"Well, which has been victorious?"
Virginia looked as though she had never heard of a game of backgammon, and it was a minute or two before I was answered. At last Mr. Marshall said—
"I was—that is, I mean Miss Virginia was"—and he did not seem exactly to know what he did mean.
"Do come out on the porch," said I, benevolently intending to relieve Virginia from a great bore; "we are having some delightful singing, and it is a very pleasant night." And I succeeded in inducing them both to accompany me.
That same evening, Virginia proposed to me to fulfil a promise we had made some time before of visiting her cousins Nannie and Bettie Buckley. I was very willing to do so, having conceived a great admiration for these ladies, which I am afraid had no better foundation than that they were very tall, and dressed more showily and expensively than any one that I had ever seen. Every summer they went to the North, where they enjoyed the reputation of being great heiresses, and consequently received much attention. Their father's wealth, though by no means so large as was supposed, was still ample enough to allow them to keep up their character as heiresses by a free expenditure at the principal shops in New York and Philadelphia, and they returned home with more magnificent brocades, flashy-looking cashmeres and bareges, and fantastic ball-dresses than would have sufficed for ten years at Louden. I do not think that my friends there appreciated them any the more highly on account of these brilliant robes, but I was still in that state of inexperience when "fine feathers make fine birds," and I was very much inclined to respond cordially to their warmly proffered offers of intimacy, and wondered that Virginia showed so little desire to seek the society of such relations. I was so pleased to find that she was at last willing to accompany me there, that I at once consented to go the next afternoon, spend Saturday and Sunday with the Misses Buckley, and return early on Monday morning.
We were to go on horseback, and when the time arrived, I found that Virginia's brother and younger sister were to accompany us. We galloped on in that glow of spirits and enjoyment that riding on horseback so often imparts; when, as we passed Mr. Marshall's plantation, the Lieutenant, as though he had been expecting and waiting for us, opened the gate and joined us.
"That man is becoming a perfect bête noir to me," said I to Ellen Percy; "I can never go anywhere without him, lately."
I had hardly finished my speech, before it struck me that there was something a little peculiar in the greeting between Virginia and Lieutenant Marshall, and a half-formed, undefined suspicion rose in my mind. I banished it immediately, however, for I looked upon Virginia as the soul of truth, and if there had been anything between herself and the man who had been so openly attentive to me, I felt sure she would have told me. Therefore, much against my will, I allowed Ellen and George to ride on, whilst I checked my horse, as fond of a race as its rider, to the slow pace that seemed to suit my other two companions. It was not long, however, before I intercepted one or two glances that "spoke volumes"—ten folios could not have revealed more to me—and all at once I was seized with the oppressive consciousness of being de trop. My next thought was how I should contrive to join Ellen, whose swift horse had carried her far in advance of us. I could think of no excuse that did not seem to me so transparent as to be more than useless. At last, murmuring some unintelligible words, I fairly ran off. Afterwards apologizing to Virginia for my abrupt mode of leaving her, saying that I had tried in vain to manage it more skilfully, she replied with some surprise—
"My dear, I thought you managed it beautifully, and so I have no doubt Lieutenant Marshall did."
"If he thought at all about it," answered I; and she smiled.