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HE next morning at breakfast Alfred Bishop announced
his intention of going to Atlanta to talk to Perkins, and incidentally
to call on his brother William, who was a successful wholesale merchant
in that city.
“I believe I would,” said Mrs. Bishop. “Maybe William will tell you what
to do.”
“I'd see Perkins fust,” advised Abner Daniel. “Ef I felt shore Perkins
had buncoed me I'd steer cleer o' William. I'd hate to heer 'im let out
on that subject. He's made his pile by keepin' a sharp lookout.”
“I hain't had no reason to think I have been lied to,” said Bishop,
doggedly, as he poured his coffee into his saucer and shook it about to
cool. “A body could hear his death-knell rung every minute ef he'd jest
listen to old women an'--”
“Old bachelors,” interpolated Abner. “I reckon they _are_ alike. The
longer a man lives without a woman the more he gits like one. I reckon
that's beca'se the man 'at lives with one don't see nothin' wuth
copyin' in 'er, an' vice-a-versy.”
Mrs. Bishop had never been an appreciative listener to her brother's
philosophy. She ignored what he had just said and its accompanying
smile, which was always Abner's subtle apology for such observations.
“Are you goin' to tell Adele about the railroad?” she asked.
“I reckon I won't tell 'er to git up a' excursion over it, 'fore the
cross-ties is laid,” retorted Bishop, sharply, and Abner Daniel
laughed--that sort of response being in his own vein.
“I was goin' to say,” pursued the softly treading wife, “that I wouldn't
mention it to 'er, ef--ef--Mr. Perkins ain't to be relied on, beca'se
she worries enough already about our pore way o' livin' compared to her
uncle's folks. Ef she knowed how I spent last night she'd want to come
back. But I ain't a-goin' to let brother Ab skeer me yet. It is jest too
awful to think about. What on earth would we do? What would we, I say?”
That afternoon Bishop was driven to Darley by a negro boy who was to
bring the buggy back home. He first repaired to a barber-shop, where he
was shaved, had his hair cut, and his shoes blacked; then he went to the
station half an hour before time and impatiently walked up and down the
platform till the train arrived.
It was six o'clock when he reached Atlanta and made his way through the
jostling crowd in the big passenger depot out into the streets. He
had his choice of going at once to the residence of his brother, on
Peachtree Street, the most fashionable avenue of the city, or looking
up Perkins in his office. He decided to unburden his mind by at once
calling on the lawyer, whose office was in a tall building quite near at
hand.
It was the hour at which Perkins usually left for home, but the old
planter found him in.
“Oh, it's you, Mr. Bishop,” he said, suavely, as he rose from his desk
in the dingy, disordered little room with its single window. He pushed
a chair forward. “Sit down; didn't know you were in town. At your
brother's, I reckon. How are the crops up the road? Too much rain last
month, I'm afraid.”
Bishop sank wearily into the chair. He had tired himself out thinking
over what he would say to the man before him and with the awful
contemplation of what the man might say to him.
“They are doin' as well as can be expected,” he made answer; but he
didn't approve of even that platitude, for he was plain and outspoken,
and hadn't come all that distance for a mere exchange of courtesies.
Still, he lacked the faculty to approach easily the subject which had
grown so heavy within the last twenty-four hours, and of which he now
almost stood in terror.
“Well, that's good,” returned Perkins. He took up a pen as he resumed his
seat, and began to touch it idly to the broad nail of his thumb. He was
a swarthy man of fifty-five or sixty, rather tall and slender, with
a bald head that sloped back sharply from heavy, jutting brows, under
which a pair of keen, black eyes shone and shifted. “Come down to see
your daughter,” he said. “Good thing for her that you have a brother in
town. By-the-way, he's a fine type of a man. He's making headway, too;
his trade is stretching out in all directions--funny how different you
two are! He seems to take to a swallow-tail coat and good cigars like
a duck to water, while you want the open sky above you, sweet-smelling
fields around, an' fishing, hunting, sowing, reaping, and chickens--fat,
juicy ones, like your wife fried when I was there. And her apple-butter!
Ice-cream can' t hold a candle to it.”
“I 'lowed I'd see William 'fore I went back,” said Bishop, rather
irrelevantly, and, for the lack of something else to do, he took out his
eye-glasses and perched them on his sharp nose, only, on discovering
the inutility of the act, to restore them clumsily to his pocket. He was
trying to persuade himself, in the silence that followed, that, if
the lawyer had known of his trade with the Tompkins heirs, he would
naturally have alluded to it. Then, seeing that Perkins was staring at
him rather fixedly, he said--it was a verbal plunge: “I bought some more
timber-land yesterday!”
“Oh, you did? That's good.” Perkins's eyes fluttered once or twice
before his gaze steadied itself on the face of the man before him.
“Well, as I told you, Mr. Bishop, that sort of a thing is a good
investment. I reckon it's already climbing up a little, ain't it?”
“Not much yet.” It struck Bishop that he had given the lawyer a splendid
opportunity to speak of the chief cause for an advance in value, and his
heart felt heavier as he finished. “But I took quite a slice the last
time--five thousand acres at the old figure, you know--a dollar a acre.”
“You don't say! That _was_ a slice.”
Bishop drew himself up in his chair and inhaled a deep breath. It was as
if he took into himself in that way the courage to make his next remark.
“I got it from the Tompkins estate.”
“You don't say. I didn't know they had that much on hand.”
There was a certain skill displayed in the lawyer's choice of questions
and observations that somehow held him aloof from the unlettered man,
and there was, too, something in his easy, bland manner that defied the
open charge of underhand dealing, and yet Bishop had not paid out his
railroad fare for nothing. He was not going back to his home-circle no
wiser than when he left it. His next remark surprised himself; it was
bluntness hardened by despair.
“Sence I bought the land I've accidentally heerd that you are some kin
o' that family.”
Perkins started slightly and raised his brows.
“Oh yes; on my wife's side, away off, some way or other. I believe
the original Tompkins that settled there from Virginia was my wife's
grandfather. I never was much of a hand to go into such matters.”
The wily lawyer had erected as strong a verbal fence as was possible on
such short notice, and for a moment it looked as if Bishop's frankness
would not attempt to surmount it; but it did, in a fashion.
“When I heerd that, Perkins, it was natural fer me to wonder why you,
you see--why you didn't tell _them_ about the railroad.”
The sallow features of the lawyer seemed to stiffen. He drew himself up
coldly and a wicked expression flashed in his eyes.
“Take my advice, old man,” he snarled, as he threw down his pen and
stared doggedly into Bishop's face, “stick to your farming and don't
waste your time asking a professional lawyer questions which have no
bearing on your business whatever. Now, really, do I have to explain to
you my personal reasons for not favoring the Tompkins people with a--I
may say--any piece of information?”
Bishop was now as white as death; his worst suspicions were confirmed;
he was a ruined man; there was no further doubt about that. Suddenly he
felt unable to bridle the contemptuous fury that raged within him.
“I think I know _why_ you didn't tell 'em,” was what he hurled at the
lawyer.
“You think you do.”
“Yes, it was beca'se you knowed no road was goin' to be built. You told
Pete Mosely the same tale you did me, an' Abe Tompkins unloaded on 'im.
That's a way you have o' doin' business.”
Perkins stood up. He took his silk hat from the top of his desk and put
it on. “Oh yes, old man,” he sneered, “I'm a terribly dishonest fellow;
but I've got company in this world. Now, really, the only thing that has
worried me has been your unchristian act in buying all that land from
the Tompkins heirs at such a low figure when the railroad will advance
its value so greatly. Mr. Bishop, I thought you were a good Methodist.”
“Oh, you kin laugh an' jeer all you like,” cried Bishop, “but I can
handle you fer this.”
“You are not as well versed in the law as you are in fertilizers, Mr.
Bishop,” sneered the lawyer. “In order to make a case against me, you'd
have to publicly betray a matter I told to you in confidence, and then
what would you gain? I doubt if the court would force me to explain
a private matter like this where the interests of my clients are
concerned. And if the court did, I could simply show the letters I have
regarding the possible construction of a railroad in your section. If
you remember rightly, I did not say the thing was an absolute certainty.
On top of all this, you'd be obliged to prove collusion between me and
the Tompkins heirs over a sale made by their attorney, Mr. Trabue. There
is one thing certain, Mr. Bishop, and that is that you have forfeited
your right to any further confidence in this matter. If the road is
built you 'll find out about it with the rest of your people. You think
you acted wisely in attacking me this way, but you have simply cut off
your nose to spite your face. Now I have a long car-ride before me, and
it's growing late.”
Bishop stood up. He was quivering as with palsy. His voice shook and
rang like that of a madman.
“You are a scoundrel, Perkins,” he said--“a dirty black snake in the
grass. I want to tell you that.”
“Well, I hope you won't make any charge for it.”
“No, it's free.” Bishop turned to the door. There was a droop upon
his whole body. He dragged his feet as he moved out into the unlighted
corridor, where he paused irresolutely. So great was his agony that he
almost obeyed an impulse to go back and fall at the feet of Perkins and
implore his aid to rescue him and his family from impending ruin. The
lawyer was moving about the room, closing his desk and drawing down the
window-shade. Up from the street came the clanging of locomotive bells
under the car-shed, the whir of street-cars, the clatter of cabs on the
cobble-stones.
“It's no use,” sighed Bishop, as he made his way down-stairs. “I'm
ruined--Alan an' Adele hain't a cent to their names, an' that devil--”
Bishop paused on the first landing like an animal at bay. He heard the
steady step of Perkins on the floor above, and for a moment his fingers
tingled with the thought of waiting there in the darkness and choking
the life out of the subtle scoundrel who had taken advantage of his
credulity.
But with a groan that was half a prayer he went on down the steps and
out into the lighted streets. At the first corner he saw a car which
would take him to his brother's, and he hastened to catch it.
William Bishop's house was a modern brick structure, standing on a
well-clipped lawn which held a gothic summer-house and two or three
marble statues. It was in the best portion of the avenue. Reaching it,
the planter left the car and approached the iron gate which opened on to
the granite steps leading up the terrace. It was now quite dark and many
pedestrians were hurrying homeward along the sidewalks. Obeying a sudden
impulse, the old man irresolutely passed by the gate and walked farther
up the street. He wanted to gain time, to think whether it would be
best for him in his present state of mind to meet those fashionable
relatives--above all, his matter-of-fact, progressive brother.
“Somehow I don't feel one bit like it,” he mused. “I couldn't tell
William. He'd think I wanted to borrow money an' ud git skeerd right
off. He always was afeerd I'd mismanage. An' then I'd hate to sp'ile
Adele's visit, an' she could tell thar was some'n wrong by me bein' heer
in sech a flurry. I reckon I _do_ show it. How could a body he'p it? Oh,
my Lord, have mercy! It's all gone, all--all me'n Betsy has saved.”
He turned at the corner of his brother's property and slowly retraced
his halting steps to the gate, but he did not pause, continuing his
way back towards the station. A glance at the house showed that all the
lower rooms were lighted, as well as the big prismatic lamp that hung
over the front door. Bishop saw forms in light summer clothing on the
wide veranda. “I 'll bet that tallest one is Sis,” he said, pathetically.
“I jest wish I could see 'er a little while. Maybe it ud stop this awful
hurtin' a little jest to look at 'er an' heer 'er laugh like she always
did at home. She'd be brave; she wouldn't cry an' take on; but it would
hurt 'er away down in 'er heart, especially when she's mixin' with sech
high-flyers an' money-spenders. Lord, what 'll I do fer cash to send 'er
next month? I'm the land-porest man in my county.”
As he went along he passed several fashionable hotels, from which
orchestral music came. Through the plate-glass windows he saw men and
women, amid palms and flowers, dining in evening dress and sparkling
jewels.
Reaching the station, he inquired about a train to Darley, and was told
that one left at midnight. He decided to take it, and in the mean time
he would have nothing to occupy him. He was not hungry; the travel and
worry had killed his appetite; but he went into a little café across
the street from the depot and ordered a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He
drank the coffee at a gulp, but the food seemed to stick in his throat.
After this he went into the waiting-room, which was thronged with tired
women holding babies in their arms, and roughly clad emigrants with
packs and oil-cloth bags. He sat in one of the iron-armed seats without
moving till he heard his train announced, and then he went into the
smoking-car and sat down in a corner.
He reached Darley at half-past three in the morning and went to the only
hotel in the place. The sleepy night-clerk rose from his lounge behind
the counter in the office and assigned him to a room to which a colored
boy, vigorously rubbing his eyes, conducted him. Left alone in his room,
he sat down on the edge of his bed and started to undress, but with a
sigh he stopped.
“What's the use o' me lyin' down almost at daybreak?” he asked
himself. “I mought as well be on the way home. I cayn't sleep nohow.”
Blowing out his lamp, he went down-stairs and roused the clerk again.
“Will I have to pay fer that bed ef I don't use it?” he questioned.
“Why, no, Mr. Bishop,” said the clerk.
“Well, I believe I 'll start out home.”
“Is your team in town?” asked the clerk.
“The team I'm a-goin' to use is. I'm goin' to foot it. I've done the
like before this.”
“Well, it's a purty tough stretch,” smiled the clerk. “But the roads are
good.”