"I'm sure it is very good of you, Gabriel, to speak so kindly2 of Mr. Bethune," she said. "No doubt he deserves it all. He also says some very nice things about you, so I've heard. Nonny says there's some sort of an agreement between you—'you tickle4 me and I'll tickle you.' Oh, there's nothing for you to blush about, Gabriel," she went on very seriously. "Nonny may laugh at it, but I think it speaks well for both you and Mr. Bethune."
Gabriel made no reply, and as he stood there looking at Nan, and realising for the first time what he had only dimly suspected before, that they could no longer be comrades and chums, he presented a very uncomfortable spectacle. He was the picture of awkwardness. His hands and his feet were all in his way, and for the first time in his life he felt cheap. Nan had suddenly loomed5 up as a woman grown. It is true that she resolutely6 refused to follow the prevailing7 fashion and wear hoop-skirts, but this fact and her long dress simply gave emphasis to the fact that she was grown.
"Well, Nan, I'm very sorry," said Gabriel, by way of saying something. He spoke9 the truth without knowing why.
"Sorry! Why should you be sorry?" cried Nan. "I think you have everything to make you glad. You have your Mr. Bethune, and no longer than yesterday I heard Eugenia Claiborne say that you are the handsomest man she ever saw—yes, she called you a man. She declared that she never knew before that curly hair could be so becoming to a man. And Margaret says that you and Eugenia would just suit each other, she a blonde and you a brunette."
Gabriel blushed again in spite of himself, and laughed, too—laughed at the incongruity10 of the situation. This Nan, with her long gingham frock, and her serious ways, was no more like the Nan he had known than if she had come from another world. It was laughable, of course, and pathetic, too, for Gabriel could laugh and feel sorry at the same moment.
"You haven't told me why you are sorry," said Nan, when the lad's silence had become embarrassing to her.
"Well, I am just sorry," Gabriel replied.
"You are angry," she declared.
"No," he insisted, "I am just sorry. I don't know why, unless it's because you are not the same. You have been changing all the time, I reckon, but I never noticed it so much until to-day." His tone was one of complaint.
As Nan stood there regarding Gabriel with an expression of perplexity in her countenance11, and tapping the ground impatiently with one foot, the two young people got their first whiff of the troubles that had been slowly gathering12 over that region. Around the corner near which they stood, two men had paused to finish an earnest conversation. Evidently they had been walking along, but their talk had become so interesting, apparently13, that they paused involuntarily. They were hid from Nan and Gabriel by the high brick wall that enclosed Madame Awtry's back yard.
"As president of this league," said a voice which neither Nan nor Gabriel could recognise, "you will have great responsibility. I hope you realise it."
"I'm in hopes I does, suh," replied the other, whose voice there was no difficulty in recognising as that of the Rev8. Jeremiah Tomlin.
"As you so aptly put it last night at your church, the bottom rail is now on top, and it will stay there if the coloured people know their own interests. Every dollar that has been made in the South during the parst two hundred years was made by the niggeroes and belongs to them."
"Dat is so, suh; dat is de Lord's trufe. I realise dat, suh; an' I'll try fer ter make my people reelize it," responded the Rev. Jeremiah.
"What you lack in experience," continued the first speaker, "you make up in numbers. It is important to remember that. Organise14 your race, get them together, impress upon them the necessity of acting15 as one man. Once organised, you will find leaders. All the arrangements have been made for that."
"I hears you, suh; an' b'lieves you," replied the Rev. Jeremiah with great ceremony.
"You have seen white men from a distance coming and going. Where did they go?"
"Dey went ter Clopton's, suh; right dar an' nowhars else. I seed um, suh, wid my own eyes."
"You don't know what they came for. Well, I will tell you: they came here to devise some plan by which they can deprive the niggeroes of the right to vote. Now, what do you suppose would be the simplest way to do this?" The Rev. Jeremiah made no reply. He was evidently waiting in awe16 to hear what the plan was. "You don't know," the first speaker went on to say; "well, I will tell you. They propose to re-enslave the coloured people. They propose to take the ballots17 out of their hands and put in their place, the hoe and the plough-handles. They propose to deprive you of the freedom bestowed18 upon you by the martyr19 President."
"You don't tell me, suh! Well, well!"
"Yes, that is their object, and they will undoubtedly20 succeed if your people do not organise, and stand together, and give their support to the Republican Party."
"I has b'longed ter de Erpublican Party, suh, sense fust I heard de name."
"We meet to-night in the school-house. Bring only a few—men whom you can trust, and the older they are the better."
"I ain't so right down suttin and sho' 'bout3 dat, suh. Some er de ol' ones is mighty21 sot in der ways; dey ain't got de l'arnin', suh, an' dey dunner what's good fer 'm. But I'll pick out some, suh; I'll try fer ter fetch de ones what'll do us de mos' good."
"Very well, Mr. Tommerlin; the old school-house is the place, and there'll be no lights that can be seen from the outside. Rap three times slowly, and twice quickly—so. The password is——"
He must have whispered it, for no sound came to the ears of Nan and Gabriel. The latter motioned his head to Nan, and the two walked around the corner. As they turned Nan was saying, "You must go with me some day, and call on Eugenia Claiborne; she'll be delighted to see you—and she's just lovely."
What answer Gabriel made he never knew, so intently was he engaged in trying to digest what he had heard. The Rev. Jeremiah took off his hat and smiled broadly, as he gave Nan and Gabriel a ceremonious bow. They responded to his salute22 and passed on. The white man who had been talking to the negro was a stranger to both of them, though both came to know him very well—too well, in fact—a few months later. He had about him the air of a preacher, his coat being of the cut and colour of the garments worn by clergymen. His countenance was pale, but all his features, except his eyes, stood for energy and determination. The eyes were restless and shifty, giving him an appearance of uneasiness.
"What does he mean?" inquired Nan, when they were out of hearing.
"He means a good deal," replied Gabriel, who as an interested listener at the conferences of the white leaders, had heard several prominent men express fears that just such statements would be made to the negroes by the carpet-bag element; and now here was a man pouring the most alarming and exciting tidings into the ears of a negro on the public streets. True, he had no idea that any one but the Rev. Jeremiah was in hearing, but the tone of his voice was not moderated. What he said, he said right out.
"But what do you mean by a good deal?" Nan asked.
"You heard what he said," Gabriel answered, "and you must see what he is trying to do. Suppose he should convince the negroes that the whites are trying to put them back in slavery, and they should rise and kill the whites and burn all the houses?"
"Now, Gabriel, you know that is all nonsense," replied Nan, trying to laugh. In spite of her effort to smile at Gabriel's explanation, her face was very serious indeed.
"Yonder comes Miss Claiborne," said Gabriel. "Good-bye, Nan; I'm still sorry you are not as you used to be. I must go and see Mr. Sanders." With that, he turned out of the main street, and went running across the square.
"That child worries me," said Nan, uttering her thought aloud, and unconsciously using an expression she had often heard on Mrs. Absalom's tongue. "Did you see that great gawk of a boy?" she went on, as Eugenia Claiborne came up. "He hasn't the least dignity."
"Well, you should be glad of that, Nan," Eugenia suggested.
"I? Well, please excuse me. If there is anything I admire in other people, it is dignity." She straightened herself up and assumed such a serious attitude that Eugenia became convulsed with laughter.
"What did you do to Gabriel, Nan, that he should be running away from you at such a rate? Or did he run because he saw me coming?" Before Nan could make any reply, Eugenia seized her by both elbows—"And, oh, Nan! you know the Yankee captain who is in command of the Yankee soldiers here? Well, his name is Falconer, and mother says he is our cousin. And would you believe it, she wanted to ask him to tea. I cried when she told me; I never was so angry in my life. Why, I wouldn't stay in the same house nor eat at the same table with one who is an enemy of my country."
"Nor I either," said Nan with emphasis. "But he's very handsome."
"I don't care if he is," cried the other impulsively23. "He has been killing24 our gallant25 young men, and depriving us of our liberties, and he's here now to help the negroes lord it over us."
"Oh, now I know what Gabriel intends to do!" exclaimed Nan, but she refused to satisfy Eugenia's curiosity, much to that young lady's discomfort26. "I must go," said Nan, kissing her friend good-bye. Eugenia stood watching her until she was out of sight, and wondered why she was in such a hurry.
Nan had changed greatly in the course of two years, and, in some directions, not for the better, as some of the older ones thought and said. They remembered how charming she was in the days when she threw all conventions to the winds, and was simply a wild, sweet little rascal27, engaged in performing the most unheard-of pranks28, and cutting up the most impossible capers29. Until Margaret Gaither and Eugenia Claiborne came to Shady Dale, Nan had no girl-friends. All the others were either ages too old or ages too young, or disagreeable, and Nan had to find her amusements the best way she could.
Margaret Gaither and Eugenia Claiborne had a very subduing30 effect upon Nan. They had been brought up with the greatest respect for all the small formalities and conventions, and the attention they paid to these really awed31 Nan. The young ladies were free and unconventional enough when there was no other eye to mark their movements, but at table, or in company, they held their heads in a certain way, and they had rules by which to seat themselves in a chair, or to rise therefrom; they had been taught how to enter a room, how to bow, and how to walk gracefully32, as was supposed, from one side of a room to the other. Nan tried hard to learn a few of these conventions, but she never succeeded; she never could conform to the rules; she always failed to remember them at the proper time; and it was very fortunate that this was so. The native grace with which she moved about could never have been imparted by rule; but there were long moments when her failure to conform weighed upon her mind, and subdued33 her.
This was a part of the change that Gabriel found in her. She could no longer, in justice to the rules of etiquette34, seize Gabriel by the lapels of his coat and give him a good shaking when he happened to displease35 her, and she could no longer switch him across the face with her braided hair—that wonderful tawny36 hair, so fine, so abundant, so soft, and so warm-looking. No, indeed! the day for that was over, and very sorry she was for herself and for Gabriel, too.
And while she was going home, following in the footsteps of that young man (for Dorringtons' was on the way to Cloptons'), a thought struck her, and it seemed to be so important that she stopped still and clapped the palms of her hands together with an energy unusual to young ladies. Then she gathered her skirt firmly, drew it up a little, and went running along the road as rapidly as Gabriel had run. Fortunately, a knowledge of the rules of etiquette had not had the effect of paralysing Nan's legs. She ran so fast that she was wellnigh breathless when she reached home. She rushed into the house, and fell in a chair, crying:
"Oh, Nonny!"
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1
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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5
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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6
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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9
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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10
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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organise
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| vt.组织，安排，筹办 | |
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15
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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16
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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ballots
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| n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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18
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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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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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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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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capers
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| n.开玩笑( caper的名词复数 )；刺山柑v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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31
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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32
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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33
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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34
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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35
displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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36
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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