Orange Grove (Wall)/Chapter 37
"Am I mad that I should cherish that which bears such bitter fruit?
I will pluck it from my bosom though my heart be at its root."
No little commotion was excited when it was discovered that Mrs. Carleton had escaped from her prison. By what means she had effected the escape was a mystery. Every one was ignorant of any circumstance connected with the affair that could afford the least clue to its solution. Even the little wise-acre when questioned answered with her usual indifference, manifesting no interest to obtain any knowledge of her, which rather surprised the other attendants who had observed the apparent attachment between them. She had her conjectures from remarks Mrs. Carleton made that morning coupled with expressions of gratitude for all her kindness to her, which, however, would have left no particular impression if she had not disappeared, but how the flight was accomplished she was equally puzzled to guess. Suspicions finally rested on the carriage as having some connection with the mystery, and Mr. Carleton, upon receiving the information, at once suspected Mr. Livingston, though unable to comprehend by what possible means any communication could have been effected between him and his wife. It was sometime before he gained any certain tidings of her as the affair was kept very secret, none outside the family circle knowing of her presence at Orange Grove. She was still unconscious when she arrived there, but by the aid of powerful restoratives, life, accompanied by a high fever, returned to contend once more for the mastery with death. When the fever abated the attending physician gave very little encouragement that reason would ever resume its sway if her life was spared. Mrs. Claremont and Milly were the only ones it was safe to admit to her bedside. The sight of Mr. Livingston and his wife excited her to such a degree that it was impossible to hold her in bed. "Has he come," she would say, "is he here? You will not let him take me will you? Oh my poor children! I must not stay here, I must get away."
Mrs. Claremont's soothing words and assurance of safety as with gentle force she remanded her to her bed, promising to guard her against every harm, generally calmed the invalid, whose strength could sustain her no longer in that state of excitement. As days wore on she became more quiet, but gave very little evidence of returning strength. Upon her will, in a great measure, depended her recovery. Whether consciousness would be restored sufficiently to make her understand this was very doubtful. With the first gleam of reason came the maddening recollection of her stinging wrongs, and her brain reeled again in that unconscious state which comes of dispair.
Mr. Carleton once made his appearance there with an officer, thinking he might intimidate the family to give her up, but Rosalind proved more than a match for him.
"Do you come here" said she, "expecting us to deliver her into your custody, because you claim die power the law gives you as her husband, when you hare treated her worse than a brute? No! Sooner would I trample on every law in the state than be guilty of such perfidy!"
One morning, when unusually rational, Mrs. Claremont removed her patient in front of the window which commanded a full view of the lawn, whose verdant beauty was resplendent with sparkling gems fresh from the hand of its Maker, as the sun suddenly emerged from his misty shadow.
Mrs. Carleton gazed at it long and quietly as if lost in reverie. Mrs. Claremont approached to speak to her, but was anticipated by the sufferer with the remark, "What a lovely morning!" Her manner indicating that something farther was seeking utterance, Mrs. Claremont proceeded with the task of arranging her hair without making any reply.
She continued, "As the earth smiles so lovingly from its lap of tender green after the gathering shades of darkness have merged in the tranquil morning light, so does my soul respond to the giver of all blessings for his kindness and watchfulness over me."
"There are many blessings in store for you yet, I firmly believe," replied her faithful friend and nurse. "You remember the promise of old, 'All things work together for good to those who love God.'"
"I am afraid that I have not loved him as much as I ought. I should have been more willing to trust Him when my troubles rose in such magnitude around me. Much as I wish to see my children, I feel now a resignation to wait His time, and a cheerful willingness to submit all my wrongs to that impartial tribunal which alone is able to award a righteous verdict. Why should we, weak mortals, presume to invoke vengeance on an erring fellow mortal?"
A perceptible change for the better was soon to be observed in the invalid, and her recovery was very rapid. Meanwhile, owing to the indefatigable exertions of Mrs. Livingston, efforts were being made for the restoration of her children. A great deal of sympathy was awakened in all circles by the story of her sufferings, her marvellous escape, and the forgiving spirit she now manifested. Men in the legal profession whose consciences were not so seared as to prevent them from discerning a moral principle behind the law, were eager to discover some process through which they could effect the desired object. It was done although we can scarcely tell how. The law is a tricky old tyrant, and the man who is ingenious enough to understand all its crooks and turns wields a powerful sceptre either for good or evil. By the rendering of a single phrase fortunes have been gained and lost, life made the sport of chance and the destinies of nations materially changed for centuries to come. By a liberal construction on the side of justice, reforms have been peacefully carried through constitutional measures, which otherwise would have triumphed only through fire and blood.
Probably no calling has been more maligned than the legal profession. Entrusted with responsibilities extending alike to the proudest ruler and the humblest citizen, covering with its broad mantle all the vital interests of society by its culmination in the supposed wisdom and integrity of the judicial ermine, before whose decisions both church and state bow in reverent homage, there is none which calls for a higher exercise of all those pre-eminent virtues which constitute the true Christian, patriot and statesman. On the other side, through its monopoly of the knowledge of the technicalities of the law, about which the mass of the people take no trouble to inform themselves, there is no profession in which an unscrupulous man can so openly and respectably trifle with the most momentous interests of the human family, individually or collectively, as in the practice of law. Society is not guiltless so long as it delegates irresponsible powers to any class of men inheriting the common passions and vices of mankind, and such powers are delegated whenever, blind to its own interests, or forgetful of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, it permits human laws to override the divine.
Walter Claremont was too honest to take advantage of any ambiguous phrase where the intentional meaning was not to be denied, but his influence in presenting the moral bearings of the case contributed materially towards gaining a decision in favor of Mrs. Carleton.
She saw him once at her own request, but not to taunt him with reproaches. She told him that although he had forfeited all reverence as a husband she wished him no ill, and while she should not seek to lessen her children's respect for him as their father, she could not teach them to cherish his memory by perpetuating his name as a household word, which would henceforth never escape her lips either in their presence or in the presence of others.
Had he not lost every spark of manhood, which in his younger days was at times sufficient to overpower his sensuality with something like the pure gush of feeling, he would have shown some emotion, but he was as unmoved as a statue. Even the affection ho had once manifested for his children seemed to have died out of his bosom.
He departed to seek a more congenial home at the south, the more willingly that a prospect opened before him to retrieve his fallen fortunes, having quite a stock in trade in the way of information concerning several fugitives from different parts of the south, whose former masters he had known, which he kept properly booked. This proved a most invaluable acquisition to his credentials for admission again to southern society, a path that might have been rather difficult of access after his precipitate retreat.
The old slave law of '93, though sufficiently stringent in its provisions, had never been very effectual in securing the end for which it was enacted, owing to the prejudices still lingering in the northern mind against the anti-republican theory that only white men were created free and equal. The southern lords of the lash began to sit uneasily in their chairs, and their timid accomplices at the north, the law and order men were laboring with untiring zeal to convince them of their own readiness to act at their bidding, the sincerity of which was proved when they were called upon to "conquer their prejudices."
As the contest went on the little remnant of northern conscience which had hitherto endorsed in theory, if not in practice, the doctrine that every man had an inalienable right to liberty was ready to pronounce it a "glittering generality," and the teachings of Christ were reversed,—"I was a stranger and ye took me not in" being made the test of national Christianity. In the reverent stillness of a New England Sabbath the church bells sounded then call to morning prayer; from choir and organ rose the swelling anthems of praise, but only to the white man's God. The black was that day struck out of existence. Only in secluded alleys and darkened cellars, in the crowded attic where his living flesh could be stowed away so that it might be overlooked among the enormous piles of other "merchandise," could his soul pour itself to God in prayer.
Then was the hour of triumph for such as Mr. Carleton. On the scent of their human prey they skulked abroad under the ensign of the American Eagle, to proclaim the infatuated lie that "black men had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." But over these scenes humanity would willingly draw a veil.