Kennedy Square Part 32

George was quite honest, and so, for that matter, was Todd: the Brown Sherry had also seen its day.

"Yes, sah--but how would dat fine ol' peach brandy de jedge gin ye do?

It's sp'ilin' to be tasted, sah." Both eyes were now in eclipse in the effort to apprise his master that with the exception of some badly corked Madeira, Tom Coston's peach brandy was about the only beverage left in the cellar.

"Well, the old peach brandy, then--get it at once and serve it in the large gla.s.ses."

CHAPTER XXII

St. George had now reached the last stage of his poverty. The selling or p.a.w.ning of the few valuables left him had been consummated and with the greatest delicacy, so as best to spare his feelings. That he had been a.s.sisted by hitherto unknown friends who had sacrificed their own balances in his behalf, added temporarily to his comforts but did not lessen the gravity of the present situation. The fact remained that with the exception of a few possible a.s.sets he was practically penniless.

Every old debt that could be collected--and Gadgem had been a scourge and a flaming sword as the weeks went on in their gathering--had been rounded up. Even his minor interests in two small ground rents had, thanks to Pawson, been cashed some years in advance. His available resources were now represented by some guns, old books, bridles, another saddle, his rare Chinese punch-bowl and its teakwood stand, and a few remaining odds and ends.

He could hope for no payment from the Patapsco--certainly not for some years; nor could he raise money even on these hopes, the general opinion being that despite the efforts of John Gorsuch, Rutter, and Harding to punish the guilty and resuscitate the innocent, the bank would finally collapse without a cent being paid the depositors. As for that old family suit, it had been in the courts for forty-odd years and it was likely to be there forty-odd years more before a penny would be realized from the settlement.

Had he been differently constructed--he a man with scores and scores of friends, many of whom would gladly have helped him--he might have made his wants known; but such was not his make-up. The men to whom he could apply--men like Horn, the archdeacon, Murdoch, and one or two others--had no money of their own to spare, and as for wealthier men--men like Rutter and Harding--starvation itself would be preferable to an indebtedness of that kind. Then again, he did not want his poverty known. He had defied Talbot Rutter, and had practically shown him the door when the colonel doubted his ability to pay Harry's debts and still live, and no humiliation would be greater than to see Rutter's satisfaction over his abject surrender. No--if the worst came to the worst, he would slip back to Wesley, where he was always welcome and take up the practice of the law, which he had abandoned since his father's death, and thus earn money enough not to be a burden to Peggy.

In the meantime something might turn up. Perhaps another of Gadgem's thumb-screws could be fastened on some delinquent and thus extort a drop or two; or the bank might begin paying ten per cent.; or another prepayment might be squeezed out of a ground rent. If none of these things turned out to his advantage, then Gadgem and Pawson must continue their search for customers who would have the rare opportunity of purchasing, direct "from the private collection of a gentleman," etc., etc., "one first-cla.s.s English saddle," etc., etc.

"The meantime," however, brought no relief. Indeed so acute had the financial strain become that another and a greater sacrifice--one that fairly cut his heart in two--faced him--the parting with his dogs. That four mouths besides his own and Todd's were too many to feed had of late become painfully evident. He might send them to Wesley of course, but then he remembered that no one at Tom Coston's ever had a gun in their hands, and they would only be a charge and a nuisance to Peggy. Or he might send them up into Carroll County to a farmer friend, but in that case he would have to pay their keep, and he needed the money for those at home. And so he waited and pondered.

A coachman from across the park solved the difficulty a day or two later with a whispered word in Todd's ear, which set the boy's temper ablaze--for he dearly loved the dogs himself--until he had talked it over with Pawson and Gadgem, and had then broken the news to his master as best he could.

"Dem dogs is eatin' dere haids off," he began, fidgeting about the table, brushing the crumbs on to a tray only to spill half of them on the floor--"an' Mister Floyd's coachman done say dat his young marster's jes' a-dyin' for 'em an' don't cyar what he pay for 'em, dat is if ye--"

but St. George cut him short.

"What did you say, Todd?"

"Why dat young marster dat's jes' come up f'om Ann'rundel--got mo' money den he kin th'ow 'way I yere."

"And they are eating their heads off, are they?--and he wants to swap his dirty money for my--Yes--I know. They think they can buy anything with a banknote. And its Floe and Dandy and Sue and Rupert, is it?

And I'm to sell them--I who have slept with them and ate with them and hugged them a thousand times. Of course they eat their heads off.

Yes--don't say another word. Send them up one at a time--Floe first!"

The scene that followed always lingered in his mind. For days thereafter he could not mention their name, even to Todd, without the tears springing to his eyes.

Up the kitchen flight they tumbled--not one at a time, but all in a scramble, bounding straight at him, s...o...b..ring all over his face and hands, their paws sc.r.a.ping his clothes--each trying to climb into his lap--big Gordon setters, all four. He swept them off and ranged them in a row before his arm-chair with their noses flat to the carpet, their brown agate eyes following his every movement.

"Todd says you eat too much, you d.a.m.ned rascals!" he cried in enforced gayety, leaning forward, shaking his finger in their faces. "What the devil do you mean, coming into a gentleman's private apartments and eating him out of house and home!--and that's what you're doing.

I'm going to sell you!--do you hear that?--sell you to some stingy curmudgeon who'll starve you to death, and that's what you deserve!...

Come here, Floe--you dear old doggie, you--nice Floe!... Here, Dandy--Rupert--Sue!" They were all in his arms, their cold noses snuggled under his warm chin. But this time he didn't care what they did to his clothes--nor what he did to them. He was alone; Todd had gone down to the kitchen--only he and the four companions so dear to his heart. "Come here, you imp of the devil," he continued, rubbing Floe's ears--he loved her best--pinching her nose until her teeth showed; patting her flanks, crooning over her as a woman would over a child, talking to himself all the time. "I wonder if Floyd will be good to them! If I thought he wouldn't I'd rather starve than--No--I reckon it's all right--he's got plenty of room and plenty of people to look after them." Then he rose from his chair and drew his hand across his forehead. "Got to sell my dogs, eh? Turned traitor, have you, Mr.

Temple, and gone back on your best friends? By G.o.d! I wonder what will come next?" He strode across the room, rang for Todd, and bending down loosened a collar from Dandy's neck, on which his own name was engraved, "St. George Wilmot Temple, Esquire." "Esquire, eh?" he muttered, reading the plate. "What a d.a.m.ned lie! Property of a pauper living on p.a.w.nshops and a bill collector! Nice piece of business, St. George--fine record for your blood and breeding! Ah, Todd--that you? Well, take them downstairs and send word to Mr. Floyd's man to call for them to-night, and when you come back I'll have a letter ready for you. Come here, you rascals, and let me hug one or two of you. Good Floe--good doggie."

Then the long-fought choke in his throat strangled him. "Take them away, Todd," he said in a husky voice, straightening his shoulders as if the better to get his breath, and with a deep indrawn sigh walked slowly into his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Half an hour later there followed a short note, written on one of his few remaining sheets of English paper, addressed to the new owner, in which he informed that gentleman that he bespoke for his late companions the same care and attention which he had always given them himself, and which they so richly deserved, and which he felt sure they would continue to receive while in the service of his esteemed and honored correspondent. This he sealed in wax and stamped with his crest; and this was duly delivered by Todd--and so the painful incident had come to an end.

The dogs disposed of, there still remained to him another issue to meet--the wages he owed Jemima. Although she had not allowed the subject to pa.s.s her lips--not even to Todd--St. George knew that she needed the money--she being a free woman and her earnings her own--not a master's.

He had twice before determined to set aside enough money from former cash receipts to liquidate Jemima's debt--once from the proceeds of Gadgem's gun and again from what Floyd paid him for the dogs--but Todd had insisted with such vehemence that he needed it for the marketing, that he had let it go over.

The one remaining object of real value was the famous loving-cup. With this turned into money he would be able to pay Jemima in full. For days he debated the matter with himself, putting the question in a dozen different lights: it was not really HIS cup, but belonged to the family, he being only its custodian; it would reflect on his personal honor if he traded so distinguished a gift--one marking the esteem in which his dead father had been held, etc. Then the round, good-natured face and bent figure of his old stand-by and comfort--who had worked for him and for his father almost all her life--rose before him, she bending over her tubs earning the bread to keep her alive, and with this picture in his mind all his fine-spun theories vanished into thin air. Todd was summoned and thus the last connecting link between the past and present was broken and the precious heirloom turned over to Kirk, the silversmith, who the next day found a purchaser with one of the French secretaries in Washington, a descendant of the marquis.

With the whole of the purchase money in his hands and his mind firmly made up he rang for his servant:

"Come along, Todd--show me where Aunt Jemima lives--it's somewhere down by the market, I hear--I'm going now."

The darky's face got as near white as his skin would allow: this was the last thing he had expected.

"Dat ain't no fit place for ye, Ma.r.s.e George," he stammered. "I'll go an' git her an' bring her up; she tol' me when I carried dat las'

washin' down she wuz a-comin' dis week."

"No, her sister is sick and she is needed where she is. Get your basket and come along--you can do your marketing down there. Bring me my hat and cane. What's the matter with her sister, do you know?"

Again the darky hedged: "Dunno, sah--some kin' o' mis'ry in her back I reckon. Las' time Aunt Jemima was yere she say de doctor 'lowed her kittens was 'fected." (It was another invalid limping past the front steps who had put that in his head.)

St. George roared: "Well, whatever she's got, I'm going to pay my respects to her; I've neglected Aunt Jemima too long. No--my best hat--don't forget that I'm going to call on a very distinguished colored lady. Come, out with it. How far does she live from the market?"

"Jes' 'bout's far's from yere to de church. Is you gwine now? I got a heap o' cleanin' ter do--dem steps is all gormed up, dey's dat dirty.

Maybe we better go when--"

"Not another word out of you! I'm going now." He could feel the money in his pocket and he could not wait. "Get your basket."

Todd led the way and the two crossed the park and struck out for the lower part of the city, near Jones Falls, into a district surrounded by one-and two-story houses inhabited by the poorer cla.s.s of whites and the more well-to-do free negroes. Here the streets, especially those which ran to the wharves, were narrow and ill-paved, their rough cobbles being often obstructed by idle drays, heavy anchors, and rusting anchor-chains, all on free storage. Up one of these crooked streets, screened from the brick sidewalk by a measly wooden fence, stood a two-story wooden house, its front yard decorated with clothes-lines running criss-cross from thumbs of fence-posts to fingers of shutters--a sort of cat's-cradle along whose meshes Aunt Jemima hung her wet clothes.

On this particular day what was left of St. George Temple's wardrobe and bed linen, with the exception of what that gentleman had on his back, was either waving in the cool air of the morning or being clothes-pinned so that it might wave later on.

Todd's anxious face was the first to thrust itself from around the corner of a sagging, sloppy sheet. The two had entered the gate in the fence at the same moment, but St. George had been lost in the maze of dripping linen.

"Go'way f'om dar, you fool n.i.g.g.e.r, mussin' up my wash! Keep yo' black haid off'er dem sheets, I tell ye, 'fo' I smack ye! An' ye needn't come down yere a-sa.s.sin' me 'bout Ma.r.s.e George's clo'es, 'cause dey ain't done--" (here Temple's head came into view, his face in a broad smile).

"Well, fer de lan's sakes, Ma.r.s.e George. What ye come down yere fer?

Here--lemme git dat basket outer yo' way--No, dem hands ain't fit fer n.o.body to shake--My!--but I's mighty glad ter see ye! Don't tell me ye come fer dat wash--I been so pestered wid de weather--nothin' don't dry."

He had dodged a wet sheet and had the old woman by the hand now, her face in a broad grin at sight of him.

"No, aunty--I came down to pay you some money."

"You don't owe me no money--leastwise you don't owe me nothin' till ye kin pay it," and she darted an annihilating glance at Todd.

"Yes, I do--but let me see where you live. What a fine place--plenty of room except on wash-days. All those mine?--I didn't know I had that many clothes left. Pick up that basket, Todd, and bring it in for aunty." The two made their way between the wet linen and found themselves in front of the dwelling. "And is this all yours?"

"De fust flo' front an 'back is mine an' de top flo' I rents out. Got a white man in dere now dat works in de lumber yard. Jes' come up an' see how I fixed it up."

"And tell me about your sister--is she better?" he continued.

The old woman put her arms akimbo: "Lawd bress ye, Ma.r.s.e George!--who done tol' ye dat fool lie! I ain't got no sister--not yere!"

"Why, I thought you couldn't come back to me because you had to nurse some member of your family who had kittens, or some such misery in her spine--wasn't that it, Todd?" said St. George trying to conceal a smile.