A Strange, Sad Comedy

A Strange, Sad Comedy

ONE sunny November day, in 1864, Colonel Archibald Corbin sat placidly reading The Spectator in the shabby old library at Corbin Hall, in Virginia. The Colonel had a fine, pale old face, clean shaven, except for a bristly, white mustache, and his white hair, which was rather long, was combed back in the fashion of the days when Bulwers heroes set the style for hair-dressing. The Colonelwho was no more a colonel than he was a cheese-boxhad an invincible placidity, which could not be disturbed by wars or rumors of wars. He had come into the world in a calm and judicial frame of mind, and meant to go through it and out of it calmly and judicially, in spite of rude shocks and upheavals. Everything about Colonel Corbin had reached the stage of genteel shabbinessa[2] shabbiness which is the exclusive mark of gentlemen. His dignified frock-coat was white about the seams with much brushing, and the tall, old-fashioned stock which supported his chin was neatly but obviously mended. The furniture in the room was as archaic as the Colonels coat and stock. A square of rag carpet covered the floor; there had been a Brussels carpet once, but that had long since gone to the hospital at Richmondand the knob of the Colonels gold-headed cane had gone into the collection-plate at church some months before. For, as the Colonel said, with a sort of grandiose modestyI can give but little, sir, in these disjointed times. But when I do give, I give like a gentleman, sir. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 67659
Author: Seawell, Molly Elliot
Release Date: Mar 20, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: The Century Co.,1892
Publication Date: 1892
Publisher Country: United States