The voice sounded so near that Hernando looked quickly at Reuben; but apparently he had not moved a muscle since his last remark. Whence came that voice? All else was still; even the rustling leaves outside seemed to wait like the enchanted fairies, for his answer, while that relentless question dinned in his ears.
“Have you submitted those specifications?”
Yes, had he? Hernando’s tension relaxed somewhat at the admission of an honest doubt, and the dinning in his ears grew fainter before the incoming light. Alas! no, the Bar of Justice before whom all plans must go had not passed on his. The dinning in his ears ceased; and then something, that Something which comes to each of us when self is melted into the sincere desire for truth for truth’s sake, flashed upon him. Only a flash, a glimpse of the real; but Hernando caught it, saw that his message had been received, knew that at the right time, and in the best way, the call from the very bottom of his heart would be answered.
CHAPTER XIV
IF one cloud dimmed the happiness of the De Vere household on the following morning, it was too small to be seen. Reuben awoke with the birds and from the chicken yard ominous squawks foretold what would constitute one item in the bill-of-fare for breakfast. “Molly,” Cornelia’s Jersey cow, was poking her nose through the bars ready to contribute a generous supply of rich milk, and soon afterward Margaret’s “Co, boss!” made her step lightly aside while with shining pail that worthy woman lowered the bars and entered the barnyard.
“Oh, Reuben!” she shouted, “what yo’ doin’ to dem chickens? I ’clare to goodness, yo’ll drive me plumb crazy.”
“Nebba yo’ min’ dem chickens! Yo’ jes’ pay ’tention to Molly.”
He appeared just then around the corner of the barn with three headless chickens, and as his wife’s glance fell on them, she exclaimed, with uplifted hands,—“Fo’ de lan’ sake, ef yo’ aint done gone an’ killt de baby’s dominick pullet!”
Reuben’s crest-fallen countenance softened her heart, however, and she said no more and was soon on a stool beside Molly. Did she miss old associates in the sunny South? If so, no one knew it; as with Reuben, Massa John and Miss Bessie’s world was hers, and had they gone to the wilds of Siberia, these two faithful servants would have followed and been content.