BURN THE JUNIPER.
In the enthusiasm of my dramatic occupation the figures forming in my
mind had draped, as with a merciful curtain, the picture in my
heart--had hidden the eyes. But now that the figures were sent away the
curtain, too, was gone, and the image was bold with a new vividness. I
resorted to numerous devices, walking, rowing, reading, but the picture
was always before me, thrown from within; and at night, alone in my
room, I could see in its vibrations the beating of my pulse.
The day of the scramble for office passed by, and the Senator and his
son-in-law were elected; but Estell's majority was so small that his
opponent declared that a fraud had been practiced, and gave warning that
he would take his case to the courts. I met the Senator nearly every
day, and sometimes we parted in embarrassment, when it would have seemed
so natural for him to say "Come out to see me." But he did not say it;
and out of his silence there came the information that his daughter was
at home.
At last, in October, the theatrical season arrived, with a third-rate
company to present "Virginius." I employed the columns of Petticord's
newspaper, against the Senator's advice, had the town and a large part
of the county well "papered," and when the opening night came round the
house was crowded. I put young Elkin into the box office, and he must
have been born for the place, for, although acquainted with almost every
man, woman and child in the town, he recognized no one at the window.
Nervously I watched the people coming in, my gaze leaping from face to
face. I turned away to attend to something, and when I came back and
looked at the house I knew that _she_ was there, though I did not see
her. The curtain went up and the play proceeded. On a sudden someone
well in front cried out "Burn the juniper!" And then arose the yell,
"Throw him out!" Several officers ran forward, and presently, in the
midst of great confusion, they came back, almost dragging old Mason, the
pilot, and Joe Vark, the shoemaker. Vark was the real offender, it
appeared, and Mason was snatched up as an accessory. I went out with
them, pleading with the officers not to use them roughly; and when we
reached the pavement I demanded their release. The officers, glad enough
to go back to the play, turned the culprits over to me. Both were drunk.
"Vark," said I, "do you want to break up the performance?"
"Burn the juniper!" he shouted.
"Now, here, Joe," the pilot pleaded, "let's get something that we all
understand--something like 'let her slide' or 'let her rip'--something
we can all join in on."
"I want them to burn the juniper. In the old days when the atmosphere in
the theatre got foul they cried 'burn the juniper,' and I want it burned
now. The air in there is foul with political rascality and scoundrelism.
Burn the juniper!" he yelled at the top of his voice.
"Blame it all, Joe," Mason persisted, "let's get something that's down
among the people."
"Gentlemen," said I, "you must keep quiet or I'll have you taken away.
Vark, you don't want to injure me, do you?"
"No, I'm your friend, but you'll have to live here thirty years before I
can declare my infatuation for you. Give a hundred dollars for a bonfire
of juniper. And the long-lost sword of Mars was discovered by the
bleeding hoof of a heifer, and was given to Attila. Burn the juniper!"
"Look here, boys, come back in and behave yourselves. Remember that the
house is full of ladies, and that ought to make any man thoughtful in
the South. Will you promise to behave if I let you go back?"
"I can't promise without juniper," the shoemaker declared. "The twelve
vultures represented the twelve hundred years of the glory of Rome. Burn
the juniper. Say, Belford, tell you what we'll do--we'll go down to Old
Bradley's and take a drink as long as the horn of a wild steer. What do
you say?"
"I can't go with you, Vark."
"Then I'll go back into the house and burn the juniper. No, I won't,
Belford. You are a good fellow. There's nothing stuck up about you. And
I'm sorry for that break I made in there. Shake. Now, come on, Mason,
and we'll burn Old Bradley."
They went away, arm in arm, and out of a group of mottled idlers formed
about the door came slouching the figure of the Notorious Bugg.
"Jest thought I'd stand here till the worst come to the worst, Mr.
Belford," said he. "I lowed to myself that if they jumped on you things
would then happen fast and sudden. Hold on a minute and let me tell you.
I reckon I'm as peaceable a man as you ever seen till I get too badly
stirred, and then I can't compare myself to nothin' but a regular mowin'
machine. Oh, I didn't want to come out till I had to. I wouldn't mind
whalin' both of 'em, but the fact is, I wan't prepared to meet old Joe.
I owe him for a pair of boots, and the most danger-some lookin' thing I
ever seen is a feller that I owe. When I owe a man it appears like he
can grow ten feet in a night, and sometimes when I step out into society
I find myself in a wilderness of giants, I tell you. But I was jest
about to thrash both them fellers when they went away, and in view of
that fact I think you ought to let me go into your show."
I did not take issue with his appeal; I passed him in, amused at the
thought that two of my characters had been thrown out of my house and
that another one had entered, firm in the rascally belief that he had
convinced me of his courage and his determination to risk his blood in
the defense of my dignity.
The final curtain fell, and I stood near the door, not to receive
congratulations upon the bad performance, but to seek food for my eyes.
Miss Rodney stopped to tell me of her delightful evening. Bugg Peters
hung back to say that the "hoarse feller with the table cloth wrapped
round him wan't no slouch." I saw the Senator coming, gesticulating,
talking. I saw _her_. I saw her face turn pale and then to pink as she
approached. The Senator did not appear to see me, so busy was he with
explaining to an acquaintance the merit of the performance; and he would
have led her by, but in a burst of frank energy she broke loose from him
and held out her hand to me.
"Why, Belford," said the Senator, "I didn't see you. Great show, Sir.
Fine piece of work, eh, Florence?"
"I didn't think so, but I confess that I'm not much of a judge," she
answered, smiling at me.
"Oh, well, it has its faults, and so have we all, but it was an infamous
shame that we couldn't open here without a disturbance."
"Yes," said I, "but those two men gave a better piece of acting than we
could find on any stage."
"Oh, yes. Good fellows when sober, Sir. The pilot's family is all right.
I don't know anything about Vark's people, but he'll do well enough when
sober, Sir. Well, Florence."
He led her away, and she looked back with a nod and a smile--a bright
and graceful picture as she passed through the outer door. And all that
night I saw her, always led away, but always looking back with a nod and
a smile.