THAT night, after supper, Pole was in Floyd's room at the hotel. The
weather being warm, he had raised the window, which opened on a busy
street, and sat smoking, with his coat off. From the outside came the
clanging of street-car bells and the shrill voices of newsboys crying
the afternoon papers. Suddenly he heard the iron door of the elevator
slide back, and a moment later Floyd stood on the threshold of the room.
“Well, I succeeded, Pole!” he cried, sitting down on the window-sill
and fanning himself with his straw hat. “I sold out, lock, stock, and
barrel, and at an advance that I never would have dreamed of asking if
I hadn't been in a reckless mood. Really, I didn't know the property
was so valuable. My man kept hanging onto me, following me from place to
place, wanting to know what I'd take, till finally, simply to get rid of
him, I priced the property at three times what I had ever asked for it.
To mv astonishment, he said he would come over to Atlanta with me, and
if certain friends of his would help him carry it he would trade. Pole,
my boy, I've made more money to-day than I've made all the rest of my
life put together, and”--Floyd sighed as he tossed his hat on one of
the beds and locked his hands behind his neck--“I reckon I care less for
material prosperity than I ever did.”
“Well, I'm glad you made a good trade,” Pole said. “You were born lucky,
my boy.”
“Oh, I don't know,” answered Floyd; “but here I am talking about my
own affairs when you came to see me about yours. What can I do for you,
Pole? If it's money you want, you certainly came to headquarters, and
you can get all you want and no questions asked.”
“I didn't come to see you on my own business, Nelson,” Pole answered.
“I'm here on account of old man Mayhew. Nelson, he's mighty nigh
plumb crazy over you bein' away. He can't run that thing up thar
single-handed; he's leaned too long on you fer that, an' then he's
gittin' old and sorter childish. I never knowed it before, Nelson, but
he looks on you sorter like a son. The old fellow's eyes got full an'
he choked up when he was beggin' me to come down here an' see you. He
gathered from yore last letter that you intended to go West and live,
an' he called me in an' begged me to come and persuade you not to do it.
Nelson, I'll hate it like rips, too, ef you leave us. Them old mountains
is yore rightful home, an' I'm here to tell you that God Almighty never
give any one man more friends than you've got amongst them plain, honest
folks. By gum! they jest stand around in bunches an' talk an' talk about
you an'--an' yore--late trouble. Thar ain't one in the lot but what 'ud
be glad to help you bear it.”
Floyd stood up suddenly, and, with his hands behind him, he began to
walk back and forth across the room.
“It's the only spot on earth I'll ever care about,” Pole heard him say
in a deep, husky voice, “and God knows I love the people; but I don't
want to go back, Pole. Fate rather rubbed it in on me up there. All my
early life I nursed the hope that I would eventually be able to prove
that my parents were good, respectable people, and then when I was
beginning to despair it went out that I belonged to a great and high
family, and the aristocracy of the section extended their hands and
congratulated me and patted me on the back. But that wasn't for long. My
guardian angel--my old stand-by, Pole--came to me with a malignant grin
and handed me the information that I was--was what you couldn't call the
humblest man you know up there and live a minute later.”
“I know--I know, Nelson,” sighed Pole, his honest face tortured by
inward sympathy. “I see you've got a big, big argument in favor o' the
step you are thinking about, but I want to see if I can't put it to
you in another light. Listen to me, my boy. Different men suffer in
different ways. Maybe you don't think I've suffered any to speak of.
But, my boy, when I was tried by my peers up thar, in the open court of
God's soft starlight---when my neighbors, well-meanin', fair-thinkin'
folks, come to me in the night-time an' called me out to lay the lash
on my bare back fer wilful neglect o' them that was dear an' true to
me, all--all, I say--that was wuth a tinker's damn in me sunk down, down
into the bottomless pit o' hell. I thought about shirkin', about pullin'
up stakes an' goin' away off some'rs to begin new, but I seed that
wouldn't wipe it out o' folks' memories, nor out o' me, and so I decided
to stay right thar an' fight--fight it to a finish. It was awful to meet
them men in the light o' day with the'r masks off, an' know what each
one was a-think-in', but I went through it, and, thank God, I begin to
see light ahead. It looks like they understand my struggle an' think
none the less o' me. Lord, Lord, ef you could jest witness the kind
words an' gentle ways o' them men towards me an' mine now, you'd believe
what preachers say about the spirit o' God dwellin' in every man's
breast.”
Floyd had turned, and he now laid a sympathetic hand on Pole's shoulder.
“I knew what you were going through,” he said, “and I wanted to help
you, but didn't know how. Then this damned thing came on me like a bolt
from a clear sky.”
“Nelson, listen to me. I am here to-night to beg you to do like I
done--to come back to yore old home and meet that thing face to face. As
God is my judge, I believe sech great big troubles as yore'n are laid
on folks fer a good purpose. Other men have gone through exactly what
you've had to bear, an' lived to become great characters in the history
o' the world's progress. Nelson, that's the one an' only thing left fer
you to do. It's hell, but it will be fer yore own good in the end. Buck
up agin it, my boy, an' what seems hard now will look as easy after a
while as failin' off a log.”
Floyd turned and began to walk back and forth again. The room was filled
with silence. Through the open window came the sound of brass musical
instruments, the rattling of a tambourine, the ringing of cymbals. Then
a clear voice--that of a young woman--rose in a sacred song. It was a
band of Salvationists clustered near a street corner under a hanging
arc light. Floyd paused near to Pole and looked thoughtfully from the
window; then he sat down on the bed. For a moment he stared at the
floor, and then, folding his arms across his breast, he suddenly raised
his head.
“Pole,” he said, firmly, “I'm going to take your advice.”
There was silence. The two men sat facing each other. Suddenly the
mountaineer leaned over and said: “Give me your hand on it, Nelson.
You'll never regret this as long as you live.”
Floyd extended his hand and then got up and began to walk back and forth
across the room again.
“I've got another trouble to bear, Pole,” he said, gloomily.
“You say you have, Nelson?”
“Yes, and it is worse than all. Pole, I've lost the love of the only
woman I ever really cared for.”
“You mean Cynthia Porter?” said Pole, and he leaned forward, his eyes
burning.
Floyd nodded, took one or two steps, and then paused near to Pole. “You
don't know it, perhaps, but I've been back up there lately.”
“Oh no!”
“Yes, I went back to see her. I couldn't stay away from her. I had been
on a protracted spree. I was on the brink of suicide, in a disordered
condition of mind and body, when all at once it occurred to me that
perhaps she might not absolutely scorn me. Pole, the very hope that she
might be willing to share my misfortune suddenly sobered me. I was in an
awful condition, but I stopped drinking and went up there one night. I
secretly met her and proposed an elopement. The poor little girl was so
excited that she would not decide then, but she agreed to give me her
final decision a week later.”
“Great God! you don't mean it, Nelson!” the mountaineer cried in
surprise--“shorely you don't!”
“Yes, I do. Then I went back to fill the appointment, but she had
confided it all to her mother, and the old lady came out and told me
that Cynthia not only refused me, but that she earnestly hoped I would
never bother her again.”
“My Lord!” Pole exclaimed; “and there was a time when I actually
thought--but that's _her_ matter, Nelson. A man hain't got no right
on earth dabblin' in a woman's heart-affairs. To me nothin' ain't more
sacred than a woman's choice of her life-partner.”
“Mrs. Porter hinted plainly that Cynthia was thinking of marrying
Hillhouse,” said Floyd.
“Ah, now I begin to see ahead!” the farmer said, reflectively. “Cynthia's
down at Cartersville now, on a visit to her cousins, and the long-legged
parson is there, too, filling in for another preacher. I don't pretend
to understand women, Nelson. Thar's been a lots o' talk about her and
Hillhouse since you went off. I axed Sally what she thought about it,
an' she seemed to think if Cynthia had quit thinkin' o' you it was due
to the reports in circulation that you had started in to drinkin'. Sally
thought that Cynthia was one woman that 'ud not resk her chance with a
drinkin' man. Cynthia's a good girl, Nelson, and maybe she thinks she
kin make herse'f useful in life by marrying a preacher. I dunno. And
then he is a bright sort of fellow; he is sharp enough to know that she
is the smartest and best unmarried woman in Georgia. Well, that will be
purty hard fer you to bear, but you must face it along with the other,
my boy.”
“Yes, I've got to grin and bear it,” Floyd said, almost under his
breath. “I've got to face that and the knowledge that I might have won
her if I had gone about it in the right way. From my unfortunate father
I have inherited some gross passions, Pole, and I was not always strong
enough to rise above them. I made many big mistakes before I met her,
and even after that, I blush to say, my old tendency clung to me so
that--well, I never understood her, as she really deserved, till the day
you raked me over the coals at the bush-arbor meeting. Pole, that
night, when she and I were thrown by the storm in that barn together, I
remembered all you said. It seemed to give me new birth, and I saw her
for the first time as she was, in all her wonderful womanly strength and
beauty of character and soul, and from that moment I loved her. My God,
Pole, the realization of that big, new passion broke over me like a
great, dazzling light. It took me in its grasp and shook everything that
was vile and gross out of me. From that moment I could never look into
her face for very shame of having failed to comprehend her.”
“I seed you was in danger,” Pole said, modestly. “It was a mighty hard
thing to have to talk as I did to a friend, but I felt that it was my
duty, and out it come. I'm not goin' to take no hand in this, though,
Nelson. I think you are in every way worthy o' her, but, as I say, only
a woman kin tell who she ought to yoke with fer life. If she refused
you, after due deliberation, an' decided on another man, why, I hain't
one single word to say. I'm after her happiness, as I'm after yore'n.
I'd like to see you linked together, but ef that ain't to be, then I
want to see you both happy apart.”
For a moment neither spoke. Then it seemed that Pole wanted to change
the subject.
“In tryin' to run upon you this mornin', Nelson,” he said, “I went out
to yore--out to Henry A. Floyd's. That woman, his housekeeper, met me at
the door an' let me inside the hall. She's a kind, talkative old soul,
and she's worried mighty nigh to death about the old man. She remembered
seein' me before, an' she set in to tellin' me all about his troubles.
It seems that he's had some lawsuit, an' his last scrap o' property is
to be tuck away from him. She told me thar was a debt of three thousand
dollars to pay in the morning or' everything would go. While she was
talkin' he come along, lookin' more dead than alive, an' I axed 'im ef
he could put me on to yore track. He glared at me like a crazy man; his
jaws was all sunk in, an' with his gray hair an' beard untrimmed, an'
his body all of a quiver, he simply looked terrible.
“'No,' said he, 'I don't know whar you kin find 'im. I've heard that he
was in trouble, an' I'm sorry, fer I know what trouble means,' an' with
that he stood thar twistin' his hands an' cryin' like a pitiful little
child about the three thousand dollars his creditors wanted, an' that
thar wasn't a ghost of a chance to raise it. He said he'd made every
effort, an' now was starin' starvation in the face. He turned an' went
back to his room, puttin' his old, bony hand on the wall to keep from
failin' as he moved along. I'm a pore man, Nelson, but, by all that's
holy, ef I'd 'a' had the money the old chap wanted this mornin' I'd 'a'
hauled it out an' 'a' kissed it farewell. I'm that way, Nelson. A fool
an' his money is soon parted. I'd 'a' been seven idiots in a row ef I'd
'a' had that much cash, fer I'd certainly 'a' yanked that squirmin' old.
chap off'n his bed o' coals.”
Floyd bent towards the speaker. Their eyes met understandingly.
“But I've got money, Pole--money to spare--and that old wreck is my
father's only brother. I've made a fortune in a single deal to-day.
Look here, Pole, I'm going out there to-night--_to-night_, do you
understand?--to-night, before he goes to bed, and give him a check that
will more than cover his shortage.”
“Are you goin' to do that, Nelson?”
“Yes, I am. Do you want to come along to witness it?”
“No, I'll wait fer you here, but God bless you, my boy. You'll never,
never be sorry fer it, if you live to be a hundred years old.”
Floyd sat down at a table, and, with a checkbook in hand, was adjusting
his fountain-pen. Pole went to the window and looked out. Down in the
glare below a woman in a blue hood and dress stood praying aloud, in
a clear, appealing voice, while all about her were grouped the other
Salvationists and a few earnest-eyed spectators.
“That's right, Miss Blue-frock,” Pole said to himself; “go ahead an'
rake in yore converts from the highways an' byways, but I've got one
in this room you needn't bother about. By gum! ef it was jest a little
darker in here, I'll bet I could see a ring o' fire round his head.”