The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1917-03-31
Where the
Pluck Law
A Story of Old Virginia
By F. A. mitchell


centered In old Virginia. Among the
various elements of that colony were
certain persons of rank who had been
granted privileges by the British SOW
ereign. There were younger sons of
English families of ancient lineage
who, having no fortune in the old
world, had come to the new to find one.
In those days every mar wore a
sword at his side, and when a father
sent his son out into the world his prin-
cipal instruction was that he should
protect his honor with it to the last
drop of his blood.
During the first half of the nineteenth
century the aristocratic classes of Vir-
ginia were in their prime, though the
war between the states which was to
~impoverish them was impending. Men
had ceased to wear swords, the impulse
to use them having somewhat abated.
But the code duello was still consider
ed the proper tribunal for gentlemen
to settle their disputes.
One of the principal tobacco planters
in Virginia at the opening of the nine
teenth century was Major Rufus Har-
desty, whose military title-a brevet-
had been conferred upon him at the
siege of Yorktown, where as a young
subaltern he had distinguished himself.
In those days the state was considered
superior to the nation, and when Major
Hardesty went abroad he registered his
name at a London hotel as from Vir-
ginia.
The majors only child was a daugh-
ter, whom his loyalty to his state in
duced him to name Virginia. Miss Har-
desty was a typical girl of her period.
There was a disposition among south
ern girls in those days to consider them
selves as objects to be sought and con-
tended for by their s%uitors, and Vir-
ginia especially objected to giving her
self to any man who had not proved
his w in his efforts to obtain her
favor.
One reason for the pride in state
instead of nation in those days was
that there was little passing from n
state to another. Especially was this
true of transitions between the north
and the south. In that region in which
Major Hardesty's plantation was sit
uated there was but II resident from
the north, Henry Brainard, who, hav-
ing served several years in the United
States army at a Virginia post, had
resigned to follow the occupation OF
most Virginia conference.-the raising
Of tobacco.
Brainard was thirty-ive years of age
when Virginia HardeSty was nineteen.
He was a reserved man, somewhat an
gular in his appearance. stiff in man
ner and movement. He Was as old
fashioned as n flint lock musket would
be at the present day of rapid fire
arms. What induced such a man to
fall in love with u fiirt like Virginia
Hardesty can only be accounted for
on the theory that like loves unlike.
Virginia had known Brainard some
time before she was able to interpret
his treatment of her as being caused by
love. Brainard considered himself al
together too old for such a chit, II
this greatly intensified his embarrass-
ment toward her. When she made up
her mind that his strange treatment
of her meant love she was much
amused and foresaw much pleasure in
~torturing him. But Brainard was no
fool and, seeing that the coquette was
playing with him as a cat would play
with q mouse. ceased his visits to her
fathers plantation.
Virginia would have attempted to
bring him back to tantaliZe him fur
- l.l r. ,,AA nt tho ttnaA hnnn nh
s0rbed in a new flame. Arthur Rim
gold, the son of a neighboring planter.
returned from a s~ojOurn in England.
where he had been enrolled as a stu
dent at oxford. He had acquired the
tastes and manner of an English
swell and by no means relished his
return to the primitive state of Vir-
ginia. He was somewhat consoled by
favorable notice from Miss Hardesty.
1t was not long before she had so
far blinded hin to her faults as to Sc
cure a proposal from him. That a man
for whom there was nothing in Vir-
ginia good enough should have offered
himself to her fattered her. and she
was inclined to accept him: but, as has
been said. she would accept no man
who was not willing to take great risks
for her.
Just how Virginia made it apparent
to Ringold that he would have to fight
for her does not appear. 1t Is proba-
BILE that she talked a great dea about
fighting and her admiration for brav-
cry. At any rate. ii was not long aft
er his proposal to her that he was in
for a settlement of a difficulty under
the code. At the coffee house in VIII
iamsburg where gentlemen were wont
to meet to drink and smoke. not to
mention gambling. his disparagement
Of America in favor of England excited
the resentment of n ~Thibadeaux, a
man of French extraction. An alterca-
ton ensued. and Ringold challenged
T~hibadeaux. 1t may be that the latter