"Who are the Marburys?" said Miss Stirling.
"Nobodies," said Miss Tyler. "So far as I know them, this is their history: Henry Marbury came out from England, as a Redemptioner. They freed him in four years, with the usual allowance of a year's provision of corn, fifty acres of land, a gun, a pistol and ammunition. The land was in the neighborhood of Frederick-Town: there, Marbury went, and his old master supposed that Annapolis had seen the last of him. But Marbury prospered; his fifty acres expanded into two hundred and fifty, and, then, into a thousand, and, then, into five thousand. His personal property grew in proportion; he, himself, possessed Redemptioner and convict servants, by the score. In short, he amassed great wealth. Then, his thoughts turned back to Annapolis; he brought the family here, and installed them in a fine house on Duke of Gloucester Street. Since which time, he has struggled for recognition; while he has not earned it for himself or wife, young George Marbury and his sister Judith are received, and we all like them. They know their parents' limitations but they are not ashamed; to them, they are Marburys, without any claim to social recognition or regard. They have won it for themselves."
"Just as our ancestors won it in the past," observed Miss Falconer. "They may not have been Redemptioners, but that was because there was no one here to buy them."
"Is not that a bit sweeping, Jane?" said Miss Tyler.
"Well, perhaps it is; but I know people in this Colony who forget their ancestors after a few generations."
"And so do I—and, since they wish them forgot, let us forget them."
"It is this about the Marburys—the old people, I mean—which I admire," said Miss Stirling: "they are perfectly natural. They may use some large words improperly, or fracture a canon of good taste, but they are genuine withal. They are not snobs. As for George Marbury and Judith, I have met none in Annapolis who are nicer. Young Mr. Marbury told me, last night, they are considering the entertaining of a large company at a country house, somewhere, which they have bought recently. He seemed a bit timid about it, rather fearful that those he asked might be averse to coming. I promptly said, if he and his sister should ask me, I would come."
"Oh! there will be no trouble on that score—we all will come," said Miss Falconer. "It is Hedgely Hall, over in St. Mary's County. The last Saxton died about two years ago, and it was sold to the Marburys by his executors. It is on the banks of the Patuxent, and as pretty a place as there is in the Colony."
"Exit the Saxtons, enter the Marburys," said Miss Tyler, sententiously.