"
"But, sir, this is so strange--so unusual--so improper."
"True, Colonel Colleton; in the ordinary concerns, the everyday offices
of society, it would be strange, unusual, and improper; but these are
not times, and this is not a region of the world, in which the common
forms are to be insisted upon. You forget, sir, that you are in the wild
abiding-place of men scarcely less wild--with natures as stubborn as the
rocks, and with manners as uncouth and rugged as the woodland growth
which surrounds us. I know as well as yourself that my demand is
unusual; but such is my situation--such, indeed, the necessities of the
whole case, that there is no alternative. I am persuaded that your
nephew can be saved; I am willing to make an effort for that purpose,
and my conditions are to be complied with: one of them you have
heard--it is for your daughter to hear the rest."
The colonel still hesitated. He was very tenacious of those forms of
society, and of intercourse between the sexes, which are rigidly
insisted upon in the South, and his reluctance was manifest.
Pages:
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771