Virginia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 -- Fiction
He spoke at last, slowly and with deliberate emphasis. “I won then,” he
said. “I shall win again, my lady,--my Lady Jocelyn Leigh.”
I dropped my hand from her chair and stepped forward. “It is my wife
to whom you speak, my Lord Carnal,” I said sternly. “I wait to hear you
name her rightly.”
Rolfe rose from the grass and stood beside me, and Jeremy Sparrow,
shouldering aside with scant ceremony Burgess and Councilor, came also.
The Governor leaned forward out of his chair, and the crowd became
suddenly very still.
“I am waiting, my lord,” I repeated.
In an instant, from what he had been he became the frank and guileless
nobleman. “A slip of the tongue, Captain Percy!” he cried, his white
teeth showing and his hand raised in a gesture of deprecation. “A
natural thing, seeing how often, how very often, I have so
addressed this lady in the days when we had not the pleasure of your
acquaintance.” He turned to her and bowed, until the feather in his hat
swept the ground. “I won then,” he said. “I shall win again--Mistress
Percy,” and passed on to the seat that had been reserved for him.
The game began. I was to lead one side, and young Clement the other. At
the last moment he came over to me. “I am out of it, Captain Percy,”
he announced with a rueful face. “My lord there asks me to give him my
place. When we were hunting yesterday, and the stag turned upon me, he
came between and thrust his knife into the brute, which else might have
put an end to my hunting forever and a day: so you see I can't refuse
him. Plague take it all! and Dorothy Gookin sitting there watching!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account