Morton

“ English planter and Indian brave join hands, Morton seizes the brown fingers of two tawny princesses; all join hands, and round and about the pole dance the fantastic company mid the wild uproar of a drunkenly beaten drum, shouts, the thunderous roar of old-fashioned muskets, and the faint silvery piping of an English melody. Is there a stranger picture in all American history than this revel at the Merry-Mount, this glimpse of tawny bodies, beaver coats, English sailors in great Dutch breeches, and Morton, in his London best? ”

“ Three miles off, the rock of Ehrenberg rose in view, bearing aloft its heavy load of battlements and towers. Morton gave it one look, prayed it might be the last, and motioned his companion forward again.
They came to a lazy brook, stealing out of a marsh. In the mud by its side was the slough where a wild boar had wallowed. The solitude and savageness of the place shot a fresh life through Morton's failing veins. The sense came upon him that his fate was now in his own hands; the resolve that he would never be taken alive. He called Max to stop. ”

“ And as Morton went out he saw the policeman step to the telephone box at the end of the hall. And he knew that with the puerile, nasal voice of the wire the heralding had begun.
Outside, the sun was already pouring its bitterness upon the gleaming city, and the streets were fermenting with feverish humanity—white-garbed men, hurrying to the factories, bright-camisaed women going to the market with baskets upon their heads, naked-busted cargadores with gleaming muscles. Morton plunged ahead through the throng, which broke before him with sullen acquiescence in the right of the strong. ”

“ Towards this, therefore, he walked, with an air of great nonchalance, Morton following, his heart in his throat. Their movements were either unseen, or failed to excite suspicion; and taking a beaten track into the hollow, they came upon a spring at the foot of a rock, where three women were pounding clothes on a stone with clubs, by way of washing them; while a lazy boor, in a broad felt hat, lay on the ground listlessly watching the process. ”

“ The pen dropped from his pale fingers, which quivered like an aspen bough; and as Morton stood gazing on him, Vinal's upturned eyes met his, as if riveted there by a helpless fascination.
"You unhappy wretch! You are burning already with the pains of the damned. Flint and iron could not see you without softening. I have saved you,—not out of mercy, nor forgiveness,—not for your sake;—but I have saved you. I have pushed away the sword that hung over you by a hair. You are free now to be happy." ”

“ Morton looked grave in spite of himself.
"Perhaps you are right. I have very little heart left for jesting."
The eyes of his companion, as they met his, assumed a peculiar softness.
"You must have suffered beyond all power of words to speak it. The world to you was fresh and full of interest. You were ambitious; full of ardor and energy; loving hardship for its own sake, and obstacles for the sake of conquering them. You were formed for action. ”

“ Was Wandel fair? Was it, indeed, the original George Morton people had always liked? Here, apart from the turmoil, he didn't believe it, didn't dare believe it. Those people wouldn't have cared for him except for his assumption of qualities which he had chosen as from a counter display. Yet was it the real George Morton that made him in superlative moments break the traces of his acquired judgments, as he had done at New Haven, in the Argonne, to dash selflessly into the service of others? Rotten inside, indeed! Even in the hospital he set out to crush that impulsive, dangerous part of him. ”

“ Morton, I am a doomed man. The doctor [51] tells me I have, at best, but a very little while to live—and I feel he is right. I would not hesitate an instant to do what is my duty—but I know I cannot. My weak body will not obey my will. You are young, strong and resourceful. God has led you to this boat, led you to me in my hour of great need. Mr. Morton, I ask you, in the name of humanity, to rescue the girl from the fury of an insane populace—from the nameless horror that might be her fate—I ask you, my friend, to take my place and bring this girl safely out of Roumelia! ”

“ When his son was born, he was called after his grandfather, John Morton. As the boy grew up he became his father’s pride and hope. Dan Morton looked on him as the reincarnation of himself, the child who would grow up to be a man to carry on the work he had begun. When the young man was ready to enter college, he developed a rather unexpected taste for study and research—most un-Morton like, as his mother would say. His father decided not to discourage the youth, but hoped that in time he would turn from these strange gods and worship the gods of his fathers. ”

“ Morton was shocked.
“Count—come, man, pull yourself together; say something. I have agreed.”
A wan smile, like sunshine, stole over the drawn features of the helpless man.
“I must apologize for my rudeness,” he whispered more than spoke. “I shall be better in a moment.” He stretched out a trembling hand for the goblet of water, but Morton had reached it before him, and the old man drank the refreshing liquid thirstily.
The cool drink revived him. Some color returned into the blanched cheeks and the eyes regained somewhat of their normal lustre. He sat up more erect. ”

“ Morton had been scrutinizing the face of the guide while Father Moskar was speaking. Not a muscle of it moved, nor did he stir an inch from his rigid upright posture. The small, intelligent eyes looked at Morton steadily with calm assurance.
Morton rose and offered his hand with a hearty gesture. Papiu seized it in a vice-like grip. Morton felt the man would be as true as steel. ”

“ And, firm and dauntless, Morton laid his hand on the giant's vest.
Gawtrey seemed more astonished than enraged. He looked hard at his daring associate, on whose lip the down was yet scarcely dark.
"Boy," said he, "off! do not rouse the devil in me again! I could crush you with a hug."
"My soul supports my body, and I am armed," said Morton, laying hand on his cutlass. "But you dare not harm me, nor I you; bloodstained as you are, you gave me shelter and bread; but accuse me not that I will save my soul while it is yet time!—Shall my mother have blessed me in vain upon her death-bed?" ”

“ He was just at that age when one with strong features and robust frame is at the worst in point of appearance—the sinewy proportions not yet sufficiently fleshed, and seeming inharmonious and undeveloped; precisely in proportion, perhaps, to the symmetry towards which they insensibly mature: the contour of the face sharpened from the roundness of boyhood, and losing its bloom without yet acquiring that relief and shadow which make the expression and dignity of the masculine countenance. Thus accoutred, thus gaunt, and uncouth, stood Morton. ”

“ Morton looked at Duane with a curiously amused smile, then snapped his big jaw as if to shut in impulsive words.
“Look here, Morton. It stands to reason, no matter how strong these rustlers are, how hidden their work, however involved with supposedly honest men—they CAN'T last.” ”

“ Morton sunk back, bathed in cold sweat. In a few moments the old man reappeared, wiping his hands upon his dress. The outlaw shuddered convulsively as he noted the dark, red stains that discolored the skin. What deed of horror had been enacted in that further chamber?
“You can go back to your station, now, Lola,” he uttered, in a calm, even tone. “If I wish your presence, I will signal you. Now, sir,” he added, as the woman disappeared from view, “I can attend to you. But first, let’s see if there be any need of dressing your wounds. A man at my time of life dislikes unnecessary trouble. ”

“ The ebbs and flows of the human mind are beyond the reach of astronomy. As they went into the next room, Morton became conscious of a faint and indefinite something in the face of his mistress, which, he could not tell why, cast a gleam of light into his darkness, and lifted him out of the slough of despond in which he had been floundering for the last half hour. ”

“ For though Morton, more accustomed to speak than to write French, expressed himself with less precision, and a less euphuistic selection of phrase, than the authors and elegans who formed her usual correspondents; there was an innate and rough nobleness—a strong and profound feeling in every line of his letter, which increased her surprise and admiration.
“All that surrounds him—all that belongs to him, is strangeness and mystery!” murmured she; and she sat down to reply. ”

“ Meanwhile Romaine and Morton had wandered out of ear-shot of this significant conversation, into the depths of the conservatory. They had paused beneath a luxuriant lapageria, and the girl had raised caressing hands, drawing downward a cluster of its frosty bells to her lips.
The startling likeness in tint between the wan face and the ghostly blossoms, as they gleamed side by side in the moonlight, so painfully suggested the sculptured pallor of death, that Morton caught her hands in his and drew her quickly into his embrace, as he would snatch her from the brink of the grave. ”

“ But still, my dear Mr. Morton, blood will tell. And a nobleman is the product of many generations of thought, virtue and manliness.”
Morton nodded thoughtfully as he lighted a cigar. Both remained silent. From the shore came the sounds of murmuring crowds, the splashing of oars, the shrill tones of muleteers and the hoarse laughter of negroes. Then followed the clanking of chains, the straining of ropes, a few short commands from the bridge and the anchors had dropped. ”

“ Bertha Morton presented her husband with a fine boy, and scarcely had the young gentleman—Ronald Morton he was to be called—given notice of his arrival in the world by a lusty fit of crying, and had been exhibited in due form to his father, than the wise woman who attended on such occasions was now moving in hot haste to the castle of Lunnasting, to afford her aid to Donna Hilda, who was, it is said, in sore pain and distress. Alas! she had no fond husband to cheer and console her; no one to whom she could show with pride and joy the little creature about to be born into the world. ”

“ Lord Morton is an upright man and a just; but for years he hath tried in vain to curb the wildness of young Sir Boris. Drink and dice have been the young lord’s ruin as of many a better man before. Only a fortnight since, Lord Morton forbade him, on pain of his worst displeasure, to bring any dice, those tools of the Devil, into Morton Hall. More than that, he drove from the very door two of the young bloods from Shrewsbury who had been the young lord’s boon companions in drinking and gaming. ”

“ She minds me, Morton. I wouldn't—couldn't—wake her. Morton, Morton, she's yours as much as mine. That's God's law, no matter how much man's law may have let you shirk your responsibility. Don't hurt your own flesh and blood by coming back to us—now. I remember once when you cut your hand it made you ill. Blood! Blood is warm. Red. Sacred stuff. She's your blood, Morton. You let us alone when we needed you. Leave us alone, now that we don't!"
"But you do, Hattie girl. That's just it. You're running things a woman's way. ”

“ Morton could not help admiring the fine poise and keen mind of this remarkable young woman—seemingly a child in years, but a woman in sense. “You and your father should come to my country, Miss Rosen. Your father’s talents would be recognized there, and you also, with your wit and beauty. In my country, your people are powerful and honored. Persuade your father, won’t you? If he needs help I will help him.”
“Thank you, Herr Morton; but I hear some one coming. It is Miss Helène.” ”

“ In person Morton was above the middling height, some inches above it, in short he had attained the altitude of five feet eight inches—my own height to a fraction. Like most young men born in New England, and who choose a seafaring life, his frame had acquired a robustness and solidity, his countenance a healthy brown, his chest a depth, and his shoulders a breadth, that are each and all considered—and with justice—by the present generation, as irrefragable proofs and marks of vulgarity. ”

“ Morton was the Gamaliel at whose feet young More was brought up, drinking in his wisdom, storing up in memory his rich historic knowledge, learning the world’s ways and even something of the ways of kings, till a naturally sharp wit became unnaturally sharpened, and Morton recognised in the youth the promise of the future greatness of the man. ”

“ Really, Morton, it staggers belief to think that within twenty blocks of where we sit such [193] a man and such a home can exist. They do exist, and it only makes me realize how small a part of the city we know, after all. And some things I heard there to-day make me wonder if science isn't shutting its eyes—as these people say—to a world right under its nose. Morton, those people believe what they talk. ”

“ One evening as they thus sat together, Morton, after listening for some time to his companion's comments on men and things, said abruptly,—
"Gawtrey! there is so much in you that puzzles me, so much which I find it difficult to reconcile with your present pursuits, that, if I ask no indiscreet confidence, I should like greatly to hear some account of your early life. It would please me to compare it with my own; when I am your age, I will then look back and see what I owed to your example." ”

“ He had found a philosopher's stone; and through the rest of his life, this comfortless reading room of the Matherton Hotel, this sanctuary of dry and weary Yankeedom, was linked in his memory with dreams of golden brightness.
A firm, quick step crossed the threshold, and paced the sanded floor. Till this moment, Morton had remained absorbed, shut in from the outer world; but now an influence, which believers may call magnetism, made him look up and bend forward from the recess to see who the sudden stranger might be. The stranger turned also, and showed the pale, fixed face of Horace Vinal. ”