JL ii m * T T ^-^ ^^ JL >L i Vfc.^ 
 
 OF-iJUDITH-
 
 IRVINE
 
 THE WOOING OF JUDITH
 
 THE 
 WOOING OF JUDITH 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 1902
 
 P5 
 
 ft 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 Published, September, 1902
 
 fester 
 
 MRS. KATE H. OLDS 
 
 OF RALEIGH, N. C. 
 THIS STORY OF LOVE is DEDICATED
 
 PRELUDE 
 
 upon a time a king of Babylon, 
 sitting amid the bewildering splendours 
 of his court, called before him his poets 
 and musicians, and bade them make for him a 
 song that should live forever. They hastened 
 to obey the royal command, and in the festival 
 that followed many brave stories were told; 
 and the king thought that surely some of them 
 must be imperishable. One chanted the glories 
 of war and the feats of martial heroes. One 
 wove a chaplet of verse to fame. Another told 
 of Babylon the Great her hanging gardens, 
 her many-towered temples, her enchantments 
 and her power. Still another, a courtier first 
 and poet afterwards, tossed his daring flat 
 teries into the face of the king. Monarchs 
 made of meaner clay than he, said this bold 
 sycophant, had gone down into the silent tombs 
 never to return even in the thoughts of men ; but 
 this king was cast in different mould ; the bending 
 heavens fraught with stars declared that he 
 should be as a god, and the hand of Death
 
 Prelude 
 
 Eternal should pass him by. He named the 
 great works of the king, his mighty roads, his 
 harnessed rivers, his ever victorious armies. 
 These were not the achievements of a mortal 
 man, and it was inconceivable that the spirit 
 which had wrought all this should ever flicker 
 and go out in the night of oblivion. 
 
 And the king was pleased with all the poets, 
 but more especially with the song of himself, 
 which he believed, being unforgettable, would 
 give him to immortality. But as the years 
 passed the king died and was forgotten; the 
 great works of his hand crumbled into dust; 
 Babylon was blotted out and became a mere 
 heap upon the desert; and song after song of 
 that great festival passed from the minds of 
 men, for none of the poets who clustered about 
 the throne of the king had thought to sing of 
 Love Love, the one thing that bears within 
 itself the essence of immortality ! 
 
 It is my purpose in this volume to reverse 
 for a short space the glass of Time so that the 
 sands shall run backward down the sunny slope 
 to a period when England held us in the hollow 
 of her hand ; for in that twilight of our history 
 I have found an echo of that unsung song that 
 lives forever. Not daring adventures, nor 
 feats of arms, nor impossible dangers, nor
 
 Prelude 
 
 thrilling mysteries are my concern, but only a 
 forgotten love story of the long ago. Tis a 
 far cry to those dead days, but hearts were 
 human in that shadowland of the past; love 
 kissed with wine-red lips, and passion stretched 
 white hands insistently; and so it is this story 
 of the ache and the ecstacy of it all rises before 
 me and demands a scribe. 
 
 Where the poets of old left off, I take up the 
 task, striking the chord they left untouched; 
 and weaving from the broken threads of romance 
 that have blown down the vanishing years a 
 web of song whose woof and warp are love, 
 love, love !
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Exiles . , . ~. 3 
 
 II. On the High Seas . . . 17 
 
 III. A New Strand in the Romance 30 
 
 IV. The Crossing of the Threads . 41 
 V. The Ghost of Rivermead . . 55 
 
 VI. Lissa ...... 67 
 
 VII. A Love of the Long Ago . . 78 
 
 VIII. Seton s Return .... 86 
 
 IX. Under the Candelabra . . 97 
 
 X. A Dance and a Dice Box . . 113 
 
 XL A Thread of Gold ... 127 
 
 XII. A New Sail Over the Sea . . 140 
 
 XIII. In the Shadow . . . .150 
 
 XIV. The Awakening . . . 159 
 XV. A Happy Day at Rivermead . 172 
 
 XVI. The Message of Doom . . 187 
 
 XVII. The Voice of the Tempter . 197 
 
 XVIII. " Thread of Love, or Thread of 
 
 Sin ? " . . . . 210 
 
 XIX. The Second Letter in the Packet 221 
 
 XX. " Speak Now, or Forever Hold 
 
 Your Peace." . . .230 
 
 XXI. Tenants of a Fevered Brain . 245 
 
 XXII. Under a Tropic Sun . . 254 
 
 XXIII. The Fringes of a Shadow . . 263
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXIV. Out of a Vanished June-Time . 
 
 XXV. Darkness 
 
 XXVI. Man to Man ; 
 
 XXVII. Snarling the Threads 
 
 XXVIII. The Ball at Greenspring ; 
 
 XXIX. Piecing out the Threads of Fate 
 
 XXX. Tony Wins His Heart s Desire . 
 
 XXXI. "The Coin of the Realm of 
 
 Hearts" . 
 
 XXXII. The Last Cast of the Shuttle 
 
 PAGE 
 276 
 
 285 
 297 
 
 3 08 
 3 2 4 
 336 
 
 353 
 
 366 
 384
 
 THE WOOING OF JUDITH
 
 THE WOOING OF JUDITH 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EXILES. 
 
 "The world was all before them, where to choose 
 Their place of rest, and Providence their guide." 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 TUDITH, Judith, your eyes are as grave 
 
 * as a funeral-weeper s," laughed the boy. 
 
 You surely do not credit what the hag hath 
 said? She would have told anyone else the 
 same fortune for a like bit of silver." 
 
 But without answering Judith watched the 
 old woman slowly descend the steep cliff path 
 to the shore upon which the tumbled winter 
 sea threw itself sullenly. When the crone had 
 reached the level sand and begun to gather bits 
 of driftwood for a faggot, the girl turned to 
 her companion and lifting her hand, palm 
 upward, scrutinized it closely. 
 
 "Much joy, a terrible grief, gold in plenty, 
 four lovers, a long journey, one husband, and 
 to live and love and die in a far-away land. 
 
 3
 
 4 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Now, Newton, how think you the old witch 
 could see all that in my palm?" 
 
 " Tis in sooth a small page to bear so much 
 of news. Let me see if I can read it. " 
 
 But she drew her hand from his reach. " Nay, 
 you stumble over the coarse print of your 
 Psalter, tis not supposable that you could read 
 where there are no words, only little, hair-like 
 lines. But come, it is growing late and cold." 
 She turned as she spoke and they started across 
 the upland toward the house that overlooked 
 the sea from its high cliff. Newton talked as 
 they went, but Judith was silent and thought 
 ful. At last she said meditatively: 
 
 "Four lovers; that does not sound like a 
 mighty multitude, does it? Most girls have 
 a dozen." 
 
 Tis already three too many, " the boy 
 answered irritably. 
 
 She looked at him with her clear, grave eyes. 
 "Nurse always said, when we were children, 
 that you were close-fisted, Newton; and here 
 you are wishing to pay the niggard even with 
 my lovers." 
 
 "Well, I d never play it with my love, if 
 only " 
 
 But she was again studying her palm, and 
 gave him no heed.
 
 Exiles 5 
 
 "Joy and sorrow and money and lovers; 
 there s nothing uncommon in that; tis what 
 might fall to any girl. " 
 
 "Yes, the gipsy hag hath probably won 
 many a silver piece besides that one of mine 
 with this same tale of fortune," the boy an 
 swered. 
 
 "And she said I would one day be mistress of 
 a fine house; I wonder which of these lines is 
 the path that leads to it. " 
 
 "The one that runs due east, I hope, since 
 that would lead to Lincoln Hall. " 
 
 "That cannot be, for by the prophecy I am 
 to marry a man with fair eyes," she answered, 
 looking at him without a trace of coquetry in 
 her voice or manner, and with a certain con 
 viction that made him suddenly detest the 
 brown orbs that were a heritage of the Lincolns. 
 "And besides," she continued, "my husband 
 is to be tall and strong and 
 
 "Well, I am but nineteen; a man may grow 
 to be six feet in two more years. And as for 
 the strength, I m not going to be sick always." 
 
 She touched his arm with a swift sympathy. 
 "Indeed you are not; I think you are better 
 every month. " 
 
 "I am," but there was more strength of 
 spirit than of body in his voice. "And as for
 
 6 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the colour of an eye, what can that old hag tell 
 of such things ? Nothing, nothing? The whole 
 matter is a piece of guess-work, a silly witch- 
 tale," he concluded sharply. 
 
 "Of course it is," she admitted; and then 
 immediately fell to studying her hand again. 
 
 "A long journey; I wonder whither, and for 
 what And think of living and dying away 
 from Cotslea?" 
 
 "A journey might not be improbable, seeing 
 how many families are leaving England just 
 now. My father declares he will quit the 
 country before he swears allegiance to a Round 
 head Government; and Sir Thomas is quite as 
 bitter in his way of feeling." 
 
 "Yes," the girl said dreamily. "I fear we 
 have fallen upon evil days, but twill all come 
 right when the Prince is crowned and Cromwell 
 is sent back to his brewing. Good night, 
 Newton; shall we go again to the witch s cabin 
 to-morrow and see if she has forgotten what she 
 said to-day and will tell us a new fortune?" 
 
 "Yes; and do you borrow the housekeeper s 
 black hood and mantle so the number of your 
 lovers may be cut down tis a wonder the 
 crone gave you not twenty in that blue tippet. " 
 
 And Judith laughed, and instantly forgot 
 the evil days upon which they had fallen. But
 
 Exiles 7 
 
 she had spoken truly, only she had not meas 
 ured accurately the storm that made the days 
 so terrible, seeing it only from the narrow out 
 look of her own home. But there was con 
 sternation in England, amazement and horror 
 throughout Europe, for the tragedy at White 
 hall had been consummated; a royal head had 
 fallen under the headsman s axe, and the "blood 
 of the man of blood" had been spilled by the 
 Puritan. 
 
 For the nonce vengeance had seemed satis 
 fied, but well the Cavaliers knew that when the 
 first paralysis of surprise at their own action 
 had passed, the Roundheads resentment would 
 neither slumber nor sleep. It would require 
 many heads from the executioner s basket 
 to balance the scales adjusted by the fana 
 ticism of the age. Indictments, convictions, 
 confiscations, executions would be wholesale; 
 and it behooved those of the king s party 
 not already in the toils of the law and the 
 enemy, to make good their escape while it was 
 yet possible. And so in the lull following the 
 storm-burst of Charles s death, hundreds of 
 Cavaliers fled their native land and sought 
 refuge across the channel or beyond the sea. 
 Many went to Holland or to Scotland to 
 await the coming of the young Stuart heir
 
 8 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 whose coronation would be their political sal 
 vation. But some there were who saw in the 
 horizon no star betokening hope for the future 
 of kingship in England men who gauged more 
 adequately the strength of the new government 
 and foresaw the futility of the prolonged Royal 
 ist struggle. These men bethought them, not 
 of a transient exile, but of a permanent home 
 in the Colonies across the Atlantic. 
 
 Yet not in New England would they seek 
 asylum, where the settlers, themselves refugees 
 from religious persecutions, had turned persecu 
 tors of all creeds out of attune with their 
 straightened ideas. Rather did they look for 
 welcome from the Southern Colonies which, 
 settled largely by voluntary exiles and under 
 the protection of royalty, still preserved a strong 
 sentiment of allegiance to the king and the 
 Established Church of England. And so their 
 prows were turned toward the Chesapeake 
 and the Albemarle, and the best blood of Eng 
 land flowed into Virginia and Carolina to es 
 tablish there an aristocracy rivalling in pride 
 and dignity that of the home country. 
 
 Among those who were not deceived by the 
 prospect in England was Sir Thomas Gary, who 
 had left an arm at Marston Moor and knew that 
 no matter what turn affairs took, his fighting
 
 Exiles 9 
 
 days were over. The day after Judith s walk 
 with Newton there must have been unusual 
 tidings from London, for he came, in great ex 
 citement, into the room where his daughter sat 
 idly strumming on her spinet. 
 
 " Get up from there, Judith, child, " he cried, 
 "and go pack your boxes, and put in your 
 mother s portrait and those things you most 
 value, for what we leave behind will no doubt 
 be confiscated by Cromwell s vultures. " 
 
 "And what should all this packing mean?" 
 she asked, going on with her tune, but in a 
 minor key, looking at him the while with her 
 blue eyes that were like his, only softer and 
 darker. 
 
 " It means that the axe at Whitehall will not 
 be content with one head, however high, but 
 that I do not mean to contribute mine to help 
 glut its appetite. Your brothers will stay and 
 fight for the Prince, but you and I will away to 
 the Colonies and bide there till the storm be 
 passed. " 
 
 "To the Colonies, father?" faltered Judith, 
 whose ideas of America were vague and not 
 over pleasing. 
 
 "Aye, child, to the Colonies. An I go not 
 there, twill be to the block instead, for the 
 Roundheads love me not; and there be not a
 
 10 
 
 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 hole in all England small enough or dark enough 
 to hide a man from Cromwell s ire; I know 
 him of old, hard as flint and crafty as a fox." 
 
 "But my brothers I pray you, Sir, why 
 should they not come with us ?" 
 
 "Because, forsooth, they must stay and 
 fight for the Prince; tis their duty and their 
 choice. They be young and strong, not old 
 and maimed as I, " he answered, with a pathetic 
 motion toward the empty sleeve pinned across 
 his breast. "I am naught but a broken stick; 
 but praise be to God my sons can still bear arms 
 for their sovereign. They will go straight to 
 Scotland and there await the landing of Prince 
 Charles. But come, child, get you gone and 
 begin your packing." 
 
 But Judith was not over given to obedience 
 when it jumped not with her inclination, so she 
 lingered until she teased from him all there was 
 to tell of their plans. 
 
 "How and when do we go?" 
 
 "Five days hence on the Tigress, if no mis 
 chance befall. Edward Lincoln has already 
 gone to make application to the sailing master 
 for passage for our families. " 
 
 "The Lincolns? Ah, I am glad Newton 
 goes with us. " 
 
 " Tis certain he would not go without you, "
 
 Exiles 1 1 
 
 her father teased, catching one of her long 
 braids ; but she pulled it from him. 
 
 " Keep to the matter in hand, father. When 
 we reach the Colonies, whither then?" 
 
 "To Virginia, to our cousin, Laurence Falk- 
 ner. He will give us shelter until such time as 
 I can look about and choose a biding place. I 
 have already writ him by a bark that sailed 
 yester morning, for this plan has been in my 
 mind since the king s death. You have not 
 forgot your Cousin Laurence, I dare swear." 
 
 "Ah, no," answered Judith quickly. "He 
 was not like my brothers, for although so much 
 older than I he was ever ready to amuse me 
 when I was weary of being by myself. I mind 
 well the day Robert caught him playing at 
 dolls with me and called him Betty, or some 
 girl name; and how he put down the doll and 
 thrashed Robert, and then came back to finish 
 our play as though nothing had happened. I 
 was very fond of Cousin Laurence. " 
 
 "And right fond he was of you, little mistress. 
 When his father took him away to America 
 twas you he hated most to leave. Let me see ; 
 that was ten years ago, and you were then but 
 a chit of nine. Methinks Laurence will find 
 you somewhat changed. " He laughed as he 
 pinched her cheek and then kissed the spot
 
 12 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 lovingly, for she was his only daughter and the 
 child of his old age; her brothers, Robert and 
 Thomas, being six and eight years her seniors. 
 Her mother had died while she was yet a baby, 
 and so from the time she could reach up to lock 
 a closet she had been mistress of her father s 
 house. And now she was to go away to a 
 strange country and leave the familiar rooms 
 shut up in silence, or else to be usurped by 
 strangers. The announcement of this had been 
 so sudden that a full realization was slow in 
 coming to her. It seemed like some horrible 
 nightmare from which she must presently 
 awake. Sir Thomas s voice, as he again went 
 over their plans, seemed far away, like the mur 
 mur of the waves that mutters and trembles, 
 but never breaks into intelligible speech. After 
 he had left her she stood gazing about at the 
 walls and the furniture she had known since her 
 baby days, until the slowly gathering tears 
 blurred them from her sight. 
 
 "Father?" she cried, running to the door 
 through which he had passed. "Father, I 
 cannot go. Let us stay here and brave it out 
 together; they will not dare to touch you. " 
 
 But he was beyond the reach of her voice ; 
 and then there swept over her the full extent 
 of his peril ; she would be spared by the Round-
 
 Exiles 13 
 
 heads, since killing women was not their trade ; 
 but her father she shuddered in a sudden 
 horror of the axe and the block ; and in breath 
 less haste fled away to the servants hall. 
 
 "Come, every one of you. Get boxes and 
 cords and nails; let us to work?" 
 
 For days the house was in a state of ferment 
 with the ransacking of closets and the opening 
 of long unused chests. Sir Thomas insisted 
 that but little luggage could be taken, and 
 Judith kept the packers busy with the swift 
 changes of her mind. It seemed impossible to 
 leave anything; there was the chair in which 
 the mother she had never known had rocked 
 her babies ; there was her own spinet, and there 
 was the mahogany settle on which she and her 
 father had spent so many happy twilight hours 
 telling stories of fairies and heroes. To her 
 childish fancy it had seemed always haunted 
 with the spirits of dead warriors. 
 
 "Father, cannot we take the settle? "she 
 pleaded, "it seems like deserting so many friends 
 to leave it. " 
 
 But Sir Thomas was firm ; only the plate and 
 picture s and the rare hangings from the walls 
 could go. The house looked desolate enough 
 on the fourth day, stripped of its choicest 
 treasures ; but Judith comforted her father with
 
 14 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 hopeful talk of the time when they should re 
 turn and set up their household idols in the 
 old niches. For surely, she told herself, the 
 gipsy s words had been but an idle guess, and 
 it was only a journey and not a life-time biding 
 on which she was starting. 
 
 When all was done she was in a fever to 
 be gone, for already there were vague rumours 
 from London concerning Sir Thomas, whose 
 quick tongue lost no opportunity to gibe at the 
 new government. And on the heels of the 
 threats came a body of soldiers who patrolled 
 the neighbourhood and kept an eye on Cotslea. 
 Newton Lincoln came over to warn her. 
 
 " Father says twill be necessary for us to go 
 quietly at night. He has gone to make arrange 
 ments with the ship master to send a boat to 
 morrow night, and I am to stay and help you 
 keep Sir Thomas in the house, so that he may 
 not further anger the soldiers." 
 
 "That is good of you, Newton. You shall 
 play at chess with him all day, and let him 
 beat you ; for so long as he is winning he is con 
 tent to stay indoors." 
 
 And so at last with much secrecy and under 
 cover of darkness their departure was effected. 
 Under a load of hay for the market their boxes 
 had already gone to the ship s wharf; so it only
 
 Exiles 1 5 
 
 remained for them to make their way to the 
 beach and wait under a cliff for the coming of 
 the boat. 
 
 "When we come back, Judith," Newton 
 whispered, holding her hand in the dark, "I 
 have something sweet to ask you; something 
 that has been in my thoughts for weeks." 
 
 And Judith returned the pressure of his 
 fingers, and strained her eyes over the water. 
 She had known Newton all her life ; she thought 
 of him as of her own blood. When finally the 
 boat came and she sat beside her father and 
 looked back to the house on the cliff, dark now 
 save for one bright spark in the housekeeper s 
 window, she remembered again the gipsy s 
 prophecy, and there came upon her a chilling 
 conviction that she was going out forever from 
 the home of her childhood, "to live and love 
 and die in a far-away land." The outlines of 
 the house melted into the gloom and the whole 
 pile was gradually swallowed up in the shadows ; 
 but she kept her eyes on that tiny point of light 
 until the gathering tears blurred it from sight. 
 
 "Good-bye, Cotslea, good-bye forever," she 
 whispered under her breath, her heart filled with 
 a passionate longing for the old tranquillity, 
 the old order of things. And on the vessel s 
 deck, watching the shore line merge into the
 
 1 6 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 darkness, she whispered again: "Good-bye, 
 England; good-bye forever!" And all night 
 long the lap of the waves against the vessel s 
 side repeated the sad farewell.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE HIGH SEAS. 
 
 41 One same, harmonious, universal law 
 Atom to atom, star to star can d.iaw, 
 And heart to heart." 
 
 THE NEW TIMON. 
 
 T^OR culture and high standing the pas 
 senger list of the Tigress was a brilliant 
 one, for many a noble family of England 
 had there its representative, flying like the 
 Carys from the destruction falling so heavily 
 upon the adherents of the ill-starred Stuarts. 
 Some few were there who had clung to the 
 king through a personal attachment; but the 
 large majority had dra\vn their swords for him 
 from the deep sentiment of allegiance to the 
 anointed ruler, that faith unfailing in the jus 
 divinum which is the common heritage of Eng 
 lishmen. They needs must have a government 
 head to which they could look up; and since, 
 by the laws of descent, Charles stood next to 
 the throne, he had been their sovereign, their 
 royal ruler. He who would reign after him, 
 this Cromwell, was a commoner, not so high in
 
 1 8 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the social scale as themselves. The feeling of 
 caste was strong among them. 
 
 "I tell you, Sirs," said hot-tempered Sir 
 Thomas Gary, as he stood in the stern of the 
 ship talking, as they were always talking, of 
 English affairs; "I tell you, Sirs, I d rather be 
 misruled by a prince of the blood than have 
 wise laws rammed down my throat by a com 
 moner. Tis out of all reason that a man of 
 the people should rule his betters." 
 
 "True, true," was the ready answer. 
 
 "The son of a brewer should sit upon a cask, 
 not a throne ; for his hands know more of spigots 
 than of sceptres." 
 
 "You are right, Sir Thomas; it takes a differ 
 ent grip of the fingers to manage the two, and a 
 commoner s bones have not the right crook to 
 fit around a rod of office. * 
 
 "How will a crown look upon that close- 
 cropped head of his ? " sneered a tall man whose 
 crest was a ducal coronet. 
 
 "They say he hath declared against the 
 throne, and will call himself simply Protector; 
 but I ll wager he ll soon be so enamoured of a 
 kingly estate he will be sleeping in his crown, " 
 was the caustic answer. 
 
 "Yes," said a third man, "a convert to 
 royalty, like a proselyte to religion, is apt to run
 
 On the High Seas 19 
 
 to fanaticism. Twill not be six months ere 
 Oliver Cromwell will be plotting to marry his 
 clod of a son to some princess of the Continent. " 
 
 "An he does, he should be drawn and 
 quartered for his impudence," burst in Sir 
 Thomas. "A girl of the tap-room would be 
 nearer his stripe. Princess indeed ! Tis risky 
 for a man to marry out of his sphere, but for 
 a woman tis foolhardy. Egad, sirs, I had 
 rather marry my daughter to a tipsy gentle 
 man than to a sober churl ; for at least in his 
 clear-headed moments the gentleman would 
 know how to treat her, while the thick-skulled 
 churl would never know." 
 
 He waved his hand as though his argument 
 were unanswerable, and moving back found a 
 seat on the outskirts of the crowd. 
 
 "You spake right truly, Sir Thomas," said 
 a friend at his elbow, "but from present ap 
 pearances methinks you will have no call to 
 choose between a drunkard or a sober churl 
 for a son-in-law. Your daughter seems to 
 have better taste than to think of either." 
 
 Following his friend s glance Sir Thomas be 
 held, farther up the deck, in a nook made by 
 some boxes and cordage not yet stored, a most 
 charming picture. Judith, clad in a dark 
 gown, the pointed collar and high sleeves
 
 20 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 of which were slashed with white silk, sat upon 
 a rope coil. Her head, about which the brown 
 braids were bound, was raised so that her full 
 face with its delicate colour, its red mouth and 
 soft eyes, was clearly visible. She was slender, 
 and her beauty had that ethereal touch which, 
 in the hearts of those nearest to her, tempered 
 admiration with apprehension. Beside her, 
 leaning on the ship s rail with one elbow, his 
 plumed hat dangling from his other hand, his 
 blond hair blowing in the wind, stood as hand 
 some a Cavalier as ever wore lovelocks or sang 
 a serenade beneath a lady s window. Evi 
 dently Mistress Judith had him at disadvantage, 
 for whereas she was laughing, his look was cast 
 down and serious. 
 
 Sir Thomas frowned as his glance took in the 
 two; then he said petulantly: "Tut, tut! 
 tis nothing. Young people must amuse them 
 selves, though the skies should fall." 
 
 But he soon quitted the knot of politicians, 
 and, joining his daughter, broke up the tete-a-tete 
 she had found so diverting. 
 
 " You must not be keeping Captain Seton so 
 much from his other friends ; they will put you 
 down for selfish, " he said, though Arthur Seton 
 knew he meant that he should not monopolize 
 Judith s attention. It was not the first hint
 
 On the High Seas 21 
 
 Sir Thomas had given on this line since the 
 morning after Judith came aboard. When he 
 first saw her she had been standing at the 
 stern of the ship straining her eyes longingly, 
 futilely, for one last glimpse of English shore. 
 The early sunlight fell about her in a golden 
 shower, and at her feet and all around her was 
 the leaping, flashing splendour of the sea. She 
 seemed the incarnate spirit of the dawn, so 
 fair she was, so lithe and free of motion. His 
 admiration was in his eyes and attitude when 
 suddenly she turned and their glances met. 
 For one fascinated moment each gaze held 
 the other, but in that single moment some 
 thing new was born within them. Then her 
 gaze fell. The next moment, though he 
 marveled at his own daring, he was beside her, 
 a dropped scarf serving as a pretext, and four 
 eyes instead of two were looking out over the 
 sparkling water to the dim horizon line that had 
 been their home ; and a subtle sense of sym 
 pathy crept into Judith s heart, and she was 
 glad of his coming. From that hour he had 
 sought her constantly, in spite of Sir Thomas s 
 evident disapproval. 
 
 " He renders you conspicuous with his pre 
 tense of love-making," he said shortly, when 
 she ventured to remonstrate; and so Judith,
 
 22 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 by way of amends to Arthur, smiled on him 
 a trifle more warmly than would otherwise 
 have happened. 
 
 Sir Thomas had spoken truly when he said 
 that young people must amuse themselves, 
 though the skies should fall. The long days 
 on shipboard must somehow be disposed of; 
 and the voyagers filled them with merriment. 
 They were leaving their homes behind, it was 
 true; but they had escaped the prison and the 
 block, and the world was wide before them. 
 Their elastic spirits rebounded under the ex 
 citement and relief of their journey, so that a 
 vessel passing them on the high seas, and stop 
 ping to speak them fair, took them for a pleas 
 ure party rather than a company of homeless 
 fugitives, such jesting and laughter were in 
 the cabins, such singing and dancing on the 
 deck when the wind blew soft. 
 
 Only at times did Judith think of Cotslea. 
 Then she sent Arthur Seton away, and sat apart 
 with Newton and talked of the days when they 
 had run races in the garden or played hide- 
 and-seek in the halls. And Newton held her 
 hand and promised vehemently that she should 
 one day go back ; and she believed him and was 
 comforted. 
 
 Of this new life upon whose threshold she
 
 On the High Seas 23 
 
 stood she had but a vague idea, for her cousin s 
 few letters had been filled with questions concern 
 ing those at Cotslea rather than with details of 
 his Virginia home. His father had been own 
 cousin to Sir Thomas, and while Judith was yet 
 a little child they had bided at Cotslea two 
 years in order that Mistress Falkner might 
 have the little maid in charge. But her ad 
 ministration had not been a success, for her 
 ideas of child-training were directly opposed 
 to those of Sir Thomas, so that Judith was near 
 to being ruined between the severity of the one 
 and the petting of the other. After that 
 Charles Falkner took his family to America, 
 where he won wealth and prominence, until an 
 injury, received through a fall from his horse, 
 lost him his memory. His last days had been 
 spent in a state of pitiful, childish forgetfulness ; 
 but he was now dead, and Laurence and Mistress 
 Falkner lived alone on their vast estate. 
 Judith s memories of her aunt were not pleasant, 
 because of that strict discipline which her 
 father opposed; but of Laurence she had been 
 much fonder than of her brothers, who were 
 intolerant of her small, feminine weaknesses. 
 Against them, as against his mother, Laurence 
 had always taken her part, thus giving her a 
 sense of protection she had never forgot. When
 
 24 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 they reached port she and her father were to go 
 directly to the Falkners , but beyond that all 
 was conjecture. The hope that was with her 
 in her waking and sleeping hours was for the 
 coronation of Charles, and hers and her father s 
 return to Cotslea. 
 
 For three weeks the ship threaded its way 
 westward toward the spot where, every evening, 
 the sun burnt its way downward to the under 
 deep. They had had an unusually smooth 
 passage, and the shipmaster said cheerily one 
 morning that a few more days and they would 
 see the land. But his reckoning was awry, for 
 that afternoon the sky was overcast, and by 
 the following morning they were plunging 
 through a sea of yeasting waves before a furi 
 ous gale, far from their rightful course. The 
 decks were deserted, the jests of yesterday 
 forgotten, and the faces in the cabin were white 
 and anxious as the sturdy ship groaned under 
 the thunderous blows of the waves, or stag 
 gered from the deep hollows of the sea to the 
 towering billows crests. For two days the 
 storm raged, and when at last the wind fell 
 they were miles out of their track and must 
 beat their way laboriously back through the 
 leagues whither the storm-wraith had driven 
 them.
 
 On the High Seas 25 
 
 To Judith those clays of storm were like a 
 prolonged nightmare, but when the captain s 
 cheerful face told the welcome tidings of re 
 turning calm, she was the first of the women to 
 regain her spirits. Her father was dozing in 
 his berth, and in the tumult of joy the captain s 
 announcement created in the cabin, she slipped 
 away and followed him on deck. 
 
 "Ho, ho !" cried the old man, "ready to turn 
 out as soon as the storm passes, are you? 
 There s the making of a sailor in you, lass. 
 But tis a bit rough yet; I ll put you out of the 
 wind." He guided her to a sheltered place on 
 the leeward side of the deck and left her. 
 
 She stood filling her lungs with the keen salt 
 air, so invigorating after that long stay in the 
 cabin ; then with both elbows on the rail and her 
 face in her palms she looked out over the world 
 of tumbling waters and fell into a delicious 
 revery. In the west the sky was clearing; the 
 danger was passed, they would not go down 
 forever to the mermaids and the fishes. Yonder 
 behind the gold and purple of the sunset was 
 that future, unknown home for whose peace 
 and security she was beginning to pine. What 
 new happiness beckoned her out of the golden 
 rifts ? What sorrows lay ambushed where the 
 gray shadows lurked and the gold had turned
 
 26 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 to lead ? Was love waiting there for her, or 
 or was it here upon the ship, travelling with 
 her to that far-off shore ? A step behind broke 
 the thread of her re very, and Arthur Seton 
 said in her ear: 
 
 Tis good to see you on deck, Mistress 
 Judith ; methinks the sunshine of your face will 
 dispel the clouds and bring us fair weather. " 
 
 "If that were the case, I should have been 
 lashed to the mast these three days past as 
 a species of scarecrow for the storm," she 
 laughed; then added with a shudder: "What 
 a season of misery these days have been. " 
 
 "Truly they have," he answered, his elbow 
 on the rail beside hers. "There was in that 
 time but one rag of comfort for me." 
 
 "And that was ?" 
 
 "The thought that if the ship went down, 
 \ve should die together." 
 
 "Truly, you took strange comfort to your 
 self the thought of my death ! 
 
 "Nay; you know what I mean that since 
 we must die, it were a joy to perish with you. " 
 
 What was it in his voice, when they were 
 alone, that brought the colour to her cheeks in 
 a swift rush of rose ? She did not answer now, 
 but turned her eyes over the sea. Far off 
 against the saffron sunset there floated a tiny
 
 On the High Seas 27 
 
 black speck, gradually growing in size as it 
 came nearer. She pointed to it questioningly, 
 yet with a certain tremulousness, it seemed 
 so pathetically alone. 
 
 "A gull or a petrel, " Arthur said, "probably 
 blown out to sea from some island by the storm. 
 How wearily it flies." 
 
 They watched it silently as it came slowly 
 nearer, dropping every moment closer to the 
 water. It was evidently making for the ship, 
 but the feeble motion of its wings showed how 
 near it was to utter exhaustion. How many 
 hours and days it had drifted forlornly above 
 that world of waters and found no resting place, 
 how despairingly its longing eyes had searched 
 the waves for a foot of land, a bit of driftwood 
 on which to rest but a moment, no one 
 might know. Parched with thirst, starved and 
 weary, it plucked up its small remnant of 
 strength to reach the haven here in sight. 
 
 Watching the brave struggle, Judith leaned 
 over the rail with outstretched arms. "Brave 
 bird, brave bird ! Like us, it is an exile, a 
 wanderer on the deep. Ah, if the ship would 
 but go a little faster to meet it on the way !" 
 
 But the tired wings were failing, the tiny body 
 falling momentarily nearer the water; already 
 were the breast feathers wet with the leaping
 
 28 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 waves. For a few moments more it fluttered 
 along on the surface of the sea; raised itself 
 with a last effort, but with a despairing note 
 fell back into the waiting abyss and disap 
 peared. 
 
 " Within thirty feet of a refuge, " cried Seton. 
 "Jove, but that was hard !" 
 
 Judith was silent, a strange shiver passing 
 over her ; was it a forerunner of evil, a premoni 
 tion of sorrow to come to her in this new life, or 
 was it but a tremor of nerves long overstrained ? 
 
 While they watched that little tragedy the 
 sunset faded; above their heads was a wide 
 cleft in the clouds, and soon the blue beyond 
 was sown thick with milk-white stars. The 
 less timid of the company in the cabin began to 
 venture forth, glad to breathe the fresh air and 
 to exercise their legs in a brisk promenade. 
 There were sly glances exchanged when Judith 
 and Arthur were discovered, for gossip was 
 already weaving a romance about these two. 
 
 1 Twill be a match," said one dame oracu 
 larly. "When bonny Prince Charlie sends for 
 us all to come home, Seton Manor will be having 
 a new mistress, I am thinking." 
 
 "Not if her father can gainsay her." 
 
 " True ; but Judith Gary, for all her slim looks, 
 has a spirit of her own. Watch her eyes and
 
 On the High, Seas 29 
 
 you will see in them sometimes the same steel- 
 blue gleams that mark Sir Thomas s. She 
 comes of fighting stock, and she ll follow her 
 heart and not her father s pointing finger when 
 she gets ready for a husband." 
 
 " I am not of your mind in the matter, Lady 
 Ludlow; Mistress Judith cares but little more 
 for Captain Seton than does her father. Mark 
 you how she mocks and teases him?" 
 
 "Aye, " replied her ladyship, "but mark you 
 how she also blushes ? When a lass mocks a 
 man and changes colour the while, tis a bad 
 sign for her heart." 
 
 But Judith, unconscious of the gossip, kept 
 her place, listening to the young Cavalier s low 
 voice, and watching the slanting moonlight cut 
 a great swath of silver through the gathering 
 night.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A NEW STRAND IN THE ROMANCE. 
 
 " For a romance is as a bit of tapestry, 
 woven of many colored threads." 
 
 ANON. 
 
 T AND at last, the sweet Virginia country 
 * draped in the tender beauty of the 
 failing March; and the voyagers of the 
 Tigress feasted their eyes upon the changing 
 panorama. The willows by the river had lost 
 their gray tones, and waved a myriad golden 
 wands in the flickering sunlight ; the brown of 
 the winter landscape was mottled with tender 
 green, broken here and there by a flash of 
 scarlet where some ;young maple hung out its 
 vivid keys, or by the azure gleam of bluettes 
 that made a carpet over a sunny mound ; and 
 down the dim forest aisles was that mist of light 
 that was not gray nor wholly green, but that 
 soft blending of the two which comes from the 
 union of winter boughs and bursting buds. 
 Along the James, patches of civilization amid 
 the untrammeled wilderness, were the settle- 
 So
 
 A New Strand in the Romance 31 
 
 ments of the English. At each of these the 
 ship lost one or more of its passengers. There 
 were handshakings and promises of future 
 friendship at the rail; and behind casks and 
 bales of goods and in the deep-reaching shadows 
 there were stolen kisses with the farewells; for 
 Cupid, as staunch a Cavalier as any of them, 
 had taken secret passage on the Tigress, dis 
 closing himself only to a few who had lingered 
 on the deck when the sea ran murmurously to 
 wind call or star shine. 
 
 At Jamestown the ship dropped her anchor 
 to go no farther. The wharves swarmed with 
 people, come down to see the landing, for a 
 swift rider from a lower settlement had brought 
 tidings of the arrival. Letters, weeks before, 
 had told of the ship s coming and its probable 
 passengers ; and the hospitable heart of Virginia 
 waited there beside the water for this first 
 flight of Cavaliers who came, gay with plume 
 and powder and patch, to inject a new element 
 into the Colonies. It was a glad greeting they 
 received, for all Virginia had shuddered at the 
 tragedy at Whitehall, and, regardless of former 
 political convictions, held out its hands to those 
 who had upheld the banner of the "late sainted 
 king." 
 
 Because of her draught the ship anchored
 
 32 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 amid stream, and immediately a swarm of 
 small boats surrounded her, taking the passen 
 gers away to their waiting friends. In vain 
 Sir Thomas, leaning over the side, scanned the 
 shore and the faces of the new comers as they 
 clambered on deck, but half an hour passed and 
 his search was in vain. 
 
 "Fetch your cloak and bag, Judy; we will 
 hire a boat and go ashore," he said, disappoint 
 ment in his voice. 
 
 "There, father, be not so disconsolate. Our 
 cousins live several miles up the river, and no 
 doubt have not yet heard of the ship s arrival. 
 You did not surely expect Cousin Laurence to 
 sit here on the bank and watch for us," said 
 Judith, who stood a little apart with Arthur 
 Seton at her elbow. But even as she spoke, a 
 canoe moved from under the ship s bows and 
 took its place at the big hawser swinging from 
 the side. An African slave held the paddles, 
 but the man in the stern was a broad-shouldered 
 Englishman. Judith looked at him, half- 
 doubtful, half smiling, then drew her father s 
 attention with her pointing finger. 
 
 "Laurence, Laurence !" shouted Sir Thomas. 
 But the man had already swung himself aboard, 
 and a minute later he was striding down the deck 
 to meet Sir Thomas, whose hand he wrung in
 
 A New Strand in the Romance 33 
 
 vehement welcome, the while his eyes traveled 
 beyond the old man in eager quest, lighting up 
 with radiant pleasure at sight of the young 
 woman beside the rail, a rare figure in her dark 
 gown with its white silk slashings. 
 
 "Judy! can it indeed be little Judy?" 
 
 She smiled, stretching out her hands. "Not 
 little Judy, but a grown-up Judith, come here 
 to claim your hospitality as she erstwhile 
 claimed your Christmas cakes and sweets." 
 
 "And right royally welcome shall she be now 
 as then," he answered, saluting her hand with 
 his lips and forgetting to let it go again while 
 his eyes moved over her, taking in the changes 
 of ten years. 
 
 " Well, sir, I promise not to eat all your sugar 
 plums, as I fear was my selfish habit of old," 
 she said saucily. 
 
 "All the sweets of the world were not more 
 than your merit, fair cousin. " 
 
 Sir Thomas clapped him upon the back. 
 Good ! You have not forgotten your manners 
 in this wild country, Laurence." 
 
 "Nay, sir, I fear my cousin will find us but 
 rough folk here; we have lived so long close 
 neighbours to savages. " 
 
 "Methinks I shall forgive you everything so 
 you be not savage enough to grind my bones to 
 make vour bread. "
 
 34 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 He laughed. "Not even a cannibal would 
 have heart for such a deed, having once looked 
 upon you. " 
 
 He had not more than glanced at Arthur 
 Seton, who stood near Judith, but Sir Thomas 
 at this moment remembered his own manners 
 and presented the two men. 
 
 "Amos Randal s cousin; he told me of you. 
 You will find him waiting on the wharf," 
 Laurence said, stretching out his hand hos 
 pitably. 
 
 "Tis good to find one s self expected," 
 Seton answered. 
 
 "Virginia has a welcome for every adherent 
 of King Charles," Laurence answered; then 
 wondered to himself why he instantly disliked 
 this particular one of his majesty s subjects. 
 
 Judith looked at them as they stood together. 
 Both were fair-haired and clean shaven, and 
 both were something above medium height. 
 But Laurence s eyes were darker, and he had 
 the advantage in weight, being well knit and 
 broad shouldered, with that freedom of move 
 ment which comes of much exercise in the open 
 air. Seton was younger by several years. 
 He was exceedingly slender in build, and de 
 liberate in his motions, with such a voice and 
 look and manner as have ever played havoc
 
 A New Strand in the Romance 35 
 
 with women s hearts. His long locks were 
 curled and scented after the fashion of the 
 day, and his dress was fastidious and tasteful; 
 while the costume of the other was plain and 
 unassuming. 
 
 "Sir Thomas," Laurence said presently, 
 "my canoe is below; if my cousin is sailor 
 enough to trust herself to such a craft, we will 
 land at once and not wait for the ship s long 
 boat. My servant will return for your luggage. " 
 
 So Judith fetched her reticule, and they 
 crossed the deck. Before descending Laurence 
 turned again to Seton. " I would I had a place 
 to offer you, Captain Seton, but my boat carries 
 but four. My house is scarce a league from 
 the Randals ; I trust you will sometimes pay 
 us the honour of a visit." 
 
 Then while Seton was speaking his thanks he 
 slipped down to the boat and stood waiting for 
 his kinsmen, who were carefully lowered by the 
 sailors. When they were seated he nodded to 
 the negro, and the little craft shot out from 
 under the shadow of the vessel and took its way 
 past the town up the river. Laurence had 
 disposed of them as it pleased him ; Sir Thomas 
 sat in the bow, the negro was amidship with 
 the paddles, Judith was in the stern, while he 
 sat so as to face her.
 
 36 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 " Tis scarce two miles to my landing," he 
 said, as he drew a rug over her dress to protect 
 her from possible drops from the paddles, "and 
 it seemed better to make the journey by boat 
 rather than in my mother s coach, for our roads 
 are none the smoothest. " 
 
 Judith did not reply; she was waving to 
 Seton, who, high on the poop of the vessel, was 
 signalling his farewell with his plumed hat. 
 When she turned back to Laurence there was a 
 wonderful light in her eyes, which made him 
 turn his own questioningly toward the man 
 behind. 
 
 "We are glad to go with you in any wise," 
 she answered him. " But tell me, cousin, how 
 chanced it you came to the wharf to-day in 
 time for our landing?" 
 
 " I had your father s letter this week past, 
 and knew you could not be very far behind, 
 since he said you sailed at once. So I have 
 come to the settlement every day since, hoping 
 to see a new sail on the horizon. " 
 
 "You must have lost much time from your 
 affairs that is, if people in America have af 
 fairs. " 
 
 " If by affairs you mean work, we have more 
 here than in England, " he said, smiling. " But 
 believe me, there is nothing I would not have
 
 A New Strand in the Romance 37 
 
 put aside to meet you, so happy was I in the 
 thought of your coming. In truth," he con 
 tinued, with a whimsical laugh, "methinks I 
 was not half sorry for the king s death since 
 twas the occasion of sending you to America. 
 I will confess, sweet cousin, that I have shed 
 no tear over that royal tragedy because of its 
 happy consequences to myself." 
 
 She leaned sidewise so as to look past him. 
 "Father," she cried, "you should hear the 
 treasonable things our kinsman is saying. I 
 fear he is no Cavalier after all, and that we have 
 but fallen into a trap which may send us again 
 to England to Cromwell s bloodhounds. Think 
 of it, he has shed no tear for King Charles !" 
 
 "Tut, tut, Judy, I know your teasing tongue," 
 answered Sir Thomas, and took no further heed 
 while the gay chatter of the others went on. 
 
 Presently the canoe drew inshore to a tiny 
 boat-house, and Laurence exclaimed: "Look, 
 Sir Thomas; look, Judith there is Rivermead, 
 my home, and yours as long as you will bide 
 there." 
 
 High on a knoll sloping riverward stood the 
 great house, built ten years before of English 
 brick, and mantled now with ivy and Virginia 
 creeper. In those days a man built, not for his 
 children only, but for his children s children;
 
 38 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 and so massive were the walls of Rivermead 
 that the wear of a century might but mellow 
 their tones and round their angles without 
 lessening their strength. Sir Thomas s eyes 
 brightened as he looked. 
 
 " Why, Laurence, I had no thought there was 
 anything so English in America." 
 
 "We brought our national tastes with us, 
 and those who could afford to import the right 
 materials have reproduced in a measure their 
 homes across the sea. You will find the interior 
 of Rivermead not unlike our former home in 
 Essex, there being a goodly part of the same 
 furniture we used there. " 
 
 From the boat-house the two men walked 
 slowly up the maple-bordered avenue, dis 
 cussing as they went the serious side of English 
 politics. But Judith, like a bird set free, went 
 on ahead, crying out her delight over the purple 
 violets and pale primroses a-bloom amid the 
 drifts of last year s leaves. Coming back to 
 them with her hands brimmed with the blos 
 soms and her eyes full of starry lights, she was 
 so sweet to look upon that Laurence instinc 
 tively took off his hat, and Sir Thomas stooped 
 and kissed her cheek. 
 
 "A typical Cavalier maid, " he said. " Prince 
 Charles lost his fairest subject when you quitted 
 English shores."
 
 A New Strand in the Romance 39 
 
 "Nay," she answered, "since Virginia is 
 loyal I am as much his subject here as ever ; and 
 when the prince comes to his own we are going 
 back to help him manage his kingdom." 
 
 "Then am I minded to make the Stuart a 
 very bad wish," said Laurence. 
 
 "That has a most disloyal sound; but for its 
 personal generosity I will give you this," and 
 she reached up and fastened a big purple violet 
 in his coat. 
 
 His hand covered hers a moment on his 
 breast: "Little Judy here in Virginia! Tis 
 scarcely belie veable. " 
 
 On the porch Mistress Falkner, the same 
 severe figure Judith remembered of old, stood 
 to greet them, but her eyes softened as Judith 
 reached up and left a kiss on either thin cheek. 
 
 "Cousin Janet, I am a grown girl now, and 
 will not make any litter in your halls nor break 
 your platters and lose your spectacles as I did 
 at Cotslea, " she said, referring to those other 
 days when she had been a species of nightmare 
 to Mistress Falkner s ideas of propriety. 
 
 "Is she always so fragile looking?" Laurence 
 asked apprehensively of Sir Thomas, as she 
 went with his mother up the wide stair. 
 
 "She is never robust, but she is seldom ill. 
 We think she will do well enough unless, indeed,
 
 40 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 there should come some sudden shock or grief 
 to weight her mind. " 
 
 Long afterwards Laurence recalled the grave 
 words ; but just then a ripple of girlish laughter 
 so unusual in the great house came from the 
 upper story; and in the pleasure of it he forgot 
 the fleeting anxiety the words raised. What 
 sorrow could come to her here under his roof, 
 with so many watchful eyes to guard her? 
 He looked up the stair with impatient expect 
 ance. 
 
 A new and vivid element had entered the 
 quiet life at Rivermead, for Judy, little Judy, 
 the Cavalier maid, had come to Virginia to 
 make her home.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CROSSING OP THE THREADS. 
 
 " Busily, ceaselessly goes the loom 
 
 In the light of day and the midnight s gloom; 
 And the wheels are turning early and late, 
 And the woof is wound in the warp of fate. ." 
 
 ANON. 
 
 IVERMEAD, with its indentured ser- 
 vants, its black slaves, its Indian 
 hunters and trappers, was a colony with 
 in itself, a little government of which the 
 brick manor house was the capitol. That there 
 were no near neighbours occasioned Judith no 
 disappointment, for this custom of the wealthier 
 planters in shunning the settlements and living 
 upon their estates was much like the country 
 life of the English gentry to which she was ac 
 customed. Already was there a landed aris 
 tocracy in Virginia which this new Cavalier 
 element was to augment and strengthen. For 
 this was the Virginia, not of the primitive 
 plantation time, nor yet of the days of Wyatt or 
 Yeardly; but the Virginia of Berkeley, the 
 courtier of (< Greenspring, " the scholar, the
 
 42 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 aristocrat, whose hospitality was proverbial, 
 whose courtly bearing was the admiration of 
 women, and whose strong hand, in its silken 
 glove, held the reins of government with never 
 a slip. 
 
 But Judith was full of curiosity concerning 
 the indentured servants \vho did the drudgery 
 of the house, and the slaves who tilled the fields. 
 For the former there was the surety of emanci 
 pation when the terms of indenture should be 
 filled; they might take their places among the 
 free and self-reliant men of the colony, their 
 sons might even rise to the level of the bur 
 gesses if fortune favoured them. But for the 
 blacks there was no hope. For them there was 
 no social uplifting, and the untrammeled 
 freedom of the desert and the wild air of the 
 jungle were gone forever. Cruel cupidity it 
 was that opened to the slaver the ports of the 
 colonies; and blind logic which lulled to rest, 
 with the song of present gain, the menace of 
 the future. Already the Afric faces made a 
 shadow in the land, a shadow that would 
 widen and deepen until upon its edges would 
 lie the crimson trail of war. 
 
 " Why do they look so often back toward the 
 sun?" Judith asked, as she and Laurence drew 
 rein on an eminence that overlooked the tobacco 
 fields where the slaves were at work.
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 43 
 
 " They are gauging the time before the dinner 
 horn shall blow," he answered lightly. 
 
 But she shook her head. " I believe it is be 
 cause the sun has come up from their native 
 land ; and in their hearts is a passionate wonder 
 as to what he saw there their lost homes and 
 hunting grounds and loved ones. " 
 
 Of these black slaves she had no fear. They 
 were mostly good-natured or stolid ; only a few 
 seemed fierce or vicious. But of the Indian 
 hunters who brought fish or game to the 
 kitchen door, she stood in unutterable dread. 
 In vain Laurence, to reassure her, told her of 
 the treaty made five years before, after the 
 defeat and death of the great Indian emperor, 
 Opechancanough. 
 
 "Their strength is broken for good," he said 
 convincingly. " Each year at the going of the 
 geese they carry their tribute of beaver skins 
 to the Governor at Greenspring, and all is well. 
 
 But Judith had heard the tales of tomahawk 
 and scalping knife, and she drew her horse very 
 close to his when, in their daily rides, they 
 passed one of the silent, copper-colored 
 hunters. And with a pleased sense of her de 
 pendence, he would put out his hand and touch 
 her bridle or her arm , letting her feel the surety 
 of his protection, She was his constant com-
 
 44 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 panion; he explored with her the plantation 
 and the house, rowed her upon the river, or 
 read to her in the library while she made pre 
 tense at knitting or embroidery. It was the 
 old days at Cotslea come back, he told himself, 
 only there were books and horses and dogs in 
 place of dolls and shuttlecocks; and her prim 
 pinafores were replaced by lace tuckers and 
 dainty aprons of silk that had no ugly sleeves 
 to hide her white arms. The first flowers were 
 gathered for her, the best horse in his stable 
 was set aside for her use, and the snowiest cur 
 tains in Tony Foster s warehouse were pur 
 chased for her room. 
 
 "Lissa s right; she s as good to look at as a 
 bunch of apple blooms," Tony said, hobbling 
 to the door on his stick to look after them as 
 they rode away after selecting the curtains. " I 
 wish for Laurence s sake she had a wart on her 
 face or was cross-eyed; ugly women are apt 
 to be comfortable in their tempers; it s your 
 pretty ones that dice with the Devil for a man s 
 happiness and peace. " For Tony was a hater 
 of women at least his gibing tongue lost no 
 opportunity to stab them: but whether this 
 was because some one of the sex had once 
 thrown him back his heart, or because he felt 
 that, because of his lameness, none of them
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 45 
 
 would ever regard him with anything but pity, 
 no one knew. 
 
 Those were happy days at Rivermead, for 
 Sir Thomas had no rebuke for Judith for taking 
 up Laurence s time, as he had had for her 
 concerning Seton during those days of sea voy 
 age ; rather did he leave them together, passing 
 his own hours over a book, or challenging 
 Mistress Falkner to a game of backgammon. 
 But Laurence was not to have Judith very 
 long to himself, for one morning there came 
 riding down the avenue Arthur Seton and 
 Amos Randal; and in their company came 
 Amos s handsome, black-eyed sister Ann. 
 Judith had known that Arthur would come 
 had even looked sometimes from her window, 
 wondering which would be his road; but she 
 met him with such quiet dignity that her 
 father, who was watching her, was deceived, 
 and was so cordial that the young man ven 
 tured to hope his aversion was at an end ; 
 and he whispered this hope to Judith while the 
 others walked in front of them in the flower 
 garden where the crocuses and blue-bottles 
 were passing to make way for the coming pro 
 cession of lilac and syringa and blue flags. 
 
 "My cousin Seton has been telling us much 
 of you, " Ann said over her shoulder to Judith.
 
 46 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 " If half he says be true, methinks we owe those 
 dreadful Roundheads something of gratitude 
 for sending you to us." 
 
 "We owe them so much, Mistress Ann, that 
 we can afford to forgive them everything else, " 
 Laurence answered for Judith. 
 
 "Everything? Those are Roundhead senti 
 ments, sir; and if they get to Greenspring, his 
 Excellency s bow will not be quite so low when 
 next we go to dance a minuet in his parlours. " 
 
 "I shall feel quite sure of clemency when 
 once he has seen my cousin," Laurence said; 
 and Ann s black eyes flashed over him ques- 
 tioningly. 
 
 After that morning there were often four 
 horses cantering down the forest roads or river 
 paths, for Ann and Arthur were frequently at 
 Rivermead, and Laurence and Judith went 
 as often to return their visits. But there were 
 other times when Arthur came alone drowsy, 
 dreamy afternoons and moonlight nights when 
 the wind was soft and the whippoorwills 
 called each other through the scented dusk. 
 At such times he and she strolled up and down 
 the garden under Cousin Janet s window, and 
 were as merry as two children, trying their 
 fortunes with the gossamer dandelion seed ; or, 
 if it was night, they talked in the shadow of
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 47 
 
 the library curtain while her father and Lau 
 rence played chess across the room under the 
 mantel candelabra. And Laurence was absent- 
 minded and careless ; and Sir Thomas lost his 
 temper and his game, and grew fretful and ap 
 prehensive; for after a visit like that Judith 
 always went to her room singing one of the 
 tender love songs she had brought from Cotslea. 
 
 "Why should your father so dislike me?" 
 Seton asked once, after a particularly cold re 
 ception from Sir Thomas. 
 
 "I cannot say; unless, indeed, he thinks that 
 you should have stayed in England to help the 
 prince. He in fact, we both feel that his 
 majesty has need of every strong arm in the 
 realm." 
 
 " I am not the only soldier who came to 
 America. " 
 
 "The others share his disapprobation. " But 
 Seton knew that on .him fell the full force of 
 the old man s displeasure. 
 
 Other neighbours besides the Randals came 
 on horseback or in sloops upon the river to 
 meet the new inmates of Rivermead. Newton, 
 homesick for his old comrade, found his way 
 thither from Henrico, and was boyishly jealous 
 of Arthur and Amos. 
 
 " Why do you let them come here so often ? "
 
 48 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 he demanded fretfully of Laurence, to whom 
 he had carried his dissatisfaction. 
 
 "Why should they not come here? My 
 cousin s friends must be my welcome guests." 
 But he knew that the happy days were those 
 when he and Judith rode alone. 
 
 From Jamestown and Williamsburg and 
 the adjacent plantations the new friends came ; 
 Lady Ludlow, mindful of the time when she 
 and Janet Falkner had learned cross-stitch 
 together, arrived with her maid and spent a 
 week; and one day Governor Berkeley came 
 in his painted coach to shake hands with Sir 
 Thomas and swear at Cromwell. And the 
 two vehement old Loyalists poured out the 
 vials of their vituperation upon the "murderers 
 of the king and the enemies of the prince," 
 and washed away the bitter taste of their 
 words with bumpers of Laurence s wine or 
 Mistress Falkner s home-brewed ale. There 
 was plenty of company and stir in those first 
 days, so that the exiles had no time to pine 
 for their lost home. 
 
 From these guests who came and went, 
 Judith soon learned that Ann Randal was 
 the prospective mistress of Rivermead, the 
 wife long desired by Mistress Falkner for her 
 son; and with a feminine fancy for match-
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 49 
 
 making she set herself to forward her cousin s 
 designs. Of all unions it seemed the most 
 natural; the intimacy of the two families who 
 had emigrated together and the proximity of 
 their estates rendering it exceedingly appro 
 priate. Just why it had never been consum 
 mated no one understood ; but it was a foregone 
 conclusion that it would eventually come to 
 pass. Therefore Judith praised Ann s beauty 
 and sprightliness, and commented hopefully on 
 her housewifely qualities. And Laurence 
 listened and agreed ; but when she would have 
 teased him concerning the state of his heart, 
 he laughed with such an air of disclaimer that 
 she was sorely puzzled. 
 
 " You treat Ann so queerly, " she said to him 
 once as they came up the avenue after an hour 
 on the river in Amos Randal s boat. 
 
 "Queerly? Why, Ann and I are the best of 
 friends. " 
 
 "Methinks I should not like so friendly a 
 lover." 
 
 "Not like a friendly lover, Judy? One 
 would think you were a scold and wanted 
 always to quarrel," he said quizzingly. 
 
 "Nay, you know what I mean. A woman 
 to be rightly won must be wooed with some 
 thing more earnest, more convincing than
 
 50 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 empty compliments. Yes, I had even rather 
 my lover were sometimes angry with me than 
 to treat me always like that." 
 
 "Other women may not be of your mind," 
 he said, still teasing. " At any rate Ann is well 
 satisfied with my empty compliments. Do 
 not let my mother be putting idle notions in 
 your head; for our pretty neighbour gives 
 me never a tender thought. " 
 
 "You say that because you are not willing 
 to give me your confidence. Well, I was wrong 
 to seek it. But for my part, I should not like 
 just polite speeches from my sweetheart. I am 
 glad that that 
 
 "That Arthur Seton is different?" he broke 
 in. 
 
 "No, I was going to say I am glad you are 
 not my lover. " 
 
 And how do you know that I am not ? 
 The words seemed to say themselves. 
 
 She put back her head and laughed. " What 
 an absurd question, you dear, old Laurie ! 
 why, because you are my cousin, and Ann s 
 lover. " 
 
 " But suppose that I were yours, Judy ? " 
 
 Tis not supposable," she answered; but 
 he did not join in her laugh, and somehow she 
 suddenly stopped,
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 5 1 
 
 She did not tease him any more, but she 
 wondered that he would not understand Ann s 
 assumption of indifference, and the coquetry 
 with which she sometimes treated Arthur and 
 Newton or other young men in his presence. 
 It was but a mask of her real self, of course > 
 and by and by Laurence must surely see it. 
 Perhaps this very coquetry was the secret 
 cause of his holding back; Ann was much 
 given to such conduct. 
 
 One day, in between the April showers, they 
 all went to return the Governor s visit. Sir 
 Thomas was in the coach with Mistress Falkner 
 and Lady Ludlow, but the young people went 
 on horseback. They had a charming hour at 
 Greenspring ; for in the parlour there were cakes 
 and tea for the ladies, topped off with a rare bit 
 of gossip; while on the shaded portico Sir 
 Thomas and his Excellency grew more abusive 
 of the "brewer" and more loyal to the Stuart 
 with every taste of mint -wreathed julep. On 
 the steps at parting the gentlemen took snuff 
 together, "tactfully with the forefinger and the 
 thumb, which is the friendly pinch." Then 
 his Excellency saluted the hands of the older 
 women and the cheeks of the younger ones, 
 swearing by the sparrows of Venus that he 
 wished himself a score of years younger that he
 
 52 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 might teach these bashful lads a new trick in 
 courtship. And then amid the waving of lace 
 handkerchiefs and cocked hats, the little 
 cavalcade swept down the drive and out upon 
 the road to Jamestown. 
 
 The riders soon left the coach behind, and 
 for the first few miles there w^ere jests and 
 pleasant comments on the splendours of Green- 
 spring and its courtly master. But when they 
 entered the forest that skirted the cultivated 
 fields of Jamestown they fell suddenly silent, 
 there was such insistence of quiet and peace in 
 the green glooms of the woodland. The earth, 
 moist from a recent shower, gave back no thud 
 of hoofs, so that a young girl, who had been 
 gathering faggots for cooking, did not hear their 
 approach around a curve of the road. Newton, 
 who was somewhat in advance of the party, 
 saw her first, and stopping pointed with his 
 whip. Instinctively they all drew rein. She 
 had dropped her bundle of sticks and was sitting 
 in a sinuous loop of grapevine. One arm, 
 from which the torn sleeve fell away, was lifted 
 to the vine, and with her head thrown back 
 she was whistling to a mocking bird that sat 
 high above her and turned his bright head 
 sidewise to listen to the clear call. Her feet 
 in their tattered shoes touched the ground
 
 The Crossing of the Threads 53 
 
 lightly, and her torn dress was as soberly 
 brown as the whirl of last year s leaves it 
 brushed with its hem, but a crimson kerchief 
 knotted loosely about her throat gave a touch 
 of vivid colour to her whole figure. And yet it 
 was not this that caught and held the eye; 
 rather was it the beauty of her dark face lit 
 by eyes that were limpid brown pools now 
 while she whistled back the bird notes, but 
 which had a touch of fierceness in them when 
 she suddenly turned them on the waiting 
 group. She sprang up, gathered the ends 
 of the kerchief tightly across her breast, and 
 faced them like some wild creature caught 
 unawares. Ann, after one look, struck her 
 horse and rode on; but Judith smiled and 
 cried : 
 
 "You out-whistled the bird himself, my 
 pretty woodland elf. See, he has flown away 
 in hopeless envy." 
 
 The girl smiled back without taking her eyes 
 from the speaker s face. 
 
 "You are far from home, Lissa," Laurence 
 said kindly, "and the day is nearly gone." 
 
 "Tony will come to meet me," she answered, 
 still looking at Judith, and then scowling 
 down the road after Ann. 
 
 "Tony? then will you be safe," and touch-
 
 54 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 ing Judith s bridle he rode on. But Seton 
 lingered a moment after the others to toss the 
 girl a coin which she did not stoop to pick up 
 because, unseen of the others, he had blown 
 her a kiss along with it. 
 
 "Who is she?" asked Judith. 
 
 "Lissa Sutley, a poor girl whose father is 
 both drunkard and gambler." 
 
 "And her mother?" 
 
 "She has none." 
 
 "Ah !" Looking back at the straight, supple 
 figure beside the vine she thought of her own 
 motherless girlhood, and sighed. 
 
 And so under the overhanging boughs, in 
 the still heart of the forest, had met and parted 
 the three women who were to typify within 
 themselves the alternating phases, the height 
 and depth of the master-passion of life.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GHOST OF RIVERMEAD. 
 
 " They gather round and wonder at the tale 
 Of horrid apparition, tall and ghostly, 
 That walks at dead of night. "_. 
 
 BLAIR 
 
 TN the Southland, April days are the fairest 
 that dawn, for they have neither the 
 sombreness of winter nor the glare of sum 
 mer. Everywhere the gray has lightened 
 into green, with tell-tale rose tints where 
 the orchards spread to the sun. The wind 
 has lost its winter sob and shrill March whistle, 
 and sings of a new re-incarnation to the awak 
 ened world. There is a sound of murmuring 
 waters, of droning bees and caressing bird 
 calls; and all about and everywhere is the 
 consciousness of growing, creeping things. 
 The sky is so blue that it would be out of 
 harmony with the other blended hues, ex 
 cept that to the wide canopy there is ever a 
 ragged edge of cloud which now and then is 
 blown over the face of the azure arch in a 
 
 55
 
 56 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 crystal-beaded veil that makes the world 
 beneath -pregnant with moisture. 
 
 During those marvellous days Mistress Falk- 
 ner s face wore a new expression, her house 
 wifely pride was augmented and aroused, for 
 Rivermead, where so late a sedate old woman 
 and a bachelor of twenty-nine passed therT 
 time uneventfully, was now become the Mecca 
 of many visitors; the Cavalier maid had 
 changed the dull routine and filled the house 
 with the intangible witchery of her presence. 
 So naturally did she settle into her place in 
 the household that it seemed as if there must 
 have always been a niche waiting for her, 
 unconsciously but surely waiting, and that 
 she had but rightfully come into her own. 
 And watching her as the weeks passed, Laur 
 ence wondered vaguely how he had ever en 
 dured the loneliness of the big rooms before 
 she came to change the shadows into sunshine. 
 
 In the new experiences that had come to 
 her Judith had not forgotten her life across 
 the sea. Often she thought of her brothers 
 fighting far away under the precarious star 
 of the Stuart, and of Cotslea with its closed 
 shutters and air of desolation. She was full 
 of gratitude for this asylum they had found 
 here in the west; but some day, she told New-
 
 The Ghost of River mead 57 
 
 ton and Laurence, some clay whose dawn was 
 not yet gray upon the mountains, they would 
 go back to the house on the cliff, to old friends 
 and haunts and to the settle with its mystic 
 twilight memories. 
 
 "I wish w r e were there now I wish we had 
 never left England," Newton said, his pale 
 face wistful with the unhappiness that cloyed 
 him when he thought of Arthur Seton. 
 
 After his long life of political and military 
 activity, Sir Thomas suffered mentally from 
 the enforced quiet. But with a resolution 
 that characterized him in all things he gave 
 vent to his excitement only when there was 
 some particularly trying news from England. 
 At other times he strove to fasten his at 
 tention and interest on the new features of 
 farm life about him. Those who answered 
 his question, as to tobacco culture or listened 
 to his anecdotes of by-gone campaigns little 
 dreamed of the volcanic fire burning beneath 
 this show of indifference. Even Judith, who 
 watched him always with such tender solici 
 tude, did not fully realize the marvellous self- 
 control of the choleric old man. Only in the 
 profanity with which he greeted some new 
 story of Cromwell s arrogance did he betray 
 the restlessness which wore upon him day
 
 58 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 by day. On these vehement occasions the 
 coach was brought out, and he journeyed 
 away to Greenspring to find a congenial spirit 
 to share his anger, and a vocabulary that 
 matched his own wherein to denounce the 
 fate that had clothed a "canting commoner" 
 with the purple of royalty. 
 
 "I will go to Berkeley," he would say fever 
 ishly. "I shall feel better when I have heard 
 him swear a bit." 
 
 On one of these unquiet days when he was 
 with the Governor and Laurence was at the 
 warehouse going over his accounts with Tony 
 Foster, Ann Randal came for a visit to Judith. 
 As she rode up the avenue a sudden skurrying 
 shower dampened her skirts, so that she was 
 hurried at once to Judith s room and put into 
 a short-gown while her habit was dried by 
 the kitchen fire. 
 
 "I was wishing to see you, Ann; some fairy 
 must have carried you my thought," Judith 
 said, tucking a cushion behind her guest s 
 head. "Yes, Matilda, you may bring us a 
 cup of tea, and then go on with your work." 
 
 "Well, what is it your pleasure to ask me?" 
 Ann said from the sofa. 
 
 "First tell me something of Lissa Sutley." 
 
 "Oh, there s not much to tell. Her beauty
 
 The Ghost of Rivennead 59 
 
 is probably her greatest affliction, since her 
 father uses it to bait his gambling den." 
 
 "She must be very unhappy." 
 
 "No, I expect not; girls in her class are not 
 generally very sensitive. They say the gam 
 blers fight over her, as to whose glass she shall 
 fill ; and her father beats her when he is drunk. 
 Tony Foster befriends her greatly." 
 
 "Poor girl !" 
 
 Ann took her cup from Matilda and sipped 
 her tea leisurely. "If you so much wished 
 to see me, why did you not come to me?" 
 
 "Oh, because 
 
 "Because Arthur Seton is there?" 
 
 Judith changed colour. Partly ; but another 
 reason is that I think Laurence would like 
 to go alone sometimes, that he may have 
 you to himself." 
 
 Ann laughed. "You are most considerate. 
 Or is that a hint that I need not come so often 
 with Arthur, that you and he may be left to 
 yourselves?" Judith s untrained ear did not 
 recognize an underlying jealousy in the voice 
 that asked this question. 
 
 "No, that was not my meaning." Then 
 she tossed her head and laughed: "Besides, 
 he comes here often without you." 
 
 "Does he indeed?" Ann said, with some-
 
 60 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 thing of surprise in her voice. "For instance 
 when was he here last?" 
 
 "Yesterday afternoon. But he went away 
 quite angry with me." 
 
 "What did you quarrel about?" 
 
 "Oh, the same old question whether it 
 is not his duty to be fighting for the king, 
 rather than living a life of ease here in Vir 
 ginia while others win the victory by which 
 he will profit." 
 
 The girl on the sofa drained her cup slowly. 
 "It would have a better look, though of course, 
 as he is our guest, we do not urge him." 
 
 "He says, on the contrary, that you counsel 
 him not to return sets your opinion against 
 mine, bidding me observe how much more 
 careful you are of his safety." 
 
 "Yes, I did say he should remain he 
 seemed so to wish it, and he is in my house. 
 But perchance it would be better for us all 
 if he went." She spoke with a curious specu 
 lative tone that Judith did not understand. 
 
 "Better for us all?" 
 
 "Yes," was the evasive answer, "we all 
 have interests in England which will be 
 lost if so Charles s followers are too few or 
 too faint-hearted to put him on the throne." 
 
 "Captain Seton does not stay here through 
 faint -heartedness. "
 
 The Ghost of River me ad 61 
 
 The other girl only looked into her tea 
 cup, lifting her brows ever so little. Who 
 might say how much of her disapproval was 
 genuine, how much assumed ? 
 
 "Sometimes, Ann, I think my father and 
 Laurence have imparted to you their preju 
 dice. You none of you understand Captain 
 Seton," Judith said with sudden heat. 
 
 "I pray you, why should I let Laurence 
 set me against my own kin?" 
 
 "Because he you that is- 
 
 "Your explanation lacks clearness. Come, 
 is it because people say I am to marry him?" 
 
 "Yes; it seems but natural that a girl s 
 thoughts should be coloured by her lover s." 
 
 Ann pushed her cup away laughing. "So 
 it seems right to you that a lover should turn 
 you against your own blood? Nay, Judith, 
 I am of the opinion that blood is the stronger 
 bond; besides, a woman should not begin too 
 soon to let a man think for her it must be 
 unpleasant enough after matrimony has made 
 it a necessity. So Arthur spent yesterday 
 afternoon with you, (and we thought him at 
 the settlement) -and Wednesday evening we 
 missed him; was he here then also ?" 
 
 "Yes; and we learned a new song together. 
 We will sing it for you sometime ; tis all about 
 a girl who loved in vain."
 
 62 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She began to hum the tune, but at the first 
 pause Ann, in whose eyes there had flashed 
 a sudden resentful gleam, yawned as if it 
 bored her, and turning to the maid who sat 
 sewing by the window she called out: 
 
 "Well, Matilda, has the ghost been walking 
 any of late?" 
 
 The girl looked up with a quick warning, 
 but Judith spoke first. "What ghost, and 
 where does he walk?" 
 
 "You do not know the story? Tis the 
 most interesting thing about Rivermead." 
 
 "Excepting, of course the master !" Judith 
 said, with teasing emphasis. 
 
 "Oh, yes; of course." And Judith wished 
 Laurence had seen the swift colour that came 
 into the other s face. She did not stop to 
 analyze the momentary curl of the red lips 
 that uttered the careless words. 
 
 "But come, Ann, tell me the story. Creeps 
 and nerves and shivers go well with this 
 thunder. And please remember to put in all 
 the horrors possible, else I may go nodding 
 and wound your vanity as a story-teller." 
 And thus urged Ann told her story of the 
 Rivermead ghost. 
 
 Not long before that fatal fall from his horse 
 Charles Falkner had sold his last interests in
 
 The Ghost of Rivennead 63 
 
 London, receiving therefor a goodly sum of 
 English gold. There were no security houses 
 in the colony, each man kept his own treasure 
 in secret drawers or chests; and so Charles 
 Falkner had concealed the money somewhere 
 about the house, telling no one the place, not 
 even his wife, who was quite content to wait 
 his own time. But he never told at all, for 
 not many months after this there had come 
 the fall from his horse which, in injuring 
 his head, had so impaired his power of memory 
 that although he recalled the fact of the 
 treasure, he was never able to recollect where 
 he had put it. And in a state of helpless 
 imbecility he had spent those latter vacant 
 days in a vain search for it. All day and 
 every day he wandered through the house 
 seeking, seeking; going from the attic to the 
 cellar many times between the rising and 
 setting of each sun, looking into every corner 
 and crevice and tapping the floor with his 
 stick as he walked, in the vain hope that he 
 would find it somewhere under the carpets. 
 Often in the night he rose from his bed to go 
 the rounds of the house. The family grew 
 accustomed to his vagaries, but to outsiders 
 he was a startling figure, with his vacant stare 
 and ceaseless sighs. But death found him
 
 64 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 before he found his gold; and so his unsolved 
 secret went with him to the grave. 
 
 And now came in the weird part of the story. 
 The search did not cease with his life. It 
 seemed that even in the grave h was troubled 
 with a sense of his loss, and his restless spirit 
 took up the task his snuff ed-out life had left 
 unfinished. And so it was, after that autumn, 
 on very dark nights when the wind blew from 
 the west, the sound of his cane could be dis 
 tinctly heard as he plied his same old quest 
 along the upper hall where, for some unex 
 plained reason, he had always searched most 
 persistently. And not only was his stick 
 audible, but now and then a shadowy form 
 had been seen by the servants; and if on? 
 were bold enough to wait and listen, a deep 
 drawn sigh would be wafted down the corridor, 
 betokening the old man s disappointment. 
 
 "Matilda knows, for she has heard the tap 
 ping," Ann ended. 
 
 "Yes," said the maid after a moment of 
 hesitation, "I heard the sound and the sigh 
 one windy night when I went to kindle a fire 
 in the back guest chamber for company; and 
 I think I should have died of fright had not 
 William, the gardener, come tip with some 
 wood."
 
 The Ghost of River mead 65 
 
 "Twas but a rat." 
 
 "Nay, rats make a gnawing sound, not a 
 tapping; and rats do not sigh." 
 
 "What does cousin Laurence say of it?" 
 
 He laughs ; but Mistress Falkner is angry 
 if one speaks of it; so please, Mistress Judith, 
 do not tell her we have told you." 
 
 "Did my cousins, aid him in the search?" 
 
 "Yes; during his life they followed after 
 him and tore the house up ; but finding nothing 
 they left off when he was dead." 
 
 In the daylight, with Ann opposite her on 
 the sofa, Judith laughed at this story as a 
 foolish scare-head; but that night as she 
 mounted the stair to go to bed she thought 
 of it quakingly, and she wished she had not 
 been so foolish as to let Ann tell her that 
 gossipy tale of the ghostly seeker. A storm 
 was brewing, and she found the upper hall 
 in total darkness, for the light had gone out 
 in the draught. As a deep peal of thunder 
 died away there came from the end of the hall, 
 either in fancy or reality, the tap tap as of 
 a stick smiting the floor. Charles Falkner s 
 racked spirit was already upon its nightly 
 rounds; and in a sudden panic she thrust her 
 fingers in her ears and with never a glance 
 backward fled away to her own room and 
 bolted the door behind her.
 
 66 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She meant to tell Laurence in the morning ; 
 but in the bright sunshine it seemed so silly 
 that she was ashamed of her fright, and did 
 not like the thought of his ridicule. But it 
 nevertheless became her custom on windy 
 nights to cover her ears with her hands, and 
 race from the stair to her own room, with her 
 eyes turned always from the haunted corner 
 of the corridor.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LISSA. 
 
 " A Spirit pure as hers 
 Is always pure, even while it errs, 
 As sunshine broken in the rill, 
 Though turn d aside, is sunshine still." 
 
 MOORE. 
 
 " I A ONY, how many pounds of long-cut did 
 I ship by the Tigress on her return 
 voyage?" 
 
 The voice must have been a familiar one, 
 for the warehouse keeper, without turning 
 on his high, three-legged stool, opened his 
 ledger at the name of Falkner, and read out 
 the entry. 
 
 "And what did the shipmaster say it would 
 bring in London markets ?" 
 
 Again Tony answered without turning, but 
 Laurence was now beside the tall desk so that 
 he saw the other s face. A strong, passionate 
 face it was, with a scar across the left eyebrow 
 that gave it a sinister expression, contradicted 
 by the mouth which somehow conveyed the 
 idea of a latent tenderness, despite the sharp 
 67
 
 68 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 things it was always saying. There was a 
 deeper frown than usual between the eyes, 
 and he put his hand up quickly to hide a red 
 welt across his cheek. But Laurence had 
 seen it. 
 
 "Another fight, Tony?" 
 
 "Yes. Some fine night I ll forget myself 
 and hit him a bit too hard, and that ll be the 
 end of it." 
 
 "Sutley or Larry Herrick this time?" 
 
 "Sutley." 
 
 "About Lissa, of course." 
 
 "Yes. Game was extra high last night; 
 Harry Beach and this young cousin of the 
 Randals made things a bit wild for Sutley." 
 
 "Seton?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "He is often at Sutley s?" 
 
 Tony nodded. "Last night when the game 
 was done, Sutley wished to put them, all in 
 good humour, so he ordered the girl to come 
 with her tambourine and dance for them. 
 There had been plenty of wine, and one of 
 them the d d dog ! grabbed her for 
 a kiss, and held her tighter than he should. 
 She struck him with the tambourine ; and then 
 Sutley would have beat her, but I 
 
 "Took her part against her own father; I 
 understand."
 
 Lissa 69 
 
 "Well, I m not going to sit by and see a 
 motherless girl put upon," snarled Tony, but 
 turning his head somewhat shamefacedly. 
 That was always his plea for interference; 
 not that the girl was anything to him, not 
 that she was pretty or young a brown-eyed 
 wren hatched in a vulture s nest not any of 
 these things, but that she was motherless. 
 I fought my way up without a mother, and 
 I know what it means; and I ll not see her 
 put upon," he would say, the scar over his eye 
 turning a dull purple. And when that was 
 so his questioners let him be, for his small, 
 misshapen body held the spirit of a gladiator, 
 the muscles in his arms were like iron, and 
 his gun had an ugly habit of never missing 
 its mark. 
 
 The friendship of the oddly assorted couple 
 had begun eight years ago when he first saw 
 the girl, the day she landed from the emigrant 
 ship, a mite of a child in a red jacket, dancing 
 on the wharf and handing her tambourine 
 around for money. 
 
 Tis not enough," her drunken father said, 
 when she carried him her earnings. "Dance 
 again dance with more spirit in your feet; 
 nod at them, smile, kiss your hand," and he 
 gave her an ugly shove, and lifted his reed 
 whistle to his mouth.
 
 70 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She shook her tambourine, and curved her 
 arm over her head; but she was tired and 
 unsteady with the unforgotten motion of the 
 ship, and her gestures were so automatic that 
 the spectators began to move away without 
 interest. The man seeing this grew infuriated 
 and struck at her viciously; but he found his 
 blow parried, and Tony s gray-green eyes 
 blazed into his. 
 
 "Are you blind that you see not how spent 
 she is? Let her be." 
 
 For answer the man turned the direction 
 of his blows, but Tony was prepared, and 
 Sutley learned the heavy fall of his fist. "Get 
 up, "he said to the prostrate man, "and go tell 
 Clowes at the corner house to fill you up up 
 to the chin with roast venison and boiled 
 potatoes at my charge." Then turning to 
 the child he held out his hand: "Come, little 
 one, my dinner is waiting at the warehouse 
 yonder ; let us see if there be not a bit of some 
 thing sweet on one of the platters, a scrap 
 of pudding fit for a maid like you." 
 
 Over that meal she told him her short story 
 of alternating cruelty and kindness and per 
 petual wanderings; and from that day it was 
 to him she ran for protection when Sutley 
 came reeling home with the devil in his nature
 
 Lissa 7 1 
 
 unleashed. And Tony hid her in his ware 
 house behind the big casks of tobacco or the 
 bales of goods he had for trade with the planters, 
 and fed her out of his platters until Sutley s 
 frenzy burned down and he was sober and 
 ashamed. And if any one in the settlement 
 guessed her hiding place, he never told ; per 
 haps because of the hunted look in the child s 
 eyes, perhaps because of the gun always within 
 reach of Tony s desk. A sense of responsi 
 bility, almost of ownership, seemed to come 
 with the protection he gave her, and as each 
 anniversary of her coming found her taller 
 and slimmer he began to look at her doubt 
 fully. 
 
 "Think you not you are a big girl to wade 
 in the river and climb trees?" he asked one 
 day. And Lissa looked at him in amazement 
 and then put back her head and laughed aloud. 
 All day she loitered by the river, hunted berries 
 in the hedges or danced to the shadows in the 
 wood. For more than a whole year Tony 
 pondered on it, chewing his tobacco and 
 watching her out of the corners of his eyes. 
 Women were the invention of the devil he 
 never believed God made them but since 
 she was a woman, she must follow after her 
 kind. And yet how to make her, that was the
 
 72 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 point. Then one day suddenly the solution 
 of the problem seemed to come to him. 
 
 "Here," he said, searching among the boxes 
 on his warehouse shelves, "take this thimble 
 and thread and cloth and go down to Peggy 
 Binn, the sempster, and tell her to teach you 
 to sew that you may be like other girls. And, 
 Lissa, ask her to make the tail of your gown 
 a bit longer; it does not grow like your legs." 
 
 That little pricking needle seemed as a lever 
 to lift them out of their difficulty, it was so 
 essentially feminine. Lissa took to it amiably 
 because she could sing or talk as she sewed ; 
 but for the lessons Tony would have given her 
 in reading and writing she had no taste, and 
 there were sulky hours and open rebellions 
 that made Tony say caustic things about 
 "petticoated tempers" when he and his pipe 
 were alone after the doors were closed for the 
 night. 
 
 The front room of Sutley s cabin had become 
 the dicing place of the settlement. There 
 one could always find a chance to win or lose 
 the gold pieces or the silken finery that were 
 the result of tobacco sales. And there were 
 wine and quarrels and oaths and blows ; and 
 the child Lissa, quaking in her blanket in the 
 loft above, saw and heard, and grew wise in
 
 Lissa 73 
 
 the world s wickedness. When she was older, 
 a tall, handsome girl, Sutley found a new use 
 for her. The young gallants who came to 
 play with him liked to have their wine poured 
 and their cards and dice boxes laid out by a 
 pretty wench ; and Sutley called her from the 
 loft, and took to buying her a bit of bright 
 ribbon or a new neckerchief now and then, 
 that she might be the comelier. And the 
 young gallants praised her beauty, dropped 
 coins into her empty tankards sometimes, 
 and for their reward snatched at her red cheeks 
 with their wine-wet lips. 
 
 And Tony took to swearing harder than 
 ever. 
 
 "It s your fine gentleman the man with 
 the cleanest ruffles and whitest hands who 
 leaves the blackest finger-marks on a poor 
 lass s life," he said scowlingly. And he fixed 
 on a signal two candles in her window if 
 things should go too boisterously for her and 
 she needed him. He never gamed himself, 
 but he was often among those who gathered 
 each night in Sutley s rooms. 
 
 "No I m not here to spoil sport or play 
 saint," he said when rallied on his avoidance 
 of the dice. "I care not a tinker s dam how 
 many of you go to hell, or what path you
 
 74 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 choose to travel, or how soon you get there. 
 It s even chances I ll meet you there, for I m 
 not thinking the Lord 11 keep the highest seat 
 in heaven waiting for me. I ve quit the game; 
 that s all. You can cheat and fight each 
 other as it pleases you ; but you can light your 
 pipes with this fact there ll be no rough 
 words to womenfolk while I am here." 
 
 There being but one member of her sex in the 
 house, it was not hard for his hearers to trans 
 late the plural word to mean the slender girl 
 who swung lier feet from the card tables ; and 
 more than one young fellow, for trying to 
 make too free with Lissa, felt the correction 
 that lay in his strong arm; and Sutley could 
 have told to a feather s turn the weight of 
 his hand. So Lissa wore her gay ribbons, 
 spent the money from her tankards, rubbed 
 the revellers kisses from her cheeks upon 
 Tony s rough sleeve, and was happier than 
 she had ever been, since food was plenty and 
 her beatings were fewer. 
 
 Then Larry Herrick came to Jamestown 
 from Henrico. 
 
 And Tony s profanity had a bitterer note, 
 for Lissa did not rub off the touch of Larry s 
 daring lips and he had plenty of gold pieces 
 to rattle in her mugs. When he took off his
 
 Lissa 75 
 
 hat, looped with its buckle of brilliants, and 
 swung it to the ground at her door, she dimpled 
 like the quiet pools of the James smitten by a 
 frolicsome zephyr. 
 
 "What is it about the young scamp catches 
 your fancy?" asked Tony sourly. 
 
 "I ha never said I like him over much." 
 
 "Not said it, perchance; but one would 
 think Prince Charlie himself had come to 
 Virginia, the way you go white and red when 
 he looks at you. Seton blast him ! pays 
 you as fine compliments; and Harry Beach 
 throws you as many gold pieces- may the 
 devil burn him in spluttering pitch for it ! 
 What s the difference between them and this 
 young blue-eyed rogue?" 
 
 "Oh, he has such a way of looking at a 
 body ; tender and soft-Kke." 
 
 "Umph!" 
 
 "And then he has such a such a squeeze 
 to his hand J" 
 
 "Aye, and he ll squeeze the heart out of you 
 and throw you away like a dry sponge. Hew 
 often must I tell you, child, that these young 
 gentlemen play with a girl like you, and marry 
 in their own class?" 
 
 But Lissa struck him half angrily across 
 the arm, and turned to pat into place the
 
 76 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 rose-hued hair ribbon which Larry had praised 
 last night when she leaned over the table 
 with his wine. 
 
 "The ribbon makes you more of a rose than 
 ever, my beauty," he had whispered, and 
 touched her moving arm with his lips, but 
 so quickly withal that no one saw. 
 
 That was Larry s way. The others cried 
 their compliments out to the whole room, 
 caring not who heard; but Larry said his to 
 her alone, and so there went with them a little 
 tingling sense of secrecy and ownership that 
 was as the taste of wild honey. 
 
 Every night now Tony went to Sutley s 
 and sat watching, not the game, but one of 
 the players. Larry might rob Seton of his 
 few gold pieces, might cheat Harry Beach, 
 might even teach young Newton the danger 
 ous fascination of the jangling dice ; but he 
 should deal fairly by Lissa, or there would be 
 a reckoning other than the leather boxes 
 turned out. 
 
 "The very sound of Sutley s voice bidding 
 her fill Larry s glass or dance for him shortens 
 the muscles in my fingers until they twist up 
 into fists," he said to Laurence that morning 
 in the warehouse, his teeth gritting on the 
 stem of his pipe. "Some day I ll forget my-
 
 Lissa 7 7 
 
 self and kill him, and there ll be an end of it." 
 
 "You are more like a father to the girl than 
 Sutley himself," was the answer from between 
 the pages of Laurence s note book. 
 
 "I m not trying to be anybody s father," 
 snapped Tony. "I just want to put some 
 sense in a woman s head though heaven 
 knows it s presumptuous enough in me to 
 think I can do what the Lord failed at when 
 He first created her." 
 
 "Women suit me the way Providence made 
 them," laughed Laurence. 
 
 "Well, they do not please me," said Tony, 
 crossing to the table to get a cool cloth for 
 his smarting cheek. "I think I could have 
 fashioned a cursed better model, but it s hard 
 to change an old pattern."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A LOVE OF THE LONG AGO. 
 
 " Tis far off; 
 And rather like a dream than an assurance." 
 
 T IFE at Rivermead went happily enough 
 * as the spring days widened into June. 
 Mistress Falkner, reluctantly and sighing the 
 while, gradually yielded herself to the charm 
 of Judith s presence and made no plaint when 
 things in the house went awry. There were 
 no broken platters as of yore to grieve her 
 housewifely heart, and the neglected play 
 things of Cotslea were also missing; but the 
 parlour carpet was often strewn with shattered 
 roses from my lady s dress, and the hall table 
 was piled with books and gloves and riding 
 whips which no one save that young woman 
 would have dared to leave out of place in so 
 well ordered a household. 
 
 To Laurence, the sight of these things was 
 as stray sunbeams out of Eden-land, and 
 many a night when the others were a-bed and 
 he had finished closing up the house, he w r ould 
 
 78
 
 A Love of the Long Ago 79 
 
 stop by the hall table and look lovingly upon 
 these evidences of his cousin s presence 
 toying a moment with the whip she had used, 
 or smoothing out the gloves that had encased 
 her white hands from the sun. His parents 
 had been austere, reserved people who en 
 couraged no demonstration of affection from 
 their son ; and so it was in the long ago that 
 the boy s heart, yearning for the sunnier side 
 of life, had clung about the little girl cousin 
 whose imperious fists might beat him be 
 cause her lips were ever ready to kiss away 
 the smart. Now his thoughts were going 
 out to the grown-up Judith in a stronger tide ; 
 and watching the pretty courtship enacting 
 under his eyes, he believed that his instan 
 taneous aversion to Arthur Seton the day 
 of their meeting had been a premonition. 
 And with it all there came such a stinging 
 sense of helplessness Seton had plucked the 
 flower before he himself could reach it ; for 
 \vhat other meaning could there be to Judith s 
 swift changes of colour? 
 
 Sir Thomas fumed openly at the young 
 captain s visits. His own sons had bided in 
 England and braved the dangers of a revolu 
 tion, and it looked like shirking for a strong 
 fellow like Seton to be hiding securely amid
 
 So The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the wilds of the colonies. That was what 
 he said to Judith ; but in his heart was a dearer 
 reason. He was an astute politician; from 
 the time of the king s execution he had had small 
 hope, in spite of what he said to comfort 
 Judith, for the restoration of the Royalists to 
 power; and to confirm his opinions there had 
 followed him across the water the news of 
 the young prince s lack of an army and muni 
 tions of war, of Cromwell s triumph and the 
 proclamation of the Commonwealth. It had 
 fallen out as he had feared; it would be long 
 before any change of government came, if 
 indeed it came at all; the English populace 
 had to try and to grow weary of this new 
 political toy. He himself was old, his sons 
 might fall at any time, for those who followed 
 the fortunes of the Stuart carried their lives 
 in their sword scabbards; and Judith must be 
 provided for. What better portion could he 
 wish for her than to see her mistress of this 
 fine colonial home with its broad farm acres 
 and its air of prosperous plenty? This idea 
 had been in his mind when he first resolved to 
 seek refuge in Virginia, remembering Laurence s 
 affection for the child Judith. Since coming, 
 the idea had crystallized into a resolve which 
 Arthur Seton seemed like to make of no avail.
 
 A Love of the Long Ago 81 
 
 For under the spell of Arthur s wooing, 
 Judith was dreaming her first love dream, 
 seeing all things through a rose-hued mist 
 that left no blemish anywhere. Into his 
 courtship the young Cavalier had thrown the 
 vvhole strength of his nature, never stopping to 
 ask what lay behind the winning of her con 
 sent. His confiscated estates, his penniless 
 condition were not the obstacles that daunted 
 him; it was only Sir Thomas s continued 
 frown. In her distress and discomfort Judith 
 carried her complaint of her father to Laurence 
 who was sorely put to it to answer. 
 
 "What is it you wish me to do?" he asked 
 one day in answer to her appeal. "Your 
 father uses the gentleman with all civility 
 here in my house; more than that I have no 
 right to ask nor should you expect more, 
 seeing, as you say, that he likes him not." 
 
 "But he should like him." 
 
 "Why so? Merely because you do?" 
 
 "That were a sufficient reason, even were 
 there no others." 
 
 "Nay; we all of us do not see with your 
 partial eyes." 
 
 "My eyes are not so partial as they are 
 just. You have taken a prejudice against 
 Captain Seton which is unworthy of you,"
 
 82 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 she answered; and straightway took herself 
 off with her chin in the air. 
 
 All the afternoon a. vague sense of unrest 
 possessed Laurence. It was the nearest ap 
 proach to a quarrel they had ever had, and 
 it left behind a sense of irritation, for which 
 Seton came in for a goodly share. Towards 
 evening he went in search of her to convince 
 himself that she was not angry. He found 
 her in the honeysuckle arbour, her head thrown 
 back, her eyes fixed absently upon a speck of 
 cloud that trailed the summer sky, her atti 
 tude expressive of deep revery. 
 
 "It were a grave intrusion, I presume, to 
 ask the tenor of your thoughts," he said, stand 
 ing before her, hat in hand. 
 
 The moment she turned her gaze upon him 
 he knew that her impatience was gone. "I 
 will tell you gladly, if you will come in and 
 sit down," she said, moving her skirts aside. 
 "I was thinking of Cotslea." 
 
 "Not wishing to return thither, I hope; 
 Rivermead could ill spare to lose you, having 
 once had you as an inmate," he said, taking 
 the place she made for him beside her on the 
 bench. 
 
 She hesitated. "It would be ungrateful 
 to say that after all your kindness. But 
 still one s heart goes back to one s home."
 
 A Love of the Long Ago 83 
 
 "Unless, indeed, one makes a new home." 
 "Yes," she admitted slowly. Then asked: 
 "Were you never homesick for England when 
 you first came to Virginia?" 
 
 He looked at her in silence, then taking 
 her hand in his a moment he answered gravely : 
 "So homesick, Judy, that once or twice I was 
 near to running away from my father and 
 returning but the yearning was not for Eng 
 land, only for one person I had left there. 
 Every day and all day I missed her." 
 
 She opened her eyes in wonder "Her? 
 Missed her?" Then a comprehensive smile 
 curved her red lips: "A sweetheart! Why, 
 I never suspected such a thing, cousin. You 
 had a sweetheart, a romance in England.- 
 How perfectly delightful ! Come, tell me all 
 about it." She moved toward him with a 
 soft, nestling movement. 
 "Would that I could." 
 
 "Oh, you can. I will be your mother- con 
 fessor, and give you good counsel. What did 
 she look like?" 
 
 "To me, she was very beautiful." 
 "She knew you loved her?" 
 "I never tried to hide it from her." 
 "And she loved you in return, of course." 
 He shook his head: "Not as I now wish 
 she had."
 
 84 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She stroked the brown hand on the arm 
 of the rustic bench, a rare demonstration for 
 her in these grown-up days: "Then was she 
 a maid of most questionable taste. What 
 sort of a paragon was she looking for? not 
 love you, indeed!" 
 
 "You think a woman might love me, then?" 
 
 "Assuredly, and with all her soul. Did I 
 ever see her, cousin?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And she lived near Cotslea?" 
 
 "Very near." 
 
 "I wish I could think! you will not tell 
 me her name?" 
 
 "Not now; some day 1 may have the cour 
 age." 
 
 "Courage? Is her name then so formidable 
 that it requires a stout heart just to speak it?" 
 
 "It is the most beautiful name in the world." 
 
 "I am consumed with curiosity. Whisper 
 it softly to me, cousin dear; I ll never tell." 
 
 She leaned ever so lightly against his shoulder 
 and turned her shell-pink ear to him. No 
 anchorite of old, vowed to perpetual renuncia 
 tion and self-sacrifice, could have resisted 
 temptation like that. A great longing rushed 
 over him, setting his pulses in a tingle, sweep 
 ing aside all barriers of self-restraint. Why
 
 A Love of the Long Ago 85 
 
 should he give up all right of way to Seton; 
 why not take the joy the moment offered 
 him? He would tell her, yet wordlessly, 
 who this love of the long ago had been, who 
 she still was. His arm slipped from the bench 
 rail to her waist, his lips had almost reached 
 her cheek, when a step crunched on the 
 gravel without. They both started; and the 
 next minute Arthur Seton stood in the arbour 
 entrance, his plumed hat in his hand. Judith 
 dimpled and put out her hand with a glad 
 welcome. And with a sudden numbing sense 
 of loss Laurence rose slowly to his feet. 
 
 An hour later, when Seton quitted the arbour, 
 he carried Judith s promise of love-unfailing.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 SETON S RETURN. 
 
 " All farewells should be sudden, 
 
 Else they make an eternity of moments." 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 ""\yTATILDA, " Judith said one morning as 
 *** the maid fastened her bodice, "had 
 you ever a lover?" 
 
 Matilda s honest English face grew rosy: 
 "So please you, Mistress Judith, I have a 
 lover now." . 
 
 "Indeed ! Tell me of him is he very fond 
 of you?" 
 
 Matilda hesitated, then evidently glad of a 
 confidante, told how William, the gardener, 
 who had been her sweetheart always, was too 
 poor to bring her to the Colonies, since it took 
 so much money for ship passage and for a 
 start in the New World. So he had come to 
 America as Master Falkner s indentured servant 
 to prepare the way for her. His term of in 
 denture was six years, five of which were al 
 ready gone. 
 
 86
 
 8? 
 
 "And how came you here too ?" 
 
 Matilda was rosier than ever. "After Wil 
 liam sailed there seemed to be nobody left 
 in England nobody at all; and I grew that 
 lonesome that after my mother died I saved 
 my wages and followed him out, taking ser 
 vice first with the Randals and afterwards 
 here with the mistress. We will go before the 
 minister the very day William is free. We 
 have but waited for that, for he said he could 
 not abide that I should bear even the shadow 
 of his bondage." 
 
 "And what does Cousin Janet say to this?" 
 
 "She knows nothing of it ; she is that serious- 
 faced that I would be afraid to tell her any 
 thing save how many sheets there be in the 
 closet or pounds of butter in the churn. William 
 and I ha loved each other none the less for 
 gabbing to nobody, and the end is not far off." 
 
 Judith went down the stairway singing. 
 This homely courtship, running along under 
 the same roof as her own, was an example of 
 patience and truth that many a lady of high 
 degree might imitate. But she was glad the 
 consummation of her own romance was not so 
 near at hand ; she did not wish to think of 
 marriage for a long time to come not until 
 she should be again at Cotslea with the neigh-
 
 88 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 bours and tenants to see her, the village chil 
 dren to strew flowers in her path, and the old 
 sexton to ring the wedding chimes. Think 
 ing of her own content, she was very sorry for 
 Ann, Laurence made so poor a lover. Could 
 it be that he still thought of that first sweet 
 heart in England ? No ; that was only a boy 
 hood fancy and had left but a tender memory. 
 Ann was the woman for him, the wife set 
 apart by fate and circumstance. Her heart 
 was as a great rose hanging within his reach; 
 he had only to put out his hand and gather 
 the blossom; for she must love him after all 
 these years of friendship and neighbourliness. 
 She was only waiting for him to realize this 
 and to speak; that w r as why she looked so 
 curiously at Judith since her betrothal ; she was 
 envious of her friend s happiness, irritated at 
 Laurence s blindness. No wonder she played 
 the coquette with Harry Beach and Arthur 
 and even Newton. She was so sorry for Ann 
 that she took to lecturing Laurence: he must 
 not think so poorly of his chances of success ; 
 he must go oftener to see his neighbour. But 
 he put her off laughingly. 
 
 "Tut, tut, Judy, Laurence has the right of 
 it," her father said one morning, overhearing 
 the end of their talk. "A man should stay
 
 Seton s Return 89 
 
 at home and mind his affairs. Tis only an 
 idle fellow like Seton, living on the bounty of 
 his friends, who can tie himself to a woman s 
 apron-string day after day." 
 
 The sneer rankled in her thoughts, so that 
 in the evening, when Arthur came as was his 
 wont, she re-opened the old subject of his 
 quitting England. 
 
 "When the king comes to his own," he had 
 whispered, "he will not be one-half so happy 
 as I, in that you will then think seriously of 
 marrying me." 
 
 "And how is the king to come to his own 
 saving by the broadswords of his followers?" 
 she asked somewhat sharply. "Think you this 
 Cromwell will step down from his high place 
 of his own choice ? Nay, it is only to force 
 that he will yield; and no brave servant of 
 the king should let his sword rust in its scab 
 bard during these troublous times." 
 
 He frowned. "From your tone, you seem 
 to question my courage." 
 
 "Not your courage, but your loyalty," she 
 answered quickly. "If so you expect to 
 profit by the king s return, methinks you 
 should do something to aid him." 
 
 "I have told you that I quitted Eng 
 land because the cause seemed hopeless. The
 
 90 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Roundheads had burnt my house and slain my 
 father, and would have killed me likewise. 
 But when the right time shall come, I promise 
 you that I will go back to England and give my 
 sword to the service of the king." 
 
 As if to test his resolution, the very next 
 day brought stirring tidings. A ship anchored 
 in port, and Newton came to Rivermead full 
 of excitement, his pale face flushed and eager. 
 
 "I am going back to England, Judith. The 
 Irish are in open arms for the king, and there 
 are riots and battles. I cannot stay here 
 while the fighting goes on yonder; my blood 
 would burn up with impatience. It would 
 be desolate at home with you gone from 
 Cotslea, but I shall not be there; I shall be in 
 the camp, in the stir of war." 
 
 "And your mother; will she let you go?" 
 Judith was almost as breathless as he. 
 
 "She must; she cannot keep me always a 
 child, and tis foolish to say I am not strong. 
 Dick Horrie is going, and I shall go with him, 
 no matter what is said." 
 
 "When will you go?" 
 
 "The Good Hope is loading at the wharf; 
 she sails three days hence, and we will go on 
 her. Judy, you will not forget me when I am 
 gone? When everything is settled I am
 
 coming back to ask that sweet question I 
 have had so long in mind. Do not marry 
 Seton before then; he is not half the man for 
 you." 
 
 Sir Thomas came out to them, his hands 
 full of letters. 
 
 "Judy, Judy, here is news from your broth 
 ers. Ah, I thought Scotland would not forget 
 her duty to the Stuart ! Come, read." 
 
 Everybody was full of excitement, even 
 Mistress Falkner reading the broad-sheets 
 Tony Foster sent out from the letter pouch of 
 the new ship. Ann and Arthur stopped on 
 their way to the settlement, and Ann watched 
 Judith curiously as she told the news, her 
 face bright with hope for the wandering Stuart, 
 and a secret longing that here at last was some 
 thing to arouse her lover. Sir Thomas looked 
 after him scornfully as they rode away. 
 
 "If he shirks now he deserves nothing 
 neither lands from the king nor love from a 
 woman," he said. And Judith could not 
 answer him. 
 
 But with the dusk Arthur was back again, 
 a new excitement in his face. Slowly they 
 paced the moonlit space down the avenue in 
 front of the porch on which the others sat. 
 
 I am coming to your way of thinking, Judith,
 
 92 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 for I cannot get your words about Newton 
 and Horrie out of my mind." 
 
 "Charles Stuart will have two more trusty 
 followers." 
 
 "Amos had a letter for me, telling me that 
 my old command was secretly reforming." 
 
 "And their leader here in Virginia !" 
 
 Her emphasis was not to be mistaken; he 
 bit his lip. "I told you I would go back when 
 the right time came 
 
 "And is it not already come, with Holland 
 friendly to our cause, the Scots rising, and 
 Ireland in open rebellion for the king? My 
 brothers both wait for him on the border. 
 They at least are not laggards in war." 
 
 "Nor will I be, though in my heart is fore 
 boding of disaster." 
 
 "You will go to England ?" 
 
 "You will keep faith with me if I do ?" 
 
 "I am a deal likelier to keep faith with a 
 Cavalier fighting under the king s banner 
 where he belongs, than with a Cavalier waiting 
 outside for others to win the victory for him." 
 she answered, her father s taunt coming like 
 a sting to her memory. 
 
 They were close to the porch, and their 
 voices went up to those above. Sir Thomas 
 chuckled at the sharp sound of hers; but
 
 Scton s Return 93 
 
 Laurence got up quickly and went into the 
 house, unable longer t bear the sight of those 
 two loitering in the w r an light. He sat down 
 in the library, but he could not read the book 
 he opened because of the hot choking in his 
 throat. 
 
 Down the avenue, where an untrimmed 
 maple bough cast its shadow over them, the 
 other two had paused. 
 
 "Ann urges me vehemently to remain, but 
 you have set my duty before me and I will 
 follow it. I go, not for Charles Stuart, but for 
 you. If evil should befall me. 
 
 "There is chance of evil everywhere," 
 she answered, for she had been bred a soldier s 
 daughter, and looked at war with different 
 eyes from Ann. 
 
 "You are right, and I am going with New 
 ton and Horrie. But for the anchor your love 
 has made for me here, it would not be hard, 
 for I am tired of this life of inactivity. But 
 now you shall swear to me, here under these 
 stars and by the love I have for you, that you 
 will keep faith with me until such time as I 
 shall return." 
 
 And with her hands crossed over her breast 
 and her face lifted to the star-lilied sky, she 
 promised.
 
 94 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 But on the porch Sir Thomas refused to 
 listen to Seton and put Judith coldly from 
 him. The match pleased him in no way, he 
 said; it would be time enough to discuss the 
 matter when the king had been crowned and 
 Arthur s estates restored so that he might 
 properly think of taking a wife. In the end, 
 Seton went away angry ; and Judith, for the 
 first time in her life denying her father s good 
 night kiss, watched him tearfully as he mounted 
 the stair to his room. 
 
 "And you, too, are cross and make me no 
 good wishes," she said when Laurence lighted 
 her candle for her at the hall table. "What 
 possible objection can you find to Arthur?" 
 
 He was very pale as he looked at her. "It 
 is not my right to object, sweet cousin; that 
 is for your father alone. But you can scarcely 
 expect me to welcome even a distant prospect 
 of your leaving Rivermead." 
 
 "You have been so good to us," she said, 
 with an instantaneous softening of manner, 
 her hand caressing his arm. "Methinks I love 
 not my brothers so well as you." 
 
 He looked at the hand on his sleeve, such 
 clinging, white fingers, and for a moment 
 something in him wavered; but when he 
 spoke his voice was even and quiet. "Your
 
 Setoris Return 95 
 
 brothers would not do more for your happi 
 ness; remember that always. If ever you 
 stand in need, you have only to speak, I will 
 not fail you, no matter what you ask ;" 
 
 "Even to the half of your kingdom?" she 
 laughed. 
 
 "Even to the whole of it." 
 
 He was so grave that the jest died on her 
 lips. "You are always so generous, cousin; 
 so good and generous; my heart is full of 
 gratitude to you." And before he could 
 prevent her she had stooped and kissed his 
 hand. Then she was gone, and he stood 
 staring at the spot where her lips had touched. 
 
 Three days later Judith stood on the wharf 
 and waved good-bye to her lover, as the out 
 going vessel went dropping down the river. 
 She had sent him away to fight for the Stuarts 
 and for her, to forge the first link in the long 
 chain of happiness that would stretch back 
 to Cotslea and a new home under the blue 
 English skies. 
 
 "Suppose he never returns? Suppose you 
 have sent him to his death among the Round 
 heads ?" Ann Randal said in her ear, and her 
 voice had a hissing sound that was at once a 
 reproach and an accusation. 
 
 "He will return," Judith replied confidently,
 
 96 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 and turned to answer his signal, straining her 
 eyes for one last glimpse of his face. 
 
 The sailors threw a w r hite sail to the sun ; 
 the water at the prow grew yeasty as the 
 vessel quickened speed ; the figures on the deck 
 lost their individual lines so that Judith could 
 no longer tell Arthur from Newton. The 
 hulk of the ship passed out of sight beyond 
 the first bend, but the watchers lingered, for 
 the masts were still visible above the trees; 
 then, thread-like, they faded into the wide 
 sky. 
 
 "He is gone!" Judith cried, with suddenly 
 blanching cheeks and tear-misted eyes. 
 
 But the girl beside her laughed shrilly.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 UNDER THE CANDELABRA. 
 
 " You talk to me in parables!" 
 
 OTWAY. 
 
 VJO brown-winged thrush of the thicket 
 * ^ sang more blithely that Judith during 
 the summer days that followed the sail 
 ing of the Good Hope. Sir Thomas, guess 
 ing where her thoughts were, was often minded 
 to clap his hand over her red mouth and shut 
 off the trills and ripples of song. But he only 
 swore under his breath as he paced up and 
 down the long veranda, for he was playing 
 with himself a game of patience. Arthur was 
 gone, that was one point gained ; what might 
 not happen before he returned ? Perhaps, 
 indeed, he would never return, for war is a 
 precarious mistress and her votary of to-day 
 may be her oblation of to-morrow. Cromwell 
 would not be deposed in a day, a month, or a 
 year; Judith might grow weary of the pro 
 longed wait a woman s fancy jumped so 
 with the hour and circumstance. In the 
 97
 
 98 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 meantime he would not fan the flame of her 
 preference by injudicious abuse or opposition. 
 It was the unfed fire that died down; so he 
 never mentioned Seton s name for praise or 
 blame. 
 
 "Brother Amos says you were right to send 
 our cousin to England," Ann said one morn 
 ing as the two girls were cutting roses for the 
 library vases; "but right or wrong, I should 
 not like the responsibility, seeing what may 
 possibly befall him." 
 
 "Why should you always be saying that a 
 responsibility rests upon me for persuading 
 Captain Seton to return ? It was plainly his 
 duty," Judith answered with a touch of asper 
 ity, lifting her shears for a big pink blossom 
 that nodded at her from its swaying stem. 
 
 "Why, surely you must realize that should 
 any misfortune befall him in this war, tis upon 
 you the blame must rest, since you so urged 
 him to go," Ann said in her drawling voice. 
 
 "No misfortune will come to him though I 
 do not take it kindly of you to be continually 
 reminding me of the other possibility. He will 
 distinguish himself in some battle, do some 
 thing wonderfully brave, so that when the 
 restoration is effected King Charles will receive 
 him into special favour."
 
 Under the Candelabra 99 
 
 It was thus he figured in her dreams, always 
 leading, always unscathed, a hero with the 
 light of victory upon him. She could not recall 
 the time w T hen her father or her brothers had 
 not been in the army of the king, and so sat 
 urated was her mind with tales of warriors, of 
 gallant deeds and miraculous escapes, that war 
 left with her no haunting dread. A wound 
 might come, yes ; but the scars of battle were 
 the sign-manual of courage and greatness and 
 of that high distinction which is the heritage 
 of the future. 
 
 So it was she thought of her lover during the 
 golden daytime, and in that starry aftermath 
 which for long cycles has been the season of 
 dreams, the trysting hour of hearts separated 
 by fate. 
 
 During the first part of the summer Laurence 
 was occupied with his growing crops, so that 
 those in the house saw but little of him except 
 when they gathered on the veranda after sun 
 set to enjoy the breeze that blew up the river. 
 But when the August sun shone hot he came 
 in earlier from his tours of inspection, and Sir 
 Thomas helped him with his accounts in the 
 shutter-shaded library, while Judith sat near 
 with her knitting, or the embroidery from which 
 cousin Janet was always having her pick wrong
 
 ioo The Wooing of Judith 
 
 stitches. And her father was secretly pleased 
 when Laurence stopped to pick up her dropped 
 scissors, or to thank her for the flowers on his 
 desk. Sometimes, when she seemed lonely or 
 out of spirits, the long columns of figures were 
 thrust out of sight, and selecting a book he took 
 her over to the open window, or, which pleased 
 Sir Thomas better, they went away to the 
 honeysuckle arbour where the droning bees 
 were their only company. And there he read 
 to her, or they talked of the hundred things 
 that had come to have a common interest ; but 
 into these conversations Seton s name seldom 
 crept, for she had early learned that Laurence 
 did not care to discuss the absent Cavalier. 
 
 The expected decisive news from England 
 did not come. There was dissension in Ireland ; 
 but England remained Puritan, and the un 
 crowned king was still a fugitive from his 
 throne. But Virginia, though Cavalier at 
 heart, did not sit in social sackcloth because of 
 these things. There were visits and return 
 visits, and a grand ball at Greenspring to 
 welcome the refugees who had fluttered into 
 the settlements like flights of flurried birds. 
 And thither Judith went with her father and 
 Laurence in the big coach. A wreath of roses 
 bound the top of her blue bodice, and a blue
 
 Under the Candelabra 101 
 
 feather curled over her braids. Laurence, 
 waiting at the foot of the stair to put her into 
 the coach, swung his hat to the carpet in 
 homage of her new beauty. 
 
 Not a man in the company but will envy 
 me my seat in your carriage," he said, as he 
 took the place opposite her. 
 
 At Greenspring, as they went down the long 
 room, she w r as suddenly conscious of certain 
 elbow-touchings and sly glances among the 
 company; and during a pause of the crowd 
 ahead of them, she heard one gossip say to 
 another : 
 
 "When the cat is away the mice will play." 
 
 "Yes," was the answer. "Propinquity is 
 the best match-maker in the world. We may 
 yet go to Rivermead to a wedding not in the 
 old reckonings." 
 
 "What do they mean?" Judith whispered, 
 wonderingly, to Laurence. 
 
 " Shall I ask them ? " He had bent down so 
 close to her, and there was such a teasing 
 twinkle in his eye that she hastily and in some 
 confusion moved on. As they made their 
 salutations the Governor clapped Laurence 
 jovially on the shoulder, exclaiming: 
 
 "Is it the mauve and silver of your coat, 
 Falkner, or some witchery Mistress Judith has
 
 102 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 carried into the atmosphere of Rivermead, that 
 makes you so good to look at ? " 
 
 " Tis the coat, your Excellency," laughed 
 Judith; for to please her Laurence had taken 
 to dress more after the fashion of the exiled 
 courtier:;, and the result was most satisfactory. 
 
 But Laurence declared that the improve 
 ment in his looks, if there were any, was due to 
 his cousin, for in the sunlight of her presence it 
 were a sin to look anything but one s best. 
 And his Excellency clapped him again upon the 
 back, and said he was bettering his manners 
 as well as his looks; and then sent them down 
 the room to the stately swing of minuet music. 
 
 " Propinquity is the best match-maker in 
 the world," Judith repeated to herself later 
 on, as she watched Ann, all in red like some 
 gorgeous poppy, hanging on Laurence s arm 
 for the reel. Was there not propinquity 
 enough in the neighbourliness of these two 
 and their families ? Cousin Janet was right ; 
 this was the mistress that would come to 
 Rivermead. 
 
 It was a brilliant company, many of whom 
 had not met before since they had gathered 
 in the banquet-hall of the "late sainted king," 
 and drank destruction to the Puritan in 
 bumpers of red wine; and there were feasting
 
 Under the Candelabra 103 
 
 and dancing while the moon went down the dim 
 sky and the candles in their silver sockets 
 burned slowly out, and the rose garlands on 
 the walls drooped and withered. To Judith 
 it was all beautiful, and her slippered feet were 
 among the last to leave the floor. And then 
 in the early sunrise weather there was the drive 
 home, with Sir Thomas asleep in his corner and 
 Laurence to repeat all the pretty things that 
 had been said in the gentleman s cloak-room of 
 "the new beauty at Rivermead. " 
 
 " Tis lovely to have one s imperfections 
 covered with such compliments. I feel quite 
 like a cake whereon the sugar-frosting has been 
 smoothly laid. " 
 
 " The cake were not so sweet " he began, 
 but she lifted her finger warningly. 
 
 I have taxed your gallantry enough for one 
 time we will let that pass. How many times 
 did you dance with Ann, Laurie?" 
 
 " Let me see; I think it was twice. " 
 
 "Only twice!" 
 
 " Larry Herrick did not let her feel lonely. " 
 
 " How I dislike that man. " 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 "Oh, because he has such an air of owner 
 ship with a girl. I do not like to be so appro 
 priated by a man. "
 
 104 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "I know one man who would give his good 
 right arm to appropriate you." 
 
 "There, sir; did I not say I had taxed your 
 gallantry enough ? You neglected Ann shame 
 fully, cousin; you should have asked her to 
 dance with you oftener for sake of she 
 laughed; "for sake of the family friendship. " 
 
 He leaned over and twisted her fan ribbon 
 between his fingers : You made all compen 
 sation to the family friendship you danced 
 with Amos three times. " 
 
 " You counted my dances ? " 
 
 " Every one of them. " 
 
 She looked up suddenly from the ribbon she 
 had been watching and met the intent look in 
 his eyes. "Laurie, do you know you some 
 times seem very strange to me ? " she faltered, 
 for somehow his eyes made her tremble. 
 
 "Is it strange a man should like to watch a 
 pretty girl who dances well?" he asked lightly. 
 " Besides, twas my duty to watch over you 
 lest you fall in with an awkward partner." 
 But she was not quite satisfied with his quick 
 change of manner. 
 
 She wanted to talk of Ann, but when she 
 again introduced the name of their pretty 
 friend he yawned slightly behind his hand, and, 
 pointing through the window, asked her if she
 
 Under the Candelabra 105 
 
 noticed, by the roadside, a piece of ironweed 
 purpling to its bloom, saying it was the first 
 signal of summer s capitulation. 
 
 "You have such queer moods, cousin," she 
 said petulantly; "you are never willing for me 
 to talk of Ann or Captain Seton." 
 
 "That is because I think you talk more en 
 tertainingly of yourself than of Ann, and be 
 cause I am to myself vastly more interesting 
 than Seton, " he laughed, as he leaned back and 
 looked at her from half -closed eyes. "Come, 
 now, let us get back to personalities; what 
 kind of partner did I make last night ? 
 
 You dance much better than you talk when 
 you are in this quizzing mood, " and she turned 
 her shoulder on him and looked out of the 
 window. But he only laughed again. "Pray 
 do not move; your profile is excellent against 
 that dark cushion," he said. 
 
 Whereupon she covered her face with her 
 lace handkerchief and pretended to fall asleep ; 
 but presently, when he boldly lifted the corner 
 of the handkerchief, her eyes were wide open, 
 and full of a vague wonder as to the new note 
 that underlay the quizzing in his voice. 
 
 The next day there were letters from Arthur, 
 and Judith and Ann sat late that night braid 
 ing their hair and talking of the contents. The
 
 io6 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 writer reluctantly acknowledged that Christmas 
 would not find Judith returned to Cotslea, such 
 a death-grip did Cromwell seem to have upon 
 the sceptre. 
 
 "There is one person in the colony who will 
 not sorrow if Arthur is many years instead of 
 months returning to Virginia," said Ann, 
 laughing 
 
 "My father?" 
 
 "No; though the same can be said of him. 
 This other one is Amos." 
 
 "Amos!" 
 
 "Yes ; had you not guessed, Judith ? " 
 
 "Ann, you are silly beyond the telling!" 
 
 "To be silly is no greater crime than to be 
 blind," was the teasing answer. "He had 
 eyes for no one but you at the ball last night. 
 And Harry Beach, too, needs only a little en 
 couragement to come dangling after you. Your 
 preference for Arthur has blinded you just as an 
 ostrich blinds itself in the sand. I find you 
 more than silly to so cut yourself off from ad 
 miration." 
 
 "Ann!" 
 
 "There, I did not mean to anger you; but, 
 my dear, I find your honesty very distressing, 
 and your conscientiousness most wearying." 
 
 " If you would be more honest in vour deal-
 
 Under the Candelabra 107 
 
 ings with your admirers Laurence would go 
 oftener to your house." 
 
 "Then would he be the first man ever made 
 more attentive by lack of opposition in his 
 suit. Believe me, Judith, uncertainty is the 
 strongest string that ties a man s fancy. " She 
 fastened the black braid she had plaited, and 
 yawned sleepily. " You had best think a little 
 about Amos; he is not handsome, and he is 
 dismally quiet, but tis a good thing to have 
 two strings to one s bow in case one should 
 snap, you know. " 
 
 "1 shall wait until my first one snaps before 
 hunting another." 
 
 " Which proves you are no manager, even in 
 things of the heart. I am several years your 
 senior, and I have the wisdom of my superior 
 age, that is why you never see me devoting 
 all my thoughts to one man. " She leaned over 
 and pulled the other girl toward her. " I wonder 
 what it is about you that Arthur found so irre 
 sistible ? It must be this dimple, or else that 
 soft way you have of lifting your eyes and 
 dropping them again. If you had a grain of 
 the coquette in you, you would be the toast of 
 the colony. " 
 
 But Judith, dreaming of her Cavalier across 
 the sea, gave her words no heed. What should 
 any other man s tenderness mean to her?
 
 io8 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 A few days later Judith found herself shut 
 out of the library at the hour she usually spent 
 there with her father and Laurence. Amos 
 Randal had come on business, so Matilda told 
 her, and she was not to go in. At supper she 
 noticed that Laurence was preoccupied, and 
 when they left the porch he followed his mother 
 into her room. 
 
 "Mother, can you rehearse for me the par 
 ticulars of a money transaction between my 
 father and James Randal some eight years 
 ago?" 
 
 "Surely I can. It was the summer you lay 
 so ill of the fever. We were in sore straights 
 that year because of the mildew on the tobacco 
 and the fire in London which burnt our property 
 there. Your father borrowed 1,000 from 
 James Randal to finish paying for the clearing 
 of our land and the rebuilding of our London 
 house. " 
 
 "Yes, father told me of the transaction 
 when I was recovered. What surety did he 
 give Master Randal?" 
 
 "His note. What put the matter in your 
 head just now?" 
 
 "The money was all paid back?" he asked, 
 without answering her question. 
 
 "Certainly, within the twelvemonth, for our
 
 Under the Candelabra 109 
 
 crops were good that year, and we sold our 
 London property to great advantage. Why 
 do you look so grave over a matter that is 
 done?" 
 
 "It troubles me, but no doubt needlessly. 
 Father paid the money back, but what about 
 the note?" 
 
 "That he never got again, for the Randals 
 could never find it. They had an ugly fire 
 which partly destroyed their house, and they 
 always thought it was burned along with other 
 valuable papers." 
 
 " That is as I remembqr my father telling me 
 the matter; but it was not burned. Amos 
 has found it among his father s old papers, 
 and to-day brought it to me for payment." 
 
 "Payment? I could not have heard aright, 
 Laurence ! It was all paid these many years 
 ago." 
 
 I am sure of it in my own mind , but it 
 seems there is no record of the settlement on 
 Master Randal s books, and he died without 
 telling any one of it." 
 
 "Not even his wife?" 
 
 " No. She knew the money was loaned; but 
 the payment was never explained to her, and 
 the whole matter was transacted while Amos 
 was in England with his tutor."
 
 no The Wooing of Judith 
 
 His mother shook her head thoughtfully. 
 "James Randal s ruling passion was gaming; 
 and his wife was as strongly set against it. I 
 remember he once said to your father that he 
 never told her of his losings; it is quite likely 
 that he lost this money that way and was 
 ashamed to confess it." 
 
 "Very likely; but that does not help us in 
 our present trouble. Amos has found the 
 note duly signed, and there is nowhere any 
 receipt or memorandum of its settlement, and 
 naturally he asks that it be satisfied. " 
 
 "We can satisfy him in two ways. Your 
 father told me that Seth Perry was witness to 
 the final settlement ; he can speak for us ; and 
 in place of the note, James Randal gave him a 
 receipt stating the fact that the original note 
 was lost. That receipt is of course among your 
 father s papers." 
 
 "Then is all plain sailing; though I do not 
 remember seeing the document, " said Laurence, 
 rising and fetching a tin box from a locked 
 drawer of his desk. 
 
 They untied the packages of yellowing papers 
 and read the label on each ; but the special one 
 they sought was not in the box. " Never mind ; 
 it is doubtless in one of the desk drawers," 
 said Laurence. "I will find it another time;
 
 Under the Candelabra 1 1 1 
 
 tis enough to know that it is in the house. As 
 I said, Amos is not disposed to quarrel; he only 
 wants what is his due." 
 
 "This is all most unfortunate and strange," 
 sighed the mother; "but whatever happens 
 there must be no quarrel between the families 
 because of you and Ann. " 
 
 "You still cling to that fancy, mother?" 
 
 " Yes, for I think that way lies your happi 
 ness; and it has grieved me of late, my son, 
 to see how careless you are of your chances. I 
 am an old woman, Laurence, and one day you 
 may be left alone, without a mistress for your 
 house ; then will you be sorry you did not take 
 a wife. " 
 
 Heaven grant the time you leave me be far 
 removed. You should have had a daughter, 
 mother." 
 
 "A daughter-in-law would content me quite 
 as well . 
 
 He fingered the box he held nervously, as 
 though he wanted to say something, yet hesi 
 tated. " Well, perchance some day 
 
 " Some day you will bring me Ann." 
 
 " I hope to bring you some one you will love; 
 more than that I cannot say. Good-night now. 
 Think no more of this affair of the note ; it will 
 adjust itself."
 
 ii2 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 And so the question was dropped. They had 
 come upon so many things which Charles Falk- 
 ner had hidden away during those blank days 
 of his failing life that they never doubted but 
 that the note would be forthcoming when 
 needed.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 A DANCE AND A DICE BOX. 
 
 " The die rang sideways, cracked and fell, 
 
 Rang, cracked and fell 
 Like a man s laughter heard in hell 
 Far down, Faustina. " 
 
 SWINBURXK. 
 
 candles in their pewter holders 
 flamed and spluttered and winked in 
 Sutley s gaming den. The air of the 
 summer night was heavy with tobacco smoke 
 and the fumes of wine. Good fortune had 
 stood at the old man s elbow, and among those 
 who had lost their silver to him there were now 
 black looks and a whisper of something wrong. 
 Sutley felt the brooding discontent, and turned 
 to the safety that never failed him. Lissa s 
 twinkling feet had danced down many a danger 
 for him ; she could save him now. 
 
 " Go, dance, " he said, pushing her in from the 
 rear room. But she hung back there were 
 many empty bottles under the table, and Tony 
 was not there to-night. She wanted to go in 
 stead to her garret and the quiet of its shadow ;
 
 ii4 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 but the men had seen her through the door and 
 shouted for her to enter. 
 
 "Dance dance like the devil was in your 
 heels," her father whispered, with another 
 push ; and blew a few sweet notes on his reed 
 whistle. 
 
 The shove had sent her to the middle of the 
 room, whe.re she stood irresolute, the light 
 f ocussed on her faded green skirt and loose white 
 bodice, short of sleeve and open at the throat. 
 Behind her ear was a bunch of crimson Indian- 
 pinks. The men began to applaud, forgetting in 
 the pleasure of her comeliness their grievances. 
 Sutley broke into a dancing measure, to which 
 the others beat time. Slowly Lissa began to 
 move, one hand on her hip, her tambourine 
 swinging at her side. She did not like the looks 
 of the men sitting, some on the tables, some on 
 the tilted chairs. The music of the whistle was 
 insistent, imperative, calling alluringly to her 
 feet; but she was wishing Tony was there in 
 his place by the window. Then suddenly she 
 began to dance with spirit ; the tambourine 
 answered the whistle, for Larry Herrick was 
 singing the air that Sutley played ; and though 
 the others caught but the sound of his singing, 
 she heard, vibrating through the dulcet notes, 
 a call to her heart, Listening, she quickened
 
 .-1 Dance and a Dice Box 115 
 
 her movements, looking at him out of the 
 velvet softness of her eyes, answering him with 
 the smile on her lips. Then presently he 
 sprang to her side and, still singing, snatched 
 her hand, caught the step with her, and round 
 and round the room they went while the whistle 
 shrilled or softened and shrilled again, and the 
 watchers struck out the time with their palms 
 and shouted their applause. Now it was a 
 swinging minuet measure, now a livelier reel, 
 now the clattering shoe-jargon of a jig. Larry s 
 strong arms swung her left or right, or held her 
 fast, as the whistle leaped from quick to slow 
 and the smiting hands went on, and the thump 
 of the tambourine, striking hand and elbow, 
 pucturcd the rhythmic dinn with its sweet 
 jangle. Forgetful of her first hesitancy, un 
 mindful of Tony s absence, she yielded herself 
 to the spell of the moment, her lithe body like 
 a willow \vand in the fluctuating breath of the 
 music. Around the room and down the floor 
 from window to chimney and back again they 
 danced, past the table, where, with a quick 
 fanning movement of his hat, Larry swept out 
 the flame of the candles, then across the floor 
 in the dark and straight on through the open 
 door into the cool outer night, where, beside 
 the cabin wall, the dance ended with his hot 
 lips at her throat.
 
 u6 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Where was Tony Foster that the serpent 
 crept thus close to Lissa s feet ? Where was the 
 single gun that had been as an arsenal between 
 her and harm all these years ? 
 
 But Tony saw the change in her during the 
 following days. She went as one in a dream, 
 too content even to sing; and he watched for 
 the cause. It was Harry Beach who told him 
 of the dance, and he looked to the priming of 
 his gun and waited. 
 
 "He s meaning no good by you, Lissa; and 
 he s setting tongues a-wagging. Send him 
 off like an honest girl, and come back here 
 with your sewing," he urged. But the girl 
 pushed him away and went on with her dream ; 
 for Larry was at the cabin every day now, and 
 she danced for no one else unless he said so. 
 But it was a castle of cards she had built and 
 thought it founded on stone; and after a few 
 weeks it fell to ruins, for Larry suddenly ceased 
 to come to the cabin by the river. Some said 
 it was because Tony Foster neglected his ware 
 house to sit so often at Sutley s window, and 
 others averred that Ann Randal had caught 
 the young gallant s fancy and reformed him. 
 And each night, after a weary wait, Lissa took 
 the flowers from her hair and threw them passion 
 ately aside ; where was the use to deck herself if
 
 A Dance and a Dice Box 117 
 
 no one came to see ? In vain the other men 
 rattled their dice boxes at her, and dropped 
 their coins in her empty tankards; she had no 
 smile for any one, and the reed whistle called in 
 vain to her heavy feet. 
 
 " Tis as I told you," Tony said in his high, 
 thin voice, when she crept to him on the ware 
 house steps while the game in the cabin went on. 
 " He ll squeeze the heart out o your body, and 
 then ask some fine lady to take his dirty name ; 
 tis the way of his kind." 
 
 "He must love me; he said it so often," the 
 girl said piteously. 
 
 "Love s not a hard word to pronounce 
 with the lips, " was the answer. " He s always 
 at the Randals now, dangling after Ann. I 
 warrant you he says that same word of love to 
 her twenty times a day." 
 
 And Lissa took to watching for him as he rode 
 with Ann through the woods or by the river. 
 Crouching behind a tree trunk or in the tangled 
 reeds, she often saw them pass, Larry bending 
 ever out of his saddle to his companion, his 
 manner filled with wordless admiration; his 
 head bared now and then as if in reverent 
 adoration. And the hidden girl clinched her 
 fists in impotent rage, and stole home to her 
 garret with a great fear whitening her face;
 
 u8 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 hating Ann, hating her with the unleashed 
 fury of a first-awakened jealousy. And the 
 scar on Tony s forehead grew livid when he saw 
 her face ; but when he reached for his gun, Lissa 
 caught his arm and held it. 
 
 But one morning, slipping through the reeds 
 with an armful of water-lilies, she came sud 
 denly upon Judith, Amos, Ann and Larry, who 
 had been on the river for a row. She would have 
 stepped back into the reeds, but Judith cried 
 out in delight at sight of the lilies, and Amos, 
 wishing to please her, said he was sure Lissa 
 would give her one. Answering the smile in 
 Judith s eyes, Lissa held out a handful of the 
 blossoms. 
 
 "And I, too, love lilies," said Larry, ex 
 tending his hand engagingly. "Will your 
 generosity extend to an old friend ? " 
 
 The light left Lissa s face, for Ann was on 
 his other side; then in a moment everything 
 faded from her but the eyes that had made her 
 heaven, and when he took a step nearer her, still 
 holding out his hand, she selected for him the 
 most perfect flower of her collection. She meant 
 it as a token of her forgiveness for his neglect, 
 and her eyes told her meaning. 
 
 "That is very kind of you, my pretty lass; 
 take this for your pains," and he tossed her a
 
 A Dance and a Dice Box 119 
 
 piece of silver, turning as he did so to the girl 
 at his right : "A flower so perfect as this could 
 have bloomed only for you," he said, bowing 
 low. 
 
 Ann took the blossom and held it against her 
 breast, laughing up at him. But with a sudden 
 fierce gesture Lissa reached out and struck it 
 from her hand and set her foot upon it in the 
 dust of the road, her eyes blazing over the two 
 like a leaping flame. Then before any one 
 could speak, she hurled the coin back at Larry, 
 striking him full upon the breast, and was gone 
 into the rustling river reeds, leaving behind her 
 but the hissing sound of an angry sob. 
 
 The four left in the road looked at each other 
 gapingly; the shadow of a tragedy seemed to 
 have lain along their path. Then Ann laughed. 
 
 "The spitfire! Pick up your silver, Master 
 Herrick, and be glad tis not a bullet in your 
 heart; there was murder in yonder wench s 
 eyes. " 
 
 And in the warehouse, with her head against 
 Tony s high desk, Lissa was sobbing out the 
 pain of her heart. 
 
 "He would have paid me for the flower I 
 gave him would have shamed me with his 
 money before them all; that was bad enough, 
 but to give my flower to her to say it had 
 bloomed for her!
 
 I2O 
 
 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Tony looked from the bowed head up to his 
 gun ; perhaps after all he would not have to use 
 it; contempt sometimes killed love, and this 
 might open Lissa s eyes. 
 
 The man who needlessly shames one woman 
 before another who is her rival has the devil s 
 hoof -marks in his heart," he said. " He has 
 already told Harry Beach that though you are 
 now at outs, yet he can whistle you back at 
 will." 
 
 That night Larry called under Lissa s win 
 dow, but she did not answer. The next day 
 he sent her a rope of beads with the red of her 
 own lips shining in them; but she would not 
 touch them or send him so much as a word of 
 message; and when she poured the wine for 
 the gamesters that night she skipped his glass 
 and gave him not even a look as she passed. 
 Then the fiend in him awoke. That night and 
 for many other nights he came and diced with 
 no one but Sutley. Each time it was the old 
 man he challenged, refusing the invitations of 
 others; and fortune sat beside; him Sutley s 
 hidden earnings gradually melted into Larry s 
 pocket; then the pewter mugs and tankards 
 were staked ; even the dice boxes from which 
 they made their casts became Larry s ; then the 
 cabin itself was played for and lost. Staringly
 
 A Dance and a Dice Box 121 
 
 Sutley sat gazing about him ; he was again a 
 beggar with only his reed whistle, and what 
 would that be worth without Lissa s twinkling 
 feet? For since this quarrel with Larry she 
 would not dance. Already there was no drink 
 in the house ; to-morrow hunger would bite at 
 his vitals. 
 
 Then Larry poured a glass of wine and 
 pushed it to him, and leaning over the table 
 whispered that he was not ruined, that he had 
 yet his highest stake Lissa; that for one kiss 
 from Lissa he would risk all his earnings of the 
 six nights. And Sutley, dull with the wine and 
 sodden with long years of world-evil, overlook 
 ing the insult for the chance it held, turned 
 again to the table and gathered the dice with 
 feverish haste. 
 
 In the loft above them, Lissa lay prone on the 
 floor and watched the game through a slit in 
 the plank, dimly comprehending that in some 
 way she was concerned therein watched every 
 throw as the white cubes spilt and fell and were 
 gathered again, watched, and saw her father 
 lose. 
 
 "Call the girl," said Larry. 
 
 But when, in obedience to that command, 
 her father s voice came up the ladder, she did 
 not answer, for a fearful quaking was in her
 
 122 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 limbs. He did not want her to dance, for he had 
 not his whistle. What then? What was the 
 meaning of the dull despair in his bloated face ? 
 and the triumphant laugh in Larry s eyes ? Her 
 knees shook under her; she would not go, she 
 dared not. 
 
 "Nay, trouble yourself no more; I will seek 
 her, for I wish to tell her how beautiful she is 
 in her anger, how fine she was in the wood the 
 other day," and calling alluringly to her, he 
 thrust Sutley aside and laid his hand on the 
 ladder. 
 
 Her untutored heart belonged to this man ; 
 every drop of the wild blood in her body had 
 cried out for him for days ; but she would have 
 died rather than wait there alone under the 
 dropping eaves for him. The batten shutter in 
 the gable was open; it was ten feet to the 
 ground beneath, but she was over the sill in a 
 moment, and as Larry s head showed through 
 the ladder opening, she dropped to the grass 
 beneath. For one moment she leaned against 
 the wall, her hand to her heart, listening to 
 Larry s voice calling her softly, tenderly in the 
 loft above, and to her father s muttered oaths 
 beside the dice boxes; then she fled into the 
 moonless night. 
 
 But Larry knew who hid her in her hours of
 
 A Dance and a Dice Box 123 
 
 need; and so almost before Tony could reach 
 his desk again after putting her in safety, 
 he stood in the warehouse door. For a long 
 minute the two men, standing in the narrow 
 circle of candlelight, looked into each other s 
 faces and gauged each other s strength of body 
 and of purpose. 
 
 "I diced for her and won her," Larry said. 
 "She loves me, and I mean to have her." 
 
 But Tony did not move a muscle ; only his 
 flaming eyes told that he heard. 
 
 "Will you stand aside and let me seek her 
 peaceably, or must I give that ugly body of 
 yours an extra twist ? for she is here, I know. " 
 
 "She is here, yes. But you take her away 
 only over my dead body." 
 
 Larry laughed in that soft way of his : " You 
 are a small, misshpaen man, Tony Foster, and 
 I am near upon six feet. I pray you why 
 should you risk yourself for her ? She would 
 not look at a little crooked thing like you, 
 save to do her fetching and carrying." 
 
 " I have not asked her to look at me save for 
 that," was the quiet answer, though the gibe 
 had made the muscles in Tony s arms like iron. 
 He was watching cat-like for a chance to seize 
 his gun. 
 
 Behind the tobacco casks in the far corner
 
 124 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Lissa quaked and trembled the angry voices 
 reaching her, but not all the words. 
 
 " Well, well, I have pleasanter things in view 
 than talking here with you," Larry said, with 
 a look in his eyes that made the scar on Tony s 
 forehead like a purple band. "Stand aside 
 there and let me pass. You want her yourself, 
 do you ? Well, when your betters have grown 
 tired- 
 
 But he did not finish, for the ink-horn under 
 Tony s hand whirled through the air and struck 
 him on the mouth. Then with an oath they 
 were at each other s throats, a fierce joy in 
 Tony s heart that the fight had come at last. 
 He knew the odds were against him, but every 
 curse he uttered was a relief, every blow he 
 struck was an ecstasy. If Larry had thought 
 to sweep him easily from his path, he had for 
 gotten the strength of those long arms ; nor did 
 he perhaps realize that his own better nature 
 was fighting on the cripple s side. Round and 
 round the circle of yellow light they tossed and 
 strained, grotesque in their writhings, grimly 
 silent. And the girl behind the casks hearing 
 but not seeing, wrung her hands in a dumb 
 agony. Who was winning out there in the 
 open space he who fought for her body, or he 
 who fought for her soul?
 
 A Dance and a Dice Box 125 
 
 Then suddenly Tony went down tinder his 
 opponent s greater weight, and a long, trium 
 phant "A-h!" came hissing from Larry s lips. 
 And the girl behind the casks, hearing it, hid 
 her white face in her hands. But in falling 
 Tony had reached the knife in his belt ; and as 
 Larry, thinking him conquered, let go his 
 strangling hold and drew back, the blade 
 flashed momentarily in the faint light, and 
 then was sheathed in Larry s breast. The 
 sibilant "Ah" turned to a scream of pain as 
 the big man rolled over ; and in that moment 
 Tony regained his feet and sprang to his gun. 
 But there was no use for it, the figure on the 
 floor lay so still save for a convulsive quivering 
 of the relaxed muscles. 
 
 "Damn you! You ll dice no more for gold 
 or women," Tony muttered, and stooped to 
 pick up the bloody knife. Then turned, for 
 some one touched him on the arm. As white 
 as her own wraith, Lissa stood beside him and 
 pointed with a shaking ringer to the man 
 stretched at their feet. 
 
 "I have saved you, Lissa; he ll trouble you 
 no more," Tony said, and would have taken 
 her hand. But w r ith a fierce gesture of re 
 pulsion she snatched it away and sank to her 
 knees beside Larry.
 
 126 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "My God, Lissa, what do you mean? Do 
 not look at me like that ! It was for you I 
 did it for you !" 
 
 But the accusing light did not leave her eyes. 
 Her outward-turned palm warned him off. 
 
 "Do not touch me; do not speak to me! 
 You have killed him killed him ! and you 
 knew that I loved him ! And her head went 
 down beside that other stricken one on the 
 blood-stained floor.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A THREAD OF GOLD. 
 
 "And the pattern laid out was lilied with love, 
 And the weaver s shuttle was threaded with gold." 
 
 S. B. K. 
 
 TT was October at Rivermead. All day a 
 -*- faint blue haze hung about the far tree- 
 tops and low hills; but in the evening, 
 fired by the sunset, it floated upward, a crimson 
 cloud of incense to the god of harvests. The 
 air had in it a taste of frost, making it winey 
 like some rare vintage which nature brews 
 for her chosen children. The " honk, 
 honk" of the migrating waterfowl was heard 
 now and then high overhead ; the woods blazed 
 as with the red and yellow torches of the 
 Ghebers; birds sang their farewell roundelays 
 above the rifled harvest fields, and butterflies 
 took their last dizzy flights among the fading 
 flowers. Everywhere were peace and the 
 sweet homely sounds that tell of preparations 
 against the coming snows the creak of wagons 
 drawing home the winter s store; the thud of 
 127
 
 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 flails beating out the sweet kernels for the 
 winter s loaf; the ring of the wood-cutter s axe, 
 with a promise of warmth and ruddy fire-glow 
 in its resonance. 
 
 All these sounds came to Laurence one 
 morning as he crossed the yard to the horse- 
 rack, Snap, his favourite dog, at his heels. The 
 seven months since the coming of the Cavalier 
 maid to his house had changed the world to him. 
 The influence of early days those days 
 when, unreproved, she had scraped the jam 
 from his bread to spread upon her own; when 
 he had carried her in his arms over the brooks 
 or through the snowdrifts ; when he had covered 
 up her faults with an assumption of blame to 
 himself, and so stood between her and his 
 mother s reproof the influence of those days 
 was upon him with a new tenderness. He had 
 always known how it would be with him should 
 he meet her after she came to womanhood. He 
 loved her so that all things associated with her 
 daily life had a touch of sanctity. From the 
 day of Seton s departure there had been an 
 unceasing strife in his breast. He longed to 
 yield himself entirely to the spell of his passion ; 
 and yet there was ever the haunting thought of 
 Seton s return, and the desperate pain that 
 must then be his.
 
 A Thread of Gold 129 
 
 It was of this he was thinking as he reached 
 the horse-rack and untied Powhatan s bridle, 
 Snap leaping to his saddle-skirts with joy at 
 the coming run over the fields. As he passed 
 the honeysuckle arbor a voice from within 
 hailed him. 
 
 "Whither away, Sir Horseman?" 
 
 He drew rein, smiling at the dainty figure 
 and radiant face framed like some rare picture 
 in the trailing emerald of the arbor entrance. 
 
 " To the cider press in the far orchard. " 
 
 "May I come with you?" 
 
 " I am sorry, Judith; but the horses have all 
 been put to graze in the lower pasture. I wish 
 you had spoken sooner To-morrow 
 
 "To-morrow may not please me; I wish to 
 go now. Will not Powhatan carry double?" 
 
 "With the stable boys, yes; but I know not 
 how he would like those be-frilled skirts of 
 yours," he answered, a sudden thumping 
 sensation at his heart. 
 
 " Well, let us see how he takes to them, " she 
 cried, throwing down her book and tying her 
 bonnet securely over her braids. He hesitated, 
 glancing from her to the horse. " Oh, you need 
 not be afraid; I shall not fall off, if so you let 
 
 me hold on tight See how long my arms 
 
 are . She stretched her arms above her head as
 
 130 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 she spoke, her face lifted to his. Cloistered 
 hermit, with penance of hair shirt and stripes 
 ahead of him, had yielded to that sweet temp 
 tation. 
 
 "Shall we go back to the horse-block?" 
 "No; for should Cousin Janet see us she 
 would be sure to say it was not decorous, or 
 that the sun would burn the tip of my nose ; 
 and my heart is set on going, it is so dismally 
 dull here by myself." 
 
 He shook his foot from the stirrup and held 
 out his hand; and in another minute she was 
 behind him, and had passed her right arm 
 about him so that she grasped the button on 
 the breast of his coat. And then they rode 
 away, laughing like a couple of runaway chil 
 dren, keeping close to the hedge to be out of 
 sight of the windows until they reached the 
 open field whence the tobacco had been gath 
 ered. Laurence s brain was in a whirl; all the 
 dormant tenderness of his heart was aroused, 
 and his eyes went momentarily to the white 
 hand grasping his coat. Not the concentrated 
 riches of the world could have brought him 
 such happiness as that clinging arm. Seton s 
 return, his own sure anguish in the future, were 
 alike forgotten. The day was his by right of love 
 and youth and happiness ; let to-morrow take
 
 A Thread of Gold 131 
 
 care of the things of itself, he would quaff this 
 new goblet of joy to the last drop. A mild-eyed 
 cow peeped at them through a gap in the hedge ; 
 a flock of sheep lifted their heads from the 
 mellow grass to stare a moment as they passed ; 
 and a covey of quail went whirring up from the 
 stubble at Powhatan s feet, making him shy 
 with a quick movement. Instantly the arm 
 about Laurence tightened its clasp, sending his 
 blood through its channels in a storm of happi 
 ness. Seton was forgotten ; the possible pain 
 of renunciation was no longer remembered. 
 
 Unconscious of the emotion she had aroused, 
 Judith sat in her place singing bits of song or 
 making jokes about the objects they passed; 
 and he answered her in the same vein, taking a 
 circuitous route to the orchard to prolong the 
 ride, and also because that way would take 
 them over the brook, for he knew that as 
 Powhatan climbed the steep bank she must 
 again tighten her hold upon him. 
 
 "You knew not what you bargained for 
 when you gave me leave to hold fast to you," 
 she laughed, when the horse had scrambled 
 up the rough incline. 
 
 Tis a lucky man who gets a surplus when 
 the bargain is a happy one. " 
 
 Powhatan chafed at the restraint upon him,
 
 132 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 but even at their slow pace the cider press was 
 finally reached. There Laurence drew rein, 
 and William brought a cup of the sweet juice 
 to Judith, who put it a moment to her lips, and 
 then, with a grimace, passed it on to Laurence. 
 He held the cup a moment, saying: 
 
 "Let me first think of a toast." 
 
 " I will give it to you: The future mistress 
 of Rivermead, " she cried, thinking of Ann. 
 
 He twisted about in his saddle that he might 
 look at her, and his eyes had a certain daring 
 quality that she had never seen in them before. 
 
 "I accept your toast willingly, seeing I may 
 select her in my thoughts." 
 
 "A silent toast is very trying to the curiosity 
 of the spectators," she protested whimsically, 
 as he drained the cup. 
 
 " But none the less efficacious of good luck, I 
 hope." 
 
 As they went in and out among the baskets 
 and trees, the slaves looked after them with 
 knowing nods, for they made a picture that was 
 good to see. Under the fruited boughs of a 
 great tree Judith reached for an apple. 
 
 "That forbidden fruit of Eden must have 
 looked like this. And true to that old tradition 
 you are letting the woman pluck the apple for 
 you," she laughed, holding one over his shoul-
 
 A Thread of Gold 133 
 
 der. " Tis delicious; but should any harm 
 come to you from the eating, the old Adam in 
 you will rise up and say: The woman is to 
 blame, for she did give it me. 
 
 "I suppose I would," he answered, "know 
 ing that if I did otherwise the Eve in you would 
 be grievously disappointed." 
 
 "You must have been eating needle soup, 
 as my old nurse used to say when I was in 
 clined to be teasing," she replied, sinking her 
 teeth in the red apple she held. 
 
 He lingered about the press and among the 
 pickers until there seemed no longer any possi 
 ble excuse, then turned reluctantly homeward. 
 The hour had been full of a dangerous sweetness 
 for which he must later pay the penalty. 
 
 " Well, and do you feel any wiser since eating 
 my apple of knowledge ?" Judith asked, as with 
 one arm about him and her other hand upon his 
 shoulder, she steadied herself while the horse 
 went down and up the brook s sloping sides, 
 and his blood was again storming at heart and 
 brain. 
 
 He turned his head and looked at her a 
 moment before answering: "There is but one 
 bit of knowledge I crave, and I fear I am as far 
 from that as ever." 
 
 "And what may that be, disappointed 
 Adam?"
 
 134 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "The knowledge that teaches a man to win 
 the maid for whom his heart doth weary. " 
 
 " Tis a knowledge that comes not, methinks, 
 from the eating of one small apple, but from 
 much study of the maid herself. " 
 
 " And how must such a study be conducted ? " 
 
 "My observation is not very wide, and my 
 experience even less so ; but it seems to me the 
 most successful suitor is he who notes what 
 pleases a girl, and then sometimes does what 
 displeases her." 
 
 "That sounds like the rule of contrary," he 
 laughed. 
 
 "Well, father says most women are cut ac 
 cording to that rule." 
 
 Again he looked over his shoulder, and this 
 time his eyes were bold and searching: "And 
 how about yourself are you fashioned by that 
 rule?" 
 
 " You horrid quiz ! you know I am not, " she 
 protested, and reaching up she mischievously 
 tweaked him by the e,ar as she used to do when 
 she was a child. Before she could take her hand 
 away he had caught it in his, and although she 
 pulled hard he did not let go. He did not 
 speak for a moment, but she felt his hand 
 tremble. 
 
 "What did I used to do to you when you
 
 A Thread of Gold 135 
 
 mistreated me at Cotslea ? " he asked presently, 
 with something in his voice that stirred her own 
 pulse. 
 
 "I I think I have forgotten," she faltered. 
 
 " I used to kiss you. " He spoke slowly and 
 scarcely out of a whisper. The thrill in his 
 fingers communicated itself momentarily to 
 hers. What queer spell was on Laurie to-day ? 
 Then presently she laughed. 
 
 " Yes, but I was a little girl then. " 
 
 "It may be an exaggeration, but I have 
 heard it said that a grown girl was sweeter to 
 kiss than a little one." Again he was looking 
 at her with that same daring in his eyes, and 
 she felt herself flush and tremble. 
 
 "Well, when you pluck up courage to ask 
 Ann to marry you, you will find out for your 
 self, " she answered, releasing her hand with a 
 violent pull. 
 
 "If I do not find out until Ann consents to 
 become my wife, I fear I shall never know." 
 
 "Do you doubt her preference so much?" 
 she asked, forgetting instantly that new look 
 in his eyes and the tingling clasp of his hand. 
 
 " I do not doubt, because I have never ques 
 tioned the matter." 
 
 "She is indeed a puzzle with her quick 
 changes and her constant coquetries ; but in her
 
 136 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 heart, cousin, I believes she cares most for you. 
 Cousin Janet thinks she has always loved you. " 
 
 But with an impatient denial he changed the 
 subject, and they went back as they came, 
 singing and chatting. 
 
 "I will dismount here," she said when they 
 reached the block by the side gate, and 
 though reluctant to relinquish the touch of that 
 clinging arm, Laurence drew rein. "I have 
 had a most charming ride, cousin; I hope you 
 have been as happy as I." 
 
 He laughed: " Methinks, :weet cousin, that 
 the way to the orchard this morning lay through 
 Paradise." And unable longer to resist the 
 temptation, he lifted her hand from his coat 
 and put it softly to his lips ; and again she felt 
 him tremble and saw the hot blood in his 
 face. But she slipped silently from her place 
 to the block. 
 
 "Remember, sir, if Cousin Janet finds out 
 about this escapade, I did not wish to go; it 
 was you, O Satan, who tore me from my vine- 
 wreathed castle here, and carried me off despite 
 my entreaties !" 
 
 "I will remember!" 
 
 She went slowly up the shadow-flecked path, 
 tossing an apple in the air and catching it again 
 as it fell. The ride was a thing of the past,
 
 A Thread of Gold 137 
 
 the man behind was forgotten, and the love 
 song on her lips was for another far over the sea. 
 In his heart that waiting horseman knew it ; and 
 he paid the price of his hour of happiness with 
 the jealous pain that bit into his heart. 
 
 That afternoon he found her again in the 
 arbor, the pattern of decorum in her primly 
 starched kerchief and long cuffs. She made 
 believe not to see him until, forcibly taking the 
 book she was reading, he thrust it behind the 
 rustic seat, and so left her nothing but to look 
 at him. 
 
 I am doing penance for my sin of the morn 
 ing, " she said with mock solemnity. "Cousin 
 Janet knows of our ride, and treats me as if I 
 were some disciple of Rome under sentence of 
 excommunication. I almost feel as if I should 
 go out and hang myself, so heinous has been 
 my offence. " 
 
 "Well, let the knowledge of the happiness 
 you conferred on me keep you from self- 
 destruction, " he answered in the same light 
 vein. " How did mother learn of the ride ? " 
 
 It seems father saw us from the porch and 
 told her as a joke; only she sees no joke in a 
 young woman, without a riding skirt, galloping 
 over the country hugging a young man about 
 the waist ! "
 
 138 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "She said that!" 
 
 She nodded emphatically. " Yes, and several 
 other things quite as terrible. Oh, I assure 
 you she made me see my grievous conduct in 
 the right light. She told me I must never 
 again forget that you are only my second 
 cousin." 
 
 "My mother s ideas are foolishly severe, but 
 she did not wish to wound you, I know. There 
 was no earthly reason why you should not go 
 with me." 
 
 "Oh, she is right, and I have promised to 
 remember all she said; you will never be 
 able to tempt me again. I believe she thinks 
 I am poaching on Ann s preserves. She said 
 Ann would not like 
 
 He caught her almost roughly by the arm: 
 "Stop laughing, Judith, and listen to me. 
 Ann Randal has no rights whatever, and wants 
 none, where I am concerned ; and God knows I 
 want none over her. 
 
 She stopped laughing instantly, compelled 
 by his manner. 
 
 "Dear cousin," she said gently, "you are 
 thinking of the girl you loved in England." 
 
 "Yes," he answered passionately; "I am 
 thinking of her always always !" 
 
 She laid her white hand over his in sympathy.
 
 A Thread of Gold 139 
 
 "That is very foolish of you, Laurie, for she 
 did not love you, so you said. It is not well to 
 waste your manhood in a useless dream." 
 
 He put his other hand over hers in a nervous 
 clasp: "I had rather dream of her than hold 
 any other woman in my arms." 
 
 "I am sorry, but be it so," she answered, 
 feeling sure, however, that Ann must win in 
 the end. Then she added demurely: "But tic 
 no use to be squeezing my hand like that. If 
 Cousin Janet knew, she would be again re- 
 miri*ding me that we are only second cousins, 
 and that what was very well when one was nine 
 is quite a different matter when one is nineteen." 
 
 "She is over punctilious in her ideas. You 
 must not 
 
 " Oh, yes I must, " she said, drawing her hand 
 away and straightening the rings on her finger. 
 "I must remember always the dignity that 
 goes with long gowns and combed-up hair." 
 
 Then the assumed primness fled, and her 
 face dimpled with laughter. In the clouded 
 months that followed he liked to think of her 
 as she looked then.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A NEW SAIL OVER THE SEA. 
 
 " The sails we see on the ocean 
 
 Are white as white can be, 
 But never one in the harbor 
 As white as the sails at sea " 
 
 ANON. 
 
 / TT V HE next morning William reported an 
 -*- unusual excitement in Jamestown be 
 cause of a sail the early fishermen had sighted 
 down the far reaches of the river. A sail meant 
 a vessel, and a vessel meant news from the 
 outside world; and Sir Thomas and Laurence 
 mounted in hot haste, to learn the tidings this 
 one brought. 
 
 The whole settlement had gathered at the 
 wharf; men, women and children watching the 
 eastern flow of the river, each eager to descry 
 the white canvas signal grow out of the blue 
 sky. And as they waited they jested of present 
 happenings, or talked in low voices of old days 
 in the mother-country and of friends still dwell 
 ing there, perhaps in jeopardy of life and 
 property. Sir Thomas, in a group of those 
 140
 
 A New Sail Over the Sea 141 
 
 who speculated on things political, talked of 
 Marston Moor and the fighting that fell there; 
 but Laurence walked up and down the pier, 
 lost in a profound reverie, striving to find a 
 leading thread out of the darkness of this 
 hopeless love that had caught him in its thrall. 
 Going over the events of yesterday, he won 
 dered at the self-control that had enabled him 
 to keep silent with her sweet body so near to 
 his. The very thought of the pressure of her 
 arm filled him with warmth as though he had 
 quaffed some strong, sweet wine; and his step 
 was lighter and a smile hovered at the corners 
 of his mouth. 
 
 And as he moved thus up and down the pier, 
 more than one pair of bright eyes followed him 
 admiringly; for although his gray eyes shot 
 back no answering glances, yet was he good to 
 look at, for his fine shoulders had no stoop in 
 them, and the high-laced riding gaiters fitted 
 perfectly his straight, strong limbs. 
 
 "He is thinking of Ann Randal," said Lissa 
 to another girl, who nodded in answer. 
 
 "Stuff!" said Tony Foster; "he thinks no 
 more of Ann Randal than I do. There s a 
 fairer face in the field ; and Laurence had ever a 
 good eye for a woman s points." 
 
 But women are hard to shake in their estab 
 lished beliefs, and the girl was unconvinced.
 
 142 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "Though to be sure he would be showing 
 judgment to pass Ann by the scornful piece, " 
 said Lissa. 
 
 " Oh, Master Foster is but at his old trade of 
 hunting mares nests," laughed her companion. 
 
 " Mares nests, is it ? " blustered Tony. " Well, 
 just you wait and see what hatches out of it. 
 Was it a mare s nest I showed you about Dick 
 Streater?" 
 
 At which the girl s face darkened; for Dick 
 had let his fancy stray to a pretty Irish face, 
 and it was Tony who had given her the warning 
 she needed. The reminder of this re-established 
 his credit with her, so that she began to ques 
 tion him about this other secret romance. 
 Was it Mary Lewis of whom Laurence thought ? 
 No; nor Betty Gardener. But Tony was not 
 saying the right girl s name; they might 
 watch for themselves. 
 
 ^ It passes me how you find out these things, 
 Master Foster. You must have eyes like a 
 cat that see in the dark." 
 
 Tis a wise man who knows when to see 
 and when not to see. I have thought mayhap 
 that was the secret of Solomon s success with 
 so many women he knew just the right mo 
 ment to shut his eyes to keep from learning 
 the deceitfulness of his wives."
 
 A Now Sail Over the Sea 143 
 
 "Women would have to go blind altogether, 
 not to see the deceitfulness of men," Lissa 
 said bitterly. 
 
 "Nay," said Tony, smoking complacently; 
 "they might -open theirs while the men slept; 
 for if they are young and call themselves 
 gentlemen that is the only time they are not 
 serving the devil." 
 
 Tis a hard name you are giving your sex, 
 Tony," said Laurence, who in his walk had 
 passed near them. "I thought it was the 
 women who fell under the ban of your dis 
 approval." 
 
 "Oh, I m not excepting the women. Men 
 do stop serving the devil long enough to sleep ; 
 but women lose no such time they go on 
 dreaming up some new plan of contrariness." 
 
 Lissa clapped her hand over his mouth and 
 the other girl threw a pebble at him, but he 
 only laughed. 
 
 Just then a cheer from the end of the wharf 
 told that the sail had been sighted, and at 
 tention was at once directed to the ship. It 
 was a merchantman fresh from English shores ; 
 and in it came new colonists fine dames and 
 titled gentlemen of the Cavalier party, flying 
 from the fanatical destruction that ravaged 
 the island kingdom; men and women who
 
 144 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 were to drop their titles like worn-out garments 
 and become as the people of their adoption, 
 but whose grace of manner, high breeding and 
 mental culture were to enter so largely into 
 the making and up-holding of Virginia. 
 
 Among these Sir Thomas found old ac 
 quaintances, and he wept and swore by turns 
 as he heard the trials and privations of con 
 fiscation and persecution they had endured. 
 The campaign in Ireland, whither Cromwell 
 had gone to quell the uprising in favor of the 
 Stuart, was the engrossing theme of these new 
 comers; and Sir Thomas ran the full gamut 
 of his profanity as he listened to the recital; 
 for the cause of the Royalists was in desperate 
 straits, and everywhere the standard of the 
 Independents flew free. Scotland was ready 
 to acknowledge Charles II., but only "on con 
 dition of his good behaviour and strict ad 
 herence to the covenant." 
 
 "Think of it, Sir upon good behaviour ! 
 That s a stipulation to make with a prince of 
 the blood, a man who has not yet been tested 
 or found wanting. By the eternal fire-fiends, 
 it is infamous ! What means the king to 
 entertain such an arrogant proposition ?" 
 
 Tis a case of compulsion. In such ex 
 tremities even a king must take what he can 
 get. Necessity is the hardest of term-makers."
 
 A New Sail Over the Sea 145 
 
 "Then where are his brave followers that 
 they put up with such necessity? Where are 
 Robert and Thomas and all the rest that they 
 enter not a protest with their good swords?" 
 
 "Perhaps your letter will tell you of them," 
 Laurence said, as he untied their horses. 
 
 Sir Thomas was in such a towering passion 
 that he had forgotten the letter Laurence had 
 some time ago put in his hand. He had not 
 thought even to go to the post, so absorbed 
 had he been in his talk with the new-comers. 
 But while lie had gone from group to group, 
 gathering all information possible, Laurence 
 had waited for the openingof the ship s letter- 
 bags, for as he rode down the avenue that 
 morning Judith had run at his side a few paces 
 to whisper: 
 
 "If there be anything in the post for me, 
 bring it, cousin ; father had as lief leave it 
 behind." 
 
 The words darkened all the day for him, 
 reminding him as they did of that other lover 
 whom she favoured. He knew she was wait 
 ing at home, counting every hour of his ab 
 sence, longing to see him return, not for his 
 own sake, but for sake of what he might bring. 
 But there had been nothing for her, and so 
 after watching Tony go over the letters, he
 
 146 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 went down the street with that one for Sir 
 Thomas, cursing Arthur Seton for a laggard 
 in love as well as in war; yet nothing loth to 
 go home empty handed. 
 
 Sir Thomas had paused with his foot in the 
 stirrup to take his sons to task for allowing 
 such a proposition from the Scots to Charles. 
 At Laurence s reminder he suddenly remem 
 bered the letter in his hand, and taking his 
 foot from the stirrup he broke the wafer and 
 read it. Laurence watching, saw his face grow 
 ashen, and the sheet shake in his hand. 
 
 "Laurie, Laurie ! they were in Ireland all 
 of them ; in the fight they told us of at the inn 
 yonder; and -and Thomas is wounded and 
 Arthur Seton is slain ! Hear what Robert 
 writes !" And leaning against his horse to 
 steady himself, he read the long letter aloud; 
 but Laurence heard only one paragraph. 
 
 "I have but ill tidings, father, ill to write and 
 ill to hear. It was at Drogheda. There were 
 some three thousand Englishmen under Aston, 
 holding the place as its garrison. Against 
 these came Cromwell with his Ironsides and 
 the fight was terrible. At first we drove them 
 back in confusion, and thought the victory was 
 ours. But they rallied and came again, in 
 furiated by their first repulse, made blood- 
 hungry by that barbarous order of their leader
 
 A New Sail Over the Sea 147 
 
 to spare no one. Our thin line was broken 
 and a retreat started; but the retreat became 
 a rout with that catchword every soldier 
 dreads: sauve qui pent. Some strove to hide 
 in the town, but were hunted out like rats; 
 others fled to the church for sanctuary, but 
 God s house was not exempt from the Round 
 heads torch, and many of those who had sought 
 safety found instead a shroud of flame. A 
 few of us, holding together, cut our way through 
 the pickets and made for the open country, 
 hoping to reach the hills. Galloping thus, we 
 passed a thick hedge from behind which a 
 detachment of the enemy opened fire on us all 
 unexpectedly. Robert was struck in the side, 
 but managed to cling to his saddle until we 
 were out of gunshot, when I \vas able to give 
 him such aid as was necessary to put him in 
 charge of a surgeon. He lies now, secretly, 
 at a friendly farmhouse, but is like to be long 
 in mending even to fight no more, though it 
 breaks my heart to say it to you. 
 
 " Him we rescued from the enemy, but young 
 Seton, w r ho had been a month with us, and 
 who fought by my brother s side, is among 
 the missing. I saw him fall, struck down by 
 the same volley that did for Thomas. I hoped 
 he was but wounded, and so might escape back 
 to us or be picked up by those who escaped 
 after us. But to-day his name is in the list 
 of the slain; and I am killing Judy with the 
 news."
 
 148 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 It was these last sentences that burnt their 
 way into Laurence s brain as with a searing 
 iron, leaving him speechless with a conflict of 
 emotions. 
 
 Judith ! The barrier that had stood between 
 them was gone, swept away as lightly, as 
 ruthlessly as though it had been but a bubble 
 of brittle glass, a castle of fantastic cards. 
 He was free to love her, to woo her; she was 
 free to listen. The surging ecstasy of the 
 realization swept through him, weaving a web 
 of flame in his brain. The sky had a new 
 face, the landscape a new smile, the heart of 
 nature a new song. 
 
 But Sir Thomas thought only of his son, 
 the boy who bore his name and should one 
 day have taken his place at Cotslea and perpetu 
 ated the family name and honor. "It is the 
 fortune of war," the old soldier said grimly, 
 as he folded the letter. But never before had 
 he mounted his horse so heavily or ridden so 
 dispiritedly. 
 
 Not a word was spoken by either until the 
 two miles of river road had been traversed and 
 they were entering the gate under the maples 
 at Rivermead; then suddenly each drew his 
 rein, for at the far turn of the avenue a girlish 
 figure stood waiting. A late sunbeam, slanting
 
 A New Sail Over the Sea 149 
 
 through a rift in the trees, had caught her in 
 a mesh of golden rays, making a picture as 
 from some fine illuminated volume of the past. 
 The two riders, standing stock still, looked at 
 each other, a helpless pain in either face. 
 
 "Arthur Seton who is to tell her?" cried 
 Sir Thomas, with a sudden rush of pity and 
 a man s dread of hurting a woman. 
 
 "Not I," said Laurence. "I could not!" 
 And turning hastily into a footpath through 
 the trees, he left Sir Thomas to go on alone to 
 the woman waiting with eager eyes and smiling 
 lips for the blow that was to fall like night 
 upon her heart.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IN THE SHADOW. 
 
 " Joy s recollection is no longer joy, 
 But sorrow s memory is sorrow still !" 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 /^\CTOBER S golden torches, which had 
 ^^ begun their flaming with such pomp, 
 burned slowly out without any one to watch 
 with regretful eyes their going, for over 
 Rivermead there brooded a palsying sorrow. 
 The shock which Sir Thomas had always 
 dreaded for Judith had fallen, and had proved 
 the validity of his fears; for she had dropped 
 into a tearless melancholy from which nothing 
 roused her to any protracted interest. All day 
 her father or Laurence sat by her, talking or 
 silent as her mood dictated; going over again 
 and again all the reasons for Arthur s return 
 to England, how it was inevitable he must do 
 so, and how she had been right to set his duty 
 before him. Her father talked to her of her 
 brothers, of her life at Cotslea, of the old 
 settle with its imaginary tenants of goblin and 
 150
 
 hero; and Laurence brought her the news of 
 the plantation, how the tobacco was weighing, 
 how much corn there was to ship to England, 
 and how her horse was wearying in its stall. 
 One morning Lissa came, and although Mis 
 tress Falkner was doubtful, Laurence said 
 she should go upstairs ; and she slipped in with 
 a bunch of wild asters and red sumac leaves, 
 and sat on a stool and cried to see how white 
 was the face that always had a smile for her. 
 
 "But tis better to bury a lover than to lose 
 his heart," she whispered. For Larry had not 
 died of that knife wound, but had recovered 
 and gone away to Henrico and never returned ; 
 but Judith, though she knew, yet took no com 
 fort. "Sometimes I wish Tony s knife had 
 gone a little deeper," Lissa went on, " then I 
 would know where he was, and not be always 
 asking myself useless questions about him." 
 
 "Some day he may come back." 
 
 "I do not want him to come back," the girl 
 said, with a quick flash of her eyes; "but I 
 want to know that he is miserable miser 
 able ! " 
 
 Judith turned her head, not comprehending 
 a sentiment like that. 
 
 "Captain Seton loved you," Lissa said 
 presently. "I know; for when the gay young
 
 152 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 gentlemen would get toasting their ladies 
 around the table, he would never speak your 
 name, but he would take off his hat and say: 
 To the Cavalier maid ; and everybody knew 
 whom he meant." 
 
 Judith put her hand on the girl s head: "I 
 am glad you came, Lissa. I will remember 
 that." 
 
 A week after Robert s letter had cast its 
 blackness into the glowing heart of the autumn, 
 Ann Randal came. Laurence had sent for her, 
 hoping she would find something to say to 
 Judith that would carry with it a ray of com 
 fort. 
 
 "She needs a woman s sympathy a woman 
 nearer her age than my mother," he said, and 
 sent her upstairs. 
 
 But when she stood beside the couch where 
 Judith lay, there was no sympathy in her 
 black eyes. For a minute no word was spoken ; 
 then Ann said, and there was a harshness in 
 her voice that made Judith shudder : 
 
 "And so he is dead." 
 
 "Yes," answered Judith, a tearless sob in 
 her throat, "dead, and I am left alone." 
 
 The black eyes watching her did not lose 
 their hard glitter: "And you realize at last
 
 In the Shadow 153 
 
 that it would have been better not to have so 
 urged his return to England ?" 
 
 "Ann, Ann, do not look at me like that ! 
 Do not say such cruel things ; I never thought 
 this could happen." 
 
 "Never thought a man could be killed in 
 war?" 
 
 "I know men are killed but Arthur oh, 
 it did not seem possible !" 
 
 "No man bears a charmed life in battle." 
 
 "My brother escaped, so did Newton; others 
 were not wounded ; why should he have fallen ?" 
 Then suddenly she lifted herself on her elbow: 
 "Ann, you you do not think I am to blame, 
 that I am responsible for She could 
 
 not finish her sentence. 
 
 That strange light leaped again to Ann s 
 eyes, and her hands clenched themselves 
 tightly ; but with a masterful effort she lowered 
 her lids and answered slowly: "I do not, 
 of course, think you deliberately sent him to 
 meet this awful fate, but I know that had it 
 not been for your urging here her voice 
 lost its tense note and rose shrilly, " if it had 
 not been for your constant upbraiding, he 
 would be here now, alive and warm and real 
 not over yonder in an unmarked grave, 
 dead dead and lost forever ! "
 
 154 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She sank down beside the couch, hiding her 
 face against the carpet, shaking with a sudden 
 storm of uncontrollable sobs. For one awful 
 moment Judith watched her with dilated eyes , 
 then with trembling fingers she tore open 
 the throat of her own gown as though it hurt 
 her. 
 
 "Yes, yes, you are right; they have tried 
 to persuade me I am not to blame, but I sent 
 him to his death I know it, I know it ! " 
 
 "I warned you and you would not listen," 
 went on Ann s uncompromising voice; "I 
 told you how it would be, and you would not 
 believe me you were so set to have your 
 way." 
 
 Judith fell back against her pillow with a 
 suppressed cry: "Ann, Ann, you kill me with 
 such words ! " 
 
 "He did not wish to go; he was content to 
 stay here, to let others fight and die, but you 
 would not let him." 
 
 "Yes," Judith said at last, and in her voice 
 was the hopelessness of despair. "Yes, you 
 warned me, and I would not listen; and now 
 I am left alone and desolate." 
 
 She lay very still for a long time as if looking 
 far back into the heart of the buried spring 
 time when she and Arthur had gone over these
 
 In the Shadow 155 
 
 things so often. She saw how she had gradu 
 ally won him to her way of thinking, saw all 
 the influence she had brought to bear. But 
 after a while, when she was calmer, and that 
 hysterical sobbing still went on down on the 
 carpet beside her, she leaned over and asked 
 curiously : 
 
 "Why should you cry so, Ann? You are 
 not to blame, for you urged him to remain; 
 and he was not your lover." 
 
 With a violent effort the girl on the floor 
 caught the sob in her throat and strangled it : 
 
 "A woman may surely weep for her own 
 kindred." 
 
 "Yes, but you weep so violently; and yet 
 you knew him so short a while." 
 
 "He lived in my house for two months, sat 
 at the same table with me, rode with me, sang 
 the same songs I sang, read the same books 
 it does not require a lifetime to conceive a 
 liking for one so near in blood and association." 
 
 But she stopped crying, shutting her teeth 
 hard to keep back the convulsive tremor and 
 deep breathing that betrayed her emotion. 
 After a while she got up and sat in a chair 
 facing the sofa, but a little removed from it, 
 as if she could not bring herself to come in con 
 tact with the white-faced, miserable girl be-
 
 156 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 fore her. She tried to talk of other things, of 
 the wonderful weather, of the crimson maple 
 leaves tapping at the window, of the birds she 
 missed in her rides those delicate, migratory 
 creatures who had flown at the first whisper of 
 the frost king. Her voice gradually won back 
 its even coldness; but her eyes, the few times 
 she lifted them, held still that accusing light 
 that stung Judith with anguish. 
 
 "There is but one shred of comfort in it," 
 the latter said, her dry eyes on the blue of 
 the window pane. 
 
 "What possible comfort can you find?" 
 
 "This: that he loved me well enough to do 
 my bidding, even against his inclination tis 
 much to know that I had his whole heart." 
 
 Under Ann s drooping lids the fierce light 
 flashed and kindled; she wanted to denounce 
 the cruelty that w r ould let love so sacrifice it 
 self; but she clenched her hands again, and 
 then sat looking fixedly at the blue marks in 
 her palms. 
 
 "I can do nothing for her," she said coldly 
 to Laurence, as he put her in her saddle at the 
 door. "It is both wrong and selfish of her to 
 give up this way, as if as if she had a right 
 to all the grief there is for my cousin."
 
 In the Shadow 157 
 
 "She is of a nervous nature and the shock 
 has overwhelmed her," he answered, surprised 
 at her words. "You find her greatly 
 changed?" 
 
 "Yes; because she makes no effort against 
 her moody thoughts that is why I say she is 
 wrong." 
 
 "She is not to blame for her sensitive nerves, 
 her physical weakness." 
 
 "Perhaps not, and perchance her grief is 
 but natural, since it was she who sent him 
 back to England. Well, she will recover, but 
 I am not the person to help her." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Because after a shock like this it takes 
 a man, not another woman, to comfort a girl." 
 
 "I do not understand." 
 
 She flicked a bit of dust from her habit and 
 drew on her glove. "Well, then, to be plain, 
 it takes another lover." 
 
 "Mover?" 
 
 "Yes, a lover; her heart will be healed in 
 time; perchance by Amos perchance by 
 you." 
 
 She shot him a comprehensive glance from 
 her black eyes, struck her horse and went 
 down the avenue at a mad pace, never once 
 looking back. Laurence mounted the steps
 
 158 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 slowly. So she had divined his secret ? It did 
 not matter now; all the world might know it. 
 But Amos ! He had never thought of Amos 
 as r. possible rival.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE AWAKENING. 
 
 "There s a new face at my door to-day, 
 A new call at my heart." 
 
 ANON. 
 
 " TT TILL you not ride with me this morning, 
 Judith? We shall not have many 
 more as fine days as this." 
 
 "You are very kind, cousin, but I do not care 
 to go." 
 
 "It would do you good and please me 
 much." 
 
 "Where are you going?" she asked, after 
 a moment s hesitation. 
 
 "To the fodder stacks in the meadow; after 
 wards to the settlement." 
 
 She shook her head. "To the settlement? 
 No. You will bring me bad news again as 
 you did a month ago. Nothing but sorrow 
 comes on the ships that anchor at the settle 
 ment." 
 
 And true enough, he did bring her evil tid 
 ings, of Thomas, who had died of his wounds 
 159
 
 160 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the Irish farmhouse. Robert had gone 
 back to Scotland to await the landing of 
 Charles, which was still delayed through lack 
 of a requisite force. When lie should come 
 there would be an end of petty strife such as 
 was being maintained by the scattered bands, 
 and in its place would be hard fighting such as 
 soldiers love; and perhaps a speedy return for 
 the exiles scattered over the far side of the sea. 
 
 "God speed the time ! " said Sir Thomas, and 
 told it all to Judith, hoping to awaken her 
 martial enthusiasm. But beyond an anxiety 
 for her brother s safety, she took no interest ; 
 she had lost faith in the triumph of the Stuart. 
 
 "I wish she had the spirit to break every 
 platter in the pantry," Mistress Falkner said, 
 turning her eyes from the quiet figure at the 
 window, with its face ever towards the pale 
 winter sunshine or the swirling white storm 
 without. And so it was with them all they 
 longed ceaselessly for the first sign of returning 
 mental vigour. 
 
 "I tell you," cried Sir Thomas, an oath on 
 his lips and tears in his eyes, "I tell you the 
 young beggar had no right to get himself killed 
 since she had set her heart on him. Twas 
 like his cursed selfishness." 
 
 He got no answer from the man across the
 
 The Awakening 161 
 
 hearth, blowing great clouds of smoke from 
 his fragrant pipe ; and after a moment he broke 
 out fretfully: 
 
 "But for my part, I m glad the Roundheads 
 killed him; tis the only good day s work 
 they ve done. I could never have borne to 
 see him marry my little Judy. Why needs 
 she have fallen in love with an idle, curled and 
 powdered macaroni like that ? Why not have 
 chosen a lover with more of the man in him?" 
 
 "Would you have given her to me, sir?" 
 the voice out of the smoke asked. 
 
 "An you had wanted her, that would I." 
 
 "Wanted her ! You know that I love her 
 that I would give my life for her." 
 
 Sir Thomas held out his hand in silence. 
 He had long known that only Arthur Seton 
 stood in the way of his plan. And now Seton 
 was gone, and Judith must one day recover 
 from this brooding grief only her bodily 
 weakness had made her so succumb there 
 yet was a possibility of fruition for his hopes. 
 After that day it was a great relief to the two 
 men to talk openly of their fears and of a 
 new hope that came by and by as the winter 
 wore away. 
 
 Ann did not come often to Rivermead, 
 though after that first morning she had had no
 
 1 62 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 upbraiding for Judith; rather was she gentle 
 and solicitous; but between them was a con 
 straint that came of the memory of that other 
 scene. Ann had regained her spirits, and was 
 full of her old coquetries with the gallants who 
 rode at her bridle or beside her coach. At 
 Rivermead she jested with Laurence, and 
 when he was not at home she turned the 
 laughing fire of her black eyes on Sir Thomas, 
 protesting she found him more accomplished 
 in the ways of compliment and courtesy than 
 any of the younger men. And the old man 
 laughed and pinched her cheek, and declared 
 she was merry enough to tempt a stoic to smile, 
 and pretty enough to make old age a double 
 burden; and wondered that Judith did not 
 yield more readily to the gay influence, not 
 seeing, as his daughter did, a shadow of re 
 proach lie now and then in the black eyes. 
 
 He was unspeakably happy in the action of 
 the session of Burgesses in denouncing the 
 beheading of Charles as "murder deserving 
 death," and in their proclaiming the homeless 
 boy waiting on the Continent for the turn of 
 the political tide, as "king of England and 
 Virginia." And he journeyed all the way to 
 Greenspring to drink a toast with the pas 
 sionate old Loyalist there, and brought back
 
 The Awakening 163 
 
 to Judith a glowing account of the loyalty of 
 Virginia; never seeing that, although Cavalier 
 on the surface, Virginia was even then republi 
 can at heart. Judith listened, glad of what 
 pleased him but caring nothing on her own 
 account. And seeing this he desisted. 
 
 But the Carys cup was not yet full. A 
 later post brought sad tidings of Cotslea. A 
 band of Loyalists, hotly pursued, took refuge 
 in the mansion on the cliff; and their pursuers, 
 being unable to dislodge them, set fire to the 
 fine old pile, and all that was inflammable 
 went up in flame and smoke. There perished 
 the heirlooms, the cherished penates of genera 
 tions of Carys, swept away in one mad hour of 
 rapine. The news broke the spell upon Judith, 
 and she wept for her home as she had not 
 wept for her lover. Never to see Cotslea 
 again; never to go through its familiar rooms; 
 never to sit on the old settle in the firelit 
 gloaming; never to lie again in her high cham 
 ber with the far boom of the surf in her ears ! 
 It seemed as if time itself had come to an end. 
 
 After that there was no more talk of re 
 turning to England. Even if, through some 
 miracle, the political animosity against him 
 should die out, Sir Thomas was too old to 
 adjust himself to the new government in
 
 164 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 England; he was best off here in America, 
 where he took but a nominal interest in 
 public affairs and was unharassed by opposing 
 factions. At threescore and ten there was not 
 much power of physical contention left in 
 him. His chief thought and happiness now 
 centered in Judith. 
 
 To Laurence those winter days seemed in 
 terminable ; he was angry with Judith because 
 of this new barrier she set up between them 
 with her grief; for it closed his lips in his own 
 suit. There were long mornings when he rode 
 aimlessly about the plantation in the rain or 
 the slanting sleet rather than go into the house 
 and see her sitting silent and listless by the 
 window. He waited only on that harassing 
 grief, for Ann Randal had said it would take 
 another lover to heal her heart. 
 
 Tony Foster divined his trouble, but after 
 his usual manner spoke his sympathy in a 
 gibe. 
 
 "So your little Gary cousin is grieving her 
 self sick for the chap who went away in the 
 Good Hope and got killed at Drogheda. Well, 
 and she had seen him some nights at Sutley s 
 she d know her loss was not so heavy after all, 
 for he knew a deal more about spades and 
 clubs than about hearts. He was that cursed
 
 The Awakening 165 
 
 mistake of nature called a woman s man. 
 Lissa liked him ; but I think it s a blamed sight 
 better to play a square game than turn a fine 
 compliment. The little Gary is wasting her 
 tears; but then, women are like badly bred 
 dogs they howl for every blow, be it heavy or 
 light." 
 
 ; Tis not a light blow that breaks a woman s 
 heart." 
 
 Tony blew a ring of smoke from between his 
 scornfully curling lips: "Bah! Her heart 
 is the easiest part about her to break or to 
 mend, as you will find. I have often wondered 
 why Providence should have been so sparing 
 of metal when making a woman s heart; 
 enough went into her tongue to give it a keen 
 edge ; but her heart ! no steel or flint or sand ; 
 just a little soft, pudgy mud-pie that any man 
 can dent with his finger !" 
 
 "I have not found it so," laughed Laurence. 
 
 "That s because you have been thinking 
 more of tobacco worms than of women until 
 this past year. You could have dented any 
 heart you minded here in Jamestown." 
 
 "Tobacco worms were profitable company," 
 said Laurence, glancing at his account books. 
 
 "Oh, I m not saying your choice was not 
 a wise one," Tony answered, dipping his pen
 
 1 66 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the ink-horn as a sign that he must go to 
 work. "Worms are easier to manage than 
 women." 
 
 "Yet worms sometimes turn, you know." 
 
 "Yes, sometimes; but a woman is always 
 turning turning her tongue for a stab, or her 
 silly, soft heart for another dent !" 
 
 "Tony, you old giber!" Laurence said, lay 
 ing his hand over the brown one on the pen, 
 "you sneer at women, but in your soul you 
 know there is one of them you would give the 
 world to please." 
 
 "Confound you!" snarled Tony, "why need 
 you shake the desk like that? You made me 
 blot my ledger. Why should I be after pleas 
 ing any of them? They d none of them look 
 at me save to do their fetching and carrying," 
 he added under his breath, with a sudden sharp 
 memory-thrust. But Laurence was gone. 
 
 It was he at last who roused Judith from 
 her brooding. The old year was gone, and a 
 new January had come out of the north in 
 swaddling clothes of snow. All day the white 
 flakes had come down silently, relentlessly, 
 turning the gateposts into marble towers 
 and the box bushes into mosques, with here 
 and there a minaret or muezzin tower carved 
 deftly from the gleaming whiteness. Evening
 
 The Awakening 167 
 
 was closing in without one glint of sun warmth 
 in the west. Judith stood by the window and 
 Laurence was behind her, looking out at the 
 birds seeking their night s lodging at the top 
 of the veranda columns or in the cedars on the 
 lawn. Sir Thomas was taking the air up and 
 down the long veranda just in front of them. 
 Noticing his slow movements, Laurence said: 
 
 "We must be doing something for Sir Thomas ; 
 he looks more broken every day." 
 
 She lifted her head with a sudden anxiety. 
 "You really think so?" 
 
 "Yes," he answered, purposing to alarm 
 her. "Your brother s death and your own 
 grieving have done much to break his spirit." 
 
 "I had not noticed. What can we do for 
 him?" 
 
 "Make the house more cheerful that he may 
 think less of his loss. It is hard for old age 
 to become reconciled to such violent changes 
 as have fallen to him of late harder for him 
 than for you." 
 
 "I am afraid I have been very selfish." 
 
 He laid his hand on her hair, a tenderness 
 he seldom permitted himself: "Judith, an 
 over-indulgence in grief is one of the most 
 selfish things in the world." 
 
 She drew his hand slowly down to her cheek:
 
 1 68 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "Dear Laurie you always show me the right 
 path." Then she went out and joined her 
 father. 
 
 From that day she ceased to droop. Her 
 former buoyancy of thought and movement 
 did not come back all at once; but she took 
 her place in the life about her. The spinet 
 was opened; she challenged her father to chess 
 or backgammon during the long winter even 
 ings; began a new piece of patchwork with 
 Mistress Falkner, and rode with Laurence on 
 his rounds, once or twice going as far as the 
 Randals and bringing Ann home with her to 
 make Sir Thomas laugh. The whole house 
 hold, responding to her effort, took on a new 
 cheerfulness, as though a light had been sud 
 denly set in the midst of their gloom. Sir 
 Thomas told his army jokes and anecdotes and 
 sang again the Scotch ballads he loved; and 
 Laurence, no longer afraid of wounding her, 
 took to quizzing Judith as of old ; and every 
 day a little more of colour came into her face. 
 But she did not forget her lost lover. Sit 
 ting one windy day in the boat-house where, 
 during her walk, she had sought shelter from 
 the keen March blast rattling in the bare 
 branches, she saw a gull beating its way slowly 
 along the surface of the water, as if hurt or
 
 The Awakening 169 
 
 spent with much flying. Deluded by some 
 siren of the river, or else driven inland by the 
 fury of the wind, gulls were not unusual sights 
 along the river course ; but this one carried her 
 thoughts backward. She saw, not it, but that 
 other storm-beaten petrel with the saffron 
 sunset behind it which she and Arthur had 
 watched from the ship s deck a year ago. 
 How like that petrel s fate had been her own; 
 for had not her heart been blown away from 
 its safe moorings and wrecked and broken 
 when the haven had seemed not far away? 
 She remembered the tremor that had shaken 
 her then and the swift premonition of evil. It 
 had overtaken her; the sorrow had smitten 
 her sore. Arthur s life had gone out utterly, 
 like that stricken bird s; while her own, robbed 
 of its highest joy, must falter along on broken 
 wings even as this other gull, fluttering now 
 close to the shore among the tangle of last 
 year s lilies, was caught and held by some de 
 taining leaf-stalk. There it must perish poor 
 heart, poor bird; for neither was there any 
 succour. 
 
 But even as she sighed there was a rustling 
 among the river reeds, an arm was out 
 stretched and a strong hand brought the 
 struggling gull safe to shore.
 
 170 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Laurence must have known she was in the 
 boat-house, for he brought the wounded bird 
 straight to her, placing it upon her lap. "I 
 have brought you here a pensioner upon your 
 pity," he said. "I was inclined to put it out 
 of its misery, but its wing will heal with 
 nursing." 
 
 She smoothed the ruffled feathers and stroked 
 the head softly with her warm hand, a curious 
 feeling of self-pity thralling her as if it were her 
 own heart she held thus between her palms. 
 
 "I have been watching it," she said, her eyes 
 filling with slow tears, "and I likened it to 
 myself, sorrow-hurt as I am. But the com 
 parison was a poor one, for a saving hand 
 was stretched out to it, but none may reach 
 me." 
 
 "And why not?" he asked, letting his ringers 
 follow hers along the gull s gray back. "Can 
 not the same hand which plucked the bird 
 from destruction save you also?" 
 
 "Nay, tis not from the water that I must 
 be rescued." 
 
 "From what then ?" 
 
 "From myself. And how can one do that ?" 
 
 "By love alone," he answered boldly, taking 
 her hand in his. "By a strong human love
 
 The Awakening 171 
 
 that shall give you new hopes and interests. 
 Look at me, Judith." 
 
 She raised her startled eyes to his, and her 
 thoughts flew back to that day she had ridden 
 behind him under the fruited orchard trees; 
 in his voice was the same tone that had stirred 
 her then , in his eyes was the same daring mes 
 sage, in his fingers the same nervous thrill. 
 This was what he had meant that day, only 
 she had been too blind or too loyal to see it. 
 She drew her hand sharply away. 
 
 "I have done with love," she said. 
 
 "Nay, I will not believe it. You must live, 
 and while one lives one must have love." 
 
 In silence he let her go up the avenue; but 
 he had set his hand to the bowstring; he 
 would not draw back until every arrow in 
 love s quiver had been sped.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A HAPPY DAY AT RIVERMEAD. 
 
 " Upon a tone, 
 A touch of hers, his blood would ebb and flow." 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 A NEW element had entered Judith s 
 * ^ life, for after that morning in the 
 boat-house Laurence threw aside his air 
 of cousinly care and openly assumed the 
 role of lover; and the character suited him 
 well so well that his mother and Sir Thomas 
 watched him with a new admiration, and 
 Ann Randal rallied him on his improved 
 manners. 
 
 "Not even Sir Thomas or His Excellency 
 turns a compliment more neatly; and your 
 bow is like that of Pierre, the dancing master." 
 
 "Which goes to prove the old saying that 
 one is never too old to learn." 
 
 "Not when Cupid is the teacher," she 
 laughed, with a sly look at Judith. 
 
 She must have told Amos how things were 
 going at Rivermead, for when she came again 
 172
 
 A Happy Day at River mead 173 
 
 he was with her, in his best coat and gaiters, 
 and with a posy from his mother s window 
 garden. And then others began to come. 
 The beaux who rode with Ann no longer waited 
 on the porch with Laurence while she went up 
 stairs, but came boldly into the parlor and 
 made their bows and asked after Judith s 
 health, and begged a song. And her father, 
 answering for her, opened the spinet; and 
 there would follow a social half-hour in which 
 she of necessity bore a part. But if they 
 walked in the garden or the avenue, it was 
 always Laurence who went at her side. 
 
 The startled surprise that had come to her 
 when she first read the message in Laurence s 
 eyes grew into a restless embarrassment as the 
 days passed and she found herself without com 
 fort; for all the sympathy in her father s and 
 Mistress Falkner s faces was for him. The 
 fruit, the first wild flowers, the little gifts he 
 brought her from the settlement warehouses 
 were no longer sent to her room by a servant, 
 but were put into her hand with some pretty 
 gallantry or whispered tenderness that would 
 take nothing less than her personal thanks. 
 And at night it was he and not her father who 
 now brought her bedroom candle, and sent 
 her up the wide stair with the feel of his lips
 
 174 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 upon her hand and his good-night in her 
 ears. Sometimes she reached her room in 
 a strange tremble, and sometimes she pulled 
 the coverlet over her head and cried herself 
 to sleep. 
 
 In the late April days William s term of in 
 denture was to end, and there was to be a 
 wedding in the hall, and to Judith was en 
 trusted the choosing of the wedding gown 
 which Mistress Falkner was to give Matilda. 
 For the first time since the autumn Judith 
 went to Jamestown and spent the morning 
 among the shops and warehouses, going over 
 muslins and linens. 
 
 "A wedding gown is it?" asked Tony, get 
 ting down from his high stool and opening the 
 boxes on his counter. "Well, well, I m sorry 
 for the man, whoever he is." 
 
 "He needs no commiseration." 
 
 "So he thinks now so they all think at 
 first ; but sooner or later they find the bride s 
 finery is a shroud for the man s freedom. Oh, 
 tis no use to look so unbelieving, Mistress 
 Judith; I have seen plenty of marrying in my 
 time, and that s the way it goes." 
 
 "Tony!" 
 
 "Give him no heed, Judith; he ll be doing 
 penance with some kind deed for his sour words
 
 A Happy Day at Rivermead 175 
 
 before nightfall," laughed Laurence, as he 
 went out of the door. 
 
 Tony shot out his lip for a scornful reply, 
 but Laurence was gone, so he threw a pile of 
 goods on the counter, saying: "Well, here 
 is store of colours for you to choose from red, 
 purple, green 
 
 "No, no; take them away, Tony. A bride 
 should go only in white." 
 
 "Then here is a bit of muslin should do her. 
 Come here, Lissa, and hold this up against 
 your face that Mistress Judith may judge of 
 its texture." 
 
 Lissa gathered the snowy folds of muslin 
 under her chin and about her shoulders, and 
 smiled over the counter at the purchaser. 
 
 "It is, indeed, of an excellent texture, and 
 suits you well. One of these days you will 
 make a bonny bride for some fortunate young 
 man." 
 
 But Tony caught the muslin roughly away 
 
 and sent the girl to her sewing by the desk. 
 
 Tis no use putting bilious notions in a girl s 
 
 head," he said, as he measured off the muslin. 
 
 "By the demi-gods, Judith Gary," exclaimed 
 Governor Berkeley, coming into the warehouse, 
 "but you are the bonniest flower o the spring 
 time ! Where be the eyes of our other lads
 
 176 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 that they leave all the gaps down for Laurence 
 Falkner ? Oh, I have heard about him ! 
 Lucky dog ! an I were a score of years younger 
 and had not the finest wife in the land, he 
 should have a rival, for I d ride to Rivermead 
 myself a-courting. It s enough to turn a 
 bachelor like Tony here sour with envy just 
 to look at you." 
 
 "It s not looking at a woman that sours a 
 man," said Tony, "but it s summering her and 
 wintering her, and eating the victuals she 
 cooks." 
 
 "Well, well, we ll pray for our friend Lau 
 rence s digestion," laughed His Excellency, and 
 bowing with his hat to his heart he took snuff 
 with Sir Thomas and went his way. 
 
 Judith looked after him angrily; so even 
 strangers were beginning to think of her and 
 her cousin together. Had the whole world 
 gone blind that it could not see the shadow 
 on her heart? 
 
 That night, over the stair rail, Laurence 
 held her hand a moment longer than usual. 
 
 "Judith, I found to-day among Tony s store 
 of trinkets a trifle which pleased me; will you 
 wear it for me?" and he drew from his pocket 
 a sinuous band of gold and caught it about 
 her wrist, where it gleamed in the candlelight.
 
 A Happy Day at Rivermead 177 
 
 Tis very beautiful," she said slowly, for 
 his eyes troubled her. 
 
 "You like it? I heard you admire Ann s 
 bracelet yesterday." 
 
 "But this is prettier; the workmanship is 
 much finer. How can I thank you?" 
 
 "You did not need to ask me that when 
 I pleased you at Cotslea you knew what 
 thanks I liked best, how the touch of your 
 lips paid me a thousand fold for any 
 service." He lifted his face to hers, softly, 
 almost imperceptibly drawing her to him. 
 
 The colour flamed in her cheeks: "You 
 forget " 
 
 "That we are only second cousins?" he 
 laughed softly. "We are the same kin now 
 as we were at Cotslea." 
 
 "True, but a grown woman must not act 
 like a child; I have put away such familiar 
 behaviour." 
 
 "Well, I can never outgrow my boyish 
 taste," and turning back her sleeve, he ran 
 his lips up her white arm to the elbow. 
 
 "Laurence! What ails you? My arm 
 
 "It is a poor substitute for your lips," he 
 laughed again, looking up at her as she stood 
 on the stair above him. "A very poor sub 
 stitute; but beggars, it seems, must not be
 
 178 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 choosers; and this is better than no thanks at 
 all." 
 
 She caught her hand sharply from him, and 
 went up the stair without a word ; but as far as 
 he could see her that yellow circlet on her wrist 
 was glinting in the candle rays. 
 
 William and Matilda were married in the 
 hall, with the white servants and tenants from 
 the neighbouring plantations to see them. 
 Ann and Judith had made the red-cheeked 
 bride comely in her simple white, and there 
 was a long table down the rear porch loaded 
 with the dainties which Mistress Falkner knew 
 how to prepare. Laurence had the minister 
 all the way from Williamsburg, and Tony was 
 there to sign the register and witness the re 
 turn of William s papers. 
 
 "You have ever a pin-thrust for woman s 
 constancy; there is an example above your 
 fault-finding," Laurence said, telling him of 
 Matilda. 
 
 "Oh, well, even a bad cook now and then 
 turns out a good loaf; but they are accidents 
 accidents. I ve long settled it with my 
 self that Eve was created in an April, her 
 daughters are so changeable of mind. There s 
 Lissa; when she thought I d killed Larry Her- 
 rick (and curse me for a failure in the job !),
 
 A Happy Day at Rivermead 179 
 
 she turned on me like a fury, forgetting she had 
 set me on to it. Then she nurses him a week 
 until he is out of death s grip, never sleeping 
 day or night ; and the first day he s sane enough 
 to understand her, she tells him he s a devil and 
 she hates him; and she throws his medicine 
 cup on the floor and comes back and sits by 
 my desk all day and sews and abuses him. 
 But if I so much as agree with her abuse she s 
 ready to tear me limb from limb. Oh, I tell 
 you, woman was made out of cross-cut clay 
 wet up with an April shower, and dried in an 
 April sun." 
 
 "Well, Tony, I find her very sweet despite 
 her April tendencies." 
 
 "Sweet or sour is but a matter o palate. 
 For me, the test of a woman is in the mischief 
 she makes. Tis said the devil went into the 
 ark holding on to the tail of the ass; but I 
 misjudge the book that s writ in is wrong. 
 According to my belief, he went in bunched 
 up in Mistress Noah s apron strings." 
 
 "Out upon you, Tony, for a hair-splitting 
 sceptic ! Here are the papers ; let us go and 
 find William." 
 
 When the wedding guests were gone, the 
 family stood together on the veranda and 
 waved a farewell to William and the young
 
 180 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 wife who had waited so faithfully. Happy 
 enough she looked sitting beside her husband 
 on the wagon piled high with gifts from Lau 
 rence s store houses, for the indentured ser 
 vant went not empty handed from his gener 
 ous master s door. 
 
 "Not Charles Stuart, going in peaceful pro 
 cession to his coronation, is more to be envied 
 than yonder simple labourer," said Laurence. 
 
 "And I can wish you no greater blessing 
 than a happiness like to his," said his mother, 
 kissing him ; which was so unusual a thing that 
 Judith looked up quickly; but finding the 
 older woman s eyes fixed on her wistfully she 
 turned in confusion to her father. Here, too, 
 she met a gaze, the silent entreaty of which 
 made her own seek the floor. Were they all 
 united against her? Would no one remember 
 that her heart was dead to love such as was 
 riding away in the wagon yonder to the new 
 cabin on the meadow ? She felt Laurence s eyes 
 on her also, but without looking at him she turned 
 and entered the house; and spent the first 
 hours of the afternoon instructing the new maid 
 in Matilda s duties, singing a little as she went 
 through the closets, thinking of her former 
 maid s happiness. At the end of the hall she 
 stopped, smiling, now that the sun was shin-
 
 "A Happy Day at Rivermead" 181 
 
 ing, and dropping on her knees ran her hand 
 along the edge of the carpet in search of Charles 
 Falkner s hidden treasure. To-night when 
 the wind was blowing and that clear tapping 
 filled the air, she would fly from the spot with 
 averted eyes. 
 
 Her task of instruction finished, she went 
 down stairs intending to read to her father; 
 but he was on the side porch with a neighbour, 
 so she went aimlessly down the avenue under the 
 flecking shadows of the young leaves. Since the 
 coming of the spring the boat-house was her 
 favourite resort, looking out as its open side 
 did upon the waters. On the rustic bench 
 at the entrance she often sat for hours, watching 
 the shine of the river and the shadows of the 
 birds that flitted over its surface. And there 
 Laurence found her presently ; her hat full of 
 purple violets and golden dandelions gathered 
 along the avenue. He threw himself beside 
 her, casting his hat upon the boards of the 
 miniature pier at their feet. 
 
 "Does the river siren sing you sweet songs, 
 cousin, that you favour this spot so much?" 
 
 She laughed. "Perchance it is the siren, 
 but hitherto I have thought it but the wind 
 and waves." 
 
 "Then I take it you have never seen the
 
 1 82 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 mermaid combing her sea-green locks beside 
 the water s edge?" 
 
 She shook her head. "And truly I hope I 
 never shall sea-green hair being not to my 
 fancy." She threw a star-bright dandelion on 
 the water and watching it circle in and out of 
 the eddies, said lazily, thinking of the wedding : 
 "What a happy day this has been at River- 
 mead. " 
 
 "To me all days at Rivermead are happy 
 when you but seem content. " 
 
 The dandelion had reached the last eddy 
 and was clinging a moment, as with the in 
 stinct of a drowning swimmer, to a bit of 
 bramble ere being carried away in the sweep of 
 the current. She watched it, making no reply; 
 yet with a sudden heart -throbbing that never 
 failed to respond to that note in his voice. 
 
 "You have been with us a whole year, 
 sweet cousin." 
 
 "A year and a month, " she corrected. 
 
 "True, for you came in March, thereby 
 making that blustering month the most beauti 
 ful of the twelve. Mind you how I said that 
 day the Stuarts misfortune had been my 
 blessing?" 
 
 She nodded, laughing: "And I said you 
 were no true Royalist. "
 
 "A Happy Day at Rivermead" 183 
 
 "Well, at least I am a true lover," he an 
 swered, with a touch of that audacity which 
 often marked his manner, and for which she 
 somehow never found a reproof. 
 
 His hand had crept along the back of the 
 bench they occupied, so that all unconsciously 
 she sat in the curve^of his arm while she nervous 
 ly braided together the stems of her flowers. 
 
 "Judith," he said very softly, "I love you; 
 will you marry me and live here at Rivermead 
 for good, making all days happy for me?" 
 There was no answer, but the flower she held 
 lost its yellow head. "You know that I love 
 you that I have always loved you," he said, 
 bending to catch a glimpse of her averted face. 
 
 "And Ann ? " she said at length. 
 
 "That was but a piece of neighbourhood 
 gossip; some old woman s tale. You did not 
 guess it, but she loved well, some one else; 
 his name does not matter now. It is of you 
 and your love I wish to speak and think. " 
 
 " Did I not say a month ago that I was done 
 with love?" 
 
 "But I refused to believe it then, and I re 
 fuse now," he answered, thrusting his hand 
 down among the violets in her hat, seeking her 
 hand hidden there and holding it in a soft, 
 warm clasp. "The wounded gull to which you
 
 184 The Wooing of Jiidith 
 
 that day likened yourself is healed and flown 
 away. So the blow to your own heart will 
 leave but a scar." 
 
 "But suppose 
 
 " I love you enough to risk it. " 
 
 "And the sweetheart you left in England? 
 you will be dreaming of her, she said after a 
 pause in which she had remembered the en 
 treaty in her father s look. 
 
 The arm along the bench rail quivered as it 
 clasped her shoulders : "Yes, always dreaming 
 of her, for it was you, beloved, who held my 
 heart in your small childish hands, even as you 
 hold it there to-day. I was myself too young 
 to understand then, but I know now that it was 
 love that made me court your blows for sake 
 of the make-up kiss, love that filled my soul 
 with such longing that I was desperate for 
 England." 
 
 "You have loved me all this time?" 
 
 "No other woman has ever had a place in 
 my heart, " he whispered, holding her with that 
 masterful tenderness which women find it so 
 hard to resist. She was trembling violently; 
 her hat slipped down beside her, and the out- 
 spilled violets, dropping into the stream, went 
 drifting away upon the sun-lit ripples, staining
 
 "A Happy Day at River mead" 185 
 
 them as with the purple of kings. There was a 
 long silence, during which she neither yielded 
 herself to nor drew herself from him. 
 
 "Judith will you marry me?" 
 
 Still she was silent; all of his generosity, 
 his gentleness rose before her; and once again 
 she saw the vivid pleading in her father s 
 eyes. 
 
 "Speak, beloved; will you be my wife?" 
 
 " If you wish it, yes, " she answered, but she 
 did not turn her head. 
 
 She had had no thought of answering thus, 
 but the sweet appeal of his voice overcame her ; 
 something within her, she knew not what, 
 answered this new call at her heart. But she 
 could not look at him while he held her hands 
 and told her all his tender thoughts ; she could 
 only listen with her mist-clouded eyes fixed on 
 the gliding water as it carried away her golden 
 harvest to lose it among the whispering 
 reeds. 
 
 It was not the assent that Laurence wanted, 
 this quiet acquiescence ; his heart was eager for 
 the lilies of love for the blushes, the down 
 cast eyes, the shy half confessions, the air of 
 sweet surrender which are the lover s right 
 divine. But in his heart was an abiding con 
 fidence that these things would come; and so
 
 1 86 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 he sat there wooing her with his gentle words 
 until the stars came out to make the twilight 
 mellow with a shimmer that was not yet a 
 radiance.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE MESSAGE OF DOOM. 
 
 "And the weaver s shuttles were busy at play; 
 But the threads were sombcrest black that day. " 
 
 -HpHERE were times during the following 
 * days when Judith, realizing the full 
 meaning of her promise, longed to beg her 
 father to intercede with Laurence for her 
 release; but he forestalled her every effort by 
 some new expression of his satisfaction. 
 
 " There is but one other thing could have made 
 me half so happy, Judy child the restoration 
 of King Charles, but that grows more doubtful 
 every day, for you know what Robert wrote of 
 Cromwell s invasion of Scotland." 
 
 " The brave Scots will drive him back. " 
 "No; he will succeed; he always does, by 
 some strange miscarriage of Providence. Mine 
 eyes will never see the crowning of the king; 
 and so the hope that was for him, now centers 
 all in you. Only a few years of life are left to 
 me, and it comforts me as nothing else could to 
 know that I shall leave you in Laurence s 
 187
 
 1 88 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 hands. I foresaw this possibility when we 
 came here, remembering his old affection for 
 you. That things have come as I wished is 
 the one bright spot in the cloud that has en 
 veloped me of late." 
 
 After that she could only hide her wet eyes 
 against his shoulder. 
 
 "And when will you let the wedding come? 
 May it not be within the month, Judith?" 
 asked Laurence. 
 
 "Nay," cried his mother; "there is ever ill 
 luck in a May wedding. Heard you never the 
 saying that a May-time bride dies early? 
 You must make him wait until June, Judith. " 
 
 "Only until the first day, then." 
 
 "The first day?" faltered Judith. 
 
 " Yes; I will not be put off twenty-four hours 
 longer; so set your sewing women to work." 
 
 And so among them it was settled that the 
 first of June should be her wedding day ; but in 
 the preparations that Mistress Falkner imme 
 diately set on foot she took so little interest that 
 the older woman was often incensed. 
 
 " Saw I ever before a girl who cared not to 
 look at her wedding gown?" she cried in dis 
 appointment, folding up the shining stuff at 
 which Judith had barely glanced. 
 
 But she must have some one to admire the
 
 The Message of Doom 189 
 
 dainty things she and Matilda were fashioning, 
 so Ann and Alary Lewis were fetched for a 
 week to advise about the sewing and the final 
 festal clay. And soon the house was full of 
 noise and gaiety, for the gallants of a commun 
 ity will always haunt the house where three 
 pretty maids are biding ; and there was music in 
 the parlour and games in the hall, and Sir 
 Thomas was as a boy for happiness. 
 
 "The joy of it all rises in me like the sap in 
 the trees," he said, patting Judith s cheek, 
 and noticing that the frightened shadow in her 
 eyes grew fainter each day. 
 
 "You have forgotten Arthur," Ann said 
 once, as the two braided their hair for the night. 
 
 "No, I shall never forget him; I wish for 
 Laurence s sake I could." 
 
 The black eyes swept over her with a merci 
 less light : " Marrying one man, and in love with 
 another man s memory ! and yet you upbraid 
 me for the double dealing of coquetry." 
 
 "I am not wronging or deceiving Laurence; 
 he understands," was the haughty reply. 
 " But you make believe to care for one man 
 to-day, and for another to-morrow when the 
 first one s back is turned ; and that is deceitful. " 
 
 "True," said Ann, stretching out her hand 
 to admire the slender fingers, "I have not the
 
 190 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 conscientious loyalty that marks your charac 
 ter in that respect. I must coquette a little, or 
 languish like a starved plant. But," she 
 added, with an emphasis Judith did not under 
 stand, " I would be absolutely true in my heart 
 to the man I once loved, be he living or dead. " 
 
 "We are all true in our hearts," Judith an 
 swered, reaching for the snuffers to put out the 
 light. 
 
 The joyous side of her nature, so long 
 repressed, began to respond to the influences 
 about her, and each day the new gaiety of 
 the house jarred less upon her. The same 
 loyalty of nature that had made her desolate 
 for Arthur, now made her strive vehemently 
 for cheerfulness because of her new pledge to 
 Laurence ; and gradually, as the strength and 
 sweetness of his love grew into her conscious 
 ness, there came to her a new regard for him. 
 Not the palpitant feeling that had made her 
 go red and white at Arthur s step, but a feeling 
 of rest and confidence \vhich showed itself in 
 small ways, filling Laurence with a boundless 
 happiness. She looked forward with no pleas 
 urable anxiety to her wedding; but she no 
 longer thought of it with a shudder. She ran 
 away from the sewing-room whenever Mistress 
 Falkner s back was turned ; but in her manner
 
 The Message of Doom 191 
 
 there were now and then flashes of her old fun 
 so nobody scolded when she hid herself whole 
 mornings with her book in the arbour of the 
 boat-house. But Laurence always knew where 
 to find her, and taking the book with playful 
 force he made her listen to his eager love- 
 making or the plans for their future together. 
 With rare foresight he claimed no lover s privi 
 leges save to hold in his strong, brown hand 
 her small, white one; and each week, as that 
 sense of confidence grew in her heart, she was 
 more submissive in leaving it there. 
 
 Thus the May days went by, sweet sym 
 phonies of bird-song and flower-fragrance, each 
 one singing itself to sleep upon the great heart 
 of time. Together Laurence and Judith saw 
 the roses bud and shatter and the honeysuckle 
 go from silver to gold; together they watched 
 the gray gulls ride the evening wind and the 
 lilies blow purple with pomp beside the river. 
 But for all the beauty of those days Laurence 
 welcomed every sunset, since it brought that 
 much nearer the first of June. 
 
 "There are but two days left," he said at 
 last to Judith, laying his hand upon her hair 
 and smiling into her eyes. " But two days ; and 
 then you belong to me." 
 
 They were standing on the boat-house pier in
 
 192 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the freshness of the early morning ; everywhere 
 around them were the parti-coloured evidences 
 of the season green leaves, crimson-streaked 
 buds, and trailing lengths of wide-eyed blos 
 soms. The light fell in flickering patches 
 through the tremulous branches, and the river 
 caught in its rippled-silver the iris of the bend 
 ing sky. The boat tied at their feet rocked 
 lazily among the lily pads, and somewhere over 
 head a bird sang softly to its listening mate. 
 Some intangible but thralling influence perme 
 ated the air; some spirit of life and destiny 
 seemed to have joined hands with the spring 
 time under the slanted gold of the sunlight. A 
 pulse in Laurence stirred in answer to the subtle 
 spell of the place and hour. 
 
 "Judy, " he whispered, bending down to her; 
 "you have been my promised wife for a whole 
 month, and never once have I kissed you ; turn 
 your face this way for one divine moment. " 
 
 He asked, but he did not wait for her con 
 sent, for before he had ceased speaking he had 
 drawn her close- into his arms and his lips 
 sought hers with the pent-up passion of weeks 
 of waiting. In that one fleeting moment she 
 measured for the first time the full strength of 
 his love; and when he released her she was as 
 pale as he. For a long minute they stood in
 
 The Message of Doom 193 
 
 silence, she slowly realizing a new phase in the 
 life before her; he, too vividly content to care 
 for speech. 
 
 But the boat rocking in the river at their 
 feet reminded him of the errand upon which 
 he was that morning intent, which was nothing 
 less than to bespeak the services of the minister 
 for the marriage two days later. To no one else, 
 nor yet to written words would he entrust such 
 a message; he alone must speak it to his 
 Reverence ; and so he was now upon his way 
 to the settlement. 
 
 "A hundred ways I have fashioned to myself 
 what I shall say to his Reverence, but it all 
 resolves itself into the happy sentence : Come 
 and marry me to Judith two days hence. " 
 
 And presently he stepped down into the 
 boat and untied it from the pier. " I may 
 kiss you again for farewell?" he asked as he 
 stood up, and the eagerness of his tone was 
 mixed with a sudden shyness that was almost 
 boyish. 
 
 "No," she answered hastily. But she fast 
 ened a flower in his coat and gave him her hand 
 and wished him a good journey. 
 
 A few yards out in the stream he rested on 
 his oars to call back some pleasantry as to how 
 witching she looked on the rude pier with the
 
 194 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 trailing scarlet of the woodbine above her, 
 and the purple flag-lilies at her feet. And 
 with this sweet picture of her in his mind he 
 swung into the current and bent to his oars, 
 singing as he went for the joy that throbbed 
 in his heart. 
 
 A vessel lay in the offing, a trader s schooner, 
 but this morning come to anchor. There was 
 something of the usual excitement in the 
 streets of the settlement as he passed along them 
 from the wharf, but he was too intent upon 
 his happy errand to stop and ask the news. 
 There would be time enough for that later on. 
 He found the minister and speedily made his 
 arrangements. 
 
 Retracing his steps he walked more slowly 
 through the settlement, talking now and then 
 with the sailors who mingled with the towns 
 people. All along he caught talk of Cromwell s 
 invasion of Scotland and the sure defeat that 
 awaited Charles, who had taken the humiliat 
 ing oath prescribed by the Covenanters. Hav 
 ing gathered the news to carry to Sir Thomas, 
 he was on his way back to his canoe, eager to 
 return to the girl waiting for him on the pier 
 at home, when Tony Foster called out that a 
 letter had come for him by the schooner. Re 
 turning to the warehouse, he took the missive,
 
 The Message of Doom 195 
 
 wondering at the strange handwriting, think 
 ing it was probably from his London solicitors 
 about that lost note of James Randal for which 
 they were making search among his father s 
 old papers. Amos would be glad of any news. 
 He waited until he w r as on the wharf before he 
 broke the wafer, and opening the letter, ran 
 his eyes with an ever-growing sense of be 
 wilderment and despair along the lines. 
 
 " Drogheda, Ireland, Jan. 20, 16 
 " Master Laurence Falkner, 
 
 " Honoured Sir : I write in great strait of sor 
 row, begging your kindly offices in my behalf. 
 September gone I was wounded and left upon 
 the battlefield for dead. And dead I was 
 for any thing I might do for eight long weeks, 
 being sore stricken with my wounds and the 
 prison fever that got into my blood. Not un 
 til after the Christmas-tide was I able to set 
 my thoughts upon communicating with my 
 friends outside; and then my efforts were in 
 vain, as I w r as close confined. A woman who 
 sells poultry to the garrison will take mercy 
 on me and smuggle this into the post ; and not 
 this alone, but other letters, for I shall surely 
 write again in a few days if, indeed, the prison 
 fever spares me. It hath already claimed 
 many of my comrades, and I do greatly fear I 
 have but escaped one death to fall upon an 
 other; for these three days I seem to feel it in 
 my veins, and one may not stand it twice.
 
 196 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 " I know not where your cousin, Mistress 
 Judith Gary, may be, since Robert hoped for 
 his father s return ; so I am asking you to com 
 municate to her the fact that I am still living 
 and have in happy memory all the words she 
 said to me at Rivermead. I pray you convey 
 to her the assurance of my unceasing regard. 
 If so I live, I will trouble you with a letter 
 for her soon. 
 
 " Allow me, Sir, to make my duty to you, and 
 to remain 
 
 " Your ob t and obliged servant, 
 
 "ARTHUR SETON." 
 
 Arthur Set on ! 
 
 Had the sun gone down, and was it bitter 
 winter rather than the glad May-time that all 
 the world grew so suddenly dark and cold? 
 Laurence thrust the letter into his pocket, 
 crushing, as he did so, the fragile flower Judith s 
 hands had fastened on his breast. He looked 
 dazedly at the ship new come to anchor, then 
 gazed far away up the river toward a spot 
 where a girl in a white dress waited for him 
 under the scarlet woodbine with the purple 
 lilies at her feet. God ! how near he had 
 been to happiness ! And now 
 
 "God ! God in heaven !" 
 
 He took a few staggering steps forward, 
 threw up his hands with a hoarse cry, and fell 
 forward prone upon the boards of the wharf.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE TEMPTER. 
 
 " Such gathered dust, when they had hoped to see 
 The richest fruits ; the buds that promised fair 
 Were early blasted, or but grew to be 
 A mockery a harvest of despair." 
 
 W. C. LODGE. 
 
 A SAILOR, returning to his ship, found 
 "* * the stricken man upon the wharf and, 
 lifting him, poured a little rum into his 
 throat, and left him to revive in the shadow 
 of a tree on the bank. There Tony Foster 
 found him half an hour later, and cried out 
 over his pallor and his anguished eyes : 
 
 "What has come to you, Laurence? an 
 hour ago you had the look of a veritable bride 
 groom; now you are as a wraith. If so Judith 
 Gary could see you this minute, she would 
 think of widow s weeds, rather than bridal 
 veils." 
 
 "The heat murmured Laurence. 
 
 "Tut, man; tis not so hot. You need your 
 mother s medicine box. You must be looking 
 to yourself; swamp fever and a new wife taken
 
 198 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 together would be too great a trial for any 
 man s constitution." 
 
 "I shall be all right; just help me to my 
 boat." But he shuddered as he thought 
 where and to whom the boat would carry 
 him. 
 
 But Tony saw William on the street, and 
 shouted to him. "Bring your wagon down 
 here ; Laurence is not to be trusted on the river ; 
 a girl would have more strength with the oars." 
 
 All the way home Laurence was tormented 
 with the image of Judith when she came to 
 know the contents of the letter her joy over 
 Arthur s escape and future return, her quick 
 cancelling of the bonds which held her to him 
 self the utter annihilation of all his hopes 
 the destruction, worse than death, of his happi 
 ness. 
 
 Twice he turned back from the gate unable, 
 through sheer misery, to go in with his tidings. 
 When at last he reached the veranda his 
 shoulders were stooped and his step was that 
 of an old man. 
 
 "Good God, Laurie ! What ails you?" cried 
 Sir Thomas, meeting him. 
 
 "I I have got my death wound.- Nay, do 
 not call anyone yet," he answered thickly, and 
 motioned to the library door. Sir Thomas
 
 The Voice of the Tempter 199 
 
 shot the bolt behind them, for some intuition 
 told him that this interview, whatever its 
 nature, should be between them. In the 
 middle of the room the two men faced each 
 other in an agonized silence; then Sir Thomas 
 cried out: 
 
 "I know what it is; that old note of your 
 father s to Randal for which you can find no 
 receipt. Tut, tut, man, let it not so harass 
 you. If we cannot stablish its payment, why, 
 we will pay it again without all this worry. 
 I have a few 
 
 "It is not that would to God it were ! " 
 
 Why, what then ? Speak out. 
 
 "Arthur Seton he is alive ! " 
 
 His parched lips faltered over the words, 
 but the absolute hopelessness of his voice gave 
 them the force of a truth. 
 
 "Alive? Impossible!" cried Sir Thomas. 
 "Why, man, did not Robert see him fall?" 
 
 "True ; but he was only stunned and wounded. 
 See, here is a letter I had this day." 
 
 He spread the letter upon the table and 
 sank into a chair, covering his face with his 
 hands. For a minute after the perusal Sir 
 Thomas was speechless; then his wrath broke 
 forth in a volley of oaths which left him ex 
 hausted. For a long while there was a silence
 
 2oo The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the room. A dog barked out on the lawn; 
 the wind fluttered the curtains, and a length 
 of blossomed vine swung itself partly in at the 
 open window. Still neither of them spoke. 
 
 " The sunshine lies around me 
 
 All the day, all the day; 
 And the sombre shadows, lifting, 
 Pass away, pass away." 
 
 It was Judith humming in the hallway. 
 Her step paused at the door and the knob 
 turned under her hand. Neither of the men 
 moved for a minute; then stolidly, almost 
 sullenly, Laurence got up and took a step for 
 ward ; but Sir Thomas seized his sleeve. 
 
 "What in heaven s name are you going to 
 do ?" he cried in an angry whisper. 
 
 "Let her in and tell her." 
 
 "Great God, man ! Of what are you think 
 ing ? Know you not that means ruin ?" 
 
 Laurence stared, not comprehending. "The 
 ruin has already come," he answered, still in 
 that hopeless voice. 
 
 "No; it but threatens; perchance we may 
 avert it. Sit down." Then raising his voice 
 from a whisper he called out to Judith, who 
 was now knocking: "Go away, Judy child; 
 we are looking after some business and cannot 
 be disturbed.
 
 The Voice of the lempter 201 
 
 "But, father, William says he brought 
 Laurence home but indifferent well." She 
 had been trying of late, at his wish, to 
 leave off the cousinly prefix to his name; and 
 this slight hesitation gave to her speech a most 
 seductive charm. Hearing it now Laurence 
 knew its meaning and ground his teeth as he 
 hid his face in his arm on the table. 
 
 "True, child, but twas the business upset 
 him. We will be out anon, and you shall give 
 him a potion to cure his ill. Go away now." 
 
 "There seems nothing else to do since you 
 will not open the door. But talk fast and 
 finish, for I am minded to play the doctor, and 
 am going now to brew a dose for him." 
 
 There was no word or movement in the room 
 until the sound of her step and song had died 
 to an echo beyond the closed doer. Then Sir 
 Thomas began feverishly. 
 
 "Laurie, it is madness to tell her. We do not 
 even know that this letter is genuine the 
 handwriting is certainly not much like that 
 in the letters Judith had from Arthur. Sup 
 pose it should turn out a ruse ?" 
 
 "No one would play me such a trick; it is 
 genuine," was the dreary answer. 
 
 "And what think you will come of telling 
 her?"
 
 202 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "She she will cast me over." 
 
 "And you will risk that, and your wedding 
 but two days hence ?" 
 
 "Is there anything else left me ? I could not 
 marry her, and she ignorant of what we know. 
 
 "But what do we know ? We have here a 
 letter which is dated more than four months 
 ago, and is writ in a hand to which we neither 
 of us can certify. Twould be the veriest 
 folly- 
 
 "Nay, Sir Thomas, she must be told. I 
 know what it means to me a surcease to all 
 hope, a death to all of joy, all of gladness. I 
 had rather die than see the look that will come 
 into her eyes when he comes back to claim 
 her; but she must be told." 
 
 "And I who am her father say she must not ! 
 Listen to a little reason, Laurence. Suppose 
 this letter to be all true as you say; it tells of 
 fever raging in the prison, and says the writer 
 can scarce hope to scape it; that he already 
 feels it in his veins. It was written some 
 four months ago, for the vessel that brought 
 it must have taken the long route by the Ca 
 naries and Hayti. Since the time of its posting 
 there have been many vessels direct from 
 England and Ireland. Think you not that had 
 Arthur Seton the Devil rest his soul ! escaped
 
 The Voice of the Tempter 203 
 
 the fever that he would have sent another let 
 ter by one of those ships ? He says here that 
 he will write again in a few days, that he will 
 send you a letter for Judy if so he lives. The 
 old woman is friendly and ready to post his 
 letters; hence had he written we must have 
 had that second letter before this first, making 
 the long voyage this one did. That the letters 
 to you and Judy came not, is proof sufficient 
 unto my mind that he is dead of the fever." 
 
 Laurence looked up eagerly: "If we could 
 but establish that fact, all might yet be well." 
 
 "Methinks it is already established of it 
 self. What need we of further proof?" 
 
 Laurence shook his head, but there was a 
 wistful questioning in his eyes ; the bare thought 
 of exemption from this desolating grief was so 
 dangerously sweet. 
 
 Sir Thomas went over the argument again, 
 strengthening it by his own assumption of 
 its validity. He showed how, even if Arthur 
 had had the fever and recovered, there had 
 still been ample time for a letter by one of the 
 many ships which had come to port of late. 
 It was scarce likely he would be sick more than 
 a month, unless he were sick unto death ; and 
 after that one month three still remained for 
 the sending and receiving of tidings. Having
 
 204 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 been so long denied the privilege of communi 
 cating with his friends it was out of all reason 
 to suppose he would neglect this new-found 
 opportunity; particularly so as he had in 
 his first epistle raised an anxiety as to his wel 
 fare. No, he was dead ; there was but this one 
 explanation of his silence since the writing of 
 this letter which they had before them. 
 
 Under the light of this presentation it all 
 seemed so possible; nay, so probable, that by 
 degrees Laurence lifted his head and the leaden 
 hopelessness died out of his eyes. 
 
 "If we could but convince her of that she 
 might yet marry me," he said, hoping, yet 
 hesitating. 
 
 "Convince her of it ! Why need she be told 
 of it at all?" cried Sir Thomas, impatiently. 
 "Look you, Laurence, she thinks less of Arthur 
 day by day, and day by day she is turning 
 more to you. Tell her this, and what will 
 follow? Why, she will begin all over again to 
 grieve for him ; she will live in fancy every day 
 of his prison experience, suffer in imagination 
 every agony he felt ; and we shall have to en 
 dure again the sorrow of those weary days last 
 winter ; and who knows if you would ever again 
 be able to persuade her to listen to you? I 
 doubt it much. Nay, I tell you that if you
 
 The Voice of the Tempter 205 
 
 want her you must hold to her now that you 
 have her." 
 
 Laurence breathed hard ; the temptation was 
 so strong upon him. "And suppose that in 
 after years she should come to know?" 
 
 "How should that be? The secret is ours, 
 and methinks we should have wit enough to 
 keep it between us. Besides, in those years 
 to come you will be her husband to whom 
 much will be forgiven because of the love she 
 gives you, a love which will far surpass the 
 sentimental fancy she once had for Seton." 
 
 The younger man made no answer. He was 
 conjuring up visions of those distant, happy 
 days ; visions whose every alluring light sapped 
 his strength of purpose and left him more at 
 the mercy of the tempter. With an .almost 
 superhuman effort to hold by the right he 
 shut his eyes on those mental pictures only 
 to be assailed through another sense; for to 
 his straining ears the house seemed suddenly 
 flooded with laughter and the sweet treble of 
 childish voices his children and hers. He 
 hid his face again, trembling as with an ague. 
 He had loved her longest, loved her best ; 
 surely he should reap the reward of his patient 
 wooing ! 
 
 "Arthur Seton will never return," went on
 
 206 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the voice of the tempter, "but show her this 
 letter, and you unsettle her mind and plunge 
 her again into that melancholy which had for 
 us all so sad a consequence. Aye, perhaps you 
 may do more ; you may kill her with the shock 
 and the wearing suspense. Are you willing 
 to risk that ? But hold your peace, and in two 
 days she will be your wife, with all the happi 
 ness that may mean to you, and the safety 
 it holds for her. If does not seem that the 
 choice between the two would be hard to 
 make." 
 
 The hours crept by while they talked, and 
 the sun was beginning to peep in at the western 
 window. Suddenly a new thought came to 
 Laurence. 
 
 "Sir Thomas," he cried excitedly, "the 
 Randals ! Surely if Arthur Seton be alive 
 they will know it. Let us to horse at once 
 and ride thither and ask what tidings they 
 have." 
 
 "We are spared the necessity," answered his 
 kinsman, who stood by one of the windows, 
 "for here are Amos and Ann riding down the 
 avenue. Remain here, Laurence, and let me 
 find out what their errand may be. You are 
 scarce a sight for company, haggard as you 
 are. Lock the door behind me that no one
 
 The Voice of the Tempter 207 
 
 may enter until my return. I will make your 
 excuses to the visitors." 
 
 "I will come presently." 
 
 "No; you must not come at all. You are 
 better to receive the news, whether good or 
 bad, without any witnesses. Come, lock the 
 door after me, and think over what I have said ; 
 if you love my girl, you will not- fail to see I am 
 right." 
 
 He went away hastily, waiting outside only 
 to be sure the key was turned in the lock. Not 
 even for the surety of Charles s crown would 
 he have Judith enter that door. 
 
 Alone in the shadowy room, Laurence sank 
 again beside the table, turning his back on the 
 sunshine and the mocking spray of blossoms 
 that flouted him through the window. There 
 was nothing but darkness in his soul, and the 
 sight of outside joy and light tortured him. 
 Painfully, point by point, he went over the 
 conversation with Sir Thomas; over his own 
 conviction that to tell the whole truth was 
 best, and Sir Thomas s argument for silence 
 how subtly the old man had worded it, how 
 artfully he had drawn the happiness and the 
 misery of the contrasting pictures ! 
 
 Moving his hand, something rasped it ; it was 
 the broken stem of the flower Judith had
 
 2o8 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 fastened to his coat, and the sight of it brought 
 back that parting in the boat-house. He felt 
 again the touch of her fingers, the flutter of her 
 breath on his cheek ; and then there rushed over 
 him the memory of that first love kiss her 
 soft, warm lips on his, the quiver of her shoul 
 ders under his arms ; and the groan in his throat 
 died to a whisper of agony. He could not give 
 her up, he could not ! it was beyond human 
 strength. 
 
 But the dishonour of deceiving her, the shame 
 of having her come some day to know it ? 
 
 He could not help it ; he would meet the new 
 sorrow when it came ; but he could not give her 
 up ! 
 
 But stay, the choice of telling her might no 
 longer remain with him; Ann Randal might 
 have had tidings like his own. Mayhap she 
 was at this moment telling Judith the wonder 
 ful news, waking the girl s heart out of its 
 long apathy. He could see her face lighting 
 up, her eyes kindling, her lips moving to cry 
 out her joy; and with a fierce movement he 
 pressed his palms over his own ears to shut 
 out the possible sound of her voice. 
 
 And thus he sat through a half-hour that 
 was an eternity, racked one way and another
 
 The Voice of the Tempter 209 
 
 by temptation and honour. Then Sir Thomas 
 called him at the door, and he got up and 
 turned the key, moving slowly and heavily, as 
 one who goes to hear his death sentence.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "THREAD OP LOVE, OR THREAD OF SIN?" 
 
 " Click, click another thread is woven in; 
 Is it thread of love or thread of sin ? " 
 
 ""\7"OU need not look so like a ghost," Sir 
 Thomas cried, as soon as the door 
 was closed; "the Randals know nothing; the 
 secret is still our own, so are we safe. " 
 
 Laurence reeled back into his chair, the cer 
 tainty that Judith was not already beyond his 
 reach making him dizzy with the relief of a 
 momentary respite. 
 
 "Ann went at once to the sewing room with 
 Judith to inspect some new bit of finery, and 
 Amos and I were left on the porch. He was 
 just from the settlement ; I asked him if the ship 
 had brought any special tidings, and he an 
 swered no. Then, leading cautiously up to 
 the subject through a reference to my son s 
 death, I got him to talking of young Seton, 
 and presently asked the direct question whether 
 his family had ever heard anything more con 
 cerning his death than was writ in Robert s 
 
 210
 
 "Thread of Love, Or Thread of Sin?" 211 
 
 letter. He answered, nothing, except a letter 
 from an aunt in Ireland confirming the report. 
 She often writes to his mother, and recently 
 they had letters from her, but she never men 
 tions Seton." 
 
 "She was his favourite kinswoman; I have 
 heard him speak of her." 
 
 "Yes; and that is added proof, if we needed 
 any, that he no longer lives. He would surely 
 have communicated with her, since she only 
 was near enough to give him aid." 
 
 He had made a good point, he thought, a 
 point that would go far toward establishing 
 his theory; but Laurence did not lift his eyes 
 from the carpet at which he was staring drearily. 
 Presently he asked : 
 
 "And what of Ann ? How did she act ; what 
 did she say?" 
 
 "She talked mostly to Judith of frills or 
 herring-bone or some such feminine frippery; 
 but she was in fine spirits, laughing and jesting 
 about the wedding day after to-morrow. She 
 had Judy red as a rose about you." 
 
 "In God s name, Sir Thomas, do not torture 
 me with such tempting words ! Tis a cruelty 
 unspeakable." Then in a moment he had 
 stretched out his hand: "Pardon me; I am 
 so unstrung I am not responsible. I am
 
 212 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 thinking, not of myself, but of the best way to 
 protect Judith s happiness." 
 
 "The best way to protect her happiness is to 
 keep the secret that has come to us, and let 
 the wedding go forward. As her father, I 
 am willing to assume any responsibility that 
 may arise out of the matter in the future." 
 
 "That could not relieve me of blame her re 
 proach would fall on me." 
 
 "Well, well; I shall urge you no more, though 
 her happiness is the dearest thing on earth to 
 me. You and Seton between you seem del 
 termined to break her heart my pretty, frail 
 flower ! You will act as you see fit in this 
 matter, of course; only remember that if you 
 play the fool and give her up, the responsibility 
 is all with you ; whereas if you choose the other 
 course, I take the blame upon my own shoul 
 ders, and will stand between you and her up 
 braiding, should she have any." 
 
 He went away in something of a temper, for 
 he had said all, and possibly more than he felt 
 was incumbent on him. This marriage w r as 
 the absorbing wish of his heart, but he would 
 urge his daughter no further upon any man. 
 He was quite convinced that his argument was 
 true and Arthur was no longer alive; and he 
 was angry that Laurence did not see it all as
 
 Thread of Love, Or Thread of Sin?" 213 
 
 he did. To break up the wedding on its very 
 eve meant not only a bitter disappointment to 
 them, but the starting of endless gossip and 
 comment throughout the community; and of 
 such discussion of his family affairs he was 
 resentfully impatient. It was this last thought 
 that made him shut the door behind him with 
 such a snap. Judith was just coming down 
 the stair, and Mistress Falkner, in the dining- 
 room, heard him say to her : 
 
 "Judy, Laurence is not ill, but much worried 
 over a piece of business. Now, tis my express 
 wish that you be very gentle with him tis 
 a good time to begin to practise that consider 
 ation which you will soon owe him. Do not 
 insist on knowing the nature of his business; 
 indeed, I wish that you shall decline positively 
 to discuss it with him. Twould only harrow 
 you and do him no good ; he has a right to keep 
 it to himself; we cannot expect him to tell us 
 all his affairs 
 
 The rest was lost to the older woman as the 
 two walked away to the porch, but she heaved 
 a sigh that nothing very serious was the matter 
 with Laurence bodily; and presently she got 
 up and knocked at the library door, but had no 
 answer. 
 
 Left alone once more, Laurence thought more
 
 214 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 coherently. That the Randals had heard 
 nothing of Arthur personally or through the 
 aunt who, of all his family, might have reached 
 him, seemed proof indeed of his death. She 
 was within fifty miles of his prison; communi 
 cation with her would have been comparatively 
 easy. He began to believe with Sir Thomas; 
 the man was dead; but at the same time he 
 felt that it would be impossible for him to live 
 with Judith with this falsehood betw r een them. 
 He had meant that their lives should be so 
 free from concealments, so open to each other 
 that by and by they should come to know 
 each other s very thoughts; and here upon 
 the threshold of his life with her fell the shadow 
 of this temptation. If he yielded, always he 
 must feel like a coward, always he must live- 
 in the fear of detection; whenever she lifted 
 her clear eyes to his he would feel the humilia 
 tion of his deception. The idea was intoler 
 able; his mind was made up, he would tell her 
 even if he lost her. He had seen her go down 
 the avenue just after Sir Thomas left the room, 
 and he knew she had not returned. He would 
 not go out through the hall lest he meet his 
 mother and be delayed with questions ; he must 
 speak to Judith at once, he dared not trust his 
 resolution to an hour s respite; so he swung
 
 "Thread of Love, Or Thread of Sin?" 215 
 
 himself out of the window and, keeping within 
 the shadow of the shrubbery, he went down 
 the sloping path to the river. He had guessed 
 aright, she was there, and seeing him coming 
 she went to meet him, holding out both her 
 hands with a smile that was a welcome and a 
 reproach. 
 
 "And high time it is, sir, that you showed 
 your face in the open air. Methinks I was 
 growing a bit resentful of that stupid business, 
 it kept you so long." 
 
 He could not answer, and so turned silently 
 with her to the boat-house. Here where her 
 troth had been given him, here where he had 
 taken his first kiss of love, he must test his fate 
 and win or lose her forever. Once on the bench 
 he tried to begin, but the unwonted tenderness 
 of her manner made the task doubly hard. A 
 mother soothing a sick child could scarce have 
 been more gentle than she. He covered his 
 face with a suppressed groan. 
 
 "Judy," he began, and hardly recognized his 
 own voice, so hoarse it was; "Judy, something 
 has happened, something that may have the 
 saddest consequence to me." 
 
 "I am sorry," she said, lifting his hand to her 
 soft cheek. "Let me help you to forget it."
 
 216 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "Nay, I must tell you though it breaks my 
 heart." 
 
 "Breaks your heart, and yet you will go on 
 speaking! That is foolish." 
 
 "Do not jest, but listen," he said miserably. 
 "You see we all thought 
 
 But a slim finger was laid across his lips 
 and another was shaken laughingly before his 
 face. Just so had she treated him in the 
 childish days at Cotslea. 
 
 "Now look here, sir, tis quite enough to have 
 this affair make of you and father a couple of 
 solemn-faced mourners, without converting 
 every face in the house to stone. I have no 
 mind to go weeping my eyes out, so I ll hear 
 none of it." 
 
 "But Judith, it touches your life as nearly 
 as it does mine you must 
 
 "Hush !" and the finger pressed hard upon 
 his mouth, "did I not say that I would hear none 
 of it ? You said just now We all thought ; well, 
 if we all thought, then is no one in particular 
 to blame; and whatever it was we thought 
 should have been right ; and if it turned out 
 not so fortunate, why, tis matter past mend 
 ing, and there s no use discussing it. Is not 
 that excellent reasoning for you ?" 
 
 He took her hand forcibly from his mouth.
 
 "Thread of Love, Or Thread of Sin? * 217 
 
 "But you do not understand. This matter 
 may change the whole course of your life; you 
 must let me tell you." 
 
 "And begin at once to cry my eyes out? 
 Fie upon you, for wishing to sadden me, and 
 that, too, on the eve of my wedding." 
 
 It was the first time she had ever voluntarily 
 mentioned her marriage to him, and as she did 
 so a wave of exquisite colour crept over her face 
 and her eyes were full of a shyness he had 
 never before seen in them. God, how she 
 tempted him ! But he nerved himself to one 
 more effort. 
 
 "God knows I had rather die than throw a 
 shadow on your heart," he groaned. "It is 
 I who will be the loser thank heaven it is I 
 who will have the suffering; but it is your un 
 questioned right to know this matter and 
 
 "Well, I will yield my right," she said, 
 smiling, and slipped her hand into his. "The 
 only right I ask is to make you and father 
 happy." 
 
 "Listen," he said almost sternly, trying to 
 break into his subject. "This morning when 
 I reached the settlement I found- 
 But she thrust her fingers into her ears and 
 hummed a little tune. 
 
 "Judy, Judy!" he cried in despair, "you do
 
 218 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 not understand ; this is not a question of money ; 
 
 1 4- i r 
 
 It io 
 
 "Something equally as disagreeable, and I 
 do not wish to hear a syllable of it not a 
 syllable." 
 
 He hesitated; underlying the playfulness of 
 her manner was a serious determination which 
 he could not understand. She was so evidently 
 in earnest that he felt his task growing harder ; 
 yet he began again, only to be interrupted. 
 
 "Laurie," and his heart leaped it was so 
 seldom she called him by this old pet name of 
 his boyhood "Laurie, in your heart do you 
 wish to tell me this matter ?" 
 
 "No; but my wishes must not count." 
 
 "Well, I have quite as little inclination to 
 listen as you to speak. Will you not let me be 
 happy my own way?" She moved a little 
 nearer him on the bench, an almost imper 
 ceptibly small distance, but he realized it, 
 and his blood throbbed with a sudden fierce 
 joy. "Let us dismiss the tiresome subject al 
 together, and talk instead of something pleas 
 ant of of what is to happen two days hence. 
 You have not yet told me what his Reverence 
 said." 
 
 Again an allusion to her wedding, and again 
 a wave of exquisite colour over cheek and
 
 "Thread of Love, Or Thread of Sin?" 219 
 
 brow, and that tremulous falling of the white 
 lids. Was he to renounce this new-found 
 sweetness ? And then in a moment he felt his 
 resolution die away and the hard-won victory 
 over himself become of none effect. He knew 
 that she had refused to hear his tidings through 
 ignorance of their nature, and that to accept 
 her refusal was on his part but a cowardly 
 subterfuge to his conscience. But she had 
 refused, had told him plainly that she would 
 none of his secret ; and he knew now that 
 he would never tell her. Away with you, 
 resolution; be silent, conscience; for in the face 
 of such unwonted demonstration from her, 
 love alone swayed him ; and lifting her hands 
 until a pink palm touched either of his haggard 
 cheeks, he poured out his love in a torrent of 
 impassioned words. The tense strain upon his 
 heart gave way; it was as though he had been 
 dead and come to life again, so eager was he 
 in his joy of possessing her. He covered her 
 hands with kisses, pushing back her sleeves 
 to reach the white wrists; and the most ex 
 travagant phrases his tongue could fashion 
 seemed but tamely to convey his feelings. 
 And she listened, shrinking a little before his 
 vehemence, but glad to see the pallor leave his 
 face ; now and then she drew away her hands,
 
 220 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 only to have them recaptured. All memory 
 of his past agony, all fears for the future were 
 cast aside in the ecstatic thought that he had 
 not lost her, that she was yet to belong to him. 
 And so it was he entered the tempter s nets.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE SECOND LETTER IN THE PACKET. 
 
 "The blood will follow where the knife is driven." 
 
 YOUNG. 
 
 TT rHILE Laurence gave himself up to the 
 joy that followed his long hour of 
 mental struggle and torture, another scene was 
 transpiring under the tree beside the wharf 
 where the sailor had left him in the morning. 
 
 Tony Foster sat on a gnarled root and 
 smoked lazily. The stir of the morning had 
 quieted down ; the townspeople had resumed 
 their duties, and the sailors had either returned 
 to their ship or were regaling themselves at 
 Sutley s or the other public houses. Lissa 
 had taken her sewing from the warehouse in a 
 pout because Tony w r ould not let her have the 
 string of coral beads the youn ; sailing master 
 had offered her; business for the day seemed 
 over, and Tony, still cross from the quarrel 
 with Lissa, had taken his pipe out in front 
 of his door. But he was tired of his own 
 thoughts and hailed with satisfaction the ap- 
 
 221
 
 222 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 pearance of Amos and Ann Randal on the 
 shady road leading from the upper planta 
 tions. Amos went on to the wharf where his 
 flat boat was unloading some produce, but 
 the girl drew her rein in the shade close to 
 Tony. He waved his hand deprecatingly : 
 
 "Nay, there have been no more ships in 
 since this morning, so there is not another letter 
 for you." 
 
 She leaned out of her saddle with the gracious 
 smile that held her admirers and won for her 
 that reputation for coquetry: "I have not 
 come for another letter; the one you gave me 
 this morning will suffice for a long time. I 
 merely stopped to enjoy the pleasure of your 
 society \vhile Amos attends to some business. 
 I would be of no use to him, seeing that women 
 have no head for affairs." 
 
 " Tis a fact as well known as that flies buzz 
 in an empty sugar barrel," he said dryly. 
 
 Ann laughed: "How you hate the petti- 
 coated part of the world, Tony ! But come 
 now, put on your best manners and enter 
 tain me a bit. What new gossip are you 
 smoking there in your pipe ?" 
 
 "Nothing new; only the stale talk that 
 Laurence hath jilted you to marry his pretty
 
 The Second Letter In the Packet 223 
 
 cousin," replied Tony calmly, looking mean 
 while straight into the black eyes above him. 
 
 "So your cronies cannot get away from that 
 subject ? Well, and do I look properly heart 
 broken and forlorn?" 
 
 "No, for you have not loved him this whole 
 year." 
 
 "Not loved him for a whole year?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "You seem to have very circumstantial 
 knowledge of the state of my affections." 
 
 "I think I have. Sometimes when a man 
 has bodily limitations such as mine, he has 
 keener mental perceptions though, to be sure, 
 it does not take much insight to read so shallow 
 a page as a woman s mind. I told you a year 
 ago that although you were Judith Gary s 
 rival, it was not for Laurence Falkner s love." 
 
 "Yes, I remember your ridiculous guesses 
 and impertinent surmises at that time," the 
 girl laughed; "but you see I did not pine away 
 nor lose my reason, nor behave myself in any 
 unusual and unseemly manner when the news 
 came that Arthur Seton was killed." 
 
 "Yes," said Tony, blowing the smoke above 
 his head in undulating waves of blue; "I see, 
 but that is no sign that your heart did not 
 ache. A woman has the devil s own deceit in
 
 224 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 hiding wounds like that. You are queer 
 creatures, Ann Randal, all of you ; you cry your 
 eyes red over a brier scratch, and laugh when 
 your hearts are crushed to a pulp." 
 
 "It were a more grievous thing to have one s 
 body mutilated than one s affection, since 
 the former would be a visible personal dis 
 figurement ; and that she lifted her hand 
 with a wry grimace. 
 
 "Spoken with the vanity which is a woman s 
 besetting sin. Tis her pride in her pretty eyes 
 and white skin and red lips that makes a 
 woman careless and cruel and heartless." 
 
 "Tony, I believe what Judith Gary said of 
 you is a truth." 
 
 "And what was that?" 
 
 "Why, that some woman had treated you 
 with monstrous severity to make you think all 
 women false." 
 
 "Judith Gary s good looks surpass her powers 
 of discretion; and that is very fortunate for 
 her," he replied, squinting up his eyes as if the 
 smoke hurt them. 
 
 "Fortunate for her to be pretty rather than 
 discerning? Fie, Tony!" 
 
 "Yes, for had matters been reversed she 
 would not have had two of the first gallants of 
 the country wanting to marry her. Pretty
 
 The Second Letter In the Packet 225 
 
 women are generally desired at marrying time ; 
 but a man does not want a wife who is too good 
 at guessing some things in his life are better 
 for being left always riddles." 
 
 "Well, even a pretty woman is able to guess 
 that you are not in a very amiable mood to-day, 
 and since you have no news wherewith to 
 entertain me, I may as well be going; Amos 
 will overtake me presently." 
 
 She gathered up her rein, but again he 
 waved his hand deprecatingly : "There is no 
 hurry ; you can go home when you can go no 
 where else. Why is it you have come twice to 
 the settlement to-day?" 
 
 "Amos had some business, and I merely rode 
 with him for company." 
 
 Very sisterly of you to be sure. By the way, 
 had you stayed a little longer this morning 
 you might have played the Good Samaritan 
 to Laurence Falkner, and won, perchance, no 
 end of gratitude from him and Judith, and 
 at the same time given the gossips food for 
 fresh talk." 
 
 The bridle fell again instantly upon the 
 horse s neck. "The Good Samaritan to Laurence 
 what can you mean, Tony?" 
 
 "Oh-ho ! you are interested in your lost 
 lover, are you? Well, he had some sort of a
 
 226 The Wooing of Jiidith 
 
 fit here on the wharf an hour after you left. 
 You would have made a fine picture for the 
 news tattlers, bending over the unconscious 
 man who had jilted you; tis a pity you were 
 in such a hurry." 
 
 But she took no heed of his gibe. "What 
 think you, was the matter ?" 
 
 "Supreme joy over his approaching marriage 
 with his beautiful cousin, perhaps ; good fortune 
 sometimes takes away a man s breath, and you 
 know better than any one else what an escape 
 he made in the choice of his bride," Tony 
 answered, watching to see his second thrust 
 take effect. 
 
 Tis no use trying to be too funny, Tony. 
 That was not the cause of his fit, since it is 
 the suddenness of joy that stuns a man, not 
 something long expected. Was he ill when 
 he came to the settlement ? What was his 
 business?" 
 
 "His business was to speak with his Rever 
 ence about the wedding. After that he talked 
 with some of the ship s people." 
 
 The girl leaned low from her saddle. "Did 
 he did he seem to hear anything from them 
 that upset him?" 
 
 "Nothing, for when I came after him to the
 
 227 
 
 wharf to give him a letter, he was as gay as a 
 sparrow in spring-time." 
 
 "A - Did you say he had a letter?" 
 
 "Yes, in the same packet as yours. And 
 now I come to think of it the writing on them 
 was not unlike." 
 
 She straightened up, shaking out her skirt 
 with deliberate touches: "Scarcely," she said, 
 with a careless laugh, "we have no mutual 
 correspondents. But what think you, Tony, 
 did the letter have anything to do with his 
 fainting?" 
 
 He drew several times at his black pipe 
 before answering, for her emotion had not 
 escaped him, and he was studying her curiously. 
 She had always puzzled him, with her flashing 
 changes of manner, and nothing pleased him 
 better than to draw the fire of her retort. 
 
 "I am thinking, Mistress Ann," he said at 
 last, "that it is you who might tell me some 
 news to-day, were you minded to let go your 
 thoughts. Your own letter, for instance; did 
 it contain anything of a disturbing nature?" 
 
 "Did I swoon upon your warehouse steps 
 on reading it?" 
 
 "No, but I remember now you had a strange 
 look on your face, and that Amos called you 
 twice before you answered."
 
 228 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 After a moment of hesitation she bent down 
 again with a charmingly confidential air. 
 "Well, Tony, just between us two not to go 
 any further there was something about un 
 dying love in the letter; and I suppose I must 
 have been wondering if it were really true, or 
 whether I was to be jilted again, as you say 
 Laurence jilted me. Was not that enough 
 to make a girl absent-minded?" She laughed, 
 giving him a baffling glance. But a suspicion 
 had come to him that here was a mystery 
 worth the solving. Two letters had come in 
 that packet; on reading one a girl had lost 
 her colour; on reading the other a man had 
 fainted. Was there any connection between 
 them ? He looked again at Ann, but every 
 trace of emotion had vanished; she was care 
 fully flicking a piece of thistledown from her 
 skirt, and her black eyes were inscrutable 
 with a glinting laughter. Bah ! there was no 
 mystery after all; she had been but playing 
 upon his curiosity, making sport of his cred 
 ulity; nothing ever pleased her so well as to 
 tease him. In a moment he was angry with 
 her for her mockery and with himself for being 
 so played upon; and without another word 
 he pulled his hat over his eyes and settled him-
 
 229 
 
 self as if for a nap. Ann saw, and laughed 
 triumphantly. 
 
 "Truly, Tony, tis hard to say whether you 
 are worse favoured in your appearance or your 
 manners. There is not another man in all the 
 tidewater country would even pretend to doze 
 in my presence." 
 
 "Then am I the only man in Virginia who 
 dares follow the wish of his heart." 
 
 "You poor, cross-cut fellow!" she laughed. 
 "But, there; I must be going, for if I am seen 
 much more in your company, people will be 
 saying that I have fallen in love with you; 
 mayhap even, by and by, that like Laurence 
 you had jilted me for well, let us say for 
 Lissa Sutley." 
 
 She shot him a meaning look out of her black 
 eyes, laughed provokingly, and cantered away. 
 He looked after her from between his half-shut 
 lids: "You mocking devil! I d give my 
 interest in Paradise for the chance to jilt you 
 for Lissa. That teasing temper of yours needs 
 breaking." 
 
 Meantime the girl, riding with such superb 
 horsemanship down the road under the drooping 
 boughs, had ceased to laugh ; a slow whiteness 
 gathered on her face, and in her eyes was the 
 fierce pain, the faltering weariness as of some 
 dumb creature hunted to its lair.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 "SPEAK NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE." 
 
 " And still, with face like pallid mask, 
 The silent Weaver plies his task; 
 Two threads from out his shuttle run, 
 One black with night, one gold with sun." 
 
 - S. B. K. 
 
 TpHE following morning found the same 
 -- shadow on Ann s face, and her eyes 
 looked as though they had spent the night 
 staring at the darkness, rather than closed 
 in slumber. She came to the breakfast table 
 in her habit. 
 
 "I go again to the wharf this morning; if 
 you will w r ait an hour I will leave you at River- 
 mead," Amos said. But she shook her head; 
 by that time the sun would be too warm, and 
 she must see Judith about the lace on her gown ; 
 the groom could follow her as usual, so she 
 mounted and rode away. When she turned 
 into the Rivermead avenue she checked the 
 mad pace at which she had been riding and 
 went slowly, as though there was something 
 at the end of the avenue she dreaded to meet; 
 230
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 231 
 
 her face was pale and hard, and when Laurence 
 met her at the steps he found in her eyes 
 neither the mocking satire nor the careless 
 laughter that usually lurked there, but instead 
 an expectant questioning that set his nerves 
 on edge. 
 
 He was living these last hours before his 
 marriage in a fever of suppressed excitement 
 and agony of groundless dread lest the knowl 
 edge of the letter come to Judith through some 
 other channel. How this could be he did not 
 stop to consider, but he lost his colour if a 
 servant brought in a note or if there was a 
 summons at the door. This fear was upon 
 him when he lifted Ann to the ground ; and after 
 she and Judith had gone up stairs he paced 
 the hall in a nervous apprehension that un 
 manned him. Seton having lived in Ann s 
 house, the two were closely associated in his 
 mind. 
 
 "If you keep this up you will go to the luna 
 tic s prison rather than to your bridal," Sir 
 Thomas said angrily, as he passed him in his 
 restless pacing. "The secret is ours and will 
 remain thus, for the dead tell no new tales. 
 You are as shaky as a woman ; go get a glass of 
 wine for your nerves." 
 
 The sound of Ann s laughter on the stair,
 
 232 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 after an interminable half-hour, had in it the 
 resonance of jubilee bells. 
 
 "You are like a ghost, Laurence; I believe 
 you are more scared than Judith," she said 
 teasingly. "Well, Tony is prophesying good 
 behaviour on the part of the weather, and you 
 know the sunshine is a good omen for a wed 
 ding." He took her hand with some graceful 
 compliment as to its being always sunshine 
 where she was. "Prettily said," she laughed. 
 "And to think that this time to-morrow your 
 compliments will have no more value than 
 his Excellency s or Sir Thomas s ! Twill be 
 difficult at first to think of you as a married 
 man." 
 
 She waved her hand and went away at a 
 quick gallop; and Laurence turned back to 
 Judith with a clear brow. "A married man to 
 morrow," he said in her ear as they went up 
 the steps. 
 
 Down the avenue Ann threw back her head 
 and filled her lungs with the ecstatic morning 
 air; the hunted look that Tony had seen yes 
 terday was gone, and in its stead was a radiant 
 content. It was as though she had come out 
 of a charnel-house into the free, fresh air of the 
 daylight. At a shady spot on the road she sent 
 the groom on and, dismounting, sat down on the
 
 " Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 233 
 
 turf under a thick-leafed elm and drew a letter 
 from her pocket. Slowly she read it ; pausing 
 to consider it, re-reading a sentence here and 
 there. When the end was reached she sat a 
 long while looking up at the discs of blue sky 
 through the foliage, and in her eyes and on 
 her lips was a triumphant smile, as if she had 
 won that which she had coveted. After a 
 while she picked up her gloves, whistled to her 
 horse and went on her way; but before she had 
 covered half a mile the song she sang died 
 suddenly; she searched in her pocket, at her 
 belt, in her glove ; the letter she had read under 
 the tree was gone. Instantly she turned back, 
 searching the road with her eyes as she went; 
 but the letter was nowhere to be seen. As she 
 reached the tree under which she had rested, a 
 figure rose slowly from the green recess of the 
 boughs. It was Lissa Sutley, and Ann saw 
 her crush something white in the palm of her 
 hand. 
 
 "Give me that letter," Ann said haughtily, 
 without preliminary greeting. But the other 
 eyes, as black and scornful as her own, looked 
 back at her defiantly. "I saw it in your hand; 
 give it to me at once." 
 
 "And why should I ?"
 
 234 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "Because it is mine." She stretched her 
 hand out imperiously. 
 
 All of Lissa s hatred of this woman of high 
 social degree flamed into white heat ; perhaps 
 here was a way to pay her back some of her 
 own torture. She folded her arms. "There 
 is no name on the letter, so I am not sure it is 
 yours. What I found I shall keep." 
 
 Ann bent down and confronted her. So 
 great was her fury, so imminent the peril that 
 menaced her that she lifted her whip with a 
 swishing sound; but the look in Lissa s eyes 
 stayed her hand. She caught the warning in 
 time. 
 
 "Listen, Lissa; the letter is mine; I dropped 
 it here a while ago. I beg you to give it to me." 
 
 "Did Larry Herrick write it?" 
 
 "No. I swear it." 
 
 Lissa looked into her eyes and laughed bit 
 terly : " I do not believe you . " 
 
 The colour flamed to Ann s face. "I never 
 liked you, Lissa Sutley, but I would scorn to 
 lie to you." 
 
 "You did not scorn to take my lover from 
 me with your fine-lady ways. Here, under 
 this very tree, when I came out of the path 
 yonder through the reeds, he gave you my
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 23$ 
 
 flower, and you mocked me; and I have hated 
 you ever since." 
 
 "I did not ask him for your lily." 
 
 "No, but you took it, and laughed." 
 
 "The whole settlement laughed that you 
 should think he meant to marry you." 
 
 The crimson burnt duskily under the olive 
 skin. Tony had said the same thing, but the 
 words had a different sound from the red lips 
 above her. She opened her clinched hand for 
 a moment and displayed the letter: "I will 
 carry it to Mistress Judith, and if she says tis 
 yours, and not from Larry, you may have it." 
 
 Every vestige of colour left Ann s face; the 
 charnel house she had escaped seemed once 
 more gaping to entomb her, but presently 
 she managed to say lightly: "Judith is too 
 occupied with her wedding to give heed to 
 outside matters." 
 
 Twill take her but a minute," Lissa said, 
 turning to walk away. But Ann urged her 
 horse forward and barred her passage in the 
 narrow road. 
 
 "Listen to reason, Lissa. The letter is mine; 
 there is nothing I will not give you for it money, 
 this jeweled ring." 
 
 Lissa laughed scornfully: "There is nothing 
 I want from you."
 
 236 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 She darted past the horse and ran down the 
 road; but again Ann overtook and stayed her. 
 The Rivermead avenue was but ten paces 
 away; Judith might even be in the boat-house. 
 She must try another plea. 
 
 "Lissa, stop a moment and think. Is there 
 no promise I might make you? nothing you 
 have to ask concerning Larry ? I will do any 
 thing you wish ; never speak to him, forbid him 
 the house 
 
 Her voice was seductive^ sweet, and the 
 shot went home. Lissa paused, irresolute. 
 Here perchance was an opportunity to thwart 
 her false lover. Ann moved very close to her, 
 leaning out of her saddle. 
 
 "There is surely something you might ask 
 me." 
 
 Lissa s eyes w r ent wandering among the 
 grasses at her feet. It would be sweet to know 
 she had balked him of his game. Her fingers 
 lost their grip, so that she held the letter but 
 lightly while her thoughts went over Larry s 
 punishment. Ann bent yet nearer, her own 
 hand creeping toward the other s. 
 
 "Something you might ask me some way 
 in which I might aid you." 
 
 Then suddenly her hand reached Lissa s and 
 snatched the letter, while with the other hand
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 237 
 
 she reined her horse sharply back. With an 
 angry cry Lissa would have held her skirt and 
 dragged her to the ground, but the rearing horse 
 prevented, for under the tight rein he was 
 striking out dangerously with his shod hoofs. 
 Then Ann, mistress of the animal, went by her 
 like an arrow; beyond, in the open sun-track 
 of the road, she turned and laughed derisively : 
 
 "What is mine, I will keep. Larry Herrick 
 writes sweet letters," she called over shoulder, 
 putting this one to her lips, and so was gone. 
 But beyond the turn of the road she slackened 
 speed : 
 
 "Merciful heaven, what an escape !" she 
 cried, bowed to the pommel of her saddle with 
 a sudden nervous sobbing. 
 
 After Ann s visit a new turn came to 
 Laurence s anxiety, and he sent both morning 
 and afternoon to the settlement to assure him 
 self that no fresh tidings had come over the 
 water, no new ship was in port. But his self- 
 torture was useless, for the returning messenger 
 brought nothing of a disturbing nature. And 
 at last, like a turquoise out of a dark mine, 
 there broke from the shell of the dead May 
 the blue June day that was to see his wedding. 
 
 "It is my last good night to you," he had 
 whispered to Judith the night before, as he put
 
 238 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 her candlestick in her hand, thinking of how 
 hereafter there would be no parting here beside 
 the banister, but that they would go together 
 up the wide stair; and thankful, in a dumb, 
 impassioned way that he had not jeopardized 
 his happiness. 
 
 " Laurie, " she said softly, as he still held her 
 hand, "you will be kind to me, I know that; 
 but there is one thing I wish you to promise me. 
 Let me share your whole life. Always my 
 father has made of me a child, telling me only 
 pleasant and happy things, trusting me with 
 nothing serious or troublesome. I do not w r ish 
 that to be my life with you. I want your whole 
 confidence; your annoyances and sorrows as 
 well as your pleasures do not have any secrets 
 from me. Will you promise that?" 
 
 His conscience, pricked from its torpor, 
 stung him sharply. Make her this promise 
 with that torturing barrier already between 
 them? The words would not come. Then 
 came a last wish to tell her all and trust to her 
 mercy for forgiveness ; the wedding was so near 
 she could not break with him, could not resist 
 his plea. With a swift determination he lifted 
 his head. 
 
 "Judith, I will begin now, and tell you that 
 which "
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 239 
 
 But at that moment Sir Thomas s voice 
 called out sharply: "If so you would have 
 any roses for your bridal, go to bed, Judith 
 child. Late hours make pale maids. " 
 
 "You promise?" Judith whispered over the 
 rail. 
 
 "I promise," he answered, and hid his eyes 
 against her hand as he spoke. And she went 
 away, waving him a last farewell from the 
 landing above. 
 
 There was no dishonour in his promise, he 
 argued with himself as he lay watching the 
 stars pale slowly before the approaching dawn. 
 It did not hark back to the past, but bore on 
 things of the future. From to-morrow she 
 should know his life, his hopes and plans. She 
 could not mean for him to tell to her this gnaw 
 ing thing that had come in the past, for she had 
 refused to listen to it. Thus it was he solaced 
 his conscience while he watched the great 
 morning star flame like a golden torch above 
 the horizon and knew that his wedding day had 
 come. 
 
 All the early morning hours Judith sat before 
 her window watching the wide sky, the blowing 
 leaves, the flitting birds, yet seeing none of 
 them; quiet, silent, lost in a reverie of which 
 not even the recording angel may take cogni-
 
 240 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 zance. She was taking leave of her girlhood, 
 looking timidly into the face of the wifehood 
 before her. Few hours in a woman s life are so 
 sacred or so long remembered. 
 
 Below, the house was filled with a bevy of 
 young friends whose deft hands were turning 
 the rooms into bowers of fragrant bloom. 
 
 "Nay, Tony, take that jessamine away," 
 cried Ann Randal, climbing to a chair with a 
 garland of milk-white roses; "jessamine means 
 jealousy and all the poison it carries. "Pis 
 here the bride will stand, and I mean to set 
 the fates a good example and put only roses 
 near her." 
 
 " I d as soon have poison jessamine as hidden 
 rOSe thorns," said Tony. 
 
 "It is indeed a shame to be scratched by 
 something we think so innocent and beautiful. 
 Roses are deceitful." 
 
 " Tis the same way with women; the softest- 
 seeming ones have the sharpest thorns, once 
 they are plucked." 
 
 "Well, Tony, your face is safe from scratch 
 ing such as they give ! 
 
 Long before the noon hour the stable-yard 
 was filled with horses and vehicles and the 
 river shore was lined with boats, and there was 
 a babel of voices in the halls and parlours.
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 241 
 
 "So Laurence Falkner can woo a maid as 
 well as raise the finest tobacco in Virginia," 
 Governor Berkeley said as, snuff-box in hand, 
 he made the rounds of the guests. " Take heart 
 o grace, Amos, lad," he whispered to that 
 gentleman; "I ll warrant you there are other 
 girls in the Colony far better housekeepers 
 than this dainty Cavalier maid." 
 
 But Amos, after the fashion of losing lovers, 
 refused to be so comforted, and when Sir 
 Thomas appeared on the stair with Judith he 
 slipped out of the hall, not to witness her 
 marriage. 
 
 "Remember," Sir Thomas said to Judith, as 
 he kissed her in her room, "whatever of good 
 or ill the future may hold, that I wanted this 
 marriage; that it comforted me for Thomas s 
 loss and sweetened my exile." Then he led 
 her down to where Laurence waited under the 
 rose garlands. 
 
 "If any man can show just cause why this 
 man and this woman may not be joined to 
 gether in the holy bonds of matrimony, let him 
 speak now, or else forever hereafter hold his 
 peace. " 
 
 To the spectators the words were but an 
 empty form and the perfunctory pause follow 
 ing them no longer than usual on such occa-
 
 242 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 sions; but to Laurence it seemed interminable, 
 and he caught himself listening for an answer, 
 dreading the sound of an accusing human voice, 
 or perchance some supernatural cry that would 
 tell Judith the wrong they were doing her. 
 And while he stood thus, waiting, as it were, 
 for his doom, Sir Thomas, impelled by some 
 subtle fascination, felt his eyes drawn irresisti 
 bly to Ann Randal, who stood just opposite 
 him. She was deadly pale, her hand gripped 
 something close over her heart, and her eyes 
 had in them a look which seemed to challenge 
 him to speak. For that one moment of im 
 pressive pause they gazed fixedly at each other, 
 and each in a measure read the other s thoughts. 
 An angry resentment flashed in the old man s 
 eyes; he leaned forward but the minister was 
 speaking, Laurence had once more concen 
 trated his thoughts on the words, and the 
 ordeal was over. The old man straightened 
 himself with a deep-drawn breath of relief, 
 Ann turned her face toward Judith, and no 
 one in that company, except Tony Foster, had 
 guessed that the dim spectre of a tragedy had 
 hovered for a moment over the white-petalled 
 blossoms of the bridal garlands. 
 
 Very solemn and tender the vows sounded, 
 spoken in the presence of that brilliant company,
 
 "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace" 243 
 
 with the June sunshine falling in white bands 
 through the windows and the* June-time roses 
 swinging the incense of the year in their multi- 
 petalled censers. Then came the blessing above 
 the bowed heads; and at last Laurence, with 
 every doubt and fear and self-reproach swept 
 away before the leaping gladness that filled 
 him, faced his friends with his wife s hand on 
 his arm. 
 
 During the festivities, which lasted far into 
 the night, a wave of merriment always followed 
 in Ann Randal s wake. She w r as full of gaiety 
 and the pretty coquetry of her nature, and 
 young and old came in for a share of her pleas 
 antries. Once Sir Thomas met her on the 
 stair. 
 
 "A beautiful wedding, Sir Thomas. Your 
 emotion during the ceremony was a credit to 
 your heart." 
 
 "And why the Devil should you be turning 
 so pale just at that moment?" he demanded, 
 forgetting his manners in his renewed appre 
 hension. 
 
 "Oh," she said, with mock sadness, " twas 
 my business to turn pale. Know you not that 
 all these people are saying that Laurence hath 
 jilted me for Judith?" 
 
 "Stuff and rubbish!"
 
 244 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 " Well, old Zoe, the fortune-teller, said it was 
 a jilted wedding, and if it was not I, then I 
 pray you, who?" 
 
 For a moment they held each other s gaze, 
 searchingly, accusingly; then with a little 
 grimace she flitted by him and joined her part 
 ner who waited below, kissing her hand to Sir 
 Thomas from the hall. 
 
 " By the thunder gods, I d give an eye to read 
 her heart for just a minute !" 
 
 Among the departing guests in the coaches 
 and boats there was much gossip of Ann, much 
 discussion of the appropriateness of the match 
 and the happy prospects of the young couple. 
 Only Tony Foster growled ominously as he lit 
 his pipe for the home ride, thinking of the look 
 that had shot from Sir Thomas to Ann during 
 that momentary pause in the ceremony. 
 
 "To be looking cross-eyed behind a bride s 
 back bodes no good," he said to himself. 
 " Thomas Gary and that black-eyed witch know 
 something they are hiding from the rest of us; 
 but Tony Foster isn t blind, he has seen the 
 shadow of it."
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 TENANTS OF A FEVERED BRAIN. 
 
 " A thousand fantasies 
 Begin to throng into my memory, 
 Of calling shapes and beckoning shadows dire, 
 And airy tongues that syllable men s names." 
 
 MILTON. 
 
 T?OR Judith the days following her marriage 
 were as an unreal dream, so that she 
 often asked herself if she were waking 
 or in some strange trance. And yet the only 
 material difference in her life was the sense of 
 -mreiice s -proprietorship. Whenever she had 
 t .ought even dimly of marriage, it was always 
 with Cotslea as a background ; and here she was 
 separated forever from any return to the old 
 associations. She thought of the life before 
 her as some new mosaic into which she was 
 to fit the colours, whether harmoniously or 
 crudely she knew remained largely with herself. 
 She wanted to see it fair and beautiful, and so 
 she studied her husband daily, finding, along 
 with his little weaknesses, his strong, un 
 obtrusive love for her and his kind care of her 
 245
 
 246 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 aging father; and the sense of restfulness and 
 protection that finally came to her steadied 
 her nerves like a tonic. 
 
 "She looks now like the Judith who first 
 came to us," said Mistress Falkner, seeing the 
 colour in her face and the ready smile on her 
 lips. 
 
 Ann Randal came often to Rivermead, never 
 staying long at a time, but flitting in and out 
 with a restlessness that puzzled Judith, but 
 which Mistress Falkner declared was "of her 
 liver." 
 
 "It s boneset and senna you are needing, 
 Ann, and a drop of bitters before breakfast, 
 and to keep out of the hot sun." 
 
 "Dear me, Mistress Falkner, that prescrip 
 tion is as long as the alphabet ! 
 
 "Well, your grave will be longer still, an you 
 heed it not." 
 
 Nor were those at Rivermead the only ones 
 who noticed her restlessness. 
 
 "You are as pestiferous as a bee in a tar- 
 bucket," Tony Foster said, when she haunted 
 his warehouse almost daily. " Do you come 
 here to the settlement that people may see your 
 heart-break for Laurence Falkner ? 
 
 "Mayhap I come hoping you will cure my
 
 Tenants of a Fevered Brain 247 
 
 wounds, you gentle, soft-tongued gallant !" she 
 quizzed. 
 
 Whereupon Tony promptly turned his back 
 upon her. "If ever the Devil fitted together 
 a conundrum-box, it s that girl," he said, 
 watching her down the road. "Her heart is 
 like a bee-stung bear for soreness, and yet she 
 laughs as if bee-stings did not hurt. I wonder 
 what it is she and old Thomas Gary know be 
 tween them. " 
 
 For Laurence, the universe had become as 
 Paradise ; and the days and nights, with Judith 
 at his side, were all too short to hold his happi 
 ness. Those first weeks were haunted by 
 spectral fears lest other news should come of 
 Arthur. In moments of sober reasoning he 
 believed the man to be dead, but at others he 
 trembled at the news of any new vessel that 
 anchored in the James, dreading that it should 
 bring a shadow to his home. He argued with 
 himself that his fears were but phantoms of his 
 fancy ; but whether real or imaginary, they put 
 the one drop of poison in his cup of happiness, 
 for as often as he looked into his wife s clear 
 eyes and read there her trust and confidence, 
 there came upon him a sense of guilt that stung 
 him with humiliation. 
 
 But as the days grew into months and no
 
 248 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 news came, and he saw Judith s smile brighten 
 for him with an ever-growing lustre and felt her 
 hand now and then shyly give back the pres 
 sure of his, he told himself that all was as it 
 should be, and that he had done wisely to with 
 hold from her information which could only 
 have filled her with sorrow and uncertainty. 
 By the end of July he had dismissed all appre 
 hensions and given himself up to the master 
 ful happiness that thralled him. Judith be 
 came his constant companion, riding with him 
 over the plantations, and in the heat of the day 
 sitting with him in the library adding up on 
 the tips of her slender fingers the long rows of 
 figures in his account books. Together they 
 went through every drawer and compartment 
 of his father s desk, searching vainly for that 
 lost Randal receipt ; for the solicitors in London 
 had at last written that they* knew naught of it, 
 and Amos was beginning to urge his claim. 
 
 "It passes my understanding," Judith said 
 one morning, as she turned over a pile of papers 
 and read their fading signatures; "it passes my 
 understanding how Master Randal could have 
 so hidden this matter from his wife. It must 
 have hurt her sorely when she came to know it. 
 I am grateful there is no deception between me 
 and you, Laurence, but that our lives are as
 
 Tenants of a Fevered Brain 249 
 
 open books to each other. I could not bear to 
 know you hid anything from me. " 
 
 He did not answer ; in moments like these he 
 paid the full penalty of his error. But she did 
 not notice his silence, for presently, having 
 finished the pile of papers, she said : 
 
 "How discomforted you were about this 
 matter a few days before our marriage. " 
 
 " It was not this at all, " he answered. 
 
 "What, then?" she asked in surprise, her 
 eyes wide open and full upon him. 
 
 "About about another matter that has 
 blown over you said you did not wish to hear 
 it," he replied; and then was sorry he had not 
 told her and removed the cloud that dimmed his 
 truth and made him despise himself. But her 
 very honesty disarmed his resolution and made 
 of him a coward. 
 
 That he did not find the paper for which he 
 searched occasioned Laurence no special* un 
 easiness. If Amos pushed the matter to a 
 trial Seth Perry could be fetched from over the 
 Carolina border, where he lived in the Albe- 
 marle settlement, to witness to the payment. 
 So there was no special need for anxiety, he told 
 his mother and Judith. 
 
 Sir Thomas had never recovered from the 
 shock of his son s death, and the prolonged
 
 250 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 heat of the summer told sorely upon him. 
 Judith watched the growing change in him with 
 consternation. He was as a leaf yellowing to 
 its fall, and the first breath of autumn did its 
 work, for in the late August days he took to his 
 bed and waited, with that same grim fortitude 
 which had marked his soldier years, the sum 
 mons of the great last foe over whom there may 
 be no victory won with lance or blade fashioned 
 in the workshops of man. He knew that the 
 end had come, and set his few affairs to rights. 
 
 "It is my marching orders, Judy child," he 
 said, as she sat by the bed, his hand in hers. 
 "Eighteen years has your mother been waiting 
 for me; long will it take me to tell her all 
 that has befallen in that time. But of you, 
 there will be naught to say that is not pleasant 
 to hear; but mostly will I be glad to make 
 known to her your wedding and the safe hands 
 in which I leave you. If the Stuart cause 
 should fail, Robert must come here to Virginia 
 and live near you; that is my wish. Eighteen 
 years apart, your mother and I, and now the 
 meeting may come any day any day. " 
 
 Always those were the things of which he 
 talked in his quiet moments his meeting with 
 his lost wife and his satisfaction over Judith s 
 marriage. Now and then, in times of delirium,
 
 Tenants of a Fevered Brain 251 
 
 there were snatches of the old life at Cotslea, 
 and allusions to Arthur Seton which the watcher 
 by the pillow did not understand. One windy 
 night when she and Mistress Falkner sat alone 
 with him, he suddenly raised himself and cried 
 vehemently : 
 
 " If he be indeed alive, think you not he would 
 have writ letters? This one is old old." 
 
 Judith turned her startled eyes upon her 
 cousin. 
 
 " He but raves, child, " said Mistress Falkner. 
 "He will be better in the morning when the 
 blood is let. " 
 
 But presently the ramblings went on: "Ar 
 thur Seton? Tut, tut, man; an Irish prison in 
 times such as these is like the grave, it yawns 
 but for a corpse." Judith rose to her feet, 
 white as the sheet that draped the bed, but her 
 cousin laid her hand on her arm warningly, so 
 she only stood trembling while the old man 
 went on: 
 
 " Robert, Robert ! What news of the king? 
 Damn it, what means Ann Randal by such 
 looks ? Her black eyes hold a mischief ; I mis 
 trust me but she is as wise as I. Come hither, 
 Ann, I would question you. Do you know that 
 Arthur Seton is shut up - Aye, aye, your 
 Excellency, I am a loyal follower of the king ; a
 
 252 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 brewer s fingers have not the right crook to 
 hold a sceptre. " 
 
 Mistress Falkner drew Judith back to her 
 chair. "Sit down, my child; tis but a whim 
 of the fever ; he knows not what he is saying. " 
 
 "You are sure?" 
 
 " Aye, I have seen it many times ; fever shows 
 us shapes we never see when the blood is cool. " 
 
 And Judith, reassured, stilled the tremor in 
 her hands and soothed him softly until" he slept, 
 and then watched until he waked again and 
 looked at her with clear vision, knowing noth 
 ing of what he had said in his delirium. And 
 so was she satisfied. 
 
 She did not tell Laurence of these strange 
 fancies, for by a tacit understanding Seton s 
 name w r as never mentioned; neither one de 
 sired to bring it from the silence in which it had 
 so long remained. But often she thought over 
 those fevered vagaries, wondering at the mys 
 terious impulses of the mind when uncontrolled 
 by an aroused and active will. An old letter, 
 an Irish prison, Ann Randal s black eyes, 
 Arthur Seton what a strange and fantastic 
 combination of ideas ! 
 
 " Your pulse went high last night ; you talked 
 of Arthur Seton as if he were not dead, and that 
 Ann Randal knew it.
 
 Tenants of a Fevered Brain 253 
 
 " Did I ? Twas but a cheating image of the 
 fever. Seton is dead; we all know it, for 
 Robert saw him fall. I always think of him 
 and Ann together. And the Irish prison ah, 
 my boy died there !" 
 
 She should have thought of that, she told 
 herself reproachfully; and comforted him ten 
 derly. 
 
 Within the week the staunch old Loyalist 
 died, crying with his last breath: "Down 
 with Cromwell! God save the King!" They 
 buried him in the corner of the garden where 
 Charles Falkner already slept ; and the sombre 
 cedars kept ceaseless guard over him ; and later 
 on a slender maple, leaning over the stone wall, 
 shook down upon the grave a covering of cloth 
 of gold.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 UNDER A TROPIC SUN. 
 
 " Farewell, remorse; all good to me is lost; 
 Evil, be thou my good ! " 
 
 MILTOX. 
 
 A SKY fretted with never a cloud, but 
 ^ ^- blue-white in the untempered shine of 
 the sun; a dizzy quavering of the air as if 
 it were vapour, rather than invisible ether; no 
 bird song, no low of cattle, no call of human 
 voice; only a wide, level plain waving in rich 
 sugar cane that shimmered in the glare like 
 waves of consolidated green heat. From the 
 plain one might see only the cane and the dis 
 tant low hills whose green was only a deeper 
 tone because of the distance ; but from the hills 
 not only the plain, but the huddled settlement 
 and the harbour where the ships rode at anchor 
 were visible, and far, far away, beyond the en 
 circling reefs, the cool white-caps of the break 
 ers of the untrammeled ocean. The heat, the 
 luxuriant vegetation, the gorgeous flowers, the 
 brilliant but songless birds all proclaimed the 
 254
 
 Under a Tropic Sun 255 
 
 tropics. Nowhere save under a perpendicular 
 sun could such things be. 
 
 At first only the things that the wind stirred 
 had motion in the landscape; but presently 
 there came from the tall cane a squad of men, 
 gasping with the heat, reeking with sweat, 
 weary and dizzy; for under the cane blades 
 where they had worked the air was like a 
 furnace. An overseer and half a dozen guards 
 followed them leisurely. They stood about the 
 edge of the field, their mouths open, their chests 
 heaving; and one, tall and slender, with his fair 
 hair curling over his shoulders, reeled against 
 the trunk of a tree, a ghastly white. A great, 
 rough fellow, with the body of a giant and the 
 face of a tender woman, steadied him, and 
 presently brought him a drink from a wayside 
 brook. He drank the water with savage thirst, 
 but without thanks, and fell back again against 
 the tree. 
 
 "Come," said the overseer roughly, "no 
 more of that ; I thought yesterday would have 
 taught you your lesson. You cursed fine gen 
 tlemen are here to work tis for that I hire you 
 from the barracks yes, to work and not to put 
 on airs. Hasn t this told you so often enough ? 
 He let his long whip fly out snappingly from 
 its handle as he spoke, as if here were an argu-
 
 256 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 ment that needed no words to enforce it. A 
 scowl went round the group, for the feel of the 
 whip was known to them all ; and into the face 
 of the fainting man a deadly hate fought down 
 the pallor. 
 
 " You are not fighting for Charles Stuart now, 
 you are working my cane, and there s a d n 
 difference between the jobs." 
 
 "The difference between heaven and hell," 
 muttered the man beside the tree. But the 
 whip-lash, singing its cracking song about his 
 head, silenced him. There was no use courting 
 its burning, degrading touch. The big fellow 
 moved, as if by careless accident, between the 
 cruel, swinging thong and this younger, frailer 
 man. So it had often been before ; so would it 
 be many times again; for in his heart was a 
 brooding tenderness for this slighter, weaker 
 one whose quick tongue so often drew the over 
 seer s fire. Many times had he slipped in be 
 tween him and his punishment, neither ex 
 pecting nor receiving thanks. 
 
 "You are a fool," the white lips would say. 
 " I would not do it for you. " 
 
 " I had a little brother once, and you look like 
 him," the giant would answer. 
 
 After a few deep breaths, the squad, answer 
 ing the call of the overseer, plunged again into
 
 Under a Tropic Sim 257 
 
 the cane to finish the task laid out for them. 
 
 And this had been their life for weeks all 
 day to toil, at the end of a goad, under the 
 blistering, blinding tropic sun; and at night to 
 lie exhausted under sheds in a palisade, with 
 knotted scourge and cocked gun outside the 
 doors. No wonder eyes were wolfish with hate 
 and hearts desperate with hopelessness. In 
 the stifling air between the cane rows they 
 toiled and sweated and staggered ; and now and 
 then whispered jerkily to each other behind the 
 guards backs; for desperation and misery are 
 the breeders of daring schemes. Once or twice 
 the big man did the work of the slender, pale 
 one, that the latter might catch his quavering, 
 fevered breath. 
 
 Night came at last, with its lack of twilight, 
 its engulfing darkness, its swift rush of stars, 
 its heavy, languorous tropic odours. 
 
 Within the quarters of the indentured soldiers 
 was an ominous silence, save where some restless 
 body turned on its hard bed; or some deluded 
 dreamer, freed by slumber from the pain and 
 degradation of the present, saw for a moment 
 the sunshine of other days, the light of lost 
 smiles and tender faces about him ; and cried 
 out a joy that turned to slow agony with the 
 opening eyes.
 
 258 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 When the blackest hour of the midnight of 
 that blistering day was come, the man with 
 the fair curls raised himself and, crawling 
 down the line of sleepers, awakened them 
 with whisper and touch. Twelve desperate 
 men, half frantic with the fever of the sun 
 and the equally burning touch of the lash 
 they would be a formidable menace to the 
 guards without, armed though the latter were. 
 Following their leader, the men crept through 
 the shadow to the palisade where it came near 
 est to the shed. There nine of them turned 
 back, believing the attempt to be hopeless and 
 dreading the punishment of failure. But the 
 fair-haired leader set his teeth grimly: 
 
 "For me, the end of this has come, one way 
 or the other." 
 
 He tried to scale the post to the top of the 
 shed, but in his fingers was not the requisite , 
 grip, and he slipped back again and again. 
 The big man, who had gone up like a cat, peered 
 back into the gloom, then slipped again to the 
 ground. 
 
 "Come," he whispered; "I could not leave 
 you here. Up with you!" And with a 
 vigorous lift he sent the slight body to its 
 destination, and for the second time climbed 
 up again.
 
 Under a Tropic Sun 259 
 
 The third man was already there, and for a 
 few minutes they lay still, listening. Then the 
 third one of the group stretched out and swung 
 himself across the intervening space onto the 
 palisade, and dropped like a spider to the 
 ground outside. But again the slender man 
 failed to achieve a like purpose ; the weakness 
 of fever was in his long limbs, and the uprights 
 of the palisade seemed miles away in the 
 wavering shadow-mist. It could not be; and 
 he sank back with a groan. But the same 
 friendly hand that had lifted him to the shed 
 was ready with its aid. 
 
 "I can reach the palisade with my feet," 
 the big man whispered; "I will brace them 
 there and hold fast to this beam. My body 
 will be as a bridge ; if you are very quick you 
 can crawl over me to the palisade come." 
 
 It was done; in a few minutes the slender, 
 quivering figure stood by the man outside the 
 wooden wall and pushed the tangled hair fever 
 ishly from his brow, looking back impatiently 
 the while for his comrade to follow. He forgot 
 that comrade had to change his whole position 
 before he could come. In that instant of wait 
 ing there was a cry from the guardhouse, a 
 quick rush of feet, the clear report of a gun. 
 Inside the palisade the men dropped again to
 
 260 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 their places in feigned sleep the lash and the 
 oaths were bad enough in work hours. On the 
 shed the big man lay like a log; while in the 
 shadow below the two others crouched against 
 the wooden boards. Instinctively the slender 
 one stooped and picked up a stone that turned 
 under his foot. 
 
 " Where was the noise, on the shed, or around 
 the palisade?" thundered the overseer. 
 
 In that one moment the slender man saw 
 where lay his safety. It did not matter that 
 the man on the roof was his friend, his bene 
 factor; he would step over the dead body of 
 his own brother if need be, out of this hell, into 
 the world beyond. The hand that held the 
 stone flew up sharply, the missile whirred 
 through the darkness and fell clattering upon 
 the boards of the shed beside the prostrate 
 figure there, drawing the attention of the 
 guards. 
 
 " It is on the roof, " they shouted to the over 
 seer, and ran back to the gate. 
 
 At that moment two figures dashed through 
 the dense gloom along the edge of the cane field 
 to the silent forest in the distance. Once over 
 the hills, the sea lay before them, the sea with its 
 white-winged messengers that sailed away to
 
 Under a Tropic Sun 261 
 
 peace and safety, where no cane grew under a 
 tropic sky and no knotted whip-lash left its 
 burning, unfading mark on quivering, lacerated 
 flesh. 
 
 In the yellow dawn, beside the water, the 
 slender man threw the fair hair from his face 
 and drew a long, deep breath. What if he had 
 betrayed his friend; what if in his soul was a 
 mark as ghastly, as indelible as the stain upon 
 Cain s hands ? He was free, quit of the stifling, 
 strangling atmosphere of the indentured sol 
 diers camp. He was free free to breathe, to 
 take his ease, to live free to follow the guiding 
 star of a woman s face over the crested waves 
 of the clear, cool ocean. What was remorse to 
 him ? What were the agonies of the tortured 
 man he had sacrificed ? Ah, the joy of the wind, 
 the ecstasy of the moving waters at his feet ! 
 Here now was a fisher s boat coming down the 
 bay; it would take him to yonder out-bound 
 vessel. There was pity in the sailors hearts 
 for the prisoners turned into slaves ; they would 
 hide him, never fear. 
 
 He raised his plumed hat and signalled the 
 fisher, and the boat turned in shoreward ; how 
 slow it came through the curling waters ! But 
 it was here at last ; farewell to toil and shame,
 
 262 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 farewell to starvation and slavery and that 
 cruel, stinging lash ! Then just as he moved to 
 step into the boat, a heavy hand fell on his 
 shoulder.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE FRINGES OF A SHADOW. 
 
 " But when men think they most in safety stand, 
 The greatest peril often is at hand." 
 
 DRAYTON. 
 
 "\/ r OU need not be afraid for me," Judith 
 * said, after her father s death, rinding 
 Laurence s eyes on her in a troubled gaze. 
 "You showed me once the selfishness of 
 grief, and I have not forgotten the lesson. 
 Father had suffered so much of late and longed 
 so for the meeting with mother, that I feel it 
 would be wrong to him and to you for me to 
 give myself up to grief." And she asked for 
 her horse to be brought with his and went with 
 him on his daily rounds. 
 
 Ann came and spent a week, treating her 
 with a thoughtful gentleness that surprised 
 even Laurence. One day, in her room, notic 
 ing Judith s red eyes, she said: 
 
 "Cry with me as much as you like, Judith. 
 My own heart is often full of impatience and 
 263
 
 264 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 bitterness, so that I know what a relief tears 
 are." 
 
 " Why should you ever cry, Ann ? You have 
 lost no relative or friend ; I think I never knew 
 a girl s life to be so unshadowed." 
 
 The black eyes looked at her a moment with 
 a strange wistfulness ; then a laugh rippled over 
 the red lips: " I suppose, my dear, it is just a 
 case of nerves. Amos told me last night that 
 I had come to be unbearable ; but you know a 
 sister s moods never find favour in a brother s 
 sight. Other girls may mope or simper, be as 
 cross as two sticks or as amiable as an angel, 
 and it is all right; but sisters must be always 
 as calm and even tempered as though they were 
 born on a dead level. " 
 
 She turned to the window, for although she 
 still laughed there was a moisture about her 
 eyelids she did not wish to be seen. But 
 Judith saw and a quick sympathy came for 
 her friend. 
 
 " Girls have a right to their moods as well as 
 boys have; Amos should be gentler with you; 
 you are all unnerved, you poor girl. I think 
 Cousin Janet is right, you go too much in the 
 sun. Why do you take that long ride to the 
 settlement every day?" 
 
 For a moment the bulwarks of Ann s reserve
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 265 
 
 were battered down ; even her laughter was for 
 gotten. "Because I must, I must !" she cried 
 with a sudden passionate gesture. " If I sit at 
 home I seem strangling, burning up with a 
 fever of impatience and yearning. I want to 
 see the ships that come over the water for 
 the sea leads back to England to England 
 and Ireland where She stopped, stayed 
 
 by Judith s face. "There, I have frightened 
 you." 
 
 Judith drew her down to the sofa. " Not so 
 much frightened as surprised. I cannot see 
 what there is over the sea that you so much 
 desire, seeing that your people are here, and 
 that your life has nearly all been spent in the 
 
 Colonies." 
 
 
 
 " True, " replied Ann, her face hidden on the 
 pillow, while she searched her mind for some 
 explanation that would sound reasonable. "I 
 have many reasons for being content here in 
 Virginia. Sometimes I think my discontent 
 may be a lingering dread of the Indians. You 
 know nothing of them, but I have been here 
 through two massacres, and realize all the 
 horrors of such a time. Our very doorstep was 
 stained with blood I saw my nurse impaled 
 on a sharpened rail, and a baby s brains dashed 
 out against our gatepost, while from our upper
 
 266 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 windows father and the other men shot the 
 savages down." 
 
 "You must not think of these things; they 
 prey upon your nerves." 
 
 "Amos says I am nothing but nerves tis 
 of that he complains. " 
 
 " I do not wonder, if you are often betrayed 
 into moods like this. Be quiet for a while and 
 rest." Then presently she added: "There is 
 Tony Foster coming down the avenue ; he may 
 know something to divert you ; let us go down. " 
 
 " By all means, for Tony is as good as a 
 news-sheet ; better, even ; for he not only knows 
 the news, but serves it as a good housewife 
 serves pudding with plenty of sauce." 
 
 But Tony was cross that morning. "No, 
 there isn t any news," he said shortly to Ann s 
 question. 
 
 "No marriages, or lovers quarrels, or wife- 
 beatings? The Colony is well behaved these 
 days." 
 
 " Too well by half, for the gossips. Laurence 
 here has gotten married at last, so we are cut off 
 from the excitement of speculating whether 
 you or Mistress Judith will be the bride. 
 Harry Beach wagered a fox-hound on you, and 
 lost."
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 267 
 
 " He had as little discretion as luck in placing 
 his bet." 
 
 " Yes ; I told him I would not bet on you for 
 anything, save to change your mind." 
 
 " A mind is an easy thing to change, " laughed 
 Judith, "it has no fastenings no hooks and 
 eyelets, and no strings to get into hard knots. " 
 
 "You mean a woman s mind," said Tony, 
 dryly. "It s not only without fastenings, but 
 it is run-down-in-the-heel through too much 
 shifting." 
 
 Judith cried shame upon him for a skeptic, 
 and Ann bade him quit talking of minds and 
 tell them the news. 
 
 "As I said before we have nothing for con 
 stant reference since Laurence put a stop to 
 our guessing ; Delia Swift has made up with her 
 sweetheart for the hundredth time, so there are 
 no lovers quarrels to entertain us ; and we are 
 without fights because Sutley has been sick of 
 the fever, and Tim Dean has no longer the 
 money nor the credit on which to get drunk. " 
 
 " Of what, then, do you talk ? For you surely 
 never hold your tongues, " said Ann, lazily. 
 
 "The only matter of gossip we have is why 
 you come so often to the settlement. " 
 
 Judith, watching, saw a startled flicking of 
 her friend s eyes; then Ann shrugged her
 
 268 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 shoulders carelessly. "You have much to 
 occupy your time. Say to your fellow-gossips 
 that I go to get up an appetite for my dinner. " 
 
 "Does gazing down the river by the hour 
 help your appetite?" 
 
 "It does not hurt it." 
 
 "No, not for looking into my post pouches. 
 Are you expecting another letter like the one 
 that came just before Laurence was married 
 the one in the queer hand-writing?" 
 
 The girl lifted her hand w r ith a quick, im 
 perious gesture, and her glance went furtively 
 to the other two occupants of the room ; but 
 Laurence had leaned from the window to catch 
 a banging shutter, and Judith, who held the 
 curtain aside for him, was looking at Tony with 
 a wondering surprise. 
 
 "Does Ann get love-letters from England, 
 Tony?" 
 
 " Of course, " laughed Ann, before Tony could 
 speak. " That is the kind of letters an aunt 
 would write to a niece." 
 
 " Your aunt did not write the letter that came 
 in the post with Laurence s. " 
 
 Again Ann lifted her hand with that silen 
 cing gesture; but Tony only laughed; "Oh, I 
 know how Lissa found it in the wood, and how 
 you took it from her."
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 269 
 
 "My dear Tony," she said, with an air of 
 perfect candour, "that was not my aunt s 
 letter at all. Lissa would not have been in 
 terested in that. Some of my letters come by 
 special messenger from Henrico." 
 
 "From Larry Herrick, you mean?" 
 
 "He has really a charming style, so lover- 
 like and enticing. Some day, if you are good 
 and tell me a rare bit of gossip, I ll let you read 
 one of them as a guide for yourself Lissa Sut- 
 ley has a fondness for love-letters !" 
 
 The dart told, for the scar on Tony s face 
 flamed angrily. "Well, she reads none of 
 yours, though you drop them in the road, and 
 bargain with her for their return. Come, 
 Laurence, leave that shutter alone, and let us 
 to the library ; I have some papers for your eye 
 and no time to waste bandying words with a 
 woman. " 
 
 " Poor Tony, I wonder if he knows he is in 
 sanely jealous of Larry Herrick," Ann said, 
 looking after the two figures, one straight and 
 shapely, the other crooked and halting. " He 
 is Lissa s one steadfast friend ; she should marry 
 him for gratitude." 
 
 "A man is not content with gratitude from 
 his wife," answered Judith, and was instantly
 
 270 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 sorry she had spoken, remembering her own 
 husband. 
 
 Afterwards, when Ann was gone, she recalled 
 the conversation, and said to Laurence: "Do 
 you not find Ann greatly changed during the 
 summer? She goes from grave to gay so 
 quickly that I can scarce keep up with her 
 moods. It sometimes seems as if she had some 
 trouble or secret which she wished to tell and 
 could not. " 
 
 He looked at her in a startled silence, then 
 turned to the window; but his mother plucked 
 the young wife by the sleeve. 
 
 "Hush; say it not to him," she whispered. 
 "Perchance it was his marriage that brought 
 the change. Girls are strange creatures, and 
 there was a time at least people said there was 
 when he A nod toward Laurence s 
 
 back concluded the sentence, but Judith under 
 stood, and there came a great wave of pity for 
 her friend. How many things had been turned 
 from their rightful course by her coming to 
 Rivermead ! But for her, Laurence would 
 doubtless have loved and wedded his dark- 
 eyed neighbour, and all would have been well. 
 
 She was thinking of these things the next 
 morning as she and Laurence rode through the
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 271 
 
 fields, the crisp air filling her lungs like some 
 rare elixir. 
 
 "Do you remember, Judy," he asked 
 suddenly, "how you came with me to the 
 cider-press along this road a year ago?" 
 
 "The day we made Powhatan carry double? 
 Yes, I remember it well : and also how Cousin 
 Janet afterwards charged me I was to remember 
 you were only my second cousin. That was 
 the first time I ever realized you did not stand 
 to me in the same light as my brothers." 
 
 "I am glad she showed you the difference; 
 it saved me the trouble later on," he said, 
 smiling. 
 
 " How many things have happened in the 
 year since that day." 
 
 "And among them the happiest thing that 
 ever happened in any year our marriage." 
 He leaned from his horse and touched her hand 
 softly. He never asked her if she loved him; 
 he was waiting for the faint, tremulous signs a 
 lover s eyes alone may read before putting her 
 to the test of an answer. He would be satisfied 
 with no mild preference, no friendly acquies 
 cence; nothing but the absorbing passion of 
 her heart would he take. Until that was his, 
 he would wait ; content to give and not to ask. 
 " You were ignorant that day of the happiness
 
 272 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 that filled my soul," he went on presently; 
 "by that stump yonder a partridge flew up, 
 and Powhatan shied at the whirr of its wings. 
 I shall never forget the quick tightening of your 
 arm about for you were hugging a young man 
 about the waist that day bold girl that you 
 were ! 
 
 She laughed with him. "I remember \vhat 
 Cousin Janet said." 
 
 " It was the same thing at the sloping brook- 
 side. I went that way on purpose, though you 
 never suspected. I marvel even yet at the 
 self-control that enabled me to keep from telling 
 my love, useless though I knew it would be. " 
 
 "Yes," she answered absently, "it would 
 have been useless, for I had then no right to 
 listen that was the day before we had the 
 news of Arthur s death. " It was the first time 
 in the months of their marriage that she had 
 mentioned Seton s name, and there was a slight 
 hesitancy in her voice ; not from sentiment, but 
 from a natural timidity at breaking the silence 
 they had so long maintained on the subject. 
 After a few minutes she said: "I never told 
 you that rambling fancy father had in his last 
 illness that Arthur was not dead at all; but 
 that Ann had shut him up somewhere and 
 would not tell."
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 273 
 
 " No, you never told me, " he answered, with 
 something clutching at his heart-strings. 
 
 "I wanted to call you to hear him, but 
 Cousin Janet said it was but the delirium; and 
 afterwards when he roused and I told him of it, 
 he said the same thing, and that he had been 
 dreaming of the prison in which Thomas died. 
 He called Ann so persistently that I would have 
 sent for her, save that Cousin Janet thought it 
 would only excite him the more." 
 
 Again that strangling clutch at his heart. 
 What a contemptible coward his guilty con 
 science made of him always ! Her content 
 during the past weeks had often seemed but the 
 calm of resignation ; he knew he had as yet no 
 sure hold on her heart, and now her mention of 
 her old lover stirred his smouldering jealousy 
 anew. He searched her face, but there was no 
 heightening of her colour, no faintest suspicion 
 in her glance. She had accepted her father s 
 and his mother s explanation. He thought 
 gratefully of Sir Thomas; there was a touch of 
 pathos in the old man s dying efforts to save 
 him. 
 
 " Fever brings deceptive fancies sometimes, " 
 he said. And then they rode on silently over 
 the golden stubble of the harvest fields, starred 
 here and there with the blue discs of late-blow-
 
 274 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 ing morning-glories, and scintillant with dew- 
 drops spread on every bit of cobweb hung like 
 fairy sails upon the weeds. It was a marvel 
 lous morning, and after a little Judith fell to 
 talking of the yellow tinge of the early sun 
 light, and the vanishing shadows in the land 
 scape. 
 
 " Tis as the changes in a human face," she 
 said, pointing with her whip to where the 
 dropped shadow of a cloud ran through the 
 meadow grass. 
 
 But Laurence could not answer. He was 
 going over mentally those three last days of 
 May, with their struggle and defeat. With the 
 surety of Arthur s death he thought he had 
 thrust aside all fear forever, however the 
 humiliation might bite into his conscience ; but 
 here again \vas the old dread confronting him, 
 and the falsehood that must always lie between 
 him and Judith touched him with a new con 
 trition. What did Sir Thomas mean by that 
 suspicion of Ann Randal ? Was there here 
 some mystery he had not solved ? And if Ann 
 had indeed guessed his secret, what would she 
 do with her knowledge ? He stood once more 
 upon the brink of a precipice, that yawned for 
 his happiness. 
 
 Not for that morning only, but for days, did
 
 The Fringes of a Shadow 275 
 
 he put these torturing questions to himself; 
 trying vainly to frame replies that would satisfy 
 his fears, seeing in Ann s every visit a fresh 
 menace to his life with Judith. 
 
 Then, with a strong effort of will, he put the 
 whole matter aside: "My mother was right, 
 it was but a fancy from the fever. Ann knows 
 nothing; in his delirium he connected her with 
 Seton because of the kinship. Tis now nine 
 months since that fatal letter was written from 
 the Irish prison; all possible danger is past, and 
 I will not torment myself with a phantom 
 dread." 
 
 And he took his young wife in his arms, and 
 teaching her love s imperial lesson, forgot the 
 grim skeleton of remorse that gibed and beck 
 oned at his elbow,
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OUT OF A VANISHED JUNE-TIME. 
 
 " The candle of hope all spluttering burns, 
 And the click of the loom to a jarring turns, 
 And the thread is snapped where the shuttle toiled, 
 And the weaver s pattern is marred and spoiled." 
 
 K. 
 
 Indian Summer, which is the glory 
 of Virginia s climate, lingered late that 
 year, filling the nights with soft airs and 
 the days with purple gleams and golden 
 mists. A tender charm, as of summer hours 
 long lost and found again amid the gloaming of 
 the year, brooded over the earth, and under the 
 benign influence human hearts grew warm and 
 mellow with that love which is a brooding 
 charity. 
 
 It was a day in late November. The wharf 
 of the settlement was a scene of busy activity, 
 for two merchantmen were making up their 
 cargoes for the London market. Fragrant 
 cedar logs were bargained for, and great casks 
 of tobacco and smaller ones of corn were 
 weighed or measured and stowed in the holds 
 276
 
 Out of a Vanished June-Time 277 
 
 of the vessels riding lazily the river current and 
 tugging futilely now and then at the restrain 
 ing anchors that held them from the limitless 
 ocean ways they were later on to travel. 
 
 " I would not live in London for a fortune 
 there isn t air enough in its stuffy streets to fill 
 my lungs ; but still it always gives me a lump in 
 my throat to see a ship start on the home 
 voyage," Tony Foster said, meeting Laurence 
 at the warehouse door, note book in hand. 
 
 "A lump in your throat? You must be 
 homesick for someone in England, Tony; or 
 else your cider jug is empty. Put it in the 
 wagon, and William shall bring you something 
 to-morrow good enough to wash away a moun 
 tain of trouble, let alone a little thing like a 
 lump in your throat." 
 
 Tony laughed. "I ll give William the jug; 
 but I have no mountains of trouble to wash 
 away, seeing I m not a married man. I m 
 glad you have a wife, Laurence, since you were 
 so set on getting her; but I m a devilish sight 
 gladder I am free of one." 
 
 "Come, come; your very tone belies your 
 words, for it is full of envy. What has Lissa 
 been doing of late to set your tongue on such an 
 edge?" 
 
 "The snappy jade!" Tony said, turning
 
 278 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 back his cuff and showing the blue prints of 
 teeth on his wrist. "Last night there came a 
 letter to her from Larry Herrick, the first one 
 since he went away; and when I would not let 
 her have it, telling her it was an insult for him 
 to write, she grabbed for it and got hold of my 
 hand and bit it, the savage ! " 
 
 "You ll never cure her of her fancy, Tony; 
 more s the pity." 
 
 "Won t I?" said the other, with a 
 triumphant laugh. "Well, listen; when at last 
 I gave her the letter, bidding her take it and 
 be gone out of my sight, she read not a word 
 of it, but tore it into bits before my face and 
 stamped and spat upon it, and told the messen 
 ger to tell him that for answer. Then when 
 the man was gone she flouts me, calls me hard 
 names by the dozen and falls over on that pile 
 of sacking and cries like a calf for its dam. 
 Women were God s first fools, and He never 
 changed the pattern. Of course I cared not a 
 dust o ashes for her whimpering, only it made 
 me add my ledger wrong, so there were five 
 columns to go over. 
 
 "I see," laughed Laurence. 
 
 "There s naught to laugh at in that; I can 
 never abide a blotted ledger," growled Tony. 
 " By and by, when she d done crying, she comes
 
 Out of a Vanished June-Time 279 
 
 here to the desk for her sewing things, and 
 when she sees my hand like this, she begins to 
 cry all over again and to call herself names, 
 and d n this pipe, it is as hard to draw as a 
 tooth ! and she rubbed it with her little soft 
 brown fingers, and curse me, if she did not 
 kiss the place she d just been biting! A 
 woman s like a cat, you never know which way 
 she ll jump; just as like to go backwards as 
 forwards, or up as down." His voice was still 
 like a growl, but the smile on the scarred face 
 transfigured it. 
 
 "And yet methinks you started in by saying 
 you were glad you had not a wife, " Laurence 
 said with significant emphasis. 
 
 But for answer, Tony pushed him scoutingly 
 aside and, picking up his note book, went out 
 to the wharf, for a sloop from the tropics, which 
 had that morning been sighted down the river, 
 had now dropped anchor, and he must see what 
 she had worth the buying. Laurence stood look 
 ing out of the door a moment at the little craft, 
 thinking of Sir Thomas and how eager he always 
 was at the arrival of a new vessel. But this 
 stranger was from the Barbadoes, and had no 
 special interest for him, so he sent William to 
 the wharf for a basket of the rare fruit she was 
 sure to bring that he might carry it to Judith,
 
 280 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 and then turned to his business which was 
 urgent. The sailing master of one of the mer 
 chantmen wanted his tobacco and corn; and 
 when the bargain was driven, he rode home in a 
 rare good humour, calculating his gains. With 
 the proceeds of one cask he would buy Judith a 
 pearl brooch that would be scarce as white as 
 the throat it touched. And another should 
 pay for a gown; he had never yet given her a 
 gown, she protested she had so many; but this 
 should be of silk, and blue like the April violets 
 she loved so well. And there should be laces 
 on it, and frills and furbelows such as women 
 liked; and she would be more beautiful in it 
 than ever before. And he thought of how she 
 would smile, and perchance who might tell, 
 for Tony had said a woman s fancy jumped 
 like a cat,- she might even kiss him of her own 
 accord. A reward like that were worth a whole 
 year s labour. He was so lost in his calcula 
 tions that he did not hear William calling after 
 him with the fruit. 
 
 Judith was at home. All the morning she 
 had busied herself in one of the cabins, over 
 looking the maids who were setting the looms 
 for a piece of weaving; learning with them the 
 intricate pattern which Mistress Falkner, who 
 was an adept in the art, had laid out.
 
 Out of a Vanished June-Time 281 
 
 "It is a beautiful work, so accurate, and yet 
 so easy to spoil," she said, casting the shuttle 
 to and fro, and hearkening to the click of the 
 great loom. But in the afternoon she grew 
 weary, and yielding her place to the waiting- 
 woman, she went slowly back to the house, 
 stopping on her way to pluck a late dahlia, the 
 last flower of the season, from the flower-bed 
 along the path. In its balminess, the day was 
 October rather than the end of November. 
 The leafless branches of the grove made an 
 intricate network against the pale blue heavens, 
 and the gray and brown tones of the landscape 
 were mellowed by the illuminating haze in the 
 air. The warm freshness of the day impressed 
 itself upon her and, leaving the doors open be 
 hind her that the sunshine might flow in, she 
 went on to the library. Laurence had but just 
 returned and was standing by his desk copying 
 some entries into his big book. He looked up, 
 smiling, as she entered, and silently putting 
 out his left arm drew her close to him, holding 
 her thus while he finished his entries. 
 
 "Weaving must be a beautiful occupation," 
 he said, as he put her in an easy chair within 
 arm s reach, for there was a glow of colour in 
 her cheeks, and the cream-hued dahlia she had
 
 282 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 gathered shone softly from the folds of her 
 black gown, like a star from a storm cloud. 
 
 " I find it the most interesting work I ever 
 did," she answered with enthusiasm. "I wish 
 I were strong enough to weave a whole piece 
 by myself. What ails me that I am so soon 
 tired?" 
 
 "You are just a bit lazy, methinks, " he 
 laughed, pressing his cheek to hers. 
 
 " Well, tis not the part of gallantry to tell me 
 so. Ann could scarce commend your manners 
 just now, as apt at compliments as she protests 
 she finds you," she laughed; and then went on 
 to tell him of the wonderful pattern and his 
 mother s skill. "And now tell me what you 
 have been doing all day?" she asked in con 
 clusion. 
 
 "That which makes me infinitely happy 
 working for my wife." His arm tightened its 
 clasp a little; and with an unusual gesture of 
 tenderness she put up her hand and stroked his 
 face. Never before had they seemed so near 
 together, so close to that perfect understanding 
 that binds with a tie as inviolable as it is in 
 visible. Almost he thought the time had come 
 when he might ask the question that rioted 
 always in his heart; might say to her: "Judith, 
 do you love me?" and in her eyes read the
 
 Out of a Vanished June-Time 283 
 
 happy answer ere twas spoken. Yes, that 
 golden hour came nearer every day, some 
 silent instinct told him this ; perhaps before the 
 sunset it would be here. It needed only one 
 more touch of. her hand, and the words would 
 have leaped to his lips. But she leaned back 
 in her chair, and presently he went again to his 
 work, leaving her for awhile to her own 
 thoughts. The question could wait another 
 half-hour until she was rested. 
 
 As she had said, the exertion at the loom had 
 tired her, the chair-cushion he had put under 
 her head was soft and comfortable, everything 
 in the room was very still ; and so, never know 
 ing it, she went from a day-dream into a doze, 
 bearing still on the retina of her closed eyes 
 her husband s form as he stood with his face 
 turned from her. She had only to put out her 
 hand to touch him. 
 
 Ten, perhaps fifteen minutes passed thus, 
 when she was suddenly aroused by the quick 
 barking of the dog on the porch, and a man s 
 voice saying: 
 
 " Down, Snap, down ! Have you forgot me, 
 old fellow?" 
 
 That voice ! 
 
 She sat bolt upright, her hand on her heart ( 
 her lips like ashes. No, she had not dreamed
 
 284 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 it; there it sounded again; and Snap s attack 
 ing bark had turned to a whine of recognition. 
 And a step was coming down the hall, a step 
 that seemed echoing out of a June-time long 
 since departed. Straight toward the open 
 library door it came, hurrying as to meet some 
 great happiness; quick, firm, buoyant, falling 
 on her heart rather than on her ears. And all 
 the while she sat motionless, unable to speak, 
 unable to turn her eyes from the gaping door 
 and the figure that appeared there. On the 
 threshold the new-comer paused with an eager 
 cry that made Laurence wheel suddenly about, 
 aware for the first time of the intrusion. The 
 agonized horror in his wife s face appalled him. 
 
 "Judith!" he cried. 
 
 Then following the direction of her gaze, his 
 eyes met those of the visitor, and he stiffened 
 suddenly, as though stricken into stone. 
 
 "You!" cried Judith. "YOU!" and her 
 voice died away to a sibilant whisper, while her 
 eyes kept their horror as if looking upon a 
 thing not of earth. 
 
 For the man in the doorway, with his eager 
 eyes, his locks curling over his shoulder, his 
 outstretched hands, was Arthur Seton.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DARKNESS. 
 
 "When the ship s gone down, I trow 
 We little reck what other winds may blow." 
 
 Miss MULOCH. 
 
 T?OR one silent moment the three in the 
 *- library looked at each other, one won 
 dering, one appalled, one despairing; then 
 Seton took a forward step. 
 
 "Judith, Judith! it is indeed I. What ails 
 you that you have no word of welcome for me ? 
 
 Slowly the horror died out of her eyes ; it was 
 then no wraith at which she was looking, no 
 ghost stepping out of the buried past, but 
 Arthur in the flesh. She staggered to her feet, 
 looking from her husband to her former lover, 
 a tempest of pain and uncertainty sweeping 
 over her face. With a quick, protecting gesture 
 Laurence put his arm about her, and as though 
 glad of some human touch she clung to him. 
 
 " You have frightened her ; she is not strong, " 
 he said to Arthur, with a sharp motion toward 
 the door. But the other kept his place, staring 
 285
 
 286 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 from one to the other in anger and bewilder 
 ment. There was something in the way in 
 which Judith had turned to Laurence, some 
 nameless air of ownership in his manner of hold 
 ing her that even a casual eye must have de 
 tected. Arthur s face twitched. 
 
 "What means this?" he cried passionately. 
 "Why stand you two like that? Has your 
 heart, Judith, forgot its truth to me?" 
 
 " Stop !" said Laurence, with stern authority. 
 "You have already startled her beyond her 
 strength. We stand thus together because 
 she is my wife." 
 
 "Your wife!" 
 
 There was a minute of intense silence, during 
 which they heard each other s hearts beat. 
 The eyes of the two men were fastened upon 
 Judith as she steadied herself on her husband s 
 arm. Then Arthur spoke : 
 
 "Judith, Judith, this is not true? Speak to 
 me tell me it is but a trick, a hideous, d nable 
 jest!" 
 
 "It is true; I am his wife." Her voice was 
 low but even, and her eyes met his steadily, 
 although there was the suggestion of unshed 
 tears in their depths. 
 
 A flash of fury pierced him ; his hands clinched 
 themselves until the palms were bruised. " So ! "
 
 Darkness 287 
 
 fie cried angrily, " while I lay in that vile prison, 
 and worked under that burning tropic sun, 
 keeping myself alive with thoughts of you; 
 picturing my return as men dream of entering 
 Paradise while I was doing this, you were 
 playing me false 
 
 " Choose your words more carefully, or be 
 silent!" commanded Laurence; but Seton s 
 fury made him deaf to all interruption. 
 
 "You could not keep faith with me, could 
 not hold to the solemn pledge you made me in 
 yonder avenue when you started me back to 
 England. Mayhap you had no thought from 
 the first of doing so, and meant, when you sent 
 me away as you did, but to rid yourself of me ; 
 jilt that you are !" 
 
 Laurence sprang forward with uplifted arm; 
 in another moment he would have struck him 
 or thrust him out ; but Judith laid a detaining 
 hand upon him. She stood erect now, without 
 any droop in her shoulders or tremble in her 
 limbs, and she moved voluntarily to her hus 
 band s side, not for support, but because that 
 was her rightful place. 
 
 " We pass your wild words by, Captain Seton, 
 seeing that you do not understand, and that I 
 do not deserve your reproaches," she said, 
 with a calmness that shamed the two men.
 
 288 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 " Tis now more than a year since we had tid 
 ings of your death." 
 
 "But the tidings were false; I was but 
 wounded and cast into prison, and am but 
 recently escaped. " 
 
 "We could not know that," she said, with 
 something like a sigh. "My brother sent the 
 news, saying he had seen you fall; we could 
 but believe it, and I sorrowed for you all the 
 winter." 
 
 "All the winter?" his anger softened, there 
 was such a catch in her voice at the last words. 
 "Then when were when were you married?" 
 
 Again Laurence would have interposed, but 
 again she pressed his arm to restrain him. It 
 was as though she felt the right of explanation 
 was hers alone. 
 
 " The first day of this last gone June. " 
 
 "Then," he cried excitedly, "you must 
 surely have known that I was still alive, for I 
 sent you word. " 
 
 She shook her head slowly, not understand 
 ing : "I have had no word from you in all these 
 months." 
 
 He turned fiercely upon Laurence: "You 
 had my letter?" he demanded. 
 
 The crucial mo.ment had come. It seemed 
 to Laurence that all the tides of all the years
 
 Darkness 289 
 
 had set to this one throbbing hour. Here was 
 to fall the test of his truth, his courage, his all 
 of manhood. He knew that a denial from him 
 would find no one to contradict it since the 
 secret was his alone; he had but to open his 
 lips with one word of negation, and he would 
 stand blameless in his wife s sight, with her 
 love yet a possibility. The voice of the 
 tempter was in his ears, low, sweet, insistent. 
 But there was no shirking in him now ; he was 
 done with deception forever. 
 
 " Yes," he answered firmly, although a misery 
 unutterable that Judith should thus hear his 
 confession tore his heart. "Yes; I had your 
 letter " 
 
 He felt the shock that shook Judith, and 
 knew that she moved a space from him; and 
 his agony deepened. 
 
 " It was written in January you must have 
 had it before you married her, " Seton went on 
 mercilessly. 
 
 "Yes; it came just two He stopped; 
 
 his wife had grown suddenly so pale that he 
 thought she would faint. He would have caught 
 her, but with a slow gesture of repulsion she 
 waved him off and took a backward step. Her 
 eyes, which before had met his sorrowfully 
 but kindly, were now full of accusation.
 
 2 go The Wooing of Judith 
 
 "You knew this when you married me?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Knew that he was alive and never told me ? " 
 
 "Wait, Judith; wait and hear all 
 
 " You let me marry you in ignorance ? You 
 took the whole matter out of my hands, know 
 ing all you did, and left me no share in the de 
 cision ? 
 
 "God help me, I did. But listen, Judith, in 
 mercy listen ! I had won you honestly. The 
 letter was long delayed, coming but two days 
 before our marriage, and naught else had come 
 in the meantime, although there had been 
 ample opportunity. There was good reason to 
 think he had died of prison fever after the 
 writing of it. Only two days before our wed 
 ding, and I was mad with love of you !" His 
 voice was full of a passionate appeal; but she 
 moved yet further from him, and her face was 
 set in its coldness. 
 
 Nay, it was my right to know, and twas a 
 bitter falsehood not to tell me." 
 
 He hesitated, his colour burning duskily; 
 he deserved her upbraiding, but this other 
 man should not gloat over his humiliation. 
 
 "Will you wait for me in the parlour across 
 the hall?" he said to Seton, with cold con-
 
 Darkness 291 
 
 straint and a motion of the hand toward the 
 door. "Judith and I must speak alone." 
 
 Seton looked at Judith: "Is it your wish 
 also that I go?" She bent her head, and he 
 quitted the room, but not with the buoyant 
 step that had brought him there. Laurence 
 watched him across the hall and into the 
 parlour, then closed the door and came back 
 to Judith, who still stood steadying herself 
 against the high back of the chair in which 
 she had been dozing when the tragic inter 
 ruption came. 
 
 "By the coldness of your face, Judith, I 
 know that you have already passed judgment 
 upon me ; but you shall at least hear all there 
 is in my favour. Sit down." 
 
 When she was seated he drew a chair in 
 front of her and sank heavily into it, and hid 
 his face in his hands a moment before beginning : 
 
 "That I was wrong in concealing this matter 
 from you, and that you have just cause of 
 anger against me I do most freely confess; 
 and I would to God I had followed my first 
 intention and told you everything. When the 
 letter came there lacked but two days to our 
 wedding. I \vas stricken with fear as to its 
 effects upon you, dreading to lose you as I 
 might dread to lose my soul aye, that and
 
 292 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 more. And yet at first I had no other thought 
 than to tell you. But your He stopped 
 
 suddenly ; he would not accuse the dead who 
 could make no defence; to him had come the 
 sweet profits of the deception, upon him then 
 should rest the blame; to put any part of it 
 upon Sir Thomas was to play the coward. 
 
 After a moment he began again, searching 
 her face for some sign of softening, but finding 
 none. "That was my first thought to tell 
 you everything, and leave the decision in 
 your hands. But the letter w r as written in 
 January, and had been four months upon the 
 way. In it Seton said he would write again, 
 unless, indeed, he died of the prison fever 
 which was claiming so many victims. Are 
 you listening, Judith ?" 
 
 "I am listening." 
 
 "Other vessels had come from both Ireland 
 and England since the writing of the letter, 
 and had brought no further tidings. The 
 Randals knew nothing of him from their 
 friends across the sea; even his aunt, within 
 fifty miles of his prison, wrote of him as lost. 
 And so I, too, believed him dead on my soul 
 I did ! You feel that I am telling you the 
 truth?" 
 
 But she made no sign nor motion, and her
 
 Darkness 293 
 
 eyes lost none of their cold accusing. He bent 
 his head with a dry sob ; God, to have her doubt 
 him like that ! But presently he went on : 
 
 "I believed him dead; but I thought you 
 should know, and so I went down to the boat- 
 house that afternoon, two days before our 
 marriage, to tell you, and you would not let me. 
 You no doubt remember the day." 
 
 She started ; instantly she recalled the whole 
 of that sad day when she and his mother had 
 hovered about the hall, perplexed and sorry 
 for the business which so annoyed him. 
 
 "It was, then, this matter you had in mind to 
 tell me ? Methought it was the lost note." 
 
 "Nay ; I told you it touched not upon money ; 
 but you said again that you would none of it." 
 
 "Most truly I did, but you knew full well 
 that I was ignorant of the nature of your tid 
 ings, else would I have bidden you tell it all. 
 You must have known oh, you must have 
 felt that I would!" 
 
 He had, indeed, but had put the intuition 
 aside under the spell of her sweetness, quieting 
 his conscience with the sophistry of the tempter. 
 He remembered how he had called upon his 
 heart to witness that he had offered to tell 
 her and had not been allowed. Here again she 
 had him at a disadvantage. He put his hands
 
 294 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 to his face to cover his pain and mortification. 
 
 "This very refusal to let you speak was on 
 my part an expression of trust in you; and 
 your acceptance of it was a direct betrayal of 
 my confidence." 
 
 "I deserve your reproaches." 
 
 "You fraudulently took me from the man 
 whom I loved to whom I was pledged ! 
 
 The whole universe seemed to swim away 
 from him on the ebb tide of her cruel words. 
 He put out his hand fiercely as if to ward off 
 a blow; but her own eyes were hidden, and 
 she did not see. 
 
 "Judy, Judy, you have no mercy ! " 
 
 "Had you any mercy on me ? " 
 
 "But I never stabbed you with words like 
 that." 
 
 "Not with words; no." 
 
 "God ! how hard you are; you do not even 
 do me justice. I did not wish to tell you, I 
 admit that ; but I meant to and I tried to in all 
 honesty and you tempted me beyond my 
 strength ! Does my great love count for 
 nothing? " 
 
 "The first principle of love, methinks, should 
 be truth," she answered, with slow evasion. 
 
 Then he began again at the first and went 
 over the whole affair, showing his temptation
 
 Darkness 295 
 
 in the strongest light possible without men 
 tioning Sir Thomas ; nor yet sparing himself as 
 to his yielding in the end. He reminded her 
 how she laid her finger over his lips to silence 
 him, telling him again and again that she 
 wanted none of his sorrowful secret, and bid 
 ding him talk to her instead of pleasant things 
 of their wedding. Who might withstand temp 
 tation like to that ? But in her face was no 
 relenting. Her own truth was too clear to 
 comprehend this failure. 
 
 "And all these months we have lived to 
 gether as man and wife with this cruel false 
 hood between us!" And the reproach of her 
 tone stabbed him like some blunt and rasping 
 weapon. 
 
 "Yes; and it has been the one shadow on my 
 heart, the one black spot in my happiness," 
 he answered, searching her face wistfully with 
 his eyes. She sat quite still a few minutes, 
 lost in thought ; then got up wearily and started 
 for the door. 
 
 "In God s name, Judith," he cried in de 
 spair, "do not leave me thus; say one kind 
 word say that you forgive me ; that you do not 
 blame me, knowing how I was tempted !" 
 
 She paused with her hand upon the knob, 
 her face as white as if carved from marble. 
 
 "What is done cannot be undone," she an-
 
 296 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 swered with an effort; "it were false to say I do 
 not blame you, for in truth I hold you all to 
 blame 
 
 "But is there no forgiveness in your heart?" 
 
 "I could have forgiven almost anything 
 more readily than this deception you practised 
 upon me; you used me basely, having me 
 utterly at a disadvantage. I could never have 
 so used you. But, as I said, what is done can 
 not be undone; we are man and wife," she 
 stopped a moment and put her hand to her 
 throat in a helpless gesture; "yes, man and 
 wife; and although my faith in you is gone, 
 killed by this, your own falsehood, yet you 
 need not be afraid I shall never forget that I 
 bear your name." 
 
 The door opened and she went down the hall 
 and mounted the stair slowly, painfully, as 
 though each step carried her deeper and deeper 
 into some perplexing gloom. He stood gazing 
 after her, motionless, stricken with a misery 
 that numbed his senses and paralyzed his 
 body. 
 
 Where now was the answer to the happy 
 question that had rioted in his heart these long 
 days and nights? How far away was the 
 golden hour that awhile ago had seemed so 
 near ! Around him instead were the wrecks 
 of his hopes and the blackness of despair.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 
 
 MAN TO MAN. 
 
 " So much below my scorn, I could not kill thee ! " 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 TT 7~HEN his aching gaze lost Judith at the 
 last turn of the stair, Laurence sank 
 into the chair she had quitted and buried 
 his face in his hands. The world had 
 suddenly become a desolation ; the sight of the 
 familiar objects about him was hateful, and 
 the bar of sunlight at his feet was as a grinning 
 mockery. Here in this very room, sitting in 
 this very chair, he had fought and won that 
 fierce battle with himself, only to lose it again 
 under the snaring spell of her gentleness down 
 by the water s hem. How sweet she had been 
 that day, how irresistibly yet ignorantly she 
 had tempted him; and how weakly he had 
 yielded. And now he had lost her; his false 
 hood then and all his after efforts to gain her 
 heart were made of none effect by this morn 
 ing s discovery. Had he told her when they 
 were first married, had he even spoken three 
 297
 
 298 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 months ago when everything was yet in doubt 
 so strong as to appear a certainty, and while 
 Sir Thomas was still alive to share the blame 
 and plead for him, she might have been softened 
 and persuaded. But coming with such, a 
 shock, the gravity of the revelation had been 
 heightened a hundred-fold, and there was now 
 no hope for her relenting; for he knew how 
 rigid were her ideas of truth, and how tena 
 ciously she held her own life to these lines. Fool 
 that he had been, living in a fool s uncertain 
 Paradise ! 
 
 By and by he remembered the man waiting 
 across the hall; his hard task of explanation 
 was not yet finished, he must see and dismiss 
 Arthur Seton. Loving Judith as he did, he 
 knew that he would have killed the man who 
 defrauded him of her. How Seton would act, 
 he did not care; w r hether there was sullen 
 acquiescence or a deadly challenge waiting for 
 him he did not stop to consider. Even the 
 humiliation of the coming interview with his 
 cheated rival did not appeal to him ; he thought 
 only of Judith s accusing eyes as he pushed 
 back his hair and removed as far as possible 
 the traces of anguish from his features, and 
 slowly crossed the hall to the closed parlour 
 door.
 
 Man to Man 299 
 
 Seton had entered the room blind with rage ; 
 but during the half hour in which he waited 
 he had been groping for the meaning of this un- 
 looked for blow; and gradually, as the ex 
 planation of it shaped itself in his mind, he 
 saw, in its gigantic proportions, the tempta 
 tion that had assailed Laurence. Men read 
 each other readily and keenly, and he knew 
 that Laurence had spoken truly in all things; 
 that much of justice he did him. He divined 
 the escape that had been open through a de 
 nial of the letter, and marvelled that it had not 
 been seized upon; that would have been his 
 own course, and a feeling of contempt came 
 for the blindness that had blundered for sake 
 of the truth. That he would have hidden the 
 letter, even as Laurence had done, he never 
 for a moment denied to himself; but his own 
 suppositious guilt did not mitigate the guilt 
 of his rival. His nature was selfish and not 
 very deep, but with all that was best in him 
 he had loved Judith Gary, and now he hated 
 the man who had taken her from him; and yet 
 in his heart was acknowledgment of an equal 
 weakness. More than once he touched his 
 sword, but his first fierce anger gradually spent 
 itself in the long wait as he tramped up and 
 down the room, and finally when Laurence
 
 300 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 opened the door he sat beside the table in a 
 grim silence. 
 
 On the threshold Laurence paused; he could 
 not bring himself to enter the room with that 
 other presence already there. As his eyes 
 took in the sullen pose of the man, a mute 
 scorn sprang up within him. 
 
 "If it suits you as \vell we will walk in the 
 avenue. We will doubtless talk more freely 
 in the open air," he said, with cold courtesy. 
 
 Out under the leafless branches, with the 
 wind in his face and the wide blue sky over 
 head, something of his manhood came back 
 to him, and he made his explanation with a 
 dignity that in a measure saved his self respect. 
 
 "That is the whole matter," he said, when 
 the end was reached. 
 
 "The whole matter ! " Arthur spoke with a 
 passionate bitterness. "You can talk in that 
 quiet tone of this d nable treachery, you 
 deceiver 
 
 They were facing each other with clenched 
 fists, the veins in their foreheads swelling 
 purple. Laurence regained his composure first. 
 
 "Keep a civil tongue in your head. I may 
 deserve all the hard names you could call me 
 but you will leave them unsaid." The tone 
 was so even as almost to hide the command
 
 Man to Man 301 
 
 in the words. It was not his privilege to strike 
 the first blow; he was the offender, not Seton, 
 whose crime was that he had not died in that 
 fever-haunted prison he might not kill him 
 for that, though in his heart was hatred like 
 murder. Presently he went on : 
 
 "I have done you, whether knowingly or 
 otherwise, an irreparable wrong; a wrong whose 
 penalty should be death, were I in your place 
 and you in mine. I recognize and acknowl 
 edge this. I make no apology, ask no pardon 
 or palliation; but I stand ready to give you 
 satisfaction with any weapons you may name 
 here and now, if you wish; to-morrow and 
 somewhere else if you prefer." 
 
 "Satisfaction !" was the bitter answer. "What 
 satisfaction is there left?" 
 
 "That is for you to say." There was no 
 passion in the voice, but the lips curled scorn 
 fully. A man could love Judith and lose her, 
 and ask that question ! 
 
 Seton took a few steps down the avenue, 
 then came back, his features working with 
 suppressed fury. "There is no satisfaction; 
 what you have done is beyond repair. If I 
 killed you, as you intimate you would kill 
 me, wherein would I be benefited? It is
 
 302 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Judith I want; and she could not marry the 
 slayer of her husband." 
 
 "True, Laurence replied ; but thinking within 
 himself that no matter what the personal con 
 sequences, to him the killing would have been 
 the one relief possible. Nothing but a human 
 life could have wiped that wrong away. With 
 the man before him it was evidently different. 
 He watched Arthur with an ever growing con 
 tempt that presently flashed into anger. 
 
 "Since you were alive, why did you not 
 write again ? It was in your hands to prevent 
 all this sorrow." 
 
 "No, it was not." The sudden hopelessness 
 of the voice struck Laurence, so that his anger 
 cooled, and he listened with a touch of pity 
 while the other told his story: "I was long 
 ill with the fever. When I was somewhat 
 recovered I found the market woman had 
 been suspected by the authorities and for 
 bidden the prison. Then came that inhuman 
 order from Cromwell that certain of the cap 
 tives in the Irish prisons should be transported 
 to the Barbadoes. I was in the list, and for 
 two months I lived under the scorching sun 
 of those islands labouring like a slave, scheming 
 to escape, wearing my life and strength out in 
 a useless longing. My chance came at last.
 
 Man to Man 303 
 
 The details are not now necessary. Suffice 
 it that I am here, and that the hope that had 
 kept the fire of life burning in my veins is 
 suddenly quenched. In all the hours of de 
 spair that visited me, the thought of this thing 
 never came. It was never a fear of Judith s 
 faith, but a doubt as to my own return that 
 tortured me, making my days and nights more 
 hideous than I can tell." He stopped sud 
 denly, choking with an emotion born of self- 
 pity, and leaning against a tree covered his 
 face with his hands. He could not control 
 himself, for he suddenly realized that it was 
 under these very branches that Judith had 
 given him her promise. 
 
 Laurence turned and watched a gull floating 
 lonesomely against the Tyrian purple of the 
 sunset. How like his own heart it seemed 
 lonely and weary and desolate, out there in the 
 coming night ! And yet he was not the only 
 one who suffered ; without actual intent he had 
 wronged this other man with as deep a wrong 
 as may touch a human life; surely much was 
 due him. There was a fierce struggle in his 
 heart, and presently when he spoke his voice 
 showed the strain through which he was pass 
 ing. 
 
 "I owe you every reparation possible. Since
 
 304 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 you will take none with your sword, I will tell 
 you this, if it is any solace to you to know it : 
 Judith shares your anger against me. I have 
 found my punishment." It was like rasping 
 a wound afresh to say this, but he was not 
 considering himself. Had his eyes not been 
 still on the floating gull he would have seen the 
 exultation, the cunning hope that flashed into 
 the face of the other man. Seton straightened 
 himself. 
 
 "It was an unmanly weakness into which I 
 was betrayed just now. Let us go further 
 away from this spot." 
 
 And so with Arthur telling again of his suf 
 ferings, of his faith in Judith and his trust in 
 Laurence to deliver his message, they passed 
 on under the interlacing branches, unmindful 
 of the rising wind or the amber glory that 
 sifted from the sunset and flooded the world. 
 Yet mingled with the fierce anger and misery 
 in each heart was something of mutual pity, 
 such a pity as men will sometimes feel for an 
 adversary when temptation and suffering have 
 been beyond human strength. Yet neither 
 could forgive the other the destroying touch 
 upon his happiness; for they had both loved 
 the same woman, and each, through the other, 
 had lost her.
 
 Man to Man 305 
 
 As they neared the boat-house a negro was 
 pulling a canoe to the pier. 
 
 "This is my servant; he will row you up 
 stream to the Randal s if so you wish," Laurence 
 said. Seton bowed assent, and Laurence called 
 an order to the servant. 
 
 "Remember," he said, coming back to Seton, 
 "if after further thought upon this matter you 
 desire a meeting with me, you have but to 
 name the place and hour; as I said before, I 
 shall hold myself in readiness to give you all 
 the satisfaction you demand." 
 
 A sudden spasm of fury contorted Seton s 
 features: "In my heart I have already killed 
 you twenty times ! If your real death would 
 have righted matters, you would never have 
 reached this spot alive." 
 
 "For such a feeling I have no thought or 
 word of blame. My own judgment would 
 have justified you." 
 
 For a moment they looked into each other s 
 eyes with the savage instincts uppermost. 
 Laurence longed for the fight, longed for Seton s 
 first touch to open the way for his own re 
 lentless blows. Saints of God, what a relief 
 it would be ! In another instant they would 
 have been at each other s throats, with death
 
 306 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the struggle for one or the other, or may 
 hap for both. But the voice of the negro 
 boatman called up cheerily that the boat was 
 waiting. Slowly the clenched fists relaxed, 
 the arms fell, the eyes lost their mad lights. 
 There was a moment of irresolution ; then, 
 with an almost imperceptible salute, Arthur 
 stepped down from the pier, and in silence 
 Laurence let him go. 
 
 As motionless as one of the tree trunks 
 around him he stood, watching the skiff head 
 upstream. Then he saw Seton, as if stricken 
 with a sudden mortal anguish, bow himself 
 forward until his head was on his knees and the 
 feather in his hat trailed dabblingly over the 
 side of the boat. The heart-break betokened 
 by the man s attitude appealed to him even 
 through his anger. Judith and the man 
 yonder owed their bitterness of spirit to his 
 hand. But for that hidden letter there would 
 have been but one broken life where now 
 there were three. 
 
 Then a sense of his own utter desolation 
 rushed over him, overwhelming all things else. 
 He saw only his ruined hopes, his wrecked hap 
 piness, his joyless fireside ; and with a groan he 
 sank down on the boat-house bench and hid his
 
 Man to Man 307 
 
 face from the transfiguring light of the bub 
 bling cloud-gold in the west . 
 
 "Would to God he had killed me, for I have 
 lost her and death is better than life without 
 her!"
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SNARLING THE THREADS. 
 
 " O weary weaver, the shuttle is dropped, 
 And the tireless click of the loom is stopped. 
 Rest slim, white hand, and tear-dimmed eye, 
 For the broken threads in a tangle lie." 
 
 K. 
 
 IpvARKNESS came before Laurence re- 
 -*-^ turned to the house. The wind had 
 risen almost to a gale and tossed the writh 
 ing branches of the trees against the star- 
 studded sky. His teeth chattered and his 
 limbs were stiff with the increasing cold, but 
 he did not know it. His mother sat at the 
 supper table waiting for him; but Judith had 
 sent word she would not be down. Leaving 
 his plate untouched, he sat by his mother and 
 told his trouble, hiding nothing, not sparing 
 himself, even as he had not spared himself to 
 his wife, but still leaving out Sir Thomas s 
 name. 
 
 "Arthur Seton alive? He wrote you, and 
 you hid it from Judith ! 
 
 How the stern rule of truth and justice to 
 308
 
 Snarling the Threads - 
 
 which she had tried to set his life had been of 
 none effect ! The almost unbelievable news 
 of Arthur s return was forgotten in that sense 
 of failure. But the mother in her soon tri 
 umphed over the judge, and she was ready to 
 forgive, even to excuse him ; but she was power 
 less to comfort. 
 
 Longing, yet dreading, to go to Judith, 
 Laurence wandered from room to room, wonder 
 ing what she would say to him, asking himself 
 feverishly how she would meet him, recalling 
 that tender hand-touch on his face with a 
 longing that was a burning agony. At last, 
 when the servants were gone and his mother 
 had shut the door, he went slowly to his room, 
 thinking of the white face and reproachful eyes 
 that were waiting there. 
 
 The room was Hooded with ruddy firelight, 
 his chair was drawn as usual to the hearth, a 
 cat purred on the rug; but no one was there. 
 Judith was with his mother, he thought, seek 
 ing the comfort she needed; perchance his 
 mother would find some softening word to say 
 for him, something that would quench the 
 stern accusing of those eyes that had burnt 
 down into his heart. And he stood waiting, 
 his back to the leaping firelight, his face to the 
 door through which she must return. The
 
 310 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 minutes passed, but she did not come. He 
 laid a fresh log on the fire and waited again. 
 Then he lighted the candles and looked about 
 him, and a subtle sense of change, of some 
 thing missing, took possession of him. He 
 studied the room a moment. 
 
 Her work basket was gone from its place on 
 the table ; no shawl hung beside his coat on its 
 peg behind the closed door; all the dainty 
 feminine belongings were missing from the 
 dresser; only one pair of slippers was by the 
 hearth. 
 
 He put his hand to his head with a sudden 
 swinging dizziness. 
 
 Judith had quitted his room. 
 
 Again the clock ticked off its slow minutes 
 while he stood staring before him. The cat 
 came and rubbed herself against his legs, and, 
 unheeded, went back to her place on the rug; 
 the candles burned splutteringly in their silver 
 sconces ; the fire died slowly to a bed of glow 
 ing embers; and he did not move. With this 
 fresh blow, the last vestige of hope crumbled 
 from his heart, and in its place there came a 
 surging hatred of Arthur Seton that had its 
 root deep in an old, aching jealousy. 
 
 By and by he roused himself. He must see 
 Judith; this room without her was worse than
 
 Snarling the Threads 311 
 
 a dungeon. The very memories it held, tender 
 as they were, seemed suddenly turned to 
 mockeries. He crossed the hall and opened 
 his mother s door, thinking surely to find the 
 two together; but only Mistress Falkner s 
 prim figure sat before the fire. Without 
 speaking Laurence closed the door, and in 
 stinctively mounted the stair. This time he 
 was right; Judith had gone back to her old 
 girlhood room; from the crevice under the 
 door was a slender line of light, and the key 
 hole was as a tiny star there in the dusk. 
 Softly he knocked ; there was no answer. 
 
 "Judith!" But all was still. 
 
 Then he tried the door; it was locked 
 locked against him, her husband, who fraud 
 ulently took her from the man she loved. He 
 waited, but she did not come ; then with a groan 
 he turned away. Had he met Arthur Seton at 
 that moment he would have waited for no 
 first blow, for no challenge ; but he would have 
 killed him, and joyed in the death stroke. 
 
 In that quiet room Judith fought her own 
 battle. Remembering all of Laurence s gentle 
 ness and generosity, weighing well his love for 
 her, she strove hard to be lenient in her judg 
 ment. But he had wedded her wrongfully, 
 making her false to her own truth; and had
 
 312 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 been content to let the falsehood lie between 
 them like an imperishable stain. That was 
 what hurt her his untruth, his deception. 
 But for this she could have put her hand in his 
 and faced the future fearlessly, knowing that 
 as there \vas no wrong, so somewhere and some 
 how the crooked ways would all be made 
 straight. Her father? No, he could not have 
 known ; his dislike of Seton, great as it had been, 
 would still have left him above this cruelty 
 to her. His fever- fancies had meant nothing ; 
 his life had been spent in soldier-ways, and 
 prisons and escapes were things often in his 
 mind. Cousin Janet was right, it was but a 
 fancy born of the fever and old associations. 
 He would never have deliberately deceived 
 her. Laurence had cheated them all, keeping 
 his own counsel, choosing his own course. 
 Had not her father said to her that day in the 
 hall: "We cannot expect to know all the de 
 tails of his affairs;" and again that last day 
 of his life: "Seton is dead: we all know it, for 
 Robert saw him fall." That was proof of his 
 ignorance, if she needed proof after all his long 
 devotion to her. And so the blame revolved 
 again to Laurence ; and she stood in the shadow 
 of his wrong-doing. She had long ago ceased 
 to think of Arthur; but now it was his eyes
 
 Snarling the Threads 313 
 
 that looked at her from the shadows, eyes full 
 of accusing for her unkept troth ; she hid her 
 own with her hands to shut away the reproach. 
 She heard Laurence at her door, but she could 
 not rise to let him in; and when he had gone, 
 a quivering sobbing came to her for the love 
 that had been so near to her, the answer she 
 had been so nearly ready to give to the call 
 his heart had made to hers through so many 
 days and months the answer that was but 
 his right and due, except for this false usage. 
 
 And far into the night she sat on the rug, her 
 arms about her knees, her chin on her breast, 
 while on the wall behind, as upon some mighty 
 canvas, the leaping flames drew fantastic 
 shadows as of a new despair. 
 
 In the days that followed that terrible after 
 noon in November a new order of things was 
 established at Rivermead. Judith held to her 
 duties about the house; watched the weavers, 
 set the maids their tasks, read her books, and 
 sewed with Mistress Falkner in the mornings; 
 but in the afternoon, when her horse was 
 brought to the door with Laurence s, she shook 
 her head; she did not care to ride; and he 
 went alone. For the first week he tried con 
 stantly to soften her judgment, to win her 
 forgiveness; no argument he could bring to
 
 314 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 bear was neglected; but finding all efforts 
 futile, he at last abandoned them and resigned 
 himself to the bitterness of his fate, taking with 
 him everywhere in his changed face and man 
 ner the traces of his sorrow. His mother was 
 torn between her sense of justice and her 
 maternal affection. Not even in his baby 
 days had she been so tender, so solicitous of his 
 comfort. 
 
 "Since it is past all recall, can you not be 
 gentler with him, Judith ? It was his love for 
 you that made him do this false thing." 
 
 "I never reproach him, never even volun 
 tarily mention the subject; but I cannot for 
 get," she answered, without passion and with 
 out yielding. 
 
 Then the maternal instinct flamed up into 
 anger, against which the younger woman 
 was equally obdurate; until at last wiser self- 
 counsel obtained, and Mistress Falkner left 
 things to take their own course without inter 
 vention or suggestion. 
 
 And the days crept by like snails. 
 
 "You once said that I taught you the selfish 
 ness of grief; I wish I might also show you 
 the cruelty of unforgiveness," Laurence said 
 one day as he met Judith on the way to the
 
 Snarling the Threads 315 
 
 weaver s cabin, and she would have passed 
 him with only a word of greeting. 
 
 "Nay, it is better to need no forgiveness," 
 she answered. 
 
 He winced under her words. "Is the sight 
 of me so hateful to you, Judith, that you so 
 seldom turn your eyes upon me ?" 
 
 "No," she answered quickly, "I have no 
 feeling of that kind in my heart." 
 
 "If you wish it, I will go away for awhile, 
 until you grow used to this tragedy that has 
 entered our lives." 
 
 Where should you go ? It would all be 
 useless ; Cousin Janet would be more wretched 
 than I can tell and then there would be the 
 return in the end. We are better to face 
 things as they are." And she left him at 
 the cabin door, and went to her task with a 
 resolute smile. She had set herself a new pat 
 tern of life, and she would weave it fairly, even 
 as Cousin Janet was weaving the fair design 
 in many coloured wools upon her clicking 
 loom. 
 
 Ann Randal had never been to Rivermead 
 since Arthur s return. He had made no 
 secret of the withheld letter, and it was said 
 among the neighbours that she deeply re 
 sented the treatment Laurence had put upon
 
 316 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 him. But Tony Foster, meeting her on the 
 road one day, cocked his head to one side and 
 said: 
 
 "So ho my pretty mistress; you are saying 
 sharp things about Laurence Falkner and 
 some hidden tidings; but how about the 
 second letter that came in that same post ? 
 I smelt a rat that day; now, methinks, I be 
 gin to see his tail." 
 
 She looked at him with a little gleam of 
 malice from under her lowered lids: "Smelling 
 a rat, and seeing his tail some six months later ! 
 Your eyes and nose are both out of accord, 
 Master Spy-and-Pry; you had best get some 
 old woman to brew you a tea for their treat 
 ment." 
 
 "They are only out of accord because they 
 ferret out your secrets." 
 
 "Secrets? I have no secrets. So your 
 imagination, too, has an inflamed spot try 
 a poultice on it ; flaxseed and mullein are draw 
 ing and soothing." 
 
 "Egad ! twould take something stronger than 
 flax seed and mullein to draw the Devil out of 
 your blood," he retorted, sourly. 
 
 She laughed and rode on, too happy for 
 even a make-believe quarrel with sharp- 
 tongued Tony. It had been a different world
 
 Snarling the Threads 317 
 
 to her since that November evening when, 
 looking from her window, she saw a man coming 
 slowly up the river path. It needed no second 
 glance to tell her who it was. For weeks and 
 months she had gone to the settlement for 
 news of him, and here he was unannounced. 
 She grudged the time it took her to reach the 
 door, and every step down the long flight to the 
 lower hall ; and she met him on the porch with 
 open arms, crying out her joy at his return 
 with a vehemence that pierced even the apathy 
 of his wretchedness. He had come back; 
 what to her now was the long wait, the restless 
 pining ? He had come back, and there was no 
 one waiting for him at Rivermead he had 
 come back to her ! From that hour she be 
 came his companion, his comforter; gratifying 
 his anger by her profuse denunciation of 
 Laurence, ministering to his wounded vanity 
 by her devotion to his mental needs, upholding 
 him, comforting him, admiring him; until at 
 last she was indispensable to his welfare. 
 
 But pampered and flattered as he was by 
 this new and unsought devotion, Arthur could 
 not accept as final his defeat at Rivermead. 
 Even Amos, quiet and plodding as he was, 
 looked at him with a touch of scorn : 
 
 "Do you wear your sword for ornament,
 
 318 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 that you do not use it to avenge the loss of the 
 woman you love?" he asked. "I do not blame 
 Laurence for marrying her; I, too, should have 
 rated you as dead after all those months ; but 
 I scarcely think that were I the loser I could 
 have kept my sword in its sheath when I came 
 to know." 
 
 But Seton was plotting another revenge. 
 Through all of his anger and mental distress 
 one insistent memory ran the confession 
 Laurence had made that Judith shared his own 
 resentment. So persistently did he dwell on 
 this, that by and by the craving came for some 
 manifestation of her sympathy nay, of her 
 affection. If she was angry with Laurence, 
 then did he not possess her love; her heart 
 still kept its first troth. And so it should 
 continue, he told himself, doggedly; Laurence 
 should reap no further happiness from his 
 deception. Through Judith s heart would he 
 reach his revenge, paying his rival back in his 
 own false coin; that would be better than a 
 blood-quittance. The result of this resolu 
 tion was a letter which a messenger carried, un 
 der cover of dusk, to Judith s maid, who in her 
 turn hid it in her apron until she could put it 
 secretly into her mistress hand. It was with 
 out address, and Judith wondered a little as
 
 Snarling the Threads 319 
 
 she broke the yellow wafer, thinking that 
 Laurence had sent it ; but the writing inside 
 set her pulses in a race. It was an appeal, the 
 writer said, for justice; but she, reading the 
 passionate words with bated breath and flush 
 ing cheeks on the rug before her fire, saw 
 whither it all tended. 
 
 Her head fell on her breast. So this was 
 what he thought of her ; this was what he took 
 her to be a despicable creature who could be 
 bound in honour to one man, and give her 
 thoughts to another ! She had loved him as 
 other women, the world over, have loved 
 weak men, never seeing his failings, or seeing 
 only to condone. It is a strange thing, this 
 master-passion of the heart ; often it lets worth 
 go by on the other side ; talent fails to arouse it, 
 and goodness finds and leaves it dormant; 
 only to the subtle touch of affinity will it 
 awaken affinity, whether clad in the purple 
 of principle or the tawdry trappings of a sham. 
 But sometimes what a touch has awakened, a 
 touch will destroy. 
 
 After a while Judith gathered up the letter 
 and read over again the writer s arraignment 
 of her husband, the story of his prison suffer 
 ings and escape, his longing for her through it 
 all, his horrible awakening to her loss; and at
 
 320 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the last his prayer for some word of sympathy, 
 some kindly token that she had not forgotten. 
 
 One word, did he say? Ah, it would not 
 stop at one word. For the woman who set her 
 hand to a plough like that, there was indeed 
 no looking back. On and on the furrow led 
 to misery unutterable, perchance to guilt. 
 And yet how subtly he had written it here, 
 hiding the poison under the pitiful plea for 
 justice and sympathy. She hated the words, 
 and she hated herself for reading them; and 
 in a sudden spasm of self-pity she bowed her 
 head upon her knees and cried tempestuously. 
 
 Laurence, haunting the upper hall as he 
 so often did for a chance to speak with her, 
 heard the sound of her sobs, and could not 
 keep away from the door. It was ajar, and he 
 pushed it open. The sight of her on the rug 
 abandoned to her grief, stabbed him like a 
 dagger. 
 
 "Judith, Judith!" he cried, in his desperate 
 pain. "For God s sake stop ! the pain of your 
 sobs kills me." 
 
 At the sound of his voice she sprang up, 
 throwing her long hair back from her face. 
 Then for the first time he saw the letter in her 
 hand. Instinct told him its source, and that
 
 Snarling the Threads 321 
 
 demon of jealousy leaped up within him, 
 making his face like granite. 
 
 "So your old lover writes you letters, does 
 he?" He tried not to say the words, knowing 
 now little right he had for accusation; but 
 they forced themselves from his lips. 
 
 She turned fully toward him, the letter out 
 stretched as though she invited him to read, 
 a storm of protest against his insinuation 
 surging through her. Then in an instant a 
 change came; her eyes lost their reproach 
 and shone defiantly; she stooped and laid 
 the closely written pages on the fire, and when, 
 in the increased light they made, she faced 
 him again, his own mouth was not harder in its 
 outlines. 
 
 "You are right; Captain Seton wrote that 
 letter and no one hid it from me." 
 
 She had dealt him back his blow with triple 
 force, although she had a sense of self-con 
 tempt as she spoke. She would never tell him, 
 as had been her first impulse when she held 
 out the letter, that this was the only one she 
 had received, and that no answer would go 
 back. If he believed her capable of a clandes 
 tine correspondence, a denial from her would 
 carry but little weight; she would be doing 
 violence to her own womanhood to offer him
 
 322 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 a refutation of his suspicion. And so she re 
 turned his gaze haughtily and with lifted chin, 
 her eyes showing the steely lights characteris 
 tic of Sir Thomas in his fighting days. This 
 was a new Judith whom Laurence had never 
 seen, this defiant woman who faced him un 
 flinchingly. Intuitively he recognized the 
 force of will that lay behind those steel-blue 
 eyes; and his own sense of guilt toward her 
 disarmed all reproach, and stayed the sharp 
 retort that rose to his lips. He fraudulently 
 took her from the man she loved, he repeated 
 to himself, and so she was but returning him, 
 measure for measure, his own false treatment. 
 It was but another form of his punishment. 
 That she would answer the letter, he did not 
 for an instant believe ; no amount of perfidy on 
 his part could so warp her from the truth, he 
 knew; but he had one more grudge against 
 Arthur Seton. If only the right of challenge 
 were his ! He watched Judith as she bound 
 her hair into a great shining plait, and then 
 stooped and stirred the gray ashes of the burned 
 letter. 
 
 "You need not have destroyed it; I had no 
 thought of asking to see it," he said, bitterly. 
 
 "It is better burned; better for us both," 
 she answered, without turning.
 
 Snarling the Threads 323 
 
 And so they parted, each with a new bit 
 terness at heart.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE BALL AT GREENSPRING. 
 
 " Curious fool, be still; 
 Is human love the growth of human will ? " 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 /CHRISTMAS came, and there were wild 
 ^-^ rumours abroad of Arthur Seton s 
 gaming at Sutley s and his quarrels over 
 wine and cards. And then somehow Lissa s 
 name began to creep into these stories. 
 She had no liking for him, but in his cups and 
 out of them he talked of her beauty; and laid 
 a wager with Harry Beach concerning her 
 which made Tony shut up his warehouse and 
 go to Sutley s with his gun over his shoulder. 
 Mistress Falkner, hoping to set Judith against 
 him, told her all these stories, but Laurence 
 never mentioned his name. Another letter 
 had come to her after the one burned in Lau 
 rence s presence; but after that Arthur wrote 
 no more, learning through her silence that he 
 had overestimated his hold upon her. 
 
 Laurence, with that remorse and biting 
 jealousy always in his heart, grew more re- 
 324
 
 The Ball at Greenspring 325 
 
 served each day. Not that his manner to 
 wards Judith lost its gentleness; she was his 
 first care always, but he never intruded upon 
 her in any way ; she was as an honoured guest 
 in his house. This much he believed he owed 
 her. 
 
 Judith felt keenly the change that had come 
 into her life. The isolation wore upon her 
 nerves, and under the strain her face whitened 
 day by day. Many times, by both sun and 
 candle light, she stood before her father s 
 picture, thinking of the comfort he would 
 have given her. The young friends whom 
 Laurence, hoping to divert her and cheer the 
 house, brought home occasionally, only taxed 
 her. The comradeship she needed was of 
 the heart; and from the one person to whom 
 she had a right to look for that she was as an 
 alien. So she sewed her thoughts into her 
 embroidery or threw them with the clicking 
 shuttle at the loom, and waited for what 
 she knew not. 
 
 Tony Foster had been careful that Laurence 
 did not suffer from the stories sent out from the 
 Randals. In his efforts at setting Laurence 
 right before the public he was unconsciously 
 aided by Amos, who had small love for his 
 gay, idle kinsman. And so it was that Gover-
 
 326 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 nor Berkeley, hearing the true story, came 
 riding to Rivermead to bid them all to his 
 New Year ball. But Judith shook her head, 
 pleading her recent bereavement. 
 
 "My child," said his Excellency, laying his 
 hand on her hair, "your father was my friend; 
 I loved him as my own flesh and blood, and 
 I think I am speaking as he would when I say, 
 for your own sake put aside that feeling and 
 come to Greenspring with your husband. No 
 one will ever say you are careless of your 
 father s memory; but, Judith, there are ma 
 licious tongues in all communities, and family 
 differences are food for gossip. I shall expect 
 you with your husband." 
 
 So in her bridal satin Judith went to the 
 Governor s ball. 
 
 "The little Cavalier is like a picture for loveli 
 ness to-night," an old gossip remarked. "I 
 thought twas said she w r as at Rivermead 
 grieving herself to a wraith for her first lover." 
 
 "Young Mistress Falkner sorrows for her 
 father, not for any lover," said his Excellency, 
 with an emphasis that needed heeding. 
 
 "But for all that, I shall watch to see the 
 greeting she gives young Seton to-night," 
 whispered the gossip to her crony. 
 
 Judith, guessing the meaning of the Gover-
 
 The Ball at Greens pring 327 
 
 nor s invitation, was purposely full of pleasant 
 ries, so that others besides the gossip remarked 
 upon her humour. She laughed merrily at 
 one of Harry Beach s stories, and even chal 
 lenged the Governor to a dance. 
 
 "She is not breaking her heart for Seton," 
 said one man. 
 
 "It is her husband s face and not her own 
 that is an index of her every-day moods," 
 said another, with an ominous shake of the 
 head. 
 
 Standing in a circle of friends at the far end 
 of the room, Judith saw Ann Randal when 
 she entered with a bevy of beaux about 
 her. At her side was Arthur Seton, strikingly 
 handsome in ivory satin with facings of blue. 
 Their entrance created quite a stir, so that 
 Judith drew back from the circle unnoticed; 
 not so far, however, but that she heard the 
 gossip that went around. 
 
 "He must have been uncommon lucky at 
 Sutley s of late to plume himself like that," 
 said one voice. 
 
 "Aye," said another, "more than one cask 
 of Beach and Nelson tobacco went to pay for 
 that finery." 
 
 "See that bruise over his left temple," said 
 a third, "He got that in a fight over a woman
 
 328 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 at Sutley s. It was a scandalous affair. He 
 got hold of the girl s hand as she poured his 
 wine, and was not to let go till she had kissed 
 him for every finger, so he said. But Tony 
 Foster hit him with a wine bottle, and knocked 
 the senses and the Devil both out of him until 
 the girl got away. A little more, and Tony 
 would have killed him." 
 
 "Poor Lissa ! Tis men like Arthur Seton, 
 with the fine grain of principle left out of them, 
 that make the world a quagmire for girls who 
 have no protector." 
 
 Judith moved farther away, for the circle 
 was breaking up, and she did not wish to seem 
 to have heard. But the parting company 
 left her in plain view of those in the other part 
 of the room, and Arthur Seton saw her for the 
 first time. He dropped Ann s hand from his arm 
 and crossed the room, coming straight toward 
 Judith, caring not if all the world read the 
 pleasure in his face. Their story was well 
 known, and curiosity was all agog to see this 
 meeting. It seemed suddenly as if all the 
 lights in the room were focussed on these two 
 figures in shining -satin; certainly every eye 
 was on them. Judith felt the concentrated 
 gaze, and her teeth shut hard. 
 
 "The meeting of old-time friends is as a slip
 
 The Ball at Greenspring 329 
 
 of light let out of Paradise," he said; and bent 
 before her until the ruffles of his sleeve swept 
 the floor. 
 
 But she did not answer. Under the shim 
 mering bodice her heart was beating tempestu 
 ously. She tried to see the scar on his temple 
 and Lissa Sutley s twisting hand in his; but 
 she saw only his eyes, the eyes that had looked 
 her heart away in that fair spring-time of the 
 long ago the eyes that had held hers with a 
 beseeching tenderness while, with her hands 
 crossed over her breast, she had given him a 
 promise which was broken. 
 
 His Excellency moved impatiently, and 
 gossips craned their necks to follow the scene. 
 
 It was only a moment she stood thus, though 
 it seemed a thousand years; then it was Sir 
 Thomas s steel-blue eyes that swept the circle 
 of guests and settled coldly on the man before 
 her. 
 
 "Will Mistress Falkner do me the honour to 
 dance with me?" 
 
 "If she does, she will dance straight on to 
 the devil," snarled Tony Foster under his 
 breath, watching it all from the hall door. 
 
 She ignored Seton s extended hand, and 
 stretched her own out toward Laurence: "I 
 am dancing with my husband, Captain Seton."
 
 330 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 The whole room caught its breath, the Gov 
 ernor nodded, and at the other end of the room 
 Ann Randal laughed shrilly. 
 
 On Laurence s arm Judith went down the 
 apartment, bowing to a friend, smiling at his 
 Excellency, stopping for a word of greeting 
 with old Lady Ludlow; but when at the end 
 of the outer hall they came to a recess where 
 a sofa was hidden behind a curtain, she drew 
 her hand away. 
 
 "Go," she said, "I wish to be alone." 
 
 "Alone, Judith? Shall I not sit with you a 
 moment?" 
 
 "Not just yet," and stepping inside she 
 dropped the curtain between them. She was 
 too angry with herself to trust her voice in 
 conversation. 
 
 Slowly he paced down the long, dim hall, 
 his mouth set hard with thinking. Tony 
 roused him with a touch on the arm. 
 
 "Ah, but that was a tidy bit of play for a 
 woman. He thought to take her from you 
 before the whole company and so put you to 
 shame; but she outdiced him like a man." 
 
 "Tony, will you see that my coach comes to 
 the door at once?" he asked, and strode back 
 to the hidden recess. "Judith," he said, put 
 ting aside the curtain; and not the suppliant,
 
 The Ball at Greens pring 331 
 
 but the master spoke in his voice, "the music 
 is beginning; we will dance this once more, 
 dance the whole minuet out, where everybody 
 can see us ; then we will go home." 
 
 She looked up, hesitating; but he stretched 
 out his hand with quiet authority: "Come." 
 And dominated by his tone, she went. 
 
 In the ball room she smiled again at her 
 acquaintances, pinned a flower in old Tom 
 Nelson s coat, and then went swinging away 
 in the stately measures of the dance. Lady 
 Ludlow clapped her hands with approval; and 
 Tom Nelson, old beau that he was, shook his 
 flower at the younger gallants and laughed with 
 gratification. 
 
 "God bless you, my dear," the Governor said, 
 as they paused a moment before him, "God 
 bless you; you are your father s own child." 
 And she laughed and kissed her hand to him, 
 so that the gossips remarked on her coquetry. 
 
 But at the door she and Laurence left the 
 dancers and made their way to the foot of the 
 stairs, where a maid waited with Judith s 
 cloak. When it was on and the fastenings 
 caught, Laurence led her through the door the 
 servant opened on to the veranda. There 
 flaming pine torches, in huge metal sockets, 
 made the night like day; and against a pillar
 
 332 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the red glare of the flambeaux stood Arthur 
 Seton in his shimmering white satin. With an 
 almost imperceptible salute they passed each 
 other; but at the head of the steps a rose, 
 loosened by the dance, slipped from Judith s 
 hair to the floor. Instantly Seton sprang 
 forward and snatching it up, looked up at her 
 and lifted it daringly toward his lips. But 
 it did not reach its destination, for Laurence, 
 wheeling suddenly, struck it from his hand 
 and with his foot thrust it out into the shadow 
 of the porch. There was an oath, a sound of 
 gritting teeth, and two swords leaped hissingly 
 from their sheaths, and two men were on 
 guard. But with a swift movement Judith 
 stood between them; her cloak dropped away, 
 and the torch-light glowed over her bare 
 shoulders and gleaming white dress, making 
 her as a figure from some rare painting. 
 
 "Stay ! Put up your swords. Have you 
 both so far forgot yourselves that you would 
 make me common talk for every wagging 
 tongue in yonder ball room ?" 
 
 The men looked from each other to her, at 
 the fine pose of her shoulders, and the beauti 
 ful, haughty face with its eyes scintillanc 
 with the same light that glanced from their 
 blades; looked, and though their faces lost
 
 The Ball at Greens pring 333 
 
 none of the anger that had flashed into them, 
 yet the swords went down until their points 
 touched the floor. 
 
 "You are right," Laurence said, putting up 
 his blade; "I owe you all apology for the risk 
 I put upon you. Another time, Captain 
 Seton, we will finish this. I will play you at 
 cards or dice at Sutley s to-morrow night. 
 Provocation for a quarrel can always be found 
 at the gaming table." 
 
 "I shall remember," replied Seton. 
 
 "No," said Judith, firmly, her eyes blazing 
 over them both; "this matter ends here and 
 now. Whatever cause of quarrel you picked, 
 and whenever it came about, it would all hark 
 back to me in public gossip. The whole world 
 would see through such a subterfuge; and I 
 will not be so demeaned." 
 
 "Judith, you do not understand. The quar 
 rel shall be so laid that no one would connect 
 you " 
 
 "That would not be possible; no one would 
 be deceived for a minute; and I tell you now 
 that I had rather you killed me here between you 
 than have me bandied about as public gossip. 
 No quarrel must be picked, no blow must be 
 struck between you two unless I myself am 
 the target, and the blow is to kill ! "
 
 334 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Seton bowed. Laurence hesitated, then 
 stooping picked up her cloak, and wrapping it 
 about her led her down the steps in silence. 
 When he had followed her into the coach and 
 the door was shut, she looked back to the 
 porch above and saw Arthur Seton still leaning 
 on his sword in the crimson flare of the torches, 
 and at his shoulder Ann Randal s startled, 
 angry face. 
 
 In the coach Laurence drew her hood up 
 and tucked the big bearskin robe carefully 
 about her so that no draught might possibly 
 touch her; then fell back into his own corner 
 and the long ride to Rivermead was made 
 in absolute silence; but there were hot and 
 heavy thoughts in the two hearts that were 
 so near and yet so far apart. There was some 
 thing she wanted to say to him, some assurance 
 she wished to give him, but she could not bring 
 herself to break through the ice of that silence. 
 He knew she was right about any quarrel be 
 tween him and Seton, saw clearly that since 
 Seton had waited so long the fight must now 
 never come, for evil tongues would say at 
 once that he himself had cause for his jealousy. 
 His first duty and thought must be to shield her ; 
 and yet he felt balked of the wish of his heart 
 the wish to deal out with fist or sword punish-
 
 The Ball at Greenspring 335 
 
 ment for all the torture this man had made 
 him suffer, no matter where the fault for it all 
 might lie. 
 
 In the hall Judith looked at his white face. 
 
 " He is a better swordsman than you, trained 
 as he is to arms; he would have killed you," 
 she said, with a shudder, her hand on his arm. 
 But he shook off her touch. 
 
 "Except for the stain upon his Excellency s 
 porch and the interruption to the festivities, 
 would it have mattered?" he asked, harshly; 
 and taking her candle lighted her up the stairs. 
 At the door he put the candle in her hand and 
 turned back. 
 
 "Good night," she said, and her voice 
 faltered. 
 
 " Good night, " he answered over his shoulder; 
 and went heavily down the stairs. He was 
 thinking, not of the interrupted fight, but of 
 her eyes before those steely lights came to 
 them as Arthur approached her in the brilliant 
 ball-room.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 PIECING OUT THE THREADS OF FATE. 
 
 " The weaver s task speeds on apace, 
 But there s a rack in the shuttle race; 
 For chance hath mixed the web of fate 
 A thread of love, and a thread of hate." 
 
 K. 
 
 A FEW days after the ball at Greenspring 
 * * Amos Randal came to Rivermead 
 about his father s note. He seemed con 
 fused and harassed. There was to be a 
 division of the estate, he urged, and this money 
 was necessary to a fair adjustment. Some 
 thing definite must be done at once, as the 
 matter had now become urgent. Mistress 
 Falkner realized for the first time that serious 
 trouble might result, and became restless; but 
 Laurence reassured her by sending a messenger 
 to fetch Seth Perry to make oath as to the 
 payment. In the meantime he did all else 
 that was possible to meet the suit that Amos 
 threatened to bring in the March sitting of the 
 court. 
 
 "Why should it be so suddenly necessary 
 
 *> i r\ 
 
 o3
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 337 
 
 to make division of the estate?" said Judith, 
 wonderingly. "It has been some six years 
 since old Master Randal s death. 
 
 1 Tis the quarrel that has fallen between the 
 families," said Mistress Falkner, with a glance 
 that was not all kindness. 
 
 "Nay," said Laurence, hastily, "it is not 
 that at all, for Amos takes no part in the matter 
 Six years is time enough for the winding up of 
 any estate. It will all come right for us," he 
 added, presently, and his mother was content to 
 think so. 
 
 "Judith, it is just possible that father shut 
 the paper up in some book he was reading; will 
 you undertake to look through the library for 
 me?" he asked, though in his heart was more 
 a wish to give her a sense of helpfulness than a 
 hope of success. 
 
 And glad to think she was of use, she spent 
 the long snowy days of January going over the 
 contents of the bookcases. 
 
 Mistress Falkner was not much given to visit 
 ing, deeming that a housewife s place was in 
 her pantries and by her spinning wheels and 
 looms; but one day when the January cold 
 began to moderate, she had William drive her 
 to the settlement for some household bargain 
 ing, and afterwards to call upon several of her
 
 338 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 neighbours. That night she was full of gossip 
 gathered in her rounds. 
 
 " I have heard marvellous strange news to 
 day, " she said, as the three sat as usual about 
 the fire after supper; and Laurence, hoping to 
 see Judith diverted, drew her on to tell it. 
 
 "There is to be a wedding at the Randals ; 
 that is why Amos must make a settlement. " 
 
 "Truly?" said Laurence. "I did not know 
 that Amos was courting. 
 
 "It is not Amos at all it is Ann. " 
 
 "Ann? And is Larry Herrick to be the 
 groom; or will she reward Tom Nelson s long 
 devotion?" 
 
 Mistress Falkner stole a look at Judith before 
 answering: "It is neither of them; but 
 Arthur Seton. " 
 
 Laurence had been leaning far back against 
 the chimney jamb, but now the front legs of his 
 chair struck the floor with a snap. His eyes 
 sought Judith and saw the faint flush of sur 
 prise that crept into her cheek. She did not 
 speak, but after one quick look at Mistress 
 Falkner she bent her head as if counting the 
 stitches in her knitting. 
 
 "Arthur Seton?" echoed Laurence with slow 
 incredulity. "This is but some idle gossip, 
 without foundation."
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 339 
 
 "Nay, it is true," his mother replied, warm 
 ing to her subject. "The Randals themselves 
 do not deny it. Amos said at the warehouse 
 that it was for Ann he wished the money. He 
 told Tony Foster that she would marry her 
 cousin, and was demanding her part of her 
 father s property." 
 
 "I can scarcely believe it," Laurence said, 
 noticing, with a dull pain, that Judith s needles 
 took no more stitches. 
 
 "You may believe it everybody else does. 
 Lady Ludlow told me to-day of the wedding 
 gown. Peggy Binn and her sempsters are 
 working day and night, for the wedding is near 
 at hand. And that is not all I heard ; there is 
 something else that touches us nearly. A 
 queer story of Ann is being whispered among 
 the neighbours. Judith here held you to ac 
 count for not showing the letter you had from 
 Arthur Seton this past June ; but it seems Ann 
 was equally to blame, equally a deceiver, for 
 she had a similar letter in the same post. " 
 
 Laurence breathed hard; all the sin of that 
 deception then was not his. Involuntarily he 
 leaned toward Judith with outstretched hand, 
 seeking something of pardon. But she only 
 shrank back into her chair. She remembered
 
 34Q The Wooing of Judith 
 
 how roughly he had shaken off her hand tho 
 night of the ball. 
 
 "The story is preposterous," he said at last. 
 "Ann had no cause for secrecy. " 
 
 "Hadn t she?" retorted his mother. "Well, 
 then, Tony Foster knows not what he is talking 
 about. He gave her the letter out of his post 
 bag, and she went deadly white on reading it. 
 The writing was like the one you had; he re 
 membered it very well. And he says Ann 
 cared for her cousin from the first, and was 
 determined that Judith should never marry 
 him; only we were all so blind we would not 
 see it." 
 
 Slowly Judith turned in her chair and looked 
 at Mistress Falkner, the memory of an old sus 
 picion stirring in her mind. Laurence was 
 watching her intently. What would she do ? 
 What did that questioning light in her eyes 
 portend? But presently, as if changing her 
 intention, she went back to her knitting without 
 speaking. 
 
 "And how has all this come to light after so 
 long a time ? " he asked his mother. 
 
 " This way. Mistress Randal found the letter 
 in the pocket of Ann s habit she was mending, 
 and taxed her with it. Peggy Binn was in the 
 room and told the scene that followed. Ann
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 341 
 
 was furious, for it seems she had denied it to 
 Arthur, and never intended anyone should 
 know it !" 
 
 "And her mother?" 
 
 "Her mother upbraided her sternly; but she 
 excused her action by saying she knew from 
 the contents of her letter that you had one like 
 it, and never doubted but that you had told 
 Judith ; that she came over here that same after 
 noon to give Judith joy of the news, but was 
 convinced that you and she were determined 
 to consummate your marriage and ignore any 
 possibility of Arthur s being still alive. Every 
 thing, she said, pointed to that ; for neither of 
 you mentioned Arthur, and Judith took her to 
 the sewing-room to see her gown; so anything 
 she might have said would have been un 
 welcome and useless, and mayhap have created 
 bad blood between the families. She declared 
 she but fell in, unwillingly, with yours and 
 Judith s plans, and did not know until it was 
 too late that you had hidden your tidings from 
 Judith. This is the explanation she made to 
 Arthur Seton also." 
 
 Again the figure in the armchair stirred 
 sharply, and again Laurence waited for her to 
 speak. But after that one quick movement 
 she made no further protest. She was think-
 
 342 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 ing fast and hard, going over every detail of 
 Ann s strange conduct during the days just 
 preceding and following her marriage. Unex 
 plained things began to grow clear, misunder 
 stood allusions shaped themselves definitely in 
 her mind. She had been the dupe, not of her 
 husband s duplicity only, but of her friend s. 
 No one had thought of her; she had been 
 ground between the upper and the nether mill 
 stones. 
 
 Laurence quitted his chair and stood by the 
 mantel, looking down on her. He would have 
 given his right hand to know of what she was 
 thinking. Was her heart breaking anew for 
 this other man she loved and from whom he 
 had dishonestly taken her? Were there tears 
 for Arthur Seton under those drooping lids? 
 God ! how the thought stung him ! 
 
 " Peggy Binn says Ann went on her knees 
 to Arthur, telling him how she had mourned 
 for him and waited and watched for his return ; 
 bidding him judge between her loyalty and 
 Judith s. It seems she had told him 
 before he went away that Judith would never 
 give up being mistress of Rivermead to marry 
 him." 
 
 "Judith!" cried Laurence, and in his voice 
 was a refutation of Ann s accusation. But
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 343 
 
 she did not take his outstretched hand. Did 
 Ann s guilt render his less poignant ? No, 
 truth was truth under all provocation. But 
 directly she looked up, and to his relief he saw 
 that her eyes were quite dry. 
 
 "You said once that Ann did not care for 
 you, that some time you would tell me whom 
 she loved. Was it Captain Seton?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes; Tony was not the only one who read 
 her secret. She went heart-broken for him 
 under all her laughter." 
 
 "I would I had known it." 
 
 "I always felt she was. jealous of Judy," 
 Mistress Falkner broke in, "but I thought it 
 was on your account, not Arthur Seton s it 
 did not seem possible that she was not in love 
 with you." 
 
 He moved impatiently. " I always told you 
 that was but your foolish fancy, mother. And 
 this strange marriage, how does it happen? 
 How is it that Seton has brought himself 
 He could not finish the sentence, could not ask 
 how Seton had forgotten Judith so soon. 
 
 Mistress Falkner s face took on a new ex 
 pression: "There are many stories. When 
 a woman like Ann makes up her mind to marry 
 a man who lives in her house, she generally 
 carries her point association makes many
 
 344 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 matches. Some folks say she won him com 
 forting him for Judith; she was that open in 
 her welcome and her protestations that he could 
 not but see her love, and he took it as a salve 
 to his heart and his vanity. He is not of a 
 deep nature, therefore it was not hard for him 
 to change." 
 
 She said this last with a bitter sarcasm, as if 
 to show Judith the difference between this man 
 and the one she had married; but Judith 
 neither assented to nor contested the state 
 ment. 
 
 "A man s fancy is sometimes caught on the 
 rebound, and Ann is pretty enough to please 
 anyone. I suppose that is the true theory," 
 said Laurence, instinctively trying to soften 
 what he dreaded was a blow to Judith. 
 
 " But that is not the only theory, " his mother 
 went on. "Tony Foster says Ann paid his 
 gambling debts, and so had a hold on him. 
 She has a fine property, and a beggar like 
 Arthur Seton needs to feather his nest." 
 
 "He is not quite a beggar; he brought his 
 family jewels and left them with the Randals 
 when he went back to England to fight for the 
 king. It was not as if Judith were defending 
 him, only stating a fact, so entirely without 
 emotion was her voice.
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 345 
 
 "Yes; but he lost the jewels at cards in a 
 single night. Harry Beach won the necklace 
 for his sweetheart s Christmas gift." 
 
 " Beach has the very Devil s hand at cards, " 
 said Laurence, his elbow on the mantel and his 
 face half hidden in the shadow. He had heard 
 the story, and how old Sutley, drunker than 
 usual, had once more used his daughter as a 
 pawn and staked her against some of the 
 shining baubles, and lost. Also how Tony had 
 struck the winner in the face amid the flashing 
 of steel and the crack of pistols ; and then had 
 shut the girl in his warehouse, and sat all night 
 in front of the door with his cocked gun, daring 
 Seton to try to claim the payment of his debt. 
 There had been a wild time in the settlement 
 that night, as the bloodstains and bullet marks 
 in Sutley s cabin could attest. Murder had 
 stood very near that card table, and death had 
 waited on the warehouse steps. It was the 
 same old story of a night at Sutley s, told in 
 blacker characters than usual. 
 
 The maple log on the hearth crackled and 
 sent its sparks up the wide chimney throat 
 while Mistress Falkner talked on of the wedding 
 and Judith asked a few questions as to the 
 preparations. 
 
 "It is hinted in some quarters that Amos is
 
 346 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 urging the marriage, Seeing it is best, with all 
 the talk there is." 
 
 Laurence stretched his hand protectingiy 
 over Judith s head: "Nay, mother, Ann has 
 been our guest and friend; we know she would 
 do no wrong. " 
 
 "I hold with you; I have known her all her 
 life, and seen naught in her worse than quick 
 temper and thoughtlessness. I was but telling 
 all the gossip." 
 
 "And when is the wedding to be ?" 
 
 "This day w r eek the twenty-eighth; and 
 they are to go down the river to Ann s planta 
 tion to live. I am glad they will not be our 
 neighbours. " 
 
 Laurence turned and with both arms on the 
 mantel bowed his head on them. There was a 
 fierce struggle within him, joy over Seton s 
 removal from his path, and dread of any new 
 pang that might come to Judith through this 
 matter. Her eyes were unwet and her hand was 
 steady on her needle, but that might mean 
 nothing. If only he knew she did not care ! 
 His mother, noting the forlornness of his atti 
 tude, wondered how Judith could steel her 
 heart against him. But Judith did not see him ; 
 she was retracing step by step all of Ann s 
 restless changes from laughter to tears, tears
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 347 
 
 that she had thought were for Laurence. She 
 had had a sense of culpability, of self-reproach, 
 feeling that she had come between Ann and 
 what might have been her happiness; and 
 instead, it was Ann who had helped to 
 defraud her of the knowledge that was 
 hers by right. And yet what a compassion 
 she had for her old friend, realizing the cause 
 of those long rides to the station, and all the 
 pain of uncertainty and longing that must have 
 underlined that restlessness. She had but to 
 shut her eyes to see Ann prostrate beside her 
 couch, storm-swept by her sobs; and she heard 
 again, as clearly as though the words were 
 spoken in her ear, that upbraiding cry: "You 
 sent him away. If it had not been for you he 
 would be here now, alive and warm and real; 
 instead of lying over yonder cold and dead and 
 lost forever ! How the girl must have hated 
 her that day. This rumoured marriage had in 
 it all the elements of a tragedy. That Arthur 
 could take Ann for sake of her estate was a 
 sacrilege ; that he was talking to Ann of marriage 
 while he poured out his heartache to her in 
 those letters seemed equally incredible for the 
 double dealing it portended. And that gossip 
 about Lissa Sutley? He had not meant to 
 marry her, of course ; but how it showed the lack
 
 348 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 of fairness in his nature. Was there any truth 
 left in anybody? What a horrible tangle had 
 been made for four lives ; and how much better 
 Laurence showed in it than Seton ! 
 
 She picked up her knitting and began in 
 dustriously to count the stitches, whispering 
 them to herself one, two, three; one, two, 
 three ; to turn and dominate her thoughts. 
 
 Mistress Falkner pushed her chair back with 
 a slow dissatisfaction. She had told her news 
 with the hope that these two might be drawn 
 together again ; and here they were as far apart 
 as before. The continued silence irritated her, 
 so that after awhile she began again to talk, 
 telling bits of gossip that seemed colourless 
 enough after her first revelation. Among these 
 things was the report of a murder that had 
 been committed on one of the upper planta 
 tions. The man lived alone with his Indian 
 servant. His body had been found frightfully 
 mutilated, and the Indian was gone; so were 
 the man s gun and money. Judith shivered 
 as she pictured the mangled body on the cabin 
 floor and Laurence, seeing this, changed the 
 subject. Soon afterwards a servant called 
 him from the room, and the two women were 
 left alone. Mistress Falkner tried to revive 
 the subject of the wedding; but Judith was dull
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 349 
 
 company; the unusual exertions of the visiting 
 had been wearying, and presently the older 
 woman dozed in her chair. Judith s needles 
 flew on awhile, under the insistent counting. 
 But finally she got up softly and left the room. 
 Lighting her candle at the hall table, she went 
 slowly up the stair. It was cold and draughty 
 and, outside the ring of candle-light, intensely 
 dark; and her nerves w r ere on edge from the 
 evening s talk. Before she reached the top 
 step she heard, down the dusky corridor, the 
 tap, tap of Charles Falkner s stick. She felt 
 herself tremble, but she went resolutely on, 
 the thread of light under her door seeming 
 miles away in the blackness. A few steps from 
 the stair-head a gust of wind caught the flame 
 of her candle and whisked it out ; and clear and 
 insistent came that ominous sound. A cold 
 shudder, against which she vainly strove, 
 passed over her ; and then her eyes dilated with 
 horror, for in the gloom down the corridor 
 something was moving, coming toward her. 
 She felt rather than saw it, and for one awful 
 moment she stood as if petrified, yet still trying 
 to reason with herself. Then the candle clat 
 tered to the floor, and with a smothered scream 
 she fled down the hall toward her own door. 
 But just as her hand was on the knob, two
 
 350 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 strong arms caught her fast, and Laurence s 
 voice cried in her ear. 
 
 "It is I, Judy, I ! There, do not trem 
 ble; you are safe. I had been to fasten the 
 rear door, and did not know you were here. " 
 
 She was clinging to him in her terror, hiding 
 her face in his coat. Ah, how sweet it was to 
 hold her once more in his arms, to feel her head 
 upon his breast ! He drew her closer, his lips 
 touched her hair. 
 
 "My heart s love, you are safe; no harm can 
 come to you here." lie reached out with one 
 hand and threw open her door, before which 
 they were standing. The firelight rushed out 
 and over them in a ruddy flood, and in the warm 
 glow she caught her breath in a sigh of relief. 
 
 "You poor, frightened bird! Someone has 
 been telling you that foolish ghost story," he 
 said, his lips again on her hair. 
 
 But she was putting his arms away: " Nay, " 
 she said, "it was only a silly case of nerves, of 
 which I am ashamed. I am quite over it now. " 
 
 He strove to keep her: "But, sweet one, 
 see how you still tremble; it was a shame to 
 frighten you like this." But she drew away 
 until he held only one of her slim hands. " The 
 evening has been too much for you," he said, 
 tenderly. " I am sorry for the shock
 
 Piecing Out the Threads of Fate 351 
 
 " It was the murder story Cousin Janet told 
 us," she answered, hastily. "It was childish 
 of me to allow it to so upset me. " 
 
 He put her hand softly to his lips: "And 
 someone has told you that absurd story of my 
 father and his fruitless search?" 
 
 "Yes, but it does not matter now." She 
 took her hand from his and moved over the 
 threshold. "Good-night," she said. 
 
 His eyes travelled past her to the fire-lit room 
 beyond, taking in at a hungry glance her work 
 basket, the low chair and its foot-stool, and 
 all the dainty feminine belongings that he had 
 come to know and missed so sorely. 
 
 "Judy," he cried, stretching out his arms, 
 " will you not will you not ask me to come 
 in with you?" 
 
 She looked up startled, and reached instantly 
 for the knob as if to bar his way. The gesture 
 struck like ice to his heart: "Nay," she said, 
 "I am no longer frightened, and I am best 
 alone. " 
 
 The door was closing between them, leaving 
 him out in the dark. " Judith ! " and there was 
 a note of desperation in his voice, " why should 
 you any longer cherish Arthur Seton in your 
 thoughts ? He does not care ; he is going to
 
 352 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 marry Ann. Put him out of your heart, and 
 take me, your husband, into it !" 
 
 She stood quite still, a white flame of anger 
 leaping through her; he could not then under 
 stand that it was his manner of marrying her 
 that stood between them; like Arthur, he 
 deemed her capable of Iving in a love-dream 
 with one man while she bore another man s 
 name. 
 
 "You are quite mistaken if you think my 
 heart has an occupant. Between your usage 
 of me and my duty to my womanhood, it is 
 empty empty!" she said, and closed the 
 door between them. 
 
 In the terrible silence he heard the key turn 
 in the lock, and knew that he was doubly shut 
 out. 
 
 "Good-night," he said, his mouth close to 
 the keyhole; "my deception of you is no more 
 a crime than your cruelty to me. We stand 
 much on the same plane. " 
 
 But all was silent in the fire-lit room.
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 TONY WINS HIS HEART S DESIRE. 
 
 " Hold closer still my hand, dear love, 
 
 Nor fear its touch will soil thine own; 
 No palm is cleaner now than this, 
 
 So free from world-stain has it grown." 
 
 ANON. 
 
 A DARKER frown than usual wrinkled Tony 
 * Foster s brow during those last days 
 in January, for Larry Herrick had come 
 back from Henrico to witness the Randal wed 
 ding, and the gold in his purse made Sutley 
 forget the past and open his doors to him. 
 With him and Arthur Seton to set the pace and 
 Harry Beach to follow, there were uncanny 
 scenes in the room under Lissa s loft. The 
 white dawn often found the dice still rattling; 
 and looking down through the chinks of her 
 floor upon the high stakes, and hearing the 
 boasts and threats and ribald jests that echoed 
 up to her, the girl shuddered. Money and 
 jewels passed from one hand to another; the 
 ownership of slaves was changed by the colour 
 of a card ; and a plantation was lost on one cast 
 353
 
 354 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 of the dice. And on such nights as these it was 
 all in vain that her father summoned her, and 
 the long, sweet notes of the reed whistle called 
 plaintively to her light-moving feet. For the 
 farmers, for the sailors from the trading ships, 
 for the gay young gallants from the upper 
 plantations, even for Harry Beach she would 
 dance, and collect the coins in her tambourine 
 and sip like a bee from their brimming glasses, 
 while they shouted their applause. But never 
 again would she dance a step or pour a thimble 
 of wine for Seton or Larry; for she had prom 
 ised Tony, with her hand on the trigger of his 
 gun ; and for all her lack of other training she 
 knew how to keep an oath. But Tony knew that 
 at every chance behind his back Larry was dog 
 ging her with new protestations and flatteries; 
 and the heart within him was not satisfied. 
 
 "There will be high play to-night, " she said 
 one afternoon, standing by his high desk. 
 "Harry Beach will bring the jewels back for 
 Arthur Seton to look at, and they mean to 
 entice him to stake them, and so win them all. 
 And dad says if I do not dance and make things 
 merry, he will beat me." 
 
 "You have promised, Lissa." 
 
 "Yes, Tony; but his fists are so hard." 
 There was a pitiful sob in the girl s voice, and
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 355 
 
 she impulsively bared her arm and laid it 
 across his desk, showing a great, dark bruise 
 above the elbow. In an instant the scar on 
 Tony s forehead was livid. 
 
 " When did he do that ?" 
 
 "Last week the night they played so late, 
 and I would not come down. " 
 
 "You never told me!" 
 
 " No; he made such threats against you. " 
 
 "Curse him !" Tony laid his cheek against 
 the soft, brown arm, scar touching scar; and 
 for a moment there was silence. "There is 
 just one way to escape it, Lissa. " And his 
 voice was full of a queer shyness. 
 
 "One way?" 
 
 "Yes. Do you understand?" 
 
 "Yes," she said slowly, and read his mean 
 ing in his eyes, and went away with a new 
 wonder in her heart. 
 
 That night at Sutley s it was a rehearsal of 
 the same old scene of men with exultant or 
 slowly whitening faces about the tables, of 
 curses and jeers and jests, with calls for wine, 
 and here and there a song ; mayhap a rollicking 
 drinking rhyme, mayhap a cradle hymn that 
 blossomed white on the fetid air and made the 
 hands of the players unsteady with fleeting 
 memories.
 
 356 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Larry, watching Lissa from the corner of his 
 eye, lost heavily, but the fates were with 
 Arthur, and he won again the necklace he had 
 lost to Beach, his mother s mother s necklace 
 which Ann would wear at her bridal to-morrow, 
 if so he lost it not again before the dawn. But 
 when the wine and the game began to make a 
 fever in the men s blood, Lissa climbed up into 
 her garret; and Tony, with his gun over his 
 knees, sat on the lowest round of the ladder and 
 smoked and smoked. 
 
 "Let her be, Sutley; let her be," he said, 
 when her father would have fetched her to fill 
 the tankards. " She ll not be down again to 
 night and come not so near my gun, man; it 
 might perchance go off, by accident, and there d 
 be blood-letting without a leech." 
 
 And there he sat, unmoved by either threats 
 or cajolery until the east was gray and the last 
 gamester had gone. Then, seeing Sutley nod 
 ding by the fire, and knowing it would be far 
 into the day before he roused, he went softly 
 out of the door, pushing the latch-string back 
 through its hole, lest some reveller return and 
 find entrance. 
 
 That night Ann Randal s wedding came off 
 with great feasting and dancing; and if there
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 357 
 
 were thorns among her bridal roses no one 
 guessed it, for her black eyes told no tales. 
 
 And while the feasting went on, Tony sat 
 with Lissa at one of Sutley s deserted tables, lit 
 by a tallow dip in an empty wine bottle, and won, 
 without cut of cards or throw of dice, the stake his 
 soul, under the show of carping indifference, had 
 long jealously coveted. The following morn 
 ing he appeared at Rivermead in his best clothes 
 and with a flower in his coat. Laurence thought 
 he had come to tell of the wedding; but he 
 scoffingly declared he had not been there. 
 
 "Think you I would go to Arthur Seton s 
 wedding? No. I have not forgotten the 
 devilish laugh with which he turned the dice 
 from the box and, leaning over the table, told 
 Sutley he had won Lissa. By the Devil s pitch 
 fork, but I was near to killing him ! Only the 
 girl herself saved him. Ah, but she was grand 
 as she got me about the neck with one arm and 
 pointed Seton out of the door with the other ! 
 Even Sutley was silenced." 
 
 "The killing would have been justified," 
 Laurence answered, for Judith was not present. 
 "All that is best in Lissa she owes to you and 
 the protection you have given her. " 
 
 A sudden moisture came to Tony s eyes: 
 "A girl with a father like that needs a hus-
 
 358 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 band who is never afraid. Laurence, I ve 
 come here to ask, for you should know, since 
 you are straight and handsome and women have 
 cared about you, do you think a young, light- 
 hearted thing like Lissa would would stand 
 any show for happiness with a fellow like me ? 
 
 "Tony!" 
 
 " Oh, I know I m near to twice her age she 
 was seventeen at Michaelmas and I m not 
 much as to money, and nothing at all to look 
 at with this Devil s mark on my forehead and 
 my crooked leg. But I d be good to her, 
 Laurence ; she knows it ; and there d be an end 
 of this life she leads at the gaming house. " 
 
 "You have told Lissa all this?" 
 
 "Yes; we talked it over yesterday afternoon 
 when she brought her sewing to my desk, and 
 again last night in her father s cabin. She 
 made faces at me at first and laughed, the 
 teasing jade ! but when she thought of how her 
 dad was always using her, beating her when my 
 back was turned or using her as a pawn at his 
 tables; and how, if she came to me there d be 
 no more blows and no more fine gentlemen to be 
 asking her, with courtly bows and smiles, to 
 enter the gates of perdition when she had 
 thought of all this, she said she was willing. " 
 
 In his waiting glance there was a pitiful
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 359 
 
 questioning ; his hands trembled and he wet his 
 dry lips with his tongue. Laurence looked at 
 him a long minute before speaking. 
 
 "You have thought, Tony, of how Lissa has 
 been raised?" 
 
 " Yes, seeing I ve done part of it myself. She 
 had no mother, only a drunken daddy who was 
 willing to sell her to the highest bidder for sake 
 of his own miserable comfort. A girl like that 
 has no chance to keep the tail of her gown 
 always out of the filth of the world ; but Lissa 
 has tried; and her heart is white. " 
 
 Laurence laid his hand on the other s shoul 
 der: "I believe Lissa has tried, and that in 
 spite of all the temptations that have beset her, 
 she has done her best, and lived better than 
 many of her censurers would have done under 
 like circumstances. But, Tony, a man s wife, 
 the mother of his children, should should 
 
 "Should be out of the reach of evil tongues. 
 Yes, I know; but I am not afraid, for I do not 
 limp in my fists," he said, significantly, lifting 
 one of his powerful hands with unmistakable 
 meaning. " Besides, I have not been any saint 
 myself though God knows I never destroyed 
 an innocent girl. I toe a pretty straight row 
 now, but it was not always so," he went on 
 eagerly, as if glad of the blots upon his life that
 
 360 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 by contrast Lissa might be the whiter. "I 
 got this scar on my forehead cheating at cards, 
 and my shoulder was shot to pieces in a fight 
 over a woman in a dance-room. Oh, Lissa is a 
 thousand times better than I, because not only 
 the outside world, but her own father was 
 against her, instead of standing up for her as 
 a father should." 
 
 "It would be a bad woman indeed, Tony, 
 who was not better than the man she married. " 
 
 "Then men have no business being so d n 
 choice !" 
 
 Laurence did not answer; where was the use 
 of arguing against a cruelty which, rooted deep 
 in the old-world injustice that might makes 
 right, has come to be a fixed law of society. 
 Begin where the reformer will, say what he 
 may, it always comes back to the fact that 
 woman must keep herself unspotted, yet be 
 content to wed with impurity. It is too stub 
 born a fact to compass with argument, too old 
 a wrong to combat with logic. 
 
 After a little silence Laurence said: "Does 
 Lissa fully realize the difference in your ages ?" 
 
 "Yes; I have deceived her in no way; I told 
 her my age, how much money I had, and the 
 history of every disgraceful mark and scar I
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 361 
 
 have on me. I did not wish her to be thinking 
 herself lower and worse than I !" 
 
 "And you think I do not mean to hurt you, 
 Tony but you think this marriage will hold 
 her; that she will not tire of it ?" 
 
 " She ll keep faith with me, I have no fear on 
 that score; and that is all I shall ask her, just 
 to be true and white. It isn t as if I hoped," 
 the yearning eyes and twitching lips gave the 
 lie to the words, "that she d ever love me 
 she s so young and pretty and straight ! But 
 if she will only let me love her and take care of 
 her, I ll try to be " he could not go on, the 
 love-hunger in his heart so fought down his 
 words. 
 
 " She ought to worship you, heaven knows !" 
 Laurence answered, thinking of the many times 
 Tony had stood between her and harm. But 
 Tony drew his hand over his scarred forehead, 
 and glanced down at his bent leg with a pathos 
 that was close to tears. 
 
 "It isn t likely," he said; then added, with 
 an envy that had long ached in his heart, 
 "Larry Herrick had not a mark on him, save 
 the one I gave him with my knife. " 
 
 " But his manhood has more blots on it than 
 yours. " 
 
 "It ought to be comforting to hear you say
 
 362 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 that; but it s the scars that show that offend 
 a woman." 
 
 "You have no sister, Tony?" 
 
 " No mother or sister to be hurt by this 
 marriage; and since Lissa is willing, it s no 
 body s cursed business." 
 
 "And you have come to me 
 
 " I have come to you because the preacher 
 from the Randal wedding will pass through the 
 settlement this afternoon. There was not any 
 use for me and Lissa to wait, since she has 
 made up her mind; so he ll marry us on the 
 warehouse steps this afternoon out in the open 
 air where everybody can see I take her fair and 
 square ; and I want you there with me. " 
 
 Laurence took his hand: "I will stand at 
 your right hand, Tony ; and w r oe to the man who 
 jeers you or your bride." 
 
 As the crumpled figure rode down the avenue, 
 the man behind took off his hat : " Blessed art 
 thou among women, Lissa Sutley, to have won 
 a heart like that ! Love ! what will it not do ; 
 what depths will it not sound, what heights will 
 it not reach, what of pain will it not endure, 
 what dangers will it not brave, what stains will 
 it not wipe away ! Condoning, atoning, sancti 
 fying, it keeps the world at poise, and makes 
 life worth the pain of death."
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 363 
 
 He went that afternoon to the settlement 
 accompanied by his mother, whom he had per 
 suaded to give this marriage the sanction and 
 countenance of her presence. He had feared 
 there would be some heartless talk; but not a 
 single voice was raised in disapproval or de 
 rision when, in the quiet afternoon light, the 
 queer little bridegroom and his lithe, beautiful 
 bride stood on the steps of the warehouse before 
 the minister and plighted each other the faith 
 which, when kept, blazes out the path to Para 
 dise. Some of those who watched the strange 
 ceremony may have been warned into silence 
 by the quiet, resolute face at the groom s right 
 shoulder; others may have remembered the 
 straight aim of Tony s gun; but many more 
 there w r ere who felt the far-reaching tenderness, 
 the sublime devotion, the infinite pathos of 
 both these lives, that robbed the ceremony of 
 all elements of sacrifice or selfishness, and made 
 it a sacrament worth the sanction of the angels 
 of God. 
 
 " If any man can show just cause why this 
 man and woman may not be joined in the holy 
 bonds of matrimony, let him speak now, or else 
 forever hereafter hold his peace." 
 
 Only Laurence saw the quiver of anxious 
 terror that shook the girl s slight body, and
 
 364 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 read in it her agony lest some voice from the 
 crowd should cry out her un worthiness. So 
 had he himself waited during that self-same 
 pause for some accusing voice to forbid his 
 troth ; he knew the very dread that quivered in 
 the girl s heart. But the faintest whisper of 
 Larry Herrick s name would have sent her to 
 her knees in shame. But now, as on that other 
 occasion, the silence was unbroken, and the 
 slanting sunlight fell in a tender effulgence on 
 the bowed heads of the oddly assorted couple. 
 " I pronounce you man and wife. " 
 And so it was, before the whole settlement 
 and with the winter wind piping the bridal 
 march, Tony Foster won his heart s hope, and 
 all of Lissa s trials ended. In at Tony s win 
 dows no leering eyes might look; across his 
 threshold no temptation, in silken hose and 
 doublet, might step. She had found the haven 
 of safety for which, in the silence of her heart, 
 she had long yearned; and she was content. 
 Only for Tony would she pour again the red 
 wine and kiss the bead from the glass ; only for 
 Tony would her light feet move enchantingly 
 to the low, sweet call of the reed whistle. 
 
 "Do you know," Tony said to Laurence, in 
 the after days of his marriage, and there was a 
 foolish, happy smile on his crooked face, "do
 
 Tony Wins His Heart s Desire 365 
 
 you know that girl o mine loves me, actually 
 loves me ? Oh, she strikes out now and then 
 with her tongue and her fists, strikes good and 
 hard. But the smile of her when her temper s 
 done ! And the voice of her when she puts up 
 her red mouth and says: Come, Tony dear, 
 let us kiss and make friends. 
 
 " And yet there was a time when you thankee 
 heaven you were not married, and pitied me 
 that I was, " was the teasing answer. 
 
 "Well, a man may change his mind." 
 
 " I thought you set that down as a woman s 
 weakness never knowing her mind for long 
 at a time?" 
 
 " Tis a trick I ve learned from Lissa, " Tony 
 answered, with a twinkle in his eye. " She has 
 twenty minds a day for laughter, for tears, 
 for kisses, for frowns, for staying at home, for 
 going abroad. Oh, I ve said it before, and I 
 say it again, that for changeableness woman was 
 made of cross-cut clay that was wet with an 
 April shower and dried in an April sun !"
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE COIN OF THE REALM OF HEARTS. 
 
 " For love at first is but a dreamy thing, 
 That slyly nestles in the human heart." 
 
 AMELIA WELBY. 
 
 " "pHERE is but one thing to do," said 
 Laurence, when the message to the 
 Albemarle settlement remained unanswered 
 and there were but three weeks left before the 
 assizes ; " I must myself go and hunt Seth Perry 
 and bring him back as a witness." 
 
 And so he and Powhatan started away down 
 the twisting bridle paths and blazed wagon 
 tracks that were the only connecting links be 
 tween the early settlements when no river 
 flowed from one to the other. Seventy-five 
 miles must he go before he reached the point on 
 the Roanoke where the Perrys had located, and 
 he had plenty of time to think as he rode through 
 the winter forests with his Indian guides. 
 Two nights they camped in the woods with only 
 the sky for a covering; and two they found 
 shelter with some trappers. The fifth they saw 
 366
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 367 
 
 the lights in the Perry settlement. But it was 
 a bootless errand, for Seth Perry had been long 
 dead, and his sons knew nothing of the matter 
 in hand. So after a two day s rest for the horses 
 Laurence started home again. It was a wild 
 return journey, for snow fell in blinding swirls 
 all of the second day, bleaching the forests 
 to a ghostly whiteness, blotting out the narrow 
 paths ahead of them. Only the instincts of 
 the two Indians held them to their course. 
 Before night they were forced to stop, impelled 
 by the wind and the drifting storm. Under the 
 lee of a cliff they built their fires, and watched 
 by turns through the long night, the light from 
 the blazing logs making a nebulous circle in the 
 dark. Strange thoughts came to Laurence as 
 he sat with his back to a tree and his gun over 
 his knees and watched the fire and the tethered 
 horses and the sleeping Indians. Overhead the 
 storm-tortured branches moaned and creaked 
 and now and then from the outer darkness two 
 balls of fire were turned on him, gleaming, 
 malignant, as some four-footed prowler of the 
 night drew near to scent how much of danger 
 would lie in a closer inspection of this strange 
 phenomenon. Weird enough the shining eyes 
 looked in the blackness, with no visible body 
 behind them; and Laurence shivered involun-
 
 368 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 tarily as the long, wordless cries of terror or 
 warning quavered down the wind. How did 
 men live alone in the vast wildernesses about 
 him? He was not a coward, but he would go 
 mad with no companionship but those disem 
 bodied eyes through the pitiless blackness of 
 such nights as this. Almost for the first time 
 in his life the direct thought of death came to 
 him. Suppose he should perish there in the 
 endless forest, would Judith grieve for him? 
 He was not going to die, he knew; but if he 
 should, would her heart soften toward him, 
 knowing that in all save that one thing he had 
 been true ? 
 
 "I cannot be sorry I married her, I cannot; 
 even if she is not happy. Arthur Seton would 
 have broken her heart in another and a more 
 terrible way, " he said, his hand running down 
 the long, lean barrel of his gun. Men seldom 
 understand that to some women a death stroke 
 from a beloved hand is better than a life- 
 service of one unloved. 
 
 The next day they made slow progress, for 
 the storm still held; and the snow had so ob 
 literated all tracks and traces that even the 
 woodcraft of the Indians was taxed to keep the 
 right road. Impatiently Laurence looked 
 ahead of him through the white forest, his heart
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 369 
 
 on fire to see Judith, to hear what manner of 
 greeting she would give him after these days 
 of absence. The thought of what might have 
 been but for Arthur Seton s return tortured 
 him, so that his guides wondered at the fierce 
 light in his eyes. In all, the home journey took 
 some eight days, for one cf the horses fell lame 
 on the ice, and they moved at a snail s pace. 
 But at last the chimneys of Rivermead came 
 to view, and Laurence felt his pulse quicken 
 with something nearer to hope than had stirred 
 him in many weeks. 
 
 To Judith something had been awry since the 
 day of his going. At first she did not realize 
 what it was that made the days so long; then 
 it came to her that it was missing him from 
 about the house and from the table. She 
 seemed always waiting for something, listening, 
 even while she sewed; and she found hersell 
 impatient at the sound of the dinner-bell be 
 cause of the sight of his empty chair. A hun 
 dred ways she missed his care, seeing, for the 
 first time, how all their comfort emanated from 
 him. Often she looked out at the snow with 
 a dim resentment, wondering how a wanderer in 
 the pathless forest might fare in such a storm. 
 She did not haunt the porch like his mother, 
 but she moved her sewing chair so that the
 
 370 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 avenue was in plain view through the low win 
 dow; and each night she said to herself: "He 
 will surely come to-morrow." 
 
 And yet when he did come at last, she stood 
 behind his mother in the hall and gave him 
 only her hand for greeting; and with a sudden 
 chill at his heart, he did not offer to kiss her. 
 
 "It was a fruitless errand," he said, as they 
 gathered about the fire, and he told of his 
 journey. 
 
 "So the money must be raised?" his mother 
 asked, a sharp note in her voice. 
 
 "Yes; a thousand pounds cash is a goodly 
 sum. It will take much pinching and saving 
 to pay the mortgage back, but you two help 
 me greatly by your cheerful courage. " 
 
 "Why should we not help you? You are in 
 no way to blame for this matter, " Judith said, 
 as she threaded her needle. She had noticed 
 the difference between the greeting he gave his 
 mother and that he gave her, and had set it 
 down to his growing coldness. Feeling her 
 heart like a stone for him in those last Novem 
 ber days, she had wished that he might care 
 less for her, not wanting him to suffer because 
 of his kindness to her father ; and now the wish 
 was coming true, for day by day she felt the 
 distance grow between them, felt it with a
 
 The Coin of the Realm of Hearts " 371 
 
 sense of startled bewilderment. And so she 
 was surprised when, during the talk of his 
 journey, he drew his chair beside hers and laid 
 his hand on her shoulder. She did not move 
 away, but somehow she could not go on with 
 her sewing with his hand thus, and she sat 
 looking into the fire while he told of the storm 
 in the forest. Suppose that out there in that 
 desolate whiteness something terrible had 
 happened suppose he had not come back at 
 all? She turned quickly to her work, setting 
 her stitches with exaggerated precision. 
 
 "You are glad to see me, Judith?" he asked 
 
 presently, smiling wistfully at her averted eyes. 
 
 "Why should you doubt it? Cousin Janet 
 
 has sighed twenty times a day for your return. " 
 
 "But you?" 
 
 "I too have missed you much." 
 With that he was forced to be content, since 
 she was so undemonstrative, and he too sore 
 from many repulses to ask for more. He had 
 schooled himself to wait for some sign from her, 
 some token of forgiveness, or reviving gentle 
 ness; it was a bitterness unspeakable always 
 to have his heart thrust back upon itself. She 
 had missed him. But there were two ways of 
 missing a man, he thought, irritably; yet he
 
 372 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 counted it something that she did not shake 
 off his touch from her shoulder. 
 
 The next day he set himself to a last search 
 for the missing receipt. Once more did he and 
 Judith untie every package of yellowing papers 
 and read the titles and contents. He even took 
 his father s desk to pieces, hoping to find some 
 secret drawer; bnt his labour was for nothing, 
 for there was no such compartment. 
 
 Tis on your account chiefly that I am loth 
 to pay this money back," he said, as he and 
 Judith stood looking at the dismantled desk. 
 " I shall, of course, keep the house free from 
 any lien, that you and mother may be safe 
 should anything befall me; but we shall have 
 to practise many economies to piece out the 
 mortgage on the lower plantation; and it 
 grieves me greatly that any privation should 
 come to you. " 
 
 "There is no occasion to worry on my ac 
 count," she answered. "I shall doubtless feel 
 no inconvenience whatsoever. My wants are 
 few. " 
 
 "All too few. I would you were extrava 
 gant, wasteful; for then would I, through your 
 tastes, have some claim on your heart." 
 
 " You have already a claim on my heart. " 
 
 "Yes, truly; but tis not honoured much in
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 373 
 
 the draft. I mean you might then love me." 
 
 "And do I not love you now?" Uncon 
 sciously she copied into her voice the same level 
 tone of self-control that had come to mark his. 
 
 " Not as I wish ; not as you might have done, 
 but for this miserable trouble I made between 
 us." 
 
 She turned away ; she herself never mentioned 
 the thing that had separated them, and she 
 had come to dread his allusion to it, for always 
 there came about his mouth those hard lines that 
 she disliked, knowing they meant anger and 
 harshness. She had never understood that the 
 anger was for Arthur Seton, and not for her. 
 So the gulf between them always gaped the 
 wider after such an allusion. 
 
 The middle of March the trial fell. Laurence 
 came back from Williamsburg the third day 
 and brought the verdict ; Amos had won, of 
 course, and the money was ordered paid at once. 
 
 " I have made arrangements to borrow half 
 the sum, though at a ruinous rate of usury," 
 he said. "Money is scarce and hard to get 
 because of the political troubles in England. 
 The money-lenders are afraid, not knowing 
 which party will win and how they themselves 
 will be left. Here in the Colonies the prospect 
 for tobacco is not favourable, and land is a drug
 
 374 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 in the market with all the wilderness about us. 
 I can think of but one way to raise the other 
 five hundred pounds." He spoke slowly, and 
 looked apprehensively at his mother. 
 
 "And that is ?" 
 
 " To have a sale of part of our furniture and 
 plate " 
 
 " Laurence ! A sale of our effects !" 
 
 "We have over much for our own use," he 
 explained, hastily, "and these Cavalier gentle 
 men who have recently come to the country, 
 were in such haste and straits to be out of 
 England that they came empty-handed, and 
 will be glad to buy of our surplus. The silver 
 tankards you get out only for birthdays and 
 parties should bring at least fifty pounds by 
 themselves, to say nothing of the waiters and 
 pitchers, and all the extra furniture in the 
 garret and the chests of unused linen." 
 
 Mistress Falkner s hands fell in her lap. The 
 stoicism of years was swept away in a rush 
 of outraged pride. Have a sale in her 
 house ! Have the neighbours and common 
 folk turning over and bidding on her belong 
 ings things that were hallowed by years of 
 memories and associations ! The thought was 
 like fire to a burn ; and her indignation was not 
 lessened by the knowledge that Arthur Seton,
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 375 
 
 through Ann, would be the gainer from this 
 sacrilege; for sacrilege it seemed to have the 
 public appraiser cry out goods to be bid upon 
 or jeered at. 
 
 But the Spartan in her responded to the call 
 she presently made upon it ; and finally she set 
 herself to sort out and set aside the things with 
 which she could best abide to part. 
 
 "The neighbours are talking mightily," 
 Tony Foster said one morning when he came 
 to see Laurence on business, and stopped to 
 have a glass of wine in the hall. 
 
 "And what are they saying?" asked Mistress 
 Falkner, with tightening lips. 
 
 "Oh, only picking out, in their minds, what 
 they mean to buy. Harry Beach will have 
 the candelabra from the library and the pictures 
 from the dining-room, for he considers them in 
 the finest taste. " 
 
 "He might have waited until the day of the 
 sale," said the lady, bitterly. 
 
 "And Ann Randal I always do forget to 
 say Ann Seton declares that in all Virginia 
 there is not a sewing chair or table that suits 
 her like Mistress Judith s, and that she shall 
 bid them in at any cost." 
 
 "They are not for sale, " Laurence cried, and
 
 376 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Judith saw the angry red that crept up under 
 the tan of his cheek. 
 
 "Oh, she stops not with these things; but 
 means to have the spinet and the cheval glass 
 from over my lady s dresser, and 
 
 But Laurence silenced him abruptly. Ann 
 knew how to wound deepest ; no man would 
 have shot a dart like that ; it took a woman s 
 keener intuition and cruelty. 
 
 " Nothing, not the very smallest article that 
 belongs to my wife will be offered for sale tell 
 the whole settlement so," he said, curtly. 
 
 After that day Mistress Falkner s task was 
 harder than ever. She heard in fancy the bids 
 on every article selected for sale, and under 
 this pressure she often grew so agitated that 
 she could not count the spoons or sort the linen. 
 Nor could she bear that anyone should witness 
 her grief; so she declined even Judith s assist 
 ance, and went alone to her task each day. 
 
 "Busy yourself upstairs; I am best by my 
 self," she said. 
 
 "I would I had had a dower to help you," 
 Judith said to Laurence, as she passed him in 
 the hall. 
 
 "You were fortune enough in yourself," he 
 answered, with that gallantry which despite
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts"" 377 
 
 his new reserve never failed him in his manner 
 to her. 
 
 Banished from aiding her cousin, she had 
 taken a fancy to fit up her father s room as 
 a sewing apartment, and busied herself with 
 the fresh curtains and homespun carpet from 
 the plantation looms. She had set the pattern 
 for the carpet, and had an especial pride in it. 
 
 "Cousin," she said one morning, "I have 
 been rummaging among the things you sent 
 back to the attic after your selection, and I find 
 among them a chair that pleases my fancy. 
 If there is no objection, I would like it for my 
 new room." 
 
 "Certainly; but tis good for naught. We 
 brought it from England, and it was long my 
 husband s favourite seat. It stood by his bed 
 until after his death, although it was even then 
 an eyesore for shabbiness. I only permitted 
 it because he was so set on having it in sight. " 
 
 Judith s desire to have the chair was imme 
 diately increased. Since it came from Eng 
 land it had perchance been at Cotslea and was 
 therefore doubly precious. 
 
 " I will re-cover it with a piece left from my 
 curtains, and you will see it is no longer shabby," 
 she said. And so the things were fetched from
 
 378 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the garret and, with an apron pinned over her 
 dress, she set to work on her repairs. 
 
 The chair was an odd one, with cushioned 
 back and broad stuffed arms and slanting 
 spindle legs, which latter gave it an air of stolid 
 solidity. She sat clipping away the worn-out 
 cover and thinking sadly of the trouble that 
 had come upon the household, for the sound 
 of moving furniture and rattling silver came 
 up to her through the open door. She was 
 sorry for her husband and cousin, but for herself 
 she did not so much mind; it seemed some 
 thing apart from her. The padding fell away 
 under her clipping, leaving the chair arms bare, 
 like two long narrow boxes. How many elbows 
 had leaned there since they were first fashioned, 
 how many little hands had perchance reached 
 up to them for support ! Thinking thus ab 
 sently, she sat thrusting her scissors into a crev 
 ice in the left arm where the top board had not 
 been tacked securely down. In her abstrac 
 tion she pressed harder than she knew, for sud 
 denly the scissors slipped and disappeared 
 within the crevice, evidently falling to the 
 bottom of the box-like recess. There was a 
 sharp clicking sound as of metal striking metal. 
 Instantly her revery was broken ; she could not 
 spare the scissors from her work-basket ; and so
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 379 
 
 fetching a poker from the hearth she thrust the 
 sharp end into the tiny crevice and pried off 
 the top board. It came off easily, being evi 
 dently lightly fastened ; and dropping the poker 
 she bent over and thrust in her hand to draw 
 out her scissors; but stopped suddenly, her 
 heart thumping at her side, her eyes dilating. 
 Then springing up, she fled down the hall and 
 stair, calling out at the top of her voice : 
 
 " Laurence, Laurence ! Cousin Janet ! 
 Come, both of you. I have found it, I have 
 found it !" 
 
 They came hastily in answer to her call, but 
 all she said in reply t their questions was: 
 "Come quickly and see. " And full of wonder 
 they followed her back to the room she had 
 quitted. 
 
 " Look, " she cried, drawing them to the chair 
 and pointing to the hollow in the arm. And 
 there, on a bit of cloth, making a yellow shine 
 in the darkened niche, lay a pile of gold. 
 
 Old Charles Falkner s hidden treasure was 
 found. 
 
 No more need his restless spirit come back on 
 the wind to seek it ; no more need his stick go 
 tapping along the hall in that vain quest. 
 What he had so carefully hidden, even from
 
 380 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 himself, another had discovered in a moment 
 of idle dreaming. 
 
 Putting in his hand, Laurence lifted out the 
 cloth and poured the glittering heap into 
 Judith s apron. At the bottom were several 
 papers, all labelled; one bore the words: 
 "Receipt from James Randal, 16 ." He held it 
 out to his mother, his hand shaking so that she 
 had to steady it with her own upon his wrist 
 ere she could read the words. In a silence 
 more eloquent than a thousand tongues could 
 have been, the three stood looking at each 
 other, the same comprehension and relief in 
 each face. Then swiftly Mistress Falkner 
 turned and quitted the room, and her voice, 
 with a note of exultation in it, shrilled through 
 the house : 
 
 "William, Harriet, cease your preparations; 
 move the furniture back to its old places. 
 There will be no sale here next week or ever !" 
 
 In the room above, Laurence lifted Judith s 
 hand to his lips; "We owe you much grati 
 tude, my mother and I." 
 
 Gratitude? That was a strange word from 
 a husband to a wife. He and his mother? 
 She drew her hand sharply away. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," he said, and turned to 
 the window.
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 381 
 
 Presently she touched him on the arm: 
 "The gold?" she said, holding up her apron. 
 
 "It is yours to do with as you like to buy 
 silks, jewels, gew-gaws, anything you fancy. 
 The more extravagantly you spend it, the 
 better I shall be pleased." But she shook 
 her head. "Can you not let me give you this? 
 I robbed you of everything else." 
 
 Under her eyelids were tears through which 
 the trees outside waved in a gray mist that 
 sheened to silver. But he did not see, for he 
 was looking at the finger where she had ceased 
 to wear his wedding ring. 
 
 "Gold is not the coin of the realm of hearts," 
 she said, and went quickly to meet Mistress 
 Falkner, winking away the tears unseen. How 
 dared he think that gold could fill her empty 
 heart ! That jewels and silks could content 
 her for her loneliness ! And he, watching her, 
 told himself bitterly that he had been a fool to 
 think that anything could outweigh the memory 
 of her old love or her own righteous anger. 
 The gentlest \vomen are often the cruelest 
 when once aroused. 
 
 Mistress Falkner was on her knees before 
 the old chair: "Strange we never guessed 
 there was some mystery about it," she said, 
 touching the faded cover. "Charles so per-
 
 382 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 sistently kept it near him during that last 
 year; moving it from the far end of the hall 
 yonder to his bed-head every night, and back 
 again in the morning. And we who saw this 
 never suspected anything; and Judith here, 
 who knew naught of his habits, has saved us all 
 with her little prying scissors !" 
 
 "I have been telling her of the good grati 
 tude we owe her." 
 
 The older woman laughed and, with a most 
 unusual demonstration, took the younger one 
 close in her arms and kissed her twice. 
 
 "This is the only proper way to speak out 
 gratitude." 
 
 For a minute Judith clung to her, glad of 
 the unaccustomed tenderness, so great was 
 the isolation of her life. As she turned from 
 the embrace her eyes met Laurence s and the 
 colour flashed into each face. He had spoken 
 his thanks with a touch to her hand. 
 
 That night when he went to his room he 
 found the gold, tied in its cloth, lying on his 
 table. Disappointment that she had refused 
 it was forgotten in the quick-rushing knowl 
 edge that she had been once more in his room, 
 had stood there beside the table, mayhap had 
 sat a moment in his chair. Ah, God, if he 
 could only have come and found her ! She
 
 " The Coin of the Realm of Hearts" 383 
 
 should never have gone away; he would have 
 held her against his own resolution, against 
 herself. Was he not her husband? and were 
 not the words of the service, the beautiful vow 
 of his marriage "to have and to hold, to love 
 and cherish until death? " Speak his grati 
 tude in kisses ! yes, until there was no coldness 
 left in her face, until the fire in his heart had 
 kindled an answering flame in hers. She was 
 right: gold was not the coin of the realm of 
 hearts. It was love, love, love !
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE LAST CAST OF THE SHUTTLE. 
 
 " O happy weaver, thy task is sped, 
 And fair and true is the pattern spread; 
 And the last bright thread that s woven in 
 Is a thread of love, and not of sin." 
 
 -K. 
 
 XT EXT after his Excellency, Harry Beach 
 was the first one to give Laurence 
 joy of his discovery, coming all the way to 
 Rivermead to say how glad he was not 
 to have a chance to bid on the candelabra and 
 pictures. Even Amos shook hands warmly, 
 renewing the friendship of a lifetime. But 
 from Ann there came no sign of pleasure or 
 disappointment. Arthur was constantly at 
 Sutley s, and rumour was already whispering 
 that he was making her drink the cup of bit 
 terness; but her black eyes looked defiantly 
 at the world, and her red lips laughed down 
 the unspoken pity of friends. She had plotted 
 and waited long for a draught of love s bright 
 wine, and if there were lees in the cup, she 
 made no sign. 
 
 384
 
 The Last Cast of the Shuttle 385 
 
 "But for the tongue of her, she d make as 
 fine a man as ever trod shoe leather," Tony 
 said, with grudging admiration. "Her heart 
 is not a pudgy mud-pie and there isn t a whim 
 per in her. Not a gambler at Sutley s wins 
 or loses his game with more courage. But 
 the tongue is all woman sharp, and as easy- 
 running as a water-wheel at flood time." 
 
 Upon Rivermead there came again the old 
 quiet, unruffled by the harassments of debt. 
 La,ureiice s brow lost its frown, and Mistress 
 Falkner s thoughts were no longer absorbed 
 by a dreary vision of her plate and furnishings 
 in her neighbours cupboards and closets. And 
 the dead, too, seemed satisfied; for after that 
 spring never again was heard the mysterious 
 tapping along the upper hall. The servants 
 whispered among themselves that Charles 
 Falkner was content, since his gold was found, 
 and that his soul had gone to rest at last. But 
 Laurence knew that a loose lath, long unnoticed 
 over the outer door, had been nailed in place, 
 so that the wind, coming down from the west, 
 might no longer make sport of it as of a thing 
 uncanny. 
 
 Nor was the only change that came to River- 
 mead confined to the house. Day by day the 
 gardens and fields and forests underwent a
 
 386 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 subtle transfiguration as the spring unfolded 
 its wonders. The March wind, like a rough 
 lover, won the crocus from the sod, and teased 
 and tossed the willows until they hung out 
 their catkins to his fierce caress; brown leaves 
 were skurried aside that the violet roots, deep 
 in the mould, might feel the sun-warmth; 
 bluebirds came flitting back singly or in pairs; 
 and the great heart of the woods awakened to 
 the passionate call that reached it through the 
 shadow and shine of the weaving hours. With 
 the advent of April the willows lost their golden 
 gleams, and stood over the brooks like trans 
 fixed showers of emerald rain; the wild violet 
 beds might have filched their colour from the 
 sky; and up in the tall tree tops there was a 
 ceaseless whispering, as if the young leaves 
 were gossiping with each other over their own 
 growth or the stories the fickle wind or hurrying 
 raindrops brought from far countries or high, 
 white clouds. 
 
 So happy was Mistress Falkner in escaping 
 the humiliation of the sale, that she quite 
 forgot her secret resentment against Judith for 
 Laurence s sad face. After the two women 
 had kissed each other beside the dismantled 
 chair of the dead master a new bond was be 
 tween them, a confidence that drew them so
 
 The Last Cast of the Shuttle 387 
 
 close together that Laurence often felt him 
 self in the way, shut out and deserted; and a 
 queer jealousy took possession of him. So 
 aloof did he hold himself that there came upon 
 Judith a vague fear that she had lost him al 
 together. Always was he considerate, always 
 he thanked her for any slight service rendered 
 him, but it was the thanks of a courteous ac 
 quaintance rather than of a husband or a 
 lover. Sometimes when she was sure he was 
 not in the house, she slipped into his room and 
 sitting by his table went over in her mind all 
 his kindness and affection, and strove again to 
 see from his standpoint that terrible tempta 
 tion and the yielding that had followed it. 
 There was where she always faltered in her 
 thoughts of him if only he had not wedded 
 her unfairly ! She saw clearly the difference 
 between him and Arthur Seton; the broad 
 manhood of the one, the careless selfishness 
 of the other. Only that one ignoble action 
 gibed at her in her efforts at justification. 
 Once she dropped a ribbon from her hair onto 
 his floor, and he found it and pinned it on his 
 coat, and came into the library with his face 
 like a new dawn, an eager question on his lips. 
 But with a sudden perverseness she refused to 
 meet his eyes, and answered indifferently that
 
 388 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Cousin Janet had sent her to his room to see 
 that the maid had dusted properly; and with 
 something nearer an oath than she had ever 
 heard him utter, he threw the ribbon into the 
 fire, and went out without another word, about 
 his mouth those hard lines she hated. That 
 night, for the first time in many weeks, she 
 cried herself to sleep. 
 
 That was the last effort, if effort it might 
 be called, he made at reconciliation; but day 
 by day her thoughts were going out to him 
 with greater reach of tenderness. It could not 
 be otherwise with the nobility of his character 
 always before her. Unconsciously she listened 
 for his step as he came and went about the 
 house, and if he passed her door her pulses 
 were in a flutter. Never, since that night 
 when she had shut the door in his face, had 
 he asked admission or so much as turned his 
 head to look in as he passed. But she always 
 heard him, always felt his presence; and it was 
 of him she dreamed as, from her windows, she 
 watched the changing face of the April world. 
 
 A mood like this was on her one afternoon 
 as she sat stitching in her sewing room. She 
 had sent the seamstress away because the 
 woman s presence jarred on her. She wanted 
 no one to speak to her, no one near her. Lau-
 
 rence had been ailing for several days, and 
 she had been only as far as his door to ask 
 after him. To-day he had come out to dinner, 
 and the image of him, with the traces of suffer 
 ing on his face, came to her now, nettling her 
 with self-reproach, so that at last she put aside 
 her sewing and looked about for a book to 
 take away her thoughts. In the table drawer 
 she found her father s old diary, and turning 
 the leaves at first carelessly, she soon became 
 interested in the contents. It seemed almost 
 like being with him to go over his daily plans 
 and actions. She had often meant to look 
 the book over, but for some reason had never 
 done so. Here was the last entry at Cotslea, 
 a solemn lamentation over leaving the home 
 nest; she had not known before how his heart 
 had ached at severing the old ties. These 
 leaves that followed contained the history of 
 their voyage, comments on their fellow exiles, 
 a disparaging appraisement of Arthur Seton; 
 and here was the first page dated at River- 
 mead. 
 
 Here was a protest against his daughter s 
 preference for Arthur Seton, a protest full of 
 regret and anger; and a dim foreshadowing 
 of what he had hoped for her and Laurence. 
 Still other pages were filled with the same
 
 390 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 plaint ; and then under a June date were the 
 words: "Thanks be to heaven Seton is gone 
 back to England. May the sharks devour him 
 or the Roundheads roast him ere he return to 
 claim my Judy s promise." 
 
 Further on what a glowing tribute was paid 
 to Laurence, to his generosity, his nobility in 
 all things. For the first time Judith learned 
 how dependent they had been upon her cousin s 
 bounty, and how joyfully and generously he 
 had assumed the burden. Her eyes filled as 
 she read. 
 
 Turning several pages at a time, she skimmed 
 through the news of her brother s death and 
 Arthur s sudden killing, and the long wail over 
 her heart-broken grief. How angry it made 
 him to see her sad for Seton, with Laurence 
 waiting for a kind word. There were some 
 characteristic imprecations on the blindness of 
 women in general and his daughter in par 
 ticular that made her smile, so life-like did 
 they sound. 
 
 On this page was a note of the burning of 
 Cotslea, and over here a perfect Te Deum of 
 praise for her betrothal to Laurence. A 
 dozen more pages of uninteresting entries, and 
 then her hand trembled, for under a late date 
 of the past May she read :
 
 "It hath come upon us like a thunderstroke 
 that Arthur Seton be not dead. To-day Lau 
 rence had a letter from him, written from an 
 Irish prison. Methought my poor boy would 
 go out of his senses with grief at the thought 
 of losing Judith, and his marriage but two 
 days off. Nevertheless he was all for telling 
 her despite my entreaty. I told him 
 
 Breathlessly she turned the page and read 
 through all the argument the two men had 
 that day together. How Laurence held out 
 for revealing all, and how at last Sir Thomas 
 left him in anger, and meeting his daughter on 
 the stair had made one last effort to stay the 
 disastrous misfortune by strictly charging her 
 that in no wise was she to let Laurence talk to 
 her of the cause of his worriment. 
 
 Sitting there alone in the April afternoon, 
 Judith recalled his injunction and how she 
 had carried it out. "I will none of your 
 secret," she had said, with her finger on her 
 cousin s pale lips. "Let us talk instead of our 
 marriage." Was ever plea more subtly made 
 against a man s resolution? Something about 
 her heart tightened and loosened again as 
 she read the old man s delight that Laurence 
 had, after all, held his peace ; and his culminat 
 ing joy over her wedding. Every detail of
 
 392 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 that ceremony was set down, even to the inci 
 dent with Ann Randal and his suspicion as to 
 what she knew. 
 
 Judith finished the whole in a breathless 
 eagerness; then sat quite still, gazing out of 
 the window at the flickering green of the sway 
 ing branches with a new happiness in her eyes. 
 After all, then, her husband had not been to 
 blame. It was he who had meant and tried to 
 do the honest thing; and she and her father 
 had tempted him beyond his strength. Upon 
 them was the blame, not upon him; he had 
 striven to be true, and they would not let him. 
 All this while she had condemned him, scorned 
 him for a weakness that fringed upon a crime ; 
 and now it was she who must ask his pardon. 
 Often she had thought of those last fancies of 
 her father, but Cousin Janet had insisted again 
 and again that he knew nothing, that it was 
 but the fever; even after the knowledge of 
 Ann s hidden letter she had held to this, and 
 Judith, unable to think her father capable of 
 deceiving her, had accepted the theory. Now 
 she wondered at her own simplicity in not more 
 accurately reading the enigma. She and Cousin 
 Janet had both been blind. 
 
 In a feverish impatience to right her share 
 in the wrong of tempting Laurence and make
 
 The Last Cast of the Shuttle 393 
 
 atonement therefor, she hurried downstairs, 
 carrying the book with her. Laurence s for 
 mality and reserve were alike forgotten; she 
 remember only that she had wronged him in 
 her judgment. Powhatan was stamping at 
 the side rack, so she knew his master was 
 somewhere within. Mistress Falkner called 
 to her from the dining-room, but she only shook 
 her head and passed on, looking into the 
 library and, with a shy timidity, through her 
 husband s open door. He had gone to the 
 boat-house, William told her presently; and 
 without waiting for hat or gloves, with only 
 a blue throat-scarf over her head, she hurried 
 down the avenue. He sat on the bench beside 
 the water, patiently untangling a fishing line. 
 At his feet Snap lay in the sun, his eyes turned 
 upward in that animal devotion that never 
 fails, though human hearts grow cold. On 
 the bench beside him was a bunch of violets 
 and cowslips, gathered, she knew, for her. 
 Far off, near the horizon, a great white cloud- 
 ship, rigged with jutting spars and sails, floated 
 in the limitless ocean of azure; and down be 
 low, with sheen of silver and shine of jewel, the 
 river ran between its emerald banks singing of 
 the sea. As by some subtle searing process, 
 every detail of the scene was etched upon
 
 394 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 Judith s consciousness, though she paused only 
 long enough to see that Laurence s strong 
 shoulders had a slight droop in them, and 
 that he was pale and serious. She was smit 
 ten afresh \vith contrition to think she had 
 left him all these days to his mother, doing 
 nothing for his comfort or easement. 
 
 He looked up at sound of her step, and 
 dropped the tangled thread, there was such 
 tumult of timidity and eagerness in her face. 
 
 "Judith! What is it?" 
 
 "Laurie, Laurie, I know everything every 
 thing !" 
 
 "Know everything? I do not 
 
 "Yes; oh, if you had only told me before! 
 Read this read it all," she cried, dropping to 
 the bench beside him and spreading the open 
 book upon his knees. 
 
 He would have spoken, but she repeated her 
 injunction imperiously; so with her shoulder 
 against his, thrilling him with a delirious joy, 
 storming his heart with a fierce temptation, his 
 eyes followed her finger as it travelled from 
 line to line until the pages that told of the 
 letter, the long argument and their final mar 
 riage had been read. At the end she lifted 
 her eyes to his in a mute appeal. 
 
 "There is nothing here that is new to me
 
 395 
 
 save his injunction to you not to question me 
 or let me talk of my trouble. I did not know 
 of that, but the rest happened just as he has 
 written it," he said. 
 
 "And you never told me father knew that 
 he counselled you not to tell me ! " 
 
 He shook his head. 
 
 "Why? you must have known how much 
 weight it would carry with me." 
 
 "For three reasons: First, because I was 
 a man and should have had a man s strength 
 to choose for myself between the right and 
 the wrong. In the second place, I knew 
 nothing of this diary my uncorroborated 
 word might have had no value with you." 
 
 "Laurie !" 
 
 "There was already one deception between 
 us, so I had no claim upon your confidence. 
 You refused to accept my assurance that on 
 my soul I believed Arthur Seton to be dead," 
 he reminded her. She bit her lip, remember 
 ing how she had doubted him and brooded 
 over it. 
 
 "And the third reason ?" she asked presently. 
 
 "Sir Thomas could not defend himself." 
 
 "And you nobly assumed all the blame rather 
 than thrust any part of it upon the dead ?" 
 
 "Nay," he answered quickly; "to me fell
 
 396 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 the joy of the deception the unspeakable 
 happiness of possessing you even for a while ; 
 to me, too, should fall the punishment. That 
 was but even-handed justice." He was looking 
 at her with an expression she had never seen 
 before; but he made no effort to so much as 
 take her hand, into which she had gathered 
 the dandelions and violets from the bench. 
 He closed the diary and laid it aside; a bird 
 in the river reeds piped a few clear notes; up 
 above, the cloud-ship unfurled another sail 
 and moved with greater speed toward two 
 islands of light beside the shining strand lying 
 low down in the west under the setting sun. 
 
 "I often thought of father s strange fancy, 
 but it did not seem possible that he, too, would 
 deceive me. I never thought of the injustice 
 I was doing you." 
 
 He did not answer, but laid his hand on 
 Snap s head as it rested against his knee. She 
 crushed the blossoms in her own grasp. 
 
 "I I do most heartily repent me, Laurence, 
 of my share in leading you into this tempta 
 tion." 
 
 "You have no cause for repentance. What 
 you did was in ignorance, and at your father s 
 request."
 
 The Last Cast of the Shuttle 397 
 
 Again her shoulder touched his, a thousand 
 desires were clamouring in his heart, making 
 a leaping madness in his blood; but with a 
 supreme effort he put them by. Her re 
 pentance for an imaginary fault was not enough ; 
 only in love would he take her. 
 
 "And I am sorry, too, for these long months 
 of estrangement between us. Can you can 
 you forgive me?" 
 
 "Hush!" he answered quickly. "You have 
 no need to ask forgiveness. The fault was 
 mine alone ; you but held to what you felt was 
 true and right; and that is principle." 
 
 "But I wounded you so." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I was so harsh in my anger." 
 
 "True; but your anger against me was just, 
 since I fraudulently took you from the man 
 you loved." 
 
 He had remembered her angry words. How 
 cruel they sounded now, and how they must 
 have stabbed and hurt him. She hesitated; 
 all his aloofness, his silent reserve rushed over 
 her. He seemed immeasurably far away 
 sitting there beside her in the quiet evening 
 light. But she had done with estrangements, 
 done with the cloying loneliness that stifled
 
 398 The Wooing of Judith 
 
 her. Her trembling hands spilled the flowers 
 she had crushed. 
 
 "Listen, Laurie; I never thought to say it, 
 but I am glad you took me from him; glad 
 things turned just as they are 
 
 "Judith, beloved !" his arms were about her. 
 "Say not another word unless you mean it all !" 
 
 "I do mean it; for now I know how good 
 and true you are, and all my heart is yours. 
 And O, my husband, you must love me again, 
 because because 
 
 And then close against his heart, with his 
 lips upon her cheek, she told him all that had 
 drawn her heart to him and made the future 
 without his love impossible. 
 
 And as they whispered thus, hand folded in 
 hand, the foolish happy tears wetting their 
 cheeks, they forgot the world. The dog, in 
 dumb jealousy, thrust his nose against his 
 master and was unnoticed; the flowers, falling 
 into the water, went dipping over the ripples 
 like a gold and purple fleet of hopes, bound 
 for some far haven. The bird in the reeds 
 poured out its heart in shrill trebles and soft 
 crescendoes; the cloud-ship passed the islands 
 of light and followed the sun into the port of 
 dreams, and the amber April twilight stole
 
 399 
 
 softly down the sky. But the two beside the 
 water knew only what they read in each other s 
 shining eyes. 
 
 For the coin of the realm of hearts is love, 
 love, love. 
 
 THE END.
 
 Uni