"
Rosemary Roselle came up to them.
"Mr. Jim Haxall," she asked, direct and white, "is father dead?"
He studied her for a moment and then answered:
"Yes, Miss Rosemary."
She swayed. Indy, at her side, enveloped her in a sustaining arm.
"Indy," the girl said, her face on the woman's breast, "he, too!"
"I'm sending a few bales of leaf down the river," Haxall continued to
Elim; "the sloop'll pass Bramant's Wharf; but the crew will be just
anybody. Miss Rosemary couldn't go with only her nigger--"
Elim Meikeljohn spoke mechanically:
"I'll be responsible for her." The war was over; he had been ordered
from the column when his wound had broken afresh, and in a maze of
fever he had been irresistibly impelled toward Linden Row. "I'll take
her to Bramant's Wharf."
Haxall regarded suspiciously the disordered blue uniform; then his gaze
shifted to Elim's somber lined countenance.
"Miss Rosemary's rubies and gold--" he said finally. "But I believe
you're honest, I believe you're a good man."
VIII
James Haxall explained this to Rosemary. Elim, standing aside, could
see that the girl neither assented nor raised objection. She seemed
utterly listless; a fleet emotion at the knowledge of her father's
death had, in that public place, been immediately repressed. The sloop,
Elim learned, was ready to start at once. The afternoon was declining;
to reach Bramant's Wharf would take them through the night and into the
meridian of tomorrow.
Pages:
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250