CHAPTER VI.
minnie.
Some twenty years ago, I knew a family in Kentucky, all the members of which were remarkable for their beauty. We will call them the Smiths. There were two beautiful daughters; the elder one, I called by the pet name of Minnie. As a child, she was amiable and lovely; and she grew up both beautiful and intelligent. At the age of fifteen, her eyes became affected, which procured her leave of absence to return home from school. During that time she became acquainted with Noble in a rather peculiar manner. As he was sitting, with other members of the family, in the hall which went through the middle of the house, he raised his eyes, and was astonished at the vision of loveliness that greeted his sight, coming down the broad stairway. She was dressed in a white cambric morning wrapper, confined at the waist with a rich blue silk cord and tassel; her clear red and white complexion contrasting beautifully with her disheveled hair of dark chesnut, which nearly reached her feet. When she saw the stranger, she gave a scream, and ran back to her room. In the evening, the gentleman returned, and was introduced to her. He had fallen in love at first sight, and the introduction had only tightened the chairs on the part of Noble. But Minnie, young as she was, already loved another.
