were doing. But we did know, nevertheless. Our plans had been
fully matured long before we saw fit to reveal them. To spend a month or
so at Neville Mason's, down in Virginia, appealed very pleasantly to
both of us, and I accepted my old chum's offer with avidity. We were to
have everything to ourselves, with just as many servants as we wanted.

"We were married. There was a wedding breakfast, flowers, weeping
relatives, old shoes, and a profusion of rice; nothing, in short, was
omitted. A few hours later we left Jersey City on the southbound flyer.
Breaking the journey at Washington, and remaining over night there, we
arrived at the tiny depot near our ultimate destination late on the
evening of the following day. An ancient but still serviceable family
carriage was in waiting, and we were conveyed in state to the mansion.

"The house at Raven Hill is a huge affair of the Revolutionary period,
with numerous modern additions, which fail entirely to harmonize with
the quaint architecture of the original. The stables and servants'
quarters give the place the appearance of quite a settlement--a survival
of slavery days one sees here and there in the South.

"We were shown to a suite of sunny rooms in the east wing which had been
especially prepared for us, and soon made ourselves thoroughly at home.
From this agreeable vantage-ground we set out upon many pleasant
expeditions into the countryside, returned the visits of our neighbors,
and attended the chapel at the Crossways in truly rural style. Nothing
amused us as much, though, as the negro servants. To them Elizabeth was
'Honey,' and I, 'Marse Livingstone'; and over at the quarters the little
darkies gave rare exhibitions of dancing for our benefit, while solemn,
gray-haired Uncle Ashby picked a greasy banjo. The men sang in nasal,
but not unmelodious tones, weird, crooning songs, with occasionally an
up-to-date composition which found its way, no doubt, from nearby
Richmond. I shall never forget those happy evenings at Raven Hill; and
in my dreams I often see and hear the negroes as they danced and sang in
the moonlight.

"There were some good horses in the stables, and we did not spare them.
Our cross-country dashes were most exciting, and the total absence of
fences in the region gave us an apparently limitless expanse over which
to wander. And that reminds me of a never-to-be-forgotten fox hunt which
was attended by riders from all over that section of the country