"
"What is that, general?"
"To tell you why _my_ son can never marry the daughter of Judge
Conway!"
XVIII.
TWO MEN AND A WOMAN.
General Davenant leaned his elbow on the desk, rested his forehead in
his hand, and said in a deep, measured voice:--
"My story need not be a long one, colonel. Those who relate gay
adventures and joyous experiences, indulge in endless details--memory
is charming to them at such moments--they go back to the past, with a
smile on the lips, recalling every little detail, every color of the
bright picture.
"My own narrative will be brief, because it is a gloomy one. It is far
from pleasant to return to the scenes I propose to describe. I only do
so to erase a stigma which seems to attach to my family and myself; to
show you that, in spite of Judge Conway, I deserve your good opinion.
Assuredly I do not propose any pleasure to myself in relating these
events. Alas! one of the bitterest things to a proud man--and I am
proud--is to even seem to defend his good name from imputed dishonor!"
Knitting his brows as he spoke, the old soldier looked gloomily into
the blaze before us. In a moment, he went on:--
"I was born in the county of Dinwiddie, colonel, where my family had
lived from the time of the first settlement of Virginia.
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