Charles Vernon (Volume 1); A Transatlantic Tale (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER in. And you don't intend going to Miss Green's dance in those dirty boots, Captain Vernon ? said his landlady, shocked at hearing him inquire the way to the coloured ball without having altered his dress. Nay, I certainly did, replied he; but if I shall be thought singular if I go as I am, I must beg you to tell me how I ought to appeal- there. Hi said Miss Betsy Hall. Why as you were dressed last night, when you went to dance with the white ladies, to be sure You really want to be rude to us to-night Aye? you may laugh; but I assure you, we think ourselves quite as good as the buckra women Ah, now you look quite handsome, said she, as Vernon reappeared in his evening dress; and now go. You'll see plenty of pretty girls there, though they are not buckras. I am going there too, presently, and will introduce you to any of them. Guided by the distant music of four fiddles and a tambourine, which, in the quiet of a Kingston night, where few carriages are passing, is heard to a considerable distance, Ver- non found his way to the house whence these sounds came. A crowd of negro gazers filled the street in front, and the doors and windows were thrown open to admit air. The large room was crowded, but the brown ladies were nearly twice as numerous as the men, consisting of merchants, some of their clerks, and a few of the officers from camp. The last seemed decidedly the favourites of the girls, though as much the reverse with the mothers and with the merchants. Indeed, it was with difficulty that Miss Betsy Green obtained M'Kenzie's permission to send cards to these few, both as a compliment to Vernon, and because her room would not look gay without a few uniforms. As Vernon entered, all the younger part of the company were d...