Our hero was not deceived in his supposition, that the savage tribes
inhabiting the Peninsula would make a desperate effort to retain
possession of a country so admirably adapted to their mode of life. Two
noble rivers, one on either hand, abounding with a variety of fish, and
a fertile soil, yielding its treasures with little culture, were
considerations in the eyes of these ignorant but not misjudging sons of
the forest, not to be surrendered without a struggle.
As the army of the colonists pursued its march toward the point already
indicated as the rendezvous of the again confederated tribes, it was
constantly harassed with alarms--signal fires and flying bodies of
mounted warriors, first cutting off their communication with the
river--now assailing the vanguard, and then hovering upon the rear.
Three weeks and more were thus consumed in partial and unsatisfactory
engagements; the skirmishers first approaching one river, upon the
representation of some treacherous savage, and then hurrying back in the
opposite direction to meet some illusive demonstration made by the
cunning enemy. The youthful commander soon perceived that this mode of
warfare was the one exactly suited to the nature and condition of his
foes, and the least adapted to the impetuous courage of his own troops.
He saw too, that the savages had the double design of wearying out their
invaders in the manner we have described, and of collecting and
concentrating their forces, at some point where their own mode of
warfare could be rendered available, without exposing themselves to the
destructive discharges of artillery which they still held in
superstitious terror. A very little reflection satisfied him that there
would be no immediate danger in pursuing the direct route between the
Powhatan and Chickahominy rivers, toward the falls of the former, where
he had already some intimation that the enemy were collecting in great
force. He was well satisfied that the tribes already dislodged had
removed all their winter provisions, and their wigwams being destroyed,
there could be little hazard to the city in disregarding their daily
demonstrations in his front, flank, and rear. Accordingly his troops
were concentrated in a solid column, and marched directly toward the
falls, entirely disregarding the petty annoyances which had already
detained them so ingloriously in the Peninsula.
While they were marching toward the scene of the great and final
struggle for supremacy between their own race and the Aborigines, in
this narrow neck of land, which had so long been the scene of
contention, we will retrace our steps for a short space, in order to
bring up the proceedings at Jamestown to the point at which we have just
arrived.
In doing so, however, it is not our intention to fatigue the reader with
a minute account of the long and tedious days, and still more wretched
nights, spent by our heroine after the shock given to her delicate
constitution by the painful and unexpected adventure in the chapel, and
by the subsequently reported death of her mother under peculiarly awful
and afflicting circumstances. The reader has doubtless more truly
imagined her condition during the first paroxysms of the fever, than we
could describe it. Down to the time when her favourite and confidant was
permitted to enter her room, the daily occurrences of her yet endangered
life were sad and monotonous enough, but the paramount cravings of
diseased nature once assuaged, her mental excitement once more rose in
the ascendant. Not that her reason ever became deranged, except from
violent febrile action during the height of the attack; however feeble
her physical organization, her mental powers were clear and unclouded,
and her spirits, though of necessity somewhat broken, were firm and
elastic. The truth is, that she did not believe the assertion of the
Recluse by which the nuptial ceremony was so dreadfully interrupted. She
had indeed a feeling of superstitious reverence for whatever came from
his lips, but she had also seen the wild fire of his eye when under deep
excitement, and she did not therefore give implicit confidence to any
declaration he should make.
This questioning of his oracular authority was an after-consideration it
is true, and was itself prompted by other feelings, having their
foundation in the affections of the heart. She could not believe that
her lover was her own brother; her feelings toward him were
peculiar--powerful, and different from the love of mere kindred.
Besides, there were little almost undefinable circumstances in the
intercourse of their halcyon days, which she did not believe, could in
the nature of man, have taken place between brother and sister. She most
truly thought that her lover and herself were expressly created for each
other; that their union had been decreed in heaven. That in the first
dawnings of their mutual understanding of each other, there had been
electrical, spiritual and ever sublime transmissions of mutual
intelligence and exquisite pleasure, which could not exist between
children of the same parents. These were some of the reasonings which
first led her to doubt the infallibility of the Recluse, or rather this
was something like the process by which she arrived at firm and
undoubting conviction. She viewed the case in this light from the very
first moment of unclouded perception, but at first it was a wild
tumultuous and suffocating mixture of vague perceptions, and scarcely
permitted hopes. As she gradually analyzed her feelings, and examined
the reasons for her convictions, the truth dawned more and more clearly
upon her view. She was one day sitting, propped up on her couch, during
the three weeks in which Bacon was engaged in his Indian campaign, the
doctor sitting by her side with his finger upon her pulse. Both were
silent and abstracted. The pale beautiful countenance of the invalid was
fixed in deep and earnest thought. Her eyes wandered through an open
window, and sought a resting place upon some sunny spot of green and
refreshing nature. Her lips moved just perceptibly, as if she were
conversing with some one in an under tone. At length she slightly raised
her head, her eyes sparkled with the brilliancy of stars, waxing
brighter and brighter, and her head rising higher and higher from her
pillow, until she screamed in wild delight, "The light of heaven and
love's inspiration itself declare it false."
The doctor rose with a grave and anxious look, and placing one hand upon
her shoulders, and with the other removing the pillows that supported
her, laid her gently down, saying,
"I fear there is more excitement about your head to-day, my dear young
lady; if it continues you must lose blood again."
"Oh, dear doctor, there is indeed excitement about my head and my heart
too, but it is not the excitement of fever; or if it is, it is a dear
delightful fever, which I trust in God will never leave me, for it came
just now wafted on my brain as if by the music of the spheres."
"Your room must be darkened again, and the cold applications to your
head repeated."
"You think I am losing my senses again, dear doctor, but I assure you I
am just regaining them, as I will show you from this time forward. I
have now done with physic. I have a medicine here," (and she laid her
hand upon her heart, while a bewitching smile played around her mouth,
that staggered the good doctor,) "which is worth more to me than all the
costly drugs of India, or the islands of the sea."
And the event justified her words. Her mind was no sooner settled in
deep conviction, and her heart comparatively at ease, than she began
rapidly to recover. It was some days before the scene just related, when
Harriet Harrison was admitted to her presence, and when, as the reader
has already learned from that maiden herself, Virginia propounded to her
the questions touching her lover's belief in their reported
relationship, which were repeated by Miss Harrison to Bacon.
So long as that interview continued between the two intimates,
untramelled by the presence of a third person, it was one of deep
interest; but unfortunately the heir of the house had too much reason to
suspect that Harriet's feelings were engaged in another's interest, long
to indulge them with an unbroken interview. Virginia barely had time to
ask those questions, and whisper to her friend the tidings of her own
dawning hopes, before the doctor entered, attended to the door as
Harriet perceived through the partial opening, by Frank Beverly himself;
she therefore took her leave, promising a speedy return.
As she retired from the chamber of the invalid, she accidentally
overheard the Governor's orders for Bacon's arrest, the result of which
has already been related. Her next visit to the house was on the day of
the scene between the doctor and his patient, which we have just
attempted to describe. She was ushered into the room of state, usually
occupied by the Governor for the reception of his most distinguished
guests. No formality was neglected in duly receiving her at the door,
and conducting her to this presence chamber of his Excellency, by the
official who acted as master of ceremonies.
"I have no business of state to communicate to the Governor, Sir Porter;
I came to see his niece!"
The porter bowed profoundly as he replied, "But his Excellency has some
business with you, madam, as he informed me, when he directed me to
usher you into this apartment." Another profound inclination followed,
with an accompaniment of rubbing hands and shuffling his feet backward;
while the arch, but somewhat alarmed and astonished maiden, was left to
con her speech to the Governor at her leisure. After a most tedious
interval of half an hour, the formal representative of majesty made his
appearance, with such a profusion of bows that his merry master himself
would have smiled to witness them. Of course Harriet bit her lips in
order to restrain their mirthful inclinations. While the old knight drew
a chair, and after sundry hems and stroking his chin, thus gravely
addressed her: "I am informed, Madam, that you are desirous of an
interview with me; will you be so good as to enlighten me as to the
cause of the unexpected honour?"
"Some one must have deceived you with a most egregious story, Sir
William. I desired no such thing. I came here to see my friend, Virginia
Fairfax."
"I am exceedingly pained to inform you, Miss Harriet, that from certain
late circumstances, which it is needless to particularize, and in which
you were somewhat a participator, I, as Virginia's natural guardian,
have thought proper to end the intercourse between you at once. My niece
is destined soon to become the wife of my young kinsman, Beverly, and it
is most prudent to keep her from the sight of such persons and things as
might remind her of that most strange and disgraceful transaction of
which I will not speak more openly. I am very sorry to give you pain,
but there was no other course left for me to pursue than to be plain and
candid with you."
"And does this marriage take place with Virginia's consent?"
"She has not been consulted as yet; her health, in the first place, did
not admit of it, and in the second, the evidence which she so lately
gave of being utterly incapable of choosing a husband calculated to
secure her own happiness, or reflect honour upon her family and
connexions, has caused that duty to devolve on me."
"But, Sir William, suppose she should refuse to accept the husband of
your choice? You certainly will not enforce your determination."
"Her lamented father and myself entered long since into a covenant by
which these young people were to be united. On the very morning of his
death, we talked the matter over; he freely and fully consented to the
completion of the engagement, and forthwith it shall be carried into
execution, if sufficient authority remains to me in these turbulent and
rebellious times to enforce it."
"But you will give her time to assuage her grief, and make up her mind
to the lot which awaits her. You surely will not precipitate her into
the celebration of these nuptials?"
"You talk, young lady, as if it were some horrible and revolting monster
to whom I intended uniting her, instead of the presumptive heir and
nearest kinsman of Sir William Berkley, well favoured and highly
accomplished, as you must acknowledge that he is. She has had time
enough to recover her equanimity, and as soon as her health is equally
restored, the ceremony shall be performed; and whether or not, it is my
purpose to complete it before the return of that arch-rebel Bacon to the
city. Please God, however, I intend he shall return in irons to undergo
the penalty demanded by the outraged laws of his country."
"And you will not permit me to see my friend for five minutes--only five
minutes?"
"No! lady, you are now advised of my intentions touching the disposal of
my niece, and you may readily comprehend the reasons of your exclusion
from her presence, without my entering into further and more painful
explanations."
With this answer, Harriet was compelled to be content, and therefore
making a reverence, more than usually formal, to his Excellency, she
withdrew. It was not in her nature, however, to resign her friend to the
fate which threatened her, without an effort to relieve her. From the
gubernatorial mansion she immediately hastened in pursuit of O'Reily, in
order to despatch him with a communication for his master. But Brian was
nowhere to be found; her own researches and those of the servant whom
she despatched in pursuit of him were of no effect; she was therefore
compelled to entrust her message to one of her father's negroes, who was
well mounted, and despatched upon his errand, within less than two hours
from the time of her interview with his Excellency.
During the absence of the army in the Peninsula, Sir William Berkley had
not been idle, as has already been intimated. The commands borne by his
couriers to those Cavaliers throughout the colony, who were yet well
affected to his government, began now to bring them in from all
directions, and the regular soldiers stationed at the forts, which were
so offensive to the citizens, were marching rapidly upon the capital
from every quarter. Some had already arrived, and the city was once more
thronged with eager faces. Sounds of martial music were again heard
through the streets, and the more quiet citizens again disturbed with
the stern preparations for war.
The present military and Cavalier assemblages in the capital were,
however, of a very different political character, and brought together
with very different motives from those which had preceded them. They
were not less in numbers, spirit and appointments; but their object was
not to cope with the savage--it was to measure arms in deadly strife
with their own countrymen and fellow-citizens. The army now assembling,
was intended by the Governor to suppress what he called the rebellion,
and his purpose was, as soon as his forces should all arrive, to march
at once to the Falls of the Powhatan, and while the popular army were
engaged in front with the savage enemies of their country, to fall upon
their rear, and either cut them in pieces, or compel them to surrender
as rebels found bearing arms against his majesty's authority in the
colony.
Seldom have political parties of any country presented so strange an
aspect as did those of Virginia at this period. First, the people of the
city had been divided between the Cavaliers and Roundheads. The latter
were no sooner brought into complete subjection, than a new
amalgamation took place, by which their distinctive character was lost.
Then, growing out of the puerile obstinacy of Sir William Berkley, in
refusing to repel the incursions of the Indians merely because he had at
first maintained that there was no danger to be apprehended from their
hostility, the popular or conservative party sprang into existence.
Against these were now arrayed the loyalist faction, and most of those
descended from noble ancestors or bearing titles, headed by the Governor
himself.
In a very few days this latter party had assembled their whole military
force in the city, and the most active preparations were made to march
against Bacon and his followers who were carrying fire and sword into
the very heart of the country occupied by the real enemies of the
colony.
The temporary duties of the government were resigned into the hands of
Sir H. Chicherley, while Sir William Berkley, Sir Herbert Jeffries,
Francis Beverly, Philip Ludwell, and their compeers, assumed the most
important stations of command in the army of the loyalists. Much the
larger portion of the regular troops were composed of foreign
mercenaries, sent over from England to perform those very duties which
Bacon and his followers were now to be punished for assuming. The very
soldiers who ought to have protected the whites against the incursions
of the Indians were to be turned against the patriot band which had
volunteered to perform a service no longer to be deferred with safety to
the colony. It is true that the commissions of Bacon and his officers
were not legally signed by the constituted authorities; but an emergency
had arisen which threw the citizens back at once upon their original
rights and powers. The government having failed to afford them
protection for their lives and property, they had assumed that office
for themselves. This was the condition of the colony at the juncture of
which we write.
While Sir William and his coadjutors were thus busily collecting and
disciplining their forces, the citizens of the capital were not
uninterested spectators of this unwonted succession of military
preparations. Most of those remaining in the city had friends and
relations in the ranks of the popular army, and though they dared not
openly express their disapprobation of the Governor's proceedings, their
discontent was deep and settled, and only awaited the departure of the
present overpowering force, again to burst into open resistance against
the government.
While these preparations for civil strife were going on in the streets
of the city, a discussion of not less interesting import to some of the
leading characters of our story, was carried on within the walls of the
Governor's mansion. The stout old Cavalier had fixed upon the day
preceding the departure of his army, for the solemnization of the
marriage between his niece and his kinsman Beverly. He had himself held
several interviews with the former, but had failed to make the least
impression on her mind, either by his reasoning or his more artful
appeals to her filial duty and affections.
In vain had he detailed her father's plans and expectations. In vain had
he appealed to her love and respect for his memory. In vain had he
descended from his dignity to reproach her with the late disastrous
occurrence at the chapel. In vain had he coarsely charged her with
desiring an alliance, contrary alike to the laws of God and man. She was
deaf to his arguments and his threats. But the time approached with
fearful rapidity, which he had appointed for the ceremony. The intended
bridegroom held an important command in the expedition now preparing,
and it was Sir William's intention that he should be married and set out
on the succeeding morning. Notwithstanding our heroine's apparent
firmness, therefore, in presence of her stern relative, every note of
preparation which was wafted into her chamber sent the blood
oppressively to her heart. Her naturally mild and gentle nature shrunk
from the contemplation of the violence which her fears and her knowledge
of her kinsman induced her to believe would be used to overcome her
resolution.
His pretended dread of the disgrace which he charged her with desiring
to bring upon his family she knew was exactly the apology he wanted for
the arbitrary measures necessary to the completion of the plan.
She was alone in the world. No one now stood ready to give her rescue
from the relentless hands which placed restraint upon her inclinations.
Her nearest kindred had, as she believed, fallen by the savage tomahawk,
and her only remaining relative was about to force her into a marriage
which she detested. Notwithstanding all these depressing circumstances,
her elastic mind and sanguine temperament had hitherto risen above the
accumulating weight of her misfortunes. She had still preserved the
vague yet constant hope, so natural to youth, that some fortunate
occurrence, some unexpected accident would yet take place to mar the
well laid plans of the Governor. But as the time approached, and the
preparations moved steadily forward without any evidence of coming
succour, or the fortunate event which was to release her from her
dreadful situation, her heart began to misgive her--she was compelled in
some measure to assume an humbler posture towards the stern old man in
whose hands her destiny seemed placed. Her ingenuity had turned the
subject in all its various aspects--every chance of escape was provided
against. Even the presence of her friend Harriet, upon which she had
founded most of her hopes, was rigidly and perseveringly denied to her.
As a last and desperate resort, she humbly supplicated her uncle for an
uninterrupted interview with him to whom he purposed to marry her; and
Sir William seeing nothing in this request calculated to defeat his
plans, but on the contrary hoping that it proceeded from a wavering
resolution, granted the request.
She sat upon a large leathern-backed chair, her head leaning upon the
window sill, and her flaxen ringlets clustering around her pale and
attenuated, but still beautiful features. Her _robe de chamber_ was
white and simple in its fashion, and her hands were listlessly and
languidly twined into its folds, seeming, every now and then, as if her
delicate fingers would pierce the yielding texture. A solitary tear
seemed as if it had already departed from its pure fountain, as
tremblingly it hung upon the long dewy eyelash, the mere closing of
which dissipated it into a thin misty veil of sadness to her liquid
melancholy blue eye, as it was turned in fearful expectation towards the
door.
At length Beverly entered. She had until this moment strenuously
resisted all endeavours to promote an interview, and once, on a former
similar occasion, had covered her face and pertinaciously resisted all
attempts on his part to lead her into conversation. He now entered with
the knowledge that the invitation came from herself; he felt his
supposed power; and a lofty smile played upon his proud but handsome
features. As he approached, she sank upon her knees, and clasped her
hands in supplication. The tears had now burst the restraints of thought
and internal oppression, and rapidly coursed each other down her cheeks
as she spoke, "You see before you, sir, a solitary female and an orphan,
bereaved suddenly and cruelly of her natural protectors--deserted or
oppressed by those who should have supplied their place. Before the
distracting grief for these afflictions has had time to lose its first
intensity, she has been cruelly beset and importuned to become a party
to a marriage, of which she had never before thought. You, sir, are the
other party! I entreat, I implore you on my knees, at least to postpone
this intended ceremony. If it is performed to-night, as my uncle has
appointed, the wrath of Heaven will be poured out upon such a
desecration of its holy institutions. You, sir, will wed a corpse or a
raving maniac! Interpose then, I pray you. Petition Sir William, as from
yourself alone, for its postponement, at least until your return from
the intended campaign, and I will pray for your happiness until the end
of my existence. I will then indeed believe that you desire mine."
He made several attempts to raise her from her supplicating posture,
during her appeal, but she maintained her attitude. Having paused to
catch her exhausted breath, he seized the opportunity to say, "Are you
sure, madam, that there is no lurking weakness, no sinister design, in
this demand for farther time?"
"Of what design, what weakness do you suspect me?" she exclaimed,
raising her head boldly, and losing almost instantly the subdued tone of
entreaty.
"Of base and criminal affections for one who should be blotted from the
tablets of your memory for his villany, if not for his kindred blood!"
She was on her feet in an instant; her ringlets wildly tossed back by a
quick motion of the head, and a corresponding effort with both hands,
which she held still clasped in her hair, as she stared at him an
instant before she replied,
"Are you a man? A gentleman? A Cavalier? That you come here to insult
and trample upon one already deserted of all mankind? Her whom you
pretend to desire for a companion through joy and wo! How base, how
cowardly, to insult a helpless female, and that female your
kinswoman--one whom you pretend to love. Out upon you, sir, for a
dastard! Were he now here whom you so basely slander, you would not dare
employ such language!"
"Softly, softly, my dear lady. You are only betraying your own feelings,
and counteracting the relenting mood into which your well acted appeal
was near betraying me."
"Oh, then, forget what I have said, and be indeed the high minded,
generous Beverly, I once believed you! We were children together,
caressed by the same friends and owning a common origin. Can you then
witness unmoved my forlorn condition, without one feeling of
compassion?"
Beverly was not wholly without tender feelings, although they were so
concentrated upon himself, that it required the touch of a master hand
to reach his heart. Selfish men, however, are sometimes easily worked
upon by allusions or appeals to their family pride. Their connexions are
a constituent part of the idol of their worship--self; and it is not the
least remarkable feature in their characters, that such men are almost
always affectionate husbands and devoted parents. These are but a part
of self; their kindred by a farther remove are generally valued in
proportion to their ability to confer honour upon the common stock.
"He that feels not love," says Goethe, "must learn to flatter."
Doubtless the great German poet was contemplating the difficulties of
the supremely selfish man in love, when he penned this aphorism. But
Beverly was not so profoundly skilled in the human heart; he ardently
desired to possess the hand of his fair kinswoman, as well on account of
her many personal attractions, as of the rich inheritance of which she
was the heiress; but he had not learned his own harsh defects of
character, and of course could not substitute the arts of flattery for
the softer eloquence of love. He felt and enjoyed his power, as
compensating in some degree for the want of admiration of himself in his
intended bride, and such were the feelings operating upon him when he
entered her chamber; but her last appeal seemed to move his selfish
nature, as he paused to contemplate the eloquent suppliant before he
replied.
"Suppose that I obtain from Sir William his consent for the postponement
of the ceremony, will you then give me your hand of your own free will?"
She paused before replying. The case was desperate; no succour seemed
now within the bounds of probability. The shades of evening were fast
gathering around the gloomy precincts of her secluded apartment. She
knew her uncle's determination of character. One only chance of escape
appeared remaining open to her, and she desperately resolved to seize
it. Such was the train of reasoning by which she rapidly arrived at this
conclusion, and replied,
"Our inclinations are not always within our own control, but if you
obtain this reprieve, I promise to give you my hand upon the return of
the present expedition, provided that nothing occurs in the mean time to
free me from the necessity. For I will be plain and honest with you, and
avow my determination to escape this marriage if I can."
"I understand you, fair cousin; you expect deliverance at the hands of
your degraded and new found kinsman; but trust me, he will need succour
himself before that time arrives. I expect to march him through these
streets in irons on my wedding-day. Frown not--gather no storms of
indignation upon your brow--it shall be even so. But time wears apace;
so pledge yourself before Heaven, that if I obtain Sir William's consent
to this delay, you will be mine upon the return of the army."
"Before Heaven I promise you, under the condition I have named."
"It is then a bargain, and I will seek the Governor to fulfil my part of
it; should he consent, see that you remember your plighted faith. As for
your condition, I take no thought of that;" and with this remark he left
the room.
It was with the greatest difficulty that she could suppress her rising
indignation, upon his again alluding to her new found kinsman; but she
did so far suppress it as to force herself through the required promise.
The door had no sooner closed upon his retreating footsteps, than she
clasped her hands, and exclaimed fervently, raising her eyes toward
heaven, "Thank God! I am now freed from the immediate apprehension of
this most hated union. Oh, if he does but come within the allotted time!
and come as my flattering hopes persuade me that he will--a conqueror!
hailed as the deliverer of his country--the champion of her oppressed
and outraged people, and the preserver of the most wretched of her
maidens! what blessings will be his! Be he brother or kinsman or lover,
he shall live for ever in this grateful heart. Brother indeed! He is a
brother in kindness, devotion, and disregard of self; but a brother in
kindred blood, my heart assures me he is not."
The door was again opened after the lapse of a short time, and Beverly
entered to say, "I have seen Sir William, and presented my request; he
refused at first, but when I told him that you had promised to be mine
at the expiration of the required time, he yielded his consent. I
purposely concealed from him that there was any condition in the case,
first, because I take no heed to it myself, and secondly, because it
might have precluded his concurrence, and would most certainly be a
motive with him for placing you under still more rigid restraint. You
see, sweet coz, that I study your happiness far more than you give me
credit for. Why will you not freely then make me its guardian for life?"
"How very different is the selfish man," thought Virginia, "who thus
blazons his own little acts of merest charity, for refined and delicate
attentions, from him who possesses innate benevolence and gentleness of
heart? He would have studiously concealed a hundred greater kindnesses
than this." But under present circumstances, even such unfavourable
comparisons did not prevent her from replying,
"For every act of kindness towards me, Mr. Beverly, I am sure I try to
feel very grateful, and since I have been within these walls, my
feelings have been so little exercised in that way that it is really
refreshing to feel under their influence, even in the smallest degree.
The very servants treat me as a lost and abandoned creature. Those of my
own sex that once professed love and respect for me, fly from the
apartment when I speak to them, as if there were contamination in my
very voice. I know that some horrible tale has been told them about me:
would you but take the trouble to correct the false impression, before
you depart, my solitary lot might be greatly softened, and I would then
have double cause for gratitude."
"With the domestic arrangements of the house I dare not interfere--Sir
William has directed all those things himself."
"And is it by his orders too that my aunt comes not to see me, nor sends
a kind word of inquiry as to my health these long sad days, or a book to
while away the longer and more gloomy nights?"
"It is. She has wept as many foolish tears almost as yourself, since
your confinement to this room."
"Thank God! You have taken a load from off my heart. There is then one
soul within the house, of my own sex and blood too, who sympathises with
me during these stern severities."
"Your trials will soon be over, my pretty coz, and then we will remove
to a house of our own, and you shall lord it over some of these
blackies, in revenge for their want of respect, to your heart's
content." Attempting to chuck her under the chin, as he spoke, she was
compelled to turn her head suddenly toward the window, for the double
purpose of placing herself beyond the reach of his hand, and of
concealing the rising flush of anger and contempt that glowed upon her
countenance. She saw that he treated her as a child--that he imagined
such conversation suited to the level of her capacity, and longed to
humble his proud self-sufficiency, but dared not under present
circumstances. For the first time in her life, she found herself
compelled to disguise her natural feelings, and suppress the bitter
words which rose upon her tongue. She therefore, by way of changing the
conversation, and knowing not what else to say, inquired, "How soon does
your army expect to return?"
"Soon, my dear coz, very soon. In ten days at farthest, I hope to lay
some of the trophies of victory at your feet, and twine you a bridal
turban from the standard of the rebel chief." Again she was forced to
turn her head away. And the harmony of their meeting, constrained and
unnatural as it was, would probably very soon have been ruptured by the
almost bursting indignation which agitated her bosom, had not the
martial summons to the evening parade called her tormentor from her
presence.
By dawn of day, on the morning after the interview just related, the
army under the command of Sir William Berkley took up its line of march
toward the falls of the Powhatan.
Virginia was a sad and silent spectator of the imposing pageant. She
stood at her window facing one of the cross streets, through which their
march was directed, and examined the devices of banner after banner, as
they moved along in martial pomp, to the soul-inspiring music of the
drums and trumpets. No sympathizing emotions or half embodied
supplications to the Ruler of Nations for the safety of their persons or
the success of their arms burst from her lips. She saw the proud and
self-satisfied Beverly curvetting by on his equally proud steed; she
even saw him gayly wave his towering plumes in recognition of her
presence without an answering nod or a single indication of approval.
Her heart and hopes followed the standard of the youthful Captain who
commanded the force which these were summoned to scatter and destroy.
Long after the last ensign had passed from her sight, and the music was
heard only in faint and distant echoes as it swelled and died away upon
the air, she stood in the same spot, her eyes apparently still occupied
with passing objects. It was not so--she was endeavouring to look into
futurity. She pictured in her imagination the army of the Cavaliers,
under Bacon, struggling in the murderous ambuscade of the concentrated
savage tribes in front, and mercilessly cut down by their own countrymen
in the rear. She saw the stern and uncompromising Sir William and his
veteran compeers, brandishing their sabres over the heads of the younger
Cavaliers, and Beverly and Bacon engaged in the deadly contest of
personal rivalry and political hatred. Notwithstanding the disadvantages
of the latter's position, youthful hopes and a sanguine temperament,
awarded the victory to the cause which she believed the just one. She
had already, as by miracle, escaped a fate which she considered far more
to be deplored than death, and resolved to trust her own cause, and that
in which it was involved, to him who rules the destinies of battles. She
remembered, with feelings of adoration, that he had said that the race
was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.