We are not responsible
for it. The only conspiracy I have plotted here, was that I did not
oppose most natural occurrences, all drawing towards this scene. My
magic was hope and humility. I dared to wear my ancestor's hat in the
face of a contemptuous and impertinent provincial public, and it gave me
the pride to persevere till I should bring it home to honors and to
noble shelter. If you despise my hat, you will despise me."
"Oh, no; Mr. Milburn! I try never to despise anything. If you wore your
family hat from some filial respect, it was, in part, piety. But was
that, indeed, your motive in being so eccentric?"
Milburn felt uneasy again. He hesitated, and said:
"In perfect truth, I fear not. There may have been something of revenge
in my mind. I had been grossly insulted."
"Is it not something of that revenge which instigates you here--even in
this profession of love?" exclaimed Vesta, judicially.
Meshach looked up, and the shadows cleared from his face.
"I can answer that truthfully, lady. Towards you, not an indignant
thought has ever harbored in my brain. It has been the opposite:
protection, worship, tender sensibility."
"Has that exceptional charity extended to my father?"
"No."
Vesta would have been exasperated, but for his candor.
"My father never insulted you, sir?"
"No, he patronized me. He meant no harm, but that old hat has worn a
deep place in my brain through carrying it so long, and it is a subject
that galls me to mention it.
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