"This is Mr. Sanders, I believe," he said without ceremony. "My name is Falconer. I have just been to call on Mr. Clopton, but they tell me there that he is at Mrs. Lumsden's."
"Well, I wouldn't advise you to go there," said Mr. Sanders, bluntly. "The lady is in a considerbul state of mind about her gran'son."
"It is a miserable1 piece of business all the way through," remarked Captain Falconer. There was a note of sympathy in his voice, which Mr. Sanders could not fail to catch, and it interested him.
"I called upon my cousin, Mrs. Claiborne, for the first time to-day," the Captain went on. "She has invited me to tea often, but I have refused the invitation on account of the state of feeling here. I know how high it is. It is natural, of course, but it is not justifiable2. Take my case, for instance: I am a Democrat3, and I come from a family of Democrats4, who have never voted anything else but the Democratic ticket, except when Henry Clay was a candidate, and when Lincoln was running for a second term."
"You don't tell me!" cried Mr. Sanders, with genuine astonishment5.
"It is a fact," said Captain Falconer, with emphasis. "If you think that I, or any of the men under me, or any of the men who fought at all, intended to bring about such a condition as now exists in this part of the country, you are doing us a great wrong. Don't mistake me! I am not apologising for the part I took. I would do it all over again a hundred times if necessary. Yet I do not believe in negro suffrage6, and I abhor7 and detest8 every exaction9 that the politicians in Washington have placed upon the people of the South."
Mr. Sanders was too much astonished to make appropriate comment. He could only stare at the young man. And Captain Falconer was very good to look upon. He was of the Kentucky type, tall, broad-shouldered and handsome. His undress uniform became him well, and he had the distinctive10 and pleasing marks that West Point leaves on all young men who graduate at the academy there.
"Well, as I told you, I called on my cousin to-day for the first time, and after we had talked of various matters, especially the unfortunate events that have recently occurred, she insisted that I make it my business to see you or Mr. Clopton. She told me," the Captain said, with a pleasant smile, "that you are the man that kidnapped Mr. Lincoln."
"She's wrong about that," replied Mr. Sanders; "I'm the man that didn't kidnap him. But I want to ask you: ain't you some kin11 to John Barbour Falconer?"
"He was my father," the Captain replied.
"Well, I've heard Meriwether Clopton talk about him hundreds of times. They ripped around in Congress together before the war."
"Now, that is very interesting to me," said the Captain, his face brightening.
He was silent for some time, as they walked slowly along, and during this period of silence, Meriwether Clopton came up behind them. He would have passed on, with a polite inclination12 of his head, but Mr. Sanders drew his attention.
"Mr. Clopton," he said, "here's a gentleman I reckon you'd like to know—Captain Falconer. He's a son of John Barbour Falconer."
"Is that so?" exclaimed Meriwether Clopton, a wonderful change passing over his face. "Well, I am glad to see a son of my dear old friend, anywhere and at any time." He shook hands very cordially with the Captain. "Let me see—let me see: if I am not mistaken, your first name is Garnett; you were named after your maternal13 grandfather."
"That is true, sir," replied the Captain, with a boyish laugh that was pleasing to the ear—he was not more than thirty. "But I am surprised that you should remember these things so well."
"Why, my dear sir, it is not surprising at all. I have dandled you on my knee many and many a time; I know the very house, yes, the very room, in which you were born. Some of the happiest hours of my manhood were spent with your father and mother in Washington. Your father is dead, I believe. Well, he was a good man; among the best I ever knew. What of your mother?"
"She has broken greatly," responded the Captain. "The war was a great burden to her. She was a Virginian, you know."
"Yes—yes!" said Meriwether Clopton. "The war has been a dreadful nightmare to the people on both sides; and it seems to be still going on disguised as politics. Only last night, as you perhaps know, a posse of soldiers arrested and carried off four of our worthiest14 young men."
"Yes, sir, I know of it and regret it," responded Captain Falconer. "And I have no doubt that a majority of the people here are incensed15 at the soldiers, forgetting that they are the mere16 instruments of their superiors, and that their superiors themselves take their orders from other superiors who are engaged in the game of politics. It is the duty of a soldier to blindly obey orders. To pause to ask a question would be charged to a spirit of insubordination. The army is at the beck and call of what is called the Government, and to-day the Government happens to be the radical17 contingent18 of the Republican Party. A soldier may detest the service he is called on to perform, but he is bound to obey orders. I can answer for the officer who was sent to arrest these young men. He was boiling over with rage because he had been sent here on such an errand."
"I am glad to hear that," declared Meriwether Clopton, with great heartiness19.
"His feelings were perfectly20 natural, sir," said Captain Falconer. "Take the army as it stands to-day, and it would be hard, if not impossible, to find a man in it who does not shrink from doing the dirty work of the politicians. Can you imagine that my mission here is pleasant to me? I can assure you, sir, it is the most disagreeable duty that ever fell to my lot. I am glad you spoke21 of these arrests. At your convenience, I should like to have a little conversation with you and Mr. Sanders on this subject."
"There is no time like the present," replied Meriwether Clopton. "Will you come with me to my house?"
"Certainly, sir; and with the more pleasure because I called on my cousin Mrs. Claiborne to-day. I have forborne to call on her heretofore on account of the prejudice against us. But these arrests made it necessary for me to communicate with some of the influential22 friends of the young men. I was afraid my visit to-day would prove to be embarrassing to her. If I visit you at your invitation, the probability is she will have no social penalty to pay. I know what the feeling is."
Indeed, he knew too well. He had passed along the streets apparently23 perfectly oblivious24 to the attitude and movements of those whom he chanced to meet, but all his faculties25 had been awake, for he was a man of the keenest sensibilities. He had seen women and young girls curl their lips in a sneer26, and toss their heads in scorn, as he passed them by; and some of them pulled their skirts aside, lest his touch should pollute them. He had observed all this, and he was wounded by it; and yet he had no resentment27. Being a Southerner himself, he knew that the feelings which prompted such actions were perfectly natural, the fitting accompaniment of the humiliation28 which the radical element compelled the whites to endure.
In the course of his long and frequent walks in the countryside, Captain Falconer had made the acquaintance of Gabriel Tolliver, in whose nature the spirit of a gypsy vagrant29 seemed to have full sway; and Gabriel was the only person native to Shady Dale, except the ancient postmaster, with whom the young officer had held communication. He seemed to be cut off not only from all social intercourse30, but even from acquaintanceship.
"You may rest assured," declared Meriwether Clopton, "that if I had known you were the son of my old friend, I would have sought you out, much as I detest the motives31 and purposes of those who have inaugurated this era of bayonet rule. And you may be sure, too, that in my house you will be a welcome guest."
"I appreciate your kindness, sir, and I shall remember it," said Captain Falconer.
That portion of Shady Dale which was moving about the streets with its eyes open was surprised and shocked—nay, wellnigh paralysed—to see the "Yankee Captain" on parade, as it were, with Meriwether Clopton on one side of him, and Mr. Sanders on the other. Yes, and the hand of the son of the First Settler (could their eyes deceive them?) was resting familiarly on the shoulder of the "Yankee!" Surely, here was food for thought. Were Meriwether Clopton and Mr. Sanders about to join the radicals32? Well, well, well! At last one of the loungers, a man of middle age, who had seen service, raised his voice and put an end to comment.
"You can bet your sweet life," he declared, "that Billy Sanders knows what he's up to. He may not git the game he's after, but he'll fetch back a handful of feathers or hair. Mr. Clopton I don't know so well, but I was in the war wi' Billy Sanders, and I wish you'd wake me up and let me know when somebody fools him. There ain't a living man on the continent, nor under it neither, that can git on his blind side."
"Now you are whistlin'!" exclaimed one of his companions, and this seemed to settle the matter. If Mr. Sanders didn't know what he was about, why, then, everybody else in that neighbourhood might as well give up, "and let natur' cut her caper33."
"I understand now why Mrs. Claiborne referred me to you," said Captain Falconer, when Mr. Sanders had related the nature and extent of the information which he had been able to gather during the morning.
"The lady is kinder partial," remarked Mr. Sanders, "but she's as bright as a new dollar, somethin' I ain't seed sence I cut my wisdom teeth."
"You already know what I intended to tell you," said the Captain. But it turned out, nevertheless, that he was able to give them some very startling information. It was the general understanding in Shady Dale that the prisoners were to be sent to Atlanta; but the military authorities, fearing an attempt at rescue, perhaps, had ordered them to be sent to Fort Pulaski, below Savannah. There were other reasons, the Captain explained, for sending the young men there. They would be isolated34 from their friends, and, so placed, might be induced to confess; and if the circumstances surrounding them were not sufficient to produce such a result then other measures were to be taken.
Meanwhile, the circumstantial evidence against Gabriel was very strong—stronger even than Mr. Sanders had imagined. Bridalbin, whom Captain Falconer knew as Boring, had informed that officer of his own supposed discoveries with respect to Gabriel's movements; and the evidence he was prepared to give, coupled with the fact that Hotchkiss had pronounced the lad's name with his last breath, made out a case of exceptional strength. Urged on by the vindictiveness35 of the radical leaders in Congress, it was more than probable that the military court before which the young men were to be tried, would convict any or all of them on much slighter evidence than that which had accumulated against Gabriel. It was all circumstantial evidence of course, but even in the civil courts, and before juries made up of their peers, men accused of crime have frequently been convicted on circumstantial evidence alone—that is to say, on probability.
"Now, this is what I wanted to say," remarked Captain Falconer, as they sat in the library at the Clopton Place, and after he had gone over the evidence, item by item: "I was given to understand by the officer who made the arrests that I would shortly be transferred to Savannah, or, rather, to Fort Pulaski, and placed in charge of the prisoners, the idea being that I, knowing something of the young men, would be able to extract a confession36 from them by fair means. This failing, there are others who could be depended on to employ foul37. The officer, who is a very fine soldier, and thoroughly38 in love with his profession, dropped a hint that, all other means failing, the young men are to be put through a course of sprouts39 in order to extort40 a confession."
Mr. Sanders looked hard at the Captain; he was taking the young man's measure. What he saw or divined must have been satisfactory, for his face, which had been in a somewhat puckered41 condition, as he himself would have expressed it, suddenly cleared up, and he rose from his chair with a laugh.
"Do you-all know what I've gone an' done?" he asked.
"You do so many clever things, William, that we cannot possibly imagine what the newest is," said Meriwether Clopton.
"Well, sir, this is the cleverest yit. I've come off from Lucy Lumsden's an' clean forgot my hoss. It's a wonder I didn't forgit my head. Now, you might 'a' said, an' said truly, that I'd forgit a man, or a 'oman, but when William H. Sanders, Esquire, walks off in the broad light of day, an' forgits his hoss, an' that hoss the Rackin' Roan, you may know that his thinkin' machine has slipped a cog. Ef you'll excuse me, I'll go right arter that creetur. I'm mighty42 glad he can't talk—it's about the only thing he can't do—bekaze he'd gi' me a long an' warm piece of his mind."
Captain Falconer rose also, but Meriwether Clopton protested. "I should be glad if you would stay to dinner," he said. "I have several things to show you—some interesting letters from your father, for instance."
"But the ladies?" suggested the Captain, with a comically doubtful lift of the eyebrows43. He had no notion of bearding any of the Confederate lionesses in their dens44. "You know how they regard us here."
"Only my daughter Sarah is here. She knew your father well, and has a very lively remembrance of him. She was fifteen when you were three, and many a day she was your volunteer nurse."
So it was arranged that the Captain should remain to dinner, and it may be said that he spent a very pleasant time, after his long period of social isolation45. "I shall call you Garnett, to begin with," said Sarah Clopton, as she shook his hand, "but you must not expect me to be very cordial to-day. It was only last night, you must remember, that some of the people you associate with arrested and carried off a young man who is very dear to me."
"You may be very sure, Miss Clopton, that the officer who did that piece of work had no relish46 for it. He simply obeyed orders. He had no discretion47 in the matter whatever."
"Well, I shall be very glad to think that, Garnett, for your sake. But that fact doesn't restore our young men," she said with a sigh. "Oh, I wonder when we'll all be at peace and happy again?"
"In God's own time, and not before," declared Meriwether Clopton solemnly.
"Well, we'll try an' help that time to come," said Mr. Sanders, entering the room at that moment. He was followed by Cephas, who was one of Gabriel's favourites among the small boys. Cephas was bashful enough, but he always felt at ease at the Clopton Place, where everything moved along the lines of simplicity48 and perfect openness. The small boy had a sort of chilly49 feeling when he saw the officer, but he soon got over that.
"I went an' got my hoss," said Mr. Sanders, "an' he paid me back for my forgitfulness by purty nigh bitin' a piece out'n my arm; an' whilst I was a-rubbin' the place, up comes Cephas for to find out somethin' about the boys. When I got through makin' a few remarks sech as you don't hear at church, a kinder blind idee popped in my head, an' so I tuck Cephas up behind me, an' fetched him here."
"Sit on the sofa, Cephas. Have a chair, William, and tell us about your blind idea."
"Ef you'll promise not to laugh," Mr. Sanders stipulated50. "You know Mrs. Ab's sayin' that ef the old sow knowed she was swallerin' a tree ev'ry time she crunched51 an acorn52, she'd grunt53 a heap louder'n she does: well, I know what I'm fixin' for to swaller, and you won't hear much loud gruntin' from me."
"Well, we are ready to hear from you," said Meriwether Clopton. Whereupon, Mr. Sanders threw his head back and laughed.
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收听单词发音
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1
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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7
abhor
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| v.憎恶；痛恨 | |
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detest
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| vt.痛恨，憎恶 | |
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exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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worthiest
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| 应得某事物( worthy的最高级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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21
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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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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26
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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radicals
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| n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数 | |
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33
caper
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| v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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vindictiveness
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| 恶毒；怀恨在心 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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37
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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39
sprouts
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| n.新芽，嫩枝( sprout的名词复数 )v.发芽( sprout的第三人称单数 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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40
extort
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| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
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41
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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44
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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45
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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46
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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47
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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48
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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49
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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50
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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51
crunched
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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52
acorn
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| n.橡实，橡子 | |
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53
grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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