THE LONE GRAVE IN THE MOUNTAINS
That same evening, Abner took Mr. and Mrs. Rogers into his confidence
concerning his name, and the business which had called him to Virginia.
The good couple were greatly excited, and they could not have been more
delighted had the inheritance fallen to one of their own children.
A few days later, Abner went to see James Drane.
"So old Colonel Hite is dead, and you are his heir," was Drane's
astonished exclamation when his client had explained his business, and
had shown a copy of the will. "I congratulate you most heartily upon
your good fortune. Of course, I know all about this Henderson County
tract; for my father was employed to survey it, and to record the
claim, and afterwards to transact all business pertaining to it, until
his death, five years ago; then I was employed as agent. I have here in
my escritoire all papers relative to the business, and copies of all
correspondence which passed between father and Colonel Hite. Colonel
Hite visited Kentucky in '80 or '81, when I was a small boy; but I
remember the circumstance. From what I can recall of him as he appeared
then, and from what I gather from his correspondence since, I judge him
to have been a very eccentric man. For several years after the tract
came into Hite's possession, my father had considerable difficulty with
rival claimants--squatters, you know, who claimed it by right of first
settlement; but all such difficulties were adjusted long before the
agency fell into my hands, and now I can foresee no trouble, nor any
very great delay, in establishing you in your rights--to this part of
your inheritance, at least. As to the Virginian estate, of course, you
have already placed your interests in the hands of some competent
attorney in that State, and have complied with all the necessary legal
formalities. Now, in regard to this land of which I have been acting as
factor," Drane continued, examining some papers which he had taken out
of his desk. "Samuel Whitaker, whose claim adjoins the southeastern
boundary of the Hite section, pays a yearly rental of forty-six dollars
for 258 acres of the Hite land; and Daniel Pratt, who owns the
homestead adjoining the southwestern boundary, holds a ten years' lease
(three of which are unexpired) to 285 more acres. The remainder of the
section--ninety-seven acres--lying on Buffalo Creek, is low and swampy,
and has never been reclaimed."
A few more business details were explained, and then Abner told the
lawyer, as he had already told the Rogerses, that for the
present--until all business relative to the winding up of the Hite
estate was completed--he preferred to be known only as Abner Dudley. He
then took his departure, leaving with Drane a copy of the will.
When his client had gone, the lawyer barred his door, and then
carefully examined the will. Although he had had the art to hide his
feelings during the interview just closed, he was more astonished and
puzzled than he had ever been before. Several months before this, in
looking through some documents pertaining to the Gilcrest property, he
had made two startling discoveries: First, that Mrs. Gilcrest's maiden
name was Sarah Jane Pepper, instead of Jane Temple, as even her own
children supposed it to be. Second, that she was a widow when Hiram
Gilcrest married her, and that her first husband had been a John Logan
who was killed in the battle of Monmouth Court-house. At the time when
Drane had made these discoveries, Gilcrest had explained that Mrs.
Gilcrest's first husband had been a worthless, bad fellow, and that for
that reason her desire was that her children should be kept in
ignorance of her ever having made this first marriage. On this account,
and for another reason which Gilcrest did not confide to Drane, she had
led her children to believe that her maiden name was Jane Temple, her
maternal grandmother's maiden name.
Abner had stated that his father was John Logan, a soldier in the
Continental army, who was killed in the battle of Monmouth Court-house.
"It may be a mere coincidence," thought Drane, "that two men named John
Logan were killed in that battle; but, then, why should this fellow
have, until now, worn the name of Dudley? Then, there's the unusual
wording of the will," and he seized the document and read the words,
"'to her' (Mary Belle Hollis Page) 'legitimate offspring, if any.'
'There's something rotten in the state of Denmark'," was Drane's
conclusion; "but how to discover it? Let me see, I'd better not mention
this to old Gilcrest yet awhile; and certainly I must let no inkling of
my suspicions escape to this Abner Dudley, or Abner Logan, or Page, or
whatever his right name may be--why, good Lord! I don't believe he has
a legitimate right to any name whatsoever. And this is the fine
gentleman who dares lift his eyes to the peerless Betty! I needn't have
run the risk I did in forging that letter, it seems; this will, I
suspect, settle the schoolmaster's pretensions even more effectually,
and with no danger to myself, either. But here, if his father and
Madame Gilcrest's first husband were one and the same man, I must work
very cautiously until I ascertain the exact date of the John Logan
alliance with Sarah Jane and that of his connection with Mary Belle. It
would be a pretty kettle of fish if I should take old Hiram into my
confidence, and it should afterwards be revealed that Sarah Jane was
the paramour and Mary Belle the true wife. Pshaw! that's not probable.
Then, there's Hite's singular expression, 'to her legitimate
offspring.' What a fine thing it would be to discover that Mrs.
Gilcrest is Hite's lawful legatee. To do the schoolmaster justice,
though, I believe him entirely innocent of intentional deception in
this matter; but I'd stake my reputation for acuteness that this old
Richard Dudley knows--only, of course, he bases his nephew's claim upon
the fact that Mary Hollis Page was still living at the time Hite made
this insane will. Abner Dudley, or Abner Logan, as the case may be,
stated that she died in August, 1782. My first step must be to
ascertain if this be correct. Let me see, Tom Gaines used to live in
Lawsonville, and is still living in Culpeper County. I'll write him for
information. On account of his connection with our Spanish schemes he
can be trusted to mention my letter to no one. I'll write him
immediately, and, while waiting his reply, I'll hover about Oaklands as
much as possible, and try to ascertain the date of the Logan-Pepper
alliance; and at the same time make another effort to recover
possession of Sebastian's letter and that dangerous little specimen of
forgery."
The postal system of our country was a slow business in that day and
time; but, in due course, Drane had Gaines' reply. From this he learned
that a certain old tombstone in the Lawsonville graveyard bore this
inscription:
MARY BELLE HOLLIS PAGE
born Feb'y 16th, 1758
died Aug. 21st, 1782.
Other information contained in Gaines' letter was this, Mrs. Page had
not died at Lawsonville, notwithstanding the tablet erected there to
her memory. She had married Marshall Page in October, 1781, and she and
her husband and the little Abner had migrated to Kentucky. Late in the
next year, a brother of Marshall Page, who had accompanied them to
Kentucky, returned to Lawsonville with the little boy, Abner Logan, and
the intelligence that Marshall Page had been killed by Indians, and
that Mary Page had died at Bryan's Station. The child had been
committed to the care of Mrs. Page's relations in Lawsonville, the
Dudleys, who had adopted him. Drane's informant also wrote that it had
always been the impression with the people of Lawsonville that Mary
Hollis had not been legally married to Abner's father, but that she had
been entrapped into a form of marriage with John Logan at a time when
he had a wife still living.
"By the heavens above, this is the strangest affair that ever came
within my ken!" said James Drane after reading Gaines' letter. "Why, I
verily believe that the dainty schoolmaster is a bastard; and, what is
more, that he has no claim to the Hite fortune. He certainly has not,
if my surmises concerning that half-forgotten episode of that hamlet in
the Cumberland Mountains be correct."
The episode to which he referred was this. He, when a boy of ten, had
once accompanied his father on a visit into southwestern Virginia. On
the third day of their journey night had overtaken them near Centerton,
a little settlement of five or six cabins in the Cumberland Mountains.
They had stopped for shelter at one of these cabins, owned by a family
named Wheeler. The next morning there was a terrible rain storm which
had detained the travelers in the village until the following day.
While there James had seen a neglected grave marked by a wooden slab,
on the mountain-side, just back of the Wheelers' cabin. He was filled
with boyish curiosity concerning this lonely grave, and had asked its
history.
Several years before, so Mrs. Wheeler had told him, some emigrants on
their way into Kentucky had stopped at the Wheeler cabin. The wife of
one of these emigrants had been bitten or stung on the cheek by some
poisonous reptile while the party was camping in the mountains the
night before. The poor woman was suffering horribly when they reached
the Wheelers', and she died there the next day from the effects of the
venomous wound in her face. They buried her under the trees back of the
cabin, and her husband cut her name, age and the date of her death upon
that oak slab, and placed it as a headstone to mark the last
resting-place of his wife. He and the other emigrants then continued on
their journey.
This sad story and the lonely grave on the mountainside had made a deep
impression upon the lad, James Drane. He now recalled the story, and he
was sure that the name upon that slab was Mary Page. Moreover, he
believed that the date recorded on the wooden slab was that of a day of
the spring of 1782. After much reflection, Drane decided to tell Major
Gilcrest of these discoveries and surmises.
To say that Hiram Gilcrest was amazed at the story which the lawyer
related would but feebly express his state of mind. "If our suspicions
are correct," he said when he had thought over Drane's story, "as to
the date of this woman's death, and if this son of hers is
illegitimate, he has no rights at all, under the provisions of this
will, to the Hite estates. My wife, in that case, is the heir; and, by
heaven, she shall have her rights! It is not that I care so much for
the monetary value of what this Andrew Hite left. I am not prompted by
mercenary motives; for I have plenty to keep my wife and children in
comfort, nor would I covet aught that lawfully or justly belonged to
another; but I do not mean to be cheated, or to allow my wife to be
cheated, out of her just rights by the crafty schemes of this Dr.
Richard Dudley in behalf of his base-born nephew. I must say, though,
that I have considerable commiseration for this young fellow, who is, I
believe, not a party--that is, an intentional party--to this fraudulent
scheme, notwithstanding his undoubted entanglement in those political
plots of Sebastian, Wilkinson and Powers. I protest, I was never in all
my life so deceived in a man as I have been in Abner Dudley, or Logan,
if he pleases; and I flatter myself, too, upon being a pretty good
judge of character. I was much taken with him when he first came to
this community. I liked his face, his conversation, and his general
bearing, and would have taken oath that he was one to be trusted in all
things."
"We must move warily in this matter, James," was the Major's caution,
after musing awhile, "until the affair is in shape to be proven in
court. I would spare my wife all agitation, if it were possible. She is
in an extremely weak, nervous condition, and until it is absolutely
necessary to do so, I wish her to know nothing of this matter; and even
when it must be brought up in court, I want to spare her all the
details of the affair--if that can be done; for any mention of the
matter will cost her much excitement and will bring before her again
all her old troubles."
After further consultation and many admonitions from Gilcrest as to
caution and secrecy, it was agreed that the lawyer should go at once to
Centerton.
He started the next morning. Reaching there three days later, he could
find no trace of the Wheelers. Their cabin was now occupied by another
family who knew nothing of the former occupants except that they had
moved away eight years since, and that their present habitation was
supposed to be somewhere in the mountains of northern Georgia. No one
now living at Centerton could give any information about the grave on
the mountain-side. Drane visited it. It was now but a sunken spot
covered with a tangle of vines and weeds. The slab was still there, but
it was prone on the ground, face downwards, and was much worn and
defaced. Drane copied in his note-book all of the inscription that was
legible:
Ma-y Be--e
wif- -f
Mar---- Page
di-d h--e
o- w-y -o
K--t--k-
Ma-ch 9 1-82
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