CHAPTER III
A BEAST AWAKES
Within a week Norton bitterly regretted the arrangement he had made withCleo. Not because she had failed to do her work properly, but preciselybecause she was doing it so well. She had apparently made it the soleobject of her daily thought and the only task to which she devoted hertime.
He couldn't accustom his mind to the extraordinary neatness with which shekept the office. The clean floor, the careful arrangement of the chairs,the neat piles of exchanges laid on a table she had placed beside his desk,and the vase of fresh flowers he found each morning, were constantreminders of her personality which piqued his curiosity and disturbed hispoise.
He had told her to come at seven every morning. It was his habit to reachthe office and begin reading the exchanges by eight-thirty and he had notexpected to encounter her there. She had always managed, however, to lingerover her morning tasks until his arrival, and never failed to greet himpleasantly and ask if there were anything else she could do. She alsoinsisted on coming at noon to fill his pitcher and again just before supperto change the water in the vase of flowers.
At this last call she always tried to engage him in a few words of smalltalk. At first this program made no impression on his busy brain exceptthat she was trying to prove her value as a servant. Gradually, however,he began to notice that her dresses were cut with remarkable neatness for agirl of her position and that she showed a rare talent in selectingmaterials becoming to her creamy yellow skin and curling red hair.
He observed, too, that she had acquired the habit of hanging about his deskwhen finishing her tasks and had a queer way of looking at him andlaughing.
She began to make him decidedly uncomfortable and he treated her withindifference. No matter how sullen the scowl with which he greeted her, shewas always smiling and humming snatches of strange songs. He sought for anexcuse to discharge her and could find none. She had the instincts of aperfect servant--intelligent, careful and loyal. She never blundered overthe papers on his desk. She seemed to know instinctively what was worthlessand what was valuable, and never made a mistake in rearranging the chaoticpiles of stuff he left in his wake.
He thought once for just a moment of the possibility of her loyalty to thenegro race. She might in that case prove a valuable spy to the Governor andhis allies. He dismissed the idea as preposterous. She never associatedwith negroes if she could help it and apparently was as innocent as a babeof the nature of the terrific struggle in which he was engaged with thenegroid government of the state.
And yet she disturbed him deeply and continuously, as deeply sometimes whenabsent as when present.
Why?
He asked himself the question again and again. Why should he dislike her?She did her work promptly and efficiently, and for the first time withinhis memory the building was really fit for human habitation.
At last he guessed the truth and it precipitated the first battle of hislife with the beast that slumbered within. Feeling her physical nearnessmore acutely than usual at dusk and noting that she had paused in her tasknear his desk, he slowly lifted his eyes from the paper he was reading and,before she realized it, caught the look on her face when off guard. Thegirl was in love with him. It was as clear as day now that he had the keyto her actions the past week. For this reason she had come and for thisreason she was working with such patience and skill.
His first impulse was one of rage. He had little of the vanity of the maleanimal that struts before the female. His pet aversion was the man of hisclass who lowered himself to vulgar association with such girls. The factthat, at this time in the history of the South, such intrigues were commonmade his determination all the more bitter as a leader of his race to standfor its purity.
He suddenly swung in his chair, determined to dismiss her at once with asfew words as possible.
She leaped gracefully back with a girlish laugh, so soft, low and full ofinnocent surprise, the harsh words died on his lips.
"Lordy, major," she cried, "how you scared me! I thought you had a fit. Dida pin stick you--or maybe a flea bit you?"
She leaned against the mantel laughing, her white teeth gleaming.
He hesitated a moment, his eyes lingered on the graceful pose of her youngfigure, his ear caught the soft note of friendly tenderness in her voiceand he was silent.
"What's the matter?" she asked, stepping closer.
"Nothing."
"Well, you made an awful fuss about it!"
"Just thought of something--suddenly----"
"I thought you were going to bite my head off and then that something bityou!"
Again she laughed and walked slowly to the door, her greenish eyes watchinghim with studied carelessness, as a cat a mouse. Every movement of herfigure was music, her smile contagious, and, by a subtle mental telepathy,she knew that the man before her felt it, and her heart was singing asavage song of triumph. She could wait. She had everything to gain andnothing to lose. She belonged to the pariah world of the Negro. Her lovewas patient, joyous, insistent, unconquerable.
It was unusually joyous to-night because she felt without words that themad desires that burned a living fire in every nerve of her young body hadscorched the man she had marked her own from the moment she had first laideyes on his serious, aristocratic face--for back of every hysterical crythat came from her lips that night in the shadows beside old Peeler's houselay the sinister purpose of a mad love that had leaped full grown from thedeeps of her powerful animal nature.
She paused in the doorway and softly said:
"Good night."
The tone of her voice was a caress and the bold eyes laughed a daringchallenge straight into his.
He stared at her a moment, flushed, turned pale and answered in a strainedvoice:
"Good night, Cleo."
But it was not a good night for him. It was a night never to be forgotten.Until after twelve he walked beneath the stars and fought the Beast--theBeast with a thousand heads and a thousand legs; the Beast that had beenbred in the bone and sinew of generations of ancestors, wilful, cruel,courageous conquerors of the world. Before its ravenous demands the wordsof mother, teacher, priest and lawgiver were as chaff before thewhirlwind--the Beast demanded his own! Peace came at last with the visionof a baby's laughing face peeping at him from the arms of a frail littlemother.
He made up his mind and hurried home. He would get rid of this girlto-morrow and never again permit her shadow to cross his pathway. Withother men of more sluggish temperament, position, dignity, theresponsibility of leadership, the restraints of home and religion might bethe guarantee of safety under such temptations. He didn't propose to riskit. He understood now why he was so nervous and distracted in her presence.The mere physical proximity to such a creature, vital, magnetic, unmoral,beautiful and daring, could only mean one thing to a man of his age andinheritance--a temptation so fierce that yielding could only be a questionof time and opportunity.
And when he told her the next morning that she must not come again she wasnot surprised, but accepted his dismissal without a word of protest.
With a look of tenderness she merely said:
"I'm sorry."
"Yes," he went on curtly, "you annoy me; I can't write while you areputtering around, and I'm always afraid you'll disturb some of my papers."
She laughed in his face, a joyous, impudent, good-natured, ridiculouslaugh, that said more eloquently than words:
"I understand your silly excuse. You're afraid of me. You're a big coward.Don't worry, I can wait. You'll come to me. And if not, I'll find you--forI shall be near--and now that you know and fear, I shall be very near!"
She moved shyly to the door and stood framed in its white woodwork, anappealing picture of dumb regret.
She had anticipated this from the first. And from the moment she threw thechallenge into his eyes the night before, saw him flush and pale beneathit, she knew it must come at once, and was prepared. There was no use toplead and beg or argue. It would be a
waste of breath with him in thismood.
Besides, she had already found a better plan.
So when he began to try to soften his harsh decision with kindly words sheonly smiled in the friendliest possible way, stepped back to his desk,extended her hand, and said:
"Please let me know if you need me. I'll do anything on earth for you,major. Good-by."
It was impossible to refuse the gracefully outstretched hand. The Southernman had been bred from the cradle to the most intimate and friendlypersonal relations with the black folks who were servants in the house. Yetthe moment he touched her hand, felt its soft warm pressure and looked intothe depths of her shining eyes he wished that he had sent her away withdownright rudeness.
But it was impossible to be rude with this beautiful young animal thatpurred at his side. He started to say something harsh, she laughed and helaughed.
She held his hand clasped in hers for a moment and slowly said:
"I haven't done anything wrong, have I, major?"
"No."
"You are not mad at me for anything?"
"No, certainly not."
"I wonder why you won't let me work here?"
She looked about the room and back at him, speaking slowly, musingly, withan impudence that left little doubt in his mind that she suspected the realreason and was deliberately trying to tease him.
He flushed, hurriedly withdrew his hand and replied carelessly:
"You bother me--can't work when you're fooling around."
"All right, good-bye."
He turned to his work and she was gone. He was glad she was out of hissight and out of his life forever. He had been a fool to allow her in thebuilding at all.
He could concentrate his mind now on his fight with the Governor.