"
"My party, papa," said Lady Mabel, with an air of asserting her
position. "I like to travel in good style. This is my retinue, and a
very complete one it is. Colonel L'Isle is my dragoman, and interprets
for me among the barbarous natives. The servants, armed to the teeth,
are my guards. The commissary is my purveyor, and," she added, glancing
at his rotund figure, "I have no fear of starving in his company. Mrs.
Shortridge, though she does not look sour enough for the office, is my
duenna, punctilious and watchful--" Here she suddenly broke off her
discourse, and fixed her eyes on old Moodie, who now entered the
court, leading in a powerful horse of her father's, with a pair of
huge holsters at the saddle-bow. Being a small and an old man, he
climbed stiffly and with some difficulty into the saddle; but, when
seated there, his earnest face and resolute air made him look a hero
of the covenant quitting the conventicle for the battle-field.
After watching him in silent surprise, she exclaimed: "Why, Moodie,
are you going too? I did not know that you were so fond of traveling,
and so inquisitive about these idolatrous foreigners and their
country.
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