The Entailed Hat; Or, Patty Cannon's Times

the Custis sitting-room, resembling the two people there, thinking on matrimony, the one grave as c

ts around it within the world of a hat! You have only

rew upon the same scale, like the passion I conceived for you so intense

e burst of anguish. It would not be repressed, and one low cry, deep with the sense of desertion and captivity, sounded through the deepening room and smote Milburn'

ing her like a child, "don't cry n

ulties of the head strained by the first encounter beyond her strength, accepted the friendship of his sympathy and c

st do! You have broken my father down and he cannot com

nce. I am a poor creature, and do not know how. It is you who must encourage the faith I feel starting some

confidence he held out to her with open arms. Blushing as she had never blushed in her li

you to advise me like

the more your unjust lover. I cannot advise you awa

her is your slave? Do you think God can bless your prosperity, when you are so hard with your debtor? On me the full sac

ke without changing his kind tone. "Would you let me give him the fruit of many years of hard toil and careful savi

her pri

ent that sum to you, and retire to my loneliness out of this bright light of home and family, warmth an

heard of Love doing as much as that, relieving the anguish of

have made a considerable sacrifice for a beautiful and noble woman; but where did you ever hear, Miss Vesta, of a famished lover, surrendering every endowment that might win the peerless one, to

t upon some such example there, but none suited

h them; they are expected. Nothing creates happiness like a gift, and it is an old saying that blessi

Mr. Milburn? To be weighed against

ble to a miser than his whole lendings, and greater than all your father's losses as an equ

een alert to discover the image I shall serve, the bright youth ready for me, looking on one after another to see if it might be he, and suddenly you hold between me and my faith a paper with my father's obligations, and say: '

hat was that but a rich man's wooing? We get gold to equalize nobility in women; beauty is luxurious, and demands adornment and a rich setting; the richest man in Princess Anne is not good enough for you, and the mere boys your mind has been filled with are more unworthy

liment me so warmly that it relieves the strain of this encounter a little. Do not draw

ut love and hope, I have educated myself to be fit to talk to you. It is all crude now, like a crow that I have tau

bell. Virgie, entering, took her mistress's instructions: "Bring a

her mistress's head was turned as if to intimate that she must take it,

cup, but the saucer, while Vesta observed him oddly,

w her forefathers dart cold glances at her, in their gilt frames-yet how helpless they were, with all their respectability, to take her body or her father's honor out of pawn!-and she felt for the firs

ff vest and pearl buttons with eyelet rings, and white gaiters instead of those shabby green things over his feet, and put upon his head a neat silk hat with narrow brim to raise his height slenderly, and let a coat of olive or dark-blue, and trousers of the same color, relieve his ornaments. Thus transformed, Vesta could conceive a peculiar yet a

nionated confidence I wish my poor father had something of. Could I ever be happy wit

spoke Meshach. "Its rewards are alr

ot one point nearer have we come to any solution of this obligation of my father. We have considered it u

?" repeat

work for their children or a sick husband, why should not I

have heard of women who fled to poverty from dissatisfaction with a husband, but pride survived and made poverty dreadful. Pri

ord, better than Love. Mr. Milburn," she said

ers, I would not have had the chance to be now rejected by you. Marriage has become too formidable, perhaps, to you, by the purity of your heart, the more so because you lo

"she may marry fre

and protection that love, in whatever ugly form it comes, will be God's blessing to her poor heart. What you repel in the revu

s trials, Mr. Milburn? Have you ha

hey have come to me at first for cheaper articles of necessity or smaller portions than other stores would sell, looking on me with contempt. At last they have sacrificed their las

tly, rising from her rocker, "d

lth was merely pebbles and shells to her pe

n your cheek, the mould you are the product of without flaw, the chaste lady's tastes and thoughts, and inborn strength and joy, are the work of God's favor to your family for generations. That favor he continues in lay

e poverty would make me les

nce there was a court-house settlement on Dividing Creek, where justice, eloquence, talent, wit, and heroism made the social centre of two counties, but they moved

ro?" Vesta said, though sh

met the house of Custis half-way. I am coming out of the w

of sorrow; "I feel that you are a kind man, at least t

instantly in his eyes, a

ll me, now, if I would not be happier to take up the burden of my father and mother, and let us diminish and be frugal, instead of cowardly flying

. Throughout the earth marriage is the reparation of ruined families-the short path, and the most natural one, too. Ruth was poor kin, but she turned from the harvest stubble that made her beaut

ttle school, or be a governess somewhere, or, like our connection, the mother of

s half-brother's marriage with the Fairfaxes; next, his own with Custis's rich widow. Had they been lo

ve of my self-love?" asked Vesta. "That is not t

ss, "I feel desperate to try. If it is wrong, it arises from my sense of self-pres

me? Is it not ambition of some k

imed. "No, it is to marry you. I w

on for the man; "you think your family name is quite as g

companionship of thought, in the partition of my ambition, in my instinct for cultivation. I love you, too, with the ardor of a lover, stronger than all, because I must possess you to possess myself; because you kindle flame in me, and my humanity of pity is trampled down by

nder the torches of negro 'coon-hunters. His long lady's hands trembled as he stretched them towards her to clasp her, and she saw upon his brow and in

marked the bold intruder, and a quiver, not like will and courage, went through his frame. It was this which touched Vesta with the sense that perhaps she w

l my life together, have I had realities like these to contend with. I am worn out. Nay, sir, do not touch me now!" He had tried

when, Miss Custis.

so that my mother's portion shall be returned to her in full,

your truth and virtue that you shall keep these

ng at Milburn with a will and authority fully

epeated. "Not to

or probab

by the strong firelight. Calm courage, that would d

ommand I will take you to-night

ce being uneasy, and the same trembling Vesta ha

your marriage after a single

st, silence advice and prevent intrusion. If I delay, these forebodings m

curiosity on that s

not be repented, or become a subject of reproach to yourself. T

and lifted his ha

ain, at the step I am to take, for he appreciates your talents and success. It is for him I shall take this step, if I take it at all, and I have yet an hour to reflect. But my mother will be resentful, and her brothers and kindred in Baltimore will express a savage rage, in the first place, at my f

d give me the legal right to mee

My father's immediate dread is my mother's upbraiding-that he has risked and lost her money. It has sent her to bed alr

then, that blood will tell. You intend to give your mother the mone

say, 'It is my husband's gift, a

d the creditor, "to take Mrs. Custis in

ed. "Advise me," she said. "I want to do the best for all, and spare all

orget it by and by." This first gleam of humor rather becam

"and now I shall take my hour to my sou

recoiled

yers are dry things. I do say a little rhyme

science. And now, sir, farewell. At nine o'clock go to our church and wait. If I resolve to come, there yo

xclaimed her lover, "oppr

o you again, you will be my master. Sir, though your errand here was a severe one, I thank yo

ey!" Milburn cried

, cold as superiority,

e, in it, holding the Entailed Hat. Milburn, with a