THE LIBRARY OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL
At a long, low table stood Mistress Betty Carrington, her slender figure
enveloped in an apron of blue dowlas, her sleeves of fine holland rolled
above her elbows, and her white and rounded arms plunged deep into a
great bowl filled with the purple globes of the wild grape. A row of
children knelt on the brick floor at her feet, busily stripping the
fruit from the stems, and negresses, hard by, strained with sinewy hands
the crimson juice from the pulpy mass into jars of earthenware. To this
group suddenly entered a breathless urchin.
"Ohe, mistis! de Gov'nor an' Massa Peyton comin' up de road!"
Betty suspended her operations with a little cry. "The Governor!" she
exclaimed in dismay. "And my father is gone a-processioning;--and my
gown is not seemly;--and he cannot be kept waiting!" She threw off her
apron, dipped her hands into the water the slaves poured for her, and
was at the hall door in time to courtesy to the Governor, as, followed
by a groom, and attended by Mr. Peyton, he rode up to the house.
With the agility of youth his Excellency sprung from his horse, threw
the reins to the groom, and advanced to greet the lady. A richly laced
riding-suit became his still slight and elegant figure to a marvel; his
gilt-spurred, Spanish leather boots were of the newest, most approved
cut; his periwig was fresh curled, and framed with distinction a
handsome, if somewhat withered, countenance. He doffed his Spanish hat
with a bow and flourish: Betty courtesied profoundly.
"Welcome to Rosemead, your Excellency."
"I greet you well, pretty Mistress Betty," said the Governor, and took a
governor's privilege. Mr. Peyton looked as though he would have liked to
follow his Excellency's example, but was fain to content himself with
the lady's hand, resigned to the respectful pressure of his lips with a
charming blush and a dropping of long-fringed eyelids.
"Where is your father, sweetheart?" demanded the Governor.
"Ah! your Excellency, he is unfortunate. The vestry hath appointed this
day for the examination of boundaries in this parish, and as his
Majesty's Surveyor-General he leads the procession. But will not your
Excellency await his return? He will be here anon, and with him Colonel
Verney."
"Then will I wait, pretty one; for I have weighty matters to discuss
both with him and with Dick Verney."
Betty ushered them into the great room, cool, dark, and fragrant of
roses.
"If your Excellency will permit me to withdraw, I will order some
refreshment for you after your long ride."
The Governor sank into an armchair, and smiled graciously.
"Faith! a bit of pasty comes not amiss after a morning canter. And
prithee see to the sack thyself, Mistress Betty. And a dish of pippins
and cheese," continued the Governor, meditatively, "and a rasher of
bacon."
"There was a fine comb taken from the hive this morning. Will your
Excellency choose a bit? And there are dates, sent my father by the
captain of the Barbary vessel, and a quince tart--"
"We will taste of it all," said his Excellency, graciously, "and
afterwards a pipe and a saucer of sweet scented, and your company, my
love. Mr. Peyton, the lady may find the honeycomb too heavy for her
lifting. We will excuse you to her assistance."
"I am your Excellency's most obedient servant," quoth Mr. Peyton with
due submission, and hastened after his blushing mistress.
The Governor, left alone, strolled to the window and looked out upon the
Chesapeake, lying blue and unruffled beneath the dazzling sunshine; to
the mantel-piece, and smelt of the roses in the blue china bowl; to the
spinet, and picked out "Here's to Royal Charles" with one finger;--and
finally brought up before a corner cupboard, found the key in the door,
turned it, and came upon the Surveyor-General's library.
"H'm, what has he here?" soliloquized his Excellency. "'Purchas; His
Pilgrimes,' of course; 'General History of Virginia, New England and the
Summer Isles,' well and good; 'Good News from Virginia,' humph! that
must have been before my time; 'Public Good without Private Interest,'
humph! What's this? 'Areopagitica,' John Milton! John Hypocrite and
Parricide! A pretty author, and a pretty cause he advocates,--I thank
God there are no schools and no printing presses in this colony, nor
are like to be,--and a courageous Surveyor-General to keep by him such
pestilent stuff in the present year of grace. 'Abuses Stript and Whipt,'
'Anglia Rediva,' 'Diary of Nehemiah Wallington,' 'Bastwick's Litany!'
Miles Carrington, Miles Carrington! I have my eye on thee! Thou hadst
need to walk warily! 'Zion's Plea against Prelacy,' damnation! 'Speech
of Mr. Hampden,' death and hell! 'Eikonoklastes,' may the foul fiend fly
away with my soul!"
And the Governor closed the cupboard door with a bang, and, with a very
red and frowning face, went back to his seat, and there sank into a
reverie, which lasted until the entrance of Mistress Betty and Mr.
Peyton, followed by two slaves bearing an ample repast.
An hour later came home the Surveyor-General, bringing with him Colonel
Verney, Sir Charles Carew, and Captain Laramore.
The Surveyor-General made stately apologies to his Excellency for his
unavoidable absence: his Excellency, holding himself very erect, heard
him out, and then said coldly, "Major Carrington may rest at ease. I was
sufficiently amused."
"Truly the county knows Mr. Peyton's powers of entertainment," said the
Surveyor-General with a bow and smile for that young gentleman.
"Mr. Peyton had other occupation," said the Governor dryly. "And I fear
that his is too cavalier a wit, and that his sonnets and madrigals savor
too much of loyalty to the Anointed of the Lord and to His Church to
have proved acceptable to the worshipful company with whom I have been
engaged. I have to congratulate his Majesty's Surveyor-General on the
possession of such a library as, I dare swear, is to be found in no
other house in this, his Majesty's _loyal_ dominion of Virginia."
Carrington glanced towards the cupboard, and bit his lip.
"I am pleased," he said stiffly, "that your Excellency hath found
wherewithal to pass an idle hour."
"It is, indeed, a choice collection," said the Governor, with a smooth
tongue, but with an angry light in his eyes. "May I ask by whom it was
chosen; who it was that so carefully culled nightshade and poison oak?"
"_I_ choose my own reading," said Carrington haughtily. "And I see not
why Sir William Berkeley should concern himself--"
"This passes!" exclaimed the Governor, giving rein to his fury and
striking his hand against the table. "It doth concern me much, Major
Carrington, both as a true man, and as the Governor of this Colony, the
representative of his blessed Majesty, King Charles the Second, may all
whose enemies, private and open, be confounded! that a gentleman who
holds a high office in this Colony should have in his possession--ay!
and read, too, for 'tis a well-thumbed copy--that foul emanation from a
fouler mind, that malicious, outrageous, damnable, proscribed book,
called 'Eikonoklastes!'"
"If Sir William Berkeley doubts my loyalty--" began Carrington fiercely.
"Major Carrington, you are too popular a man!" broke in the Governor as
fiercely. "When, upon that black day, ten years ago, the usurper's
frigates entered the Chesapeake, and taking us unprepared, compelled
(God forgive me!) my submission, who but Miles Carrington welcomed and
entertained the four commissioners (commissioners from a Roundhead
Parliament to a King's Governor!)? Who but Miles Carrington was hand in
glove with the shopkeeper Bennett and the renegade Matthews? Oh! they
used their power mildly, I deny it not! They were gracious and
long-suffering; they left to the loyal gentlemen, their sometime
friends, life and lands; they contented themselves with banishing a
loyal Governor to his own manor-house, and not, as they might have done,
to the wilderness, to perish amongst the savages. O, they were exemplary
despots! What, when a turn of Fortune's wheel brought them up, could
grateful, loyal gentlemen, could a grateful King's Governor do, but
follow the example set them and be civil to the officers of the late
Commonwealth, and something more than civil to the gentleman who so
gracefully avowed that he had but bowed to the times, and that the
restored sovereign had no more faithful subject than he? When his
Majesty was graciously pleased to continue that gentleman (at the
solicitation of his loyal kindred at home) in the office of
Surveyor-General to this colony, sure, we all rejoiced. It is not with
the past of Major Carrington that I quarrel; it is with the present. In
his case, that which should speak loudest for his recovered loyalty is
wanting. Others there are who have that witness. Let Mr. Digges ride
abroad, and from his cabin-door some prick-eared cur cried out,
'Renegade!' (Pardon me, the word is not mine.) The Oliverian and
schismatic servants spit at him. Is it so with Major Carrington? By
G--d, no! These people uncover to him as though he were the arch rebel
himself. Speak of his Majesty's Surveyor-General before an Oliverian,
and the fellow pricks up his ears like a charger that scents the battle.
Nay, I am told that in their conventicles the schismatics pray for him,
that he may be brought back into the fold, and may become a second
Moses, and lead them out of Egypt! Even the Quakers have a good word for
him. Major Carrington asks me if I question his loyalty. I answer that I
know not, but I do know that the discontented and mutinous of the land
do look upon him with too favorable a regard. And his loyalty is of that
tender age that it may well be susceptible to the influence of the evil
eye." The Governor, who was now in a white heat of passion, stopped for
breath.
"Sir William Berkeley, you shall answer to me for this!" said the
Surveyor-General, with white lips.
"With all the pleasure in life," said the Governor, clapping his hand to
his rapier.
Carrington folded his arms. "Not now," he said, with stern courtesy. "I
believe your Excellency sleeps at Verney Manor? I, too, am invited
thither. There, and it please you, we will adjust our little difference.
For the present, you are my guest."
The Governor choked down his passion, though with difficulty. "Till
to-night then--" he began, when Colonel Verney interposed.
"Neither to-night, nor at any other time," he said sturdily. "Gadzooks!
have not his Majesty's servants enough on hand without employing their
time in pinking one another? Here are the Chickahominies restive, and
those plaguy Ricahecrians amongst us, and the Nansemond Independents
prophesying the end of the world, and the witches' trial coming on, and
the Quakers to be routed out, and on top of it all this story that
Ludlow brings of a redemptioner's assertion that there is afoot an
Oliverian plot. And his Majesty's Governor, and his Majesty's
Surveyor-General with drawn rapiers! For shame, gentlemen! Major
Carrington, my good friend and neighbor, for whose loyalty to our
present gracious sovereign I would answer for as I would for my own,
forget the hasty words which I am sure Sir William Berkeley already
regrets. Come, Sir William, acknowledge that you were over-choleric."
"I'll be d--d if I do!" cried the Governor.
"We meet to-night," said the Surveyor-General.
The Colonel turned to Sir Charles Carew, who had been a highly amused
spectator of this little scene.
"Charles," he said impressively, "report hath it that you have figured
in more affairs of honor than any man of your age at court. You should
be a nice judge of such gear. Join me in assuring these gentlemen that
they may be reconciled, and their honor receive not the least taint; and
so avert a duel which would be a scandal to the community, and a menace
to the state."
Sir Charles glanced from the pacific Colonel to the sternly collected
Surveyor-General, and thence to the fiery Governor, whose white, jeweled
fingers twitched with impatience.
"Certainly, sir," he said lazily, "you are welcome to my poor opinion,
which is that, considering the nature of the provocation, and the
standing of the parties, there is one way out of the affair with honor."
"Exactly!" said the Colonel eagerly.
Sir Charles locked his hands behind his head. "There's a very pretty
piece of ground behind your orchard, sir," he said, dreamily regarding
the ceiling. "I noticed it the other day, and sink me! if I did not
wish for Harry Bellasses with whom I have fought three times. 'Tis ever
a word and a blow with Harry! The light just at sunset is excellent,
though your twilight cometh over soon. May I venture to suggest to your
Excellency that your _riposte_ is more brilliant than safe? Major
Carrington, your parade is somewhat out of fashion. I could teach you
the newest French mode in five minutes."
"I am obliged for your offer, sir," said the Surveyor-General dryly.
"The other has served my turn, and must do so again."
"Sir Charles Carew will do me the honor to be my second?" asked the
Governor of that gentleman, who answered with a low bow, and a "The
honor is mine."
"Captain Laramore?" said the Surveyor-General.
"At your service, Major," cried the Captain, a dashing, black-a-vised
personage, with large gold rings in his ears, a plume a yard long in his
castor, and a general Drawcansir air.
"Will Captain Laramore fight?" inquired Sir Charles. "I have had the
honor of changing the date for sailing for several gentlemen of his
profession."
"Even so accomplished a swordsman as Sir Charles Carew is allowed to be,
hath yet a lesson to learn," said the doughty captain.
"And that is--"
"Pride shall have a fall--to-night."
Sir Charles smiled politely. "The ship that is anchored off yonder point
is yours, is it not? Would you not like to take a last look at her? Or
to leave instructions for your lieutenant and successor? There is time
for you to gallop to the point and back."
"Am I to have the honor of crossing swords with you, Colonel Verney?"
asked Mr. Peyton.
"No, sir!" exclaimed the vexed Colonel. "You are not! I wash my hands of
this foolish fray. William Berkeley, I have never scrupled to tell thee
when I thought thee in the wrong. I think so now. Charles, thou art an
impudent fellow! I have it in my mind to wish that the Captain may give
thee the lesson he talks of."
"Thank you, sir," drawled the gentleman addressed. "Mr. Peyton looks
quite disconsolate. Sink me! if it's not a shame to leave him out in the
cold. If he will wait his turn I will be happy to oblige him when I have
disposed of the Captain."
"You will do no such thing!" retorted his kinsman. "Mr. Peyton, take
your hand off your sword! At least there shall be two sane men at this
meeting. I suppose, gentlemen, you agree with me that this affair cannot
be kept too private? To that end you had best ride with me to Verney
Manor, and there have it out on this plot of ground Charles talks of. It
is at least retired."
"'Tis a most sweet spot," said Sir Charles.
"Good!" quoth the Governor. "And now that this little matter is settled,
I am once more, and for the present, sir, simply your obliged guest and
servant," and he bowed to the Surveyor-General.
Carrington returned the bow. "We will drink to our better acquaintance
to-night. Pompey! the sack and the aqua vitae. And, Pompey! a handful of
mint."
The company fell to drinking, and then to tobacco. The Governor, whose
fits of passion were as short as they were violent, arrived by rapid
degrees at a pitch of high good humor. The company listened gravely for
the fiftieth time to stories of the court of the first James; of
Buckingham's amours, of the beauty of Henrietta Maria, of a visit to
Paris, an interview with Richelieu, a duel with a captain of
Mousquetaires, a kiss imprinted upon the fair hand of Anne of Austria.
The charmed stream of the old courtier's reminiscences flowed on--he
stopped for breath, and Sir Charles took the word and proceeded to
unfold before their dazzled eyes a gorgeous phantasmagoria. The King,
the Duke, Sedley and Buckingham, Mesdames Castlemaine, Stuart and
Gwynne, Dryden and Waller and Lely, the King's house, the Queen's
chapel, the Queen's duennas, the Tityre Tus, Paul's Walk, the Russian
Ambassador, astrologers, orange girls, balls, masques, pageants, duels,
the court of Louis le Grand, the King's hunting parties, Madame
d'Orleans, Olympe di Mancini.
The Governor listened with dilating nostrils and sparkling eyes; Colonel
Yerney's vexed countenance smoothed itself; Captain Laramore, sitting
with outstretched legs, and head hidden in clouds of tobacco smoke,
rumbled from out that obscurity laughter and strange oaths. Even Mr.
Peyton, after vainly trying to fix his attention upon the construction
of a sonnet to his mistress's eyebrow, succumbed to the enchantment, and
sat with parted lips, drinking in wonders; but the Surveyor-General,
though he listened courteously, listened with forced smiles and with an
attention which was hard to preserve from wandering.
In the midst of a brilliant account of the nuptials of the Chevalier de
Grammont came an interruption.
"De horses am fed an' brought roun', massa."
The Governor started up. "Rat me, if good sack and good stories make
not a man forget all else beside! Colonel Verney, I wish you, as
lieutenant of this shire, to ride with me to this Chickahominy village
where I have promised an audience to the half king of the tribe. Plague
on the unreasonable vermin! Why can they not give way peaceably? If the
colony needs and takes their lands, it leaves them a plenty elsewhere.
Let them fall back towards the South Sea. Sir Charles, I grieve for the
necessity, but we must leave the court and come back to the wilderness.
Gentlemen, will you ride with Verney and me, or shall we part now to
meet at sunset in his orchard?"
"We had best ride with your Excellency," said Carrington gravely. "I
like not the temper of the Chickahominies, who ever mean most when they
say least. And these roving Ricahecrians, their guests, are of a strange
and fierce aspect. It is as well to go in force."
"Those vagrants from the Blue Mountains have been here overlong," said
the Governor. "I shall send them packing! Well, gentlemen, since we are
to have the pleasure of your company, boot and saddle is the word!"