_THE TWO GUESTS._
Virginia entered the sitting-room--the same where so many happy evenings
had been enjoyed by the little family, in the society of him who now lay
bruised, disfigured, and insensible in Toby's kitchen.
She walked to and fro, she gazed from the windows out into the darkness,
she threw herself on the lounge, scarce able to control the feelings of
pity and indignation that agitated her. For almost the first time in her
life she was fired with vindictiveness; she burned to see some swift and
terrible retribution overtake the perpetrators of this atrocious deed.
Mr. Villars soon came out to her. She hastened to lead him to a seat.
"How is he?--much injured?" she asked.
"He has been brutally used," said the old man. "But he is now in good
hands. Where is Salina?"
"I don't know. I had been to look for her, when I came and found you in
the kitchen. I think she must have gone out."
"Gone out, to-night? That is very strange!" The old man mused. "She will
have to be told that Penn is in the house. But I think the knowledge of
the fact ought to go no farther. Mr. Stackridge is of the same opinion.
Now that they have begun to persecute him, they will never cease, so
long as he remains alive within their reach."
"And we must conceal him?"
"Yes, until this storm blows over, or he can be safely got out of the
state."
"There is Salina now!" exclaimed the girl, hearing footsteps approach
the piazza.
"If it is, she is not alone," said the old man, whose blindness had
rendered his hearing acute. "It is a man's step. Don't be agitated, my
child. Much depends on our calmness and self-possession now. If it is a
visitor, you must admit him, and appear as hospitable as usual."
It was a visitor, and he came alone--a young fellow of dashy appearance,
handsome black hair and whiskers, and very black eyes.
"Mr. Bythewood, father," said Virginia, showing him immediately into the
sitting-room.
"I entreat you, do not rise!" said Mr. Bythewood, with exceeding
affability, hastening to prevent that act of politeness on the part of
the blind old man.
"Did you not bring my daughter with you?" asked Mr. Villars.
"Your daughter is here, sir;" and he of the handsome whiskers gave
Virginia a most captivating bow and smile.
"He means my sister," said Virginia. "She has gone out, and we are
feeling somewhat anxious about her." She thought it best to say thus
much, in order that, should the visitor perceive any strangeness or
abstraction on her part, he might think it was caused by solicitude for
the absent Salina.
"Nothing can have happened to her, certainly," remarked Mr. Bythewood,
seating himself in an attitude of luxurious ease, approaching almost to
indolent recklessness. "We are the most chivalrous people in the world.
There is no people, I think, on the face of the globe, among whom the
innocent and defenceless are so perfectly secure."
Virginia thought of the hapless victim of the mob in the kitchen yonder,
and smiled politely.
"I have no very great fears for her safety," said the old man. "Yet I
have felt some anxiety to know the meaning of the noises I heard in the
direction of the academy, an hour ago."
Bythewood laughed, and stroked his glossy mustache.
"I don't know, sir. I reckon, however, that the Yankee schoolmaster has
been favored with a little demonstration of southern sentiment."
"How! not mobbed?"
"Call it what you please, sir," said Bythewood, with an air of
pleasantry. "I think our people have been roused at last; and if so,
they have probably given him a lesson he will never forget."
"What do you mean by 'our people'?" the old man gravely inquired.
"He means," said Virginia, with quiet but cutting irony, "the most
chivalrous people in the world! among whom the innocent and defenceless
are more secure than any where else on the globe!"
"Precisely," said Mr. Bythewood, with a placid smile. "But among whom
obnoxious persons, dangerous to our institutions, cannot be tolerated.
As for this affair,"--carelessly, as if what had happened to Penn was of
no particular consequence to anybody present, least of all to him,--"I
don't know anything about it. Of course, I would never go near a popular
demonstration of the kind. I don't say I approve of it, and I don't say
I disapprove of it. These are no ordinary times, Mr. Villars. The south
is already plunged into a revolution."
"Indeed, I fear so!"
"Fear so? I glory that it is so! We are about to build up the most
magnificent empire on which the sun has ever shone!"
"Cemented with the blood of our own brethren!" said the old man,
solemnly.
"There may be a little bloodshed, but not much. The Yankees won't fight.
They are not a military people. Their armies will scatter before us like
chaff before the wind. I know you don't think as I do. I respect the
lingering attachment you feel for the old Union--it is very natural,"
said Bythewood, indulgently.
The old man smiled. His eyes were closed, and his hands were folded
before him near his breast, in his favorite attitude. And he answered,--
"You are very tolerant towards me, my young friend. It is because you
consider me old, and helpless, and perhaps a little childish, no doubt.
But hear my words. You are going to build up a magnificent empire,
founded on--slavery. But I tell you, the ruin and desolation of our dear
country--that will be your empire. And as for the institution you mean
to perpetuate and strengthen, it will be crushed to atoms between the
upper and nether millstones of the war you are bringing upon the
nation."
He spoke with the power of deep and earnest conviction, and the
complacent Bythewood was for a moment abashed.
"I was well aware of your opinions," he remarked, rallying presently.
"It is useless for us to argue the point. And Virginia, I conceive, does
not like politics. Will you favor us with a song, Virginia?"
"With pleasure, if you wish it," said Virginia, with perfect civility,
although a close observer might have seen how repulsive to her was the
presence of this handsome, but selfish and unprincipled man. He was
their guest; and she had been bred to habits of generous and
self-sacrificing hospitality. However detested a visitor, he must be
politely entertained. On this occasion, she led the way to the parlor,
where the piano was,--all the more readily, perhaps, because it was
still farther removed from the kitchen. Bythewood followed, supporting,
with an ostentatious show of solicitude, the steps of the feeble old
man.
Bythewood named the pieces he wished her to sing, and bent graciously
over the piano to turn the music-leaves for her, and applauded with
enthusiasm. And so she entertained him. And all the while were passing
around them scenes so very different! There was Penn, heroically
stifling the groans of a wounded spirit, within sound of her sweet
voice, and Bythewood so utterly ignorant of his presence there! A little
farther off, and just outside the house, a young woman was even then
parting, with whispers and mystery, from an adventurous rover. Still a
little farther, in barber Jim's back room, Silas Ropes was treating his
accomplices; and while these drank and blasphemed, close by, in the
secret cellar, Stackridge's companions were practising the soldier's
drill.
Salina parted from the rover, and came into the house while Virginia was
singing, throwing her bonnet negligently back, as she sat down.
"Why, Salina! where have you been?" said Virginia, finishing a strain,
and turning eagerly on the piano stool. "We have been wondering what had
become of you!"
"You need never wonder about me," said Salina, coldly. "I must go out
and walk, even if I don't have time till after dark."
She drummed upon the carpet with her foot, while her upper lip twitched
nervously. It was a rather short lip, and she had an unconscious habit
of hitching up one corner of it, still more closely, with a spiteful and
impatient expression. Aside from this labial peculiarity (and perhaps
the disproportionate prominence of a very large white forehead), her
features were pretty enough, although they lacked the charming freshness
of her younger sister's.
Virginia knew well that the pretence of not getting time for her walk
till after dark was absurd, but, perceiving the unhappy mood she was in,
forbore to say so. And she resumed her task of entertaining Bythewood.