and I should hate to see you lost in that marshy borderland. By a streak of extraordinary luck you have gained the political leadership of Negroes in America. Here’s your chance to lead your people, and here you stand blinking and hesitating. Be a man!”
Alwyn straightened up and felt his doubts going. The evening passed very pleasantly.
“I’m going to have a little dinner for you,” said Miss Wynn finally, and Alwyn grew hot with pleasure. He turned to her suddenly and said:
‚ÄúWhy, I‚Äôm rather‚ÅÝ‚Äîblack.‚Äù She expressed no surprise but said reflectively:
“You are dark.”
‚ÄúAnd I‚Äôve been given to understand that Miss Wynn and her set rather‚ÅÝ‚Äîwell, preferred the lighter shades of colored folk.‚Äù
Miss Wynn laughed lightly.
“My parents did,” she said simply. “No dark man ever entered their house; they were simply copying the white world. Now I, as a matter of aesthetic beauty, prefer your brown-velvet color to a jaundiced yellow, or even an uncertain cream; but the world doesn’t.”
“The world?”
‚ÄúYes, the world; and especially America. One may be Chinese, Spaniard, even Indian‚ÅÝ‚Äîanything white or dirty white in this land, and demand decent treatment; but to be Negro or darkening toward it unmistakably means perpetual handicap and crucifixion.‚Äù
“Why not, then, admit that you draw the color-line?”