Belle Kanaris Maniates

“ David listened to a series of similar sentiments until Knowles––a new Knowles––came in. The usual blank placidity of his face was rippled by radiant exultation.
“David,” he announced, “before that parade started to-night I had made out another conservative estimate, and thought I could pull you through by a slight majority. Now, it’s different. While you may lose some votes from the ‘near-silk stocking’ class, yet for every vote so lost hundreds will rally to you. That all men are created equal is still a truth held to be self-evident. ”

“ One of them chanced to be a man whom David had befriended, and he aided him by replying shrewdly in Jud’s favor.
But it was Jud himself who proved to be David’s trump card. He was keen, crafty, and quick to seize his lawyer’s most subtle suggestions. His memory was accurate, and with David’s steering he avoided all traps set for him on cross examination. When David stood before the jury for the most stubborn fight he had yet made, his mother’s last piece of advice––all she had to bequeath to him––permeated every effort. He put into his argument all the compelling force within him. ”

“ In an incredibly short time after the receipt of this note he was at the hotel, awaiting an answer to his card. He was shown to the sitting room of the suite, and Carey opened the door to admit him. This was not the little princess of his dreams, nor the charming young girl who had talked so ingenuously with him before the Braden fireside. This was a woman, stately yet gracious, vigorous yet exquisite.
“I am glad we came home in time to see you elected,” she said. “It is a great honor, David, to be the governor of your state.” ”

“ He devoured them all speedily, and she then applied to the Judge for fuel from his library to feed her young furnace.
“He takes to learning as naturally as bees to blossoms,” she reported.
“He must ease off,” warned Barnabas. “Young hickory needs plenty of room for full growth.”
“No,” disagreed the Judge, “young hickory is as strong as wrought iron. He’s going to have a clear, keen mind to argue law cases.”
“I think not,” said M’ri. “You forget another quality of young hickory. No other wood burns with such brilliancy. David is going to be an author.” ”

“ Red-letter Saturdays were spent with Uncle Larimy, and the far-away echo of the hunter’s bullet and the scudding through the woods of startled game became new, sweet music to his ears. Rifle in hand, with dog shuffling at his heels or plunging ahead in search of game, the world was his. Life was very full and happy, save for the one inevitable sprig of bitter––Jud! The big bully of 114 a boy had learned that David was his equal physically and his superior mentally, but the fear of David and of David’s good standing kept him from venturing out in the open ”

“ A trim little maid opened the door and led the way into a long library where in the fireplace a pine backlog, crisscrossed by sturdy forelogs of birch and maple, awaited the touch of a match. It was given, and the room was filled with a flaring light that made the soft lamplight seem pale and feeble.
“This is a genuine Brumble fire,” he exclaimed, as they sat down before the ruddy glow. “It carries me back to farm life.”
“How many phases of life you have seen,” 204 mused Carey. “Country, college, city, tropical, and now this political life. Which one have you really enjoyed the most?” ”

“ When Judge Thorne found that David was determined to defend Jud, he gave him some advice:
“You must get counter evidence, if you can, David. If you have any lingering idea that you can appeal to the jury on account of Barnabas being Jud’s father, root out that idea. There’s no chance of rural juries tempering justice with mercy. With them it’s an eye for an eye, every time.”
David had an infinitely harder task in clearing Jud than he had had in defending Miggs. ”

“ All of David’s friends rallied strongly to his support. Hume came from Washington, Joe from the ranch, and Wilder from the East, his father having a branch concern in the state.
Through the long, hot summer the warfare waged, and by mid-autumn it seemed a neck and neck contest––a contest so susceptible that the merest breath might turn the tide at any moment. The week before the election found David still resolute, grim, and determined. ”

“ Emboldened by his easily won conquest and David’s apparent lack of prowess, Jud continued his jeering and nagging, but David set his lips in a taut line of finality and endured in silence until there came the taunt superlative. 58
“Your mother was a washerwoman, and your father a convict.”
There surged through David a fierce animal hate. With a tight closing of his hardy young fist, he rushed to the onslaught so swiftly and so impetuously that Jud recoiled in fear and surprise. ”

“ David looked up, diverted and inquiring.
“Yes; I learnt it from M’ri. She told me about the flowers you give him. I thought it was jest sweet in you, David. You done good work thar.”
“Miss Rhody,” said David earnestly, “maybe some day I can get you a sweetheart.”
“’T ain’t no use, David,” she sighed. “No one wants a plain critter like me.”
“Lots of them don’t marry for looks,” argued David sagely. “Besides, you look fine in your black silk, and your hair crimped. Joe thinks your picture is great. He’s got it on a shelf over his fireplace at the ranch.” ”

“ David wended his way homeward, pondering over Uncle Larimy’s philosophy. When he went with Barnabas to do the milking that night he broached the subject of leaving the farm.
“I know how Jud feels about my being here, Uncle Barnabas.”
“What did he say to you?” asked the old man anxiously.
“Nothing. I overheard a part of your conversation. He is right. And if I stay here, he will run away to sea. He told the fellows in Lafferton he would.” 131
“You are going to stay, Dave.”
“You won’t like to think you drove your son away. If he gets into trouble, both you and I will feel we are to blame.” ”

“ Since the fight, David’s face had worn a subdued but contented expression.
“Looks,” thought Barnabas, “kinder eased off, like a dog when he licks his chops arter the taste of blood has been drawed.”
“Set down, Dave. I want to talk to you. You done right to fight fer yer folks, and you’re a good fighter, which every boy orter be, but when I come up to you and Jud I see that in yer face that I didn’t know was in you. You’ve got an orful temper, Dave. It’s a good thing to hev––a mighty good thing, if you kin take keer of it, but if you let it go it’s what leads to murder. ”

“ Pennyroyal captured Uncle Larimy, and when Janey whirled away in the arms of a 127 schoolmate, David, who had never learned to dance, stood isolated. He felt lonely and depressed, and recalled the expression in which Joe Forbes had explained life after he had acquired a stepmother. “I was always on the edge of the fireside,” he had said.
“Dave,” expostulated Uncle Barnabas, as soon as he could get his breath after the last dance, “you’d better eddicate yer heels as well as yer head. It’s unnateral fer a colt and a boy not to kick up their heels. ”

“ He looked down into her face, which had grown paler but infinitely more lovely.
“David, I didn’t dare know. I wanted to think it was so.”
“Carey,” his voice came deep and strong, his eyes beseeching, “we were prince and princess in 238 that enchanted land of childish dreams. Will you make the dream a reality?”
“When, David,” she asked him, “did you know that you loved, not the little princess, but me, Carey?” ”

“ Many a time his young arms ached to give Jud another thrashing, but his mother’s parting injunction restrained him.
“If only,” he sighed, “Jud belonged to some one else!”
He vainly sought to find the hair line that divided his sense of gratitude and his protection of self-respect.
Winter followed, and the farm work droned. It was a comfortable, cozy time, with breakfast served in the kitchen on a table spread with a gay, red cloth. Pennyroyal baked griddle-sized cakes, delivering them one at a time direct from 115 the stove to the consumer. ”

“ M’ri is a-goin’ to give a reception when she gits back from her tower, and that’ll be one thing to wear it at. Ain’t Jud got a mean look? He’s as crooked 125 as a dog’s hind leg. But, say, David, that’s a fine suit you’re a-wearin’. You look handsome. Thar ain’t a stingy hair on Barnabas’ head. He’s doin’ jest as good by you as he is by Jud. Don’t little Janey look like an angel in white, and them lovely beads Joe give her? I can’t think of nothin’ else but that little Eva you read me about. I shouldn’t wonder a bit, David, if I come to yer and Janey’s weddin’ yet! ”

“ A choking sensation warned David to say no more. 35
“Things go ’skew sometimes, Dave, but the sun will shine agen,” reminded the old man, as he went on into the house.
Later, when sundown shadows had vanished and the first glimmer of the stars radiated from a pale sky, Joe came over. David felt no thrill at sight of his hero. ”

“ He put his arm caressingly about her and began to relate one of Andersen’s fairy tales. M’ri gazed at them tenderly, and was weaving a future little romance for her two young charges when Janey said petulantly: “I don’t like fairy stories, Davey. Tell a real one.”
M’ri noted the disappointment in the boy’s eyes as he began the narrating of a more realistic story.
“David, where did you read that story?” she asked when he had finished. 73
“I made it up,” he confessed.
“Why, David, I didn’t know you had such a talent. You must be an author when you are a man.” ”

“ It has always been my dream to earn my own education. When you pay for anything yourself, it seems so much more your own than when it’s a gift.”
“Let him, Barnabas,” again counseled Uncle Larimy. “Folks must feed diff’rent. Thar’s the sweet-fed which must allers hev sugar, but salt’s the savor for Dave. He’s the kind that flourishes best in the shade.” 134
Janey wrote to Joe of David’s plan, and there promptly came a check for one thousand dollars, which David as promptly returned. ”

“ On the east porch, which was his retreat for a smoke or a rest between the intervals of choring and meals, Barnabas sat, securely wedged in by the washing machine, the refrigerator, the plant stand, the churn, the kerosene can, and the lawn mower. ”

“ Why do you think she doesn’t want one?”
“I heard say she was crossed once.”
“Crossed, David? And what might that be?” asked Forbes in a delighted feint of perplexity.
“Disappointed in love, you know.” 25
“Yes; it all comes back now––the gossip of my boyhood days. She was going with a man when Barnabas’ wife died and left two children––one a baby––and Miss M’ri gave up her lover to do her duty by her brother’s family. So Barnabas never married again?”
“No; Miss M’ri keeps house and brings up Jud and Janey.”
“I remember Jud––mean little shaver. Janey must be the baby.” ”

“ Carey now came out of the hall with her cart, and David drew her across the lawn, Janey dancing by his side. Down through the meadows wound a wheel-tracked road leading to a patch of dense woods which, to a little girl with a big imagination, could easily become a wild forest 105 infested with all sorts of nameless terrors––terrors that make one draw the bedclothes snugly over the head at night. ”

“ On the other hand, he, David Dunne, had taken a solemn oath to do his duty, and his duty to the people, in the name of justice, was clear. 243 He owed it to them to show no leniency to Jud Brumble.
So he hovered between base ingratitude to the man who had made him, and who had never before asked a favor, and non-fulfillment of duty to his people. It was a wage of head and heart. There had never been moral compromises in his code. ”

“ It had been some time since his last visit, and he scarcely recognized David when he met him at the Lafferton station.
“Well, Dave,” said the ranchman, “if you are as strong and sure as you look, you won’t need my help in the campaign.” 165
“I always need you, Joe. But you haven’t changed in the least, unless you look more serious than ever, perhaps.”
“It’s the outdoor life does that. Take a field-bred lad, he always shies a bit at people.” ”

“ It was a recall from Barnabas.
“Dear Dave:
“Nothing but a lazy life in a foreign land would have drove a man like you to write a book. The Jedge and M’ri are pleased, but I know you are cut out for something different. I want you to come home in time to run for legislature again. There’s goin’ to be something doin’. It is time for another senator, and who do you suppose is plugging for it, and opening hogsheads of money? Wilksley. I want for you to come back and head him off. If you’ve got one speck of your old spirit, and you care anything about your state, you’ll do it. ”

“ Winthrop came in David had no doubt as to the welcome he received from the head of the family.
“A man’s measure of a man,” thought David, 215 “is easily taken, and by natural laws, but oh, for an understanding of the scales by which women weigh! And yet it is they who hold the balance.”
“Fletcher and David and Joe are coming to-night to watch the parade from here,” said Carey. ”

“ The old face was quite beautiful now.
“Then I will let you,” she said tremulously. “You see, I am a hard-working woman and quite strong, but folks won’t believe that, because I am old; so they won’t hire me to do their work, and they say I should go to the poorhouse. But to old folks there’s nothing like having your own things and your own ways. They get to be a part of you. I was thinking 141 when you rode up that it would kill me not to see the frost on the old poplar, and not to cover up my geraniums on the chill nights.”
Something stirred in David’s heart like pain. ”

“ Look at old Miss Pankey, David. She, as rich as they make ’em, and a-wearin’ that old silk! It looks as ef it hed bin hung up fer you and Jud to shoot at. Ain’t she a-glarin’ and a-sniffin’ at me, though? Say, David, you write Joe that if M’ri did look the purtiest of any one that my dress cost more’n any one’s here, and showed it, too. I hope thar’ll be a lot of occasions to wear it to this summer. ”

“ His color was a deep-sea tan.
“It seems so good to be alive, Aunt M’ri. I thought I was weaned away from farm life until I bit into one of those snow apples from the old tree by the south corner of the orchard. Then I knew I was home.”
Pennyroyal shed her first visible tear. 152
“I am glad you are home again, David,” she sniffed. “You were always such a clean boy.”
“I missed you more’n any one did, David,” acknowledged Miss Rhody. “Ef I hed been a Catholic I should a felt as ef the confessional hed been took from me. I ain’t hed no one to talk secret like to excep’ when Joe comes onct a year. ”