The Last of the Foresters: Or, Humors on the Border; A story of the Old Virginia FrontierCooke, John Esten
General
The Last of the Foresters: Or, Humors on the Border; A story of the Old Virginia Frontier
Cooke, John Esten
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Virginia -- Fiction
The young man, as we have said, had once more donned his rude forest
costume; and even at the risk of appearing to undervalue the graces
and attractions of civilization with the costume, which is a necessary
part thereof, we must say that the change was an improvement.
Verty's figure, in the dress which he generally wore, was full
of picturesqueness and wild interest. He looked like a youthful
Leather-stocking; and seemed to be a part of the forest in which he
lived, and from which he came.
He had been cramped in the rich clothes; and the consciousness of this
feeling, so to speak, had made his manner stiff and unnatural; now,
however, he was forest Verty again. His long hair had already become
tangled, thanks to the autumn winds, and the gallop to which he had
pushed Cloud;--his person assumed its habitual attitude of wild grace;
his eye no longer restless and troubled, had recovered its expression
of dreamy mobility, and his lips were wreathed with the odd Indian
smile, which just allowed the ends of the white teeth to thread
them;--Verty was himself again.
He raised his head, and would have caught sight of the young girls in
the garden, but for a circumstance which occurred just at that moment.
This circumstance was the appearance of Miss Sallianna--Miss Sallianna
arrayed in all her beauties and attractions, including a huge
breastpin, a dress of enormous pattern, and a scarf around her
delicate waist, azure-hued and diaphanous like the sky, veiled with an
imperceptible cloud.
The lady was smiling more than ever; her air was more languishing; her
head inclined farther to one side. Such was her ecstacy of "inward
contemplation," to use her favorite phrase, that the weight of thought
bent down her yellow eye-lashes and clouded her languishing eyes.
She raised them, however, and glancing at Verty, started.
"Good-morning, ma'am," said Verty--"Miss, I mean. I got your letter."
"Good-morning, sir," said Miss Sallianna, with some stiffness; "where
are your clothes?"
Verty stared at Miss Sallianna with great astonishment, and said:
"My clothes?"
"Yes, sir."
"These are my clothes."
And Verty touched his breast.
"No, sir!" said Miss Sallianna.
"Not mine?"
"They may be yours, sir; but I do not call them clothes--they are mere
covering."
"_Anan_?" said Verty.
"They are barbarous."
"How, ma'am?"
Miss Sallianna tossed her head.
"It is not proper!" she said.
"What, ma'am?"
"Coming to see a lady in that plight."
"This plight?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Not proper?"
"No, sir!"
"Why not?"
"Because, sir, when a gentleman comes to pay his respects to a lady,
it is necessary that he should be clad in a manner, consistent with
the errand upon which he comes."
"_Anan_, ma'am'?"
"Goodness gracious!" cried Miss Sallianna, forgetting her attitudes,
and vigorously rubbing her nose; "did any body ever?"
"Ever what, ma'am?"
"Ever see a person so hard to understand as you are, sir."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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