As if she had been a man, his hand went to his sword hilt. As for
her, she leaned back in her chair and looked at him with a smile.
He spoke at last, slowly and with deliberate emphasis. "I won
then," he said. "I shall win again, my lady, - my Lady Jocelyn
Leigh."
I dropped my hand from her chair and stepped forward. "It is my
wife to whom you speak, my Lord Carnal," I said sternly. "I wait to
hear you name her rightly."
Rolfe rose from the grass and stood beside me, and Jeremy
Sparrow, shouldering aside with scant ceremony Burgess and
Councilor, came also. The Governor leaned forward out of his
chair, and the crowd became suddenly very still.
"I am waiting, my lord," I repeated.
In an instant, from what he had been he became the frank and
guileless nobleman. "A slip of the tongue, Captain Percy!" he
cried, his white teeth showing and his hand raised in a gesture of
deprecation. "A natural thing, seeing how often, how very often, I
have so addressed this lady in the days when we had not the
pleasure of your acquaintance." He turned to her and bowed, until
the feather in his hat swept the ground. "I won then," he said. "I
shall win again - Mistress Percy," and passed on to the seat that
had been reserved for him.
The game began. I was to lead one side, and young Clement the
other. At the last moment he came over to me.
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