The White Rose of Memphis

“‘Ah, ha! a very nice name, too, it is. And the pretty little girl whose life you saved is the sweetest little angel that ever touched the earth!’

“‘Who is she?’ Harry inquired.

“‘Viola Bramlett is her name. She is the daughter of Mr. Bolivar Bramlett, of New York City, who is traveling in the South for the benefit of his wife’s health. They have been stopping at this hotel some three or four weeks, and being called in to see Mrs. Bramlett professionally, I have had a chance to become well acquainted with the family; therefore, you see, I speak advisedly when I say that little Viola is an angel.’

“‘I hope,’ said Harry, ‘that she is not badly hurt.’

“‘Oh, no; she is not hurt much at all – a slight contusion on the temple, and a few scratches from the briars – that’s all. Her father will be in to see you directly; he is overwhelmed with gratitude to you; and little Viola (Heaven bless her!), won’t talk about anything except the pretty little brave boy who kept her from being killed. She insisted on coming to see you now, but I persuaded her to wait till your wounds were dressed. So you see that you may expect soon to be overflowed with thanks and kisses from the sweetest little darling that the world ever saw. Ah, you’re a lucky lad, anyway. Good morning; I’ll see you again this evening; don’t move the wounded leg; keep it perfectly still, and talk as much as you please to the little angel when she comes to see you.’

“Then the old surgeon bustled out of the room, and went to visit his other patients. It was but a little while after Harry’s wounds had been dressed when Viola came bounding into the room, threw her arms round his neck, kissing his lips at least a dozen times in rapid succession. Then she said, with a voice which I thought very sweet and musical: ‘Oh, you don’t know how much I thank you for saving my life! Papa says that I should have been crushed to death but for your bravery. He says you are a real hero, and he is going to divide all his money with you. My papa has great heaps of money, and he is going to give you half of it, and I am to have the other half. Now, won’t that be nice?’

“I watched her movements with intense interest, and concluded that the old surgeon’s description of her charms had not been exaggerated. Harry gazed at her with such a look of admiration that I was convinced that he concurred in the opinion expressed by the surgeon in regard to her exceeding great beauty. Mr. Bramlett then made his appearance, and was very enthusiastic and profuse in his thanks to Harry for saving his little darling, as he called Viola.

“‘She is all we have, sir, and if she had been taken from us, it would have been a fatal blow to our happiness. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel toward you; and, as soon as you get well, we shall talk more about it. I am a man of business, and not a man of many words; therefore, you shall hear from me again when you get well;’ then, bending down, he gathered Viola to his heart, and as he kissed her fervently, said: ‘Go now, my darling, and get some choice flowers for the little brave hero who risked his life to save you. You must be his nurse, you know, and must keep him well supplied with flowers and iced lemonade, etc., etc;’ and before the sentence was finished Viola had skipped off to collect the flowers.

“Very soon she came in with her apron full of roses, pinks and geraniums, and deposited them in great heaps on Harry’s bed, filling the chamber with their sweet odor.

“‘Now, Mr. Harry,’ she said, ‘there’s your nice flowers; and, while you are enjoying their fragrance, I must go and fetch you some lemonade and ice. Papa is making the lemonade for you, and he told me to give you the flowers, and then to come for the lemonade.’

“She was gone but a moment, when she returned with a little tray, on which sat three goblets full of lemonade and ice; giving the first goblet to Harry, she then gave the other two to Lottie and me. When she went out Harry said: ‘Eddie, isn’t she the sweetest little thing you ever saw?”

“‘Yes, with one exception, undoubtedly,’ I replied, casting a side glance at Lottie. She understood my meaning, and blushed crimson as she turned her face away.

“‘Of course you think Lottie is the prettiest, and I sha’n’t quarrel with you about that.’

“I was delighted to see Harry so cheerful under his sufferings, because it was plain that his wound was paining him. His leg was broken about three inches above the ankle joint; but thanks to the skillful old surgeon, no lameness or deformity resulted from it, and in less than four weeks he was able to walk without crutches. The railroad men from far and near came to see Harry, and they almost worshiped him. The old engineer came every day to inquire how he was getting on, calling Harry his brave little hero. Mrs. Bramlett was unremitting in her attention to Harry, overwhelming him with grateful thanks. She said that her husband had concluded to go with us to Memphis, and never to part from us until he saw us safely landed with Harry’s uncle. The days of Harry’s convalescence were days of unalloyed happiness to me; for I had nothing to do but to saunter among the flowers with Lottie, while Harry was with Viola all the time.”

The queen requested Ingomar to suspend a while. Then the party began to promenade the deck.

CHAPTER VIII

SCOTTIE was leaning on the arm of Ivanhoe, as they promenaded the deck, conversing in subdued tones.

“Have you noticed that lady with black silk domino and yellow mask?”

“No; what about her?”

“That’s she leaning on the arm of the old gentleman with long, white whiskers. I suppose he is her father. Her movements have a mystery about them that excited my curiosity. She has been listening to Ingomar attentively all the time, yet she never speaks a word to any one, except the old gentleman, nor does she mingle with our party; yet she follows Ingomar wherever he goes, as though she was a spy on his track.”

“Indeed! that is strange; and to add to the mystery, I see that those two seedy men have kept close to Ingomar all the time, and appear to be in earnest conversation, which is always carried on in whispers. I think something unusual will develop itself soon.”

“So do I; but I hope it will be nothing against Ingomar; I believe he is a perfect gentleman.”

“I hope you may be right there; but it won’t do to judge by appearances.”

“Look, look! see that woman in the black domino! she is pointing at Ingomar now, and whispering to the old gentleman. I heard her say in a whisper to the same person last night that the suspense was killing her; now, what could that mean?”

“You are too much for me there; but we must wait patiently for further developments; meantime, let us get our party together and hear more of Ingomar’s story.”

“Yes, yes; I am anxious to hear more; go see the queen, and ask her to order the tale continued.”

“About five weeks after Harry had been hurt Mr. Bramlett came into his room, and after talking for a few minutes on general topics, he handed him a roll of bank bills, containing one thousand dollars.

“‘Take this, my brave little hero,’ said he, ‘as a present from Viola; and if ever the time comes when you should need a friend, just write to me, and I promise you that I will respond.’

“‘You are very, very kind, sir,’ said Harry, as he bit his lips, and it was plain to be seen that he was deeply offended, on handing the money back; ‘I hope you won’t think me rude, sir, but I can’t take your money.’

“I was greatly vexed at Harry’s conduct; here was money enough to answer all our demands; it seemed to me that no one but a crazy person would refuse such a sum.

“‘Why, my little friend,’ said Mr. Bramlett, ‘you must allow me to show my gratitude in some way; and how could I do it any better than by helping you with ready money? You must think of your little sister; she must be taken care of; and how can you do it unless you have money to pay her board and buy her clothes?’

“‘I can work for her, sir, and so can Eddie; we shall both work for her; I should feel like a beggar, sir, if I were to take your money.’

“‘All a mistake, I assure you; I have an ample fortune; you saved the life of my darling Viola, and you must allow me to do something to show my gratitude.’

“‘I was not thinking of money, sir, when I saved your daughter; I was thinking of her.’

“‘No doubt, no doubt you were; but you have suffered much on account of the gallant deed, and I shall be deeply mortified if you refuse to allow me a chance to show how much I feel the obligation.’

“‘I am very sorry, sir, to hear you say that; but really, I cannot take any money.’

“‘Suppose then, we make a trade. Let me loan you three thousand dollars at five per cent. interest, taking your note, with Edward as security, on condition that you use the money in completing the education of yourself, your sister and Edward; then you study law, and when you begin to make money at your profession, you shall pay my money back with interest. What say you to that?’

“‘That would be worse; it would be receiving the money under false pretenses; I can readily understand the kindness that prompts you to make the offer, but as I never should be able to pay your money back, it would not be right for me to take it.’

“Mr. Bramlett left the room rather abruptly; he was vexed at Harry’s obstinacy, and when he went into his wife’s room he said: ‘That foolish boy refuses to accept any aid from me; I declare it is too bad; it is a shame to see them start out afoot again; he is the most high-strung chap I ever saw; I’ll resort to strategy; I’ll employ some agent to look after those children.’

“‘Allow me to make a suggestion,’ said Mrs. Bramlett to her husband; ‘as we are going to Memphis, anyway, you might procure a situation for the boys with some of your business friends in Memphis, and then you could place money with your agent and have it paid to them in such sums as they need, making them believe all the while that they are earning it; that would keep them from feeling that they are objects of charity, for to tell you the truth, I rather admire their high-strung notions, as you call them. Of course they are too young to be of much service to anybody, but it would encourage them if they could be made to think that they were earning their support.’

“‘Thank you, dear, for the suggestion; it is the very thing. We will go to Memphis to-morrow, and the matter shall be arranged.’

“Of course, we were ignorant of this arrangement, and did not find it out for many years afterward. I was at that time unable to support Harry’s independent views, and tried to argue the question with him, but it was a failure on my part.

“‘I should despise myself,’ said he, ‘if I were to take the kind gentleman’s money, knowing that I never should be able to pay it back. Then, perhaps, it would displease our uncle if he knew we had accepted money in the way of charity.’

“He went so far as to refuse to take the train with Mr. Bramlett until that gentleman promised to furnish him employment as soon as we should reach Memphis, by which we could re-imburse him for the money advanced to pay our fare; and I don’t believe he would have done that but for the influence brought to bear on him by Viola, who threw her arms about his neck and declared that she would cry her eyes out unless he went with her to Memphis.

“When we arrived at Memphis, Mr. Bramlett took us to the Worsham House, promising to inquire for our uncle on the next day; and when he came back, after having gone out for that purpose, and informed us that our uncle had gone to California, with a view of making it his permanent home, we began to realize the fact that we were now left all alone and must think and act for ourselves.

“‘What are we to do now, Harry?’ I inquired.

“‘We must seek employment at once,’ said he, ‘and we must lose no time about it either. You stay with Lottie, and I’ll go out and see what we can get to do.’

“Harry returned after three hours’ absence, and the look of disappointment that appeared on his face convinced me of his failure before he told it.

“‘No one seems to want us,’ he said gloomily, as he dropped exhausted on a chair. ‘I have met nothing but disappointment at every point; but I will try again, when I get rested.’

“Lottie wiped the perspiration from his brow with her handkerchief, and ran her fingers through his hair.