Presently dinner was announced and we went into the dining room. The meal was a good one, and I had ordered Dinah to get out some champagne as well as claret and sherry. Since Captain Franklin had been campaigning in a very rough way for six months, he thoroughly appreciated the dainty, well-cooked dishes and the good wine, and he said with a smile that he was a most fortunate man in having been detailed to occupy Woodlands instead of having to live in a damp, muddy tent and fare on tough ration beef and hard biscuits.
I laughed, saying that I was glad to hear he liked his quarters. Then we talked about all sorts of things, and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, finding that I had plenty to say and that I was quite able to hold my own in an argument when I was not snubbed.
Captain Franklin was polite and agreeable, treating my opinions with consideration and never contradicting me. When we went into the drawing-room, he bade me good night, saying that he had to visit his men and mount a guard. He then went away, and I felt quite lonely. His coming to the house had excited me, and I found that I could not settle down quietly to anything that evening, so I went upstairs to my room and got Rosa to brush my hair for half an hour, then I went to bed.
Some days passed, and I soon found that the presence of the soldiers had caused nearly all the work on the plantation to come to a standstill. The field hands did pretty much as they pleased-though they were still slaves, the proclamation of their freedom not having been made until some time afterwards.
I had written to Randolph and acquainted him fully with the state of affairs, and had received a letter in which he said that he would not come back to Woodlands just then. It would be no use for him to return, he observed, and it would only annoy him to see his old home overrun by a lot of damned Yankees. He did not think that he would be able to stand it quietly, and there probably would be trouble, which most likely would end in shooting. He also said that he was thinking of taking a house in Richmond, and, if he did, he would send for me at once.
He wanted me badly, as there was not a decent looking woman to be had in the place. He wound up by saying that, when I came away, I could leave everything in charge of the overseers-if there was anything left to be taken charge of.
The letter was typical of the man. It was utterly selfish; there was not a word of tenderness in it, and he had not even thought it necessary to be silent about his doings with other women.
However, his unfaithfulness did not trouble me in the least, and I only smiled when I read that part of his letter.
During the time which had passed, I had seen very little of the soldiers, for they had kept well out of the way. But I was pretty sure that they were having a good time with the women and girls belonging to the plantation. I knew that Rosa had secured a sergeant as her beau, for I had seen her one afternoon in a summer house with him in a rather suspicious attitude. But I did not care how many sweethearts the girl had, or what they did to her, so long as she was at my service whenever I wanted her. And she always was.
Captain Franklin had never obtruded his presence on me, but we met at meals and he always used to spend an hour with me in the drawing room after dinner. It was a most pleasant time for me, because he was always agreeable and amusing. Moreover, we had many ideas in common, and our natures were sympathetic. I saw that he admired me, and before long I felt pretty sure from the way he looked at me and by various other little signs that he had more than a mere liking for me, though I had but little doubt that he had guessed the nature of the relations existing between me and the owner of Woodlands. But whether he had or not, he always treated me with respect, and I could not help contrasting his courteous, gentlemanly manner with the coarse and often brutal way in which Randolph nearly always had treated me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
From the day when Captain Franklin had come to the house, I had liked him, and, as I got to know him better, my feelings had gradually grown warmer until, at last, I fell in love with him. It was the first time in my life that I had felt this passion, and it took full possession of me. I always was thinking of Franklin when he was not with me. I began to want to feel his kisses on my lips, and I longed to lie in his arms. I had not disliked being poked by Randolph, for whom I had not the slightest liking therefore I could not help but think how delightful it would be to be embraced by a man whom I loved. Randolph had never cared for me; he had not scrupled to tell me that he was unfaithful to me, and, above all, he had possessed himself of me originally by most cruel means: therefore I did not consider that I was in the least way bound to be faithful to him. He certainly had given me plenty of fine clothes and a quantity of jewelry, but then-as he probably would have said himself- he had taken the value out of my body. Anyhow, I thought he had most fully.
I became quite lovesick over Franklin-or, to put it more truly, though in coarser language, I wanted very much to be poked by him. But, although he had had plenty of opportunities, he never made love to me, even in the mildest manner, and yet I felt sure that he did love me. I could not determine whether his reserve was caused by shyness or by a sense of honor which would not allow him to make advances to a defenseless woman who was quite in his power.
Three or four more days passed without his showing more warmth, and, since my lovesickness was increasing and there was only one cure for it, I determined to make the first advance. Randolph had instructed me well in all the little artifices by which a woman may allure a man. Thus, I decided to try the effect of one or two of them on my cold lover.
I remembered that Randolph had told me that, if a man happened to be fond of perfume, the odor of it increased his sensual desire for the woman who happened to be wearing it. Franklin liked the perfume of violets, so, that night, when I was dressing for dinner, I sprinkled my chemise and my hair with the delicate but strong essence. I then put on my finest petticoats and a pair of very dainty drawers with deep frills of lace, drawn in at the knees with bows of pale blue satin ribbon. Then I cased my legs in pink, open-work silk stockings and put on my feet a pretty pair of bronze, leather, high-heeled shoes with silver buckles. Next I made Rosa lace me tightly in my corset, and finally I put on a very low-necked frock. When I was fully dressed, I gazed at myself in the mirror, feeling perfectly satisfied with my appearance; my dress fitted me to perfection, my cheeks were tinged with a faint pink color, my eyes were bright and my bare shoulders and arms looked very white and plump.
The above details having been attended to, I went down to the drawing room, where I found Franklin. I had not seen him all day, for he had been away on military duty since early in the morning. We shook hands and I let my hand linger in his. But he did not press it, though I saw that he noticed my more than usually elaborate toilette.
The dinner passed quickly. We both were in good spirits, and we chatted and laughed merrily. When we went into the drawing room I began to exercise my arts. Seating myself on a footstool just under a lamp, I asked him to hold a tangled skein of wool for me while I wound it. To do this he would have to stand close to my knees and look down at my hands as I wound the wool.