After school was done, she finished the talk with the master which had
been so suddenly interrupted. There were things spoken of which may
prove interesting by and by, but there are other matters we must first
attend to.
CHAPTER VII. THE EVENT OF THE SEASON.
“Mr. and Mrs. Colonel Sprowle's compliments to Mr. Langdon and requests
the pleasure of his company at a social entertainment on Wednesday
evening next.
“Elm St. Monday.”
On paper of a pinkish color and musky smell, with a large “S” at the
top, and an embossed border. Envelop adherent, not sealed. Addressed
LANGDON ESQ.
Present.
Brought by H. Frederic Sprowle, youngest son of the Colonel,--the H. of
course standing for the paternal Hezekiah, put in to please the father,
and reduced to its initial to please the mother, she having a marked
preference for Frederic. Boy directed to wait for an answer.
“Mr. Langdon has the pleasure of accepting Mr. and Mrs. Colonel
Sprowle's polite invitation for Wednesday evening.”
On plain paper, sealed with an initial.
In walking along the main street, Mr. Bernard had noticed a large house
of some pretensions to architectural display, namely, unnecessarily
projecting eaves, giving it a mushroomy aspect, wooden mouldings at
various available points, and a grandiose arched portico. It looked a
little swaggering by the side of one or two of the mansion-houses that
were not far from it, was painted too bright for Mr. Bernard's taste,
had rather too fanciful a fence before it, and had some fruit-trees
planted in the front-yard, which to this fastidious young gentleman
implied a defective sense of the fitness of things, not promising
in people who lived in so large a house, with a mushroom roof and a
triumphal arch for its entrance.
This place was known as “Colonel Sprowle's villa,” (genteel
friends,)--as “the elegant residence of our distinguished
fellow-citizen, Colonel Sprowle,” (Rockland Weekly Universe,)--as “the
neew haouse,” (old settlers,)--as “Spraowle's Folly,” (disaffected
and possibly envious neighbors,)--and in common discourse, as “the
Colonel's.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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