Brother Against Brother; or, The Tompkins Mystery. Read online

  CHAPTER XXVIII.

  OLIVIA.

  Abner was kept but a few days at Chancellorville, when he was sent toLibby prison. Here he remained but a few weeks, when, from some cause,or no cause, unless the hope that change of climate would prove fatal,he was removed to Mobile. Here he was confined for four months duringthe hottest weather; but, Mobile being threatened, he was removed to asmall town in the eastern part of Louisiana, about fifty or sixty milesnorth of New Orleans, and near the headwaters of Lake Ponchartrain; herehe was confined in a small stone jail. The town was nearly all French,and the regiment stationed there were nearly all of French or Spanishdescent.

  The colonel of the regiment, Castello Mortimer, was a citizen of thetown. He had formerly been one of the cotton kings of New Orleans; but,on the capture of that city, had removed to Bay's End, where he had alarge cotton plantation. Colonel Mortimer was half Spanish and halfFrench, a portly man, open-hearted and pleasant of countenance, withkindly black eyes and thick, iron gray hair.

  He was regarded as a generous, whole-souled man, although he had hisbitter prejudices. He was a most uncompromising rebel, and, although heknew very little about military tactics, was brave and chivalrous. Heowned an untold number of slaves, and countless acres of cotton fields.

  Colonel Mortimer had received his commission, not on account of hisability as a soldier, but on account of his wealth, and, as he wasthought not fitted for active service, he was assigned to guard thisout-of-the-way place, called Bay's End, and prisoners were brought andleft there to be guarded and kept by him. Those brought to thecolonel's camp fared well, considering the general treatment accordedprisoners. They were furnished with clean straw to sleep on, and theirfood, though not always the amplest in quantity, or the best in quality,was the best that, in the distressed condition of the country, could beafforded.

  Here Abner lingered for two or three months. The glorious tropicalWinter was coming on; the sun was losing his fiercer heat, and his raysfell with mellowed luster on the earth. The orange and citron grovesmade the air sweet with their perfume. The fields were yet white withcotton; but there were no slaves left now to gather it. A number ofnegroes, hired and forced, and whom the boon of freedom had not yetreached, were at work in and near Bay's End.

  Colonel Mortimer was anxious about his cotton; as some of the negroeswere constantly escaping and flying to the North, he kept a small bodyof soldiers detailed to watch them, while they worked in the fields.

  Bay's End was a beautiful village, situated on rising ground, thatoverlooked distant bayous, lagoons, lakes and sluggish streams, wherethe alligator reveled in his glory. The colonel had selected thevillage, on account of its healthy location, for his country residence.He had here a spacious mansion, such as only a Southerner knows how toconstruct; and here, every Autumn, he came with his beautiful Spanishwife. But she had died years before, and the colonel's family consistedof only one daughter, now a young lady.

  At the end of three months, after Abner's arrival at Bay's End, ColonelMortimer appeared one morning at his cell door.

  "Colonel," he said, "I shall be compelled to remove you from here. Moreprisoners are coming, and there is not room for all in this little jug."

  "I hope, sir, that you will give me accommodations as good as I have atpresent," replied Abner.

  "I shall be compelled to take you to my own house, every other placebeing occupied," said the fat, old colonel, with a merry twinkle in hisblack eyes.

  "Surely, if I fare as well as my jailer, I can not complain," saidAbner.

  He followed Colonel Mortimer from the prison, and stood still for amoment, looking about him in the glorious sunshine, up and down theshaded street, and at the beautiful orange groves in the distance. Neverhad nature seemed so beautiful to him before. For weeks at a time he hadnot seen the light of the sun, except through grates, for the rays thathad struggled into his dungeon were shorn of their splendor. Now all thebeauty of a tropical clime burst on him at once--the fields of cotton,the cloudless sky and the sweet scent of flowers, that continually bloomin this land of endless Summer.

  "Oh, beautiful, beautiful!" murmured the prisoner, a moisture gatheringin his eyes.

  "What is beautiful?" asked the colonel, who was by his side; twosoldiers walking in the rear.

  "This world, which God has given us," was the reply.

  "Yes, it is a beautiful world," said the rebel.

  "But we know not how to appreciate it, until we have been for a whiledeprived of the sight of its beauties," answered Abner.

  "Yonder is my home," said the Confederate, pointing to a large granitebuilding. "It is not, perhaps, in strict accordance with militarydiscipline, to keep a prisoner in one's own house, but I have no otherplace for you."

  "I wish your home was farther away," said Abner.

  "Why, sir?"

  "That I might longer enjoy the free air and sunshine."

  The tender-hearted old colonel wiped his face vigorously with his redbandana, and the rest of the journey was made in silence.

  On entering the house, the colonel took his prisoner into a receptionroom, opening from the hall, to wait until his prison room could be madeready.

  "You will be granted some privileges here, that you have not hadbefore," said the colonel. "You will be permitted to walk in the groundsonce in every two or three days for an hour or so."

  "I shall be very grateful to you for the favor, Colonel Mortimer," saidAbner.

  At this moment his quick ear caught the sound of a gay girlish voice onthe stairway, and the swish of silken draperies. Then the door openedand a young girl entered. She cast a quick, surprised glance about theroom, as one will, entering a room supposed to be vacant, to findtherein a stranger. For a moment she hesitated.

  "Come in, Olivia," said the colonel. "My dear, this is our prisoner,Colonel Tompkins. My daughter, colonel!"

  A look of sorrowing compassion instantly clouded that sweet face--thesweetest Abner had ever looked on.

  Olivia Mortimer was one of those Southern women, over whose beautynovelists wax enthusiastic, poets rave and painters dream and despair.

  Abner forgot that he was a prisoner, forgot past hardships and futureperil, forgot all but this beautiful, unexpected vision, withoutstretched hand, and pitying eyes, and sweet, low voice, that made theheart throb wildly, that had kept its even beat amid the blasting ofbugles and the sullen roar of cannon. He blushed like an awkwardschool-boy, as he bowed before her queenly little figure.

  "I am very sorry to see you a prisoner," she said. "It must be very hardto suffer confinement; to know that the flowers bloom and the birdssing, without being able to partake of their joy."

  The gentle words betrayed a heart, kind and womanly. Abner felt that tolay down his life at her feet would be the highest bliss a man mighthope for.

  "I assure you, Miss Mortimer, that prison life is not desirable, but Iam more fortunate than most prisoners, while I have your father for myjailer, and his mansion for my jail, I can well endure my captivity."

  "Colonel," said the old Confederate impulsively, "I have a notion toparole you and give you the freedom of the place. It will be pleasanterfor you and easier for me."

  "For such a privilege, sir, I should be grateful indeed. I already owemuch to your generosity, but this I can hardly realize."

  "And I shall make Olivia your jailer," said the old colonel, with aquiet laugh, that caused his frame to quiver like agitated jelly.

  "Then, sir, my imprisonment will be no punishment at all, but rather alot to be envied," replied Abner.

  "My dear, do you think you can guard a man who has led a thousandsoldiers to the field of battle?" said the old colonel, with anotherquiet laugh.

  "He don't look dangerous, papa, and I can find him sufficientoccupation; busy people, you know, are not apt to get into mischief."

  "Do you comprehend, colonel?" said Colonel Mortimer. "She means to makeyou a galley slave as well as a prisoner."

  "Even such servitude, under su
ch a mistress, would be a pleasure,"answered Abner.

  The old Confederate, being part French, was polite, being part Spanish,was chivalrous, and, when he had taken it into his head to treat hisprisoner well, seemed unable to do enough for him. So Abner remained inthe colonel's mansion, hardly realizing that he was a prisoner, treatedrather as a guest. Since he had been brought to the house of thecommander at Bay's End, Abner had greatly improved in his personalappearance. By chance he had retained a suit of undress colonel'suniform, which had not been soiled by the dampness of prison. He hadbeen close shaved, excepting his light-colored mustache, and he had hishair trimmed by Colonel Mortimer's own barber. Still when in thepresence of the Confederate's beautiful daughter, he always lost hisself possession; his conversational powers, and, in fact, his commonsense, seemed suddenly to desert him. He could only listen in silence,or make disjointed, incoherent replies.

  Olivia sympathized with the poor prisoner, who was so far from home andfriends. She did every thing in her power to cheer him, shemisunderstanding his feelings and attributing his silence and sadness tothe hardships he had suffered during his imprisonment and his longabsence from home. She sang and played for him, she read to him, shewalked and talked with him, revealing all her past history, telling himof the years she had passed in one of the New England seminaries, of hermother's death in her early girlhood, and of many incidents in herbright pleasant life, to which the war as yet had brought no bitterness.

  It was several weeks, after Colonel Mortimer had brought Abner to hishome, that the shattered remnant of a Confederate regiment, passingthrough the village, paused to rest. There were not over three hundredmen in the regiment fit for duty, and some of these were battle-scarred.Colonel Mortimer invited the commander of this brave little band to hishouse. He informed his prisoner and his daughter that a very brave anddistinguished officer would dine with them that day--a young man, abrigadier-general--he could not recall the name, but they would meet himat dinner. Abner and his fair jailer were in the garden when the guestarrived, for, although it was in the month of February, the weather onthis particular day was fine, and the garden was yet a pleasant resort.

  They went together towards the house, and, passing the low, open window,saw the rebel general engaged in conversation with Colonel Mortimer--ayoung man, with fierce, black eyes, black hair and black moustache.

  It was his brother. Abner turned suddenly pale. He detained Olivia for amoment, told her that he had been taken suddenly ill, begged her to makehis excuses to her father, and left her at the door of the dining-room.The distinguished general dined, and, later on, left with the gallantremnant of his regiment. Olivia was too much rejoiced at the prisoner'srapid recovery to inquire into its cause.