Uncle Isaac had greatly increased his prestige and following since the sensational4 speech he made in the County Convention and his public association with Larkin.
Following up his victory over the seven devils in Aunt Julie Ann, he had begun a series of revival5 meetings in the Northern Methodist church, calling its members to come up still higher. With each night his fervour and eloquence6 had increased. On this particular evening he attained7 unheard-of heights of inspiration, and announced not only his sinless perfection and his apostolic call, but the more startling fact that he was in daily personal communication with Jehovah himself. Amid a chorus of “Amens” and “Glory hallelujahs” from the sisters he boldly declared:
“Hear de Lawd’s messenger! I come straight from him. De Lawd come every day ter my house. I sees him wid my own eyes. De debbil he doan pester8 me no mo. I’se de Lawd’s sanctified one. I done wipe my weepin’ eyes an’ gone up on high. Will ye come wid me breddren an’ sisters! I walk in de cool er de mawnin an’ de shank er de even’ wid de Lawd and de Lawd walks wid me. An’ I ain’t er skeered er nuttin in heaben above er hell below.”
He had scarcely uttered the words when a white-robed ghost, fully9 ten feet high, walked solemnly down the aisle10. There was a moment of awful silence. Isaac’s jaw11 dropped in speechless terror. A sister in the amen corner screamed, and the Apostle sprang through the window behind the pulpit without a word, carrying the sash with him. In a minute the church was empty and the revival of Sanctification came to an untimely end.
It soon became the fashion for these merry masqueraders to call in groups on the pretty girls in town with the offer of their knightly12 protection. Frequently they spent the evening dancing and making merry, always in full disguise, guarding with the utmost care their identity. The mystery attending such visits, their secret signs and passwords, and the thrilling call of their whistles gave to these performances a peculiar13 atmosphere of romance and daring, and their visits came to be prized by the fair ones as tributes to their beauty and popularity.
A sign of invitation was devised by order of the leader of the raiders and posted one night on the bulletin board of the post office. The girl who wished the honour of such a call had only to express it by walking through the main street to the post office with a scarlet14 bow of ribbon tied on her left arm, and on the night following, promptly15 at ten o’clock, the knights16 on their white-robed horses would call.
Stella Butler had immediately become the most popular girl in Independence in spite of her father’s politics. Her beauty was resistless. Every boy on whom she chose to smile was at once her friend and champion. The old Graham house became the most popular meeting place of the youth and beauty of the town, and the only men not welcome there were its real owner and his pugnacious17 younger brother.
Stella was fairly intoxicated18 with her social victory. Steve led in the devoted19 circle of her admirers, each day pressing his suit with humble20 and dogged persistence21. She smiled in triumph at his abject22 surrender but continued to keep him at arm’s length, showering her favours on all who were worth while.
She determined23 to crown her social leadership with a unique fancy dress ball by inviting24 the Klan masqueraders to dance with a select group of her girl friends at her home. The Klan itself was too deep a mystery for her to note the difference in the character of the raids since the night its gallant25 horsemen had cheered at her father’s gate. She only knew in a general way that the Klan was born in the unconquered and unconquerable spirit of the old Bourbon South, the South of her mother, the only South worth cultivating socially.
So when the Judge’s beautiful daughter, radiant and smiling, walked down the main street of Independence with the scarlet sign of the Klan on her left arm, she paralysed the business of the town. Every clerk stopped work and took his stand at the door or window until she was out of sight.
Her name was on every lip. If the raiders should accept her invitation, and appear at the old Graham mansion26 the evening following, the Judge would be in the anomalous27 position of a host who seeks the life of his guests. For the destruction of the Klan by exile, imprisonment28 and death had become the main plank29 in his political platform under Larkin’s guidance.
Before Stella reached home the town was in a ferment30 of excitement to know whether the Judge had given his consent to this daring act. The older heads were sure that it was a child’s thoughtless whim31 and that Butler would promptly and vigorously repudiate32 it.
John stood in the shadow by the window of his office and watched her pass in anguish33. He saw in this invitation the complete triumph of the man he was coming to hate with deeper loathing34 than he had ever felt for her father. He was sure it was an inspiration of Steve Hoyle.
He observed old Larkin talking earnestly to Isaac on the other side of the street, and began to regret that the regiment35 of United States troops had been removed on the Carpetbagger’s advice.
Were they here, he would suggest to the Judge that they be stationed about his home to-morrow night and those masked fools be kept out. He resented such a masquerade, not only because it was a travesty36 of the tragic37 drama in which he had played a part, but because he felt a deep sense of foreboding over the possible outcome of the affair. However harmless the intentions of the leaders of such a prank1, there was always the chance of a drunken fool among them.
“My God,” he exclaimed with a shiver of dread38, “what will happen if the Judge in an ugly stupid temper encounters one of those masked fools maddened by drink!”
He sat down and hastily wrote a note of warning to Butler without a signature, tore it up in anger and threw it in his waste basket.
“Bah! it’s nonsense!” he muttered in rage. “Her father is in no danger. The trouble is with me—I’m jealous, jealous, jealous! of the men who can see her. I want to dance with her myself. I’m mad with a passion I dare not breathe aloud.”
Yet the longer he brooded over the thing, the keener became his sense of its dangers and the more oppressive the fear that it would result in a tragedy.
He sat down and rewrote his warning to the Judge, crossed the street and dropped the letter in the post office.
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1
prank
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| n.开玩笑，恶作剧；v.装饰；打扮；炫耀自己 | |
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pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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knightly
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| adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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pugnacious
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| adj.好斗的 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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anomalous
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| adj.反常的；不规则的 | |
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28
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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ferment
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| vt.使发酵；n./vt.（使）激动，（使）动乱 | |
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31
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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32
repudiate
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| v.拒绝，拒付，拒绝履行 | |
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33
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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34
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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35
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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36
travesty
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| n.歪曲，嘲弄，滑稽化 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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