They looked so dashing and so grand; they were the tallest, shapeliest
fellows. Faith, I can tell you, it was no such trifle, pulling along all
those six and four pounders; and they needed to be athletic lads; and
the officers were, with hardly an exception, martial, high-bred
gentlemen, with aristocratic bearing, and some of them, without
question, confoundedly handsome.
And always there was one light, tall shape; one dark handsome face, with
darker, stranger eyes, and a nameless grace and interest, moving with
the march of the gay pageant, before her mind's eye, to this harmonious
and regretful music, which, as she played on, and her reverie deepened,
grew slower and more sad, till old Sally's voice awoke the dreamer. The
chords ceased, the vision melted, and poor little Lily smiled sadly and
kindly on old Sally, and took her candle, and went up with her to her
bed.
CHAPTER LX.
BEING A CHAPTER OF HOOPS, FEATHERS, AND BRILLIANTS, AND BUCKS AND
FIDDLERS.
It was a mighty grand affair, this ball of the Royal Irish Artillery.
General Chattesworth had arrived that morning, just in time to preside
over the hospitalities--he could not contribute much to the dancing--and
his advent, still a little lame, but looking, as his friends told him,
ten years younger for his snug little fit of the gout at Buxton,
reinstated Aunt Becky in her place of power, to the secret
disappointment of Madame Strafford, who had set her heart on doing the
honours, and rehearsed for weeks, over her toilet, and even in bed, her
little speeches, airs, and graces.
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