It gave a touch
of the bizarre to a distinguished head, it lent an air of the singular to
a personality which had flare and force--an almost devilish force. That
much was to be said for him, that he had not sought to influence her to
his own advantage. She was so surrounded in America by men who knew her
wealth and prized her beauty, she was so much a figure in Virginia, that
any reserve with regard to herself was noticeable. She was enough
feminine to have pleasure in the fact that she was thought desirable
by men; yet it played an insignificant part in her life.
It did not give her conceit. It was only like a frill on the skirts
of life. It did not play any part in her character. Certainly Dyck
Calhoun had not flattered her. That one to whom she had written, as she
had done, should remove himself so from the place of the deserving
friend, one whom she had not deserted while he was in jail as a criminal
--that he should treat her so, gave every nerve a thrill of protest.
Sometimes she trembled in indignation, and then afterwards gave herself
to the work on the estate or in the household--its reform and its
rearrangement; though the house was like most in Jamaica, had adequate
plate, linen, glass and furniture.
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