Maid Sally
Page 2
CHAPTER II.
THE GREAT HOUSE
Of all things lovely and full of fascination in Sally's little narrowworld, everything in and about Ingleside stood far and away the highestin her eyes.
It was her delight, her admiration, her dream by day and her dream bynight. Ingleside! With its wide-spreading mansion, its far-reachingplantation that was, after all, but a short run for an agile child fromSlipside Row.
Had Sally known the meaning of such a word as "romance," which is asweet and wonderful story, or happening, or dream, she would have knownthat the chief bewitchment of her life sprang from the dear romance thatto her fancy was all about fair Ingleside.
Because, from the time that she had been brought to Slipside Row, whena bright little child of eight years, with a keen imagination and greatlove for all that was tasteful and beautiful, it had become the greatestcharm she had ever known to race, whenever she could, through Lover'sLane and Shady Path, to some part of Ingleside.
Now, when it is told that the great house, the immense garden, thefields, stables, cabins, store-sheds, and far-reaching plantation ofIngleside formed the mansion and estate of one Colonial "place," youwill understand that it was the home of a Southern planter.
For Maid Sally lived more than a hundred years ago, and in truth nearlyhalf as long again. And Slipside Row was in the smiling South, on theborder of Williamsburg, a town of the colony of Virginia. And the seatof government for all the colonies of America was at Williamsburg inthose days. But there were few large towns anywhere in the country then.
It was common at that time for a man to own so large a place that it hada name of its own, and was a settlement of itself. Sir PercivalGrandison, the master of Ingleside, had come from England, and as hewanted his place to remind him of the old country, he called itIngleside. For in the sweet Scotch tongue, "ingleside" means "fireside,"or ingle may mean fireplace, or chimney-corner; so you see it gave ahome feeling to the place, calling it "Ingleside."
There was a large garden before the house, so wide and deep that quitea walk it was up the path of pebbles from the gate to the house. Herewere great flower-beds, bordered around with thick green box, or withfragrant little pinks, or, perhaps, with tufts of white sweet alyssum.And here were all kinds, also, of rich, old-fashioned blooms: roses ofdamask, moss roses, the flush multiflora, and china rose; blush roses,wee Scotch roses, and the sweet white garden rose; great peonies,pink and red, sweet-william, marigolds, phlox, both pink and white,bachelor's-buttons, columbine, oleanders, large white magnolia blossoms,cockscomb, prim and fine, poppies, asters, portulacas, prince's-feather,snowballs, dahlias, and lilies of many kinds.
Dear, dear! how could one ever begin to tell of the loveliness andperfume of just one old-time garden, mignonette, fuchsias, heliotrope,and geraniums sending out their strong, delightful tints and fragrancewith the rest?
Farther along, striped grass, mints, herbs and balsams made the airheavy with spicy odors when the dew was on the grass.
The mansion was built on the generous, old-time plan. There were highporches at the front, with white, fluted pillars, an enormous frontdoor, with a fan-window over the top, and side-lights of high, narrowpanes of glass. On the stoep, or stoop, were benches at the side,painted white, where one might sit out in the cool of the day.
Inside, immense fireplaces told of good cheer on chilly nights, when abright wood fire made the big knobs on the burnished andirons, or"fire-dogs," seem as if alive with glancing light. Great sofas, wide,high-backed and deep, covered with tapestry or brocades, lace hangings,wide chairs, ottomans, antimacassars, or tidies, footstools, high-backedchairs, with seats wrought in worsted work, pier-glasses, reachingalmost from floor to ceiling, pictures, a piano, something quite newthen, a _carpet_, another new luxury, also a spinet, a kind of piano ofwiry sound, a violin, and lute, all were in the ample drawing-room.
In the hall were portraits, some very old, and swords, ancient bows andarrows, and a few old battle scenes adorned the walls. The newels, orposts, at the foot of the banisters, bore great carved figures ofsea-serpents and griffins, strange animals, part lion, part eagle.
The dining-room had always fresh white sand upon the floor, had alsoheavy carved furniture, and against the walls were pictures of huntingscenes, and many a pictured feast or revel.
Up-stairs were great square rooms with painted floor and home-made matsin abundance. Bedsteads, with high posts and "testers," or canopiesoverhead. Furniture, covered with chintz, looked fresh and fine, whilebedspreads, valances, or side-flounces for the beds, tester, curtains,dressing-table, and mirror, all were made, bordered, or trimmed, withbrightly flowered chintz.
The spare room, or "parlor-chamber," was delightfully cool and purelooking, decked out in white dimity, stiff with starch, and full of anair of grandeur.
The cook-room of the house was at the rear of the mansion, apart fromit, and the different dishes were carried through a covered passage.Afar down the grounds were the stables, back of them the quarters of theblack servants, and still beyond, the wide plantation or tobacco fields.
At one side of the garden, midst lawn and shrubbery, was a stone wallbounding one part of the grounds, and close to this wall was a littlesummer-house, or arbor, where the young people liked to stray of anevening, and enjoy the cool, sweet breezes of the fair Southland.
Just outside this high, bordering wall, was a thick hedge nearly ashigh as the wall itself, and with but the merest space between. And hereit was, between wall and hedge, that Sally, poor, half-neglected littleMaid Sally, was wild to cut over from Slipside Row and hide herself.
Because, ah! because she had found out that young Lionel Grandison, sonof Sir Percival and Lady Gabrielle Grandison, was in the habit of rovingover to the arbor after supper with his books, and supposing himselfalone, would often read aloud.
But now, his cousin, the Lady Rosamond Earlscourt, was spending thesummer at Ingleside, and Lionel, sixteen, tall, straight, and manly inhis boyish beauty, was reading aloud evenings to his fair cousinRosamond and his sister, Lucretia Grandison, a Fairy story.
He had read later than usual the night before, and, ah! it was almost asif a Fairy had lifted her lightsome wand and granted some great boonwhen Mistress Cory Ann said to Sally that after supper she could gowhere she liked, and work would be over for the day.
That would give her time in which to do a bit of prinking, even such aspulling out her tangled locks and putting her poor little dress asstraight as she could, then to run over to Ingleside at about the timethat supper would be over there, and Lionel would begin his delightfulreading.
No wonder Sally squeezed her own spare little sides with delight, as sherealized that now unless it rained she could fly night after night toher enchanted grounds, and hear the clear voice of young LionelGrandison reading the beautiful Fairy tale.
Yes, it was of a truth like a piece of Fairy luck that had come into thechild's lonely life.