Robert W. Chambers

“ Mr. Edgeworth doesn't care—he likes solitude——"
Edgeworth attempted to protest, but was bidden to go with them or stay, as he pleased. And he stayed—to smoke and muse and ponder on the long, dim porch, while the dew dripped from the perfumed vines, and the great stars spangled the sky, and the million voices of the night sang of summers past and summers to come, and the burden of the song was always the same—Yo Espero, Yo Espero.
At seven o'clock next morning Edgeworth stood on the little foot-bridge leaning both elbows upon the wooden railing. ”

“ What's the use of lugging in strangers every minute?"
"Ladies are never strangers," said Tom, airily. "One of them is Miss Weldon."
"That's all right," said Edgeworth, savagely, "but she can't play tennis. Is it a kindergarten you're setting up, Tom O'Hara?"
"Listen to the lad," said O'Hara. "Why, man, I'll go with you where you like, and I'll do what you like—only," he added, "I have an appointment to ride at ten with Miss Weldon."
"Ride then," said Edgeworth, with a scowl, and turned on his heel, leaving O'Hara a sadly puzzled man. ”

“ There were others, too; gay comma-butterflies, delicate violet or blue swallow-tailed butterflies, and now and then a rare shy comrade of theirs, pale sulphur and gray, striped like a zebra, that darted across the flower-beds and flitted away to its dusky haunts among the shrub-oak and holly of the mountain-sides. An oriole, gorgeous in orange and black, uttered a sweet call from the lower branches of an oak. A blue-bird dropped into the longer grass under the bushes. Then a cat-bird began to sing and trill and warble until the whole air rippled with melody. ”

“ Oh, I suppose I shall pass the bridge again before you go."
"How do you know? Suppose I should go to-morrow?"
"You said you were going fishing to-morrow—didn't you?"
"Why, no, I didn't say so," he said, eagerly; "I would rather talk with you."
"Why don't you go fishing?"
"I would rather talk to you," he repeated.
"What shall we talk of—blockade whiskey?"
They laughed. He had moved up beside her once more.
"I want to see you again," she said. "I think you know that I do. I could come to the bridge to-morrow. My uncle has forbidden me to speak to anybody except Zeke and the boys. ”

“ Now the Reverend Orlando Beezeley and Dr. Samuel Meeke were both of a stripe, differing on one or two obscure questions. One reverend gentleman was a pillar of the "Pure People's League;" the other wore the badge of the "Charity Band." And they squabbled.
For their Leagues, their Bands, and their squabbles, Edgeworth cared nothing. He believed that all people should be allowed to worship God in their own fashion, even by squabbling, if they chose. ”

“ The village—there's only one house, you know—was named Yo Espero by the only inhabitant. They say he took the name from the label on the lid of an old cigar-box that he found among the rocks."
"Very unromantic and intensely American," said Edgeworth, laughing.
"Ah, but wait; there's more to come. The man who lives at Yo Espero has a niece, a beauty they say, and would you believe it, the man, her uncle, named her also Yo Espero!" ”

“ O'Hara went on Zeke's bond, and Zeke, followed by O'Hara and the proprietor of the Diamond Spring Hotel, started for the blockader's burrow. The proprietor's name was Eph Doom, but, unlike his namesake, nothing about him was sealed, not even his lips, and he chattered continually until Zeke drawled out: "Shet up yew damfool mewl of misery!" ”

“ The rain had ceased, the heavy perfumed air, vague with vapor, oppressed him, and he looked up at the mountains half veiled in mist. But climbing was out of the question—he didn't know exactly why—but it was clearly out of the question. He would not go fishing either; neither would he read. What was there left to do? Nothing—except to go back to the foot-bridge. ”

“ They sprawled on their backs and kicked up their heels—two bronzed young athletes, as trim a pair as one might see anywhere betwixt the poles of this planet.
"Hark," said Edgeworth, "hear Beezeley and Meeke squabbling over their Maker. Do you suppose He hears them? He is so very far away. Hark how they wrangle over their future blessedness. I should think they would be ashamed to have God hear them."
"Beezeley says he believes in hell but doesn't want to go there," said O'Hara, lazily.
"There's no hell," said Edgeworth. He hadn't lived long enough to know ”

“ The season that I do not speak with a Southern accent is because my uncle is from the North and I have lived alone with him ever since I can remember."
"Here?"
"Yes. I am very glad you spoke to me. When do you go away to the North again?"
The young fellow touched his short mustache and gave her a sharp glance. His sunburnt cheeks were tinged with a faint color.
"I am very glad, too," he said; "I find it a bit lonely at the hotel."
"The hotel," she repeated; "there are two hundred people there!"
"And I am lonely," he said, simply.
"You can't be—how can you be?" ”

“ Do you know Buck Gordon? His boys are the telegraph agents at the station above. I don't know the Gordon boys; I have spoken twice with old man Gordon. I do not suppose," she continued, reflectively, "that there has been a trout in Gay Brook for fifty years. Do you know why?"
"No," he said; "but I should be glad to know."
He had drawn a little nearer, and now leaned on the wooden railing of the bridge, his back to the water, his hands in his pockets. A leather rod-case was slung over his shoulders. The Southern sun crisped the edges of his short hair and shorter mustache. ”

“ Edgeworth?"
"Yo Espero," he repeated, softly. "I don't know—Yo Espero."
"Her uncle calls her Io for short when he does not call her Yo Espero. He must be a brute. They say he knows things about the blockade too."
Edgeworth became interested.
"I have never seen the girl," she continued, "but Mrs. Weldon has, and she says the girl is simply a raving beauty. Dr. Beezeley tried to call on the uncle, but was shown the door without ceremony. They say the man is well educated and from the North, but he won't allow anybody to enter his house or speak to his niece." ”

“ Edgeworth?" asked the girl beside him.
He started slightly; he had quite forgotten her. He was thinking of the girl at the bridge and the tryst next morning, but he said: "I was listening to the tree-frog. It means rain to-morrow."
"I am very sorry," said the girl. "I was going to Painted Mountain on horseback. Shall we sit here a moment?" She shook out her skirts and seated herself, and he found a place on the veranda railing beside her.
"Painted Mountain?" he asked; "that is beyond Yo Espero, isn't it?"
"Yo Espero is on the southern slope. ”

“ Beezeley says it is Clyde. He is some broken-down Northern man of good family who has sunk low enough to mix himself up with the blockade. People say the revenue officers are after him and will get him, sooner or later. I wonder what the girl will do then?"
"I wonder," repeated Edgeworth, under his breath. "Hello! here's Tommy O'Hara, the pride of Drumgilt!"
"And the Pride has had a fall," said O'Hara, sentimentally. "Did—did you notice if Miss Weldon was passing this way, Jim? ”