USA > Kentucky > Livingston County > Chronicles of a Kentucky settlement > Part 12
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should be undeceived. I can do this without com- promising you in the slightest."
" No-no !" was the emphatic reply. "Not one word of this to Mr. Adair. You know, Emily, that I thank you with all my heart for the interest you feel in my happiness. But listen to me ! If he loved me, and wished to know whether another stood in his way, he could easily find out. I believe him manly and straightforward enough to come direct to me and learn the truth. No, the truth-and the whole truth-is that he has only a very high regard-I may even say an attachment-for my father, mother, for us all, dating from his boyhood. It may even be that he feels an especial attachment for me, since he has told me that in my childhood I was his little pet, and he doubtless feels that he has special claims upon my regard. But such an attachment is as far from love as night is from day. In fact, I do not believe he loves any one ; if he does he will probably never let it be known, for he has doubtless made up his mind never to get married. You know he has brought his sister-in-law-the widow of a brother who recently died-with her three small children, to Salem, where they are now keeping house, and with whom he makes his home. He is just the man to sacrifice himself, if necessary, for the perform- ance of such a duty. So, you see, Emily, I must bear, with what patience and fortitude I may, my sore disap- pointment ; which, I frankly admit, has nearly crushed me : but time, we are told, soothes all such afflictions. If it were not so, the burden of life would soon grow intolerable to all of us."
" What you have said, Laura," replied Miss Emily, " sounds plausible and probable, but I don't like your
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conclusions, and suspect they may be wrong. I am, perhaps, naturally impatient. If matters are in doubt, I like to discover the truth, however unpleasant, at once. And I believe I could clear up this whole matter in short order and make you happy, and Mr. Adair happy. That he, if not unhappy, has an unsatisfied spirit,-a longing for some thing he misses, is apparent to me in the lines of his face. But if you say I must do nothing, say nothing, to help you, so be it ! I can only hope that all may yet come out right."
That afternoon, as Miss Howard was returning home, she was somewhat surprised to meet her sister Ada in the lane a short distance from the house, and to observe that her face wore a perplexed and serious expression.
" Ada, what is the matter ?" her sister hurriedly asked. " What has brought you out to meet me ? for I'm sure that is why you are here."
" Yes, so it is," Ada answered. "So jump down, please ; we'll lead the horse, and as we walk along I'll tell you all about it."
Laura at once dismounted, and throwing the bridle rein over her arm and walking beside her sister, -- "Now, Ada, what is it ? " she quickly asked.
" Well, sister, I know you 'll be surprised," began Ada. " Warren Davidson is at the house ; came about an hour ago ; says he returned home only yesterday. And I don't like the way he looks and talks. I think he must be drinking a little. He has been asking me many questions about Mr. Adair-how long he stayed with us after his sickness-when he was last here, and so on. I told him that Mr. Adair had passed by here this morning, and had delivered you some message
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from Miss Emily, and that you had gone over to see her. He seemed much annoyed, and, I think, mut- tered some kind of a curse. Knowing it was time for you to return, I made an excuse and slipped out the back way and came to meet and tell you, so that you might be prepared to meet him."
"I am glad you did so," replied Laura. "I did hope and think that Warren would never come again as a suitor, but I fear he has. I have told him as plainly as I could that it was useless ; and if, as you say, he is drinking, I am all the more displeased that he should have come. But we had better not be seeni by him approaching the house together ; do you go back the way you came, and I will remount and ride up to the gate as usual."
Then, leading her horse beside a stump which was near, Laura stepped upon it, sprang into her saddle, and rode slowly home.
Warren Davidson saw Miss Laura as she rode up to the gate, and went forward to assist her, but she had dismounted and hitched her horse before he reached her. She met him cordially, and, after the usual greeting, said : "How have you been, and when did you return home ? "
" Well in body," was his rather surly answer, " but mentally under the weather. I arrived at home yes- terday ; came this morning to Salem to see Henry Rudolph, and arrived here an hour ago. I was sorry to find you from home, for I came specially to see you ; and I must have a talk with you at once."
Miss Howard, warned by what her sister had told her, looked attentively at her visitor, and saw at once that he was under the influence of liquor. His remark
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that he "must have a talk with her at once" was made in such a tone and manner as to really displease her ; but, as they had now arrived at the house, she made no reply, asked him to be seated, and to excuse her for a few minutes. She then sought her mother.
" Mother," she said, " you see Warren is here again, much to my surprise and regret ; and, unless I am greatly mistaken, he has been drinking and is not entirely sober now. He says he has come to see me, and ' must have a talk with ine at once.' What ought I to do ? "
" Go at once and have the talk over as soon as pos- sible. He has been drinking, I am certain. Don't anger him if you can avoid it, but be firm. I am very sorry," continued Mrs. Howard, " to see him in this fix ; but it shows that your rejection of him was fortunate."
" Well, Warren," said Miss Howard, when she had returned and taken a seat near him, "what is it that you 'must ' talk to me about ? "
" You know very well," he answered. "I am not satisfied with the answers you have heretofore given me. A woman, I'm told, often plays with a gentle- man, as you have with me, when she thinks she has him securely hooked ; but I can't and won't stand this any longer."
" I will not stay and listen to such unfair and unjust charges," said Miss Howard, as she rose from her seat.
"Oh, don't be so touchy ! I beg your pardon, I did not mean to hurt your feelings. Please sit down again," he said almost imploringly.
Miss Howard hesitated for a moment, but remem-
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bering her mother's injunction, not to make him angry if she could avoid it, she resumed her seat.
" Warren," she calmly and distinctly said, "if you have come here again to renew your suit, I tell you my reply will be unchanged ; and this conversation is not only useless, but painful to me. I have ever esteemed you as a friend,-that you know ! You know, too, that to have been the cause, however innocent, of any unhappiness to you has been the source of much sor- row to me. If, however, you still persist, against my entreaty, I shall no longer regard you as my friend, nor welcome you to this house."
"Oh, Laura," he pleaded, "don't be so hard on me ! Why is it-how is it that your heart can be so cold towards one who has loved you so long and so well ? You know that I have worshipped you. And am I not a gentleman ? Or, can it be that some one has poisoned me in your estimation ? "
"Such questions," was her firm reply, " are unwor- thy of the Warren Davidson I have known, and shall receive no reply from me."
" Oh, you avoid an answer, do you ? " he sarcastic- ally retorted. "Then it is no doubt true, as a friend wrote me, that it is the saddler-oh, I beg your par- don, I should have said Mr. Adair-who has defamed me and cut me out. Well, I may have a settlement to make with him ! "
" Warren, stop !" exclaimed Miss Howard, who was somewhat alarmed by his covert threat. "Stop ! I declare to you, Mr. Adair has never spoken to me of you, nor aimed in any way to 'defame and cut you out,' as you say. More than that ! he bas never spoken one word of love to me. And, you know well
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enough that I gave you my answer long before I ever knew him ; and should you seek a quarrel with him on my account, you will forever forfeit my respect and friendship."
" Without your love I don't care a --. But come, Laura, don't let us quarrel. I am not feeling well to-day,-have, I believe, some fever." (It was the fever of passion inflamed by liquor.) "I must not only have your respect and friendship but your love ! I am in earnest ! Will you be my wife ? You must ! Without you I am undone forever !"
" Warren, for heaven's sake," exclaimed Miss How- ard, who could but feel compassion for him, "cease to importune me ! You surely cannot know how much this pains me. You know when you first mentioned your love for me, I gave you an answer from which I have never wavered, and never will ! Let us then drop this subject, and let it never, I charge you, be mentioned again."
" Miss Howard, I am a gentleman," retorted David- son, with an effort at dignity, " and not a beggar for your hand. I have offered you my heart and hand, and you have declined my offer, so be it !"
And with as stately a bow as he, tipsy as he was, could make, he withdrew, mounted his horse, and rode away.
CHAPTER XII.
Davidson and Rudolph-The Lost Coins-Adair's Great De- pression and Musings-Simon and Polly Wright-Mrs. Kent and her Son-Adair Settles a Debt-Old Tom and Elijalı, a Gratifying Discovery.
T THE day following the events narrated in the pre- ceding chapter, Warren Davidson was in Salem, and spent several hours with Henry Rudolph. The two young men were about the same age, and had been schoolmates in boyhood and intimate associates, but had never been fast friends ; Rudolph was of too cold a nature to admit of this.
Davidson was above medium height, had dark hair and large brown eyes. He was frank and generous, but impulsive, vacillating, and, when under the influ- ence of liquor, spiteful rather than malicious.
Rudolph was tall and well proportioned ; had light yellowish, lustreless hair, blue eyes, and a very light beard, which was always cleanly shaven, after the almost universal fashion of the times. He dressed with scrupulous neatness, and, while ordinarily polite, was so very guarded, both in his speech and manner, and there was such a total absence of any apparent feeling or emotion, -so much of tinvarying coldness or indif- ference in his face and voice, that he had few, if any,
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warm personal friends. He was, however, so regular, prudent, and temperate in his habits that he was generally regarded, and particularly by the older and more sedate portion of the community, as a " model young man." His father, who was a farmer, and had several sons and daughters, had presented Henry, when he attained his majority, with a good farm, seven or eight slaves, and five thousand dollars in money. The son, however, passed but little of his time on his farm, which was managed by what he called an " over- seer," but who, in reality, was a young countryman that worked as hard as any of the slaves did, and for small wages.
"Henry, I want five hundred dollars, and want you to loan me that amount," said Davidson in the course of their conversation.
" What ! want more money ?" Rudolph asked, with- out any evidence of surprise in his tone or manner. " Have you forgotten that you now owe me thirteen hundred ? "
"No danger of my forgetting that ! you jog my memory so often. I want to make it eighteen hun- dred. My recent trips South have cost me a round sum, and I have one more trip-a short one-to make."
"I will loan you the money on one condition. To secure the loan of eighteen hundred, you to give me a bill of sale of your two negro men, Isham and Louis. In order not to attract attention, as such sales usually do, the negroes may remain with you ; you to pay me for their hire at the rate of nine dollars each, per month, which is at the rate of twelve per cent. interest per annum on the amount loaned you. If you repay ine
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the entire debt, on or before the first of March next, with twelve per cent. interest, I will return or cancel the bill of sale; that is, the two negroes to remain yours. But if either or both of the negroes should die, or by reason of sickness or accident should be unsound, you are not to be released from the payment of your debt to me, but to furnish me with other good and sufficient security. Do the terms suit you ? "
" No, not by a d- sight ! In the first place, I don't want to sell any of my negroes ; and, if I did, Isham is about the last one I would part with, for his wife is my cook, and I would not separate them. In the next place, twelve per cent. is too much, the thir- teen hundred is only bearing ten."
" If my terms don't suit you, that's an end of the matter," said Rudolph, who was sure Davidson would agree substantially to his terms rather than incur the trouble and humiliation of finding another lender and making known his condition. "You may be able," he continued, " to find some one else who will make easier terms for you. There's Adair, the Deputy Sheriff, he might let you have the amount."
This last was, as Rudolph supposed, a suggestion which would be instantly scouted, but he had- a pur- pose in making it.
"What !" exclaimed Davidson, with a supple- mentary oath, "I don't know the fellow ; and, more than that, I don't want to know hin."
"Oh, he knows you well enough by reputation to loan you the money," replied the wily Rudolph, " and there is no reason why you should dislike him. I did think at one time, as I wrote you, that he was after Miss Laura, but I now think I was mistaken. 12
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One of his brothers has recently died, and Adair has brought the widow and her three children here, and has gone to housekeeping with them ; and I suppose it will end up by his marrying her some of these days, for she is younger than he is, and rather good-looking. Besides, you have the inside track with Miss Laura."
" Not a - bit of it ! I went out to see her, as you know, last evening ; and she jockeyed me and flew the track."
"Or, rather, I suppose, she declined to make the race of life with you ; for she is not one, I should think, to back out after agreeing to run ; and much less one to fly the track after beginning the race."
" It amounts to the same thing ! " Davidson petu- lantly replied. " But I'm not so d -- heartbroken as you may suppose ! There are 'many good fish in the sea,' and I happen to know a charmer, with a pile of the metal that promotes ease, who would be delighted to become Mrs. Davidson, and I have been hesitating between two opinions for some time."
" Well, well," said Rudolph, "you surprise me ! But young women often change their minds. Besides, it is said 'faint heart never won fair lady,' and you surely are not going to give up !"
" Yes-d-me-if I ever give her another chance to play that game over ; and the saddler inay have her if he wants her, and welcome to her for all I care. But all this," he added, "is wandering from the subject. I must start home this evening, and I want that five hundred dollars. Strike out Isham and substitute George, who is unmarried and worth as much, and I will accept your terms, although they are d- hard."
" All right !" replied Rudolph, who only smiled at
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Davidson's remark about the terms. "I will have all the papers for you to sign, and the money ready for you, by four o'clock this evening. Will that be soon enough ?"
"That will answer," said Davidson as he left the room.
"He is going it rather fast, and can't keep up the pace," mused Rudolph when alone. "It is well for me to have ample security. That 's rather a good arrange- inent of mine about the negroes ; it gives me a hold on him, for he would n't like it to be known that he had to make such a sale. Besides, if the two negroes are mine on March Ist, as they probably will be, I will get them just in time to begin field work ; and in the fall I can perhaps sell them to Fields, the negro trader, for one thousand dollars each. Then, Davidson will spend none of his five hundred dollars here. and prob- ably very little of it in this county ; he wants it to take another trip down South, and that will be all the safer for me. How lucky it was I got even with that cheat- ing gambler before he left here ! But I wonder where he got money to go away on ; he must have had some besides that in his pantaloons pocket. I would n't wrong an honest, hard-working man, but the cheating gambler-I served him right! Ha, ha! And Miss Laura has thrown Davidson overboard ! I hardly expected this, but she's a sensible girl. And it's about time I was taking a wife and settling down, and now 's my chance ; and Laura is the lucky one-she 's a beauty, and sensible. I can play the game with her better than Davidson did. As for that Adair, he stands no chance-his age and position are against him. Besides, I doubt if he is in the field. I must go
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to work at once ; work and win ! that's the word." And he rubbed his hands, and glanced into a mirror.
That afternoon as Joseph Adair was passing by the . Clerk's office, Horace Benton called him in and told him that Warren Davidson was in town, and had been out to Squire Howard's the evening before. "But," he added, " I am sure he is on a cold trail."
"I am glad to know Davidson is in town," replied Adair, "for he yet owes his taxes for last year ; and, if I can collect the amount, it will save me a long ride to his house."
" Ah ! here he comes," said Benton, pointing to a young gentleman who was riding towards them, and then added : "Shall I call him and introduce you ? "
"Thank you, that is not necessary," Adair answered, as he stepped from the door on to the pavement, near which the horseman would have to pass.
" Excuse me, sir," said Adair addressing the gentle- man, who immediately checked his horse. "This is Mr. Warren Davidson, I believe ; " and, on receiving an affirmative answer, added : " I am Mr. Adair, the Deputy Sheriff. Your taxes, Mr. Davidson, for last year, owing-I suppose -- to your absence from home, remain unpaid. If it is convenient for you to pay me the amount now, I would be greatly obliged, as it would save me a trip to your house."
" Certainly, sir, certainly !" replied Davidson, who was always willing to pay his debts when he had money. "I will dismount and come into the Clerk's office and pay you the amount."
Adair entered the Clerk's office, and going to a table in the centre of one of the rooms, which at the moment was unoccupied, took out his leather pocket-book, and
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by the time he had found the desired tax bill, Mr. Davidson entered.
Davidson, after taking the chair tendered him by Adair, soon produced the required amount of money, and among it two rare gold coins. "These," said Davidson, referring to the coins, "are, I am told, half doubloons, and worth eight dollars and fifty cents each ; at least that is what I took them for, and I sup- pose you will take them for the same."
" If I mistake not," replied Adair, " these coins are worth only about eight dollars ; however, I will take them at your valuation. But," he added with a keen interest in his inquiry, which, however, was not betrayed in his manner or tone, "perhaps you have received them from some one near here to whom I . might return them at your valuation, if necessary, to avoid loss on them."
" Yes," Davidson promptly replied, " they were paid me by Henry Rudolph not an hour ago, and he will make it right."
" Thank you," said Adair, as he took up the money and handed Davidson the receipted tax bill. The two gentlemen then walked together from the room, and Davidson, after mounting his horse, said :
" Excuse me, Mr. Adair, but I am quite aware of your intimacy with the family of Squire Howard ; and I hope you sufficiently understand the nature of my long and intimate association with Miss Howard to prevent any misapprehension or unpleasantness be- tween us."
"Sir," replied Adair, "I may not understand your meaning, and I would suggest that you be more explicit."
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But before Adair's words were concluded, Davidson was riding away, and only replied by a wave of the hand.
" I reckon that remark was a little indefinite," said Davidson to himself after leaving Adair. "There was, however, no lie in what I said ; but he may and prob- ably will twist it to mean that I am engaged to Laura. And, d- it, I'm almost sorry I said it. However, if he does n't love her no harm is done ; and if he does, and she loves him, I would like to keep them apart, and trouble her in return for the trouble she has caused me."
And thereupon he took from his pocket a flat bottle and took from it a swig, which doubtless had the effect of allaying somewhat any pain conscientious scruples may have caused him.
After Davidson had ridden away, Adair walked slowly from the town. He wished to be alone. As he walked, his brow was knitted and his lips compressed. Mentally he said : " He could have meant nothing else than to inform me of his engagement to Miss Laura. It is only what I have thought probable, and even desirable for her ; and I did not suppose I had harbored so much hope. My long dream is, however, now at an end ! And what have I now to look forward to ? Much work and a little food and raiment ; yes, and such satisfaction, if any, as may be derived from the per- formance of bounden duties. But what unsubstantial compensation these for old age, sickness, and death ! And no wife, no children to accompany and follow me ! -children that make our old lives young again, mak- ing one a link in a strong chain, instead of a broken link at one end. Behind me, and afar off in the misty
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past, there was a parent root from which growth after growth has sprung, budded, blossomed, and brought forth fruit ; but here, alone, I stand, -a withering, dy- ing branch,-no bud, no blossom, no fruit to follow !"
And the man, resolute and self-reliant as he usually was, sat down by the wayside to rest, for he had wan- dered over the hill and far beyond the limits of the town. Then he chanced to think of those two gold coins ; it was a relief to change the current of his thoughts ; and he took the coins from his pocket and carefully compared them with the description of the lost coins given him by Brantley. There could be no mistake-these were two out of the three stolen. And Brantley had suspected Rudolph, and Rudolph had paid the coins to Davidson !
" And how accidentally," he said to himself, contin- uing the chain of his reflections, " this discovery was made ! But was it accidental ? Can anything be ab- solutely accidental ? Is there not a design-a purpose in everything ? And if in the smallest insect, and the tiniest plant that grows, then why not in the minutest affairs and so-called accidents of life ? And here, in Rudolph, is a bad son. Better by far to die and have no son than such as he. Verily, how true the words of Addison :
" ' The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate, Puzzled with mazes, and perplexed with error ; Our understanding searches them in vain.'"
Here he was startled by a scream-'t was that of a woman, followed by oaths and imprecations from a man. The jarring sounds came from across a little valley ; and, in the "stillness that came on with
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evening," they were very distinct. "More mys- tery !" he mentally exclaimed. "There is what once was love-earthly love, -for they are husband and wife that quarrel ; and now their love wears the garb of anger, if not of hatred." And he arose and walked slowly towards the town-a bowed and lonely man.
That night Adair slept but little, and awoke next morning unrefreshed. After an early breakfast, he mounted his horse and rode westward. He had a dis- agreeable duty to perform : to seize, on execution, the property of an old and poor man named Elijah Wright who had been a soldier during the Revolutionary war, and was one of the earliest settlers in Livingston County. Adair had heard much of the brave old pio- neer and of his devout wife, Polly, who only a few months before had gone to her long rest and rich reward. What made the old couple all the more widely known and esteemed was that they were the parents of Simon Wright, a noted Methodist preacher, who, in his long and eventful life, did perhaps as much and as good work in his Master's cause as any minister who ever labored in the West.
Some thirty-five years before, when the surrounding country was almost an unbroken wilderness, Elijah Wright had made his home (from which he had never removed) near the northern base of Bizzell's Mount, which is situated on the northern bank of the Cumber- land River, some six or seven miles from its mouth. The mount rises some three to four hundred feet above the level of the river ; and it was, at the time of Adair's visit, covered with a luxuriant growth of cedar trees from base to summit. Standing on the summit and looking northward a range of high hills, a mile or two
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