Love stories; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Fiction
As for Hyde, he was shaken, confused, lifted off his feet, as it were;
but after another day had passed, he had come to one steady
resolution--HE WOULD SPEAL TO CORNELIA WHEN NEXT HE MET HER, NO MATTER
WHERE IT WAS, OR WHO WAS WITH HER. And that passionate stress of spirit
which induced this resolve, led him also to go out and seek for this
opportunity.
For nearly a week he kept this conscious, constant watch. Its insisting
sorrowful longing was like a cry from Love's watch towers, but it did
not reach the beloved one; or else she did not answer it. One bright
morning he resolved to walk through the great dry goods
stores--Whiteside's, Guest's, and the famous Mrs. Holland's, where the
beauties of the "gay Quakers" bought their choicest fabrics in foreign
chintzes, lawns, and Indian muslins. All along Front, Arch, and Walnut
Streets, the pavements were lumbered with boxes and bales of fine
imported goods, and he was getting impatient of the bustle and pushing,
when he saw Anthony Clymer approaching him. The young man was driving a
new and very spirited team, and as he with some difficulty held them,
he called to Hyde to come and drive with him. Hyde was just in the
weary mood that welcomed change, and he leaped to his friend's side,
and felt a sudden exhilaration in the rapid motion of the buoyant,
active animals. After an hour's driving they came to a famous hostelry,
and Clymer said, "Let us give ourselves lunch, and the horses bait and
a rest, then we will make them show their mettle home again."
The proposal met with a hearty response, and the young men had a
luxurious meal and more good wine than they ought to have taken. But
Hyde had at last found some one who could talk of Cornelia; rave of her
face and figure, and vow she was the topmost beauty in Philadelphia. He
listened, and finally asked where she dwelt, and learned that she was
staying with Mr. Theodore Willing, a wealthy gentleman of the strictest
Quaker principles, but whose son was one of the "feeble men or wet
Quakers" who wore powder and ruffles and dressed like a person of
fashion.
"He dangles around the bewitching Miss Moran, and gives no other man a
chance," said Clymer spitefully. "It is the talk from east to west, and
'tis said, he is so enamoured of the beauty, that he will have her, if
he buy her."
"Do you talk in your sleep? Or do you tell your dreams for truth?"
asked Hyde angrily. "'Tis not to be believed that a girl so lovely can
be bought by mere pounds sterling. A woman's heart lies not so near her
hand--God's mercy for it! or any fool might seize it."
"What are you raging at? She is not your mistress."
"Let us talk of horses--or politics--or the last play--or anything but
women. They breed quarrels, if you do but name them."
"Content. I will tell you a good story about Tom Herring,"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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