er.

The General immediately seized his opportunity. "'Sweet Auburn,
loveliest village of the plain!' You are acquainted with the works of
Goldsmith, sir?"

I professed some knowledge of this author also, and the General's talk
flowed ornately onward. Though I had little to say to him about his
daughter's marriage, he had much to say to me. Miss Josephine St.
Michael would have been gratified to hear that her family was considered
suitable for Hortense to contract an alliance with. "My girl is not
stepping down, sir," the father assured me; and he commended the St.
Michaels and the whole connection. He next alluded tragically but
vaguely to misfortunes which had totally deprived him of income. I could
not precisely fix what his inheritance had been; sometimes he spoke of
cotton, but next it would be rice, and he touched upon sugar more than
once; but, whatever it was, it had been vast and was gone. He told me
that I could not imagine the feelings of a father who possessed a jewel
and no dowry to give her. "A queen's estate should have been hers," he
said. "But what! 'Who steals my purse steals trash.'" And he sat up,
nobly braced by the philosophic thought. But he soon was shaking his
head over his enfeebled health. Was I aware that he had been the cause
of postponing the young people's joy twice? Twice had the doctors
forbidden him to risk the emotions that would attend his giving his
jewel away. He dwelt upon his shattered system to me, and, indeed,
it required some dwelling on, for he was the picture of admirable
preservation. "But I know what it is myself," he declared, "to be a
lover and have bliss delayed. They shall be united now. A soldier must
face all arrows. What!"

I had hoped he might quote something here, but was disappointed.
His conversation would soon cease to interest me, should I lose the
excitement of watching for the next classic; and my eye wandered from
the General to the water, where, happily, I saw John Mayrant coming in
the launch. I briskly called the General's attention to him, and was
delighted with the unexpected result.

"'Oh, young Lochinvar has come out of the West,'" said the General,
lifting his glass.

I touched it ceremoniously with mine. "The day will be hot," I said;
"'The boy stood on the burning deck.'"

On this I made my escape from him, and, leaving him to his whiskey and
his contemplating, I became aware that the eyes of the rest of the party
were eager to watch the gr