XII. 



VIRGINIA'S WOOING. 



You must know in the beginning that Vir- 

 ginia wore feathers. But she had as many tri- 

 als with her suitors as though she dressed in 

 silks, and she displayed so much of what we 

 call "human nature " that her story is as inter- 

 esting as that of half the Ethels and Margue- 

 rites of the romances. 



She came of a good old family, the Cardinals, 

 and, belonging to the Virginia branch, was 

 called properly Virginia Cardinal, or, in scien- 

 tific fashion, Cardinalis Virginianus. She was 

 a beauty, too. It is well known that the cardi- 

 nal himself has a full suit of the most brilliant 

 red, but it is not so familiar a fact that the 

 dames of the tribe are more modest and wear 

 the family colors simply as linings and in sub- 

 dued tints : rich rose-colored wing-facings, light 

 coral-hued beak, delicate pink crest, all toned 

 down by the soft olive brown of the breast and 

 back, over which is everywhere a lovely sugges- 

 tion of red. 



