Digital heart book

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The little party in the cabin, so disastrously begun,
finished, under the mellowing influence of wine and
woman, in excellent feeling and with some hilarity.
Mamie, in a plush Gainsborough hat and a gown of wine-
coloured silk, sat, an apparent queen, among her rude
surroundings and companions. The dusky litter of the
cabin set off her radiant trimness: tarry Johnson was a
foil to her fair beauty; she glowed in that poor place,
fair as a star; until even I, who was not usually of
her admirers, caught a spark of admiration; and even
the captain, who was in no courtly humour, proposed
that the scene should be commemorated by my pencil. It
was the last act of the evening. Hurriedly as I went
about my task, the half-hour had lengthened out to more
than three before it was completed: Mamie in full
value, the rest of the party figuring in outline only,
and the artist himself introduced in a back view, which
was pronounced a likeness. But it was to Mamie that I
devoted the best of my attention; and it was with her I
made my chief success.


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