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One might have fancied it a fertile corner of Devonshire that had slipped its moorings and drifted westward on a summer sea. "If I had Arion here, and Rorie, I think I could be almost happy," Vixen said to herself with a dreamy smile. "And Rorie!"
In due time the Vixen and her convoy reached Key West. He found only two schooners and a steamer, all loaded with cotton, awaiting his coming, for two others had been sent with another steamer. Christy went on board of them, and as the sea was smooth, he arranged them as he had the others, though tow lines were ready in case of need, and the fleet sailed for the North.
There was the indication of race in her aquiline nose, high narrow brow and neatly cut chin, her tapering hand and small slender foot. She was dressed in black silk, rustier and older than any silk Vixen had ever seen before: not even excepting Mrs. Scobel's black silk dresses, when they had been degraded from their original rank to the scrubbery of early services and daily wear.
Wood and I boarded the Vixen, and there we got Lieutenant Sharp's black Cuban pilot, who told us he could take our transport right in to within a few hundred yards of the land. Accordingly, we put him aboard; and in he brought her, gaining at least a mile and a half by the manoeuvre. The other transports followed; but we had our berth, and were all right.
But I mean to take life easily you may be sure of that, Vixen; and I intend to have the best stud of hunters in Hampshire. And now I think I must be off." "No, you mustn't," cried Violet. "The dinner is not till eight. If you leave here at six you will have no end of time for getting home to dress. How did you come?" "On these two legs." "You shall have four to take you to Briarwood.
There was a tradition to account for it, not old or thin enough to cast no shadow, therefore seldom alluded to. It was not, therefore, an ordinary childish dismay, but a deep-seated congenital terror, that made Vixen give one wavering scream, and drop on the floor. Richard thought she was pretending a faint in mockery of what she had done, but when he took her up, he saw that she was insensible.
"It's the least funny thing I ever experienced. Deceiving that Harbison man isn't so bad he thinks me crazy, anyhow. He's been staring his eyes out at me " "I don't wonder. You're really lovely tonight, Kit, and you look like a vixen." "But to deceive that harmless old lady well, thank goodness, it's nine, and she leaves in an hour or so." But she didn't and that's the story.
The tall shafts and the thick tufts of huge leaves were not Vixen's idea of beauty. "I like our beeches and oaks in the Forest ever so much better," she exclaimed. "Everything in the Forest is dear," said Rorie. Vixen felt, with a curious choking sensation, that this was a good opening for her to say something polite.
Scobel seated themselves quickly, and Vixen gave her reins a little shake that meant Go, and off went the pony at a pace which was rather like running away. The Vicar looked slightly uneasy. "Does he always go as fast as this?" he inquired. "Sometimes a good deal faster. He's an old fencer, you know, and hasn't forgotten his jumping days. But of course I don't let him jump with the carriage."
"I was positively alarmed about you last night, my dear," she said; "you were so feverish and excited. You read too much, for the first day." "I'm afraid I did," assented Vixen, with a faint smile; "and the worst of it is, I believe I have forgotten every word I read." "Surely not!" cried Miss Skipwith, horrified at this admission. "You seemed so impressed so interested.