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CHRISTMAS EVE |
69 |
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madcap youngsters, he was a universal favourite among the women. The most interesting couple in the dance was the young officer and a ward of the Squires, a beautiful blushing girl of seventeen. From several shy glances which I had noticed in the course of the evening, I suspected there was a little kindness growing up between them ; and, indeed, the young soldier was just the hero to captivate a romantic girl. He was tall, slender, and handsome, and, like most young British officers of late years, had picked up various small accomplishments on the Continent —he could talk French and Italian—draw landscapes, sing very tolerably—dance divinely ; but, above all, he had been wounded at Waterloo :— what girl of seventeen, well read in poetry and romance, could resist such a mirror of chivalry and perfection!
The moment the dance was over, he caught up a guitar, and lolling against the old marble fireplace, in an attitude which I am half inclined |
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