Peculiar: A Tale of the Great TransitionSargent, Epes
History
Peculiar: A Tale of the Great Transition
Sargent, Epes
African Americans -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
“And requite it, I suppose you think,” returned the younger gentleman,
laughing. “It strikes me that it is you, Mr. Onslow, who are playing the
Yankee. You have been talking, sir, with one Henry Berwick, New-Yorker
by birth, retired lawyer by profession, and now on his way to New
Orleans to attend to some real estate belonging to his wife. That little
girl is his daughter. This lady is his wife. My dear, this is our
fellow-passenger, Mr. Onslow. Allow me to introduce him to your better
acquaintance.”
The lady courtesied, flashing upon the stranger a smile that said as
eloquently as smile could say, “I need no vouchers; I flatter myself I
can distinguish a gentleman.”
As she turned aside her glance it met that of a third person, till then
unnoticed. He was pacing the deck and held an opera-glass in his hand,
with which he looked at places on either bank. He was slightly above the
middle height, compactly built, yet rather slender than stout, erect,
square-shouldered, neatly limbed. He might be anywhere between thirty
and thirty-five years of age. His hair was here and there threaded with
gray, and his cheeks were somewhat sunken, although there was nothing to
suggest the lassitude of ill-health in his appearance. His complexion
was that of a man who leads an active out-of-door life; but his hands
were small and unmarked by toil. He wore his beard neatly trimmed. His
finely curved Roman features and small expressive mouth spoke refinement
and strength of will, not untempered with tenderness; while his dark
gray eyes seemed to penetrate without a pause straight to their object.
A sagacious physiognomist would have said of him, “That man has a story
to tell; life has been to him no holiday frolic.” In the expression of
his eyes Mrs. Berwick was reminded of Sir Joshua’s fine picture of “The
Banished Lord.” This stranger, as he passed by, looked at her gravely
but intently, as if struck either by her beauty or by a fancied
resemblance to some one he had known. There was that in his glance which
so drew her attention, she said to her husband, “Who is that man?”
“I have not seen him before,” replied Mr. Berwick. “Probably he came on
board at New Madrid.”
They walked to the extent of their promenade forward, and turning saw
this stranger leaning against the bulwarks. His low-crowned hat of a
delicate, pliable felt, with its brims half curled up, his well-cut
pantaloons of a coarse but unspotted fabric, and his thin overcoat of a
light gray, showed that the Broadway fashions of the hour were not
unfamiliar to the wearer. This time he did not look up as the three
passed. His gaze seemed intent on the children; and the soft smile on
his lips and the dewy suffusion in his eyes betrayed emotion and tender
meditation.
“Well, Leonora, what is your judgment? Is he, too, a gentleman?” asked
Mr. Berwick of his wife.
“Yes; I will stake my reputation as a sibyl on it,” she replied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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