University of Virginia Library

“The change in Virginia's deportment has been
to me a curious subject of study and reflection. I
dare not say that it has been entirely disinterested
study, but perhaps it was none the less close and
minute on that account. We are apt to investigate
those engines which operate upon ourselves
very philosophically. But before I go any farther,
permit me to correct an error into which I fear
I have led you, because I had honestly fallen into
it myself. I stated to you that my sickness had
cast out devils for me, and that I was altogether a
changed and reformed man. It is no such thing;
I feel the devil of mischief and fun in me even
now. It was nothing more than a natural depression
of animal spirits, consequent upon the low
state of my stomach and pulsations. The doctor
was my priest on the occasion. He subdued the
old Adam in me for a time, by the assistance of
his lancet and the whole vegetable and mineral
kingdom, worked up into shot and bullets vulgarly
called pills, by the aid of which these same doctors,
I believe, often do a deal of execution; at all

events this disciple fleeced me of a goodly quantity
of the flesh upon my ribs; none of his shot
happened to be mortal; but, nevertheless, I would
advise you to keep out of the reach of their magazines.
The muzzle of a pill-box is as terrible to
me now, as the mysterious dark hole in the end of
a forty-two-pounder; and a blister-plaster as awful
as an army with banners. As for cupping-glasses
and scarificators, they are neither more nor less
than instruments of torture, borrowed from the
Spanish inquisition. But above all, deliver me
from the point of a seton-needle! Did you ever
see a cruel boy string fish on a stick before they
were dead? He runs the stick through the gills,
tearing and torturing as it goes; so do these disciples
of Esculapius; they seize a piece of your
skin, no matter how scarce the article may be,—
no matter if your lips do not cover your teeth, and
the bones of your nose look white through the attenuated
sheath! Away goes this surgical bayonet
through a handful of it, armed with a piece of gum
elastic, which is left sticking there, the sensation on
the back of your neck being as if the ramrod of a
small swivel had been shot through it; and there
you must sit, or stand, or lie, with this huge thing
all the while poking your head forward, as if you
had a pillory on your back.

“Although there is not so great a change in me
as I had supposed, the change in Virginia is none
the less certain. She is as dignified towards me
now as a princess; nevertheless there is a trembling

nervousness about it, which charms me indescribably.
I know you will exclaim here, `Vain
fellow!' I am not vain; but as humble and fearful
as a bride of two hours' standing. Half the
time I am doubtful of the cause of this new reserve,
and set it down as decidedly unfavourable
to my views, until I detect a little thrill in her
voice, or tremulousness in the fingers as they meet
mine, or touch the piano; and even that I set down,
sometimes, as nothing more than sympathy for my
forlorn condition, especially if there is a mirror
near, and I happen to get a peep of my shaved
cranium and sharp visage. And then, again, I
consider it nothing more than the natural reserve
of the woman, as she throws off the playful air of
the school-girl; and that too, perhaps, from having
discovered, during my illness, that she could no
longer, in justice to myself, treat me as a playmate.
But all these doubts and difficulties will be solved
in two hours. I have requested her to accompany
me in a walk around the lawn and garden, and I
intimated to her that I had something very particular
to say. This was ill advised, I know, but the
truth is, I was attempting at that very time to
broach the subject, and, as with all other bashful
boobies, my tongue clove to the roof of my mouth.
I certainly have some fear of disturbing my pleasant
dreams of the present reckoning; but I am
committed now, and there is no retracting. I shall
leave this letter open, that I may communicate to
you the result; no doubt you can anticipate now
more truly what it will be than I can. Until this
crisis in my affairs is over, farewell.

“I have deferred the closing of this letter a day
longer than I intended when I penned the above.
The fact is, I was not so much in the humour for
writing as I expected. I was compelled to order
your horse and take my first ride, and you may be
sure that I did not restrain his mettle. What
would you argue from this? That I was successful?
or defeated? I should suppose neither, from
that circumstance alone, say you,—as you would
be apt to ride down your impetuosity in either
case.

“But the time at length arrived,—the long looked-for,
hoped-for time! and lo! when it did come, I
would have put it back again, if I could have done
so with credit; but no, I must now go onward;
so I plucked up my wavering courage, and prepared
for a formal introduction. This, you know,
is at all times, and under the most favourable circumstances,
but an awkward business; but it is
especially so if the lady possesses a keen sense of
the ludicrous, has a lurking devil of ridicule in her

eye, and if the person about to address her has
often felt the smart of her keen satire.

“In the present instance, there seemed a hundred
little smothered devils of fun, and wrath, and frolic
peeping from the corners of her eyes; not that
her deportment was different from that placid
serenity which has of late sat so modestly upon
her brow; unless, indeed, it was that there might
have been discovered greater efforts than usual to
produce this result. We sauntered down the
lawn, until we came to the clump of pride of India
trees, amid which is situated a summer-house, covered
with vines; you no doubt recollect the place;
here we were seated.

“`Miss Virginia,' said I, in the formal style in
which a lawyer says, `may it please the court,'—
`Miss Virginia, when I first set out from home
upon a southern expedition at this strange season
of the year, my only object was to see whether
the original of that miniature, about which you
have heard so much, was as lovely as it represented
her. I expected to see a beautiful little girl
of thirteen, and hoped at some future day to make
her my wife; nay, if I must make a true confession,
I hoped to make some impression on her
youthful and gentle susceptibilities, before she could
see any more attractive admirer, and then leave
her to mature until my return. In all these expectations
I have been disappointed, except with
regard to the personal qualities, which I found of
a much more dangerous character than I had calculated

upon; but Miss Virginia Chevillere is not
one to whom I would address compliments upon
her beauty, except in the regular course of my
narrative. During the progress of these discoveries
I was taken ill, and within the same time a
great change has come over Miss Chevillere.'

“`A great change,' said she, suddenly turning
full upon me, a deep blush suffusing her face; `in
what respect, sir?'

“`Does Miss Virginia ask that question seriously?'

“`Never was one more seriously propounded.'

“`The change has been from hilarity to calm
placidity, as it regards externals.'

“`You astonish me!'

“`And you astonish me.'

“A laugh ensued, which afforded a favourable
opportunity, and I continued:

“`After my recovery, I found that I had rivals;
that it was more difficult than ever to tell upon
what ground I stood;' she smiled, while I continued:
`I have now only to offer Miss Chevillere a
skeleton of a hand,' holding out my anatomy, `but
it is an honest one, and is at her disposal, backed
by as warm and ardent an attachment as ever a
man was laughed and fretted into; will you accept
it for better for worse?'

“She hung down her head a moment upon the
ends of her fingers, seeming to struggle, I know
not with what; then suddenly placing her hand in

mine, she said, `I will be as candid and as honest
as yourself,—you have left me no alternative.'

“But I pass over those delightful passages,
which no human eye shall ever fathom; they are
my own treasures for future retrospection.

“Yet I may give you some hints of our subsequent
conversation, towards the end of the time
spent in the arbour.

“`But, Mr. Randolph, you acknowledge that
you have entertained two distinct opinions since
your arrival at Salem; suppose you should have a
third, and a fourth?'

“`My changes of opinion,' said I, `have in both
instances taken their cue from your own changes
in deportment; but to tell you the truth, I should
be contented with either set of manners, or with
either opinion of them.'

“`Pshaw!' she replied, `you flatter; I thought
we understood each other too plainly for you to
offer such compliments.'

“`I would not offend you for the world, dearest
Virginia, nor would I have you to believe that I
pretend not to have studied the change. All that
I meant to convey was, that I was pleased and delighted
with Virginia Chevillere when I saw her
the lively school-girl, but far more so when I saw
her the reflecting and considerate young lady; and
that I would have been quite contented with the

former if I had never known the latter; nay more,
I will tell you the cause of the change!' Here
she put her little hand over my mouth.

“`No, no, no!' said she, `for fear you might
tell the true one, and surely you shall never find
out my secrets for the world, lest I become afraid
of you!'

“`Well,' said I, `I am satisfied with the result;
you may keep your own secrets for the present,
but remember a time is coming, and that soon,
when there will be no secrets between us.'

“`Hah! are you there?' replied she; `then I
must see all those letters you have been writing to
my cousin and his friend; indeed, now I think of
it, I must see them before—'

“There she stopped, not knowing how to finish
the sentence, and immediately started up and attempted
to run towards the house; I caught her,
and, with gentle violence, compelled her to resume
her seat.

“`Before when?' said I.

“`Before the great day,' she answered, laughing.

“`What, the day of judgment?'

“`Yes, truly, the day of judgment.'

“`But tell me truly, Virginia, how very, very
soon shall that happy day come?'

“`One year from next Christmas day.'

“`Phew!' whistled I, `a year and a half! Come,
say a week and a half.'

“`Why, sir, you have not asked my aunt's consent,
nor my cousin's, nor my guardian's.'

“`Come, then,' said I, `let us to the house; it
shall soon be done.'

“When we were seated in your mother's private
parlour, the old lady looked first at me, and then
at Virginia. The latter sat with her cheeks flushed,
biting the fingers of her gloves into bits, with side-long
glances at me, and a malicious smile upon her
face. I was meanwhile pulling all the fur off my
hat with one hand, and drumming on the crown
with the other. Virginia could bear this no longer,
but, bursting into a sprightly laugh, flew out of the
room.

“`Ah!' said your mother, `I see it all; you
need not pain yourself, Mr. Randolph, in breaking
the subject. Believe me that a woman's vigilance
does not often sleep in these matters.'

“`Ah then, dear madam, say that your judgment
approves of your son's partiality in my favour.'

“`My son's! I thought it was my niece's.'

“`Indeed, madam, I mean both, if I dare say
so.'

“`Mr. Randolph, you have my cheerful consent;
trust me, I have not observed you carelessly,
since your visit to us, to say nothing of the unbounded
confidence which I place in Victor's
judgment of his associates and school-fellows. To
tell you the truth, he long ago revealed to me his
ardent desire that you and Virginia should become
acquainted, and his conviction that you were exactly
suited to each other.'

“`Do then, dear madam, urge an early day for
our nuptials; your niece's most extravagant notions
of the length of human life render the request
necessary.'

“`My dear sir!' she replied, `you have not yet
consulted your own relations and friends; even if
you had, you would not be married to-night?'

“`Madam, I would, if I had my own way,
especially as I have unfortunately no mother and
father to consult.'

“`There will then be nothing to prevent your
removing to South Carolina.'

“`You forget, madam, that we Virginians are
the most bigoted people in the world about our
own country.'

“`You would not separate my adopted daughter
from her widowed mother?'

“`By no means—I would take the mother with
the daughter.'

“`Have you a home already prepared?'

“`I have, madam, the home of my fathers.'

“`I fear it will be more difficult to remove you
than I had supposed. Virginia and I have managed
this business badly. We should have held you
in suspense until you had renounced your country.
But perhaps it is as well thus; forced renunciations
are generally unhappy.'

“I need not repeat to you, dear Chevillere, every
word that passed between us; suffice it, therefore,
to inform you, that I am to tear myself away, in a
few days, to the Old Dominion, to prepare for my

nuptials, which will occur immediately on my return;
and this, whether you shall have repaired
hither or not. Indeed, you need not be surprised
to see Mr. and Mrs. Randolph in New-York before
Christmas.