"O'ER THE LAND OF THE FREE--"
I have a desire to know if it is into the life of every person there
comes one night which he is never to forget until death and perhaps
even after. I do not know; but I am sure that I shall always keep the
memory of the night upon which Mr. Robert Carruthers of Grez and Bye
was introduced to the friends of his ancestors. It is my jewel that
seems a drop of heart's blood that I will wear forever hid in my
breast.
At dinner I sat beside the Gouverneur Williamson Faulkner and tears
came into my eyes as he rose from beside me at the head of the table
and said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to drink to the homecoming of Robert
Carruthers, my friend, your friend, and everybody his friends."
And from that long table there came to me such beautiful and loving
smiles over the glasses of champagne that they went to my head instead
of the wine I could not even sip because of the tears in my throat. It
was as that day upon the great ship when I saw fulfilled before my
eyes my vow to my Capitaine, the Count de Lasselles: "Friends for
France." I sat still for a long minute; then I rose to my feet with my
glass in my hand.
"I cannot make to you a speech, but I beg that I may say to you words
that were of the first taught to my infant tongue and which I last
repeated in an old convent close to the trenches in France."
Then in the rich voice which has come to me from the deep singing of
my mother I repeated very quietly:
"Oh--say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there--"
through to the last words which had fallen from my lips as I had taken
my father's dying kiss:
"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
Though I had not told them of it, I do believe there was not a heart
among those kind people which did not know of that last moment in the
old convent and I could see it in tears dashed aside as they all rose
and sang the last strain of the American song, with the musicians in
the anteroom leading them.
And as they sang that most wonderful song, Gouverneur Faulkner laid
his arm across my shoulder, and the comfort of its strength gave to me
the courage to send back all the smiles that were sent to me, as that
funny Mr. Buzz Clendenning said while they seated themselves:
"Gee, but L'Aiglon is the real un-hyphenated brand of old Uncle Sam,
Jr."
"Thank God that firebrand isn't a girl," I heard my Uncle, the General
Robert, say to most lovely Mademoiselle Susan, in a corn-colored gown
of fine line, who sat at his side.
"I'm so grateful to you, General, that he is a boy," I heard her say
in the deepest respect and regard for my Uncle, the General Robert.
"I don't doubt at all, Madam, that you will succeed in making me wish
that he had been born a girl or not at all," was the kind reply that
he made to her nicely spoken gratitude as we laughed into each other's
eyes across the table.
"I hope so," was the answer with which Mademoiselle Sue comforted him.
"And now what have you to say to me, boy, the oldest friend you've got
in America, who hasn't seen you for days--that have been too long,"
said that Madam Whitworth, who was seated at my side, and as she spoke
she turned one lovely bare shoulder in the direction of my Uncle, the
General Robert, and the beautiful Mademoiselle Sue and also Buzz, as
if to shut them away from her and me in a little space of world just
for two people.
"I can say with truth, Madam, that your loveliness to-night is but the
flowering of my suspicions of it that morning upon the railroad
train," I answered her in words that were a very nice translation of
what that fine young Cossack had once said to me at the Chateau de
Grez of my own flowering into rose chiffon after an afternoon's
hunting with him in corduroys. And in truth I spoke no falsehood to
that Madam Whitworth, for she was of a very great beauty of body, very
much of which was in view from a scantiness of bodice that I had never
seen excelled in any ballroom in France.
"I knew you for a poet from that adorable black mop which I see you
have very nicely plastered in an exact imitation of Buzz Clendenning's
red one," she answered me with a laugh. "Follow me from the ballroom
just after supper at midnight for a half hour's chat alone in a place
I know; and don't let either the General or the Governor see you," she
then said in an undertone as the Gouverneur Faulkner bent forward and
began a laughing conversation with her.
"I will," I answered her under my breath, and I leaned back in my
chair so that the Gouverneur Faulkner could more conveniently converse
with her. And to that end he placed his arm across the back of my
chair, and thus I sat in his embrace with my shoulder pressed into
his.
I do not know exactly what it was that happened in the depths of me,
but suddenly the daredevil rose from those depths and knew herself for
a very strong woman filled to the brim with a primitive, savage
cunning with which to fight the beautiful woman at my side for the
honor of the man whose strong heart I could feel beating against my
woman's breast strapped down under its garment of man's attire. And
that cunning showed me that I would have a hundredfold better
opportunity to do her and her schemes against him and against France
to the death in my garments and character of a man, than I could have
had if I had come into his and her world as the beautiful young
Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye. Then for those hated garments of a
raven my heart beat so high with gratitude that I moved again forward
from the arm of His Excellency for fear that he might feel the tumult
even through that strong towel of the bath which I had sewed above it,
and be in wonderment as to its cause.
"Here's to your first duel with a woman in which you use a man's
weapons, Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, and see that you
score--for him--and for France!" I said to myself as we rose from the
table and with the other men I bowed the ladies from the room.
"At midnight," I whispered while I bent for a second to kiss the hand
of the beautiful Madam Whitworth as she left the room. As I raised my
head from the salutation I encountered the eyes of the Gouverneur
Faulkner, which looked into mine with an expression of calm question.
And for a moment I let the woman rise superior to the raven attire and
I looked back into those eyes, in which I saw the mystery of the dawn
star, as would have gazed Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, had she
been attired in the white tulle and lace abandoned in that New York;
then I beat her back down into my heart and gave him the smile of
fealty that was his due from Robert Carruthers, his friend, along with
one similar, to the fine young Buzz Clendenning, who at that moment
came to my side and claimed my attention.
"You score with Sue. I'm to be the gracious little home city host and
give up any dances your Marquisity may choose with her. Sue foxes like
she was born in a fox hole under a hollow log, but she tangoes like
the original Emperor Tang himself, so go ahead and suit yourself.
Don't mind me. I'm the loving little playmate."
"That Mademoiselle Sue is so much of a peach that I am inclined to
request the receptacle of cream that I may devour her," I then made
answer to him in as many of the words of enthusiasm over a nice lady
as I could remember that Mr. George Slade of Detroit to have used over
the "skirt" in Louisville in the Country of Kentucky.
"Good, Bobby! I'll have to go tell Sue that before she is two minutes
older. I wouldn't want her to live five minutes longer without having
heard it. Sue's dead sure to tell the rest of the girl bunch, so I
hope you have a supply where that came from, for they'll all cry for
'em. There's the Governor making towards the door and Mrs. Pat, who is
always waiting at the gate for him, so come, let me lead you to the
dance." With which my nice Buzz and I followed the Gouverneur Faulkner
and the other gentlemen across the hall into the long salon of the
Mansion, whose floors were polished like unto a lake of ice, for
dancing.
In Touraine it is said that a nice lady fairy comes for a visit of
inspection at the _berceau_--in America it is cradle--of each
small human that is born, and gives to it a beautiful gift if
propitiations are made for it to please her. To that end sweetmeats
and nice presents are placed beside the small infant with which to
beguile the good opinion of that fairy. I would I could be that
exalted person and able to visit every small infant born a female in
all of the world. And the gift I would give to her, there in her
sleep, would be to one time in her life attend a ball in the raven
attire of a man in the city of Hayesville of America. I could bestow
no greater gift.
The hours that followed my entry into the ballroom in the Mansion of
the exalted Gouverneur Faulkner were like minutes of time that dropped
from a golden clock of joy. I danced on feet that were strong wings to
glide over a floor that was a many colored cloud from the reflection
of the soft lights and the silken skirts which ruffled over it. And,
what was most enjoyable to me in this case, I glided in whatever
direction pleased me and took with me the armful of cloud, which was
the girl with whom I was dancing, on long swoops of my own will,
instead of being led in my flights by another as had always before
been the case with my dancing. It was the most of a joy that I had
ever experienced. And as I so enjoyed that freedom I did not know how
it was that I should have such a feeling of dissatisfaction when I
beheld that beautiful Madam Whitworth dancing within the arms of the
Gouverneur Williamson Faulkner. I blushed that I should be so
unworthy, with such an unreasonable fury in my heart, and I looked
away so that I seemed not to see the smile that he sent to me over the
head of the very sweet Belle girl in blue ruffles and silver slippers
I was guiding past him in the trot of a fox.
"Yes, Sue Tomlinson _is_ as lovely as a ripe peach, isn't she?"
asked Mademoiselle Blue Cloud of me as I lowered her almost to the
floor over my arm, slid her four steps to the left then trotted her
two back and two forward; and her tone had a very sweet demand of
wistfulness in it as she looked up into my eyes and pressed very close
to that protecting towel of the bath.
For an instant I could not think of one single bonbon of compliment to
offer the lady and I wished I had sat up all of the night to talk to
that Mr. G. Slade of Detroit in the railroad train and had had my nice
gray lady friend in the Ritz-Carlton there with her notebook to
transcribe the many pleasing things he reported himself to have said
to the ladies whom he called "skirts." Then nice Lord Chisholm came
all the way from England into my memory to assist me in my difficulty.
I translated from him freely in this manner:
"Aw, on me word, you _are_ a ripping good sort and I could take
you on for the whole evening if you'd let me. What?"
"I wish I could," she answered and by that time I had thought out a
nice little squeeze for her very pretty waist in its silver girdle
under my arm. Then I had to put her into the arms of a nice young man
named Miles Menefee. To get my breath and to think up some more of the
compliments that had been given to me for my pleasure in the past, I
made my retreat behind a very large palm that was in the corner of the
room, and out upon a wide balcony which hung over a moonlit garden
across which I could see dim hills in the moonlight.
"Girls of all nations are granddaughters of the same Monsieur Satan, I
suspect," I made remark to myself as I inhaled the perfume of the
flower garments of the spring garden below. "I must take a great care
that I do not--"
"And then, boy, you'll slip on the thin ice when you least expect it,"
came in the deep voice of the Gouverneur Faulkner from a shadow at my
elbow. "I sometimes think that they love us just to double-cross our
life's ambitions, but don't you begin to suspect that for years to
come."
"A man's life must be rooted in the heart of a woman if it would bear
fruit, Monsieur le Gouverneur," I found myself saying as in the person
of the Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, I drew myself to my full
height with pride in defense of my own sex. "A man doubts that to his
own dishonor."
"Yes, but it must be a pure heart that nourishes a man to his full
fruitage--and, boy, don't you take even a sip--until you are sure
there are such founts of refreshment."
"I would that you could look into my heart, my Gouverneur Faulkner," I
said as I raised my hand and laid it against the raven garment that
covered my soft breast that was rent with pain at the sadness of his
voice and his deep eyes. "There you would see the heart of one--"
Suddenly I stopped in the deepest dismay and the daredevil quaked in
her trousers.
"I would probably see the heart of--shall I say, Galahad Junior? God
bless you, boy, you are refreshing." And he laughed as he laid his
strong hands on my shoulder and gave to me a good shake.
"Are you my comrade Launcelot?" I asked him with a sudden fierce pain
again in my breast under the raven coat at the thought of what that
Queen of the yellow hair had done to that brave Knight of the Round
Table of King Arthur.
"I don't think I'll answer your--your impertinence, boy. Just keep
foxing with Sue and Belle and the rest of the posy girls and--and keep
away from the pools--of--of other eyes." And after another shaking he
turned me towards the door of that ballroom of lights and music.
At the command of the Gouverneur Faulkner there was nothing I could do
but go back to the ballroom and to float for more minutes in the land
of cloud with the "girl bunch," as my friend that Buzz has named them;
but at supper I took my seat at the table with that beautiful Madam
Whitworth and her husband of the very drooping black mustache and eyes
that looked at all places except into those of the person addressing
him. And at that moment I made this resolve to myself: "That
Gouverneur Launcelot may ride far out of the white road, but I intend
to run at his stirrup." And I found that it required swift running,
for the road led--shall I say--into "tall timbers."
It is with a burning of countenance that arises from a hot shame,
which I do not even to this moment exactly understand, that I recall
to my mind that half hour which Mr. Robert Carruthers of Grez and Bye
spent with the beautiful Madam Patricia Whitworth in one of the deep
windows that looked from the private study of His Excellency of the
State of Harpeth, over into the great hills that surround the city.
Things happened in this wise: That Madam Whitworth made the
commencement of our duel of intelligences by assuming that I was a
simple French infant before whom she could dangle the very sweet
bonbon of affection and take away from it a treasure that it held in
the hollow of its hand as a sacred trust. That Madam Whitworth did not
realize that instead of a very small young boy from gay Paris, whose
eyes were closed like those of a very young cat, she was dealing with
the very wicked girl who placed the word "devil" behind the word
"dare," speaking in the language of that Mr. Willie Saint Louis when
he informed me that he was the man who had so placed the "go" behind
Chicago while on a visit to that city. I was that girl.