The Jucklins Part 26

"I think, Judge, that I can study much better out at the old house, and if you have nothing for me to do I should like to spend several days at a time out there."

"Why, is that the way to a.s.sist me? What good can you do me by poking off out there in the woods? Well, you may for a while. Three days a week for a time, eh? All right. You are as hard to break in as a steer.

What about those stories you told at the General's house. I hear that they were great. But don't let people put you down as a story teller, for when a lawyer gets that reputation, no matter how profound he may be, the public looks upon him as a yarn-spinner, rather than a thinker.

You might put them in print, but not under your own name. Bill--came within one of calling you Billy--a great many men succeed in law not because they are bright, but because they are stupid. I never see a jacka.s.s that I don't think of a judge--some judges that I know. Well, now, the first and one of the most important things to do is to go over to that tailor and have yourself measured for a suit of clothes. Did I say measured? Surveyed is the word," he added, looking at me from head to foot and then laughing. "Yes, I think that's the word. Well, go on now."

When the tailor had completed his "survey" I went to the jail, talked for a few moments with Alf and then straightway rode to the General's house. The old man was sitting on the porch, with one foot resting on a pillow, placed upon a chair. "Get down and come right in!" he shouted; and as I came up the steps he motioned me away from him and said: "Don't touch that hoof, if you please. b.u.t.termilk gout, sir. Look out, you'll tip something over on me. It's a fact--every time I drink b.u.t.termilk it goes to my foot. Too much acid. How are you, anyway?"

He cautiously reached out his hand and jerked it away when I had merely touched it. "Didn't sleep a wink last night; and every dog in the county came over here to bark. I am very glad you have called; glad that you are too liberal to hold a foolish resentment. And the old folks are gone. 'Od 'zounds, the way things do turn out. The first thing I know I'll swear myself out of the church. It was my pride, sir--but by all the virtues that man has grouped, must we apologize for our pride? Hah, sir! Must I grovel and beg pardon because I honor my own name? I'll see myself blistered first. It wasn't old Lim's fault. Confound it all, it wasn't anybody's fault. Then, sir, must I go crawling around on my belly like a--like a--like an infernal lizard, sir? I hope not. But it will come out all right, I think. After Alf is cleared the old people will come back and all will be well again. What do you want?"

A negro boy had poked his head out of the hall door and was looking on with a broad grin. "Dinner!" cried the old man. "But is that the way to announce it--grinning like a cat? Come back here. Now what do you want?"

"Dinner is ready, sah," said the boy.

"Well, that's all right. But don't come round here grinning at me. Hand me that stick. Oh, I'm not going to hit you with it. Come, Mr. Hawes.

No, I don't want you to help me. I can hobble along best by myself."

Millie was in the dining-room, and she turned to run when she saw me, but the old man hobbled into her way, so she came toward me with reddening face, and held out her hand. "I am glad to see you," she said.

"Sit over here, please. That's Chyd's seat and he's so particular."

The son came in, said that he was pleased to see me, sat down, opened a pamphlet that looked like a medical journal and began to read.

"Mr. Hawes," said the General, "I understand that you have made arrangements to study law with Judge Conkwright. And a most fortunate arrangement, I should think. Smart old fellow, sir; smart, and a good man to have on your side, but a mighty bad man to have against you--half Yankee by parentage and whole Yankee by instinct. Millie, is that cat under the table?"

"I think not, father," the girl answered, after looking to see if the cat were there; but this did not satisfy the old man. "You must know, not think," he said. "There should be no doubt about the matter, for I must tell you that if he touches my foot I'll kill him. A cat would travel ten miles and swim a river--and a cat hates water--to claw a gouty foot. Chyd, just put that book aside if you please."

The young man folded the pamphlet and shoved it into his pocket. "I've struck a new germ theory," he said.

"Yes," replied the General, "and you'll strike a good many more of them as you go on. I should think that you want facts, not theories."

"But theories lead to facts," the young man rejoined. "The theory of to-day may become the scientific truth of to-morrow."

"And it may also be the scientific error of the day after to-morrow," I remarked.

He looked at me, spoke a word which I did not catch and then was silent, seeming to have forgotten what he had intended to say. I think that the word he uttered was "hah," or something to indicate that he had paid but slight heed to my remark. I did not repeat it, and the talk fell away from the germ theory.

"Now, Mr. Hawes," said the General, "I want you to help yourself just as if you were alone at your own board. It is a pleasure to have you with us, and an additional pleasure to know, sir, that you are to become a permanent citizen of this county. Men may think themselves wise when they apprentice their sons to a trade, averring that the professions are overcrowded, but that has always been the case, and yet, professional men have ever been the happiest, for they achieve the most, not in the gathering of money, but in the uplifting of mankind. My daughter, you don't appear to be eating anything. I hope that you have not permitted the timely, though unexpected, visit of Mr. Hawes to affect your appet.i.te. Chydister, another piece of this mutton? Most nutritious, I a.s.sure you; a fact, however, which is, no doubt, well known to you. Mr.

Hawes, I should think that you would prefer to sleep here at night, rather than to stay alone in that old house. You are more than welcome to a room here, sir. And I should like to hear anecdotes of your grandfather, the Captain."

"I shall be in the country but a part of the time during the week, and my coming and going will be irregular. But for this I should gladly accept your generous offer. As to my grandfather, I must admit that I know but little regarding his life."

"A sad error in your bringing up, sir. In that one particular we Americans are shamefully at fault. A buncombe democracy has insisted that it is not essential to look back, but simply to place stress upon our present force and consequence. That is a self-depreciation, a half-slander of one's self. Of course, it is not just to despise a man who has no ancestry, but it is a crime not to honor him if he has a worthy lineage."

And thus he talked until the rest of us sat back from the table, and then, gripping his cane and getting up, he said that he would like to talk to me privately in the library. Upon entering the room he filled a clay pipe, handed it to me, gave me a lighted match, filled a pipe for himself, and then lay down upon an old horse-hair sofa. I placed a cushion for his foot and he raised up and bowed to me. "I thank you, sir," he said. "I don't believe that Chyd would have thought of that. I believe that he will make of himself one of the finest of physicians, but a man may be a successful doctor and yet a thoughtless and an indifferent companion. You will please put the right construction upon what may appear as an over-frankness on my part, for the fact is I have never regarded you as a stranger; and I feel that what I say to you will go no further."

He was silent and I nodded to him, waiting for him to continue. He moved his shoulders as if to work himself into an easier position, and then he resumed his talk. "Of my own volition I would not have gone over to Jucklin's house to break that engagement--I would have waited--but my son told me to go, and after I had gone, why, of course, I had to act my part. But it was simply acting, for my heart was not in it. And I tell you, sir, that if old Lim had wiped his b.l.o.o.d.y hands in my face I would not have struck him. Chydister is proud, but his pride and mine are not of the same sort. With him everything must bear upon his future standing as a physician, and to me that has too much the color of business. I admit that I was grieved to discover that my daughter was in love with Alf. I don't say that he is not morally worthy of her or of any young woman, but he is poor and is indifferently educated, with no prospects save a life of hard work. And I don't believe that I need to apologize for desiring to see my daughter well situated. Now, my son regrets the step which he took and which he urged me to take, and at the earliest moment he will renew the engagement. I think almost as much of Guinea as I do of my own daughter. Although she is a country girl, who has led a most simple life, I hold her a remarkable woman--an original and a thinking woman, sir. And now what I request you to do is this--soften her resentment, if you can. There are matches at the corner of the mantelpiece."

My pipe was out. I lighted it, and did not resume my seat, but stood looking at him.

"General," said I, "Guinea will never marry your son."

"The devil you say! Pardon me. I didn't mean to be so abrupt. But why do you think she will not marry him?"

"General, it is now your turn to pardon me, sir. She is to be married by a man who worships her, not a scientist, but a man with a heart--she is going to be my wife."

The old man sprang up and in a moment he stood facing me. There was a footstep at the door and Chydister entered the room.

"Go ahead with your emotional oratory, but pardon me while I look for my stethoscope," he said. "I want to see what effect an hour's run will have on the hearts of a hound and an ordinary cur."

"Sir!" cried his father, turning upon him, "this is no time to talk of the hearts of hounds and curs. The hearts of men are at stake."

"That so? What's up?"

"What's up, indeed, sir? This man says that Guinea Jucklin will not marry you."

"Yes, so he told me. Now I almost know that I put that thing right up here."

"'Zounds, man, will you listen to me!"

"Yes, sir, go ahead. He says she won't marry me. That's his opinion, undemonstrated--a mere a.s.sertion; he has given me no proof."

"Ah, have you any proof, Mr. Hawes?" the old man asked.

"I have, but it cannot very well be set forth in words; and with much respect for you, General, I must say that I prefer not to ill.u.s.trate it."

"You see it's rather vague, father. Let me ask if she has said positively that she will be your wife?"

"Her lips may have made no promise beyond a figure of speech, and yet her heart----"

"Ah, more vague than ever," the young man broke in, looking at his father as if he were impatient to get away. "I must have left it somewhere else," he added, and the old General frowned upon him.

"Chydister, if you lose that woman it is your own fault."

"Well, no, I can hardly agree with you there, father. If I lose her it will be the fault of circ.u.mstances. Are you done with me?"

"Yes, you can go," said the General. He stooped, reached back for the lounge and laboriously stretched himself upon it. Chyd went out and I remarked that it was time for me to go. The old man made no reply, seeming not to have heard me, but as I turned toward the door he raised up and said:

"I would be a fool, sir, to blame you; and I trust that you will not blame me for hoping that you are mistaken."

He lay down again, and I left him. Millie was standing at the gate when I went out, and she pretended not to see me until I had pa.s.sed into the road, and then, with the manner of a surprise, she said: "Oh, I didn't think you were going so soon--thought you and father were having an argument. Do you see--see him very often?"

There was a tremulous tenderness in her voice, and I knew that there were tears in her eyes, and I looked far away down the road, as I stood there with the gate between us.

"I have seen him every day," I answered.

"And does he look wretched and heart-broken?"

"No, he is happy, for he knows that you love him."

She caught her breath with a sob and I looked far away down the road.