The Crisis | Page 7

passing, knew more about the stock than Mr. Hood himself.
On this particular morning, about nine o'clock, he was stacking bolts of
woollen goods near that delectable counter where the Colonel was wont
to regale his principal customers, when a vision appeared in the door.
Visions were rare at Carvel & Company's. This one was followed by an
old negress with leathery wrinkles, whose smile was joy incarnate.
They entered the store, paused at the entrance to the Colonel's private
office, and surveyed it with dismay.
"Clar t' goodness, Miss Jinny, yo' pa ain't heah! An' whah's Ephum, dat
black good-fo'-nuthin'!"
Miracle number one,--Mr. Hopper stopped work and stared. The vision
was searching the store with her eyes, and pouting.
"How mean of Pa!" she exclaimed, "when I took all this trouble to
surprise him, not to be here! Where are they all? Where's Ephum?

Where's Mr. Hood?"
The eyes lighted on Eliphalet. His blood was sluggish, but it could be
made to beat faster. The ladies he had met at Miss Crane's were not of
this description. As he came forward, embarrassment made him
shamble, and for the first time in his life he was angrily conscious of a
poor figure. Her first question dashed out the spark of his zeal.
"Oh," said she, "are you employed here?"
Thoughtless Virginia! You little know the man you have insulted by
your haughty drawl.
"Yes."
Then find Mr. Carvel, won't you, please? And tell him that his daughter
has come from Kentucky, and is waiting for him."
"I callate Mr. Carvel won't be here this morning," said Eliphalet. He
went back to the pile of dry goods, and began to work. But he was
unable to meet the displeasure in her face.
"What is your name?" Miss Carvel demanded.
"Hopper."
"Then, Mr. Hopper, please find Ephum, or Mr. Hood."
Two more bolts were taken off the truck. Out of the corner of his eye
he watched her, and she seemed very tall, like her father. She was taller
than he, in fact.
"I ain't a servant, Miss Carvel," he said, with a meaning glance at the
negress.
"Laws, Miss Jinny," cried she, "I may's 'ell find Ephum. I knows he's
loafin' somewhar hereabouts. An' I ain't seed him dese five month."
And she started for the back of the store.

"Mammy!"
The old woman stopped short. Eliphalet, electrified, looked up and
instantly down again.
"You say you are employed by Mr. Carvel, and refuse to do what I
ask?"
"I ain't a servant," Mr. Hopper repeated doggedly. He felt that he was in
the right,--and perhaps he was.
It was at this critical juncture in the proceedings that a young man
stepped lightly into the store behind Miss Jinny. Mr. Hopper's eye was
on him, and had taken in the details of his costume before realizing the
import of his presence. He was perhaps twenty, and wore a coat that
sprung in at the waist, and trousers of a light buff-color that gathered at
the ankle and were very copious above. His features were of the
straight type which has been called from time immemorial patrician.
He had dark hair which escaped in waves from under his hat, and black
eyes that snapped when they perceived Miss Virginia Carvel. At sight
of her, indeed, the gold-headed cane stopped in its gyrations in midair.
"Why, Jinny!" he cried--"Jinny!"
Mr. Hopper would have sold his soul to have been in the young man's
polished boots, to have worn his clothes, and to have been able to cry
out to the young lady, "Why, Jinny!"
To Mr. Hopper's surprise, the young lady did not turn around. She
stood perfectly still. But a red flush stole upon her cheek, and laughter
was dancing in her eyes yet she did not move. The young man took a
step forward, and then stood staring at her with such a comical
expression of injury on his face as was too much for Miss Jinny's
serenity. She laughed. That laugh also struck minor chords upon Mr.
Hopper's heart- strings.
But the young gentleman very properly grew angry.

"You've no right to treat me the way you do, Virginia," he cried. "Why
didn't you let me know that you were coming home?" His tone was one
of authority. You didn't come from Kentucky alone!"
"I had plenty of attendance, I assure you," said Miss Carvel. "A
governor, and a senator, and two charming young gentlemen from New
Orleans as far as Cairo, where I found Captain Lige's boat. And Mr.
Brinsmade brought me here to the store. I wanted to surprise Pa," she
continued rapidly, to head off the young gentleman's expostulations.
"How mean of him not to be here!"
"Allow me to escort you home," said he, with ceremony:
"Allow me to