Two or three old men and women, with a few straggling boys,
brought up the rear. Captain Lawton sat in his saddle, in rigid silence,
until the bearers came opposite to his position, and then, for the first
time, Harvey raised his eyes from the ground, and saw the enemy that he
dreaded so near him. The first impulse of the peddler was certainly
flight; but recovering his recollection, he fixed his eye on the coffin
of his parent, and passed the dragoon with a firm step but swelling
heart. The trooper slowly lifted his cap, and continued uncovered until
Mr. Wharton and his son had moved by, when, accompanied by the surgeon,
he rode leisurely in the rear, maintaining an inflexible silence.
Caesar emerged from the cellar kitchen of the cottage, and with a face
of settled solemnity, added himself to the number of the followers of
the funeral, though with a humble mien and at a most respectful distance
from the horsemen. The old negro had placed around his arm, a little
above the elbow, a napkin of unsullied whiteness, it being the only time
since his departure from the city that he had enjoyed an opportunity of
exhibiting himself in the garniture of servile mourning. He was a great
lover of propriety, and had been a little stimulated to this display by
a desire to show his sable friend from Georgia all the decencies of a
New York funeral; and the ebullition of his zeal went off very well,
producing no other result than a mild lecture from Miss Peyton at his
return, on the fitness of things.
Pages:
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278