John Alden, anguish-stricken as he was, could not refuse. The strong mind dominated over the weaker one. Agitated, almost convulsed with contending emotions, he entered the paths of the forest, crossed the brook which ran south of the village, and gathering a handful of wild flowers, almost in delirium, approached the lonely dwelling of Priscilla. As he drew near, he heard her sweet voice singing a hymn as she walked to and fro beside the spinning-wheel. Priscilla met him on the threshold, with a cordial greeting, hoping that he had come to declare his love. He was greatly embarrassed, and after a long parley, very awkwardly blurted out the words, that he had come with an offer of marriage from Captain Miles Standish. Priscilla was amazed, grieved, wounded. With eyes dilated with sadness and wonder, she looked into John’s face and said, after a few moments of ominous silence: “If the great Captain of Plymouth is so eager to wed me, Why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me? If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the winning.” John, exceedingly embarrassed, said, in unfortutunate phrase, that the captain was very busy, and had no time for such things. The offended maiden replied: “Has he no time for _such things_, as you call it, before he is married; Would he be likely to find it, or make it, after the wedding?” Quite forgetting himself, John launched forth eloquently in the praise of his military friend, “Spoke of his courage and skill, and all his battles in Flanders, How with the people of God he had chosen to suffer affliction, How, in return for his zeal, they had made him Captain of Plymouth. He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly Back to Hugh Standish, of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire, England, Who was the son of Ralph, and the grandson of Thurston de Standish; Heir unto vast estates, of which he was basely defrauded, Still bore the family arms, and had for his crest a cock argent Combed and wattled gules, and all the rest of the blazon. He was a man of honor, of noble and generous nature; Though he was rough, he was kindly; she knew how, during the winter, He had attended the sick, with a hand as gentle as woman’s. Somewhat hasty and hot, he could not deny it, and headstrong, Stern as a soldier might be, but hearty and placable always; Not to be laughed at and scorned, because he was little of stature, For he was great of heart, magnanimous, courtly, courageous; Any woman in Plymouth, nay, any woman in England, Might be happy and proud to be called the wife of Miles Standish.”