"Caleb will be wondering what has become of me, and tired out of
watching if I don't go home at once," said Mr. Burress, after his
emotion had subsided, and accepting gracefully the civic crown with
which he had been metaphorically rewarded. Mine was in store, but how
could he dream of this?
A statue of the Greek Slave, a copy made by a master-hand, soon adorned
his window, and his bride wore pearls of price, the joint gift of Miriam
and Wardour Wentworth, a twelvemonth later, when a mistress of the
emporium was brought home, much to the solace of Caleb, who was
remembered by us also, let me not forget to add.
Truly kind and benevolent as he was, Napoleon Burress had a despotic
manner, which relaxed beneath the genial smile of Marian March.
"I must go, indeed, my dear sir" (to Dr. Pemberton), "but this night
will be memorable in my annals. God bless you all! Farewell. Afraid of
an encounter? Not I. Like Horatio Cockleshell of old, I learned to carry
pistols constantly about me when I had to pass the bridge every night as
a youngster. My parents lived in Hamilton village. I still keep up the
custom, and therefore pay my fine yearly to the council."
"When at last we separated, the clock was on the stroke of one, and I
went to a clean and quiet chamber above the little study, where a bright
fire was burning, but whence the smell of lavender, which always
accompanies the fresh sheets of Quakerhood, still prevailed with a
summer-like fragrance.
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