"All that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eye."
Sybil Berners was at this time about eighteen years of age--a beautiful,
black-haired, bright-eyed little brunette, full of fire, spirit,
strength, and self-will. She was a law to herself. No one, not even her
aged father, had the slightest control over her except through her
affections, when they could be gained, or her passions, when they could
be aroused; but this last means was seldom tried, for no one cared to
raise the storm that none could quell.
Her father was now nearly eighty years old. And fondly, jealously,
selfishly as he loved this darling daughter of his age, he wished to see
her safely married before he should be called from the earth.
And certainly the beautiful heiress had suitors enough to select
from--suitors drawn no less by her personal charms than by her great
fortune. But one and all were politely refused by the fastidious maiden,
who every one said was so very hard to please.
But even if Sybil Berners had accepted any one among the numerous
suitors for her hand, the conditions of her father's consent would have
been made rather difficult. The husband of the heiress would have been
required to assume the name and arms of Berners in order to perpetuate
the family patronymic, and to live with his wife at the old manor house
in order not to separate the only child from her aged father. And it was
not every proud young Virginian who would have given up his own family
name either for a fortune or a beauty. But none of her suitors were put
to the test, for Sybil promptly and unconditionally refused all offers
of marriage.
And the reason of all this was, that Miss Berners of Black Hall loved a
poor, briefless young lawyer, who had nothing but his handsome person,
his brilliant mind, and his noble heart to recommend him. When, or
where, or how her love for him began, she herself could never have told.
Since his return from the university she had seen him every Sunday at
church, and had grown to look and to long for his appearance there,
until it came to this pass with her soul, that the very house of God
seemed empty until his place was filled. And besides this, she often
saw him and heard him speak at political and other public meetings,
which she always attended only to beam in the sunshine of his presence,
only to drink in the music of his voice. She took in all the local
papers only to read his leaders and dream over his thoughts.
Moreover, she felt by a sure instinct that he passionately adored her,
even while ignorant of her love for him, and silent upon the subject of
his own passion.