Meanwhile the Callenders' carriage had made easy speed. Emerging by the Free Market, it met an open hack10 carrying six men. At the moment every one was cringing11 in a squall of dust, but as well as could be seen these six were the driver, a colored servant at his side, an artillery12 corporal, and three officers. Some army wagons13 hauling pine-knots to the fire-fleet compelled both carriages to check up. Thereupon, the gust14 passing and Victorine getting a better glance at the men, she tossed both hands, gave a stifled15 cry and began to laugh aloud.
"Charlie!" cried Anna. "Steve!" cried Constance.
"And Captain Irby!" remarked Miranda.
The infantry captain, a transient steamboat acquaintance, used often afterward16 to say that he never saw anything prettier than those four wildly gladdened ladies unveiling in the shade of their parasols. I doubt if he ever did. He talked with Anna, who gave him so sweet an attention that he never suspected she was ravenously17 taking in every word the others dropped behind her.
"But where he is, that Captain Kincaid?" asked Victorine of Charlie a second time.
"Well, really," stammered18 the boy at last, "we--we can't say, just now, where he is."
("He's taken prisoner!" wailed19 Anna's heart while she let the infantry captain tell her that hacks20, in Nashville on the Sunday after Donelson, were twenty-five dollars an hour.)
"He means," she heard Mandeville put in, "he means--Charlie--only that we muz not tell. 'Tis a sicret."
"You've sent him into the enemy's lines!" cried Constance to Irby in one of her intuitions.
"We?" responded the grave Irby, "No, not we."
"Captain Mandeville," exclaimed Victorine, "us, you don't need to tell us some white lies."
The Creole shrugged21: "We are telling you only the whitess we can!"
("Yes," the infantry captain said, "with Memphis we should lose the largest factory of cartridges22 in the Confederacy.")
But this was no place for parleying. So while the man next the hack-driver, ordered by Mandeville and laden23 with travelling-bags, climbed to a seat by the Callenders' coachman the aide-de-camp crowded in between Constance and Victorine, the equipage turned from the remaining soldiers, and off the ladies spun24 for home, Anna and Miranda riding backward to have the returned warrior25 next his doting26 wife. Victorine was dropped on the way at the gate of her cottage. When the others reached the wide outer stair of their own veranda27, and the coachman's companion had sprung down and opened the carriage, Mandeville was still telling of Mandeville, and no gentle hearer had found any chance to ask further about that missing one of whom the silentest was famishing to know whatever--good or evil--there was to tell. Was Steve avoiding their inquiries28? wondered Anna.
Up the steps went first the married pair, the wife lost in the hero, the hero in himself. Was he, truly? thought Anna, or was he only trying, kindly29, to appear so? The ever-smiling Miranda followed. A step within the house Mandeville, with eyes absurdly aflame, startled first his wife by clutching her arm, and then Miranda by beckoning31 them into a door at their right, past unheeded treasures of the Bazaar32, and to a front window. Yet through its blinds they could discover only what they had just left; the carriage, with Anna still in it, the garden, the grove33, an armed soldier on guard at the river gate, another at the foot of the steps, a third here at the top.
It was good to Anna to rest her head an instant on the cushioning behind it and close her eyes. With his rag of a hat on the ground and his head tightly wrapped in the familiar Madras kerchief of the slave deck-hand, the attendant at the carriage side reverently34 awaited the relifting of her lids. The old coachman glanced back on her.
"Missy?" he tenderly ventured. But the lids still drooped35, though she rose.
"Watch out fo' de step," said the nearer man. His tone was even more musically gentle than the other's, yet her eyes instantly opened into his and she started so visibly that her foot half missed and she had to catch his saving hand.
"Stiddy! stiddy!" He slowly let the cold, slim fingers out of his as she started on, but she swayed again and he sprang and retook them. For half a breath she stared at him like a wild bird shot, glanced at the sentinels, below, above, and then pressed up the stair.
Constance, behind the shutters36, wept. "Go away," she pleaded to her husband, "oh, go away!" but pushed him without effect and peered down again. "He's won!" she exclaimed in soft ecstasy37, "he's won at last!"
"Yes, he's win!" hoarsely38 whispered the aide-de-camp. "He's win the bet!"
Constance flashed indignantly: "What has he bet?"
"Bet. 'He has bet three-ee général' he'll pazz down Canal Street and through the middl' of the city, unreco'nize! And now he's done it, they'll let him do the rest!" From his Creole eyes the enthusiast39 blazed a complete argument, that an educated commander, so disguised and traversing an enemy's camp, can be worth a hundred of the common run who go by the hard name of spy, and may decide the fortunes of a whole campaign: "They'll let him! and he'll get the prom-otion!"
"Ho-oh!" breathed the two women, "he's getting all the promotion40 he wants, right now!" The three heard Anna pass into the front drawing-room across the hall, the carriage move off and the disguised man enter the hall and set down the travelling-bags. They stole away through the library and up a rear stair.
It was not yet late enough to set guards within the house. No soul was in the drawing-rooms. In the front one, on its big wheels between two stacks of bayoneted rifles, beneath a splendor41 of flags and surrounded by innumerable costly42 offerings, rested as mutely as a seated idol43 that superior engine of death and woe44, the great brass45 gun. Anna stole to it, sunk on her knees, crossed her trembling arms about its neck and rested her brow on its face.
She heard the tread in the hall, quaked to rise and flee, and yet could not move. It came upon the threshold and paused. "Anna," said the voice that had set her heart on fire across the carriage step. She sprang up, faced round, clutched the great gun, and stood staring. Her follower46 was still in slave garb47, but now for the first time he revealed his full stature48. His black locks were free and the "Madras" dropped from his fingers to the floor. He advanced a pace or two.
"Anna," he said again, "Anna Callender,"--he came another step--"I've come back, Anna, to--to--" he drew a little nearer. She gripped the gun.
He lighted up drolly49: "Don't you know what I've come for? I didn't know, myself, till just now, or I shouldn't have come in this rig, though many a better man's in worse these days. I didn't know--because--I couldn't hope. I've come--" he stole close--his arms began to lift--she straightened to her full height, but helplessly relaxed as he smiled down upon it.
"I've come not just to get your promise, Anna Callender, but to muster50 you in; to marry you."
She flinched51 behind the gun's muzzle52 in resentful affright. He lowered his palms in appeal to her wisdom. "It's the right thing, Anna, the only safe way! I've known it was, ever since Steve Mandeville's wedding. Oh! it takes a colossal53 assurance to talk to you so, Anna Callender, but I've got the colossal assurance. I've got that, beloved, and you've got all the rest--my heart--my soul--my life. Give me yours."
Anna had shrunk in against the farther wheel, but now rallied and moved a step forward. "Let me pass," she begged. "Give me a few moments to myself. You can wait here. I'll come back."
He made room. She moved by. But hardly had she passed when a soft word stopped her. She turned inquiringly and the next instant--Heaven only knows if first on his impulse or on hers--she was in his arms, half stifled on his breast, and hanging madly from his neck while his kisses fell upon her brow--temples--eyes--and rested on her lips.
Flora54 sat reading a note just come from that same "A.C." Her brother had gone to call on Victorine. Irby had just bade the reader good-by, to return soon and go with her to Callender House to see the Bazaar. Madame Valcour turned from a window with a tart30 inquiry56:
"And all you had to do was to say yes to him?"
"That would have been much," absently replied the reader, turning a page.
"'Twould have been little!--to make him rich!--and us also!"
"Not us," said the abstracted girl; "me." Something in the missive caused her brows to knit.
"And still you trifle!" nagged57 the grandam, "while I starve! And while at any instant may arrive--humph--that other fool."
Even this did not draw the reader's glance. "No." she responded. "He cannot. Irby and Charlie lied to us. He is already here." She was re-reading.
The grandmother stared, tossed a hand and moved across the floor. As she passed near the girl's slippered58 foot it darted59 out, tripped her and would have sent her headlong, but she caught by the lamp table. Flora smiled with a strange whiteness round the lips. Madame righted the shaken lamp, quietly asking, "Did you do that--h-m-m--for hate of the lady, or, eh, the ladies' man?"
"The latter," said the reabsorbed girl.
"Strange," sighed the other, "how we can have--at the same time--for the same one--both feelings."
But Flora's ears were closed. "Well," she audibly mused60, "he'll get a recall."
"Even if it must be forged?" twittered the dame55.
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1
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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chevrons
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| n.（警察或士兵所佩带以示衔级的）∧形或∨形标志( chevron的名词复数 ) | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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boiler
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| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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7
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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8
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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11
cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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12
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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13
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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14
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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15
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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16
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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17
ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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18
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hacks
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| 黑客 | |
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21
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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22
cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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23
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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24
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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25
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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doting
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| adj.溺爱的，宠爱的 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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28
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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29
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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30
tart
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| adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇 | |
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31
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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32
bazaar
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| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
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33
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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34
reverently
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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35
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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37
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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38
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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39
enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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40
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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41
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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42
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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43
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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44
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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45
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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46
follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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47
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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48
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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49
drolly
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| adv.古里古怪地；滑稽地；幽默地；诙谐地 | |
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50
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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51
flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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53
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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54
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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55
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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56
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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57
nagged
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| adj.经常遭责怪的；被压制的；感到厌烦的；被激怒的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的过去式和过去分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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58
slippered
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| 穿拖鞋的 | |
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59
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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60
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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