XXII
SAME STORY SLIGHTLY WARPED
Not literally. That evening, yes, an end of it, but not the very nextfour, did Kincaid spend with Anna. It merely looked so to Flora Valcour.
Even on that first day, after his too prompt forenoon gallop fromCallender House to the Valcour apartment had, of course, only insuredhis finding Flora not at home, all its evening except the very end waspassed with her, Flora, in her open balcony overlooking the old Placed'Armes. His head ringing with a swarm of things still to be done andordered done, he had purposed to remain only long enough to tell hisdire news manfully, accept without insistent debate whatever odium itmight entail, and decently leave its gentle recipients to their griefand dismay. What steps they should take to secure compensation it werefar better they should discuss with Adolphe, who would be here to aidthem when he, Kincaid, would be in far Virginia. The only otherimperative matter was that of the young schoolma'am's gold, which mustbe left in bank. Awkward business, to have to ask for it in scramblinghaste at such a moment.
But on a starlit balcony with two such ladies as the Valcours, to doone's errands, such errands, in scrambling haste proved not even amilitary possibility. Their greeting inquiries had to be answered:
"Yes, Charlie was well. He would be along soon, with fresh messages fromdivision headquarters. The battery was at last--Pardon?... Yes, theCallenders were well--he supposed! He had seen only Miss Anna, and heronly for so brief an instant--"
No, Madame Valcour had merely cleared her throat. "That climate is hardon those throat'."
He had seen Miss Anna, he resumed, "for so brief an instant--on anerrand--that he had not made civil inquiry after the others, but hadleft good-by for them about as a news-carrier wads and throws in themorning paper!"
It was so pretty, the silvery way the questioning pair laughed to eachother--at his simile, if that was the genuine source of theiramusement--that he let himself laugh with them.
"But how?" they further asked. "He had left good-by? Good-day, yes! Butfor what good-by when juz' returning?"
"Ah, because here to them, also, it must be good-by, and be as brief asthere! The battery--he had sent word to them at sunrise, but had justlearned that his messenger had missed them--the battery was at lastordered"--etc.
"_Mon Dieu!_" gasped the old lady as if this was too cruelly sudden,and, "Oh, my brother! Oh, Captain Kincaid!" beautifully sighed Flora,from whom the grandmother had heard the news hours before.
Yet, "Of course _any_ time 'twould have to be sudden," they hadpresently so recovered as to say, and Flora, for both, spoke on inaccents of loveliest renunciation. She easily got the promise shecraved, that no ill should come to Charlie which a commander's carecould avert.
The loss of their Mobile home, which also Madame had perfectly knownsince morning, was broken to them with less infelicity, though theywould talk cheerily of the house as something which no evil ever wouldor could befall, until suddenly the girl said, "Grandma, dearest, thatnight air is not so pretty good for your rheum; we better pass inside,"and the old lady, insistently unselfish, moved a step within, leavingthe other two on the balcony. There, when the blow came at last, Flora'smelodious grievings were soon over, and her sweet reasonableness, hertender exculpation not alone of this dear friend but even of the sillyfellows who had done the deed, and her queenly, patrioticself-obliteration, were more admirable than can be described. Were, asone may say, good literature. The grateful soldier felt shamed to find,most unaccountably, that Anna's positively cruel reception of the samenews somehow suited him better. It was nearer his own size, he said tohimself. At any rate the foremost need now, on every account, was to begone. But as he rose Flora reminded him of "those few hundred gold?"Goodness! he had clean forgotten the thing. He apologized for theliberty taken in leaving it with her, but--"Oh!" she prettilyinterrupted, "when I was made so proud!"
Well, now he would relieve her and take it at once to a bank cashier whohad consented to receive it at his house this very night. She assuredhim its custody had given her no anxiety, for she had promptly passed itover to another! He was privately amazed:
"Oh--o-oh--oh, yes, certainly. That was right! To whom had she--?"
She did not say. "Yes," she continued, "she had at once thought it oughtto be with some one who could easily replace it if, by any strangemishap--flood, fire, robbery--it should get lost. To do which would toher be impossible if at Mobile her house--" she tossed out her hands anddropped them pathetically. "But I little thought, Captain Kincaid--" shebegan a heart-broken gesture--
"Now, Miss Flora!" the soldier laughingly broke out, "if it's lost it'slost and no one but me shall lose a cent for it!"
"Ah, that," cried the girl, with tears in her voice, "'tis impossible!'Twould kill her, that mortification, as well as me, for you to be theloser!"
"Loser! mortification!" laughed Hilary. "And what should I do with _my_mortification if I should let you, or her, be the loser? Who is she,Miss Flora? If I minded the thing, you understand, I shouldn't ask."
Flora shrank as with pain: "Ah, you must not! And you must not guess,for you will surely guess wrong!" Nevertheless she saw with joy that hehad guessed Anna, yet she suffered chagrin to see also that the guessmade him glad. "And this you must make me the promise; that you never,never will let anybody know you have discover' that, eh?"
"Oh, I promise."
"And you must let her pay it me back--that money--and me pay it you.'Twill be easy, only she mus' have time to get the money, and withoutneeding to tell anybody for why, and for why in gold. Alas! I could havekept that a secret had it not have been you are to go to-morrow morning"
"Oh, rest easy," said the cheerful soldier, "mum's the word. But, MissFlora, tell me this: How on earth did she lose it?"
"Captain Kincaid, by the goodness of the heart!"
"But how did it go; was it--?"
"Blown up! Blown up with that poor old man in the powder-mill! Ah, whatdo we know about money, Captain Kincaid, we silly women? That poor,innocent child, she lent it to the old gentleman. His theories, theywere so convincing, and she, she was so ambitious to do a greatpatriotic service. 'Twas to make wonders for the powder and gun, and tobe return' in three days. But that next day 'twas Sunday, and whiles Iwas _kneeling in the church_ the powder, the gun, the old man and themoney--"
Hilary gestured facetiously for the narrator: "That's how millions havegot to go in this business, and this driblet--why, I might have lent it,myself, if I'd been here! No, I'm the only loser, and--"
"Ah, Captain Kincaid, no, no! I implore you, no!--and for her sake! Oh,what are those few hundred for her to lose, if so she can only wipe thatmistake? No, they shall be in the charge of that cashier before you'reat Virginia, and that shall be my first news written to mybrother--though he'll not comprehend except that he is to tell it you."
So it was arranged and agreed. As again he moved to go she won a newpledge of unending secrecy, and Charlie came with a document. Beside theparlor lamp, where, with one tiny foot covertly unslippered for theeasement of angry corns, Madame sat embroidering, Kincaid broke the sealand read. He forced a scowl, but through it glimmered a joy in whichFlora discerned again the thought of Anna. "Charlie," he said as a smilebroke through, "prepare yourself."
"Now, Captain, if those old imbeciles--"
The commander's smile broadened: "Our battery, ladies and gentlemen,can't go for a week."
All laughed but Charlie. He swore at the top of his voice and threwhimself from the room.
When his Captain had followed, Flora, standing and smiling, drew fromher bosom a small, well-filled jewel-bag, balanced it on her upliftedpalm and, rising to her toes, sang, "At last, at last, _grace au ciel_,money is easy!"
"Yet at the same time my gifted granddaughter," remarked the old lady,in her native tongue and intent on her embroidery, "is uneasy, eh?"
Flora ignored the comment. She laid a second palm, on the upraisedbooty, made one whole revolution, her soft crinoline ballooning andsubs
iding with a seductive swish as she paused: "And you shall sharethese blessings, grannie, love, although of the assets themselves"--shereturned the bag to its sanctuary and smoothed the waist where the paperproceeds of the schoolmistress's gold still hid--"you shall never handlea dime." She sparkled airily.
"No?" said Madame, still moving the needle and still in French."Nevertheless, morning and evening together, our winnings are--howmuch?"
"Ours?" melodiously asked the smiling girl, "they are not ours, they aremine. And they are--at the least"--she dropped to her senior's footstooland spoke caressingly low--"a clean thousand! Is not that sweet enoughmusic to the ear of a venerable"--she whispered--"cormorant?" Shesparkled anew.
"I am sorry," came the mild reply, "you are in such torture you have tocall me names. But it is, of course, entirely concerning--thehouse--ahem!"
Flora rose, walked to a window, and, as she gazed out across the oldplaza, said measuredly in a hard voice: "Never mind! Never mind her--orhim either. I will take care of the two of them!"
A low laugh tinkled from the ancestress: "Ha, ha! you thought the foolwould be scandalized, and instead he is only the more enamored."
The girl flinched but kept her face to the window: "_He_ is not thefool."
"No? We can hardly tell, when we are--in love."
Flora wheeled and flared, but caught herself, musingly crossed the room,returned half-way, and with frank design resumed the stool warilyvacated by the unslippered foot; whose owner was mincing on, justenough fluttered to play defiance while shifting her attack--
"Home, sweet home! For our ravished one you will, I suppose, permit hisbeloved country to pay--in its new paper money at 'most anydiscount--and call it square, eh?" Half the bitterness of her tone wasin its sweetness.
In a sudden white heat the granddaughter clutched one aged knee withboth hands: "Wait! If I don't get seven times all it was ever worth, theYankees shall!" Then with an odd gladness in her eyes she added, "And_she_ shall pay her share!"
"You mean--his?" asked the absorbed embroiderer. But on her last wordshe stiffened upward with a low cry of agony, shut her eyes and swungher head as if about to faint. Flora had risen.
"Oh-h-h!" the girl softly laughed, "was that your foot?"