CALYPSO
It was announced that the presidential reception on the following
evening would be of special dignity and splendour, and it was thought
the part of duty by all who were of consequence in Richmond to attend
and make a brave show before the world. Mr. Davis, at the futile peace
conference in the preceding July, had sought to impress upon the
Northern delegates the superior position of the South. "It was true," he
said, "that Sherman was before Atlanta, but what matter if he took it?
the world must have the Southern cotton crop, and with such an asset the
Southern Republic must stand." He was not inclined now to withdraw in
any particular from this position, and his people stood solidly behind
him.
Prescott, as he prepared for the evening, had much of the same spirit,
although his was now a feeling of personal defiance toward a group of
persons rather than toward the North in general.
"Are you going alone?" asked his mother.
"Why, yes, mother, unless you will go with me, and I know you won't.
Whom else could I ask?"
"I thought that you might take Miss Catherwood," she replied without
evasion.
"No chance there," replied Prescott, with a light laugh.
"Why not?"
"Miss Catherwood would scorn a humble individual like myself. The
'Beautiful Yankee' looks far higher. She will be escorted to-night by
the brilliant, the accomplished, the powerful and subtle gentleman, the
Honourable James Sefton."
"You surprise me!" said his mother, and her look was indeed full of
astonishment and inquiry, as if some plan of hers had gone astray.
"I have heard the Secretary's name mentioned once or twice in connection
with hers," she said, "but I did not know that his attentions had
shifted completely from Helen Harley. Men are indeed changeable
creatures."
"Are you just discovering that, at your age, mother?" asked Prescott
lightly.
"I believe Lucia Catherwood too noble a woman to love a man like James
Sefton," she said.
"Why, what do you know of Miss Catherwood?"
His mother did not answer him, and presently Prescott went to the
reception, but early as he was, Colonel Harley, the two editors and
others were there before him. Colonel Harley, as Raymond termed it, was
"extremely peacocky." He wore his most gorgeous raiment and in addition
he was clothed about with vanity. Already he was whispering in the ear
of Mrs. Markham, who had renewed her freshness, her youth and her
liveliness.
"If I were General Markham," said Raymond cynically, "I'd detail a guard
of my most faithful soldiers to stand about my wife."
"Do you think she needs all that protection?" asked Winthrop.
"Well, no, _she_ doesn't need it, but it may save others," replied
Raymond with exceeding frankness.
Winthrop merely laughed and did not dispute the comment. The next
arrival of importance was that of Helen Harley and General Wood. Colonel
Harley frowned, but his sister's eyes did not meet his, and the look of
the mountaineer was so lofty and fearless that he was a bold man indeed
who would have challenged him even with a frown. Helen was all in white,
and to Prescott she seemed some summer flower, so pure, so snowy and so
gentle was she. But the General, acting upon Prescott's advice, had
evidently taken his courage in his hands and arrayed himself as one who
hoped to conquer. His gigantic figure was enclosed for the first time
since Prescott had known him in a well-fitting uniform, and his great
black mane of hair and beard had been trimmed by one who knew his
business. The effect was striking and picturesque. Prescott remembered
to have read long ago in a child's book of natural history that the
black-maned lion was the loftiest and boldest of his kind, and General
Wood seemed to him now to be the finest of the black-maned lions.
There was a shade of embarrassment in the manner of Helen Harley when
she greeted Prescott. She, too, had recollections; perhaps she had
fancied once, like Prescott, that she loved when she did not love. But
her hesitation was over in a moment and she held out her hand warmly.
"We heard of your return from the South," she said. "Why haven't you
been to see us?"
Prescott made some excuse about the pressure of duty, and then, bearing
his friend's interest in mind, spoke of General Wood, who was now in
conversation some distance away with the President himself.
"I believe that General Wood is to-night the most magnificent figure in
the South," he said. "It is well that Mr. Davis greets him warmly. He
ought to. No man under the rank of General Lee has done more for the
Confederacy."
His voice had all the accent of sincerity and Helen looked up at him,
thanking him silently with her eyes.
"Then you like General Wood," she said.
"I am proud to have him as a friend and I should dislike very much to
have him as an enemy."
Richmond in its best garb and with its bravest face was now arriving
fast, and Prescott drifted with some of his friends into one of the
smaller parlours. When he returned to the larger room it was crowded,
and many voices mingled there. But all noise ceased suddenly and then in
the hush some one said: "There she comes!" Prescott knew who was meant
and his anger hardened in him.
Miss Catherwood was looking unusually well, and even those who had
dubbed her "The Beautiful Yankee" added another superlative adjective. A
spot of bright red burned in either cheek and she held her head very
high. "How haughty she is!" Prescott heard some one say. Her height,
her figure, her look lent colour to the comment.
Her glance met Prescott's and she bowed to him, as to any other man whom
she knew, and then with the Secretary beside her, obviously proud of the
lady with whom he had come, she received the compliments of her host.
Lucia Catherwood did not seem to be conscious that everybody was looking
at her, yet she knew it well and realized that the gaze was a singular
mixture of curiosity, like and dislike. It could not well be otherwise,
where there was so much beauty to inspire admiration or jealousy and
where there were sentiments known to be different from those of all the
others present. A mystery as tantalizing as it was seductive, together
with a faint touch of scandal which some had contrived to blow upon her
name, though not enough really to injure her as yet, sufficed to give a
spice to the conversation when she was its subject.
The President engaged her in talk for a few minutes. He himself, clad in
a grayish-brown suit of foreign manufacture, was looking thin and old,
the slight stoop in his shoulders showing perceptibly. But he brightened
up with Southern gallantry as he talked to Miss Catherwood. He seemed to
find an attraction not only in her beauty and dignity, but in her
opinions as well and the ease with which she expressed them. He held her
longer than any other guest, and Mr. Sefton was the third of three,
facile, smiling, explaining how they wished to make a convert of Miss
Catherwood and yet expected to do so. Here in Richmond, surrounded by
truth and with her eyes open to it, she must soon see the error of her
ways; he, James Sefton, would vouch for it.
"I have no doubt, Mr. Sefton, that you will contribute to that end,"
said the President.
She was the centre of a group presently, and the group included the
Secretary, Redfield, Garvin and two or three Europeans then visiting in
Richmond. Prescott, afar in a corner of the room, watched her covertly.
She was animated by some unusual spirit and her eyes were brilliant; her
speech, too, was scintillating. The little circle sparkled with
laughter and jest. They undertook to taunt her, though with good humour,
on her Northern sympathies, and she replied in like vein, meeting all
their arguments and predicting the fall of Richmond.
"Then, Miss Catherwood, we shall all come to you for a written
protection," said Garvin.
"Oh, I shall grant it," she said. "The Union will have nothing to fear
from you."
But Garvin, unabashed at the general laugh on himself, returned to the
charge. Prescott wandered farther away and presently was talking to Mrs.
Markham, Harley being held elsewhere by bonds of courtesy that he could
not break. Thus eddies of the crowd cast these two, as it were, upon a
rock where they must find solace in each other or not at all.
Mrs. Markham was a woman of wit and beauty. Prescott often had remarked
it, but never with such a realizing sense. She was young, graceful, and
with a face sufficiently supplied with natural roses, and above all keen
with intelligence. She wore a shade of light green, a colour that
harmonized wonderfully with the green tints that lurked here and there
in the depths of her eyes, and once when she gazed thoughtfully at her
hand Prescott noticed that it was very white and well shaped. Well,
Harley was at least a man of taste.
Mrs. Markham was pliable, insinuating and complimentary. She was
smitten, too, by a sudden mad desire. Always she was alive with coquetry
to her finger tips, and to-night she was aflame with it. But this quiet,
grave young man hitherto had seemed to her unapproachable. She used to
believe him in love with Helen Harley; now she fancied him in love with
some one else, and she knew his present frame of mind to be vexed
irritation. Difficult conquests are those most valued, and here she saw
an opportunity. He was so different from the others, too, that, wearied
of easy victories, all her fighting blood was aroused.
Mrs. Markham was adroit, and did not begin by flattering too much nor by
attacking any other woman. She was quietly sympathetic, spoke guardedly
of Prescott's services in the war, and made a slight allusion to his
difference in temperament from so many of the careless young men who
fought without either forethought or present thought.
Prescott found her presence soothing; her quiet words smoothed away his
irritation, and gradually, without knowing why, he began to have a
better opinion of himself. He wondered at his own stupidity in not
having noticed before what an admirable woman was Mrs. Markham, how much
superior to others and how beautiful. He saw the unsurpassed curve of
her white arm where the sleeve fell back, and there were wonderful green
tints lurking in the depths of her eyes. After all, he could not blame
Harley--at least, for admiration.
They passed into one of the smaller rooms and Prescott's sense of
satisfaction increased. Here was one woman, and a woman of beauty and
wit, too, who could appreciate him. They sat unnoticed in a corner and
grew confidential. Once or twice she carelessly placed her hand upon his
coat sleeve, but let it rest there only for a moment, and on each
occasion he noticed that the hand and wrist were entirely worthy of the
arm. It was a small hand, but the fingers were long, tapering and very
white, each terminating in a rosy nail. Her face was close to his, and
now and then he felt her light breath on his cheek. A thrill ran through
his blood. It was very pleasant to sit in the smile of a witty and
beautiful woman.
He looked up; Lucia Catherwood was passing on the arm of a Confederate
general and for a moment her eyes flashed fire, but afterward became
cold and unmoved. Her face was blank as a stone as she moved on, while
Prescott sat red and confused. Mrs. Markham, seeming not to notice,
spoke of Miss Catherwood, and she did not make the mistake of
criticizing her.
"The 'Beautiful Yankee' deserves her name," she said. "I know of no
other woman who could become a veritable Helen of Troy if she would."
"If she would," repeated Prescott; "but will she?"
"That I do not know."
"But I know," said Prescott recklessly; "I think she will."
Mrs. Markham did not reply. She was still the sympathetic friend,
disagreeing just enough to incite triumphant and forgiving opposition.
"Even if she should, I do not know that I could wholly blame her," she
said. "I fancy that it is not easy for any woman of great beauty to
concentrate her whole devotion on one man. It must seem to her that she
is giving too much to an individual, however good he may be."
"Do you feel that way about it yourself, Mrs. Markham?"
"I said a woman of great beauty."
"It is the same."
Her serenity was not at all disturbed and her hand rested lightly on his
arm once more.
"You are a foolish boy," she said. "When you pay compliments, do not pay
them in such blunt fashion."
"I could not help it; I had too good an excuse."
She smiled slightly.
"Southern men are clever at flattery," she said, "and the Northern men,
they say, are not; perhaps on that account those of the North are more
sincere."
"But we of the South often mean what we say, nevertheless."
Had Prescott been watching her face, he might have seen a slight change
of expression, a momentary look of alarm in the green depths of the
eyes--some one else was passing--but in another instant her face was as
calm, as angelic as ever.
She spoke of Helen Harley and her brave struggle, the evident devotion
of General Wood, and the mixed comment with which it was received.
"Will he win her?" asked Prescott.
"I do not know; but somebody should rescue her from that selfish old
father of hers. He claims to be the perfect type of the true Southern
gentleman--he will tell you so if you ask him--but if he is, I prefer
that the rest of the world should judge the South by a false type."
"But General Wood is not without rivals," said Prescott. "I have often
thought that he had one of the most formidable kind in the Secretary,
Mr. Sefton."
He awaited her answer with eagerness. She was a woman of penetrating
mind and what she said would be worth considering. Regarding him again
with that covert glance, she saw anxiety trembling on his lips and she
replied deliberately:
"The Secretary himself is another proof why a woman of beauty should not
concentrate all her devotion on one man. You have seen him to-night and
his assiduous attention to another woman. Captain Prescott, all men are
fickle--with a few exceptions, perhaps."
She gave him her most stimulating glance, a look tipped with flame,
which said even to a dull intelligence--and Prescott's was not--that he
was one of the few, the rare exceptions. As her talk became more
insinuating her hand touched his arm and rested there ten seconds where
it had rested but five before. Again he felt her breath lightly on his
cheek and he noticed how finely arched and seductive was the curve of
her long yellow lashes. He had felt embarrassed and ashamed when Lucia
Catherwood saw him there in an attitude of devotion to Mrs. Markham, but
that sensation was giving way to stubbornness and anger. If Lucia should
turn to some one else why might not he do the same?
Yielding himself to the charms of a perfect face, a low and modulated
voice and a mind that never mistook flippancy and triviality for wit, he
met her everywhere on common ground, and she wondered why she had not
seen the attractions of this grave, quiet young man long before! Surely
such a conquest--and she was not certain yet that it was achieved--was
worth a half-dozen victories of the insipid and over-easy kind.
An hour later Prescott was with Lucia for a few minutes, and although no
one else was within hearing, their conversation was formal and
conventional to the last degree. She spoke of the pleasure of the
evening, the brave show made by the Confederacy despite the pressure of
the Northern armies, and her admiration for a spirit so gallant. He paid
her a few empty compliments, told her she was the shining light among
lesser lights, and presently he passed out. He noticed, however, that
she was, indeed, as he had said so lightly, the star of the evening. The
group around her never thinned, and not only were they admiring, but
were anxious to match wits with her. The men of Richmond applauded, as
one by one each of them was worsted in the encounter; at least, they had
company in defeat, and, after all, defeat at such hands was rather more
to be desired than victory. When Prescott left she was still a centre of
attraction.
Prescott, full of bitterness and having no other way of escape from his
entanglement, asked to be sent at once to his regiment in the trenches
before Petersburg, but the request was denied him, as it was likely, so
he was told, that he would be needed again in Richmond. He said nothing
to his mother of his desire to go again to the front, but she saw that
he was restless and uneasy, although she asked no questions.
He had ample cause to regret the refusal of the authorities to accede to
his wish, when rumour and vague innuendo concerning himself and Mrs.
Markham came to his ears. He wondered that so much had been made of a
mere passing incident, but he forgot that his fortunes were intimately
connected with those of many others. He passed Harley once in the
streets and the flamboyant soldier favoured him with a stare so insolent
and persistent that his wrath rose, and he did not find it easy to
refrain from a quarrel; but he remembered how many names besides his own
would be dragged into such an affair, and passed on.
Helen Harley, too, showed coldness toward him, and Prescott began to
have the worst of all feelings--the one of lonesomeness and
abandonment--as if every man's hand was against him. It begot pride,
stubbornness and defiance in him, and he was in this frame of mind when
Mrs. Markham, driving her Accomack pony, which somehow had survived a
long period of war's dangers, nodded cheerily to him and threw him a
warm and ingratiating smile. It was like a shaft of sunshine on a wintry
day, and he responded so beamingly that she stopped by the sidewalk and
suggested that he get into the carriage with her. It was done with such
lightness and grace that he scarcely noticed it was an invitation, the
request seeming to come from himself.
It was a small vehicle with a narrow seat, and they were compelled to
sit so close together that he felt the softness and warmth of her body.
He was compelled, too, to confess that Mrs. Markham was as attractive by
daylight as by lamplight. A fur jacket and a dark dress, both
close-fitting, did not conceal the curves of her trim figure. Her cheeks
were glowing red with the rapid motion and the touch of a frosty
morning, and the curve of long eyelashes did not wholly hide a pair of
eyes that with tempting glances could draw on the suspecting and the
unsuspecting alike. Mrs. Markham never looked better, never fresher,
never more seductive than on that morning, and Prescott felt, with a
sudden access of pride, that this delightful woman really liked him and
considered him worth while. That was a genuine tribute and it did not
matter why she liked him.
"May I take the reins?" he asked.
"Oh, no," she replied, giving him one more of those dazzling smiles.
"You would not rob me, would you? I fancy that I look well driving and I
also get the credit for spirit. I am going shopping. It may seem strange
to you that there is anything left in Richmond to buy or anything to buy
it with, but the article that I am in search of is a paper of pins, and
I think I have enough money to pay for it."
"I don't know about that," said Prescott. "My friend Talbot gave five
hundred dollars for a paper collar. That was last year, and paper
collars must be dearer now. So I imagine that your paper of pins will
cost at least two thousand dollars."
"I am not so foolish as to go shopping with our Confederate money. I
carry gold," she replied. With her disengaged hand she tapped a little
purse she carried in her pocket and it gave forth an opulent tinkle.
She was driving rapidly, chattering incessantly, but in such a gay and
light fashion that Prescott's attention never wandered from herself--the
red glow of her cheeks, the changing light of her eyes and the
occasional gleam of white teeth as her lips parted in a laugh. Thus he
did not notice that she was taking him by a long road, and that one or
two whom they passed on the street looked after them in meaning fashion.
Prescott was not in love with Mrs. Markham, but he was charmed. Hers was
a soft and soothing touch after a hard blow. A healing hand was
outstretched to him by a beautiful woman who would be adorable to make
love to--if she did not already belong to another man, such an old
curmudgeon as General Markham, too! How tightly curled the tiny ringlets
on her neck! He was sitting so close that he could not help seeing them
and now and then they moved lightly under his breath.
He remembered that they were a long time in reaching the shop, but he
did not care and said nothing. When they arrived at last she asked him
to hold the lines while she went inside. She returned in a few minutes
and triumphantly held up a small package.
"See," she said, "I have made my purchase, but it was the last they had,
and no one can say when Richmond will be able to import another paper of
pins. Maybe we shall have to ask General Grant."
"And then he won't let us," said Prescott.
She laughed and glanced up at him from under the long, curling
eyelashes. The green tints showed faintly in her eyes and were
singularly seductive. She made no effort to conceal her high good
humour, and Prescott now and then felt her warm breath on his cheek as
she turned to speak to him in intimate fashion.
She drove back by a road not the same, but as long as before, and
Prescott found it all too short. His gloom fled away before her flow of
spirits, her warm and intimate manner, and the town, though under gray
November skies, became vivid with light and colour.
"Do you know," she said, "that the Mosaic Club meets again to-night and
perhaps for the last time? Are you not coming?"
"I am not invited."
"But I invite you. I have full authority as a member and an official of
the club."
"I'm all alone," said Prescott.
"And so am I," said she. "The General, you know, is at the front, and no
one has been polite enough yet to ask to take me."
Her look met his with a charming innocence like that of a young girl,
but the lurking green depths were in her eyes and Prescott felt a thrill
despite himself.
"Why not," was his thought. "All the others have cast me aside. She
chooses me. If I am to be attacked on Mrs. Markham's account--well, I'll
give them reason for it."
The defiant spirit was speaking then, and he said aloud:
"If two people are alone they should go together and then they won't be
alone any more. You have invited me to the club to-night, Mrs. Markham,
now double your benefaction and let me take you there."
"On one condition," she said, "that we go in my pony carriage. We need
no groom. The pony will stand all night in front of Mr. Peyton's house
if necessary. Come at eight o'clock."
Before she reached her home she spoke of Lucia Catherwood as one comes
to a subject in the course of a random conversation, and connected her
name with that of the Secretary in such a manner that Prescott felt a
thrill of anger rise, not against Mrs. Markham, but against Lucia and
Mr. Sefton. The remark was quite innocent in appearance, but it
coincided so well with his own state of mind in regard to the two that
it came to him like a truth.
"The Secretary is very much in love with the 'Beautiful Yankee,'" said
Mrs. Markham. "He thought once that he was in love with Helen Harley,
but his imagination deceived him. Even so keen a man as the Secretary
can deceive himself in regard to the gossamer affair that we call love,
but his infatuation with Lucia Catherwood is genuine."
"Will he win her?" asked Prescott. Despite himself, his heart throbbed
as he waited for her answer.
"I do not know," she replied; "but any woman may be won if a man only
knows the way of winning."
"A Delphic utterance, if ever there was one," he said, and laughed
partly in relief. She had not said that Mr. Sefton would win her.
He left Mrs. Markham at her door and went home, informing his mother by
and by that he was going to a meeting of the Mosaic Club in the evening.
"I am to take a lady," he said.
"A very natural thing for a young man to do," she replied, smiling at
him. "Who is it to be, Miss Catherwood or Miss Harley?"
"Neither."
"Neither?"
"No; I am in bad grace with both. The lady whom I am to have the honour,
the privilege, etc., of escorting is Mrs. Markham."
Her face fell.
"I am sorry to hear it," she said frankly.
Prescott, for the first time since his childhood, felt some anger toward
his mother.
"Why not, mother?" he asked. "We are all a great family here together in
Richmond. Why, if you trace it back you'll probably find that every one
of us is blood kin to every other one. Mrs. Markham is a woman of wit
and beauty, and the honour and privilege of which I spoke so jestingly
is a real honour and privilege."
"She is a married woman, my son, and not careful enough of her actions."
Prescott was silent. He felt a marked shyness in discussing such
questions with his mother, but his obstinacy and pride remained even in
her mild presence. A few hours later he put on his cloak and went out in
the twilight, walking swiftly toward the well-kept red brick house of
General Charles Markham. A coloured maid received him and took him into
the parlour, but all was well-ordered and conventional. Mrs. Markham
came in before the maid went out and detained her with small duties
about the room.
Prescott looked around at the apartment and its comfort, even luxury.
Report had not wronged General Markham when it accused him of having a
quarter-master's interest in his own fortunes. It was not her fault that
she became it all wonderfully well, but even as he admired her he
wondered how another would look in the midst of this dusky red luxury;
another with the ease and grace of Mrs. Markham herself, with the same
air of perfect finish, but taller, of more sumptuous build and with a
nobler face. She, too, would move with soundless steps over the dark red
carpet, and were she sitting there before the fire, with the glow of the
coals falling at her feet, the room would need no other presence.
"A penny for your thoughts, Mr. Wise Man," she said.
"My reward should be greater," he said, fibbing without conscience,
"because I was thinking of you."
"In that event we should be starting," she said lightly. "Ben Butler and
the family coach are at the door, and if you deem yourself capable of
it, Sir Knight, I think that I shall let you drive this evening."
"He would be a poor captain who could not guide a vessel with such a
precious cargo," said Prescott gallantly.
"You forget that you are a part of the cargo."
"But I don't count. Again it was you of whom I was thinking."
She settled herself in the phaeton beside him--very close; it could not
be otherwise--and Ben Butler, the Accomack pony, obedient to the will of
Prescott, rattled away through the street. He recalled how long she had
been in reaching the shop by day, and how long also in returning, and
now the spirit of wickedness lay hold of him; he would do likewise. He
knew well where the house of Daniel Peyton stood, having been in it many
times before the war, but he chose a course toward it that bent like the
curve of a semicircle, and the innocent woman beside him took no notice.
The night was dark and frosty, with a wind out of the northwest that
moaned among the housetops, but Prescott, with a beautiful woman by his
side, was warm and cozy in the phaeton. With her dark wrap and the dark
of the night around them she was almost invisible save her face, in
which her eyes, with the lurking green shadows yet in them, shone when
she looked up at him.
Ben Butler was a capable pony and he paid habitual deference to the
wishes of his mistress--the result of long training. As he progressed at
a gentle walk Prescott scarcely needed one hand for his guidance. It was
this lack of occupation that caused the other to wander into dangerous
proximity to the neat and well-gloved fingers of Mrs. Markham, which
were not far away in the first place.
"You should not do that," she said, removing her hand, but Prescott was
not sorry--he did not forget the thrill given him by the pleasant
contact, and he was neither apologetic nor humble. The lady was not too
angry, but there appeared to Prescott a reproachful shadow--that of
another woman, taller and nobler of face and manner, and despite his
manhood years he blushed in the darkness. A period of constraint
followed; and he was so silent, so undemonstrative that the lady gave
him a glance of surprise. Her hand strayed back to its former place of
easy approach, but Prescott was busy with Ben Butler, and he yielded
only when she placed her hand upon his arm, being forced by a sudden
jolt of the phaeton to lean more closely against him. But, fortunately
or unfortunately, they were now in front of the Peyton house, and lights
were shining from every window.
Prescott stepped out of the phaeton and tied Ben Butler to the
hitching-post. Then he assisted Mrs. Markham to the ground and together
the two entered the portico.
"We are late," said Prescott, and he felt annoyance because of it.
"It does not matter," she said lightly, feeling no annoyance at all.
He knew that their late entrance would attract marked notice to them,
and now he felt a desire to avoid such attention; but she would make of
it a special event, a function. Despite Prescott's efforts, she
marshaled himself and herself in such masterly fashion that every eye in
the room was upon them as they entered, and none could help noticing
that they came as an intimate pair--or at least the skilful lady made it
seem so.
These two were the last--all the members of the club and their guests
were already there, and despite the bond of fellowship and union among
them many eyebrows were lifted and some asides were spoken as Mrs.
Markham and Prescott arrived in this fashion.
Lucia Catherwood was present--Raymond had brought her--but she took no
notice, though her bearing was high and her colour brilliant. Some one
had prepared her for this evening with careful and loving hands--perhaps
it was Miss Grayson. All the minute touches that count for so much were
there, and in her eyes was some of the bold and reckless spirit that
Prescott himself had been feeling for the last day or two.
This little company had less of partisan rancour, less of sectional
feeling, than any other in Richmond, and that night they made the
beautiful Yankee their willing queen. She fell in with their spirit:
there was nothing that she did not share and lead. She improvised
rhymes, deciphered puzzles and prepared others of her own that rivaled
in ingenuity the best of Randolph or Caskie or Latham or McCarty or any
of the other clever leaders of this bright company. Prescott saw the wit
and beauty of Mrs. Markham pale before this brighter sun, and the
Secretary seemed to be the chosen favourite of Miss Catherwood. He
warmed under her favouring glance, and he, too, brought forth ample
measure from the store of his wit.
Harley was there in splendid uniform, as always, but somber and
brooding. Prescott clearly saw danger on the man's brow, but a threat,
even one unspoken, always served to arouse him, and he returned with
renewed devotion to Mrs. Markham. His growing dislike for Harley was
tinctured with a strain of contempt. He accused the man's vanity and
selfishness, but he forgot at the same moment that he was falling into
the same pit.
The men presently withdrew for a few moments into the next room, where
the host had prepared something to drink, and a good-natured, noisy
crowd was gathered around the table. The noisiest of them all was
Harley, whose manner was aggressive and whose face was inflamed, as if
he had made himself an undisputed champion at the bowl. The Secretary
was there, too, saying nothing, his thin lips wrinkled in a slight smile
of satisfaction. He was often pleased with himself, rarely more so than
to-night, with the memory of Lucia Catherwood's glorious brow and eyes
and the obvious favour that she showed him. He was a fit mate for her,
and she must see it. Wisdom and love should go together. Truly, all
things were moving well with him, he repeated in his thought. Prescott
was following the very course he would have chosen for him, kneeling at
Mrs. Markham's feet as if she were a new Calypso. The man whom he knew
to be his rival was about to embroil himself with everybody.
If he wanted more evidence of his last inference, Harley of the inflamed
face and threatening brow was quick to furnish it. When Prescott came in
Harley took another long draught and said to the crowd:
"I have a pretty bit of gossip for you, gentlemen."
"What is it?" asked Randolph, and all looked up, eager to hear any fresh
and interesting news.
"It's the story of the spy who was here last winter," replied Harley.
"The romance, rather, because that spy, as all of you know, was a woman.
The story will not down. It keeps coming up, although we have a great
war all about us, and I hear that the Government, so long on a blind
trial, has at last struck the right one."
"Indeed," said Randolph, with increased interest. "What is it? The
answer to that puzzle has always bothered me."
"They say that the spy was a woman of great beauty, and she found it
impossible to escape from Richmond until an officer of ours, yielding to
her claims, helped her through the lines. I'll wager that he took full
pay for his trouble."
"His honour against hers," said some one.
Harley laughed coarsely.
Prescott became deathly white. He would have fought a duel then with
Harley--on the instant. All the Puritan training given him by his mother
and his own civilized instincts were swept away by a sudden overwhelming
rush of passion.
His colour came back and none noticed its momentary loss, all eyes being
on Harley. Prescott glanced at Mr. Sefton, but the Secretary remained
calm, composed and smiling, listening to Harley with the same air of
interested curiosity shown by the others. Prescott saw it all with a
flash of intuition; the Secretary had given Harley a hint, just a vague
generalization, within the confines of truth, but without any
names--enough to make those concerned uneasy, but not enough to put the
power in any hands save those of the Secretary. Harley himself confirmed
this by continuing the subject, though somewhat uncertainly, as if he
were no longer sure of his facts.
It occurred to Prescott that he might borrow this man's own weapons and
fight him with the cold brain and craft that had proved so effective
against himself, Robert Prescott. But when he turned to look at the
Secretary he found Mr. Sefton looking at him. A glance that was a
mingling of fire and steel passed between the two; it was also a look
of understanding. Prescott knew and the Secretary saw that he knew. In
the bosom of James Sefton respect rose high for the young man whom he
had begun to hold rather cheap lately. His antagonist was entirely
worthy of him.
Harley rambled on. He looked uncertainly now and then at Prescott, as if
he believed him to be the traitorous officer and would provoke him into
reply; but Prescott's face was a perfect mask, and his manner careless
and indifferent. The suspicions of the others were not aroused, and
Harley was not well enough informed to go further; but his look whenever
it fell on Robert was full of hatred, and Prescott marked it well.
"What do you think of a fellow who would do such a thing?" asked Harley
at last.
"I've a pretty good opinion of him," said Raymond quietly.
"You have?" exclaimed Harley.
"I have," repeated Raymond; "and I'm willing to say it before a man high
in the Government, like Mr. Sefton here. Are all the powers of the
Confederate Government to be gathered for the purpose of making war on
one poor lone woman? Suppose we whip Grant first and bother about the
woman afterward. I think I'll write an editorial on the Government's
lack of chivalry--that is, I will when I get enough paper to print it
on, but I don't know when that will be. However, I'll keep it in mind
till that time arrives."
"I think you are wrong," said the Secretary smoothly, as one who
discusses ethics and not personalities. "This man had his duty to do,
and however small that duty may have been, he should have done it."
"You generalize, and since you are laying down a rule, you are right,"
said Raymond. "But this is a particular case and an exception. We owe
some duties to the feminine gender as well as to patriotism. The greater
shouldn't always be swallowed up in the lesser."
There was a laugh, and Winthrop suggested that, as they were talking of
the ladies, they return to them. On the way Prescott casually joined the
Secretary.
"Can I see you in the office to-morrow, Mr. Sefton?" he asked.
"Certainly," replied the Secretary. "Will three in the afternoon do?
Alone, I suppose?"
"Thank you," said Prescott. "Three in the afternoon and alone will do."
Both spoke quietly, but the swift look of understanding passed once
more. Then they rejoined the ladies.
Prescott had not spoken to Lucia Catherwood in the whole course of the
evening, but now he sought her. Some of the charm which Mrs. Markham so
lately had for him was passing; in the presence of Lucia she seemed less
fair, less winning, less true. His own conduct appeared to him in
another light, and he would turn aside from his vagrant fancy to the one
to whom his heart was yet loyal. But he found no chance to speak to her
alone. The club by spontaneous agreement had chosen to make her its
heroine that night, and Prescott was permitted to be one of the circle,
nothing more. As such she spoke to him occasionally as she would to
others--chance remarks without colour or emphasis, apparently directed
toward him because he happened to be sitting at that particular point,
and not because of his personality.
Prescott chafed and sought to better his position, wishing to have an
individuality of his own in her regard; but he could not change the
colourless rôle which she assigned him. So he became silent, speaking
only when some remark was obviously intended for him, and watched her
face and expression. He had always told himself that her dominant
characteristic was strength, power of will, endurance; but now as he
looked he saw once or twice a sudden droop, faint but discernible, as if
for a flitting moment she grew too weak for her burden. Prescott felt a
great access of pity and tenderness. She was in a position into which
no woman should be forced, and she was assailed on all sides by danger.
Her very name was at the mercy of the Secretary, and now Harley with his
foolish talk might at any time bring an avalanche down upon her. He
himself had treated her badly, and would help her if he could. He turned
to find Mrs. Markham at his elbow.
"We are going in to supper," she said, "and you will have to take me."
Thus they passed in before Lucia Catherwood's eyes, but she looked over
them and came presently with Raymond.
That was a lean supper--the kitchens of Richmond in the last year of the
war provided little; but Prescott was unhappy for another reason. He was
there with Mrs. Markham, and she seemed to claim him as her own before
all those, save his mother, for whom he cared most. General Wood and
Helen Harley were across the table, her pure eyes looking up with
manifest pleasure into the dark ones of the leader, which could shine so
fiercely on the battlefield but were now so soft. Once Prescott caught
the General's glance and it was full of wonder; intrigue and the cross
play of feminine purposes were unknown worlds to the simple mountaineer.
Prescott passed from silence to a feverish and uncertain gaiety, talking
more than any one at the table, an honour that he seldom coveted. Some
of his jests and epigrams were good and more were bad; but all passed
current at such a time, and Mrs. Markham, who was never at a loss for
something to say, seconded him in able fashion. The Secretary, listening
and looking, smiled quietly. "Gone to his head; foolish fellow," was
what his manner clearly expressed. Prescott himself saw it at last and
experienced a sudden check, remembering his resolve to fight this man
with his own weapons, while here he was only an hour later behaving like
a wild boy on his first escapade. He passed at once from garrulity to
silence, and the contrast was so marked that the glances exchanged by
the others increased.
Prescott was still taciturn when at a late hour he helped Mrs. Markham
into the phaeton and they started to her home. He fully expected that
Harley would overtake him when he turned away from her house and seek a
quarrel, but the fear of physical harm scarcely entered into his mind.
It was the gossip and the linking of names in the gossip that troubled
him.
Mrs. Markham sat as close to him as ever--the little phaeton had grown
no wider--but though he felt again her warm breath on his cheek, no
pulse stirred.
"Why are you so silent, Captain Prescott?" she asked. "Are you thinking
of Lucia Catherwood?"
"Yes," he replied frankly, "I was."
She glanced up at him, but his face was hidden in the darkness.
"She was looking very beautiful to-night," she said, "and she was
supreme; all the men--and must I say it, all of us women,
too--acknowledged her rule. But I do not wonder that she attracts the
masculine mind--her beauty, her bearing, her mysterious past, constitute
the threefold charm to which all of you men yield, Captain Prescott. I
wish I knew her history."
"It could be to her credit only," said Prescott.
She glanced up at him again, and now the moonlight falling on his face
enabled her to see it set and firm, and Mrs. Markham felt that there had
been a change. He was not the same man who had come with her to the
meeting of the club, but she was not a woman to relinquish easily a
conquest or a half-conquest, and she called to her aid all the art of a
strong and cultivated mind. She was bold and original in her methods,
and did not leave the subject of Lucia Catherwood, but praised her,
though now and then with slight reservations, letting fall the inference
that she was her good friend and would be a better one if she could.
Such use did she make of her gentle and unobtrusive sympathy that
Prescott felt his heart warming once more to this handsome and
accomplished woman.
"You will come to see me again?" she said at the door, letting a little
hand linger a few moments in his.
"I fear that I may be sent at once to the front."
"But if you are not you will come?" she persisted.
"Yes," said Prescott, and bade her good-night.