Oscar Micheaux - Chapter III Glavis Makes a Promise (Epoch the Third): The Homesteader lyrics

GLAVIS tried to appear very serious when Baptiste called at where he worked an hour later, but it was beyond him to be so. It was said that he was in the habit of trying to appear like the Reverend, but since the pretended seriousness of that one had never affected Jean Baptiste, Glavis' affectation had still less effect, " Well, Glavis," he began pointedly. " I'm here as per your suggestion, and since it is quite plain what the matter is, we may as well come directly to the point." " Well, yes, Baptiste, I guess I may as well agree with you," replied Glavis. " Then, to begin with. That remark you made over the 'phone regarding what I had said about you, let me say is a falsehood pure and simple. What I said or would say to your back I will say to your face." " Well, Baptiste," he replied quickly, and his expression confirmed the words that followed, " I believe you." " I have no occasion to lie. It is very plain that our father-in-law and I are not in accord, and while it may be nothing to you perhaps, I do not hesitate to say that there is nothing wrong between Orlean and me and never has been. It is all between her father and me, and he is using her as the means." " Well, that is rather direct," suggested Glavis. " Evidently so ; but it's the truth and you know it. It is simply a case which you are supposed not to see all sides of." " Now, Baptiste," defended Glavis, " I am no party to your wife's being here in Chicago." " And I agree with you," returned Baptiste. " It is not your nature to make trouble between people, Glavis. I'll do you that honor. People are inclined to follow their natural bent, and yours. I repeat, is not to cause others misery. Therefore, you can rest a**ured that I do not mean to involve you in any of my troubles." " That is sure manly in you, Baptiste," Glavis said heartily. " But it is a fact, I venture, that you have been advised that I spoke ill of you at least, I spoke disparagingly of you while your folks were in the West. Am I speaking correctly ? " " I'll have to admit that you are," and he scowled a little. " Do you believe these statements ? " The other scowled again, but didn't have the courage to say that he did or, perhaps to lie. He knew why he had been told what he had. To unite with the Reverend in his getting even with Baptiste, Glavis had been told that Baptiste had " run him down." " Well, Glavis, the fact that my wife is at your home under your roof I, her husband, am therefore placed at a disadvantage thereby. You cannot help being indirectly implicated in whatever may happen." " Now, now, Baptiste," the other cried quickly. " I do not want to have anything to do with you and Orlean's troubles. I-- " " It is not Orlean and my troubles, Glavis. It is her fa- ther's and my troubles." Glavis shifted uncomfortably. Presently he said hesitatingly : " The old man just left town this morning. Wished you and he could have had your outs together." " Yes, it is too bad we did not. As I see it, I have no business with him. In him I am not interested, and never have been. Because I have held aloof from becoming so is the cause of the trouble. I was told before I married Orlean, and by her herself, that I should praise her father ; that I should make him think that he was a king, if I would get along with him. Indeed, I did not, I confess, at the time consider it to be as grave as that, that I had this to do in order to live with Orlean." It was positively uncomfortable to Glavis. He could find no words to disagree with the other because he knew that he spoke the truth. He knew that he had catered to the Rever- end's vanity to be allowed to pay court to Ethel before he was married to her ; he knew that he had done so since ; and he knew and did not always like it that he was still doing so, and boarding the Reverend's wife into the bargain, and Orlean now was added thereto. He did not relish the task. He earned only a small salary that was insufficient for his own and his wife's needs. Up to a certain point his wife defied her father; but since she was so like him in disposition, and had been instrumental in a**isting to separate Orlean and her husband, she had not the courage to rebel and compel at least insist that the Reverend take care of his wife and the daughter he had parted from her husband. So it was all thrown onto Glavis. He made a few dol- lars extra each week by various means, and this helped him a little. In truth, he wished that Orlean was with her hus- band, and knowing very well that there was where she wanted to be, he was inclined for the moment to try to help Baptiste. Besides, he rather admired the man. Few peo- ple could be oblivious to the personality of Baptiste and be honest with themselves. Even the Elder had always found it expedient to be disagreeable in order to dispel the effect of his son-in-law's frank personality. " The way we are lined up, Glavis, you must appreciate that you cannot keep out of it. You are aware that I have no wish to hang around your abode; but I didn't come all the way from the West to fail to see Orlean. You know full well that Ethel would never let her meet me elsewhere, that her father has left orders to that effect. Now, what am I to do? If I call, your wife will make it so disagreeable that nothing can be accomplished." " Dammit ! " exclaimed Glavis suddenly. " It isn't all my fault or the old man's or my wife's ! It's Orlean's ! " " Well," agreed Baptiste, thoughtfully, " on the whole, that is so." " Of course it is ! If Orlean was a woman she would be right out there with you now where she belongs ! " " And I agree with you again, Glavis. But Orlean isn't a woman, and that is what I have been trying to make her. She has never been a woman wasn't reared so to be. By nature she is like her mother, and she has grown up according to her training." " She cannot be two things at the same time," Glavis argued, " and that is a daughter to her father and a wife to you ! " "No, that is where the difficulty lay," said Baptiste. " But her father's influence over her is great, you will admit. She has been taught to agree with him, and that I can never, nor will I try to do." " It certainly beats hell ! " " It's the most awkward situation I have ever been placed in. But here's the idea : I took that girl for better or for worse. Now, what am I to do? Throw up my hands and quit, or try to see Orlean and get her around to reason? It isn't Orlean. It's her father. So I have concluded to make some sort of a fight. Life and marriage are too serious just to let matters go like this." " Yes, it is," agreed Glavis. " It certainly worries me. And it annoys me because it is so unnecessary." He was thoughtful and then suddenly he said : " I'm sorry you let the old man er ah get you mixed up like this." He appeared as 'if he wished to say more. To say that : " For when you let him get into it, the devil would be to pay! Keep him out of your affairs if you would live in peace." " Well," said Baptiste, rising, " your time here belongs to the company you are working for, and not to me or my troubles. So I'm going to ' beat ' it now out to Thirty-first Street." " Well," returned Glavis, " believe me, Baptiste, I'm sorry for you, and for Orlean. It's rotten." It was remarkable how he saw what was causing it; but how he cleverly kept from directly accusing his father-in-law. "And I'll meet you at Thirty-first Street after supper. At the Keystone, remember." With that he grasped the other's hand warmly, and as Jean Baptiste went down the stairway from where Glavis worked, he knew that he had a friend who at least wanted to help right a most flagrant wrong. The only ques- tion was, would E. M. Glavis have the courage to go through with it? Well, Glavis might have the courage but Ethel was his wife. And Jean Baptiste realized that of all things in the world, a woman's influence is the most subtle. .