CHAPTER 16.
AGAIN THE BAR SINISTER
And yet, the next time Chad saw Margaret, she spoke to him shyly butcordially, and when he did not come near her, she stopped him on thestreet one day and reminded him of his promise to come and see them.And Chad knew the truth at once--that she had never asked her fatherabout him, but had not wanted to know what she had been told she mustnot know, and had properly taken it for granted that her father wouldnot ask Chad to his house, if there were a good reason why he shouldnot come. But Chad did not go even to the Christmas party that Margaretgave in town, though the Major urged him. He spent Christmas with theMajor, and he did go to a country party, where the Major was delightedwith the boy's grace and agility dancing the quadrille, and where thelad occasioned no little amusement with his improvisations in the wayof cutting pigeon's wings and shuffling, which he had learned in themountains. So the Major made him accept a loan and buy a suit forsocial purposes after Christmas, and had him go to Madam Blake'sdancing school, and promise to go to the next party to which he wasasked. And that Chad did--to the big gray house on the corner, throughwhose widespread doors his longing eyes had watched Margaret and herfriends flitting like butterflies months before.
It intoxicated the boy--the lights, music, flowers, the little girls inwhite--and Margaret. For the first time he met her friends, NellieHunt, sister to Richard; Elizabeth Morgan, cousin to John Morgan; andMiss Jennie Overstreet, who, young as she was, wrote poems--but Chadhad eyes only for Margaret. It was while he was dancing a quadrillewith her, that he noticed a tall, pale youth with black hair, glaringat him, and he recognized Georgie Forbes, a champion of Margaret, andthe old enemy who had caused his first trouble in his new home. Chadlaughed with fearless gladness, and Margaret tossed her head. It wasGeorgie now who blackened and spread the blot on Chad's good name, andit was Georgie to whom Chad--fast learning the ways ofgentlemen--promptly sent a pompous challenge, that the difficulty mightbe settled "in any way the gentleman saw fit." Georgie insultinglydeclined to fight with one who was not his equal, and Chad boxed hisjaws in the presence of a crowd, floored him with one blow, andcontemptuously twisted his nose. Thereafter open comment ceased. Chadwas making himself known. He was the swiftest runner on the footballfield; he had the quickest brain in mathematics; he was elected to thePericlean Society, and astonished his fellow-members with a fierydenunciation of the men who banished Napoleon to St. Helena--so fierywas it, indeed, that his opponents themselves began to wonder how thatcrime had ever come to pass. He would fight at the drop of a hat, andhe always won; and by-and-by the boy began to take a fierce joy inbattling his way upward against a block that would have crushed aweaker soul. It was only with Margaret that that soul was in awe. Hebegan to love her with a pure reverence that he could never know atanother age. Every Saturday night, when dusk fell, he was mounting thesteps of her house. Every Sunday morning he was waiting to take herhome from church. Every afternoon he looked for her, hoping to catchsight of her on the streets, and it was only when Dan and Harry gotindignant, and after Margaret had made a passionate defence of Chad inthe presence of the family, that the General and Mrs. Dean took thematter in hand. It was a childish thing, of course; a girlish whim. Itwas right that they should be kind to the boy--for Major Buford's sake,if not for his own; but they could not have even the pretence of morethan a friendly intimacy between the two, and so Margaret was told thetruth. Immediately, when Chad next saw her, her honest eyes sadly toldhim that she knew the truth, and Chad gave up then. Thereafter hedisappeared from sports and from his kind every way, except in theclassroom and in the debating hall. Sullenly he stuck to his books.From five o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night, he was atthem steadily, in his room, or at recitation except for an hour's walkwith the school-master and the three half-hours that his meals kept himaway. He grew so pale and thin that the Major and Caleb Hazel weregreatly worried, but protest from both was useless. Before the end ofthe term he had mounted into college in every study, and was holdinghis own. At the end he knew his power--knew what he COULD do, and hisface was set, for his future, dauntless. When vacation came, he went atonce to the Major's farm, but not to be idle. In a week or two he wastaking some of the reins into his own hands as a valuable assistant tothe Major. He knew a good horse, could guess the weight of a steer withsurprising accuracy, and was a past master in knowledge of sheep. Byinstinct he was canny at a trade--what mountaineer is not?--and heastonished the Major with the shrewd deals he made. Authority seemed tocome naturally to him, and the Major swore that he could get more workout of the "hands" than the overseer himself, who sullenly resentedChad's interference, but dared not open his lips. Not once did he go tothe Deans', and neither Harry nor Dan came near him. There was littleintercourse between the Major and the General, as well; for, while theMajor could not, under the circumstances, blame the General,inconsistently, he could not quite forgive him, and the line of politecoolness between the neighbors was never overstepped. At the end ofJuly, Chad went to the mountains to see the Turners and Jack andMelissa. He wore his roughest clothes, put on no airs, and, to alleyes, save Melissa's, he was the same old Chad. But feminine subtletyknows no social or geographical lines, and while Melissa knew what hadhappened as well as Chad, she never let him see that she knew.Apparently she was giving open encouragement to Dave Hilton, a tawnyyouth from down the river, who was hanging, dog-like, about the house,and foolish Chad began to let himself dream of Margaret with a lightheart. On the third day before he was to go back to the Bluegrass, aboy came from over Black Mountain with a message from old NathanCherry. Old Nathan had joined the church, had fallen ill, and, fearinghe was going to die, wanted to see Chad. Chad went over with curiouspremonitions that were not in vain, and he came back with a strangestory that he told only to old Joel, under promise that he would nevermake it known to Melissa. Then he started for the Bluegrass, going overPine Mountain and down through Cumberland Gap. He would come back everyyear of his life, he told Melissa and the Turners, but Chad knew he wasbidding a last farewell to the life he had known in the mountains. AtMelissa's wish and old Joel's, he left Jack behind, though he sorelywanted to take the dog with him. It was little enough for him to do inreturn for their kindness, and he could see that Melissa's affectionfor Jack was even greater than his own: and how incomparably lonelierthan his life was the life that she must lead! This time Melissa didnot rush to the yard gate when he was gone. She sank slowly where shestood to the steps of the porch, and there she sat stone-still. OldJoel passed her on the way to the barn. Several times the old motherwalked to the door behind her, and each time starting to speak, stoppedand turned back, but the girl neither saw nor heard them. Jack trottedby, whimpering. He sat down in front of her, looking up at her unseeingeyes, and it was only when he crept to her and put his head in her lap,that she put her arms around him and bent her own head down; but notears came.