|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 46
The big man now confronted the young blood with decision.
"Mr. Lucian Morrow," he said, "if you are finished with your fool
talk, I will bid you good morning. I have decided not to sell
the girl."
The face of Morrow changed. His voice wheedled in an anxious
note.
"Not sell her, Zindorf!" he echoed. "Why man, you have promised
her to me all along. You always said I should have her in spite
of your cursed partner Ordez. You said you'd get her some day
and sell her to me. Now, curse it, Zindorf, I want her . . .
I've got the money: ten thousand dollars. It's a big lot of
money. But I've got it. I've got it in gold."
He went on:
"Besides, Zindorf, you can have the money, it'll mean more to
you. But it's the girl I want."
He stood up and in his anxiety the effect of the liquor faded
out.
"I've waited on your promise, Zindorf. You said that some day,
when Ordez was hard-pressed he would sell her for money, even if
she was his natural daughter. You were right; you knew Ordez.
You have got an assignment of all the slaves in possession, in
the partnership, and Ordez has cleared out of the country. I
know what you paid for his half-interest in this business, it's
set out in the assignment. It was three thousand dollars.
"Think of it, man, three thousand dollars to Ordez for a
wholesale, omnibus assignment of everything. An elastic legal
note of an assignment that you can stretch to include this girl
along with the half-dozen other slaves that you have on hand
here; and I offer you ten thousand dollars for the girl alone!"
One could see how the repetition of the sum in gold affected
Zindorf.
He had the love of money in that dominating control that the
Apostle spoke of. But the elegant young man was moved by a lure
no less potent. And his anxiety, for the time, suppressed the
evidences of liquor.
"I'll take the risk on the title, Zindorf. You and Ordez were
partners in this traffic. Ordez gives you a general assignment
of all slaves on hand for three thousand dollars and lights out
of the country. He leaves his daughter here among the others.
And this general assignment can be construed to include her. Her
mother was a slave and that brings her within the law. We know
precisely who her mother was, and all about it. You looked it up
and my lawyer, Mr. Cable, looked it up. Her mother was the
octoroon woman, Suzanne, owned by old Judge Marquette in New
Orleans.
"There may have been some sort of church marriage, but there's no
legal record, Cable says.
"The woman belonged to Marquette, and under the law the girl is a
slave. You got a paper title out of Marquette's executors,
privily, years ago. Now you have this indefinite assignment by
Ordez. He's gone to the Spanish Islands, or the devil, or both.
And if Mr. Pendleton can draw a deed of sale that will stand in
the courts between us, I'll take the risk on the validity of my
title."
He paused.
"The law's sound on slaves, Judge Madison has a dozen himself,
not all black either; not three-eighths black!" and he laughed.
Then he turned to my father.
"Mr. Pendleton," he said, "I persuaded Zindorf to send for you to
draw up this deed of sale. I have no confidence in the little
practicing tricksters at the county seat. They take a fee and,
with premeditation, write a word or phrase into the contract that
leaves it open for a suit at law."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|