The Duplicity of Hargraves.docx

1、The Duplicity of HargravesThe Duplicity of Hargraves When Major Pendleton Talbot, of Mobile, sir, and his daughter, Miss Lydia Talbot, came to Washington to reside, they selected for a boarding place a house that stood fifty yards back from one of the quietest avenues. It was an old-fashioned brick

2、building, with a portico upheld by tall white pillars. The yard was shaded by stately locusts and elms, and a catalpa tree in season rained its pink and white blossoms upon the grass. Rows of high box bushes lined the fence and walks. It was the Southern style and aspect of the place that pleased th

3、e eyes of the Talbots. In this pleasant private boarding house they engaged rooms, including a study for Major Talbot, who was adding the finishing chapters to his book, Anecdotes and Reminiscences of the Alabama Army, Bench, and Bar.Major Talbot was of the old, old South. The present day had little

4、 interest or excellence in his eyes. His mind lived in that period before the Civil War when the Talbots owned thousands of acres of fine cotton land and the slaves to till them; when the family mansion was the scene of princely hospitality, and drew its guests from the aristocracy of the South. Out

5、 of that period he had brought all its old pride and scruples of honor, an antiquated and punctilious politeness, and (you would think) its wardrobe.Such clothes were surely never made within fifty years. The Major was tall, but whenever he made that wonderful, archaic genuflexion he called a bow, t

6、he corners of his frock coat swept the floor. That garment was a surprise even to Washington, which has long ago ceased to shy at the frocks and broad-brimmed hats of Southern Congressmen. One of the boarders christened it a Father Hubbard, and it certainly was high in the waist and full in the skir

7、t.But the Major, with all his queer clothes, his immense area of plaited, raveling shirt bosom, and the little black string tie with the bow always slipping on one side, both was smiled at and liked in Mrs. Vardemans select boarding house. Some of the young department clerks would often string him,

8、as they called it, getting him started upon the subject dearest to him-the traditions and history of his beloved Southland. During his talks he would quote freely from the Anecdotes and Reminiscences. But they were very careful not to let him see their designs, for in spite of his sixty-eight years

9、he could make the boldest of them uncomfortable under the steady regard of his piercing gray eyes.Miss Lydia was a plump, little old maid of thirty-five, with smoothly drawn, tightly twisted hair that made her look still older. Old-fashioned, too, she was; but antebellum glory did not radiate from h

10、er as it did from the Major. She possessed a thrifty common sense, and it was she who handled the finances of the family, and met all comers when there were bills to pay. The Major regarded board bills and wash bills as contemptible nuisances. They kept coming in so persistently and so often. Why, t

11、he Major wanted to know, could they not be filed and paid in a lump sum at some convenient period-say when the Anecdotes and Reminiscences had been published and paid for? Miss Lydia would calmly go on with her sewing and say, Well pay as we go as long as the money lasts, and then perhaps theyll hav

12、e to lump it.Most of Mrs. Vardemans boarders were away during the day, being nearly all department clerks and business men; but there was one of them who was about the house a great deal from morning to night. This was a young man named Henry Hopkins Hargraves-every one in the house addressed him by

13、 his full name-who was engaged at one of the popular vaudeville theaters. Vaudeville has risen to such a respectable plane in the last few years, and Mr. Hargraves was such a modest and well-mannered person, that Mrs. Vardeman could find no objection to enrolling him upon her list of boarders.At the

14、 theater Hargraves was known as an all-round dialect comedian, having a large repertoire of German, Irish, Swede, and black-face specialties. But Mr. Hargraves was ambitious, and often spoke of his great desire to succeed in legitimate comedy.This young man appeared to conceive a strong fancy for Ma

15、jor Talbot. Whenever that gentleman would begin his Southern reminiscences, or repeat some of the liveliest of the anecdotes, Hargraves could always be found, the most attentive among his listeners.For a time the Major showed an inclination to discourage the advances of the play actor, as he private

16、ly termed him; but soon the young mans agreeable manner and indubitable appreciation of the old gentlemans stories completely won him over.It was not long before the two were like old chums. The Major set apart each afternoon to read to him the manuscript of his book. During the anecdotes Hargraves

17、never failed to laugh at exactly the right point. The Major was moved to declare to Miss Lydia one day that young Hargraves possessed remarkable perception and a gratifying respect for the old regime. And when it came to talking of those old days-if Major Talbot liked to talk, Mr. Hargraves was entr

18、anced to listen.Like almost all old people who talk of the past, the Major loved to linger over details. In describing the splendid, almost royal, days of the old planters, he would hesitate until he had recalled the name of the negro who held his horse, or the exact date of certain minor happenings

19、, or the number of bales of cotton raised in such a year; but Hargraves never grew impatient or lost interest. On the contrary, he would advance questions on a variety of subjects connected with the life of that time, and he never failed to extract ready replies.The fox hunts, the possum suppers, th

20、e hoe-downs and jubilees in the negro quarters, the banquets in the plantation-house hall, when invitations went for fifty miles around; the occasional feuds with the neighboring gentry; the Majors duel with Rathbone Culbertson about Kitty Chalmers, who afterward married a Thwaite of South Carolina;

21、 and private yacht races for fabulous sums on Mobile Bay; the quaint beliefs, improvident habits, and loyal virtues of the old slaves-all these were subjects that held both the Major and Hargraves absorbed for hours at a time.Sometimes, at night, when the young man would be coming upstairs to his ro

22、om after his turn at the theater was over, the Major would appear at the door of his study and beckon archly to him. Going in, Hargraves would find a little table set with a decanter, sugar bowl, fruit, and a big bunch of fresh green mint.It occurred to me, the Major would begin-he was always ceremo

23、nious-that perhaps you might have found your duties at the-at your place of occupation-sufficiently arduous to enable you, Mr. Hargraves, to appreciate what the poet might well have had in his mind when he wrote, tired Natures sweet restorer-one of our Southern juleps.It was a fascination to Hargrav

24、es to watch him make it. He took rank among artists when he began, and he never varied the process. With what delicacy he bruised the mint; with what exquisite nicety he estimated the ingredients; with what solicitous care he capped the compound with the scarlet fruit glowing against the dark green

25、fringe! And then the hospitality and grace with which he offered it, after the selected oat straws had been plunged into its tinkling depths!After about four months in Washington, Miss Lydia discovered one morning that they were almost without money. The Anecdotes and Reminiscences was completed, bu

26、t publishers had not jumped at the collected gems of Alabama sense and wit. The rental of a small house which they still owned in Mobile was two months in arrears. Their board money for the month would be due in three days. Miss Lydia called her father to a consultation.No money? said he with a surp

27、rised look. It is quite annoying to be called on so frequently for these petty sums, Really, I-The Major searched his pockets. He found only a two-dollar bill, which he returned to his vest pocket.I must attend to this at once, Lydia, he said. Kindly get me my umbrella and I will go downtown immedia

28、tely. The congressman from our district, General Fulghum, assured me some days ago that he would use his influence to get my book published at an early date. I will go to his hotel at once and see what arrangement has been made.With a sad little smile Miss Lydia watched him button his Father Hubbard

29、 and depart, pausing at the door, as he always did, to bow profoundly.That evening, at dark, he returned. It seemed that Congressman Fulghum had seen the publisher who had the Majors manuscript for reading. That person had said that if the anecdotes, etc., were carefully pruned down about one-half,

30、in order to eliminate the sectional and class prejudice with which the book was dyed from end to end, he might consider its publication.The Major was in a white heat of anger, but regained his equanimity, according to his code of manners, as soon as he was in Miss Lydias presence.We must have money,

31、 said Miss Lydia, with a little wrinkle above her nose. Give me the two dollars, and I will telegraph to Uncle Ralph for some to-night.The Major drew a small envelope from his upper vest pocket and tossed it on the table.Perhaps it was injudicious, he said mildly, but the sum was so merely nominal t

32、hat I bought tickets to the theater to-night. Its a new war drama, Lydia. I thought you would be pleased to witness its first production in Washington. I am told that the South has very fair treatment in the play. I confess I should like to see the performance myself.Miss Lydia threw up her hands in silent despair.Still, as the tickets were bought, they might as well be used. So that evening, as they sat in the theater listening to the lively overture, even Miss Lydia was minded to relegate their troubles, for the hour, to second place. The Major, in spotless linen, with his extr