found it 
as easy to go through the manual as a herd of cows 
would have done. 

, He had called out "Ground arms," when, sure 
enough, he heard what seemed to be the sharp ring 
of falling muskets. 

He started to his feet as soon as he distinguished 
the reality from the dream, and went to the window 
that looked on the portico ; for the sound came from 
that direction, and was like the rattle of muskets 
on a pavement. The floor of the portico was tiled 
with squares of black and white marble ; and Halsey 
even thought he heard the shuffle of retreating foot- 
steps over the hard surface. But when he looked out 
on the calm, starlit evening, the sylvan scene was so 
peaceful, he concluded that his dream had been in- 
deed all a dream, and went back to his sofa. 

Soon after, the major came in, with the quick, im- 



THE MILLER'S BOY OF HORN'S NECK. 21/ 

petuous step that characterized him, even now that he 
was an invalid, when he was disquieted or irritated. 

" Bless my soul ! such people are enough to provoke 
a saint I" he was soliloquizing. "You there, Halsey? 
Why, man, you look pale. That is 'something new." 

" And you look just the other way. It strikes me 
you are rather red." 

" Red ! I should think so. As red as blazes if it 
at all indicates how I feel. I am as mad as fire." 

"What's up now?" 

" That Johnson, the infernal sneak I ordered off the 
place, has been skulking — he always seems to be 
skulking — about here again. I met him in the lane 
this evening, close to my gate." 

" But the lane is free, is it not? " 

" Free ? yes. And he might remain in the lane for- 
ever, for aught I care : I should not notice him more 
than a toad. ' But the fellow had the audacity to speak 
to me." 

" That was polite, I am sure, after all you have said 
to him." 

" Polite ! who the devil wants his politeness ? But 
that is not the worst of it : he called me Major Carter. 
What right has a low pedagogue like that to pronounce 
my name after his own fashion ? Don't I know my 
own name? It has been Carter," the major called it 
Ke-arter, "for fifteen generations. The Carters he 
knows, I dare say, are creatures who drive carts, but 
that is not my name. Come, let us take our tea, and 
forget the fellow." 



2l8 HO MOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE GHOST. 

THE negro Michael, who gloried in his superior 
size and strength, was possessed of great personal 
courage. 

His boldness inspired the utmost confidence among 
his timid fellows, who liked to shelter their weakness 
behind his gigantic frame and bulldog ferocity. These 
characteristics made him a favorite leader, and it is 
not unlikely, had occasion offered, that he would have 
led a brilliant charge into the very jaws of death ; but, 
under the influence of superstitious fear, he was like a 
reed shaken by the wind. He trembled and shivered, 
and his enormous body swayed back and forth with 
the terror that shook his soul. 

At these times his abject cowardice was such as to 
demoralize an army of negro heroes. This fact was 
illustrated in a singular manner at a- secret meeting 
held on his own place. He was the proprietor of a 
small tract of half-reclaimed land, the thickly wooded 
portion of which was sometimes used by the negroes 
as a rendezvous. In order not to attract attention to 
their meetings, it was a part of the negro tactics never 
to assemble twice successively in the Same place ; and, 
as their operations extended over a large section of 



THE GHOST. 21 g 

the State, it was all-important to have many hiding- 
places so sheltered from observation as to make these 
unlawful gatherings safe. Behind the woods on 
MichaePs farm was a hollow of cleared land so dotted 
with bushy young pines, springing up to replace the 
felled trees, that a company of negroes squatting 
among them would not be noticeable, especially on a 
moonless, statless night. On such a night, in the dark 
before dawn, while the superior race were wrapped in 
tranquil slumber, Michael stood up to address an 
assembly of slaves who were plotting to achieve their 
freedom at any cost. He was not the same Michael 
whom Halsey had heard preaching murder, arson, and 
rapine, some weeks before, in the burial-ground at 
Westover. Since then he had been dreaming dreams 
and seeing visions, and his vdor had departed. He 
was now a whining creature, who foretold ruin and 
disaster to his audience, and who counselled submis- 
sion to the lot that was ordained by God. His hearers 
had been fired with courage and enthusiasm by the 
eloquence of Gabriel, now absent, carrying on the 
work in another neighborhood; but they were even 
more easily disheartened than encouraged. 

Under the. influence of Michael's gloomy forebod- 
ings, and of the horrible pictures he painted of their 
future fate, if they persisted in their present course, 
their high hopes were chilled, and they became utterly 
dispirited. They rocked to and fro, moaning piteously. 
This violent physical agitation, consequent upon emo- 
tional excitement, is a marked peculiarity of the race. 
A negro under the influence of rehgious feeling will 



220 HOMOSELLE. 

clap his hands, stamp, shout, and throw his body vio- 
lently from side to side, as though he were possessed 
by a demon ; and his excitement will gradually com- 
municate itself to an entire congregation, until it 
becomes a crowd of howHng, dancing maniacs. The 
hope of freedom was an important element in their 
religion, the one most clear to their intelligence, and 
that pressed nearest home to their hearts. They con- 
sidered themselves orthodox Bible Christians ; though 
their faith, for the most part, was founded on the few 
Bible texts in which Ethiopia is mentioned, which 
they believed referred entirely to their present condi- 
tion. The one oftenest quoted was, "Ethiopia shall 
soon stretch out her hands to God." . These few words 
were to them a trumpet-call, a prophecy of all temporal 
and eternal good. Their spiritual guides used them 
to conjure with, and, after the manner of more intelli- 
gent religionists, built on this slight foundation a great 
superstructure of theology. But Michael had found 
another text, not so familiar : " The Ethiopians shall 
also be slain by the sword." As it came out of 
"Scripter," it must be true, although it seemed to 
contradict the old one that had so often stirred their 
hearts; and these simple souls were not sufficiently 
advanced in exegesis to reconcile the two. 

They became entirely hopeless, seeing their leader 
stand there trembling, weakly passing his hand before 
his eyes as if to thrust aside some horrid phantasm 
that painted itself on the air. 

" I has dreams and wamin*s," he said ; " I has 
visions of Jeemes River runnin* wid blood, — rich, red, 



THE GHOST, 221 

warm blood, not white blood : I see de woods full of 
people, stiff and still, 'cos ebery tree is a gallus, and 
from ebery gallus is hangin* a black man." 

" O Lord ! O Lord ! " broke from his audience. 

"You may well call upon de Lord," Michael went 
on, " for he is agin dis thing.- He done showed it to 
me in signs and wonders. De dogs howl roun' my 
house ebery night, and ebery night I dreams of 
death." 

"De Lord is agin us," groaned some one in the 
crowd; and they all took up the cry, "De Lord is 
agin us ! De Lord is agin us ! " 

" And worser dan all," said Michael, lowering his 
voice with mysterious horror, " de sperrit of de mill- 
er's boy of Horn's Neck walks o* nights. He is at 
ebery meetin' : I believe he is here now," 

A shudder passed through the crowd, which instinc- 
tively huddled closer together, as if for mutual pro- 
tection; and every man glanced nervously over his 
shoulder to be sure that his neighbor was not the 
miller's boy. 

Michael had reached his climax. He had suc- 
ceeded in making his hearers as timid as himself. 
There was no need of saying much more, but he went 
on, — 

"We must leab dis wuk of freedom to anoder 
generation." 

" Dat's so : we'll leab it to our chillun's chillun," 
cried some one with alacrity, and the rest echoed the 
words with wild acclaim, — 

" Dat's so ! dat's so ! Our chillun's chillun.'* 



222 HOMOSELLE. 

" Go home now to de hoe and de plough. Leab 
guns and swords to de white folks." 

" Dat we will, broder Michael. Hoe heap better'n 
gallus, any day." 

This sentiment met with universal approval ; and the 
assembly was on the point of breaking up, every man 
glad to go home with a whole skin to his master's 
work, when something unexpected occurred. 

Johnson, their white friend, had arrived at the 
meeting late. He was dismayed to find that Michael, 
by his cowardice, was undoing the work of months of 
discipline and organization. At first he did not under- 
stand how the change in Michael's sentiments had 
been brought about. When the speaker began to talk 
of the miller's boy, Johnson knew where he was. 

He had something to say on that subject, himself. 
He mounted the stump that served as tribune, thrust- 
ing Michael aside. The latter, who had been un- 
aware of his presence, stared in stupid, open-mouthed 
astonishment at this unlooked-for interruption of his 
eloquence. The delicate cripple waved him off with 
contempt. Michael was in the subdued temper, that 
a child might have intimidated him. 

" My friends ! " cried Johnson in an authoritative 
tone that arrested the crowd preparing to depart. His 
white face and clanging nasal voice always com- 
manded respect and attention. They paused almost 
mechanically, although they were in eager haste to go. 

" My friends, Michael is a coward, and he is mak- 
ing cowards of you all. Shame upon you for desert- 
ing your righteous cause at the bidding of a fright- 



THE GHOST. 22$ 

ened creature who does not know what he is talking 
about I Think you your masters would set you free 
because some one tried to frighten them into it by 
telling silly ghost-stories ? No, they would laugh ; and 
you, if you are men, ought to laugh too. Ghosts, in- 
deed ! You are surrounded by many dangers, it is 
true, but not of this kind. I have seen this miller's 
boy, and he is no ghost. He is something much more 
terrible. Now hsten, all of you, while I tell you what 
he is." 

There was a visible commotion among the negroes, 
who opened their mouths, and held their breaths to 
hear. 

"He is a — spy." Johnson let the word fall like 
a thunderbolt, carrying a flash of light. The negroes 
howled at the vivid and sudden revelation of an un- 
suspected danger. " A spy and a traitor ! And you 
men, two hundred strong, to be scared, and to run 
away from a boy, one of your own color too ! I am 
ashamed of you 1 Why, don't you know what ought 
to be done with a spy? Don't you know the fate of 
traitors? I will tell you, — he is a mark for every 
honest man's hand. A well-aimed blow would soon 
show if he were flesh and blood, or only a ghost. 
But I have something here that will set your mind at 
rest on that subject. Yesterday I was on the trail of 
the miller's boy when something frightened him, and 
he ran away. Now, you know, ghosts do not run 
away. They vanish out of sight as quietly as they 
come. More than this, the boy, in jumping a fence, 
dropped his meal-bag ; not a ghostly one, but a real 



224 HOMOSELLE. 

hempen bag, with meal in it ; not much, only a little, 
but it was the real article, such as you make ash-cakes 
of. I need not tell you that ghosts do not drop meal- 
bags, nor do they eat ash-cakes. They and their 
clothing are thin air, that you can see, but cannot 
handle. Now, here is the bag the miller's boy dropped 
yesterday. You can all see and examine it for your- 
selves. It has a private mark on it that probably some 
of you may know. I brought it with me as a witness 
of treachery, to put you on your guard against spies : 
I did not dream that Michael would be before me to 
warn you against ghosts ! " 

Johnson spoke very slowly and distinctly, as though 
he were speaking to children, which indeed he was, 
pausing at the end of every sentence, that it might be 
received and understood before advancing to a new 
thought. His unhurried manner calmed their excite- 
ment j and his plain, common-sense statements carried 
conviction with them. Many came forward to exam- 
ine the bag, and before his discourse was ended they 
had recovered something of their former spirits and 
courage. 

Their groans and sighs gave place to more cheerful 
exclamations. They dispersed quietly, their fears di- 
verted from vague spiritual foes they could not com- 
bat, to a real living enemy whom every man was in- 
terested in discovering and putting out of the way. 

Even Michael forgot to tremble as it gradually 
dawned upon him that he had been deceived by his 
own fears. He, too, examined the bag ; and a horrible 
suspicion thenceforth took possession of him. His 



THE GHOST, 22$ 

terror at once gave way to an inextinguishable desire 
for vengeance. 

Johnson had achieved a master-stroke of policy, the 
end of Which was . fated to be a surprise to all con- 
cerned. 



226 HOMOSELLB 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE LOST MUaC-LESSON. 

IN the fine old hall at Dunmore stood one of those 
tall clocks that record not only the hour, but the 
day, the month, and the phase of the moon. 

Of all articles of furniture, surely this old-fashioned 
English timepiece is the most lovable, the most fit to 
preside among our household gods. 

Its stately presence is so worthy the tidings it has to 
proclaim. It quite puts to shame the gayly decked 
little French pendule that seeks to cover the solemn 
flight of time with roses, cupids, and the like, and 
which go oftener wrong than right. Nothing is more 
characteristic of the diiference between the two na- 
tions. 

The tall English clock is such an excellent time- 
piece. It looks so honest and upright ; its face is so 
bright, its voice so cheery and sweet. 

It speaks to us, it tells us something. It keeps us 
company with the incessant chatter of the seconds and 
the musical roll-call of the hours. And it not only 
speaks to us, but has spoken to generations gone be- 
fore, and will tell the same unchanging story to those 
who come after. It is the connecting link between 
us and them, as year by year, with unvarying steadiness. 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON, 22/ 

it marks the flight and changes of time ; summer, win- 
ter, seedtime, and harvest. 

The following morning Halsey was standing before 
the clock in the Dunmore hall, a roll of music in his 
hand, waiting for Homoselle, with whom he had an 
engagement. Whiling away the time as best he 
could, until she made her appearance, he was inter- 
ested to read on the dial that it was made in London 
a century before. When the hour of noon rang out, 
in twelve sonorous strokes, he fell to musing how 
strange it was that the clock had preserved its deep, 
rich tone for a hundred years, while the voices of the 
generations of men growing up round it had so mate- 
rially changed. 

The soft, drawling utterance of these Virginians was 
not without its charm, especially in the women ; but it 
was not the full round voice of the race from which 
'they sprung. 

Reflections like this were constantly suggesting them- 
selves to Halsey, who every day saw something to 
remind him of England, and how like and yet how 
diflerent was the nation she had planted on this side 
of the water. 

His musings were put to flight by a light footstep 
and a rustle of feminine drapery above. He looked 
up, expecting to see Homoselle descending the stairs, 
and was sensible of a blank feeling of disappointment 
when he found it was Bertie. 

The fact is, he had discovered of late that Bertie 
bored him ; not that there was any thing of the bore 
about her, except that she was not Homoselle. Hal- 



228 HOMOSELLE. 

sey honestly liked her; but everybody knows how 
flavorless is the society of the person one likes, when 
one is impatient to be with the person one loves. 

She came blithely down the stairs to meet him in a 
hastily-made toilet. It was early in the day for Bertie, 
who ordinarily postponed dressing presentably until 
dinner-time, or at least until there was a likelihood of 
seeing company. The effect of her toilet was not bad 
when she had time to put her whole mind to it ; but 
on this occasion she had. changed her morning-gown 
in a hurry. She had learned accidentally, only a few 
moments before, that Halsey was coming about noon 
to try a new song with Homoselle, who was to play the 
accompaniment; and she made ready to catch him 
before the music began. She had something to say to 
him. 

She was not looking her best : her hair seemed in 
imminent danger of falling down and off; little drifts 
of white powder Hngered in the sheltered nooks and 
comers around her eyes and nose ; the knot of her 
neck-tie was under one ear ; and she was struggling 
with a pair of cuffs that would not be adjusted without 
her undivided attention. 

Like most persons who are caught at a disadvantage 
in the matter of dress, she sought to make up for it by 
a flow of soul. 

" Is that you, Mr. Halsey? I thought I recognized 
your step. See what it is to have an eye to mark your 
coming, and look brighter when you come ! Not that 
my eye would not have brightened at anybody's com- 
ing to-day. I have nothing to read, my letters are all 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON-, 229 

answered, and my embroidery-cotton used up. Here 
I am, high and dry on the sands of time, waiting to be 
entertained ! But I am particularly giad to see you, 
there are so many things I want to talk to you about." 

Halsey's spirits fell rapidly during this airy little 
speech, to which Bertie's feet kept time, as she pat- 
tered down the steps. 

" Now, really? " was all he found to say in response 
to what seemed the promise of a long conversation. 

The song he had come to try was, of course, the 
flimsiest pretext. Halsey could play his own accom- 
paniment far better than Homoselle, who had little 
skill as a musician. The real thing was being together, 
and it was necessary to find excuses for bringing this 
about as often as he liked : a song was as good as any 
thing else. It was very pleasant standing beside 
Homoselle in the drawing-room, dim and cool with 
its closed shutters, while her hands wandered over the 
yellow keys of the antiquated piano, honestly trying to 
find the right note, and he careless whether she found 
it or not. 

Indeed, Halsey, who was not clever at inventing 
excuses, congratulated himself on the success of this 
one, which he had already tried more than once. The 
practising, which brought him very near Homoselle, 
drove everybody else away, the very combination of 
circumstances he desired. 

But Bertie had begun to get impatient of the music- 
lessons. She could not see the drift of them. Noth- 
ing ever came of them : the song was never learned, as 
far as she could make out. 



230 HOMOSELLE, 

"Hotnoselle is writing letters for her father, and 
can't play your accompaniment this morning," she 
went on to say. " I would do it myself, but you know 
I do not play ; and, besides, I am like Dr. Johnson, 
in thinking music 'only the least disagreeable of 
noises.* " 

Halsey groaned in the spirit, though he gave a rigid 
smile at Bertie's pleasantry. She was too near-sighted 
to perceive the precise nature of his mirth, and mis- 
took the broadening of his countenance for genuine 
hilarity. 

" You have a fine, manly voice, though. I can per- 
ceive that," she continued ; " and I confess it some- 
times moves even me. I feel a moisture in my eyes, 
and a shiver down my back. I think music must be 
very good when it does that. Don't sit over there. 
Here, the sofa is more comfortable." 

She ensconced herself in a comer of the sofa, and 
motioned him to take a seat beside her. 

It was a fortunate thing for Halsey, that he had a 
sheet of music in his hands. It was an immense 
comfort to him during this interview. He petted it, 
opened it, rolled it up again, peeped down the cylin- 
der it formed, as though it were a telescope, opened it 
anew, and rolled it up again contrariwise. It was the 
same assistance to him that a fan is to a woman under 
similar circumstances. 

" By the by, how is the major? " asked Bertie. 

"I hardly know," Halsey answered ^vith alacrity, 
much relieved at the turn her thoughts had taken. 
He had feared a direct home question, for of late she 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON. 23 1 

had been very searching in her inquiries. It almost 
seemed that she suspected something, and was bent 
on extorting a confession. 

But the major was neutral ground. Halsey was 
quite willing to talk about him. 

" I hardly know," he said : " since his last attack I 
have watched him so anxiously, I am no longer a 
judge of his condition. I don't know whether to 
trust my hopes, or my fears." 

"You like the major very much? " she questioned, 
looking straight at him, shaking a little snowfall from 
her long lashes in the swift upraising of her eyes. 
They were pretty eyes, notwithstanding the pearl pow- 
der on their fringes, long, dark, and brilliant. Halsey 
smiled slightly with the piquant sense of pleasure a 
man derives from a woman's prettiness, — a sentiment 
quite different from, and often more seductive than, 
the homage he gives to beauty. 

" Like him ! That scarcely expresses it. He is 
the best friend I ever had, in that he has been the 
means of giving me more happiness " — 

Halsey stopped short with the tell-tale color, which 
was the bane of his life, suffusing his face. He had 
been on the eve of making the very confession he 
wished to avoid. 

He did not give his companion credit for astuteness 
in leading him to this point, but blamed his own heed- 
lessness. 

He was always betra3dng himself. His friends told 
him his thoughts were even more transparent than his 
complexion; and, somehow, his thoughts had lately 
acquired a habit of turning in one direction. 



232 ffOAfOSELLE. 

Bertie did not seem to notice his confusion, but 
gave him time to recover himself, while he smoothed 
out his music. 

" More happiness than I could have anticipated in 
America," he added, rather lamely, for the enthusiasm 
with which he had begun. 

" I hope you have been so happy here that you will 
not go away," said Bertie, lowering her lashes, with .a 
tinge of sentiment in her voice. 

" You are very kind ; but, indeed, I shall have to go 
away very soon." 

" And won't you ever come back to America? " 

" Yes, the very first moment I can." 

" You find this climate suits you so well, I wonder 
you should go to England at all." 

" Bread-and-butter takes me back. I have my for- 
tune to make, you know." 

" You don't mean to say that you could ever earn 
your own bread-and-butter? " 

"Who else, I should like to know? Don't I look 
like a fellow who could earn his own provender?" 

" You look more like a fellow who could eat it, and 
a good deal of it, after it was made. But I don't be- 
lieve that is what is taking you back. You have a 
much less prosaic reason, I am sure." 
Now, what might that be ? " 
You are in love with some English girl." 

Halsey laughed. "You are not good at guessing, 
Mtss Despard, spite of your nationality. I love all the 
English girls ; but a fellow can't marry them all, and 
I have not been in England long enough of late years 
to fall in love with one." 



« 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON, 2^^ 

" Then, you must many an American girl, and settle 
here. We can't spare you." 

" And are you quite sure an American girl would 
marry me ? " he asked, rather disingenuously. 

" Now, don't play humility. You know, ever since 
you came the girls have all been smihng, and, what is 
more significant, the men have all been frowning, at 
you. It is as though a whale had floundered into 
our mill-pond, scattering the minnows right and left. 
Then, besides your own merits, you have the irre- 
sistible charm of novelty. We have never had an 
Englishman domesticated among us before. It has 
made a veritable lion of you." 

" Miss Despard ! Miss Despard ! How you flatter 
me I You first call me a whale, then a lion." 

" Oh, well ! there are sea-lions, you know," Bertie 
went on, nothing daunted ; " and there is not a girl in 
the neighborhood who would not jump at you." 

"Would you ? " he asked mischievously, entering into 
what he supposed to be her humor of the monaent, 
though his eyes and ecurs watched for Homoselle. 

" Of course I would," she answered so gravely as 
to embarrass him ; " and I have always felt sure you 
had a tendresse for me. It is droll you have never 
spoken of it before. Englishmen need so much more 
encouragement than our men ! Then, I know you had 
scruples about not being rich enough to maiTy. But 
that never really interferes with a man's addressing a 
woman if he is very much in earnest." 

The effect of these words on Halsey was that of 
the first coil of a constrictor thrown round its prey. 



234 HOMOSELLE. 

" But, Miss Despard ! " he exclaimed, making a 
struggle to free himself. . 

She did not heed the interruption, but went on 
winding more and more closely round the victim. 

" It is fortunate you are such an immense creature," 
she said, glancing at him through half-closed Uds, the 
better to take in the effect of her braw wooer, who sat 
there rolling up his score so tightly as to destroy its 
legibility, while his varying color turned from red to 
white, and back again to red, all of which she thought 
signs becoming a bashful lover. " I always liked big 
men. One is apt to like one's opposites, you know. 
I suppose that is one reason you took a fancy to 
me." 

Halsey thought with a shiver of all the stories he 
had heard of the way in which American girls gobbled 
up men. He said nothing : indeed, he was so over- 
whelmed with astonishment, he could find nothing 
to say. He let her talk on, with a forlorn hope that 
her own words might suggest something upon which 
he could hang an objection, or find a loop-hole of 
escape. 

" And Englishmen," she continued, as if analyzing 
the motives of a sentiment about which there could 
be no doubt, " think so much of traditions and good 
family. My father used to say it was very important 
to choose from a good nest; and ours is the best 
family in America. A great many Virginians claim 
to be descended from nobility, but we claim descent 
from royalty. You have never seen our family-tree, 
have you? My mother was a Taliaferro, you know. 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON, 235 

Then this house, built by the Earl of Dunmore, is 
one of the few historic houses in the country." 

"Miss Despard!" said Halsey desperately, when 
she paused for breath. He was not going to allow 
himself to be entangled in a net, like a hero in a 
novel, for want of the five words of explanation which 
a man in real life would speak if he were a man at 
all; and, though he spoke desperately, he tried to 
speak cheerfully: — 

" Miss Despard, it isn't fair to chaff a fellow like 
that. You know you would not look at me, even if 
I had the presumption to think of such a thing. I 
haven't a drop of royal blood in my veins." 

" I don't mind that," she said softly, and with kind 
condescension : "I have never expected to meet with 
a man quite my equal in that respect ; but in every 
thing else you are the most suitable person I know, 
My brother will be delighted." 

With a ludicrous sense of dismay, Halsey thought 
Mr. Despard would more likely be disgusted to find 
his daughter's suitor engaged to another woman. 
"But, Miss Despard," he again interrupted in an 
agonized tone, — for he heard footsteps advancing, and 
she was just the impetuous person to introduce him to 
the first member of the family who appeared, as her 
fiance, — "indeed you do not understand me." 

" Oh, yes I I understand," she said with calm, un- 
ruffled voice, and coquettish smile : " I have been 
through this kind of thing so often before." 

"But this isn't this kind of thing, you know," he 
said, wiping the dampness from his brow, for the 



236 POMOSELLE. 

Steps outside were coming nearer : " I esteem you as 
the best of friends, but there is another whom I have 
asked to be my wife." 

Bertie turned white to the roots of her hair, and her 
eyes flashed dangerously. She laughed a low, gurgling 
laugh, that Halsey was too perturbed to notice sounded 
very unlike her ordinary merry peal. 

A moment passed before she said any thing, then 
she rattled on in her usual manner; the twitching 
of the comers of her mouth and the quivering of her 
nostrils alone indicating that she spoke with suppressed 
excitement, — 

" You delightfully ingenuous creature 1 you are as 
good as a play ; ha, ha, ha 1 Didn't you see that I 
was teasing you into telling me your secret? For 
weeks I have known something was troubling you, and 
I made up my mind there was a woman at the bottom 
of it. I was dying of curiosity, and I could not help 
trying to get it all out of you. I succeeded in half 
the time I thought I should. The proverb says, ' The 
net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird.' Men 
are not a bit like birds in that respect. They walk 
straight into the first trap set for them. It seems to 
be a law of their nature, the more obvious the trap, 
the more certainly they are caught : I mean, if it is 
set by a woman." 

Bertie's words, which Halsey took in good faith, fell 
like oil on his troubled spirit. The steps in the hall 
passed on without entering; and the small tempest 
into which he had lashed himself needlessly, as she 
made him believe, subsided into an overwhelming 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON-. 237 

sense of shame that he had added another egregious 
blunder to the long hst with which his life had been 
adorned. 

" I have made an ass of myself, as usual/' he said ; 
" but you ought to forgive me, Miss Despard, because 
you know you had set your mind on making me do 
It. I" — 

Bertie did not let him finish : " Don't bother about 
that. I am used to your blunders : in fact, I rather 
like them ; you would not be yourself without them. 
They are as natural to you as the color of your hair. 
You began with a blunder the first hour of our ac- 
quaintance, and I suppose you will go on to the end 
of the chapter." 

" I am afraid I shall." 

" But I must say you have been a snake in the 
grass. You took such pains to proclaim youself fancy- 
free when you first came : to hear you speak, one 
would have supposed you had taken vows of cehbacy. 
What needless insincerity if you were engaged all the 
time ! " 

Halsey looked painfully embarrassed. " No, no ! 
You do not understand that all this has come upon 
me since I have been here." 

"What do you mean?" cried Bertie, darting a 
startled look of inquiry into his eyes, speaking through 
set teeth, while her breath came quick and hard. 

"Can you not guess. Miss Despard, that I love 
your niece?" 

" Homoselle ? " she cried in a high, sharp key, " ha, 
ha! Homoselle?" 



238 HOMOSELLE. 

"Yes, Homoselle," said Halsey stoutly, not liking 
her manner. "Why not? If matches are made in 
heaven, — and I see no reason to doubt it, — she is 
the woman God intended for me." Halsey had such 
a stolid, solemn way of expressing himself, that Bertie's 
attempt at playfulness was singularly out of tune. 

" Of course ! of course ! every lover thinks the same 
thing," she said, with a thin little laugh. Then, her 
face assuming an interrogative expression, Halsey felt 
that she was about to ask a leading question. He 
thought, with a groan, that he had made confessions 
enough. Fortunately the clock in the hall struck the 
half-hour, and while it was still vibrating he rose to go. 
His interview, that had seemed to drag its tortuous 
length over a week, had lasted one hour and a half. 

" I promised the major to be back at two, in time 
for the boat. He is expecting his lawyer from Rich- 
mond to-day, and I am going to meet him." 

They parted with a show of their accustomed cor- 
diality ; but he was sore with a sense of having been 
successfully pumped, and she remained in a brown 
study long after his departure. 

One little incident helped to restore Halsey's good- 
humor before he got away. In the closely trellised 
walk he met Homoselle, looking fresh and cool in a 
white dress, her hands filled with beautiful ferns which 
he' thought he recognized as the kind that grew in 
Deep Run Wood. She was puzzled by his discontented 
countenance, his crumpled roll of music, and his re- 
proachful "Why, where have you been?" 

"In the woods, trying to make believe I was 



THE LOST MUSIC-LESSON, 239 

looking for ferns, but really looking for a lost young 
man.*' 

" I hope you found him," said Halsey still cross. 

" I have found him now," she said, linking her arm 
in his, and retracing a few steps with him. His ill- 
humor melted away like icicles in the sun. It was 
almost worth while getting ruffled> to be smoothed out 
after this fashion. "And where have j^« been? " she 
asked. 

" I ? I have been in the drawing-room according 
to appointment, waiting for you to come and play my 
accompaniment." 

" Why, that is strange ! I was told that you had 
not come, and I went to meet you." 

" Who told you I had not come ? " he asked pug- 
naciously. 

" Let me see, — Bertie's maid, Lottie, I think." 

" And / was told that you were writing letters for 
your father." 

" That was only a notion of Bertie's. When I went 
to papa's office he said she was mistaken; and I 
betook myself to the woods to waylay you." 

" Humph ! " growled Halsey viciously. 

"To think," said Homoselle regretfully, "that I 
should have missed the music for such an absurd 
mistake ! " 

" The music ! I didn't care a penny for the music. 
It was you I missed. As to mistakes, there seem to 
be no end of mistakes to-day. Homoselle, I told your 
aunt that I loved you." 

"You did?" 



240 HOMOSELLE, 

" I couldn't help it." 

" I am glad it is no worse. You looked as if you 
had something terrible to announce. Had I been 
anybody but myself, Bertie might have suspected 
before now. But I am only Homoselle. Did you 
say any thing about my — my " — 

" Your sentiments ? No : I ran away in time to 
escape that, you know," he said triumphantly. 



ON A BAD FOOTING. 24 1 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ON A BAD FOOTING. 

BERTIE was greatly disgusted by Halsey*s revela- 
tions. She had been so sure that she was the 
primary object of his admiration. 

She was indignant, moreover, that she had been 
kept in the dark until his secret was extorted from 
him. Finally she persuaded herself that this was the 
cause of her anger against the culprits. There was 
a storm when she and Homoselle met. 

" It is not so much your being engaged to Mr. Hal- 
sey," she said, tapping her foot impatiently, — "I have 
nothing to do with that, — but your being so under- 
handed about it." 

"But I tell you we are not engaged,'* retorted 
Homoselle with heat. 

" I don't care what you call it : it amounts to the 
same thing, and you have been so unnecessarily de- 
ceitful." 

" Deceitful ! How can you talk so ? Have I ever 
pretended not to like Mr. Halsey? Anybody with 
half an eye might have seen," said Homoselle, bury- 
ing her face in her cool bunch of ferns. 

"Seen? Thank you : I have as good eyes as any- 
body, but I never thought to look for a young lady 
showing her preference for a man." 



242 HOMOSELLE. 

" Have you never shown any preferences yourself? 
Have you ever thought it necessary to tell any one of 
your affairs?" 

" But," continued Bertie, ignoring these questions, 
" I suppose Mr. Halsey must have seen your prefer- 
ence for him ; notably," she added, a new light dawn- 
ing upon her, " the day you wept over him." 

This shaft told : Homoselle reddened with vexation, 
and her eyes filled with tears. 

"I don't know why you should be so unkind: I 
don't suppose you want him for yourself? " 

" // Come, that is a good joke. Mr. Halsey would 
scarcely presume so far. It is all very well to be kind 
to the young fellow; but nobody knows who he is, 
while everybody knows he hasn't a penny. If he has 
any sense at all, he must know I do not hold myself 
so cheaply." 

" Then we are both satisfied : I think Mr. Halsey 
only too good for me," said Homoselle with proud 
humility. 

" Sweet sensibility ! Oh, la 1 " laughed Bertie, sniff- 
ing at a bottle of cologne, to which she had recourse 
when she was out of sorts. 

Homoselle would not stay to hear any more. She 
hurried away to her old hiding-place, her father's office, 
to be by herself. She knew from experience that soli- 
tude was best for calming a ruffled temper, and there 
she would be safe from interruption. Her father, as 
every one was aware, rode at this time of day ; and 
persons having business with him were not likely to 
call until the hour of his return. 



ON A BAD FOOTING. 243 

In the dim quietude of the shabby little office, her 
irritation soon disappeared. She had such a solid 
foundation for happiness, it was easy to forget trifling 
annoyances. Bertie always flaunted and taunted when 
she was put out, but she- never really meant harm. 
Her anger, like her other emotions, was so transitory, 
so easily effaced by the next thing that occurred, it 
was idle to attach serious importance to what she said. 
Homoselle was always ashamed of being greatly moved 
by Bertie's sharp tongue; for, while the sting it in- 
flicted still smarted, Bertie herself had forgotten her 
words and her anger. 

It may be remembered that the office also served 
as Skip's schoolroom. Homoselle, the sooner to get 
rid of her irritation, wanted to be doing something : 
so she began putting up his books in a more orderly 
fashion than he had left them in. Skip had said his 
last lesson for the summer. The time was drawing 
near for him to return to his regular school in town, 
and she had given him holiday for the few remaining 
days of his stay. She could not help smiling over the 
well-thumbed volumes whose blots and stains marked 
the boy's weary progress along the path of learning. 
This blurred page showed where he had been learning 
his /'s and ^'s ; and that crumpled leaf testified to his 
difficulty in mastering the verb aimer, while he little 
dreamed that the day would come when he would 
have to learn these lessons all over again. 

"Think of the devil," Homoselle said to herself as 
a light, uncertain step on the .gravel-walk gave her 
warning that the imp of whom she was thinking was 



244 HOMOSELLE, 

' about to make his appearance. "Why, Skip, back 
again like a bad penny? I thought you asked leave 
to pFout?'* 

Some years before, in his babyhood, Skip had coined 
the word " pl'out " as a contraction for " play out ; " 
and it continued to be a verb of good standing in the 
family. 

" So I am going to pFout. Who wants to be mewed 
up in the house, I'd like to know?*' he said, looking 
eagerly under chairs and sofas. " But I came back for 
my ball : have you seen it anywhere. Homo? " 

" No, I have not. Run away now, and don't 
bother." 

" Who's botherin' ? Can't a fellow look for his ball 
without your gettin' cross? " 

" Why, yes," she said with compunction ; " but you 
see, I have lost something too, and I came here to be 
by myself to see if I couldn't find it." 

Skip, on his hands and knees, looked up interested. 
You lost something? Your key-basket?" 
No, my equanimity." 

Skip rubbed his nose thoughtfully : " I reckon you 
mean your temper, don't you? " 

Homoselle nodded. 

" Well, you ain't goin' to find it by yourself to-day, 
because Phil is lookin' all over the house for you, and 
he'll be comin' here next," said Skip, chuckling as he 
made a dive under the bookcase for his ball. 

" That is a bother," cried Homoselle, gathering up 
her skirts to be as small as possible, and looking help- 
lessly round for some chink to creep into. Unfortu- 






ON A BAD FOOTINQ. 245 

nately the room had only one egress ; and, as Skip 
bounded out with whoop and halloo, Phil, booted and 
spurred, came clanging up the stone steps, and stood 
in the doorway. He appeared at his best, equipped 
for riding ; and Homoselle, who was provoked at the 
interruption, could not refuse a smile to his bright, 
handsome face, and eager delight at finding her. She 
released her imprisoned draperies, and resigned herself 
to a visit with the best grace she could. 

Phil seemed to take in the situation at a glance. 
" Caught at last ! " he cried, " and not a moment too 
soon. You look just plumed for flight. Come, now, 
you thought I was the overseer, or some other tire- 
some business fellow, and were making ready to es- 
cape, were you not? " '^ 

^^ Yes. I was wondering whether I could not jump 
out of the window, as I have seen Chloe and Skip do." 

" But, since I am not the overseer," he continued, 
nothing doubting, " perhaps you will stay a moment." 

"Yes; but I warn you I am not in the best of 
humors." 

" Has that brat Skip been tormenting you as usual? " 

" No, indeed. Boys are troublesome certainly ; but, 
after all, a boy is a small trouble : mine to-day is of 
larger growth." 

" A man, perhaps ? " 

Homoselle laughed. 

" Must I take your merriment as a sign that I have 
guessed rightly?" 

"No; but you may take it as a sign that I am 
recovering a little of niy good-humor." 



246 . HOMOSELLE. 

" That is encouraging," said Phil, who, all this time, 
had been standing in the doorway, but who now left 
it, and took his seat on the sofa beside Homoselle. 
" And now," he continued, " won't you tell me who or 
what this grown-up trouble is? " 

" No, indeed : this is not a confessional," she said 
quickly, conscious of a gentle insistance unlike his 
usual manner. 

" It might easily become one," he replied, looking 
critically around the room with a lazy twinkle in his 
eye. " The walls are thick, the light is dim, if not 
religious, and nobody over-near." 

" But you are not in the least like a father-confess- 
or," she said, amused at the contrast suggested by his 
dare-devil face and indolent ease of manner. 

"Likely not," he murmured, stroking his silken 
moustache, that did not conceal the self-pleased smile 
that trembled in the corners of his finely-curved lips. 
" But, if I am not competent to receive confessions, 
there is no reason why I may not make one if I were 
so inclined, is there ? " 

" Certainly not, if to the proper person." 

" I suppose I must be the judge of that." 
Not altogether." 

Then you shall be the judge. I have a confession 
to make to you." 

" Oh, no ! not to me," she said, her heart beginning 
to flutter, while she wondered what Phil was driving at. 

" Homoselle," he cried severely, nettled at her want 
of responsiveness, and coming suddenly to a point he 
had predetermined to reach by gentle approaches, — 






ON A BAD FOOTING, 247 



a 



does it never occur to you that I am in love with 
you ? " 

" Never ! " 

"Then it is because you will not see," he cried 
vehemently. "Is it possible you have not noticed 
how I have been following you about like a spaniel, 
trying to get a smile from you, for weeks? " 

" I have noticed your following me about lately, but 
I did not attribute it to love." 

" Then what, in Heaven's name, did you attribute 
it to?" 

I " You will excuse me, Phil, if I tell you I thought it 
the result of pique," she said with spirit. Her flutter- 
ing nerves were under control now, and her temper 
was rising again. PhiFs words revived a grudge she 
had against him. This following her about, as he 
called it, had succeeded in spoiling sport in a most 
unconscionable manner. She and Halsey had been 
sorely put to it, to elude PhiFs persistent attentions. 

" Pique 1 " echoed Phil, starting up, and beginning 
to pace the floor. When he had, in a measure, worked 
off" the surprise occasioned by her keen home-thrust, 
he came and stood penitently before her. " You are 
right, Homoselle," he said humbly, " it began in pique. 
It infuriated me to see how much you cared for that 
in" — a flash from her eyes' made him modify his 
expression, and congratulate himself on the facility 
with which it was accomplished, — " that in — English- 
man : there is no hatm in calling him an Enghshman, 
is there ? " with an air of injured innocence. " A man 
with a foot like a beefsteak ! " he continued, tapping 



248 HOMOSELLE, 

his own slender, finely-arched foot with his riding- 
whip. 

Homoselle blushed guiltily. Beautiful feet were 
almost universal among the men and women of her 
class, and highly prized as a distinction of caste ; but 
Halsey's truly English foot, though a good, serviceable 
member, was more remarkable for size than shape, — 
a fact to which Homoselle persistently tried to shut 
her eyes. 

"But he has beautiful hands," she said apologeti- 
cally; the next moment regretting that she should 
have appeared to think Halsey needed any apology. 
— " strong, white, beautifully-shaped, beautifully-kept 
hands." 

" Pshaw I who cares for beauty in a man's hands? " 

"And it is only fair," she continued thoughtfully, 
following PhiPs satisfied glance at his own pedal ex- 
tremity, " that his foot should be larger than yours : 
you know he is a larger man every way." 

There was no mistaking the intention of the slight 
stress on the word " every." 

Phil winced. " You are severe," he said angrily. 

" His is too large a nature, for instance, to sneer at 
another man's personal defects." 

" Come, come, Homoselle : you are pushing your 
advantage too far. It was a mistake to begin with 
Halsey's foot, which, large as it is, is small in com- 
parison with the real cause of my antagonism." 

"And pray, what may that be? " 

"I prefer not to speak of that now. I wish to 
speak of myself. I confess that man's attention to 



ON A BAD FOOTING, 249 

you first attracted my interest. But don't think the 
less of my devotion on that account. Every thing 
has to have a beginning of some kind, even the most 
stupendous things. You know a stupid little apple 
drove Adam out of Paradise, and taught Newton the 
laws of gravitation. I swear to you, my love is more 
stupendous than either Eden or gravitation." 

"And do you think it quite honorable to try to 
bring down the game another man has flushed? " 

"There spoke the true sportsman's daughter. Ah, 
Homoselle 1 if you at all appreciated that I was laying 
my heart and my life at your feet, you could not coolly 
make similes." 

"You forget your own ingenious remarks about 
Adam and Newton. But I ask you in all seriousness, 
Phil, do you think it quite fair to try and supplant^ 
another man, especially," this with heightened color, 
"when, as you intimate, he is in a fair way to be 
successful?" 

Phil, who had taken his seat, bounced up again. 
" You don't mean it, Homoselle : you can't be in 
earnest ! I never dreamed it was more than a young 
girl's foolish fancy for a foreigner," he said, beginning 
his furious walk anew. " To go back to your simile, 
to be quite accurate, it is not a man who flushes game, 
but a dog. I look upon this Englishman as a " — 

He did not finish his sentence : Homoselle rose 
too, white and trembling with anger. " I will not hear 
another word," she said, going to the door ; but Phil 
barred her passage. 

"Forgive me, dear," he said humbly: "I must 



250 IIOMOSELLE, 

speak. Spurn me if you will, but don't throw your- 
self away on Halsey. He is utterly unworthy of you." 

" Let me pass," she said haughtily : " it is unmanly 
to keep me here against my will." 

" So it is, rascally," he replied reddening, and turning 
to open the door, but he was saved the trouble. Mr. 
Despard, whose approach had not been heard in the 
heat of their angry discussion, entered at this moment. 

"What is up now? " he asked, looking in astonish- 
ment from one pale, excited face to the other. 

Homoselle was about to speak, but Phil forestalled 
her. " Only this, Mr. Despard," he said in a husky, 
trembling voice : " that I have been offering myself to 
your daughter, and she has refused me." 

Mr. Despard's countenance fell. " Is it possible ! " 
he exclaimed, in sad surprise : " Phil, I cannot tell 
"you how sorry I am for this." 

If Mr. Despard's hopes for his daughter's futm-e 
had ever taken definite shape, they were that she 
might become Phil's wife, and the mistress of his 
beautiful establishment ; but, as the young man had 
never evinced more than a friendly interest in Homo- 
selle, he had not allowed his mind to dwell on the 
desirability of such an arrangement. 

When he had fully taken in the import of Phil's 
words,, he felt actually stunned by the fact that Homo- 
selle had let slip such a brilliant opportunity; and 
for what? a long, uncertain engagement with a for- 
eigner. In the solitude of his office, after the young 
people had gone, he pondered long, and groaned in 
spirit, over this latest misfortune. 



ON A BAD FOOTING, 251 

Homoselle scorned to believe PhiFs insinuations 
against Halsey's character; but his words had not 
been wholly without effect. 

A week later she asked Bertie, casually as it were, 
which was worse, an ugly hand, or an ugly foot. 

Bertie's reply was prompt, and, as usual, very 
emphatic : — 

" An ugly foot, of course : an ugly hand is a mis- 
fortune, but an ugly foot is a disgrace." 



252 HOMOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE CHALLENGE. 



« The mother of mischief is no bigger than a midge's wing.*' 

Proverb, 

IT was twilight, great nature's breathing-spell; the 
quiet hour when day is over, and night not yet 
begun; blind man's holiday, when colors fade, and 
tired eyes rest on cool gray outlines. 

Mr. Despard sat at one end of the portico, his chair 
tilted, his hands clasped behind his head, his eyes 
half closed, gazing out on the river. His mental gaze 
was concentrated on times long past. 

As he sat there plunged in retrospection, some one 
came out of the house, and went quietly down the 
front steps. It was Chloe in search of Skip. Not 
finding him on the portico, she proceeded to look for 
him on the lawn. 

Mr. Despard caught sight of her in passing. Her 
face was not discernible in the uncertain light ; but her 
figure, the turn of her head, the air of her dress, were 
unmistakable. He thought she had not seen him. 

" My daughter," he said in a gentle tone, intending 
to surprise but not to startle her. 

The girl started and paused, then moved on more 
quickly. 



THE CHALLENGE. 253 






EUie, darling/' he repeated. 
Tain't nobody but Chloe, sir," Chloe answered 
meekly, hurrying away. 

Mr. Despard bit his lip, rose, and began pacing the 
portico in his old restless way. His retrospection had 
taken a disagreeable turn. 

It was the first time he had ever taken one girl for 
the other, and yet it was not a surprising mistake. 
They were about the same height, and there was a 
certain resemblance in face and figure : added to this, 
Chloe wore an old dress of Homoselle's, which had 
acquired, as clothes will, something of the air of the 
first wearer. The great difference between the two 
was in the coloring, but it was too dark to discern 
that. 

Soon after this little occurrence the lamps were 
lighted in the house, dispelling the twilight ; the tea- 
bell rang, and the family began to drop one by one 
into the drawing-room, where Homoselle was waiting 
to pour out tea. 

Skip, who ordinarily had to be hunted up and made 
ready for meals, appeared at the first tap of the bell, 
with scrupulously clean face, and hair so sleek as to 
give him a depressed expression. His holidays were 
drawing to a close, and he was on his best behavior. 
Every year, as the time approached for Skip to go back 
to school, he became miserable and heart-sick, and, like 
a certain other sick personage, so distressingly good as 
to be easily mistaken for a monk. 

His eyes gleamed dangerously , though, at sight of 
Tommy, looking very solemn, with a waiter under his 



i 



254 HOMOSELLE. 

arm, ready to " catch cups." Tommy was a tempta- 
tion almost too great to be resisted. How Skip would 
have liked to trip him up as he walked back and forth, 
with great importance, to the tea-urn, having cups 
replenished ! 

As it was, he stuck his tongue in his cheek, in pass- 
ing; and Tommy, who never failed to take up the 
gauntlet, gave a little growl to indicate, that, though on 
parole in the drawing-room, with a fair field he was 
ready to pitch in. 

Presently Mr. Despard entered from the portico, 
looking as cheerful as usual, having left his retrospec- 
tions outside, in the twilight. 

"Why, Skip, you look like a Methodist parson. 
Have you had your head under the pump?" he 
asked. 

Even Tommy saw the point of the joke, and 
grinned; for which Skip inwardly resolved to thrash 
him, and thought how hard it was to be good, with all 
the forces of nature opposing. 

By and by Bertie and Phil Roy sauntered in. These 
two had drifted together a good deal of late : a com- 
mon cause against Halsey had brought about quite a 
friendship between them, which Bertie was doing her 
best to develop into something better. 

They had been taking a walk ; and Bertie's head and 
shoulders were enveloped in a black lace mantilla, 
fastened at the throat with a cluster of her favorite 
bleeding-hearts. She was looking pretty and piquante : 
she lighted up well, and was at her best by lamplight. 
Her eyes were dancing now with an expression of sa- 



THE CHALLENGE. 255 

• 

tirical amusement in which Phil evidently shared. His 
lips seemed to be hovering between a smile and one 
of those low, long-drawn whistles that express so much 
with so little. 

They took their seats on a sofa farthest from the 
light, and began a low-toned, animated discussion of 
something that called forth many exclamations of won- 
der and commiseration. 

"What's up now?" asked Mr. Despard, sipping his 
tea at ease in a great armchair, amused at their osten- 
tatious mystery. 

** English consols down," murmured Bertie in a low 
voice to Phil. 

Homoselle caught the word " English," and glanced 
uneasily at the pair with a presentiment that she would 
not enjoy their joke. 

"Tea, Phil?" she asked. 

" No, thank you. Don't indulge in slops." 

" Wait till you come to forty year," said Mr. Des- 
pard, sending up his cup to be refilled. " Come, now, 
out with it : what are you two whispering about, over 
there?" 

"Only discussing a little adventure we had this 
evening," said Phil evasively. 

"You would not be at all entertained, Frank. 
Would he, Phil?" said Bertie dryly. 

"I think not. But I have something here, I am 
sure will interest you ; " and Phil drew from his pocket 
a couple of fresh unfolded papers. " To-day's 
news." 

"That is a treasure-trove," said Mr. Despard, drain- 



2S6 HOMOSEILE. 

ing the last sweet drop from his cup before sending it 
away ; and then putting on his glasses, and concentrat- 
ing the lights on the centre-table, he buried his nose 
in a newspaper, and soon became immersed in politics. 

" Don*t send away the tea. Homo : somebody is 
coming," said Skip, slyly stuffing his pocket with cake 
from the waiter, while his cousin turned her head 
towards the door to see who the new-comer might be. 

It proved to be Halsey, who entered, looking dis- 
turbed, with a fine crimson flush on his face. 

" Just in time," said Homoselle with a smile of wel- 
come : " I was going to send the waiter away. WiU 
you have your tea cold, or hot? " 

" Cold, by aU means, thank you," said Halsey, tak- 
ing his seat on the piano-stool, and fanning himself 
vigorously with a piece of sheet-music ; " with plenty 
of ice in it. It is terribly warm. Ah, yes ! I forgot : I 
promised never to talk about the weather; but this 
seems to be exceptionally hot." 

He was glad to have attention drawn from himself 
just then, by Mr. Despard, who looked up from his 
paper to speak of the loss of an American steamer. 

" The very one young Chapman, the son of a friend 
of mine, took passage in." 

" Chapman ! " echoed Phil. " He was one of ray 
college mates. Are there any particulars? Read 
what it says." 

Mr. Despard adjusted his spectacles, and read 
aloud the short, unsatisfactory paragraph that first an- 
nounced the loss of a steamer that caused very wide- 
spread distress in America. 



THE CHALLENGE. 2$/ 

An animated discussion followed in regard to the 
accident, its probable cause, ocean-steamers, and the 
like ; subjects of general interest, which the company, 
divided in many things, could converse about amica- 
bly, until Halsey quite innocently remarked, " Strange 
that one should ever cross the ocean except in a 
Cunarder ! " 

" Why so ? " asked Phil curdy. 

" Well, really ! For no other reason than that expe- 
rience has proved that they are safest." 

" Are the vessels superior to those on the American 
line?" 

" I don't know : I never tried the American line ; 
but I suppose not, since they are all built in British 
waters. I suppose the difference lies in the manage- 
ment." 

"How much we hear of the superiority of every 
thing British, nowadays ! " said Phil pugnaciously. 

Halsey laughed. " It has seemed to me quite the 
other way ; that is, as far as you are concerned, Mr. 
Roy." 

" You are mistaken : I am content to let superiority 
speak for itself." 

" Then we are agreed on that point. British steam- 
ers speak for themselves," said Halsey, taking his seat 
on a sofa by Homoselle, and beginning to talk with 
her, apart, of other things. 

Mr. Despard, who, with his eyes bent on the news- 
paper, had watched this little passage-at-arms with 
anxiety (not knowing how far Phil's pugnacity, which 
had developed wonderfully of late, would carry him), 



25 8 HOMOSELLE. 

gave a satisfied grunt at his discomfiture, and plunged 
anew into politics. 

Phil bit his lip, and fumed inwardly. He would 
have it out with that Englishman, yet. He wasn't 
going to stand the fellow's impudence, — a fellow who 
looked as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, and all 
the time behaving like a blackguard. 

His temper was not a whit improved by what was 
going on at the other side of the room. 

Homoselle was there, looking very happy, on a 
sofa between Skip and Halsey. Skip had fallen asleep 
during the long discussion of ocean-steamers, with his 
head on her shoulder. Halsey sat on the other side, 
twirling a bit of yellow jessamine in his fingers ; and 
his attitude displayed unconsciously what a good- 
looking fellow he was. Bending forward with one 
elbow on his knee, his head, as he looked up in her 
face, was thrown slightly back, showing its fine contour, 
and exposing the massive beauty of his throat. His 
broad shoulders, his length and strength of limb, and, 
above all, his complexion, with its sea-dipped look of 
freshness, made him a typical Englishman of the better 
sort. His appearance was of just the kind to make 
his friends proud of him, and to give a touch of exas- 
peration to those who did not love him. 

Phil Roy did not love him ; and the indescribable 
air of superiority an Englishman contrives to wear, 
whether he is superior or not, made Phil feel like 
tweaking his nose. 

Phil's own delicate brown face and slender figure 
were not without their attraction ; but the difference 



THE CHALLENGE. 259 

between the two men was like that between a gray- 
hound and a mastiff; as though the mastiff should say, 
" You keen, high-bred looking creature, you do admir- 
ably to ornament a lady's drawing-room ; but, if there 
is any real man's work to be done, call on me." 

Bertie was talking in her rapid, breathless way ; her 
near-sighted eyes admiring, at the end of her nose, 
her hands, her rings, her ribbons. She did not see 
how often PhiPs glance shot across the width of the 
room to where the others were saying, in low tones, 
things commonplace enough, but for the manner that 
accompanied them, — the peculiar manner that makes 
love's lightest word the height of eloquence. 

" The darkies say," Bertie was saying, " * white man 
monstrous unsartin ; ' and I believe that is the sum of 
human experience. The only thing we can be certain 
about, in man, is his uncertainty. Now, there is my 
paragon. I thought him every thing true, lovely, and 
of good report. But what a fall is here, my country- 
men 1 I shall never believe in anybody again." 

" Now, there you go," said Phil ; " moralizing and 
generalizing over the human race, because you have 
found out there is one more scoundrel in existence. 
Why, the world is full of them." 

"And he looks so fresh and' innocent too ! " 

"You know, I distrusted him the first time I saw 
him. A fellow that parts his hair in the middle ! " 

" Yes ; but I thought that was prejudice. You men 
alwa)rs detest foreigners." 

" And you women always adore them." 

" You see, we like novelty." 



260 HOMOSELLE, 

" Well, I hope you have got enough of novelty this 
time. How can the puppy have the impudence to 
look up in Homoselle*s face in that manner ! " 

" How is he looking up in her face ? You know, I 
can't see without my glasses. He used to look up in 
my face until I discotu-aged him." 

" Oh ! I dare say. But this thing can't go on. Your 
brother must be told." 

"Frank will not believe any thitig against his 
friends. He never does." 

" What I not if you tell him what you have seen ? " 

" I am dreadfully near-sighted, you know, and once 
spoke to a cow for one of our neighbors ; and Frank 
has never trusted my eyes implicitly since." 

" Well, my sight is good enough, and I will speak. 
My suspicions have been aroused for some time, but 
I held my tongue until I was certain. Now I will 
not only inform your brother, but I will thrash himr 

"Will that be as easy?" 

" Quite." 

While Bertie and Phil were talking after this fashion, 
Homoselle and Halsey were conversing in quite a 
different mood. 

"That reminds me of a dream I had some time 
ago," Halsey said in reply to something she had been 
telling him. 

" Did you dream of pistols ? " 

" Not exactly, but something akin, — muskets." 

" I wish it were only a dream about my pistol. I 
have looked everywhere for it, and can't find it. I am 
sure it was in the drawer where I keep it, last week ; 



THE CHALLENGE. 26 1 

but I missed it day before yesterday, and have not seen 
it since. It is a little beauty, too, mounted in silver. 
My cousin George Dinwiddie gave it to me years 
ago, when we used to practise shooting at a mark.. 
But I have given that up now, and I intended making 
you a present of the pistol." 

" I hope it will turn up, I am sure. But who is 
George Dinwiddie? A cousin I have not 'heard of 
before. Cousins seem to grow on every bush in Vir- 
ginia." 

"You have forgotten. I must have often talked 
about George : he is the dearest fellow in the world, 
or was. I have not seen him for three years. He is 
the son of my mother's sister. She and her two boys 
are the only relatives I have on my mother's side. 
Some day you will knOw them, I hope." 

"I hope so, indeed. Where are they now?" 

"Travelling in Europe; and, by the by, I had an 
invitation to go with them."* 

" Why in the world did you not accept? " 

" I could not leave papa. I am glad I did not now, 
and so ought you to be." 

"So I am. But we should have met in Europe. 
Ours is manifest destiny. But has not that youngster 
made a pillow of your shoulder long enough? Isn't 
it time for him to go to bed ? " Halsey asked, as the 
hall clock struck ^line. 

"To be sure it is. I had forgotten all about the 
child. — Skip, dear, wake up. It is nine o'clock, long 
past your bed-time." 

" Presently," murmured Skip. 



262 HOMOSELLE. 

" Not a bit of it. Go right now." 

"I ain't hearin' what you and Mr. Horsely are 
talkin' about," said Skip, his senses not entirely sub- 
merged in drowsiness. 

" Nonsense, boy ! " said HomoseDe, flushing, and 
glancing toward Phil, who caught her eye. "Don't 
behave like a baby, but go at once." 

The boy, with his eyes half-shut, rose reluctantly, 
and staggered sleepily towards the door. 

" Look out 1 " cried Phil and Halsey simultane- 
ously, as he ran into a little table ornamented with an 
India bowl full of yellow jessamine. 

" What a fuss I " said the child fretfully. 

The bowl capsized, deluging him with water, and 
scattering the flowers over the floor. The bowl was 
rescued by Phil's quickness. "You little brat, look 
what you are about I " he said, catching the precious 
china in time to save it from destruction. 

Skip was thoroughly roused by his bath and Phil's 
impatience. " You'd better not call me a brat : my 
pa says it's not gentlemanly to call people names," he 
said, stooping to pick up the flowers, glad to postpone 
going to bed. 

"Skip, don't be pert. You have done mischief 
enough for one evening," said Homoselle. 

" Now, Homo, how could I help it ? You would 
send me to bed before I was awake.'' 

" In future you shall go to bed before you are asleep, 
sir. Look at the puddle of water on the floor, and 
my flowers, that I arranged so beautifully, in a mess." 

" La ! Homo, there's plenty more in the garden ; 



J 



THE CHALLENGE. 263 

and you never used to think so much of 'em, anyway, 
till Mr. Horsely said they were your flowers. I don* 
know what he said so for, either : they are all yeller, 
and you ain't a yeller girl." 

This was a pert child's silly speech, that another 
time would have been laughed at \ but a flame leaped 
into Phil's eyes at the unexpected opportunity to have 
it out with Halsey. 

Without a moment's reflection he hissed through his 
clewched teeth, — 

" Perhaps Mr. Halsey would admire her more if she 
were." 

Halsey turned on him a look of mild-eyed wonder. 
When he saw the set purpose in Roy's face, and it 
gradually dawned upon him that the words were an 
intentional and outrageous insult, his brows knit, and 
his eyes glittered, while he answered with more than 
his usual dehberation, — 

" Your words, Mr. Roy, are insulting both to Miss 
Despard and myself. You must apologize to her now. 
With me you shall settle hereafter." 

In his headlong attack Phil had not perceived that 
his speech was scarcely less rude to Homoselle than 
to Halsey. He was taken aback, but he was too 
wrathful to be temperate : besides, the cool, masterful 
way in which Halsey put him in the wrong, goaded 
him to fury. 

" Pshaw ! " he said insolently : " I never insult 
women, and my cousin knows I intended no disre- 
spect to her. My words were intended solely for 



264 HOMOSELLE, 

" You are mistaken," said Homoselle, pale with an- 
ger. " I have no such confidence in your forbearance 
to women. What you have said is insulting to every- 
body here." 

The angry words passed so quickly that some mo- 
ments elapsed before the lookers-on recovered from 
their astonishment. 

Skip, who had unwittingly played the part of spark 
to a mine, sat in a puddle of water, looking from one 
disputant to the other, with a comical expression of 
dismay, as though by innocently pulling a string he 
had brought down the world about his ears, 

Homoselle had drawn near to Halsey, and laid her 
hand on his shoulder, intending to show that she 
included herself in whatever concerned him. 

The simple movement was at once a defiance and a 
confession that astonished Phil, and for a moment 
silenced him. 

Bertie shrank into a comer of her sofa, glad that 
the crisis had come, but in nervous horror of a scene \ 
like a child who has turned the faucet, and waits, 
shuddering, for the shower-bath. 

At the first pause Mr. Despard spoke. " Roy," he 
said, " you forget yourself, and violate every obligation 
of hospitality, when you insult one of my guests." 

Phil writhed at this reproach, which he felt was so 
imdeserved. 

" Mr. Despard ! Homoselle ! " he cried, pointing 
to Halsey, " you do not know this man : he is " — 

"Come, Roy, not another word. — EUie, you and 
Bertie go up stairs, and take Skip with you." 



J 



THE CHALLENGE, 265 

" Frank ! " cried Bertie in a trembling voice, intend- 
ing to make a stand for Phil. But her brother would 
not hear. 

" Not now, Bertie," he said, holding open the door 
through which Homoselle and Skip had passed. 

There was a note in Mr. Despard's voice that even 

Bertie did not dare to disregard. He used it now; 

and she hurried out of the room, her train wriggling 

~ after her with a tremulous motion imparted by the 

perturbation of her nerves. 

" Halsey," said Mr. Despard, when she had gone, 
" I am sorry this should have occurred under my roof. 
Not now, Roy : you had better wait until you are 
calmer before you make any explanations." 

" I shall not attempt to make any explanations 
now," said Phil sulkily. "I regret having made a 
\'^- disturbance in your house, Mr. Despard \ but it was in 

jolt* your interest, as you will find some day." 

He took up his hat, and went away without looking 
at Halsey, who waited only long enough to bid his 
host good-night. 

Before Phil was half way down the avenue, Halsey's 
long step had caught up with him. 

" Now, sir," he said quietly, " you will tell me the 
meaning of your conduct." 

Phil wheeled round, trembling with rage, with his 
cane raised. Something in Halsey's face made him 
drop it This was not an affair to be settled with 
childish, hasty blows. " Meaning 1 " he cried, his words 
pouring out in a burning stream : " it means that you 
are a scoundrel; it means that you are accepting 



i 



266 HOMOSELLE, 

Major Carter's hospitality, and tampering with the 
loyalty of his slaves ; it means that you are associating 
with my cousins, the Miss Despards, as a gentleman, 
and at the same time paying your addresses to their 
negro servant Chloe." In the dim light Phil saw 
Halsey wince. " Now you know what it means." 

The other did, not reply for a moment, and Phil 
thought he had nothing to say. He was soon un- 
deceived, 

" You must retract the lies you have just spoken, or 
it will go hard with you," said Halsey in the exasper- 
atingly cool tone of superiority that irritated Phil in 
his calmest moments, and which now lashed him into 
murderous fury. 

" Lies ! by Heaven, you shall answer for your im- 
pertinence with your life," he cried, making a spring 
at Halsey*s throat. But rage is blind; and Halsey, 
who kept himself well in hand, easily eluded the mad 
attack. 

" Not here," he said calmly. " We will not disgrace 
Mr. Despard's lawn with fisticuffs. This is not the 
time and place to settle this matter." 

" Time and place ! " cried Phil, " you are right : we 
will arrange a time and place to settle it, with your 
life or mine." 

"So be it. You shall hear from me to-morrow," 
said Halsey, turning away, and striking across the 
greensward towards the path that led to Westover. 

For all that his manner was so cool, his anger was 
hot enough ; and for some moments he felt a savage 
satisfaction in the idea of putting a quietus to Roy's 



THE CHALLENGE. 26/ 

impertinence with a ball or a bodkin, or any thing 
that came to hand. 

As he walked home under the calm starlit heavens, 
his irritation subsided, his blood cooled, and he ac- 
knowledged to himself that circumstances had forced 
him into a position that a looker-on might well mis- 
understand. Added to this, he comprehended, with- 
out indignation, Roy's very natural jealousy of a rival 
who was also a foreigner. Then the memory of a 
mistake he had himself made, the consequences of 
which caused it to appear so much more than a mis- 
take, flashed over him ; and in the starlight, with 
nobody to see, he felt his face burn with the ever- 
ready flush that he had never been able to bring under 
control. ^ 

In the most trying moments, when the absolute 
stillness of his manner testified to intense self-repres- 
sion, this sudden mounting of the blood to his cheek 
betrayed, against his will, the passionate vitality 
beneath his enforced calmness. 

He gave Roy the advantage of trying to view the 
matter from his standpoint ; but still there was much 
in the fire- eating young Virginian's conduct that was 
insupportable, and richly deserved punishment. 



368 UOUOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CARD-PARTV. 

THE practice of duelling was declining at this 
period of the world's history, and men, even in 
the South, were beginning to find more rational means 
of settling their differences than by flying to arms on 
the slightest provocation ; but there was no other issue 
possible in a quarrel like that of Roy with Halsey. 
Accordingly a challenge was sent by the latter through 
his friend and compatriot, Dobbin ; and all necessary 
preliminaries were satisfactorily arranged, the weapons 
agreed upon, the time and place of meeting appointed. 

Roy did not go again to Dunmore; and, when 
Halsey made his appearance there, his manner was so 
tranquil that nobody suspected the grave matter he 
had in hand. 

Mr. Despard, who had feared that the angry words 
spoken in his drawing-room would be followed by 
serious consequences, was completely re-assured by the 
cheerfulness of Halsey's demeanor. 

When Bertie was questioned as to the insinuations 
she and Roy had made against the young Englishman, 
she had nothing more definite to say, than that she 
believed him to be an abolitionist who was trying to 
mcite the negroes to rebellion, and that she and Phil 



THE CARD-PARTY, 269 

had caught him in a position which was equivocal to 
say the very least. What the position was, she did not 
explain, nor did Mr. Despard ask. He pooh-poohed 
the idea. Bertie had found a mare*s-nest, as usual. 
A man was to be judged by the whole tenor of his life, 
not by some small, unexplained circumstance; and 
Halsey had shown himself a gentleman. Bertie shook 
her head ominously, and said time would prove. 

Mr. Despard was glad to dismiss the subject from 
his mind. For his part, he found that if one did not 
worry too much over disagreeable things, they had a 
tendency to blow over. Besides, his thoughts were 
occupied at this time with an entertainment he pro- 
posed giving a distinguished man who was making a 
short stay in the neighborhood. The distinguished 
man was fond of cards ; and the entertainment was to 
take the form of a card-party, to be given, as it hap- 
pened, on the evening before the day appointed for 
the duel. 

While Mr. Despard*s thoughts were engaged with 
the details of his menUy Halsey was preparing for 
death. 

The evening of the card-party arrived ; and Homo- 
selle, to whom the day had been of more than ordinary 
difficulty, retired to rest fatigued and anxious. 

Any thing like a feast at Dunmore involved its mis- 
tress in troubles unknown to households not under the 
necessity of appearing more imposing than the means 
at command justified. The old Dunmore hospitality 
had been proverbial \ and Mr. Despard, who now rarely 
entertained, said, " When I do invite anybody to the 



270 HOMOSELLE, 

house, I want to have things decent." " Decent," a 
word which at the first glance seems to be of modest 
requirements, has been proved to cover a great deal of 
ground. Mr. Despard, like ecclesiastics who take the 
unpretending expression " decently and in order " to 
mean a great deal of sumptuous display, intended, as 
Homoselle knew, things not easily attainable, — delicate 
feathered things that fly the air, and feed on banks of 
celery ; things that swim the sea \ things that imprison 
for years the bloom and sunshine of rare vintages, to 
be quafled in an hour. 

Her temper had been sorely tried by the heavy 
expenditure she was obliged to incur in order to have 
things even approaching decency in her father's sense 
of the word. Her patience, too, had been exhausted 
by the servants, who seemed to be more than ordinarily 
blundering and forgetful on the occasion, and doubled 
her labors by their carelessness and inattention. Then, 
there was the secret, gnawing anxiety she always suffered 
when her father's easy temper was exposed to the 
invasion of the feeling called good-fellowship. He 
seemed only to need the contact of other men to 
arouse the fierce passion for social enjoyment that 
sometimes lay dormant so long, that she thought the 
serpent was killed, until occasion proved it was only 
scotched. 

Unfortunately the great man for whose benefit the 
card-party was given was called away at the last 
moment by urgent public business ; but the entertain- 
ment, though shorn of its brightest ornament, went on 
all the same. 



THE CARD-PARTY. 2/1 

Many a long day had passed since the Dunmore 
walls, once so famed for hospitality, had waked up to 
the gayety of invited company. This fact probably, 
besides the tradition of good cheer, made the enter- 
tainment a success. Nobody declined ; and although 
the weather had been unfavorable all day, and at the 
time of meeting in the evening it was raining heavily, 
everybody who was invited came. They were not 
many, — a few prominent county gentlemen, several of 
whom had to ride a long distance, and arrived wet and 
mud-splashed. But when their horses had been snugly 
stabled, and themselves comforted with a cheery fire 
that remedied their dampness, and pleasant bumpers 
that assuaged their dryness, they enjoyed themselves 
the more for the contrast with the storm outside. A 
genial company of country gentlemen, who discussed 
pohtics, crops, and the weather, as they rubbed their 
hands and toasted their calves round the blaze which 
the dampness of the evening made agreeable although 
it was only September. 

There were Nelsons and Pages, Byrds and Carters ; 
among them the usual proportion of pessimists who 
believed the country was going to the democrats and 
the dogs, and cheerful souls who thought every thing 
would come right in the end. There was the facetious 
man who told anecdotes ; the bachelor who indulged in 
theories about women \ the family man, rather inclined 
to bore you about cutting teeth and the croup ; the 
agriculturist, whose mind revolved with the rotation 
of crops ; and the inevitable man with a cold, who 
coughed or sneezed in the middle of your best story. 



i 



272 HOMOSELLE. 

The cards were not brought out until after supper, 
— which, by the way, was quite up to the traditional 
mark, — and then the business of the evening began. 

The storm raged wildly, and the rain poured in tor- 
rents without ; but the scene within was comfortable 
enough. 

The dining-room was illuminated for the occasion 
with the soft light of many candles, clusters of which 
decked the high mantlepiece, and brightened the old 
sideboard garnished with heavy silver plate and a 
great bowl of fragrant apple-toddy. Into this mellow 
radiance was projected a cloud of smoke from a dozen 
cigars. 

There were three card-tables, round which twelve 
gentlemen were seated, smoking and playing whist. 
Their countenances indicated that it was very earnest 
play. 

Had some hapless Virginian, exposed to the tempest, 
peeped through the windows at the ruddy glow in- 
doors, he would have sighed like the disconsolate Peri 
at the gate of Paradise. Light, warmth, liquors, cigars, 
cards ! What more could the heart of man desire ? 

The games went on in the proverbial silence that 
belongs to scientific whist. Scarcely a word was 
spoken except the necessary explanations that arose 
from time to time. 

The stakes, beginning with a nominal value, increased 
as the night went on. 

Mr. Despard, who had not touched a card for 
months, and had begun playing for an evening's rec- 
reation, gradually warmed up to the work. The old 



THE CARD-PARTY. 2/3 

spirit entered into the man with sevenfold power, and 
he ended by playing desperately. Much money was 
lost and won that memorable night. 

Homoselle's father had forgotten for the moment 
how the fair Dunmore estate had already been wasted 
by the gambling propensities of her ancestors ; forgot- 
ten the self-sacrifice with which she liad lately paid off 
his most pressing debt ; forgotten the forbearance he 
owed the most dutiful of daughters. 

He lost heavily, but did not betray by the quiver 
of an eyelash that the luck was going persistently 
against him. He sat, calm, pale, with brightly glowing 
eyes; beyond this he showed no sign that he was 
squandering his substance for pastime. Once during 
the evening he rang to have the bowl replenished, but 
scarcely noticed that the summons was not responded 
to, so intent was he on his game. 

Meanwhile Homoselle was lying awake, listening to 
the storm, and waiting for the company to depart. 

She could not sleep until her father had put out the 
lights, and was safe in his room. She had tried to sit 
up, but had been forced at last to go to bed out of 
sheer weariness. 

Several times while undressing she had gone into 
the hall, and peeped over the balusters into the dim, 
far-off regions below ; but a bright line of light under 
the dining-room door, and a penetrating odor of cigar- 
smoke, gave no indication of the company breaking 
up. 

She was in the habit of leaving her shutters open at 
night for the sake of the friendly light of the stars ; but 



274 HOMOSELLE. 

this night was so black that her room was in utter 
darkness. The melancholy sighing of the wind, and 
the heavy dash of the rain against the windows, made 
the gloom more oppressive. She rose, and lighted 
a taper which she placed on the hearth. The tiny 
point of light, though only enough to make darkness 
visible and throw ponderous shadows, was like a com- 
panion in her lonely night-watch. As the hours wore 
on, her restlessness and anxiety increased. She found 
herself listening nervously to every sound ; the scam- 
pering of rats in the wall, the creaking of furniture, 
and all those unaccountable noises that break the still- 
ness of the night. Once or twice she started up, feel- 
ing sure some one was in the room. Finally she 
became so excited, that, when a blast of wind rattled 
the branches of a tree against her window, it was with 
difficulty she repressed a scream. The shock over, 
she realized the harmless nature of the disturbance, 
and felt a hysterical desire to laugh. She was thor- 
oughly roused, and so nervous from tension of feeling 
that her senses were painfully acute. 

She had waited so long for the first movement down- 
stairs, that her heart gave a great leap when she heard 
what seemed to be a light footfall on the steps. 

In a moment she became all ears. The step 
sounded far away, near the hall-door at the back of 
the house. But this could not be her father, coming 
up the back way : besides, it was an unshod foot. She 
sat up in bed, and listened. It came nearer. Softly, 
lightly up the stairway came some one, feeling the way 
in the darkness with a hand on the wall. It must be 



THE CARD-PARTY. 2/5 

one of the servants. But what could they be coming 
up stairs for, at this time of night? 

It flashed over her, how strangely they had acted all 
day, — how they seemed to be in a state of suppressed 
excitement, one moment careless and insubordinate, 
the next fawning with cringing servility. 

She half rose with the intention of locking the door, 
and then remembered, with a shiver, that the lock had 
been out of order and the key gone for years. 

The footsteps had reached the top of the stairs now, 
and were in the passage, coming straight towards her 
door. 

In a moment of danger, things forgotten crowd into 
the memory like the m)rriads of unseen motes that 
flash into existence with a ray of sunlight. Homoselle 
remembered how often Halsey had warned her of the 
careless security in which Southerners lived; how 
he had declared that he sometimes felt appalled at the 
danger of their position ; how she had laughed at his 
fears, and half promised to be more careful in future. 
Oh ! why did these thoughts come to torture her, 
when she most needed steadiness, with vain regret that 
she had never had her lock repaired ? 

What was this unknown terror coming upon her 
now ; that stood at her door, with its hand upon the 
latch ? 

Human nature never deserts its post. Even in this 
supreme moment Homoselle was conscious of a hope, 
scarcely a prayer, that the danger would come in the 
form of flesh and blood, and not as a ghost. Like 
most women, she did not beheve in ghosts, but she was 
mortally afraid of them. 



276 HOMOSELLE, 

By the feeble light of the taper on the hearth she 
saw the door open slowly, inch by inch, as if the in- 
truder did not wish to rouse her if she were asleep. 
She found strength to call, in a frightened whisper that 
she did not recognize as her own voice, "Who's 
there ? " 

The door opened ; and a raan, as well as she could 
see, — a strange negro man, — stood in the doorway. 
Her presence of mind did not desert her : indeed, it 
was a relief to find that it was a negro. Either from 
the fact of belonging to a dominant race, or from 
natural instinct, Southerners were never personally 
afraid of negroes. Homoselle found her voice. 

" What do you want ? Is any one ill, that you come 
to me at this time of night? " she asked in the ordi- 
nary tone of mistress to servant. 

The tremulous voice that answered her betrayed 
more agitation than her own. 

" Miss UUa ! Miss Ulla ! " cried Chloe in broken 
accents. 

Homoselle peered over the intruder's head, into the 
darkness, to see if Chloe was behind. She did not 
connect her maid's voice with the masculine figure in 
the doorway. 

" Miss Ulla ! O Miss Ulla ! " came the low, despair- 
ing cry again ; and Homoselle recognized that it was 
indeed Chloe who stood there in jacket and trousers. 

"Chloe," she said angrily, beginning to cry now, 
" what do you mean by dressing in that absurd man- 
ner, and frightening me out of my senses in the middle 
of the night? I shall have to speak to papa about 
vou. I am scared to death." 



THE CARD-PARTY. 277 

" O Miss Ulla ! I come to tell you dat de men is all 
gone," said Chloe, drawing nearer to the bed, and 
speaking in a frightened whisper. 

"The men! What men? What do you mean, 
Chloe?" 

" I mean de men, — field-han*s an* house-servants, 
an' all." 

" The negroes ? Gone ? Where ? " 

"I dunno, Miss Ulla; but dey is got swords an* 
guns, an* dey is marchin*, hunderds an* hunderds 
of *em.** 

Homoselle sprang out of bed. All her petty fears 
had been child's play to this. She felt as if the day 
of doom had come. 

" Light the candles, Chloe ; find my dressing-gown. 
Why, child, you are dripping wet ! ** 

In a moment she had thrown her wrapper on, and 
was hastily putting on a pair of slippers, when Chloe, 
in a passion of grief and terror, threw herself on the 
floor, and began kissing her mistress's bare white 
feet. 

" Miss Ulla,** she sobbed, " I done all I could to 
save you and mars'r. Don't tell on me.** 

Homoselle raised her gently. 

" No, indeed : you have been a good child, Chloe. 
God bless you ! ** she said, throwing her arms round 
the trembling girl, and kissing her cheek. " Get some 
dry clothes out of my wardrobe, and lie down on the 
sofa until I come back. I must go to my father 
now." 

She took a candle, and went down-stairs. She did 



278 HOMOSELLE. 

not pause at the dining-room, but opened the door, 
and went right in. 

Standing there, the flickering candle in her trembling 
hand, her white nightdress scarcely concealed by her 
hastily fastened wrapper, her hair streaming over her 
shoulders, her face drawn and haggard, — she was a 
figure to dismay the stoutest heart. Something terrible 
must have happened to bring her there and thus. 

The card-players looked up aghast. Her father 
raised his hand as if to ward off an impending blow. 

"Good God, Ellie ! what is the matter?" he cried, 
rising, and throwing down the cards that seemed so 
puerile now beside his daughter's agonized counte- 
nance. 

" Father — the negroes ! " 

"The negroes ! " echoed every voice, as every man 
started to his feet, " the negroes ! What of them ? " 

" They are all in arms. Chloe says they are rising 
all over the country, and every man on the plantation 
is gone." 

The men looked at each other. There was a world 
of terrible meaning in that silent interchange of 
glances. 

" It has come at last," cried one, throwing his cigar 
into the fireplace, and buttoning up his coat. 

" Our wives and children," groaned another through 
his clenched teeth. 

Mr. Despard recovered himself in a moment. 

"Go to bed, Ellie darling,' ' he said: "we will see 
to this affair. I am sure it must be greatly exaggerated. 
Gentlemen, you must look after your horses ; and I will 



THE CARD-PARTY. 279 

get together all the arms in the house so as to be 
prepared for any emergency. — Come, Ellie, go to 
bed." 

His calmness somewhat re-assured Homoselle, who 
went back to her room. 

The lights were burning there still, but Chloe was 
gone. 

"Where can the poor child have gone in such 
weather?" she thought, ringing the bell. Then she 
took her candle, and went to Bertie's room, and after- 
wards to Skip's, to see if they were safe. * She found 
them both sleeping peacefully, and did not disturb 
them. She decided not to go back to her own apart- 
ment. After locking and bolting the doors in Skip's 
room, she lay down on a sofa, determined to wait for 
morning, and to keep a lookout for Chloe, whom she 
intended to bring in and keep with her until the end 
— whatever that might be. She understood now the 
danger that threatened the girl from her own people. 
They would naturally look upon her as a traitor, but 
henceforth Homoselle and her father would have to 
regard her as their best friend. 

Homoselle reckoned without her host when she 
resolved^ to keep watch until morning. Her faculties 
had been thoroughly exhausted by the long-continued 
strain of emotion ; and, while she was making up her 
mind to keep awake, her body succumbed, and she 
fell fast asleep. 

She would have said it was impossible to sleep 
under such circumstances ; but the facts of the case 
were against her, as she discovered when she awoke. 



280 HOMOSELLE, 

Mr. Despard and his friends, as soon as Homoselle 
left them, turned their attention to making such prep- 
arations as they could for meeting the danger that 
threatened them. 

Each man's anxiety was, of course, for the safety 
of his own family, and his first impulse to get home 
as fast as possible, to be at his post, and die, if need 
be, in defence of those dearest to him. 

While Mr. Despard went to collect the fire-arms, of 
which there were a goodly number, of one kind or 
another, about the house, — enough, he thought, to 
furnish a pistol or a shotgun to each of his guests, — 
these latter went out to look after their horses. It 
was a tempestuous night, still raining heavily, and so 
dark it was with difficulty they groped their way to the 
stables. 

They were not gone long. After a few moments 
they came back, rushing pell-mell into the house with 
white, stony faces. 

" Good God, Despard ! " cried one, " the infernal 
scoundrels have taken all the horses." 

Mr. Despard*s face was as pale and rigid as theirs 
as he answered, " And all the arms." 

"By the Eternal," groaned the other, Vwe are 
caught like rats in a trap 1 " 



^ 
\ 



SUSPICION. 281 



CHAPTER XXIL 

suspiaoN. 

MR. DESPARD and his guests looked blankly 
into each other's faces, overcome with the 
horror and hopelessness of their position. 

The sublimest courage could have availed nothing 
in their case. They were as helpless as the blind, 
shorn Samson in the hands of his enemies. 

The guests went forth into the stormy night, defence- 
less and on foot, to return to their distant homes, care- 
less of the perils by the way, but agonized with the 
thought of what they might find when they got back 
to their wives and children. More than one mind 
became unsettled in the contemplation of what might 
have happened : a pang was added to their worst fore- 
bodings, as each man, in the depths of his heart, tried 
to realize how he had used power when he possessed 
it, and what he had a right to expect now that it had 
passed into other hands. 

When Homoselle woke, it was broad daylight : the 
storm had passed away, and the sun was shining 
brightly. The first object that met her eyes was Skip, 
sitting on the side of his bed, half dressed, his un- 
kempt hair hanging about his eyes, his face puckered 
up with childish discontent. " Homo ! " he cried, as 



282 HOMOSELLE. 

soon as he found that she was awake, "I wish you 
would scold Chloe. I have been ringin* and ringin' 
the bell, and she won't come. How can I comb my 
hair and put on my shoes by myself ? " 

Her maid's name recalled to Homoselle all that had 
happened the night before. " Chloe 1 " she said, press- 
ing her hands to her temples, trying to realize that it 
had not been a horrid dream. " Chloe ! Has she 
not come yet?" 

" No ; and she ain't brought the water either, and I 
can't wash." 

"Don't fret. I will see what I can do about the 
water. But, Skip, you must learn to wait on yourself." 

" Humph ! I don't see what niggers are made for," 
replied the boy, swinging his bare legs, and helplessly 
contemplating his shoes and stockings. 

" I wonder if I shall have to get breakfast," thought 
Homoselle, going in search of water. 

To her surprise, she met fat old Cinthy, toiling up 
the stairs, with a great bucket in either hand. 
O Cinthy ! is that you? Where's Chloe?" 
'Deed, Miss Ulla, I dunno. I ain't seen her sence 
)dstiddy. when she an' dat Mr. Halsey, whar stays at 
de major's, was a-talkin' together down at the stile." 
Why, she was here last night, quite late." 
Well, she ain't on de place dis momin' ; an' de 
major's Nafan come over jes' now, to know ef Mr. 
Halsey was here. He ain't been home sence yistiddy, 
an' de major's oneasy. 'Pears like bofe is gone off." 

"Not been home since yesterday?" gasped Ho- 
moselle, her mind reverting at once to Phil's antago- 
nism, and wondering if any new difficulty had arisen. 









SUSPICION. 283 



u 



I tole dat yaller imp not to have so much to do 
wid white folks," said Cinthy, her thoughts taking 
another direction. " Now she's done gone away, an* 
lef me to do her work," she continued, grumbling as 
she waddled along with her buckets. " Here I*se got 
to fotch water from de spring at my time o' life." 

" Cinthy, have the men all gone ? " whispered Ho- 
moselle, scarcely knowing which of her accumulating 
troubles to attack first. 

" Ebery one. Miss Ulla : de mo' fools dey." 
" And what are you going to do, Cinthy ? " 
" Do jes* like I always been doin*, Miss Ulla : I ain't 
nebber gwine to git no better home dan Dunmo', in 
dis worP; an' I gwine to stay wid you an' Mars* 
Frank.** 

Here, at least, was a loyal soul ; and the knowledge 
was a gleam of comfort amid Homoselle's thick- 
coming sorrows. 

"What about papa*s breakfast, Cinthy?" 
" La ! honey, I done got de breakfas* ; an* me an' 
Tommy gwine to wait on de table. De res* ob de 
women-folks sort o* crazy-like to-day, an* I can*t git 
*em to do nothin*. But don't you fret, chile : jes* go 
on doin* like you always does. I'll 'tend to things." 

Very little breakfast was eaten that day, although 
the family went through the form without any apparent 
agitation. They had evidently no idea of changing 
their ordinary habits. The groups of whispering 
women who hung around the house, waiting for some- 
thing to happen, saw no signs of flinching in Mr. Des- 
pard or the young ladies. They gave orders, and sent 



284 HOMOSELLE. 

idlers about their business, in the old authoritative way. 
If the white people were ever to change places with 
the negroes, the time had not yet come. Tommy, who 
thought surely he was going to become a white boy 
and Skip a black one, watched in vain for any altera- 
tion in his young master's complexion. 

Skip had his own reasons for being in a good humor. 
This was the day appointed for him to go home ; but 
the turn affairs had taken seemed to have postponed 
his departure indefinitely, and he kicked up his heels 
in great glee. 

When he discovered what a solemn stillness had 
fallen on the house in consequence of the absence of 
" a few niggers," he began to doubt whether his re- 
prieve was such a boon, after all. 

It was a time of terrible anxiety. As the weary hours 
wore on, bringing no change, the suspense became 
intolerable. 

The first break that occurred was the arrival of Phil, 
the elegant Phil, caracoling, against his will, on a 
scrubby little donkey, — a circumstance which, under 
other auspices, would have been amusing enough, 
but which now was only another indication of what a 
clean sweep the negroes had made of the horses. 

It was a great relief to see somebody. Mr. Despard 
eagerly questioned the new-comer as to what he knew 
about the rising. Phil knew very little, but he had 
discovered this much : that it was the first object of 
the insurgents to seize the capital of the State, and 
that they had marched in force, the evening before, on 
Kichmond, with the intention cf surprising the town 



SUSPICION', 285 

with a midnight attack, which would find the inhabit- 
ants wholly unprepared and defenceless. It could 
not be denied that their plans had been conceived 
and carried out with remarkable prudence. It remained 
now to be seen how far they had been successful. 
Unfortunately, news could not possibly reach Dun- 
more before evening. Meanwhile, the whole country 
was awake. The whites everywhere were preparing to 
destroy the negro army, and, if need be, to extermi- 
nate the race. 

One great obstacle to the organization of an im- 
promptu army everywhere presented itself in the 
scarcity of arms and horses. It was this matter that 
had brought Phil to Dunmore. Was a horse or a gun 
to be had on the plantation ? 

Mr. Despard was obliged to confess that in this 
respect he had fared no better than his neighbors. 
Even Homoselie's toy-pistol had been taken, and not 
a mule was left in the pasture. 

**It is strange," cried Phil excitedly, "that the 
major is the only man who has not suffered in this 
way. Very few of his negroes have left, and the only 
horse that has been stolen is the fine hunter that 
damned Englishman rides. He and the horse have 
both disappeared ! " 
.Dcf "He and the horse? " echoed Mr. Despard, dumb- 

be ^ founded. 

" Yes, he and the horse," cried Phil, his dark eyes 
burning with revengeful triumph. "And now, Mr. Des- 
pard, I hope you will be able to understand my con- 
tempt and hatred of that fellow. My worst suspicions 



286 HOMOSELLE. 

have proved well-founded. After what has happened, 
nothing would have brought me to your house again, 
notwithstanding the troubles that threaten us, had I 
not been in a position to show you that he is not only 
a scoundrel, but an arrant coward. This very day, we 
were to have met to settle our differences in a duel ; 
and he failed to keep the appointment. My friend 
and I were on the ground an hour, and he did not 
come. After a while his second, another infernal Eng- 
lishman named Dobbin, made his appearance with 
a lame excuse. 'An accident must have occurred. 
Mr. Halsey had not been home since yesterday. 
Major Carter was very uneasy about him.* It turns 
out that he has fled the country, and he did not go 
alone ! He has run off at least one slave, and 
has been the chief instigator of this insurrection. It 
is conceded on all sides that a white man has been 
concerned in it, and Halsey is the man. The negroes 
by themselves could never have carried out their plans 
so successfully." 

Phil paused for breath. Mr. Despard said nothing. 
He sat nursing his leg, cowering under a storm he had 
believed would blow over. The quarrel between Hal- 
sey and 5hil, so far from being amicably adjusted, was 
a quarrel to the death ; the man whom his daughter 
loved had proved a coward ; his slaves, whom he had 
believed too contented and too timid to strike for free- 
dom, were in open rebellion. 

Worse was yet to come. 

Phil gathered himself up, and went on with re- 
doubled heat : " And with whom, think you, has he 



suspicioi^, 287 

gone off, — this ftiend of yours, against whom I have 
been so unjustly prejudiced; this suitor of your 
daughter's, for whom I have been scorned? " 

Mr. Despard started, his strained eyes bent on 
Phirs angry face, striving to read what was coming. 
Without a suspicion of the truth, he was seized with 
a premonition of something terrible. In a crisis like 
this, the mind seems endued with supernatural powers. 
Mr. Despard*s whole life passed before his eyes in a 
flash of light, that revealed all its dark secrets and 
forgotten sins. 

The blow fell, striking through the joints of his 
armor, and piercing the only vulnerable spot in his 
heart. 

" Whom, but your slave CWoe ? " 

Mr. Despard covered his face with his hands. Ret- 
ribution had come through his innocent daughter. 

"For God's sake, Roy, don't tell Homoselle," he 
murmured huskily. 

Phil in his wrath was frightened at the effect of his 
words. -He had never seen a countenance express 
such anguish as that which Mr. Despard instinctively 
strove to hide. 

"Don't let Homoselle know," he repeated more 
calmly, when he had, in a measure, regained the mas- 
tery of his face and voice. 

Unhappily the father's precaution was in vain. 
Homoselle had heard every thing. 

She and Bertie, who were passing the morning in 
fearful suspense, had rushed down stairs, with the first 
sound of voices, to learn if there were any news. The 



288 HOMOSELLE, 

drawing-room doors were open, and Phil was speaking 
in his usual voice of public affairs, in which every thing 
that made life dear to them was involved. 

They stopped to listen, without going into the room, 
from sheer eagerness to hear every thing as quickly as 
possible; and their entrance might have made an 
interruption. 

Phil's denunciation of Halsey occupied only a mo- 
ment. There was no time to go away, had Homoselle 
wished it; but her lover's name riveted her to the 
spot. She turned and looked beseechingly, like a 
stricken creature, into her aunt's face for comfort ; and 
Bertie answered the dumb appeal by lowering her 
eyes. Then Homoselle went into the room, and 
walked straight up to her father. There was no fal- 
tering in her step, or in the clear, low tones of her 
voice. 

"Father," she said, using the unfamiliar but ten- 
derer term as a caress, which went straight to his 
heart, — "father, do not be troubled. What you have 
heard is not true." 

She spoke so confidently, so calmly, that Mr. Des- 
pard drew a long sigh of relief. 

" You know where Halsey is, then, my daughter." 

" No, papa, I do not, except that I am quite sure 
he is where he ought to be." 

" But you know where Chloe is ? " he asked eagerly. 

The remembrance of what Cinthy had said about 
the two having been last seen together, flashed over 
her ; but she put aside scornfully the thought it sug- 
gested 



SUSPICION, 289 



a 



No," she answered frankly, " I do not even know 
that. But," she added, her voice unconsciously assmn- 
ing a fuller, deeper tone, as though she were making 
a profession of faith, " I do know that Mr. Halsey is 
a good man, and good men do not commit base 
actions." 

She placed her arm about her father's shoulder in 
sa3dng this, as if to include him in her simple trust. 

Her father groaned aloud. 

" But, Homoselle," said Phil humbly, awed by her 
white face and solemn manner. She turned her head 
away. 

" Bertie, you speak to her ; tell her what we saw," 
cried the young man to Bertie, who had followed 
Homoselle- into the room. "God knows I do not 
want to break her heart, only to save her." 

"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," 
murmured Homoselle, turning to her aunt to hear 
what she had to say. 

"Yes, Homoselle," faltered Bertie, her words, for 
once, coming brokenly and slowly for very pity, — 
" yes, on our way home one evening, in the twilight, 
Phil and I met Mr. Halsey — with his arm round 
Chloe; and we heard him call her — darling." 

Homoselle's white face grew whiter still when she 
heard this. She closed her eyes with sudden pain, 
and there was a catch in her voice, but her low-spoken 
words gave no uncertain meaning. "I still trust in 
him," she said ; then, burying her face in her father's 
shoulder, she whispered, " Send them away, papa. I 
am very tired." 



290 HOMOSELLE. 

Hiil mounted his hard-mouthed, uncomfortable 
steed, and went farther in quest of arms and horses. 

As he wended his way along the familiar but now 
deserted roads, he carried the memory of Homoselle's 
suffering face with him. He felt almost as if he had 
been standing on holy ground. The sabbath-like still- 
ness that had fallen on the busy country hfe lent itself 
to his fancy. 

" Who would have thought a mere girl capable of 
such unflinching devotion?" he thought, with a sigh 
of regret for what he had missed. " How she bears 
her world-battered father up, on her brave young spirit ! 
How she believes in him, and in that brute I Such 
faith in a man ought to help to make his life sublime. 
But Despard and Halsey, those two, what are they?" 
Phil shrugged his shoulders. "No better than the 
rest of the world." 

Then his thoughts went back to the all-absorbing 
negro troubles. " But all is not lost," he concluded, 
burying his spurs into his unruly beast, "when of such 
stuff our women are made." 



THE CAPTURE 2f)\ 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE CAPTURE. 

" 'TnHE fool hath said in his heart, There is no 
X God." These words kept repeating themselves 
in Mr. Despard's mind until he thought he should go 
mad. " The fool hath said in his heart — the fool hath 
said/' and the treadmill began again. 

What was the meaning of this? The words had 
been the burden of a good sermon delivered the Sun- 
day before, by Mr. Berkeley, the young rector; but 
sermons and texts had never before possessed this 
burr-like tenacity. Their result had hitherto been a 
tickling of the intellect, or, at most, a momentary 
quickening of the pulse. 

Why did this particular text come to torment him 
now? It was that an event had quickly followed to 
emphasize the import of the Psalmist's words. 

" What man," Mr. Berkeley had said, " sitting deso- 
late beside broken idols, does not acknowledge that he 
has been a fool? 

"What man, who, when he comes to pay to the 
uttermost farthing the debt of broken moral obliga- 
tions, does not feel that there is a God ? " 

Mr. Despard knew that his deeds had been weighed 
in an unerring scale. Omniscience alone could have 



292 HOMOSELLE. 

SO evenly adjusted the rewards of a wasted life. The 
sword of his punishment had pierced the very joints 
of his armor. ** A flaming sword which turned every 
way" had destroyed not only his own peace, but 
Homoselle's happiness, while it left him powerless to 
cast a stone. Who was he to sit in judgment against 
Halsey? Had he been so careful of his daughter's 
welfare that he could curse the man who had deceived 
her? 

Mr. Despard was in his office, alone with his 
thoughts. By tacit consent he and Homoselle had 
kept apart since PhiPs revelations. She shrank from 
adding to her father's grief by a sight of her own ; and 
he did not dare to look upon her suffering, for which 
he had no comfort. His thoughts were gloomy 
enough. Every thing that made Ufe endurable had 
been swept from beneath his feet. The Nemesis that 
had been silently tracking his steps had suddenly 
drawn aside her veil, and from its dusky folds shone 
forth his daughter's pale face and tear-clouded eyes. 

Another day had dawned, bringing no change in the 
aspect of affairs. Nothing had yet been heard from 
the insurgents. There was still nothing to be done, 
but to wait. 

In addition to the present troubles, the day was one 
of sad retrospection to Mr. Despard, a day always set 
apart as a memorial of his wife. It was the twentieth 
anniversary of her death. Young, beautiful, and be- 
loved, she had passed away, leaving a void in her. hus- 
band's heart that had never been filled. But there was 
DO need to mark this especial day with signs of mourn- 



THE CAPTURE. 293 

ing. Fate seemed, to him, to have hung a paU over 
the world. 

He was roused from his bitter meditations by a 
scampering, yelping, barking commotion outside. In 
a moment Skip, followed by Dash and the Baby, burst, 
pale and breathless, into the room, " Uncle," he cried, 
"soldiers !" 

" Soldiers 1 " echoed Mr. Despard, starting to his 
feet, hearing, as he spoke, the clatter of horses' hoofs 
on the road. 

" Thank God, a change has come at last I " he 
thought, hurrying out to meet the men galloping in 
hot haste to his door, not knowing if they were friends 
or foes. 

They proved to be half a dozen variously armed and 
accoutred white men, part of a hastily improvised po- 
lice-force, who were scouring the country. Eager 
questioning followed on both sides. 

"Is Michael Dray here?" asked the foremost of the 
horsemen, without the preamble of a salutation. 

"For God's sake, my friends, what tidings have 
you? " asked Mr. Despard at the same time. 

The soldier stooped to stroke his quivering horse 
as he answered hurriedly, " Better than might be ex- 
pected, I can tell you. The negro army has been 
captured without a blow on either side. The rank 
and file have been disarmed, and sent home on prom- 
ise of good behavior. The leaders have all t 
lodged in jail except one, the worst of the lot. 
chael Dray escaped. We were told that he had b 
tracked to this faim. Do you know any thing at 
him?" 



294 HOMOSELLE. 

" Nothing whatever. But he may be skulking some- 
where about here. There are the woods, the bams 
and other out-houses : we will make a search," said 
Mr. De^ard, going for his hat, glad to be doing some- 
thing at last. 

By this time Bertie, Homoselle, Skip, and a group 
of women-servants had gathered on the porch to hear 
the news. So intense was the relief afforded by the 
man's information, that Bertie and Homoselle threw 
themselves, weeping, into each other's arms, crying, 
"Thank God! thank God!" A horrid nightmare 
seemed to have melted away in the light of the morn- 
ing sun. Skip caught the glad infection, and turned 
cart-wheels over the grass, to the tumultuous delight 
of the dogs. The negro women stole silently away. 

Mr. Despard received the news more soberly than 
the girls. The present relief was indeed great, but 
the trouble was by no means ended. A black, yawn- 
ing chasm seemed to have opened at their feet, 
revealing the dangers to which they were hourly 
exposed. 

An army of discontented slaves had been let loose 
upon the community. The negroes had been dis- 
armed, but they were not reconciled. The flame had 
been smothered, not extinguished. 

The little company of soldiers divided their force 
without further parley; some to search the woods, 
the others, including the captain whom they called 
Hardy, to go with Mr. Despard through every hiding- 
place the farm-buildings afforded. 

Mr. Despard was not long in eliciting from his com- 



THE CAPTURE. 295 

panions, who were as eager to tell as he was to hear^ 
all that was to be told about the insurrection. The 
negroes had assembled in force, before Richmond, on 
the memorable night, along the banks of a httle stream 
known as Bacon's Quarter Branch. This stream, ordi- 
narily so insignificant that a man might leap across, 
had been so swollen by the recent rains as to have 
assumed the proportions of a formidable river between 
the insurgents and the point of their intended attack. 
This unprecedented occurrence had not entered into 
their calculations, and no provision had been made 
against it. Had it not been for the apparently trifling 
circumstance of the rising of the stream, Richmond 
would have been the scene of a massacre as terrible 
as any that history has yet recorded. A thousand 
armed slaves let loose upon a sleeping city, defended 
only by a small, inefficient poUce ! The men grew 
eloquent, and Mr. Despard shuddered over the recital 
of the horrors from which the town had been provi- 
dentially delivered. Gabriel, the leader of the insur- 
rection, they said, was undoubtedly a brave man, with 
some of the qualities of a general ; but he was also a 
rehgious fanatic. When he saw how the tiny stream 
had, in the space of twenty-four hours, become a swift- 
rushing river, he declared that a miracle had been 
wrought by the Lord, to show his people that he was 
agaunst them in this effort to surprise Richmond. He 
exhorted his followers to disperse, and return peace- 
ably to their homes. The Lord, in his own good time, 
would raise up another leader to win for them their 
freedom. But Gabriel found that it was more easy 



296 . HOMOSELLE. 

to create an army than to dissolve it His soldiers 
became clamorous, and insisted on ravaging the 
surrounding country. Balked in one enterprise, there 
was no reason why they should not reap some of the 
advantages of their position, some compensation for 
months of severe discipline and training. Gabriel 
had raised a storm he could not quell. This much 
had been gathered firom himself after his arrest. 

''But how did it happen that the autliorities at 
Richmond discovered the plot in time to capture the 
army?" 

" I hardly know," said Hardy. " There is a mys- 
tery about it, and a great many absurd rumors. There 
was an informant, certainly. Somebody swam the 
stream that night, and roused the town. Some say it 
was a young negro, very much attached to his master, 
whose heart failed him at the last moment; others 
go so far as to say that it was a negro girl ; others, 
again, that it was a white man who had gotten wind 
of the affair. I suppose we shall know the truth some 
day. Just now they seem to think it necessary to 
keep it a secret, for fear the negroes may seek for 
vengeance on their betrayer." 

While Mr. Despard was drinking in all his compan- 
ions had to tell, they had not been idle. Every con- 
ceivable place was being searched for Michael. Barns, 
cabins, stables, lofts, cellars, were overhauled without 
result. 

The party on horseback, after a day's beating of 
the woods, returned with no better luck. It was 
decided, that, after taking some refreshment, they 



THE CAPTURE. 297 

should leave Dunmore, and search farther on for the 
culprit; but a circumstance occurred Which decided 
them to remain. 

While they were at supper early in the evening, 
Skip; who had been playing near the house with his 
dogs, came in about twilight in a highly excited state. 
Going to Homoselle, who was in the drawing-room 
alone, he buried his face in her bosom, trembling vio- 
lently. She stroked his head gently, thinking it only 
natural that his nerves should be unstrung by the ten- 
sion to which they had been subjected for two days. 

" Homo," he whispered, after a while, " I am scared."- 

" Scared, dear ? what about ? " 

" Michael," he said, dropping his voice so as to be 
almost inaudible. 

With a great effort Homoselle controlled herself to 
speak naturally, — 

" Michael 1 What of him?" 

" I saw his red eyes shinin* at me." 

"Where, Skip? Where?" 

" In the wood-pile." 

"Are you sure? I am certain the men searched 
there this morning." 

"Yes, Homo, sure. The Baby found him. He 
kept scratchin* and scratchin* at the wood-pile, an' I 
thought he had found a rat; an* I went up to the 
wood, an' saw — oh ! " 

As soon as it was made known what Skip had seen, 
or thought he had seen, the great wood-pile, kept 
constantly replenished behind the kitchen, was at- 
tacked. There was discovered, not Michael, but a 



298 HOMOSELLE. 

hollow, quite large enough to hold a man, in what, 
from the outside, seemed to be a compact mass of 
fire-logs. This part of the pile had been partially 
thrown down, and the' cook was busily getting an 
armful of wood for her kitchen-fire. On being ques- 
tioned she sullenly answered, "Dat she didn't know 
nothin' 'bout de hole in de wood, *cep* dat de dogs 
went dar sometimes." 

It was possible that Skip had been mistaken, but 
the affair was suspicious. Capt. Hardy and his men 
began anew the search, with the same result as before. 
Not a trace of Michael was found. After some dis- 
cussion, the soldiers concluded to remain all night, 
greatly to the relief of Bertie, wlio thought if Michael 
were indeed skulking in the neighborhood, she would 
sleep much better with a strong guard in the house. 

The deep, untroubled rest that follows the removal 
of pressing anxiety had fallen on the household. Even 
the soldiers, wearied with a night and day in the sad- 
dle, were sleeping heavily, when the clangor of a great 
bell roused everybody trembling to their feet. What 
new horror had fallen now? Whence these strange, 
brazen tones, never heard before ? 

To Mr. Despard alone they were familiar. He knew 
that the few short strokes proceeded from the great 
farm-bell that hung in. the belfry adjoining the kitchen. 
Twenty years before, it had been silenced at the re- 
quest of his d)dng wife. He remembered, with a 
pang, that this was the anniversary of her death. Who 
dared to ring the bell now? In the first surprise of 
startled sleep it seemed a horror bordering on the 



THE CAPTURE, 299 

supernatural. Fully awake, he thought of Michael, and 
the long-disused, ivy-covered belfry that had escaped 
notice in the morning's search. Not a moment was 
lost in acting on this idea. He, with Hardy and his 
companions, who had not laid aside their clothing, 
dashed out of the house, and got to the kitchen in 
time to seize a negro, who was cowering under the 
steps in the vain hope of not being discovered. 
Dragged out into the light of the stars, it proved to 
be indeed Michael, who had not sufficiently recovered 
from the terror and confusion caused by his accident- 
ally ringing the bell, to make an effort to escape. 
Brought to bay by his pursuers, he was not long in 
regaining his courage. 

" Come on, you damned cowards 1 " he cried, 
striking out furiously, feUing two of his opponents, and 
proceeding to throttle a third with one hand, while he 
pounded right and left with the other. 

" Come on, I say ! It will take a dozen of you to 
make me a prisoner. Strike fair, you scoundrels ! 
Come jest two at a time, and I'U send every man of 
you to hell in no time ! " 

In addition to his enormous strength, Michael had 
great suppleness and activity, and seemed to possess 
a whole armory of natural weapons, inflicting wounds 
not only with his ponderous fists, but with his head, 
teeth, and feet besides. 

Long and fearful was the life and death struggle. 

"Will somebody fetch a gun?" cried Hardy, blinded 
by a blow between the eyes : " if not, this devil will 
escape." 



300 HOMOSELLE. 

Michael howled with rage and despair. The valiant 
fight he was making against superior numbers would 
avail nothing against fire-arms. 

One of the men dashed into the house to get the 
weapons, that had been left behind in the scramble to 
discover who had rung the bell. 

Seeing this, Michael, with one last, mighty effort, 
sprang, like some splendid animal, from among his 
captors, and was fleeing for his life, when he was 
brought to the ground by a rifle-shot. 

He did not speak, or even groan, after this. Proud- 
ly and sullenly he allowed himself to be manacled, 
and led back to the house. 

His wound, which was in the leg, though sufficient 
to arrest his flight, was thought, on examination, npt to 
be dangerous. When it had been attended to as well 
as existing circumstances admitted, he was taken and 
lodged in the county jail. 



THE MAJOR. 301 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE MAJOR. 

THERE was a lull in public affairs. The insurrec- 
tion had been crushed ; the slaves were return- 
ing to work more docile than ever; the ringleaders 
were in prison awaiting trial; and the country was 
beginning to breathe freely again. Only the white 
man Johnson was at large, and it was supposed that 
he had left the State and made his way home. 

Even the Dunmore household, after the excitement 
of Michael's capture the night before, had recovered 
something of its tranquillity, and had begun insensibly 
to take up the old life again, — the old life which for 
a brief period had seemed threatened with destruc- 
tion. 

Homoselle's private griefs were as poignant as ever. 
Another day had passed, and nothing had been heard 
of Halsey or Chloe. It was an aggravation of her dis- 
tress, that her father did not sympathize with her, at 
least in the way she wanted him to do. 

He was miserable enough oyer her misery, but he 
could not be led to believe that Halsey was innocent. 
In her father's eyes he had been found guilty of the 
two worst offences it was possible for a man to com- 
mit. Either would have wholly condemned him in 



302 HOMOSELLE. 

Mr. Despard's estimation; but both together made 
the young man infamous indeed. In the first place 
he had run ofT a slave, in the second he had failed to 
keep an engagement to fight. Could a man have a 
blacker record ? These things made it easy to believe 
the worst that had been said of Halsey's motives in 
aiding Chloe to escape. 

The subject was not mentioned between them, and 
Homoselle knew from that very fact what was her 
father's opinion. 

Bertie had been greatly sobered by recent events, 
and the better side of her nature showed itself in more 
tenderness for Homoselle than she had ever before 
manifested. But neither did her sympathy go to the 
extent of believing that Halsey was innocent, and 
would soon come back to give the lie to all the inju- 
^ rious things that had been said about him. Sympathy 
less than this, Homoselle did not care to have. 

Bertie was sorry,, very sorry ; but the truth was, she 
had always had misgivings about Halsey. She was 
not altogether surprised at his developing low tastes. 
The first time she met him, she discovered that he 
was not an Englishman of the better sort. He had 
owned to her that he did not know a single duke or 
duchess in his own country. 

" I wonder what the major thinks of his paragon 
now?" Homoselle overheard Bertie ask Mr. Des- 
pard. She did not wait to hear the answer. A new 
thought struck her. She would go and see the major. 
He would not doubt Halsey's truth ; and he might be 
able to give her some information, at least some com- 
fort. 



THE MAJOR. 303 

Full of this plan, Homoselle instinctively, and al- 
most unconsciously, began to make some changes in 
her dress. A woman's first weapon, in an attempt to 
disarm fate itself, is to look her best. Homoselle 
soon forgot what manner of face she had seen in the 
glass, in her trepidation at the boldness of the step she 
was about to take. Major Carter had, for many years, 
been a sort of recluse, and was so shy with women 
that it required a good deal of courage to make him a 
visit. But the end in view was worth an effort : she 
went without giving herself time to think, and the 
walk through the stillness of Deep Run wood calmed 
her excitement. When she reached Westover her 
timid knock at the front door was not heard ; but a 
servant, who had been watchmg her approach from 
behind the shutters of his pantry-window, responded 
so promptly as to startle her. But she was re-assured 
by his manner. If he felt any surprise at the unusual 
sight of a young-lady visitor, he was far too polite to 
show it. His broad smile and profound bow expressed 
only the most generous welcome. Homoselle was 
greatly encouraged. First impressions are of such 
moment, and servants are so apt to reflect the temper 
of the head of the house, that she felt sure the major 
would not be less affable than his butler. 

"Walk in, walk in, my young missus," said Solon 
graciously, " walk right into de dinin*-room. De major 
is dar jest done smokin* his fust pipe, an' is waitin' to 
receive company." Klnowing the major's secluded 
habits, the sad-hearted girl could not help smiling at 
Solon's polite invention. 



304 HOMOSELLE, 

She was ushered into the dining-room, the scene 
of Capt. Cook's adventures, the hero who had been 
sailing around the walls for sixty years or more. 

The major was sitting in his accustomed easy-chair 
near the window; his head thrown back, his eyes 
turned upward to the ceiling; his arms extended 
along the arms of his chair, which he was gently tap- 
ping with his fingers. 

Homoselle was pained to see how ill and feeble he 
looked. He was plunged in so deep a revery that 
she hesitated to advance. 

Solon's cordial announcement roused his master 
from his musing. 

" Here is one of de Miss Despards come to see 
you, major," he said in a cheery voice with a tone of 
protecting affection, like a mother speaking to a child. 

A faint flush, like the delicate color of a faded rose, 
tinged the major's pale, worn cheek, when he saw 
Homoselle. 

"This is kind," he said rising, and trying to hide 
with what difficulty he did so. "My dear young 
lady, this is kind to come and see a lonely old man." 

Homoselle's eyes drooped guiltily: "It was not 
only " — she stammered. 

The major's gray moustache curled, and his eyes 
gleamed, with a dash of the quiet fun which was his 
nearest approach to merriment. 

"Take a seat, my dear," he said, drawing up a 
chair, and then sinking back exhausted in his own. 
" Solon, you can go now, and shut the door. It is a 
little chilly. So it is not only the old man? " he asked, 



THE MAJOR. 305 

finishing Homoselle's sentence for her when Solon was 
gone. 

" No," she said frankly, but bashfully : " I came to 
ask about Mr. Halsey." 

" I knew it, my child, as soon as I saw you," he 
said while his countenance fell. " I wish I could tell 
you something about him. I am fully as anxious as 
you can be. The times are so unsettled, and he is so 
rash, I have been afraid of his getting into some diffi- 
culty with the negroes, — especially since he rode a 
very fine horse when he went away, and the black 
idiots seemed to be crazy about horses. I think every 
man of them wanted to be in the cavalry. Two legs 
are well enough to go into a fight, but if the luck turns 
against you four are better to get out with." 

He spoke very gently, even playfully, concealing 
his worst fears, so as not to alarm her unnecessarily. 

To his surprise, her face brightened. 

"Do you fear nothing worse?" she asked in an 
unmistakable tone of relief. 

"Worse?" cried the major, with a startled look of 
inquiry, fearing she had heard something worse than 
his surmises. 

The tears brimmed over in Homoselle*s eyes. She 
was touched to the quick by his utter want of suspi- 
cion that worse than bodily danger could befall Halsey. 

" Do you not know? " she said with trembling lips. 

The major straightened himself in his chair to listen, 
while Homoselle, with tears and blushes, told him of 
the crimes of which her lover had been accused. 

An angry fire leaped into her listener's eyes; his 



306 HOMOSELLE, 

face reddened ; one would not have thought the old 
man had so much blood in him ; his moustache bristled. 

" It's all a damned lie ! " he thundered, bringing his 
fist down with a thump that made Homoselle start. 

Never had coomg dove a sweeter note to her ears 
than this slighdy profane profession of faith. 

" I am sure of it," she said warmly. 

The major leaned back to rest. The vigor of youth 
returns only in flashes that waste while they warm. 

With closed eyes he reviewed the ground over 
which Homoselle had gone ; and he remembered, with 
a shade of annoyance, not only the conversation he 
had had with Halsey, in which the latter had expressed 
his deep commiseration for this girl Chloe, but a draw- 
ing the young fellow had made of her beautiful face. 

He opened his eyes, and found Homosejle intentiy 
watching the changes of his countenance. He felt 
almost as if she had been reading his thoughts. 

"You say nothing has been heard of the girl?" he 
asked in a feeble voice, for he had not yet recovered 
from the effect of his excitement. 

" Nothing." 

"And that Halsey was last seen with her?" 

" So Cinthy told me." 

"And that Phil and Bertie had previously seen 
them together?" 

"Yes," in a scarcely audible voice. 

The major closed his eyes, and pondered again. 

" It is very strange," he said at last. "The truth is, 
my child, the external facts of the affair seem to go 
against Halsey. You must not be too hard on Phil 



THE MAJOR, 307 

for making a strong case of it. I have no doubt that 
there is a little jealousy in the matter too. But you 
and I, who know what a. clean-hearted fellow Halsey 
is, know, too, that it would be impossible for him to 
betray you and me and every principle of honor." 

" Bless you for thajt ! " she cried with flushed cheeks 
and dewy eyes, looking so beautiful in her trouble, 
that the major fairly blinked. Was this the girl he 
had thought cold and uninteresting? 

"But, major, what can have become of him?" per- 
sisted Homoselle, unconscious of his admiration. 

" My fear is, that he has got into some trouble about 
that horse. A band of foraging negroes may have 
taken it away from him, and he may not have been 
able to make his way home since. To be sure, this is 
the third day. All I can do, my child, is to preach to 
you patience." 

" O major, if you knew, if you only knew, how hard 
that lesson is ! " 

" If I knew ! " said the major. His tone and glance 
filled. her with compunction. 

. " Forgive me," she cried penitently, venturingVim- 
idly to lay her hand on his; "in my selfishness I 
forgot that every heart has its own sorrows. I was 
ungrateful, too, for I came to you for comfort ; and 
you have given me so much, oh, so much ! " 

" Then I count this day not lost," he said, raising 
her fingers to his lips with tender courtesy. " I must 
thank you, too, for the happiness you have given me. 
The very sight of your young face has done me good, 
and it is a pleasure to talk of the lad with some one 
who loves him." 



308 HOMOSELLE. 

"You will let me know if you get tidings?" 

" Yes ; and you must do the same for me." 

" Good-by," said Homoselle rising, yet lingering wist- 
fully : the old man looked so feeble to be left alone. 
" Can I do any thing for you, major? " 

"Yes, — come again." 

" I will, indeed. Good-by once more." 

" Good-by, and God bless you I " 

She lefl the room with his blessing ringing softly 
in her ears. " Come again," he had said. She little 
dreamed how and when she would come again. 

In the hall she met Solon, who was waiting to see 
her out. 

He was a large, important-looking personage, who 
had so sincere an admiration for his master as to culti- 
vate a ferocious moustache and side-whiskers, and, if 
his fellow-servants were to be believed, to shave the 
top of his head in order tp have a bald spot like the 
major's. 

Certain it is, that he affected military brevity in his 
orders to underlings, and immense deference for the 
fair ^x. 

" I*se proud to see you at Westover, my young miss- 
is," he said with a deep reverence, holding the door 
open as Homoselle passed out. " I*se thankful you is 
been to see de major : he is mighty lonesome sence 
Mr. Halsey went away. Don't you think he looks 
po'ly, ma'am?" he asked, his anxiety peeping through 
his grand air. 

"Yes," said Homoselle, "I am afraid he is very ill. 
Take care of him, Solon. I will come again." 



THE MAJOR, 309 

" God bless you for dat, my young missis ! " ejacu- 
lated the faithful servant fervently. 

" Two blessings in one day ! " thought Homoselle, 
wending her way homeward: "surely they ought to 
bring me happiness." 



3IO HOMOSELLB. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

CHLOE. 

ALTHOUGH Homoselle returned home no wiser, 
in regard to Halsey's movements, than when 
she went to Westover, she was greatly encouraged and 
strengthened by the major's unwavering faith in the 
young man. She even blamed herself for disloyalty 
to her lover in being made unhappy by the charges 
brought against him. Her only solicitude should have 
been for his personal safety. At any rate, that was her 
only anxiety about him now ; and it was bad enough. 

When she got home she found Skip's dog, the 
Baby, scampering over the hall-floor with some play- 
thing that seemed to afford him more than usual 
delight. The Baby had developed into an exceedingly 
mischievous puppy, who was being constantly threat- 
ened with banishment. Books, shoes, and gloves 
suffered from his predatory habits. Nothing gnawable 
was safe from his sharp white teeth ; and to lookers- 
on it seemed that the greater the mischief, the more 
keen the enjojtment. One's best shoes gave him more 
pleasure than the door-mat. 

Homoselle found him in wild play, jumping from 
side to side with a white ball, getting himself entangled 
in yards upon yards of yam, wreaking destruction upon 



CHLOE. 311 

a piece of knitting. She stooped to rescue the work, 
and recognized with a pang Chloe's unfinished stock- 
ing. 

Where was the child now? ■ 

In the terror and distress of the last few da)rs, Chloe*s 
danger had not pressed home to Homoselle as vividly 
as the horrors of a servile insurrection ; but the girl had 
not been forgotten. Diligent search and inquiry had 
been made for her, and at last a reward was offered 
for information concerning her. 

PhiPs accusations had inevitably given a certain 
bitterness to the thought of Chloe, although Homoselle 
told herself that she had never for a moment believed 
them. Besides, it would be impossible to forget the 
girFs courage and devotion in following up the prog- 
ress of the insurrection in order to try to save her 
master's household. 

Holding in her hand the unfinished stocking over 
which Chloe had so often nodded, half asleep, while 
the work dragged its slow length along, Homoselle 
was irresistibly reminded of the last time she had seen 
her, and all the details of that terrible night. The 
storm ; the flickering candle ; the stealthy step on the 
stair ; Chloe, drenched with rain, her strange costume, 
her tears and passionate caresses, —* could Homoselle 
ever forget them? Could she ever be sufficiently 
affectionate and grateful to her little maid? 

Troubled with misgivings in regard to the safety of 
both Halsey and Chloe, she found it impossible to sit 
with folded hands, and think. She set herself vigor- 
ously to work at the first occupation that presented 



312 HOMOSELLE, 

itself. It happened to be the packing of Skip's trunk. 
He was really going home the next day, if another 
rebellion or convulsion of nature did not intervene. 

Homoselle busied herself in putting up the piles of 
neatly washed and mended clothes, that Cinthy had, 
brought in from the laundry several days before, but 
which had been overlooked in the excitement that 
followed, — clothes in which Skip's knees and elbows, 
and the Baby's teeth, had wrought sad havoc, and 
where patches played as important a part as the origi- 
nal material. 

Skip himself became interested in the preparations 
that were making for his departure. He took a mel- 
ancholy pleasure in collecting his marbles, precious 
taws and alleys, his tops and story-books, his Indian 
arrow-heads and other curious bits of stone, — things 
of so much more value than the rags and tags Homo 
made a fuss about. 

Even Bertio flitted in and out of the room, turning 
over Skip's possessions, by way of being useful. 

" Bertie," the boy said, " the great Bertie, has put a 
new band on my hat I " and the condescension, from 
its rarity, made more impression than Homoselle's 
daily care. 

While the latter was still on her knees, bending over 
the trunk, a servant came to tell her that a gentleman 
was down-stairs, and wanted to see her. 

" A gentleman ? Who is it, Cinthy ? " 

" 'Deed, Miss Ulla, I dunno. I never seed him 
befo'." 

" What does he look like ? " 



CHLOE, 313 



" Mostly like a man wid red har> and a mighty deep 
voice." 

" Red hair ! red hair ! " said Homoselle, rising, going 
over in her mind all the men of her acquaintance. 
" I wonder if it can be Fez Page ? " she soliloquized. 

" La ! Miss Ulla, I known Mars' Fez ever sence he 
was bawn. I tell you I ain't never seed dis man befo'." 

"Does he look like a gentleman, Cinthy?" con- 
tinued Homoselle, putting some little touches to her 
hair. 

Well, sort o', and sort oV not." 
I wonder who it can be ! I wish you had asked 
his name. How often have I told you to do that? " 

" La ! Miss Ulla, it comes mighty onhandy to ask a 
gentleman's name right befo' his face." 

" It is very unhandy to me," said Homoselle petu- 
lantly, "to go down to see a gendeman without an 
idea who he is. So much has happened lately, I am 
afraid of everything and everybody." 

"You needn't be 'fraid o' dis man, honey. He 
look Hke he wouldn't hurt a fly." 

When Homoselle got to the drawing-room, she 
found her visitor quite as timid at the idea of meeting 
a stranger as she was herself. 

He was a large, painfully bashful, red-haired man, 
whose complexion took a deeper tinge when she en- 
tered. He seemed so shy and uncomfortable, that she 
regained her own self-possession in trying to put him 
at his ease. 

" Did you wish to see me? " she asked kindly, while 
he twirled his hat, and looked first at the ceiling and 






i 



314 HO MOSELLE, 

then at the floor, trying to take the first step that costs, 
and make a beginning of what he had to say. 

"Are — are you Miss Homoselle Despard?" he 
stammered at last, growing redder and redder, seeming 
to find it " onhandy '' to ask a lady's name before her 
face. 

The rich burr of his voice, which Cinthy had truly 
described as being " mighty deep," his hesitation, and 
his accent, all proclaimed him to be an Englishman. 

Homoselle assented to that being her name, while 
her heart beat impatiently at his slowness ; for she at 
once associated him with another Englishman, hoping 
that this one had brought tidings of his compatriot. 

" My name is Dobbin," her visitor went on to say, 
taking his time, and keeping pace with her thoughts 
flying on before, about as well as a steady-footed ox, 
which he something resembled, would with winged 
Pegasus ; " and I came to tell you about — about " — 

" About ? " breathless. 

" About a servant-girl of yours." 

"Chloe?" 

" I think that is her name." 

" What of her ? Where is she ? " 

" She is at my house, and " — 

"And?" 

" I am afraid in a very bad way." 

" For Heaven's sake be quick, and tell me what is 
the matter with her. I will go to her at once," said 
Homoselle, rising. 

Dobbin did not take the hint: he was not to be 
flustered, and he kept his seat. 



CHLOE. . 315 

Homoselle sat down again, dimly recognizing that a 
man will probably soonest reach his end by being 
allowed to follow his bent. 

" There is something I should like to" say," he con- 
tinued slowly, still very red, but holding on manfully 
to his purpose and to his hat. 

" Oh, I wish you would say it, then I " thought 
Homoselle, at fever-heat, but curbing herself not to 
speak, and so interrupt the words that dropped — not 
flowed — from Dobbin's lips. 

" I don't want to get into any trouble with the white 
people about here on account of harboring a nigger," 
he went on ; " not that I believe that this girl was con- 
cerned in the rebellion. But I am an Englishman, and 
don't own slaves, and every thing I do is suspected." 

"Well?" 

" I did not want to be drawn into the affair at all. 
I have never interfered with slavery, and I did not wish 
to be mixed up with it. But this girl was brought to 
my house, and I could not in humanity turn her 
away." 

" Oh ! why was she not brought here ? This is her 
home," groaned Homoselle. 

" You see, the man who brought her was afraid to 
come to this house. He took advantage of my being 
a foreigner to beg protection for the girl and himself." 

"Shall we go to her now?" said Homoselle, rising 
again. 

" I should like first to have your promise not to say 
or do any thing to get me into trouble," he said stub- 
bornly. 



3 16 HOMOSELLE, ' 

'' Of course, of course. But do tell me if the child 
is iU?" 

" She is badly hurt." 

" Take me to her, oh ! take me to her," pleaded 
Homoselle with tears in her eyes. . 

Dobbin moved at last. " That is what I came for," 
he said, rising. '' She asked for you, said she wanted 
to see you and the boy -she took care of once 



more." 



" Once more ? What do you mean ? " asked Homo- 
selle fiercely. 

" She said she wanted to see you both," stammered 
Dobbin, correcting himself humbly, frightened by her 
white face and dilating eyes. 

With trembling hands Homoselle collected a few 
things that she thought would conduce to Chloe's 
comfort. Then she wrote and despatched a note to 
the nearest doctor, and left a message for her father, 
who was out on the farm. 

" Come, Skip," she said, hastily tying on her bonnet, 
" leave your trunk, and come with me." 

Something in her voice made Skip look up. 

"Where are you goin*. Homo?" 

"ToseeChloe." 

"Chloe? Pooh 1 She ought to come and see us. 
Where has she been all this time ? " 

"Ah! child, I am afraid she is very ill. Please 
don't argue, but get your hat, and come." 

Homoselle never knew how she and Skip were 
bundled into Dobbin's uncomfortable little vehicle, and 
driven to his house in the heat of a burning Septem- 



CHLOE, 317 

ber sun. Every sensation was swallowed up in anx- 
iety. Only once she spoke on the way : — 

"What man carried Chloe to your house? " 

Dobbin did not answer for a moment^ and then he 
said he was not at liberty to tell. 

" Was it a negro ? " 

" No." 

"Ah!" 

Silence followed. Even Skip was subdued into 
quietness by his cousin's grave, anxious face. 

When at last the slow, dragging wheels had actu- 
ally made their last revolution, and Dobbin's wagon 
stopped in front of his house, Homoselle felt as if she 
had been travelling for days. 

Dobbin's wife, a plain, aguish-looking woman, 
wrapped in a shawl, stood at the open door, with two 
or three shy children peeping from behind her at the 
new-comers. 

" How is she ? " Dobbin asked briefly. 

His wife shook her head gravely. 

"No better." 

" Does she know I am coming? " asked Homoselle. 

" Yes : she sent me to look for you," Mrs. Dobbin 
answered gently, her voice expressing the sympathy 
she felt for Homoselle's agonized countenance. 
And Skip too ? " 

Yes ; but I think you had better go in alone at 
first. I will keep your boy with my children if you 
say so." 

Homoselle, unable to speak, bowed her hefad in 
acquiescence. 






3l8 HOMOSELLE. 

» 

The few hurried questions and answers had been 
exchanged as she ran up the steps. Nothing more 
was said. Mrs. Dobbin silently led her through the 
sitting-room, into which the front door opened with- 
out an intervening entry, to a small back building that 
jutted out from the house. 

In crossing the room, Homoselle had been aware 
that a man, looking wretchedly ill and delicate, was 
lying there on a sofa. She was vaguely conscious, too, 
of a movement on his part to conceal his face as she 
entered ; but not before she had seen it, and become 
aware of a disagreeable association connected with it. 

"This is the room," said Mrs. Dobbin, pausing 
before a closed door that led from the yard into the 
back building. 

Homoselle motioned to her guide to open it, and 
then went in alone. 

The room, evidently a sort of laundry hastily turned 
into a sleeping-apartment, was bare and cheerless. 
One of those rudely constructed beds called a cot, 
two chairs, and a table composed the furniture. 

Over the back of one of the chairs hung a jacket 
and a pair of trousers, which Homoselle recognized as 
those Chloe had worn on the night of the storm ; and 
she shuddered to see that they were stained and stiff- 
ened with blood. Chloe herself was lying on the low 
cot, very pale and still, with closed eyes, and brows 
contracted with pain. She recognized at once Ho- 
moselle's light step, and the soft rustle of her dress. 
" Miss Ulla," she murmured, opening her eyes with a 
smile^ and closing them again. 



CHLOE. 319 

Homoselle went and knelt beside the bed, and 
pressed her cheek to the little hand lying outside of 
the coverlet. 

A faint flutter of the fingers returned the mute 
caress. 

" Chloe, darling, I have come to take care of you." 

Another movement of the slender fingers, and a 
softly-whispered, " Yes, Miss Ulla." 

Homoselle continued kneeling; and, afVer a few 
moments* silence, she spoke again, but this time not 
to Chloe. 

Soft and low, though tremulous, her voice broke the 
stillness of the sick-room in the solemn office of inter- 
cession. Long and earnestly she pleaded for the poor 
mangled body lying there, for the ardent young soul, 
its peace here, its happiness hereafter. 

When at last her words died away in smothered 
sobs, she felt again the presence of Chloe's hand, and 
a scarcely audible Amen. 

^ An Amen as earnest, but oh 1 so different fi-om the 
loud, cheery response of the old Sunday-school days. 

Having commended her charge to the divine care, 
Homoselle rose from her knees, dried her eyes, and 
began doing what she could for Chloe's comfort ; for 
the room and its accommodations, although the best 
the Dobbins had to give, was scarcely adapted to the 
needs of an invalid. ' 

The first thing she did was to hang her broad hat 
and veil over a broken place in a shutter, through 
which the sun sent a burning ray athwart the sick girFs 
bed. Having thus pleasantly darkened the room, she 



320 HOMOSELLE. 

• 
was rewarded by a faint murmur, expressive of satis- 
faction, from her patient. She went about quietly, 
putting things in order, and unpacking her satchel, 
while Chloe's soft dark eyes, from which the light was 
fading fast, followed her with a look of unutterable 
tenderness. 

Homoselle bathed the sufferer's face and hands, 
tied up her luxuriant curls, settled her head more 
comfortably, and substituted cool soft linen for the 
heavy bed-covering. Remembering Chloe's childish 
love of perfumes, she had brought with her a flask 
of cologne-water ; and, when her other arrangements 
were completed, she poured a few drops on the girl's 
forehead. With the first whiff of its penetrating fra- 
grance, Chloe drew a long breath of enjoyment. Her 
eyes brightened ; and she said, with a slightly stronger 
voice, " Dat's mighty good." 

HomoseUe seized the opportunity to bend over her, 
and ask, " Chloe, dear, how did you get hurt ? " 

She seemed reluctant to answer; but the habit 
of obedience was strong. " Michael done it. Miss 
Ulla." 

Homoselle moistened the parched lips with water. 
" What made him do it, child? " 

" Said I was a spy." 

Nothing more was said then, and Chloe fell into a 
doze. When she awoke, she asked for water ; and, 
when Homoselle had relieved her thirst, she said 
feebly and with great effort, " Don't tell on Michael, 
Miss Ulla : I made him mighty mad." 

Silence again. 



CHLOE, 321 

Homoselle held the little fevered hand, and waited, 
counting the minutes until the doctor should come 
and tell her what to do. She was very ignorant : she 
knew little about illness, and had never seen a gun- 
shot wound, the trouble from which poor Chloe was 
suffering. Time dragged wearily on. No sound broke 
the stillness of the room except Chloe's heavy breath- 
ing. Occasionally the voices of the children at play 
floated in at the open window. Once Chloe started. 
"Dat's Mars* Skip callinV' she said, with eyes wide 
open, and ears alert to catch again the childish voice 
that had so often summoned her to play. " I can't 
come now," she added in a whisper, sinking back to 
doze again. 

The doctor came at last, in great haste to depart on 
another errand of life and death. He was a fatherly- 
looking old man, whose range of medicine was lim- 
ited, but whose experience of life had been large and 
varied. As soon as he entered the room, and stood 
by the bedside, he shook his head gravely. He gazed 
a while, not unmoved, at the face over which the 
shadows were creeping ; for it was young and beautiful, 
and to such Death always seems an unwelcome guest. 
After he had carefully examined Chloe's wound, he 
turned to Homoselle, her sole attendant. 

" Has she no mother? " he asked kindly. 

Chloe opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. 

" No mother," said Homoselle sorrowfully. 

"And no father?" 

Chloe's eyes closed again, filled with tears, — the 
first she had shed, — and her lip quivered. 



322 HOMOSMLLE, 

"No I" cried Homoselle passionately. "She has 
only me^ 

" Then I must tell you^ my young friend, that I can 
do nothing. Her soul is passing," he said solemnly, 
— " passing to the God who gave it." 

His voice trembled. Familiar as he was with scenes 
of suffering, he could not fail to be touched by the 
expression of Homoselle's countenance at this unex- 
pected announcement. " If there is any thing to be 
done," he added very gently, "it must be done 
quickly." 

The doctor went away. Another imperative sum- 
mons had called him forth that day, and he could not 
tarry. 

Homoselle was dazed with grief; but she had the 
presence of mind to go to the door, and call Skip. He 
came into the room, scared and wondering. The 
change that had come over the face of Chloe, his old 
playmate, had a terrible meaning that he did not un- 
derstand. The child, who had not begun to think on 
the mystery of life, was brought suddenly, for the first 
time, into the presence of the mystery of death. 

Into Chloe *s eyes there returned a transient bright- 
ness. They were full of intelligence now ; and Homo- 
selle, choking with sobs, knew that she understood 
every thing. 

She asked to be raised higher. Homoselle seated 
herself on the low bed, and gently Mfted the girPs head 
until it rested on her bosom. The glazing eyes looked 
up into hers with gratitude. " Good-by, Miss Ulla." 

Homoselle, her face bending above Chloe's, an- 



CHLOE. 323 

swered with a long, loving look: she could not 
speak. 

The two faces — Chloe*s, from which death was 
refining all but its spiritual beauty, and Homoselle*s, 
pale with grief and pity — bore a strange, pathetic 
resemblance to each other. 

" Tell ole marster, good-by," continued Chloe, her 
voice growing fainter. " Good-by, Mars* Skip." 

" Chloe ! " cried Skip, the terrible truth flashing over 
him, "where are you goin*? Don't leave me, Chloe. 
I will be good. I won't plague you any mo*. You 
shall be my servant always. I'll buy you from uncle 
Despard. Stay with me. Stay with me.** 

His childish eloquence broke down : he threw him- 
self on the bed, sobbing violently. 

"Don*t cry, don*t cry. Mars* Skip,** she said faintly, 
but in the old comforting tones. 

" Dear Chloe ! ** cried Homoselle with passionate 
tenderness, her tears raining over the face of the dying 
girt. 

The voice and the tears roused Chloe once again. 
She looked into Homoselle*s face with loving humility, 
her eyes expressing dumbly more tlian her. untutored 
tongue could ever have uttered. 

Then the heavy lids closed. 

A bright, fleeting smile, such as mothers see flit 
over the faces of their sleeping infants, and which tells 
of a joy that passes even a mother's understanding, 
trembled for a moment on her lips, and her heroic 
spirit fled. 

It had stooped to bless in departing. Homoselle 



324 HOMOSELLE. 

and Skip never forgot the comfort of her dying 
smile. 

Skip's waO brought Mrs, Dobbin into the room. 
She was shocked to find that Chloe had actually passed 
away. She had not anticipated the end so soon. 
HomoseUe's speechless grief touched while it surprised 
tier. It had not occurred to her that the death of a 
servant-girl could be such an affliction to Miss Des- 
pard. It appeared, too, that the poor child had died 
in her young lady's arms, for her head still rested on 
Homoselle's bosom when Mrs. Dobbin entered. The 
good woman gently turned the sobbing Skip out of 
the room ; and together she and Homoselle closed the 
beautiful eyes, and prepared the body for burial. 

Suspended by a ribbon from the dead girl's neck 
was a silver coin, which they at first supposed was a 
charm or amulet of some kind. Great was Mrs. Dob- 
bin's surprise to find that it was an English shilling. 
" A piece of real EngUsh money ! I wonder where 
the poor thing got it? " she whispered, her eyes filling 
with tears at being thus sadly reminded of England. 

Homoselle's pale cheek grew paler still at this un- 
accountable circumstance. 

There was but one person from whom Chloe could 
have received an English shilling. Where was he 
now? Had he shared her tragic fate? 



MAKING THE AMEND. 325 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

MAKINQ THE AMEND. 

SKIP was brought to take a last look at his humble 
companion, who, shrouded in one of Homoselle's 
softly frilled white gowns, looked strangely beautiful. 
An expression of perfect repose rested on the smooth, 
finely accentuated brows and on the placid lips. All 
the sad offices that love and reverence could suggest, 
Homoselle had devoted to the remains of the girl who 
had been faithful unto death. 

There was nothing to be done now, but to make 
preparations for her burial. For this it was necessary 
that Homoselle should return to Dunmore in order to 
consult with her father. 

In passing through Mrs. Dobbin's sitting-room again 
on her way to the carriage that was to take her home, 
she saw the man who had attracted her attention in 
the morning. He was up now, and moving restiessly 
but feebly about the room. 

It again occurred to her that he shrank from obser- 
vation ; for, turning his back, he went to the window, 
and looked persistently out on the rows of cabbages 
that formed the chief feature of the Dobbin's garden ; 
but she perceived that he limped as he walked, and 
this betrayed his identity. She knew at once that it 



326 HOMOSELLE, 

was Johnson, the man who had been prominent in 
instigating the negro rebellion. 

She stopped suddenly, her face aflame with wrath, 
her tears quenched by the angry glow in her eyes, 
" You," she cried, her voice trembling with emotion. 
Johnson did not stir. He may not have known that 
she was addressing him. 

She scorned to pronounce his name : it seemed as 
though her lips would be contaminated by the sound. 

" You miserable man ! " she said again, this time her 
voice rising clear and firm. He could no longer feign 
ignorance of her meaning. He turned towards her, 
but he did not dare to meet her eyes. 

The children, including Skip, startled by the out- 
burst, huddled into a comer, and stared with eyes 
and mouths wide open. 

Even little Mrs. Dobbin was frightened. It seemed 
to the good woman that Homoselle grew taller and 
grander as she stood there pointing to the cowering 
culprit, and overwhelming him with her denuncia- 
tions. 

"Go into that chamber yonder," she said, with 
terrible meaning, " and see your work. Look at the 
girl lying there dead, who, but for you, would be alive 
and happy to-day. Think of the gallows you have 
been the means of erecting in this State ; and the mis- 
erable creatures you have led to a shameful death. 
Why did you come here, bringing ruin and destruc- 
tion? Were there no wrongs to redress at home? 
Had you no paupers to relieve, no widows and orphans 
to help, no hungry to feed, no naked to clothe? What 



MAKING THE AMEND. $27 

are you skulking about here for? Why do you not 
deliver yourself up to the fate you have brought on 
those poor deluded negroes? " 

Johnson sank into a chair, and covered his face with 
his hands. '* Have mercy," he groaned. 

" You need not fear that I shall inform, on you," she 
continued. " If you prefer to Uve with the memory 
of that dead girl on your conscience, to expiating your 
crimes on the gallows, I shall not hinder you." 

Homoselle did not wait for a reply. She beckoned 
to Skip to follow her, and together they left the house. 

The experience of life often verifies the saying that 
it never rains but it pours. The day had been a pain- 
fully trying one to Homoselle. Her grief for the death 
of Chloe, and her indignation against the man whom 
she thought in a great measure responsible for the 
tragic event, had greatly shaken her. She thought her 
trials had not ended when she got home, and found 
Phil Roy pacing the lawn in front of the house, appar- 
ently waiting for her return. He was the last person 
she wished to see. She had not forgotten his charges 
against Halsey, nor was she likely to forgive them until 
Halsey himself should return, and triumphantly prove 
them to be false. Then, but not until then, she would 
find it easy, both to forgive and to forget Mr. Roy. 
All this was expressed in her manner as she passed 
him with a cold salutation on her way to the Uttle 
porch that led to her father's office. 

It was difficult, in the face of her lofty bearing, to 
make an attempt to arrest her steps, and say what he 
had to say. Phil would most likely have turned on 



328 ffOMOSELLE. 

his heel, and gone away, leaving her to learn the news 
from others, but for the traces of grief on her counte- 
nance. These moved his pity. 

"Homoselle," he entreated, "stop a moment: I 
have something to say to you." I 

" If what you have to say," she replied, moving on, 
" is not very different from what you said when you 
were last here, I do not care to listen." 

" It is different, Homoselle, and it i3 of importance 
to you." 

" I wish you would be quick, then," slackening her 
pace ; " for I am going to my father on a very sad 
errand, which cannot wait." 

" What I have to tell you is about your friend Mr. 
Halsey," said Phil, not without difficulty, for he was 
eating the proverbially indigestible humble-pie. 

Homoselle's progress came to a full stop. " Mr. 
Halsey 1 " she echoed, leaning for support against a 
flower-trellis. She could not stand another shock to- 
day. "Mr. Halsey? Is he safe?" 

" Perfectly safe," Phil hastened to assure her. 

"Then, take care," closing her eyes filled with 
sweet tears of relief: "I will not not hear any thing 
against him." 

" I have nothing to say against him : on the con- 
trary," said Phil, blurting out the truth manfully, " my 
business here to-day is to retract all that I have ever 
said against him." 

Homoselle started, bringing down from the treUis- 
a shower of blossoms that fell in bright patches over 
her head and shoulders. 



MAKING THE AMEND. 329 

"To retract ! O Phil ! " she said, joyously holding 
out both hands. 

" God bless you, my dear cousin," he said, touched 
by her generosity, and raising the hands to his lips, 
" for making it so easy to retract ! " 

"It is not hard," she said, wiping her eyes, "to 
forgive one who brings glad tidings. I was afraid 
Mr. Halsey had been killed." 

It was clear that he had been forgiven for Halsey*s 
dear sake ; and, although this gave Phil a pang, it did 
not alter the fact of her sweet and gracious manner, 
which made his task so much less difficult than he 
had anticipated. 

" But come in, come in," she continued, tenderly 
gathering into a posy the blossoms that had fallen 
over her at the moment she heard of Halsey*s safety. 
" I should like papa to hear. You know, you preju- 
diced him against Mr. Halsey; and it is only fair 
that he should know from yourself that you were mis- 
taken." 

Then the thought, for one brief moment forgotten, 
of Chloe's death, rushed over her; and she reproached 
herself for having felt glad at such a time. 

Phil followed her into the office, where they found 
Mr. Despard buried in newspapers. One of his arms 
was in a sling, and there were bruises about his face, 
the effect of his recent encounter with Michael. He 
was so absorbed in reading the details of the attempted 
insurrection and its suppression, that he did not hear 
them when they came in. 

Homoselle kissed her father with more tenderness 



330 HOMOSELLE. 

than usual, as a sort of preparation for the sad intelli- 
gence she brought. 

He was too much interested in what he had been 
reading, to notice any thing marked in her manner. 

" Ah I is that you, Phil ? " he said cordially, glad to 
have a man with whom to talk over the recent events : 
" have you seen to-day's * Whig * ? " 

" No j that is, I have seen it, but I have not read 
it." 

" Why, there is a full account of this Gabriers war 
in it." 

" I suppose so," said Phil, with a litde of the in- 
evitable superiority of the better-informed man ; " but 
I have just returned from Richmond, where I heard 
all about it from the combatants themselves." 

This was interesting indeed. Mr. Despard threw 
aside his paper, and drew his chair closer to Phil. 

" My dear fellow, you don't say so I To Richmond 
and back? Why, you must liave gone up one day, 
and come back the next." 

" So I did." 

" And did you see the governor? " eagerly. 

" Yes, by a great good chance, for there were five 
hundred other fellows wanting to see him at the same 
time. The poor man has had the torture of 'the 
question ' applied to him with unmitigated severity." 

Mr. Despard was too excited to notice PhiPs face- 
tiousness ; and Homoselle sat looking on, sadly won- 
dering when she could disengage her father's attention 
sufficiently to tell him the part poor Chloe had played 
in this terrible Gabriel's war. 



MAKING THE AMEND. 33 1 

"And did you see the fellow Gabriel too?" con- 
tinued Mr. Degpard. 

** Yes, I saw him ;- poor wretch ! " 

" Yes, a poor, deluded wretch. The worst man of 
all is that white scoundrel Johnson." Homoselle 
started guiltily at the name. "Have they found 
him ? " 

" No : he took care to keep his precious white skin 
out of danger." 

" The brute Michael, you know, was taken here, on 
my place," said Mr. Despard, stroking his wounded 
arm. "But, Phil, do tell me, have they discovered 
who swam the river that night, and roused the town? 
Whoever it is, the State of Virginia ought to erect a 
monument to his or her memory." 

A peculiar expression flitted over PhiPs counte- 
nance, and his voice changed a little, as he answered 
briefly, "Yes, it is known who the man is." 

" It was a man, then. I was sure of it. 'No woman 
could have done a thing like that. But do you know 
who the man is?" 

" Yes." 

"Speak, Phil. Tell us all about it. It is like 
drawing teeth to get any thing out of you." 

" You see," said Phil, cautiously shutting the* door, 
and speaking in a low voice, " it is thought advisable 
to keep the man's name a secret, for fear the negroes 
may try to kill him. It may be possible to keep the 
thing quiet ; for he is a foreigner, and not liable to be 
suspected." 

"A foreigner 1" exclaimed Mr. Despard. "What 



332 HOMOSELLE. 

knowledge or interest could a foreigner have had in 
the matter?" 

"That I will leave you to judge. He is an Eng- 
lishman." 

" An Englishman ! " cried Homoselle and her 
father together. 

" And his name is Halsey." 

It was a treat to Phil to watch Mr. Despard's face 
as he made this announcement. He read there the 
varying expressions of amazement to incredulity, and 
from incredulity to dawning and reluctant conviction, 
that had passed through his own mind when he heard 
of Halsey's gallant feat. 

"Not our Halsey, Phil? Not the man we 
know?" 

Yes, our Halsey, the very man we know." 
My Halsey," murmured Homoselle inaudibly, her 
face luminous with delight, not surprise, that he should 
have proved himself a hero. 

"And all the talk about his being an instigator of 
the rebellion and an abductor of slaves is a lie?" 
asked Mr. Despard sternly. 

"A cruel lie," returned Phil penitently. 

"And what becomes of the horrible story about 
Chloe and himself? And. where is the girl? " 

" Papa ! " said Homoselle. 

"One word, Homoselle," interrupted Phil. "Let me 
make amends, as far as I can, for my unjust suspicion 
of Halsey. My only justification is, that appearances 
were strongly against him." 

Yes, even the major agrees to that," said Homo- 






ft 



MAKING THE AMEND. 333 

sell^ willing, now, to make excuses for Phil, so hon- 
estly acknowledging that he had been wrong. 

" Thank you, my dear cousin ; and Halsey himself 
admits it." 

"Have you seen him?" exclaimed Homoselle. 

"Yes, I have seen him and apologized. He be- 
haved in the kindest way about it; said he under- 
stood exactly how I had made the mistake : that he 
had been obliged to hold constant communication 
with the girl, for she kept him informed of the negro 
plans. It was his object all along to save, as far as 
possible, both the negroes and the whites; and cir- 
cumstances, even the elements, aided him in his un- 
dertaking. Terrible as the affair has been, it would 
have been much worse, had the negro meetings been 
discovered prematurely, for the whites would have 
exterminated the race; and, if the whites had not 
learned of the plot in the nick of time, there is 
no telling what mischief the negroes would have 
done." 

" I stick to my opinion," said Mr. Despard, " that 
the State of Virginia ought to commemorate this deed 
of Halsey*s: only I think he should divide honors 
with the girl Chloe." 

" Halsey himself says she deserves all the credit," 
said Phil. 

"Papa," began Homoselle again tremulously, her 
eyes filling with tears afresh at this tribute to Chloe's 
heroism. 

Mr. Despard turned to his daughter, and noticed, 
for the first time, her countenance, which bore unmis- 



334 HOMOSELLE. 

takable evidences of the sad experiences she had gone 
through. 

« Well, my darling." 

" Did you get my message this morning? " 

'' No, dear : I have not been in the house long, and 
have seen nobody. I came directly here, to read my 
papers undisturbed." 

'' I left word that I had been summoned to see our 
poor Chloe." 

" Chloe ? Is there any thing amiss with her? " 

" O papa 1 Phil was right in supposing that the 
negroes, or some of them at least, would take ven- 
geance on a betrayer ; and our Chloe has been sacri- 
ficed." 

" You don't mean that — that " — 

"Yes, dear papa: Michael shot her, and" — 

"And?" 

" She died in my arms this morning." 

Mr. Despard stared as though he had not under- 
stood. "Died?" he repeated coldly, raising his 
hand feebly to his wounded arm, and turning deadly 
white. 

"What is it, papa? Is it the pain?" cried Homo- 
selle, frightened. 

"Yes, the pain." Then, after a pause, "Good-by, 
Roy. Leave me a wliile, EUie : I can bear the pain 
better alone." 



BURIAL. 335 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

BUKIAL. 

CHLOE had been brought home ; and her body lay 
in its coffin, in the drawing-room at Dunmore. 
The story had got abroad, that she had been a spy and 
a traitor to her own people ; and very few of the ne- 
groes went near the house while her remains were 
there awaiting burial. 

Only Cinthy and a few other women came to take a 
last look at the girl who had grown up among them, 
and who, until now, had been a general favorite. 

Skip had been sent home at last. He had been so 
distressed and excited by Chloe's death, that Homo- 
selle was glad to have him out of the way before the 
burial-services, which were to take place in the even- 
ing. She had agreed to his taking the Baby away with 
him as a sort of consolation ; although she knew that 
his father would not enjoy such an addition to his 
family, already more than well provided with four- 
footed members. 

In the morning, soon after breakfast, Homoselle and 
Berlie were sitting together in the darkened dining- 
room, making a garland ; selecting buds and sprays 
from a mass of flowers that lay in damp, fragrant heaps 
on a table before them. The house was very still. 



336 HOMOSELLE. 

The presence of Death seemed to have hushed all 
the commonplace noises of every-day life. Homo- 
selle spoke litde ; and even Bertie, irrepressible as ever 
in saying what she had a mind to say, spoke in a 
subdued voice, as though the maid in the next room 
was not dead, but slept, and might be wakened. 

"And so Mr. Halsey is entirely rehabilitated, and 
is coming back as a sort of conquering hero ? " Bertie 
observed in an undertone. 

" No : he has only had an opportunity of showing 
what he really is," returned Homoselle with as much 
spirit as she could exhibit in a whisper. 

" * It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.' One 
would never have imagined that there was any thing 
in him, but for this horrid affair." 

Homoselle said nothing. She felt at a disadvantage. 
Bertie's words conveyed all, probably more than all, 
her meaning, spoken in a low, impressive voice, while 
a retort lost half its force by being whispered ; besides, 
she could not take up the cudgels, even for Halsey, 
at such a time. 

"Do you know, Homoselle," put in Bertie par- 
enthetically, holding up admiringly her end of the 
garland, heavy with beautiful buds, "I hardly think 
these splendid white flowers symbolize poor Chloe. 
Wouldn't yellow roses and African lilies do better? " 

" Chloe's soul is white, Bertie." 

"There is something in that," Bertie agreed, going 
on with her garland, and resuming her previous theme. 
"But why did Mr. Halsey remain so long at Rich- 
mond ? Why not come back, and explain what kept 



BURIAL. 337 

him away from the duel? Then we should not have 
thought all those dreadful things about him. I hate 
having to take the back-track." 

"Phil says he had a chill after his exposure that 
night, and was quite ill for a day or two. The doctor 
and the governor, with whom he was staying, would 
not hear of his leaving his bed." 

" A chill ! That sounds commonplace enough." 

" Heroes are human, you know." 

" Well, I don't wish to take away from his heroism ; 
but I, for one, cannot receive him with open arms. 
There are still some unexplained circumstances." 

Homoselle flushed at this. "Having trusted him 
so far, I can trust him to the end. Papa says that 
Virginia, this grand old mother of States, ought to 
erect a monument to him," she said, her eyes kindling 
with pardonable, pride. 

" Pooh ! I don't care about her being the mother 
of States. If I have to be grateful to him for saving 
Virginia, it is because she is the mother of /«^." 

They worked in silence for a while ; and then Bertie, 
snapping her thread, exclaimed under her breath, 
"There, the twine and the green have both given out, 
and I can't go on with the flowers. You want the 
garland fully a yard longer, didii't you say? " 

" Yes : I should like it long enough to wreathe round 
and round the coffin. Flowers are the only things of 
which we have plenty, and they are the last visible 
tribute we can pay : besides, I think they are appropri- 
ate, for she was as beautiful as she was brave and good." 

"Brave and good, I grant you. But, Homoselle, 



338 HO MOSELLE. 

do you know^ I think it a little immoral to talk about 
the beauty of a colored girl." 

" O Bertie I Wasn't her beauty a gift from the 
same hand as the beauty of a rose ? " 

" If you want the wreath a yard longer, you will 
have to go out and get more arbor-vitae for the foun- 
dation, and geranium-leaves to mix with the buds. 
Yes, go : the air will do you good. You have been 
looking like a ghost for days. I will hunt up a ball of 
string I have somewhere." 

Homoselle rose with alacrity. A breath of air was 
what she most wanted. She took up her basket and 
garden-scissors, and went out, with a sudden rush of 
tears when she remembered that it had always been 
Chloe who carried the basket. 

The day was perfect, — one of those tender, autum- 
nal days, whose beauty, hovering between smiles and 
tears, does not jar upon the saddest mood. The sun 
shone bright and warm ; but its brightness was chast- 
ened by a soft haze that at any moment might turn to 
rain. The air was balmy and sweet, but with a touch 
of warning, as if with all its sweetness it might bring 
a storm. The trees had changed from the lusty green 
of summer to pale brown and yellow tints ; and the 
leaves were everywhere falling, falling, ever so gentiy, 
but ever so surely. 

The arbor-vitse alone stood dark and unchanging, 
where every thing else spoke sadly of the dying year. 

Planted long ago as ornamental shrubs, they had 
grown into stately trees, enclosing in their double 
ranks a sombre alley, along which Homoselle walked, 



BURIAL. 339 

snipping here and there, filling her basket with fra- 
grant twigs. 

Musing with tender regret on Chloe, whose light 
footsteps would never follow hers again, she heard a 
rustling, pattering sound behind her ; and looking over 
her shoulder with a frightened, furtive glance, she saw 
Dash, — poor old Dash, who, deprived of Chloe, Skip, 
and the Baby, was seeking human companionship. 

"Come on, old fellow, come with me. I will be 
your friend now." 

For response Dash rubbed his head gently against 
her knees.' 

An autumnal chilliness in the shaded walk made 
Homoselle glad to emerge into the warmth and light 
of the open flower-beds, where the geraniums were 
sunning their splendid masses of pink and scarlet. 

The air, swarming with lazily floating insects, catch- 
ing the sunlight on their wings, seemed shot with gold. 
Dewy cobwebs spread their shining nets over shrub 
and flower. Crimson-breasted robins pecked busily 
in the rich brown soil, making the most of the waning 
season. 

Homoselle had stooped to gather her geranium- 
ieaves, when she heard the far-off" click of the garden- 
gate. Always expectant, she rose hastily to see who 
was there ; but a sweet-brier thorn, catching her mus- 
lin dress, detained her gently and effectually. Some 
moments elapsed before she could safely disengage 
tlie light fabric from the briers, and then it was too 
late. Whoever had gone in or out of the gate had 
passed out of sight. 



340 HOMOSELLE. 

The circumstance was forgotten before she had 
gathered her leaves, and gone back to her work. 

She entered the house quietly, and crept softly 
past the drawing-room and its silent occupant, to the 
room she had left. Bertie was not there. Probably 
she had not yet found the ball of string. But Halsey, 
who had not heard the light approach, was there, 
standing beside the table, looking down on the flowers 
and the unfinished garland. 

Words could not express what Homoselle felt. She 
stood for a moment, looking wistfully at the desire 
of her eyes. All the agony of suspense that she had 
endured during his absence, all her joy at seeing him 
again, struggled for utterance, and yet she could not 
speak. When she found her voice, the only words 
that came were a low-breathed " At last ! " 

They conveyed all her meaning to Halsey, who 
turned, and found her whom he came to seek, stand- 
ing by his side. Drawing her gently to him, and 
pressing his lips on her forehead, her own words 
welled up from the depths of his heart, " At last, my 
beloved, at last ! " 

His manner, grave almost to sternness, made her 
glance towards the drawing-room. 
You have seen? " she whispered. 
Yes, I have seen ; and it is a terrible shock. I 
went in there hoping to see you, glad to welcome me 
back ; and I found, instead, that poor girl, dead. I 
knew nothing of it. How did it happen ? " . 

"You know that Michael was one of those who 
escaped when the negro army was captured? " 






i 



BtTRIAL, 341 

" Yes ; but he was taken afterwards." 

" Ah ! but he was taken on this very place. He came 
directly here in search of Chloe, whom he suspected." 

" And this was his work? " 

" Yes, she told me herself." 

Halsey groaned. Was it possible, that, in his anx- 
iety to save Richmond, he had overlooked any pre- 
caution that might have prevented this tragedy ? 

" How terrible it is ! " he said at last. "Everybody 
is inchned to give me the credit that belongs entirely 
to that poor child. I could have done nothing with- 
out her ; and here am I, alive and unhurt, while she 
has been cruelly murdered T^ 

To Homoselle it seemed almost as if Halsey thought 
he had been ungenerous in not being murdered him- 
self. She shyly drew nearer to him to express her 
gratitude that he had been spared. 

" I have come to you at a sad time, my darling," 
he said, gently smoothing her soft hair : " I have had 
another shock to-day. I came to. break it to you my- 
self, for I knew your kind heart would grieve for my 
loss. My old friend the major passed away this 
morning at daybreak. I " — 

Halsey could not proceed : his voice broke, and his 
eyes filled with tears. Homoselle^s filled too. 

They remained silent, their young hearts full of love 
and sorrow, — sorrow that drew the bands of their 
love closer, and made them dearer to each other than 
any joy could have done. 

Homoselle was the first to break the silence. " To 
think that I saw him only the day before yesterday, 



342 HOMOSBLLE, 

the very day Chloe died I He was so gentle and 
courteous to me, and he gave me his blessing." 

"I have lost my best friend," said Halsey, in an 
unsteady, husky voice. 

"And mine," murmured Homoselle softly, "since 
he was the means of bringing you to America." 

There was another pause ; and then Homoselle said 
musingly, — 

"It must have been the major whom the doctor 
hurried away from Chloe's bedside to attend. I was 
in such distress, I did not think to ask. I am glad, 
dear, you saw him before he died." 

"Yes, it was a great privilege. You understand, 
love, that it was his illness that kept me from you these 
last two days? In Richmond I wrote to you; but 
everybody was so excited over the negroes, that 
nothing was done. I found, the morning I left for 
home, that my messenger had forgotten to mail my 
letter ; and I brought it along with me. You know, 
these dear Virginians think to-morrow quite as good 
as to-day, in which to do any thing, and the day after 
to-morrow better than either." 

Before Homoselle could reply to this mild impja- 
tience of Virginian slowness, Bertie entered with the 
ball of string. 

Her countenance was a curious study when her 
near-sighted eyes had taken in who it was with 
Homoselle. Her manner, too, and attempt to express 
her appreciation of his public services and at^the same 
time indicate her disapproval of himself, would have 
puzzled a man less pre-occupied than Halsey. 



BURIAL. . 343 

As it was, he rose to give her his usual greeting, 
and was taken aback by her appearing not to notice 
his out-stretched hand. 

" Ah ! Mr. Halsey, it is you," she said rallying, and 
remembering the tone she had resolved to take when 
they met. "I congratulate you on your safe return 
after your perilous adventures by flood and field. We 
are under great obligations to you for having delivered 
us from a frightful calamity ; and I, for one, am glad 
of an opportunity to express my individual thanks." 

Had Halsey not been weary and sad, it might have 
struck him that this speech savored of careful prepa- 
ration. His grief was too real to bandy compliments ; 
and he resumed his seat, saying simply, that h^ was 
glad it had been in his power to be of service. 

" The last time we met," continued Bertie, seating 
herself by the table, and resuming her work, " I said 
some very unkind things to you ; but you know I had 
cause. Phil and I found you in a very equivocal 
position, one evening, you remember. I confess I 
should have welcomed you back to Dunmore with 
better heart, but for this circumstance." 

"Thank you. Miss Despard, for being so honest," 
said Halsey, without a particle of the hesitation that 
often marred his speech. Bertie's words roused a 
spirit too strong for embarrassment: he spoke with 
such dignity and simplicity, that Homoselle, who had 
been overcome with confusion by Bertie's painful 
allusion, dropped the flowers with which she was work- 
ing, in her lap, and looked on with flushed cheeks 
and sparkling eyes. 



344 - HOMOSELLE, 

"It makes it easier for me to explain what I ac- 
knowledge needs an explanation. The time has now 
come when there can be no objection to my telling 
you that for a moment in the twilight, my short-sighted 
eyes mistook Chloe for your niece. You will not be 
offended, love," turning humbly to Homoselle, who 
answered with a tearful smile. 

"Oh, no ! " she said, shaking her head : " Chloe was 
more beautiful than I could ever hope to be." 

" The mistake was a natural one," Halsey went on 
to say: "Chloe's back was turned towards me, and 
she had on one of Homoselle's dresses, all of which I 
know, every line and fold, by heart." 

Homoselle's eyes flashed at this unexpected con- 
fession. 

" I could not speak of this before, Miss Despard," 
he continued, " for reasons you may guess. Mr. Des- 
pard did not wish the affection existing between his 
daughter and myself acknowledged. I respected his 
wish as long as I could; but now justice to myself, 
and, above all, to that poor girl, who cannot speak for 
herself, obliges me to say that the love you saw and 
heard me express was not intended for Chloe, but for 
Homoselle." 

It is a fine thing to see and hear a man, strong in 
innocence, bring to naught unworthy suspicions against 
himself. Homoselle never felt so proud of her lover. 

Bertie was confounded at the simple solution of 
what she had believed, not without reason, to be an 
ugly mystery. 

She was not long in recovering herself. 



BURIAL. 345 

" I see," she said frankly and coolly : " why, to be 
sure ! I wonder this explanation never occurred to me ; 
for I remember, now, the first time poor Chloe wore 
that dress after Homoselle gave it to her, I made the 
same mistake myself. Well, I am glad," she added 
heartily, rising, and shaking hands with Halsey, " and 
I wish you a great deal of happiness. Now I will go 
and tell my brother what a mistake I have made." 

So saying, she went out of the room, leaving Halsey 
and Homoselle together. 

It had been determined at first, that Chloe*s funeral 
should be a public one, to which all the prominent 
people in the county were to be invited, as a mark 
of appreciation of her loyalty and devotion to the 
white race; but in the end more prudent counsels 
prevailed. The family agreed that a public demon- 
stration of any kind would be inexpedient in the pres- 
ent excited state of feeling. She was buried very 
quietly, in a beautiful spot chosen by Homoselle her- 
self, near the family cemetery. In the evening, just 
before sunset, her cofiin, wreathed with a garland of 
white roses, was lowered into its resting-place. A 
sorrowing group stood by the open grave, while the 
cold thud of falling earth follpwed the rector's solemn 
" Dust to dust ; ashes to ashes." 

They lingered until the last shovelful was thrown 
upon the firesh mound, over which the level rays of 
the sinking sun played softly. 

Mr. Despard, looking old and broken, with his arm 
still in a sling, was there. He, with the weeping 
Homoselle, had followed as chief mourners. Bertie 



346 HOMOSELLE. 

and Phil Roy, Halsey and Dash^ were there. These, 
with Cinthy, and a few other house-servants, were all 
who witnessed the interment of the poor mangled 
body ; but who can doubt the blessed company that 
welcomed the spirit of one who loved so much? 



" IN PRISON, AND YE VISITED ME:' 347 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

"in prison, and ye visrrED me." 

THE jail in Richmond, in which the misguided 
Gabriel was confined prior to his trial, was be- 
sieged by crowds of curious spectators, who came from 
all parts of the country to get a glimpse of the black 
arch-fiend. The man bore the ordeal well for a time ; 
but his nervous system broke down after a while under 
the continued glare of eyes that regarded him as a 
sort of caged wild beast. 

The dignity and simplicity of his bearing in adversity 
did not fail to strike the more thoughtful ; and many 
who came to execrate went away full of pity that so 
fine a specimen of the race had not found a legitimate 
field for the exercise of his powers. None doubted 
that a speedy trial and short shrift awaited the leaders 
of the insurrection ; and some pitiful soul obtained from 
the authorities that Gabriel should not be subjected to 
the gibes of the multitude during the time that remained 
to him to live. 

When the populace had been excluded from the 
jail-precincts, and he had been left in peace for a 
brief space, he recovered his native tranquillity, and 
spoke calmly and frankly of what he believed to have 
been his mission in life. 



348 HOMOSELLE. 

He said that a strange circumstance had occurred 
in his childhood, which made an indelible impression 
upon him, and probably first suggested the idea of 
his being set apart for some great purpose. Being at 
play with other children when three or four years old, 
his mother overheard him tell them something, which, 
she said, happened before he was bom. He persisted 
in his story, however, and went on to confirm it by 
telling other incidents that had occurred at the same 
time. His mother, not knowing what to make of 
these strange revelations, called on others, who were 
greatly astonished, knowing that every thing he re- 
lated had actually taken place. This caused them to 
say in his hearing that he would surely be a great 
prophet, for the Lord had showed him things that 
happened before his birth. His parents strengthened 
him in the belief that he was intended for a great 
purpose, which they had always thought from certain 
marks on his head and breast. This belief, doubt- 
less, laid the foundation of the enthusiasm which re- 
sulted so disastrously to himself and his followers. 
Gabriel, as he grew up, was fully persuaded that he 
should accomplish the freedom of his race. All his 
thoughts and faculties were directed to this end. 

His master attested to his being gready superior 
in intelligence to his fellow-slaves, over whom he 
gained unbounded influence by the austerity of his 
life and the gentleness of his manners. The man who, 
for long years after his death, was spoken of with 
bated breath in connection with what is known as 
Gabriers war, and whose name was the bogey of the 



" IN PRISON, AND YE VISITED MEr 349 

nursery, was represented by his owners to have been, 
during life, mild, temperate, industrious, the delight 
of children, and the friend of the unfortunate. 

One evening, after Gabriers trial and condemnation 
to death, and not long before the day appointed for 
his execution, a man, who had taken upon his shoul- 
ders the divine Master's yoke, and whose calling was 
to visit them who are sick and in prison, asked and 
obtained admission to the malefactor's cell. 

Gabriel was seated on the side of the rude bench 
that served him for a bed. His face was turned tow- 
ards the small grated window, through which the 
evening light, filtering between outer and inner prison 
walls, shone dimly. 

He did not move, or even appear to hear, when his 
visitor entered. 

His eyes, of which only a gleaming line of white 
was visible in his dusky face, seemed turned inward 
with his mental gaze. 

" Gabriel ! " said his visitor in a low voice, " Ga- 
briel ! " and Gabriel, shuddering, slowly opened his 
large dark eyes, as if recalling with difficulty his 
bodily and spiritual sight from some far-off land of 
visions. As soon as his glance fell on the counte- 
nance of the man who had spoken so gently, he recog- 
nized that this could not have been one of the crowd 
that had clamored with ciurses around his prison-win- 
dow. The man's very face seemed to carry a bene- 
diction with it ; and Gabriel with the old habit of a 
slave, but with a difference tck), answered meekly, 
" Master." 



3SO HOMOSELLE. 

" You are going on a long journey, my friend. Are 
you prepared?" 

The voice, full of human sympathy, broke down die 
calmness wiUi which Gabriel had faced the multitude ; 
and the words touched the very core of his anguish. 

''I dunno, I dunno, master/' he cried, his broad 
chest heaving with sobs. "I seem to be gropin' 
through the Valley of Shadders; and I can't find 
no comfort." 

"I know, I know," returned the other tenderly; 
" and I have come, my brother, to help you to find 
the Light." 

" Sometimes I think I was doin* the Lord's will in 
tryin' to free my brethren," continued Gabriel, pour- 
ing out, without reserve, the pent-up sorrows of his 
lonely heart to this stranger who seemed to understand 
his difficulties as well as though he had been through 
the same terrible experience himself; "and then agin 
I feel like I was all wrong. One time I believe that 
all I wanted was my people's freedom ; and another 
time I am afeard I was considerin* too much 'bout 
Gabriel bein' thar deliverer, instead of leavin* it to the 
Lord to act in his own good time. I durino which 
way is right. My po' soul is tossed about like a ship 
in a storm." 

" Yes, I understand ; and, Gabriel, we will seek to- 
gether the Master, who says to the tempest-tossed, 
* Peaqe, be still.' " 

The old, familiar words, heard unheeded a hun- 
dred times amid the ordinary scenes of life, coming 
now in this dark hour to the man who felt himself 



** IN PRISON, AND YE VISITED ME^ 35 1 

an outcast of the world and forsaken of God, sounded 
like a sweet message from home : " Peace, be stiU." 

Gabriel bowed his head, and wept. 

Gently, step by step, through the long watches of 
that terrible night, did the friend of sinners and lover 
of souls lead Gabriel to the knowledge of his trans- 
gressions, to his need of pardon, to forgiveness of his 
judges, and, hardest of all, to joy in expiation ; yes, 
to rejoice with jubilant gladness in the prospect of the 
gallows, as the only means of atonement left to him. 
Gabriel belonged to the class of enthusiasts whose 
souls soar with no middle flight above the needs and 
passions of ordinary men. 

The last bitter drop in his cup was, that he had been 
the means of leading others to the same doom as himself. 

"This, even this, Gabriel," said his friend, "you 
must leave to the Infinite Mercy. We can never 
know, in this world, what are the eternal consequences 
of our personal influence. To me it is the greatest 
and saddest of mysteries." 

Towards morning, GabriePs visitor asked him if 
there were no worldly concerns he would like to have 
attended to, — no message to wiffe and children. 

Gabriel shook his head. " Wife and children ain't 
for men like me, marster. My mind was too full of 
bumin* thoughts of the work I thought the Lord had 
given me to do. I carried my life in my han*, ready 
to lay it down any minute for the good cause. Oh, 
the good cause ! " he cried with a wild burst of grief 
as the memory of his wasted life and shattered hopes 
swept over him again. 



352 HO MOSELLE. 

It was some time before he regained the mastery of 
himself, and then he continued quite calmly, '' No : I 
don't leave nobody behin' to mourn for Gabriel. 
Thank the Lord for that 1 My father and mother is both 
dead ; an* I was thar only chile. But if you would go 
to them other po' prisoners, an' tell 'em I ask thar for- 
giveness, I will be grateful in this worl' and the nex'." 

He seemed comforted by the assurance that his 
request would be attended to : and then, after a pause, 
he said, timidly and humbly, " One mp' thing, good 
marster : if I meet you in the nex' worl*, I won't know 
what name to call you." 

His visitor smiled gravely, and did not answer for 
a moment. " Can't you wait until then?" he asked 
after a while. 

" I'd like to know now.'* 

" My name is Berkeley, — John Berkeley." 

About daybreak Gabriel, worn out with the mental 
strain, fell into a deep sleep. 

His visitor, standing by the bedside, took a long 
last look at his countenance before he went away. Its 
lineaments he never forgot ; and often, in after-years, 
when they had mouldered in the dust, he would de- 
scribe them with reverence and pity to the children of 
another generation. 

To any but the most casual observer of the negro 
race in America, it is obvious that there are among 
them descendants of African tribes differing from one 
another quite as distinctly as our foreign white popula- 
tion of different nationalities. While some, in appear- 
ance and intelligence, seem littie removed from the 



'' IN PRISONy AND YE VISITED MEr 3$ 3 

brute creation, others ascend far higher in the scale of 
humanity ; and here and there one meets with a man 
so far superior to the rest, that he may have descended 
from a royal tribe. Such an one Gabriel appeared to 
the man who bent above his couch with silent prayers 
for his soul's weal. He seemed about forty years old, a 
full-blooded African of a dark bronze-color. His head 
was a fine oval, dome-like above the brow, its severe 
outline scarcely interrupted by the small, delicate ears, 
lying flat against the skull. His features, from the 
straight, level brows to the full, rounded chin, although 
heavier than the average white man's, were finely 
formed and of noble expression. The easy pose of 
his body, as he lay asleep, showed him to be strong 
and well made, although thin almost to attenuation. 

"May it be even as you said, poor fellow," mur- 
mured the watcher, "that we shall meet in a better 
world ! for the crooked ways shall be made straight, 
and the rough ways smooth, and all flesh, black and 
white, shall see the salvation of God." 

The next day but one, Gabriel, in company with 
five other negroes, was hanged in the jail-yard, in the 
presence of a few witnesses. 

His name, and unsuccessful attempt to liberate his 
fellow-slaves, are dismissed with a paragraph in the 
written histories of the time. In the unwritten history 
of tradition he lives, among his own people, as a hero 
and a martyr. His figure is becoming less distinct in 
the full blaze of liberty achieved by other hearts and 
hands. It will doubtless soon lapse into the shadow- 
land of myths. 



354 HO MOSELLE. 



CHAPTER XXIX* 

CONCLUSION. 

SEVERAL months had elapsed, and it was now 
near to Christmas. The season was being ush- 
ered in with all the traditional honors. The old year 
was donning his snowy mantle, and gemming his holly- 
crown with brilliant points and spears of ice. The 
wind came out from the north with a sonorous blast, 
that set the leafless trees to sighing and shivering. 
The Dunmore and Westover houses, with their sub- 
stantial brick walls, smoking chimneys, and glowing 
windows, made bright, warm patches of color in a 
wintry landscape. Outside, every thing was covered 
with snow ; and the soft white flakes were still falling, 
blotting out the roads and walks, mufHing the trees 
and bushes, and spreading a downy covering over the 
graves of the major and Chloe, where the kindly grass 
had not yet begun to spring. 

Both houses were doing their best to make up for 
the bleak, cheerless aspect of things without. There 
were roaring fires in every room. The walls were 
being festooned with wreaths of holly and mistletoe, 
and fragrant fringes and tassels of pine-needles. Sil- 
ver and glass were being burnished up. The best 
china was being brought out, and pantry-shelves were 
being laden with all sorts of toothsome dainties. 



CONCLUSION, 355 

Men and women servants, and, above all, children, 
were hurrying to and fro, their dark faces irradiated 
with the double glow of happy smiles and the ruddy 
flame of generous hearth-fires ; for, in true Virginian 
fashion, the doors were all left open, and halls and 
stairways caught the brightness of the cheerful blaze. 

Both houses were evidently in a flutter of prepara- 
tion, and with good reason. Besides the Christmas 
festival, Dunmore was making ready for a wedding, 
and Westover for the home-coming of a bride ; and so 
it came to pass that the snow so industriously powder- 
ing the world outside had not all the white favors to 
itself. To say nothing of the huge glistening bride- 
cake, there was spread out on a bed in one of the 
Dunmore rooms, a satin dress, whose soft shining 
folds extended into a train of courtly length ; a pair 
of tiny satin slippers ; a voluminous veil of delicate 
lace; and a wreath of orange-blossoms of spotless 
virgin white, for Homoselle, — the girl who had been 
struggling with poverty and old clothes all her life. 
Her girlish dream of wearing, for once at least, the 
soft, beautiful raiment of satin and lace, had come true, 
and so soon. 

There were more life and movement at Dunmore than 
had been for many a long year. The old walls echoed 
to the sound of youthful voices and merry laughter. 
The long-disused guest-chambers were opened and 
occupied. A leaf or two had been added to the din- 
ing-table. The larder and cellar were plentifully sup- 
plied, and the wide-open kitchen-door emitted savory 
odors fi*om morning until night. Mr. and Mrs. Din- 



356 HOMOSELLE. 

widdie, who had returned from Europe on purpose for 
the occasion, with their two sons and a French maid, 
were staying in the house. Skip had come back for 
the Christmas holidays. The Rev. John Berkeley was 
sojourning there for a short time ; hkewise Phil Roy, 
who was magnanimous enough to make himself gene- 
rally useful at this busy time, and to act as Halsey's 
best man on the occasion of his marriage. 

The Haroun Alraschid who had made all these pleas- 
ant things possible was the gallant Major Carter, who, 
it was found when his wiU came to be read, had divided 
his possessions between Halsey and Homoselle. To 
Halsey, who had conscientious scruples against owning 
slaves, he left the greater part of his personal property, 
except the negroes ; while to Homoselle he bequeathed 
the fine old Westover estate and all his slaves, of which 
there were a great many, with the request that she 
would be a kind mistress to them. Homoselle, by 
this will, had been made one of the wealthiest girls in 
Virginia. 

A great change had come into her life in conse- 
quence, — a change to which she had by no means 
become accustomed, and over which she would often 
rub her eyes to assure herself that it was not all a 
dream. Her new honors and privileges were not with- 
out corresponding responsibilities, of which she was 
painfully aware. The knowledge that she was sove- 
reign mistress of the life^and labor of so many human 
beings, although she did not shrink from the position, 
often weighed heavily on her young spirit. Her great 
aspiration was that she should fulfil the trust as well as 



CONCLUSION, 357 

the major had done, and that, when she came to die, 
like him she would be followed to the grave by the 
blessings and tears of all who had called him master. 

There were many things to be thought of and to 
be done at present, however ; and just now Homo- 
selle was occupied in labelling Christmas packages for 
the Dunmore servants, that she wanted to give with 
her own hands before she went away to another home. 

This done, she went with Phil to pronounce judg- 
ment on the decorations he had been putting up in 
the drawing-room and hall. 

"Beautiful, Phil," she said, really surprised at the 
fine effect of the garlands and wreaths he had fes- 
tooned on the walls after the manner of a classic frieze. 
" I had no idea the old room could look so grand. 
And the tall clock, too, dressed out in haw and holly ! 
It's enough to make old Time feel young again." 

" Or as if he were going to be married." 

Homoselle blushed. "Too many incumbrances, 
with that scythe and hourglass. Phil, can you spare 
me this bright little wreath? " 

" No : that is my chef d^csuvre, with all the reddest 
berries, and intended for the punch-bowl." 

" Well, this white one, full of mistletoe-berries that 
look just like pearls? " 

" No. That is for the bride's cake." 

" Then, it is the very one I should like to have." 

Phil shrugged his shoulders; but seeing her look 
grave he said, " Why, of course you can have either 
or both. They are all for you." 

" Thank you. And wiU you do me a favor, or rather 



358 HQMOSELLE. 

add a favor to all these? " looking gratefully round on 
the work he was doing. 

"Any thing in my power. Why ask, cousin?" he 
said, becoming grave too. 

"To-morrow, you know, will be my wedding-day." 

" Ah ! I know." 

"Will you, to-morrow early, take this wreath, in- 
tended for me, and lay it on Chloe's grave ? I have 
just been putting up Christmas gifts for all the others, 
and I don't want her to be forgotten. She would have 
been so happy on my wedding-day !" 

" I will do it," said Phil, turning away to fasten a 
sprig of mistletoe over the door. 

It was Homoselle's fate, at present, to be at every- 
body's bidding, and everybody wanted her at the 
same time. 

She was so pleased and happy to be of such impor- 
tance, that she tried her best, in spite of the philoso- 
phy of indivisibility, to be ever)nvhere and to do every 
thing at the same moment. 

Aunt Dinwiddie's pleasant voice was calling her now, 
and she hurried away from Phil to see what the lady 
wanted. It was aunt Dinwiddie who had selected the 
bridal outfit in Paris, not without a hint in regard to 
the wedding-dress from a young gentleman who well 
remembered the day in which Homoselle had ex- 
pressed a fancy for satin and lace and high-stepping 
horses. Mrs. Dinwiddie, in coilsequence, felt respon- 
sible for the success of the trousseau in general, and 
the fit of the wedding-dress in detail. 

It was about this latter that Homoselle was wanted 



CONCLUSION, 359 

now. If any alterations were necessary, Delphine, the 
French maid, must make them at once. 

Homoselle loved to be with her aunt, who came 
nearer to being a mother to her than any one else ; 
and she fancied, too, that the mother whom she had 
never seen must have resembled her sister, who was a 
graceful, interesting-looking woman, with blue eyes 
and waving brown hain Besides all this, she could 
never forget the generosity and promptness with which 
her aunt had come to her assistance when there was a 
probability of Chloe being sold. 

The financial part of this indebtedness had been can- 
celled, but Homoselle's gratitude remained the same. 

Mrs. Dinwiddie had the faculty of creating pleasant, 
home-like surroundings, of whose influence Homoselle 
was always conscious in her aunt's company. The 
big, rather bare-looking guest-chamber, in which Mrs. 
Dinwiddie was domiciled, had undergone quite a 
transformation in the last few days, with its occupant's 
pretty toilet-arrangements, bright soft rugs, and com- 
fortable sea-chairs. The warm, luxurious atmosphere 
of the room was pervaded with a fresh, dehcious odor, 
partly a reminiscence of the forest, from the logs blaz- 
ing on the hearth, and partly a memory of Paris, 
escaping from cut-glass flagons on the dressing-table, 
— an odor that fairly typified Mrs. Dinwiddie herself, 
who grafted the refinements of a high civilization on a 
sweet, unspoiled nature. She was dressed charmingly, 
almost too charmingly to suit the taste of the average 
Virginian matron, who, when first youth is past, sub- 
sides so easily into plain, unbecoming attire. 



i 



360 HOMOSELLE, 

Her pretty morning dress of soft gray wool, with 
glimpses of rose-tinted linings and doublings, was so 
perfect in color and fit as to savor of worldliness ; and 
her delicate hands were so soft and white as to suggest 
idleness to one of our industrious housewives. 

She was busy just now, examining, with the assist- 
ance of Delphine, a long-trained satin dress that was 
spread over a sofa and several chairs. 

Mr. Dinwiddie, who was in the pitiable position of a 
city man snowed up in the country with nothing to do, 
was leaning back in an arm-chair, industriously paring 
his nails. He was a tall, stout, rather pompous-looking 
person, with gray mutton-chop whiskers, and side-locks 
brushed very much forward to make up, apparently, 
for the absence of hair on the top of his head. His 
appearance was eminently respectable ; but one saw at 
a glance that he was not made of such fine clay as his 
wife. His two sons, George and Julian, fine, well- 
grown youths of eighteen and twenty, had each pos- 
session of a window, and were looking out on the 
whitening landscape, and recalling the time, not so 
very long ago, when they were boys, and used to set 
traps for snowbirds, many of which brave little crea- 
tures were hopping about on the new-fallen snow. 

" Ah, there you are I " said aunt Dinwiddie when 
Homoselle entered. 

" Why, auntie ! " exclaimed the latter at sight of 
the satin gown. " Of how much more importance my 
dress is than myself! /never took up as much room 
in the world as a sofa and three chairs.*' 

The gentlemen brightened up at the sound of 



CONCLUSION. 361 

Homoselle's voice, but their countenances fell when 
she was immediately seized upon to discuss clothes. 

" Come, boys," said Mr. Dinwiddie, rising, " let us 
get out of this. We are in the way here. When the 
millinery is all done with, we may hope to have a little 
rational conversation. — Eh, Homoselle ? " 

" My wife shall be married in linsey-woolsey," said 
Julian ; " and then, perhaps, she will think more about 
me than about her dress." 

" And I won't have any wife at all, now Homy is 
going to marry another fellow," said George. 

The next moment these two young gentlemen were 
heard scampering through the house in full chase after 
Skip, who shouted defiantly at the top of his voice, 
" Hobblede-hoys, neither men nor boys." 

The wedding-dress was found to fit to perfection. 
Aunt Dinwiddie and Delphine exchanged significant 
glances. Homoselle herself was surprised at the 
magic wrought in her appearance. The reflection she 
saw in the mirror was an idealized Homoselle, taller, 
fairer, more stately, than the girl who had just laid 
aside a plain merino gown. The bodice fitted without 
a wrinkle to break the graceful contour of her girlish 
figure, or mar the sofdy gleaming surface of the satin. 
The skirt fell round her in long, shining folds, that 
shimmered in silvery patches of light, or softened into 
luxurious depths of shadow, with every movement of 
the wearer. 

" Why, Homoselle, how beautiful you are 1 " her 
aunt exclaimed involuntarily. 

" C/V//" murmured the little sallow-faced French- 



362 HOMOSELLE, 

woman in a quiver of excited admiration^ passing her 
hand caressingly over the thick, creamy satin, and 
looking up at the grand, fair-tinted girl who towered a 
foot above her sleek, bien coiffie head. 

" Sugar and spice, and all that's nice," 

cried Skip, changing his tune as he burst into the 
pantry, where Cinthy was arranging cakes, creams, 
jellies, and the like, on her well-scrubbed shelves. 
His pursuers, George and Julian, were at his heels; 
but he managed to ensconce himself behind Cinthy's 
ample person before he was caught 

" Aunt Cinthy," he said, as coaxingly as his panting 
lungs would permit, " give me another plum-cake, and 
1*11 help you to fix the goodies." 

" Help me ! You shouldn't tech one of these things 
for yo* weight in gole. Thar wouldn't be nothin* lef 
by the time you was done helpin' me. No, chile, I 
don't want none o' yo' help. I never see sech a boy 
for eatin', in all my bawn days. Ter-morrer is the 
twenty-third o* December, an' Miss Ulla's weddin'- 
day ; an', if I'm spar'd, I'm jest gwine ter fix every 
thing by myself, widout nobody's help " — 

George and Julian, knowing from experience that 
Cinthy's monologues were interminable, beat a hasty 
retreat. 

Skip lingered among the sweets, getting a crumb 
here and there, until Homoselle peeped in to give a 
smile of encouragement to Cinthy and to see how she 
was getting on. Then his cousin took him in hand for 
a long farewell-talk, which was of so tender a charac- 



CONCLUSION, 363 

ter that Skip sniffled a good deal, and said he felt as 
if Homo was going to die instead of being married. 
After this her father claimed her. Thus the last day 
was broken up into bits, flitting from one sweet house- 
wifely duty to another, until evening. 

When the family were assembled in the drawing- 
room for tea, Mrs. Dinwiddle, looking more charming 
than ever in silk and soft lace, said to Homoselle, 
" You look tired, dear : shall I pour out tea for you ? " 

" Not this evening, thank you, auntie. To-morrow 
I am going to let you do every thing. But to-night I 
want to help you all once round before I abdicate." 

"What is that about abdicating?" asked Phil, who 
had just come in, with George and Julian, from a long 
tramp in the snow, and was warming his fingers at the 
fire. "If you are going to abdicate, let us have a 
speech. No queen ever resigned her sceptre without 
a speech." 

" The queen's speech is geaerally made for her, and 
I appoint you to make mine," said Homoselle, drop- 
ping sugar in her father's cup. 

"Wait until I am thawed out, then," rubbing his 
hands. 

" By all means," chimed in George Dinwiddle, whose 
red nose and ears testified to the temperature without. 
" Let us have something hot first, and the speech after- 
wards." 

" Yes, indeed," said Bertie : " the tea will spoil with 
waiting, and I dare say one of Phil's speeches will be 
all the better for being kept." 

Everybody laughed. 



364 HOMOSELLE. 



ft 



" You see, Bertie is never backward in her speeches, 
said Mr. Despard. 

"Boys, where have you been in this weather?" 
asked Mrs. Dinwiddie: "your hands and ^es look 
frost-bitten." 

" Ask Mr. Roy, mamma : he took us a long tramp 
to an old bam of a church,'' said George. 

"Was it the haunted church? " asked Skip, looking 
up quickly from his contemplation of the tea-waiter 
and its contents. 

" Yes, the haunted church ; and, by the by, we made 
a discovery," said Phil. 

" We, indeed ! I like that," said Julian. "It was I 
who made the discovery." 

Tell us about it, my son," said his mother. 
Why, George proposed to make a fije \ and I tried 
to pull down some of the old wainscot for kindling- 
wood." 

" It seems to me, that, in this case, the end did not 
justify the means," interposed Mr. Berkeley with one 
of his grave smiles. 

"I did not think of that until afterwards," said 
Julian with a shy, boyish laugh. " But, to my surprise, 
a part of the wainscot came off so easily that I was 
sure it had been taken down before, and put back 
again. Behind it was a quantity of" — 

"Skeletons?" interrupted Skip. 

" Not exactly ; but arms, — old muskets, pistols, and 
the Hke." 

" You don't say so ! " exclaimed Mr. Despard and 
Mr. Dinwiddie in a breath. 






CONCLUSION, 365 

"Yes," said Phil, looking round to assure himself 
that the servants were not in the room : " the church 
must have served as an armory for the negroes when 
they were contemplating an insurrection." 

"Oh, please don't speak of it!" said Homoselle 
from behind the tea-um. 

" Yes, let us talk of something else," said Mrs. Din- 
widdie quickly : " here comes Dick with hot cakes." 

The conversation turned easily into dther channels. 
The old drawing-room, bright with firelight and the 
mellow radiance of many candles, was soon filled with 
the pleasant murmur of soft Southern voices in ani- 
mated discussion of more cheerful subjects. These 
were not far to seek on the eve of a wedding, and 
with the Christmas festival close at hand. Everybody 
was happy in the anticipation of Homoselle's bright 
fiiture ; but still it was her last evening in the home 
of her girlhood, and everybody was conscious of the 
solemnity associated with a last time. The mirth of 
the little company was mingled with tenderness, and 
their laughter was often akin to tears. 

" Come, Mr. Roy, your speech," said George, when 
the party was breaking up for the night. 

"Sure enough! I had forgotten," said Phil, taken 
aback for a moment. 

Let me give the text," said Mr. Despard, with 
swimming eyes, as Homoselle, kissing him, said, 

Good-night, papa, good-night." 
Let it be 'a good daughter.' " 
If we have a text, then the speech must be a ser- 
mon ; and I could not do better than to pass it on to 
our parson," said Phil. 



(t 

t€ 

it 



366 HOMOSELLE. 

" I could preach no sermon half so eloquent as her 
father's love/' said Mr. Berkeley, his eyes filling too. 

** Oh, this is too much I " said Phil, with an attempt 
at gayety. " My speech was to have been all about 
'perfidious Albion/ who, having failed in her attempt 
to deprive us of our Uberties, sends emissaries to 
captiure our daughters." 

" I beg your pardon," said Homoselle, laughing and 
escaping : " it was not a capture, but a surrender." 

She disappeared amid a storm of applause and 
"good-nights." 

The morrow came, cold, calm, and brilliant. The 
snow had ceased fiadling, and the sun shone out in un- 
clouded splendor. Everybody was glad to hail the 
bright morning with the old proverb, " Blessed is the 
bride that the sun shines on." 

The wedding took place before twelve o'clock, in 
accordance with Halsey's desire to be married within 
English canonical hours. It was, because of Major 
Carter's recent death, a quiet affair, without the cus- 
tomary gayety attendant on a country wedding in 
Virginia at that period. 

Only the near neighbors and intimate fiiends of the 
family were present, when, on the stroke of the ap- 
pointed hour, Halsey, with Homoselle on his arm, 
quietly entered the drawing-room, and stood before 
Mr. Berkeley to be married. The murmur that 
greeted this unprecedented punctuality, and the unex- 
pectedly beautiful vision of satin and lace, was scarcely 
hushed by the solemn opening of the service. 

The folding-doors through which the young couple 



CONCLUSION, 367 

had entered were left open^ that the crowd of servants 
who had gathered in the hall "to see Miss Ulla mar- 
ried " might be gratified. Their dark faces and many- 
colored Sunday clothing made a fine background to 
the fair girl in her shining bridal robes. 

It was one of those indescribably pretty and touch- 
ing scenes of which the old picturesque Southern Ufe 
was full, and which have passed away forever. 

Halsey's manner of simple earnestness in getting 
married, as in every thing else, relieved him of much 
of the incongruity inseparable firom a bridegroom's 
position j modem bridal honors being about as becom- 
ing to a man as the wreath of laurel above Dante's 
grave, ascetic face. 

When the short, simple service that made them man 
and wife, was over, and the congratulations had all 
been made, the wedding-breakfast eaten, and the 
satin gown exchanged for a travelling costume, Halsey 
and Homoselle drove to Westover, which henceforth 
was to be their home. 

As Homoselle sank back into the luxurious depths 
of the carriage, she said, — 

"What beautiful, high-stepping horses I Are they 
ours?" 

" Yours, dear. You know, when we were building 
our chdteau en Espagne^ you bargained for high 
steppers and fine stabling." 

"So I did. And to thifik that they are not in 
Spain, after all, but on good solid Virginian Hrra- 
firma / " 



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