第8章

She told him how the war had broken up their old home in Pineville, sending her father to serve in the Confederate councils of Richmond, and leaving her aunt and herself to manage the property alone; how the estate had been devastated, the house destroyed, and how they had barely time to remove a few valuables; how, although SHE had always been opposed to secession and the war, she had not gone North, preferring to stay with her people, and take with them the punishment of the folly she had foreseen.How after the war and her father's death she and her aunt had determined to "reconstruct THEMSELVES" after their own fashion on this bit of property, which had survived their fortunes because it had always been considered valueless and unprofitable for negro labor.How at first they had undergone serious difficulty, through the incompetence and ignorance of the freed laborer, and the equal apathy and prejudice of their neighbors.How they had gradually succeeded with the adoption of new methods and ideas that she herself had conceived, which she now briefly and clearly stated.

Courtland listened with a new, breathless, and almost superstitious interest: they were HIS OWN THEORIES--perfected and demonstrated!

"But you must have had capital for this?"Ah, yes! that was where they were fortunate.There were some French cousins with whom she had once stayed in Paris, who advanced enough to stock the estate.There were some English friends of her father's, old blockade runners, who had taken shares, provided them with more capital, and imported some skilled laborers and a kind of steward or agent to represent them.But they were getting on, and perhaps it was better for their reputation with their neighbors that they had not been BEHOLDEN to the "No'th." Seeing a cloud pass over Courtland's face, the young lady added with an affected sigh, and the first touch of feminine coquetry which had invaded their wholesome camaraderie:--"Yo' ought to have found us out BEFORE, co'nnle."For an impulsive moment Courtland felt like telling her then and there the story of his romantic quest; but the reflection that they were standing on a narrow ledge with no room for the emotions, and that Miss Sally had just put a nail in her mouth and a start might be dangerous, checked him.To this may be added a new jealousy of her previous experiences, which he had not felt before.

Nevertheless, he managed to say with some effusion:--"But I hope we are not too late NOW.I think my principals are quite ready and able to buy up any English or French investor now or to come.""Yo' might try yo' hand on that one," said Miss Sally, pointing to a young fellow who had just emerged from the office and was crossing the courtyard."He's the English agent."He was square-shouldered and round-headed, fresh and clean looking in his white flannels, but with an air of being utterly distinct and alien to everything around him, and mentally and morally irreconcilable to it.As he passed the house he glanced shyly at it; his eye brightened and his manner became self-conscious as he caught sight of the young girl, but changed again when he saw her companion.Courtland likewise was conscious of a certain uneasiness; it was one thing to be helping Miss Sally ALONE, but certainly another thing to be doing so under the eye of a stranger;and I am afraid that he met the stony observation of the Englishman with an equally cold stare.Miss Sally alone retained her languid ease and self-possession.She called out, "Wait a moment, Mr.

Champney," slipped lightly down the ladder, and leaning against it with one foot on its lowest rung awaited his approach.

"I reckoned yo' might be passing by," she said, as he came forward.

"Co'nnle Courtland," with an explanatory wave of the hammer towards her companion, who remained erect and slightly stiffened on the cornice, "is no relation to those figures along the frieze of the Redlands Court House, but a No'th'n officer, a friend of Major Reed's, who's come down here to look after So'th'n property for some No'th'n capitalists.Mr.Champney," she continued, turning and lifting her eyes to Courtland as she indicated Champney with her hammer, "when he isn't talking English, seeing English, thinking English, dressing English, and wondering why God didn't make everything English, is trying to do the same for HIS folks.

Mr.Champney, Co'nnle Courtland.Co'nnle Courtland, Mr.Champney!"The two men bowed formally."And now, Co'nnle, if yo'll come down, Mr.Champney will show yo' round the fahm.When yo' 've got through yo'll find me here at work."Courtland would have preferred, and half looked for her company and commentary on this round of inspection, but he concealed his disappointment and descended.It did not exactly please him that Champney seemed relieved, and appeared to accept him as a bona fide stranger who could not possibly interfere with any confidential relations that he might have with Miss Sally.Nevertheless, he met the Englishman's offer to accompany him with polite gratitude, and they left the house together.

In less than an hour they returned.It had not even taken that time for Courtland to discover that the real improvements and the new methods had originated with Miss Sally; that she was virtually the controlling influence there, and that she was probably retarded rather than assisted by the old-fashioned and traditional conservatism of the company of which Champney was steward.It was equally plain, however, that the young fellow was dimly conscious of this, and was frankly communicative about it.