"HERE'S MY BOY, GOVERNOR"
And it was en route to the mansion of the Gouverneur of the State of
Harpeth that my Uncle, the General Robert, did enlighten me as to the
urgent need of me in his affairs of business.
"It is a question of mules, sir, and of a dishonor to the State that
I'm going to prevent if my hot old head is laid low in doing it, as it
probably will be if I get into the ruckus with Jefferson Whitworth
that now threatens. They have insinuated themselves into the
confidence of Governor Faulkner until they have made it well-nigh
impossible for him to see the matter except as they put it. They will
get his signature to the rental grant of the lands, make a get-away
with the money and let the State crash down upon his head when it
finds out that he has been led into bringing it and himself into
dishonor. Why, damn it, sir, I'd like to have every one of them,
especially Jeff Whitworth, at the end of a halter and feed him a raw
mule, hoof and ears. I'm probably going to be done to death all alone
before the pack of wolves, but I'm going to die hard--for Bill
Faulkner, who holds in his hand the honor of his State and my State,
I'll die hard!" And he spoke the words with such a fierceness that his
white mustache, which was waxed with the propriety of the world,
divided like crossed silver swords beneath his straight nose with its
thin and trembling nostrils.
"It will be that I can help you protect this honor of the Gouverneur
Faulkner and the State of Harpeth, will it not, my Uncle Robert?" I
asked with a great anxiety. "If you must fall on the field of honor it
will be the glory of Robert Carruthers of Grez and Bye to fall beside
you, sir. I am a very good sport, my father has said."
"God bless my soul, how like Henry you are, boy!" exclaimed my Uncle,
the General Robert, and he did lay one of his long and very strong
arms across my shoulder and give to me the embrace for which I had so
longed; but for not enough time for me to yield myself to it. "Henry
always wanted to tag 'Brother Bob,' and he too--would--have
died--fighting for me--at my side. I've been hard--and when I heard of
his death--I wanted you, boy, I wanted you more--Now what do you mean,
sir, by making me forget for one moment the fix Bill Faulkner and I
are in?" And my Uncle, the General Robert, gave to me a good shake as
he extracted his very large white handkerchief and blew upon his nose
with such power that the black chauffeur looked around at us and made
the car to jump even as he and I had done.
"And those mules that it would be your wish to feed to that Mr. Jeff
Whitworth, my Uncle Robert, will you not tell me further about them?
In Paris it is said that they are a very good food when made fat after
being old or wounded in the army. I have--"
"That will do, sir. If you've had to eat mule in Paris don't tell me
about it. My constitution wouldn't stand that, though during our war,
just before Vicksburg, I ate--but we won't go into that either. Now
this is the situation, as much as a lad from the wilds of Paris could
understand it. The French Government wants five thousand mules by the
fall of the year, and there are no such mules in the world as this
State produces. They are sending a man over here to try to make a deal
with the State of Harpeth to purchase the mules from private breeders,
graze them on the government lands and deliver them in a lot for
shipment the first of August at Savannah. There is no authority on the
statute book for the State to make such a deal, but Jeff Whitworth has
fixed up a sort of contract, that wouldn't hold water in the courts,
by which the Governor of the State, Williamson Faulkner, grants the
grazing rights on the State's lands to a private company of which he
is to be a member, which, in a way, guarantees the deal. They've made
him believe it to be a good financial thing for the State and he can't
see that they are going to buy cheap stock, fatten it on a low rate
from the State and hand it over to the French Government at a fancy
rake-off--and then leave him with the bag to hold when the time for
settlement and complaint comes. There is a strong Republican party in
this State and they're keeping quiet, but year after next, when Bill
Faulkner comes up for re-election, downright illegality will be
alleged, and he will be defeated in dishonor and with dishonor to the
State. I am his Secretary of State and I'm going to save him if I can.
And you are going to help me, sir!" And as he spoke my Uncle, the
General Robert, gave to me a distinguished shake of the hand that made
my pride to rise in my throat, which gave to my speaking a great
huskiness.
"I will help in the rescue of the honor of that Gouverneur Bill
Faulkner, my Uncle Robert, with the last breath in my body, and I will
also assist to feed mule to that Mr. Jefferson Whitworth, though not
to his beautiful wife whom I do so much admire."
"That's just it; she'll have to eat mule the first one. She's at the
Governor day and night with her wiles, and in my mind it's her dimity
influence that is making him see things with this slant. They say she
put her brand on him in early youth. He's the soul of honor but what
chance has a man's soul-honor got when a woman wants to cash it in for
a fortune with which to lead a gay life? None! None, sir!" And the
countenance of my Uncle, the General Robert, became so fierce that it
was difficult to find words to answer.
"Oh, my Uncle Robert, is it that a woman would make a cheat in giving
the mule animal of not sufficient strength to carry food to poor boys
of France in the trenches when there is too much mud for gasoline!" I
exclaimed with a great horror from knowledge given me by my Capitaine,
the Count de Lasselles.
"Just exactly what she is trying to do, boy. Let those poor chaps with
guns in their hands to defend her civilization as well as theirs, die
for want of a supply train hauled by reliable mules when unreliable
gasoline fails. That's what women are like." And as he spoke I
perceived the depth of dislike that was in the heart of my Uncle, the
General Robert, for all of womankind.
"There are some women who would not so comport themselves, my Uncle
Robert. I give you my word as one--" Then as I hesitated in terror at
the revelation of my woman's estate I had been about to make, my
Uncle, the General Robert, made this remark to me:
"Women are like crows, all black; and the exceptional white one only
makes the rest look blacker. The only way to stop them in their
depredations is to trap them, since the law forbids shooting them."
And as he made this judgment of women I forgot for a moment that we
discussed that Madam Whitworth, whom it was causing me great pain to
discover to be the enemy of France, and I thought of my beautiful
mother, whom he had judged without ever having encountered, and a
great longing rose in my heart so to comport myself that his heart
should learn to trust in me as a man and then discover the honor of
woman through me at some future time. I took a resolve that such
should be the case and to that end I asked of him:
"How is it that I can serve you in these serious troubles, my Uncle
Robert?" And as I asked that question I made also a vow in my heart
against that black crow woman.
"Now that's what I'm coming to. The French Government is sending an
army expert down here to look over the situation and make the
contracts. I can't speak their heathenish tongue or read it, and I
want somebody whom I can trust--trust, mind you--to help me talk with
him and make any necessary translations. That Whitworth hussy has been
translating for us and I don't trust her. Your letter was handed to me
in the Governor's private office and both he and I saw what a help it
would be to have you here when this Frenchie--who is a Count Something
or Other--and his servants and secretaries, what he calls his suite,
arrive. By George, sir, we need your advice in eating and drinking
them! Do you suppose they'll have intelligence enough to eat the manna
of the gods, which is corn pone, and drink the nectar, which is plain
whiskey, or will we be expected to furnish them with snails and
absinthe?"
At that I laughed a very large laugh and made this answer to the
perturbation of my Uncle, the General Robert:
"I will tell you after luncheon, my Uncle Robert, because I have not
as yet eaten in this Harpeth country of America."
"All right, we'll talk about it after you've had one of old Kizzie's
fried chicken dinners. Here we are at the Mansion. Remember, you know
the _whole_ situation and are only supposed to know the part that
Governor Bill _thinks_ is the whole. Look at me, boy!" And as the
big car drove up to the curb before a great stone house with tall
pillars on guard of its front, he laid both his hands upon my
shoulders and turned me towards him with force and no gentleness and
then with his keen eyes did he look down into the very soul of me.
"Yes, I see I can trust you, sir. God bless you, boy!" he said after a
very long moment of time.
"Yes, my Uncle Robert," I answered him without turning my eyes from
his.
"Well, then, here we are. I came to the side door so I wouldn't have
to introduce you to any of the boys this morning, for we want to have
a talk with the Governor before dinner and I don't dare keep Kizzie
waiting. It riles her, and a riled woman burns up things: masters,
husbands, cooking or worse. Come on." And as we walked up the broad
side steps of that Mansion of the Gouverneur, my Uncle Robert's hand
was on my arm and I felt that I was being marched up to the mouth of
the gun of Fate and I wished very much I could have been habited in my
corduroy or cheviot skirts, no matter how short or narrow they might
be. A number of gentlemen sat upon the wide verandah smoking pipes or
long cigars under the budding rose vine that trailed from one tall
pillar to another, and more stood and talked in groups beside the
large front door that opened into the wide hall. At the back of the
hall before a closed door stood a very large black man who was very
old and bent and who had tufts of white wool of the aspect of a sheep
upon his head. He was attired in a long gray coat of a military cut
that I afterwards learned was of the late Confederacy, and I soon had
much affection for him because of his reminiscences of that war and
also because of his affection for my noble father, to whom he had told
the same stories' in his early youth.
My Uncle, the General Robert, had not paused to present to me any of
the gentlemen with whom he had exchanged jovial greetings, but he
stopped beside the old black man and said:
"This is Henry's boy, Robert, Cato. Fine young chap, eh?"
"Yes, sir, Mas' Robert," answered Cato as he peered into my face with
the nicest affection in his black eyes set in large spaces of white.
"Like Henry, isn't he?"
"'Fore God, yes, sir!"
"Look after him, Cato. He'll be about considerable."
"Dat I will--Mas' Henry's boy!"
"No lobbying dimity chasing him, Cato!"
"Yes, sir; I understands, sir."
"Is the Governor ready for me?"
"Yes, sir, you's to go right in, Mas' Robert. Mr. Clendenning is with
him jest now, but he'll be out in a turkey's call of time. Jest walk
in, sir, and you, the young marster," and with a bow that almost
allowed that the tails of the long gray coat swept the floor, the old
black man opened the door and motioned us into the room of the
Gouverneur of the State of Harpeth.
It has been given to me in the very short time of my life to be often
in the home of the President of France, to be presented at the court
of England with my father, to the Czar at Petrograd and to the old
Franz Joseph, as well as to the beloved Albert and Elizabeth in
Brussels, where I did go often to play with the young princess, and I
do know very well how to manage skirts whether very tight, or very
wide with ruffles, in the case of such presentations, but my heart
rose very high up and beat so near to the roots of my tongue that it
was impossible for me to speak as I was presented, in the traveling
tweeds of a young man of American fashion, to the very wonderful and
beautiful and fearful Gouverneur Williamson Faulkner of the State of
Harpeth.
"Here's my boy, Governor," was all the introduction my Uncle, the
General Robert, administered to me, and I stood and looked into the
face of him whom afterwards I discovered to be the greatest gentleman
in the world, with my heart beating in my throat and yet astir under
my woman's breast in the place it had always before resided.