Francis Hopkinson Smith
Colonel Carter's Christmas and The Romance of an Old-Fashioned Gentleman
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066176075
Table of Contents
THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN
ILLUSTRATIONS
| Katy dropped her head on his shoulder again | Frontispiece |
| FACING PAGE | |
| “Take them upstairs and put them on my dressin’-table” | 4 |
| “Each guest had a candle alight” | 84 |
| And so the picture was begun | 104 |
| “Promise me that you will stop the whole business” | 172 |
| “It is all her doing, Phil” | 205 |
COLONEL CARTER’S
CHRISTMAS
I
“What am I gwine to do wid dese yere barkers, Colonel?” asked Chad, picking up his master’s case of duelling pistols from the mantel. “I ain’t tetched der moufs since I iled ’em up for dat Klutchem man.”
“Take them upstairs, Chad, and put them away,” answered the Colonel with an indignant wave of the hand.
“No chance o’ pickin’ him, I s’pose? Done got away fo’ sho, ain’t he?”
The Colonel nodded his head and kept on looking into the fire. The subject was evidently an unpleasant one.
“Couldn’t Major Yancey an’ de Jedge do nuffin?” persisted the old servant, lifting one of the pistols from the case and squinting into its polished barrel.
“Eve’ything that a gentleman could do was done, Chad. You are aware of that, Major?” and he turned his head towards me—the Colonel will insist on calling me “Major.” “But I am not done with him yet, Chad. The next time I meet him I shall lay my cane over his back. Take them upstairs and put them on my dressin’ table. We’ll keep them for some gentleman at home.”
The Colonel arose from his chair, picked up the decanter, poured out a glass for me and one for himself, replenished his long clay pipe from a box of tobacco within reach of his hand and resumed his seat again. Mention of Mr. Klutchem’s name produced a form of restlessness in my host which took all his self-control to overcome.
“—And, Chad.” The old darky had now reached the door opening into the narrow hall, the case of pistols in his hand.
“Yes, sah.”
“I think you have a right to know, Chad, why I did not meet Mr. Klutchem in the open field.”
Chad bent his head in attention. This had really been the one thing of all others about which this invaluable servant had been most disturbed. Before this it had been a word, a blow, and an exchange of shots at daybreak in all the Colonel’s affairs—all that Chad had attended—and yet a week or more had now elapsed since this worthy darky had moulded some extra bullets for these same dogs “wid der moufs open,” and until to-night the case had never even left its place on the mantel.
“I was disposed, Chad,” the Colonel continued, “to overlook Mr. Klutchem’s gross insult after a talk I had with Mr. Fitzpatrick, and I went all the way to the scoundrel’s house to tell him so. I found him in his chair suffe’in’ from an attack of gout. I had my caa’ridge outside, and offe’ed in the most co’teous way to conduct him to it and drive him to my office, where a number of his friends and mine were assembled in order that the apology I p’posed might be as impressive as the challenge I sent. He refused, Chad, in the most insolent manner, and I left him with the remark that I should lay my cane over his shoulders whenever I met him; and I shall.”