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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.
Ah, my lady! wouldst thou give one thought to me when I had passed out
of thy life forever? Wouldst thou, like the rest, move on without one
sigh, thine eyes fixed upon the moving figures about thee, forgetful
that there was wont to be another by thy side, who was now gone for
aye? Would one tear fall from those beautiful eyes which I had looked
into so often within the last two years?--years that seemed so short
to me to-night, as I looked back over them, and thought of the golden
hours, which had once gleamed so bright and happy before me, but now
lay so far behind, lost in the moldering ashes of the forgotten past.
It seemed like long years since I had received that short note from my
father, with its few curt lines, saying that our paths must separate;
that I had disgraced the family; that he had borne with me till flesh
and blood could stand no more, and henceforth I would be as a stranger
to him.
Life indeed seemed black to me! Past my first youth (I was thirty-two),
brought up to do nothing except to enjoy myself, with an ample income,
which my father, Lord Richmond, had always supplied--what wonder that I
felt as if the anchor had indeed slipped, and that I was adrift at the
mercy of the wind and tide.
I might, it was true, drift on for a few weeks on credit, and borrow
from my friends, but I had no mind to do that. Whatever my faults, and
they were many and grievous, I had at least lived like a gentleman, and
had nothing on that score to reproach myself with.
I did not wish to run deep into debt, and cause honest tradesmen to
lose their just dues because they had trusted to my honor. No; whatever
came, I would not do that. I would face the situation fairly and
squarely--would work out as best I could my own salvation, without fear
or favor from any man.
The old lord, my father, had always disliked me; I remember as a boy
how he never had a kind word for me. My older brother, Richard, was his
favorite, and Richard had never lost an opportunity to prejudice him
against me.
My brother, as a little boy, had always treasured up all my mistakes
and punishments at school, and when he returned home, would recount
them to my father with a grave face, so that he would have the pleasure
of hearing him reprove me, which I believe that Richard delighted in.
What wonder was it, when I finished school, that I chose, after a year
or two in the Irish campaign, to return and remain in London, rather
than journey down to the grim old castle, built by the third Lord
Richmond during the reign of Stephen, and live there with my father and
Richard.
My mother had been dead for years. From out of the dim memories of my
childhood I see her arise--a gentle, sweet-faced woman, who loved her
family and her home more than all else. She died when I was young, and
there remained of the family only my father, Richard, and myself.
This sudden fury of my father's was Richard's work, I had no doubt. He
had played on my father's old hatred for me, and had fanned it by his
hints of my extravagance and wildness, until it had burned into a flame
ready to sweep all before it. Well, they could go their own way now,
and I would go mine. Henceforth they should not be troubled with me.
I walked over to my window, and looked down upon the crowd, as it
surged to and fro along Cheapside. Many parties of richly clad gallants
hurried along, bound for the playhouse and the rout.
On the opposite side of the street, amidst the throng, I descried
Bobby Vane, in his new plum-colored cloak, as he hastened to my Lady
Wiltshire's ball. I followed him with my eyes, until the torch of his
linkboy was lost in the crowd.
The night was hot and sultry, and to me, exhausted by my painful
thoughts, the room seemed insufferably close and stifling. Hardly
knowing what I did, I picked up my coat and hat, and passed out into
the street.
How long I walked, or where, I know not. The faces about me on the
street I saw dimly, as though in some dream--indistinct, faint, which
on the morn comes to the mind in broken fragments. Thou knowest that
such thoughts, such faces, have passed before thine eyes, but when and
where thou canst not tell.
I strode on rapidly, looking neither to right nor left, not knowing
or caring whither I went; glad that I was occupied, and not sitting
idle, tortured with painful thoughts of the morrow. Many I passed thus,
some of whom stopped to look back at me as I left them behind in my
rapid walk. Some sound of their conversation came to my ears as they
whispered after me.
I was coming now into the less frequented part of London, where I did
not remember to have ever been before. The crowd upon the streets
was smaller here, and was of the poorer class, mostly laborers and
tradesmen, and the sight of a well-dressed stranger must have created
some sensation in their minds. They said naught to me, however, and I
passed on.
I had halted at a corner to let a cart pass by, and moved by some
impulse of the moment, I now looked back. A man stood by a house a
few feet away, and as he caught my look he shrank against the wall,
as though to conceal himself from my sight. I had seen him before--a
short, squat man, with a dark bronzed face, and thick black hair
sprinkled with gray. He was dressed in the garb of a well-to-do
tradesman, but there was an indescribable something in his appearance
or manner, I know not exactly what, that suggested the sea to me. It
may have been his walk, rolling and clumsy, or the slits in his ears,
which showed where once there had been ear-rings, that made me think of
a seaman.
I had seen him several times within the last few days, hanging around
the corners near my apartments, as though watching for someone. Once
on coming down my steps, I ran full into his arms as he stood on the
landing, and as I disengaged myself, he glanced keenly into my face as
though to fix it in his mind, and with a word of apology passed on. It
seemed as though he followed my footsteps, for half an hour later, on
passing a fruit stand near the Thames, I had seen him gazing intently
at me through the lattice.
And now the same man was just behind me, and when I glanced at him,
innocently enough, he shrank back as though to avoid my look. Could it
be that he dogged my steps, and for some purpose of his own wished to
keep me in sight? I knew not why he should do so. I had no enemy in the
city, who would go to so much trouble on my account. But it was worth
looking into, and so I turned into an alley, and stepping quickly into
a dark doorway, I waited.
A few moments, and footsteps sounded on the pavement, and the figure
of my pursuer, for pursuer he undoubtedly was, came in sight. Pausing
at the entrance of the lane, he looked cautiously into it, no doubt
pondering where I could have disappeared so suddenly. The moonlight
shone full in his face as he stood there, and from my hiding place I
could see every sinister feature, as like a baffled hound he sought to
rediscover the lost scent. An instant thus he stood, as if undecided;
then silently he stole into the dark alley, and passing the doorway
where I stood melted away in the gloom.
Waiting a few minutes where I was, I stepped down, and turning strode
out of the lane and back to the corner whence I had come only a moment
ago. Congratulating myself on the fact that I had shaken this spy, I
resumed my walk. Through strange twisted streets, overhung with gabled,
many-windowed houses; by dark shops, now closed for the day; and along
ill-paved crooked lanes I strode, engaged with my own thoughts, as
black and gloomy as my surroundings.
What was I to do? Turn my back upon London and all my friends, and one
bright lady, more than all the rest to me? I could not remain among
those where once I held high sway, the chief amidst the gay throng--now
poor, despised, forsaken, stripped of my rank and means, for I had been
dependent upon the old lord, my father, for all that I had. Monthly he
had sent to me through a London bank, a good round sum in shining gold,
which I had promptly sown to the four winds.
The life of a gentleman of leisure in the reign of Elizabeth was no
cheap thing, I can tell thee. There were many new doublets, made of
silk and satin, of varied colors and shapes, which were ever changing,
even as a maid blushes--and as readily. There were the routs and
balls; playhouses where the painted actors strutted and declaimed;
the dice games in the evenings at the houses of the noble ladies who
entertained, where we threw for the golden coin, stacked high upon the
table, until daylight peeped in at the closed shutters, and shone upon
the flushed, haggard faces and disheveled hair of the lords and ladies.
Then there were our servants, many and skillful; our horses and hounds;
our wines and dinners; our banquets and routs--all the most elegant. No
wonder the sovereigns melted from our purses as snow before a summer
sun.
Those were brave old days in London town, when we laughed and idled
around, free and happy as the larks. Naught to do save enjoy ourselves;
naught to think of save the color of some fair lady's eyes. Sweet,
happy days--but gone forever!
Even now, when my hair has grown as white as the driven snow and my eye
is dim and feeble, I think of them sometimes with a smile. I would give
all of worldly fame and fortune I possess, if, for one brief moment, I
could feel again the bounding blood of youth pulse through my withered
veins, and my bent form could straighten with the old proud fire, and
my step be as light and care-free as of yore; if in my ears could ring
the sound of those dear voices--Walter Raleigh's ringing laugh, Bobby
Vane's piping tones--and if those true and tried friends--many of whom
are scattered east and west, some of whom sleep the last, long, quiet
sleep--could be gathered with me as of yore in the great room about the
roaring fire of the Mermaid Inn.
A great bar of light loomed ahead of me across the narrow street, and
as I drew nearer I heard the sound of shouting and carousing, the clink
of glasses, and the deep roars of laughter of the drinkers. Evidently
some crowd held high carnival to-night, bent on feasting and frolic.
Nearing the latticed window, I peered in. It was a low room in a
tavern, its ceiling black with smoke and age. A great log fire
roared up the wide fireplace. Around a long table in the center of
the room was seated what looked to me like the crew of some foreign
ship--swarthy-faced, with earrings hanging from their ears, and
cutlasses and swords buckled around their waists--they seemed none too
good for any wild deed of crime and plunder.
There were some twenty-five or thirty of them, who, flagons in hand,
sat about the table, telling many strange tales of the unknown regions
of the Spanish Main, and motioning to the waiters, who ran frantically
to and fro, filling the ever empty glasses. They were plainly the
terror and admiration of the other guests, who, huddled together in
a corner near the chimney, leered and whispered at their boisterous
conduct and wild appearance.
I looked in at them for a few moments, aroused from my thoughts by the
extraordinary spectacle. It was doubtless the crew of some foreign
merchant vessel, probably a Spaniard, who, returning from a long voyage
to the West, and touching at London, had chosen this night to celebrate
their return to civilization.
As I peered in, a door at the rear of the room opened, and there
advanced rapidly into the room my pursuer, whom I had but just
outwitted a few brief moments ago in the alley. Hot and breathless
he stood there, as though he had just emerged from some race, and I
chuckled when I thought what a chase I must have given him.
He crossed the room to where the foreign seamen drank and feasted;
bending over two, who sat at the head of the table, he placed his
hands upon their shoulders, and whispered a few words in their ears.
Instantly they rose, and putting on their caps, followed him out
through the rear door, deaf to the taunts and entreaties of their
comrades to "drink one more glass."
[Illustration: "He Placed His Hands upon Their Shoulders"]
The seamen cried out in Spanish, a tongue which I understood, and their
conversation, mostly about their voyages, was carried on in that same
language. But they talked only of such things as seamen were wont to
do; so turning away from my station, I retraced my steps toward my room.
Why had this man come so quickly into this place, and whispering to two
of the seamen, gone out as silently and speedily as he had appeared?
Plainly he was known to these men, for they had shouted at him, and two
had followed him out without a word. Where? Was it in pursuit of me?
And if so with what motive? Perhaps they meant to capture me, and exact
a ransom from my doting father, and at the thought, I smiled bitterly
to myself. Ah! a kingly ransom would he pay for my return. Long would
he grieve, together with the saintly Richard, should I vanish from his
ken.
To reach this place was easier than to find my way back through the
long labyrinth of turns and corners, of cross streets and alleys.
Retracing my steps, I wended my course through a maze of dark lanes,
and had almost despaired of ever finding my way home, when turning I
saw two men, who seemed to be engaged in an earnest discussion, and
quickening my steps, I approached them, inquiring, as I did so, whether
they could direct me to Cheapside.
The taller turned quickly at the sound of my voice, and stood looking
down at me. He was wrapped in a great cloak, and I only saw, bent upon
me, the flash of a pair of cold black eyes. "Turn the first corner to
the right," he answered, with a slight foreign accent. "That will take
thee straight to it," and he turned again to his companion as though
eager to be rid of me.
With a brief word of thanks I passed on, but had gone only a few steps
when I heard a loud oath, and wheeling about saw one of the men draw
his sword and make for the other, who seemed to be surprised and
dismayed by the sudden attack.
The sword flashed in the moonlight, and I barely had time to dash
back, and running in between them to catch it upon my own, which I had
hastily drawn, else the luckless victim had departed this flesh in a
twinkling.
With another loud cry, the assailant made a hasty pass at me, and we
closed. Even in the moonlight I was struck with the unusual beauty
of the face--its long aquiline nose, and keen hawk eyes. The hat had
fallen from his head, and his jet black hair shone like the wing of a
raven.
I had small time to observe these things, however, for he pressed me
with the fury of a demon, now thrusting with the point, then cutting at
me with the blade. I had on merely a light rapier, more for dress than
work, while he was using a heavy service sword, and I began to realize
that this could not last much longer, for he would beat me down by the
strength of his arm, as with all his swordsmanship he pressed upon me.
I was bleeding from several slight wounds where he had touched me,
for he was undoubtedly the finest blade with whom I had ever crossed
swords--I, Thomas Winchester, accounted one of the best swordsmen of
the North Country; backward, backward he was pressing me, and I could
see the evil look on his face, as he steadily pushed me to the wall.
How much longer the unequal fight would have lasted, I know not. I had
abandoned all hope and given myself up for lost, when the gentleman to
whose rescue I had come, and who had stood by in the meantime as if
dazed, suddenly drew his sword and came to my assistance.
Together we rushed upon my tall assailant with all our skill and force,
but try as we would, we could never cross the gleaming hedge of steel,
with which he seemed ringed about. Now he would meet my ally's blade
and beat him back, and when I rushed upon him, thinking to take him
unawares, I would meet that impenetrable wall of fire, and would be
forced to retreat again. It seemed more than mortal man could endure,
but his dark, gleaming eyes showed no change; and it looked as if we
would have both been held at bay, had it not been for an unlooked for
and unforeseen circumstance.
In meeting the attack of my friend, for I knew not what else to call
him, the tall stranger's foot slipped, and he fell at full length
on the pavement. We both rushed forward quickly, eager to disarm so
dangerous a foe, when raising himself on his elbow, he drew a little
silver whistle from his breast, and blew one sharp, long blast.
Immediately it seemed as if the whole street were alive with men. They
looked as if they sprang from the very pavements. My friend was seized
before he could turn to meet the new foe, and a dozen or more sprang
upon me. The first, a burly ruffian armed with a cutlass, I ran through
the body with my rapier, but as he fell, he dragged my weapon out of my
hand, and before I could disengage it from his body, the others were
upon me.
I had one glimpse of a mass of dark, bronzed faces, evil and leering;
then there was a noise as of many waters in my ears--I seemed to be
falling, falling, and I knew no more.