MAGNOLIA GROVE.
Judge Clayton was not mistaken in supposing that his son would
contemplate the issue of the case he had defended with satisfaction. As
we have already intimated, Clayton was somewhat averse to the practice
of the law. Regard for the feelings of his father had led him to resolve
that he would at least give it a fair trial. His own turn of mind would
have led him to some work of more immediate and practical philanthropy.
He would have much preferred to retire to his own estate, and devote
himself, with his sister, to the education of his servants. But he felt
that he could not, with due regard to his father's feelings, do this
until he had given professional life a fair trial.
After the scene of the trial which we have described, he returned to his
business, and Anne solicited Nina to accompany her for a few weeks to
their plantation at Magnolia Grove, whither, as in duty bound, we may
follow her.
Our readers will therefore be pleased to find themselves transported to
the shady side of a veranda belonging to Clayton's establishment at
Magnolia Grove.
The place derived its name from a group of these beautiful trees, in the
centre of which the house was situated. It was a long, low cottage,
surrounded by deep verandas, festooned with an exuberance of those
climbing plants which are so splendid in the southern latitude.
The range of apartments which opened on the veranda where Anne and Nina
were sitting were darkened to exclude the flies; but the doors, standing
open, gave picture-like gleams of the interior. The white, matted
floors, light bamboo furniture, couches covered with glazed white linen,
and the large vases of roses disposed here and there, where the light
would fall upon them, presented a background of inviting coolness.
It was early in the morning, and the two ladies were enjoying the
luxury of a _tête-à-tête_ breakfast before the sun had yet dried the
heavy dews which give such freshness to the morning air. A small table
which stood between them was spread with choice fruits, arranged on
dishes in green leaves; a pitcher of iced milk, and a delicate little
_tête-à-tête_ coffee-service, dispensing the perfume of the most
fragrant coffee. Nor were they wanting those small, delicate biscuits,
and some of those curious forms of cornbread, of the manufacture of
which every southern cook is so justly proud. Nor should we omit the
central vase of monthly roses, of every shade of color, the daily
arrangement of which was the special delight of Anne's brown little
waiting-maid Lettice.
Anne Clayton, in a fresh white morning-wrapper, with her pure, healthy
complexion, fine teeth, and frank, beaming smile, looked like a queenly
damask rose. A queen she really was on her own plantation, reigning by
the strongest of all powers, that of love.
The African race have large ideality and veneration; and in no
drawing-room could Anne's beauty and grace, her fine manners and
carriage, secure a more appreciating and unlimited admiration and
devotion. The negro race, with many of the faults of children, unite
many of their most amiable qualities, in the simplicity and
confidingness with which they yield themselves up in admiration of a
superior friend.
Nina had been there but a day, yet could not fail to read in the eyes of
all how absolute was the reign which Anne held over their affections.
"How delightful the smell of this magnolia blossom!" said Nina. "Oh, I'm
glad that you waked me so early, Anne!"
"Yes," said Anne, "in this climate early rising becomes a necessary of
life to those who mean to have any real, positive pleasure in it, and
I'm one of the sort that must have _positive_ pleasures. Merely negative
rest, lassitude, and dreaming, are not enough for me. I want to feel
that I'm alive, and that I accomplish something."
"Yes, I see," said Nina, "you are not nominally like me, but really
housekeeper. What wonderful skill you seem to have! Is it possible that
you keep nothing locked up here?"
"No," said Anne, "nothing. I am released from the power of the keys,
thank fortune! When I first came here, everybody told me it was sheer
madness to try such a thing. But I told them that I was determined to do
it, and Edward upheld me in it: and you can see how well I've
succeeded."
"Indeed," said Nina, "you must have magic power, for I never saw a
household move on so harmoniously. All your servants seem to think, and
contrive, and take an interest in what they are doing. How did you
begin? What did you do?"
"Well," said Anne, "I'll tell you the history of the plantation. In the
first place, it belonged to mamma's uncle; and, not to spoil a story for
relation's sake, I must say he was a dissipated, unprincipled man. He
lived a perfectly heathen life here, in the most shocking way you can
imagine; and so the poor creatures who were under him were worse heathen
than he. He lived with a quadroon woman, who was violent tempered, and
when angry ferociously cruel; and so the servants were constantly
passing from the extreme of indulgence to the extreme of cruelty. You
can scarce have an idea of the state we found them in. My heart almost
failed me; but Edward said, 'Don't give it up, Anne; try the good that
is in them.' Well, I confess, it seemed very much as it seemed to me
when I was once at a water-cure establishment,--patients would be
brought in languid, pale, cold, half dead, and it appeared as if it
would kill them to apply cold water; but, somehow or other, there was a
vital power in them that reacted under it. Well, just so it was with my
servants. I called them all together, and I said to them, 'Now, people
have always said that you are the greatest thieves in the world; that
there is no managing you except by locking up everything from you. But,
I think differently. I have an idea that you can be trusted. I have been
telling people that they don't know how much good there is in you; and
now, just to show them what you can do, I'm going to begin and leave the
closets and doors, and everything, unlocked, and I shall not watch you.
You can take my things, if you choose; and if, after a time, I find that
you can't be trusted, I shall go back to the old way.' Well, my dear, I
wouldn't have believed myself that the thing would have answered so
well. In the first place, approbativeness is a stronger principle with
the African race than almost any other; they like to be thought well of.
Immediately there was the greatest spirit in the house, for the poor
creatures, having suddenly made the discovery that somebody thought they
were to be trusted, were very anxious to keep up the reputation. The
elder ones watched the younger; and, in fact, my dear, I had very little
trouble. The children at first troubled me going into my store-closet
and getting the cake, notwithstanding very spirited government on the
part of the mammies. So, I called my family in session again, and said
that their conduct had confirmed my good opinion; that I always knew
they could be trusted, and that my friends were astonished to hear how
well they did; but that I had observed that some of the children
probably had taken my cake. 'Now, you know,' said I, 'that I have no
objection to your having some. If any of you would enjoy a piece of
cake, I shall be happy to give it to them, but it is not agreeable to
have things in my closet fingered over--I shall therefore set a plate of
cake out every day, and anybody that wishes to take some I hope will
take that.' Well, my dear, my plate of cake stood there and dried. You
won't believe me, but in fact it wasn't touched."
"Well," said Nina, "I shouldn't think you could have had our Tomtit
here! Why, really this goes beyond the virtue of white children."
"My dear, it isn't such a luxury to white children to be thought well
of, and have a character. You must take that into account. It was a
taste of a new kind of pleasure, made attractive by its novelty."
"Yes," said Nina, "I have something in me which makes me feel this would
be the right way. I know it would be with me. There's nothing like
confidence. If a person trusts me, I'm bound."
"Yet," said Anne, "I can't get the ladies of my acquaintance to believe
in it. They see how I get along, but they insist upon it that it's some
secret magic, or art, of mine."
"Well, it is so," said Nina. "Such things are just like the
divining-rod; they won't work in every hand; it takes a real, generous,
warm-hearted woman, like you, Anne. But, could you carry your system
through your plantation, as well as your house?"
"The field-hands were more difficult to manage, on some accounts," said
Anne, "but the same principle prevailed with them. Edward tried all he
could to awaken self-respect. Now, I counselled that we should endeavor
to form some decent habits before we built the cabins over. I told him
they could not appreciate cleanliness and order. 'Very likely they
cannot,' he said, 'but we are not to suppose it;' and he gave orders
immediately for that pretty row of cottages you saw down at the
quarters. He put up a large bathing establishment. Yet he did not
enforce at first personal cleanliness by strict rules. Those who began
to improve first were encouraged and noticed; and, as they found this a
passport to favor, the thing took rapidly. It required a great while to
teach them how to be consistently orderly and cleanly even after the
first desire had been awakened, because it isn't every one that likes
neatness and order, who has the forethought and skill to secure it. But
there has been a steady progress in these respects. One curious
peculiarity of Edward's management gives rise to a good many droll
scenes. He has instituted a sort of jury trial among them. There are
certain rules for the order and well-being of the plantation, which all
agree to abide by; and, in all offences, the man is tried by a jury of
his peers. Mr. Smith, our agent, says that these scenes are sometimes
very diverting, but on the whole there's a good deal of shrewdness and
sense manifested; but he says that, in general, they incline much more
to severity than he would. You see the poor creatures have been so
barbarized by the way they have been treated in past times, that it has
made them hard and harsh. I assure you, Nina, I never appreciated the
wisdom of God, in the laws which he made for the Jews in the wilderness,
as I have since I've tried the experiment myself of trying to bring a
set of slaves out of barbarism. Now, this that I'm telling you is the
fairest side of the story. I can't begin to tell you the thousand
difficulties and trials which we have encountered in it. Sometimes I've
been almost worn out and discouraged. But, then, I think, if there is a
missionary work in this world, it is this."
"And what do your neighbors think about it?" said Nina.
"Well," said Anne, "they are all very polite, well-bred people, the
families with whom we associate; and such people, of course, would
never think of interfering, or expressing a difference of opinion, in
any very open way; but I have the impression that they regard it with
suspicion. They sometimes let fall words which make me think they do.
It's a way of proceeding which very few would adopt, because it is not a
money-making operation, by any means. The plantation barely pays for
itself, because Edward makes that quite a secondary consideration. The
thing which excites the most murmuring is our teaching them to read. I
teach the children myself two hours every day, because I think this
would be less likely to be an offence than if I should hire a teacher.
Mr. Smith teaches any of the grown men who are willing to take the
trouble to learn. Any man who performs a certain amount of labor can
secure to himself two or three hours a day to spend as he chooses; and
many do choose to learn. Some of the men and the women have become quite
good readers, and Clayton is constantly sending books for them. This,
I'm afraid, gives great offence. It is against the law to do it; but, as
unjust laws are sometimes lived down, we thought we would test the
practicability of doing this. There was some complaint made of our
servants, because they have not the servile, subdued air which commonly
marks the slave, but look, speak, and act, as if they respected
themselves. I'm sometimes afraid that we shall have trouble; but, then,
I hope for the best."
"What does Mr. Clayton expect to be the end of all this?" said Nina.
"Why," said Anne, "I think Edward has an idea that one of these days
they may be emancipated on the soil, just as the serfs were in England.
It looks to me rather hopeless, I must say; but he says the best way is
for some one to begin and set an example of what ought to be done, and
he hopes that in time it will be generally followed. It would, if all
men were like him; but there lies my doubt. The number of those who
would pursue such a disinterested course is very small. But who comes
there? Upon my word, if there isn't my particular admirer, Mr.
Bradshaw!"
As Anne said this, a very gentlemanly middle-aged man came up on
horseback, on the carriage-drive which passed in front of the veranda.
He bore in his hand a large bunch of different colored roses; and,
alighting, and delivering his horse to his servant, came up the steps
and presented it to Anne.
"There," said he, "are the first fruits of my roses, in the garden that
I started in Rosedale."
"Beautiful," said Anne, taking them. "Allow me to present to you Miss
Gordon."
"Miss Gordon, your most obedient," said Mr. Bradshaw, bowing
obsequiously.
"You are just in season, Mr. Bradshaw," said Anne, "for I'm sure you
couldn't have had your breakfast before you started; so sit down and
help us with ours."
"Thank you, Miss Anne," said Mr. Bradshaw, "the offer is too tempting to
be refused." And he soon established himself as a third at the little
table, and made himself very sociable.
"Well, Miss Anne, how do all your plans proceed--all your benevolences
and cares? I hope your angel ministrations don't exhaust you."
"Not at all, Mr. Bradshaw; do I look like it?"
"No, indeed! but such energy is perfectly astonishing to us all."
Nina's practised eye observed that Mr. Bradshaw had that particular
nervous, restless air, which belongs to a man who is charged with a
particular message, and finds himself unexpectedly blockaded by the
presence of a third person. So, after breakfast, exclaiming that she had
left her crochet-needle in her apartment, and resisting Anne's offer to
send a servant for it, by declaring that nobody could find it but
herself, she left the veranda. Mr. Bradshaw had been an old family
friend for many years, and stood with Anne almost on the easy footing of
a relation, which gave him the liberty of speaking with freedom. The
moment the door of the parlor was closed after Nina, he drew a chair
near to Anne, and sat down, with the unmistakable air of a man who is
going into a confidential communication.
"The fact is, my dear Miss Clayton," he said, "I have something on my
mind that I want to tell you; and I hope you will think my long
friendship for the family a sufficient warrant for my speaking on
matters which really belong chiefly to yourself. The fact is, my dear
Miss Clayton, I was at a small dinner-party of gentlemen, the other
day, at Colonel Grandon's. There was a little select set there, you
know,--the Howards, and the Elliotts, and the Howlands, and so on,--and
the conversation happened to turn upon your brother. Now, there was the
very greatest respect for him; they seemed to have the highest possible
regard for his motives; but still they felt that he was going on a very
dangerous course."
"Dangerous?" said Anne, a little startled.
"Yes, really dangerous; and I think so myself, though I, perhaps, don't
feel as strongly as some do."
"Really," said Anne, "I'm quite at a loss!"
"My dear Miss Anne, it's these improvements, you know, which you are
making.--Don't misapprehend me! Admirable, very admirable, in
themselves,--done from the most charming of motives, Miss Anne,--but
dangerous, dangerous!"
The solemn, mysterious manner in which these last words were pronounced
made Anne laugh; but when she saw the expression of real concern on the
face of her good friend, she checked herself, and said,--
"Pray, explain yourself. I don't understand you."
"Why, Miss Anne, it's just here. We appreciate your humanity, and your
self-denial, and your indulgence to your servants. Everybody is of
opinion that it's admirable. You are really quite a model for us all.
But, when it comes to teaching them to read and write, Miss Anne," he
said, lowering his voice, "I think you don't consider what a dangerous
weapon you are putting into their hands. The knowledge will spread on to
the other plantations; bright niggers will pick it up; for the very
fellows who are most dangerous are the very ones who will be sure to
learn."
"What if they should?" said Anne.
"Why, my dear Miss Anne," said he, lowering his voice, "the facilities
that it will afford them for combinations, for insurrections! You see,
Miss Anne, I read a story once of a man who made a cork leg with such
wonderful accuracy that it would walk of itself, and when he got it on
he couldn't stop its walking--it walked him to death--actually did!
Walked him up hill and down dale, till the poor man fell down exhausted;
and then it ran off with his body. And it's running with its skeleton to
this day, I believe."
And good-natured Mr. Bradshaw conceived such a ridiculous idea, at this
stage of his narrative, that he leaned back in his chair and laughed
heartily, wiping his perspiring face with a cambric pocket-handkerchief.
"Really, Mr. Bradshaw, it's a very amusing idea, but I don't see the
analogy," said Anne.
"Why, don't you see? You begin teaching niggers, and having reading and
writing, and all these things, going on, and they begin to open their
eyes, and look round and think; and they are having opinions of their
own, they won't take yours; and they want to rise directly. And if they
can't rise, why, they are all discontented; and there's the
what-'s-his-name to pay with them! Then come conspiracies and
insurrections, no matter how well you treat them; and, now, we South
Carolinians have had experience in this matter. You must excuse us, but
it is a terrible subject with us. Why, the leaders of that conspiracy,
all of them, were fellows who could read and write, and who had nothing
in the world to wish for, in the way of comfort, treated with every
consideration by their masters. It is a most melancholy chapter in human
nature. It shows that there is no trust to be placed in them. And, now,
the best way to get along with negroes, in my opinion, is to make them
happy; give them plenty to eat and drink and wear, and keep them amused
and excited, and don't work them too hard. I think it's a great deal
better than this kind of exciting instruction. Mind," he said, seeing
that Anne was going to interrupt him, "mind, now, I'd have religious
instruction, of course. Now, this system of oral instruction, teaching
them hymns and passages of Scripture suited to their peculiar condition,
it's just the thing; it isn't so liable to these dangers. I hope you'll
excuse me, Miss Anne, but the gentlemen really feel very serious about
these things; they find it's affecting their own negroes. You know,
somehow everything goes round from one plantation to another; and one of
them said that he had a very smart man who is married to one of your
women, and he actually found him with a spelling-book, sitting out under
a tree. He said if the man had had a rifle he couldn't have been more
alarmed; because the man was just one of those sharp, resolute fellows,
that, if he knew how to read and write, there's no knowing what he would
do. Well, now, you see how it is. He takes the spelling-book away, and
he tells him he will give him nine-and-thirty if he ever finds him with
it again. What's the consequence? Why, the consequence is, the man sulks
and gets ugly, and he has to sell him. That's the way it's operating."
"Well, then," said Anne, looking somewhat puzzled, "I will strictly
forbid our people to allow spelling-books to go out of their hands, or
to communicate any of these things off of the plantation."
"Oh, I tell you, Miss Anne, you can't do it. You don't know the passion
in human nature for anything that is forbidden. Now, I believe it's more
that than love of reading. You can't shut up such an experiment as you
are making here. It's just like a fire. It will blaze; it will catch on
all the plantations round; and I assure you it's matter of life and
death with us. You smile, Miss Anne, but it's so."
"Really, my dear Mr. Bradshaw, you could not have addressed me on a more
unpleasant subject. I am sorry to excite the apprehension of our
neighbors; but"--
"Give me leave to remind you, also, Miss Anne, that the teaching of
slaves to read and write is an offence to which a severe penalty is
attached by the laws."
"I thought," said Anne, "that such barbarous laws were a dead letter in
a Christian community, and that the best tribute I could pay to its
Christianity was practically to disregard them."
"By no means, Miss Anne, by no means! Why, look at us here in South
Carolina. The negroes are three to one over the whites now. Will it do
to give them the further advantages of education and facilities of
communication? You see, at once, it will not. Now, well-bred people, of
course, are extremely averse to mingling in the affairs of other
families; and had you merely taught a few favorites, in a private way,
as I believe people now and then do, it wouldn't have seemed so bad; but
to have regular provision for teaching school, and school-hours,--I
think, Miss Anne, you'll find it will result in unpleasant
consequences."
"Yes, I fancy," said Anne, raising herself up, and slightly coloring,
"that I see myself in the penitentiary for the sin and crime of teaching
children to read! I think, Mr. Bradshaw, it is time such laws were
disregarded. Is not that the only way in which many laws are repealed?
Society outgrows them, people disregard them, and so they fall away,
like the calyx from some of my flowers. Come, now, Mr. Bradshaw, come
with me to my school. I'm going to call it together," said Anne, rising,
and beginning to go down the veranda steps. "Certainly, my dear friend,
you ought not to judge without seeing. Wait a moment, till I call Miss
Gordon."
And Anne stepped across the shady parlor, and in a few moments
reappeared with Nina, both arrayed in white cape-bonnets. They crossed
to the right of the house, to a small cluster of neat cottages, each one
of which had its little vegetable garden, and its plot in front,
carefully tended, with flowers. They passed onward into a grove of
magnolias which skirted the back of the house, till they came to a
little building, with the external appearance of a small Grecian temple
the pillars of which were festooned with jessamine.
"Pray what pretty little place is this?" said Mr. Bradshaw.
"This is my school-room," said Anne.
Mr. Bradshaw repressed a whistle of astonishment; but the emotion was
plainly legible in his face, and Anne said, laughing,--
"A lady's school-room, you know, should be lady-like. Besides, I wish to
inspire ideas of taste, refinement, and self-respect, in these children.
I wish learning to be associated with the idea of elegance and beauty."
They ascended the steps, and entered a large room, surrounded on three
sides by blackboards. The floor was covered with white matting, and the
walls hung with very pretty pictures of French lithographs, tastefully
colored. In some places cards were hung up, bearing quotations of
Scripture. There were rows of neat desks, before each of which there was
a little chair.
Anne stepped to the door and rang a bell, and in about ten minutes the
patter of innumerable little feet was heard ascending the steps, and
presently they came streaming in--all ages, from four or five to
fifteen, and from the ebony complexion of the negro, with its
closely-curling wool, to the rich brown cheek of the quadroon, with
melancholy, lustrous eyes, and waving hair. All were dressed alike, in a
neat uniform of some kind of blue stuff, with white capes and aprons.
They filed in to the tune of one of those marked rhythmical melodies
which characterize the negro music, and, moving in exact time to the
singing, assumed their seats, which were arranged with regard to their
age and size. As soon as they were seated, Anne, after a moment's pause,
clapped her hands, and the whole school commenced a morning hymn, in
four parts, which was sung so beautifully that Mr. Bradshaw, quite
overpowered, stood with tears in his eyes. Anne nodded at Nina, and cast
on him a satisfied glance.
After that, there was a rapid review of the classes. There was reading,
spelling, writing on the blackboard, and the smaller ones were formed in
groups in two adjoining apartments, under the care of some of the older
girls. Anne walked about superintending the whole; and Nina, who saw the
scene for the first time, could not repress her exclamation of delight.
The scholars were evidently animated by the presence of company, and
anxious to do credit to the school and teacher, and the two hours passed
rapidly away. Anne exhibited to Mr. Bradshaw specimens of the
proficiency of her scholars in handwriting, and the drawing of maps, and
even the copying of small lithograph cards, which contained a series of
simple drawing-patterns. Mr. Bradshaw seemed filled with astonishment.
"'Pon my word," said he, "these are surprising! Miss Anne, you are a
veritable magician--a worker of miracles! You must have found Aaron's
rod, again! My dear madam, you run the risk of being burned for a
witch!"
"Very few, Mr. Bradshaw, know how much of beauty lies sealed up in this
neglected race," said Anne, with enthusiasm.
As they were walking back to the house, Mr. Bradshaw fell a little
behind, and his face wore a thoughtful and almost sad expression.
"Well," said Anne, looking round, "a penny for your thoughts!"
"Oh, I see, Miss Anne, you are for pursuing your advantage. I see
triumph in your eyes. But yet," he added, "after all this display, the
capability of your children makes me feel sad. To what end is it? What
purpose will it serve, except to unfit them for their inevitable
condition--to make them discontented and unhappy?"
"Well," replied Anne, "there ought to be no inevitable condition that
makes it necessary to dwarf a human mind. Any condition which makes a
full development of the powers that God has given us a misfortune,
cannot, certainly, be a healthy one--cannot be right. If a mind will
grow and rise, make way and let it. Make room for it, and cut down
everything that stands in the way!"
"That's terribly levelling doctrine, Miss Anne."
"Let it level, then!" said Anne. "I don't care! I come from the old
Virginia cavalier blood, and am not afraid of anything."
"But, Miss Anne, how do you account for it that the best-educated and
best-treated slaves--in fact, as you say, the most perfectly-developed
human beings--were those who got up the insurrection in Charleston?"
"How do you account for it," said Anne, "that the best-developed and
finest specimens of men have been those that have got up insurrections
in Italy, Austria, and Hungary?"
"Well, you admit, then," said Mr. Bradshaw, "that if you say A in this
matter, you've got to say B."
"Certainly," said Anne, "and when the time comes to say B, I'm ready to
say it. I admit, Mr. Bradshaw, it's a very dangerous thing to get up
steam, if you don't intend to let the boat go. But when the steam is
high enough, let her go, say I."
"Yes, but, Miss Anne, other people don't want to say so. The fact is, we
are not all of us ready to let the boat go. It's got all our property in
it--all we have to live on. If you are willing yourself, so far as your
people are concerned, they'll inevitably want liberty, and you say
you'll be ready to give it to them; but your fires will raise a steam on
our plantations, and we must shut down these escape-valves. Don't you
see? Now, for my part, I've been perfectly charmed with this school of
yours; but, after all, I can't help inquiring whereto it will grow."
"Well, Mr. Bradshaw," said Anne, "I'm obliged to you for the frankness
of this conversation. It's very friendly and sincere. I think, however,
I shall continue to compliment the good sense and gallantry of this
state, by ignoring its unworthy and unchristian laws. I will endeavor,
nevertheless, to be more careful and guarded as to the manner of what I
do; but, if I should be put into the penitentiary, Mr. Bradshaw, I hope
you'll call on me."
"Miss Anne, I beg ten thousand pardons for that unfortunate allusion."
"I think," said Anne, "I shall impose it as a penance upon you to stay
and spend the day with us, and then I'll show you my rose-garden. I have
great counsel to hold with you on the training of a certain pillar-rose.
You see, my design is to get you involved in my treason. You've already
come into complicity with it, by visiting my school."
"Thank you, Miss Anne; I should be only too much honored to be your
abettor in any treason you might meditate. But, really, I'm a most
unlucky dog! Think of my having four bachelor friends engaged to dine
with me, and so being obliged to decline your tempting offer! In fact, I
must take horse before the sun gets any hotter."
"There he goes, for a good-hearted creature as he is!" said Anne.
"Do you know," said Nina, laughing, "that I thought that he was some
poor, desperate mortal, who was on the verge of a proposal, this
morning, and I ran away like a good girl to give him a fair field?"
"Child," said Anne, "you are altogether too late in the day. Mr.
Bradshaw and I walked that little figure some time ago, and now he is
one of the most convenient and agreeable of friends."
"Anne, why in the world don't you get in love with somebody?" said Nina.
"My dear, I think there was something or other left out when I was made
up," said Anne, laughing, "but I never had much of a fancy for the lords
of creation. They do tolerably well till they come to be lovers; but
then they are perfectly unbearable. Lions in love, my dear, don't appear
to advantage, you know. I can't marry papa or Edward, and they have
spoiled me for everybody else. Besides, I'm happy, and what do I want of
any of them? Can't there be now and then a woman sufficient to herself?
But, Nina, dear, I'm sorry that our affairs here are giving offence and
making uneasiness."
"For my part," said Nina, "I should go right on. I have noticed that
people try all they can to stop a person who is taking an unusual
course; and when they are perfectly certain that they can't stop them,
then they turn round and fall in with them; and I think that will be the
case with you."
"They certainly will have an opportunity of trying," said Anne. "But
there is Dulcimer coming up the avenue with the letter-bag. Now, child,
I don't believe you appreciate half my excellence, when you consider
that I used to have all these letters that fall to you every mail."
At this moment Dulcimer rode up to the veranda steps, and deposited the
letter-bag in Anne's hands.
"What an odd name you have given him!" said Nina, "and what a
comical-looking fellow he is! He has a sort of waggish air that reminds
me of a crow."
"Oh, Dulcimer don't belong to our _régime_," said Anne. "He was the
prime minister and favorite under the former reign,--a sort of licensed
court jester,--and to this day he hardly knows how to do anything but
sing and dance; and so brother, who is for allowing the largest liberty
to everybody, imposes on him only such general and light tasks as suit
his roving nature. But there!" she said throwing a letter on Nina's lap,
and at the same time breaking the seal of one directed to herself. "Ah,
I thought so! You see, puss, Edward has some law business that takes him
to this part of the state forthwith. Was ever such convenient law
business? We may look for him to-night. Now there will be rejoicings!
How now, Dulcimer? I thought you had gone," she said, looking up, and
observing that personage still lingering in the shade of a tulip-tree
near the veranda.
"Please, Miss Anne, is Master Clayton coming home to-night?"
"Yes, Dulcimer; so now go and spread the news; for that's what you want,
I know."
And Dulcimer, needing no second suggestion, was out of sight in the
shrubbery in a few moments.
"Now, I'll wager," said Anne, "that creature will get up something or
other extraordinary for this evening."
"Such as what?" said Nina.
"Well, he is something of a troubadour, and I shouldn't wonder if he
should be cudgelling his brain at this moment for a song. We shall have
some kind of operatic performance, you may be sure."