I applied myself to the dinner, and Diccon went to the window,
and stood there looking out at the blue sky and at the man in the
pillory. He had the freedom of the gaol. I was somewhat more
straitly confined, though my friends had easy access to me. As for
Jeremy Sparrow, he had spent twenty-four hours in gaol, at the end
of which time Madam West had a fit of the spleen, declared she
was dying, and insisted upon Master Sparrow's being sent for to
administer consolation; Master Bucke, unfortunately, having gone
up to Henricus on business connected with the college. From the
bedside of that despotic lady Sparrow was called to bury a man on
the other side of the river, and from the grave to marry a couple at
Mulberry Island. And the next day being Sunday, and no minister
at hand, he preached again in Master Bucke's pulpit, - and
preached a sermon so powerful and moving that its like had never
been heard in Virginia. They marched him not back from the
pulpit to gaol. There were but five ministers in Virginia, and there
were a many more sick to visit and dead to bury. Master Bucke,
still feeble in body, tarried up river discussing with Thorpe the
latter's darling project of converting every imp of an Indian this
side the South Sea, and Jeremy slipped into his old place. There
had been some talk of a public censure, but it died away.
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