He admired new-comers, new business modes, and Northern
intruders and ideas, feeling that perhaps the last evidence of his
aristocracy from nature was a chivalric resignation. The pine-trees were
saying to him: "Ye shall go like the Indians, but be not inhospitable to
your successors, and leave them your benediction, that the great bay and
its rivers may be splendid with ships and men, though ye are perished
forever." A perception of the energy of his countrymen, and a pride in
it, without any mean reservation, though it might involve his personal
humiliation, was Judge Custis's only remaining claim to heaven's
magnanimity. Still, rich in human nature, he was beloved by his daughter
with all her soul.
He awoke long after noon, in body refreshed, and a glass of milk and a
plover broiled on toast were ready for him to eat, with some sprigs of
new celery from the garden to feed his nerves. He made this small meal
silently, and Vesta said, as the tray was removed:
"Now, papa, before we leave this room, you are to tell me the whole
injury you have suffered, and what all of us can do to assist you; for
if you had succeeded the reward would have been ours, and we must divide
the pains of your misfortune with you without any regret. Courage, papa!
and let me understand it."
The Judge feebly looked at Vesta, then searched his mind with his eyes
downcast, and finally spoke:
"My child, I am the victim of good intentions and self-enjoyment.
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