Lucy and I were installed in the middle of the long stone out building, a large fine room that suited our purpose well. Mockingbirds had built a nest in the chimney of the office some time back and when we unlocked the door for the first time, two of the babies had jumped the nest and landed in the brick floor. They were quite upset about the whole thing.
They were covered in feathers and I think they were ready to leave the nest, which was how they came to find themselves on the brick floor. But they were all locked up in the room and couldn't get out. Lucy and I caught them and put them outside under an obliging tree.
I took my fencing practice in the morning at 10:30 with mr. Cushing. He is a younger fellow and quite vigourous. As I have not fenced since my days in the Royal Navy, I found it quite a task to fend off his attacks and advances. We stopped our exercise and took great cups of water several times due to the heat.
Afterward, I unlocked the office and gave several demonstrations to the assembled visitors to the Croghan estate.
At noon, Lucy and I took tea with a lovely pair of sisters, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Johnson.
At one of the clock in the afternoon I went to the garden and took my place in the queue for the style show for the benefit of the Croghan's guests.
Later, I was out with my cages and found a fantastic beetle on the back of a woman's dress, it was large and wounded. It was a winged thing, gold and green, but its wings browned and damaged.
It was a Phyllophaga, a genus of beetles in the subfamily Melolonthinae of the family Scarabaeidae... Cotinis nitida, locally known as a 'June Bug'. The front lawn was swarming with them. They circled low to the ground.
I took him in my hand and continued my walk.
As I stood showing him off in a group of ladies and gents, my hand extended, five more examples of the very same beetle flew right into my waiting hand as if to come and rescue their friend!
Lucy, at 2 in the afternoon on Saturday, went to her dance lesson with Captain and Mrs. May, which was just as well, as I had been asked to be the attending physician at a pistol duel on the Village Green at half past two the very same afternoon.
Two fellows had been gambling at Wist in the kitchen that morning, and there were words exchanged over a matter of cheating.
...to be continued
3 comments:
Sounds like a most delightful time...but then again, it is very difficult not to have a lovely time at the Croghan estate!
It looks like you had a wonderful event.
Thank you a million times over for your blog! It's creativity and experiences have helped me decide to take steps in finding a local regency chapter in my area.
My mom and I had a wonderful time and were so impressed at your commitment to character.
Keep up the great work!
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