Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. THE mother and daughter soon met—the latter in ignorance of the recent negotiation preliminary to her matrimonial settlement. She was in a desirable humor for its accomplishment ; having just received information, which greatly disappointed her, relative to the will of a deceased uncle, from whom she had been taught to expect a rich legacy. Chagrined, and vexed, she was the representation of ill humor, as she sat tapping her foot upon the carpet, with a crushing look, that threatened at least the worsted roses beneath her feet. If her beautiful features could be made ugly by expression, the experiment was tested. Her white, clear brow was knit between its arches, over a pair of eyes dark, bine and flashing—the look of scorn and anger they wore in unison with the haughty curve of her scarlet lips, which seemed never to have uttered a soft, much less a loving word. But what her face lost, her form gained in the violence of her emotion. That she could not distort; for the passion she revealed, but made more visible its expressive proportions. Rich in fullness, yet light, elastic, she stood, dilating, with wrathful feeling. The coming of her mother only aggravated the rage of the afflicted Elinor, increasing to vehement demonstration her anger. Turning towards her bland parent, who held the gift, sheexclaimed, with an energetic motion of her hand and foot— " Thus have we beeu treated by every Castleman who ever lived or died. This last defunct specimen of a niggardly race, has proved himself but a sample of the rest. I would like to write his epitaph, and for ever renounce a name I have learned to hate." " There must be some mistake, my dear ; I am sure your Uncle Tom would have been more considerate of the relict of Ms deceased brother, and her orphan ch...