The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2: or, The Recluse of Jamestown; An historical romance of the Old Dominion — John Shaqi
The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2: or, The Recluse of Jamestown; An historical romance of the Old DominionCaruthers, William Alexander
History
The Cavaliers of Virginia, vol. 1 of 2: or, The Recluse of Jamestown; An historical romance of the Old Dominion
Caruthers, William Alexander
Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Fiction
When Virginia raised her eyes from the breakfast-table, and beheld
Wyanokee's mute despair, as exhibited in the opposite mirror, her former
nervous alarm and agitation instantly returned.
She was entirely at a loss to account for the unusual feeling exhibited
by her attendant, except by connecting it in some way with her late
nocturnal adventures. And it was a fearful supposition which flashed
through her mind, that Wyanokee was acquainted with her last night's
undertaking; yet at the same time ignorant of her motives. Hurrying
mechanically through the meal, she rose, and taking the hand of the
young Indian, was about to retire; but at that moment Nathaniel Bacon
rode up to the door, his charger covered with dust and foam; leaping
from his back and throwing the rein to an attendant, he entered the room
at the very moment when the two maidens were about to make their exit.
Under the peculiar circumstances of the case perhaps no one could have
entered more mal-appropos. Mr. Fairfax himself and Bacon had parted, at
the termination of their last interview, with excited and unpleasant
feelings, both having lost command of temper. Virginia had last seen him
under circumstances also which in themselves were calculated to excite
no very pleasing reminiscences; but considering the precise attitude in
which she stood at that moment with regard to Wyanokee, the interview
promised to be still more embarrassing. Nor was the promise
falsified--the salutations of the gentlemen were cold, formal, and
embarrassing to both parties, while the two maidens stood on the eve of
departure, each labouring under her own peculiar difficulties. Virginia
felt as if all the adventures of the preceding night stood revealed to
her parents, without any of the justificatory motives which had
satisfied her own mind for embarking in them--while her attendant looked
to her as if she too was labouring under a weight of surreptitious
knowledge. Mrs. Fairfax was the only one of the party who preserved
self-possession enough to welcome their young friend, after so long an
absence, in intelligible language.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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