Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/197

 with a mass of thick white hair, fierce black eyes and a kindly mouth which curiously belied each other. He made his guests welcome with a stately old-fashioned courtesy which impressed Bouton de Rose immeasurably.

"He has the air of a duke," the young man whispered to Mrs. Harden.

"Not at all," answered that imperturbable lady; "he has the air of an American gentleman."

She loved a lord as dearly as most of us, but she loved her birthright as a free and independent American citizen still more, and would allow no opportunity to pass in which she might impress the young aristocrat with that fact. A large carriage stood waiting for them; and after seeing his guests seated, the old man—he was nearer to ninety than to eighty years—climbed to the front seat and, taking the reins from the boy who held them, guided the horses over the rough and heavy road with a firm hand. The old Rondelet house stood some way back from the levee, the approach to it leading through an avenue of mighty live-oaks. It was a pleasant habitation, built in the shape of a Maltese cross, with wide galleries running around it and a broad staircase leading from either side of the entrance to the upper veranda. A wide hall divided the whole length of the house, and from it opened square, spacious rooms, cool and dim