“A very becoming weakness,” said Mrs. Ambler, smiling at the Governor, who was blushing above his tucks.
“Becoming? Well, well, I dare say,” admitted the Major. “Plaintain thought so, at any rate. Why, I can see him now, on the day he came to the Governor, puffing out his front, and twirling his white silk handkerchief. 'May I ask your opinion of me, sir?' he had the audacity to begin, and the Governor! Bless my soul, ma'am, the Governor bowed his politest bow, and replied with his pleasantest smile, 'My opinion of you, sir, is that were you as great a gentleman as you are a scoundrel, you would be a greater gentleman than my Lord Chesterfield.' Those were his words, ma'am, on my oath, those were his words!”
“But he was a scoundrel!” exclaimed the Governor. “Why, he swindled women, Major. It was always a mystery to me how you tolerated him.”
“And a mystery to Mrs. Lightfoot,” responded the Major, in a half whisper; “but as I tell her, sir, you mustn't judge a man by his company, or a 'possum by his grin.” Then he raised a well-filled glass and gave a toast that brought even Mr. Bill upon his feet, “To Virginia, the home of brave men and,” he straightened himself, tossed back his hair, and bowed to the ladies, “and of angels.”
The Governor raised his glass with a smile, “To the angels who take pity upon the men,” he said.
“That more angels may take pity upon men,” added the rector, rising from his seat by the fireside, with a wink at the doctor.
And the toast was drunk, standing, while the girls ran up the crooked stair to lay aside their wraps in a three-cornered bedroom.
As Virginia threw off her pink cloak and twirled round in her flaring skirts, Betty gave a little gasp of admiration and stood holding the lighted candle, with its sprig of holly, above her head. The tall girlish figure, in its flounces of organdy muslin, with the smooth parting of bright brown hair and the dovelike eyes, had flowered suddenly into a beauty that took her breath away.
“Why, you are a vision—a vision!” she cried delightedly.
Virginia stopped short in her twirling and settled the illusion ruche over her slim white shoulders. “It's the first time I've dressed like this, you know,” she said, glancing at herself in the dim old mirror.