I must hurry on."
I rose, also. "You have had no supper!" I cried. "I too have
forgotten."
He shook his head. "I cannot wait. Moreover, I have feasted, - yea,
and drunk deep."
His eyes were very bright, with an exaltation in them as of wine.
Mine, I felt, had the same light. Indeed, we were both drunk with
her laughter, her beauty, and her wit. When he had kissed her
hand, and I had followed him out of the house and down the bank,
he broke the silence.
"Why she came to Virginia I do not know " -
"Nor care to ask," I said.
"Nor care to ask," he repeated, meeting my gaze. "And I know
neither her name nor her rank. But as I stand here, Ralph, I saw
her, a guest, at that feast of which I spoke; and Edwyn Sandys
picked not his maids from such assemblies."
I stopped him with my hand upon his shoulder. "She is one of
Sandys' maids," I asserted, with deliberation, "a waiting damsel
who wearied of service and came to Virginia to better herself. She
was landed with her mates at Jamestown a week or more agone,
went with them to church and thence to the courting meadow,
where she and Captain Ralph Percy, a gentleman adventurer, so
pleased each other that they were married forthwith. That same
day he brought her to his house, where she now abides, his wife,
and as such to be honored by those who call themselves his
friends.
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