_A Plotter Is He._
Neighbors came and took charge of the body of Ford Crump. The body of
Henry was brought home and received the same kindly attention. Foresta
and her mother now set forth to make arrangements for the burial. The
undertakers asked for a lien on their place as a guarantee of the
payment of the debt.
Upon investigation it transpired that the place had been purchased by
Arthur Daleman, Sr., in his own name. Mr. Crump had paid him in full for
the place but the proper transfer had never been made. Mr. Daleman was
not in the city and Arthur Daleman, Jr., refused to have anything to do
with the matter. He also intimated that unless Mrs. Crump could show a
clear title to the place, she would be charged rent.
This intimation did not worry Mrs. Crump, for she knew Arthur Daleman,
Sr., to be the soul of honor and knew that he would do what was right,
title or no title. But her personal confidence in Mr. Daleman could not
be converted into cash, and she had to look elsewhere for money.
There infested Almaville scores of loan companies that charged
exorbitant rates of interest and had their contracts so arranged that a
failure to pay put them in possession of the household goods of the
party in debt. It was also held to be a criminal offense punishable by a
term in the penitentiary for a person to borrow money from more than one
company on the same items of furniture.
Little Henry had always asserted that he was going to be a merchant when
he became a man, and made it a custom to pick up and preserve such
business cards as were thrown into his yard. From his pile of cards
stacked in a corner Mrs. Crump learned the location of these loan
companies and decided to resort to them for the money needed. Getting a
small sum from each, she had borrowed from fifteen companies when she at
last got the amount demanded by the undertaker.
Arthur Daleman, Jr., was not making money as fast as he desired in the
business turned over to him by his father, so he had resorted to the
loan business. Knowing that people would often borrow from more than one
loan company in spite of the regulations forbidding it, and reasoning
that such borrowers would be even more sure than others to pay, because
of fear of the penitentiary, he had ten loan companies of his own
operating in different buildings under various names.
It happened that on the evening that Foresta and her mother made the
rounds borrowing money, he was on an inspecting tour of his loan
companies. Mrs. Crump borrowed money from five of Arthur Daleman's
companies without, of course, knowing it. Arthur Daleman, Jr., himself
was present in two places when she was borrowing the money. On each of
these occasions he had taken more than a passing interest in Foresta.
Her beauty was by no means diminished by the mourning attire, and Arthur
Daleman, Jr., found himself admiring her, notwithstanding his hatred of
her race. When the papers were signed in the second loan transaction
which he witnessed, he said to himself with a feeling of satisfaction:
"My way is tolerably clear."
With the money procured from the various loan companies little Henry and
his father were given what the people called a nice burial. Within a
week after the interment Arthur Daleman, Jr., made his appearance at
Mrs. Crump's home. Foresta was at school when he called, and when she
reached home she found her mother standing, facing him, with an angry
and excited look in her eyes. Foresta read in her mother's countenance
that she was angry and that the advantage in whatever matter it was, was
not altogether on her side.
"What is it, mama?" asked Foresta.
"This man wants you to hire out in his family after you graduate."
Foresta looked at the man in surprise. The thought of going into the
service of the whites was utterly foreign to her ambition.
"You may take your choice," said Arthur Daleman, Jr., sure of his
ground.
"What choice?" asked Foresta, alarmed by the man's tone of assurance.
"It is this way. Negro servants are not up to what they used to be. They
are getting squeamish, and you have to be so careful how you speak to
them or they will leave you. We are kept always on the lookout for a
servant girl."
"What on earth have I to do with that?" asked Foresta, her eyes widening
with astonishment.
"This much--I am going to have a measure of stability in my family
service somehow. Your mother here is in a tight box. All I have to do is
to speak the word and to the penitentiary she goes!" said Daleman.
Foresta grew weak, her lips slightly parted and she backed to the wall
for support.
Arthur Daleman, Jr., continued: "Borrowing money from loan companies
takes the form of a sale, as you can see by reading any of the
contracts. Now you can't sell a thing to two different people at the
same time. The law does not allow such. It is a penitentiary offense.
See?"
Foresta rushed to her mother and threw her arms about her and sobbed
bitterly.
Mrs. Crump said, "I'll go to the pen. Come after me when you get ready!
but Fores' shall never work for you."
"Take your choice," said Arthur Daleman, Jr., and walked from the room.
Foresta tore herself from her mother's arms and rushed out of the room
after him. "Mister! Wait!" she called. "Don't do anything to mama. I'll
come and do the work faithfully," said Foresta trying to smile.
"All right," said Daleman, smiling, "Be a good girl and you won't have a
better friend than I am," said he, in a significant tone, trying to
awaken Foresta to the real situation.
If she understood it her impassive countenance did not reveal the fact.
The world at large has heard that the problem of the South is the
protection of the white woman. There is another woman in the South.