Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/149

Rh as a general insult, and a dozen duels spring out of it!—he would do well to avoid the place!—to sneak, to skulk, to swallow all his fine promises and boasts!

"No!" he said aloud, with his teeth clenched; "by heaven! I go there and I act! I love her and I hate her more than ever, and, if necessary, will fight a hundred duels for her with these chivalric gentlemen!"

So the day passed, and evening drew on slowly, and the night came. Let us leave the bustling crowd hurrying toward the theater—leave the taverns overflowing with revelers—let us traverse Gloucester Street, and enter the grounds, through which a fine white graveled walk leads to the palace. On each side of this walk a row of linden trees are ornamented with variegated lanterns, and ere long these lanterns light up lovely figures of fair dames and gallant gentlemen, walking daintily from the carriage portal to the palace. Let us enter. Before us have passed many guests, and the large apartments, with their globe lamps and chandeliers, and portraits of the king and queen, and Chelsea figures, and red damask chairs, and numerous card tables, are already filling with the beauty and grace of that former brilliant and imposing society.

See this group of lovely young girls, with powdered hair brushed back from their tender temples, and snowy necks and shoulders glittering with diamond necklaces; see the queer patches on their chins close by the dimples; see their large falling sleeves, and yellow lace, and bodices with their silken network; see their gowns, looped back from the satin under skirt, ornamented with flowers in golden thread; their trains and fans and high red-heeled shoes, and all their puffs and furbelows and flounces; see, above all, their gracious smiles, as they flirt their fans and dart their fatal glances at the magnificently clad gentlemen in huge ruffles and silk stockings, and long, broad-flapped waistcoats and embroidered coats, with