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a little pedestal in its centre. On these pedestals were small busts in
blacked plaster of Paris. The style of the pedestals, as well as the selection
of the busts, had been executed under the auspices of Mr. Jones. On one stood
Homer, a most striking likeness, Richard affirmed, as any one might see, for
it was blind. Another bore the image of a smooth visaged gentleman, with a
pointed beard, whom he called Shakspeare. A third ornament was an urn, which,
from its shape, Richard was accustomed to say, intended to represent itself as
holding the ashes of Dido. A fourth was certainly old Franklin, in his cap and
spectacles. A fifth as surely bore the dignified composure of the face of
Washington. A sixth was a non-descript, representing a man with a
shirt-collar open, to use the language of Richard, with a laurel on his
head;--it was Julius Cæsar or Dr. Faustus; there were good reasons for
believing either.
The walls were hung with a dark, lead-coloured English paper, that
represented Britannia weeping over the tomb of Wolfe. The hero himself stood
at a little distance from the mourning goddess, at the edge of the paper. Each
width contained the figure, with the slight exception of one arm of the
General running over on to the next piece, so that when Richard essayed, with
his own hands, to put together this delicate outline, some difficulties
occurred, that prevented a nice conjunction, and Britannia had reason to
lament, in addition to the loss of her favourite s life, numberless cruel
amputations of his right arm.
The luckless cause of these unnatural divisions announced his presence in the
hall by a loud crack of his whip, that startled the party, and his voice was
first heard, exclaiming--
Why, Benjamin! you Ben Pump! is this the manner in which you receive the
heiress? Excuse him, cousin Elizabeth. The arrangements were too delicate and
nice to be trusted to every one; but now I am here, things will go on
better.-- Come, light up, Mr. Penguillan, light up, light up, and let us see
one another s faces. Well, duke, I have brought home your deer; what is to be
done with it, ha?
By the lord, Squire, commenced Benjamin in reply, first giving his mouth a
wipe with the back of his hand, if this here thing had been ordered sum at
earlier in the day, it might have been got up, d ye see, to your liking. I had
mustered all hands, and was exercising candles, when you hove in sight; but
when the women heard your bells, they started an end, as if they were riding
the boatswain s colt; and, if-so-be there is that man in the house, who can
bring up a parcel of women when they have got headway on them, until they ve
run out the end of their rope, his name is not Benjamin Pump. But Miss Betsy
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here, must have altered more than a privateer in disguise, since she has got
on her woman s duds, if she will go to take offence with an old fellow, for
the small matter of lighting a few candles.
Elizabeth and her father continued silent, for both experienced the same
sensations on entering the hall. The former had resided one year in the
building before she left home for the school, and the figure of its late
lamented mistress was missed by both the husband and the child.
But candles had been placed in the chandeliers and lustres, and the
attendants were so far recovered from their surprise as to recollect their
use: the oversight was immediately remedied, and in a minute the apartment was
in a blaze of light.
The slight melancholy of our heroine and her father was banished by this
brilliant interruption; and the whole party began to lay aside the numberless
garments that they had worn in the air.
During this operation, Richard kept up a desultory dialogue with the
different domestics, occasionally throwing out a remark to the Judge
concerning the deer; but as his conversation at such moments was much like an
accompaniment on a piano, a thing that is heard without being attended to, we
will not undertake the task of recording his wonderfully diffuse discourse.
The instant that Remarkable Pettibone had executed her portion of the labour
in illuminating, she returned to a position near Elizabeth, with the apparent
motive of receiving the clothes that the other threw aside, but in reality to
examine, with an air of mingled curiosity and jealousy, the appearance of the
lady who was to supplant her in the administration of their domestic economy.
The housekeeper felt a little appalled, when, after cloak, coats, shawls, and
socks had been taken off in succession, the large black hood was removed, and
the dark ringlets, shining like the raven s wing, fell from her head, and left
the sweet but commanding features of the young lady exposed to view. Nothing
could be fairer and more spotless than the forehead of Elizabeth, and preserve
the appearance of life and health. Her nose would have been called Grecian,
but for a softly rounded swell, that gave in character to the feature what it
lost in beauty. Her mouth, at first sight, seemed only made for love; but the
instant that its muscles moved, every expression that womanly dignity could
utter, played around it, with the flexibility of female grace. It spoke not
only to the ear, but to the eye. So much, added to a form of exquisite
proportions, rather full and rounded for her years, and of the tallest medium
height, she inherited from her mother. Even the colour of her eye, the arched
brows, and the long silken lashes, came from the same source; but its
expression was her father s. Inert and composed, it was soft, benevolent, and
attractive; but it could be roused, and that without much difficulty. At such
moments it was still beautiful, though it was beauty in its grandeur. As the
last shawl fell aside, and she stood, dressed in a rich blue riding-habit,
that fitted her form with the nicest exactness; her cheeks burning with roses,
that bloomed the richer for the heat of the hall, and her eyes slightly
suffused with moisture, that rendered their ordinary beauty more dazzling, and
with every feature of her speaking countenance illuminated by the lights that
flared around her, Remarkable felt that her own power had ended.
The business of unrobing had been simultaneous. Marmaduke appeared in a suit
of plain neat black; Monsieur Le Quoi, in a coat of snuff-colour, covering a
vest of embroidery, with breeches, and silk stockings, and buckles--that were
commonly thought to be of paste. Major Hartmann wore a coat of sky-blue, with
large brass buttons, a club wig, and boots; and Mr. Richard Jones had set off
his dapper little form in a frock of bottle-green, with bullet buttons; by one
of which the sides were united over his well-rounded waist, opening above, so
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as to show a jacket of red cloth, with an under vest of flannel, faced with
green velvet, and below, so as to exhibit a pair of buckskin breeches, with
long, soiled, white-top boots, and spurs; one of the latter a little bent,
from its recent attacks on the unfortunate stool.
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