[17]
From Somerset word was sent that Milburn retained his hat from no
amiable weakness or eccentricity, but because he had entered a vow never
to abandon it till he had put every superior he had under his feet; and
that he was a victim of gross forest superstition, and had made a
bargain with the devil, who allowed him to prosper as long as he braved
society with this tile.
The hotel servants chuckled as he went in and out; the oystermen and
wood-cutters called jocosely to each other as he passed by; respectable
people said he could have no consideration for his wife to degrade her
by raising the derision of the town. Judge Custis finally remarked:
"Milburn, I resolved, many years ago, never to address you again on the
subject of your dress. My duty makes me break the resolve: your hat is
the worst enemy of your railroad."
Vesta, however, was the Entailed Hat's greatest victim. It lay upon her
spirits like a shroud. Nervous and apprehensive as she had become, the
perpetual admonition and friction of this article drove her into silence
and gloom, poisoned the air and blocked up the sunlight, made going
forth a constant running of the gantlet, and hospitality a comedy, and
human observation a wondering stare.
The hat was the silent, unindicated thing that stood between her and her
husband and the rest of the world. She never mentioned it, for she saw
that it was forbidden ground.
Pages:
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650