Is he not approved to the height of a villain, who hath slandered,
scorned, dishonored thy kinswoman. Oh! that I were a man for his
sake, or had a friend who would be one for mine!
Shakespeare
Autumn brought the usual city visitors to Hurricane Hall to spend the
sporting season and shoot over Major Warfield's grounds. Old Hurricane
was in his glory, giving dinners and projecting hunts.
Capitola also enjoyed herself rarely, enacting with much satisfaction
to herself and guests her new rôle of hostess, and not unfrequently
joining her uncle and his friends in their field sports.
Among the guests there were two who deserve particular attention, not
only because they had been for many years annual visitors of Hurricane
Hall, but more especially because there had grown up between them and
our little madcap heroine a strong mutual confidence and friendship.
Yet no three persons could possibly be more unlike than Capitola and
the two cousins of her soul, as she called these two friends. They were
both distant relatives of Major Warfield, and in right of this
relationship invariably addressed Capitola as "Cousin Cap."
John Stone, the elder of the two, was a very tall, stout, squarely
built young man, with a broad, good-humored face, fair skin, blue eyes
and light hair. In temperament he was rather phlegmatic, quiet and
lazy. In character he was honest, prudent and good-tempered. In
circumstances he was a safe banker, with a notable wife and two healthy
children. The one thing that was able to excite his quiet nerves was
the chase, of which he was as fond as he could possibly be of any
amusement. The one person who agreeably stirred his rather still
spirits was our little Cap, and that was the secret of his friendship
for her.
Edwin Percy, the other, was a young West Indian, tall and delicately
formed, with a clear olive complexion, languishing dark hazel eyes and
dark, bright chestnut hair and beard. In temperament he was ardent as
his clime. In character, indolent, careless and self-indulgent. In
condition he was the bachelor heir of a sugar plantation of a thousand
acres. He loved not the chase, nor any other amusement requiring
exertion. He doted upon swansdown sofas with springs, French plays,
cigars and chocolate. He came to the country to find repose, good air
and an appetite. He was the victim of constitutional ennui that yielded
to nothing but the exhilaration of Capitola's company; that was the
mystery of his love for her, and doubtless the young Creole would have
proposed for Cap, had he not thought it too much trouble to get
married, and dreaded the bustle of a bridal. Certainly Edwin Percy was
as opposite in character to John Stone, as they both were to Capitola,
yet great was the relative attraction among the three. Cap impartially
divided her kind offices as hostess between them.