Tom Anderson, Dare-Devil: A Young Virginian in the Revolution — page 236: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

218 Tom ANDERSON, Dare-DEVIL he sat there in the moonlight fast asleep. The hunted look was gone from the beautiful dark face. But oh, the certi- tude, the innocence, the puissance of him! As for Sir Atneas, the truth was that the baronet with a brother officer had driven out to Marley, the noble estate mentioned by Rory as the home and heritage of the Beauty of Charleston, to pay his respects to the beauty and her mother. And so at this minute the four were seated at cards in the great white-and-gold drawing-room at Marley. Sir Aeneas and Colonel Lloyd had been cordially recerved by Mrs. Elliott, civilly by Miss Elliott. The beautiful Rebel was superb in sapphire-colored damask, with a great red rose flaming on her white bosom. It was a brilliant trans- formation from the black robes worn by the young lady on the streets of Charleston to express dolor over British occupation. [om would hardly have recognized his beau- tiful tormentor, who had recognized him through his dis- guise — him, whom she had never before seen! Was n’t that an enigma for our Virginian? The four around the card-table, then, were all talking of the fracas in which Captain Paris fell foul of a swarthy Highlander that morning, when the chords of a guitar sounded under the drawing-room window. “A serenade!’ “T’ll wager it’s Trelawney,” said the baronet. “‘He has the best voice amongst us.”’ “No, Sir Atneas; it’s not Major Trelawney,” rejoined Miss Elliott. ‘The voice was a tenor like “a deep golden lute,” the air was the vastly popular “Hunters of Ken- tucky,” and the song was this: — “Ho, gallants, brim the beaker bowl And clink the festal glasses; The grape will lend its sapphire soul To eulogize the lassies; And when ye pledge the lip and curl Of loveliness and glory, Gomicbooks.Go