Bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and their clerks
and students, all take part in these social assemblies upon
terms of perfect equality. The father and son not unfrequently
meet and dance *vis a vis* at a negro ball.
It was at one of these parties that Henry Linwood, the son of a wealthy
and retired gentleman of Richmond, was first introduced to Isabella,
the oldest daughter of Agnes. The young man had just returned
from Harvard College, where he had spent the previous five years.
Isabella was in her eighteenth year, and was admitted by all who knew
her to be the handsomest girl, colored or white, in the city.
On this occasion, she was attired in a sky-blue silk dress,
with deep black lace flounces, and bertha of the same.
On her well-moulded arms she wore massive gold bracelets, while her
rich black hair was arranged at the back in broad basket plaits,
ornamented with pearls, and the front in the French style
(*a la Imperatrice*), which suited her classic face to perfection.
Marion was scarcely less richly dressed than her sister.
Henry Linwood paid great attention to Isabella, which was
looked upon with gratification by her mother, and became
a matter of general conversation with all present.
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