"This letter for you, from a lady," said Roundjacket, smiling, and drawing from his pocket an elegantly folded billet.
"A letter for me, sir!" he said, blushing.
"Yes; not from a great distance though," Roundjacket replied, with a sly chuckle; "see here; the post-mark is the 'Bower of Nature.'"
Verty extended his hand abruptly, his lips open, his countenance glowing.
Roundjacket chuckled more than ever, and handing it to the young man, said:
"An African of small dimensions brought it this morning, and said no answer was required--doubtless, therefore, it is _not_ a love-letter, the writers of which are well-known to appreciate replies. Hey! what's the matter, my friend?"
This exclamation was called forth by the sudden and extraordinary change in Verty's physiognomy. As we have said, the young man had received the letter with a radiant flush, and a brilliant flash of his fine eye; and thus the reader will easily comprehend, when we inform him, that Verty imagined the letter to be from Redbud. Redbud was his one thought, the only image in his mind, and Roundjacket's words, "post-mark, the Bower of Nature," had overwhelmed him with the blissful expectation of a note from Redbud, with loving words of explanation in it, recalling him, making him once more happy. He tore open the letter, which was simply directed to "Mr. Verty, at Judge Rushton's office," and found his dream dispelled. Alas! the name, at the foot of the manuscript, was not "Redbud"--it was "Sallianna!"
And so, when the young man's hopes were overturned, the bright flash of his clear eye was veiled in mist again, and his hand fell, with a gesture of discouragement, which Roundjacket found no difficulty in understanding.
Verty's face drooped upon his hand, and with the other hand, which held the letter, hanging down at the side of his chair, he sighed profoundly. He remained thus, buried in thought, for some time, Roundjacket gazing at him in silence. He was aroused by something pulling at the letter, which turned to be Longears, who was biting Miss Sallianna's epistle in a literary way, and this aroused him. He saw Roundjacket looking at him.
"Ah--ah!" said that gentleman, "it seems, young man, that the letter is not to your taste."