Produced by Melissa McDaniel, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) +-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ FOR THE LOVE OF LADY MARGARET [Illustration: Lady Margaret Carroll _Frontispiece_] FOR THE LOVE OF LADY MARGARET _A Romance of the Lost Colony_ BY WILLIAM THOMAS WILSON [Illustration: Decoration] CHARLOTTE, N. C. STONE & BARRINGER COMPANY 1908 COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY STONE & BARRINGER COMPANY THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY, N. J. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE END OR THE BEGINNING 7 II. I HAVE AN OFFER 16 III. WE TAKE THE MERCHANT 28 IV. THE ISLAND ELDORADO 39 V. THE CAVE 52 VI. THE PLOT THICKENS 71 VII. THE PHANTOM 81 VIII. I DICE FOR A LIFE 91 IX. THE LAST REVEL 105 X. THE BLACK FLAG GOES UNDER 120 XI. THE GREAT ARMADA 137 XII. MY LADY 162 XIII. I SAIL FOR VIRGINIA 185 XIV. CROATAN 202 XV. THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST COLONY 221 XVI. A WILD DIANA 239 XVII. THE DEATH OF DENORTIER 258 XVIII. MY LORD TAKES HIS DEPARTURE 278 XIX. THE JOURNEY'S END 295 FOR THE LOVE OF LADY MARGARET CHAPTER I THE END OR THE BEGINNING And so this was the end? Well, no matter--I had lived my little day--had played my part. The bell had tapped; the curtain had fallen; and so the scene must end. How many of those who had seen the little game played out, and had applauded the actor, would remember after the lights were out and the house was dark? I had passed from Heaven to Hell in four short hours--four hours! My new white trunks, with the gray doublet, were on the bed, where I had laid them out. I had planned to wear them to Lady Wiltshire's ball to-night. The guests were just beginning to arrive--Raleigh, with the gallant air and courtly mien; Lord North, with his stupid and insufferable egotism; Francis Bacon, the austere and brilliant, and the Viscount James Henry Hampden, who would, in my absence, promptly take possession of Lady Margaret Carroll.