Men and
women of the past generation, and therefore contemporaries, did not
hesitate to designate him an "old pirate," though always the
opprobrious words were spoken in an undertone, for people were half
afraid of the dark, reserved, evil-looking man, who had evidently
passed a large portion of his life among scenes of peril and
violence. There were more pleasing traditions of the beautiful wife
he brought home to grace the luxurious dwelling he had fitted up in
a style of almost princely splendor, compared with the plain abode
of even the best off people in town. Who she was, or from whence she
came, no one knew certainly. She was very young--almost a
child--when the elder Captain Allen brought her to S----.
Very little intercourse, I believe, passed between the Allen family
and the town's-people, except in a business way. The first regular
entry made into the house beyond the formal drawing-room, was on the
occasion of a birth, when the best nurse and gossip in town was
summoned to attend the young mistress. A son was born. He was called
John; though not under the sign of Christian baptism--John Allen;
afterwards Captain Allen.
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