MANY MYSTERIES CLEARED UP.
On the day prior to the one on which Bernard first entered the public
school of Winchester, Fairfax Belgrave had just arrived in the town.
A costly residence, beautifully located and furnished in the most
luxurious manner, was on the eve of being sold. Mrs. Belgrave
purchased this house and installed herself as mistress thereof. Here
she lived in isolation with her boy, receiving no callers and paying
no visits. Being a devoted Catholic, she attended all the services of
her church and reared Bernard in that faith.
For a time white and colored people speculated much as to who Mrs.
Belgrave was, and as to what was the source of her revenue; for she
was evidently a woman of wealth. She employed many servants and these
were plied with thousands of questions by people of both races. But
the life of Mrs. Belgrave was so circumspect, so far removed from
anything suspicious, and her bearing was so evidently that of a woman
of pure character and high ideals that speculation died out after a
year or two, and the people gave up the finding out of her history as
a thing impossible of achievement. With seemingly unlimited money at
her command, all of Bernard's needs were supplied and his lightest
wishes gratified. Mrs. Belgrave was a woman with very superior
education. The range of her reading was truly remarkable. She
possessed the finest library ever seen in the northern section
of Virginia, and all the best of the latest books were constantly
arriving at her home. Magazines and newspapers arrived by every mail.
Thus she was thoroughly abreast with the times.
As Bernard grew up, he learned to value associating with his mother
above every other pleasure. She superintended his literary training
and cultivated in him a yearning for literature of the highest and
purest type. Politics, science, art, religion, sociology, and, in
fact, the whole realm of human knowledge was invaded and explored.
Such home training was an invaluable supplement to what Bernard
received in school. When, therefore, he entered Harvard, he at once
moved to the front rank in every particular. Many white young men of
wealth and high social standing, attracted by his brilliancy, drew
near him and became his fast friends. In his graduating year, he was
so popular as to be elected president of his class, and so scholarly
as to be made valedictorian.
These achievements on his part were so remarkable that the Associated
Press telegraphed the news over the country, and many were the
laudatory notices that he received. The night of his graduation, when
he had finished delivering his oration that swept all before it as
does the whirlwind and the hurricane, as he stepped out of the door
to take his carriage for home, a tall man with a broad face and long
flowing beard stepped up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
Bernard turned and the man handed him a note. Tearing the envelope
open he saw in his mother's well known handwriting the following:
"Dear Bernie:
"Follow this man and trust him as you would your loving
mother.
"Fairfax Belgrave."
Bernard dismissed his carriage, ordered to take him to his lodging,
and spoke to the man who had accosted him, saying that he was at his
service. They walked a distance and soon were at the railroad station.
They boarded the train and in due time arrived in Washington, D.C.,
Bernard asking no questions, knowing that a woman as habitually
careful as his mother did not send that message without due care and
grave purpose.
In Washington they took a carriage and were driven to one of the most
fashionable portions of the city, and stopped before a mansion of
splendid appearance. Bernard's escort led the way into the house,
having a key to which all of the doors responded. Bernard was left in
the parlor and told to remain until some one called for him. The tall
man with long flowing beard went to his room and removed his disguise.
In a few minutes a negro servant, sent by this man, appeared and led
Bernard to a room in the rear of the house on the second floor. It was
a large room having two windows, one facing the east and the other the
north.
As he stepped into the room he saw sitting directly facing him a
white man, tall and of a commanding appearance. His hair, and for that
matter his whole noble looking head and handsome face bore a striking
resemblance to Bernard's own. The latter perceived the likeness and
halted in astonishment. The man arose and handed Bernard a note.
Bernard opened it and found it exactly resembling the one handed him
just prior to his journey to Washington.
The man eyed Bernard from head to foot with a look that betrayed the
keenest interest. Opening one of the drawers of his desk he drew
forth a paper. It was a marriage certificate, certifying to a marriage
between Fairfax Belgrave and ------.
"I am your mother's lawful husband, and you are my legitimate child."
Bernard knew not what to say, think, or feel. His mother had so
carefully avoided any mention of her family affairs that he regarded
them as among things sacred, and he never allowed even his thoughts to
wander in that direction.
"I am Senator ------ from the state of ------, chairman of ------
committee."
The information contained in that sentence made Bernard rise from his
seat with a bound. The man's name was a household word throughout the
nation, and his reputation was international.
"Be seated, Bernard, I have much to say to you. I have a long story to
tell. I have been married twice. My first wife's brother was Governor
of ------ and lived and died a bachelor. He was, however, the father
of a child, whose mother was a servant connected with his father's
household. The child was given to my wife to rear, and she accepted
the charge. The child bloomed into a perfect beauty, possessed a
charming voice, could perform with extraordinary skill on the piano,
and seemed to have inherited the mind of her father, whose praises
have been sung in all the land.
"When this child was seventeen years of age my wife died. This girl
remained in our house. I was yet a young man. Now that my wife was
gone, attending to this girl fell entirely into my hands. I undertook
her education. As her mind unfolded, so many beauteous qualities
appeared that she excited my warm admiration.
"By chance, I discovered that the girl loved me; not as a father, but
as she would a lover. She does not know to this day that I made the
discovery when I did. As for myself, I had for some time been madly in
love with her. When I discovered, that my affections were returned,
I made proposals, at that time regarded as honorable enough by the
majority of white men of the South.
"It seemed as though my proposition did not take her by surprise. She
gently, but most firmly rejected my proposal. She told me that the
proposal was of a nature to occasion deep and lasting repugnance, but
that in my case she blamed circumstances and conditions more than she
did me. The quiet, loving manner in which she resented insult and left
no tinge of doubt as to her virtue, if possible, intensified my love.
A few days later she came to me and said: 'Let us go to Canada and get
married secretly. I will return South with you. No one shall ever
know what we have done, and for the sake of your political and social
future I will let the people apply whatever name they wish to our
relationship.'
"I gladly embraced the proposal, knowing that she would keep faith
even unto death; although I realized how keenly her pure soul felt at
being regarded as living with me dishonorably. Yet, love and interest
bade her bow her head and receive the public mark of shame.
"Heroic soul! That is the marriage certificate which I showed you. You
were born. When you were four years old your mother told me that she
must leave, as she could not bear to see her child grow up esteeming
her an adulteress.
"The war broke out, and I entered the army, and your mother took you
to Europe, where she lived until the war was over, when she returned
to Winchester, Virginia. Her father was a man of wealth, and you own
two millions of dollars through your mother. At my death you shall
have eight millions more.
"So much for the past. Let me tell you of my plans and hopes for your
future. This infernal race prejudice has been the curse of my life.
Think of my pure-hearted, noble-minded wife, branded as a harlot, and
you, my own son, stigmatized as a bastard, because it would be suicide
for me to let the world know that you both are mine, though you both
are the direct descendants of a governor, and a long line of heroes
whose names are ornaments to our nation's history.
"I want you to break down this prejudice. It is the wish of your
mother and your father. You must move in the front, but all that money
and quiet influence can do shall be done by me for your advancement.
I paid Mr. Tiberius Gracchus Leonard two thousand dollars a year to
teach you at Winchester. His is a master mind. One rash deed robbed
the world of seeing a colossal intellect in high station. I shall tell
you his history presently.
"I desire you to go to Norfolk County, Virginia, and hang up your
sign as an attorney at law. I wish you to run for congress from that
district. Leonard is down there. As you will find out, he will be of
inestimable service to you.
"Now let me give you his history. Leonard was the most brilliant
student that ever entered ------ University in the state of ------.
Just prior to the time when he would have finished his education at
school, the war broke out and he enlisted in the Confederate Army, and
was made a colonel of a regiment. I was also a colonel, and when our
ranks became depleted the two regiments were thrown into one. Though
he was the ranking officer, our commander, as gallant and intrepid an
officer as ever trod a battle field, was put in command. This deeply
humilitated Leonard and he swore to be avenged.
"One evening, when night had just lowered her black wings over the
earth, we were engaging the enemy. Our commander was in advance of
his men. Suddenly the commander fell, wounded. At first it was thought
that the enemy bad shot him, but investigation showed that the ball
had entered his back. It was presumed, then, that some of his own men
had mistook him for an enemy and had shot him through mistake. Leonard
had performed the nefarious deed knowingly. By some skillful detective
work, I secured incontestible evidence of his guilt. I went to him
with my proof and informed him of my intentions to lay it before a
superior officer. His answer was: 'If you do, I will let the whole
world know about your nigger wife.' I fell back as if stunned. Terror
seized me. If he knew of my marriage might not others know it? Might
not it be already generally known? These were the thoughts that
coursed through my brain. However, with an effort I suppressed my
alarm. Seeing that each possessed a secret that meant death and
disgrace to the other (for I shall certainly kill myself if I am ever
exposed) I entered into an agreement with him.
"On the condition that he would prepare a statement confessing his
guilt and detailing the circumstances of the crime and put this paper
in my hand, I would show him my marriage certificate; and after that,
each was to regard the other's secret as inviolate.
"We thus held each other securely tied. His conscience, however,
disturbed him beyond measure; and every evening, just after dusk, he
fancied that he saw the form of his departed commander. It made him
cowardly in battle and he at last deserted.
"He informed me as to how my secret came into his possession. Soon
after he committed his crime he felt sure that I was in possession
of his secret, and he thought to steal into my tent and murder me. He
stole in there one night to perpetrate the crime. I was talking in my
sleep. In my slumber I told the story of my secret marriage in such
circumstantial detail that it impressed him as being true. Feeling
that he could hold me with that, he spared my life, determined to
wound me deeper than death if I struck at him.
"You see that he is a cowardly villain; but we sometimes have to use
such.
"Now, my son, go forth; labor hard and climb high. Scale the high wall
of prejudice. Make it possible, dear boy, for me to own you ere I pass
out of life. Let your mother have the veil of slander torn from her
pure form ere she closes her eyes on earth forever."
Bernard, handsome, brilliant, eloquent, the grandson of a governor,
the son of a senator, a man of wealth, to whom defeat was a word
unknown, steps out to battle for the freedom of his race; urged to put
his whole soul into the fight because of his own burning desire
for glory, and because out of the gloom of night he heard his grief
stricken parents bidding him to climb where the cruel world would be
compelled to give its sanction to the union that produced such a man
as he.
Bernard's training was over. He now had a tremendous incentive. Into
life he plunges.