Project Gutenberg's "George Washington's" Last Duel, by Thomas Nelson Page This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: "George Washington's" Last Duel 1891 Author: Thomas Nelson Page Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23013] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "GEORGE WASHINGTON'S" LAST DUEL *** Produced by David Widger "GEORGE WASHINGTON'S" LAST DUEL. By Thomas Nelson Page 1891 I. Of all the places in the county "The Towers" was the favorite with the young people. There even before Margaret was installed the Major kept open house with his major domo and factotum "George Washington"; and when Margaret came from school,-

of course it was popular. Only one class of persons was excluded. There were few people in the county who did not know of the Major's antipathy to "old women," as he called them. Years no more entered into his definition of this class than celibacy did into his idea of an "old bachelor." The state of single blessedness continued in the female sex beyond the bloom of youth was in his eyes the sole basis of this unpardonable condition. He made certain concessions to the few individuals among his neighbors who had remained in the state of spinsterhood, because, as he declared, neighborliness was a greater virtue than consistency; but he drew the line at these few, and it was his boast that no old woman had ever been able to get into his Eden. "One of them," he used to say, "would close paradise just as readily now as Eve did six thousand years ago." Thus, although as Margaret grew up she had any other friends she desi-

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