I know you would not bring greater
trial and tribulation to us, who love you, than you have seen us
suffer in the past."
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER I
THE DAUGHTER OF COLONEL GRAND
Snuggling down in a nest built of certain westward hills in fair
Virginia, near the head of a valley long noted for healing waters that
spring, warm and cold, from subterranean alchemies into picturesque
pools and steaming rivulets, lies the ancient village of Hollandville,
with its quaint, galleried facades; its flower gardens and its mill-
race; its ambient clouds and drowsy sunshine, and the ever-delicious
somnolence that overcomes the most potent vigor with an ease that
mystifies. Beyond Hollandville, less than half a league distant,
against the mountainside, facing the great ridge opposite, stands a
time-honored, time-perfected hostelry inside whose walls and upon
whose galleries the flower and chivalry of Virginia have clustered for
generations. Names historic are to be found on the yellow pages of
venerable and venerated ledgers and day-books, names of men and women
known and cherished before the dauntless settler had turned his
footsteps toward the territories of the Middle West.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344