Is he not approved to the height of a villain, who hath slandered,

scorned, dishonored thy kinswoman. Oh! that I were a man for his

sake, or had a friend who would be one for mine!

Shakespeare

Autumn brought the usual city visitors to Hurricane Hall to spend the

sporting season and shoot over Major Warfield's grounds. Old Hurricane

was in his glory, giving dinners and projecting hunts.

Capitola also enjoyed herself rarely, enacting with much satisfaction

to herself and guests her new rôle of hostess, and not unfrequently

joining her uncle and his friends in their field sports.

Among the guests there were two who deserve particular attention, not

only because they had been for many years annual visitors of Hurricane

Hall, but more especially because there had grown up between them and

our little madcap heroine a strong mutual confidence and friendship.

Yet no three persons could possibly be more unlike than Capitola and

the two cousins of her soul, as she called these two friends. They were

both distant relatives of Major Warfield, and in right of this

relationship invariably addressed Capitola as "Cousin Cap."

John Stone, the elder of the two, was a very tall, stout, squarely

built young man, with a broad, good-humored face, fair skin, blue eyes

and light hair. In temperament he was rather phlegmatic, quiet and

lazy. In character he was honest, prudent and good-tempered. In

circumstances he was a safe banker, with a notable wife and two healthy

children. The one thing that was able to excite his quiet nerves was

the chase, of which he was as fond as he could possibly be of any

amusement. The one person who agreeably stirred his rather still

spirits was our little Cap, and that was the secret of his friendship

for her.

Edwin Percy, the other, was a young West Indian, tall and delicately

formed, with a clear olive complexion, languishing dark hazel eyes and

dark, bright chestnut hair and beard. In temperament he was ardent as

his clime. In character, indolent, careless and self-indulgent. In

condition he was the bachelor heir of a sugar plantation of a thousand

acres. He loved not the chase, nor any other amusement requiring

exertion. He doted upon swansdown sofas with springs, French plays,

cigars and chocolate. He came to the country to find repose, good air

and an appetite. He was the victim of constitutional ennui that yielded

to nothing but the exhilaration of Capitola's company; that was the

mystery of his love for her, and doubtless the young Creole would have

proposed for Cap, had he not thought it too much trouble to get

married, and dreaded the bustle of a bridal. Certainly Edwin Percy was

as opposite in character to John Stone, as they both were to Capitola,

yet great was the relative attraction among the three. Cap impartially

divided her kind offices as hostess between them.




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