I was still thinking the ode over as I dressed for breakfast,for which Iwas late,owing to my hair,which the changes in the weather had rendered somewhat recalcitrant.Yes;decidedly I must have it out with somebody.
The weather was once more superb;and in the garden beneath my window men were already sweeping away the broken twigs and debris of the storm.Isay "already,"because it had not seemed to me to be the Kings Port custom to remove debris,or anything,with speed.I also had it in my mind to perform at lunch Aunt Carola's commission,and learn if the family of La Heu were indeed of royal descent through the Bombos.Iintended to find this out from the girl behind the counter,but the course which our conversation took led me completely to forget about it.
As soon as I entered the Exchange I planted myself in front of the counter,in spite of the discouragement which I too plainly perceived in her countenance;the unfavorable impression which I had made upon her at our last interview was still in force.
I plunged into it at once."I have a confession to make.""You do me surprising honor."
"Oh,now,don't begin like that!I suppose you never told a lie.""I'm telling the truth now when I say that I do not see why an entire stranger should confess anything to me.""Oh,my goodness!Well,I told you a lie,anyhow;a great,successful,deplorable lie."She opened her mouth under the shock of it,and I recited to her unsparingly my deception;during this recital her mouth gradually closed.
"Well,I declare,declare,declare!"she slowly and deliciously breathed over the sum total;and she considered me at length,silently,before her words came again,like a soft soliloquy."I could never have believed it in one who"--here gayety flashed in her eyes suddenly--"parts his back hair so rigidly.Oh,I beg your pardon for being personal!"And her gayety broke in ripples.Some habitual instinct moved me to turn to the looking-glass."Useless!"she cried,"you can't see it in that.But it's perfectly splendid to-day."Nature has been kind to me in many ways--nay,prodigal;it is not every man who can perceive the humor in a jest of which he is himself the subject.I laughed with her."I trust that I am forgiven,"I said.
"Oh,yes,you are forgiven!Come out,General,and give the gentleman your right paw,and tell him that he is forgiven--if only for the sake of Daddy Ben."With these latter words she gave me a gracious nod of understanding.They were all thanking me for the kettle-supporter!She probably knew also the tale of John Mayrant,the cards,and the bedside.
The curly dog came out,and went through his part very graciously.
"I can guess his last name,"I remarked.
"General's?How?Oh,you've heard it!I don't believe in you any more.""That's not a bit handsome,after my confession.No,I'm getting to understand South Carolina a little.You came from the 'up-country,'you call your dog General;his name is General Hampton!"Her laughter assented."Tell me some more about South Carolina,"she added with her caressing insinuation.
"Well,to begin with--"
"Go sit down at your lunch-table first.Aunt Josephine would never tolerate my encouraging gentlemen to talk to me over the counter."I went back obediently,and then resumed:"Well,what sort of people are those who own the handsome garden behind Mrs.Trevise's!""I don't know them."
"Thank you;that's all I wanted."
"What do you mean?"
"They're new people.I could tell it from the way you stuck your nose in the air.""Sir!"
"Oh,if you talk about my hair,I can talk about your nose,I think.Isuspected that they were:'new people'because they cleaned up their garden immediately after the storm this morning.Now,I'll tell you something else:the whole South looks down on the whole North."She made her voice kind."Do you mind it very much?"I joined in her latent mirth."It makes life not worth living!But more than this,South Carolina looks down on the whole South.""Not Virginia."
"Not?An 'entire stranger,'you know,sometimes notices things which escape the family eye--family likenesses in the children,for instance.""Never Virginia,"she persisted.
"Very well,very well!Somehow you've admitted the rest,however."She began to smile.
"And next,Kings Port looks down on all the rest of South Carolina."She now laughed outright."An up-country girl will not deny that,anyhow!""And finally,your aunts--"
"My aunts are Kings Port."
"The whole of it?"
"If you mean the thirty thousand negroes--"
"No,there are other white people here--there goes your nose again!""I will not have you so impudent,sir!"
"A thousand pardons,I'm on my knees.But your aunts--"There was such a flash of war in her eye that I stopped.
"May I not even mention them?"I asked her.
And suddenly upon this she became serious and gentle."I thought that you understood them.Would you take them from their seclusion,too?It is all they have left--since you burned the rest in 1865."I had made her say what I wanted!That "you"was what I wanted.Now Ishould presently have it out with her.But,for the moment,I did not disclaim the "you."I said:--"The burning in 1865was horrible,but it was war.""It was outrage."
"Yes,the same kind as England's,who burned Washington in 1812,and whom you all so deeply admire."She had,it seemed,no answer to this.But we trembled on the verge of a real quarrel.It was in her voice when she said:--"I think I interrupted you."
I pushed the risk one step nearer the verge,because of the words Iwished finally to reach."In 1812,when England burned our White House down,we did not sit in the ashes;we set about rebuilding."And now she burst out."That's not fair,that's perfectly inexcusable!
