第46章 From the Bedside(3)

Whatever gayety had filled me when the Boston lady had clashed with Juno was now changed to deprecation and concern.Indeed,I myself felt almost as if I were being physically struck by the words,until mere bewilderment took possession of me;and after bewilderment,a little,a very little,light,which,however,rapidly increased.We were the victors,we the North,and we had gone upon our way with songs and rejoicing--able to forget,because we were the victors.We had our victory;let the vanquished have their memory.But here was the cry of the vanquished,coming after forty years.It was the time which at first bewildered me;Juno had seen the war,Juno's bitterness I could comprehend,even if I could not comprehend her freedom in expressing it,but the poetess could not be more than a year or two older than I was;she had come after it was all over.Why should she prolong such memories and feelings?But my light increased as I remembered she had not written this for us,and that if she had not seen the flames of war,she had seen the ashes;for the ashes I had seen myself here in Kings Port,and had been overwhelmed by the sight,forty years later,more overwhelmed than Icould possibly say to Mrs.Gregory St.Michael,or Mrs.Weguelin,or any-body.The strain of sitting and waiting for the end made my hands cold and my head hot,but nevertheless the light which had come enabled me to bend instantly to Mrs.Braintree and murmur a great and abused quotation to her:--"Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner."

But my petition could not move her.She was too old;she had seen the flames of war;and so she said to her husband:--"Edward,will you please help me upstairs?"

And thus the lame,irreconcilable lady left the room with the assistance of her unhappy warrior,who must have suffered far more keenly than Idid.

This departure left us all in a constraint which was becoming unbearable when the blessed doorbell rang and delivered us,and Miss Josephine St.

Michael entered with John Mayrant.He wore a most curious expression;his eyes went searching about the room,and at length settled upon Juno with a light in them as impish as that which had flickered in my own mood before the ode.