CHAPTER III IN WHICH I MARRY IN HASTE
THE long service of praise and thanksgiving was well-nigh over when Ifirst saw her.
She sat some ten feet from me, in the corner, and so in the shadow of atall pew. Beyond her was a row of milkmaid beauties, red of cheek, freeof eye, deep-bosomed, and beribboned like Maypoles. I looked again, andsaw--and see--a rose amongst blowzed poppies and peonies, a pearl amidstglass beads, a Perdita in a ring of rustics, a nonparella of all graceand beauty! As I gazed with all my eyes, I found more than grace andbeauty in that wonderful face,--found pride, wit, fire, determination,finally shame and anger. For, feeling my eyes upon her, she looked upand met what she must have thought the impudent stare of an appraiser.Her face, which had been without color, pale and clear like the skyabout the evening star, went crimson in a moment. She bit her lip andshot at me one withering glance, then dropped her eyelids and hid thelightning. When I looked at her again, covertly, and from under my handraised as though to push back my hair, she was pale once more, and herdark eyes were fixed upon the water and the green trees without thewindow.
The congregation rose, and she stood up with the other maids. Her dressof dark woolen, severe and unadorned, her close ruff and prim whitecoif, would have cried "Puritan," had ever Puritan looked like thiswoman, upon whom the poor apparel had the seeming of purple and ermine.
Anon came the benediction. Governor, Councilors, commanders, andministers left the choir and paced solemnly down the aisle; the maidsclosed in behind; and we who had lined the walls, shifting from one heelto the other for a long two hours, brought up the rear, and so passedfrom the church to a fair green meadow adjacent thereto. Here thecompany disbanded; the wearers of gold lace betaking themselves to seatserected in the shadow of a mighty oak, and the ministers, of whom therewere four, bestowing themselves within pulpits of turf. For one altarand one clergyman could not hope to dispatch that day's business.
As for the maids, for a minute or more they made one cluster; then,shyly or with laughter, they drifted apart like the petals of awind-blown rose, and silk doublet and hose gave chase. Five minutes sawthe goodly company of damsels errant and would-be bridegrooms scatteredfar and near over the smiling meadow. For the most part they went manand maid, but the fairer of the feminine cohort had rings of clamoroussuitors from whom to choose. As for me, I walked alone; for if by chanceI neared a maid, she looked (womanlike) at my apparel first, and neverreached my face, but squarely turned her back. So disengaged, I feltlike a guest at a mask, and in some measure enjoyed the show, thoughwith an uneasy consciousness that I was pledged to become, sooner orlater, a part of the spectacle. I saw a shepherdess fresh from Arcadiawave back a dozen importunate gallants, then throw a knot of blue ribboninto their midst, laugh with glee at the scramble that ensued, andfinally march off with the wearer of the favor. I saw a neighbor ofmine, tall Jack Pride, who lived twelve miles above me, blush andstammer, and bow again and again to a milliner's apprentice of a girl,not five feet high and all eyes, who dropped a curtsy at each bow. WhenI had passed them fifty yards or more, and looked back, they were stillbobbing and bowing. And I heard a dialogue between Phyllis and Corydon.Says Phyllis, "Any poultry?"
Corydon. "A matter of twalve hens and twa cocks."
Phyllis. "A cow?"
Corydon. "Twa."
Phyllis. "How much tobacco?"
Corydon. "Three acres, hinny, though I dinna drink the weed mysel'. I'ma Stewart, woman, an' the King's puir cousin."
Phyllis. "What household plenishing?"
Corydon. "Ane large bed, ane flock bed, ane trundle bed, ane chest, anetrunk, ane leather cairpet, sax cawfskin chairs an' twa-three rush, fivepair o' sheets an' auchteen dowlas napkins, sax alchemy spunes"--
Phyllis. "I'll take you."
At the far end of the meadow, near to the fort, I met young Hamor,alone, flushed, and hurrying back to the more populous part of thefield.
"Not yet mated?" I asked. "Where are the maids' eyes?"
"By--!" he answered, with an angry laugh. "If they're all like thesample I've just left, I'll buy me a squaw from the Paspaheghs!"
I smiled. "So your wooing has not prospered?"
His vanity took fire. "I have not wooed in earnest," he said carelessly,and hitched forward his cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air. "Isheered off quickly enough, I warrant you, when I found the nature ofthe commodity I had to deal with."
"Ah!" I said. "When I left the crowd they were going very fast. You hadbest hurry, if you wish to secure a bargain."
"I'm off," he answered; then, jerking his thumb over his shoulder,"If you keep on to the river and that clump of cedars, you will findTermagaunt in ruff and farthingale."
When he was gone, I stood still for a while and watched the slow sweepof a buzzard high in the blue, after which I unsheathed my dagger, andwith it tried to scrape the dried mud from my boots. Succeeding butindifferently, I put the blade up, stared again at the sky, drew a longbreath, and marched upon the covert of cedars indicated by Hamor.
As I neared it, I heard at first only the wash of the river; butpresently there came to my ears the sound of a man's voice, and then awoman's angry "Begone, sir!"
"Kiss and be friends," said the man.
The sound that followed being something of the loudest for even the mosthearty salutation, I was not surprised, on parting the bushes, to findthe man nursing his cheek, and the maid her hand.
"You shall pay well for that, you sweet vixen!" he cried, and caught herby both wrists.
She struggled fiercely, bending her head this way and that, but his hotlips had touched her face before I could come between.
When I had knocked him down he lay where he fell, dazed by the blow,and blinking up at me with his small ferret eyes. I knew him to be oneEdward Sharpless, and I knew no good of him. He had been a lawyer inEngland. He lay on the very brink of the stream, with one arm touchingthe water. Flesh and blood could not resist it, so, assisted by the toeof my boot, he took a cold bath to cool his hot blood.
When he had clambered out and had gone away, cursing, I turned to faceher. She stood against the trunk of a great cedar, her head thrown back,a spot of angry crimson in each cheek, one small hand clenched at herthroat. I had heard her laugh as Sharpless touched the water, but nowthere was only defiance in her face. As we gazed at each other, aburst of laughter came to us from the meadow behind. I looked over myshoulder, and beheld young Hamor, probably disappointed of a wife,--withGiles Allen and Wynne, returning to his abandoned quarry. She saw, too,for the crimson spread and deepened and her bosom heaved. Her dark eyes,glancing here and there like those of a hunted creature, met my own.
"Madam," I said, "will you marry me?"
She looked at me strangely. "Do you live here?" she asked at last, witha disdainful wave of her hand toward the town.
"No, madam," I answered. "I live up river, in Weyanoke Hundred, somemiles from here."
"Then, in God's name, let us be gone!" she cried, with sudden passion.
I bowed low, and advanced to kiss her hand.
The finger tips which she slowly and reluctantly resigned to me wereicy, and the look with which she favored me was not such an one as poetsfeign for like occasions. I shrugged the shoulders of my spirit, butsaid nothing. So, hand in hand, though at arms' length, we passed fromthe shade of the cedars into the open meadow, where we presently metHamor and his party. They would have barred the way, laughing and makingunsavory jests, but I drew her closer to me and laid my hand upon mysword. They stood aside, for I was the best swordsman in Virginia.
The meadow was now less thronged. The river, up and down, was white withsailboats, and across the neck of the peninsula went a line of horsemen,each with his purchase upon a pillion behind him. The Governor, theCouncilors, and the commanders had betaken themselves to the Governor'shouse, where a great dinner was to be given. But Master Piersey, theCape Merchant, remained to see the Company reimbursed to the last leaf,and the four ministers still found occupation, th
ough one couple trodnot upon the heels of another, as they had done an hour agone.
"I must first satisfy the treasurer," I said, coming to a halt withinfifty feet of the now deserted high places.
She drew her hand from mine, and looked me up and down.
"How much is it?" she asked at last. "I will pay it."
I stared at her.
"Can't you speak?" she cried, with a stamp of her foot. "At what am Ivalued? Ten pounds--fifty pounds"--
"At one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco, madam," I said dryly. "Iwill pay it myself. To what name upon the ship's list do you answer?"
"Patience Worth," she replied.
I left her standing there, and went upon my errand with a whirlingbrain. Her enrollment in that company proclaimed her meanly born, andshe bore herself as of blood royal; of her own free will she had crossedan ocean to meet this day, and she held in passionate hatred thisday and all that it contained; she was come to Virginia to better hercondition, and the purse which she had drawn from her bosom was filledwith gold pieces. To another I would have advised caution, delay,application to the Governor, inquiry; for myself I cared not to makeinquiries.
The treasurer gave me my receipt, and I procured, from the crowd aroundhim, Humfrey Kent, a good man and true, and old Belfield, the perfumer,for witnesses. With them at my heels I went back to her, and, giving hermy hand, was making for the nearest minister, when a voice at a littledistance hailed me, crying out, "This way, Captain Percy!"
I turned toward the voice, and beheld the great figure of MasterJeremy Sparrow sitting, cross-legged like the Grand Turk, upon a grassyhillock, and beckoning to me from that elevation.
"Our acquaintance hath been of the shortest," he said genially, when themaid, the witnesses, and I had reached the foot of the hillock, "but Ihave taken a liking to you and would fain do you a service. Moreover, Ilack employment. The maids take me for a hedge parson, and sheer offto my brethren, who truly are of a more clerical appearance. Whereas ifthey could only look upon the inner man! You have been long in choosing,but have doubtless chosen"--He glanced from me to the woman beside me,and broke off with open mouth and staring eyes. There was excuse, forher beauty was amazing. "A paragon," he ended, recovering himself.
"Marry us quickly, friend," I said. "Clouds are gathering, and we havefar to go."
He came down from his mound, and we went and stood before him. I hadaround my neck the gold chain given me upon a certain occasion by PrinceMaurice, and in lieu of other ring I now twisted off the smallest linkand gave it to her.
"Your name?" asked Master Sparrow, opening his book.
"Ralph Percy, Gentleman."
"And yours?" he demanded, staring at her with a somewhat too apparentdelight in her beauty.
She flushed richly and bit her lip.
He repeated the question.
She stood a minute in silence, her eyes upon the darkening sky. Then shesaid in a low voice, "Jocelyn Leigh."
It was not the name I had watched the Cape Merchant strike off his list.I turned upon her and made her meet my eyes. "What is your name?" Idemanded. "Tell me the truth!"
"I have told it," she answered proudly. "It is Jocelyn Leigh."
I faced the minister again. "Go on," I said briefly.
"The Company commands that no constraint be put upon its poor maids.Wherefore, do you marry this man of your own free will and choice?"
"Ay," she said, "of my own free will."
Well, we were married, and Master Jeremy Sparrow wished us joy, and Kentwould have kissed the bride had I not frowned him off. He and Belfieldstrode away, and I left her there, and went to get her bundle from thehouse that had sheltered her overnight. Returning, I found her seatedon the turf, her chin in her hand and her dark eyes watching the distantplay of lightning. Master Sparrow had left his post, and was nowhere tobe seen.
I gave her my hand and led her to the shore; then loosed my boat andhelped her aboard. I was pushing off when a voice hailed us from thebank, and the next instant a great bunch of red roses whirled past meand fell into her lap. "Sweets to the sweet, you know," said MasterJeremy Sparrow genially. "Goodwife Allen will never miss them."
I was in two minds whether to laugh or to swear,--for I had nevergiven her flowers,--when she settled the question for me by raising thecrimson mass and bestowing it upon the flood.
A sudden puff of wind brought the sail around, hiding his fallencountenance. The wind freshened, coming from the bay, and the boatwas off like a startled deer. When I next saw him he had recovered hisequanimity, and, with a smile upon his rugged features, was waving usa farewell. I looked at the beauty opposite me, and, with a suddenmovement of pity for him, mateless, stood up and waved to him vigorouslyin turn.
To Have and to Hold Page 3
