Family Pride; Or, Purified by SufferingHolmes, Mary Jane
General
Family Pride; Or, Purified by Suffering
Holmes, Mary Jane
American fiction; Dime novels
he was craving, until, coming back to Canandaigua, he met with Katy
Lennox. He had smiled wearily when asked by Mrs. Woodhull to go with her
to the examination then in progress at the seminary. There was nothing
there to interest him, he thought, as Euclid and algebra, French and
rhetoric were bygone things, while young school misses in braided hair
and pantalets were shockingly insipid. Still, to be polite to Mrs.
Woodhull, a childless, fashionable woman, who patronized Canandaigua
generally, and Katy Lennox in particular, he consented to go, and soon
found himself in the crowded room, the cynosure of many eyes as the
whisper ran around that the fine-looking man with Mrs. Woodhull was the
Wilford Cameron from New York, and brother to the proud, dashing Juno
Cameron, who once spent a few weeks in town, Wilford knew they were
talking about him, but he did not care, and assuming as easy an attitude
as possible, he leaned hack in his chair, yawning indolently, and
wishing the time away, until the class in algebra was called and Katy
Lennox came tripping on to the stage, a pale blue ribbon in her golden
hair and her simple dress of white relieved by no ornament except the
cluster of wild flowers fastened in her belt and at her graceful throat.
But Katy needed no ornaments to make her more beautiful than she was at
the moment when, with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, modestly cast
down for a moment as she took her place, and then as modestly uplifted
to her teacher's face, she first burst upon Wilford's vision, a creature
of rare, bewitching beauty, such as he had never dreamed about.
Wilford had met his destiny, and he felt it in every throb of blood
which went rushing through his veins.
"Who is she?" he asked of Mrs. Woodhull, and that lady knew at once whom
he meant, even though he had not designated her.
An old acquaintance of Mrs. Lennox when she lived in East Bloomfield,
Mrs. Woodhull had petted Katy from the first day of her arrival in
Canandaigua with a letter of introduction to herself from the ambitious
mother, and being rather inclined to match-making, she had had Katy in
her mind when she urged Wilford to accompany her to the seminary.
Accordingly, she answered him at once: "That is Katy Lennox, daughter of
Judge Lennox, who died in East Bloomfield a few years ago."
Lennox was a good name, while the title of judge increased its value.
Wilford would not have acknowledged that, perhaps, but it was
nevertheless the truth, and Mrs. Woodhull, who understood exactly the
claim which Mr. Lennox had to the title, knew it was true, and that was
why she spoke as she did. It was time Wilford Cameron was settled in
life, and with the exception of wealth and family position, he could not
find a better wife than Katy Lennox, and she would do what she could to
bring the marriage about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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