The Coward: A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863Morford, Henry
History
The Coward: A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863
Morford, Henry
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
Clara Vanderlyn, the daughter, was a yet more interesting study than her
mother; and it seemed altogether probable that the same observer before
mentioned, and who will be hereafter more particularly introduced, coming
up in the same car from Nashua and again thrown into near proximity in the
coach, had read and was reading that second page of the Vanderlyn genealogy
with peculiar care and attention. She was of middle height; slight, but
well-rounded and evidently elastic in figure, with a clearly cut but very
pleasant face, eyes a shade darker than Mrs. Vanderlyn's, and hair what
that lady's had probably been twenty years before. A wonderful feature,
indeed, was that head of hair--fine, silken, but perfectly massive in
profusion, with more of a tendency to the wave than the curl, and of that
rich golden chestnut or true auburn so seldom seen though so often lauded.
At the first observation, it seemed that Clara Vanderlyn's hair was the
great charm of her presence; but those who had the good fortune to be many
hours in her company, learned that a still stronger and more abiding charm
lay in the affability of her manners, the expression of thorough goodness
in her whole demeanor, and the purity and sweetness of her smile. That face
was certainly worthy of the fixed gaze which had rested upon it quite as
often during the afternoon as delicacy permitted; and it might even have
furnished excuse for glancing at it a moment too long, and planting blushes
on those cheeks that the lip could have no hope of gathering.
The third and youngest of the family, Frank Vanderlyn, did not enter into
the group under observation, as he was at that time on the top of the coach
with half a dozen others, enjoying the cigar which had been impossible in
the passenger-car. But the glimpses caught of him before disembarking, may
suffice to complete the family triad. He seemed a well-grown stripling,
verging upon manhood, with a face distantly reminding the observer of his
sister's, but with darker hair than either Mrs. Vanderlyn or Clara, and
with an expression of settled hauteur upon his well-cut features, which
very much detracted from the charm of a face that would otherwise have been
singularly handsome. He was dressed a little too well for dusty travel, and
wore more wealth in a single diamond in his cravat and a cluster-ring on
the little finger of his right hand, than most young men would have been
either able or willing to devote to such purposes of mere ornament.
This description of the occupants of that singularly-fortunate coach may
have very little interest beyond that of a mere catalogue; yet it must be
continued, for Fate, that grim old auctioneer who sometimes knocks us down
at very low prices and to odd owners, may have some necessity for a
mercantile list of his chattels.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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