TO BEAR MEN AND TO SAVE THEM
In going I turned and looked back at him to see that he was standing
looking after me with a very great weariness in the manner of the
drooping of his shoulders and the sadness of his face.
"Roberta," I said to myself, "a woman who so reverences and regards a
man as you do that Gouverneur Faulkner will find a way to help him so
that he shall not suffer as he does in regard to not knowing with
surety the reason of that Mr. Timms' making a murder upon his brother.
What is it that you shall do?"
And to that question to myself I found an answer in only two short
hours while partaking of the very famous custard pie at the table of
that very lovely Madam Taylor.
All of those very gay and nice "babes and sucklings" which the
Gouverneur Faulkner had mentioned, were with me at the table of Madam
Taylor with very much laughter and merriment, also much conversation.
And in that conversation were very many jokes upon my Buzz because he
had been transported to the Capitol by my Uncle, the General Robert,
and given hard labor until almost the time to arrive for that nice
supper, which he was eating with much hunger. On account of lateness
he had not been able to come to the house of lovely Sue to escort her
with him to the home of Madam Taylor. That Sue with pretended
haughtiness was looking very high above the head of the humble Buzz.
"Well, it's not my fault that Timms up and biffed his brother into
eternity all for buzzing pretty Mary Brown, and I don't see why I had
to be rung in to sort out of a million sheets of trial evidence the
lies he told about it, for poor old Governor Bill to moil over all
night. I say when a man wants to be hung as badly as that, he ought to
get what he's crying for, and not butt in on a perfectly innocent
man's afternoon fox trot," was that Mr. Buzz Clendenning's wailing to
all of the company. "Look the other way, Sue, so as not to turn this
muffin cold until I get it buttered."
"I told my washwoman, who is Mary's sister, that Mary ought to be made
to tell just what did happen and then it could all be arranged so that
the poor man could be saved to her. I think it is hard on Mary to lose
both lovers," said that very intelligent Mildred Summers.
"They live just over beyond our back gate. Suppose we all go and put
it up to the attractive Mary to speak up and keep Buzz from the danger
of overwork a second time," said that nice young Mr. Taylor with what
I considered a great intelligence but which caused much laughter.
And at that suggestion which caused the much merriment, that daredevil
within Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, again arose and commanded me
to attention.
"Go, Robert Carruthers, and obtain that paper of statement from that
Mary, so that your chief, that good Gouverneur Faulkner, does not work
in the night which is for rest, and that your beloved Buzz may not
again have to work in his afternoon which is for dancing. Go and find
that Mary as soon as this dinner is at an end."
And what was it possible for me to do but to answer the command of the
daredevil person within me? All of which I did. I made excuse of
myself on account of a lie which involved my attendance on my Uncle,
the General Robert, and departed after I had had but one nice slide
with the lovely Sue, but had obtained a promise of one from
Mademoiselle Belle if I found it possible to return by the hour of ten
o'clock.
After many inquiries at the back of the house of Madam Taylor in small
streets I was at last led to the home of the Mary Brown. All was dark
within the very small house, but upon the steps, in the light from the
moon and also a street arc, sat the person that a man, of whom I had
asked guidance, said to be the woman whom I sought. She rested her
head in her hands as had done that poor human in the cage in that
State Prison and from her I heard the sounds of slow weeping.
"What is it that I shall say to her?" I asked of myself. And then
suddenly something answered from within me from the same place that
had arisen that knowledge to spring in between my Gouverneur Faulkner
and the bright knife I had not even seen. That place is located in the
heart of Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, and not in that daredevil.
"Mary Brown," I said to her with all of the gentleness in my voice
that was commanded by my sympathy for her, "if a person were going to
kill with a rope the man I loved I would lay down my own life that he
should live. If you write one little paper to say that he murdered in
defense of you, the good Gouverneur Faulkner will save him to you.
Give to me that paper."
"Go away," she moaned as she shook her head and cried into her arms.
"See, Mary: Here is the pencil and the paper to write the words of
life for Timms to that Gouverneur Faulkner," I said as I seated myself
beside her and extracted my notebook and pencil from the pocket of my
overcoat where I had placed them on leaving my room as is always best,
I deemed, for a secretary. "There are just two things that are the
duty of women, Mary: to bear men and to save them. Save yours now,
Mary. Much will happen, it may be; but that Timms is a good man and
must live."
"I dassent. He told me not to, Timms did."
"If a knife was aimed at Timms' heart, would you not throw yourself
between him and its cut, Mary, even though commanded by him not to so
save him?"
"Yes!"
"The knife is aimed and here's the paper by which you can throw your
person on that knife. Is it of such moment that it cut into your own
heart, that you stand and let it give death to him?"
"I give up! I give up, Mister! I can't let nobody murder him. Nobody
ever put it that way to me. Give me that paper and let me git to him
fer jest one minute to-morrow," she made answer to me as she seized
the paper and pencil and began to write with the paper spread beside
her upon the step.
"I will myself send you in my car with good black Kizzie to see Timms
to-morrow, Mary," I promised her while she wrote.
"I got ter get my arms around his neck once more 'fore he kills me fer
telling," she answered as she signed her name to the paper and handed
it to me.
"Place those arms in that position, Mary, before telling him of your
action and all will be well," I advised of her with much wisdom.
"Will that do, Mister?" she asked with anxiety as I began to fold the
paper.
On that paper she had written:
"Hen Timms had locked me in the room and was forcing me when
Gabe broke in and got me away from him. He had to bust his
head with a flatiron to make him let go of me. I am a good
woman.
Mary Brown"
"Yes, good Mary, this will shield Timms from that knife, I feel a
certainty, and I will send for you and see that you go to an interview
with him at ten o'clock of the to-morrow morning. And now good night,
with great respect to you for a brave woman," I said as I rose to my
feet.
"Who are you, Mister, that have spoke to my heart like they ain't
nobody spoke to its suffering yet, though you ain't said many words
and them is curious like?" she asked of me as I prepared to take a
hurried departure.
"I am the secretary of the Gouverneur Faulkner, Mary, and--and--I
know--how women--love--men. I--"
"I bet a many of 'em have loved you, God bless your sweet eyes. Good
night, sir!"
And with those kind words from the poor female, who was beginning
again to sob but with another motive in her weeping, I took my
departure down the street--or up--I did not know in just which
direction. I had the intention of returning to the house of Madam
Taylor to obtain the Cherry, which I had left standing before her
door, and in it convey the message to my Gouverneur Faulkner that
should bring relief to his anxiety, but I soon found that I had lost
myself upon streets that I had never seen before.
What was it that I should do? My heart suffered that my Gouverneur
Faulkner should not know the relief of that paper I had in the pocket
of my dinner coat, but I could not find myself and I did not know
exactly what questions I should ask. Then I bethought me of that
telephone, which in America is so much used, but not in France. I
entered into a store for medicines upon the corner of one of the
streets in my wandering, looked diligently in a book to find the
number for the Mansion of the Gouverneur, and after many tellings of
my desire, at last my Gouverneur Faulkner made an answer in my ear
that was as beautiful in voice as the words he spoke to me in his
presence.
"Well?" he asked of me.
"This is Robert Carruthers who speaks."
"Oh, all right, youngster. How did the fatted pie go?"
"That was a very nice pie, Your Excellency, and I have a paper from
that Mary Brown concerning the murder of the brother of good Timms for
cruelty to Mary. I wish to give it to you."
"What do you mean, boy?"
"I have said it."
"Then bring it here to me at once and tell me how you got it."
"I cannot come to you."
"Then I'll come to you. Where are you?"
"I do not know. I am lost."
"God, boy, what do you mean?"
"I am in a store of medicine that is many streets from that house of
good Mary Brown, and also from the house of Madam Taylor. I have the
intention of calling on the telephone my faithful Bonbon and asking
that he come and find me and deliver me to the home of Madam Taylor
and from thence transport this paper to you that you go to sleep for a
much needed rest."
"You helpless young idiot, call a taxi and come right here to me."
"I am promised to a dance with Mademoiselle Belle by the hour of ten,
of which it lacks now only a quarter. Cannot I go in that taxicab,
which it is of much intelligence of you to suggest to me, and send by
that taxicab to you the paper from Mary Brown while I stay to dance
that dance?"
"Well I'll be--no, I can't say it over the telephone."
"What is it, my Gouverneur Faulkner?"
"I'll say it in the morning to you in person. I'll just hold up the
wheels of state until that dance is over. Go ahead, youngster; call
the taxi and get back to Belle. I'll have Jenkins waiting at the
Taylor's to get the paper and you can--can tell me all about it in the
morning. Will nine o'clock be too early to call you from--your rosy
dreams?"
"I do not have coffee until nine o'clock, my Gouverneur Faulkner, and
I do not make a very hurried toilet, but I will come to you at the
Capitol at that nine o'clock if you so command--very gladly."
"Oh, no, we'll all of us just--just cool our heels until you get your
coffee and toilet. Don't hurry, I beg of you! Good night, and beat it
to Belle, as Buzz would say. Good night, you--you--but I'll say it all
in the morning if it takes a half day. Good night again." And with
that parting salutation my Gouverneur Faulkner's voice died from the
telephone with what I thought had the sound of a very nice laugh.
That Mademoiselle Belle Keith is a dancer of the greatest beauty, and
also is the homely Mildred Summers. The two hours until midnight at
the home of my lovely Madam Taylor seemed as one short half of an hour
to me. I also had the pleasure of conducting the nice Belle home in
the Cherry so that I could make a fine display to her of my skill with
a motor. In France it would be of a great scandal to allow a beautiful
_jeune fille_, as is that Belle, and a nice gentleman, such as I
declare Mr. Robert Carruthers to be, to go out into the midnight alone
and unattended; but is it that in America the gentlemen are of a
greater virtue than in France, or is it that the ladies have that
great virtue? I do not know, but I declare it to be of much interest
to remark.
"You'll find old Forty-Two Centimeter firing off overtime, L'Aiglon,
because when the Whitworth gang got caught up on those specifications
they side-stepped with another proposition and he's scouting for holes
in it. Better climb the grapevine into bed and side-step him," advised
Buzz to me while we waited beside our cars for the beautiful Belle and
beautiful Sue.
"Much gratitude for your advice, and good night," I called to him as
we separated the Cherry and the Gray and went in diverse directions.
I understood that "climb the grapevine into bed" to mean entering my
home and that of my Uncle, the General Robert, with much stealth and
that thing I did, dropping into a deep sleep in the moment of
inserting myself between the sheets of that bed.
And when I awakened, because of that much dancing, behold, it was ten
of the clock and eleven thereto before I arrived in a very great hurry
with much pinkness of cheeks in the office of the Gouverneur Faulkner
at the Capitol of the State of Harpeth.
And in that office I also discovered my Uncle, the General Robert,
performing the action of the forty-two centimeter gun with words about
my extreme lateness.
"You young fox trotter, you, I'd break every bone in your body if I
wasn't so damned proud of you," he exploded directly in front of me.
"General, if you'll let me take Robert into his office for five
minutes alone I'll help you take the hide off of him later," said that
Gouverneur Faulkner as he beamed the great kindness to me. "Just stay
here and get that Timms pardon crowd ready to hear the news of Mary's
confession and I'll tell you all about it when I've settled with
Robert."
"Very well, sir, very well," answered my Uncle, the General Robert,
with a further explosion of words. "I'll also expect you to give him
commands about this dance the young females in this town are leading
him." With which my Uncle, the General Robert, himself went into the
anteroom and left me alone with the beloved Gouverneur Faulkner.
"Good morning, Robert," he said to me with a laugh as he came and
stood close beside me. That Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, will
blush within me, when that beloved Gouverneur comes very close beside
her, in a way that is an embarrassment to Robert Carruthers, his
secretary. "And now tell me what you said to that stupid Mary Brown
that made her see the light," he asked me with his fine eyes looking
into mine with a great interest and something of admiration.
"I asked of her if she would not throw herself before that beloved
good Timms if a knife was aimed at his heart; and she perceived from
that question that she must give to me the paper. A heart that has
felt a great tragedy draw near a beloved one can speak without words
to another who sees also a beloved in danger. Is it that you slept in
ease, my Gouverneur Faulkner, after you had received that paper? It
grieved me that you should sit at work while I was at dancing," I
answered to him as I drew nearer and laid my hand with timidity upon
the sleeve of his coat.
"My God, boy, do they grow many like you in France?" was the answer
that the great Gouverneur Faulkner made to me as he looked down into
the adoration of my eyes raised to his, with a question that was of
deep bewilderment.
"France has grown many young and fine men who--who die, my Gouverneur
Faulkner for her in the trenches, where I must soon go," I answered
him with my head drawn to its entire height in the likeness of the old
Marquis of Grez and Flanders.
"When you go into the trenches of France, youngster, the State of
Harpeth will have a Governor on leave in the same trench," answered me
that Gouverneur Faulkner with a very gentle hand laid on the sleeve of
my coat above the bandages of my wound, and a glow of the star in his
eyes. "Brothers by bloodshed, Marquis of Grez and Bye."
"Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, how will you even gain the refuge
of your petticoats and get away from these lies of dishonor if you are
to be so pursued by--" I was asking of myself when my Uncle, the
General Robert, opened the door and said:
"Better see this pardon delegation now, Governor. That other matter is
going to go to hell as fast as it can if we don't scotch it. Robert,
get those letters on your desk into United States as quickly as
possible. That French deluge is upon us. Come back as soon as you
can." With which I was dismissed into my own small anteroom.
And what did I find in those letters?