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Chapter 1 The first scene is in the country, in Virginia; the time, 1880. There has been a wedding, between a handsome young man of slender means and a rich young girla case of love at first sight and a precipitate marriage; a marriage bitterly opposed by the girls widowed father. Jacob Fuller, the bridegroom, is twenty-six years old, is of an old but unconsidered family which had by compulsion emigrated from Sedgemoor, and for King Jamess purses profit, so everybody saidsome maliciously, the rest merely because they believed it. The bride is nineteen and beautiful. She is intense, high-strung, romantic, immeasurably proud of her Cavalier blood, and passionate in her love for her young husband. For its sake she braved her fathers displeasure, endured his reproaches, listened with loyalty unshaken to his warning predictions, and went from his house without his blessing, proud and happy in the proofs she was thus giving of the quality of the affection which had made its home in her heart. The morning after the marriage there was a sad surprise for her. Her husband put aside her proffered caresses, and said: Sit down. I have something to say to you. I loved you. That was before I asked your father to give you to me. His refusal is not my grievanceI could have endured that. But the things he said of me to youthat is a different matter. Thereyou neednt speak; I know quite well what they were; I got them from authentic sources. Among other things he said that my character was written in my face; that I was treacherous, a dissembler, a coward, and a brute without sense of pity or compassion: the Sedgemoor trade-mark, he called itand white-sleeve badge. Any other man in my place would have gone to his house and shot him down like a dog. I wanted to do it, and was minded to do it, but a better thought came to me: to put him to shame; to break his heart; to kill him by inches. How to do it? Through my treatment of you, his idol! I would marry you; and thenHave patience. You will see. From that moment onward, for three months, the young wife suffered all the humiliations, all the insults, all the miseries that the diligent and inventive mind of the husband could contrive, save physical injuries only. Her strong pride stood by her, and she kept the secret of her troubles. Now and then the husband said, Why dont you go to your father and tell him? Then he invented new tortures, applied them, and asked again. She always answered, He shall never know by my mouth, and taunted him with his origin; said she was the lawful slave of a scion of slaves, and must obey, and wouldup to that point, but no further; he could kill her if he liked, but he could not break her; it was not in the Sedgemoor breed to do it. At the end of the three months he said, with a dark significance in his manner, I have tried all things but oneand waited for her reply. Try that, she said, and curled her lip in mockery. That night he rose at midnight and put on his clothes, then said to her, Get up and dress! She obeyedas always, without a word. He led her half a mile from the house, and proceeded to lash her to a tree by the side of the public road; and succeeded, she screaming and struggling. He gagged her then, struck her across the face with his cowhide, and set his bloodhounds on her. They tore the clothes off her, and she was naked. He called the dogs off, and said: You will be foundby the passing public. They will be dropping along about three hours from now, and will spread the newsdo you hear? Good-by. You have seen the last of me. He went away then. She moaned to herself: I shall bear a childto him! God grant it may be a boy! The farmers released her by and byand spread the news, which was natural. They raised the country with lynching intentions, but the bird had flown. The young wife shut herself up in her fathers house; he |
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