Of course, not a soul in the Council, or in
Jamestown, or in Virginia dreams of a duel behind the church at
sunrise to-morrow." He knocked the ashes from his pipe, and by
degrees got his fat body up from the doorstep. "So there's a
reprieve for you, Ralph Percy, unless you kill or are killed
to-morrow morning. In the latter case, the problem's solved; in the
former, the best service you can do yourself, and maybe the
Company, is to walk out of the world of your own accord, and that
as quickly as possible. Better a cross-roads and a stake through a
dead heart than a hangman's hands upon a live one."
"One moment," I said. "Doth my Lord Carnal know of this
decision of the Governor's?"
"Ay, and a fine passion it put him into. Stormed and swore and
threatened, and put the Governor's back up finely. It seems that he
thought to 'bout ship to-morrow, lady and all. He refuseth to go
without the lady, and so remaineth in Virginia until he can have
his will. Lord! but Buckingham would be a happy man if he were
kept here forever and a day! My lord knows what he risks, and he's
in as black a humor as ever you saw. But I have striven to drop oil
on the troubled waters. 'My lord,' I told him, 'you have but to
posses your soul with patience for a few short weeks, just until the
ship the Governor sends can return. Then all must needs be as your
lordship wishes.
Pages:
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118