said the governor , sternly , at the same time lifting his cane over the intruder . `` What means the Bedlamite by this freak ? '' `` Nay , '' answered Lady Eleanore , playfully , but with more scorn than pity in her tone ; `` Your Excellency shall not strike him . When men seek only to be trampled upon , it were a pity to deny them a favor so easily granted -- and so well deserved ! '' Then , though as lightly as a sunbeam on a cloud , she placed her foot upon the cowering form and extended her hand to meet that of the governor . There was a brief interval during which Lady Eleanore retained this attitude , and never , surely , was there an apter emblem of aristocracy and hereditary pride trampling on human sympathies and the kindred of nature than these two figures presented at that moment . Yet the spectators were so smitten with her beauty , and so essential did pride seem to the existence of such a creature , that they gave a simultaneous acclamation of applause . `` Who is this insolent young fellow ? '' inquired Captain Langford , who still remained beside Dr. Clarke . `` If he be in his senses , his impertinence demands the bastinado ; if mad , Lady Eleanore should be secured from further inconvenience by his confinement . '' `` His name is Jervase Helwyse , '' answered the doctor -- `` a youth of no birth or fortune , or other advantages save the mind and soul that nature gave him ; and , being secretary to our colonial agent in London , it was his misfortune to meet this Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe . He loved her , and her scorn has driven him mad . '' `` He was mad so to aspire , '' observed the English officer . `` It may be so , '' said Dr. Clarke , frowning as he spoke ; `` but I tell you , sir , I could wellnigh doubt the justice of the Heaven above us if no signal humiliation overtake this lady who now treads so haughtily into yonder mansion . She seeks to place herself above the sympathies of our common nature , which envelops all human souls ; see if that nature do not assert its claim over her in some mode that shall bring her level with the lowest . '' `` Never ! '' cried Captain Langford , indignantly -- `` neither in life nor when they lay her with her ancestors . '' Not many days afterward the governor gave a ball in honor of Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe . The principal gentry of the colony received invitations , which were distributed to their residences far and near by messengers on horseback bearing missives sealed with all the formality of official despatches . In obedience to the summons , there was a general gathering of rank , wealth and beauty , and the wide door of the province-house had seldom given admittance to more numerous and honorable guests than on the evening of Lady Eleanore 's ball .
Without much extravagance of eulogy , the spectacle might even be termed splendid , for , according to the fashion of the times , the ladies shone in rich silks and satins outspread over wide-projecting hoops , and the gentlemen glittered in gold embroidery laid unsparingly upon the purple or scarlet or sky-blue velvet which was the material XXXXX their coats and waistcoats .
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