第34章 THE DUPLICITY OF HARGRAVES(1)

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 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 the 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 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 of that period he had brought all its old pride and scruples of honour, 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, the 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 broadbrimmed 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 skirt.

But the major, with all his queer clothes, his immense area of plaited, ravelling shirt bosom, and the little black string tie with the bow always slipping on one side, both was smiled at and liked in Mrs.Vardeman' s select boarding house.Some of the young department clerks would often "string him," 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, 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 ante-bellum glory did not radiate from her 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, the 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, "We'll pay as we go as long as the money lasts, and then perhaps they'll have to lump it."Most of Mrs.Vardeman's 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 his full name -- who was engaged at one of the popular vaudeville theatres.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 theatre 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 Major 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 privately termed him; but soon the young man's agreeable manner and indubitable appreciation of the old gentleman's 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 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 entranced 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, 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 n ever failed to extract ready replies.