About the great fireplace in the general lounging-room a merry
crowd of young people were gathered, discussing the plans for a
projected trip to the Natural Bridge, quite a two days' journey by
coach.
A tall, lean-faced young man of twenty-three or four stood beside the
fireplace, his elbow on the ancient mantel, his shapely legs crossed.
There was a moody expression in his handsome face, albeit he smiled in
quiet enjoyment of the vivacious conversation that went on around him.
Half a dozen girls chatted eagerly, excitedly, in response to certain
arguments advanced by young men who had the expedition in hand.
Arrangements were being discussed, approved or set aside with an
arbitrariness that left no choice to the proposers. From time to time
disputed questions were referred to the tall young man at the
mantelpiece. He appeared to be a person of consequence in the eyes of
all; his decision was accepted, even by the most arrogant of rebels.
Not one of these fair girls looked into his dark, steady eyes without
hope that the thought which lay deep in them was of her and of no
other, and yet each was painfully certain that he thought of some one
else, whether present or absent they could not conceive.
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