"I went with that intention."
"You had made your calculation? In your mind you had pitched
upon such and such an article, with such and such qualities, as
desirable? Doubtless you meant to get your money's worth?"
"Doubtless," I said dryly.
"Will you tell me what you were inclined to consider its
equivalent?"
I stared at her, much inclined to laugh. The interview promised to
be interesting.
"I went to Jamestown to get me a wife," I said at length, "because I
had pledged my word that I would do so. I was not over-anxious. I
did not run all the way. But, as you say, I intended to do the best I
could for myself; one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco being
a considerable sum, and not to be lightly thrown away. I went to
look for a mistress for my house, a companion for my idle hours, a
rosy, humble, docile lass, with no aspirations beyond cleanliness
and good temper, who was to order my household and make me a
home. I was to be her head and her law, but also her sword and
shield. That is what I went to look for."
"And you found - me!" she said, and broke into strange laughter.
I bowed.
"In God's name, why did you not go further?"
I suppose she saw in my face why I went no further, for into her
own the color came flaming.
"I am not what I seem!" she cried out. "I was not in that company
of choice!"
I bowed again.
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