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Las diagrammaa suivants illustrant la m*thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MICtOCOPY ■ISOIUTKJN TEST CHA>T (ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No. 2) js applied jE In S^ '653 East Moin Stre. r*,^ Rochesler. Neo York i,609 USA 'SS (716) 482 - 0300 ~ Phone ^S: (716) 288 - 5989 - Fox y--^- "FETTERS WERE THEN PUT UPON HER HANDS, AND SHE WEST FOKIH FROM THE HOUSE BETWEEN TWO CONSTABLES, PRECEnKl) IIV THE TOWN MARSHAL AND ACCOMPANIED BY A MOTLEY CROWD." k raid (\c Lace\ 's U)).';\!.\(, ;)AVS A\\.\ • .ADLIl.K " i KENKOi &; SdNS 1916 . AM. SIM A - I'RKrli •.'. I! ■J r. I.-V ; It. V! Gerald de Lacey's Daughter AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS BY ANNA T. SADLIER NEW YORK P. J. KENEDY & SONS 1916 PS? 5 37 I Copyrisht, igi6, by P. J. Kenedy & Sons Il AUTHOR'S NOTE Every effort has been made to secure the absolute ac- curacy of the historical facts on which this story is based In the case of Captain Kidd's appointment, however, it was found necessary to alter the date a httle so that the full story of this notorious pirate might be brought nat- urally within the scope of the story. , I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. I. II. III.' IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. CONTENTS BOOK I Daugbtess of Colonial Days "°l A Colonial Matron 3 The New Governor ,g Jacobite and Catholic j. New Faces Thomas Greatbatch, Smuggler and Pirate . . 41 An Escaped Bird j. Shoals and Quicksand 5. The Dawning of Love ., The White Flower and the Eagle gj Friends or Enemies? _j Dangerous Days j^^ Fears Real and Imaginary j,r The Shadow of Captain Kidd BOOK II Persecution Revived j-. An Enemy Declares Himself j^ Gladness and Tears ,„ The Past Is Invoked ,5. The Warning j_- A Staunch Friend ,-„ The Separation ,g. Closer in Grief ,„g An Unwelcome Meeting jog ^ CONTENTS X. Husband and Wife '*»■ XI. Phosser WnxiAMs' Resolve '" XII. The Kekmesse ' _' "' XIII. A Blow Theeatens *^' XIV. An Alliance of Hate . '^ XV. The Blow Falls '^ XVI. A Nocturnal Plight . .'.".'.■.■ '*' XVII. Safe with the Wilden '" XVIII. Plotting Anew .....'.' **' XIX. Faeewell to Manhattan •••.27 »9S BOOK III I. Evelyn's New Home II. A Welcome Visitor . . . . ''" III. Father Harvey ^°^ IV. A New Confederate ......'' ^'^ V. A Clue Discovered ... 33° . VI. A New Danger .......'.'*' ' ^" VII. Tried for Witchcraft '*' VIII. Thf Rescue . . ^^4 IX. A Reunion ......'.'.' ^*^ X. A Counterflot ^'* XI. An Eavesdrofper Caught '*' ' XII. The Tragedy Off Sandy Hook ^'* XIII. An Ally Won '. ' *"* XIV. Conditional Pardon *'^ XV. An Offer of Marriage **° XVI. The Close of a Regime ^ XVII. The Returned E: ile ■"* XVIII. PiNXTER Morn .......'.' **^ XIX. A Pledge Redeemed **° XX. Happiness . *'' 467 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER BOOK I CHAPTER I DAUGHTERS OF COLONIAL DAYS A S^^^^ ^^ rattling down the Boston Post ^ Koad, the mud after the recent heavy rains flying as the wheels splashed through it. while the stones threatened to destroy the equilibrium of even that sedate equipage. It was the carriage of the Van Cortlandts, heavy and ponderous, hanging suspended upon straps and bearing upon the panel ot the door the family escutcheon and motto. The coachman, who had been long in the service of the family, was a very splendid figure in his Uvery of pale fawn color, laced with sUver and with sUver upon his cocked hat. From the back of the coach, where he hung on by the tassels, the negro foot-boy peered at this majestic personage. The foot-boy wore a hveiy precisely identical with the coachman's save that on his head a jaunty, leathern cap replaced the cocked hat. 2 GERALD DB LACEY'S DAUGHTER ,. J?*.f°*^l™^i.'^ ^"^S^^ the tedium of a wait upon the shore by some half-articulateTimihH^ he had to dnve over such roads, even as far f! Hwrlem, to meet his young lady and rfriL^Lu ^^ n^fure "Utf b^/S ofhfetd m^^ ««fv ^' .^t ^^ """"^'y roUed his dark eves tS nothing but the whites were visible ^nti^t to his superior^ remarks just as far as t w^Se^? Ss^ sh^S^ o?Vr*^ ^''^ interest t]^^! f^STSis?t?e%Z"g ra'Ses'fn^al-"^"'^ EH r r ^^^^^^^^^^ van Cortlandt, who ensconced herself with a riah close the door, lie a5 suS «it f^ ^°7.*° Oh. but I am weary from standing on that DAUGHTERS OF COLONIAL DAYS 3 ■cowl" cried PoUy, wj i a sigh of pure content- ment. H» friend looked at her with some amusement and a sn^ that Mihanced the perfection of her mouth. ^ You could have sat down, my PoUy." she said "In truth I could," returned Polly, "upon one of those stools that made me feel as though I were J^n^«^.^'^1?\"P?" * '°"8'' ^^' and at any mtnnent might be shot overboard into the middle of the stream." The other laughed a low laugh that seemed to have Its source in some secret amusement of her own Yes, 1 think standing were preferable, though I contrived to keep my seat. But the air was d^ hdous, so fresh and with a touch of salt therein. It IS a sweet morning." .♦•i!^®u^° *f" into silence after that, as the coach, stiU plting from the unevenness of the road, con- fanued down that highway which in the year cf Our Lord, 1698. led out from the Colony of New York—a tiOe favored by some as a compromise be- tween Its Indian name of Manhattan and its Dutch name of New Amsterdam-to the neighboring col- Mues of New England, even to Boston Town As the carnage drove slowly past what had once been the bouwerte (or farm) of Mynheer Pieter Stuyve- sant, a fcmner Governor of the colony under the iJutch Mid a mighty personage, the girl with the ohve-tmted skm leaned slightly out of the coach wndow and regarded the building with those eyes others which so many caUed wonderful. And won- d«ful was the adjective that best described them. 1 hey were ht up by so many lights and were haunted Dy so many expressions, which now appeared to 4 GERALD oe LACEY'S DAUGHTER tnm box-bordered flower-beds, wherein had^'K ^H-^*?: * T^"E brought from HoUand. S- to^tingthese beds were gravelled pathTwd aU hiS^n o^ trees-how ancient no maTkneW. Thw had m any case survived the strongest of the Got^ K»7?' j*".*^ 1**V "^« patterns upon the oatL E^^ ''^f f^^^"™"!'" "^«^ *^« «>ft voice of ^veijrn. What a figure he must have cut in his Po]lv'"^"hn'!1?. * r^^ *^* '"«^**«5 Wm." cried i^ouy. I doubt not you have heard the storv I> IttrV^ t""" ^^^ ^»'"^' '^ere swiping d^ to wS1b^J^"^'*i- ^^^^^^ that the^cSior Xd if^^^*"^ Stuyvesant. so men say, cauea m some Frenchmen who were workino fo^ SweS 'liieT;'^^^.'?^^'^* help'^defe^S the' SdntrataScT'^' ^^^ «^^ -^ ^^htt liW^^Ji^f "^^^ ''"■ *P^*'" coil rented Evelyn. "T like whatever savors of vital fc rce " Thpn oL *i. «>ach rolled on its way. the gi^^^ded ' 'TW^dt' Polly, what you and I would have do^ in B^^'- ' «'. «., the Indians. DAUGHTERS OF COLONIAL DAYS j "She needed courage," Polly made answer, with a shiver. "If one does but think of being toma- hawked or scalped I" "Are you not curious," inquired Polly, with an abrupt change of subject, "to see how Uuy will all look like?" "As full of curiosity as — but there, I cannot think of a comparison. I cannot rest, in truth, until I have seen them all and heard whatsoever there is to hear about them." "They should arrive by two o' the clock to-day," mused Polly, "very soon after the dinner hour. "My Lord Bellomont," said Evelyn, continuing her train of thought, "rfiould be shapely and tall, y, ith hair or peruke curling down on his shoulders." "And his attire should be gorgeous," added Polly. "It is said he is bringing with him a goodish number of young officers and supemumerari •." "I wonder what else he is bringing," Evelyn said to herself, in a voice only half intended for her com- panion's ear, "of the things that matter." "I opine, ' ' observed Polly, looking admiringly at her friend, "that you will go to work with those eyes of yours to cast spells on some of these newcomers." Evelyn laughed her low laugh of genuine enjoyment. "PoUy Van Cortlandt to speak thus, who has half the young men of these colonies in her toils!" "Ah I" said Polly, a slight shadow falling over the brightness of her face, "I have the young men of my own Company,' or those boys with whom I ' A peculiar feature of Dutch colonial life was the formation of boys and girls (usually relatives, or in the same social set) into Companies, with distmctive colors, etc. All their amusements were in common, and the comradeship thus formed lasted into maturer years, so that marriages were frequent amongst members of the same Company. 6 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER of S^r"^ -^'^-t bitte^'ess. burvSth something Then sheldded^ ^^ ''°"^' ^'^ ^^^^ fo"" •«•" have^^'anTtha^^ girls together, "that they EachkS^d eaS o^t nf .^'^ -'^^ P^^^^*'" her. and PoUy cEfo^^ ^ *^^ '^'^''^ nearest could, what wS^f^» ^ ?^^° *° fin<^ out. if he and ^hltr ^ n'w G^^lr had*'"^ '^^^ negro came back br^Thle^ f? ^ \ ^T^Yf^- The but onlv thpcT.ot^I ^" "was not the Governor sail do;4The^a? a c^lif ^"r^" ^^° w«« to Excellency. ^ ^^^ distance to meet His bro^h^UrSkTo thatiS ,"P''" '^' -^y- -d Sti^el vWth'i^ JheckS^tri^l^ St ? ^""° shaped wmdows and the entr^ce^^aSveS DAUGHTERS OF COLONIAL DAYS y were wrought in massive iron the family initials and the year when the house was built. There too was the stoepe, with its benches whereon the girls had so often sat and talked of that event wWch was now at hand — the arrival of a new Governor. His coming had been of special interest, because it was believed that, as he occupied an exalted position both socially and politically, he would be lUsiely to restore to the gubernatorial residence some of that state and elegance which had been sadly lacking during the last regime. It was rumored also that he would bring with him a brilliant staff and many celebrities. The whispers that had reaflfcd Man- hattan concerning my Lady Bellomont as to her eccentric — ^not to say, scandalous — conduct, had only whetted public curiosity, and particularly that of the female sex. Evelyn had often wondered how so gay a dame as they had heard described would fit into the small life of that dorp, which had become a city. The foot-boy sounded the great silver knocker on the door, and the two occupants of the coach, dismoimting, suddenly became conscious of the him- ger engendered by their long drive and the previous sail over the salt water. For their nostrils were re- galed with savory and mingled odors from within — ^roast goose with its gamishings, pound-cake and crullers, coffee and spiced wine. They covild scarcely wait till, having divested themselves of their outer wrappings, they heard the gong sound in the hall, answering to the striking of that clock which but of late was a novelty in the colony. It announced in clear, musical tones the hour of noon and dinner. CHAPTER II A COLONIAL MATRON AT the head of the table, presiding with much grace and dignity, sat the grandmother with whom Polly Van Cortlandt had lived since her childhood and the death of that relative's husband. Vrow Van Cortlandt — or Madam Van Cortlandt, as she was more generally called — ^was a woman of strong character and clear commonsense, an excel- lent tjrpe of those matrons who were in a very real sense the pioneers of Manhattan. Her dark eyes stiU sparkled at times with the same light that now danced in Polly's; her shrunken cheeks showed a mottled red where once had been a lovely bloom; her cap, tied under her chin, was of the finest muslin and the richest lace; her gown was of heavy satin, and her long pendant earrings were a priceless heir- loom that had crossed the seas from Holland. She was merry at times, that old grandmother, or again she was sad, v/ith the burit^i of all the years and of all the destinies that had been interwoven with her own. Even the very house in which she lived was an epitome of the annals of Manhattan. She watched the two girls with an amusement that showed itself in just a nod, a twinkling of the eyes or a chuckle. She could enter into their feelings with curious exactitude. Full of life, of mirthful- A COLONIAL MATRON 9 ness and of attraction for the other sex, she had once trod the streets of what had been, in her day of youth, merely a quaint village. She had assisted at tea parties, assemblies and dances, many of which had been in this very dwelling where Polly loved to entertain her friends. The old woman's eyes rested oftenest and most lovingly, as was natural, on the sparkling countenance of her granddaughter. But there were moments when they were turned also, with something thoughtful and inquiring in her look, on that other, who was merely a dear friend and wel- come visitor but no part of that household. For it seemed to these experienced eyes that she was of an order altogether different from those who had passed as maids, as wives or as mothers through that mansion, where the observer herself, for two generations, had reigned supreme. AVherein that precise difference lay. Madam \ n Cortlandt, per- spicacious as she was, could not determine. Some- thing in the delicate pencilling of the eyebrows, in the sensitive lines about the mouth, in the haunting depths of the eyes, presaged suffering. ^^ "If I had a son unmarried now," she mused, should I not shrink from seeing him become the husband of one who, if I be not sore mistaken, will have more than her share of sorrow?" But the old woman felt instinctively that, if there were tragedy, there was also nobility in every line of that face. "I Mieve, in truth, I should risk it," concluded she; for here is no common type of maid, though differing from my darling Polly as the lily differs from the rose." The giris, unconscious of these reflections, gave the grandmother a somewhat desultory account of 10 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER their visit to Polly's aunt in Morrisania, where the J-wo had spent a week, and then began to talk about the topic uppermost in their thoughts — the coming of the new Gove.-nor. Meanwhile old Peter, the negro who had grown gray in Madam's service, stood behind her chair and with a broad fan flicked away the flies, while listening eagerly to the conver- sation. The room in which they sat was all green and gold, with a heavy wainscoting of dark wood. Its furniture was solid and substantial; the chairs were high- backed, with broad, brocade-covered seats. The silver on the table was likewise massive, quaint but rich in pattern, and bearing with it from overseas, whence it came, something of the character of its first owners in Rotterdam. The viands were rich rather than varied, though Madam Van Cortlandt still prided herself on the skill with which she could make, or cause to be made, all those good things that were dear to Dutch hearts. Polly, too, was a notable cook. There was, in fact, no branch of housewifery which she did not understand, having been trained under "that incomparable woman," as old Dominie Selwyns had described her grand- mother. The latter's experience went back indeed to pioneer times, when her grandmother, whom she vividly remembered, had put hir hand literally to the plough, procuring by her own hands almost all the necessaries of life. Through the lozenge-shaped panes of the dining- room window came the noontide sun of that bright day, which was bringing the new Governor to Man- hattan. Deep in Evelyn's heart were thoughts con- cerning him of which the others knew nothing. These thoughts she could discuss only with her A COLONIAL MATRON „ father, a quiet and studious man, for whom she kept house m a charming Uttle cottage near the river. 1 hope said the grandmother, "that this Gov- ernor wiU be an miprovement upon the last. There IS sore need of it. The office lost all its dignity when the Kmg s representative was seen to consort with smugglers and, as some would have it, pirates. Colonel Fletcher was, in truth, no man for the post " D ,/^^,^Y^^^'^^ ^^^ ^ <^"^I in his time," added °,Xl ^^ ^""^ ®°"^1 life, there was none at all." Uur liberties," continued the grandmother ie- normg Polly's interruption, "have been many times and gravely imperilled by these men whom our Sovereign Lord, the King, has sent. I make excep- tion of the good Dongan." "But," said PoUy, with a mischievous sparkle in her black eyes and a mocking grimace at Evelyn was he not a Papist, and did he not hold strange wordup with Jesuits and such like at the Fort?" It was so," assented the old lady, "but he was none the worse man for that— a good Governor ac- tive and far-seeing and willing to grant, as indeed he Old, toleration to all men to worship God as their consciences approved." She glanced almost involuntarily at Evelra who had been strangely silent. But it was part of the girl s fasanation that her silences were often full of a meanmg that impressed itself upon those around her. Her face jj-st then had a glow upon it, and there was a hg! : in her eyes as if her unspoken thoughts were in answer to the old lady, who better than most people seemed to understand her. When she broke silence, it was to say: "The Sovereign of England was at that time Vathohc, until he was driven forth—" 12 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER She stopped abruptly, and Mada..i Van Cortlandt, with her laugh that was still mirthful though it broke and cackled, completed the sentence: "By our Dutch William, married to James's own daughter." Then she added more gravely: "A great man to our way of thinking, who might have done as Hollanders mostly do, let folk worship God as they would, but the English, with their political mtrigues and their fear of the Catholics, would not have it so. Do you know that WiUiam was once in friendly alliance with the Pope of Rome?" "No," answered Evelyn, "I did not know that, and was he then willing to sacrifice everything for — " "For the sake of a crown," said Madam Van Cortlandt, composedly finishing the sentence. But there was a note of sadness in her tone as she added : "When you have grown as old as I am, you will know that few of the heroes we have worshipped could withstand temptation." "He is no hero of mine," said Evelyn, with a glow in her eyes as though a lamp had suddenly been lit thaie. "I hold him to be both treahcerous and cruel." "Remeniber," reproved the old lady, with sudden seventy, "that you are speaking of the reigning Sovereign, whom may the Lord God bless and pro- tect! No one at my table shall speak ill of him." She spoke with unusual heat, as though this rght- minded and intelligent woman, who had read much and conversed much with men of many minds, were defending the Protestant idols against doubts that had ansen in her own mind. And looking full at Evelyn, who was perforce silent, she continued as if in answer to the expression of the young girl's face: "He had the peace and safety of the realm of England to think of." A COLONIAL MATRON 13 To this statement Evelyn made no reply, though dissent from that view was shown in every line of her face. Polly meanwhile was visibly bored. She could not help wondering how Evelyn, who so keen- ly enjoyed the gaieties and harmless frivolities which the town afforded, and was the centre of many a social gathering, could be thus vividly and passion- ately interested in those dull subjects which her grandmother and the old people discussed. Even with them such discourses were only occasional, for the female portion of the community preferred to talk amongst themselves of the number and quality of their slaves or indented servants, of recipes for the making of cakes or confections of various sorts, or to hear or retail the latest gossip of the town —the weddings and births, the marriage feasts and caudle parties, the latest betrothals and the most recent deaths. For even the deaths afforded topics for much conversation— the number and distinction of the mourners or of the relatives to whom the aan- sprecher (or death herald) made funereal announce- ment. Alldetails were of interest: the width of the mourning bands, who bore the coffin to the church, how the house looked, and how many enjoyed the wne and cake, the pipes and tobacco, with which' the funeral guests were regaled on their return from the burial. As if in rebound from the fearful so-' lemnity, the human heart there as elsewhere, driven* as It were to extremes, turned with keenest relish' from mourning to human comforts and to the com- panionship of its fellows. Madam Van Cortlandt, though capable when op- portunity offered of conversing on any subject, was deeply mterested in all local affairs. Taking her kmttmg bag with her to provide employment for I »4 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER or round of S ^Ju ^^^ ^°^^ ^°^ a visit. «anall, which fomTthe s„mTf ^PP^n^K^, large or on. scaree peWtiWv fSn, *"^^- ^^ ^ ''goes amongst those Tho^Sd^.7^-^^°'''"'°^^ topics to talk of Dolitir; »t, X" \* '^ from such Patroon, stiU ^Wd^'f nf^V^^y ^'^t^d to the that KiAgdom of Pni P"*^.^«^ ^orkere, or to of the ASa^S^Stes ■ Shf "^f .^ ''^^""'^ of a:: that lelatedT to tL £.t^ ^""^ cognizant could discourse unon /»,»•• • fovemment. She by marriageTonSon. f"9H't>es of Leisler. for was totally opSS^to^nV^'r^^.^'^ 'deals, die a ''fomg^ ^T H^ted H°'" *" designated as Pubject of the usurper often tcSfT"""? T"' ^^'« mg-room. or whe^r her J^ i^'**'? *" ^er draw- nieetforagameSsquLrP„,T^^ '^''^ *" who regarded him ^ ^^^e, Jii^pV^"'^ ""^^^ '^y were prepared to dpfipn^t,- ^"*^"^'^ patriot, and emment^d the S f f^^T^tion of the gov- followed. induc^g'^Sl' l.^yy^ni'^al acts '^W^ their home. ' Wth Si ThL ^'^.-"^'^^ Manhattan O^rtlandt had nrsSipathv whT' ^^^^^ Van that they were totaU^C^d * r'n ^'^^ ^^^^ of toleration. She woKS ell L^. °""=^ ^^^ tyranny of a later EnPliTh^t ^ "'' *.°0' "PO" the ticularly in the h^T^sX'T^^^^?'-' P^' flour and the destruction nff»?^u°" *^ bolting of A COLONIAL MATRON 15 politics and an ardent Catholic, and chafed under the restrictions imposed upon members of her faith, who were allowed to have neither priest nor church. PoUy on her part, was glad when dinner was over, especially as she had found the trend of conversation distasteful, and feared that Evelyn, who was a great favonte with her grandmother, might say something to offend the latter. It was a relief to escape to her bedroom upstairs, where the two made such addi- tions to their toilet as the occasion demanded. The grandmother remained musing after the voune people had left her: J- s "These Papists," she said to herself, "for I make sure this girl is one, though she has never admitted so much m my hearing, are like to have a hard time If aJl I hear from England be true. Evelyn's father used to attend the Popish worship in Dongan's time or so I have been informed. That will teU against him, and he will be, in truth, a marked man. And this girl — ' She paused and sighed deeply. Then, as if wishing to drive the matter from her mind, she arose from her chaw and, with a step that was still light con- sidpnng her vears, went to inspect the jam cupboard, taking a pc-.derous bunch of keys from her apron pocket. She also gave orders that the coach should be at the door at a quarter before two to convey them all to some vantage point where the arrival and its attendant ceremonies might be witnessed. I n h I, I CHAPTER III THE NEW GOVERNOR P^J^h!? f.^" ^* -^^ appointed hour the girls de- L„H ^?^ the stairs, prepared to accompany their ^^^ffL''^V°°^'^ ^^'^ «t^'«Jy and hand^,^ PoSv-™ '^'"'^* *?d outdoor mantle of rich satin ^dlLn^ZT^ fa^ly sparkling with excitement fwf ^ ^^""^ ^^^'y" had seemingly forgotten those very senous thoughts which, like the deeS waters of a stream, flowed steadily beneath the rioS on the surface. She was looking partTcidity7S m a gown of yellow lutestring, trimmed w^th S lace m the most modish fashion possible. She S an exceUent foU for the dark-haired red"hS «jd^v.vaaous Polly, who was gowned ifSiSS wJ^to drivS^'wT P°'"P°"' *^^^ ^^^' since he ^ ^u^ ?lt Vf^^ ^^ ^^^'^y "Pon Ws box, ^kedhlf^ TifJ "^^^ u^ '■^^"8 ^s ^hip to his - ^h If ■ ■■ T^ "^^ ^y- J"™*^' his eyes roUing with anticipatory enjoyment of the promised el nf t?r,* 5"*^ ^ admiration of the sumpt^^lL^s «L ft '^*^^'' '^'T'^ *^« '^^age do5r upon S and then mounted to his station at the b£dk. m Wavl;XT*.?^"i T '*^ ^*y ^°^ the Briad Sve a th? ifn^ ''^*^^ ^°'^- ^°' there were to amve at the landing-place near Their Excellencies THE NEW GOVERNOR 17 ?h? Mavir"^!^ '^"^ '^^'^'^^ °^ ^he Council. «Sed dnS^tSf n*''^ P«>«nment citizens, who had ■auea down the Bay to meet them. The town wore an air of expectancy. Flaes were pnvtte residences. The gardens could only show theu^tmy buds of promise and shoots of li^ng gS^ month later, tfiey too would have given forth color and fragrance to greet the newcomers- "lavff trees to perfume the air. peonies, gilly flowers Ss mignonette and early roieTto delight thHve The ^Ttt ?L'^''°/ .^^°°1 --dy to join'^4hThl guns of the Fort in firing the salute. The citizens M^ c^ttr^ f^^^ "^"* ^ ^«^t exdt^ment iS^ttf^ h ^"J^ ^f^ '"™^^« °f all sorts were to be heard. Mechanics in their leathern KsVnS JT'T -"^t Phy-cians who S De distinguished by their high pointed hats th^r wide-skirted coats of broadcloth, their sLrt bitches SL 5?iS fr'' ^^^ ^°^^- °^ saver-Si J ^H.^7^ they usually carried in their hands Gentlemen in doublets and breeches of brocade or satm were also there, wearing muslin cravate edwH Th^J*'^ lace and with rufHes of lacr atXfr sl^^es These nyalled mdeed their wives and daueht^Tn £X^S thaS '''^' ^'^°"«'» the la"t?er'we^ frLm fto ^^ u* ^y- ^^^ matrons distinguished from the maids by wearing the coif of matronhoorf rW -^r *^"""*^- Th« women of the Wer classes m hnsey-woolsey or drugget gowns dvedTv themselves with the juice of certain^;. mSe a picturesque showing, the brightness of colonW bet ™i iir^ ,5^ snow-white kerchiefs and. in the case of the older women, by frilled caps m I l8 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER All waited with a like impatience, differently as It might be manifested, for the first sight of that potentate from beyond seas — that new ruler who held in his hand the power of life or death and, to a great extent, of joy or sorrow too. Only the few who had travelled as far as England, or had corre- spondents there, knew anything about him. Be- cause of the disturbances of the Leisler period, which had divided the town into warring factions and still left its traces, there was unusual anxiety in the breasts of many. For no man could tell what side Lord Bellomont might espouse. The Van Cortlandt coach drew up at a point where a fine view of the proceedings might be ob- tained, its occupants differently affected by these moments of suspense. The grandmother both felt and displayed a certain philosophic calm. She had seen many pageants in her time, governors coming and governors going. And the excitement and joy- ous mterest which had heralded the coming, had very often with more reason marked the departure. But the girls, different as they were in most respects, felt the same heart-beats at that moment, though Polly more openly showed her agitation. At last there was a blare f trumpets, followed by the surging forward of the crowd, which was row silent for the most part save when some in advance '■f'sed a cheer. The royal colors, those of William of Orange, ran up on the Fort; the guns boomed out then- salute, and for good or evil His Excellency, l^chard Earl of Bellomont, was Governor. The thrill of excitement that ran through Evelyn's brain, bring- ing the tears to her eyes and causing her to grasp convulsively her companion's hand and press it, was displayed by PoUy in a series of exclamations: THE NEW. GOVERNOR ,9 "Oh, how splendid it all is I I can just see over yonder the uniforms and— yes, oh yes, there is the carnage I It was the state coach, similar to that in which Governor Andros had ridden and which had been purchased by the Corporation of New York. The grandmother's dim eyes, catching sight of it re- membered with a sudden flame of wrath how the tyrant s stem face had looked out from it. and how his no less haughty wife had barely inclined her head to the greetings of the populace. There was no delay at the Fort, for it had been deemed expedient that, since there might be mal- contents about, the coach should drive straight on to the Stadt Huys, where the oath of office would be administered. Madam Van Cortlandt recalled with a shudder— for the old are always more engrossed wth the past, when they were in the fighting line ?^-iu^~^'i* Governor Slonghtcr had been hurried thither. It was in the dead of night that time, for the Leislenans were on the alert and had made a determined resistance to the landing of his Lieu- tenant Nicholls. Then had ensued that tragedy- two tall gibbets had been erected from which had swung two awful figures— the erstwhile, self-con- stituted Governor of the colony, Jacob Leisler. and his son-in-law, Milbome. But neither Polly nor Evelyn gave a thought to what was past. They were absorbed in that page- ant, brilliant and engrossing, in what they saw and what promised to be. They craned their necks eagerly from the carnage windows, watching 'n decorous and somewhat ponderous tread of lue pikesmen and train-bands and the military company serving as escort. They looked impatiently past 20 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER the postilions and outriders, in their brilliant ac- coutrements, past the gay caparisons of the six white horses, to the state chariot and the Governor. Both girls — but especially Evelyn, whose imagination was the more vivid — felt a swift pang of disappointment. For there was my Lord BeUomont, resplendent in- deed in his military imiform, but stout and thick-set, with hair cut short and a coimtenance which, to Evelyn at least, was distinctly repellent. The small eyes, she thought, had something fierce and sinister in their expression. That face and its expression, indeed, stirred the deeper depths within her, so that for a moment she forgot the glitter of that passing show. "He will be no friend to us," she thought, with one of those swift flashes of intuition that had brought home to her mind many a vital truth. But Evelyn's attention was distracted by the sight of that face at his side — a face proud and petulant, and with traces of other emotions and experiences which the eyes of the yoimg observer were incapable of reading. But the countenance thus revealed brightened with sudden interest into an animation that lent it a certain charm, as my Lady BeUomont, leaning slightly forward, let her gaze pass over the wrinkled visage of Madam Van Cortlandt and rested it upon the two girls. It was as though this spoiled beauty, who had lived for excitement and pleasure — ^not always of the most innocent kind, according to popular reports — had said to herself: "Oh, in this detestable place to which, as I told my Lord, I would rather die than come, there are really civilized persons, young women who would not disgrace a ball or rout in Belgravia." The carriage, however, swept on, Pi.ily bursting h . THE NEW GOVERNOR 21 into a la j^h at th(» >ypression which she saw upon her comi .mion's iacf' "It is lof for beau :y my Lord Bellomont has been chosen to govciii this colony," she cried, "and he is an aged man." "Did you expect, then," put in the grandmother, who had been silently observant, "that the new ruler of these colonies should be a gay spark, a target for your arrows? In truth, he has turned sixty, so thev say." ' "There is some beauty in the wife," observed PoUy, though half doubtfully. "Yes, and a little more than that," agreed Evelvn thoughtfully. ^ "l do not think I like her face," decided Polly. "Her poor Ladyship," said the grandmother tol- erantly, "was married when she was but twelve years of age. One might believe that her path has been not all rose-strewn." "Married to that face,'" exclaimed Evelyn, "it might be a slow martyrdom." Madam Van Cortlandt protested. ' 'Oh, fie, Evelyn !" she said. "My Lord Bellomont IS of tned bravery as a soldier, and men say that he has ideas in his head about reform and I know not what." But Evelyn was obdurate in the dislike which she had taken to the new Governor— whether from some premonition of evil or merely from a feminine prej- udice founded upon her first disappointment in the man's appearance, she would have found it hard to say. Polly laughed him aside with satirical humor. "With the help of Evelyn's most lively imagina- tion, she declared, "I had pictured the Governor Ift'.V '» i 22 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER a fine gentleman with curled locks falling over his shoulders, a clean-cut countenance, and a figure of slender proportions. Alack, but he is a di4point- But the attention of both girls was drawn to the many niembers of the suite and the numerous of- ficers whom the Earl of Bellomont had brought in his tram. Most of these men wer« young, dark and iTtCtlJ^tl' ^u^f- T*'' '^^ '^"■■"ng locks reaching to the shoulder which the observers had missed in the Oovernor. And whether they wore a military uniform or civilian costume, they were all very splendid in SSr rS^^M' ^'-.'i^ '^^t ^^ ^^ t° ™P^«^ these poor Colomals with an idea of their magnificence. dM nnf 7u' ^f'^^^Y ?°^ °^ ^^""^ ne^ arrivals who m. not take note of the two girls looking out from the windows of that stately, if cumbroul, old ca^ ?ff^' u 1'°"^ ^^^ ^'^"'^ °f a Pi«=ture. So might CindereUa have peerea out from her fairy coach. S^ri/rnf Tr^V°^ course, divided as to the respective ments of the two, but the balance was in favor of „li^^,' ^T"^"y amongst the older men. It was generally the young subalterns or junior members of the staff who preferred the dark beauty of Polly with Its glow and sparkle, and the damask red cheeks and the eyes that regarded them so roguishly The procession moved on, and the pompous coachman presently saw the decorous time to foT low for which the girls within the coach had waited ^th such mipatience. He finally forsook the Broad ^%t the marti^ music of the bands and the sound" ^ fZ^ t"^^l^'^'^ the bell in the Dutch Church at the Fort which, as some said, had been cast largely of silver, and to which were now added joy- ous peals from the English Church, Trinity He i THE NEW GOVERNOR 23 showed his wisdom, since that street was lined three deep with spectators, and crowded wherever pos- sible with vehicles. He turned into a quiet street, which would bring the expectant ladies to a safe comer near the Stadt Huys, or City Hall. The better to attain his end, he urged the staid horses into a trot, rarely permitted to those dignified animals. This unusual pace caused the coach to roll and rumble no little, but even the grandmother did not rebuke the driver, since his speed was in a good cause. The old City Hall stood gaunt and grim, and its lights were often a beacon to those out upon the water or to vessels coming up the Bay. This bare and ugly building had now perforce to take on some appearance of festivity, in so far as flags and stream- ers, mostly of orange, could effect the transformation. But the stem rigidity of its outUnes, its bald and hopeless ugliness, seemed to say: "By no plastering on of gay colors can you transform me. I am of those to whom all change is abhorrent. Rulers may come and mlers may go, but I represent all the solid sen- timent of the people. I am civic worth and civic dullness personified." With looks of smiling recognition, the officers and members of the suite recognized and pointed out to one another the two girls in the coach as if they were already old acquaintances. My Lady Bellomont's languid eyes brightened once more into a look of interest, until the splendid cortege was swallowed up within the grim portals of the Stadt Huys. Madam Van Cortlandt and her two com- panions pointed out to one another the various members of the Council, most of whom were at that time on the same side of politics as the Van Cort- landts— that is to say, anti-Leislerians— and thus 24 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER Madam's intimate friends, or even relatives. They also exchanged grtctings with the occupants of other coaches, or with pedestrians who stood p.bout the doors of the City Hall. Then Madam gave the order to the coachman to drive first to the home of Mis- tress de Lacey, who was but a visitor to *he Van Cortlandt household, and thence back to the im- posing residence from which they had started. Meanwhile, within the Stadt Huys the oath of office had been taken, and a new regime had begun for the colony of New York. The Governor who had thus arrived with so much pomp and majesty and been received with such elab- orate ceremonies, could not have foreseen that he was never to leave those shores again; that, before many years had passed, his bones would lie beneath the Fort, and that the silver plate from his exhumed coffin, after a decade or two more hf:d elapsed, would be stared at by the curious in a museum. But he did not know, and that day the pride of life and the pomp of circumstance were uppermost. Lord Bellomont was jubilant at having secured so honorable an appointment, the emoluments of which were considerable, and in which it was said rich pickings were to be had. He was jubilant also that he had bent the capricious will of my Lady to obey hif; wishes, and forced her to accompany him on this mission, for previously, when he was assigned to a West Indian post, she had allowed him to go alone while she had lived riotously in London. Hertf, his proud and jealous heart told him, she would be under his own eye. He would force her to behave decorously, save her from misconstruction, and so make the best, if best there could be, of so ill-a«sorted a union. CHAPTER IV JACOBITE AND CATHOLIC 'THE house which Evelyn de Lacey inhabited A with her father stood upon Pearl Street, at that portion which was then known as "The Waterside " It was upon the comer of what was once Winckel vStreet, but was later named Whitehall after the fa- mous residence which the great Governor Stuyvesant built there. But no mansion was that of the de i-aceys. It was a comparatively smaU, two-storv house, constructed of the prevailing glazed brick with lozenge-shaped window panes in their leaden sashes, and gables turned towards the garden Uambenng over the walls, and reaching even to the high-pointed roof with its crow-feet chimney, were uxunant vines. The adjoining garden was a de- hghtful spot wherein the usual prim arrangement of flower-beds and borders was departed from, and the flowers in the summer-time grew in bewildering profusion. The nearest neighbor, on one side, was the mansion of the la.tr Mynheer Steenwyck, once a prominent citizen of Manhattan. On the other side was a neighbor that Evelyn liked much better Md was not inconveniently close— the East River! I tie girl was never tired of watching the river trom the window of her room with the play of light and shadow upon its surface. She liked to if' 1^ 26 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER watch the oyster boats setting out early in the morning for the oyster beds in the Bay; or the mer- chant vessels, stately brigantines or more modest sloops, as they sailed for distant ports. She had also gUmpses of the Fort, the Bowling Green, and of what went on there— all sufficiently distant to be attractive. The gcrden of this ideal home was most absorbing to Evelyn. In addition to those flowers which grew in such abundance, and with a degree of disorder which to the mind of their owner constituted their chief charm, Evelyn had a comer reserved for vege- tables to supply their daily needs, and a piece of ground devoted exclusively to the herbs and simples which she compounded into medicines with a skill acquired from an old and once famous physician, now dead. Doctor Van Kierstade, who had taught her many things during her childhood and girlhood. To the mind of many of her admirers, never did Evelyn look more charming than when, clad in a simple garment which she reserved exclusively for gardening, she worked amongst those plants that were as dear to her as if they had been hving things. She had been busy all those April days in doing whatsoever she could to promote growth, and she was longing for the time when the flowers of the garden, or the more prosaic green things, would show their faces one by one, like a gathering of old friends. When Evelyn returned from the pageant that' afternoon she found her father in his study, and, as it seemed to her, in an unusual mood of dejection. The broad casement of the room was thrown open, as if inviting in the tendrils of the vines upon which later honeysuckle, wisteria and rambler roses would JACOBITE AND CATHOLIC ^^ cluster in luxuriant abundance. Their form of beauty alone invaded the solitude of the man, who had been transformed by the course of events from a man of action, i soldier, even a courtier, into the student and dreamer. He could catch glimpses of the river from that window and feel at times that pungent breath of salt from the Bay. But he could catch no glimpse of the Fort or the Bowling Green as could Evelyn from her upper window. It seemed as if nature had shut him in with herself, and there were reasons which he considered sufficient for avoiding the hospitable, easy and eminently genial society of the city. Gerald de Lacey was still in the prime of life, but had travelled much and seen much active service, particularly in the Low Countries, as Major in one of the Hussar regiments. He had first come over to the colony with Governor Dongan, accompanied by his wife and young daughter. He had subse- quently returned to England, whence the course cf events, resulting in the accession of William of Ch-ange, had again driven him forth. He was then a widower, and with his one daughter had come to New York and taken up his residence in a house which had been built for the Dutch minister and which Major de Lacey had improved to his taste. An Irishman and a Catholic in full sympathy with the cause of King James, he had resigned his com- mission in the Hussars on the accession of William of Orange, and later, for urgent reasons, had come back to that colony, where previously with Dongan, under an extended leave of absence, he had spent some pleasant years. Of a fiery and impetuous na- ture, which he had subdued to outward composure, he chafed in secret under the enforced idleness, but % 1 ■ I! 28 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER hid his disappointed hopes as much as possible from his idohzed daughter, finding solace in the compan- ionship of his books, which happily he truly loved. Recognizing perhaps the incompleteness of such a hfe as his, he made every possible effort to keep Evel3Ti in the forefront of the city's social circles. He admired almost inordinately the qualities which he discerned in her, as well as the rareness and fine- ness of her beauty, which recalled that of her dead mother and appealed to his fastidiousness. His means, though not large, were sufficient for their needs, and by a rigid personal economy, which he did not permit Evelyn to realize, he contrived to give her the modish and often expensive costumes which one side of the nature of the girl passionately loved. There was another side to her character, as yet undeveloped, which would make her willing to wear sackcloth and live austerely for the sake of her father or anyone else whom she loved. Even had Evelyn been aware of the sacrifices which her father made to supply her with all she needed, she could not have offered any successful opposition. For that was one of the matters upon which Gerald de Lacey was inflexible. Rarely had his will run counter to that of his child; but, when it did so, it was as effective as finely tempered steel in the hands of a skilful swordsman. He always declared that she was to dress as he thought fitting, and according to the state in life to which she properly belonged. Her mother had been the daughter of a commoner,' ennobled for distinguished service to his country, and Gerald himself came of ancient Norman stock. To these commands Evelyn had offered but little resistance, since it is so easy to render obedience when one's secret inclinations fit in with that duty. iii JACOBITE AND CATHOLIC 29 The father had watched her from the window, as stie alighted from the Van Cortlandt carriage in that gown of gold lutestring which had been so much admired, and he perfection of her appearance filled him with a pride which partly consoled him for t.e bitter reflections of that day. When Evelyn enter^ the stud /■ he >vas sitting at the table with the same volume o£ poetry open before him which had been unread all that afternoon. The sound of the trum- pets, coming through the open window, had been harrowing for him. For had not he too landed at that selfsame landing-place, and passed from the Fort to the Stadt Huys with another Governor, his chief? All that had happened when life was fair and young, and while the wife, whom he had so passion- ately loved, still lived and shared, in her eager but earnest way, all his pursuits and all his interests. How gladly she followed his fortunes to the New World, where he hoped for advancement in his double career of soldier and diplomat! Governor Dongan had been interested in his prospects, and they had shared in common the same hopes and ideals, and had worked for that broad and compre- hensive so' erne of freedom and toleration for alL The last of the Stuart Kings had been then on the throne of England. And now, though still compara- tively young as years are counted, he had lived to see Dongan hunted Uke a wolf, his dearly beloved wife dead, and James, the hereditary Monarch of England and by every human and divine law the rightful Sovereign, a wanderer on the Continent. His own personal fortunes had sunk with theirs, his future was blighted, and he lived here almost in hiding, never knowing what turn of events should make of liim a fugitive and an outlaw. iU: ''I 111 30 GERALD de LACEVS DAUGHTER Entering the room in her yellow dress, Evelyn brought with her as it were a splendor of sunshine. Her young beauty concentrated all that remained of the sun that was setting, and likewise, as it seemed to the observer, all that remained to him of life. She approached him softly and laid her hand ever so gently arA caressingly on his shoulder. She was not given to effusive demonstrations, which indeed were rare between the two. But, after one look at his face, she bent and kissed him. She realized, as in a flash, how much need he had of sympathy and tenderness. She felt conscience-stricken, too, that she had been absent from him when perhaps he had needed her. But there she was somewhat mistaken. He had had need also of solitude in which to fight his bitter bpttle, when he had sent her away a few days before to accompany Polly on a visit to rela- tives of the latter's in Morrisania. The father raised his head and met his daughter's glance. It was plain to see where she had got a portion at least of her beauty and charm, though the heartsore man was just then reflecting that she had so strong a look of her mother. "You did not go out to see — ?" "The passing show," said her father, completing the sentence. "No, love, for in such an assemblage there could be no place for me. I could not raise a cheer, nor," he added more lightly, "even my hat to the representative of the usurper. So I would have been in all truth a marked man, and that would have been perilous for us both." Evelyn sat down beside him with a countenance that was sober and thoughtful, putting aside her taffeta scarf, which was of a deeper shade of gold than her dress. JACOBITE AND CATHOLIC 31 "Perhaps it was not meet that I should have gone," she said. Her father interrupted her quickly. "Most certainly you should have gone," he said emphatically. "Our cases, my dear daughter, are different indeed. My life is done, and yours but begun; I have sworn allegiance to one prince, and inay not take such an oath to another. At least, that is my way of thinking, though, now that the fact is accomplished, I shall meddle no more with public concerns, and there is no danger that I shall plot treason. Besides," he added, "you, as a young maid, were not obliged to give outward token of loyalty." "No, no," cried Evelyn, "I never so much as bowed my head nor waved my handkerchief." The father smiled. "So that was the way of it," he said, "absent in spirit, though present in the body." And he thought how like that little touch was to her mother. "It was a fine sight," Evelyn cried, warming to enthusiasm, "all save the Governor himself, who was odious." Mr. de Lacey la-ighed a pleasant, mellow-sounding laugh, that had something contagious in its melody. "Governors are not chosen for their personal at- traction, I trow," he said, "but a matter more grave than his personal appearance is the stock of which he comes. He is of a family which the poet, Dante, would have described as 'an evil brood.' If we can estimate these colonies by Ireland, and the new Governor's policy by the proceedings of these Cootes in that country, then is there little hope for us Catholics." 1. If ■il 32 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER There was silence for a brief interval in the study, of which the shadows had come early to take pos- session. Evelyn moved restlessly but did not speak. The expression of His Excellency's face had filled her with a pronounced hostility and a vague anxiety. Her father presently resumed : "But I would not do this man injustice. There are those who say that he is both honest and well- meaning, and hath in his head some ideas of good government. So that perchance the day that is dawning for these colonies may be fair, after all." Evelyn, with an impulsive movement, laid her hand upon the finely formed one of her father, which lay flat on the table before him, and upon which shone a blood-red garnet, catching the last lingering gleams of light. "You will be prudent, father dearest?" she cried. "Aye, I will be prudent," he answered, adding quickly, "unless honor should counsel otherwise." He raised his head prcvdly as if the emergency had already arisen, and, rislrit; to his feet, looked down on Evelyn, who had like\/ise stood up. "What would my little Evelyn counsel in that case?" he inquired. "That we should both die," she answered with sudden passion. "May God avert the occasion, at least from you!" • the father said solemnly. But the girl knew that he was pleased, and her heart had answered this other dear heart which had been her all during her years of childhood and of youth. CHAPTER V NEW FACES 3 ON the next afternoon Evelyn de Lacey, wearing this time a sober costume of cloth which she had herself woven and dyed, accompanied her father on a walk which led them down past the Fort, where in bygone days he had occupied the room above the gate. He noted, with an involuntary contraction of the brows, the orange flag waving, but he said noth- ing. Evelyn noted the expression that had crossed his face and understood its cause. He had never got accustomed to the sight. Probably the father's in- clination would have been for a quiet walk through the fields or along the waterfront, but he knew that his daughter would naturally prefer to meet some of her friends, who were sure to be upon the parade, then the fashionable promenade. As they passed the Bowling Green, a number of officers were playing bowls with the keenest zest, and with jests and laughter that rang out gaily in the silence of that spring afternoon. At intervals during their Sport they paused to survey the passing groups of gaily dressed women and men, for in rich- ness the men's attire almost surpassed that of their feminine competitors. Evelyn de Lacey was once more the cynosure of all those observers, who, in their careless or supercilious ignorance, believed i'MI :< 34 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER these colonies to be barely on the verge of civiliza- tion and a place where there was little to admire and much to criticize. Scoffs and jeers were alike si- lenced by the face of the girl, to which corresponded a well-proportioned figure, held erect as a dart and supple as a willow. It was evident, too, to those who took the trouble to follow her movements, that she was a person of note in the community. Hats were continually being doffed to her, and there were smiles and cordid greetings alike from those in car- riages and pedestrians. There were two officers upon the Green, who, sus- pending their sport, had given a closer attention than all the rest, not only to this girl, but also to her com- panion. They took particular note of Gerald de Lacey. There was something in his tall, erect figure that betrayed the soldier, and something in the profile of that face, which was never once turned towards them, that marked him out from his fellows. He was unconscious of that gaze, which he might perhaps have found disturbing. Just at the moment, as if to give the observers a still better opportunity for their observations, Polly Van Cortlandt, attended only by her negro maid, intercepted her friends, and began an animated conversation. As they stood thus in the full sunlight of that April day, her brill- iant beauty made as usual a foil for that other com- panion whose subtle charm was even more per- ceptibly felt by the two who stood still upon the Bowling Green. The men on the Green offered an equally strong contrast to each other. One was a medium-sized, compactly built man, with an eye that would be invaluable in the field, a lean and bronzed face that at once commanded attention and inspired confi- NEW FACES 3S dMice. It was that of a strong and resourceful man, who had had experience of life and its ways, without succumbing to its evil. He was, in fact, Captain Egbert Ferrers, who had ateady won distinction m active service. His companion was taller and paler, as if the sun had been unable to take effect upon a skin that was thick and a complexion that was duU. His hair was red and his eyes of a pale blue, with a trick of making themselves as expres- sionless as a mask. Lieutenant Prosser Williams, who bore by courtesy the title of Captain, was counted by some a handsome man, and was quite willing to coincide with that opinion. But to the close observer there was a suggestion of coldness, of craft, even of cruelty, which repelled. For the rest, with slightly stooping shoulders and an ahnost ex- aggerated slendemess, his general appearance was that of a man of fashion, rather than of a soldier. "Where in the name of all the gods of Greece " he said presently, "have I seen that face before?"' "Do you refer," Captain Ferrers inquired, some- what curtly, "to the beautiful face of the lady?" For Captain Ferrers, seasoned as he was, had him- self received from that exquisite face an impression so strong that it seemed to blot out all other features in the landscape. It had shaken, too, his pride and self-confidence, and that beUef in his power to resist feminine charms which had become proverbial amongst his comrades. "No," said Prosser Williams, "I can take my oath that, save for a momentary glimpse of it at the car- nage window yesterday, I have never seen that face before—no, nor one like it. I was speaking of her companion — a youthful father or an elderly hus- band, it matters little which." 36 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER The suggestion, no less than the other's tone, irri- tated Captain Ferrers. Nor would he admit to him- self the idea of a husband. The next instant he smiled whimsically. What a man of straw he was proving himself, after all! "I did not overmuch observe the lady's compan- ion," he said quietly. "Eyes only for the fair," said Captain Williams, with the faintest perceptible sneer. "Yet even that perfection of beauty, which I did not dream these colonies could produce, did not blind me to the man. He is worth noting, and I could swear that I have seen him before and at no distant date." His attention thus specially directed to the father, Captain Ferrers, perceiving that the two were still in sight, strolled away from his companion, and took up lus position at a better point of observation on that smooth greensward, where so lately he had been strenuously engaged in rolling about the balls as if that endeavor were the sum total of his aspira- tions. Now something serious had happened, though it was only the second glimpse he had caught of the face of a girl, earnest, innocent and hatmtingly beautiful. Her back was now turned towards him, so that he saw instead the radiant countenance of her friend, whose sparkling eyes of black, raven hair and damask cheeks did not in the least appeal to him. Moreover, he was curious to have another look at that man who had attracted Prosser Williams' attention, for something in the latter's remark had struck him. From where he stood, in such a posi- tion as to be unnoticed by those whom he wished to observe, his keen eyes had a very distinct view of Gerald de Lacey's face, lined and careworn in the strong light as he smiled down at his daughter's m NEW FACES 37 friend. Egbert Ferre's drew in his breath with a sharp exclamation : "By heaven," he cried, "I too have seen him be- fore, and I remember where." Then he added, with growing irritation: "If that sleuth-hound of a Will- iams has but got hold of a clue, there will be trouble, but I will be hanged, drawn and quartered, if I assist his memory." Something in the alternative he had proposed for himself made him shiver slightly. There had been so much of such happenings within the memory of living men in England. At the moment he stepped forward unconsciously from his place of conceal- ment, and his eyes met those of Gerald de Lacey, which had in them at first merelj a look of care- less inquiry, suddenly changing, as it appeared to Ferrers, into one of uneasiness. At the same in- stant, too, Evelyn, turning her head, looked full into his face. The double sensation be thus experi- enced so curiously upset him that, scarcely waiting to perceive that the tall man on the pavement was hurrying his daughter away, he walked swiftly across the lawn where a game was still in progress and eager bowlers called out to him as he passed. He walked on rapidly, hardly knowing whither he was going, till he found himself on the shore where rows of palisades had been erected against suspected in- roads of the French. He was unnerved to a degree that neither he nor any of his friends would have be- lieved possible. For there comes, no doubt, in every life moments when some great issue seems forcing itself to the front and forcing into the background all that has been previously of paramount impor- tance. He stopd staring out at the water where miniature i I 38 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER waves chased one another under the cool brightness of that sky, deeply blue though mottled with white clouds. The breath of the salt air coming up from the ocsan was reviving. He was still warm from his game, and felt the need of such refreshment, as he watched with abstracted gaze the sails of the fisher- boats and some Indian canoes, which dotted the wide expanse of water before him. He had only one idea clear in his mind : to avoid any questioning from Williams, which might complicate matters, and to advise the father of this girl, whose very name was unknown to him, to leave that town at the earliest moment and to take with him his daugh- ter (or his wife) out of reach of influences that might j.i some fashion be brought to bear upon them. He began to argue too in his mind, as if the matter were of vital importance, that this girl could not possibly be the wife of the man whom he had just recognized. For he had been told at the time that he was married, and had been married some years. Why, his wife would be nearing middle age! He drew a breath of relief, and then it flashed upon him with disturbing force that death might havp inter- vened, and the man be married again to this young and charming girl. He suddenly felt a curious sense of desolation darkening his mind, as that cloud was just then darkening the Bay. A sense of danger to come and a possible loss smote him, so sensitive is the htunan soul to weird impressions. If it was nec- essary that the tall man with the worn face should remove to some distant place with his daughter (for so he persisted in calling her), he knew that he himself would miss something that gave color ana interest to these landscapes and to the quaint Dutch town, the characteristics of which he had previously liiiij NEW FACES 39 scarcely noted. He felt a strong desire to study that ^l,T u^^^^^^""' ^'^ fi"<^ o"t for himself u -fi^^^^^ ***^* *^"*y> which he assured him- self wth the power of experience coi-Jd not be merely superficial. He wanted to know the meaning of the ^^^°^J^}^g behind those uncommon eyes, and he told himself with sudden resolution that he would do so at the earliest possible moment. He walked back again across the Bowling Green and through the stone courtyard to the Governor's resi- uence where he had his quarters. The father and daughter, who had awakened such interest, had gone; the gay groups on the pavement had thinned out. and the baUs on the green had ceased to rattle, l-rosser WiUiams was nowhere to be seen Meanwhile. Mr. de Lacey and his daughter had returned home, unaware that new influences had come into their lives. Evelyn lingered amongst the herbs and flowers m her garden, conscious of a n«-w excitement, which she was young enough and im- pressionable enough fully to appreciate. Surelv those groups of bowlers on the Green, typical of Me and energy had given a now interest to the sometimes monotonous existence of Manhattan. Nor had she been unmindful of the glances of inter- est Mdathniration she had caught on those tv/o faces which had most impressed her. They seemed to have singled themselves from the others in her con- saousness. Towards one she felt a half-formed dis- hke or annoyance which had its origin in something that was bold and insolent in his glance. And that man s hair was red, and his eyes were pale blue As for the other she had got no farther in her impres- sions than that she would like to know his name and perhaps to discover if he danced as weU as he l^l II 40 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER bowled, and if he were really as bright and full of interesting experiences as he seemed. But her father, having hurried into the house, sat with his head buried in his hands in deep and anxious meditation. So far removed are the preoccupations of one gen- eration from those of another. i-.tii.i CHAPTER VI THOMAS GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE ON the Streets of the town, during those closing years of the seventeenth century, a certain type of men was to be seen, easily distinguishable from all others. Their dress consisted of loose trousers, short open jacket, a sash of scarlet around their waist, and a bandolier of tlie same flaming color over their shoulders. Their bronzed faces, fierce mustachios and bold eyes proclaimed their calling. They were avowedly smugglers, but also — as every- body whispered, but few said aloud — pirates. Smug- gling and piracy had become, in fact, a common avocation, and it was broadly hinted that citizens of prominence were interested at least in the smug- gling operations, to which they lent their counte- nance. During the regime immediately preceding that of Lord Bellomont, the smugglers had grown bold, being under the patronage, it was said, of those in authority. Piracy upon the high seas, and in the vicinity of New York, had become so common that my Lord Bellomont was entrusted with a special commission to inquire into that abuse and its remedy. He had early announced to the Council his deter- mination to put a stop to the nefarious traffic. This announcement had not succeeded in stiildng terror If A'' m Ip ii 42 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER into the hearts of men who had been accustomed to defy or evade the law, and to hear at intervals ful- minations against themselves and their callmg, which were followed by no vigorous action. But the Earl of Bellomont, a resolute man and accus- tomed to command, went a step farther, and this \vith the approb-\tion of the King and others in high places in the mother country. He declared his in- tention of founding, in default of a navy, a privateer service, to which the wealthy men of the colony, particularly those who had maritime interests, should contribute. Sailing the high seas, these privateers would meet the pirates on their own element. This announcement of his was the chief subject of conversation at every dinner table in the town, and in the taverns where men of all shades of opinion met for the discussion of public, and sometimes private, affairs. And it was being discussed on a certain afternoon under the spreading boughs of that famous eki which sheltered the tavern of Der Halle, by two men who sat as far apart as possible from the stragglers that now and then came forth from the tavern to enjoy the coolness of the air under the great tree. One of these wore that dress which many were now beginning to fear, but which had been so long a familiar feature of the Dutch city. In an ordinary peaceful community that costume would have been startling, but to the inhabitants of Manhattan at that epoch the smuggler, thus boldly proclaimed by his costume, was a picturesque and almost admir>.d figure. It was no uncommon thing to see such men seated at the tables of notable citi- zens, or smoking a friendly pipe and drinking a bowl of punch with them in the taverns. For it was these men who brought to the port of New York rich stuffs, !i'i' GREATBATCH, SMUCX3LER AND PIRATE 43 gold, precious stones, wines and spices from the Orient, no less than such ordinary products as sugar, molasses or rum. If sometimes, as was alleged but never openly avowed, their illegal trade merged into the darker calling of pirates, it only seemed to lend them an added attraction in the eyes of many other- wise law-abiding citizens, or the charge was conven- iently held to be slanderous and unproved. The member of this calling, who appeared under the tree of Der Halle tavern that day, was a broad, thick-set man, with a coarse and strongly marked countenance, upon which smallpox had set its seal. This Thomas Greatbatch, who smoked in short, fierce puffs from a huge pipe, was so typical of his class that he was a hero to adventure-loving boys of the town. Also he was on terms of something very like intimacy with many grown men, despite their secret disgust at his boastfulness, coarseness and in- solence, no less than the suspicions they must have entertained as to his character. The man who sat opposite to him at table was as far removed from him in station as in appearance or manners. A new- comer to the colony, of mixed English and Dutch extraction. Mynheer de Vries had made himself a power by the vastness of his commercial operations and the wealth of his establishment. He had pur- chased the dwelling, lately left vacant by the death of the celebrated Cornelius Steenwyck, which ad- joined that charming dwelling wherein Major — or, as he now thought it safer to be called, Mr.— de Lacey and his daughter had taken up their abode. His coat and small clothes were of finest broadcloth of dark wine color, with silver buttons. His waistcoat was of brocaded satin, with jabot of fine lace. His clear-cut features were aristocratic in type. His i\ ill 44 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER hands were long, white and thin, and upon one finger sparkled a jewelled ring of priceless value. Upon this bauble the eyes of his companion were covet- ously fixed from time to time, for he was fully aware of its value. Possibly he was thinking that, had he been upon the deck of his good ship, he would have lost no time in possessing lumself of such a gem, and with scant ceremony to its owner. The talk of the two men was at first unimportant: "See yonder mackerel clouds," said Greatbatch, pointing with his pipe-stem to the firmament. '"Mares' tails,' as we call them, Mynheer, aiid a good name enough. Well, as sure as the sun's in the heavens now, that means bad weather, and a signal to Captain Greatbatch to make sail before it comes." His companion's eyes followed the direction of the pipe-stem to where fleecy masses of cumuli, lie Sie unshorn wool of many lambs, were crowd- ing together in masses upon the azure expanse of sl^. Here and there, other trailing clouds broke the blueness with exquisite effect. "You are, no doubt, right," said the other, in even, courteous tones. "Though I may not claim your knowledge of the weather, I can believe that we are near a change." "I'll sail at sun-rising," Captain Greatbatch said decisively. Then, as his round eyes dropped from the dcy to the water, he burst into a great guffaw: "What a sight ey are, those Vrowen, by—" Mynheer raised his hand in d^recation of the coarse oath with which the observation was seasoned, nor did he see anything especially ludicrous in the to him customary sight of comely red-cheeked women rowing their flat-bottomed boats, piled with .11 GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE 45 market produce, over the broad river from the sandy cliffs beyond. Greatbatch, however, continued to chuckle and mutter to himself as he watched those placid oars- women, with their caps tied under their dtiins and no other head-covering to protect them from the sun. Then, as the rum which he was imbibing (that Barbadoes brand, of which he himself had brought into port full many an ilUcit cargo) began to warm him, he burst forth: "I know that you gentlemen are shaking in your shoes, for has not my Lord Bellomont — a curse upon him!— -made laws against the honest profits of us men of the sea ?" "It is most certainly true," said Mynheer, bend- ing eagerly forward and dropping his voice, "that it will be extremely perilous for — " He stopped and peered all around the great elm tree, for so considerable was its girth that it was a conmion boast of the tavern how many men it took to encircle it. He even looked up into the branches, lest any adventurous lad might be emulating the birds by finding a foothold amongst the foliage. Greatbatch laughed a scornful laugh. "Parlous," he echoed, "since ever I was a lad in my teens, I have lived in the teeth of peril; and if you mean by that dangers to the body, I snap my fingers thereat." He did snap his fingers in such close proximity to Mynheer's face that the latter drew back in disgust. "Then, there's another peril that you gentry are afraid of, and that is your reputation and your standing with these Governors that they send out here from the old country to take the bread out of folks' mouths." M m am- X-Wf 43 '^ I 46 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER After another alarmed look around the place, where the few who were present seemed to be ab- sorbed in their own concerns, and only the birds in the branches above were near enough to have over- head. Mynheer said: "With one part of your speech I am most heartily in accord; for reputation is of a surety what we gentlemen have to safeguard. If we have winked at your — " He paused for a suitable word, while Greatbatch eyed him truculently. "At your eva- sions of the law." Greatbatch laughed a deep, hoarse laugh, for well he knew that the euphemism was but a paltry way to describe those daring deeds of his, some of which might be called crimes, but in which, in so far as it was safe, he gloried. "My Lord Bellomont," went on Mynheer, "has determined to put down with a strong hand all illicit traffic, and with still greater zeal such attempts, if any sudi are made, as may imperil the lives and property of His Majesty's lieges upon the high seas." Perhaps there was a faint note of satire in the smoothness with which this was said, too subtle for the ear of Greatbatch, and Mynheer fancied that he caught in the latter's deep growls such ex- pressions as "white-livered, chidcen-hearted cow- ards." But he thought it wiser to take no notice. In so far as was possible, the matter must be settled amicably with this ruffian, who knew so much that implicated himself and many other prominent citi- zens of Manhattan, directly or indirectly, in that piracy which had made the high seas a terror, or in that smuggling which was making the port of New York notorious for evasions of the law. That many high-minded citizens looked with horror upon the GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE 47 fonner of these practices, and with disapproval upon the second, did not alter the fact that many others were involved therein. And, though they did not care to admit the fact to themselves, they were per- fectly well aware that the success of this Captain Greatbatch in bringing cargoes to New York must have been often attained by foul and even mur- derous means. Such' a form of open robbery, fre- quently involving the loss of human life, was ren- dered picturesque by being practised on the main, rather than upon a lonely road. "Aye," said Greatbatch, irritated by the other's caution no less than by the liquor he had imbibed, "the Governor wants to enforce navigation laws and to confiscate ships and cargoes for the customs dues. He tries hard to take the bread from honest seamen, but mark you. Mynheer, he has passed a law against them that knowingly entertain, conceal or hold correspondence with pirates." And he laughed long and loud at the dismay which was visible on the countenance of Mynheer at this reminder. Also, he raised his voice to a pitch which caused his companion to protest in great alarm, as he said; "As for my Lord Bellomont's scheme to place privateers on the seas in place of pirates, why, what are they but a pack of hell-hounds? And Cap'n Kidd for their Commander, oh Lordy, Lordy ! Why, man, if I mistake not, he will be the most daring pirate alive to-day, the most dangerous sea-rover that ever trod a deck — aye, and I make no doubt the most expert of cutthroats. And here's to his health, I drain my glass to him." M5mheer had noticed with consternation that, even as the man spoke, a gentleman strode out from ^\\:. V'. iiiiii 48 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER the tavern and occupied a place not far removed from them on the other side of the tree. He recog- nized him at once as belonging to the Governor's household. He had seen him when, with other notables of the town, he had gone to meet the newly arriving Governor, and when he attended the in- stallation ceremonies at the Stadt Huys. He had since met him at various social gatherings, and was aware that his name was Captain Ferrers. The latter seated himself unobtrusively, smoking a pipe and sipping a glass of beer which the waiter brought him. Mynheer whispered a word of warning to his companion, upon which the latter, turning, and as if to include the newcomer in the invitation, cried aloud: "Come, drink to the health of Cap'n Kidd, newly appointed by His Excellency's worship policeman of the seas. Drink with me to Cap'n Kidd, like to be the most daring pirate that ever sailed the high seas." After an instant of astonishment, a look of hu- morous intelligence crossed Ferrers' face. _ The man and his costume proclaimed his profession, which was henceforward forbidden. Also, there was a certain irony in the glance which the young man cast at the smuggler's companion. The latter, catch- ing his eye, greeted him with a formal bow, which Ferrers returned courteously but carelessly. At which Mynheer, leaving Greatbatch with but little ceremony, advanced towards the officer with some- thing deprecating, almost obseouious, in his manner. "I was just telling this good man," he said, "that the days of his calling, as openly practised in Man- hattan, are about numbered." Greatbatch, hearing this remark, was highly in- pensed, and pried out; GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE 49 "Whether I be a good man or a bad man, more likely the latter, at least I am open in my vilLainies, for, sir, whoever you may be, I am just telling this worthy gentleman that the game he and the other big bugs have been playing in this town, is well nigh over, unless they can make a bargain with His Excellency's new pirate-captam, Cap'n Kidd." And the fellow, overcome with tipsy mirth at his own humor and at the manner in which he had turned the tables upon his companion, went off into a roar of laughter. Meanwhile, scarlet with confusion and full of apprehension, Mynheer stood quite con- founded. Greatbatch, seeing that his companion had deserted him, drained his glass and lurched away with a satirical farewell to his late associate. "Will you join me, Mynheer," said Ferrers, with unmoved gravity, "in a glass of beer, or do you per- chance prefer Madei'-a?" But there was still that look of humorous intelli- gence in the keen, gray eyes, that made the burgher decidedly uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he accepted the courteous invitation with some eagerness. He had a weakness for the society of the great, and be- sides, there might be an opportunity of putting him- self right. When his glass had been filled, Ferrers remarked: "Yonder is rather a dangerous sort of fellow, I should opine, especially if it be in matters confiden- tial. He dips too deep into the bottle for one thing." "He is of rufBanly demeanor, I grant you," re- plied Mynheer, "but he is a trader and a most suc- cessful one, master of the trading vessel, 'Hesperia.' " "Which vessel, if I might hazard a guess, has a history," said Ferrers. Mynheer made a gesture of deprecation, '4i if lis n in iifi so GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER "It is a trader," he repeated suavely. "Might one venture to suggest, in connection with that trade, the word 'illicit'?" inquired Ferrers. Mynheer looked into the clear, gray eyes, and an- swered boldly: "Smuggling," he said, "has been hitherto held by some persons in Manhattan to be a minor of- fence, if offence at all. Restrictions upon otir com- merce have been so burdensome and so vexatious." "Granted. But the rich cargoes of these traders, how are they procured?" He sipped his beer, but did not look into the other's face, since he had no mind to play the inquisitor. "How?" stammered Mynheer. "Why they sail the high seas to distant ports and — " "It is in these ports, then," inquired Ferrers, in the manner of one interested in a debatable point, "that they procure those cargoes of costly mer- chandise, which, as I have heard tell, often include jewels of price, gold and the finest of stuffs?" As Mynheer did not at once reply, since he knew that that question cut into the very heart of the subject, Ferrers lightly closed the discussion: "I pray your forgiveness," he said, "for entering upon a topic which to be sure, and at least in so far as I am concerned, is purely local." And remarking upon that which Greatbatch had before made subject of conversation, he said : "What a very extraordinary figure those market- women cut, and how skilfully, if placidly, they use the oars!" Following his lead, Mynheer discoursed upon that topic, presently pointing out, however, that the great clouds presaging high winds were banked up to the west, behind the pile of great rocks. GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE sf "But, perchance you know, Captain Ferrers," he explained, "the local tradition that these winds are forever driven back, not by the rocks, as might seem most nattual, but by the spirits of departed Indians. Why, even we burghers have a land of belief in it." "Which would be but another instance of in- genuous credulity," Ferrers said slyly, and the other, realizing his meaning, once more flushed from chin to forehead. "As for example, if one were to credit the sea stories of yonder fellow that has just left us." But Mynheer, becoming exasperated under his smooth manner, answered with something of im- pertinence in his tone: "Even as when His Excellency holds it for certain that Captain Kidd wiU exterminate the sea-robbers." ' ' Have you acquaintance with this Captain Kidd ?' ' inquired Ferrers, apparently unheeding the thrust. "But a sUght one," replied Mynheer, adding with a return to his former caution: "Men say that he is both brave and skilful." "Were he not the former, at least," responded Ferrers, "he would scarce have undertaken his pres- ent service." At which Mynheer permitted himself a peculiar smile and slight raising of the eyebrows, as he added: "And my Lord Bellomont commends him highly." "My Lord Bellomont commends him highly," assented Ferrers, echoing the precise form of words used by his companion. Then he asked a question: "There is in this town," he said, "a gentleman of the name of de Lacey?" For that much he at least had learned, together with the fact that the lady with the beautiful eyes was his daughter. 1i i 52 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER "Yes, yes,'' said Msmheer, "Mr., fonnerly Major, de Lacey. I fancy he does not make use of the mili- tary title now. Do you chance to know him?" "I have but seen him," said Ferrers. "He is a man of books, and takes little part in the affairs of these colonies. A most agreeable fellow to meet, but he goes not at all into society. He lies low now. For he came out at first to these parts with Dongan." "Ah," said Ferrers, a quick flash of interest in his eyes, "and Dongan was a recent Governor here, but since succeeded to the Earldom of Limerick." "Exactly so," answered Mynheer. "He was the only Popi^ Governor New York has ever had, and, because of his religious opinions, some were against him. Honest and a wortiiy ruler,' as I believe him to have been, he fell under suspicion by reason of his Popish practices. This de Lacey came hither in his train." "And here remained?" inquired Ferrers. "Oh, he has been in England since, but the reason for his leaving there, I know not. Mayhap, it was political, for some will have it that he is a Papist, though nothing is known to a certainty, and he is assuredly Irish, a nation none too friendly to the King's Majesty." As Ferrers made no comment on this information, the other added : "His daughter, whom perchance you may have noticed, is a charming girl, and, since the two are my near neighbors, I am in a position to judge. It ' The aieriSs sent a resolution of thanks to King James for hav- ing sent Colonel Thomas Dongan, "of whose integrity, justice, equity and prudence, we have already had a sufficient experience at our General Court of Sessioas." GREATBATCH, SMUGGLER AND PIRATE 53 is Mid that she wields the weapons of her sex, beauty and the rest, remorselessly with the young gaUants of the town. "They have my sympathy," said Ferrers, "for we are all ahke powerless against the fair." Light as was his tone, he knew that he could testify to the strength of those weapons when wielded by one possessed of such attractions as Evelyn de Since there were signs that the bad weather pre- dicted by Captain Greatbatch was even then ap- proachmg Ferrers presently took his leave. As they shook hands in parting, Mynheer said- fllidt'tSs v'"'''' ^"^ ^^ ^ "^ 'l"^^*'"'^ °f ^"^ replied with his humorous smile- Ill CHAPTER VII AN ESCAPED BIRD EVERYBODY was an early riser in that town, wherein the English in point of numb«s and social influence were akeady beginning to dispute supremacy with the Dutch. The sun, on rising high in the heavens, would have been quite surprised to find any denizens of the place stUl inclosed in the bedste (or wall cupboard), wherein the sleeping of the maiority was done, or even in those luxurious bed- steads, high from the floor, curtained and canopied which in the houses of the wealthy had replaced the It would thus have been no matter of astonishtnent to any passer-by to see Evelyn de Lacey workmg amongst the flowers in her garden wMe they were still wet with dew, or amongst the herbs froni which she compounded perfumes or simple medicmes. However, on one particular mormng some weeks after the arrival of the new Governor, Evelyn was delayed by a series of small domestic occurr^ces, so that it was full nine o'clock before she went out to her appointed task. Her costume was simple ^ befitted her work, but not even the much-admired lutestring brought out to better advantage the slen- der gracefulness of her perfectly proportioned figure, or her absolute lack of self-consciousness, which lent AN ESCAPED BIRD 55 auch ease to her movements, than did this linsey- woolsey of a becoming shade of blue. As she raised her head from a plant which she was pruning, with something maternal in her touch, she became aware that someone was standing outside the latticed wall of the garden and watching her— a woman whose dress, studied m its carelessness, had touches about It not native to Manhattan. When her eyes met those of the girl through one of the apertures, she laughed and, advancing to the gate, addressed Eve- lyn m a softly modulated voice: "I crave your forgiveness for thus interrupting your work. I am exceeding anxious for some in- formation as to this town of New York. I wonder, in truth, that they have not changed the name." She spoke with a hint of satire in her tone, as though she were laughing at some person or persons unknown. ^^It is often called Manhattan," suggested Evelyn. "And once was called New Amsterdam. It has had Its vicissitudes, this pretty burgh, like so many of us " The lady, as she spoke, was giving full meed of admu-ation to the Colonial. For admiration is free- ly given, even lavishly bestowed, by women of a certain type upon others of their sex, provided that tlje object of such flattering regard in no way in- terferes with their own plans or preferences. Thus this fine lady, who stood before the gate, was think- ing: "What an exquisite creature to be thrown away here, as a lovely fern in a shady wood!" Eveljm, who for an instant had been puzzled, was now tolerably certain of the passer-by's identity, and in her mmd arose the doubt as to whether she should allow that knowledge to appear or should await a hint from the other. She remembered the \i ■■?':'f!' S6 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER eyes, with the jaded, weary expression, though not without their beauty; the mouth, marred by luies of discontent; the general aspect of one prematurely aged and yet artificially young, which did not de- stroy traces of a beauty that must once have been considerable. The ease, and even elegance, of the other's movement and manner would be unmis- takable to this girl, who had known other typra than the provincial, even if she had not recognized one whom she had seen under iwrticular circum- stances. She waited, therefore, with the prumng- knife in her hand, a graceful figure and full of a dis- tinction which was keenly appreciated by the visitor. "I dare swear," the latter said, leaning carelessly upon the gate over which ran a fragrant vine, "you have never chanced to feel like a bird that had slipped for an instant from its cage." Evelyn shook her head, with that smile which was reckoned one of her greatest charms, so full was it of sympathy and intelligence. "Our free air of Manhattan is agamst such a feeling," she answered. "I envy you most heartily," aghed the other, "for I am out of my cage this morning." Her eyes wandering over the garden, she pres- ently exclaimed : " Oh, but this garden is an enchant- ing spot, and these flowers aro such as our first mother might have tended in Paradise." And she ended her eulogy with a few words of Dutch, which completed the comparison. "But I am int Dutch, Madam," observed Evelyn, "No and so I would have swem. But what then? Engjish?" "Irish," replied Evelyn, proudly. AN ESCAPED BIRD 57 "Ah, true, I might have guessed it. That type is a most lovely one. But was it not in Dutch com- pany that I saw you first?" inquired the lady. "And where was that, Madam?" asked Evelyn, though she knew very well indeed. The lady not answering, as though she did not wish just then to reveal her identity, Evelyn presently added: "Perchance it may have been with my close friends, Madam Van Cortlandt and her grand- daughter, Polly." ' ' Precisely so," said the lady, nodding as if pleased, "for I remember to have heard that name." Adding after a pause: "And that name is not then yours?" "No, Madam, for mine is Evelyn de Lacey," the girl responded. "De Lacey, de Lacey," repeated the visitor, as if puzzling over something in her own mind. ' ' I seem to have heard the name, though where I cannot say. But in truth it matters little, for there is a saying that people may meet where hills will not." She a^ed no further question, but said instead: "Will you do me a favor, Mistress Evelyn de Lacey, and accompany me in a walk, just to ^ow a poor stranger this charming little town of yours?" She held out her hand with such winning grace that, even if Evelyn had not known who she was and had not been assured of the impossibility of refusing her request, she still would have consented willingly. And this despite the fact that there was something under all the courtly elegance of this exterior that jarred upon her — something sophisticated wtdch instinctively revolted her. It was the meeting of two extremes: the cold, proud purity of the Irish girl, now living as a Colonial, and the worldliness of the woman, who, if common report were to be H .la S8 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER believed, had scorched her brilliant wings in the flame of folly. Evelyn felt, despite this instinctive repulsion, a certain attraction toward this woman, and that quite apart from the knowledjue of her sta- tion, which made the episode of this morning seem like a rare adventure. "Most certainly. Madam, I shall go with you," said Evelyn, "if you will be pleased to wait until I have put on my bonnet." She hesitated, being un- certain what the etiquette of such a moment de- manded: "And may I meantime offer you a seat in our drawing-room?" "Thank you, no," replied the lady, "rather I shall walk about, if I may, in these garden paths and dream that I — I too am in Paradise." With the slightest possible delay Eveljm procured a wide bonnet of straw, much more simple than that which she had worn with her gold lutestring, but so charmingly trimmed with flowered ribbon, and dis- playing the unerring taste in dress which was one of ^e girl's attributes, that the lady cried out in ad- miration. To Evelyn her language of praise seemed affected and insincere, but it was, in very truth, just then genuine. They passed out of the gate and, when Evelyn would have turned in the direction of Broad Way and the Bowling Green, the lady checked her. 'No, no," she said, hastily, "not that way. I want something new, something different." Evelyn, at once understanding and marvelling at her own stupidity in supposing this lady would wish to walk over ground with which she was daily familiar, led her by way of some of the more obscure streets, and outwards towards the Wolfert's Valley, where it lay along the shore. As they went, the lady AN ESCAPED BIRD 59 kejjt op a miming fire of conunents upon the town, which she declared resembled one great garden. She admired in her exaggerated fashion the trees, lime and elm, ash and locust — the last giving forth so pleasant an odor that she stopped to inhale it, as though it were a rare perfume. She talked of the rivers, praising their breadth and cleanliness, of the Bay where the oyster fishers with their wide lakes brought in the highly profitable bivalves, and of the wild ducks whi h hovered in such numbers over the water, and had attracted her from the first with their gray and purplish plumage. She gave much atten- tion to the names of streets, commenting upon them with an almost childish interest and curiosity. "What may be the name of this one we are now ap- proaching?" die asked, pausing to receive an answer. Evelyn replied that it had formerly been known by two names, Boiger Joris Path and the Glass- makers' Street, but was now named ^ter the reign- ing Sovereign, William of Orange. The lady tossed her head wi3i some petulance. "And to think," she exck'med, "that they have ended by naming it 'William' ! Ah, Mistress Evelyn, but ultra-loyalty is a wearisome quality. And here again is Nassau, which was much better entitled Keweman, for that last hath something quaint and pleasing about it, since it conjures up a picture." ^^ "And this Gold Street," she again commented, "sounded to my mind vastly prettier by its original title of Golden Hill. How pretty it must have been with masses of golden grain, which now, as I perceive, have disappeared! Tell me. Mistress Evelyn, why do people ever reject the poetry and retain the prose ? Why do you Colonials cast all your poetry into that stream yonder?" ^1 li.li: f I'll* , > 60 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER She pointed as she spoke to the slow and somewhat sluggiui stream, which flowing inwards from the Hudson — for the two were now upon their homeward way — passed through the centre of the city, spanned by bridges and with a pretty walk on either side. But her talk was not all of the city through which they passed. She sometimes gave utterance to strange and startling sentiments, which she excused by the assertion that that morning she was a bird out of its cage. "For in ^e ordinary course," she declared, "I have a string attached to my foot, or some obse- quious person, who follows in my track, will not let me out of sight." She spoke her mind freely, too, as to persons and things, for intuitively she trusted Evelyn. She criti- cized such personages as John Nanfan and Thomas Weaver, both of whom had accompanied my Lord from England and were both high in the Governor's counsels. "As for John," said the lady, "he will lead my Lord Bellomont into mischief, for a more narrow and puritanical being was never bred by the Cov- enanters." Now Evelyn, being aware of the close relationship in which Mr. Nanfan stood to my Lady Bellomont (being in fact her brother), was astonished at this freedom of discussion; all the more so, as she had heard her father express a very similar opinion, and presage trouble for those of the Catholic Faith from his presence. "Aye," said the lady, as if talking to herself, "he is already weeping over the usurper Leisler's bones, who, as it seemeth, was detested by more than half of the decent people of the colony. Such a one AN ESCAPED BIRD 6t ■hould be left in peace, now that he is dead, though Govcarnor Sloughter may have done an ill thing in hanging him. The Papists must have rejoiced, for he too was their sworn enemy." "They had no hand in his death," declared Eve- lyn, speaking with an eame?iiiess that caused the lady to look at her. "Had they not?" she inM. rel 'Y« I, I have heard his opponents callt ;i V.r Its or Iir ^ James' men." "King James' men majiv of ih -in .".'•-' i ot," said Evelyn, "and I have hoard r,aiJ U m Mi - . was no Papist amongst them, ill riLii.;' Ontoh or of the Dutch-English party. Atid •: ■ t.- 'li, Madam, those of the ancient Faith are but a Jia iU''ul here, and mostly of the lower order." Again the lady looked keenly into the face that was more beautiful now in its excitement. "You are too young and beautiful, child," she said, with some abruptness, "to trouble that charm- ing head of yours with such vexatious questions." Evelyn, seeing something like suspicion in her man- ner and perhaps a note of warning in her words, said no more, and indeed they were just then ap- proaching the garden gate again. The lady stopped abruptly, and, laying her hand upon Evelyn's arm, said with an earnestness and a frankness that star- tled the girl: "I know not whether I need explicitly inform you whence it is that I have escaped, and that my cage is down yonder." She waved a slender hand in the direction of the Fort, as Evelyn dropped the conventional curtsey required of her. "You may perhaps have heard strictures upon my past con- duct. If such should reach yoiu: ears, remember 11 ;•«■' :.i ■ ^li 62 GERALD DB LACEY'S DAUGHTER before you judge me that I was mairied, a child of twelve, to a man of mature age. His life was of the camp and field, and nane was left to nm in whatsoever groove it would. What it might have be«i, I know not." There was a look of deep, brooding melancholy m her eyes, as she turned aside an instant, walking on to the very gate in silence. There she stopped and, permitting Evelyn to enter so that the two were facing each other, said : "From all the tiresome ceremony which His Ex- cellency thinks it necessary to inaugurate here, from all its pomps and from all its works, from my ladies and from some of my gentlemen-in-waiting, I pray to be delivered. And," she added with a gl^ul laugh, "I have delivered myself from them ail this morning." As Evelyn remained silent, finding nothing ap- propriate to say, the Countess of Bellomont took her hand and, giving it a friendly pressure, said: "I thank you for having aided me in this delight- ful adventure. I thank you for having behaved with so admirable discretion and, though knowing my rank, for having suffered me to follow my whim. Oh, I will want to see more of you while I stay here in this—" She was on the point of saying "desert," but being intuitively aware that Evelyn would resent such an appellation as applied to her Manhattan, which during their waUc she had repeatedly professed to love, the lady left the word unsaid and proceeded: "For it is rare to find a congenial soul, for con- genial we are despite the vast gvdf — I mean in world- ly experience — that lies between us." Then she added mournfully: "But I am not quite certain whether AN ESCAPED BIRD 63 we may meet often, or with the delightful freedom of this morning." For she knew, though she did not say so, that Lord Bellomont was not only jealously exclusive in permitting no men of the colony to have more than the most ceremonious and conventional acquaint- ance with her, but he was also disposed to keep the Colonial women at arm's length from his wife and to forbid anything that approached to intimacy. "But one thing I know to a surety," the lady concluded, "that I, who have so loved courts that it was like taking my heart's blood to leave them, do now most heartily abhor the stupid pomp and state here where it is meaningless." She dropped the girl's hand with a sigh and, giving her a last friendly smile and nod, walked quickly away. With curiously mingled feelings, Evelyn watched her figure hasten down towa^ the Fort in the morning simshine, and presently turn into the Broad Way, which had once been an Indian trail. M ■I CHAPTER VIII , > SHOALS AND QUICKSAND IT was sometime later, after a conference with the cook and the trying of a new recipe for Deven- ter cookies, that Evelyn was able to resume her in- terrupted labors in the garden. Her eyes had still a glow in them, her cheeks an unwonted color, from her walk in the fresh morning air and the pleasant flavor of excitement. For was there not something exhilarating and past the common in thus having been brought into touch with someone out of that great world which has forever its enchantment for the daughters of men, especially when it is seen from afar, like a mirage of ocean? And Evelyn had also been permitted a glimpse into a heart, the sealed book of life, which awed while it thrilled iiei. She was for the second time conscious that some- one was standing outside the wall — someone who threw a dark and clearly defined shadow upon the garden path. When Evelyn glanced up from her occupation of tying with fine and delicate fingers a fallen vine to a treUis, as though it had been a sen- tient thing, she saw before her the taller of the two men whom she had first noticed on the Bowling Green, and whom she had since seen, though at a distance, in various social gatherings. His face, SHOALS AND QUICKSAND 6S paler than ever in the morning light, was thrown into strong relief by the redness of his hair. There was a smile lurking in the blue eyes and about the lips whidi EveljTi did not like. Her antipathies were both strong and quickly formed. She enveloped herself in a frosty veil, delicate and intangible as mist, but absolutely impenetrable. "So might fair Flora have appeared to her dev- otees," the young man began. But the expression of the eyes that looked into his steadily warned him to proceed on other lines. "I throw myself on your compassion," he said, bowing low, "I would appear to have lost my way, and am looking for a street which will lead me to the Ferry." "You have indeed lost your way," said Evelyn, with some significance, for she was aware that it was both unnecessary and unwarrantable for him to have addressed her when he could have made his inquiries of the proper officials, the sentries stationed at various points, or even of some ordinary passer- by. Besides, despite his exaggerated courtesy, the whole tone and manner of the man was offensive. Nevertheless, she believed it best to assume that his desire for information was genuine, and gave him the requisite directions in a voice so icy that to go a step further would have seemed impossible even for this man of fashion, to whom all Colonials seemed a fair target for insolence. But the man in question was not easOy abashed. "My most humble thanks," he said, "that the goddess has deigned to point a guiding finger." _ Evelyn turned her back as though her conversa- tion were ended, and resumed her former occupation. "But I must pray you," persisted the young man, "to be more explicit in your directions; whether it i 66 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER be the sun, or a still more potent cause, my wits are quite bewildered." Evelyn, slightly turning her head, regarded him with cold surprise, as though he had not spoken, and as if she wondered what might be detaining him. "Come, be kind, fair Flora," began the intruder again, "and set a poor stranger upon the right way. I am Captain Prosper Williams, at your service, of His Excellency's Household." He seemed to think that this last announcement would be overwhelming, but Evelyn, who was al- ready well aware of the fact, made no change in her attitude, and at that moment a voice, the stern- ness of which was accentuated by its quietude, spoke from an unexpected quarter; "I should advise you. Sir, to make your inquiries at the nearest tavern." Captain Williams, taken aback, glanced hastily at the study window, and there saw lerald de Lacey, his face pale and with a dangerous l.ght in his eyes. The younger man felt at first inclined to stand his ground, but, thinking better of it, turned away with a muttered apology, followed under his breath by an imprecation. His eyes were full of malignant anger at the father's rebuke and the contempt with which the daughter — if such bhe were — had received the »nnouncenient of his name and title, from which he had expected very different results. "These Colonials," he reflected, "hold their in- fernal heads hip;h. We shall have to teach them a lesson or two. As for the father or husband, which- ever he rray be," he struck one clenched hand upon the palm of the other, "I diall reckon with him yet. I am more convinced than ever that I have seen the SHOALS AND QUICKSAND 67 fellow ere nam, and it might be of value if I could but remember where. What an air the girl has, what a carri^e of the head! By all the gods, she hath beaMty ami a style that belies her surroundings in this curw4 hoie of a Manhattan." Wltm the unwelcome visitor was completely out of ^1^, Evelyn entered the study where her father was pacing to and fro in some agitation. "Well," he said, "that was a pestilent visitor you had, Evelyn, in this Prosser WiUiams." "You caught his name with wonderful precision," said Evelyn, laughing. "I have some knowledge of him before, and, were he twenty times a member trf the Governor's House- hold, he is the last man I should welcome to my house. And," he added with some annoyance, "by what ill fortune did he find his way hither?" EveljTi had a tolerable certainty that it was no fortvme at all, good or bad, which had brought the intruder to the garden gate, but deliberate intention on his part. For she had qaught his gaze full upon her on the few occasions when she chanced to be near him. Still, she did not care to put this intuition into words. "After all, dear heart," she said, "it matters little. What harm can he do?" "That is to be seen," said Mr. de Lacey with a sigh. "He is a dangerous enemy, and serving such a master — " But tb^re he stopped. "I had another visitor this morning," Evelyn beg.-in, by way of diverting him from the late in- cident which she saw had seriously upset him. "Another visitor?" questioned the father. "Yes, while you were out. One who went fiuther 66 GERALD oe LACEY'S DAUGHTER than this Captain Williams, and asked me to act as guide through the streets of the dty." ''To act as guide?" echoed the father. "Yes. And the visitor, being this time of the feminine gender, I was forced to consent." "Why were you forced, and who was this com- peUing personage?" inquired the father. "She described herself as a bird escaped from the cage, answered Evelyn, "and her cage was in the preancts of the Fort." A flash of quick intelligence crossed Mr. de Lacey's face. ' "My Lady Bellomont!" he exclaimed. "Yes, Her Excellency." There was silence in the room, for to Gerald de Lacey this second meeting was scarcely less un- welcome than the first. He could readily imagine how a woman of lady Bellomont's calibre might be attracted by Evelyn's freshness and charm. Such a fancy on her part could be little more than a fine lady s whim, but under existing circumstances it nught be dangerous in the upshot, and anything like mtimacy would prove unsettling, and in more ways than one undesirable, for Eveljm He was tolerably familiar with the Countess's antecedents, and, though Dame Rumor had not alleged anything positively evil against the lady, many tongues had been busy with her name during the absence of Lord BeUomont at his former post. One thing at least was certam, that she had spent those years in the most riotous company that the gav society of the Enghsh capital could afford. Now it must be owned that Evelyn had been flattered by the particular notice of the courtly dame, and she only regretted that prudence forbade SHOALS AND QUICKSAND 69 her to mention the episode of that morning to Polly Van Cortlandt or others of her associates. The dder woman had indeed exercised a certain fascina- tion over her inexperienced mind. She had piqued her curiosity, and given her a vivid desire to meet again and know more intimately that product of a far different Kfe. Something of this feeUng she per- mitted to ^jpear in the lively description she gave her father of the lady's appearance and manner. and of her dehght at the quainter aspects of Man- hattan and her admiration of its beauties. Sealed m his favorite chair near his table, upon which feU the full hght of that early summer noon, Mr. de La.cey regarded his daughter with the half-whimsical naif-melancholy smile which made his face so at- tractive—with that same attraction which was con- spicuous in Evelyn. "My dearest," he said, "I wonder by what fatality it is that we elderr have to assume forever the r61e of beacons, pointing out the hidden dangers of the fairest coasts." He sighed, for in truth he, whose life had held so much of adventure and brought him into contact with so many and such notable personages, in many and varied scenes, could fully sympathize with the mterest thus awakened in his daughter. He knew that her poetic and imaginative mind had been charmed by the glimpses offered her of an enchanted territory. "It is an unamiable office," he continued, with a wry face, ' ' but alas ! useful. I must exercise it when I remind you that that fair coast in questior under existing circumstances, may have numberless shoals and q«ucksands. Our little bark must steer away from it, at least until wq can take the soundings." 70 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER See-'ng the look of disappointment tnat passed acrosi his daughter's face, he cried impulsively: "Ah, Evelyn, little Evelyn, you find it hard to forgive the beacon I" This was sufficient to arouse that other side of Evelyn's nature and bring it to his assistance, so that she could assure him, though not in words, that she was prepared t< follow a light that she had found hitherto so trus*-v, . -''ly. After the gi") A left the room, intent on some domestic probli .1 which led her to the kitchen and the comxjany of their negro servant, Mr. de Lacey had to struggle with his own desire that Evelyn should appear as became her birth and antecedents, and shine as it seemed evident she could do, if the opporcimity were given, at the viceregal court. But, apar'o I'rom my I^y Bellomont altogether, such faiowledge as he had of the Governor and of his past made him aware of the dangers which might accrue to them both if they were brought too much to his notice. Their own safety lay in obscurity, in so far as those people were concerned. For Lord Bellomont had been active against James IL and had been by him attainted and deprived of offices and emolu- ments. Hence, there was likely to be great rancor in his mind against all who had been adherents of the late monarch. Also, he was known as a bitter anti- Catholic, and here again Gerald de Lacey knew that there might be danger. The Governors who had fcllowed Dongan, though themselves Protestants, had given but little heed to religious questions. But with this one, he felt certain, it would be difierent, all the more so as John Nanfan and others of the aame stripe were hi^ in his favor. CHAPTER IX THE DAWNING OF LOVB EVELYN DE LACEY and PoUy Van Cortlandt were vaiting together in that solemn, tapes- tned room upstairs where Madam Van Cortlandt received her guests. They were waiting impatiently for that solemn function to be over, when they might go down to join in the dance that would presently be inaugurated to the sound of black Caesar's fiddle. The sunset light was still beautifying the air of Manhattan. The atmosphere was all burnished gold, with here and there light flecks of pink, or green or violet, falling over the two rivers and the harbor, whence great ships sailed forth to distant trading ports. Glinting as they fell on the guns at the Fort, the rays formed a glory about Nutten Island, whither the thick clusters of nuts had tempted some school-boys and had all but precipitated, thnwgh their presence there, an Indian massacre. Falling over Staten Island and the heights of Sewa- naka and the cliffs of the Brookl}^ shore; falling on the town of Manhattan, with its solid and sub- stantial houses, flanked by gardens; on its interlying clusters o£ woodland and its graft or stream, flowing aerendy where later a populous thoroughfare was to cany its thousands of daily wayfarers; falling on i; V I I 1 71 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER the Dutch church, within the confines of the Port, on that of the Huguenots, and on Trinity, the place of worship of the English colonists; falling over the country houses that dotted the villages of Chelsea and Greenwich. The smell of the "laylocks" was in the air, and floated in through the windows of that mansion where the festivities were on foot; it mingled with thc«e of a dozen other flowers or flowering shrubs, which adorned that prim and formal garden — a garden which, despite its size, compared ill with that other wherein Evelyn de Lacey reigned as a queen among the flowers. Here the paes bloemen, as the Dutch called them, were but secondary to the rows of trees, standing sentinel, and the prim boxwood hedges and borders for the flower-beds. Near the window, looking out upon its orderly neatness, stood Polly and Evelyn, making that striking contrast which always impressed the ob- server. The tapestried room with its dark walls, rich in storied interest, offered an excellent back- ground for what was really the beautiful picture of the two girls. In the foreground was the impressive figure of Madam Van Cortlandt, richly clad in a gown of mulberry silk with trimmings of lace to match the cap upon her hrad. In her ears were those jewels that had come down as an heirloom through generations. This was the picture that caught the eye of the two men who had walked thither from the Fort, coming togethe,- ,;ot for any love of each other's company, but because their destination chanced to be the same. These men were Captain Egbert Ferrers and Captain Prosser Williams. The eyes of both involuntarily turned from Madam Van Cort- THE DAWNING OF LOVE 73 landt, who gave them ceremonious greeting, passed over Polly, brilliant and attractive as was her ap- pearance, and fastened themselves upon that other, who, in the opinion of both, outdistanced all com- petitors. In another instant they had been intro- duced and were bending low over the hands which the girls, in their character of hostesses, extended. Such an introduction had been eagerly sought by both men ever since their arrival in the country, and, it having seemed difficult to secure. Captain Prosser Williams had endeavored to forestall it, as has been seen, in a way which he now bitterly regretted. He knew that his cause was already prejudiced in the eyes of that girl, whom, here in these stately surroundings, it appeared more than ever worth while to please. It is true that she gave no sign of having had any previous knowledge of him, and extended her hand without the slightest trace of embarrassment or resentment. At that moment he saw that, in her eyes, he was merely a guest of Madam Van Cortlandt, whom she received with courtesy, as in duty bound. But in some fashion or another she conveyed to him by every word that she spoke, and by every gesture of her slender hand, that he had placed himself as far off as the poles from her, and that there she meant to keep him. Her at- titude only incited him to a firm resolve to know her better, and only gave additional value to herself and her attractions. He felt the indiscretion of which he had been guilty the more keenly, when he had time to observe the elegance, even court- liness, of these surroundings, where the whole at- mosphere was such as to make condescension, much less insolence, an absurdity. Evelyn talked with the two men indifferently. MICROCOPY lESOlUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) |2g ■ 3.6 ■ 25 lli^ III 1.8 L25 i 1.4 m m m _^ /1PPLIED IIVMGE Inc S^ '653 East Main Street r*JS Roctiester, Ne* York 1*609 USA ^= (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone SSSS (716} 288 - 5989 - Fa. 74 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER But, when the strains of old Caesar's fiddle came in- vitingly up the broad stairs, she promised the first country dance to Captain Egbert Ferrers, who was prompt to seize the opportunity, and found all her dances engaged for Captain Williams until so late an hour in the evening that it amounted to a re- fusal. Biting his thin lips with vexation as he fol- lowed the other guests downstairs where the dancing was to take place, he vowed that he would take no other partner for their infernal country dances, and stood sulkily against the wall, wearing his most supercilious expression. There was a soft glow of excitement on Evelyn's cheeks, a light of interest in her eyes, which made her face more charming; and the smile that she bestowed upon her partner as she passed close to where Will- iams was standing, made him once more curse his own stupidity. For he now clearly perceived that he had irretrievably lowered himself in the eyes of this glorious girl, who he knew was the daughter and not the wife of Mr. de Lacey, and, as he told himself regretfully, the only one worth a second glance in all this mudhole. But, even as he paid her that trib- ute, he began to feel something like malignant hatred against her, which his admiration only in- creased. That she, a mere provincial, should de- liberately attempt to snub a man connected with some of the most influential families of Great Bri- tain and occupying his present position — a man, too, who had been regarded as an arbiter of fashion and of beauty, who had moved with a distinction sufficient to satisfy even his wn overweening ego- tism through that gay and brilliant society of which my Lady Bellomont had been a leader — ^was galling in the extreme. THE DAWNING OF LOVE 75 As for the other member of His Excellency's staff, it was clear that he was frankly and entirely fascinated. He had never been a lady's man, and was held in fact to be quite imptTvious to feminine charms. But this young girl of the colonies appealed to him in such a variety of ways that he found her simply irresistible. In the firet place v/ere those personal attractions of hers, which were justly cele- brated in the most exclusive circles of Manhattan, but which he did not seek to analyse, for they satis- fied him entirely. He liked, too, her simplicity and directness of speech and manner, the absence of conscious effort to attract. He liked the touch of the unusual about her, and the subtle charm arising from the poetry of her nature as woll as from an uncommon power of sympathy. All the women he had known seemed, in comparison to this girl, arti- ficial and insipid. It was not often, he thought, that mind and matter were so happily combined, and he freely acknowledged that it was to his un- doing. He had seen the girl scarcely a dozen times in all; he had never spoken to her before that eve- ning, and yet they were already in sympathy, on ex- cellent understanding. As any shrewd observer might have perceived, this soldier, who had distin- guished himself in more than one campaign, was more than half in love. He would not have believed it possible, had he been told so a month or even a fortnight previous. With scarcely an effort, beyon^ the mere desire of her sex to be agreeable, Evelyn de Lacey had conquered a heart that had withstood many a stubborn onslaught. So absorbed was Cap- tain Ferrers that he scarcely noticed the massive, oaken staircase by which they descended, nor the rich furnishings of the rooms below, where even now 1 t I i il'^ 76 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER the negro servants were busy lighting wax tapers in sconces all around the walls. Evelyn, on her part, was decidedly pleased with her partner, of whom she had retained a favorable impression from that day upon the Bowling Green. His manner, in its absence of affectation, won her approval;, bright and sympathetic, he was quick to catch the point of a jest, or to be moved when the topic was grave. Moreover, she was woman enough to feel that it was a feather in her cap to have been claimed for the first dance by this officer of the Household, Virho was already gaining popularity in the town. She was by no means averse to heighten the excellent impression which she was quick to perceive she had made. Polly had often taxed her with being fond of admiration, and she had to con- fess to herself that she was. Only she knew how to discriminate, and did not care for all sorts of ad- miration; it must be something worth while. So the two, being mutually satisfied and there- fore in the best of spirits, set out to dance with a number of other couples "La Belle Katherine," that favorite of country dances, and they at least en- joyed it to the uttermost. When the dance was finished. Captain Ferrers, with a certain diffidence that Evelyn found to her taste, made a request which was not as modest as his demeanor. "If I might hope," he said, "to be favored with another and again another dance?" Now Evelyn would have felt very well inclined to dance with that agreeable man all evening, if only because he was a change from her ordinary partners. But, apart from the fact that she had already promised most of her dances, she knew what the rigid etiquette of the town demanded, and was THE DAWNING OF LOVE 77 never over-lavish of her favors. So that Captain Ferrers had to be content with the last dance be- fore supper, which took place about half-past nine, after which the dancing ceased. And though he did not imitate his brother-officer in standing at the wall and looking sulky, but promptly engaged Mistress Polly and half a dozen others, he had none the less lost interest in the festivity, and waited with an impatience, which happily he did not show, for his next dance with Evelyn. Meanwhile, Captain Williams, reconsidering his first decision, made his bow and requested the honor of a dance with Mistress Polly Van Cortlandt, the more especially as he saw her surrounded by a goodly number of those whom he cJready knew to be the most eligible young men of the colony. He could catch now and again some bright or witty remark of Polly's, and hear her pleasar' augh sounding nmsically through the room. Su uy, he decided, such a partner was not to be despised, and more- over it might be possible to hear from her some of those particulars he wanted to know about her friend. Of course. Mistress Polly's dances were already promised, but, unlike Evelyn, she managed to find one for this me-'ber of the Governor's staff, who had the glamor c :!rseas about him. She was nat- urally the mc . ■; anxious to do so, since she per- ceived that Evelyn had already appropriated the other officer. In the course of conversation. Captain Prosser Williams managed to secure from Polly a good many bits of information about the elusive Evelyn, in whom, however, he tactfully avoided showing any special interest. Though he was quick to perceive that the honest-hearted girl was enthusiastically de- If m m till 78 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER voted to her friend, he c)mically wondered how such a friendship would endure the strain of some bitter rivalry or some adverse interest. He determined in any case to stand well with Polly, for he clearly perceived that this house of the Van Cortlandts was likely to play a considerable part in such social activities as the colony might afford. And, whatever might be his supercilious attitude towards Colonials in general and denizens of the Dutch metropolis in particular, he was by this time aware that the so- ciety of some of them might be eminently well worth cultivating. So much had he learned since he had been willing to agree with my Lady Bellomont that death would be preferable to an enforced exile in these overseas possessions. Vvhen supper was served. Captain Williams and his partner were in such a position 'hat they could observe both Captain Ferrers and Evelyn, and even exchange scraps of conversation with tbem. Captain Williams was quick to perceive the look of interest on the face of his fellow-soldier, a look to which the girl fully responded. This fact was immediately noted by the quick-witted Polly, who cried out: "What can be the absorbing topic that interests you two so much?" Both seemed slightly disconcerted at the ques- tion, which Captain Ferrers lightly parried, indulg- ing in a fine play of words with the hvely and viva- cious Polly. But it was evident that he had aroused himself from something much more absorbing, for with Evelyn he had been discussing some of those personal topics which are sure to arise when two people are fully in sympathy. At that moment Madam Van Cortlandt entered the dining-room, followed by negro servants carry- THE DAWNING OF ^OVE 79 ing huge silver salvers on which were dishes of roasted oysters, bread, butter and celery. Whan justice was done to these viands amid a Uvely fire of talk from the four, who had now moved thei- places together, the oysters were followed by jel- lies, custards and whipped cream, served in tall glasses, and that variety of kuchen (or small cakes) for which the Dutch housewives were famous. There was much jesting upon some kuchen, thickly studded with nuts, which Polly herself had made and shaped into the devices of hearts and "true lovers' laiots." "True lovers' knots," said Captain Ferrers, ab- sently taking one of the cakes in his hand and gaz- ing at it as though he were pondering some weighty problem. "How far and how long do they bind those of your inconstant sex?" Captain Williams adced of Polly, though his eyes were reaJHy fixed upon Evelyn. "If our sex be inconstant," said Evelyn, Ughtly taking up the challenge, "why should it not be so, since all things in life change?" Then Williams distinctly heard Captain Ferrers say, though he had drawn back a little from the others and spoke in a whisper: "No, you would never be inconstant. With you, believe me, love would be till death." "And why not after?" responded Evelsm, half laughing and yet with a shadow of seriousness in her lovely eyes. "After death?" said Ferrers. "Oh, I cannot fol- low you so far." Then was felt that sudden gravity which falls at tim^ on the lightest conversation, as if from a passing realization of the inherent gravity of life, '''I A. 8o GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER Prosser Williams felt a slight shiver run through him, as though he were being present at a tragedy of some sort. He hated all such sensations, and he also hated Evelyn because she refused to discuss any question seriously with him. Polly Van Cortlandt's quick wit soon brought it home to her that she was being overlooked in this conversation, and that the seriousness of the other three had left her, as a child might be left, laughing on a shore. She began to think that, after all, those gay groups of her own Company were preferable — the boys and girls with whom in childhood she had picked nuts -r berries on the Catiemuts or other hills, in baskets bought from the Wilden and ot the Company's chosen color of green. For Polly had always desired that her Company should follow the color of hope. Those boys and girls were now young men and women grown, but Polly was none the less their leader and their queen. She felt curiously piqued, and her good temper was ever so slightly niffled. Too loyal to Evelyn to accuse her — for indeed, as her sense of justice told her, Evelyn was not to blame — she blamed rather these cavaliers from overseas, and especially her own partner. Captain Williams. For she could not deny that, if he were supercilious and affected. Captain Ferrers was decidedly likeable, even if he had permitted himself to become absorbed in her fascinating friend. Polly was not sorry when, the supper having dis- appeared, they returned to the drawing-room where tables were set for cards. Noi was she sorry to rid herself of the society of Prosser Williams, and to reign with her usual undisputed sway at a table of basset. The older people were presently ranged at other tables, where negroes had placed sUver candle- THE DAWNING OF LOVE 8i sticks with wix candles to aid their failing sight, and gold-lacquered boxes of ivory fishes for counters, besides little piles of Louis d'ors, doubloons, or other foreign coins. At these tables might be seen en- gaged in the more serious game of lansquenet some of the chief men of the colony. There were twj of Madam Van Cortlandt's sons, who already had stolid sons of their own. There were Nicholas Bay- ard, and Philip Livingston, and Mynheer de Vries; there were Phillipses, Van Rensselaers, Lawrences and de Peysters, though these latter were on the other sice of politics. There were Delanceys, Van Brughs, de Mills, Van Schaicks and de Riemers, both men and women, all of whom were soon mutely engrossed in their favorite pastime. They dealt their cards, their kings and their cavaliers, their knechts or knaves, their atouts, with as much serious- ness as though they were playing that game of life which, even in the quiet town of Manhattan, was just then becoming complicated. Eveljm, like Polly, took her place at a table of basset, which was played by most of the younger people, and had beside her Pieter Schuyler, one of the best-known young men in town and her devoted admirer. He was short and broad-shouldered and had brown eyes that laughed a great deal in fellow- ship with a set of white teeth. He was foremost in all sports, and enjoyed a wide popularity. Madam Van Cortlandt had it very much at heart to make a match between these two people. She would be glad to have him for Polly, save that he was re- lated to her within the forbidden degrees, and that there was the other and still more unsurmountable obstacle — he showed no special preference for Polly's society. His father was a man of wealth and IP 1'^ ri 82 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER influence in the colony, and, since Polly was out of the question. Madam Van Cortlandt would fain have secured him for Evelyn, whom she regarded almost as another granddaughter. She beamed ap- proval, therefore, when she saw them side by side at the table and evidently upon the best of terms. For Evelyn sincerely liked Pieter, though she had never thought of him in the light of a possible hus- band. It had not been, either, without design that the sharp-sighted old lady, who had observed the trend of affairs that evening, had placed both Captain Ferrers and his brother-officer at table with the older people, where, as she said, they were sure of a good game. Now it must be owned that, while Captain Ferrers courteously did his best to enter into the play, his thoughts were often wandering, and he would readily have exchanged the better game for the worse to have been at the table with Mistress de Lacey. Captain Williams, on the other hand, with the instinct of a bom gambler, was soon ab- sorbed in the cards with a success betokened by the increasing pile of coins in front of him. Ferrers noticed that Evelyn entered with the greatest enjoyment into the game that she was playing, though it was not for coins, that being deemed unsuitable for the young folk. Also he saw that she appeared to be on terms of the friendliest intimacy with the good-looking youth at her side. CHAPTER X m THE WHITE FLOvVER AND THE EAGLE ONE fine morning, when the summer was in its golden prime, Evelyn took her way to that camp on the banks of the Collect Pond in the shadow of the Catiemuts Hill, where the Wilden had their encampment. Her mission just then was to procure some of the wax from the bay berries for the waxing of the floors, and some fresh fish from the Rocka- ways, a certain number of whom had arrived but the day before and marched up the Broad Way, their faces painted blood-red with the juice of the beet root. The morning was rarely fine, the treiis were all fresh from the recent showers and gave forth sweet perfumes; the birds, trilling softly, seemed the voices of those trees in the shelter of which were groups of men and women, native to the soil, with bronzed faces, coarse, straight hair, and costumes of sldns, enlivened especially in the case of the squaws with adornments of fl. ning color. The coming of the girl was greeted wit*- such demonstrations of joy as these people permitted themselves. Evelyn had been long since adopted a member of the tribe, being looked upon a: a great "medicine woman," for she had often successfully used in their behalf remedies which she had learned from old Doctor Hans Van Kierstade, who had been 84 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER until his death a famous physician in the colony and had made a pet of Evelyn. He had taught her to compound salves and simples from various herbs, and all this knowledge the young girl had applied to cure the ailments of the savages. From the Wilden themselves she had gained in turn many valuable secrets as to the properties of herbs and dyes to be extracted from various plants. She had brought her Indian friends on this occasion, as she often did, sundry little objects such as thimbles, scissors, or small mirrors, these last being especially coveted by the squaws. She offered these objects as gifts or bartered them for fish and other com- modities;. She seated herself familiarly on a grassy knoll, aid conversed with the savages in their own tongue, which she, in common with many young people of the town, had picked up from frequent association with the tribespeople almost from child- hood upwards. For it was one secret of Evelyn's influence at the encampment that she, more than any of the others, had gained a proficiency in their dia- lects. Having rested after her walk, she made her purchases of fish and other articles, conversing pleasantly with young and old alike. But, this bartering concluded, she approached a group of girls, who were busy stringing clam shells together for wampum or seuiant. Such strings of shells passed as currency among the Indians, and made these tribes — the Manhattas, from whom the Dutch me- tropolis took one of its names, and the Rockaways, who inhabited a district still nearer the sea — the richest of Indians, because they could collect the most shells. In a few moments Evel)m was deep in conversation with these workers, and from their signs and gestures, and those made by their visitor, THE WHITF FLOWER AND THE EAGLE 85 it was evident that the subject under discussion was one of great gravity. She was. in fact, instruct- ing her special class of Christian catechumens. She was continuing amongst them the work begun with Uie elders of the tribe by Father Harvey and other Jesuits, who had lived within the precincts of the Fort in the time of Governor Dongan, and had still rjMjded there even under his immediate successor. They had used all their efforts to christianize the tnbes until the stormy times of Leisler had driven them away. It is true that members of the Sodety 01 Jesus continued to come thither from Maryland or Philadelphia from time to time to minister by stealth to the few white Catholics r to preach the Gospel to the savages. But, sine .here was close watch kept to prevent such visits and such minis- trations, these were naturally few and tar between, and Evelyn had taken it upon herself, grea as was the nsk of discovery, to teach the Indian Is and children their Catechism and nourish in uieir hearts the seed which the missionaries had sown. It was while she was thus engaged that Captain Fmers appeared upon the scene. He had come thither in quest of fish for the gubernatorial house- hold, and was pleasantly surprised to find Evelyn de Lacey amongst the Wilden. He stood aside for a moment m the shadow of a tree to observe the scene, and, as some perception of its meaning began to dawn upon him, he was filled with an uneasiness which amounted almost to foreboding. From her upward gestures and the seriousness of her mien, he was readily led to suppose that she was instructing these wild people in the Christian mysteries. That in Itself presented her in a new light, since he had thought of her only as a most ornamental appanage li^: 86 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER of drawing-rooms and a channing companion in the ways of OTdinary life. But, surprising as he found the discovery, for one rarely expects to find deep seriousness in what is beautiful and charming, he would have regarded it as merely another phase in a most interesting character had he not been suddenly struck as by a blow. For that gesture which Evelyn made so frequently, and which the savages imitated, was all too familiar to Ferrers. Though a Protestant himself, in so far as he had any religion, he had had a Catholic mother. She had died m his early boyhood, but he could not be mistalcen in the Sign of the Cross. Like a flash he realized what the girl was doing, and the peril in which she was thus involving herself. For he already knew enough of the disturbed state of Manhattan, as well as of the fanaticism rife in the entourage of the Governor, to be aware that the religion, of which that sign was the symbol, was now both inconven- ient and perilous to its professors and likely to be more so in the future. Not wishing that Evelyn should be just then cware of his presence, he drew further into the shadow of the trees with a feeling that he was intruding on something personal and nec- essarily secret. The instruction had apparently come to an end, for Evelyn very wisely made it brief to suit these untutored minds, and it was evident that she was talking to them carelessly upon other topics. She took up the wampum shells, and was beginning to string them with great speed and dexterity when presently an interruption came. There was a wild, whirring sound that caused Evelyn to spring to her feet enthusiastically, while an old squaw, rising beside her, pointed dramatically upwards; ll'i.;. THE WHITE FLOWER AND THE EAGLE 87 vnth her withered hand. Pigeons and various other birds were rising in such numbers that for a moment they almost obscured the brilliant sunshine. The squaw, it was evident, was apostrophizing them in the picturesque language of her race. To Evelyn, while the sight was not new, it was always impressive. It stirred her pulses and caused her heart to beat joyously with its movement of life and freedom, Its swift rushing skywards. Captain Ferrers lin- gered a moment or two longer in the shadow of the trees to watch that scene, to be struck with new admiration for Evelyn's fairness, thrown into relief as it was by the bronzed skins of the Indiaiis, and for her gestures, so graceful and expressive. Though he could not understand her words, there was some- thing in her whole attitude that gave the impression of mental superiority and a latent force which grave circumstances would surely develop. The wampum workers and the oldest squaws gathered about her and listened to what she was saying, their black, beady eyes passing from her face to the birds in their flight overhead. There was an eager joyous- ness in the girl's bearing, as though that breathless rush had communicated to her its excitement. Her face, aglow with soft color, was turned upwards so that the curves of her chin and the delicate poise of her head upon a slender neck were emphasized. Beside her, in hideous contrast, was the old squaw whose christian name was Monica, and who with bronzed arm pointed towards the birds. Captain Ferrers, stepping out from his place of concealment, advanced to the side of Evelyn, who gave him a smile and a quick glance of recognition without di- verting her attention from the paramount object of interest overhead. 88 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER "It is the birds going northwards to feed upon the wild carrot," she explained, turning slightly towards him while her eyes still followed those winged children of Nature far through the blue vastness of the sky. When the birds were almost out of sight, growing indistinct in the distance, Evelyn with a half-sigh turned her attention to the young officer, who stood silently beside her, impressed by that scene so characteristic and so completely outside his previous experience. " It is so splendid ! " she cried. He agreed with her, presently adding: "I would not have expected to find you here." "No?" responded Evelyn. "Well, that is be- cause you know little of me and my friendship for these Wilden, as we call them here. They have made me a member of their tribe." He laughed in sympathy with her laugh, though he was tmcertain whether she spoke in earnest or in jest. Presently deciding that it was the former: "And you speak their language?" he inquired. "Many of us do here," she answered, "for, from our childhood, they have been amongst us." "You were holding a very interesting conversa- tion with them but this moment, when the birds startled you," he said, with some abruptness. At this remark the laughter died out of Evelyn's eyes, and a veil of reserve was drawn between him and her, for that was a subject upon which, per- force, she maintained the utmost secrecy. The keen eyes of Ferrers noted that the topic was un- pleasant, and, but too well aware of the reason, he changed it. "I have come here for fish," he explained. My THE WHITE FLOWER AND THE EAGLE 89 Lady Bellomont has a fancy to taste fish fresh from the sea, which has been brought hither, as some have told her, by these people. It is highly com- mended." "Not more than it deserves," said Evelyn. "I have already made my purchases. There are so many things the Wilden have to sell." She pointed towards a basket which a young negro girl, her attendant, had laid beside her on the ground. "A visit here would much entertain Her Excel- lency," observed Ferrers, adding with some crafti- ness, "if you would but deign some day to act as her interpreter." Evelyn expressed her willingness to do so, with the thought in her mind that she would be by no means averse to see and converse once more, and in an informal manner, with the lady of the cage. But she carefidly refrained from saying ansrthing of her morning's adventure with the Countess of Bello- mont to the man beside her. Despite the shadow of restraint that had fallen on Evelyn's manner, the two chatted pleasantly a few moments longer. As for Captain Ferrers, he would willingly have prolonged that interview in- definitely, for here under these trees he found his companion still more charming than in the conven- tional atmosphere of the drawing-room. But Eve- lyn was not so unmindful that time was passing and that she must be returning homewards. When she had made the first movement in that direction, signing to the young negro to take her basket, the same old squaw, who had pointed to the flying birds, arose from the ground where she had been squatting, while observing the pair. She began to address some sentences to Evelyn, pointing, as she It ' I _ i:,-l:f . 90 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER spoke, from her to Captain Ferrers, and her words produced in the girl an effect of extreme annoyance, not unmingled with confusion. She shook her head in vigorous dissent, frowning to show her displeasure, while still the squaw went on: "This is a great war-'-hief who has come over the water with the Great Captain, the Governor, our Brother and Corlear. He seeks the White Flower for his mate, and the tribe are pleased. For he has the frame of . warrior and the eye of an eagle; and his eye is good, since it rests upon the White Flower. She will take him one day for her mate. It is well; it is well." The women standing about and the braves, who lurked in the trees, cried out their agreement with the sentiment, saying: "It is well; it is well." Tlie yoimg girls, the wampum makers, took up the chorus, and some of the older women, crowding about Ferrers, patted him on the shoulder or pressed his hand, thus saluting him as the fitting mate for the White Flower. "What is it they are saying?" inquired the officer, trying to reproduce some of the soft Indian words which he had caught. Evelyn, very naturally, did not proffer her ser- vices as interpreter. Perhaps some idea of their meaning dawned upon Captain Ferrers, as he noted the girl's embarrassment. For he did not insist, merely saying: "They include me, I perceive, in their friendship, which most certainly I owe to you, and I or ^ne it is good policy to conciliate them." "Oh, yes, yes," cried Evelyn, grateful for the turn he had given the matter, "conciliate, always con- ciliate." THE WHITE FLOWER AND THE EAGLE 91 She made a signal to her negro attendant, and began to walk away, when Captain Ferrers cried reproachfully : "You will not leave me to their tender mercies in purchasing the fish." And Evelyn, mindful of the obligations of courtesy, caused the Wildett to bring forth their choicest pis- catorial offerings — bluefish, perch, whitefish, bass and crabs, wliich last would be a novelty for the viceregal table, if only, as Evel5m explained, there was some experienced person at hand to reject the poisonous part and prepare them. Once the fish had been chosen, however, Evelyn delayed not a moment in leaving Captain Ferrers to himself. He smiled at the haste with which she withdrew from his society, for its probnble cause had occurred to him. But there was a pleasant warmth in his heart tow- ards these Wilden, who had, as he felt sure, given this cherished member of their tribe into his keeping. "In faith," he said to himself, "I would the matter were so simple of adjustment. But Mistress Evelyn will demand a skilful wooer. Luclsy the man who can win her favor." But the Wilden said amongst themselves: "The White Flower flies. It is well. But the eagle will pursue." CHAPTER XI FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? FROM the suggestion of Captain Ferrers that Her Excellency should visit the Indian en- campment, resulted in fact Evelyn's next meeting with my Lady Bellomont. In a brief note Evelyn was asked to be in attendance on a certain day and at a certain hour to lend her valuable assistance to the Countess of Bellomont in interpreting the Ind- ian tongue. The request was very cotirteously worded, and came from one of Her Ladyship's ladies-in-waiting. On that occasion Evelyn was accompanied by Polly Van Cortlandt, who was quite elated at the prospect of meeting thus at close range that woman who so far had awakened far wider interest, espcnally among the women of the colony, than the Governor himself. Great was Captain Ferrers' disappointment to find that his plan, in so far as he himself was con- cerned, was a failure. For my Lord Bellomont, after his arbitrary fashion, claimed his services, and it was Captain Williams who was chosen to attend Her Excellency. This latter had always made himself particularly serviceable to the capricious lady, humoring aJl her whims and falling in with all her prejudices. She accept 3d, after her languid fashion, his almost slavish services, and was quite FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? 93 content to have him in her train, while she was not without a certain pique that Captain Ferrers should be so much less amenable to her more or less un- reasonable caprices. "Captain Prosser Williams," she once said caus- tically to one of her ladies, "was bom to play the r61e of tame cat in a lady's boudoir. But what shotUd we do without him in these wilds?" To Evelyn, also, it must be owned, the substi- tution of Prosser Williams for Captain Ferrers was a considerable disappointment. Since their last meeting she had thought of Captain Ferrers very often, as she worked in her garden or, with her ca- pable hands, assisted in such domestic affairs as re- quired her attention. There was a pleasurable ex- citement in the thought of his openly displayed admiration, which, as instinct told her, hovered closely upon the bcrderland of love, though she had no certainty as yet that he had passed it. To her clear commonsense it seemed improbable and vi- sionary that a man, fresh from the great world and from the excitements of court and camp, should fall so easy a victim to a girl who was chiefly of provincial training and had but a limited Imowledge of life. Nevertheless, in his manner and voice, so simple, so true and so unartificial as she felt them to be, there was quite enough interest revealed to afford a real pleasure and stimulus to their meetings. Evelyii and her friend reached the encampment first, as in duty boimd, and as the quick eye of ftos- ser Williams told him. He felt a certain excitement at that moment, as if he had been called to a combat. It braced his languid nerves, and lent an unwonted animation to his manner. Evelyn seemed to arouse such latent strength as lay in a nature enervated iritis 94 GER-UD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER by idleness and self-indulgence. She was an enemy whom he would like to subdue — beautiful, graceful and alert, as had been the tigers which, on first coming out of college, he had gone away to shoot. Her cleverness and her clever perceptions incited him to anger. He fancied she would have been more attractive and more pleasing to mankind in general without them. Beauty was the only thing that mattered, and goodness — if he could recognize it at all, and even supposing it to be genuine — was but a negative and often inconvenient attribute which, in his eyes, could add nothing whatever to a woman. Nevertheless, Evelyn's beauty captivated him and gave her a distinct advantage, when she looked at him with those coldly scornful eyes which belied the conventional civility of her words. As he presented the two girls to my Lady Bello- mont, he was surprised to note that, after a gracious greeting to Mistress Polly, she took Evelyn's hand in hers while she whispered something that he could not catch. His nimble brains set to work at once to puzzle out what possible acquaintance there could have been befoi-e between the two. For ac- quaintanceship, it was evident, there had been. But, puzzle as he might, he could not here receive enlightenment. One thing, however, was clear, and that was that Evelyn had won Her Ladyship's favor. He had known her before to show a marked partiality for beautiful women, when they interfered with no purpose of her own. In this case it was quite apparent that she wanted the girl beside her. She regarded her with evident admiration, and she uttered enthusiastic little exclamations at Evelyn's cleverness in speaking the Indian dialects, and would scarcely acknowledge the fact that Mistress Polly ,;iiili FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? 9S spoke them almost as well. Her Ladyship noted with keen interest the ascendancy of the beauttful and high-bred girl over these wild, tmtutored beings. Prosser Williams, walking with Polly, who laughingly acknowledged herself to be quite in a secondary position with the Wilden, observed it also, and it lent fuel to the strange flame of mingled hatred and perfervid admiration which he felt towards Evelyn, and which was to a certain extent the outcome of her very contempt and dislike. Had she responded to his advances, she would have been merely one of the many pretty girls with whom he had passed an idle hour. It must be owned, however, that the attrac- tion which she seemed to possess for the hitherto invincible Ferrers hac '. lent her a value quite apart from her intrinsic merits; and of course the appro- bation of my Lady Bellomont was another feather in Evelyn's cap. There was no jewel to which covirt favor would not have added, in the young man's estimation, an additional lustre. Evelyn, meanwhile, was discoursing quite simply and unaffectedly with the Indians. They crowded about her affectionately, and at her bidding showed all their wares to the wife of the "Great Captain." Some of these treasures they had brought from the shores of the Atlantic, whence the sea rolled out- ward till there was no land between there and the coast of Ireland; some of them were brought from the fastnesses of the Jersey heights or from the ssJt marshes of Long Island. They included bead-work, dyes, berries, fresh and fried fish, native tobacco, willow withes, oak knots, cat's-tails or bulrushes, and baskets of numberless colors. Not for years had Captain Williams seen Her Ladyship more charmed or interested. Here boredom vanished as 96 GERALD ob LACEVS DAUGHTER if by magic, and she seemed to regard Evelyn as the priestess of aU these mysteries of Nature and Na- ture s chddren, as having arranged the whole varied show for her entertainment. Meanwhile, failing Evelyn, Prosser Williams had been makmg himself agreeable to Polly, who he an- grily declared was worth half a dozen of such frigid unapproachable beings as that pale giri beside my Lady Bellomont. Yet he knew in his heart that he would have given all that other's attractions, and mdeed the combined attractions of all the women whom he had hitherto known, for one such friendly fflmleas he had seen Evelyn bestow upon Captain Ferrers. Even with the Indians, he saw that her frigidity had disappeared. Her face alight with mterest, she talked to them brightly and naturally and with an unaffected friendliness. ''I perceive," he said to Polly, in his sneering voi(», "that Mistress de Lacey has a genius for subduing the aborigines." "Yes," agreed Polly, who was bravely struggling with a sense of pique at the indifference to her of my Lady Bellomont, and was therefore less careful thaa. usual of her words. "And she is their teacher and something of a missionary as well." "Missionary?" echoed the young man, starting back m affected astonishment. "Has the young lady perfections in that direction too? And I pray you what kind of a missionary?" ' The expression on the inquirer's face caused a vague alarm in PoUy's mind. She remembered too late that the subject of Evelyn's religion was alto- gether taboo in their circle. It was practically ignored, for, since the stormy days of Leisler and receqt enactinents in Maryland and elsewhere, it FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? 97 was decidedly dangerous to be suspected of Popish leanings and unpleasant to have any sort of mti- macy with those of the proscribed faith. In fact, the prejudice that had been more or 1ms passive in Dutch New York, save in the days -,{ Leisler. had sprung into life since the accession o the Protestant champion, William of Orange, and was now likely to change into active hostility. Polly would, there- fore, have been only too willing to change the sub- ject, but the curiosity of her companion, once aroused, was not easily set at rest ; in so far as Evelyn was concerned, it was fairly consuming. "So this all-perfect lady," the officer remarked, is then of a religious turn?" "Oh, yes, in truth," said Polly, "she is of a re- hgious turn." And she added apologetically, as though she had said something disparaging: "But not unduly so." Prosser Williams laughed at the qualification and then asked: "Is it your Dutch church which claims her al- legiance?" Polly shook her head and laughed, for all of a sudden it seemed to her supremely ludicrous that Evelyn de Lacey should "sit under," as the phrase went, good Doniinie Selyns. "It is Trinity Church, then, that she attends?" persisted Williams. "And yet, if my memory serves me right, on the numerous occasions when officially I have been obliged to go to church, I caught no ghmpse of Mistress Evelyn." "No," said Poll/, beginning to flounder in deep water. "She is religious, I opine, without much of church-going." And she knew that she spoke the truth since there 98 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER was no church for Evelyn to attend. As for the oc- casional Masses in private houses which Catholics surreptitiously attended, they were guarded with the utmost secrecy and had never come to the knowl- ''^ of Mistress Polly. That is a mode of worship," said Captain Will- iams, "which I do infinitely prefer myself, but it is not one which usually finds favor with the devout." Though, to Polly's relief, he changed the subject, the train of thought thus laid in his mind led him to entertain some half -formulated suspicions. Before my Lady Bellomont took her leave after exhaustive purchases, which delighted the Wildm, and the distribution of sundiV trifling gifts, she gave a hint to both the girls of the series of entertainments which she was planning at the Fort. These were de- signed to bring together the various social elements of the colony that bad been sadly split up and divided by the internecine strife whidi had been raging ever since the regime of the usurping Leisler, and which his execution had caused to break forth with renewed fury. For though Lord Bellomont had chosen to range himself upon the Leislerian side of the controversy, he had been unable as yet to effect anything like a peaceful understanding between the contendmg psirties. With Evelyn, Her Ladyship had had but little opportunity for private conversa- tion, but she said: "You add discretion to all your other charms. For I have not heard so much as a whisper of that little adventure of mine." "I have not mentioned it," said Evelyn simply, and Her Ladyship felt that in that simple assertion there was truth. But Evelyn, bethinking herself, Added: "Save to my father. I tell him everything." I m t pit FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? 99 "Then he, too, is discreet." .. "?1 ^. ^'^^y be trusted," rephed Evelyn, and he himself advised me to juake no mention of what was a trifling incident, which would merely excite the idle curiosity of the gossips." ••Ke spoke the truth," said Lady Bellomont, for you cannot know how trifles have been some- times magnified to my grievous hann. And I will tell you that it is not permitted me to go forth un- attended, nor to do those things for which the mean- est woman in the town has liberty." Prom that time forth Evelyn's sympathies were ^ways keenly aroused in favor of the Countess Bellomont, who she could perceive had so much to contend against in her domestic circumstances. She was disposed to regard my Lord in the light of a tyrant, and did not give sufficient consideration to the fact that perhaps the stem and arbitrary mea- sures restricting his wife's freedom were the result of the lady's folly. The two girls were very much elated by ine promises the Countess had made «,f successive ^eties at the Fort and the gubernatorial residence. They took their homeward way by Queen Street, in which Madam Van Cortlandt lived, and where they were sure to meet a goodly sprinkling of the fashionable world and many of their acquaintances, to whom they might imijart Her Excellency's good tidings and at the same time make known the honor that they had enjoyed in being admitted so familiarly to Her Ladyship's company. The two fell into dis- pute as they walked on the subject of Captain Prossjr Williams. Evelyn declared him to be "an odious man," whose outward civility concealed an insolently supercilious attitude towards Colonials. loo GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER I Polly defended him with some heat, declaring that she had found his manner agreeable and his speech full of witty sayings and pretty compliments. "And I speak without prejudice," said Polly frankly, "for all his interest, Evelyn, is in you, though he strives to mask the same by petty sneers and irmuendoes. You would have but to raise your finger to have him at your feet." "Where he might stay, in so far as I am con- cerned," said Evelyn. "Even if you were right, which is absurd, since I have scarce exchanged a dozen words with him, and he has been meanwhile in better company, his is an admiration which I freely declare I do not want." "Your favors are all for the other," said Polly, with a touch of malice. "Polly," cried Eveljm, and this time there was a hint of real annoyance in her manner, "you are in a provoking mood to-day." "The truth is not always palatable, my Evelyn," said Polly, laughing. "But if you have cast your arrows at Captain Ferrers, where is the harm, and which of us would not do the same? Especially, my dear, since they have found sure lodgment." "Your imagination runs away with you, my pretty Polly," laughed Evelyn. It must be owned, however, that this assertion of her observant friend was gratifying in the ex- treme. It was something to have even been sup- posed to have made such a conquest, in however limited a sense that term might be understood. For she could not conceal from herself that the young officer under discussion occupied already a consid- erable share of her thoughts and imagination. This latter had been excited to a still greater degree by FRIENDS OR ENEMIES? loi an account given her by a young subaltern, with whom she had lately danced, of Captain Ferrers' prowess and gaUantry. He described in detail how m the late war, Ferrers had led a charge, bare- headed, his face pale and his eyes gloviii" cheering and encouraging his men until he had fallen with a wound which was beHeved, at first, to be mortal Evelyn s mformant, full of boyish enthusiasm, had added other details as to his superior officer's gen- eral character, his popularity with the men and his upnght and honorable demeanor, all of which had fitted in with her own impressions. "I marvel oftentimes," rattled on Polly, "that your conceit does not become inordinate with all your conquests. But, no, you take them calmly, and seem to find it of no moment that you have laid by the heels these two sprigs of nobility and Governor's men." _ "Who but PoUy could prattle on with such absurdi- *'^.. A ,5^^ Evelyn, laughing again and more heartily. All the while knowing that it is sober truth " returned Polly. "And a true prophet I was, for said I not that you were like to set the new-comers distracted? Were it any other but yourself, I should be the color of the leaves with envy and well dis- posed to hate you." "You can afford to be generous, with half the town at your feet," retorted Evelyn. "And as for hatmg me— oh, never, never do that, Polly, what- ever may betide." Her eyes filled with tears as she added: For victories won at that price would be dearly purchased." An affectionate squeeze of her arm and an affection- ate word or two exchanged between them cemented their pact of friendship more strongly than ever CHAPTER XII DANGEROUS DAYS ! t THE government of my Lord Bellomont was marked in the first place by a return to the courtly elegance, pomp and state that had fallen into desuetude at the mansion in the Fort since the days of Sir Edmund Andros. Once more the state car- riages went forth into the town with postilions and outriders; pomp and ceremony were the order of the day; the rich costumes of my Lady Bellomont, worn with grace and distinction, were the cjmosure of all feminine eyes. Entertainments, mostly formal in character, were given frequently, though there were not wanting the gay dmices which had been an- nounced to Evelyn and her friend by Her Excellency. These were chiefly of her contrivance, assisted by the ever-pUable Prosser Williams, the other men of the Household and the naval and military officers. Enlivened by the strains of an orchestra of negro minstrels, who played on the battlement of the Fort, these assemblies brought together all the young people of the Dutch metropoUs, and were keenly enjoyed by the hostess herself. For i' was her only opportunity to escape the jealous '/igilance of my Lord Bellomont and to mingle freely with the youth of both sexes, whose society she found an agreeable DANGEROUS DAYS 103 change from the elderly magnates whom the Gov- ernor entertained at dinner. But, even during the course of these festivities, the sharp-eyed husband never entirely relaxed his scrutiny of his wife's movements. He was quick to observe any special marks of friendliness on her part towards any of the Colonials. And his jealousy extended not only to those of the male sex, but even to women. Thus he noticed, at one of the first dances, the favor which Her Ladyship extended to Evelyn de Lacey, who was looking her very best, and \. IS also guilty of monopolizing, in so far as his duties permitted him that busy evening, my Lord's favorite aide-de-camp. Hence it was that after a few curt words of greeting, altogether at variance with the courteous manner which he usu- ally displayed at social gatherings, he turned his back upon Evelyn, with frowning brows and pursed- up Hps. This circumstance was seen by Prosser Williams with keen pleasure, and mentally noted for future use. Also, when next he addressed Evelyn, he lent to his manner a certain undercurrent of in- solence, which not only the girl herself, but J'gbert Ferrers, saw and resented. However, there were graver matters claiming the pubUc attention just then, and the attitude of the Governor gave cause for anxiety to more than one class of the citizens. Thus at the suggestion of a certain clique, who had managed to secure his ear, and who described themselves as "the people's party" and the champions of Protestantism, the Governor was induced to condemn the action of one of his predecessors. Colonel Sloughter, by whom Jacob Leisler and his son-in-law, Milbome, were put to death. He exerted all his influence with the King, m m 104 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER who had reversed the attainder pronounced on him by the deposed sovereign, King Jaraes, and had made him Earl of Bellomont, to procure an Act of Parlia- ment removing the attainder from Leisler and Mil- bome. This action, which was highly i.uipopular with a large and very prominent section of the community, and another succeeding action of Bellomont's were discussed with much warmth at one of Madam Van Cortlandt's assemblies, at which were present a particularly large gathering of the aristocratic, or "long coats," party. The allusion in this title was to the short coats worn by the tradesmen and labor- ing classes. Leisler was the self-constituted cham- pion of the people, but hi3 whole regime appears to have been a series of lawless, tyrannical and ar- bitrary acts against everyone who opposed him. Amongst the representatives of the leading Dutch families assembled, with a fair intermixture of Eng- lish or Huguenot colonists who sided with them, there was great indignation, and, as they met around Madam Van Cortlandt's card tables, they talked of little else but this or that move on the part of the Governor, who had apparently declared war upon their faction. As they sipped the spiced wine and ate of the oly keochs, or doughnuts and pound cakes, with which they were regaled, they denounced in more or less courteous tones the policy of the gov- ernment, and resolved as far as possible to oppose it. It was Mynheer de Vries who had brought the latest piece of intelligence, and, as it was passed around amongst the various groups, the faces of those who heard it were a study in themselves. "At midnight," he announced, "on the fourteenth day of this month, the body of Leisler and his son- IP. S»i.^ DANGEROUS DAYS los in-law, Jacob Milbome, are to be exhumed and buried again with honor under the Dutch church." There was a horrified pause among those who heard the announcement, for this was an open de- fiance of that powerful coalition which had procured — ^and, as it seemed, for just and reasonable causes — their execution as "lawless usurpers" and for a series of tyrannical acts against the person and property of their opponents. Amongst others, Evelyn de Lacey was dismayed by the intelligence, for she had learned from her father of Leisler's un- relenting hostility to the CathoKc Church and its adherents, and how he had conspired with the in- famous Coode of Maryland and others to destroy that religious toleration which Maryland had at first openly proclaimed, and which New York under its Catholic Governor, Dongan, had obtained from a Catholic King. If my Lord Bellomont had given his official sanction to the glorification of such men, it was but too easy to guess what her co-religionists had to expect. As in a dream, she followed the further course of the conversation, in which the cool, even tones of Mynheer de Vries seemed to dominate. ^^ "Regarding the good Vrow Leisler," he said, "hex affection for that tjrrant must have grown since his death. For was it not common knowledge that he treated her most harshly? And as for poor Mary Leisler," he paused, with an expressive smile and movement of the head, "do we not know that she was coerced, pretty and amiable girl as she was, into a marriage with a vulgar boor and tool of her father, Jacob Milbome?" "Yes, yes," agreed several voices, "and he was old enough to have been he? father." i i io6 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER • - Madam Van Cortlandt, in her calm judicial man- ner, took up the subject: , , , . .,,. ^ ^. "It must be owned," she declared, that there seemed to have been but little love lost between those women and their respective husbands during life, and poor Mary had but a short married 'ie. But they cannot be held blameworthy in strivmg to have the attainder removed from a father's and a husband's name." Justice and commonsense were so obviously on the side of this impartial view that no one present was bold enough to oflfer a protest. Evelyn de Lacey, sick at heart, could not help thinking that these were mere banalities in presence of those graver issues that might arise for the people of her faith. The triumph of the Leislerians meant relentless war upon them, though utterly without reason, since there was neither church nor resident pnest in New York, and the Catholics were besides mostly poor and obscure and so entirely devoid of influence of any kind that they could not be considered dan- gerous even by those most bitterly prejudiced against them. Yet she could not sympathize with Polly's outspoken and indignant denunciation of all concerned, for she was aware at least of its futility. Of far more importance was the look of detenmna- tion she could detect uoon the faces of such men as Killian Van Rensselaer, Nicholas Bayard and Stephanus Van Ccrtlandt. The two latter had suf- fered in their person and property at the hands of the Leislerians; indeed the last had had to endure the wanton destruction of his furniture and va,lu- ables and to witness insults oflertid to his ^e, while he himself was thrown into prison. He had been denounced in scurrilous language as a ' devil DANGEROUS DAYS 107 of a Papist," and subjected to virulent abuse. These were not men to submit tamely to such acts of ag- gression, as they had already shown in the simimary justice which had been meted out to the aggressors through the instrumentality of their powerful fac- tion. Nor would they, without a vigorous protest, permit this new Governor to cast an aspersion on the lawfulness of that execution. Nevertheless, amongst them all was visible a note of anxiety, for the gauntlet had been thrown down, and there was danger for all who would pick it up against a ruler who had such influence with the King. Evelyn, reflecting upon it all and noting their anxiety, was aware that her own and that of her father must be keenest of all. For though these respective factions, which had been changing once peaceable New York into a battle-ground, might war fiercely for rights that each one held most sacred, there were none powerful enough, or perhaps broad-minded enough, to espouse the Catholic cause or to provide, as those same Catholics of Maryland had done in the days of their predominance, an asylum for the oppressed of every faith. Evelyn was eager to get home and discuss this new phase of affairs with her father, who was so fully informed in all the details of that contest from its very beginning. She remembered how often he had said, speaking with full knowledge and deliberation : "If all these colonies had been settled, as was Maryland, by the Catholics, there would never have been persecution on this side of the broad ocean." But he had added sadly: "No sooner did the Prot- estants grow powerful enough in Maryland than they began to legislate against freedom of worship for others and especially those of that faith which bi I io8 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER had given them liberty to grow and flourish. And that despite the protests of the Quakers, who were themselves bitterly persecuted, and others of liberal minds." So strong was the feeling in that assemblage that cards and all other amusements were very soon eschewed, and for once Madam Van Cortlandt's excellent viands suffered considerable neglect. It was decided amongst the elders that they them- selves, and as many as they could influence, should refrain from all participation in the function of the following Wednesday night, leavmg it altogether to that faction which, with some notable exceptions, were the more obscure and less important members of the commonwealth. The younger people, how- ever, were resolved if possible, without of course participating in the demonstration, to see what was likely to be a strange, weird sight. Pieter Schuyler organized a party to consist of his cousin I .ily, Evelyn de Lacey, a married sister of his own, Vrow Van Brugh, with her husband and one or two others. The young men made every arrangement to enable the ladies to see the spectacle without being them- selves observed, and to provide for their safety in the event of any disturbance. When Evelyn went home and mentioned the mat- ter to her father, he looked grave at first. But when he heard of whom the party was to consist, and that it was to be headed by Pieter Schuyler, of whom he had a high opinion, he made no objection. For he, who had been in his youth of a disposition to see all and adventure all, felt that he could not refuse to allow his daughter whatever privileges were con- sistent with her age and sex. "The ashes of Jacob Leisler," he said thought- DANGEROUS DAYS 109 fully, "thus resurrected, may prove an evil influence, and sow again the seeds of discord which grew and flourished during his stormy career." "You have a vivid recollection of this Leisler?" Evelyn inquired. "Most certainly I have," answered her father, who, though he had often alluded to the subject, had never told Evelyn precisely what had been his own relations with that stormy petrel of Colonial New York. "Good cause have I to remember him, since I was of those against whom he directed his machinations. He was no common disturber of the peace, though his words and acts were outrageous. Yet I know there be reputable men in this town who applaud his deeds and believe him to have been a true patriot and a champion of the people's rights." He leaned back in his chair with an abstracted gaze, as though he were thinking aloud, and Evelyn, her chin upon her hand and her eyes upon his face, listened intently. ' ' His enemies claim that it was all for self -advance- ment that he forced himself to the top, where he had no rightful place, and committed while there the most arbitrary acts. Also, as I had good reason to know, he persecuted all who differed from him, and especially those of the Catholic Faith." After a pause, he added in his trathftil and candid fashion: "The trut?' about that unhappy nan may lie somewhere between the two extremes. Such is the opinion of Father Harvey, who was for years my friend and adviser. Leisler may have had some glimmerings of a high ideal a? to liberty and the rest, but he blundered stupidly and criminally in many acts of his administration and in the treatment no GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER of all who were opposed to him. I much fear, in- deed, that his popularity arose in no slight degree from his loud-mouthed denunciation of Popery and his championship of Protestantism." "He persecuted those of our faith shamefully, as men say," cried Evelyn, her cheek flushing with indignation, "and for that alone he deserved death." "Ah, my Evelyn," -aid her father, "that is the svunmary mode with which youth ever disposes of an adversary. And if persecution of us Catholics here in this free America, or over yonder in Eng- land, were worthy of death, there would have to be a wholesale slaughter. This doughty Teuton has had for companions in guilt quite a high-placed company, and even his executioner. Governor Sloughter, was instructed to give no freedom to Catholics." "So Leisler was not Dutch?" said Evelyn. "No, he was German bom, and Milborne, I be- lieve, was English. They were no native products." "I am glad of that," cried Evelyn, who had a sincere liking for the Dutch, amongst whom she had grown up. "Will you not come with us, father," asked Eve- lyn, "to see this singular sight?" Her father shook his head with something Uke a shiver. "To me it would be but grewsome," he said, "since I remember all too vividly that dismal rainy day when Leisler and his son-in-law were left swing- ing upon that gibbet. I went far out of my way to avoid the spc^+acle, enemies though they were." On that memorable Wednesday evening, for the better view of the dismal cortege, which yet par- DANGEROUS DAYS in took of the nature of a triumphal procession, the group of young people had obtained permission to take their stand on the stoepe of ono Christian Barentsen, on the West side of the Broad Way, where late had stood the Dutch Company's garden. From there they saw that strange, weird sight, which somehow froze the marrow in Evelyn's bones, so sensitive to excemal expressions was her mood that night. The streets of Manhattan were strangely still as they waited. At every seventh house, lan- terns upon a pole relieved the darkness and threw strange shadows. The trees waved mournfully in the wind, and the waters of the Bay, of which glimpses could be caught by the watchers, lay cold and black under the dim and uncertain starlight, save where they reflected the lights of the warship and other vessels at anchor near the Fort. The stentorian tones of the Watch broke the ominous stillness. "Twelve of the clock, midnight," they cried. "All's well. Weather fair but cloudy. Funeral of the late Herr Jacob Leisler and his son-in-law, Jacob Milbome." Presently these voices of the night appeared in visible form — four sturdy men, with dark-blue coats faced with orange, rattling their long staffs as they walked. Pausing, they peered into the faces of that group which they saw waiting silently on the stoepe of Christian Barentsen's house. Pieter Schuyler exchanged a word with them, whereupon they moved off, after a ponderous salute to the ladies. Other groups had begun to form, and soon there were heard the feet of marching men and the sound of music, played by the band— not loud and aggressive, as was Leisler in his lifetime, but subdued and mourn- m GERALD de LACEVS DAUGHTER ful. Surrounding and following the pin-carriage, upon which reposed all that was mortal of the usurp- er and his associate, marched at least twelve hun- dred men. There was something grimly determined in their aspect, something ominous, as it appeared to Evelyn. The train-bands, of which Leisler had been a Captain, turned out in force, as did maaiy mechanics and such leading citizens as were their supporters, whilst my Lord Bellomont, it was said, gave his countenance to the proceedings from a window. Torches lighted the procession, and cast unearthly shadows on the faces of the men who walked, lending a ghastliness to their aspect, as if they were disembodied spirits who moved silently through the darkness to those strange obsequies. Evelyn felt her eyes fill with tears, though she could not have told why, as she recalled how the restless, indomitable spirit^ of one at least of those thus honored had pervaded that town, and had gone even beyond the limits of the colony in the working out of his plans. "Still enough now, in all truth," said Evelyn to herself, and there was no shadow of resentment, but only a great pity in her heart as she breathed a prayer that the all-merciful Lord might accord pardon and compassion to those ml.3^ided souls, whose in£uence for evil had not ended with life, but was being evoked now to give new vitality to that spirit of discord which had marked the coming of Lord Bellomont and was to outlast his life. Meanwhile, in awed whispers, scarcely above their breath, Evelyn's companions were caUing one an- other's attention to this or that prominent citizen who, deserting his own order, was thus openly identifying himself with the Leislerian party. DANGEROUS DAYS 113 "Abraham de Peyster," cried Polly, "Rip Van Dam, Cornelius Schoonhoven, Gerard Beekman." "Abraham Gouvemeur, Peter Delancey, Strohen Delancey," said the married cousin, "and look! look! Polly, Evelyn, there is the Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, Mr. Nanfan, and Mr. Thomas Weaver." "I marvel that my Lord Bellomont is not there in person," said Polly scornfully. "Well, there is one of his aides-de-camp," added Pieter Schuyler, "Captain Prosser Williams." "Where? Where?" asked Polly eagerly. "Over there, near Chariie Lodovick, the Captain of the train-band," directed Pieter. And so the cortege moved on like some shadowy phantom train, past the crowds that silently lined the way. There was no attempt at a hostile demon- stration, nor at any demonstration at all; no indi- cation as to how the mind of the people leaned. The bell of the Dutch Church tolled as the procession passed within the precincts ot the Fort, where the Dominie stood ready, in gown and bands, to per- form the ceremony — with no gr?at willingness on his part, since his sympathies as well as his connec- tions were all with the other side. Still it was a duty that must be done, and there was no other of the cloth to replace him. He was, therefore, com- pelled to receive, as it were, back into the Fold those whom, as tradition asserts, all the Dominies had definitely opposed while living. Pieter Schuyler was full of solicitude when he perceived that Evelyn, usually so strong-nerved and composed, was pale and trembling. He blamed himself in no measured terms for having suggested such an expedition, but Evelyn, rallying, laughed away his solicitude, and Polly vindictively added ; 114 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER "For why, indeed, should you be overcome, my dearest Evelyn, by the burial of the odious, hatefid man?" Eveljm laid her fingers on her friend's lips: "For to-night," she said, "let us speak no evil of the dead. For it is a grievous thing to think that the strongest a:id most turbulent must come to this impotence." "Well, the fellow has had," laughed Pieter's brother-in-law, Jan Van Brugh, "what few others can boast of, and that is a second funeral." "And it still remains to be seen," said Pieter Schuyler, with unusual heat, "whether the home government can send out men to trample on the opinions of the majority." The honest feUow delivered himself thus, with the more heat, since he felt it a grievance that members of the Household had set themselves of late, as it seemed, to monopolize — not only his cousin and dear comrade, Polly, but what was far worse from a sentimental point of view — that other whom the young man had so long and hopelessly worshipped. But the bell had ceased to toll, the last sound of the funeral music had died away, and the party retraced their steps, sobered despite themselves by what they nad witnessed. They went first to leave Evelyn at home, where she found her father waiting. "So," he said, as he listened to her account of all that had transpired, "Lord Bellomont has chosen to throw down the gauntlet to one faction, and has extended the hand of friendship to the other. How will it work, I wonder, for the peace of these col- onies?" CHAPTER XIII FEARS RBAL AND IMAGINARY THAT war of factions, which was daily reaching a more acute stage, threatened to put brother against brother and to make bitter enemies of those who had been previously lifelong friends. One day it was the suspension of a prominent member of the Council that agitated the aristocratic party, running like a shiver from one end to the other, or the still graver intelligence that such magnates as Nicholas Bayard or Stephen Van Cortlandt had been arrested and would have to stand their trial for offences connected with the Leisler affair. And, as if the atmosphere were not sufficiently tempestuous, a rumor of another and still more serious nature began to spread everywhere like an ominous whisper. It crept through the streets of the nascent metropolis, through the tranquil gar- dens of the Smifs and the Wolfert's Valleys, through the stately mansions of Queen and Pearl Streets, and down the streets that skirted the Bowling Green, through the lanes and byways inhabited chiefly by negroes, and up through the houweries and country houses of Greenwich and Chelsea villages, out by the Boston Post Road and Bloomingdale, to where the estates of the landed proprietors began to dot the banks of the Hudson, thus introducing into the u6 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER New World the customs of the old. The guns of the warship seemed actually to bristle belligerently, and the sloops and brigantines, whether they came from South America or the West Indies, were all a-quiver with that same sinister rumor. And it was that "the French of Canada," together with the Indians who were in alliance with them, were march- ing to an attack upon New England, to be followed, if not accompanied, by an onslaught upon New York. The wildest reports were in circulation; the words, "massacre" and "slaughter," were on every tongue; the air was vibrant with alarms that seemed to be repeated in the very whisperings of the trees, lining the streets or dustering in the cherry orchards. Lord Bellomont took official cognizance of these reports by ordering the strengthening of the Battery, which extended over the waters of the harbor at that point of land whereon, since the days of Stuy- vesant, had stood the Fort, changing its cognomen with each successive ruler. There was a repetition of that excitement which had prevailed during the term of oflBce of Lord Bellomont's predecessor, who had ordered the building of a Battery. For then it had been proclaimed "that the Governor and Council, in consequence of actual war between the King and Queen on the one hand and the French upon the other, has been informed that a squadron of ships are ordered to invade that city, and there- fore orders that a platform be made upon the utmost points of the Rocks and the Fort." "Whereupon," as the Governor said, "I intend to build a battery to command both rivers." In pursuance of that intention, he had further given instructions to the Corporation of the city, "to order the inhabitants FEARS REAL AND IMAGINARY 117 of the out ward of the city and Mannings and Barnes Islands to cut down eighty-six cords of stockade, twelve feet in length, and to have them ready at the water's side to be conveyed to New York at the charge of the city and country." All these orders had been duly carried out, to the great relief of the present dwellers in Manhattan. For there was the Battery ready to repel the inva- sion, which had never previously been undertaken either by the French of Canada or any other French. Equally groundless, indeed, proved the rumor upon this occasion, to the disappointment of the Earl of Bellomont, who was a soldier before everything else, and of the military members of his Household, as well as of the soldiers garrisoned in Manhattan and the sailors on board the warship in the harbor, who were all pleasantly excited and diverted by the pos- sibility of a fracas which had proved so disturbing to the peaceably inclined citizens. While New York was thus holding its breath be- cause of a rumor which later proved without foun- dation, opportunity was taken by malicious persons to sow the suspicion that the Papists might make common cause with the French of Canada and be- tray the city into their hands. These sinister whispers increased in volume till honest citizens, going forth of an evening, were terrified by their own shadows, which they magnified into Popish conspirators. Every dark comer was supposed to be peopled with them; they were poisoning the wells; they were about to bum the town. Such strange sights were seen as gentlemen, armed with sword-canes or other weapons of defence, drawing upon their dearest relations or most intimate friends in the dusk of the evening, mistaking them for ^"•t:- ii8 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER emissaries of the Pope of R»,me. There was not a man from one end of Manhattan to the other who could have told where these Papists kept themselves hid, or could have estimated their numbers — which were indeed so ridiculously small that, if they had been made public, they would have turned all those valiant citizens into a laughing-stock for the town. Many or few, these scaremongers insisted on being devoured by them. They saw strange lights in the sk^, but would not admit the hjrpothesis of auroras or any other natural cause; even the marsh lights in swampy places were supposed to betoken the ad- vance of that mysterious enemy. When or how they had received arms or other offensive weapons, what ships had been guilty of such transportation, no one stopped to inquire. A reputable citizen, who suffered at other times from no particular lack of courage, spent an hour one fine evening in dodging behind trees to avoid his next-door neighbor, who was similarly employed, as each took the other for a murderous Papist bent on liis destruction. Even barking dogs were regarded with suspicion, as having been set on by luring Popish scouts to bite the calves of jxxily church members; and a horse which ran away >?as supposed to have had nettles put in his ear or pepper in his eyes by the same nefarious traffickers. Of course, many of those who made capital of all these fears, and used them to incite greater zeal for the Protestant Succession in Eng- land and for its champions upon this side of the vater, were busily engaged in trampling on other people's liberty in New York. Again, there were others — ^and the headquarters of these level-headed Manhattanese was in the mansion of Madam Van Cortlandt — who mocked at such idle terrors, and FEARS REAL AND IMAGINARY 119 openly declared that they were old wives' tales, in- vented by the Leislerians to injure their enemies. in the Governor's Household opinions, it was said, were divided. My Lady BeUomont w£s quite indifferent to all this uproar, and with her amongst others was Captain Ferrers, who knew too much concerning people of the Catholic faith to believe anything that was said. On the other hand, the Oovernor, influenced by John Nanfan and others, whether from motives of policy or from a sincere behet in the dangerous character of the Romanists, regarded the situation gravely, and held long con- ferences regarding the defence of the city from these supposed enemies within, no less than from those without. To Prosser Williams the matter was su- premely indifferent. Like the majority of those who followed the fortunes of William of Orange and in so doing forswore their allegiance to the hereditary sovereign of Great Britain, he affected extreme hatred of all adherents of the Pope of Rome, and was ready to charge them wi.h any atrocity. But, in his secret mind and sometimes in company with my Lady BeUomont, he permitted himself to make sport of the timorous citizens who tilted at windmills and other- wi^ emulated the surprising feats of Don Quixote and his worthy squire. As the agitation tims grew from day to day Captam Egbert Ferrers felt no little anxiety on behalf of Mistress Evelyn de Lacey. She and her father might, he feared, become in some way or another victims of misguided zealots, who, as he angrily declared when communing with himself could see no farther than their noses, and were as fearful as mice where Papists were concerned. He could not confide his misgivings to -uiyone, and 120 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER Lord Bellomont, being just then taken up with a variety of matters, required such constant attend- ance from the members of his Household that it was difficult to find an opportunity to put Evelyn and her father upon their guard. And so events were shaping themselves in a manner which, as shaU be seen in the sequel, was to prove disastrous to the cause of CathoUcity, as weU as extremely vexa- tious to those with whom this narrative is immedi- ately concerned. CHAPTER XIV THE SHADOW OF CAPTAIN KIDD AS before mentioned in this narrative, Lord Bellomont, acting on instructions from the King and several powerful noblemen, and, as the disaffected whispered, with a view to replenish a depleted treasure, had inaugurated a new system of privateering. Its object — real or ostensible, accord- ing to the view taken of the transaction — was to protect commerce upon the high seas from the ever- growing boldness of pirates, and also to put an end, as far as possible, to smuggling, which had caused New York to be regarded as the chief centre of illicit traffic in the Colonies. The voice of rumor, which had long been secretly busy with the matter, was now unloosed, and told the wildest tales of "notorious and inhuman pirates" who infested the seas, some even claiming to have commissions from the late Governor of New York. Under the very noses of the authorities, these pirates had brought costly wares and the products of the most distant lands into the dty.^ This was often done, it was alleged, with the connivance of prominent citizens and in defiance of restrictive ordinances, which were held to be tyrannical and oppressive. Thus, when one of the leading women of society appeared one evening at an assembly with a superlatively fine jewel, it was 122 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER whispered about that it had been given as hush money to her husband by a pirate, who had obtained it by the murder of an Eastern princess. A well- known merchant was rumored to have under his bed a large box of gold dinars, which had been ob- tained by similar violent methods. Hence it was that, since the navy was much weakened by the late wars, my Lord Bellomont had suggested to the King the employment of private men-of-war, and wealthy New Yorkers, notably Robert Livingston, either impelled by pa- triotic motives or for their own profit, expressed their willingness to co-operate in the inauguration of the new system, and to contribute towards the expenses of the impromptu navy. Through the representations of Robert Livingston, Captain Kidd received from Lord Bellomont, with the sanction of the King, full power to capture and deal as he saw fit with pirates, with whose methods and places of resort he was familiar. This appointment later subjected the Earl to severe criticism. But, be- sides the recommendation of a thoroughly reputable citizen, he had some warranty for his choice of a Commander. For in 1691, four years before Lord Bellomont's appointment, two members of the Council, Messrs. Monville and Willett, were deputed to attend the House of Representatives and acquaint them with the good service rendered to the Colony by the "said Captain Kidd in attending with his vessels the arrival of the Governor, and to urge that it would be acceptable to His Excellency and to this Board that some suitable reward be made him." And the reward was actually given, the Receiver General being instructed to pay to Captain William Kidd the sum of 150 pounds currency (a large sum THE SHADOW OF CAPTAIN KIDD 123 of money at that time) for his "good services done to the Province." Now it is very possible that this reward and the honorable mention of the celebrated commander were greet. ,d with shouts of derisive laughter by such men as Captain Greatbatch and those others who were in the habit of taking a con- vivial glass at the tavern of Der Halle and elsewhere. But the honors and emoluments then conferred at least gave Lord Bellomont justification for that selection which turned out so ill. The robbers of the sea and those dealers in illicit wares who assembled for their smoke and glass at the tavern, were at one in mocking at the appoint- ment of the redoubtable Kidd to patrol the seas. Whether their amusement arose from actual knowl- edge or from the general probabilities of the case, it is impossible to say. That he might fill his new office with credit where other nefarious traffickers were concerned, they did not doubt; but that he would refrain for one moment from laying hands on what- ever booty came his way was in their estimation beyond all credence. So like a thunderbolt came down upon the town the tidings concerning the "Quidder (or Quedah) Merchant," a vessel which was laden with a particiilarly costly cargo. The mer- chandise on board, consisting of Oriental gems and gold, the finest wines and the richest stuffs, was said to reach what seemed in those days a fabulous value. The mystery pertaining to her capture set afloat a crop of rumors, which at first could not be verified. Dark and terrible were the hints thrown out at the taverns amongst usually well-informed seafaring men and riverside characters, as well as at the as- semblies, the supper parties, the dances and the card parties, in which Dutch New York delighted. The i 124 GERALD d-. LACEY'S DAUGHTER capture of the most valuable cargo that had crossed the seas in many months shook public confidence once and forever in the new system of privateering, and also showed to the minds of many upon what an imstable foundation it had rested. So distorted were some of the rumors that they actually called into question the highest authorities, who were ac- cused of complicity in ♦he disaster.' One evening, when the public excitement was at its highest, and the parlor of Der Halle was fuller than usual, Mynheer de Vries conversed in mys- terious whispers with half a dozen of his cronies. That public room of the tavern was a cheerful spot, its broad-beamed low ceiling catching the cheerful flames that leaped up from the hearth and played over the tables, on the pewter mugs, and on the anx- ious or cynically sn'.jmg faces of those present. In almost every group might be heard the name of Captain Kidd, whom rumors, as yet unsubstanti- ated, connected with the disaster. During a pause in the conversation, all eyes turned suddenly tow- ards the door. It admitted, when opened, a terrific blast of wind, which, like the ominous breath of coming disaster, sent a shiver through the room. There was a stamping of feet and everyone looked expectant. But it was only Captain Greatbatch, who had just returned from a perfectly honest and legitimate voyage; or so it appeared, for the Captain was cautious, and now realized that Lord Bellomont was of a temper very different from that of the late Governor, who was charged with having given •The balance of probability seems to be that Lord Bellomont acted in good faith in the appointment of Captain Kidd, though that pirate after his arrest charged both Governor and King with comiJlicity in his enterprises, and a clamor was raised by the liarl a political opponents, THE SHADOW OF CAPTAIN KIDD nj commissions to pirates, having associated with smugglers, and permitted them to make a rendez- vous of the mansion in the Fort. Greatbatch's vessel had just returned from the Island of Curajoa. The cargo he had brought was duly entered and paid for at the Customs, and all questions answered. Still there were some who whispered that other wares had reached the port, and had passed from the Captain's cabin to persons unknown on shore. But that again might have been merely arguing from the possibilities. The Captain cried out that it was a wild night, a sentiment with which the company could unani- mously agree. It was evident, however, that all were waiting for news which this rude sea-dog might tell, if he would ; or at least for opinions which he would be likely to express with his customary brutal frankness. Greatbatch was, at first, in a surly and uncommunicative mood. He sat down with his order of two fingers of rum and some eatables at a table well removed from the others. They were all too cautious to approach him until the second portion of rum, which he presently ordered, took its effect. Then the smuggler began to address re- marks to Mynheer de Vries and other prominent men who sat at the same table, and each of them winced at his coarse familiarity and what it implied, glancing furtively at his neighbor to mark the dfect. The room in general had been waiting for this moment when the Barbadoes mm would unloose Greatbatch's tongue. "Mynheer de Vries and gentles all," he exclaimed in his deep, rough voice, "I give you a toast which the men of the seas here present will drink with pride." * * a: 126 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER There was a movement of interest and yet of un- easiness, intensified by the entrance of two figures in heavy overcoats. With a thrill of dismay— for what mieht not Greatbatch divulge?— it was noted that thwe were Captain Egbert Ferrers and Captain Prosser Williams, the two best-known membe« of all the Governor's Household and those who had most identified themselves wth the social life of the colony. Nodding to those of their acquaintances whom they perceived, they sat down at a table, ordering two glasses of hot negus, for the night was bitterly cold and they had had a long tramp. After a momentary survey of the two new-comers, whom he did not recognize or to whose presence he was indifferent, Captain Greatbatch once more called upon the assembly to drink his toast. There was a gleam of triumphant malice in his eyes, and his face broadened into a grin of malignant droUery, as he cried out ; , "I give you a toast, gentles, to one who nearly a decade since received a hundred and fifty pounds current money of these colonies for services rendered, being also publicly thanked for those seivices, though no mention was made of other irons that he had in the fire. It is the same one who has been placed over us all, young and old men, by His Excellency s worship, with what motive God knoweth. I give you gentles and seamen here present, the health, the prosperity, the good fortune of the greatest sea- rover that ever left this port or any other. Cap n William Kidd." . ,. . So far there was nothing that anyone could ob- ject to, were it not the innuendo contained m that allusion to His Excellency, which, in fact, would have been well enough received but for the presence THE SHADOW OF CAPTAIN KIDD 127 of two of his gentlemen. There was a confused munnur from one table or another, and each one hesitated to raise his glass to his lips. "What?" cried Greatbatch, exploding with riot- ous mirth, in which Captain Ferrers felt a strong inclination to join. "Is there no one to drink to the health of the mighty Captain, who has been placed over all that we may be kept within the bounds of the law, that he may suppress smuggling — save the mark! — and piracy, and instruct us in our duty?" The murmurs grew louder, and amongst the lower order of those present brows were dark and scowling, while the gentlemen, who might have otherwise treated the matter as a joke, felt disturbed and un- easy because of the presence of the two officers. No glass was raised, however, save that of Great- batch, who, having risen to his feet, held his liquor poised in mid-air, while he looked maliciously around. "Why, what ails you, gentlemen?" he cried, addressing himself more particularly to that table at which sat Mynheer de Vries and his friends. "Won't you drain a glass to Cap'n Kidd, the favored puppet of my Lord Bellomont?" But here there was an unexpected interruption. Leaning back in his chair and looking the speaker full in the face. Captain Ferrers said quietly, though there was sternness mingled with his jesting tone: "My friend, propose what toasts may seem good to you, but I would advise that you leave out of them the name of His Excellency." The words were greeted with applause by those who sat around Mynheer de Vries, and at two or three other tables where gentlemen or respectable tradesmen had gathered. Those of the seafaring "* * naughty little Papist." ^ f3*n'^ ^^^ "^^'"^y ^™™ Captain Ferrers' blow. For he had been totally unaware of the sus Sr?JJ«.*'*l!"**^ ^ '^^ '"'"'^ °^ Ws fellow s^ld^ by that chance remark of PoUy Van Cortlandfs H^«W«f had convmced him that this imputation was true but it was h.rd to conjecture how S ^'i'^''"'? ^^P**^" WilUams faiew, and whThe had been so imprudent, or so malicious, as to convey his knowledge to a quarter where it was likely to l^ dangerous. j vv^ u« "Your ExceUency," he said hotly, "may well defv Captam Williams to bring any prciof " ^ ^ Lady Bellomont looked steadily at him for a mo- "Were it even so," she said at last, "we shaU do what IS possible to protect her." t^,i^™!E**^T^i^?*"'* ^ 8'a"<» of gratitude at thejpeaker. Lord BeUomont, turning quickly, in- quired as to the subject of their discour^. ^ said!^udSslf^« ^'""* ^'^'^•" -y ^y "If the orders I have given be obeyed," said His Excellency, with a frown, "there shall not be in a^l tlus colony, nor m His Majesty's adjacent prov- mce a single adherent of the Romish superstitions ... Pfsons are a menace to the state." And IS their number so considerable?" inquired my Lady with malice. h^^ But Captain Ferrers knew that she spoke thus. rather m opposition to my Lord than from any ,!^> 154 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER special sympathy with the class of people who, in the mad excitement following the accession of King William, were persecuted everywhere in the Brit- ish dominions and everywhere reviled. The Prot- estant Succession was the fetish of the hour, to which all were ready to bow down, and no one could safely declare himself a professor of the ancient faith by which England had been raised to her high- est glory. To my Lady's query His Excellency replied testily : "The proportion of these Papists may be small, but they are a pestilent people whom we must root out lest they conspire to our detriment with the French of Canada." "In my belief that is a chimera," declared Lady Bellomont. "What is a chimera?" said my Lord. "The Papists or the French of Canada?" "I but mean their connection with each other," answered Her Ladyship. "Men have assured me that none was more zealous against those same French and all other enemies of the province than the present Earl of Limerick, once Governor Don- gan." "Women," cried His Excellency sternly, "should most fitly busy themselves with their fripperies, leaving the affairs of state to men." "Mayhap, we might sometimes make a better handling of them," said Her Ladyship, but in a lower voice and with a smile at Captain Ferrers, who had naturally taken no part in the discussion. Meanwhile Evelyn de Lacey stood watching the state carriage till it had disappeared in the distance. She felt the more gratified at the pretty compli- ment from Lady Bellomont inasmuch as it had been -|{s AN ENEMY DECLARES HIMSELF 155 addressed to Captain Ferren, in whom she already felt something more than an ordinary interest. As she was turning to pursue her way, ^e heard a voice at her elbow saying: "In what direction goes the fairest lady in Man- hattan?" Evelyn, turning, saw beside her C.v.tLic ^ .o-^er Williams, bowing low with plu-n. d '• ..t if. h ui » Instantly her face, which had K.-^ sof^Mih .srriilir.,- interest, grew cold and distant, -.er rt-Lt :n.r'il.^ 1653 East Moin Street g'iiS Rochester, Net* York 14609 USA "-^ {716i 482 - 0300 - Phone ^^ (716) 268 - 5999 - Fo« i68 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER ther, it was learned that he had long been under suspicion as a pestilent disturber and dangerous emissary of James. He fled to these Colonies where he had been formerly in the service of the Papist, Dongan, and had been driven forth in the time of that excellent Protestant and loyal champion, Jacob Leisler." "And how came it that you did not immediately recognize him?" inquired Ferrers, striving to main- tain his calmness. "For the reason that I had seen him but once, on that memorable occasion in London." Ferrers laughed as he said: "You would make an excellent — er — I mean to say that you should have been detailed for secret service." Prosser Williams reddened. "I have a nose for disloyalty," he declared, "and I hold it as certain that such men as this cannot escape the displeasure of Lord Bellomont, especially since the late decree." "His Excellency scarcely intends, I should pre- sume," said Ferrers, controlling himself with an effort, "to deal with individual cases. The late de- cree was rather, I would opine, a large public measiare to prevent the spread of the Romish religion." Prosser Williams' eyes narrowed. "It can be made to fit whomsoever it will," he replied significantly, "and this man who was dan- gerous yonder may easily become dangerous here." "He seems peaceable enough now," remarked the other, with apparent carelessness, "but such matters are scarcely i' my department. I am a soldier, and no policeman. ' "All members of His Excellency's Household must be such, if need demand," said Williams THE PAST IS INVOKED 169 sententiously, with a venomous look at his com- panion. "I hope my duty will be something better fitted nj-^v gentleman, ^' said Ferrers with a laugh, which Williams well understood and which goaded him to madness. He answered with a cold and deadly malignity: Decree or no decree, this de Lacey is dangerous. He must be watched; if need be, he must be ar- rested. Such an enemy of the King's Majeity should not be at large. Nor," he concluded, smiling un- pleasantly, "can he be shielded by petticoats, how- ever interesting." Captain Ferrers was grave enough now and the rebuke which he administered to the other was K»thmg. After Ferrers had abruptly left him, Williams sat stiU and reflected, while his eyes wan- dered absently out over the Bay, silent and dark save for the stars which, strewn in the firmament were reflected on its surface. "There is a heavy score between us, Egbert Ferrers, Williams muttered. "And, if I mistake not, you will yourself supply the means to pay it." It was this conversation that brought Captain Ferrers to the cottage, which he, however, did not enter because of Polly Van Cortlandf s presence. I, ','■1 .i-h'' fl' i\'\ ill' \i >> it It? CHAPTER V THE WARNING WHEN 'Captain Ferrers paid his deferred visit, he was at once ushered into Mr. de Lacey's study, where the latter sat absorbed in his books. It was early afternoon and the sunbeams, slanting through the vine-covered trellis without the window, played in patches on the floor. Evelyn had gone out with Madam Van Cortlandt and Polly to pay some visits and take coffee at the house of some of their friends. The elderly ladies brought their knitting on these occasions, putting their heads to- gether over the latest gossip of Manhattan, while the younger chatted gaily, their chief topic at pres- ent being Polly's betrothal and approaching mar- riage. Evelyn's father had been strongly of opinion that it was more essential than ever for the girl to keep out amongst the people and enter into such festivities as the summer season afforded, and thus ward off any suspicion that might attach to them under the Governor's edict. To Ferrers it was a relief to find Mr. de Lacey alone. AA^at he had to say, he considered, had best be said in the absence of Evelyn. Gerald de Lacey received his visitor with his usual easy courtesy. For some moments the two men talked of subjects of public interest, concerning either the old country THE WARNING 171 or the new, but, at a slight pause in the conversation, the young man came to the point with a directness that pleased Gerald de Lacey. "I trust," he began earnestly, "that you will hold me to be neither meddlesome nor intrusive when I say that I have come hither expressly to put you on your guard." Though Mr. de Lacey could not help being star- tled, his demeanor was perfectly composed as he replied : "And for that consideration I thank you." "Remember," said the visitor, "I am not making any inquiry as to what bearing recent legislation, once it comes into force, may have upon your re- ligious belief. Only I would beg of you to exercise the greatest caution." He stopped and looked into the calm and still smiling face before resuming: "Now that the fee'^ng against persons of the Catholic faith, engeni , .d largely by political strife, has become acute, and because of a recent occur- rence, I am convinced that something more than discretion will be necessary. Charges will be made against you, and in the present temper of men's minds — of those in high places, as witnessed by the law just passed — those charges will be pressed home." Vnd the nature of these charges?" Mr. de Lacey i .ired. Possibly you may remember," said Captain Ferrers, "an occasion a dozen years ago in England, when His present Majesty was being acclaimed. There was a man, lately an c3Bcer in a Hussar regi- ment, who created a disturbance by leaping from a car and waving his hat, bre^ng into open declara- tions for King James and for the Catholic religion." I' f 172 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER There was silence. Mr. de Lacey's face, flushing warmly at first, paled again. Captain Ferrers, who seemed to be studying the pattern of that carpet which had been brought overseas by the late Cap- tain Kidd's "Antigua" in the days when that sea- rover was a peaceful trader, continued : "That man, though it may be opined that he was lacking in worldly prudence, commanded aJl my admiration. I can feel even yet a thrill at the gsJlant act. Unhappily, though, I was not the only spectator. Others in that multitude may have shared my sentiments, but probably the majority held divergent views. It chances that one of those latter, who was foremost in raising the hue and cry, is now in Manhattan. He professes to have recog- nized the malcontent, and such recognition he wUl have no scruple in using as a weapon against him. Under present corditions that weapon might prove fatal." "And you, sir," said Mr. de Lacey, in a voice full of emotion, "a.e willing to render service to that imprudent man, simply because you applauded, despite yoiu- better judgment, an insensate act?" There was a slight embarrassment in Captain Ferrers' tone and manner as he answered frankly: "My admiration for an act of loyalty would in- deed have been a sufficient motive, but it is not my only one." He saw that his hearer was listening with head slightly bent forward, and proceeded : "It is due to you to mention that I have a more than common interest in Mistress Evelyn de Lacey. She attracted me from the very first moment of cur meeting, and, perhaps rashly, I have permitted myself to hope — " THE WARNING m But Mr. de Lacey siiook his head in dissent. "Do you not perceive, Captain Ferrers," he in- terposed, "how detrimental under existing circum- stances, and in your present position, such an al- liance would be?" "If Mistress Evelyn will but deign to consider my suit — " the young man was beginning impetu- ously. But the other again interrupted him. "If I know Evelyn, she will never consent to bring misfortune upon anyone, even though he be brave and chivalrous enough to desire her favor. You would ruin yourself for what may after all prove to be but a passing fancy." "Your daughter," replied Ferrers, with an emotion not to be misunderstood, "is not one to excite a pass- ing fancy." Gerald de Lacey could not but acquiesce in this opinion, and he said: "If that be so, so much the worse for you." Then struck by a sudden thought, he added quickly : "I trust in God that it has not gone farther than yourself, that Eveljm — " His voice broke, and, though Captain Ferrers felt an exultant thrill of joy at the mere suggestion, he answered gravely: "I have spoken no word." An irresistible, half -whimsical smile hovered about Mr. de Lacey's lips as he inquired ; "Are words the only means by which men and maids communicate their minds?" But he immediately continued more gravely: "Besides the reason I have mentioned, there are others and, in my opinion, still graver ones which r i 1. 1 h 174 GER/LD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER must be taken into account, but which wc may waive for the present. Such would be the question of re- ligion. As this attachment must therefore end in uiihappiness for both, I must trust to your honor. Captain Ferrers, that this matter go no farther." The Captain looked him steadily in the face an instant before he answered firmly: "I am afraid, Mr. de Lacey, that I can give you no such pledge." There was a silence between the two men as they sat regarding each other. Without the wind kept up a gentle soughing in the tree-tops. Through the window, diffusing itself through the apartment, en- tered from time to time a subtle indefinite mingling of garden scents from flower-beds where the sun lay warm. "You are frank at least," said Mr. de Lacey after a moment, "and I am helpless." "You misunderstand me utterly," the other has- tened to explain, "if you believe that I could take advantage of your situation. My meaning is, that I must be governed by circumstances as to any dec- laration I may make to Mistre^ - de Lacey. For these two years past we have ueen meeting fre- quently, and she has given me no sign that she holds me in higher esteem than any other of her acquaint- ances. But matters may come to a crisis at any moment, and then I shall tell her of this attachment, which, daily growing stronger, has created an almost intolerable situation for myselif." Gerald de Lacey's face, frowni. g at first, gradu- ally relaxed into a look of interest and of sympathy. His keen perception told him that, under ordinary circumstances, here was a man who might indeed prove worthy of Evelyn. THE WARN'NG I7S "Though I cannot relinquish hope," went on Ferrers, "I am sensible that for the present there is but one consideration of importance, and that is your safety and the safety of your daughter. Re- member it is of that I have come hither to speak." Mr. de Lacey's usually smooth brow was wrinkled into a frown of perplexity, as he sat looking, not at the speaker, but out into that garden which had been hitherto the symbol of peace. "Not only," said Captain Ferrers, "must I re- iterate my warning to be upon your guard; but I would beg you to make those preparations that may be necessary, should flight become urgent." "Flight!" echoed Mr. de Lacey. "It msy become imperative at any minute," declared Ferrers earnestly, "and, when that moment comes, I shall let you know without delaj'." In the pause that followed Ferrers perceived from the movement of his Ups that he was prasring. When he spoke aloud, it was with a forced composure which somehow reminded the observer of Evelyn. "It is of my daughter I am thinking," he ex- plained, "for a soldier's life has inured me to change. I will take your advice, however, and make what arrangements may be necessary." "Matters may go on as they are for some time," said Ferrers, "for there is no special suspicion of you or your acts, save in the mind of one man." "One man?" queried Mr. de Lacey, curiously. Ferrers hesitated an instant before answering firmly: "Captain Prosser Williams. I mention his name that the warning may be the more efficacious. But there is Nanfan, and there are others who would be dangerous enemies, if once they are informed of all." mi •tjk; 1 i 176 GERALD DF LACEY'S DAUGHTER At the mention of the name, Prosser Williams, Mr. de Lacey nodded, and a light came into his eyes. He remembered him well as the very man — a fanatic adherent of William of Orange — who, on that memorable day in England, had raised the hue and cry of the mob against him. And it was the recog- nition cf his pallid face, red hair and light-blue eyes, some two years before upon the Bowling Green, that had occasioned several subsequent days of un- easiness. As time passed on, however, Mr. de Lacey had hoped either that Prosser Williams, who was by no means familiar with his appearance, had failed to recognize him or that he had decided to let by- gones be bygones. "I shall be upon my guard," he assured the other quietly, "for well I know what an inveterate foe Captain Williams can prove. I have been living so obscurely that I had trusted public attention would have passed us by." Captain Ferrers could not precisely agree with this opinion. How, he thought, could Evelyn pos- sibly fail to attract attention ? And even her father was not one to remain unnoticed. He refrained, however, from putting his thoughts into words, while Mr. de Lacey proceeded meditatively : "If Captain Prosser Williams has discovered my identity and desires to use that knowledge to my detriment, no prudence of mine can avail." "That is true," the other assented, "if it be his intention to lay information against you. At present I do not know. But it is of a certainty better to prepare for flight." "And my daughter?" asked Mr. de Lacey, with a sharp glance at his adviser. "She too would be safer far from Manhattan," THE WARNING 177 replied Cep'.in Ferrers decidedly. "And my advice in that direc. on is most surely disinterested." ^^ "There are difficulties," objected Mr. de Lacey. "I should infinitely prefer to investigate the ground alone. Persecution is rife in many of the neigh- boiing provinces as well as in our own." "In the meantime," suggested Ferrers, Rr,d it must be owned with some eagerness, "Mistress Evelyn might in all safety, I opine, remain until you should l\ave secured a foothold elsewhere. And, occasion necessitating your departure from Man- hattan, might ii, not be announced that business had called you suddenly from home? Mistress Evelyn might then, as would seem most fitting, remain with her friend. Madam Van Cortlandt, even after Mis- tress Polly's wedding." "Yes, that would perhaps be best," agreed Mr. de Lacey, with reluctance, "though I must first wait upon Madam Van Cortlandt and inform her frankly of all tne circumstances. Should danger threaten Evel3m, the Van Cortlandts are very pow- erful." "And," interposed Captain Ferrers, "there will also be in her favor the interest of Lady Bellomont, who is extraordinarily well-disposed towards her. She will do whatever is possible to protect her." Even as he spoke, he knew her power to be limited — nay, that her very predilection for the girl had prepos issed Lord Bellomont against her. However, it was finally agreed betweer the two that, at a given signal from the Captain., Mr. de Lacey would leave the town and later make such arrangements as he could for Evelyn to follow him. "This religious madness," said Ferrers, risiiig to take his departure, "as every sane man hopes, must :H '! ' il.l il 'i 1 178 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER soon subside, and you will then be free to return once more to this Colony." "May God so will it I answered Gerald de Lacey. "In the meantime I shall await your signal." "I will not conceal from you," said Ferrers, as he returned the other's cordial farewell handshake, "that it mav come at any moment." CHAPTER VI A STAUNCH FRIEND i^D come it did, a hurried message, when the *» purple shadows of night vere creeping over Manhattan, and the stars, like tiny points of silver, pierced the darkenin ■ sky. It was a word merely, but Gerald de Lace tnew its import. Before that sign. ^ had reached him, which he knew was very certain to come, Mr. de Lacey had made all necessary arrangements, even to the pack- ing of his clothes. Also, he had v ted upon Madam Van Cortlandt to inform her oi le danget which threatened and the possible inconvenience to herseU that might result from giving shelter to Evelyn. He felt that he could not allow his daughter to accept that hospitality, while her prospective hostess was in ignorance of the charges that might be formulated against her, either directly as being herself a Catholic and having striven to spread the Catholic faith amongst the savages, or indirectly as her father's daughter. Madam Van Cortlandt was seated upon the stoepe before the door, knitting in hand. She had concluded for that morning her inspection of the household and those other matutinal affairs which she never delegated to anyone. She would not suffer the re'"ns of domestic government to pass even into the hands Is ( ;' 180 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER of the clever and capable Polly. She was thus always a busy woman in spite of the numerous slaves, of whom some had been brought over from Africa in the ship, "The Good Prophet," and sold in the slave-market at the foot of Wall Street, while others were native of the soil, and had been so long in the service of the Van Cortlandts that they considered themselves part of the family. The old lady was somewhat surprised to see Mr. de Lacey coming towards her. She had known him for a number of years, but never with anything ap- proaching intimacy, his visits to her house having been few and far between. As he advanced, raising his hat in salute and bowing low, slie was struck by something new in his aspect. The fine face framed in the curled and silver-streaked locks, worn after the fashion of the times on the shoulders, and the till figure set off by the cinnamon-colored surtout and buff waistcoat which opened slightly to show the white ruffled shirt of fine Holland linen, were im- pressive in the extreme. The countenance wore a new expression, in which were blended anxiety, re- solve and sadness. Madam Van Cortlandt noted the change in this man, whose whole appearance and personality she had always admired. She liked all that she knew of him, holding him in a regard quite apart from the consideration he commanded as the father of her favorite Evelyn. The two chatted at first of matters in general, while the absent gaze of the visitor noted mechani- cally the details of the entrance door which now stood open. He observed its division into two parts, the upper part of which was perforated by glass buU's- eyes, the spoon-shaped latch of solid brass and the massive handle, as though those details had some A STAUNCH FRIEND i8i occult connection with the subject which engrossed his mind. He made complimentary references to the happy event which was soon to transform the sprightly Polly into a dignified matron. The old lady on her part became reminiscent on the subject of her own betrothal and marriage, when customs were simpler and the principal door of the house was thrown open only when a bride went forth or when death visited the dwelling.* She talked in in- teresting fashion of the Dutch dominies, who, re- ligion apart, were a social power in the colony. "You have heard, I make no doubt, Mr. de Lacey," she said, "that old saying current amongst us Dutch: 'As the dominie sneezes, so sneeze we.'" And she expatiated upon the tolerance which, as a class, those Hollanders had shown to all men. This subject of tolerance led naturally to that upon which Mr. de Lacey was most anxious to speak. In as few words as possible he told of the danger which threatened him, not so much through the provisions of the new decree against Catholics, as by reason of the intolerance of which it was the manifestation, and in view of his antecedents which were known to a member of the Governor's House- hold who seemed likely to prove inimical. He in- formed her of the warning which had been given him by Captain Ferrers, and of the opinion of the latter, in which he fvilly concurred, that he should leave the Colony of New York for a term at least. Madam Van Cortlandt hstened, her wise, Idndly eyes upon the speaker's face. She nodded at inter- vals, so that the lace of her cap flapped about her ears, her knitting-needles meanwhile lying idle in her lap. When he had finished, the old lady ex- > Tbe custom wis Imovm »s th« " threshold covenant," til H:| k .if i" li: 182 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER pressed her full agreement with the advice given by Captain Ferrers, and suggested of her own accord that Evelyn should remain behind as her guest until the fugitive had found a refuge, or indeed indefinitely. For, as she said, her affection for Evelyn was nearly as great as for her own granddaughter, and, in the loneliness following upon Polly's departure, the com- pany of the girl would be a real boon to her. Though Gerald de Lacey represented to her all the possible risks and inconveniences to which the harboring of Evel3m might expose her, the old lady stoutly de- clared that such considerations would not weigh with her for an instant. "We Van Cortlandts," she exclaimed, with some pride, "should have influence enough to protect her even against this Governor whom they have sent out here to interfere with people's freedom. And a grievous matter it is," she added, with honest indignation, "that such things should be in these colonies, where before the days of Leisler intolerance was unknown." She threw out a suggestion or two on her own account. One was that Evelsm should be left to the last moment in ignorance of her father's proposed departure. She could thus all the more easily and naturally take her part in the final preparations for the wedding and enact her rdle of bridesmaid. An- other suggestion was that Mr. de Lacey's departure should take place upon the very day of the wedding, which was now close at hand. He could even ap- pear for a few moments amongst the guests, and then slip away whilst the attention of the town was fixed upon that event of social importance. When Mr. de Lacey rose to take his leave, all the details of the plan had been pieced out between the fi. A STAUNCH FRIEND 183 two, and, with a warm hand-clasp, Madam Van Cortlandt assured him that he and his daughter were certain of having in her a staunch friend. She stood looking after him as he went, deeply medi- tatmg. For she was much more alive to the com- plexities of the situation than she had chosen to let appear. If once the "dogs of war" were let loose agamst the de Laceys by an actively hostile influ- ence, emanating from the Governor's Household It would be difficult indeed to protect them, and an attempt to do so might be the cause of vexatious proceedmgs for those who had essayed the rdle of protectors. For, as Madam Van Cortlandt reflected, Mr. de Lacey's poUtical past— above all, his staunch adherence to the Catholic faith and his intimacy with members of the clergy— would make of him a very proper subject for a terrorizing example to his fellow-Romanists, adherents of the "Popish super- stition " and enemies to the King's Majesty. Evelyn too had, without doubt, rendered herself amenable to those persecuting laws by her labors amongst the savages and her efforts to keep alive in them the spark which the missionaries had kindled. Though the Van Cortlandts were powerful, the old lady mused, they might not be sufficiently so to protect ttiose notable enemies of the Protestant supremacy. This had been shown in the evil days of Jacob Leisler, when members of the family had suffered severely. And it was the Leislerian faction that was now iii favor with Lord Bellomont and his fanatical sup- porters. Thus pondered the old lady, her knitting forgotten as she watched with absent eyes the white butter- flies flitting about and heard the drowsy drone of the insects, announcing a continuance of the heat. She fir i 5 i !. 1% tf ■■'.4, 184 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER decided amongst other things that Polly must be told nothing at all of the matter. For loyal-hearted and devoted to Evelyn as she knew her to be, it was not so easy to be sure of her prospective husband. Madsm Van Cortlandt had uneasy misgivings on the score of that gentleman; in fact, she alone of all the relatives had been dissatisfied with Polly's choice. For, whatever might be his advantages of wealth and position, the keen old eyes read the man as a narrow-minded bigot, a very fanatic in his hatred of Popery. And a certain jealousy of Polly's partiality for Evelyn had been plain from the first, and had been displayed in the antagonistic attitude he assumed towards the girl. Therefore, in Madam's mind it was settled that Polly should be kept out of the secret, at least until that time when Evelyn should have rejoined her father. Mr. de Lacey's absence, when discovered, would be explained by the assigned reason of pressing business, which would leave it to be supposed that it was in the Barbadoes that he nad interests. The huge clock in the hall sounded the hour of noon and dinner for all the burg of Manhattan, immediately afterwards, the silver gong summoned Madam to her place at the table. Behind her chair stood old Peter, with a fan in his hand to drive away the flies. Polly and Evelyn entered the room a second or two later, conversing as they came of sor .e late items of fashionable news and of the bridesmaid gowns and the bridal finer- just as a little more than two years before they had gossiped about the ar- rival of the new Governor. CHAPTER VII THE SEPARATION EVELYN was kept in ignorance of her father's intention to leave the colony so that she could the more readily permit herself to become absorbed in Polly's marriage preparations. Active culinary work hpd been in progress for days before, and in this the two girls had their share under the imme- diate direction of Madam Van Cortlandt. Cer- tain rich confections and a variety of dainty dishes were added to those substantial viands which the veteran negro cook, Maria, surpassed herself in preparing. Forgetting all troubles and suffering, and permitting that shadow of doubt and suspense which hung over her to be dispelled by the bright- ness of the moment, Evelyn entered light-heartedly into all that was going on. In the large kitchen, with Its brightly burnished vessels, its sanded floor and its huge fireplace, or in the adjoining quiet room, the two girls spent their mornings, stoning raisinsj weighing out flour, shelling nuts and measuring spices for cakes of many descriptions— rich pound cakes doughnuts, fruit and honey cake, and kuchen of half a dozen varieties. Jellies, creams, custards and rich confections of many sorts were prepared to tickle the appetite and menace the digestion of the sturdy burgher folk of Manhattan. The more 'mh i,.! N' ■». i86 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER serious labors of the kitchen were in charge of an augmented staff, under the leadership of Maria and ably directed by Madam Van Cortlandt herself. This department undertook the preparation in vari- ous ways of tvu-keys, wild duck, geese, ham v Ah partridges, pigeons, and game pies of a composite character. Upstairs in Polly's room stood the kos, or linen chest. It had been that of her grandmother, and great-grandmother before that. It was elab- orately carved and tipped with silver, and was now destined to become the property of Polly, since her grandmother had bestowed it on her as a gift. It would be an article of furniture both substantial and ornamental, in that new home wherein the prospective bridegroom was to install her. This home stood in a newer and more fashionable quarter than that in which Polly had grown up, being situated at no very great distance from the Fort and over- looking the Bowling Green. The contents of the chest were a particular pride and pleasure to Polly. The linen which it contained had been bleached under the sun of Manhattan and woven by the girl's own hands from the finest fJax, grown in a piece of ground adjoining the garden. It Lad then been tranrformed into household and personal linen, with daintily embroidered initials. To the marriage chest some piece of linen had been added almost daily for years, as was the custom in all well-appointed Dutch households, and each was a perfect specimen of finest hand-sewing. There had been, moreover, the dear delight of choosing gowns, some of which were hand-woven and dyed with the juice of various plants, for it was the pride of every Dutch maic'en or prospective matron to excel in every branch of feminine industry. Other costumes THE SEPARATION 187 were of brocade or taffeta or lutestring, which had been brought from overseas. These preparations being finally concluded, noth- ing remained but the decoration of the house itself mto which task both girls entered eagerly, with Jumbo, the foot-boy, as their chief assistant. With his white teeth showing in a broad grin and his eyes rolling in enjoyment, he brought from the gar- den armfuls of flowers— snowballs, geraniums, pinks nasturtiums and late roses,— supplemented by those which Evelyn had sent thither from the more luxuri- ant profusion of her own flower-beds. Those with ma^es of greenery, transformed the blue and gold of the drawmg-room and the green and gold of the oak-panelled dining-room into veritable bowers, the fragrance of which was supplemented by the gardens without. As the new Dutch church was undergoing repairs the Doininie consented to unite the two prominent members of his flock in the house. At the appointed time, which was late in the afternoon, the worthy mimster repaired thither. He advanced into the drawmg-room to salute Madam Van Cortlandt in his small-clothes and tunic of black, the latter with cuffed sleeves and deep ruffles of lace. In one hand he earned his cocked hat, and in the other his silver- headed cane. Under his arm was the book, which a negro slave had carried thither, and from which he was to read the marriage service. Upstairs the bride had donned her bridal finery with the assistance of her negro maid and under the supervision of Evelyn de Lacey and the other brides- maids, who were all relatives of the bride or bride- groom. Polly drew her dearest friend aside a moment into the deep embrasure of a window overlooking the IKI !<,,. I : :l tilp^ 'ltd ' 1 88 GERALD db LACEY'S DAUGHTER garden where their confidences had been so often exchanged, and they conversed together with some- thing of awe and solemnity in their tones. Evelyn, who had the more vivid imagination, felt more deeply the significance of that day's happenings, and had the greater reason for her misgivings, inasmuch as she saw in the prospective bridegroom a man of domineering character and narrow puritanical views, who was personally inimical to herself. Even Polly, whose bright and cheerful nature usually basked on the surface of things, was for the time impressed. "Does there not seem something terrible," she said, "in a contract that is irrevocable, and that can scarcely be undone, save by death?" "Which can never be undone save by death," corrected Evelyn. "But in that lies, after all, I opine, its best chance of happiness." Their conference, however, was of but short dura- tion, for the summons came from below that the Dominie was waiting, and they heard through the open window the chimes from the steeple of the Dutch Church, pealing out for the bridal. Followed by the other bridesmaids, Evelyn de- scended the stairs with Polly to the rooms below, where were already assembled all that Manhattan could boast of wealth and influence. For the mo- ment political differences were forgotten. Nicholas Bayard, head of the Dutch-English party, jostled shoulders with Abraham de Peyster, Samuel Staats, Peter Delanoy, Abraham Gouvemeur and the other leaders of the Leislerian faction ; while the Schuylers, the Van Cortlandts, Van Rensselaers, Minvielles, de Riemers, and Delanceys, all prominent in the aristocratic or anti-Leislerian faction, mingled freely with the Edsalls, Lodovicks, Derbyles and others, i^H? THE SEPARATION 189 who had been more or less actj^rely interested in the other side of the great troubles. A prominent figure was John Nanfan, brother of Lady Bellomont and then acting as Lieutenant-Governor, who had espoused the I^slerian cause and otherwise identified himself with the fanatical Protestant element. He had walked thither from Whitehall with Captain Prosser Williams, with whom he was on terms of great intimacy. Having paid their respects to Madam Vin Cortlandt, who was receiving her guests in a gown of colored satin, resplendent with family jewels, the two stood apart to observe the scene. Standing with his back against the wall to catch the first glimpse of the party descending the stairs, was Captain Ferrers, in a handsome suit of velvet with brocaded waistcoat. His lean, bronzed coun- tenance wore an expression of eager interest and animation. It was patent to the merest observer that he was more than commonly interested. In the background were all the negro slaves of the house- hold and other establishments of the Van Cortlandt family, whose privilege it was to be present in their holiday costumes, the men wearing the family livery. It was also the function of old Peter, the majordomo, and of Maria, the cook, as the oldest and most respected of their number, to attend the bridesmaids when they passed silver plates to take up a collection for the poor. Having donned his long white gown, the Dominie stood waiting in the centre of the drawing-room, while the hush of expectancy was broken by the strains of the negro orchestra, stationed in the hall outside. It struck up a bridal hymn, which had been in preparation for weeks. To this music the bride and her attendants came down the stairs, at n at fi h" 190 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER the foot of which waited a tall, dark young man, with a narrow face, thin lips and eyes close together. Polly was looking her b<»t, with a radiant aspect of brightness and youth, the peach bloom of her cheeks and the sparkle of her dark eyes set off by the whiteness of her dress and her bride's crown of metal studded with precious stones — an heirloom from at least three generations. To the majority of those present it seemed of course that she was the chief centre of attraction. Yet there were some to whom the bride and the other bridesmaids were as puppets, and Evelyn the pivot upon which turned their thoughts, and towards which their glances were directed. Her gown was of white lutestring, and her bonnet also of white, with trimmings of soft ribbons and flowers. As she came slowly down into the flower-embowered room, she resembled nothing so much as a rare and delicate flower, which only a con- noisseur cotild properly appreciate. The grace of her movements, so simple and so natural, the expression of her face, the look in her eyes of grey, shadowed and darkened by some stress of feeling, lent her an indescribable loveliness. In the midst of all the jubi- lation of the marriage feast, there was for her a note of tmderlying tragedy in the menace that hung over all those of the Catholic faith, and especially over her father and herself. For perils, she knew, were closing thick and fast around them, though the latest developments had been mercifully hidden from her. This added charm in Eveljm's appearance was keenly felt by at least three men in the room. The intensity of their interest and its kind varied, of course, with the nature of each individual. These three were Pieter Schuyler, the girl's old friend and THE SEPARATION 191 long-devoted admirer, and the two officers of His Excellency's Household, Captain Ferrers and Cap- tain Prosser Williams. The former of the officers could scarcely explain his feelings. He seemed in- spired at the moment t some new and lofty enthusi- asm for what was right and good, and to a desire to win Evelyn by some intrinsic merit of his own, which would make him worthy of her. He who faiew all that was impending over her, and the trial that awaited her when she learned of her father's proxi- mate flight, could best interpret the shadow of tragedy in those beautiful, haunting eyes. He pledged himself anew to her service and to her de- fence, surrendering his whole heart into her keeping. He waited, with an eagerness which caused him to forget the bride and all the other figures in that page- ant, for the moment when Evelyn's eyes should meet^ his, and her smile, infinitely sweet for her friends, should reward him for his patience. The gaze of Prosser Williams was likewise fixed upon the first bridesmaid's face with an expression in which such love as he was capable of feeling was blended with a kind of hatred. For had she not persistently repelled hisad/ances? At that instant, he felt indeed, if he analyzed his own feelings, as one who had been shot through the heart by that intensified and fatal beauty. He leaned against the wall cold and pale, with but one thought in his mind— how he could overcome the girl's distaste for himself which she so plainly manifested, or, failing that, in some fashion or another secure her for his own. As Evelyn turned to take her place beside her friend and facing the minister. Captain Williams' glance, momentarily diverted, encountered that of Captain Ferrers, and he knew then for a cer- ilill: 1 !| • if'"' 19a GERALD DB LACEY'S DAUGHTER tainty what he had long suspected, that here wu a rival and one by no means to be despised. There was a gleam of deadly hatred in his eyes, which the other, regarding him stiiadily, caught and interpreted. Captain Williams was recalled to a sense of what was passing about him by the voice of John Nanfan soundUng in his ears. "That is a striking wench yonder, the tallest of the bridesmaids." ... "Yes," answered Williams, with a coldness of which he was unconscious. "In truth, she is striking, that bird with fine plumage." "Too soon to have outlived your enthu^asm. Captain," said the Lieutenant-Governor, with a laugh. "But who may be this fair prodigy, whom I do not remember to have seen before?" To Captain Williams it seemed incredible that, during his two years in the colony, Mr. Nanfan should still be inquiring as to the identity of Mistress de Lacey. But he remembered that the Lieutenant- Governor had been for a certain portion of that time in Albany, and, having himself a wife and family, would naturally be less interested in the beauties of Manhattan. He answered very briefly: "Her name is de Lacey." "Ah!" said Nanfan, to whom at the mc ment this name conveyed nothing. Nor did Captain Williams enlighten him any further. He had information which would have 'leepened the other's interest, if not his admiration, but that information would not be given until all hope of winning the young girl by ordinary and fair means had vanished. Nor did he in any case desire such help as Mr. Nanfan could undoubtedly have given, until his own plans were fully matured. THE SEPARATION •93 "Who are her people?" asked the Lieutenant- Governor, after a pause. "Are they amongst the notables of these colonies?" "As I have been informed," answered the Captain, with apparent carelessness, "they are not native here, and they are poor." "Beauty in distress," commented Mr. Nanfan, with a sneer. "With that face she may ensnare some young idiot, who will find her charms compensation for her lack of fortune." The young man was conscious of a kind of rage against the speaker, but he forced his lips to a smile, as he replied indifferently: "She has, I make no doubt, snared many a one before now." Mr. Nanfan regarded him curiously, with eyes that were keen and penetrating; but the cold, life- less face to'.d him nothing, and r.i that moment the caning words of the marriag'! ceremony gave the signal for silence. When the Dominie had concluded the service which transformed Mistress Polly Van Cortlandt into Vrow Laurens, and had in fatherly fashion kissed the bride, the latter, smiling and radiant, turned to receive the congratulations and good wishes of her friends. Beside her stood Evelyn, who, as she now glanced about the room, caught the gaze of Captain Ferrers. She drew in her breath sharply, for, if ever devotion were legible in the eyes of man, she could read it there. She flushed ever so slightly, then paled, but the smile which she gave him was very sweet, though tinged with sadness. For with the realization of his absolute devotion had come upon her with full force the difficulties separating them, which any forecast of the future must show, iiiit; i" i ^ ill *.v t ■\ i I' II r- ( 194 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER And yet the knowledge she had just gained lent a brightness to her eyes and an unwonted animation to her manner. It was as though a cup had been held to her lips, of which she had sipped, but had not dared to drink. But the menace which Captain Ferrers had read in the eyes of his fellow-ofBcer con- strained him to be prudent, lest by any act of his he might increase those difficulties and even perils which he very clearly saw were lying in wait for Evelyn at every turn. It cost him a painful effort to keep away from that one person in whom all his interest was centred and to mingle freely with the other guests, while something like a cloud of disap- pointment fell over the brightness of Evelyn's mood. At her side, with a devotion which she appreciated, though she could not return it, hovered Pieter Schuyler. Once she sighed as she said to herself: "Oh, if I could bat make Pieter as happy as he deserves to be, and settle down like Polly to be a matron of Manhattan!" But deep in her heart she knew that, apart from the religious considerations and the other dilBcvd- ties which would now tend to separate them, there was another reason more potent than all. In this gay scene participated the chief burghers of Man- hattan, with their wives and sons or daughters. Councillors of State and civic dignitaries, officers from the garrison and naval men from the ship in the harbor, as well as all the gilded youth of the colony; but there was one guest who in her mind dominated all the rest, and that was an officer from the Household of Lord Bellomont. She, however, followed Captain Ferrers' example and made her- self very agreeable to all the guests, each of whom, and notably the young officers of the garrison, came THE SEPARATION I9S to have a word with her and to surround her with an atmosphere of admiration and of adulation of which she could not but be sensible. Mynheer de Vries, amongst the rest, came %r.*Y his smooth and polished voice to offer some stilted compliments to his charm- ing neighbor, who, he said, was the pride of that quarter in which they both resided. "It is no small thing," he said, "to possess in our comer of the burg one of the chief beauties of Manhattan." Whilst he was thus conversing. Mynheer's small, cold eyes moved restlessly about the room and dis- covered the girl's father. Apparently, he had just come in, and Evelyn noted with a thnll of pride that in all that assemblage there was none of more dis- tinguished bearing than he. He was evidently looking for her, as by that time she had moved away from her conspicuous position beside the bride. After he had paid his compliments to Polly, keeping up with her a few moments' interchange of gay badinage, and conversed a little with Madam Van Cortlandt, he advanced in Evelyn's direction. Mynheer and he exchanged greetings, after which de Vries passed on, moving about amongst the guests in a fashion of his own that was almost stealthy. Left momentarily alone with his daughter, Mr. de Lacey drew her hastily apart into the embrasure of a window, and the anxious eyes of the girl noticed a new excitement in his manner and at the same time a profound sadness. He regarded her intently for an instant without speaking, and then remarked in an effort to speak lightly: "The bridesmaid costiune suits my Evelyn well, and I am striving to impress that fair picture on my memory." n '>':> .l.ll 196 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER Evelyn looked at him with some surprise. Cer- tainly his manner was unusual, and his words awak- ened in her mind a deep foreboding. "For I have made my appearance at these wed- ding festivities from motives of policy, as well as to salute the bride and to say farewell for the time to my little daughter." Eveljm stared at him aghast. "Do not look so hoirified," the father cried, "lest attention be directed towards us. Now is the moment for courage. Nor must we be seen for long in conversation. You will hear all from Captain Ferrers and Madam Van Cortlandt. You are to remain with her for the present, until I have made such arrangements as may make it possible for you to join me. As soon as it is prudent, I will write." "But why, oh why, can I not go with you?" cried Eveljm, despairingly. "We have considered all the circumstances," answered her father, "and it is wiser that you should remain here until it be possible for me to return, or until I have got a secure refuge somewhere. In the latter event, or should any emergency arise, I will send at once for you." Utterly overcome by this intelligence which had come upon her so suddenly, the girl could scarcely speak, while her father stiU regarded her with the same mournful intentness. "And now," he added, taking her hand for a moment in his, "it is best that I go forth as quietly as possible from this house. To avoid observation, I diall leave Manha-tan while these festivities are still at their height. My present destination is — " and, bending close lest any other should hear, he whispered to her the name of a little town in an ll! THE SEPARATION 197 adjacent colony where a friend had oflered him a place of refuge. The father and daughter looked into each other's ^^ °^* moment longer, in a mute agony of fare- weU. To Evelyn it seemed as if all her life was crumbhng around her. She had never been separated from her father, save when, for a week or a fortnight she had been the guest of the Van Cortlandts or some other fnends. "Farewell, then," the father said at last, "and may God have you safe in His holy keeping, Uttle Evelyn, httle Evelyn, till we meet again !' ' His voice broke and he turned away to mingle with the crowd. It cost the girl a supreme effort of will at that moment to restrain her tears and sup- press all outward signs of that pain which, in its sharpness and severity, rent her heart with a physical pang. Just at that instant Captain Ferrers, who had been watching the progress of events, came towards Evelyn and, offering his arm, suggested a httle stroU m the garden. Acting upon the sugges- tion, which she joyfully acceptc . and the motive of which she understood, she was thus enabled to clasp her father momentarily in a farewell embrace, before he stole away hastily through the garden gate. Itii m CHAPTER VIII CLOSER IN GRIEP WHEN Mr. de Lacey had sped silently away into the darkness, Evelyn felt towards Cap- tain Ferrers a fervor of gratitude for having procured that last consolation for her father and herself, and at the same time for having withdrawn her from that gay scene within doors, which just then she felt to be intolerable. The two remained alone in the perfumed stiUness of the night, with flowering shrubs all about them and the tall trees waving with a rhythmic movement above their heads. For several minutes the young man did not in- trude by so much as a word upon the young girl and her sorrow. He was holding himself in strong con- straint lest some avowal should pass his lips, which might embarrass future relations between them. As he stood near her with folded arms, leaning against a tree, he rapidly reviewed the situation. He felt that at that moment he would gladly have resigned his position, with all that it might hold of future preferment, if by so doing he could win this one woman, whom he loved above all others, for his wife. But he knew that such a course of action would only increase the peril of her situation. He himself would be powerless to protect her amongst so many and such influential enemies. Even Lady m- CLOSER IN GRIEF J99 BeUomont could do little and my Lord's wrath would be but strengthened tenfold by the loss of an officer whom he had found singularly useful. Moreover, as he told himself, he had had little reason as yet to be certam of Evelyn's favor. It was not her na- ture to wear her heart upon her sleeve, and, aware as she was of all the obstacles between them, she had gone out of her way to seem unconscious of his preference for her society. For one wild moment he asked himself whether he could possibly induce her to fly with him to England, or still better, to the Contment, where they might bury themselves in a happy obscurity. But his common sense told him that, even were Evelyn wiUing to desert her father in the hour of trial, which from her character he knew to be unthinkable, it would be next to impos- able for them to encompass such a departure safelv Vessels saihng for ports beyond the seas were sub- ject to stnct mquiry, so that, even if he were certain that his love was reciprocated, he could not ask her to take so perilous a step. Yet, even as breaking silence he went on with business-hke dehberation to explain the causes of her fathers hasty departure, and the plans which he had laid in concert with Madam Van Cortlandt. he felt in ths mmgled emotions of that hour a sweet- ness which he remembeied aU his life. The girl's charm, hw deUcacy of outline, the warmth and sym- pathy of her expression, were heightened tenfold by the very depths of her sorrow and anxiety, as in the white of her bridesmaid's costume she stood be- side hrni on ,he garden path. She had forgotten ever>thmg for the moment but the thought of her fether settmg out thus alone in the darkness of night. With her eyes fixed upon the speaker's face, she 1'::^ ISJ- s aoo GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER listened silently while Captain Ferrers briefly ex- plained how the recognition of her lather by Captain Williams and his clear recollection of aU that had transpired in London, together .vith evidence that he had since obtained of his being a Catholic, had made it expedient that he should immediately re- move himself from peril so imminent. Captain Ferrers gave it as his opinion, based upon remarks which Captain Williams had let fall, that the latter's plans were well laid and that he might at any mo- ment procure Mr. de Lacey's arrest and transport overseas for trial in London. He informed Evelyn of the conference which he had held with her father, and he in his turn with Madam Van Cortlandt, and how all their plans had been laid before he had sent the final note of warning to Mr. de Lacey. The latter was now to seek safety in the town of Salem, in the Colony of Massachusetts, where it was hoped that he might remain in an obscurity wh^ch meant safety. Once his departure was discovered, if ques- tions were adced, it could be answered that he had left town on business. It would meanwhile seem quite natural that Evelyn should remain with Madam Van Cortlandt in the first lonely weeks following the wedding. Even the bride herself, on account of her husband's well-known sympathies, would be kept in ignorance of the true reason for Evelyn's extended stay at the Van Cortlandt mansion. For Madam Van Cortlandt's keen instinct had led her, where politics were concerned and above all wh'xe there was question of tho Catholic faith, to distrust Polly's husband. After Captain Ferrers had told her all, Evelyn was silent for a moment, standing amongst the fragrance and beauty of the flowers and seeming CLOSER IN GRIEF loi to the lover's eyes more beautiful than any of them. So human and so lender she appe^^, with the tears starting from her eyes, streaming down her cheeks, and falling unheeded upon her wedding finery. The sight very nearly upset Egbert Ferrers' resolu- tion. But in an instant Evelyn had regained her coniposure, and the young man could not help ad- miring her noble and dignified aspect. "I thank God," she said at last, "that my father IS gone. Yes, and all the heavenly friends who are watching over us. But, oh, I would that I could have been with him!" Her eyes fixed upon Captain Ferrers' face in an appeal that deeply moved him, and again he found It hard to repress the passionate avowal that rose to his hps. He explained to her quietly and gravely how inadvisable such a course of action would be at the moment, jince it would provoke immediate inquiry and would very probably compromise the safety of both. It was expedient that her father should go first, especially as his religion and political antecedents placed him in the graver danger, and as It seemed less likely that Captain Williams would teUie action against the daughter. So quietly had Mr. de Lacey lived that his absence from tJie city would scarcely be noticed at first, whereas that of Evelyn would be known immediately. Once the fugitive had reached a place of safety, it would be easier for her to join him, and it might even be supposed that both had gone to the Barbadoes on matters of business. Meanwhile, as Madam Van Cortlandt declared, failing any new developments, the young girl could remain indefinitely with her. "I have been so selfishly intent on our own con- cerns," said Evelyn, turning to the young man be- I(! I! r: ■ I 202 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER side her with a new light of gratitude in her eyes, "that I have been sorely remiss in thanking you for your generous help, for your exceeding great fore- thought and consideration. What should we have done without you?" " Never spe^of it, I do entreat you," said Captain Ferrers, "since it is I who am most deeply in your debt for having been allowed to serve you." Never had the two felt so near together as when they were thus united by this common interest, this grave issue almost of 'life and death. Each felt a glow of happiness in the other's presence, which gave to Evelyn a sense of inexpressible com- fort in her present desolation. But sh3 would not for worlds have expressed just t*' :!n such a sentiment. Instead she fell to talking of her father, .^ving that it was her dearest wish to rejoin him at the earliest moment. ,, .„ "And you," she said to Captain Ferrers will help me, will you not?" "Yes, in truth," cried Captain Ferrerr,, I will help you always and in all things. For I am con- strained to tell you that I would give my right hand, and even my very life, to serve you." The moumfulness in Evelyn's eyes, as she regarded him, pierced him to the heart. Perhaps she saw before her the bright vista of love and happiness that might have opened before them but for the cruel entanglement of circumstances which held them as in a net. "How hard it is," cried the young man impetu- ously, "to think that I am thus bound hand and foot, so that a move in any direction whatsoever might work your ruin!" "And yours," responded Evelyn, "which is some- CLOSER IN GRIEF 203 thing that I will never peimit. Whatever may be- fall, I beg of you to stand aloof." "Cruel counsel," exclaimed Ferrers, "which I would fain hope is inspired rather by your head than by your heart." A lovely wave of color crept into Evelyn's cheeks and a light into her eyes, but she merely said: "You will but involve yourself in needless ruin, and be then powerless to help us — the outlaws." "If it were but a question of myself," cried Fer- rers hotly, "Heaven knows that it would matter little. I would give up all, and do all, to be but assured of your regard and to have a chance, how- ever remote, of winning you for my wife." Into Evelyn's face, more beautiful than ever with the touch of warm and living color, came an expression which betrayed the loving depths below. When she spoke, however, it was firmly and com- posedly: "You must not speak, nor must I hear, words which will bind you to anything. From this mo- ment forward, you are a friend whom I shall value above all others. But with my faith proscribed, with perils everywhere, I must have no ties save my father." "Be it so then for the moment," agreed Ferrers. "I shall not intrude fiuther upon you with the avowal of my sentiments, which, believe me, I had not meant under these circumstances to make. At least, I may offer you my friendship with a stead- fast will to serve you." "I have never doubted either," replied Evelsm sincerely, "only they must not be used to your detriment. For so unhappy are all the circum- stances — " ao4 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER "Unhappy, in truth," interposed Ferrers, with a sudden burst of vexation. "Why must it chance that you are of the proscribed faith, of — " But there Evelyn stopped him peremptorily, with a proud uplift of her chin and an enthusiasm which the young man found inexpressibly charming. "You must not think," she said decidedly, "that I am not most glad to suffer something for religion's sake. It would be an honor unspeakable to die for the Catholic and Apostolic faith." Though her companion nattu-ally could not feel as she did, nor experience any emotion at the thought of that faith, he nevertheless respected it as that of his dead mother, and was more favorably impressed than ever by the coiirage and loyalty of the girl, which appealed to all ^t was finest in his own nature. Yet he only cried out, with a kind of terror : "But you will be prudent. You will not speak in such terms to anyone else. And this I beg of you, if not for my sake, for that of your father." "For his sake — for your saJte, if you will," said Evelyn, with a smile, "for all our sakes I will be careful and chary of my words. As a first step in prudence, will it not be wiser that we should leave the garden and return into the house lest our ab- sence may lead to remark?" "'Tis most unpalatable advice," said the young man ruefully, "but, as it is a dose of my own medi- cine, I must swallow it." In silence they moved on together, in his mind no other thought than that of their meeting that evening and the new bonds that had been forged between them. As they neared the house the negro minstrels were playing a lively strain and the bride, preparing to depart upstairs to doff her white gown CLOSER IN GRIEF 30$ for another, was looking for her dearest friend and chief bridesmaid. Ferrers knew that presently, after the bride had gone, all would be footing it lightly in "La belle Katherine" or "Money Musk," as though there were no care or sorrow in the world, no aching hearts, no persecution, tyranny and death. II I V i CHAPTER IX AN UNWELCOME MBETINO WHILE the wedding festivities were still at their height, the tall figure of a man might be seen descen&ig with rapid steps the path which led to the Water-Gate. As he passed the tavern of Der Halle and glanced through the open window, he saw that the brightly lighted ro'itn was almost devoid of company. Many of those who gathered there of an evening for a pipe and a social glass, were above at the mansion where the gentility of the town were celebrating the union of two of its most prominent families. Only a few scattered groups of two or three, mostly of the seafaring class, were assembled. Gerald . : Lacey paused and, out of the dreariness of his approaching exile, regarded wistfully that homely, familiar place, whence light and comfort seemed to irradiate. Even the broad and genial countenance of mine host, as he sat behind the bar, was suggestive of good cheer. So suddenly that he had not time to take any pre- cautions, the door opened and Mr. de Lacey found himself confronted by Captain Greatbatch, that notorious smuggler to whose name so many people, were ready to a&3i a harsher epithet. The fugitive would have passed on quickly, but the other hiailed him: AN UNWELCOME MEETING 207 "May I beg to know your errand, comrade, that you go ID fast?" The man so addressed slackened his pace and waited, for nothing could have been worse for his d«dre of secrecy than that he should excite sus- picion, even in the mind of this sea-rover. Great- batch, having caught up with him, laid a detaining hand on his shoulder, from which Mr. de Lacey impatiently freed himself, while the other peered at him a moment in the deep gloom. "Ho! is it you. Master de Lacey?" he cried. The fugitive, who had hoped that he might escape recognition, made no further attempt at conceal- ment, but answered carelessly: "Aye, Captain Greatbatch, it is I." "I should ha' thought," said Greatbatch, with a ctmning glance out of the comer of his eye, "that you would ha' been ur at the great house with all the gentles for the marrying." "And so I have been," replied Mr. de Lacey, "though such merry-makings are but Uttle to my taste. I am a man of books." "Which makes you so pale and pasty," said Greatbatch, aware of the contrast between his own rubicund, even purplish countenance and that of his companion. "Moreover," added Mr. de Lacey, composedly, though inwardly fuming at the necessity for such an explanation, as well as at the insolent familiarity of the other, "I am leaving Manhattan for a brief period, and, as the weather is fair and th wnd favorable, I sail to-night." "For Barbadoes, mayhap," queried Greatbatch, in- quisitively, "with Rogers Master on 'The Mermaid.' He sails for Madeira, St. Thomas and Barbadoes," *w! 2o8 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER There was more than a note of suspicion in the fellow's voice, and in the look that, turning round, he fixed upon the fugitive. Mr. de Lacey, making no direct answer, said : "In the last place I have acquired interests that demand some looking after. And it is a fair wind for sailing and good weather." "Better'n we are like to have in these colonies, by " exclaimed Greatbatch, swearing a great oath, "as you may know. Master, if you be, as I might say, o' the trade." He gave his listener a poke in the ribs to emphasize his words. Mr. de Lacey, puzzled for a moment, was presently relieved, for he saw how far off the scent was the seaman, to whom matters maritime were of paramount interest. His laugh, therefore, seemed to Greatbatch a confirmation of his suspicions. "And mighty close you have been about it. Mas- ter," he added with something of admiration, "but none so quiet as will not be found out in the long run. And wise you are to run away, if trouble is brewing, though my plan is to brave it out. My Lord Bellomont" — and he added under his breath, "curse him!— is hard on the traders, harder than ever since he got bit by Cap'n Kidd, whom he had set to lord it over all of us and do the pirating for the Governor and for the King's Majesty, as I make no doubt, and as folks say. Only that Kidd gave them the slip and cried 'By your leave, gentles, I'll do the piratin' for myself.' Oh Lud! when I thinks on it." He stopped to give a roar of laughter and to slap his knee with his great red hand: "To think how he was cotched!" Looking around to be sure that th"-; were alone, and lowering his voice, he continued: ,.--i- AN UNWELCOME MEETING 209 "Th ugh thnre i-3 some that say the Governor was dt p in it as ; nother man, and, if all had gone well with Xio.rt and he had played fair with his mates, he would ha' had his profit out o' the 'Quidder Merchant,' and a deal besides. What think vou. Master?" ^ '"Tis a wise man that puts not his thoughts into words these days," answered Mr. de Lacey, guard- edly, "and, in truth, my own opinion would be that all that relates to His Excellency must be but idle gossip." Greatbatch snorted his unbeUef. "You are close as an oyster," he said, "and right you may be, but Tom Greatbatch's way is to speak his mind fair and open." "Well, each to his own fashion," Mr. de Lacey responded lightly, "only beware that one of these days you do not run your neck into a halter." Captain Greatbatch scowled, whether at the warn- ing itself or at the picture thus conjured up. But he said no more just then, and the two walked on in silence. They were upon the wharf now, which lay cold and pale in the dim starlight. To Mr. de Lacey the scene was one of consummate dreariness, so strongly does the temper of the mind color even inanimate nature. The river spread out black be- fore them; there was an odor of salt water, wet wood and tar intermingled. Save for an occasional light gleaming out from a vessel at anchor, that vast sheet of water might have been a desert plain. "There's the brigantine, yonder," said Great- P^teh, pointing with one thick and grimy finger; The Mermaid,' Rogers Master. A rough voyage he had of it last time. He was chased by a French privateer. He struck a great gale of wind off Sandy 'I' ft : ', I 210 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER Hook, which carried away his boom and washed three able-bodied men overboard." He still assumed that his companion was about to embark on "The Mermaid," and turned m that direction. In fact, Mr. de Lacey's destmation was far other. He was going to board a small sloop, which lay quietly at anchor at the foot of the Smith s Vly and which was to take him to the Colony of Massachusetts. It was highly important that his place of refuge should be secret from all but his two or three staunch friends, and for this tavern brawler, this smuggler, to gain any kiiowledge whatsoever of his movements, was something to be prevented at all hazards. He might, he feared, even be obUged on some pretence or another to abandon for the nonce his plan of escape. As it seemed hkely that Greatbatch, who did not appear to be gomg anywhere in particular and was full of cunosity, might insist on seeing him aboard ship, Mr. de Lacey suddenly stopped: . . „^ •„ . r i "Captain Greatbatch," he said, "I will be frank with you. As I am leaving Manhattan with no charge against me, nor even a suspicion of bemg involved in smuggUng operations, it is of the greatest moment to me that I should not appear in your com- ^^oi- an instant the coarse face of Greatbatch grew purple with indignation, and his bristUng eyebrows were drawn down in a scowl. But whether froin policy or because the words tickled his sense ot humor, he burst into a laugh. Giving Mr de Lacey a push, which at another time would have been highly resented by that gentleman, he cned: ''Go your ways, then. Tom Greatbatch thrusts his company on no man. No, by the Lord Harry! AN UNWELCOME MEETING 211 he don't. Nor is Rogers Master overfond of me, though he might want me yet to get his chestnuts out of the fire." "Good-bye, then," said Mr. de Lacey gaily, add- ing, though he well knew the uselessness of such counsel: "Mum's the word!" "Mum's the word!" repeated Greatbatch. Great batch looked after the retreating figure ap- parently heading for "The Mermaid." "Mum's the word, till it suits Tom Greatbatch to open his lips. There's your canting Christian for you and, as some folks say, a pestilent Papist. Thick as thieves he used to be up yonder at the Fort with Dongan and the Mass priests, when I was shipping for my first cruise. And now doin' his bit o' tradin' on the quiet, I make no doubt like the rest o' the gentles; keepin' the bread out of us poor men's mouths and sneakin' away when the chase grows hot." He would like to have gone down and interviewed the skipper of that vessel by which he supposed Mr. de Lacey to be about to sail. But he had his own reasons, growing out of his various practices, for giving Rogers Master and other honest seamen a wide berth. The brigantine consequently weighed anchor without Greatbatch being any the wiser and without having on board one Gerald de Lacey, Gentleman, late Major of Hussars. And a few moments later, in a spanking breeze and headed for Long Island Sound, sailed the sloop, "Anna Maria," Jenkins Master, upon which had really embarked a fugitive from persecuting laws. iiv,« P! ; CHAPTER X HUSBAND AKD WIFE OITTING on the porch Wore his house Mid S smoldnl an evening pipe in toteably close ^oxhSw to the de Laceys- dwelling. Mjmheer de V ™as the first to notice that it was untenanted Se «rfrom his chair and. still ^molong stroUed down the street for a cautious survey of his n'ngh w'<; nremises He stood outside the gate, ana Sowed to eTes to wander over the lovely pro usion Ke eS They noted that the study window wa^ doS and that no gleam of Ught came through S or CTaxiny. Though the observer was not SdUy suStible to outward impressions he was cMsaLs of that indescribable sense of blanlmes.. o? lonetoi that belongs to a habitation whence human presence has been withdrawn. Mynheer w3 to be certain of the fact, and softly unlatdbed ThTgSden gate and entered. He walked from Path to oaS^ unTJndful of the sweet fragrance of the ?ow^f ' He^Sew close to the house, andpeered Ktetagh the smaUest crack that the closed shut- ters^orfed. The aspect of the study proved con- SciSS^o his mind tlmt Gerald de Lacey's absence was more than temporary. ^^ was at the Tedding." mused the mquisitor "I ^w^ spoke to him. but I have not seen him HUSBAND AND WIFE 213 since, and here is the house closed up. Now, why this sudden departure?" He looked carefully all over the exterior of the house, as though he expected that an answer might be forthcoming from the four walls. He knew that Mistress Evelyn de Lacey had been visiting the Van Cortlandts for some days previous to the wedding, and would probably remain for a few days after- wards with the grandmother. This was quite nat- ural and to be expected. But where were the father and the servants? The two negroes, mother and daughter, who did the work of the cottage, were not slaves. The younger, Elsa, had long been Mistress Evelyn's maid and personal attendant, as the mother had been her nurse. By a sudden in- spiration Mynheer went round to the kitchen door; it was locked. He looked in the kitchen window; all V as dark and still. That settled the matter to the mind of the inquirer. If the master of the house were expected back shortly, the servants would not have gone. For the elder woman in particular rarely stirred from her comfortable quarters. Mynheer de Vries returned thoughtfully along the darkening street to his own mansion. Through the window he could see his wife, who was fat and went seldom abroad knitting near a marble-topped tabic. "In the ordinary course of events," reflected Mynheer, as he ascended the steps to the porch, "de Lacey would have notified me, as his nearest neighbor, of his departure and have asked, I opine, my good offices for the protection of his property, and even perchance of uis daughter, though that would be the affair of the Van Cortlandt family." He tried to solve the problem, and, in his impatient :( I " i 214 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER curiosity, felt resentful towards his wife because she sat so placidly in her chair. He had an angry feeling that he would like to drag her thence into the swift current of public affairs The feeling was but n'omentary. She was better as she was, and in- finitely less troublesome to him, than if she were one of these meddlesome women, who, from the first days of the Colony, had taken a leading part in colonial affairs and had pulled many a political string. Mynheer stroked his chin, as he often did when troubled, and thus cogitated: "How has de Lacey got hirtiself involved, and in what? If it be in trading operations, what does he know and how much might he cell, if Ws whereabouts were to be discovered?" The true reason for Mr. de Lacey's departure did not occur to him. He had not been in the colony in Dongan's time, and had never chanced to hear much of his neighbor's personal history or of his close connection with the Catholic Governor. He himself was very moderately interested in religious affairs, and was ready to "sneeze with the Dominies" only in so far as that nasal exercise was expedient. He had no fear of Popery. He never thought of it at all, and so had never imagined the de Laceys or any others of his own circle coming imder the anti- Popery laws. The only possible alternative to complicity in smuggling operations was a too pronounced activity on the anti-Leislerian side of the great controversy, though, in truth, he could not recall a single instance where his neighbor had meddled with present-day politics, or t^en any public part in the troubles that marked the whole course of Lord Bellomont's administration. Still, he thought, it might be quite te HUSBAND AND WIFE "S possible that, though living a very quiet life, he had made himself in some way obnoxious to the Governor and his chief advisers, who were frankly Leislerian, because of his and his daughter's intimacy with the Van Cortlandts and others of the aristocratic party. This supposition was more agreeable to Mynheer than the other. He himself had maintained a very safe attitude of neutrality between the parties. He was as friendly with Samuel Staats or Abraham de Peyster as with Nicholas Bayard, Pieter Schuyler or Stephen Van Cortlandt. But, in so far as il- licit trading with Greatbatch or others of his kidney was concerned, things were very different. Mynheer was here deeply involved. He had allowed his ha- bitual caution to fly to the winds in his passion for gain. He was fairly consumed by the desire to make money, for acquisitiveness was the dominant note of his character. He had, therefore, good reason to feel uneasy. If Mr. de Lacey had really been obliged to leave Manhattan for reasons connected with il- licit traffic, it might very well become necessary for Mynheer also to take the road. For it was likely, from all the circumstances, that his own operations had been on a far larger scale than anything that could have been attempted by de Lacey. Also, the fugitive might very well have been informed by Greatbatch and others of the wary merchant's con- nection with smugglers and their doings. If then it chanced that he were recaptured, might he not be tempted to make revelations which, incriminating others, would save himself? Mynheer, smoking vigorously, pondered on what kind of man de Lacey really was, but could not come to any de- cision, so apart were the two men in character as in standards of conduct. One thing alone became clear 1^ r^-: 2i6 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER to his mind, and that was that the secret of his neighbor's absence must be kept as long as possible. He himself would do aU in his power to mamtain such secrecy, and thus lessen the chances of his cap- ture and the possible revelations that might foUow. And this determination on his part was the eaaer inasmuch as he had a certain amount of friendly feeling towards the late inhabitants of the cottage and a profound admiration for Mistress Eyel^ and for the social success which she had attamed. In any case, the attitude that he took was a provi- dential circumstance for the de Laceys. Otherwise Myrfieer, who was no Uttle of a gossip and usuaUy well-informed as to what was passing in the town, might very well have thrown out hints m the tav- erns, or whispered in the drawing-rooms that a prominent resident of Manhattan had disappeared. Mynheer further resolved to find out what he could of the causes that led to such disappearance. He promised himself to sound Greatbatch, who could be brutally frank at times, and to hsten to the talk of the seafaring frequenters of Der Halle. He even determined to address a few discreet hnes to Mistress Evelyn de Lacey, whom he had long re- garded approvingly as a distinct asset to then: neighborhood, volunteering his assistance m case of need. This, he considered, would please the Van Cortlandts. He considered it a grievance that he should be no longer able to catch glimpses of Evelyn at her work in her garden or passing up and down the street. Mynheer had always been an adnurer of beauty, and his own "gude Vrow" had long since passed the stage when she was agreeable to the eye. Her virtues or her qualifications were certainly not of an ornamental character. Mynheer could scarcely HUSBAND AND WIFE 217 conceal from himself the conviction that she was a blot on the landscap. Hence he had pennitted himself, alwc/s within the bounds of discretion, to find a refreEhmt nt to thfi eye and a solace to the spuit in observing their fair neighbor. He wjnt into the house after this exhaustive re- view of ihe subject, and carefully inspected the rich furnishings of the place, as if he had never seen them before: the silk damask curtains, the rich carpets, the flowered tabby chimney-cloth, the vel- vet arm-chairs, with trimmings of silver lace. And, though he did not go upstairs to inspect his own and his Wife's wardrobe, where rich silks, satins and brocades abounded; though he did not descend into the cellar to visit the ample store of wines, he men- tally appraised all these things, and knew how much he was indebted to Greatbatch and his like for such luxuries. As an embargo was laid on nearly all foreign goods by the home government, his mansion and many a mansion in Manhattan woidd other- wise have been bare indeed. For even the wealth that he had acquired would not have been sufficient to provide ,0 many luxuries by legitimate means. Vrow de Vries watched her husband, in placid wonderment, as he made the tour of the room. She sincerely hoped he would find there no speck of dust, which would be sure to annoy him exceedingly. For she was not the housekeeper that she had been, and even the best of slaves were not always to be trusted. On this occasion, however, either the slaves had done their work efficiently, or Mynheer was too preoccupied to notice. "I owe something to Greatbatch," Mynheer re- marked at last, sinking into one of the Russian leather chairs, which he used in preference to those 218 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER of velvet with silver lace, the latter being chiefly for ornament. Vrow de Vries raised her large, heavy-lidded eyes: "Not a heavy sum, I do trust," she exclaimed. Mynheer waved his hand. "No sum of money at all," he returned curtly. "I was thinking of other tilings, and it might be as well if you did not in- terrupt me." His voice was a shade less cool and quiet than when in company. His wife's knitting-needles clicked as a sign that her share in the conversation was concluded. But the name of Greatbatch awak- ened disagreeable recollections in her mind. She remembered a great, uncouth fellow, who had come liin'bering in, with his smell of tar and with big rnuddy boots. These latter had been the occasion of a severe scolding to herself from Mynheer. She had not noted the muddy tracks in time to have them removed, and Madam Van Cortlandt and her granddaughter had inopportunely happened in for an afternoon call. The good Vrow sighed, and her husband moved impatiently. He disliked those audible sighs, yawns and other signs of inward dis- comfort, in wluch his wife indulged. She had not, it must be owned, a manner such as Mynheer had carefully cultivated. He had married her, the daugh- ter of a small shop-keeper in Salem, a town in the neighboring Colony of Massachusetts. That was before prosperity had overtaken him on the way of life. The two had been happy so long as the Vrow kept her good looks, and before Mynheer had made money, chiefly through those very trading operations which now kept him in fear De Vries had come to Manhattan, and bought this fine mansion of the late distinguished citizen. HUSBAND AND WIFE 3,9 Comeljus Steenwyck, and, as it micht he «tH stepped into the Jioes of the owier fdng rd^^ distantly to one of the leading Dutch fS« Mynheer was received into sodety. althoSThe Zut"^*^^ \''r^''' "^i P*^'" knew Uttll about hun He had a smooth and easy manner Sf,^,%i!.v'y °^ ^r'?'"^ ^' friction.^i(S^^v^ hmi a factitious popularity. He became an impoS man in many directions, taking part, as Steenwvck mad? r^f '" ^ "7\^!L'«. «nd^had rlc^Sy"^ '^^''^^^^^^'*i "^^^^^ "^"« avoiding the Scylla and Charybdis of partisan politics, he wis an arttent supporter of William of Orange, especially whS hi teTIhrS,'^' "^"^ °^ h Sent^Tme,^ bers of the Governor's Household. He was a wel- 'XtT.n'" n !l°'? P"**=^ ^^ E«8Ush housi. folfrl H *?t fine society his wife could not follow Her avoirdupois alone would have been bl^'sL5r^,'.T ^i ^" '"^^^ ^d deportS wV K ^ i?,'^ ^"" recognition. And. though her husband did not neglect her any further thS t^vL f ' u °^S2™^ '"°'^ exacting and more ahve to her faults. The woman felt that he was being which could not be bridged over. Beneath all h^ pkadity, she pondered in a dull, brooding way IhZr^FI^?^- .^^^ ^^^ ^^^ society wWA ^„^ !^ ^^ husband, and would have liked to be revenged upon it. She never expressed such thought hu^llirr^' ^l-.^th all his astuteness, he^ husband had no suspicion of their existence. JNor did de Vnes know that his wife cherished a aio GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER particular ){nidge against Evelyn de Lacey for no other reason than that she had often heard her com- mended by Mynheer, and had herself seen with her dull eyes how well those commendations were mer- ited. Often, when her husband was out, she had stolen to the window to watch the girl at work in the garden or passing the house. It is true that she discounted these perfections, which were so far re- moved from her own style of good looks— at least, from those which she had possessed in her youth. Yet, something within her slow consciousness as- sured her that the praise? bestowed upon Evelyn were less than she deserved. Sometimes, when in a particularly bitter mood, she used to amuse herself by imagining accidents by which the girl's beauty might t« destroyed. She would imagine a scar which woijd disfigure, a thrust that might put out one of the eyes, a scorching fire that wotild bum away the lustrous hair end the little ringlets that played so fascinatingly around Evelyn's face, an injury to the spine to cause a sioop, rheumatism to cripple the graceful movements, unsightly bums to mar the symmetry of the slender hands. Any or all of these things would alence her husband's eulogies of the girl and prevent her being held up as a mirror of perfections. Not that Vrow de Vries would have herself inflicted any of these injuries, for she was incapable of physical violence. But she would have been well content if such things had happened "by the visitation of the Lord," or in any other conceiv- able way. Mynheer, perturbed and busy with his own thoughts, little imagined the turmoil that, under that placid exterior in the arm-chair, raged more fiercely than any storm his own nature could know. HUSBAND AND WIFE 321 "Should de Lacey be involved," Mynheer said, spealdtig aloud as he sometimes did in moments of abstraction, "it may fare ill with Mistress Evelyn. Her great beauty might not avail her there." "Her great beauty!" The words were as a torch to set on fire those combustible materials that were smouldering within the listener. The knitting- needles were still an instant. "If you were but a widower, de Vries," said a voice from the arm-chair, "this Mistress Evelyn might be added to the other fine furniture of the house." Mynheer, turning, regarded his wife with eyes wide open in astonishment. Then, nearly closing them as he watched her: "She might or she might not be," he responded sententiously. "She soars high, that bird of Para- dise, or I am much mistaken." Observing the dull crimson flush that mantled the heavy, faded cheeks, he added: "Were I in the market, good Vrow, I should bar- gain for more costly wares — such wares, I mean, as would pay for themselves. Mistress Polly Van Cortlandt, now Vrow Laurens, would have suited me better on all accounts." The raging fire was calmed a little by this declar- ation, which the wife intuitively knew to be the truth. Her husband was not one to repeat the mis- take of his earlier life and marry a penniless girl. Mynheer, still keeping his eyes fixed upon the heavy face and shapeless figure, said: "So, poor fool, you are beginning to repine that the Lord has taken from you such measure of beauty as you had. For you were a comely wench, Marije, when I married you, or the wed(^g would never :.H| ^:W I 'J 822 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER have taken place. And you cannot say but that I have held to the bargain." "Yes," the wife said, "you have held to the bar- gain because you were afraid to lose the good opinion of yovi fine friends." He knew that there was a modictun of truth in what she said, though he took credit to himself that that had not been his only reason. He remarked quite veraciously now: "I would that I had nothing but the women, plain or beautiful, to disturb my thoughts. So, if your mind be running in thdt groove, you may save yourself the trouble. Beauties to me are but pic- tures, a pleasant part of the landscape." He waved his hand to indicate the wide freedom of his thoughts, and in fact spoke the truth, for am- bition, gre^ of gain and the desire to appear well in society were his master passions. Nor was he al- together dissatisfied with his wife, who had hitherto played with tolerable skill the part of housewife, and who had never until that day, so far as he knew, troubled her head about his outside affairs. It was a noticeable fact, nevertheless, that never thereafter did he speak in his wife's hearing of Evelyn de Lacey. A word to the wise was sufficient. CHAPTER XI PROSSBR Williams' sesolvb THE dajrs that followed the wedding were sin- gularly lonely for Evelyn. Save Madam Van Cortlandt, there was scarcely anyone with whom she could exchange a word. Polly had been removed from the scene, accompanying her husband on a trip into the neighboring Colony of Pennsylvania, where they were to remain a month at least. Even the town of Manhattan seemed, in so far as its social side was concerned, to be suffering a reaction after the excitement of the wedding. Evelyn kept as much as possible aloof from the various yoimg girls of her circle, with whom she was more or less inti- mate, lest questions might be asked concerning her father. The loss of his companionship was most pievous to her. She missed his bright, half-whim- sical conversation, his interest in all her ^airs, and the home life now so sadly interrupted without any definite prospect of being resumed. Her anxiety for him often kept her awake at night, as she pic- tured him in the loneliness of his exile, and perlwps in deadly peril of his life. For the first weeks she made her unwillingness to leave Madam Van Cort- landt an excuse for absenting herself from the dances and assemblies at various houses, which she had previously much enjoyed. But her hostess was of 224 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER opinion that such a course of action, if long persisted in, might draw upon her the suspicion of the curious or ill-natured. It would be wiser to act in all re- spects as she had acted before, and, if questions were asked concerning her father, it might be replied that he had gone away on business. Hence it was that, with a heavy heart and the shadow of a great fear obscuring her usual bright- ness, Evelyn began to participate once more in all the gay doings of the town — much to the delight of Pieter Schuyler, who was unwearied in his attentions to her. No less intense was tlje gratification afforded by her presence to Prosser Williams, for he was thus enabled to press his unwelcome attentions upon her, all the more so as Captain Ferrers had been obliged to accompany Lord Bellomont on a visit to his gov- ernment of Massachusetts. It may well be recorded here that His Excellency was always received with great enthusiasm in those parts, where he was more popular than in New York. On the occasion of that particular visit, a banquet was held in his honor, and a presentation made to him of many pounds in gold, which was highly acceptable to his depleted treasury. Though fully aware that Prosser Williams had been the author of all her father's troubles and the cause of his flight, Evelyn was nevertheless compelled through motives of policy to conceal her repulsion as best she covdd, and avoid making an open enemy of one whom die knew to be secretly inimical. She had the distressing consciousness that he had been only holding back his hand against her father and herself out of his professed admiration for her. Captain Ferrers had feared that he was going to proceed to extremities and arrest her father, which PROSSER WILLIAMS' RESOLVE 225 indeed was part of a skilfully constructed plan. But that first part of the scheme had failed of its operation because Prosser Williams on the occasion of the wedding was so struck anew by Evelyn's beauty and chann that he detennined, if he could, to win her by fair means in the absence of Egbert Ferrers. If these means failed, then he was prepared to go any lengths. He had made up his mind to marry her, bitterly as his friends in England would resent his union with a penniless girl. He had thrown all other thoughts to the wind; his cold and cal- culating nature was inflamed t rough and through with an ardor which he would have hitherto deemed impossible. To Evelyn it was no little of a trial to be forced to take the man's hand and tread with liim the measure of "La Belle Katherine," "Money Musk" or the "Maid of the Mill." She listened with in- ward loathing to the exaggerated compliments which he believed all women desired. In an endeavor to be agreeable, the unwelcome suitor comported him- self generally in a manner which caused Evelyn to detest and despise him. So fatuous was this fine gentleman, who had been spoiled by the notice of many fashionable dames, that he fancied he was making progress because the girl did not actually repulse him. He began to plume himself upon his success, and, as he went superciliously about the streets of the town with an insolence which made him universally impopular, he indulged in various soliloquies, some of which were addressed to Gerald de Lacey. "My fine fellow, you will feel my hand one of these days, unless Mistress Evelyn can be brought to terms. If she consents, I will do her the honor to lill" 226 GERALD DE LACEY'S DAUGHTER many her, and a good thing it will be for her to get out of this beggarly colony, as soon as my time is up. If she refuses" — ^he clenched his hand and a dark look came over his face — "if she refuses, I will bring you both down with the same shot." Musing thus, he went to Der Halle to keep an appointment with Captain Greatbatch at an hour when he knew that only the habitues of the place would be present. He frequented the tavern be- cause he liked to indulge there, as he might not do elsewhere, that passion for gambling by which he had dissipated quite a respectable fortune in Eng- land. These losses had induced him to accept a position in His Excellency's Household, and, leaving the riotous company which he had affected in Lon- don, to come out to the colonies. Almost since his arrival he had deaUngs with Greatbatch and a finger in that notorious smuggler's pie. By this means he hoped to retrieve his fortune and secure a goodly pile, which, on his return to England, he might spend in his former extravagant fashion. However, in this place where, like Lady Bellomont, he considered himself an exile, fate haJ smitten him in the form of a penniless girl, and cried halt to all his calculations. Greatbatch, on his part, had counted much on the young man's influence, which he beUeved had kept him unscathed during these days so troublous for one of his profession. He treated him, therefore, with an almost servile defer- ence, though he was well aware that the Captain was to a certain extent in his power, since he coidd at least injure and discredit him by makii g use of the knowledge he possessed. The young officer was partly misled by this servility as to the real char- acter of the man, which was a mixture of cunning PROSSER WILLIAMS' RESOLVE 227 and brutality. He treated him accordingly with arrogance and ill-concealed contempt. Having ascertained by careful scrutiny from with- out that ttiere was no one of consequence present. Prosser Wilhams passed through the room with a curt nod to mine host, who seemed to expand in girth and m geniality with every passing day. He seated hunself at a remote table with Greatbatch and began to converse in low tones with the man, whom he regarded merely as a pliant tool. Their talk at first was chiefly of matters of trade, in which Prosser Willmms showed the keenness of a huckster, tor, where his own advantage was concerned, he could dnve the hardest of bargains. But there was something else that evening on which he desired to sound Greatbatch. He had long had it in mind as one of his schemes that, all else failing, he might contnve to have Evelyn conveyed on board the bngantme Hesperia," of which this fellow was master, and sail away to some distant port where he could force his captive to n^ wry him. Such things were common enough, and would cause, when all was over, only a nine-days' wonder. He counted much on his own influence with the Governor, and the influence of his highly connected relatives in tnglaad, to help him to weather the storm, which he did not conceal from himself would be raised not only by the girl's father, but by the Van Cort- landts and other influential Colonials. Still, he could finaUy represent the affair as a romantic es- capade, and Evelyn, once securely in his power, would have to support him in that contention. It would be made to appear that it was merely an dopemoit with the girl's knowledge and cogent, wor did he stop to consider that those who knew Irr* 228 GERALD de LACEY'S DAUGHTER Evelyn would never believe such a story. He would have a powerful weapon against the girl in his knowledge of her father's antecedents and the threat to have him arrested and even— as might very weU be— put to death, should he make too great an out- cry He would long ago have acted against Mr. de Lacey from mere hatred of the Catholic cause- to which was added hatred of the man who had eluded him in England, and rebuked him that day in his own garden— had it not been for the press^ which he hoped to bring through the father on the daughter to compel her to accept his suit. Of late he had shown a fatal mdeasion, wluch had arisen from the hope that Evelyn was beginnmg to regard him more favorably. In that event, ot course, it would be his poUcy to cover up ^ traces of the father's poUtical and religious convictions, tor these would constitute obstacles to his marnage m the eyes of his own relatives, from some of whom he had expectations. He tc!d himself that, once mar- ried, he would be master, and it would be easy to coerce Evelyn into at least outward conformity to the estabUshed reUgion. His thin lips tightened as he told himself that no wife of his would be per- mitted to profess, much less to practise, the Romish superstition, nor consort with Jesuits or other dan- gerous characters. Mistress Evelyn woidd be on a very different footing then from that of the spoiled beauty who had reigned over a large circle of Man- hattanese. , . • _ u He had made up his mind that that evenmg would be a fitting opportunity to broach the subject to Greatbatch, ance the matter must be brought to a head. He was weary of delay, and it would be eaaer to act in the absence of Ferrers, m whom he PROSSER WILLIAMS' RESOLVE 229 recognized, not only a formidable rival, but a possible circumventer of his schemes. He had plied his boon companion with rum until the latter was in a state, not of irritation as in the earlier stages of intoxica- tion, but of compliance. He leaned his arms on the table, bending confidentially towards the smuggler, and opened the subject. He represented a friend of his as being smitten with the charms of a certain young lady, whose parents might oflfer opposition to the match; therefore, in the event of an elope- ment, could that friend trust to Greatbatch to carry through the project? "If the wench be willing," said Greatbatch, with a wink, "it would be no great matter." "But should she not be willing?" inquired Wil- liams. "Ah, that is a horse of another color," replied the smuggler, scratching his head;"there would be the devil and all to pay about forcible abduction." Then he added, peering into his companion's face: "Tell me. Master, is she of the people?" "No, and be hanged to yoiu- cursed curiosity!" Greatbatch shook his head with a surly scowl at the rebuff. ^_ "If your friend be a wise man," he declared, "he will attempt no such enterprise now, when disturbances of all kinds are rife, and we drippers, as it is, are trembling for our skins." "And some of you might well tremble," suggested Williams, significantly, "had they no friends at court, or if those friends turned against them. Then it would be a matter for the halter and the gibbet." He made an expressive gesture, and Greatbatch, thoroughly alarmed, agreed. "I'm your man for the job, whatever it be," M ■• 'iM 230 GERALD DB LACEY'S DAUGHTER he hastened to assure the other, "provided that the night be dark and a strong wind blowing, with a quiet potion for the maid that she be not heard." There was something in these details which was revoltir^ even to Prosser Williams, when mentioned in connection with Evelyn. He mentally resolved that, only in the last extremity, would he proceed to such a course of action, and then it would be the girl's own fault. She would bring it on herself, since he was prepared to take all ch^ces and marry her openly and honorably to his own great detriment. So absorbed was he in these thdughts, and so viindly appeared to his mind the face of the girl, that he scarcely noticed at first that Greatbatch was speak- ing again. "And I hope your honor's friend will remember that I am a poor man, ruined since the Governor and many others have turned honest." Prosser Williams frowned. "Shut your scurrilous mouth, you dog," he said; . "such talk is hanging matter. But, as to your gain in this business, be assured it will pay you well, if it be successful." i "The sooner the better then," exclaimed Great- batch, animated with a great courage from the rum he had been steadily swaUowing. "My friend will let you know all in good time," said WilliMis, "if his fickle fancy does not change. And, neanwhile, keep your mouth shut; that is the important matter." "Forwhatportwouldyourfriendwishtosail?" in- quired Greatbatch, unwilling to let the matter be thus lightly disposed of. ' 'How would Barbadoes suit ? I have a mind to take a run down there for a cargo of rum, sugar and spices, all aboveboard and honest." PROSSER WILLIAMS' RESOLVE 231 . "^^^3^ wiU do as weU as another place," re- turned Williams. "WWch minds me." went on the smuggler, and Jt would be hard to say if there was any other as- sooation of ideas in his mind than the mere name of the island, 'of a chap I saw slipping away to Barbadoes for reasons of his own." "What chap?" asked Williams idly, out of the merest curiosity. He was standing up with his hand on ttie bade of the chair, preparatory to departure. One of your good sort— canting, hypocritical knaves thqr mostly are; a bookish feUow, too, but de^, I make no doubt, in matters of trade." A booldsh fellow," repeated Williams slowly, strode by the expression, and remembering to have lieMxl Gerald de Lacey described as a man buried m his books. x*"'^y®'r ^^ Greatbatch, nodding his head, "one Master de Lacey, an impudent knave with his nose high m the air." Greatbatch little knew what a blow he had in- flicted by that idle bit of gossip. Had he known he would have rejoiced. "De Lacey!" echoed Williams, bending forward ovw the chair-back. "And did you say he had gone to Barbadoes?" "G