The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-11-16

t breathiessly at the hautboys and all
that gay company of Virginia's best
/ spinning about in country dance of
| old England. Such a brave show of
velvet coats and breeches and flow
I cred brocade waistcoats and powder
I ed wigs and feathers and laces and
/ ribbons and rich f1aunts of petticoats
/ revealing in the whirl of the dance
I clicked hose on slender ankles and
high heeled satin shoes would have
/ done no discredit to the court
| But of them all Mistress Mary Cav
endish was the belle and the star She
was dancing with my Lord Estes
when / entered, and such a goodly
couple they were that / heard many
an exclamation Of delight from the
spectators who stood thickly about
waiIs. WINDOWS even pelng
filled with faces of black and white
| servants. My Lord Estes was a hand
some dark man, hanC Somer and older
than Sir Humphrey Hyde, who. though
dancing with the governors daughter
Cate. had, could see, a rueful eye of
watchfulness toward Mary Caven-
dish.
As he and Cate Culpeper swung past
me, Sir Humphreys eyes fell on my
face and he gave start and blush,
and presently, when the dance was
over and his partner seated, came up
to me with hand extended as if 1 had
been the noblest guest there. Harry,
Harry" he whispered eagerly, "she
hath danced with me three times to-
night and hath promised again; and,
Harry. saw you ever any one SO beau
tiful as she in that blue dress?"
/ answered truthfully that I never
had. Sir Humphrey, in his blue velvet
suit with the silver buttons, with his
rosy face and powdered wig, was one
to look at twice and yet again, and I
regarded him, as always, with that lik-
ing for him and that fury of jealousy.
/ looked at him and loved him as 1
might have loved my son, with such a
sweet and brave honesty of simplicity
he eyed me and for the sake of Mary
Cavendish, who might find his love for
her precious. and wished with all my
heart that might fling him to the floor
where he stood. Every nerve and mus
Gle in me tingled with the restraint of
the desire, for such an enhancement
of womans beauty as was Mary
Cavendish's that night will do away
with the best instincts Of men wheth-
er they will or not.
The next dance was the minuet, and
Mary Cavendish danced 1t with my
Lord Culpeper, the governor Of Vir-
ginia. The governor, though 1 liked
him not, was a most personable man
with much grace of manner which had
afG f-nr tot n, n i,
ness of feature which led one not to
expect such suavity, and he was clad
most richly in such a dazzle of gold
broidery and fling Of yellow laces and
glitter of buttons as could not be sur
passed.
My lord was in fact clad much more
richly than his wife and daughter, |
whose attire, though fair enough, was
not of the freshest. 1t was my good |
luck to overhear my Lady CuIpeper |
telling in no very honeyed tones a gos- |
sip of hers, the lady of one of the |
burgesses, that her goods for which she
had sent to England had miscarried, |
and were it not for the fact that there +
was whisper of fever on the ship she
would have had the captain herself for
a good rating, and had my Lord Gull
pepper not been for him, saying that the
man was of an honest record, she
would have had him set in the stocks
for his remissness that he had not seen
to it that her goods were on board
when the ship sailed.
"And there goes poor Cate in her old
colored satin petticoat,' said
my lady, with bitter frightening Of
her face, land there is Mary Cavendish
in a blue Powered satin with silver,
which is the very twin of the one or
iered for Cate, and which came in on +
the Cavendish ship
"Well," said the other woman, who
was long and lean and had welded
ate in life a man she would have
scorned in her girlhood, and could not
forgive the wrong she had done her.
self, and was filed with an inconsist-
ancy Of spleen toward all younger and
fairer than she, and who, moreover,
was q born toad eater for all in high
places, "'tis fine feathers make fine
birds, and were thy Cate arrayed in
hat same gown in Mistress Caven-
iish's stead
LAS 1 believe, she would not have
|
Hyde, who is so intimate with Mary
said my Lady Culpeper. 4
lad it from my lords sister that twas
he newest fashion in London. How
Use would the chit have heard of it,
pray?"
How else, indeed?" asked the bur
,ess' wife.
And here my poor Cate must go
n her old murrey colored petticoat,"
aid my lady.
But even thus, to one who looks
It her and not at her attire. she out
hines Mary Cavendish," said the other
That was, to my thinking, as f1agrant
hypocrisy as was ever heard, for if
hose two maids had been clad alike
S beggars Mary Cavendish would have
arried off the palm, with no dissent
ng voice, though Cate Culpeper was
air enough to see, with her fathers
Mary and Lord Culpeper
dancing the minvet