Her heavy hair, intensely black, was bound with a gold fillet, after a fashion that has returned a half century later.

A single diamond sparkled upon her finger.

She seemed to Harry foreign, handsome, and very distinguished.
About half the people in the room were of French blood, most of whom Harry surmised were descendants of people who had fled from Hayti or Santo Domingo.

One, Hector St.Hilaire, almost sixty, but a major in the militia of South Carolina, soon proved that the boy's surmise was right.

Lemonade and a mild drink called claret-sanger was served to the boys, but the real claret was served to the major, as to the other elders, and the mellowness of Christmas pervaded his spirit.