when cabell graeme was courting pretty betty french up at the chateau place, though he had many rivals and not a few obstacles to overcome, he had the good fortune to secure one valuable ally, whose friendship stood him in good stead. she was of a rich chocolate tint, with good features, and long hair, possibly inherited from some arab ancestor, bead-like black eyes, and a voice like a harp, but which on occasion could become a flame. her figure was short and stocky; but more dignity was never compressed within the same number of cubic inches.
mam' lyddy had been in the french family all her life, as her mother and grandmother had been before her. she had rocked on her ample bosom the best part of three generations. and when freedom came, however much she may have appreciated being free, she had much too high an estimate of the standing of the frenches to descend to the level of the class she had always contemned as “free niggers.” she was a deep-dyed aristocrat.
the frenches were generally esteemed to be among the oldest and best families in the county, and the chateau plantation, with its wide fields and fine old mansion, was commonly reckoned one of the finest in that section. but no such comparative statement would have satisfied mam' lyddy. she firmly believed that the frenches were the greatest people in the world, and it would have added nothing to her dignity had they been princes, because it could have added nothing to it to be told that she was a member of a royal house. part mentor, part dependent, part domestic, she knew her position, and within her province her place was as unquestioned as was that of her mistress, and her advice was as carefully considered.
caesar, her husband, a tall, ebony lath, with a bald head and meek eyes, had come out of another family and was treated with condescension. no one knew how often he was reminded of his lower estate; but it was often enough, for he was always in a somewhat humble and apologetic attitude.
the frenches were known as a “likely” family, but betty, with her oval face, soft eyes, and skin like a magnolia flower, was so undeniably the beauty that she was called “pretty betty.” she was equally undeniably the belle. and while the old woman, who idolized her, found far more pleasure than even her mother in her belleship, she was as watchful over her as argus. every young man of the many who haunted the old french mansion among its oaks and maples had to meet the scrutiny of those sharp, tack-like eyes. the least slip that one made was enough to prove his downfall. the old woman sifted them as surely as she sifted her meal, and branded them with an infallible instinct akin to that of a keen watchdog. many a young man who passed that silent figure without a greeting, or spoke lightly of some one, unheeding her presence, wondered at his want of success and felt without knowing why that he was pulling against an unseen current.
“we must drop him—he ain't a gent'man,” she said of one. of another: “oh! oh! honey, he won't do. he ain't our kind.” or, “betty, let him go, my lamb. de frenches don't pick up dat kine o' stick.”
happily for cabell graeme, he had the old woman's approval. in the first place, he was related to the frenches, and this in her eyes was a patent of gentility. then, he had always been kind to little betty and particularly civil to herself. he not only never omitted to ask after her health, but also inquired as to her pet ailments of “misery in her foot” and “whirlin' in her head,” with an interest which flattered her deeply. but it went further back than that once, when betty was a little girl, cabell, then a well-grown boy of twelve, had found her and her mammy on the wrong side of a muddy road, and wading through, he had carried betty across, and then wading back, had offered to carry mam' lyddy over, too.
“go way f'om heah, boy, you can't carry me.”
“yes, i can, mam' lyddy. you don't know how strong i am.” he squared himself for the feat.
she laughed at him, and with a flash in his gray eyes he suddenly grabbed her.
“i 'll show you.”
there was quite a scuffle. she was too heavy for him, but he won her friendship then and there, and as he grew up straight and sturdy, the friendship ripened. that he teased her and laughed at her did not in the least offend her. no one else could have taken such a liberty with her, but cabell's references to old caesar's declining health, and his innuendoes whenever she was “fixed up” that she was “looking around” in advance only amused her. it made no difference to her that he was poor, while several others of betty's beaux were rich. he was “a gent'man,” and she was an aristocrat.
at times they had pitched battles, but each knew that the other was an ally.
cabell won his final victory by an audacity which few would have dared venture on. among his rivals was one mr. hereford, whom he particularly disliked, partly because he frequently “outsat” him, and partly because he thought miss betty favored his attentions too much, and whom mammy lyddy detested because he always ignored her. cabell charged her with deserting his cause and going over to the side of mr. hereford, and threatened to carry off the prize in spite of her and her ally.
“you cyant cyah off nothin',” she said with a sniff of mock disdain. his eyes snapped. without a word he seized her, and notwithstanding her resistance he lifted her, and flinging her over his shoulder, as if she had been a sack of corn, stalked up the steps and into the house, where he set her down abashed and vanquished before her astonished young mistress. the old woman pretended to be furious, but that day cabell graeme carried off more than mam' lyddy.
when cabel and pretty betty were married, mam' lyddy threw in her lot with “her lamb.”
through all the evil days of carpet-bag rule, no white, not even cabell graeme himself, who was a leader of the young men, had looked with more burning contempt on the new-comers, or shown a sterner front to the miscreants who despoiled the country. and when negro rule was at its worst, mam' lyddy was its most bitter reviler. cabell graeme was a captain among the young men who finally put down the evil element that had been running its riotous course. and during the fierce fight that was waged, he was much away from home; but he knew that in mam' lyddy he had left as redoubtable a guardian of his wife and babies as ever kept watch on a picket line.
among the most obnoxious of the colored leaders was one amos brown, a young negro with some education, who to the gift of fluency added enough shrewdness to become a leader. he was while in power one of the most dangerous men in the state, and so long as he had backing enough, he staggered at nothing to keep the negroes stirred up. one of his schemes was to get money from the negroes with which to pay, as he claimed, ten per cent, for the best plantations in the state, after which, according to his account, the government was to give them the places. this scheme worked well enough till the day of reckoning came, but happily it came. among those who were duped was old caesar, who, unknown to mam' lyddy, invested all his little savings in amos brown's homestead-plan and was robbed. partly in terror of mam' lyddy and partly in hopes of saving his money, the old man made a full disclosure of the scheme, and with the proof he furnished, cabell graeme and others succeeded in sending the statesman to the penitentiary.
what caesar possibly had to endure from mam' lyddy, only those could imagine who knew her blistering tongue. from that time she took herself not only everything that she made, but every cent that old caesar made.
“you keep 'dis for me, marse cab. i 'm never goin' to trust dat caesar wid a cent long as i live. a nigger ain't got a bit o' sense about money.”
but though caesar would gladly have paid all he made to purchase immunity from her revilings, it is probable that he heard of his error at least three times a day during the rest of his natural life.
