[Illustration]
Maltham had come to a full stop in front of this absurd dwelling, which
was set a little back from the road in a dishevelled enclosure, and
as he stood examining in an amused way its various eccentricities he
became aware that from one of the lower windows a man was watching him.
This was disconcerting, and he turned to walk on. But before he had
gone a dozen steps the front door opened and the man came outside.
He was dressed in shabby grey clothes with a certain suggestion of a
military cut about them; but in spite of his shabbiness he had the look
of a gentleman. He was sixty, or thereabouts, and seemed to have been
well set up when he was younger--before the slouch had settled on his
shoulders and before he had taken on a good many unnecessary inches
about his waist. From where he stood on the veranda he hailed Maltham
cordially:
"Won't yo' come in, suh? I have obsehved youah smiles at my old house
heah-- No, no, yo' owe me no apology, suh," he went on quickly, as
Maltham attempted a confused disclaimer. "Yo' ah quite justified in
laughing, suh, at my foolish fancy--that went wrong mainly because the
Yankee ca'pentah whom I employed to realize it was a hopelessly damned
fool. But it was a creditable sentiment, suh, which led me to desiah
to reproduce heah in godfo'saken Minnesotah my ancestral home in the
grand old State of South Cahrolina--the house that my grandfatheh built
theah and named Eutaw Castle, as I have named its pore successeh,
because of the honorable paht he bo' in the battle of Eutaw Springs.
The result, I admit, is a thing to laugh at, suh--but not the ideah.
No, suh, not the ideah! But come in, suh, come in! The exterioh of
Eutaw Castle may be a failuah; but within it, suh, yo' will find in
this cold No'th'en region the genuine wahm hospitality of a true
Southe'n home!"
Maltham perceived that the only apology which he could offer for
laughing at this absurd house--the absurdity of which became rather
pathetic, he thought, in view of its genesis--was to accept its owner's
invitation to enter it. Acting on this conclusion, he turned into the
enclosure--the gate, hanging loosely on a single hinge, was standing
open--and mounted the veranda steps.
As he reached the top step his host advanced and shook hands with
him warmly. "Yo'ah vehy welcome, suh," he said; and added, after
putting his hand to a pocket in search of something that evidently
was not there: "Ah, I find that I have not my cahd-case about me.
Yo' must pehmit me to introduce myself: Majoh Calhoun Ashley, of the
Confedehrate sehvice, suh--and vehy much at youahs."
Maltham started a little as he heard this name, and the small shock so
far threw him off his balance that as he handed his card to the Major
he said: "Then it was your name that I saw just now in--" And stopped
short, inwardly cursing himself for his awkwardness.
"That yo' saw in the little graveyahd, on the tomb of my eveh-beloved
wife, suh," the Major replied--with a quaver in his voice which
compelled Maltham mentally to reverse his recent generalizations. The
Major was silent for a moment, and then continued: "Heh grave is not
yet mahked fitly, suh, as no doubt yo' obsehved. Cihcumstances oveh
which I have had no control have prevented me from erecting as yet a
suitable monument oveh heh sacred remains. She was my queen, suh"--his
voice broke again--"and of a line of queens: a descendant, suh, from a
collateral branch of the ancient royal house of Sweden. I am hoping,
I am hoping, suh, that I shall be able soon to erect oveh heh last
resting-place a monument wo'thy of heh noble lineage and of hehself. I
am hoping, suh, to do that vehy soon."
The Major again was silent for a moment; and then, pulling himself
together, he looked at Maltham's card--holding it a long way off
from his eyes. "Youah name is familiar to me, suh," he said,
"though fo' the moment I do not place it, and I am most happy to
make youah acquaintance. But come in, suh, come in. I am fo'getting
myself--keeping you standing this way outside of my own doah."
He took Maltham cordially by the arm and led him through the doorway
into a wide bare hall; and thence into a big room on the right, that
was very scantily furnished but that was made cheerful by a rousing
drift-wood fire. Over the high mantel-piece was hung an officer's sword
with its belt. On the buckle of the belt were the letters C. S. A.
Excepting this rather pregnant bit of decoration, the whitewashed walls
were bare.
The Major bustled with hospitality--pulling the bigger and more
comfortable of two arm-chairs to the fire and seating Maltham in it,
and then bringing out glasses and a bottle from a queer structure of
unpainted white pine that stood at one end of the room and had the look
of a sideboard gone wrong.
"At the moment, suh," he said apologetically, "my cellah is badly
fuhnished and I am unable to offeh yo' wine. But if yo' have an
appreciative taste fo' Bourbon," he went on with more assurance, "I am
satisfied that yo' will find the ahticle in this bottle as sound as any
that the noble State of Kentucky eveh has produced. Will yo' oblige me,
suh, by saying when!"
Not knowing about the previous wet night, and its still lingering
consequences, the promptness with which Maltham said "when" seemed to
disconcert the Major a little--but not sufficiently to deter him from
filling his own glass with a handsome liberality. Holding it at a level
with his lips, he turned toward his guest with the obvious intention of
drinking a toast.
"May I have a little water, please?" put in Maltham.
"I beg youah pahdon, suh. I humbly beg youah pahdon," the Major
answered. "I am not accustomed to dilute my own liquoh, and I most
thoughtlessly assumed that yo' would not desiah to dilute youahs. I
trust that yo' will excuse my seeming rudeness, suh. Yo' shall have at
once the bevehrage which yo' desiah."
While still apologizing, the Major placed his glass on the table and
went to the door. Opening it he called: "Ulrica, my child, bring a
pitcheh of fresh wateh right away."
Again Maltham gave a little start--as he had done when the Major had
introduced himself. In a vague sub-conscious way he felt that there
was something uncanny in thus finding living owners of names which he
had seen, within that very hour, scarcely legible above an uncared-for
grave. But the Major, talking on volubly, did not give him much
opportunity for these psychological reflections; and presently there
was the sound of footsteps in the hall outside, and then the door
opened and the owner of the grave-name appeared.