_A Honeymoon Out Of The Usual Order._
The much heralded Volrees-Seabright marriage is at last a reality, and a
morning train is now bearing the distinguished couple through the
beautiful mountain scenery of the state, en route to an Atlantic
seaport, whence they are to set sail for an extended tour through the
Old World.
As the porter passed through the coach in which Eunice sat, he
recognized her and she likewise recognized him. Eunice perceived that
the porter remembered her and she was glad of it, for it simplified the
work before her.
In order that they both might look directly out of a window Eunice
insisted on taking a seat behind Mr. Volrees. Taking advantage of her
position she wrote the following note.
"MR. PORTER: Enclosed you will find a one hundred dollar note.
For this you must see to it that this train stops after it has
gone a few hundred feet into the long tunnel. Now you had better
do as I tell you or else I will see that you have trouble. You
know that any white woman can have a Negro's life taken at a
word. Beware! Do as I tell you and say nothing to any one!"
The porter took the note and read it with much anxiety. There came to
his mind instance after instance in which white women had given innocent
Negro men great trouble. He had heard how that Negro tramps begging for
food had been greeted by such a show of fear and excitement on the part
of those approached for food that the tramps had been overtaken and
lynched for alleged attempts at heinous offenses, when the real offense
was that of begging for bread. He recalled one case particularly that
took place on a farm adjoining the one on which he was reared.
The father of a girl seriously objected to the attentions being paid his
daughter by a white man, and he cautioned his old faithful Negro servant
to keep a watch upon the movements of the daughter with a view to
preventing an elopement. Seeing that there was not much hope of
outwitting the father without first getting rid of the Negro, the girl
decided to get him out of the way. The Negro was so loyal to his
employer and so faithful in the discharge of his duties that the girl
knew that she could not attack him from that quarter. One morning before
day she was found lying upon the front porch of her home, her dress
covered with blood. When after much effort she finally spoke, she laid a
grave charge at the door of the Negro servant. He was apprehended and a
mob was formed to lynch him. The father of the girl, however, doubted
her story and insisted that the Negro be given a trial. Within a very
few days the girl eloped with the suitor so unacceptable to her father.
After her marriage she testified that the Negro was innocent, that the
blood found on her was the blood of a chicken sprinkled there by herself
and that she concocted the whole story of the outrage to get rid of the
surveillance of the faithful Negro servant.
The perturbed porter canvassed in his mind the stock of alleged facts
circulated secretly among the Negroes setting forth the manner in which
some white women used their unlimited power of life and death over Negro
men, things that may in some age of the world's history come to light.
After thoroughly considering the situation, the porter succumbed to the
temptation and concluded to stop the train according to Eunice's
directions.
Eunice read in the porter's eyes his acquiesence and her spirits rose
high. She was all life and animation and the Hon. H. G. Volrees was
regaling himself with thoughts of his home as the social center of the
life of Washington.
"Let me bring you a drink of water," said Eunice laughingly.
"And where does Southern chivalry take up its abode while you do that?"
asked Volrees.
"In the granting of the first request of a newly made and happy bride,"
said Eunice, playfully pulling Volrees down in his seat and tripping
gaily out to get the water. She used a cup which she had brought along
and into which she had dropped a drug of some sort.
Volrees drank the water suspecting nothing. As the day wore on he found
himself growing very sleepy, but did not associate it with the water
which he had taken. In order to get his business in such shape that he
could leave it, he had not found much time for rest of late and felt
that his tired body was now calling for rest. Eunice arranged a tidy
little pillow for his head and watched him sink into a profound slumber.
Toward nightfall the train reached the designated tunnel. Eunice under
cover of the darkness, incident to passing through the tunnel, went to
the door of the coach without attracting much attention. When the train
made the stop prearranged with the porter, Eunice dropped off of the
coach step and stood with her back pressed against the tunnel wall. The
train soon pulled out, the officials concluding that it was the shrewd
trick of some tramp "riding the blind baggage" (between the baggage and
the express car), who desired an easy way for alighting.
On and on rolled the train bearing the sleeping Mr. Volrees. When he
awoke the sunlight of the day following the one on which he went to
sleep was falling in his face. Tied to his wrist he saw a letter.
Looking about for Eunice and missing her, he concluded that she was
playing some joke, and with a smile he took the note from his wrist and
read:
"DEAR MR. VOLREES: Pray act sensibly in this trying period that
has come in your life. Think well before you act. I am a
sincere friend of yours and really like you. Now it will pay
you to do just as I am going to tell you to do. Continue your
journey to the Old World. From each point mapped out for a
sojourn send back the appropriate letter from the batch which I
have written and am leaving with you. I have read much of the
places which we have planned to visit and I am sure that my
letters have enough of local color to pass for letters written
on the scene. Send these letters back to be passed around and
read by my friends.
"In some foreign country telegraph back that I am dead. Your
ingenuity can supply the details. By this time mother knows all
and will join me in my advice to you. When you return to this
country come as a widower and enjoy the money which comes to
you through your marriage with me. By all that is sacred in
earth and in heaven, I swear that I shall ever remain dead to
you and will in no way directly or indirectly cross your path.
Nor shall any one save my mother know that I am alive and she
shall never see or hear from me again.
"EUNICE."
It was not long before Mr. Volrees was handed a telegram which read as
follows:
"For God's sake do as the girl directs. So much is involved!
"ARABELLE SEABRIGHT."
[Illustration: "What do they take me to be, a knight errant of hell and
a simpleton withal? I swear by every shining star that I
shall probe to the bottom of this matter if it shakes the
foundations of the earth,' said he."
(86-87.)]
The Hon. H. G. Volrees' wrath knew no bounds. "What do they take me to
be, a knight errant of hell and a simpleton withal? I swear by every
shining star that I shall probe to the bottom of this matter if it
shakes the foundations of the earth," said he. He took the first train
back to Almaville, his spirit crushed within him, though he bore his
sorrow with an outward calm. He utterly refused to discuss the affair,
as did also Mrs. Seabright. Almaville society had not received so
profound a shock since the unexplained course of Sam Houston in
returning his young bride to her parents and disappearing among the
Indians.