I'm not the Company's officer, so I may tell its
orders if I please. A masterless man may speak without fear or
favor. I have told you all I know." Before I could speak he was
gone, closing the door heavily behind him.
I turned to the King's ward. She had risen from the chair, and now
stood in the centre of the room, one hand at her bosom, the other
clenched at her side, her head thrown up. She looked as she had
looked at Weyanoke, that first night.
"Madam," I said under my breath.
She turned her face upon me. "Did you think," she asked in a low,
even voice, - "did you think that I would ever set my foot upon that
ship, - that ship on the river there? One ship brought me here upon
a shameful errand; another shall not take me upon one more
shameful still."
She took her hand from her bosom; in it gleamed in the firelight
the small dagger I had given her that night. She laid it on the table,
but kept her hand upon it. "You will choose for me, sir," she
declared.
I went to the door and looked out. "It is a wild night," I said. "I can
suit it with as wild an enterprise. Make a bundle of your warmest
clothing, madam, and wrap your mantle about you. Will you take
Angela?"
"No," she answered. "I will not have her peril too upon me."
As she stood there, her hand no longer upon the dagger, the large
tears welled into her eyes and fell slowly over her white cheeks.
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