"I thought it would be so," Charles said, when he was informed of the good news.
With his hat swinging at his side, Kenneth held out his hand to him. "I want to thank you," he said, in a manly3 tone. "You did it, Brown."
And Martin chimed in, a hand outstretched also: "Yes, you did it. If it hadn't been for you he would have stayed here and died. Sister says so."
Flushing red, Charles was unable to deny the part he had played, though still unable fully4 to explain it. At this instant they saw Mary coming down the path.
"She's heard, too," Martin chuckled5. "It lifts a load off her mind—an awful load of worry. She was always afraid there would be an unfavorable turn down there. And they say Tobe is friendly to us."
The two boys went on to meet their sister, but Charles, feeling that he had no valid6 reason for following them, resumed his work with his hoe in the cotton. Several minutes passed. His back was turned to the trio on the path and he was constantly working away from them. Presently he heard the soft swishing of a starched7 skirt against the cotton-plants and Mary was at his side. Looking up, he was surprised to find her countenance8 overcast9 with a look of depression.
"They've gone over to Dodd's to tell father," she said. "They are very, very happy."
"But you—?" and he leaned on his hoe. "You don't seem—Has anything gone wrong? Was it—a false report, after all?"
"Oh no, it is true enough." She took a deep, lingering breath and released it in a sigh. "But the man that brought the news about Tobe told me something else—something that everybody in the neighborhood seems to know. Charlie, the sheriff has sent those men back to watch you again. They were seen hiding in the woods on the hillside. They are watching us even now. I thought that was all off, but they say the sheriff has had fresh instructions from the East. The men he is after are hiding somewhere in this part of the state, and he seems to think they are here in the mountains and that Tobe Keith and you know something about them."
Charles looked toward the hillside indicated, and then drew his lingering eyes back to hers. He was slightly pale; his lips were drawn10 tight in chagrin11. He made a failure of a smile of indifference12.
"I thought that was over," he said. "I thought the sheriff had turned his attention elsewhere. But it can't be helped. You ought not to have taken me in. I ought not to have stopped here at all."
"Don't talk that way!" Mary commanded, with desperate warmth. "What are we going to do about it? I want the truth. I know you are bound by honor, as you say, but as far as you are able I want you to tell me what to expect. If he arrests you—well, what then?"
Charles dropped his eyes to the soil his hoe had turned up and the weeds he had cut. His fine face was stamped with the misery13 that permeated14 his being like an absorbent fluid. "If he arrests me he will want me to do the impossible," he said. "He will want me to show who and what I am. I've tried to tell you that I have no past that I can bring up even—even to stand well in your sight. I shall say nothing to him. I don't think the law would let him torture me bodily, but my silence will be ground enough to confirm his suspicions. A man who has been the daily associate of a bunch of circus crooks15, and who refuses to show his record to an officer of the law, will stand a poor show."
"I wonder—couldn't you escape? But, oh, I don't want you to leave! I couldn't bear that."
"I thought of escape when they were hanging round before," he answered, with a pale, frank smile, "but gave it up. Such men would be hard to get away from, now that they are on guard, and, besides, to try it would be a confession16 that I am guilty of what they charge. No, I'll have to let them have their way about it. The men they are after are a dangerous lot and ought to be apprehended17."
"Listen to me, Charlie," and Mary, in her earnestness, put her hand on his arm. "I know something—a little something—of all this, and you need not deny it. You are trying to protect some one else in some way. I know it; I feel it; I've been sure of it for some time."
"I am sorry, but I can tell you—even you—nothing," he replied, and the words came out with a low groan18. "I'm glad you think so well of me. It is the only good thing that has come my way in a long time, but you mustn't care for me deeply, very deeply, for that would mar1 your future. You know what I think of you, but I have no right to mention it. Your father is right in warning you, as I know he has done; he shows it in the strange, half-fearful way he now speaks to me."
She averted19 her face; her eyes were moist; her exquisite20 lips were quivering like those of a weeping child. "I must go," she murmured. "I am sure they are watching us."
"Yes, don't stay." He took up his hoe and began to work as she turned to go.
She hesitated and stood still. "The sheriff talks freely to father," she said. "In fact, I think father went over to Dodd's to meet him. I am sorry to have to tell you this, but you might hear it and not understand. Father liked you all along till—" She broke off, at a loss for words sufficiently21 delicate to express her meaning.
"Till the good old man found that I was a menace under his roof," Charles put in, bitterly. "That's what I am, Miss Row—"
"Stop!" she suddenly cried out. "Have you lost consideration for my feelings? Am I to count for nothing in this matter? What if you can't reveal everything to me? I don't care. To me you are the soul of honor; to me you are the noblest, most abused man on earth. Charlie, I'll stand by you; I'll go with you if they put you in jail. They can't punish you without punishing me. I've told my father so. My brothers know how I feel. That is why father—as I started to say—is so worried. He doesn't know what to do. He has his pride; he loves me, wants to protect me, and does not know which way to turn."
"And there is nothing I can do, as I see it," Charles groaned22, leaning on his hoe, his great, famished23 eyes on hers. "If it would help, I'd gladly kill myself, but my death would prove nothing but my cowardice24 and confirm them in their suspicions."
She stepped back to him. She laid her slender, tapering25 hand on his arm and looked into his face steadily26. "Yes, you are too brave for that," she faltered27, giving her proud head a little shake of emphasis. "I've never been afraid of that. You, like myself, were born to suffer, it seems, but we will stand up under it, won't we? Let them all do their worst; it won't kill us, for we love each other, don't we, Charlie?"
He lowered his uncovered head; his grim, ashen28 face was wrung29 as from deathly pain.
"We love each other, don't we, Charlie?" she repeated, entreatingly30.
A shudder31 shook him from head to foot. "How can I be glad to hear you say that," he asked, "when I know that it is your ruin and that I brought it on you? I have no right to tell you how I feel—how I've felt ever since I kissed you that night in the parlor32 and you lay so willingly in my arms and hung about my accursed neck. What can I do—what in the name of God, my tormentor33? Shall I throw my sacred promise to the winds and laugh in the face of—of—?"
"No!" she cried out. "No, for I'd be doing it. I'd be your evil temptress. Be yourself, Charlie—be what you were before I met you. I think I know—you are selling yourself for some one else as I was willing to do when my brothers were in danger. Don't let me tempt34 you—don't let anything tempt you. God brought me out of my darkness—by your aid He brought me out. He only knows what my awful struggle was when I was ready to go to that repulsive35 man as his wife with your image locked in my breast—with my desire for you wrapped around my soul. God helped me; surely He will help you. What are earthly troubles for if they are not to be conquered, trampled36 under foot, as we mount to the heights to which we are destined37? You shall not tell me anything. I know your soul, and that is enough."
She turned quickly and moved away. He saw the heads of her brothers as they wended their way toward Dodd's through the tall waving corn. How steadily, how erectly38 she walked toward the old mansion39 of her forebears! He noted40 the tiny marks of her shoes in the soil at his feet. He could have kissed them; he could have fallen on his knees before them in reverent41, worshipful humility42.
Charles worked on till the cool, creeping shadows of the mountains told him that the sun was down. Then he shouldered his hoe and listlessly trudged43 homeward. He heard Kenneth and Martin singing as they returned through the corn. It was a negro plantation44 melody, somehow maddening now in its trustful suggestion of joy. He saw the boys come out into the path. They were arm in arm, full of happiness, full of the ebullient45 consciousness of their release. He smiled grimly. He told himself that their nightmare had passed, while his was an abiding46 reality. He must be the exception that proved the rule of life's cosmic harmony. Some things could be borne with a smile. A man might die for his friend, and jest as the black cap muffled47 his lips; a man might sing as he was being vivisected for a good cause; but this—this fate belonged to no imaginable category of tortures. He had won the heart of an angel and was forced to wear the garb48 of an outcast in the kingdom which was her rightful abode49.
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1
mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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aglow
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| adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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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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5
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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7
starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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9
overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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10
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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12
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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14
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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15
crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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17
apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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18
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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19
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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20
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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23
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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26
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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27
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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28
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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29
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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30
entreatingly
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| 哀求地，乞求地 | |
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31
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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32
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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33
tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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34
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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35
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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36
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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37
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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38
erectly
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| adv.直立地，垂直地 | |
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39
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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40
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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41
reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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42
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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43
trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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44
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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45
ebullient
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| adj.兴高采烈的，奔放的 | |
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46
abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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47
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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48
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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49
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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