with its
details. Her father had been very anxious to provide her with a skilful
housekeeper, to relieve her of the care and tedious minutiae of such
matters; but she refused to accept one, avowing her belief that it was the
imperative duty of every woman to superintend and inspect the management of
her domestic affairs. Consequently, from the first week of her return, she
made it a rule to spend an hour after breakfast in her dining-room pantry,
determining and arranging the details of the day.

The situation of the house commanded an extensive and beautiful prospect,
and the ancient trees that overshadowed it imparted a venerable and
imposing aspect. The building was of brick, overcast to represent granite,
and along three sides ran a wide gallery, supported by lofty circular
pillars, crowned with unusually heavy capitals. The main body consisted of
two stories, with a hall in the centre, and three rooms on either side;
while two long single-storied wings stretched out right and left, one a
billiard-room, the other a greenhouse.

A broad easy flight of white marble steps led up to the richly-carved front
door, with its massive silver knocker bearing the name of Huntingdon in
old-fashioned Italian characters; and in the arched niches, on either side
of this door, stood two statues, brought from Europe by Mr. Huntingdon's
father, and supposed to represent certain Roman penates.

The grounds in front, embracing several acres, were enclosed by a brick
wall, and at the foot of the hill, at the entrance of the long avenue of
elms, stood a tall, arched iron gate. A smoothly-shaven terrace of Bermuda
grass ran round the house, and the broad carriage-way swept up to a mound
opposite the door, surmounted by the bronze figure of a crouching dog. Such
was Irene's home--stately and elegant--kept so thoroughly repaired that, in
its cheerfulness, its age was forgotten.

The society of W---- was considered remarkably fine. There was quite an
aggregation of wealth and refinement; gentlemen, whose plantations were
situated in adjacent counties, resided here, with their families; some, who
spent their winters on the seaboard, resorted here for the summer; its bar
was said to possess more talent than any other in the State; its schools
claimed to be unsurpassed; it boasted of a concert-hall, a lyceum, a
handsome court-house, a commodious well-built jail, and half a dozen as
fine churches as any country town could desire. I would fain a