Drum (63 page)

Brutus drew a pair of gaily embroidered galluses. Augusta laughed as she handed them to him. "I sit in fear and trembling every night at dinner, Brutus, for fear you are going to lose your trousers. They keep sUpping down and down and down. Regine will sew some buttons on for you and with you wearing these, I shall be able to eat in peace."

Clj^ie, Elvira and Balsam all had large squares of brilliantly colored silk to use as headcloths. Merc and Jupe each received a jackknife such as nobody had ever seen before, with three blades which could be pulled out and snapped back. Ajax was overjoyed with a small, silver-mounted whip. And then , . . after they were all quite overwhelmed with their riches, Augusta lifted the tray of the trunk and brought out another package, this one wrapped in tissue paper, which she handed to Hammond. "By rights," she said, "I should have given this to you first but I could not wait to see the expressions on the jervants' faces, so do forgive me."

Hanamond acted even more surprised and pleased than lie slaves. He took the tissue-wrapped package and just IS carefully as any one of the others, he undid the string md unwrapped it. Slowly he held up a dark jacket of black md gold brocade, his eyes questioning Augusta as he did o.

'You wear it," Augusta explained, "when you are at home n the evening. It's far more soft and comfortable than a egular jacket. They call it a smoking jacket but as you lo not smoke very often, we'll call it a toddy jacket."

Drumson thought for a moment that Hammond was ;oing to kiss her. He made a move in her direction as if o do so, but instead he extended both hands and grasped me of hers.

'Mighty good of you, Miz 'Gusta. Never had me a pres-nt since I was 'bout that Jackson's boy's size. Why, this is •etter'n Christmas, Miz 'Gusta. All these things from you. Vhat kin we do? Yo' jes' 'spress the wish and we'U do it or you."

Augusta withdrew her hand slowly from Hammond's rasp. She looked at him thoughtfully. "Yes, you can do something for me—something I'd really

like to have—something that would make me very happy."

"You jes' name it." Hammond was all enthusiasm.

Augusta walked to one of the windows which looked out on the front of the house. Much work had already been done —grading and weeding—and grass had been seeded and come up, covering the big lawn with green. But the house still stood, starkling gaunt in the vacant fields. She pointed out the window to the long^ lane that led down to the main road.

"I'd Uke to see an avenue of trees planted there, all the way from the house to the road. It will take years for them: to grow and probably I'll not be here to see them when they: are grown, but it's what this house needs."

"We'll start tomorrow." Hammond caught her enthusiasm. "What kin' of trees you aimin' at havin', Miz 'Gusta?"

"Live oaks would be nice but they take so long to grow. Willows grow faster but they don't last so long."

"Tell you what we'U do." Hammond felt that he had thei right solution. "First we'll plant an oak and then a wUlow, then 'nother oak and 'nother willow aU the way down. Willows grow up fast while oaks a-comia' 'long slow. Then, when the oaks grow up, we'll cut down the willows." He regarded her with a trace of amusement. "But, Miz 'Gusta, them trees ain' fer you—they's for Falconhurst. We'd like to do somethin' fer you personal."

"But just now, Mr. Maxwell, Falconhurst is my home and' anything you do for Falconhurst, you do for me. BeUeve me, nothing would please me more. It would be a pleasure to watch them grow."

Hammond kept his word. The next day a work detail of some hundred slaves from the old house started combing the plantation for willow and oak sapUngs. They were dug up, transported in farm carts and planted, equidistant, down the long length of the avenue. Only a few of them died—most of them lived and flourished. Augusta had chosen well,

A few days after her return, she announced at dinner,* which she and Hammond always ate in the big dining room,' that it was time they did some entertaining. There was no' use, she reminded him, in having a big house like Falcon-' hurst unless there were some opportunity to show it off. Surely, she suggested, he must have some friends on surrounding plantations whom they could entertain.

"Ain' many." Hammond laid down his knife and fork to* think. "Plantations done run down after so many years of

cotton and mortgages done et them up. Thar's Doc Redfield and his wife. They's slave owners but guess you wouldn't call 'em quality. Then, ©'course, thar's Lewis Gasaway and his wife. Gasaway's still got money tho' they's a-losin' it ev'y year. Lewis's an old friend of mine and his wife was a St. Clair. Lewis married quality though she's as plain as a stump fence. Then there's the Holcombs—new family 'round here which bo't 'The Coign,' Old Mista Wilson's place, what died. Bo't us our Mandingos from 01' Mista Wilson when he still alive."

Drumson became interested in the conversation. Ol' Mista Wilson was Big Pearl's boy. Evidently he was named after Big Pearl's former master. But the Maxwell Ol' Mista Wilson, stupid as he was in most things, was really learning to fight.

The mention of Wilson's name had started the same train of thought in Hammond's mind. He turned around in his chair to face Drumson, who was standing behind him.

"How you comin' with our Ol' Mista Wilson? That boy able to larn anythin' o' his head all muscles?"

"He's a-laming, Masta Hammond, suh. Lams him ev'y day 'fore I goes in to see Big Pearl."

"How you comin' wit' her? She a-wearin' you out?"

"She shore a powerful woman, Masta Hammond, suh. She able to take ten men 'stead of one, ev'y day."

"Drumson!" Augusta rapped sharply on the table. "Well have no more of that talk in the dining room."

"Boy ain' a-doin' no harm, Miz 'Gusta." Hanomond looked surprised and annoyed at her interruption. "He jes' a-answer-in' my questions. I tol' you, I cain't waste this fine buck jes' a-totin' a silver tray 'round. Goin' to get me a prime sucker outa Big Pearl an' him. Half Mandingo and part Royal Hausa with a dash o' human blood to lighten it up. Come it's a male and give it sixteen, seventeen years, should fetch more'n three thousand in New Orleans, less'n I keeps it my own self. Won't be no mo' certified Mandingo blood, come 'nother twenty years."

Augusta's lip quivered. She deliberately laid down her fork, dabbed at her mouth with a napkin and addressed Hammond. Her words came slowly and without a trace of anger but there was no mistaking their meaning.

"Mr. Maxwell, I agree that you have every right to run your plantation as you see fit. That is your business. But while I am here and you have told me that I am mistress of

this house. If so, I forbid any further mention of the various* sordid details of your business when I am present. Yes, Mr. Maxwell, I forbid it." She signaled to Brutus to pull back her chair and started to rise.

"Set down!" Hammond's knife clattered to his plate. Almost automatically Augusta resumed her seat. "Yes, Mr. Maxwell, but please remember one thing. I happen to be white, not black. Command me if you will, but please do not use that tone of voice to me again."

"I'll use whatever goddam tone o' voice I wanna use. I'll say any goddam thing I wan' to." Hammond had never had , anyone, man or woman, cross him before. His face flushed; i his fingers closed into a fist so convulsively that the knuckles | became white under the tan.

"Then you are at liberty to do so, Mr. Maxwell." Augusta leaned forward, looking directly through the flickering candle at Hammond. "But you will be saying them to someone else besides myself. There are many things which go on in this house of which I do not approve. I have said nothing heretofore and I shall not mention the matter again. Now, with your daughter safely away in school, I see no reason for me to stay here any longer. Therefore, if you will excuse me, I shall go up to my room and pack."

"You ain' leaving!" Hammond's fist came down so hard on the table that it upset his goblet of water. With an angry sweep of his hand, he swept the glass to the floor. Drumson sopped up the water on the table with a napkin, his hand trembUng. He could see that Brutus also was frightened.

"And I suppose you wiU put me in spancels and chain me to the bedpost to keep me here. It's time you learned, Mr. Maxwell, that there are two classes of people in the world— free and slave—black and white. I happen to be free. And, I happen to be white. It would be well if you learned a few manners and conducted yourself as a white man rather than a Negro."

"Who you callin' a nigger?" Hammond rose so quickly; that the heavy chair went over backward. "And who are you? Don' fergit one thin'—even if you ain't a whore, I got you in a whorehouse. Plenty of coverin' goin' on there and 'twan't good honest business like breedin' slaves, either. You ain' so much. I know all 'bout you and that LeSieur fellow. You shore wan't so finicky with him." He had talked himself out of breath. He stood for a moment, glaring at her. "Go if'n you wants to. Falconhurst got 'long 'fore you come—^Falcon-

hurst still be here after you go." His fingers drummed on the table. "Git me a toddy, Drumson."

Augusta did not answer him. She bowed her head. Her hand raised the napkin to her face but this time she was not dabbing at her lips. She was crying.

Hanmiond reached behind him and picked up his chair, pushed it up to the table and sat down slowly. The flush had disappeared from his face. Under his tan he was strangely pale. One hand reached out, hesitatingly to her, across the table.

"Miz 'Gusta, will you accept my apologies? I've said things I didn't mean to say and things I hadn't ought to've said. I don' want you to go."

She did not answer him, nor did she lift her head to look at him. He waited expectantly for her to speak. Drumson set the toddy down beside Hammond and he sipped at it to test the temperature, then drank it in one gulp.

"I had no business talkin' 'bout such things 'fore a lady and you are a lady, Miz 'Gusta. I'm liot used to talking with ladies. I'm not used to all this"—his gesture indicated the dining room, the silver candlesticks, the fine linen, the polished mahogany. "Should have stayed over to the old house. What fer I'm tryin' to be anythin' else 'sides a slave trader? Tha's all I am, Miz 'Gusta, and a slave trader's 'bout the lowest thing there is. You've seen 'em—trampin' the roads with a caffle of miz'able slaves taggin' on behind. Well, that's me, 'ceptin' I got a house to live in and don' needs to go traipsin' 'bout the country a-buyin' and a-tradin' my cattle. Miz 'Gusta, ma'am, you onct said this is yo' home. You're right. You made it and it needs you to keep it." He hesitated a long moment. "I needs you too, Miz 'Gusta."

She raised her head and looked at him. The napkin had not wiped all the traces of tears away. She managed a smile

-not a very convincing one.

"Thank you, Mr. Maxwell, We have both, I fear, acted rather stupidly and said many things we regret. I cannot ac-li^ept your apologies unless you accept mine. This is your house and you have a perfect right to discuss your business as you see fit. However, I still think it better that I leave."

"You're not happy here?" His anxiety betrayed itself in his question. "Look, Miz 'Gusta. If'n you says the word, I'll take Drumson away from Big Pearl. I'll take Elvira and Balsam out o' the boys' room."

m

Drumson caught Brutus' eye. The conversation was not going too well for them.

"No, Mr. Maxwell, I can quite understand why you would want the good blood in Drumson perpetuated. No, let them continue as they are and definitely—most definitely— that is not the reason that impels me to leave. But I cannot stay here any longer under false pretenses. I am not what you think I am. I have imposed upon you."

"No?"

"Yes, I have. The story which Madame Alix told you about me, although it contained certain elements of truth, was not entirely true. I am not Augusta Devereaux—I never was.'*

"Then who are you?" i

"Gussie Delavan—not that the name will mean anything to you. I was born in New Hampshire. One year the Devereaux family came to the White Mountains for the summer. My mother was a chambermaid at the Flume House, a hotel where the Devereaux family were staying. My mother had permission to keep me with her and as Cecile Devereaux and I were about the same age and the only young children at the hotel, we played together every day. That summer my mother ran off with a man and abandoned me. The Devereaux family kindly offered to take care of me as Cecile and I were so fond of each other. When they returned to New Orleans in August, I went with them. Cecile and I were like sisters. Although she had a Negro servant, it was I who took all the care of her, dressed her hair, mended her clothes and waited on her, although my position in the family was not that of a servant. When Mrs. Devereaux was taken ill, I took over the management of the house and after she died, I was in complete charge both of the house in town and the plantation house. It was Cecile who fell in love with Hercule LeSieur. When she could no longer conceal her condition, her father ordered her out of the house. Hercule could not marry her and in desperation he took her to Madame Alix' and naturally I went with her. Cecile died. Having left the; Devereaux home with her, I could not return. Madame Alix was very kind to me. She offered me a place in her house but I could not bring myself to accept it. I had always been adept at hairdressing so I took it up as a profession. It is true that I did the hair of all the girls in Madame Alix' and in some other places of like repute."

"Then you ain' . , . ?" Hammond seemed relieved rather than distressed at her deception.

"I never was. But let me continue, Mr. Maxwell. When Madame Alix heard that you were looking for a woman for your plantation and to help with your daughter, she thought of me. She even furnished me with the clothes that I have with the understanding that I would repay her from the money I was to receive from you. Knowing that you had requested a woman with a 'background,' she invented one for me which seemed to satisfy you. That is why I am telling you now that it is not true. I have entered your house under false pretenses and that is why I now feel I should leave."