Tulp was to go with me, and his parents and kin were filling the air with
advice and lamentations in about equal measure, and all in the major key.
Their shouts and wailing--they could not have made more ado if he had just
been sold to Jamaica--came through the open door. It was not of this din I
thought, though, nor of the cart which the negroes, while they wept, were
piling high with my goods, and which I could see in the highway beyond.
I was thinking of Daisy, my sweet sister, who had gone into the garden to
gather a nosegay for me.
Through the door I could see her among the bushes, her lithe form bending
in the quest of blossoms. Were it midsummer, I thought, and the garden
filled with the whole season's wealth of flowers, it could hold nothing
more beautiful than she. Perhaps there was some shadow of my moody fit,
the evening after the dinner at the Hall, remaining to sadden my thoughts
of parting from her. I cannot tell. I only know that they were indeed sad
thoughts. I caught myself wondering if she would miss me much--this dear
girl who had known no life in which I had not had daily share. Yes, the
tears _were_ coming, I felt. I wrung my good old patron's hand, and turned
my head away.
There came a clattering of hoofs on the road and the sound of male voices.
Tulp ran in agape with the tidings that Sir John and a strange gentleman
had ridden up, and desired to see Mr. Stewart. We at once walked out to
the garden, a little relieved perhaps by the interruption.
Both visitors had had time to alight and leave their horses outside the
wall. The younger Johnson stood in the centre path of the garden,
presenting his companion to Daisy, who, surprised at her task, and with
her back to us, was courtesying. Even to the nape of her neck she
was blushing.
There was enough for her to blush at. The stranger was bowing very low,
putting one hand up to his breast. With the other he had taken her fingers
and raised them formally to his lips. This was not a custom in our parts.
Sir William did it now and then on state occasions, but young men,
particularly strangers, did not.
As we advanced, this gallant morning-caller drew himself up and turned
toward us. You may be sure I looked him over attentively.
I have seen few handsomer young men. In a way, so far as light hair, blue
eyes, ruddy and regular face went, he was not unlike Sir John. But he was
much taller, and his neck and shoulders were squared proudly--a trick
Johnson never learned. The fine effect of his figure was enhanced by a
fawn-colored top-coat, with a graceful little cape falling over the
shoulders. His clothes beneath, from the garnet coat with mother-of-pearl
buttons down to his shining Hessians, all fitted him as if he had been run
into them as into a mould. He held his hat, a glossy sugar-loaf beaver, in
one hand, along with whip and gloves. The other hand, white and shapely in
its ruffles, he stretched out now toward Mr. Stewart with a free,
pleasant gesture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account