Molly Elliot Seawell

“ The brass fender and fire dogs, the old mahogany furniture, all shone like looking-glasses.
Miss Letty regulated her conduct toward her two admirers with the most artful impartiality, and both Sir Archy and Farebrother realized promptly that their visit was to be a season of enjoyment, and not of lovemaking—which last is too thorny a pursuit and too full of pangs and apprehensions to be classed strictly under the head of pleasure. Miss Jemima gave them a supper that was simply an epic in suppers—so grand, so nobly proportioned, so sustained from beginning to end. ”

“ He did discover unmistakably, though, that she was a very charming girl. Her frankness, so different from Ethel Maywood’s frankness, was perfectly bewitching. She acknowledged with the utmost candor her fondness for admiration,—her willingness to swallow not only the bait of flattery, but the hook, bob, sinker, and all,—and calmly related the details of her various forms of coquetry. Thus she possessed the charm of both art and simplicity, but, as the case is with her genus, when she fancied she was artful she was very simple, and when she meant to be very simple she was extremely artful. ”

“ A young moon trembled in the opal sky. As they walked [173] along in Indian file they felt their feet sinking in the soft, rich earth. The old brick house, with its clustering great trees, loomed large before them, and a ruddy light from the library windows shone hospitably. The dogs ran yelping toward them as they crossed the lawn, old Rattler giving subdued whines of delight. The thoughts of both Sir Archy and Farebrother, all the way home, had been how delicious that twilight walk would have been with Letty, had only the other fellow been out of it. ”

“ Romaine was as fully determined not to be thought old as Letty was determined to think that he was old. He was certainly unlike any old man that she had ever met; not that there was anything in the least ridiculous about him,—he was much too astute to affect juvenility,—but there was an alertness in his wonderful black eyes and a keenness in his soft speech that was far removed from old age. And he was easily master of everybody at the table, excepting Farebrother and Letty. ”

“ Farebrother looked on without taking any part in the scrimmage, and was infinitely diverted.
“I hardly think I understand you,” said Sir Archy, much puzzled.
“I’ll explain then,” replied Letty. “I mean this; that a man should be the soul of honor toward a woman—honorable to the point of telling the most awful stories for her—and always taking the blame, and never accusing her even if he catches her at the crookedest sort of things—and giving her all the chicken livers, and the breast of duck, and always pretending to believe her whether he does or not.” ”

“ But presently Farebrother came up and carried her off, under Sir Archy’s very nose, toward the dining-room. As Letty walked across the beautiful hall into the dining-room beyond, some new sense of luxury seemed to awaken in her. She was familiar enough with certain elegancies of life,—at that very moment she had her great-grandmother’s string of pearls around her milky-white throat,—and Corbin Hall contained a store of heirlooms for which the average Newport cottager would have bartered all his modern bric-à-brac. ”

“ Ah, my dear M. Romaine, that is not for you to say. These breach-of-promise cases sometimes turn out very badly for the gentlemen. I can so easily prove my position, my respectability—the way you pursued me from London to Brighton, from Brighton to Folkestone, from Folkestone to Eastbourne—and these invaluable and delightful letters. It will be a cause célèbre—that you may depend upon. And what a figure you will cut! The New York papers will have a column a day—the London papers two columns. By the way, I hear you have leased a fine house at Prince’s Gate for the season. ”

“ Sir Archy, stalking along toward Shrewsbury, smarting under his disappointment—for he really admired Letty, and had fully meant to offer her the chance of becoming Lady Corbin—yet felt a sort of secret relief. Letty was the soul of bright purity, but as Sir Archy philosophically argued, no matter how right people’s characters may be, if their ideas are radically wrong, it sooner or later affects their characters. ”

“ Farebrother, who had seen something of Southern girls, very quickly and accurately guessed that it was the sort of thing Letty had been used to. But he was amused and charmed to find, that along with the most inveterate and arrant coquetry, she combined a modesty that amounted to prudery, and a reserve of manner in certain respects which kept him at an inexorable distance. He could whisper soft nonsense in Letty’s ear all day long, and she would listen with an artless enjoyment that was inexpressibly diverting to Farebrother. ”

“ He told her that he loved her well, with the manly force and directness that women like, and Letty stammered some sweet, incoherent answer which revealed that she too knew the exaltation of life’s great fever. All her pretty airs and graces dropped from her in a moment—she stood trembling, and unconsciously returned the clasp of Farebrother’s strong hands, like some weak creature holding desperately to one that is all steadfastness. ”

“ A few nights after that, the Colonel sat in the library looking at the hickory fire that danced up the chimney and shone on the polished floor, and turned little Letty’s yellow hair into burnished gold. Suddenly a terrific knocking resounded at the door.
In those strange times people’s hearts sometimes stood still when there was a clamor for entrance; but the Colonel’s brave old heart went on beating placidly. Not so Dad Davy’s, who, with a negro’s propensity to get up an excitement about everything, exclaimed solemnly:
“D’yar dee come to bu’n de house over we all’s hades. ”

“ Every word Letty uttered startled Miss Maywood more and more. It was bad enough to see Sir Archy swallowing the huge lumps of flattery that Miss America so calmly administered, but to see him take mildly a hectoring and overbearing attack upon the one subject—public affairs—on which a man is supposed to be most superior to woman was simply paralyzing. ”

“ Next morning, as soon as the coast was clear, the Colonel sent for Letty into the library.
“I want to say to you, my love,” he began at once, “that I believe this thing that Romaine has done is not done in good faith. He is the sort of man to leave his property to perpetuate his name in a library or something of that kind. And, moreover, if he should even be in good faith, his relations are not the people to let so much money go to a comparative stranger without a struggle. They have been looking to him now, for two generations, to set them on their feet, and they will be infuriated with you. ”

“ When morning broke, the worst was over, and he seemed as likely to live as he had done at any time since Bridge first knew him. But the unhappy valet showed the terrible experience he had been through with, and his pallid face and nervous hands brought a grim smile to Mr. Romaine’s face.
About ten o’clock Mr. Romaine announced that he would rise and dress, having made, many years before, a secret resolution that he would die with his boots on. ”

“ Romaine. “It is from you that we Virginia people inherit that profound respect for land. I found, early in life, when I first went to England and when Americans were scarce there, that it was more in my favor to be a landholder and a slave-owner than if I had been worth millions. The landed people in all countries are united by a powerful bond, which does not seem to exist with other forms of property. ”

“ Romaine’s name, a faint color came into Miss Jemima’s gentle, withered face.
“Don’t speak of him that way, Letty dear,” she said. “He was a charming man once. But, perhaps, my love, it would be more prudent for you to avoid Miss Maywood. Nothing is more dangerous to young girls than association with others who lack modesty and refinement, as you represent this young lady.” ”

“ The night before the Corbins were to start for Virginia, Letty knocked at the door of the Chessinghams’ sitting-room to say good-by. Ethel Maywood opened the door for her. She was quite alone, and the two girls seated [112] themselves for a farewell chat. They did not like each other one whit better than in the beginning, but neither had they infringed the armed neutrality which existed between them. They knew that in the country that winter they would be thrown together, and sensible people do not quarrel in the country; they are too dependent on each other. ”

“ The scared negroes that had flocked about the house from all over the plantation were peering, with ashy faces, around the corners and over the garden fence. The men were ordered to fall in, the lieutenant giving his orders at a considerable distance, and in his involuntary and marked brogue. The lanky sergeant and the few men with him mounted, and then all of them, simultaneously, took off their caps.
“Three cheers for the old game-cock!” cried the lanky sergeant enthusiastically. The cheers were given with a will and with a grin. The Colonel bowed profoundly, smiling all the time. ”

“ A great part of Farebrother’s enjoyment of his Corbin Hall friends consisted in their simplicity and the number of hearty laughs they afforded him.
“I declare, Miss Corbin,” he exclaimed, after indulging himself in a masculine ha-ha, “it’s a great thing to know a place where one can get a new sensation. It can always be had in Virginia. You are certainly the simplest people about some things and the shrewdest about others I ever saw.”
“Thank you,” answered Letty, smiling, “but, please, as I am not quite a woman of the world yet—tell me what is the matter with Madame de Fonblanque?” ”

“ The notion of a girl who doesn’t want money and position is entirely too great a strain on my credulity. I suppose she’ll say next that she doesn’t want to be Lady Corbin and live at Fox Court. I think it’s much better to be truthful about things.”
“So do I, dear. But my own belief is that she really likes Mr. Farebrother best of all.”
“Nonsense,” cried Ethel, sharply. “Mr. Farebrother couldn’t begin to give her Sir Archy’s position or Mr. Romaine’s money. He’s an architect, with about enough to live on after his father’s fortune is cut up into six or seven parts. ”

“ Letty nodded her head gravely.
“Of course you have enjoyed yourself. We are such an—ahem—agreeable family.”
“I should say so! And to get into a community where people won’t even talk about divorce—and where nobody chases the dollar very hard—and where the dear Colonel is considered a very practical man—pray excuse me, Miss Corbin, but I do think your grandfather the noblest old innocent!”
“I know it. Grandpapa is innocent. So is Aunt Jemima. I am the only worldling in the family.” ”

“ I have never known any married woman made so free of her husband’s money as we are with Mr. Romaine’s, and if he does offer himself, I am sure he will make most unheard-of settlements.”
But when Mr. Romaine, sitting back in a dark velvet chair which showed off his face, clear cut as a cameo, with his superb black eyes shining full of meaning, spoke of the New York trip, Ethel began to think that there was no longer any hope of that offer. ”

“ Romaine was, strictly speaking, sui generis. He was never persistent—he paid short and very entertaining visits. He made no bones of letting Miss Jemima see that he regarded her as at least thirty years older than himself. Men hug the fond delusion that they never grow old—women live in dread of it—and men are the wiser.
Ethel Maywood, though, was cruelly disappointed. She thought Mr. Romaine was in love with Letty, and in spite of that vehement protest Letty had made at their very first meeting, she did not for one instant believe that Letty would refuse so much money. ”

“ I am ashamed to eat the bread of idleness, and yet—here’s a question that comes up. Has any man a right, who does not need to work, to enter into close competition with those who do need it?”
Farebrother was very much in earnest by that time. He saw that these nineteenth-century problems had never presented themselves to Letty’s simple experience. But they were of vast moment to him. Letty fixed her large, clear gaze upon him very much as if he were a new sort of animal she was studying. ”

“ At this candid defiance Letty’s scowl dissolved into a smile.
“I like your childlike innocence,” she remarked, “and the way you avow your dishonest motives. And I like a man who is a match for me. I was going to give the wretched nosegay to the stewardess, but now I’ll keep it as a souvenir of your delightful impertinence.”
“Thank you,” responded Farebrother politely. There was still half an hour before the boat started, and all three of the young women felt a degree of secret anxiety as to whether Sir Archy Corbin would be on hand to bid them good-by. ”

“ ONE sunny November day, in 1864, Colonel Archibald Corbin sat placidly reading “The Spectator” in the shabby old library at Corbin Hall, in Virginia. The Colonel had a fine, pale old face, clean shaven, except for a bristly, white mustache, and his white hair, which was rather long, was combed back in the fashion of the days when Bulwer’s heroes set the style for hair-dressing. The Colonel—who was no more a colonel than he was a cheese-box—had an invincible placidity, which could not be disturbed by wars or rumors of wars. ”

“ The scene and the hour melted Letty. She had been very happy at Newport. Usually, the first taste a provincial gets of the great world beyond is bitter in the mouth, but her experiences had [89] been rather happy, and of all the men she met, Farebrother, whose father had made his money in wines and liquors, and who had conscientious scruples against making money, had impressed her the most. With the easy confidence born of youthful vanity, and the simplicity of a provincial girl, Letty fancied that Farebrother would turn up at Corbin Hall within a month, unable to keep away from her longer. ”