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
THE RESIDENCE OF THE BRANDS--ROBERT BRAND AND DR. PHILIP
POMEROY--RADICAL AND COPPERHEAD--A PASSAGE-AT-ARMS THAT
ENDED IN A QUARREL--ELSPETH GRAEME THE HOUSEKEEPER--THE
SHADOW OF SHAME--FATHER AND DAUGHTER--THE FALLING OF A
PARENT'S CURSE.
Half a mile northward from the Market street road which has already been
before so many times alluded to--on the north side of that road and at the
distance of a mile westward from the Hayley residence, was located that
before mentioned as the abode of the Brands. It was a fine old house, built
fifty or sixty years before, but within a few years repaired and rebuilt
with a lavish disregard of cost, a railed promenade having been added at
the apex of the steep roof, the whole two stories of height re-enclosed,
the windows and doors comparatively modernized, the piazzas remodelled and
widened, and all done that the carpenter's art could well be expected to
achieve, to add to the comfort and durability of the mansion without
destroying the appearance of respectable age which it had already put on.
The house stood facing southward upon nearly level ground, the lawn in
front of good depth and thickly dotted with forest and other shade trees
that had evidently known all the years of the building; while from the
eastern side a narrow lane ran down to the road and afforded ingress and
egress to carriages passing back towards the handsomely-grouped range of
outbuildings in the rear. Adjoining this lane and behind the house was a
large garden, with grape trellises and many of the appliances of luxury in
horticulture.
At the eastern end of the piazza a broad single door opened into the
somewhat antiquated hall; and from that hall a door opened into a parlor
fitted up with every appliance of convenience that could be needed in such
a country residence. Behind that parlor another door opened into a smaller
apartment correspondingly fitted but with more of those belongings
calculated to show its constant occupancy; and from that rear room still
another door opening to the left disclosed a bed-room of comfortable
appearance and tasteful arrangement. On the other side of the hall the
dining and domestic apartments stretched away, while the spacious upper
story supplied rooms to other members of the family.
It was very evident, at a glance, that wealth presided over the modernized
old house, and that good taste was not forgotten; and yet an impression
could not well be avoided that there must be something of severity, and
repugnance to ornament, conjoined with the wealth. Poverty, or even
struggling pride, would not have afforded so much of the best: warm taste
and lavish liberality would have supplied something more of the costly and
the luxurious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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