A rather watery sun was just showing over the tree-tops when Mrs.
Kildare dismissed at her door the automobile she had commandeered,
hoping to slip into the house unnoticed. But the dogs betrayed her. They
were lingering hopefully about the kitchen door, with an eye on Big
Liza, already up and about, for the Madam permitted no shiftless habits
at Storm; and the sound of wheels brought them barking to the front of
the house. Big Liza's curiosity was aroused, and she followed.
"My Lawdy, Miss Kate! whar you bin at?" she demanded, round-eyed. "You
look lak a ghos', you sholy does!"
The Madam put her finger on her lip. "Business--I don't want it
mentioned, Liza. You understand?"
The cook nodded importantly, pursing up her mouth. There is no safer
confidante, as a rule, than a negro servant. The race is very amenable
to the flattery of being trusted, and not too inquisitive about the
doings of a superior order of beings. Kate had no fears with regard to
Liza. It was Mag who bothered her.
The girl, who had not slept that night, met her at the foot of the
stairs, looking terrified. "Oh, Miss Kate, whatever happened? Miss Jacky
done come back an hour ago, and she's up in her room cryin' fit to break
her heart. You--ain't _killed_ him?" she whispered. It did not seem an
unlikely question to ask of that white, set face with its burning eyes.
Kate drew her into the office and shut the door. "What have you told
her?" she demanded.
"Who, Miss Jacky? I ain't told her nothin'. I didn't git a chance."
"Thank God!" murmured the mother.
All the way home her head had been spinning like a top with plans for
keeping Jacqueline from knowing of her interference.
"She came in all wet and lookin' so queer!--No'm, she wa'n't cryin'
then, but she looked kind o' pinched and old-like. She didn't say
nothin' to me, except ask for the letter she done left for you, and when
I give it to her, she thanked me that pretty way she has, for bein' so
good to her.--Me, _good_ to her! when I'd gone and told, and
everything!" Mag began to blubber.
"Telling," muttered Kate, "was the one good thing you did for her.--What
then?"
"Why, she went in her room an' locked the door, and when I axed through
the keyhole didn't she want somethin' hot to drink, 'cause she was so
wet, she said no, just let her alone, and please not to wake her up for
breakfas' 'cause she might have a headache."
Kate's face softened. "Poor child! If it's nothing worse than a
headache!--Now, then, my girl, I want to tell you what your 'goodness'
might have done for Jacqueline." Her voice became harder and sterner
than Mag had ever heard it. "Should you like to see her such a creature
as you were before I brought you here, hunted, looked down upon, ashamed
to face people--the kind of woman that the Night Riders try to drive out
of decent communities?"
The girl cowered away from her. "Miss Jacky like _me_? Oh, she couldn't
be, not ever! She's a lady," she cried piteously. "Her fella would have
married her--you'd 'a' made him!"
"He could not, as it happens. He would have turned her, perhaps, into
just such an outcast as you were, and you helping him! This is the
return you have made me for my charity, Mag Henderson!"
The girl crouched with her face hidden, as if she expected a beating. "I
didn't know, I didn't know!" she moaned. "I just wanted her to be happy
with her fella--What you goin' to do with me, Miss Kate?"
"God knows," said the other bitterly.
Mag caught at her skirts, lifting her face in abject pleading. "Whatever
you does to me, don't send little Kitty away! Don't git a mad on the
baby! Say you won't, Miss Kate, say you won't!"
"Nonsense!" Kate spoke more gently. "Nobody's going to 'do' anything to
you, or to the baby, either. I suppose you cannot help your ignorance.
That's our job.--But it is evident that you can't be trusted."
"Yes'm, I kin!" sobbed the girl, childishly. "Yes'm, I kin, too! Just
you try me."
"Very well, I'll try you." Kate made a quick decision. "Listen to me,
Mag! It was I who met Mr. Channing and--persuaded him to go away. But
Jacqueline does not know this, and she must never know it. I will not
have my girl shamed before her mother. She must think he went off of his
own accord, because he was afraid to take her.--Do you understand?"
Mag nodded, sniffling.
"You are to say nothing of what has happened to-night, either to
Jacqueline or to any one else. You have been sound asleep all night! Do
you hear?"
"But supposin'," said Mag fearfully, "supposin' Miss Jacky axes me
questions?"
"Then you must lie. You know how to do that, I suppose!" said Kate, with
some impatience.
As it happened, that was one thing Mag Henderson did not know how to do,
certainly not with the clear, candid eyes of Jacqueline upon her. But an
alternative occurred to her, and she made her promise.
"I won't never tell, I won't never tell nobody, Miss Kate, cross my
heart and hope to die!"
"Very well, then." Mrs. Kildare was rather touched by the girl's
contrition, her eagerness to be trusted. She held out a forgiving hand.
"Shake hands on it, and remember this is for Jacky's sake."
Mag, with a gulp, put her hand into the Madam's, and forgot for the
moment that she had been a creature hunted, looked down upon, ashamed to
face decent people. Whatever harm she had done, she intended to atone
for, even with sacrifice.
Kate patted her on the shoulder. "Now then, run and bring a pot of black
coffee to my room, and see that I am not disturbed for at least two
hours."
When she emerged at the end of that time, a little hollow-eyed and
stiff, but ready for the day's routine, she found upon inquiry that
Jacqueline had kept to her room with the prophesied headache and did not
wish to be disturbed; also, that Mag had gone down to the village on an
errand. She paused uncertainly at Jacqueline's door, but decided finally
to respect the girl's desire for privacy, glad herself of a little
longer respite before their meeting. Duplicity was not her forte, and
she knew it. Her heart ached with tenderness for her child, a tenderness
that she must not show.
All day long, as she rode upon her rounds, inspecting the damage wrought
by last night's storm, she was rehearsing inwardly her first meeting
with Jacqueline; planning to show her, without exciting suspicion, the
depth of her love and her understanding. If only practical, unemotional
Jemima were there, to act as buffer between them! She thought of
consulting Philip, but decided that Jacqueline's secret was not hers to
share.
One friend, however, she did consult, having so recently tested Him and
found Him not wanting. Philip, happening into his always-open church
early in the afternoon, was astounded to discover no less a person there
than the Madam, on her knees, intent upon rendering unto God the things
that are God's, as honestly as she rendered unto Cæsar the things that
are Cæsar's.
He withdrew unnoticed; and thereafter, to his great delight, Kate
Kildare was a regular frequenter of the church she had built, sitting
with a rather bored expression through the service from first to last,
while her horse and her dogs waited patiently at the door for their
Sabbath exercise....
Kate shared the midday meal that day with workmen who were repairing
damages to a favorite bit of beech-wood--frequently her custom when work
was on hand that required her special attention. So it was not until
dark that she rode wearily back to Storm, to discover her household
seething with excitement.
Mag Henderson had never returned from her errand into the village. She
had been gone since breakfast. A servant had just discovered, in Kate's
room, a sealed letter addressed to the Madam, and pinned to her
pillow.--Poor Mag had followed as closely as possible the example set by
her beloved Miss Jacky.
Kate's face was very sad and discouraged as she read the little note:
I dassent stay cause if Miss Jacky was to ax me questions I'd be
bound to tell and then you wuddent trust me no more but ef i go
away I cain't answer no questions. You kin kepe Kitty. I luv her
but I giv her to you cause I ain't got nothing else nice to give
and you been awful kind to Me. plese let her be yore little Hands
and feet, miss Kate, and kepe her always and fetch her up a lady
like you not like me. plese mam dont you _never_ let her do like
me, and ef my Pappy ever comes to git her and says she's his'n for
Gawds sake she aint no such thing she's yourn. There's a city fella
a drummer been settin up to me right smart, and he says a purty gal
is a fool to stay and not have no fun and just make close for other
gals to ware and in the city ennyway gals have more chanct So he
wanted me to go along with him but I wuddent becos of Kitty but now
I reckon yore glad to git shut of me so no more at present from
yores truly
MAG.
Plese tell miss Jaky ef she brushes Kittys hare the wrong way evry
day mebbe it will come curly.
Kate looked about her at the circle of black faces, all rather pleased
and eager-looking over Mag's downfall, for the "poor white" is never
popular with the better class of negroes, and Mag's position in the
household had aroused some jealousy.
"I suppose it's too late to catch her," she said dully. "There have been
a dozen trains to the city--we don't even know what city.--Oh, I've done
this, I've done this!" She was speaking to herself, though she spoke
aloud.
Big Liza took it upon herself to administer consolation. "No you ain't,
honey, no, you ain't! She was jes' nachelly bo'n dat-a-way. In co'se
it's natchel enough fo' a body to take up with a gemman friend, but to
leave her own baby-chile behine her--why, dat gal's aimin' fer hell-fire
jus' as fas' as she kin trabbel!"
Kate was reminded of poor Mag's parting gift, her "little hands and
feet." She asked, sighing:
"Where is the baby?"
"Miss Jack's got her in her room."
She entered unheard, and found Jacqueline holding the little whimpering
creature tight against her breast, rocking and crooning to it.
"There, there, precious! Did it miss its mama? Never mind, I know.
They're tired of us, they've left us--I know. They just didn't want us
any more. Never mind, pet! You've got me."
Kate slipped away again with dim eyes, leaving Jacqueline and the
deserted baby to comfort each other.