UNCLE JEFFERSON'S STORY
John Valiant sat propped up on the library couch, an open magazine
unheeded on his knee. The reading-stand beside him was a litter of
letters and papers. The bow-window was open and the honeysuckle breeze
blew about him, lifting his hair and ruffling the leaves of the papers.
In one corner, in a splotch of bright sunshine, lay the bulldog,
watching a strayed blue-bottle darting in panic hither and thither near
the ceiling.
Outside a colored maid--a new acquisition of Aunt Daphne's--named
Cassandra, black (in Doctor Southall's phrase) "as the inside of a cow,"
and dressed in a trim cotton-print "swing-clear," was sweeping the big
porch. Over the little cabin by the kitchens, morning-glories twirled
their young tendrils. Before its step stood a low shuck-bottom "rocker"
with a crimson dyed sheep-skin for upholstery, on which was curled a
brindle cat. Through its door Valiant could see a spool what-not, with
green pasteboard partitions, a chromo framed in pine-covers on the wall
and on a shelf a creton-covered can full of bustling paper lighters. In
the garden three darkies were laboring, under the supervision of Uncle
Jefferson. The unsightly weeds and lichen were gone from the graveled
paths, and from the fountain pool, whose shaft now spouted a slender
spray shivered by the breeze into a million diamonds, which fell back
into the pool with a tintinabulant trickle and drip. The drunken wild
grape-vines now trailed with a pruned and sobered luxuriance and the
clamor of hammer and saw came from the direction of the lake, where a
carpenter refurbished the ruined summer-house.
The master of Damory Court closed the magazine with a sigh. "If I could
only do it all at once!" he muttered. "It takes such a confounded time.
Four days they've been working now, and they haven't done much more than
clean up." He laughed, and threw the magazine at the dog who dodged it
with injured alacrity. "After all, Chum," he remarked, "it's been thirty
years getting in this condition. I guess we're doing pretty well."
He picked up a plump package and weighed it in his hand. "There
are the seeds for the wilderness garden. Bachelor's-buttons and
love-lies-bleeding and Jacob's-ladder and touch-me-nots and
daffy-down-dillies and phlox and sweet-williams and love-in-a-mist
and four-o'clocks--not a blessed hot-house name among 'em, Chum! Don't
they sound homey and old-fashioned? The asters and dahlias and scarlet
geraniums are for nearer the house, and the pansies and petunias for
that sunny stretch down by the lake. Then there'll be sunflowers around
the kitchens and a trumpet-vine over the side of this porch."
He stretched luxuriously. "I'll take a hand at it myself to-morrow.
I'm as right as rain again now, thanks to Aunt Daph and the doctor.
Something of a crusty citizen, the doctor, but he's all to the good."
A heavy step came along the porch and Uncle Jefferson appeared with a
tray holding a covered dish with a plate of biscuit and a round jam-pot.
"Look here," said John Valiant, "I had my luncheon three hours ago. I'm
being stuffed like a milk-fed turkey."
The old man smiled widely. "Et's jes' er li'l snack er broth," he said.
"Reck'n et'll kinder float eroun' de yuddah things. Daph ain' got no use
fo' _tea_. She say she boun' ter mek yo' fit fo' ernuddah rassle wid dem
moc'sins. Dis' yeah pot's dat apple-buttah whut Miss Mattie Sue sen' yo'
by Rickey Snyder."
Valiant sniffed with satisfaction. "I'm getting so confoundedly
spoiled," he said, "that I'm tempted to stay sick and do nothing but
eat. By the way, Uncle Jefferson, where did Rickey come from? Does she
belong here?"
"No, suh. She come f'om Hell's-Half-Acre."
"What's that?"
"Dat's dat ornery passle o' folks yondah on de Dome," explained Uncle
Jefferson. "Dey's been dah long's Ah kin recommembah--jes' er ramshackle
lot o' shif'less po'-white trash whut git erlong anyways 't all. Ain'
nobody boddahs erbout dem 'less'n et's er guv'ment agint, fo' dey makes
dey own whisky, en dey drinks et, too."
"That's interesting," said Valiant. "So Rickey belonged there?"
"Yas, suh; nebbah'd a-come down heah 'cep'n fo' Miss Shirley. She de one
whut fotch de li'l gal outen dat place, en put huh wid Miss Mattie Sue,
three yeah ergo."
A sudden color came into John Valiant's cheeks. "Tell me about it." His
voice vibrated eagerly.
"Well, suh," continued Uncle Jefferson, "dey was one o' dem low-down
Hell's-Half-Acrers, name' Greef King, whut call hese'f de mayah ob de
Dome, en he went on de ram_page_ one day, en took ahtah his wife. She
was er po' sickly 'ooman, wid er li'l gal five yeah ol' by er fus'
husban'. He done beat huh heap o' times befo', but _dis_ time he boun'
ter finish huh. Ah reck'n he was too drunk fo' dat, en she got erway en
run down heah. Et was wintah time en dah's snow on de groun'. Dah's er
road f'om de Dome dat hits de Red Road clost' ter Rosewood--dat ar's
de Dandridge place--en she come dah. Reck'n she wuz er pitiful-lookin'
obstacle. 'Peahs lak she done put de li'l gal up in de cabin lof' en
hid de laddah, en she mos' crazy fo' feah Greef git huh. She lef' he
huntin' fo' de young 'un when she run erway. Dey was on'y Mis' Judith en
Miss Shirley en de gal Em'line at Rosewood, 'case Ranston de butlah en
de yuddahs gone ter disstracted meetin' down ter de Cullud Mefodis'
Chu'ch. Well, suh, dey wa'nt no time ter sen' fo' men. Whut yo' reck'n
Miss Shirley do? She ain' afeahd o' nuffin on dis yerf, en she on'y
sebenteen yeah ol' den, too. She don' tell Mis' Judith--no, _suh!_ She
run out ter de stable en saddle huh hoss, en she gallop up dat road ter
Hell's-Half-Acre lak er shot outen er shovel."
Valiant brought his hands together sharply. "Yes, yes," he said. "And
then?"
"When she come ter Greef King's cabin, he done foun' de laddah, en one
er he foots was on de rung. He had er ax in he han'. De po' li'l gal was
peepin' down thoo' de cracks o' de flo', en prayin' de bestes' she know
how. She say arterwuhds dat she reck'n de Good Lawd sen' er angel, fo'
Miss Shirley were all in white--she didn' stop ter change huh close. She
didn' say nuffin, Miss Shirley didn'. She on'y lay huh han' on Greef
King's ahm, en he look at huh face, en he drop he ax en go. Den she
clumb de laddah en fotch de chile down in huh ahms en take huh on de
hoss en come back. Dat de way et happen, suh."
"And Rickey was that little child!"
"Yas, suh, she sho' was. In de mawnin' er posse done ride up ter
Hell's-Half-Acre en take Greef King in. De majah he argyfy de case fo'
de State, en when he done git thoo', dey mos' put de tow eroun' King's
nek in de co'ot room. He done got th'ee yeah, en et mos' broke de
majah's ha'at dat dey couldn' give him no mo'. He wuz cert'n'y er bad
aig, dat Greef wuz. Dey say he done sw'ah he gwineter do up de majah
when he git out. De po' 'ooman she stay sick dah at Rosewood all wintah,
but she git no bettah moughty fas', en in de spring she up en die. Den
Miss Shirley she put li'l Rickey at Miss Mattie Sue's, en she pay fo'
huh keep eber sence outer huh own money. Dat whut she done, suh."
Such was the story which Uncle Jefferson told, standing in the doorway.
When his shuffling step had retreated, Valiant went to the table and
picked up a slim tooled volume that lay there. It was the _Lucile_ he
had found in the hall the night of his arrival. He opened it to a page
where, pressed and wrinkled but still retaining its bright red pigment,
lay what had been a rose.
He stood looking at it abstractedly, his nostrils widening to its
crushed spicy scent, then closed it and slipped it into his pocket.