MR. ROBERT WAITE
It was a very sober little darky who came up to Sylvia's room the next
morning. She set down the pitcher of water and moved silently toward
the door.
"What's the matter, Estralla?" Sylvia called; for usually Estralla was
all smiles, and had a good deal to say.
Estralla shook her head. "Nuffin', Missy. I knowed you couldn't do
nuffin' 'bout it. My mammy says how nobody can."
"Wait, Estralla! What do you mean?" exclaimed Sylvia, sitting up in bed.
"I'se gwine to be sold! Jes' like I tells you. My mammy was over to
Massa Waite's house las' night, and she hears ober dar dat Massa
Robert's gwine to sell off every nigger what ain't workin'--this week!"
Estralla's voice had drifted into her old-time wail.
"Oh, Estralla! What can I do?" and Sylvia was out of bed in a second,
standing close beside the little colored girl.
"I dunno, Missy Sylvia. I 'spec' dar ain't nuffin' you kin do. But you
has been mighty good to me," Estralla replied. "It's mighty hard to go
off and leave my mammy an' never see you-all no more, Missy Sylvia. I
dunno whar I'll be sent."
"Estralla, if you were earning wages for Mr. Robert Waite would he let
you stay here?" Sylvia asked eagerly.
"I reckon he would, Missy. But who's a-gwine to pay wages for a
pickaninny like me? Nobuddy! Missy, I'se a-gwine to run off an' hide
myself 'til the Yankee soldiers comes and sets us free," said Estralla.
"You can't do that. But don't be frightened, Estralla. I have thought
of something. I will hire you! Yes, I will; and pay wages for you to
Mr. Waite. I'll go tell him so this very day," declared Sylvia, her
face brightening, as she remembered the twenty dollars in gold which
her Grandmother Fulton had given her when she had left Boston. "You can
do whatever you please with it," was what Grandmother Fulton had said.
Sylvia had thought that she would ask her mother to buy her a watch
with the money, but she did not remember that now. She knew that, more
than anything, she would rather keep Estralla safe. Twenty dollars was
a good deal of money, she reflected. If the northern soldiers would
only come quickly and set the slaves free! But even if they did not
come for a long time the money would surely pay Mr. Waite wages for
Estralla, so that he would not insist on selling her.
Estralla's face had brightened instantly at Sylvia's promise. And when
Sylvia explained that she had money of her very own, and even opened
her writing desk and showed Estralla the shining gold pieces, the
little darky's fears vanished. She was as sure that all would be well
now, as she had been frightened and despondent when she entered the
room.
"Shall I tell my mammy?" she asked eagerly.
"Yes," Sylvia responded. "I know my mother will let me. Because Grandma
said I could do as I pleased with the money. And I please to pay it to
Mr. Waite."
"Then I'll be your maid, won't I, Missy Sylvia?" chuckled the little
darky with proud delight, "an' I'll allers go whar yo' goes, like Missy
Flora Hayes' mammy does."
"Why, yes, I suppose you will," agreed Sylvia.
Sylvia had meant to tell her mother and father of her plan about
Estralla at breakfast time, but her father was just leaving the
dining-room when she came in.
"Are you going to ask your little friends to go out in the Butterfly
this afternoon?" he asked. "If you want to go to the forts you must be
on hand early."
"I'll ask them right away after breakfast, before they start for
school," Sylvia promised eagerly. She was glad that she could go to the
forts again, and tell Mrs. Carleton that she had given the letter to
Mr. Doane. This filled her thoughts for the moment, so she quite forgot
about her plan to employ Estralla, especially as her mother had decided
that lessons would not begin until the following week.
It had seemed to Mrs. Fulton that her little daughter was tired, and
not as well as usual, and she was glad that the sailing expedition
would take her out for a long afternoon on the water.
Sylvia ate her breakfast hurriedly, and ran upstairs for her cape and
hat, to find Estralla waiting just inside the door of her room.
"Wat yo' mammy say 'bout my bein' yo' maid?" questioned the little
darky.
"Oh, it will be all right. I am going to ask Grace and Flora to go
sailing this afternoon, and I'll keep on to Mr. Robert Waite's and have
it all settled this morning," Sylvia replied, putting on her pretty new
hat.
"You may come, too," she added.
"Yas, Missy. Wat yo' reckon Massa Robert gwine to say?" questioned
Estralla earnestly.
"I think I will take the money," Sylvia said, not answering Estralla's
question; "then Mr. Waite will be sure that I can pay him."
Mrs. Fulton saw Sylvia, closely followed by Estralla, running across
the garden toward the house where Grace Waite lived.
"Poor little darky! What will she do when Sylvia goes north?" she
thought. For Mr. Fulton had told her that very morning that he was sure
South Carolina would secede from the Union, and then northern men would
no longer be welcome in Charleston. That meant of course that the
Fultons would have to return to Boston, if that were possible, but all
communication with northern states might be prevented. It was no wonder
that Mr. and Mrs. Fulton were anxious and worried.
Grace was ready to start for school when Sylvia and Estralla arrived,
and her mother gave her consent at once for her to go sailing in the
afternoon.
"The Christmas holidays will soon be here, so a half day out of school
will not matter," Mrs. Waite said smilingly, and gave Grace a note for
Miss Patten.
"I'll walk to Flora's with you," said Grace. "Now, Sylvia, own up that
you think Charleston is nicer than Boston. Why, it is all ice and snow
and cold weather up there, and here it is warm and pleasant. You
couldn't go sailing if you were in Boston to-day," she added laughingly.
"No, but I could go sleighing," responded Sylvia.
As they came in sight of Flora's home they both exclaimed in surprise:
"Why, they are all going away! Look, Flora and her mother are in the
carriage!" said Grace, "and there is Philip on horseback."
The carriage had turned on to the street, and even as Grace spoke a
curve in the road hid it from view. Philip, evidently giving some
directions to the negroes who were loading trunks and boxes into a
cart, rode down the driveway just as Grace and Sylvia reached the
entrance.
He greeted them smilingly, and stopped his horse to speak with them.
"It was all planned for us to go to the plantation before Flora got
home last night," he explained. "Father thought it was best for the
family to be out of the city. You see, it's getting time for
Carolinians to take possession of the forts, and there may be trouble.
But the palmetto flag will soon float over Fort Sumter," he added
smilingly, and with a touch of his cap and a smiling good-bye he rode
off.
Sylvia was sorry that Flora was going away, but that Philip should want
the palmetto flag to take the place of the Stars and Stripes over Fort
Sumter seemed a much greater misfortune. "When he knows it stands for
slavery," she thought, wondering if he had entirely forgotten about
Dinkie.
"I'll have to run, or I'll be late for school," declared Grace. "I'll
be all ready when you call," and with a gay good-bye she was off down
the street, leaving Sylvia and Estralla standing alone near the high
wall which enclosed the garden of the Hayes house.
"Massa Robert Waite, he live right 'roun' de corner," said Estralla,
and the two girls turned down the street leading to the house of
Estralla's master.
Sylvia went up the flight of stone steps which led to Mr. Waite's door
a little fearfully. A tall, good-natured colored man opened the door
and asked her errand, and then led the way across the wide hall and
rapped at a door.
"A little white missy to see you, Massa Robert," he said, and in a
moment Sylvia found herself standing before a smiling gentleman, whose
red face and white whiskers made her think of the pictures of Santa
Claus.
"Won't you be seated, young lady?" he said, very politely, waving his
hand toward a low cushioned chair, and bowing "as if I were really
grown up," thought Sylvia.
"I am Sylvia Fulton," she said, wondering why her voice sounded so
faint.
"Perhaps you are the daughter of Mr. John Fulton, who does me the favor
of renting my house on the East Battery," responded Mr. Waite, with
another bow.
"Yes, sir," said Sylvia meekly, wondering whether she would ever dare
tell him her errand. There was a little silence, and then Mr. Waite
took a seat near his little visitor and said:
"Let me see; is not your name in a song? 'Then to Sylvia let us sing,'"
he hummed, beating time with his right hand.
"Oh, yes, I was named for that song. And, if you please, Mr. Waite,
would you let me pay you wages for Estralla?"
"For Estralla? Now, of course, I ought to know all about Estralla. But,
you see, I have a man who attends to the names, and all that, of my
negroes. But perhaps you can tell me who Estralla is?" replied Mr.
Waite.
"If you please, sir, she is Aunt Connie's little girl, and she lives
with us, and I like her, and I thought--" began Sylvia, but Mr. Waite
raised his hand, and she stopped suddenly.
"I see! I see! You want her to wait upon you. I see. Quite right. But
if she is living in your house she is not costing me a penny for board.
So I am indebted to you. Well! Well! I must see that whatever you wish
is carried out. You need not pay me wages, little Miss Sylvia, but you
shall have the girl for your own servant as long as you live in my
house, and I am delighted to have you take her off my hands. Yes,
indeed! Yes, indeed!" and Mr. Waite smiled and bowed, and seemed
exactly like Santa Claus.
"I'm ever so much obliged," said Sylvia. "I like Estralla."
"Do you? Yes! Well! And I hope you will come again, Miss Sylvia. I am
greatly pleased to have made your acquaintance," and the polite
gentleman escorted her to the door, where he bade her good-bye with
such an elegant bow that Sylvia nearly fell backward in her effort to
make as low a curtsey as seemed necessary.
Estralla had hidden herself behind some shrubbery, and joined Sylvia at
the gate.
"Would he hire me out, Missy?" she asked eagerly.
"My, no!" answered Sylvia, and before she could explain the generosity
of Estralla's owner, the little darky was wailing and sobbing: "I
knowed I'd be sold! I knowed it."
"Keep still, Estralla! Mr. Waite says I may have you without paying
him. Just as long as I live in his house he said you were to be my
maid! Oh, Estralla! He was just as kind and polite as if I had been a
grown-up young lady," said Sylvia with enthusiasm.
"Yas'm, I reckons he would hafter be, 'cos he's a Carolinian gen'man.
I'se mighty glad he gives me to you, Missy. I reckon my mammy's gwine
to be glad," and Estralla, quite forgetting that there was such a thing
as trouble in the world, danced along beside her new mistress.
Sylvia hurried home, eager to tell her mother of her wonderful new
friend, and of Flora's departure to the plantation.
Mrs. Fulton listened in surprise. But when Sylvia finished her story of
Mr. Waite's kindness, declaring that he was just like Santa Claus, she
did not reprove her for going on such an errand without permission, but
agreed with her little daughter that Mr. Robert Waite was a very kind
and generous gentleman.
Aunt Connie was as delighted as it was possible for a mother to be who
knows that her youngest child is safe under the same roof with herself.
She tried to thank Sylvia for protecting Estralla, but Sylvia was too
happy over her success to listen to her.
When Grace returned from school Sylvia ran over and told her all about
her Uncle Robert's kindness.
Grace listened with wondering eyes.
"Oh, that's just like Uncle Robert," she declared. "But I think you
were brave to ask him."