Two odd male and female figures detached themselves from the crowd. They came forward, bowing. Theo felt her hand seized and respectfully kissed. The lady before her executed a sweeping curtsy.
'Welcome, ma'am,' said Mrs. Blennerhassett, adding in a piercing whisper, 'We welcome our sovereigns in expectancy.'
Dazed and battling a desire to laugh, Theo threw Aaron a quick look. His eyes were twinkling, but there was also in them a gratified gleam. She heard Harman Blennerhassett address him as 'Sire' and saw Aaron bow response in a manner even more than usually courtly.
Her father took her arm and they progressed together up the carpeted strip, while Theo mustered all the imperial dignity which she could find at short notice.
'Let them play-act if it gives them pleasure,' said Aaron in her ear. 'It will be in sober earnest before long.'
'I'll do my best,' she whispered. 'But my breath is taken away by all this. I fear I have not yet acquired the regal manner. What position will they hold in our—our empire?' 'He shall have a dukedom, and I have promised to make him Minister to the Court of Saint James's. He wants that above all else, as what Irishman wouldn't!'
She smiled, but checked it at once. Incredible and fantastic as all this might seem, it was none the less real. Had Josephine too smiled when her little corporal first said to her, 'Some day I shall be Emperor of France, my brother King of Holland, another, King of Westphalia?' For them, too, there must have been a shadowy beginning, when the vision alone sustained them, the vision and Bonaparte's unswerving belief in his destiny. And here was more than dreams, the tangible result of the forces which Aaron was molding to his ambition.
She trembled in sudden excitement.
The excitement sharpened during the weeks which they spent upon the island. Aaron came and went gaining supporters up and down the rivers. On his frequent returns he brought with him new converts and these were a mixed crew—uncouth backwoodsmen, buckskinned scouts, plantation owners from as far south as New Orleans, Frenchmen, Spaniards, even soldiers in the white-and-blue United States Army uniform. Once General Wilkinson himself came, pompous and long-winded, with sly little eyes. And him Theo could not like, though she bestowed on him a careful courtesy, knowing that he was closest of all to Aaron and vitally necessary to the cause.
She grew fond of the Blennerhassetts. How could she help but be fond of people who treated her father with worshiping awe and extended to her the heady flattery of subject to queen!
She no longer was amused by their peculiar methods of dress. They both clung to the mode fashionable in Ireland when they had left it twelve years back. Mrs. Blennerhassett, with her brocaded panniers and sweeping hats loaded with ostrich plumes, was only slightly less bizarre than her husband, who wore red smallclothes and a white peruke constantly askew above his shortsighted eyes while he peered and puttered about his domain.
Perhaps it was just as well that Blennerhassett could not distinguish a horse from a man at twenty paces, for his fair lady sometimes cast upon Aaron glances whose warmth was not entirely attributable to her reverence for royalty. And Theodosia one evening was startled, upon walking unexpectedly into the library, to come upon a tender scene.
Aaron sat upon a sofa, and from the quick stir and mantling confusion upon Mrs. Blennerhassett's buxom face Theo was forced to suspect that until her entrance the lady had been nestling exceeding close. Aaron, perfectly composed, favored his daughter with the faintest quick droop of the right eyelid. Theo fled, murmuring apology.
Later, when she and Aaron were alone, he referred to the matter at once. 'Perhaps, my dear girl, it would be as well if you knocked before precipitating yourself through closed doors, don't you think?'
'I'm sorry,' she stammered. 'But I had no idea—and Father, really——'
She was so accustomed to his charm for women that she never thought about it. She knew vaguely that he often indulged in amatory adventures, though he seldom allowed any of these to intrude on her notice. An affair with their hostess, however, under the circumstances seemed a bit dismaying.
Aaron laughed. 'Don't be prudish, my dear, and pray do me the honor to believe that I know what I am about. If a few kisses can please the ladies and bind their loyalty to our cause, I see no reason to deny them. There is, to put it vulgarly, more than one way of killing the cat.'
He looked at her with such a blend of affection and puckish humor that she ended by laughing with him; and then forgot the matter. In any event she made no more embarrassing discoveries.
The days slipped pleasantly by. Theo ignored peremptory letters from Joseph, demanding to know what she was doing and when she would return. She missed the baby, missed him achingly, but she knew that he was safe with Eleanore, and surely it would not be long now before she could send for him.
The tension and bustle on the island, meantime, increased to fever point. Fifteen large batteaux were being built. Mrs. Blennerhassett, aided by Theo, directed the purchase and temporary storage of vast quantities of flour and pork and meal. Kilns were built for the drying of corn. The island resounded with the din of preparation.
Down at Natchez boats were building, too. At a given signal, when the flotillas should be ready, they would converge—the glorious offensive would begin by water, while General Wilkinson would start the land march at the head of his troops.
' When will it be, Father?' asked Theo, seizing upon a rare opportunity for private conversation.
'The instant we declare war on Spain, or she on us.'
'Are you certain that there will be war?' How could he be so calm, so contained?
'I am quite certain, my anxious one,' he answered, smiling.
' But if there shouldn't be?'
Aaron shrugged. 'If there shouldn't be, then we shall have to proceed more slowly; we shall then commence from my lands on the Washita. I have many strings to my bow'. He patted her hand gently. 'Come, Theo, patience, my child. An empire can unfortunately not be built in a day. '
She subsided, reassured.
But Aaron was not so well satisfied as he sounded. The war with Spain was unaccountably delayed, and Sam Swartwout, his loyal young friend, had written him in cipher that there had of late been disquieting mention in the eastern newspapers, dark hints of a conspiracy in the West, a treasonable plot led by 'an erstwhile high executive of this country who has fallen into disgrace'. This premature leakage was unfortunate. Speed and surprise were essential to success now. He redoubled his energies.
And yet there were unavoidable disappointments. In October the war had not started; the preparations were not finished; there was still much left to do.
Theodosia awoke one morning to look through the red damask curtains of her bedroom and see a rowboat approach the Blennerhassett dock. In the bow sat a familiar stocky figure whose stubborn black hair and air of affronted belligerence were visible even at that distance. Theo gasped, leaning far out the window, hoping that her eyes had deceived her and yet ashamed of the hope. There was no doubt about it. She flung on her clothes and rushed out of the house to greet him.
'Joseph!' she called. 'I'm so surprised and so delighted!' She put unusual warmth into her greeting, guiltily conscious that, though she was certainly surprised, her delight was tepid.
He gave her a brief kiss. 'I've come to take you home,' he said, frowning. 'You pay no attention to my letters. I had never permitted you to go had I realized the situation.'
'But you don't realize the situation; everything is under way,' she began impulsively, then stopped. There was no use talking to Joseph when he wore that black mulish look.
'Come and have some breakfast,' she said pacifically. 'You must have had a hard trip.'
A terrifying thought struck her. 'Gampy's all right, isn't he? That isn't why you came, is it? He wasn't ill?'
'No, he wasn't ill. He's been on Debordieu with Eleanore. But he's fretting for you. You must come back at once. I'll have no more of this idiotic business.'
' We'll talk about it presently
, dear. Look around you. Did you ever see such a heavenly place?'
'Heavenly!' snorted Joseph. 'Nigger's idea of heaven, maybe, ridiculous ostentation out here a thousand miles from anywhere, gimcracks, gewgaws, monstrous. I hear the man's crazy.'
Theo sighed. Joseph was going to be difficult, was apparently firmly entrenched in the typical Alston refusal to be impressed with anything that was not Carolinian.
The Blennerhassetts welcomed the Prince Consort with their usual warm-hearted Irish verve. Their cordiality, however, sagged under the chill of Joseph's heavy silences. He was ill at ease, uncertain whether he was in truth seeing the inception of a mighty coup d'etat, or whether he was being humbugged. He also had heard ugly rumors in the East, and they had made him very uncomfortable. Whatever the outcome, this was no place for Theodosia. The fever period in Carolina had passed. She must return with him to her rightful home.
For once she could not budge him. When Father talks to him, it will be all right, she thought.
But Aaron cruelly disappointed her. 'I'm afraid you must go, my dear, though you know how much I hate to part with you. Matters are not yet matured. It would be unwise to bring Gampy until we have a settled place in which to receive him, and he needs you. Youhad better go back for a littlewhile'. Her eyes filled with tears. 'I thought I should never have to go back. I hate it there, and it is so far from you. I shall never know what is happening——'
'No tears, no nerves, no self-indulgence, my darling. You know I hate them,' said Aaron, with brisk tenderness. 'I will keep you apprised of our movements, using the same cipher we have used before. Burn the letters as soon as you read them and hold yourself in readiness to join me instantly—with Gampy.'
'I will,'she whispered. 'Oh, I will.'
Mrs. Blennerhassett was loath to part with her. During Theo's last day on the island she could scarcely let her out of her sight. 'I never knew that I could dote on a female as I do on you, Theo,' said the good lady, for she had temporarily dropped her reverence for her 'sovereign in expectancy' and felt for Theo a genuine affection. 'We shall meet soon again, though, in Mexico,' she added, her eyes beaming. 'Sure, and we must drink to that'. She clapped her hands and ordered a bottle of Madeira brought up.
She poured them each a glass, and Theo, half-laughing, half-sighing, allowed her hostess to clink it solemnly against hers. 'To Mexico,' said Theo.
' To the fairest and sweetest Princess that will ever adorn a throne,' said Mrs. Blennerhassett. Alas, that she should be fettered to such an ill-mannered boor as Alston! she thought, but this she could not say.
So, much against her inclination, but in obedience to her father's wishes, Theodosia left Blennerhassett Island and returned to the Waccamaw.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THEODOSIA returned to the Oaks, but her spirit remained with Aaron. She refused to leave her plantation, fearful lest his letters might be delayed in getting to her, even by a single day. Her sleeping and her waking alike merged into a long feverish anxiety. What was he doing now? Had they started? What did the ever-mounting crop of rumors amount to? Was it true that he had been tried and acquitted in the Mississippi Territory? Was it true that General Wilkinson had suddenly turned traitor to the cause and denounced him? Or were these but the usual newspaper lies and speculations, influenced by politics and unworthy of notice?
She had received only two brief cipher letters from him, saying that all was well, and that no matter what she heard she must not be upset; for matters were progressing to his utmost satisfaction.
These calmed her for the time, but now in March it had been weeks since she had heard from him. Every day she sent the flatboat to Georgetown to await possible news there. And there was no news: even the newspapers were silent.
She had moods of wild hope. Everything must be going well. Silence was the best indication of it. The flotilla had started down the river; the Spaniards had ceded the west bank without a murmur; he was already triumphantly in possession of New Orleans. Perhaps they had crossed the Sabine on their way into Mexico. The news would be delayed, of course; Aaron would himself restrict it. He would have the power to do so. Power! Her heart swelled with exultation. She saw him already crowned, surrounded by a cheering people. 'Long live the Emperor, Aaron the First!'
'It is so. It must be so,' she whispered to herself a dozen times a day. But these moments of delicious optimism alternated with foreboding and despair. She grew thin and pale. Sleep eluded her.
Joseph spent most of his time in Columbia, acting, she thought angrily, as though his tuppenny-ha'penny office in the state legislature were of paramount importance. When he did return to the Oaks, he refused to discuss 'X'. The whole matter worried him exceedingly.
In April, her long uncertainty was ended. She was sitting on the porch in the warm afternoon sunshine with Gampy at her knee. The sturdy five-year-old was reading aloud to her, his small face puckered with concentration, his fresh little voice hardly stumbling over the long words. 'The dog is an es-estimable animal, and by reason of his fidelity merits our admir-admiration. '
'That's very good, darling,' she said, smoothing his cumbled hair, which was no longer golden red, but a rich dark auburn like her own.
'Will Gamp be pleased with me when he hears me read so well?' asked the child. Under her guidance he had come to direct every effort toward the approval of the faraway grandfather whom he still remembered and loved.
'Of course he will,' she answered, smiling. Oh, why don't I hear from him? The constant question tortured her.
Unconsciously she turned from Gampy, stared unseeing down the avenue of moss-draped live-oaks, trying by force of will to pierce through the barrier of space.
Suddenly she heard the gallop of hoofs and saw the headlong approach of a horse and rider. For one ecstatic, unreasonable moment her heart leapt with relief.
But it wasn't Aaron, of course. It was Joseph, returning from a trip to Georgetown. She had scarcely time to feel surprise at the fury with which he threw himself from his horse, yelling with even greater than normal impatience for a stable-boy to take the reins. He stamped up the steps, thrusting a newspaper at her. 'Read that!'
She stared at him stupidly. His swarthy face was purple. His whole stocky body was trembling. Gampy gave a little cry and shrank into her skirts, hiding his face from his father's scowl.
'Read it, can't you?' shouted Joseph, directing a shaking finger at the paper in her hand.
She raised the newspaper, the Richmond Enquirer, March 17th, 1807.
' What has a Richmond paper to do with me?' she whispered.
' Damnation take it! Look here! Can't you read?' Through his angry rudeness she heard the note of fear.
She stared at the jiggling lines of print.
Last night the traitor, Aaron Burr, arrived in Richmond to await trial. He was in the custody of Colonel Nicholas Perkins and his band of courageous men, who have conveyed him on the perilous journey northward from Alabama where he was apprehended. He will shortly be lodged in the county gaol. Many of his fellow conspirators are also being brought to Justice. It is to be hoped that none of these will be allowed to forego their just deserts.
She raised her eyes slowly. The white porch columns tipped together, veered round and round in slow, sickening lurches. Her fingers contracted on the newspaper, crumpling it convulsively.
'It isn't true! It's another one of their lies.'
'It isn't true,' he mimicked savagely. 'Nothing is ever true for you, unless you wish it so, or your father cither. He's caught, my lady, d'ye understand that? Caught and jailed and soon to be hanged. This time he can't wriggle out as he did before.'
He raised his riding-crop and brought it down with a whistling snap onto the porch railing. Flecks of white paint exploded from the gash.
Gampy gave a cry of terror and began sobbing. Theo gently pushed him from her. 'Run away, dear. Go quickly'. As the child stumbled out, she turned on Joseph. 'How dare you speak to me like that of my father! How dare y
ou!'
'How dare I!' he bellowed. 'How dare you try to involve me in his treasonable plots and harebrained schemes! Thank God, my judgment was never impaired by his foul machinations.'
She gasped; her eyes grew enormous. 'You art involved. You believed in the enterprise, heart and soul. You've given money to it. You went to Blennerhassett's Island and were part and parcel of the project there——'
His furious glare became opaque, his fists clenched, but he said, with a sudden deadly calm: 'You are mistaken, Theodosia. I have never been interested in your father's ambitions. Nor have I ever been to Blennerhassett's Island'. Her head jerked up. For a second, stupefaction overpowered her. She thought vaguely that she could not have heard aright. 'You have never been to the island?' she repeated blankly.
' I have not seen Colonel Burr since he came here, unbidden, and forced me to give him hospitality a year ago last October'. The crumpled ball of newspaper fell from her hand to the floor of the porch, where a vagrant breeze scudded it over the painted boards with a faint, scratching noise. She watched it until it disappeared over the edge of a step, then turned on Joseph a look of such concentrated contempt that it pierced his anger.
' I shall do my best not to interfere with your charming little fiction'. She walked rapidly away from him.
He clutched her by the shoulder. 'Wait, Theo. What arc you going to do?'
She removed herself from his touch, not violently, but as though he had been some inanimate object, a branch or a curtain, which interfered with her progress.
'I am going to prepare myself to go to Richmond.'
' You cannot. I forbid it. I will not have any of my family mixed up in this disgraceful affair. '
'Nevertheless, I shall go. And you need not consider me as belonging to your family if you do not wish to. I would prefer not to see you again.'
He recoiled. The bluster, the fury were sponged off his heavy face. His shoulders slumped. 'Theo, don't. You know I love you. It's for your protection, too. Your father is disgraced, worse than that.'