mitim 
 
 Mrs. Burton 
 ', $ i 
 
 rlarrilon 
 


 University of California Berkeley 
 
 FROM THE PAPERS OF 
 Frederick J. Mosher 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
Other Books by Mrs. Burton Harrison 
 
 Published by 
 
 Lamson, Wolffe and Company. 
 
 A Virginia Cousin, and Ear Harbor Tales. 
 The Merry Maid of Arcady, His Lordship, 
 and Other Stories. 
 
Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 By 
 
 Mrs. Burton Harrison 
 
 VTCRESCIT 
 
 Lamson, Wolffe and Company 
 
 Boston, New York and London 
 MDCCCXCVII 
 
Copyright, 1897, 
 By Lamson, Wolffe and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Norwood Press 
 
 J. 5. Gushing & Co. Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood Mass. U. S. A. 
 
To B. H. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 ONE soft yet brilliant day of spring found 
 Captain Geoffry Flower as handsome a 
 young sprig of His Majesty King George 
 III.'s Royal Dragoons as one would be likely 
 to see in a month o' Sundays riding along the 
 shady road of a wooded ridge on the west bank 
 of the Potomac in Virginia. Cap-a-pie, the 
 horseman was equipped with nice regard for the 
 requirements of military undress in an officer of 
 wealth and station ; his rosy Saxon cheeks, his 
 bright blue eyes, his athletic figure, his look 
 of vigorous health; the mounted servant, the 
 pack-horses carrying portmanteaux and sundry 
 rich accoutrements all these should have en- 
 sured their owner against a clouded brow. But 
 to Flower the times were evidently out of joint ; 
 his open face wore something nearly akin to a 
 blush, combined with something very like a 
 frown. 
 
 Here was his grievance. He was a stranger, 
 on his way to visit relatives whom he had never 
 met, and before whom he felt in his secret heart 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 a little bit inclined to pose as a being of oppor- 
 tunities and advantages superior to theirs. 
 Not only had the horses, hired in Williams- 
 burg for the expedition hither, broken down 
 utterly in the journey over toilsome roads, but 
 the miserable hacks secured to replace them at 
 Dumfries, had now proved to be mere tired 
 Dobbins from the plough, and were limping 
 sorrowfully along the last stretch of the road. 
 What guise was this in which to present him- 
 self before the critical gaze of Colonel Hugh 
 Poythress of Vuedel'Eau Plantation, a gentle- 
 man who, on the authority of Lord Dunmore 
 himself, was the best judge of horse-flesh in the 
 Province and that was saying much? At 
 three-and-twenty, a man feels such small rubs 
 of ill fortune more than the actual hardships of 
 fate, or even pains of body ; and, adding to 
 this annoyance Flower's encounter half a mile 
 farther back upon the road, we shall understand 
 the cloud betwixt him and the sun. 
 
 Under an aisle of forest trees linked together 
 by festoons of wild grape whose blossoms bur- 
 dened the air with nectar-like perfume, a cortege 
 had met and passed him, filling his eyes with 
 sudden dazzlement. In a chariot of the latest 
 London mode, with body and wheels of myrtle 
 green, and panels bedecked with gilded scrolls 
 and painted garlands, drawn by four satin- 
 smooth bays, upon two of which were perched 
 negro postilions in smart livery, Geoffry had 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 caught a glimpse of two ladies, elegantly 
 dressed. Mother and daughter, he fancied 
 them to be, both fair, one young and mischiev- 
 ous. For, while Geoffry drew out of the road, 
 and took off his hat to the passing vision, there 
 was quite time enough for him to absorb the 
 impression of a girl's half-satirical, half-laugh- 
 ing survey of his mud-splashed riding-gear, his 
 sorry steed, his servant in worse plight. Fol- 
 lowing the chariot had come a lively lad on 
 horseback, attended by a negro groom. " By 
 George, what a spavined nag ! " had floated 
 back in the boy's gay treble, to GeofFry's ting- 
 ling ears. The kind smiles and gracious nods 
 the ladies had bestowed in answer to his bow, 
 could not efface this crowning touch to the 
 vexations of a day. That he, Geoffry Flower, 
 in form the pride and model of his regiment, 
 the beloved of society at home in England, 
 should thus serve as a laughing stock for a 
 family of provincials! His strong desire to 
 relieve himself by riding back to Dumfries and 
 breaking the innkeeper's neck, was restrained 
 only by the condition of his unlucky mount, 
 who, at this juncture, went lame for good and 
 all. 
 
 " Come along here, Keys, and change saddles 
 with me," he shouted to his attendant, at the 
 top of his lungs. "You will have to walk and 
 lead this brute. I suppose," he added, in a 
 lower tone, ashamed of his vehemence, " it 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 can't be far hence to the house of Colonel 
 Poythress, whom I could wish had been in 
 Jericho, before I set out on this cursed jaunt 
 in search of him/' 
 
 Flower had pulled up on the road at a point 
 where the wood opened into a bosky dell, its 
 grassy carpet sprinkled with blue blossoms of 
 the fairy flax. In the tangle of tender leaves 
 and bracken surrounding this sylvan nook, 
 sprang so many wild pink azaleas and tall blue 
 lupines, under branches starred with the ivory 
 disks of dogwood, he could hardly be expected 
 to distinguish among them the blossom face of 
 a girl, who, upon hearing him approach, had 
 resolved to lie perdue until he should pass on. 
 
 The little ripple of mirth she emitted (and as 
 quickly suppressed) over his burst of boyish 
 passion, came indeed to Flower's ears ; but, 
 seeing nobody, he supposed it to be the note 
 of some bird nesting in the thicket. All might 
 have gone as projected by the damsel, if the 
 stout young sapling of aspen she had but just 
 managed to bend down to ride upon, had not 
 shown symptoms of escaping her. As she 
 moved to shift her seat a little farther along its 
 stem, the sapling proved her master ; with a 
 bold upward dash, while shaking off the con- 
 queror, it sprung back erect among the minor 
 royalties of the forest. At this piece of self- 
 assertion on the aspen's part, there was infinite 
 commotion in the wood ; a whir of leaves, a 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 5 
 
 cheep of birds, a chattering of squirrels, a 
 swish of branches meeting and clashing and 
 settling back into place . . . ! 
 
 Geoffry, wondering what manner of game he 
 had flushed, made a bound toward the thicket 
 and tore apart its screen of verdure. There, 
 on the ground where she had slid from the 
 sapling, he saw a captivating, if angry little 
 maid, struggling hard to get upon her feet, her 
 gown held fast in a hundred places by the green 
 prickles of a sturdy thorn-bush. 
 
 " Permit me, madam, to assist you," said 
 the Captain, politely bowing. 
 
 " I can do quite well without your interposi- 
 tion, sir," she observed, somewhat pettishly ; 
 but, her efforts proving fruitless, she was fain 
 to accept of Geoffry's hand, and with a tug, 
 and much rending of India cotton, he landed 
 her finally beside him, where she stood in sil- 
 ver-buckled shoes that Titania might have 
 worn. Then, with scant recognition of his 
 vicinity, she arched both brown hands over 
 her mouth, and sent forth a long clear call, 
 promptly answered from afar by a man's voice. 
 Directly after came the sound of an animal's 
 quick approach through the undergrowth, and 
 a large hound, bursting out of the bushes, di- 
 rected his course toward the stranger with evi- 
 dently fierce intent. 
 
 " Down, Jupiter ! Down, boy ! " cried the 
 girl ; and as the dog, obeying, slunk behind 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 her, to eye Flower with continuing displeasure, 
 she went on to address the young soldier with 
 an air of cherubic patronage. " Believe me, sir, 
 you are quite safe whilst I am here," she said 
 kindly. 
 
 Flower laughed aloud. He did not think it 
 needful to put hand to the hunting-knife his 
 English friends had counselled him to carry in 
 Virginia, or to the silver-mounted pistols in his 
 holsters, to show her that he was well guarded 
 otherwise than by herself. 
 
 It was a new and not unpleasing experience 
 for our bold dragoon to be held in leash by a 
 dainty child with rose-leaf cheeks, with auburn 
 locks tucked into a mob-cap, with pouting scar- 
 let lips now curved into a friendly smile for him. 
 
 "You are gracious, madam, to thus extend 
 your protection to a lonely wayfarer," he had 
 begun in high-flown strain, but was interrupted 
 by the arrival from the same direction whence 
 had come his enemy, the dog, of a tall youth, 
 who threaded his way toward them through a 
 maze of young oaks and hickories, sweet gums 
 and walnuts, with a skill that betrayed the 
 practised woodsman. 
 
 " Oh, cousin ! " exclaimed the girl, coquet- 
 tishly. " Here have I been sadly put about, 
 and near to an accident, all because you chose 
 to stop behind to doctor a sick dog ! It is this 
 gentleman who has been so good as to rescue 
 me from the wretched briar bed wherein I fell." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " I am Geoffry Flower, at your service," said 
 the person indicated. "Captain in His Maj- 
 esty's Dragoons, but at present attached to the 
 staff of His Excellency the Royal Governor at 
 Williamsburg." 
 
 " And I am Rolfe Poythress, a kinsman of 
 the owner of this property/' said the new- 
 comer, with grave courtesy. 
 
 " I carry a letter from my Lord Dunmore 
 to Colonel Poythress," Flower went on, in his 
 courtliest phrase ; " a gentleman whose early 
 acquaintance it is my most ardent hope to 
 make." 
 
 " Though you did wish my poor papa at 
 Jericho because your horse went lame," inter- 
 rupted the girl, with playful malice. 
 
 A guilty blush overspread young Geoffry's 
 countenance, and ran up into his hair. 
 
 " You are Miss Poythress ? " he faltered. 
 
 " Dear lack, no ! " she exclaimed naively. 
 " I am but the little madcap sister of Miss 
 Poythress, who has gone out with our mamma 
 in the chariot to make visits, whilst I roam the 
 fields and tear my frocks, to the vexation of 
 Mistress Judith, my mother's housekeeper 
 that darns 'em. But all the same, sir, I bid 
 you welcome to Vue de 1'Eau Plantation." 
 
 So saying, the damsel executed as fine a 
 curtsy as if one-half the tatters of her gown 
 were not adorning the nearest bramble bush. 
 
 "And if you will send your servant with 
 
8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the horses to follow the straight road," said the 
 youth called Rolfe, " he will find his way with- 
 out trouble to the stables, where there will be 
 plenty of fellows to look out for him and them. 
 We, meantime, can walk through the woods 
 and take a path to the mansion through the 
 Home Farm. You must be weary of the 
 saddle, when you have nothing better to sit 
 astride of than that broken-kneed nag of the 
 old skinflint, Giles Simpson, at Dumfries." 
 
 GeofFry, welcoming an opportunity, poured 
 out his wrongs at Simpson's hands. In a short 
 time, the three young people, strolling together, 
 felt almost at ease with one another. The ap- 
 pearance of Rolfe Poythress interested Flower 
 the more that it piqued his curiosity. There 
 was about him so little to mark the young 
 Virginian as belonging to the wealthy and 
 powerful Colonial family whose name he bore, 
 except a certain elusive resemblance to some 
 portrait Flower had seen in England, and could 
 not at once recall. About a year younger than 
 Flower, he was full six foot three in height, 
 loose-jointed, muscular, swarthy of complexion, 
 of manner shy. He wore his straight black 
 hair unpowdered, and his suit of walnut-dyed 
 homespun betrayed the cut of a rustic tailor. 
 Nothing had he of social grace or polish, yet 
 was there in the young provincial's face that 
 expression of steadfast purpose, that conscious- 
 ness of strength, which made every stranger 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 accosting him look twice, and end by trusting 
 him entirely. His voice in speaking was singu- 
 larly low and sweet, his use of the King's 
 English as choice as that of the aristocratic 
 Oxford-bred captain. And Flower took note 
 that, whilst he did the honours of the occasion 
 suitably, it was as became the deputy of his little 
 kinswoman and her absent father. 
 
 " I think I should have said, before this," 
 observed Geoffry, presently, " that I have the 
 pleasure to call myself a relative of your family. 
 On my mother's side, I am a nephew of 
 Colonel Poythress' cousin, Lord Avenel, and, 
 at his castle of Avenel in Devon, have seen a 
 portrait albeit of a woman the mother of 
 my Lord, in fact, that strongly resembles your 
 cousin, here, if he will pardon me for suggest- 
 ing it." 
 
 " As papa says, heredity plays strange tricks. 
 But I care not about that cross-grained old 
 cousin Avenel," said the girl, with petulance. 
 
 " Nor I," said Flower, laughing. 
 
 " Whether because my papa was born on 
 this side the water," she went on, " or because 
 he is, after our cousin's son, next heir to the 
 title, Lord Avenel hath always chosen to treat 
 us with scant civility. But you will find my 
 mamma, sir, more than ready to join with you 
 in chat about Avenel and ancestral portraits 
 and English ways ; and my sister Betty is as 
 bad. Since they were presented at court, two 
 
io A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 years ago, on my sister's sixteenth birthday, 
 such things are forever on their lips. But I, 
 that am a poor little plantation-bred maiden, 
 and have not even crossed the sea, cannot 
 be expected to set store by what I know not 
 of." 
 
 " Then it may be you will care more that I 
 have the endorsement of your neighbour, the 
 distinguished Colonel Washington of Mount 
 Vernon, whom I had the honour to meet at 
 dinner, at Major Bayard's in New York, upon 
 first arriving in America. 'Twas he, indeed, 
 who bade me, should I ever visit his native 
 Province, count upon a hospitable reception 
 from my relatives at Vue de 1'Eau Plantation." 
 
 " My godpapa ! " cried the girl, radiantly. 
 " Indeed, sir, you could scarce have a better 
 friend with us, or with any family in the Col- 
 ony. It is to call upon his wife, still in sad 
 grief over the loss of her daughter Patsey, 
 who died last summer, that my mamma is gone 
 to-day. The Colonel is not yet started for 
 Williamsburg, or you would have crossed him 
 on the way." 
 
 " He has just returned from a visit across the 
 river to Colonel Calvert's, the father-in-law 
 of young Mr. Jackey Custis," added Rolfe. 
 "And the young married couple and Miss 
 Calvert came back with him to Mount Vernon. 
 Their whole party of gentlemen, with my 
 uncle and several others of the neighbourhood, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 1 1 
 
 set out this morning at sunrise for a day with 
 the hounds." 
 
 cc Fox-hunting is an every-day affair," said 
 the girl ; " but to-morrow how lucky, Cap- 
 tain, that you came in time for the barbecue 
 and foot-race at Johnson's Ferry! Rolfe will 
 tell you what fine sport that is ! All the 
 neighbourhood is sure to be there the party 
 from Mount Vernon, and Belvoir, and Gun- 
 ston, the Cockburns from Truro, the Mc- 
 Cartys, Gunnells, Paynes, Chichesters oh ! 
 everybody ! Isn't it too good, Rolfe, that 
 mamma says I may go ? She will not hear 
 of my setting foot at the ball they're to give 
 at Williamsburg to my Lady Dunmore, because, 
 forsooth, I am but just fourteen past. And 
 mamma that knows quite well it is down in the 
 Family Bible how she was married at fifteen ! " 
 
 " Perhaps we may yet coax her to relent," 
 said Flower, smiling. 
 
 " Not unless Colonel Washington is on my 
 side, and he teases me by saying there is no 
 place at a Palace Ball for a hoyden miss like 
 me. But 'twas he that pleaded for me to go to 
 the barbecue. My godfather is my best friend, 
 after papa ; and perhaps you come next, Rolfe, 
 although you are but a boy. I tell my Colonel 
 secrets even papa mayn't know ! He has got 
 in his pocket a pincushion stuffed with a lock 
 of my hair, and I have cut him a watch-paper 
 the finest ever I made." 
 
12 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " And is the Colonel's wife included in your 
 friendship for her husband ? " Flower went on, 
 amused by her artless talk. 
 
 " Um-m," said the maiden. cc One does not 
 love a lady as one loves a gentleman, it seems. 
 But she is good to me, truly. I will show you 
 my muslin apron worked by her own hands. 
 Remind me, Rolfe, to send Pomp over to 
 Mount Vernon with that setting of my guinea- 
 hen's eggs for the Colonel, who has been mon- 
 strous unlucky this year with his guinea-fowls 
 and Pomp is to bring me back two Barbary 
 pullets the hen-woman had the Colonel's orders 
 to put aside for me." 
 
 The three pedestrians had, by now, arrived 
 at the spot whence was to be had the most 
 favourable view of the mansion, built on a site, 
 known in earlier Colonial .days as cc Poropo- 
 tank," but renamed in deference to the taste of 
 the present owner's lady, "Vue de 1'Eau." 
 The point of land upon which Colonel Poy- 
 thress' father the first emigrant of his line to 
 Virginia had erected a manor-house repro- 
 ducing, as nearly as might be, his ancestral 
 home in a southern shire of England, projected 
 boldly and steeply into the broad expanse of 
 the Potomac, and was so cut off upon the side 
 before them, by a creek, as to give it the effect 
 of a peninsula. Upon the promontory thus 
 secured arose the picturesque pile of the brick 
 dwelling, its many chimneys, gables, and mul- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 13 
 
 Honed windows overgrown with ivy, rose, and 
 jasmine. Upon the lawn towered noble oaks 
 and chestnuts, sheltering a variety of blossom- 
 ing shrubs and decorative trees, while in the 
 box- walled Italian garden overlooking the water 
 glowed all the radiant flowers of the locality 
 and season. 
 
 " Why, 'tis like a bit of home," cried Geof- 
 fry, with delight. 
 
 " I hoped 'twould please you," she said, 
 beaming pleasure in return. 
 
 Rolfe had fallen behind to give some advice 
 to a shepherd just come in from the pastures 
 carrying in his arms an ailing lamb. GeofFry, 
 who could never resist the hour and the pretty 
 girl combined, essayed a flight of gallantry. 
 
 " I should give you leave to call me a dull 
 clod, indeed, did I fail to be pleased with all I 
 have seen at Vue de 1'Eau, Miss Poythress." 
 
 " But I am not Miss Poythress," she per- 
 sisted, without a trace of responsive coquetry. 
 
 " Then, pray, what may a far-off kinsman 
 style your ladyship ? " he asked, bending 
 on her an admiring glance of his handsome 
 orbs. 
 
 " I am named Matoaca," she said simply. 
 
 " Matoaca ? " 
 
 " It was the christened name of my mamma's 
 ancestress, the Princess Pocahontas," she an- 
 swered. " You know, perhaps, that my mother 
 was a Randolph of Curies' Neck ? " 
 
14 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " I had not been so informed/' he answered, 
 with appropriate gravity. 
 
 "Yes, she will tell you, better than I can, 
 all about those marriages and intermarriages I 
 find so tiresome. Rolfe, also, was named in 
 honour of the Lady Pocahontas, his name com- 
 ing from her English husband. Like mine, it 
 has been always a favourite in our family, tho' 
 I am chiefly known as May." 
 
 " That suits you better," he said, noting the 
 pink and white tints of her high-bred little face. 
 "And Rolfe is an inmate of your home?" 
 
 " Dear heart ! you are of the family, and 
 has no one told you about Rolfe ? He lives 
 far away up in the frontier country, with his 
 mother, who is a widow. Of course you know 
 she is a cousin of my mamma's ? " 
 
 "Of course," answered he, floundering and 
 confused. 
 
 " 'Tis a sad story, about my father's younger 
 brother Dick ; and for years before he was 
 killed by the Indians in the massacre of Wild 
 Cat Hollow there was little intercourse be- 
 tween them. One does not speak of these 
 things except amongst ourselves, you know. 
 But Rolfe is the dearest fellow ; and my 
 brother Hughey and I would like nothing 
 better than that he lived here always. Latterly 
 he has taught us both to handle a musket and 
 a pistol ; and though mamma will have it the 
 practice does not befit a lady of my quality, I 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 15 
 
 am as good a shot as Hughey, now. Is it not 
 so, Rolfe ? " she added, the young man at that 
 moment coming up with them. 
 
 " May is, indeed, as proficient with firearms 
 as she is in the saddle," was the indulgent 
 answer. " Though we do not venture to boast 
 before my Aunt Poythress of what she calls 
 ' buckskin accomplishments/ ' 
 
 " For my part, I would I could know more 
 of c buckskin accomplishments ' in Virginia,'* 
 said Flower. " Since I arrived at Williams- 
 burg it has been little more than England at 
 second hand. I long to see the great woods, 
 the free life of the frontiersman, the Indian 
 trail, and the big hunting we have heard 
 about." 
 
 cc Some day you must visit my part of the 
 Province," responded Rolfe. " I think that 
 will meet all your expectations of forest soli- 
 tude." 
 
 " I should dearly like to go there," said 
 Geoffry ; " and I hope Fate will be kind 
 enough to turn my steps in that direction 
 while I am in the Colony ; but a soldier is as 
 you know, a creature of the moment only, 
 and never knows where any future hour may 
 find him." 
 
 Rolfe's eyes sparkled with longing. 
 
 " What would I give for the right to say the 
 same ! " he answered. 
 
 "You have but to join us," answered 
 
1 6 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Flower. " Surely a fine athletic fellow like 
 you could clap on the King's uniform in a 
 trice, if he wanted to enlist in the Royal 
 service/' 
 
 " There is a duty more binding on me than 
 my duty to the King," said the youth, mod- 
 estly. 
 
 " I should tell you," volunteered May, evi- 
 dently burning with sympathy, " what Rolfe 
 never will, that he is the best son in the world ; 
 and that his mother has ever urged on him to 
 prepare himself for teaching a school for the 
 children of the settlers in their neighbourhood. 
 And now that Rolfe has the promise of the 
 school " 
 
 " I may as well renounce my dreams of mili- 
 tary service once and for all," interrupted Rolfe, 
 with an attempt at cheerfulness. "Just now, I 
 am in process of being coached to be a country 
 pedagogue, by my uncle's tutor, worthy Mr. 
 Snow ; and next month I am to assume the 
 duties that will for the rest of my life find me 
 birching learning into urchins as 'twas birched 
 into me, and wielding the ruler in our new 
 academy." 
 
 " Pardon me," added Flower, with all a 
 soldier's pride, " if I say you were meant for 
 better things. And pardon me again 
 surely your Uncle Poythress " 
 
 " There are reasons 'tis a long story," said 
 the youth, colouring deeply. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " You are right, Captain ; my cousin would 
 make a fine soldier," cried the girl, interposing. 
 cc But then Rolfe can do anything he tries to 
 do. Why, he can read his Latin off-hand as 
 well as Mr. Snow ; and there isn't a colt in the 
 paddock he couldn't master and as for shoot- 
 ing and swimming, and fencing " 
 
 " Stop, stop, cousin," protested Rolfe, ill at 
 ease. " These are not things to say to one 
 man about another. You will excuse her, 
 Captain Flower ; at fourteen a maiden has 
 scarcely the knowledge " 
 
 " Fourteen, fourteen ! " exclaimed May, in- 
 terrupting him with a little stamp of her foot. 
 " Am I never to hear the last of it ? If you 
 were as young as that, Rolfe, do you think I'd 
 be reminding you of your misfortune. No, no, 
 I'll not listen to another word from you. See 
 if I give you your revenge at backgammon, 
 to-night." 
 
 They had come out into the Vue de 1'Eau 
 farm-village, a hive of industries, peopled with 
 busy, cheery blacks ; and, while Rolfe tarried 
 to make his peace with May, Flower strolled 
 around it, looking with curiosity upon this 
 world in little. In neat sheds gathered against 
 a background of spacious barns and stables, he 
 saw convict white servants employed in car- 
 pentry, shoe-making, and other arts of skilled 
 labour. Elsewhere were mills, a distillery, a 
 tannery, storehouses for corn and tobacco, a 
 
1 8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 wheelwright's and a cooper's shop, and a smithy 
 in full blast. In the negro cabins, seen through 
 the young green of spring foliage, spinning, 
 dyeing, weaving, and tailoring for plantation 
 use went on in view of the passer-by. Flower, 
 who surveyed the scene with an Englishman's 
 appreciation of farming on a large and inde- 
 pendent scale, did not, to the others who had 
 rejoined him, stint his praise. From this cen- 
 tre of activity his eye roved approvingly to the 
 broad acres of rich arable land, broken up 
 with fields and orchards, that enframed it ; to 
 the quarters and offices of the domestic ser- 
 vants, the homestead stables and fowl-yards 
 nearer the mansion house ; thence, below, to 
 the shining expanse of the wide river, whereon 
 lay at anchor a trim vessel in process of load- 
 ing with tobacco by negroes, singing as they 
 worked. All bespoke baronial plenty, good 
 management, and peace, and the visitor felt 
 his respect for his unseen host increase accord- 
 ingly. Before the three pedestrians, chatting 
 again in friendly fashion, passed under an iron 
 gateway consisting of airy scrolls held together 
 by monograms and armorial bearings that led 
 to the lawn of silvery English turf, May re- 
 newed Flower's old griefs by proposing a visit 
 to the stable to make sure that his horses and 
 his servant had been properly received. There, 
 he found the innkeeper's Rosinantes installed 
 with honours better bestowed on better steeds ; 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 19 
 
 his servant, Keys, lording it over the negro 
 grooms with gasconading boasts of grandeur 
 far-away, and disclaimers of aught but hired 
 proprietorship in such paltry cattle. These 
 loud -mouthed protestations of the honest 
 trooper dropped into a lower note when his 
 master came in sight ; but, contriving to step 
 aside with Flower, he informed him that, what- 
 ever might be the accommodation allotted to 
 Christian flesh and blood on a Virginian planta- 
 tion, there was no doubt that the beasts were 
 cared for like royalty. 
 
 " Then why on earth need you have treated 
 the stable yard to such condescending prate as 
 I heard when I came up, you rascal ? " asked 
 Geoffry, impatiently. 
 
 " Faith, Captain, 'twas just for the honour of 
 the old country," said the fellow, with a grin. 
 " Look yonder in the stall of the master's 
 hunter, at the rack made of pure mahogany, 
 with silver nails. Why, the bare-foot groom 
 that has charge of the creature sleeps, at night, 
 on a pallet by his side, and the horse's very 
 drinking-vessel is rimmed with silver. 'Tis 
 like the tales our old Devon sailors used to 
 tell of the golden Indies, sir; and since here 
 we've come under a cloud, like, and no one 
 but me to stand up for our gentility, surely 
 you'd not be depriving poor Keys of his right- 
 ful gift of eloquence." 
 
 " Take care your rightful gift of eloquence 
 
2O A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 does not bring us to confusion some fine day," 
 said his master, who could not withhold a 
 smile at the man's droll countenance. "And, 
 as quickly as you can, get into the house, and 
 make re#dy for me a bath and a change of 
 clothes." 
 
 " Aye, sir ; there'll be gentry in plenty to 
 sup here after the fox-hunt, and good cheer in 
 hall and kitchen, if what these negroes say be 
 true. My mouth fairly waters at the bill of 
 fare. D'ye think, sir, they could ha' been 
 making it out more than it's really like to 
 be ? " he added, the pallor of suspicion steal- 
 ing into his muddy countenance. 
 
 " Set a thief to catch a thief, you know, 
 Keys," answered GeofFry, enjoying his facto- 
 tum's alarm ; then strolling off, he rejoined 
 May, who had been darting like a swallow in 
 and out of the stalls, bestowing love pats upon 
 such horses as the hunt had left there. 
 
 " Here is Diabolus, the hunter my papa 
 rides when he wants to save his own especial 
 Ajax," she said, entering fearlessly the compart- 
 ment of a young and dangerous-looking chest- 
 nut who allowed her to handle him with every 
 mark of pleasure. " 'Twas Rolfe who trained 
 Diabolus to saddle, when the horse-breaker had 
 failed ; and there's no jumper like him, far or 
 near. Here is my saddle-horse, and that's my 
 sister's ; and the gray in the next stall will, 
 I dare say, be put at your disposal for our ride 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 21 
 
 to the barbecue, unless you like better to go 
 with the elders in the chariot." 
 
 Flower's eyes sparkled at the prospect of 
 bestriding the beautiful thoroughbred pointed 
 out to him. They had just turned to leave 
 the stables, when the sound of wheels on a 
 bridge crossing the creek at some distance 
 from the broad entrance gates was heard ; 
 and, directly, its four horses at a gallop, the 
 Cinderella's chariot and outriders Flower had 
 met in the wood road, came into sight. 
 
 "There are mamma and my sister," ex- 
 claimed May ; " and that is my brother Hugh, 
 a dear boy but a pickle of mischief, following." 
 
 Rolfe, who had left his companions like an 
 arrow from the bow, was on hand to assist the 
 ladies in alighting, before the postilions had 
 pulled up their champing horses at the door 
 stone. Madam Poythress, comely of person, 
 chubby, short of breath, voluble, brave in 
 finery, came first. In her, Geoffry saw at 
 once the belle of a passing generation, still 
 rooted in the belief that men were born in 
 the world to be footstools to womankind. 
 After the mother, poising for a moment upon 
 the carpeted step of the chariot, as lightly as 
 a bird upon a bough, conscious of rare beauty, 
 her bosom softly swelled with the presence of 
 a new observer of the admiring sex, her low 
 laugh rippling like a brook in June, followed 
 a young person, at eighteen so renowned a toast 
 
22 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 among tide-water Virginians and visiting for- 
 eigners that already her mien proclaimed the 
 serene willingness to be looked upon, of a born 
 princess upon her outings. 
 
 "That's Betty," said Flower's companion, 
 with exulting pride. "Now you will see how 
 foolish you were to suppose that I could have 
 been Miss Poythress." 
 
 Geoffry, his own heart assailed by the radiant 
 insolence of the vision, needed not the intui- 
 tion of his age in matters of the kind, to divine 
 that the arm of the poor kinsman upon which 
 the beauty's gloved fingers had rested for a 
 moment on her descent to terra-firma^ was 
 devoted primarily to her service. Rolfe's dark 
 face, illuminated by his delight at her return, 
 told too plainly the tale of a passion that, 
 whether for good or ill, had declared its empire 
 over his being. 
 
 There was little delay in cordial acceptance 
 of a guest at Vue de TEau ; and while, upon 
 his presentation to the ladies by Rolfe, Captain 
 Flower put his heels together and swept the turf 
 with his cocked hat, simultaneously Madam 
 Poythress and Miss Betty dropped upon the 
 gravel in two of the prettiest " cheeses " ever 
 seen. Betty, first to recover her graceful 
 equilibrium, stood with the westering sunlight 
 shining full upon her skin of snow and roses, 
 her eyes half dropt, listening, whilst her mother 
 took the field of speech. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 23 
 
 " I know you well by repute, Captain," said 
 the smiling matron. " And the wonder is we 
 never chanced to meet in town, or at dear old 
 Avenel. How glad we are to bid you welcome 
 to our home ! I esteem it quite friendly of 
 my Lord Dunmore to have sent you now, since 
 next week we are off to Williamsburg, of course, 
 for the sitting of Burgesses, and this ball that 
 is making such a pother of preparation in the 
 Colony. But you will return hither with us, I 
 hope; the Colonel and I will never take no for 
 an answer. Little we imagined, my daughter 
 Betty and I, that 'twas a relative, so to speak, 
 we had nigh run into the bushes on our drive. 
 I hope that madcap runabout, May, has prop- 
 erly attended to your lodging in the house. 
 May, tell Sylvia to tell Dinah to tell Mistress 
 Judith the Captain will occupy the red room 
 in the bachelor's wing. You find us, as usual, 
 with a house full, Cousin Flower; but, as the 
 Colonel says, there's always room for one more 
 at Vue de 1'Eau, and your quarters are not bad, 
 if I say it, that sewed the bed-curtains with 
 these hands ; and 'twas Betty worked the quilt." 
 
 "Under which I shall dream dreams of 
 angels, madam," said the Captain, again put- 
 ting his heels together with a bow, and again 
 milady and Betty dipped in resplendent curtsies. 
 
 A little later, Flower was the occupant of a 
 bed-room darkling with mahogany, the furni- 
 ture and curtains blushing in red moreen, the 
 
24 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 bare floor waxed to a nicety, a Spode cup full 
 of fragrant honeysuckle upon the bed-stand, a 
 vine of jasmine looking in at the open window. 
 Keys, who had unpacked and laid out his dress- 
 ing-things, was in waiting, smiling broadly. 
 
 " 'Tis the real thing, Captain," said the man. 
 " Though it took three of the black pickaninnies 
 to fetch the spring water for your bath, and 
 three black girls, under the housekeeper, to put 
 the room to rights 'twas the young lady her- 
 self brought the posies, sir; and, as I am a good 
 Englishman, this is the snuggest harbour we 
 have found, since ever we crossed the sea to live 
 among the Cherokees. Oh, sir, but to smell 
 the smoke o' the kitchen, as I passed through 
 just now, would ease the pangs o' famine's self. 
 Monster turkeys roasting on the spits, duck- 
 lings and chickens in the stewpans, plums and 
 spice, sugar and honey, more rich comestibles 
 than ever I see together since a Christmas in 
 the old country when I was a lad ! And the 
 cooks and scullions running about, tripping 
 each other up, all the merrier because sure 
 their turn will come." 
 
 " The young lady put these flowers here ? " 
 said Geoffry, unheeding him. "There are two 
 young ladies, Keys." 
 
 "She was in here with Mistress Judith, a 
 sour woman of middle age who hasn't a civil 
 word to throw away upon a fellow-country- 
 man, when I came back with the clothes I'd 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 25 
 
 been a-brushing down below, and 'twas, c here, 
 Judith/ and c there, Judith/ and c the netted 
 toilet cover/ or c another easy chair, Judith ' 
 nothing suiting her that wasn't the best, for your 
 comfort, sir ; a flattering lady, if but of few years 
 and inches the one they call c little miss/ sir." 
 
 "That will do, Keys get along with you," 
 rejoined GeofFry, feeling flat. 
 
 Ah ! trick or fancy. What right had he to 
 suppose that glorious young Betty, who had 
 melted away from his presence on the steps, 
 leaving him in the chains of her chattering 
 mamma, would extend to him so sweet an act 
 of hospitality as this ? The luscious trumpets 
 of the honeysuckle, cream-colour and pink 
 streaked with red, that had but just yielded 
 to him such enchanting perfume, were pushed 
 ungraciously out of the way. His toilet was 
 half complete when, over in the belt of wood- 
 land screening the main road along which he 
 had come, Flower heard the fanfare of a hunt- 
 ing-horn. Struggling into his coat, he ran to 
 the window looking out upon the driveway, 
 and thence saw emerge from the far leafy 
 screen, and wind up to the iron gates, thrown 
 wide for their reception, a party of gentlemen 
 on horseback, attended by a motley crew of 
 negroes, whippers-in, and hounds. In the brill- 
 iant light of the evening sun, now shining 
 level through the trees, their muddy coats be- 
 tokened a hard run. 
 
26 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 At their approach, it was as if an enchanted 
 castle had wakened into life. The still man- 
 sion broke into sound and movement. Doors 
 flew open, house-dogs barked, negroes, little and 
 big, sallied forth like ants from a hill. At the 
 tail of the huntsmen's procession followed more 
 negroes, who, their day's work over, lent vol- 
 ume to the joyful clamour of the hour. Old 
 white-wooled patriarchs, leaning upon their 
 staffs and little half-naked children, struggled 
 after, since they might not keep up with the 
 train. When the huntsmen finally drew rein 
 on the gravel before the hall door, they were 
 encircled by a sable ring of on-lookers, flash- 
 ing ivories, bandying jokes, and making their 
 comments unchecked and unafraid. 
 
 Colonel Poythress, first to touch ground, 
 stood bareheaded before his door, shaking 
 hands in formal welcome of his comrades of 
 the day, who, according to custom, were now 
 to end their labours of the chase by supping 
 under the roof of one of their party. A hale 
 and hearty man of forty-odd, with a deep voice 
 and breezy manner, this Virginian squire 
 born in the Colony, of English parents, edu- 
 cated at Wakefield school in Yorkshire, and at 
 Oriel College, Oxford betrayed his conditions 
 of birth and breeding by a manner courtly yet 
 devoid of insular reserve. 
 
 " A fine figure of a Provincial," meditated 
 Flower. " It needs no wizard to discern 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 27 
 
 whence came the good looks of his two 
 daughters. And, great Heaven ! how much 
 fitter is he to succeed as Lord Avenel, than 
 his measly little beggar of a cousin, my lord's 
 son, who stands between the Virginian and the 
 title. Nor does he look like one who would 
 willingly refuse a helping hand to a fine young 
 fellow like his nephew Rolfe." 
 
 Flower's further musings on this theme were 
 diverted by a new arrival on the driveway be- 
 low him of apparently a couple of laggards of 
 the band. These were a young gentleman, 
 stylishly mounted and equipped, accompany- 
 ing a soldierly-looking older man, who, spring- 
 ing from his saddle with the activity of a boy, 
 stood taller, more majestic, than any of the 
 group. 
 
 " You must have rid fast, Colonel," observed 
 his host to the latter personage, " to have come 
 up with us already, after your detour." 
 
 " We took but the time needed at home to 
 make our excuses in person to our dames," 
 said the newcomer, pleasantly. " And for the 
 rest, our good steeds must take the credit." 
 
 Flower did not tarry in recognising his din- 
 ner acquaintance of New York the year before. 
 Involuntarily, a sort of thrill passed through 
 him, of homage to the grandest man of nat- 
 ure's making that he had seen, since last he 
 had set eyes on Colonel Washington. 
 
 "If you please, Captain," said Keys, de- 
 
28 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 murely, in the young man's rear, "you are 
 asked by the mistress to present yourself 
 downstairs. The gentlemen'll be going off 
 now to clean themselves; there'll be rare rub- 
 bing and brushing of cloth and leather, and a 
 toddy all around to whet the appetite ; and, 
 after that, please God, short work with the 
 victuals in the gentry's dining-room." 
 
 It was a good-sized hall, rather than the 
 ordinary dining-chamber, in which the guests 
 of Colonel and Madam Poythress met pres- 
 ently for supper. The rafters, carved door 
 tops, heavy window frames and floor, were of 
 native woods, the polished furniture of pon- 
 derous mahogany. Around the walls hung 
 family portraits interspersed with antlers, deer 
 heads and fox masks, with the brushes of 
 many a Reynard fallen a prize to the Colo- 
 nel's skill and daring horsemanship. To 
 the hall proper had been left the fowling- 
 pieces, whips, fishing-rods, and other numer- 
 ous implements of a sportsman's craft. 
 
 At intervals between the dames and cava- 
 liers who posed and simpered in their frames, 
 hung beautiful triple-branched sconces of vir- 
 gin silver, each with its spray of laurel leaves, 
 holding candles made of myrtle-berry wax, as 
 did also the silver Corinthian columns, ranged 
 upon mantel-shelf and sideboard. The wide 
 fireplace, having accomplished its winter duty 
 of consuming many cords of crackling hickory, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 29 
 
 contained, to-night, a brave array of boughs 
 of honey-locust, white thorn, smoke tree, and 
 other flowering shrubs of the season ; India 
 bowls and long-necked glasses stuffed with 
 garden flowers, being elsewhere disposed about 
 the room. The decorations had been the task 
 of the daughters of the house, now re-enforced 
 by a bevy of young female visitors ; misses, 
 severally blonde, brune, tall, short, plump, 
 slim, merry, or sentimental, who appeared to 
 be all reckoned as scions of the family tree, 
 and to have been engaged in taking siestas in 
 preparation for the evening's gayety. The 
 entire company came together in response to 
 the gay clangour of a bell rung in a turret be- 
 side the kitchen door, at the exact moment 
 when the chief cook felt of a mind to serve 
 the banquet ! 
 
 Upon two long tables, too sturdy of make 
 to resent any weight of food by " groaning " 
 under it, were spread, upon dishes of silver 
 and of old Canton blue, a variety of fish, flesh, 
 and fowl, for the most part the product of home 
 raising or taking. Hams, turkeys, fowls, the 
 chicken pies of which Madam Poythress held 
 secret the inherited recipe, oysters, crabs, baked 
 shad, cutlets of sturgeon with cream-sauce, vege- 
 tables, pasties, made dishes, a mighty round of 
 cold spiced beef, fulfilled to the amused Flower 
 the ecstatic prophecy of Keys. 
 
 Awaiting their turn upon the sideboard stood 
 
jo A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 a congeries of vessels of cut-glass, enshrining 
 such sweets as floating island, jellies, custards, 
 syllabub, jam tarts, iced cakes, and preserves. 
 Small wonder the eyes of the little black-boys 
 who, when not engaged in abstractedly offer- 
 ing at the elbows of the guests hot cakes of 
 wheaten flour or corn-meal, remained in a dado 
 around the lower wall goggled incessantly 
 with joy ! 
 
 To quench the abundant thirst of the rev- 
 ellers .were passed flagons of ale and home- 
 pressed cider, while Madeira and Bordeaux 
 circled in dusty bottles; and in front of madam 
 the hostess, who in her smart gown of scarlet 
 satin flowered tabby with ruffles and cap of 
 Brussels lace, looked and knew it like an 
 expanded elder sister of her girls stood a tall 
 Grecian urn of silver, containing coffee. Such 
 was a tide-water hunt-supper of the period ; 
 and in this instance, the homely plenty was 
 enhanced, at the outset of the feast, by high 
 spirits and a lively interchange of wit. 
 
 Flower, who, by some happy shuffling of the 
 cards, found himself placed next to Miss Betty, 
 was struck dumb by the girl's imperial beauty. 
 Her bronzed hair, turned back over a roll from 
 her forehead, was adorned behind one tiny ear 
 with a crimson rose set in its own green leaves. 
 Her white throat was a column clasped with 
 pearls. The shoulders issuing from the Mech- 
 lin ruffles of her low-cut azure gown revealed 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 31 
 
 curves and texture of unrivalled loveliness. In 
 her eyes, and upon her smiling mouth, he dis- 
 cerned or thought he did every grace 
 wedded to every virtue known to womanhood. 
 And as he and she, both young and handsome 
 and elate, wavered together, talked in low tones, 
 exchanged confidences, the aroma of her youth, 
 the music of her voice, finished the captivation 
 her beauty had begun. From his seat far away 
 down at the end of the other table, where cer- 
 tain shy squires and poor relations had seemed 
 naturally to gravitate together, Rolfe saw and 
 took heed of a state of things, to which he was 
 at least reasonably well accustomed. What- 
 ever might have been its effect upon the imagi- 
 nation of a hopeless lover, the company at 
 large regarded as a foregone conclusion this 
 little side-show between Miss Betty and the 
 handsome Englishman. They would have 
 considered it something abnormal had not their 
 champion belle set out at once to make a slave 
 of an entirely new young man. That Geoffry's 
 heart would go upon Betty's string was as much 
 a matter of course, as that gory scalps should 
 have adorned the tent poles of Betty's ances- 
 tors ! The consolidated neighbourhood would, 
 in short, have considered itself defrauded of a 
 prerogative, had not Miss Poythress come into 
 her own. 
 
 At the right hand of Madam Poythress sat, 
 of course, her distinguished neighbour from 
 
32 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Mount Vernon. The seat on Colonel Wash- 
 ington's other side was occupied by a little lady 
 in white muslin with a cherry top-knot, who 
 turned on her tall comrade the looks bestowed 
 by the sunflower upon the sun. So far in 
 Matoaca's short life, she had always arrogated 
 to herself especial possession of her hero when 
 at their house, where it was a thing understood 
 that she was wanted to bear the Colonel com- 
 pany. While she prattled in his ear about the 
 farms, the gardens, the black people, the stock 
 and poultry-yards of Mount Vernon and Vue 
 de 1'Eau, from his lips and eyes the spirit of 
 tender tolerance for her petty chronicles of 
 rural life was never absent. Madam Poy- 
 thress, who was generally subdued by Colonel 
 Washington's reserve, and Miss Betty, who of 
 him alone in all her world felt a little bit afraid, 
 often owned themselves relieved when, their 
 duty to the great man of the neighbourhood 
 fulfilled, they could leave him to be entertained 
 by May. 
 
 On the present occasion, Madam Poythress 
 came even sooner than usual to the end of her 
 conversational tether with the Colonel. So ab- 
 stracted, preoccupied, was he, that she found 
 herself pitying her " poor, dear friend Martha, 
 that was condemned to sit at meat three hun- 
 dred and sixty-five times a year, opposite so 
 glum a countenance." Even May failed, to- 
 night, to win from him more than a grave smile 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 33 
 
 or an indulgent monosyllable, till, at last, 
 the young girl, with tactful sympathy, forbore 
 to talk, and contented herself with watching that 
 his plate was well supplied with all the dainties 
 on the board. 
 
 As Madam Poythress surveyed her liberal 
 feast, secretly conscious that no woman in the 
 neighbourhood could have set a hunt-supper to 
 equal it, she became aware that others beside 
 Colonel Washington were passing under the 
 influence of some spell of anxiety or care. 
 Faces, ordinarily as cheerful as they were famil- 
 iar, showed the strain of trying to keep up 
 pleasant table talk. Their appetites satisfied, 
 her guests, with one accord, had relapsed into 
 duets of conversation of an evidently depress- 
 ing character. It must be it could be noth- 
 ing else, but Madam Poythress* bete-noire 
 those tiresome politics ! 
 
 She glanced at the other table, presided over 
 by her faithful henchman, the tutor, Mr. Nim- 
 rod Snow, a lively dried-up little gentleman, 
 always to be depended on to crack jokes, tell 
 stories, or sing songs in a sweet wire-drawn 
 tenor voice, when it was desirable to make a 
 party "go." But even Snow (a devoted son of 
 the mother-country, who, having for some 
 years taught the Colonial young idea to shoot, 
 looked forward to soon going home to take 
 orders in the Church) wore a perturbed coun- 
 tenance, and was engaged in hot discussion with 
 
34 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Mr. Ffoliot, a taciturn squire, upon a theme 
 surely political, since Mr. Ffoliot knew how to 
 talk nothing else ! 
 
 Turning her eyes back to her own table, 
 upon another one of her stand-bys, Parson 
 Thorowgood, she beheld his kindly reverence 
 (after a day's hunt, and a bottle of claret, 
 always at his best, socially) actually scowling 
 at one of his church-wardens, who was declaim- 
 ing with vigour upon some point in which the 
 Parson plainly differed with him. Straining 
 her ears to listen, Madam Poythress caught, 
 passing between them, the ominous words : 
 " Taxes," " Stamp Act," " Resistance," that to 
 her were as red rags to a bull ! 
 
 It was too vexatious ! What a return to a 
 hard-worked hostess, resting upon her laurels 
 after a week's preparation for this party that 
 was meant to be as gay as the edibles were 
 toothsome ! Worse than all, the sweets, in 
 shaking pyramids, in frothing bowls, in frosted 
 shapes, were now passing from elbow to elbow 
 almost unnoticed. Not so much as a glance 
 at the works of art among them ; not a note 
 mentally taken to be transmitted to an enquir- 
 ing spouse at home. Madam Poythress, in her 
 heart, did not know whether to cry " Deuce 
 take all politics ! " or " Deuce take these 
 men ! " 
 
 Quite out of patience, she had again recourse 
 to the silent neighbour on her right. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 35 
 
 " Politics ! Politics ! " she said, with a girl- 
 ish pout ; " I'll vow, Colonel, you seem to be 
 the only man in the room who is not bothering 
 about this eternal question of submission to 
 the taxes. Don't you agree with me that they 
 are pushing it too far ? Surely it is a sad, 
 needless worry for our Virginian gentlemen to 
 take upon themselves." 
 
 " I would to God it were needless, madam," 
 answered Washington, a sudden fire gleaming 
 in his eye. 
 
 " But why, pray, can't we go on as we've 
 been doing all along, and leave such vexed 
 questions to posterity to settle ? " 
 
 This enquiry, made during one of these lulls 
 occurring sometimes in the conversation of a 
 large mixed company, that spread as if by 
 general consent, was heard by many. Instinc- 
 tively all eyes turned to the personage addressed, 
 and there was silence when he answered. 
 
 " Because, madam," came in the familiar 
 tones on which those present had grown to 
 depend for counsel, tones unshaken by pas- 
 sion, yet in this instance fraught with passion- 
 ate conviction, " we have no alternative. 
 Either we Colonists must now assert our rights, 
 or we must submit to every imposition that 
 can be helped upon us, till custom and use 
 shall make us tame and abject slaves like the 
 blacks we rule over." 
 
 The effect of this was remarkable. It was 
 
36 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 as if an electric shock had flashed around the 
 board. Men, with kindling faces, stirred un- 
 easily in their chairs. Simultaneously, Hugh 
 Poythress, the Parson, Mr. Snow, one or two 
 neighbours of Tory proclivities, and Captain 
 GeofFry Flower, sprang to their feet. 
 
 The host, first to recover his self-control, 
 dropped upon his chair an example followed 
 by the others. Then, after orders to the ser- 
 vants behind him, who quickly dispersed to cir- 
 culate with fresh bottles of Burgundy, Colonel 
 Poythress arose again, and, brimming glass in 
 hand, stood in stately fashion before his guests. 
 
 " Fill your glasses, ladies and gentlemen," he 
 said, with admirable grace ; " I give you c His 
 Majesty, the King/ " 
 
 " His Majesty, the King," echoed the quiet 
 voice of Washington. And up in the rafters, 
 swelled by a score of stalwart throats, rang the 
 hearty toast " To his Majesty, the King." 
 
II 
 
 THE drawing-room of Vue de TEau was 
 a long, sweet-smelling apartment, made 
 cheerful by freshly calendered chintz, dis- 
 playing a pattern of blue passion-flowers and 
 crimson cockatoos ; by white wood-work with 
 an egg-shell glaze ; and by windows opening 
 upon the lawn. In two corners, cut off by 
 cupboards, were seen shelves 
 
 " Piled with a dapper Dresden world, 
 
 Beaux, beauties, prayers, and poses, 
 Bronzes with squat legs undercurled, 
 And great jars filled with roses." 
 
 For Madam Poythress, never behindhand 
 in the acquirement of reigning fashions, had, 
 on her last visit to London, left with her 
 agent there a liberal order for the transmission 
 of ceramic treasures and other foreign oddities 
 across the sea. On either side of the reddened 
 hearth with its urn-shaped fire-dogs, stood two 
 tall Chinese " dragon " vases of green and gold, 
 now filled with boughs of dogwood and pome- 
 granate. These tokens were a recent offering 
 to the Madam's good will "presented with the 
 
 37 
 
38 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 humble duty of her servant," the master of a 
 Poythress tobacco-ship, The Fair American, 
 who had "picked them up" on the wharf in 
 London, from one of his brotherhood returned 
 from Cathay. Upon an island of crimson 
 Turkey carpet in a sea of beeswaxed oak, 
 stood a centre-table of Dutch inlay-work, an 
 object much talked of in Fairfax County, 
 where most housewives were content with 
 plain mahogany ; and, mathematically arranged, 
 around the wainscoting were chairs, sofas, and 
 a harpsichord, their prim ranks rarely broken. 
 
 Here, under the soft light of lamps and 
 candles, assembled a cluster of ladies, who were 
 endeavouring to pass the hour after supper dur- 
 ing which the forsaken gentlemen solaced 
 their loneliness with a steaming bowl of punch. 
 As is usual under these circumstances, the fair 
 ones had begun by expanding as if with relief 
 at freedom from masculine society. Then fol- 
 lowed a talk in unison about the individual 
 experiences of each lady with her comrade of 
 the feast ; tiring of which, the high spirits of 
 the party seemed to suddenly go down. They 
 fell away in pairs, looked at the puzzle-cards, 
 turned over music, strummed on the harpsi- 
 chord ; and, finally coming together like a flock 
 of swans, beset Madam Poythress to tell them 
 about the newly arrived guest. 
 
 This, their hostess, a trifle of knitting in 
 her white hands, was in nowise averse to do. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 39 
 
 It gave her an opportunity to mount upon her 
 favourite high horse, the English aristocracy, in 
 general, her own share of it in particular, and, 
 incidentally, that pretty fellow, Captain Geoffry 
 Flower. 
 
 Madam Poythress was accustomed to have 
 her oracles on these and kindred subjects re- 
 ceived with attention and respect ; and the only 
 person present who appeared now indifferent 
 to what she had to say, was Miss Betty, who, 
 sitting apart, her curled eyelashes drooping 
 upon her cheeks, looked as though the paste 
 buckle upon her red-heeled shoe were the only 
 object worth notice in the world. 
 
 " No blood relative, my dears," said the good 
 lady. " We have been expecting a visit from 
 him ever since my Lord Dunmore was so 
 obliging as to acquaint us with his arrival in 
 the Colony, and of his amiable disposition 
 toward his kin. But at this, we can hardly be 
 surprised. One may depend upon a man 
 familiar with court-circles to appreciate those 
 who have mixed freely in them." 
 
 " And what is his connection with the Vir- 
 ginian Poythresses ? " asked a cousin, politely 
 curious. 
 
 " Oh ! my dear, as I said, there is no tie of 
 blood. He is a nephew, by marriage, and 
 was a ward, of my husband's cousin, the Earl ; 
 and, naturally, Captain Flower would wish to 
 pay his respects to the next heir (after my 
 
40 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 lord's only son) of the title and estates of 
 Avenel." 
 
 All the Province knew that inimitable toss 
 of Madam Poythress' head when she brought 
 in the next heir to the title and estates of 
 Avenel. 
 
 " Tell us the whole story, Cousin Bess," 
 said a certain dimpled Miss Dolly, nestling 
 upon a tabouret at Madam Poythress' feet. 
 " Begin with how the Poythresses came to 
 leave England." 
 
 " As if everybody in the Colony had not 
 heard that ! " smiled the lady. " People of 
 our position have to bear the penalty of having 
 their family affairs discussed." 
 
 " But it is so long since you have told us," 
 protested Miss Dolly. "And 'tis only you 
 who tell it properly." 
 
 " Truly, my dear, if it were not for me, what 
 with Betty absorbed with her beaux and fin- 
 eries, and the Colonel and Hughey and Matoaca 
 so sadly indifferent to keeping up the family 
 credit, I don't know who there would be to 
 have an eye upon our interests. Why, I 
 hardly think my husband would know it, were 
 a wise Providence to remove the present heir- 
 apparent from this troubled world. There has 
 never been any one to dispute, I presume, that 
 the family of my children's papa is one of the 
 oldest and most honourable on English soil ; 
 although the title is but a little prior to King 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 41 
 
 James. My husband's father, the first Colonel 
 Hugh Poythress who built this house, and 
 was President of the King's Council when he 
 died was in youth a bold, adventurous fellow. 
 When scarce older than my own Hughey, he 
 sailed midshipman in one of the ships sent to 
 aid my Lord Peterborough in his siege of 
 Barcelona, that was to put the Archduke of 
 Austria upon the throne of Spain. After the 
 splendid siege of the fortress of Monjuich " 
 
 " For pity's sake, mamma," interrupted 
 Betty, stopping a little yawn by the insertion 
 of a bead of her pearl necklace between her 
 lips, "let us be excused from the siege of 
 Monjuich. And indeed Dolly is just pretend- 
 ing she wants to hear our family by-gones." 
 
 Dolly protested against this injustice. Madam 
 Poythress, disagreeably fluttered, resumed her 
 subject, hurriedly. 
 
 " The children's grandpapa, after fighting 
 and roving in many lands, came to Virginia, 
 bringing a bride whom he had married in the 
 Bahama Islands the beautiful daughter of an 
 English army officer, who was stationed there. 
 Betty is wearing the pearls presented to Mrs. 
 Poythress by her spouse upon the occasion of 
 their nuptials." 
 
 " And Betty is like her as two peas," said 
 a lively damsel, directing attention to a long- 
 throated, dove-eyed dame in a frame above the 
 mantel-piece. 
 
42 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 "So Betty flatters herself," said Madam 
 Poythress, giving a Roland for her daughter's 
 Oliver. " And here on the Potomac, Colonel 
 Poythress pitched upon this estate. He pros- 
 pered continually, and his son has done the 
 same, after him, thank God. But the family 
 in England have pretty much died out, except- 
 ing Lord Avenel, who represents the main 
 branch. He was after my husband at Oriel 
 College, but they never made fair acquaintance, 
 till our last visit to England, when we were 
 guests at Avenel, and the recipients of many 
 courtesies." 
 
 " Bah ! it gives me the shivers to think of 
 the damp old place," cried Betty. " The 
 woods around it so thick with ivy and moss 
 that the boughs dripped water. And that dis- 
 mal old church full of dead Avenels, and 
 memorial tablets. A woman with a grain of 
 spirit might have made the Castle a pleasant 
 enough home; but my lady Dead Letter 
 not she ! " 
 
 " Lady Avenel is indeed a poor meek-spirited 
 woman, that makes no more show than a mouse 
 in her grand castle," admitted Madam Poy- 
 thress. 
 
 "The three days we spent there, were a 
 nightmare," said candid Betty. " She, fright- 
 ened to death, and he, glum and short spoken 
 though I have personally no reason to com- 
 plain of his want of civility." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 43 
 
 " That have you not," answered her mother. 
 " Avenel made as much of you as 'twas in the 
 poor, dyspeptic, thin-blooded creature to make 
 of any one. As to the son, no one gets sight 
 of him, for he is abroad with his governor and 
 the keepers all day in the forest. 'Twas whis- 
 pered me, on good authority," she added, thus 
 exposing the chink-hole through which pro- 
 spective glory gleamed upon her path of every 
 day, " that this course of life is the only one 
 by which the physicians could hope to keep 
 the unfortunate lad alive." 
 
 " Then I hope you'll some day be Countess 
 of Avenel, Cousin Bess, and that you'll ask us 
 all over there to stop with you ! " cried one of 
 the girls. 
 
 " Perhaps by that time Betty will be married 
 to a Duke," exclaimed another; "and you'll 
 dispose of us to baronets and knights ! But 
 give Dolly only an Honourable, please." 
 
 A gurgle of young laughter filled the room. 
 
 The door at this moment opening, another 
 and emphatic diversion of the conversation was 
 effected. A negro in livery came in, carrying 
 a small slender-legged table, which, with the 
 true African flourish of importance, he set down 
 before his mistress. Following him, appeared 
 the butler, Cupid, with a tray containing that 
 now unwonted spectacle in the Colony, a tea- 
 service. Bringing up the procession, marched 
 a white woman of middle age, with a pallid 
 
44 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 complexion and eyes that seemed ever to seek 
 the ground. This was Judith, the housekeeper, 
 to whom were entrusted the key and care of a 
 tea-caddy of massive silver, richly chased, which 
 she now bore before her with a certain air of 
 majesty. 
 
 Madam Poythress, affecting to regard the 
 preparations in question as a matter of every 
 day, but showing in her voice a trace of inward 
 agitation, hastened to say the first thing that 
 came into her head. 
 
 "Captain Flower yes, he is handsome and 
 well mannered, truly. But only a younger son 
 of the late Sir Geoffry, whose heir, Sir Thomas 
 Flower, has a fine houseful of young children. 
 Sir GeofFry Flower was the near neighbour of 
 our cousin, Lord Avenel. Why, Judith, Judith, 
 woman, what ails you to be so careless ? " 
 
 For, at this juncture, the precious tea-caddy, 
 to which all eyes in the room were turning with 
 varied expressions, had slipped from the house- 
 keeper's shaking hands, and rolled across the 
 bare floor with a hard metallic clatter. Mrs. 
 Judith, making haste to pick up the treasured 
 casket, begged humble pardon of her mistress 
 for her awkwardness, and was then desired to 
 measure out with a silver scoop the quantity 
 of the fragrant herb needful for a large brewing. 
 
 " And you, Cupid," said the hostess, turning 
 to her factotum, with intrepidity, " go to the 
 dining-room and say, with my compliments to 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 45 
 
 your master and the gentlemen, that the ladies 
 request the honour of their company, to join 
 them in a cup of tea." 
 
 Now ensued a scene hardly to be compre- 
 hended in connection with a peaceful rite hon- 
 oured in observance by generations of woman- 
 kind. Captain Flower, who, first of the lingerers 
 in the supper room to show what they called " a 
 disposition to the sex," had been strolling alone 
 in the fresh air of the lawn outside, entered the 
 drawing-room just in time to behold a move- 
 ment among the ladies, as of birds about to take 
 their flight. Some were red, others pale, the 
 hostess was undeniably fluttered, all wore a look 
 of timorous excitement. Miss Betty alone, who 
 at the Captain's approach had roused from her 
 languor, and now sat upright and self-possessed, 
 bestowed a little mocking smile upon the scene. 
 
 There was a pause of indecision, no one 
 wishing to offend or defy Madam Poythress by 
 speaking out what was in her mind. It was 
 left to Matoaca to make patriotic protest. 
 This little maiden, who because of her tender 
 years was not yet admitted to full share of 
 social interchange upon occasions of formal 
 hospitality, had been sitting under a lamp in a 
 corner, poring over a volume of Ossian's poetry 
 the great hound, Jupiter, stretching his mas- 
 sive bulk supine across her feet. She had not 
 been aware of the proceedings agitating her 
 mother's little kingdom, until the fall of the 
 
46 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 tea-caddy had caused her to look up. Then, 
 for a brief instant only, May hesitated, till the 
 order given to Cupid precipitated her resolve. 
 With flashing eyes, with a trembling voice, she 
 sprang, the hound after her, across the room ; 
 and, laying an arresting hand upon the arm of 
 the housekeeper, who was in the act of pouring 
 boiling water into the teapot, she cried: 
 
 "Stop, Judith! Mamma, mamma, you don't 
 you can't mean it. It must not be we Poy- 
 thresses who shall do this thing, now ! Why, 
 the whole Province will cry shame on us ! " 
 
 Madam Poythress, a small woman, seemed 
 in that moment to grow to an awful height. 
 
 "And pray, madam," she said, addressing 
 the interloper with crushing sarcasm, "who are 
 you, to dictate to your mother upon such a 
 point ? It is an age, methinks, when children 
 and inferiors rise against all authority ! What ! 
 renounce, in my own house, the service of a 
 simple refreshment from my own private stores, 
 because, forsooth, certain silly people cry out 
 against it as a symbol of fancied oppression ! 
 Go to your room, Matoaca, whence you had 
 better not have come, if 'twere but to treat 
 our guests to such an hysteric outburst. And 
 do you, Judith, as I bid you ! Make the tea ! " 
 
 The poor little routed champion, bursting 
 into tears, fled from the room. Flower, admir- 
 ing her spirit, had to resist an impulse to go 
 after and console her an emotion soon for- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 47 
 
 gotten, in the proffer of a cup of tea from the 
 hands of her radiant sister. 
 
 The delicious fumes of the disputed beverage 
 were, however, scarce exhaled into the air, 
 when a depressing influence seemed to fall 
 upon the company, all, in turn, falling away 
 from around the tea-board. One lady took 
 nothing after supper, another feared that the 
 drink might rob her of her beauty-sleep ; 
 others asked leave to retire to the terrace with- 
 out, in order not to miss the fine effect of the 
 moon upon the water. Madam Poythress 
 stood by her guns bravely, until her hope- 
 ful, Master Hughey, bursting into the room 
 with boyish glee at the situation, bore her a 
 message from his sire. 
 
 " They sent me, because nobody else would 
 come," he said frankly. " Old Snow was to do 
 it, but he flunked, and there wasn't a servant 
 to be found. As soon as ever our neighbours 
 heard about the tea, there was a regular clear- 
 ing-out, all the men calling for their horses 
 and making pretty speeches of excuse. By now, 
 there isn't a man Jack left of 'em, excepting 
 the Parson, and even he says Mrs. Thorow- 
 good will be expecting him at home." 
 
 " And why are you not in bed, sir ? " asked 
 the lady, changing the subject while she bit 
 her lips with vexation. " If I have asked your 
 papa once, I have asked him a hundred times, 
 not to encourage this habit of yours of sitting 
 
48 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 up o' nights. Hughey, darling, tell me why 
 didn't he your father come himself to bear 
 the excuses of those gentlemen." 
 
 " By George, ma'am, because he was afraid," 
 blurted the boy, rewarded by a cuff upon the 
 ear, which did not, however, appear to cause 
 much bodily discomfort. 
 
 Long after the ladies had gone to their 
 rooms, Geoffry sat alone with his host, smok- 
 ing the famous Vue de PEau tobacco. As 
 they were settling down to this symposium, 
 Rolfe, who had devoted this evening hour to a 
 sitting with Mr. Nimrod Snow, came in for a 
 moment to make some enquiry regarding the 
 arrangements of horses for the morrow. 
 
 " Grey Caesar for the Captain ; and you will 
 ride Diabolus, my boy," said the Colonel, 
 heartily. cc Indeed, I begin to feel he is safe 
 under your hand only ; and if there were any 
 such good news ahead of me as that you were 
 to join the army, he should be yours for good 
 and all. Nay, Rolfe, that was a shaft you do 
 not merit, and I ask your pardon. I suppose, 
 Captain," added the master, as the youth 
 withdrew, " if any one at Williamsburg has 
 talked to you of our affairs, you know that 
 this lad who has just left us is the son of my 
 late brother Richard; but, as gossip often mis- 
 states facts, you may possibly wonder at the 
 position he is about to take in the world." 
 
 Flower, conscious that this problem had been 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 49 
 
 knocking at his brain for solution,, made some 
 ambiguous answer, that might have meant any- 
 thing. 
 
 "'Tis a sore vexation to me," went on the 
 Colonel. " A sore vexation, and disappoint- 
 ment. Every family has its skeleton, and ours 
 is no exception. My brother Dick was a wild 
 blade, and every penny he could lay hands 
 upon was wasted in gaming, cock-fighting, and 
 roistering. At last, my father cut him out of 
 his will, and gave him notice of the fact. 
 Then, Dick disappeared up into the frontier 
 country, and when we next heard of him'' 
 the stout Colonel paused, gulped, and his voice 
 broke " he was dead, sir, killed in defending 
 a border-settlement against an Indian raid. He 
 fought bravely, and died worthy of his race, 
 Captain ; and for that, Heaven knows, I am 
 thankful. It was some years afterwards, before 
 I heard that Dick had left a widow a distant 
 kinswoman of my own wife's, by the way, 
 whose family had settled in those parts and 
 that there was a son. As soon as practicable, I 
 set out on horseback and rode for many miles 
 through the wilderness. To make a long story 
 short, I found the lady, sir, and this boy Rolfe, 
 living in little better than a hunter's lodge 
 he sleeping at night on a bear-skin stretched 
 on the boards beside her bed ; she half melan- 
 choly mad, lamenting her lost husband and 
 about quitting the place he died in, listening 
 
50 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 to no reason ; and her bachelor twin brothers 
 (who had gone there to live with her) as obsti- 
 nate. Except that these two were educated men 
 and book-lovers, with actually a couple of 
 shelves of classics on their walls, and were en- 
 gaged in giving daily lessons to the boy, I 
 should have quite despaired of him. Worse 
 than all, the mother would accept of no offer 
 of assistance from me for his future. They 
 had a small fund laid aside, with which it was 
 the intention of the three to pay Rolfe's way 
 into college. As to allowing him to visit us, 
 that was not to be thought of. Imagine such 
 a state of things for my only brother's son, and 
 think what the boy has had to overcome, to be 
 what he now is ! Since Rolfe began his col- 
 lege course, he has, however, been frequently 
 our guest. I'll tell you candidly, Captain, I 
 have put Rolfe down in my will for my 
 brother's portion of our father's estate, and 
 I'm ready to do anything else in reason for the 
 boy. But, by Jove ! there is one thing I will 
 not do. Face that woman again ! Not the 
 devil himself could force me to it." 
 
 " I wonder Rolfe, who has courage and spirit 
 for anything, if one may depend upon his face, 
 doesn't assert himself, and decide his own 
 
 career." 
 
 " Another folly. A promise, extorted from 
 him when a little boy, never to leave her," 
 said the splenetic Colonel. " As long as she 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 lives, he will be her victim. This pedagogue 
 business is the first result. But, come, Cap- 
 tain, this is poor entertainment for my visitor 
 on his first night beneath my roof. Let us 
 change once more our subject of discourse. 
 My Cousin Avenel, for example. What have 
 you heard from or of him, latterly ? " 
 
 " I must own to you, sir, that I avoid hear- 
 ing of him as much as possible," said Geoffry, 
 laughing. "In later days he has been a con- 
 firmed hypochondriac, keeping his library and 
 not so much as holding speech with my aunt's 
 successor, his unfortunate Countess, who has 
 ever been of the meek pattern of female, 
 trampled upon and not resisting." 
 
 "A pattern that does not flourish in our 
 Colony," rejoined the Colonel, with a shrug 
 and a jolly laugh. "But the son he is, I 
 hope, improving in quality with age." 
 
 " A boy of mean tastes, and estranged from 
 the father, who cannot endure him in his sight," 
 answered the soldier. " But I am ashamed ! 
 You see, although Lord Avenel is my uncle 
 and was my guardian, there has never been 
 any love lost between us. And now, since 
 the occupancy of the Castle is divided be- 
 tween a dull hypochondriac, a kill-joy woman, 
 and that cub, there is less than ever to tempt 
 me there." 
 
 " Pity his brother Percy had not married and 
 left an heir," said the Colonel. " I visited 
 
52 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Avenel in his time, more than once, while I 
 was at Oxford, and I remember him gratefully. 
 Percy was the true type of the travelling Eng- 
 lishman who cannot rest till he has seen the 
 two poles of the universe ; and he had no time 
 to waste on the tender passion." 
 
 " Nevertheless," said Geoffry, after a mo- 
 ment's hesitation, " there were are ru- 
 mours. May I speak frankly, sir ? It is 
 something that I think you might wish to 
 know " 
 
 The Colonel, a little surprised, settled back 
 in his chair in a listening attitude. 
 
 " It was after your last visit to Avenel, that 
 a strange thing occurred. An old couple 
 decent people in an humble walk of life ar- 
 rived at the Castle and asked for admission. 
 Avenel saw them what passed is not known 
 there was a tremendous scene the old peo- 
 ple hurried away much cut up and wounded. 
 Since then, my uncle has behaved more like a 
 lunatic than a man of sound brain. This oc- 
 curred just before I left home sixteen months 
 ago, and what has since happened I know not. 
 But the gossips in the cottages one can't stop 
 the mouth of a goodwife, sir, coming upon her 
 while out shooting or rambling in the woods 
 say 'twas a claim upon Percy's successor for 
 provision, from the parents of a deceased Lady 
 Avenel." 
 
 " There have been stranger things," said the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 53 
 
 Colonel, smiling. " So Percy is believed to 
 have been actually married, then ? " 
 
 "What is more, there were hints of a son 
 of his left in the care of these old people 
 who died, I suppose, or he would certainly have 
 cropped up with such an inheritance in ques- 
 tion." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," answered his host. " I 
 don't envy Avenel his honours. Never have 
 I beheld a man so ill at ease in an excellent 
 position. And his poor lady is little to be 
 congratulated." 
 
 "His first wife my father's sister lived 
 with him for but six months," said Geoffry, 
 " and then faded like a figure on a magic lan- 
 tern slide. But in those days he was a hearty 
 enough fellow, they say, and not ill-looking. 
 Now, 'tis like insanity, the way he bears him- 
 self at times." 
 
 " He has threatened me with a visit," said 
 Poythress, laughing. " Though I think he 
 fancied me inhabiting a forest wigwam, we shall 
 be put to it to receive him hospitably, should 
 he decide to come." 
 
 " May it be when I have left you," said 
 Geoffry, smiling in return. " One thing, sir, if 
 you will permit me to say so, would please 
 every one who respects the name and title 
 should you succeed to it." 
 
 "I doubt it," said the Colonel, good hu- 
 mouredly. "Those of us born on this side the 
 
54 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 water have always to live down a certain 
 amount of disapproval of that fact from our 
 English kin. I bear them no malice, for 
 Heaven knows I have enough to make me 
 happy, over here. I hope life strikes you as 
 at least livable in this infant, woody country?" 
 
 "An earthly Eden," exclaimed Geoffry, 
 thinking of a certain fairest Eve. 
 
 " If good health, a good wife and children, 
 good neighbours, enough and to spare of this 
 world's goods and, I hope I may add, the 
 respect of my fellow-men can make it so 
 for me, it is," answered the Colonel, laughing. 
 " But that my wife and Miss Betty, as is per- 
 haps natural, have got into their little heads 
 the idea that we must now and then go home 
 to be properly c polished/ I believe I and 
 I'm as certain of Hughey, and my little tom- 
 boy, May would be content to live and die 
 at Vue de 1'Eau." 
 
 Flower, who had been greatly impressed by 
 the events of the day and evening, had it 
 strongly in mind to now consult his host upon 
 the true meaning of what he had observed and 
 heard concerning the temper of the Virginians 
 in the political crisis of the hour. Coming 
 direct from the atmosphere of the petty Court 
 of their Royal Governor, this, the first glimpse 
 he had had of certain aspects of thought and 
 sentiment among the planter-class, could not 
 but disturb him mightily. In the colder 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 55 
 
 northern atmosphere of the new world where 
 his lot had been first cast, the blossom of 
 loyalty to kings could hardly have been ex- 
 pected to expand to its fullest growth ; but, 
 among the descendants of those who had lived 
 and died King's men, it was reasonable to hope 
 for a society altogether monarchic in its ten- 
 dencies. If Geoffry had given heed to the 
 apprehension of thinkers graver than himself, 
 as to the possible outcome of the hardly yet 
 avowed movement of American revolt against 
 King and Parliament, it was to pooh-pooh the 
 idea that the disease could ever spread to Vir- 
 ginia. For was not the new doctrine primarily 
 democratic, and what were Virginians if not 
 advocates of class ? Since the genesis of their 
 civilization, had they not been sitting among 
 the King's Burgesses, representing the King as 
 Councillors, devoted to the Established Church, 
 and faithful to law-giving according to the Brit- 
 ish code ? Was it possible that, for the mere 
 question of taxation without representation, the 
 long-standing crust of their loyal society was 
 to be upheaved, and anarchy ensue ? 
 
 These queries, once finding speech, poured 
 in a flood from the young man's eager lips. 
 Before answering him, the open brow of kind 
 Hugh Poythress clouded heavily. Half a 
 dozen whiffs from his pipe were not sufficient 
 to prepare him to make admissions he was too 
 honest to withhold. 
 
56 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " If you ask me to tell you what I myself 
 think on this weighty subject/* said Hugh 
 Poythress, finally, " God knows I have never 
 had but one opinion that the King and Par- 
 liament have a right to make the laws it is 
 our bounden duty to abide by. But I, and a 
 few like me in this Colony, are but units in 
 the body of landholders who now every day 
 more bitterly resent the laws they consider to 
 be binding hard upon the Colonies in general. 
 What you saw here, to-night, is a straw that 
 shows which way the wind blows over Virginian 
 soil. Believe me, when a man like my neigh- 
 bour Washington permits himself to use such 
 expressions, before such people as those you 
 have seen gathered around my table, there is 
 mischief in the air." 
 
 " There has been no hint heretofore of 
 Colonel Washington's disaffection?" exclaimed 
 Flower, with the eagerness of a young diplomat 
 on the scent of a great discovery. 
 
 " I am convinced there is no man in the 
 Colony wishes its prosperity more, would go to 
 greater lengths to serve it, or is a better subject 
 of the Crown than he. At the same time 
 and you may take him as a representative of a 
 large and most important faction he is pos- 
 sessed of such an innate sense of freedom, 
 is governed by such an iron spirit of justice, 
 that were he once persuaded against the British 
 Empire, he would fight to the death in resist- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 57 
 
 ing it. God forbid that King and Parliament 
 should ever force him to be their enemy. 
 When you go back, my dear Flower, to Lord 
 Dunmore, who, I may observe, is yet on the 
 most friendly terms with Colonel Washington, 
 in nothing can you better exercise your loyalty 
 and intelligence than by trying to convince him 
 of these facts. For me, it is breath wasted to 
 discuss such matters with His Excellency. I 
 have so often tried to bring him to my way of 
 thinking." 
 
 " He is, indeed, obstinately blind to what is 
 going on under his dominion/' was the thought- 
 ful answer. " The little time I have been with 
 him has enabled me to see and wonder at his 
 hot-headed course in the handling of the Colo- 
 nists with whom he has to deal. This is, of 
 course, between ourselves, as it would ill be- 
 come a young man occupying my relation to 
 His Excellency to criticise him publicly. But 
 so much I may say to any one : all that I have 
 observed since coming into Virginia confirms 
 your own hints of a trouble brewing for all 
 of us who stand up for the Crown." 
 
 "And now, Captain, since we have both 
 spent the day in the saddle, unless you will 
 let me offer you a final night-cap, perhaps 
 we had better be getting off to bed." 
 
 Flower, who had begun to feel the premoni- 
 tory enticements of slumber, assented. When 
 they arose from their chairs, he fancied he heard 
 
58 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 footsteps retreating from the door ; and as the 
 Colonel, brass candlestick in hand, preceded 
 him to his chamber on the second floor, through 
 a long dimly lighted corridor, Flower saw flash 
 for a moment into the gloom at the far end of 
 it and disappear, a woman's white face. The 
 distinct sound of footsteps now catching Colonel 
 Poythress' ear, he looked back at Geoffry, with 
 a smile. 
 
 " Don't fancy that we own a White Ladye 
 or one of her congeners at Vue de TEau. This 
 nocturnal rambler is probably the housekeeper, 
 Mrs. Judith, a most excellent body, well versed 
 in the duties of her place, and a treasure to my 
 wife, who would find it hard to keep up a gen- 
 teel ordinary like ours, without her aid. But 
 she is a sad prowling creature, always on the 
 watch. Here is your room, where all is, I 
 hope, to your liking. And so, good night to 
 you, Captain ; and take my advice try not 
 to dream of the troubles of our times. They 
 have kept me awake, of late, when once 'twould 
 have needed the trump of doom to stir me." 
 
Ill 
 
 THE day following the fiasco of Madam 
 Poythress' tea-drinking promised well 
 for the out-of-door festivity to which 
 cc the neighbourhood" was bound. Some of the 
 house-party at Vue de 1'Eau preferring to go by 
 water to the rendezvous, a barge manned by six 
 negroes in livery, with velvet caps, awaited them 
 at the landing-stage below the bluff. A pleas- 
 anter mode of progress it were hard, in truth, 
 to devise, than this of gliding, with perfectly 
 timed oars, down the rippled bosom of a wide 
 teeming river, between banks covered to the 
 water's edge with unbroken greenery of May ; 
 boughs drooping into the stream, boughs piled 
 in feathery layers, boughs rising to the sky 
 and all fresh with matin dew, embalmed with 
 odour, and vocal with the song of birds ! 
 
 Some of the dramatis person ae of our fore- 
 going chapters having their own reasons for 
 preferring to ride or drive to the barbecue, pre- 
 ceding the family chariot that contained Madam 
 Poythress and her chosen friends, a cavalcade 
 of equestrians took the road Flower, to his 
 satisfaction, mounted upon the high-mettled 
 
 59 
 
60 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 grey that had excited his admiration in the 
 stalls the day before. Better still, his place was 
 at the bridle-rein of Miss Betty, who, in her 
 habit of scarlet cloth, a white ostrich plume 
 curling around her scarlet cap, disdaining the 
 sun-mask urged upon her by her mamma, can- 
 tered under the forest canopy, a sight, perhaps, 
 to make "an old man young," but, certainly, 
 to make a young man older through much 
 joy of the eyes. In his exhilarated state, the 
 Captain found himself wondering over the 
 dismal thoughts of impending trouble he had 
 taken to bed with him the night before. Just 
 now, the world seemed but one continuous 
 arching glade of the greenwood with lace-like 
 foliage imprinted on the blue of summer 
 heavens, and a creature made up of light and 
 loveliness to share it with him. 
 
 Matoaca, riding beside her father, had been 
 unexpectedly rescued from the decree of an 
 offended law-giver Colonel Poythress, who 
 rarely asserted his rights as a parent, having 
 forcibly rescinded her mamma's sentence con- 
 demning her to stop at home from the frolic of 
 the year ; and the two, escaping at a gallop from 
 the reproaches of the door-step, had now slack- 
 ened speed to gloat together over the success 
 of their escapade. Little recked May that her 
 riding-habit was of sad-coloured nankeen, her 
 face obscured by the ugly vizard Sister Betty 
 had disdained ! It was enough for her that 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 61 
 
 day to be, and to be abroad in her father's 
 jovial company. And in due time they and the 
 couple ahead were overtaken and distanced by 
 Rolfe astride of Diabolus, who, sawing on his 
 bit, with eyes of flame, and his great stride 
 covering the ground at a ferocious rate of 
 speed, soon left all behind. 
 
 " How splendidly he sits that brute ! " ex- 
 claimed Geoffry. While something within told 
 the Captain that he might safely indulge in 
 praises of this particular rival, he was honestly 
 impressed by the young Provincial's look of 
 muscular manhood, his admirable bearing in 
 the saddle. " Gad ! I wish we had him in 
 our troop. A born soldier in appearance, and 
 yet doomed to the most humdrum existence 
 known to man. I, myself, had rather break 
 stones on a highway than try to drill ideas 
 into little rustics." 
 
 " When you are done with the excellences of 
 my cousin," said, demurely, the lady with the 
 ostrich plume, " perhaps, Captain, you will not 
 object to taking advantage of the good road 
 ahead, to quicken our own speed." And as 
 they rode onward, I fear there was little more 
 mention bestowed by either upon the merits or 
 deserts of Cousin Rolfe. 
 
 Although not successful in overtaking the 
 rider of Diabolus, our equestrians were at no 
 loss for companions on the way. A goodly 
 number were there, of neighbours on horseback, 
 
62 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 neighbours in chariots and chaises, neighbours 
 on pillions, faring in the same direction as them- 
 selves, all seeming to Geoffry so astonishingly 
 cordial and interested in each other ! Flower 
 had not before realised that in this small society 
 isolated on the banks of a great new-world river, 
 what concerned its members was of common 
 importance ; and that the reigning families 
 could perforce indulge themselves in no social 
 intercourse save with their own kind. 
 
 Drawing nearer to the scene of the day's 
 entertainment, there was, nevertheless, in the 
 gay throng blocking a high-way where all 
 roads converged to reach a ferry across the 
 Potomac, a less exclusive element of Colonial 
 society. From far and near, the fine weather 
 and sports in prospect had convened country- 
 folk afoot, on plough-horses or mules, or in odd 
 rustic vehicles the gaps in their procession 
 filled by that privileged class, the negroes, who, 
 strutting or slouching in the dust, bedight with 
 rags and tags of finery worn with their suits of 
 domestic manufacture, looked happier than any 
 kings on the roll of history. One rantipole 
 darky sported upon his woolly pate a circlet 
 of turkeys' tail feathers, resembling an Indian 
 head-dress ; another wore an old cocked hat 
 with a string of birds' eggs around his neck ; 
 while the proudest man upon the road, bar 
 none, was a black fiddler, clad in a scarlet uni- 
 form, its colour faded out in the service of Brad- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 63 
 
 dock's campaign before it descended into the 
 treasure-chest of the present owner, upon whom 
 its coat-tails fairly dragged the ground. 
 
 Turning their vehicles aside to allow passage 
 to the gentry, were seen, with their families, the 
 smaller landholders, factors, farmers, and over- 
 seers, to whom it no more occurred to wish to 
 pass the dividing line between them and their 
 superiors in fortune, than it would have done 
 to a similar class in the mother country. Yet 
 there was no lack of pleasant relations between 
 the two. Nods, smiles, enquiries as to the 
 health of present and absent members, passed 
 freely from the London chariot to the provin- 
 cial chaise and farm-wagon overcrowded with 
 simple folk in holiday attire. Colonel Poy- 
 thress, a favourite in all grades of county society, 
 was accosted by the mistress of a dairy farm, 
 who used the opportunity of a block of vehicles 
 coming together in the road, to sell him a 
 couple of kegs of butter at her own dear price ; 
 and he was afterwards induced, in like fashion, 
 to take, at the highest market rates, all of 
 Granny Carty's rather questionable stock of 
 sun-dried hominy. 
 
 When, therefore, the worthy Colonel beheld, 
 edging his way across the throng toward him, 
 an individual from whose hands he had come 
 off much the worse for a commercial transac- 
 tion between them the spring before, he ob- 
 served to his daughter, dryly : 
 
64 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 <c We will ride on, my dear, if you please. 
 At the rate I am being fleeced to-day, 'twould 
 be small wonder should that thorough-pac'd 
 rascal, Grig, succeed in inducing me to buy 
 another pair of mules. " 
 
 The ground selected for the sports was a 
 grassy amphitheatre boasting a circular race- 
 track, cleared from the thick woods on the 
 river's bank directly above a primitive ferry, 
 to-day in brisk operation to fetch recruits for 
 the entertainment from the shore of Maryland, 
 opposite ; while the ferry-master, a functionary 
 famed for his testy temper, was, like the 
 stewards of the day, in full exercise of author- 
 ity inflated by observation of a crowd. One 
 side of the ground rising around the amphi- 
 theatre was already scattered with yokels who, 
 their vehicles unhitched, and horses tied to 
 swinging branches in the woods, had left home 
 at sunrise to secure this point of vantage. In 
 the ring surrounding the judges, backers, cham- 
 pions, sporting notabilities, and idlers peculiar 
 to such an occasion, wandered a number of 
 those tricksters, bearwards, fencers, and petty 
 chapmen, declared by Colonial law to be under 
 ban as rogues and vagabonds at ordinary times, 
 but here allowed to go scot-free. To the right 
 of the course was erected a stand of rough 
 boards, gayly decorated with green boughs, red 
 cloth, and garlands of oak leaves surrounding 
 the royal coat-of-arms. This was apportioned 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 65 
 
 to the use of the gentlefolk, while an undeco- 
 rated range of seats received the ranks of ordi- 
 nary spectators. In a grove to the left, above 
 the water's edge, were seen in preparation the 
 Eleusinian mysteries that gave style and title to 
 the day ; mysteries fully developed and dis- 
 cussed before the games were put under way ; 
 in other words, the barbecue of rural Virginia 
 as known to our Colonial forefathers. 
 
 Over pits well furnished with red-hot coals 
 of hickory, were suspended the victims of the 
 sacrifice a whole beef, with several sheep and 
 hogs, roasting slowly, in company with other 
 succulent dainties to be presently dispensed in 
 portions to the holders of tickets for the feast. 
 Those unable to pay the small dues demanded 
 for the tickets, solaced themselves with the 
 contents of baskets brought from home ; the 
 negroes, coming off best of all, with fish and 
 crabs caught in the abounding river and cooked 
 over the wood-embers of fires kindled upon the 
 gravelly bank. 
 
 Although, for custom's sake, the gentlemen 
 of the county went into the enclosure around 
 the barbecue, and made show of tasting both 
 the meat and drink provided for the crowd, 
 they reserved their appetites for the picnic 
 arranged by their wives and daughters in a 
 sequestered glade at some little distance from 
 the scene of common activity. Here, upon 
 napkins of damask spread on the shaded 
 
66 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 ground, were temptingly set forth the spoils 
 of hampers despatched from the most famous 
 store-rooms within a radius of twenty miles ; 
 the opportunity, a good one for the display 
 of culinary masterpieces, being generally im- 
 proved with zeal by contestant housekeepers. 
 
 Upon rocks, stumps, the roots of trees, and 
 cushions of velvet moss, around the feast, were 
 grouped dames and cavaliers, figures for Rane- 
 lagh in a setting but recently vacated by the 
 red monarchs of these wilds ; while, rising 
 above their chat and laughter, above the draw- 
 ing of corks, and the hum of the adjacent 
 crowd, arose the merry brawl of a streamlet, 
 plunging from ledge to ledge of a rocky stair- 
 case, on its way to join the river. 
 
 It was full afternoon before, the refection 
 at an end and its remnants cleared away, the 
 programme of sports began by a tourney of 
 rustics mounted on mules, tilting with wooden 
 spears for a suspended ring. This was followed 
 by the climbing, by boys, of a greased pole, 
 for the reward of a fat goose ; and the at- 
 tempted capture, by his tail, of an active little 
 pig whose caudal appendage had been pre- 
 viously greased. When the shouts and guffaws 
 of laughter elicited by this performance had 
 died down, four yokels cudgelled for a hat ; 
 and then into the ring marched a band of 
 jaunty negro fiddlers, each of whom had to 
 play, without laughing, a tune differing from 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 67 
 
 the others, and all to play together ! Amid 
 the Bedlam of resulting sound, one performer 
 after another dropped out of the ranks in 
 bursting mirth ; till, at last, but a single aspir- 
 ant remained, a solemn darky, he, indeed, 
 of late Colonial regimentals, who, from the 
 beginning, had not ceased to scrape " Money 
 Musk," without the glimmer of a smile. To 
 him having been awarded a brand-new shining 
 violin, he received the prize wearing the same 
 lugubrious mien ; and, carrying it in his arms, 
 he made the circuit of the course, bowing on 
 all sides, like a successful toreador. 
 
 Next, sidling, blushing, shuffling, nudging 
 each other, came upon the scene six maidens, 
 daughters of farmers, who proceeded to sing, 
 each, a stanza of some ditty familiar to the 
 audience, the most tuneful among them carry- 
 ing off in triumph a quire of printed ballads. 
 Two stalwart girls then walked across the 
 course, supporting upon their heads, full 
 milking-pails ; and to the steadier of nerve 
 and surer of foot was presented, amid loud 
 hand clappings, a pair of silken hose. These 
 old-fashioned diversions, with a few other com- 
 petitions of the same popular variety, ended 
 the first part of the entertainment. 
 
 The second half of the day's sports which 
 was to include jumping, running, wrestling, 
 shooting at targets, and the like, by the best 
 champions of all classes of society in the county 
 
68 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 brought Captain Flower from the side of 
 the magnet that had so far retained him, to 
 the rope dividing the arena from the crowd. 
 There, while wedged in the throng, looking 
 on with interest and admiration at the really 
 fine exhibitions of athletic power and skill 
 displayed by the contestants, among whom 
 Rolfe Poythress took repeatedly the lead, 
 Geoffry saw, elbowing toward him, a man 
 soiled and dusty, in whose inflamed coun- 
 tenance he had some difficulty in recognising 
 his own servant, Trooper Keys. 
 
 " Good Heavens ! Keys, you haven't been 
 getting drunk and fighting here" cried the 
 young man, in disgust. 
 
 " Not a drop did I touch but cider, sir, 
 and of that not to go beyond a jug full, but 
 for the fighting, thank the Lord, I've laid out 
 my man, so that he'll not be giving sauce to 
 a gander over soon again ; and he calling your 
 honour a toy-soldier, a carpet-knight that could 
 do naught but dance at a lady's apron string. 
 Captain, we're off here alone ; and we've this," 
 laying his finger upon the sleeve of Flower's 
 uniform, " to stand by. I'm not cock sure 
 about the jump, sir, but I know you could beat 
 Master Poythress on the run." 
 
 " The same notion had just come into my 
 own head, Keys," said Flower, upon whose 
 cheeks settled a fine red tinge of young man- 
 hood. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 69 
 
 " Then, sir, there's a party just fallen out of 
 the dash of a hundred yards, sir. Offer your- 
 self, Captain, and let the Cherokees look out 
 for sport." 
 
 The matter, indeed, was easily arranged ; 
 and in a short time, Geoffry, equipped in such 
 fashion as could be hastily devised, entered 
 the lists and, by way of warming up his blood, 
 made one of a half-dozen hearty fellows, in a 
 jumping-match, in which they were all easily 
 outdone by Rolfe. The tables were turned 
 in the ensuing dash, by the same competitors, 
 of a hundred yards in length, won by the 
 nimble, clean-limbed young Briton amid the 
 huzzas of a friendly audience. 
 
 " But you pressed me close," said Flower, 
 as Rolfe came up to offer him congratulations. 
 
 " Your style is the best I ever saw," answered 
 Rolfe. 
 
 " I can tell you, now," rejoined the soldier, 
 modestly, " that at school they gave me c the 
 Greyhound' for a sobriquet." 
 
 " I should like nothing better than to try a 
 mile with you," said Rolfe, " though 'tis own- 
 ing myself beat before we start. What if we 
 propose it to the judges, to take place after 
 the next match, when we shall have got our 
 wind again ? " 
 
 " Agreed," said Geoffry, nothing loth. Upon 
 the mile race for runners, presently announced, 
 centred, therefore, not only the closest atten- 
 
70 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 tion of the day, but, on the part of the Poy- 
 thress family, a mixed sentiment of pride and 
 blood, and hospitable interest in their stranger 
 guest. While the two champions were waiting 
 the starter's signal, Rolfe, by ill luck, espied 
 upon the breast of Flower's shirt a tiny bow of 
 ribbon which he had himself used that morning 
 to tie together the knot of daffodils presented 
 to Betty as she had set out upon her ride, and 
 accepted by her with an enchanting smile of 
 thanks. The flowers, where were they ? And 
 the ribbon thus transferred, what could it mean 
 but the one blasting fact of Betty's open pref- 
 erence for Flower ? It was a shaft aimed at 
 the vital part of Rolfe, and for a moment his 
 stout heart staggered beneath the blow. A 
 fierce wave of jealousy, arising, swept away all 
 joy in the day, all pride in the moment, all 
 ambition for success. He cast, over in the 
 direction where Betty's scarlet habit glowed 
 like a poppy amid the green garlands of the 
 stand, one black, reproachful look. And at 
 that instant, a voice cried, " Go," and they 
 were off! 
 
 " A bad start for Poythress," said some one 
 in May's ear. With her loyal gaze riveted on 
 Rolfe, the girl had to own that this dreadful 
 thing was true. From the outset, his long 
 loping run had fallen gradually behind the 
 beautiful free stride of his competitor, and he 
 now seemed to be jogging along mechanically, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 71 
 
 accepting his defeat as a foregone conclusion. 
 This was more than the high spirit of the little 
 maid could bear. 
 
 " He is not trying. Oh ! if he would only 
 try ! " she said to herself, despairingly. 
 
 cc The Captain wins ! The Captain ! The 
 Captain ! " called out the knowing ones around 
 the ring, and the crowd took up the cry. 
 
 Tears of vexation filled May's eyes, but 
 they could not blind her to the fact that 
 Flower was far ahead. At the beginning of 
 the second half-mile, when he passed directly 
 under their post of observation, Betty, smiling, 
 joyous, preening herself as though she already 
 shared in his triumph, leaned over the rail to 
 send fluttering forth upon the air the wisp of 
 cambric she called her handkerchief. May's 
 handkerchief, limp with her tears, would have 
 been of no service as a pennon. But as Rolfe 
 passed, the sight of his face, white and set and 
 dogged, inspired her with a sudden tremendous 
 impulse. In her clear voice, that rang like a 
 trumpet, she called aloud, imploringly : 
 
 "Win, Rolfe. You can do it. Win, win, 
 win ! " 
 
 Whether Rolfe heard this alarum, no one 
 could be then sure ; but certain it was that 
 from this moment, he began to put on speed. 
 A smart rebuke from her mamma recalling 
 May from the front to a position where she 
 would be inconspicuous behind the others, she 
 
72 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 sat down and, shutting her eyes, and bowing 
 her head in misery on her two hands, felt that 
 she was tasting the depths of earthly disappoint- 
 ment. Suddenly, a new note mingled with the 
 raucous cheering of the throng without. 
 
 C Poythress ! Poythress forever ! Poythress 
 gains ! " 
 
 Reckless of consequence, May sprang again 
 to her old place in the front and, hardly daring 
 to believe her ears, searched the track for the 
 contestants. They were running neck and 
 neck ! For a brief space of time the strained 
 attention of the palpitating crowd kept with the 
 two figures, coursing so close together it seemed 
 impossible they could have ever been apart. 
 Then, slightly, but unmistakably, one form 
 was projected in advance of the other. At 
 this, a murmur rather than a cry was the com- 
 ment of the throng the distance widened 
 the murmur swelled into a mighty shout. 
 
 "Poythress! Poythress forever! Poythress 
 
 * i 
 wins ! 
 
 What followed was a noble example of the 
 Englishman's pluck and dash that has been 
 his in all the ages. Flower, on the home 
 stretch, seeing himself utterly outdone by the 
 grand staying power of his adversary, put all 
 his manhood into the final effort. Coming up 
 again with Rolfe, amid the frantic cheers of the 
 audience, he touched the goal but a second after 
 him. But with this difference in result 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 73 
 
 while Rolfe stood solid as a rock to receive the 
 plaudits of those who welcomed them, Flower 
 fell over the line, fainting in the arms of his 
 faithful Keys. 
 
 It was a race long to be remembered, one 
 that fixed upon the minds of every man, 
 woman, and child who witnessed it, the true 
 value of manly endurance and persistent 
 fortitude. 
 
 From Colonel Washington, who did them 
 the honour to walk over to where the competi- 
 tors were resting, the young men received each 
 a hearty handshake. 
 
 "A gallant contest, truly, that made me a 
 boy again to wftness it," said their hero, in 
 whose wake a train of county magnates 
 followed. 
 
 " You might teach them a thing or two in 
 broad jumping, yet, Colonel," said Hugh Poy- 
 thress, who, with every expression of solicitude, 
 had remained by Flower until assured that his 
 affair was nothing serious. " It is not so long 
 since you kept all of our set upon their mettle 
 in that particular." 
 
 " I fear I am now but a settled oldster," an- 
 swered Washington, smiling, cc whom the joys 
 of farm and fireside have robbed of ambition to 
 excel in any branch of this sport. But I am not 
 too old to feel the thrill in my blood respond- 
 ing to athletic achievement such as we have 
 
 seen." 
 
74 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Colonel Poythress, having satisfied himself 
 that Geoffry, after a little time of rest, would be 
 none the worse for his mishap, went back to re- 
 assure the ladies, who were waiting with much 
 anxiety to hear the condition of their guest. 
 Rolfe lingered a while longer until the young 
 men were alone with Keys. It did not occur 
 to either of them to translate into words his 
 sentiment for a foeman so worthy of his steel. 
 But both felt that what had just occurred had 
 put their friendship upon a basis it would be 
 hard henceforth to shake. 
 
 "I didn't boast for nothing, sir," said Keys, 
 when he had the Captain to himself. " They're 
 saying everywhere 'tis the prettiest race ever 
 run in the Province, and the cry for you is as 
 loud as the cry for Master Poythress. Says I 
 to myself, c God bless him ! ' when you put in 
 that final spurt." 
 
 Rolfe, on returning to join his cousins, was 
 inspired to humbly ask Betty's pardon for cer- 
 tain thoughts of her he promised never again 
 to cherish. 
 
 " Pardon ! " exclaimed Betty, in whose 
 cheeks the roses, vanished by the Captain's 
 accident, had bloomed again richly ; " my dear 
 Rolfe, you are a hero, the object of all our 
 thoughts and praises. You don't need to 
 humble yourself to anybody, now. 'Tis we 
 who should bow down to you, rather." 
 
 "It was your voice that bid me win," said 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 75 
 
 the lad, simply, " and how could I do other- 
 wise ? " 
 
 " My voice ? Hear that, will you," cried the 
 heartless beauty. " La, May, come here, and 
 listen to this foolish Rolfe, fancying it was I 
 called out to him as he ran by us in the last 
 half. No, no, cousin, give your thanks to 
 May ; for a pretty scolding she got for that 
 forward action from mamma." 
 
 Rolfe did not heed May, who, blushing and 
 tender and proud at once, hung upon his an- 
 swer, eagerly awaiting the acknowledgment of 
 her share in the glorious event. He did not so 
 much as turn toward her ; but, fixing his deep 
 gaze upon Betty, as though to read into her 
 soul, turned abruptly and hurried from their 
 presence. A little later, Rolfe himself clapped 
 the saddle on Diabolus and, vaulting into it, 
 was carried rapidly away from the scene of his 
 triumph and defeat. 
 
 Flower's stay at the plantation lasted until he 
 had no shred of excuse for prolonging it ; in 
 other words, until the family, following the ex- 
 ample of the chief people of the neighbourhood, 
 were to set off for Williamsburg. Was it five 
 days, five hours, or five weeks since his arrival 
 upon a lame horse into the outer courts of 
 Paradise? Flower could not tell. He only 
 knew that he was to have the further joy of 
 leisurely travel in attendance upon the lady 
 
j6 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 who now ruled his thoughts to the exclusion 
 of aught less ethereal, less dear ! The Colonel, 
 who had conceived for his young guest a most 
 unaffected feeling of regard, placed at his dis- 
 posal, for the trip, the grey horse Flower had 
 been riding every day since coming to Vue de 
 1'Eau. And then, once in Williamsburg, 
 Geoffry had a thousand plans for pursuance of 
 his idyl. The rapture was, that for the present 
 at least, they twain were not to be separated! 
 The only imagined source of regret to Flower 
 was the departure from Vue de 1'Eau, on the 
 day following the barbecue, of Rolfe Poythress, 
 who, in company with Mr. Snow, went to 
 spend a week or two in Williamsburg for last 
 arrangements before setting out to take charge 
 of the summer session of his school in the 
 western valley. 
 
 The eve of their journey found our young 
 Captain strolling, for a while, as was his wont, 
 alone amid the perfume of the rose garden, to 
 enjoy a smoke before going in to rejoin the 
 family in the drawing-room. 
 
 It was a lovely night, the moon riding well 
 up in a star-sprent heaven, the air from the 
 river invigoratingly cool. Over in the kitchen 
 quarters, he heard the sound of feet patting, of 
 banjos twanging, while from a thicket issued 
 the note of a lonely whippoorwill. Yielding 
 to a vagrant impulse, instead of turning his 
 feet toward the way indoors, GeofFry followed 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 77 
 
 a path leading into a dense alley of cedars over- 
 grown with flowering vines through which the 
 moonbeams could not pierce. In this sombre 
 solitude he was standing alone, breathing the 
 dewy sweetness of some blossom wreath unseen, 
 when, to his surprise, and that hardly a pleasant 
 one, he was accosted by a woman's voice. 
 
 " Oh ! sir, I beg your pardon, but I have 
 been watching so long, and 'tis my last chance," 
 said the invisible one. " I am only Judith 
 Carnes the housekeeper, and when you hear 
 what I have to say, I think you will under- 
 stand why I made so bold as to follow you." 
 
 " In what, madam, can I serve you ? " asked 
 Flower, politely, of the form for her face he 
 saw not at his side. 
 
 cc It wasn't c madam ' when I was your old 
 nurse, Master Geoffry," she said, hysterically 
 drawing in a sob. " It is true as God's heaven 
 that I had you before ever you were short- 
 coated, and that I left your father's service 
 under sad circumstances I need not enter 
 upon, here, where they have never been 
 known." 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " said the young man. 
 " I can hardly say that I am glad to see you, 
 for I have not the ghost of an idea what you 
 look like. But why didn't you favour me with 
 a visit indoors, in more Christian fashion ? " 
 
 " Because because " Here the shadow 
 fell into hopeless weeping and, until she was 
 
7 8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 calmed, he had much ado to possess his soul in 
 patience. 
 
 "The night you came, Master Geoffry, I 
 followed you and listened to your talk with my 
 master in the dining-room, And I heard " 
 
 " Nothing that need occasion you such spas- 
 modic wretchedness, my good woman. If you 
 would only consent to be coherent " 
 
 ct God help me, sir, I will. I will tell you a 
 story I meant no one ever to know, till I 
 should be under ground/' 
 
 From the recitals of her life as the child of 
 an apple farmer in a Devonshire combe, to her 
 elevation to be nursery maid in the family of 
 Sir Geoffry Flower, there was little more to be 
 gleaned than her lamenting for past days of 
 innocence. After the disgrace that sent her 
 back on the hands of her father, who re- 
 nounced her, it was a tale best forgotten. 
 Where Flower's interest sprung into vivid life, 
 concerned the woman's chance meeting in 
 London with his uncle, Lord Avenel, who had 
 employed her in a service incredible to an 
 honest man. 
 
 " 'Tis impossible," said Geoffry, horrified, 
 
 " Think a minute, sir. All this happened 
 when you were a lad. Although sinfully to 
 blame, until two years in possession Lord 
 Avenel did not know of the existence of the 
 heir." 
 
 " And the grandparents, you say ? " 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 79 
 
 "Were quiet folk, sir, living in a lonely 
 cottage where the child's mother had died. 
 'Twas easy managed, and the old couple sup- 
 posed him drowned in the river, near." 
 
 GeofFry, who tried not to believe, had con- 
 viction forced upon him. 
 
 "You overheard me tell Colonel Poythress 
 of their visit to Lord Avenel ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I did, sir, and out of the past came 
 all the terrors of twenty years to haunt me. 
 Lord Avenel need never have feared those poor 
 people. All they wanted was a trifle of money, 
 perhaps. But he, no doubt, like me, fears what 
 comes to him at night, when all the rest of the 
 house lies peacefully asleep. He is a bad, 
 weak man, Master GeofFry, and I'm always 
 dreading he may take it into his head to come 
 over here and stir the matter up." 
 
 " If he did stoop to this coward's act," ex- 
 claimed the young man, indignantly, " where is 
 the poor unfortunate that, between you, you 
 betrayed ? " 
 
 " God forgive me, Master GeofFry, I believe 
 the boy is dead. But my share in the matter 
 ended when we reached the Colony. He was 
 taken from me, and c adopted out ' by the ship's 
 master. I am not even sure of the name of the 
 people. But from what I gathered, it was 
 McDuffie they were decent Scotch folk 
 emigrants going to take up lands on the fron- 
 tier. A year or two later, I met the Captain, 
 
8o A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 when he was again in Richmond port, and I 
 longed to know, so I asked him for news of 
 the little lad." 
 
 " And his answer ? " 
 
 "That the whole family had perished by the 
 Indians. But who knows if this be true ? Oh ! 
 Master Geoffry, think what I've had to haunt 
 my dreams ! For, though you mayn't believe 
 it, sir, I had begun to love the little fellow 
 Alan Carnes we agreed to call him near your 
 age, he was, Master Geoffry, or a little younger." 
 
 " The plot sounds like a made-up story," 
 began Geoffry, again uncertain whether or not 
 he was dealing with the vapourings of a disor- 
 dered brain. 
 
 " Ah, sir, if you had heard, during that long 
 voyage in the crowded ship from Bristol the 
 stories of the convicts and assigned servants 
 among whom I was paid to travel with my 
 charge ! What crimes and conspiracies and 
 heart-breaks had sent the poor sinners over 
 sea there are no stories that could be writ 
 and printed to outdo them. What I am tell- 
 ing you, sir, is gospel true and though you 
 may never prove it, at last I've eased my con- 
 science of the load." 
 
 " I need not ask you your motive in becom- 
 ing my uncle's tool," he said, after a moment's 
 pause. 
 
 "Nothing but desperation, sir, to get out 
 of the life I was leading and the money my 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 81 
 
 lord paid me helped me to start fresh. 'Tis a 
 long time since. Master Geoffry " 
 
 " And you know absolutely nothing else 
 concerning the boy ? " interrupted he. 
 
 cc Nothing, sir, but what I have told you. 
 My orders and the Captain's were to c lose 
 sight of him/ And the Captain was paid a 
 better price than I got." 
 
 " I fear," said Geoffry, " I have no stomach 
 for intrigue. Your whole tale seems to me so 
 low and revolting, I would you had spared me 
 the hearing of it. I will not say what, if this 
 thing be true, I think you and your precious 
 pair of comrades merit. But I confess to 
 curiosity as to how you, of all people, came 
 to be installed here, in a position of confi- 
 dence, under the roof of Lord AveneFs 
 nearest relatives ? " 
 
 " Fate, sir ; believe me, it was Fate. It was 
 in Richmond they ran upon me, sixteen years 
 ago, when the madam was in search of a capa- 
 ble maid and housekeeper ; and here have I 
 lived ever since, doing my duty and full of 
 gratitude to my employers, but carrying a sore 
 heart inside of me. Often and over have I 
 said I would expose myself and Lord Avenel, 
 and state the facts as I have told them to you. 
 But what chance had I of making any one be- 
 lieve my tale ? Whom could I help by it ? 
 So, excepting in the interests of justice " 
 
 " Which you had most certainly better leave 
 
82 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 alone, if you fear your own deserts/' exclaimed 
 Geoffry, hotly. 
 
 " Never mind my deserts, Master Geoffry ; I 
 have got them in this life," she said forlornly. 
 As the young man withdrew from her, the 
 woman kept pace with him, and when at 
 length they came out of the alley into the 
 full moonlight, and he beheld her livid face, 
 his heart smote him for his repugnance of her. 
 
 " I am sorry for you, Judith," he said more 
 gently. " But why you have made me a party 
 to all this cursed business, I can't for the life 
 of me divine. Of course, as far as making it 
 public is concerned, I am tied hand and foot. 
 My Uncle Avenel and I are not likely to cross 
 each other's paths for years to come ; and such 
 is my sincere regard for Colonel Poythress, I 
 should like nothing better than to see him the 
 honoured and undisputed bearer of his family 
 title. As for the poor devil who was dispos- 
 sessed, even if he were living now, there is no 
 one sufficiently interested to look him up. 
 Should he ever present himself as a claimant, 
 that indeed were another thing. I should 
 advise you to write out, and sign, in the pres- 
 ence of witnesses, the full complete story you 
 have told to me. And enclose with it any 
 proofs you may have, in writing, of Lord 
 Avenel's complicity. But further than this 
 advice, I confess, I do not desire to mingle 
 with your affair, in any shape." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 83 
 
 "That is just it, Master Geoffry," she said 
 eagerly. " That is why I asked you to hear 
 me. I have written out my shameful story in 
 every detail. It was a penance I set myself, 
 long ago, and I got Master Snow, the Dominie, 
 and Master Rolfe Poythress to sign as wit- 
 nesses last year they thinking it a will, for 
 'tis known I have a little property laid by. 
 But what you said about Lord Avenel com- 
 ing to the country, makes me fear he will find 
 me here and force me to give up this act of 
 conscience to him. It must go into safe hands. 
 I want you to take it, sir, and keep it ; and if 
 ever you judge it necessary to use the paper, 
 to do so. But keep it secret during my life, 
 Master GeofFry spare me the humiliation 
 while I live." 
 
 " What you ask is too much ! " exclaimed 
 GeofFry, in a quicksand of annoyance. " I am 
 a soldier, here to-day, gone to-morrow, with no 
 abiding-place, no voice in affairs save in the 
 way of military duty. Deposit your papers 
 with Mr. Snow with the parson of the par- 
 ish with any magistrate any one will serve 
 you better than I " 
 
 " No one stands as you do to all con- 
 cerned," said the woman, obstinately. " No, 
 Master Geoffry, I am resolved ; if you decline 
 to help me as I ask, I will destroy the writing, 
 and take my secret under my coffin lid." 
 
 "Then I consent. Put your documents 
 
84 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 under seal, in the letter-case in my bedroom ; 
 and, if you choose to run the risk, perhaps 
 on the eve of war, I will keep them. But 
 I warn you, I have no fancy for eerie myster- 
 ies, and what I shall wish to do, is to forget 
 speedily all you have told me." 
 
 " God bless you, Master Geoffry ! " 
 
 " No thanks for an unwilling service," said 
 Flower. They were near the house. May, 
 standing in the oblong of orange light within 
 the hall door, was calling to him in her honest, 
 clear young voice : 
 
 " Cousin Flower ! Oh ! Cousin Flower. 
 Where are you ? We need you to sing a 
 catch ! " 
 
 Mistress Judith, snatching at Geoffry's hand, 
 left on it a kiss, and melted into the shrubbery. 
 Geoffry breathed freer when he had done with 
 her. He hoped never again to reopen the 
 dark passage of her life. 
 
IV 
 
 THE custom entailed by necessity upon 
 the gentry of Colonial days, of making 
 their journeys in their own coaches, at- 
 tended by outriders and by grooms leading 
 portmanteaux horses, lent to the movements 
 abroad of a wealthy planter a degree of cere- 
 monial importance to which the humbler world 
 bowed down. What, therefore, was the sur- 
 prise and annoyance of Madam Poythress, 
 when, in the course of her progress to the 
 Capital, at the crossing of a river toward the 
 latter part of her jaunt, the right of her 
 chariot, four horses and immediate attendants 
 to occupy all the space of a ferry boat was 
 disputed ! And this by a rough-looking fel- 
 low, a solitary horseman in soiled riding-garb, 
 who had the presumption to claim precedence 
 of her vehicle and people. 
 
 " To what are we coming ? " cried the angry 
 lady, looking out of her chariot window, and 
 addressing all within hearing. " If the Colonel 
 and the Captain had not stopped behind to 
 parley at the last ordinary, we should make 
 short work of this rude fellow's pretensions. 
 
 85 
 
86 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 As it is, ferryman, I order you to pay no heed 
 to him. I and my servants and horses will 
 cross at once, and when the boat returns for 
 such of my attendants as cannot be accom- 
 modated now, this man may doubtless find a 
 place." 
 
 " But, madam," ventured the official, who 
 did not now for the first time come within 
 range of the lady's masterful tongue, " the 
 man is in the right, and it is my lawful duty 
 to give him the first crossing of the river." 
 
 " Lawful duty ! Let him take care his in- 
 solence to me does not bring him to the law- 
 ful stocks. Is there no constable hereabout 
 to teach manners to you both ? " 
 
 " It is I who would go to the stocks, or 
 worse, should I delay him so long as to get 
 your ladyship's chariot aboard the barge," said 
 the ferrymaster, who was making all speed to 
 put his clumsy machinery in motion. " For 
 this is a Public Messenger ; an express from 
 the Committee of Correspondence in Phila- 
 delphia, and hath rid, day and night, under an 
 order bearing their official seal, to carry a com- 
 munication to the Burgesses at the Capital." 
 
 "And, saving your presence, if your lady- 
 ship were as tired as I am," said the horse- 
 man, with a shrug, " mayhap you would not 
 wonder that I say little in my own defence." 
 
 Thus speaking, he rode upon the boat, and 
 the craft pushed out from shore. The two 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 87 
 
 escorts of the ladies had come up with them, 
 before Madam Poythress had exhausted her 
 store of indignant epithets. When these gen- 
 tlemen heard what had taken place, instead of 
 sympathising with the madam's tale of wrongs, 
 the provoking creatures but pricked up their 
 ears in eagerness over the tidings it conveyed. 
 
 "An express from the Committee of 
 Correspondence ? " said the Colonel. " This, 
 Flower, means news of moment ; and I pray 
 God it may be such as will placate the harsh 
 spirit of our agitated country. But who knows ? 
 In any case, I burn to acquaint myself with it. 
 My dear, I think if you and the girls will lie 
 to-night as arranged, at the house of our friends, 
 the Bassetts, the Captain and I will push on 
 without slacking, on the heels of the express. 
 We should, at that rate, reach the Capital to- 
 morrow, in time for the sitting of the Bur- 
 gesses, and thus satisfy ourselves as to what 
 has actually occurred. You and my daughters 
 will follow us at your leisure, and arrive in 
 Williamsburg at the time originally planned." 
 
 There were, in the experience of the lady 
 of Vue de 1'Eau, certain moments when she 
 realised that a husband must sometimes be 
 allowed to follow his own bent. Therefore, to 
 the surprise and relief of her hearers, she spoke 
 but a few words of acquiescence in the scheme 
 proposed ; and so it came to pass that, the 
 next day, the two gentlemen with their per- 
 
88 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 sonal servants, rode into Gloucester Street but 
 a few hours later than the express, who, chang- 
 ing horses along the way, had not slackened 
 speed until he reached his goal. 
 
 The town of Williamsburg, then in its palm- 
 iest days, was full to overflowing with the 
 most distinguished persons of the Colony, in- 
 cluding the Vice-regal Court of the Royal Gov- 
 ernor, and the Burgesses, who, with their 
 families, were in attendance upon the spring 
 session of the Assembly. The population was 
 further agreeably increased by the learned pro- 
 fessors and the students of the College endowed 
 by their late majesties King William and Queen 
 Mary, in whose honour, the town, in the form 
 of a cipher made of the two initial letters of 
 their names W and M had been originally 
 laid out on a ridge at the head of two creeks, 
 one emptying into James River, the other into 
 York River. At one end of Gloucester Street, 
 the principal thoroughfare, stood the College 
 buildings ; at the other end, the Capitol. 
 The " Palace " of the Royal Governor, seen 
 at the extremity of Palace Street, was a spa- 
 cious and handsomely furnished mansion, set 
 apart in fine grounds, shaded by abundant trees, 
 including lindens imported from Scotland for 
 this purpose. Other good residences were 
 scattered along the streets and outskirts and, 
 in the season, every available room was crowded 
 with visitors. For dances and like diversions, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 89 
 
 it was customary to resort to the Apollo Room 
 of the Raleigh Tavern ; and the public orna- 
 ments of the place were an octagon Powder 
 Magazine built by Spotswood in 1716, and a 
 statue of the late Lord Botetourt, more re- 
 cently erected before the Capitol, by some of 
 that Governor's admirers. This " Old Capi- 
 tol " was the heart of the city, and, as was soon 
 to be proved, of the rebellion. In it, the 
 Governor and the twelve members of the King's 
 Council were wont to sit as judges in the Gen- 
 eral Court in April and October. Here were 
 held the Oyer and Terminer courts estab- 
 lished by Queen Anne to prevent the keeping 
 of prisoners in jail more than three months 
 before trial ; courts martial for the trial of 
 pirates ; courts of admiralty for investigation 
 of illegal trade in ships ; and, in fact, all courts 
 of justice conducted under English forms, ex- 
 cepting only the ecclesiastical courts. 
 
 cc The whole building," says an ancient 
 chronicler, cc is surrounded with a neat area 
 encompassed with a good wall, and near it is a 
 strong sweet prison for criminals ; and, on the 
 other side of the open court, another for 
 debtors, when any are removed from the other 
 prisons in each county ; but such prisoners are 
 very rare, the creditors being there generally 
 very merciful, and the laws so favourable for 
 debtors that some esteem them too indulgent." 
 
 Toward this point, as Colonel Poythress 
 
90 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 and his companion rode into the town, all at- 
 tention seemed to be turning, all steps con- 
 verging. Everywhere was excitement manifest ; 
 every face of a passing citizen expressed pertur- 
 bation. The Colonel, who, from a sense of 
 dignity, had forborne hitherto to ask questions 
 in chance encounters on the street, could en- 
 dure it no longer, and so reined in his horse 
 before the shop of a mild-mannered tradesman 
 who had sallied out upon his threshold and 
 was looking anxiously up and down, as if de- 
 sirous of engaging the attention of anybody 
 with whom he might exchange the gossip of 
 his overburdened soul. 
 
 "What has happened ? " asked the Colonel, 
 authoritatively. 
 
 " Oh ! sirs, bad news, and the Burgesses are 
 now sitting to discuss it. A woful time for 
 trade, and this atop of it, your worships " 
 
 " What news ? " interrupted both gentlemen, 
 thundering in concert. 
 
 " The Boston Port Bill, craving your pardon, 
 sirs. It has passed the Ministry," stammered 
 the man, frightened into what he supposed to 
 be coherency. " 'Tis starvation for poor Bos- 
 ton folks, they say, and all we Provincials 
 treated like the dirt under English feet. I 
 crave your pardon, again, sirs, but there's no 
 stopping tongues at a time like this no 
 trouble, and your worships are kindly welcome. 
 If 'twas ever so you needed anything in my 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 91 
 
 line of business, you'll not forget that Thomas 
 Quorn makes buckskin riding-breeches with 
 fidelity, and gloves, none better; and you can 
 depend on him for kind usage at reasonable 
 rates. Good morning to your honours ; I'm 
 sure 'twas but a pride for me to be telling you 
 the first news, and so " 
 
 They galloped off, cutting short the breeches- 
 maker's tide of verbosity ; and, without wait- 
 ing to go to his lodgings, Poythress sprang 
 from his saddle before the portico of the Capi- 
 tol and, giving his horse to the groom, hastened 
 to put himself in possession of information at 
 the fountain-head. 
 
 Flower, whom it behooved to offer himself 
 ceremoniously attired in the presence of his 
 chief, repaired to his own quarters at Mrs. 
 Brinton's lodging-house. 
 
 We come, now, to the afternoon of the 26th 
 of May^ 1774, when, after stormy days of ses- 
 sion, during which the birth pangs of a nation 
 had begun to rend their body corporate, the 
 Burgesses were quietly awaiting the action of 
 Lord Dunmore upon their protest against the 
 British "attempt to starve thousands of Ameri- 
 can people into subservience to the Ministry." 
 They had been dignified, forbearing, in no sense 
 disloyal to their traditional reverence for the 
 Crown. As yet, they had not considered of 
 separation from England, and only a few ex- 
 
92 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 tremists among them dreamed of cessation of 
 commerce. But they were offended deeply, 
 and desired to show their masters that some 
 things they could not brook. It was not a 
 wrong to Virginia they repudiated, but "a ca- 
 lamity which threatened the civil rights of 
 America." Until now, the term "Americans " 
 had been chiefly applied to the native red 
 Indians ; and this assumption of it, by patri- 
 ots, was one of the first-fruits of the Revolu- 
 tion. Henceforward, the thirteen colonies of 
 the Atlantic seaboard, with an aggregate pop- 
 ulation of not three million souls, until now 
 virtually self-governing commonwealths, dis- 
 connected save by the common ties of race and of 
 allegiance to Great Britain, were to work as one. 
 The news from the Committee of Corre- 
 spondence had exploded among the Virginian 
 Burgesses like a bomb-shell. The interest of 
 the whole early part of their session, taken up 
 with settling boundary disputes on the Penn- 
 sylvanian border and discussing threatened 
 outbreaks among the Shawnee Indians, was 
 submerged in the tremendous possibilities en- 
 tailed by the necessary action of a day. In 
 a " burst of indignation," they had voted to 
 fall into line with Massachusetts ; to set apart 
 the approaching first of June " as a day of fast- 
 ing, humiliation, and prayer, devoutly to im- 
 plore the Divine interposition for averting the 
 heavy calamity to the civil rights of America ; 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 93 
 
 and that the Burgesses attend church on that 
 day." The motion, put to the vote of a full 
 house nearly a hundred members present 
 met with hardly a dissenting voice. It was the 
 work of the younger, more fiery members of 
 this grave and moderate Assembly, a Com- 
 mittee including Jefferson, Henry, Richard 
 Henry Lee, and Francis Ludwell Lee ; and 
 had been offered by a man of highest dignity 
 of character, a zealous churchman and con- 
 servative Robert Carter Nicholas. 
 
 All present were on good personal terms 
 with the Governor, who, however reserved of 
 nature and sullen of habit, had not yet trans- 
 gressed the necessary rules of civility in their 
 relations. Most of the Burgesses were pro- 
 posers of and subscribers to the great ball to be 
 given on the day following, in especial compli- 
 ment to my Lady Dunmore and her charming 
 daughters, the Honourable Catherine, Susan, 
 and Augusta Murray an entertainment about 
 which the feminine Colony was in a fever-heat 
 of joyous expectation. Socially considered, 
 there could be nothing more awkward than a 
 break with Lord Dunmore at such a time. 
 But <c there were giants in those days," and, 
 with the helm in their grasp, the Ship of State 
 sailed on. What, to such as they, were these 
 petty questions of a Provincial Court, even 
 although its rules of guidance were laid down 
 by a herald trained in the royal etiquette of 
 
94 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 England ? So the die was cast, the matter 
 had gone before the public ; and, to-day. Lord 
 Dunmore, surrounded by the state with which 
 he loved to prop his imposing person, had 
 passed in his sumptuous coach from the Palace 
 to the Capitol ; had ascended the stairs to the 
 Council Chamber above the Hall of Burgesses ; 
 and, there, with his twelve advisers, was in 
 process of deciding upon what punishment 
 should be awarded to the outspoken Provin- 
 cials who had defied him. 
 
 From the visitors' gallery we may take this 
 opportunity to glance at the men occupying 
 seats below, who, among them, hold the future 
 of the American Commonwealth. The Speaker, 
 in a high-backed chair, which the curious in 
 such matters may see in the Capitol at Rich- 
 mond, has for a background a curtain of 
 crimson stuff, depending from a gilded rod. 
 On the clerk's table beneath him lies a mace, 
 a token that affairs of State are under way. In 
 this hall, nine years before, rang out the mag- 
 nificent protest of Patrick Henry against the 
 Stamp Act, that " gave the first impulse to the 
 ball of Revolution." Although the lean, stoop- 
 shouldered young countryman in the peach- 
 blossom coat, with leather breeches and yarn 
 stockings, with the unpowdered wig and keen 
 twinkling eyes who had then read his famous 
 resolution from the bit of paper, torn out of 
 an old law-book, upon which he had jotted 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 95 
 
 it down is merged into the dignified and 
 honoured statesman wearing a black velvet suit, 
 the prophet of the Revolution is still there. 
 There was never one like him on that floor, or 
 elsewhere. If he " spoke as Homer wrote," 
 his eloquence, like Homer's, endures unchal- 
 lenged. Certainly, upon no American succeed- 
 ing him have the Gods bestowed a gift of more 
 burning oratory ! 
 
 Near Patrick Henry, whom from time to 
 time he consults with a half cynic smile, sits 
 Thomas Jefferson of Monticello, a man of but 
 thirty-one, who has nevertheless just proved 
 himself the leading spirit of the Committee al- 
 ready mentioned, employed to draft the reso- 
 lution of defiance of the Ministry. Jefferson, 
 to be the chief demolisher of the aristocratic 
 spirit of Virginia, the father of American de- 
 mocracy, is of gentle blood, and shows it, in 
 spite of his studied indifference in dress. Of 
 manner courteous, in stature tall, he has a 
 ruddy complexion, reddish auburn hair, and 
 blue eyes that can be alternately soft with the 
 love of humankind, or flashing with scorn of 
 old-world prejudice. Up in the gallery, look- 
 ing down upon her lord, is his bride of two 
 years' standing, " Mrs. Martha Skelton, that 
 was," as the Virginians call her ; a beautiful 
 and bewitching dame, in conversation with an- 
 other fair ex-widow (also wife of a conspicuous 
 Burgess), Madam Washington of Mount Ver- 
 
96 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 non, who has here for the first time appeared 
 before the world after her bereavement of the 
 year previous. 
 
 Colonel Washington, since his arrival in 
 Williamsburg, has given the public little op- 
 portunity to know of his* feelings about the vital 
 questions of the hour. On the day when the 
 impulsive resolution of the Burgesses passed, 
 he, with his lady, had dined in state at the 
 Palace, and was received by the Dunmore 
 family with every expression of cordial regard. 
 Nay, on this very morning of the fateful 26th, 
 had not Colonel Washington accompanied the 
 Governor, in an early ride on horseback, to 
 breakfast at the latter's farm and what, pray, 
 can that mean ? Thus, the gossips in the 
 gallery, behind their fans; for the Provincial 
 capital is no more free than any other spot 
 where women meet to comment on affairs, 
 from smiling medisances. But Washington sits 
 serene, his noble head towering like the land- 
 mark it is evermore to be, biding his time to 
 act. 
 
 Of the aggressive men those who would 
 now, if called upon, bare a sword and, clasp- 
 ing hands around its blade, swear to resist op- 
 pression to the death the one first pointed 
 out, after Henry and Jefferson, is Richard 
 Henry Lee of Chantilly, a contemporary in 
 age with George Washington, a courtly cava- 
 lier, whose appearance is marked by the fact 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 97 
 
 that he carries his right hand maimed in 
 swan-shooting on the Potomac swathed in a 
 bandage. For some reason known to the givers 
 of popular pseudonyms, the habit has earned 
 for Mr. Lee the name of the " Man with the 
 Silver Hand." This graceful gentleman, a 
 Royalist in descent and educated in the old 
 country, had not minced words in dealing with 
 the matter under discussion. He called the 
 closing of Boston port "a most violent and 
 dangerous attempt to destroy the constitutional 
 liberty and all rights of British America," and 
 was keen for certain measures disputing it, over- 
 ridden by the moderation of the larger party in 
 the House. From the delightful residence at 
 Chantilly, in Westmoreland, long known in that 
 country as a centre of cheerful hospitality, Mr. 
 Lee has brought to the convention his bevy of 
 pretty and merry daughters, who, in their great- 
 coats of lutestring, and dress-hats worn over 
 high-piled hair, now cluster in the gallery, whis- 
 pering their comments on the scene. 
 
 Another one of the great leaders to whom 
 eyes are turning in expectation of revolutionary 
 outburst, is yonder dark, sad personage, re- 
 served, halting in speech before his peers, but 
 known among them as possessed of the first 
 order of political ability, George Mason of 
 Gunston Hall on the Potomac, the future 
 author of the Virginia Bill of Rights. A little 
 later in the struggle, he will cry out, " If I can 
 
98 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 only live to see the American Union firmly 
 fixed, and free governments established in our 
 western world, and can leave to my children 
 but a crust of bread and liberty, I shall die 
 satisfied." Mason, like Richard Henry Lee 
 and others here, has in his veins a full current 
 of the blood of the supporters of Charles I. 
 But dearer than the phantasms of the kingly 
 house of Stuart were the principles just strug- 
 gling into life, that were to make freemen of 
 his descendants. 
 
 Facing this advanced guard of determined 
 patriots, we see Edmund Pendleton of Ed- 
 mundsburg, the head of the conservatives in 
 the House. Known as the "Silver Tongued," 
 he is an orator of another stamp than Henry 
 powerful in persuasion, where Henry excels 
 in passionate phillipic and dramatic outburst; 
 and both are equally determined. But Pendle- 
 ton, whom Jefferson called " the ablest man in 
 debate I ever have met with," for all his power 
 and grace and tender sentiment toward the 
 dying rule; for all that he is to head the new 
 Committee of Safety of Virginia, to be the 
 President of her Conventions, and Chief Jus- 
 tice of her Supreme Court ; is destined one day 
 to glide out of politics, feeling himself weary 
 and outworn by new forces ; to remain during 
 his latter years secluded among the books in his 
 library, and the friends who visit his plantation; 
 honoured, as he deserves to be, but sad, as befits 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 99 
 
 the survivor of ideas that have been carried 
 down the stream of Time. 
 
 Occupying the chair as Speaker of the 
 House, or we should doubtless hear from him 
 some words of bold import, sits the man who 
 during his life of fifty odd years has been re- 
 peatedly put forward by his fellow-colonists to 
 represent them in the highest offices in their 
 gift; whom Washington loved tenderly, and 
 upon whom he leaned for counsel, Peyton 
 Randolph, son of Sir John of that name, once 
 the King's Attorney in Virginia. The same 
 office was in his turn filled, at the age of 
 twenty-seven, by Peyton himself, under Sir 
 William Gooch, and is now held by Peyton's 
 Tory brother, John, during the present cri- 
 sis. These Randolphs (of the Turkey Island 
 branch, Madam Poythress would have taken 
 care to inform you) were educated at William 
 and Mary, studied law in London, and, in one 
 capacity or another, were always to the fore in 
 public matters. Peyton, who knew how to 
 restrain his ardent spirit, had indulged it by 
 marching at the head of the Williamsburg 
 lawyers, in their sally to drive the Indians back 
 to Fort Duquesne. He is now the Chairman 
 of the important Committee of Correspon- 
 dence ; is to be put forward as Chairman of 
 the Convention of August, 1774; and, greatest 
 of his many honours, is to be made President 
 of the first Continental Congress that will meet 
 
ioo A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 at Philadelphia. A younger Randolph, Pey- 
 ton's nephew, a handsome youth of twenty- 
 two, called Edmund, is in the gallery, playing 
 the beau to the damsels ; but with the eyes 
 and ears of a budding soldier and statesman 
 wide open to the questions of the hour. He 
 will be aide-de-camp to the first American Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, and Secretary of State to the 
 first American President. 
 
 Henry, Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, Richard 
 Henry Lee, these are the real captains of the 
 first revolt against the Crown. Washington, 
 more deliberate, is to come forward to be the 
 supreme head of their armies in the field. 
 
 Elsewhere, on the floor of the House on 
 this memorable day, we may see patriots as 
 true as any, without whose wisdom and aid the 
 nation could not be shaped. This is the first 
 appearance, as a delegate, of Thomas Nelson, 
 the younger, of Yorktown, one of the several 
 governors of Virginia to be culled from the 
 present gathering, and during the Revolution 
 general-in-chief of her forces of integrity 
 equal to his generosity, possessing wealth that 
 he will cheerfully cast into the patriot treasury ; 
 and to be held in veneration by a numerous 
 descent. Carter Braxton, to be "one of the 
 Signers," is a wealthy planter from King and 
 Queen County, has been active in politics 
 since 1765 ; he will serve in the first Virginian 
 Convention, and as one of the famous Com- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 101 
 
 mittee of Safety, by and by ; he will act also 
 as pacificator between the mob and Lord Dun- 
 more, in a crisis yet sufficiently remote. 
 
 The swarthy little gentleman with eyes that 
 can blaze like live coals, and handsome clear- 
 cut features, is Archibald Gary of Ampthill on 
 the James, near Richmond; the owner of large 
 estates and iron works, which latter fact and his 
 indomitable spirit are to attach to him during 
 the Revolution the familiar name of " Old 
 Iron." Of him, people whisper, as he moves 
 about, that he is of the same descent as that 
 flower of his age, the illustrious Lucius Gary, 
 Viscount Falkland, who fell at the battle of 
 Newberry ; and such is the fact ; but " Old 
 Iron " hath always bid his children strive to 
 emulate, not to live upon, their hereditary 
 glories ; and in days to come he will justly de- 
 clare that a knight fit to mate with his famous 
 kinsman had sprung up in the person of George 
 Washington. In the Convention of 1776, 
 Colonel Archy Gary will stand among the 
 working patriots as Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of the Whole ; and the resolutions of 
 Independence, of the Declaration of Rights, 
 and of a plan of government, will through him 
 be first laid before the public. 
 
 The gentleman wearing a green shade over 
 his eyes, with whom (C Old Iron " is exchang- 
 ing oracles, is Richard Bland, the antiquarian 
 of his day in Virginia. Of him has been left 
 
IO2 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the following quaint description: " A wary, old, 
 experienced veteran at the Bar and in the Sen- 
 ate ; has something of the look of old musty 
 parchments, which he handleth and studieth 
 much." 
 
 Robert Carter Nicholas, who, like General 
 Nelson, will go out of the Revolution empty- 
 handed because of unselfish giving to the cause, 
 is, as the proposer of the day of fast, a centre 
 of interest to observers. The jovial squire 
 who lounges at Mr. Nicholas* side, unable to 
 restrain a jest or two, in spite of the gravity of 
 the situation, is Benjamin Harrison of Berke- 
 ley, he who carried off the belle of Eltham 
 Plantation from her train of admirers not so 
 long ago, but that, from time to time, he now 
 directs a lover-like glance at his lady in the 
 gallery ! The members chatting with George 
 Wythe (Jefferson's Mentor, the lawyer, whom 
 Jefferson called " the honour of his own, and 
 the model of future times") are the wealthy 
 statesman, John Page, whose possessions in- 
 clude more than thirty thousand acres of land 
 in different counties, with Rosewell House, a 
 mansion the wonder of its day ; William 
 Cabell, another great landholder and ardent 
 patriot ; and Francis Ludwell Lee, one of the 
 representatives detailed to help in drafting the 
 resolution. Yonder are the fighting Lewis 
 brothers from the Valley, of whom more anon ; 
 and there, the martial figure of Parson Peter 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 103 
 
 Muhlenberg ("Teufel Piet," of our German 
 speaking troops at Brandywine), whose father 
 was the founder of the Lutheran faith in 
 America Muhlenberg, who, before long will 
 preach, in his own Woodstock Church, a ser- 
 mon on the text " a time for all things," end- 
 ing with " and now, brethren, it is the time to 
 fight ! " After which dramatic outburst, he 
 will pronounce a benediction on his flock, 
 stride down the pulpit stairs, throw off his 
 gown that covers a Continental uniform, and, 
 at the tap of a drum outside the church door, 
 be off to take the head of the first regiment 
 marching from that region to the front ! 
 
 These, and many another, till the roll grows 
 too lengthy to be continued here in detail. 
 
 There are few low tones in the picture. 
 From the Speaker, attired in his official robes 
 of scarlet, faced with black velvet, the uni- 
 formed court attendants, a clergyman here 
 and there in black or royal purple, and the 
 general company in their velvet coats, laced 
 and brocaded waistcoats, powdered wigs and 
 lace ruffles, to the garland of living roses up 
 above, the colour effect is brilliant. The scene 
 is a copy done by a clever prentice hand, of an 
 original in England. This meeting and the 
 Ball which follows will touch the high-water 
 mark of successful reproduction in Virginia's 
 miniature of St. James. 
 
 Upon the notable groups occupying the Hall, 
 
104 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 bright eyes sparkled, gay tongues descanting 
 industriously. It was hard for the women, who 
 had come there as usual, to see and be seen, 
 to realise what serious issues might be about 
 to spring from the familiar gathering. Madam 
 Poythress and her daughters, who were a little 
 late in arriving through having been to the 
 Palace to pay their respects to my Lady Dun- 
 more (conspicuously absent from this occasion), 
 had hardly dropped breathless upon a bench, 
 when they espied, sitting alone, gazing into the 
 body of the House, their Cousin Rolfe. May, 
 who saw he was absorbed, proposed he should 
 be let alone ; but Betty, destitute for the mo- 
 ment of another string to her bow, did not rest 
 until she had succeeded in making the young 
 fellow look up, and move obediently toward 
 them. Both girls were struck with the altera- 
 tion for the better in his looks. He was alert, 
 hopeful, and, Betty thought, " almost hand- 
 some." 
 
 "Why, Rolfe," she exclaimed, "you are as 
 bad as the rest of the men. You have scarce 
 paid us decent attention since first we came to 
 town. Now sit down and tell me all that's in- 
 teresting." 
 
 " To you, cousin, or to me ? " asked Rolfe, 
 with a shade of sarcasm in his tone. 
 
 " Such ill manners as you have got, cousin. 
 Now, pray be civil, and tell me at once who is 
 that huge tall man who looks like an Indian 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 105 
 
 chief, over yonder, talking just now with our 
 Cousin Peyton ? " 
 
 "That," said Rolfe, his face glowing with 
 hero-worship, " is the man of all others, I shall 
 soon know best. For, since I left you last, 
 cousin, I have had great news from home. 
 My mother has been brought by his influence 
 into consenting to let me give up the business 
 of a pedagogue." 
 
 "Truly?" said Betty, her attention dis- 
 tracted by something in the gallery. " Did 
 you notice, May, that Molly Lee has on the 
 sweetest apron of taffety ? I wonder, now, 
 would she give me the pattern you were 
 saying, Rolfe ? " 
 
 " That I am going to be a soldier, after all," 
 added the young man, too excited to mind even 
 Betty's flouting. " And it is that very Gen- 
 eral Andrew Lewis who has worked the mir- 
 acle." 
 
 "A soldier! Oh! Rolfe," exclaimed May, 
 who sat on the other side of him. " How glad 
 I am, how thankful and yet but General 
 Lewis, who is he ? " 
 
 " An old friend of my father's, a militia gen- 
 eral of Botetourt County, and a border war- 
 farer that the Indians fear as they do the Bad 
 Spirit, so many of them has he sent to their 
 last accounting. Why, 'tis said by their wise 
 men that the red clover springing in the grass 
 up in our country is dyed with the blood of 
 
106 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the redmen Lewis has killed. By good luck, 
 he sojourned latterly under my mother's roof, 
 and in talk with her accomplished my heart's 
 desire. He says she hath given me to him." 
 
 "Tell me more," begged May, eagerly 
 while Betty listened, a smile upon her lips, her 
 consciousness at large. 
 
 " They are to have another teacher for the 
 school ; an excellent young Scotchman, better 
 far than I could have been and in a few days 
 the General is sending me, express, to order 
 the county to put itself in a posture of de- 
 fence." 
 
 " Against Indians ? " exclaimed May, her 
 face grown pale. 
 
 "Why, May, didst think I am to fight 
 cornstalk soldiers with a hickory-switch ? The 
 government has but just received tidings of 
 hostile proceedings beyond Greenbrier, and I 
 am listen, Betty, listen, May / am to 
 command the scouts sent out to watch the 
 warrior path ! " 
 
 " La ! I think 'tis quite hideous," cried 
 Betty. " It is no warfare for a civilised sol- 
 dier." 
 
 " Colonel Washington did not say so, when 
 he was my age," replied Rolfe, quietly. " Or 
 Colonel Lewis, when he with his five brothers 
 fought under General Braddock. It was per- 
 haps due to my acquaintance with the country, 
 my habit of scouring the woods, that the Gen- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 107 
 
 eral has imposed on me this charge. At any 
 rate, I am to go and the General, with his 
 brother Charles a Burgess from Augusta 
 is to repair to the scene as quickly thereafter 
 as may be. Did not my own ears hear my 
 Lord Dunmore say, yesterday, that, when it 
 comes to righting away the Indians from our 
 border, there is no man in all the Province he 
 had sooner send there than General Lewis ? 
 But Andrew Lewis, somehow, does not fit in 
 with His Excellency, and returned him but an 
 answer like an Indian grunt." 
 
 " But, Rolfe your mother my poor 
 Cousin Poythress how does she how can 
 she "began May, her voice trembling. 
 
 "Why, May, this from you ! Don't you see, 
 don't you feel, that it was meant? Mothers, I 
 think, should look for this, when they bring 
 men into the world ; and whatever my mother 
 has not, she has courage like a man." 
 
 " Does papa know ? " 
 
 "An hour since, before he went into Coun- 
 cil, I told him, and he bade me God speed, 
 laughing such a jolly laugh it would have 
 done you good to hear it. 'Twas the only 
 bright spot in these perplexing days, he said. 
 And, May, he has given me Diabolus, and I'm 
 to ride him into the woods. What a mount ! 
 There's not a creature on the staff, or in the 
 streets, here, that can hold a candle to my 
 beauty." 
 
io8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 "And not another man that would be paid 
 to ride him," said May, smiling through her 
 cloud. " Oh ! Rolfe, the surprise of this has 
 taken away my breath. Does Colonel Wash- 
 ington approve ? " 
 
 " 'Twas following a conversation with him," 
 replied the youth, holding his head erect, " that 
 my General decided to trust me to watch the 
 warrior path." 
 
 " Of course, then, it is right for you to go," 
 said May, drawing a long breath. 
 
 " Of course," mimicked Betty. " Bless me, 
 child, anything is better than Rolfe's being 
 
 so whimsically circumstanced as he was till 
 
 
 now. 
 
 " Why, May, 'twas Betty, not you, I should 
 have credited with fears," said puzzled Rolfe. 
 "Yet here Betty speeds me, and you, I swear, 
 have tears in your eyes." 
 
 May was saved explanation of what might 
 have equally perplexed her own girlish inno- 
 cence, by a stir upon the floor below. 
 
 "Lud, what can that be?" asked Madam 
 Poythress, turning from her chat with an ac- 
 quaintance. " What has come over people, to 
 look so monstrous solemn all of a sudden ? " 
 
 " I pray you, cousin, do not speak aloud," 
 answered Rolfe, in an undertone. "'Tis a 
 message from his Lordship." 
 
 A great silence had fallen upon the court. 
 Threading his way amid the representatives, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 109 
 
 passed a young officer of slight, distinguished 
 figure, dressed in full British uniform. It was 
 Geoffry Flower, aide-de-camp and acting secre- 
 tary to the Royal Governor, who, with much 
 dignity and yet modesty of bearing, delivered 
 a sealed paper into the hands of Speaker Ran- 
 dolph, then fell back. Though all were ex- 
 cited by the thoughts occupying them on this 
 
 . / . . r & i i 
 
 occasion, and ready to resent anything that 
 
 flavoured of the tyranny they were discussing, 
 and though it occurred immediately to some 
 of them that the delivery, by the hand of a sol- 
 dier, of a message in writing from the Executive 
 to the Legislature was an encroachment upon 
 their liberties, an act of intimidation, conveying 
 as it did a threat of the army, no one at the 
 moment gave expression in words to his per- 
 ception of that situation. 
 
 After a glance at the contents of the mis- 
 sive, the presiding officer arose an example 
 followed by the Burgesses and in brief fash- 
 ion conveyed to the assembly an order from 
 Lord Dunmore requiring their attendance in 
 the Council Chamber, to receive a communica- 
 tion he desired to make to them. Then, turn- 
 ing to the aide-de-camp, the Speaker bade him 
 signify to the Governor that the House was 
 prepared to meet his wishes ; and Flower 
 thereupon retired, as he had come. At once, 
 the Speaker, preceded by the Sergeant-at-Arms 
 carrying the mace, put himself at the head of 
 
no A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 a procession, forming two by two, and the 
 Burgesses left the Hall. 
 
 In an upper chamber of the Capitol, behind 
 a long table surrounded by the members of the 
 Council among whom were the President, 
 Thomas Nelson (Senior), Hugh Poythress, Dr. 
 Camm, Ralph Wormeley, Robert Carter, Robert 
 Burwell, John Tayloe, the Corbins, some of 
 them men of pronounced English sentiment, 
 sat the King's representative. For this in- 
 terview, Dunmore had panoplied himself with 
 all that he could command of royal state ; 
 and his manner in receiving the Virginians 
 was more than tinctured by native arrogance. 
 
 " Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House 
 of Burgesses," said he, rising brusquely, "I have 
 in my hand a paper published by order of your 
 House, conceived in such terms as reflect highly 
 upon His Majesty and the Parliament of Great 
 Britain, which makes it necessary to dissolve 
 you ; and you are dissolved accordingly." 
 
 The curt announcement ended, my Lord 
 soon bows to dismiss his hearers. The Vir- 
 ginians, saluting in return, file, still in silence, 
 from the room. Returning to the Hall, where 
 they have no longer the right to act in concert, 
 they adjourn, as Burgesses, without day. But 
 it is understood that as citizens they are to 
 come together upon the morrow, in the Apollo 
 room of the Raleigh Tavern. 
 
 What followed is a page of history. The 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 1 1 1 
 
 late Burgesses, with Peyton Randolph in the 
 Chair, met in the appointed place the scene, 
 to some of the protestants, of gay dances with 
 the Belindas and Myrtillas of their college 
 days and " declared that an offensive over- 
 ture upon one Colony should be considered 
 as directed to all the Colonies; agreed to in- 
 vite the various Committees of Correspond- 
 ence to send deputies to meet annually in a 
 Congress empowered to decide matters for 
 all; recommended the general disuse of tea; 
 and were of one mind in indignation over the 
 Governor's misuse of his power which hindered 
 the circulation of offensive matter under the 
 legislative seal, but inoculated the whole Colony 
 with the poison against which it was directed." l 
 
 1 Extract from a letter by Edmund Randolph. Of this juncture, we 
 read in a letter from Jefferson to Archibald Gary, 9th of December, 1774, 
 rehearsing the events of the spring previous : " Nobody thought at that 
 time of extending our association further to the total interruption of our 
 commerce with Great Britain ; or if it was proposed by any (which I don't 
 recollect), it was condemned by the general sense of the members who 
 formed that ' association. " An anecdote, quoted by Alexander Brown in 
 "The Cabells and their Kin," from the correspondence of N. F. Cabell 
 with William C. Rives, is of interest in this connection. Colonel William 
 Cabell who "until the passage of the Boston Port Bill had always had a 
 strong hope of a final and satisfactory settlement, ' ' was met by a friend who 
 observed that he was much agitated, and talking vehemently to his brother 
 Joseph, with whom he was walking arm-in-arm. 
 
 " Where now, Colonel ? " asked his friend. 
 
 "To the Raleigh Tavern." 
 
 "And what to do?" 
 
 "No one can deny," said Colonel Cabell, "that the people of this Col- 
 ony have been loyal subjects 5 they have borne their grievances with patience, 
 and have petitioned respectfully for the removal of them. All their remon- 
 strances and memorials have been treated with neglect and contempt, and 
 now we are to be gagged. By the eternal God ! we must fight 5 and I, for 
 one, care not how soon ! " 
 
AS may readily be supposed, after the meet- 
 ing at Raleigh Tavern, there was much 
 twitteration among the ladies of Will- 
 iamsburg. Had not they spent weeks in 
 preparation for the Ball at the Capitol, and 
 how, possibly, could this entertainment be car- 
 ried out, in face of the breach between the 
 Burgesses and Lord Dunmore ? On the ap- 
 pointed day, society was racked by conflicting 
 rumours, some asserting that at the hour fixed 
 for my Lord and his Ladies to repair to the 
 scene of festivity, they would find the win- 
 dows of the State House dark, the doors 
 draped in mourning, the stewards of the Re- 
 ception Committee missing. Others, more 
 tenacious of the reputation for courtesy among 
 the Virginians, averred that such a thing was 
 impossible; that the dance would go on as pro- 
 posed, but that each of the leaders on the Colo- 
 nial side would appear wearing a badge of crape 
 on his left arm. Another rumour set afloat 
 maintained that the Governor and his family 
 would allow matters to progress to the eleventh 
 hour, then pointedly absent themselves from 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 113 
 
 the fete. And so the snow-ball rolled and 
 gathered in volume. By evening, still there 
 was no one to say, authoritatively, how the 
 affair was coming out. Or, to be more accu- 
 rate, there was no one ready to accept fact, 
 until that dear exciting fiction should have 
 exhausted itself in rumours. 
 
 The dwelling occupied by Madam Poythress 
 during her season in town was conveniently 
 near to the Capitol. That lady's importance 
 in society, Betty's acknowledged vogue as a 
 beauty, the Colonel's position in the Coun- 
 cil, and his intimacy with Lord Dunmore, all 
 conspired to turn the thoughts of the public 
 toward them as a channel for information. 
 An hour before the time appointed for the 
 Ball, therefore, one Sedan-chair after another 
 deposited its contents before the Poythress 
 front-door its knocker kept in lively agita- 
 tion by flunkeys enquiring if the ladies would 
 be pleased to see company fair forms shook 
 out silks, satins, and hair-powder under the 
 lustres of the drawing-rooms ; and gentlemen 
 in attendance upon these belles, clicked heels, 
 hugged their chapeaux and bowed, until the 
 rooms were full. All, while partaking of coffee 
 and the gentlemen of liquors, were eager for 
 news of the final arrangements of the evening. 
 
 "Nay, there is no change," said the hostess, 
 with decision. " It is in my power to give you 
 the very latest from the Palace. When at five 
 
ii4 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 o'clock I waited upon my Lady to enquire 
 after her health, she was even then in the hands 
 of the hairdresser. One of those dear sprightly 
 girls, her daughters, came tripping into the 
 room, the picture of good humour, to make me 
 her mamma's excuses. Positively, the whole 
 family will be at the Capitol on the stroke of 
 nine ; and to judge from the animation of the 
 Lady Susan's looks, they are anticipating with 
 pleasure their welcome to Virginia." 
 
 " 'Tis strange the satisfaction certain minds 
 derive from the propagation of malicious gos- 
 sip " began a sententious gentleman, whose 
 speech was lost in a tide of active comment. 
 
 " Mercy on me ! " cried a dame, wearing a 
 stomacher and farthingale of rich brocade, that 
 but recently were tossing over rough Atlantic 
 seas; "I'm glad my gown unpacked yester- 
 day, I'll swear is to have one chance to show 
 itself in good company ! If we are to believe 
 all these horrid men forecast, in a twelvemonth 
 there'll be no coming to town at all. Nothing 
 for a woman, but to be stuck down on her 
 plantation the year round, dosing sick negroes, 
 and superintending the cutting of their clothes." 
 
 " And think o' my husband," exclaimed 
 another, cc that, after the meeting at Raleigh 
 Tavern, must needs tell me to make the best 
 o' my finery, since not another farthing would 
 he spend with the agents to pay for London 
 furbelows ! Why, 'tis unbelievable ! " 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 115 
 
 " I wish these weighty matters of politics 
 had been put off till after the Ball," cried a 
 pretty girl in a rose-pink paduasoy, with a 
 bunch of marabous over the craped cushion 
 of her hair. 
 
 " 'Tis my complaint," answered the cavalier 
 standing behind her chair, " that unless a man 
 courses after these extremists like the hounds 
 after Master Reynard, they've no patience. 
 Faith, for a person of nice tastes, nice stomach, 
 and nice habits of association at home, 'tis no 
 light matter to cut himself off from civilised 
 society, as we are setting out to do ; and be- 
 sides, as Dr. Camm observed, with whom I 
 had the honour to dine, to-day, f No man can 
 force conviction/ ' 
 
 " Dr. Camm ? " queried the girl, a newcomer. 
 " That is the President of the College ? The 
 one that, when he went to ask Miss Betsy 
 Hansford in marriage, for a parishioner too 
 bashful to speak for himself, was bid by the 
 young lady go home and read Chapter XII, 
 verse 7, of Samuel, to find out the reason of her 
 refusal. And when the good Doctor sought 
 his Scriptures, 'twas to read there, c And Na- 
 than said unto David: Thou art the man!' 
 
 "Tea-table gossip," answered the gentleman, 
 smiling. " But certain 'tis, the Doctor did not 
 marry till he had left half a century behind. I 
 can bear witness to it that his lady is well 
 trained in the arts of housewifery. But the 
 
n6 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 President, who is the chief Tory of the Faculty, 
 is just now not to be made happy by provi- 
 sions, however skilful, for the material man 
 he foresees a struggle that will make his posi- 
 tion hard to bear ; and, faith, everywhere one 
 turns, 'tis the same dark outlook." 
 
 "You, too, among the croakers," said she, 
 lifting a finger of chiding ; " you, that are 
 credited with keeping good spirits when all 
 the rest of the world parts with 'em." 
 
 " A reflection on my parsimony ? " 
 
 " A challenge to your humanity ! But who 
 is it coming in so late to swell Madam Poy- 
 thress' levee, when, methought, the rooms were 
 already full as they can hold? I believe yes, 
 'tis she none other than Miss Polly Antro- 
 bus, who, they tell me, purchased from the 
 chief mercer of the town all but four yards of 
 the finest piece of silk he has had in stock 
 this age. The joke is that Miss Polly could 
 not in reason use all of the stuff secured ; but 
 fell on this device, and put herself to this ex- 
 pense, simply to keep any other woman from 
 appearing at the Ball in duplicate of her. To 
 what lengths does vanity lead, Mr. Thompson ! 
 And, now, judge for yourself whether Miss 
 Polly outstrips the rest of us." 
 
 " Did you know," said a lady, leaning over to 
 whisper audibly to the last speaker, " we have 
 it, on the mercer's authority, the yellow silk 
 was all but sold to Polly's dearest friend, Miss 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 117 
 
 Kitty Barton, when, by a ruse, Polly snapped 
 it away from under Kitty's nose. Yonder is 
 Kitty she in plain white muslin with the 
 bloom-coloured ribands in the front rank of 
 those Polly wishes to impress, and I dare swear 
 ready to tear out her rival's eyes, poor thing ! " 
 " Oh ! woman, woman ! " exclaimed Mr. 
 Thompson, indulging gracefully in a pinch of 
 snuff. " In the words of the poet: 
 
 " ' The starres above would make thee known 
 If men here silent were/ " 
 
 In the centre of the apartment, standing 
 beneath the full light of the chandelier, Miss 
 Polly Antrobus was in process of attracting to 
 her charming person, decked in the coveted 
 silk, of a pale amber hue relieved by large satin 
 flowers of pinkish red, the gaze of the whole 
 assembly. To judge from her air of exquisite 
 satisfaction, the young lady had now reached 
 the summit of earthly aspirations. Not even 
 Madam Poythress could boast of a train so 
 rich in texture, so delicate in tint, as hers. 
 While Betty Poythress had made no more ef- 
 fort for the occasion than to come out in a 
 plain white lutestring with blond ruffles and 
 garlands of white roses, and that everlasting 
 string of pearls that everybody in the capital 
 had seen her wear ! As for Kitty Barton, she 
 was extinguished utterly, and yet the girl was 
 
n8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 possessed to stand facing Miss Antrobus, where 
 every one must mark the contrast ! 
 
 These thoughts had but time to troop 
 through the brain of the conceited belle, when 
 she beheld her rival Kitty totter as if about to 
 swoon. 
 
 " Poor thing, 'tis too much for her," whis- 
 pered a voice in Polly's hearing ; and then, 
 Miss Kitty, sinking gracefully upon a chair, 
 declared it was nothing a passing dizziness 
 if only some one would bid her maid, wait- 
 ing outside in the passageway, fetch her bottle 
 of smelling-salts 
 
 While all eyes were centred upon the angelic 
 sufferer, the maid, who had been summoned, 
 appeared to apply the vinaigrette to her mis- 
 tress* nostrils. She was a small grotesque Afri- 
 can, her hair standing erect in woolly twigs, who 
 kept mincing before the company with looks 
 of conscious pride until everybody saw that she 
 was dressed in a gown made from the remnant 
 of Miss Polly's famous amber silk ! A titter 
 ran around the rooms, breaking into a laugh; 
 and the solicitude with which Miss Kitty kept 
 the fantastic creature at her side, joined to the 
 looks of confusion, anger, and mortification 
 darted upon them by Miss Polly, who finally 
 withdrew in tears and left the house, showed 
 that the revenge of Miss Kitty Barton was as 
 complete as it had been carefully worked out. 
 
 Soon, all Madam Poythress' guests are on 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 119 
 
 the way to the Capitol. A glance into the 
 streets shows them thronged with Sedan-chairs, 
 coaches, and foot-passengers, hurrying with one 
 accord to the place of festivity. There has been 
 no sign of disapproval from Lord Dunmore. 
 The cupola above the Palace is alight, as on 
 Birth nights and other gala-occasions. A crowd 
 of townspeople, gathered in front of the State 
 House, waits eagerly to see my Lord's coach 
 appear. Until they shall behold his august 
 profile beside my Lady's nodding plumes, fac- 
 ing the two daughters who sit with their aris- 
 tocratic backs to the horses, the public will not 
 be satisfied that all is well. 
 
 " His Excellency comes ! " cries, at last, the 
 loyal populace, although there are not a few 
 citizens to be heard muttering in the back- 
 ground, and a groan or two for which nobody 
 seems to be responsible. The four horses 
 pull up the outriders, falling into line, become 
 statues as still as that of Lord Botetourt keep- 
 ing watch before them. The band plays, the 
 crowd cheers ; for His Excellency is to them 
 still the King's double, and his appearance an 
 event. My Lord Dunmore, descending first 
 from the chariot, glances around him with 
 something of apprehension, or perhaps sus- 
 picion, allayed as the good temper of the 
 throng declares itself. His Lady follows; then 
 come the rest of his family and suite ; as the 
 cortege forms to go up the stairs, they are met 
 
I2O A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 by masters of ceremonies, bowing. At the head 
 of the steps, the stately Speaker, who yesterday 
 stood before my Lord like a school-boy under 
 sentence, offers his arm to my Lady. My Lord 
 walks on the other side of Mr. Randolph. The 
 Burgesses receive them. The band strikes up 
 a country dance. After a set of honour in 
 which Madam Poythress is invited to join, with 
 Madam Washington, and several other ladies 
 conspicuous in the Province, the Ball is fairly 
 in motion. 
 
 On the floor are seen most of the men who 
 have played parts in the historic drama of the 
 preceding days. Gossip-mongers do not fail to 
 point out that while my Lord the Governor 
 chats with his Tory friends and a few of his 
 Council, Colonel Washington is the only one 
 of the Burgesses with whom he appears to be 
 at ease. There is no unbending, no attempt 
 at management of the critical situation, by tact 
 or suavity. It is through his gracious wife and 
 daughters alone whom he had for so long 
 left in New York after coming to Virginia 
 that the semblance of pleasant relations with 
 their entertainers is kept up. A bad lookout 
 for the political future, say the wiseacres ! 
 
 " Pray, mamma," said Betty, returning from 
 one of her dances, flushed with conquest, to 
 her chaperon, cc I wonder if you have kept ac- 
 count of May's partners." 
 
 "The first dance, Edmund Randolph," an- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 121 
 
 swered the mother, checking them off upon her 
 fingers ; " the second, Colonel Washington, 
 then Rolfe, then Captain Flower, and now 
 who, child, is that great odd-looking creature 
 in uniform, like a Colossus, with whom she is 
 going down the middle ? " 
 
 " That is Rolfe's chief, General Lewis," said 
 Betty, laughing satirically. " And, as you see, 
 May reaches just above his elbow ; but she 
 hangs upon his words in rapture. For a be- 
 ginner in society, she is very much at ease. 
 Now, mother, dear, a pin in my ruffle, please ; 
 I am going to sit out this country dance." 
 
 Madam Poythress had no need to ask with 
 whom ; since there, behind her beautiful child, 
 the acknowledged queen of the revels, stood 
 Geoffry Flower, whose face was eloquent with 
 a feeling he made no attempt to conquer or re- 
 strain. Another man or two, each hoping 
 against hope that Betty would relent and dance 
 with him, brought up the rear of the little group. 
 
 " You are you sure you had better sit out 
 this ? " asked the mother, feeling for the right 
 words. She had never before seen in the eyes 
 of her daughter what she saw there now. Up 
 to the present, the Poythresses had treated the 
 Captain's attentions to Betty as nothing more 
 than the homage it was the girl's custom to 
 evoke. 
 
 " I think, dear yes, I think, 'twould be 
 best not to go " 
 
122 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Madam Poythress paused. She wanted time 
 for real thought. She knew by experience that 
 to manage Betty was a thing requiring skill and 
 self-control. In her heart was working out the 
 problem that to a good mother is of all others 
 the most painful and perplexing. Whether to 
 let the affairs of young hearts take their natural 
 course, or to interpose the patent scruples that 
 may alter everything. But, ambitious though 
 she was, Bessy Poythress did not lack tender- 
 ness. When she looked again at Flower, she 
 had to acknowledge that in his scarlet coat and 
 gold lace, with his gallant bearing, his hand- 
 some face, his air of finished courtesy, he was 
 an object very pleasant to behold in prospect 
 upon the horizon of her daughter's life. 
 
 To-night, indeed, Betty had, after days of 
 combat with her independent spirit, leaped to 
 a conclusion. The affair with Flower, begun 
 after her ordinary fashion, had whirled her on 
 in a race with altogether new emotions. Quick 
 to read her transparent little mother, she had at 
 once detected the cause of Madam Poythress' 
 unusual hesitation, and decided to put a stop 
 to it. 
 
 " I may as well tell you, mamma," she whis- 
 pered, bending over to graze with her cool 
 blooming cheek her mother's flushed one, 
 " that, for once in my life, I am going to 
 please myself." 
 
 "Betty oh! Betty," pleaded her mother, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 123 
 
 as the girl retreated, with a trill of happy 
 laughter, from her grasp. Flower, who had 
 not heard the conversation between the two, 
 saw only the beckoning of his syren, and pre- 
 pared to follow. But their way was blocked 
 by an unexpected obstacle ; an obstacle that 
 at first caused Flower to fall into the back- 
 ground with a respectful gesture of salute, then 
 filled him with disagreeable surprise, the ap- 
 proach of the Governor, accompanied by a 
 stranger leaning familiarly upon His Excel- 
 lency's arm. 
 
 Madam Poythress arose from her seat, Betty 
 remaining chained to the spot beside her, the 
 faces of both ladies expressing the utmost as- 
 tonishment. For the strange gentleman was 
 none other than their English relative, the Earl 
 of Avenel. 
 
 It used to be said in those days that, when 
 England had no longer room for a man within 
 her borders, she would consign him to the 
 American Colonies. In Williamsburg, the 
 natural emptying-place for ships southward 
 bound, the higher order of travellers without 
 visible reasons for their peregrinations were 
 apt to tarry longest. In the courts of the 
 Royal Representatives were continually appear- 
 ing Englishmen who had drifted out to Boston 
 or New York, thence to Virginia, and who, 
 after a superficial acquaintance with the best 
 houses and people in the Colony, returned to 
 
124 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 their London Clubs to tell strange tales of life 
 among the savages. Perhaps the lapse of a 
 century and a quarter has not entirely elimi- 
 nated this trait from the British character and, 
 to those retaining it, one might suggest the 
 couplet from an old German play : 
 
 " Wird man wo gut aufgenommen 
 Soil man ja nicht wiederkommen." 1 
 
 But Lord Avenel had yet to prove himself in 
 this regard, since he had but just landed from 
 the ship Lively Sally in York River, and, hasten- 
 ing up to town, had been brought almost im- 
 mediately hither by one of the Governor's staff. 
 He was a spare man, insignificant in appearance 
 and undersized; and, viewed at that distance 
 from his patrimonial castle, was even less at- 
 tractive to his Virginian relatives than before. 
 Lord Dunmore, after conducting him to the 
 ladies, did Miss Poythress the honour to remain 
 in conversation with her for some little time, 
 during which Flower, having shaken hands in 
 a perfunctory manner with his late guardian 
 whose touch, after Judith's story, filled him 
 with unusual repulsion now shared the privi- 
 lege of hearing that nobleman's explanation to 
 Madam Poythress of his appearance in the 
 Colony. 
 
 1 " When once one has been well received in a place, it is wise not to 
 return thither." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 125 
 
 It was a doleful tale my Lord told of his 
 failure in health and spirits following the loss 
 of his wife and son, who had been taken from 
 him the year before by small-pox, and of the 
 recommendation of the medical gentlemen that 
 he should try a sea-voyage to Virginia. 
 
 " Though how remaining for days and nights 
 at a time in the bottom of a ship, like Jonah in 
 the whale's belly, could profit a nervous suf- 
 ferer, I've yet to learn," he added. " However, 
 the longest voyage must end, and here I am, 
 praying for a welcome from my kin. And 
 Geoff will look out for me, I know. Perhaps, 
 if I should want to make a journey into the 
 wild country to see for myself what it is like, 
 my Lord the Governor will give him leave to 
 go there with me." 
 
 Geoffry, struck with the lack-lustre of his 
 kinsman's eye, with the unusual appeal in his 
 voice, felt some compassion for the lonely man, 
 and proved it by making an effort to treat him 
 with cordiality. Madam Poythress, who had 
 by now recovered in some degree from her sur- 
 prise, observed that the melancholy lord kept 
 looking past her at Betty, who, proud of her 
 success in winning smiles from the Governor, 
 did not object to letting others witness it. 
 The little group was next increased by the ap- 
 pearance of Colonel Poythress, whose duties as 
 a manager had kept him apart from his family 
 that night ; and a greater contrast than was of- 
 
126 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 fered by his vigorous manhood shown alongside 
 of the little shrivelled Earl, could not have 
 been furnished in the ball-room. But Poy- 
 thress, together with other gentlemen whom the 
 news of their noble guest's arrival had attracted 
 to the spot, was determined that nothing should 
 lack in the proof of Virginian hospitality ; and, 
 accordingly. Lord Avenel was soon made a 
 centre of cordial attentions. To the further 
 surprise of his relatives, he even went so far, 
 when the next dance was announced, as to ac- 
 cede to the proposition of a master of cere- 
 monies, that he should take the floor. 
 
 Madam Poythress, standing at his elbow, 
 rather welcomed this opportunity of displaying 
 a partner who, although a damaged specimen, 
 was yet an undeniable Earl ; and with a little 
 flutter was preparing to step out upon the floor, 
 when Lord Avenel, passing her by, presented 
 his fingers to Betty with the request that she 
 would honour him. 
 
 Miss Poythress, with a mocking smile, dis- 
 closed only to Flower, accepted. As Geoffry, 
 to hide his vexation, strolled away. Madam 
 Poythress found herself for a moment tete-a- 
 tete with the partner of her joys. 
 
 " Look here, Bess," said the Colonel. 
 cc Here's news for you, Lord Dunmore has 
 just been telling me. Our cousin, Avenel, 
 that you remember had always a mooning 
 way of admiring Betty when you were there, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 127 
 
 now that he is a widower, is come out as 
 her suitor ! My Lord says he hath already 
 answered a letter of enquiry from Avenel 
 about her being disengaged; and the fellow 
 has actually crossed the sea to try for her ! 
 That stockfish win our beauty ! Think of 
 it! If I was inclined at first to knock Avenel 
 down for his presumption, I soon made my- 
 self easy, remembering the girl's own knack at 
 getting rid of pretenders she doesn't fancy. And 
 after all, blood is thicker than water, and we 
 must be civil and have Avenel at Vue de 1'Eau. 
 So don't let this cloud your pretty face, dear. 
 What presumption ! the fellow's just my age." 
 " No one could think you old, husband," 
 said the lady, suavely. 
 
 " Well, perhaps not ; but his impudence ! " 
 "An Earl doesn't consider it impudence to 
 offer to make a commoner his Countess." 
 " Why, Bess, what has got into you ? " 
 " Nothing, nothing, dear. There is my 
 Lady Dunmore sitting. Take me over to 
 have a chat with her. What a beautiful Ball 
 it is, and how well everything has gone ! And 
 when you have left me, Hugh, go and look 
 after May. The child has danced from the 
 beginning until now." 
 
 "Very well. But, Bess another thing. 
 Flower, too, is in the lists for Betty. I don't 
 know how it strikes you, but he's the dearest 
 lad I ever saw, and has taken me by storm." 
 
128 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " I have heard you say so/' answered his 
 wife, with reserve. 
 
 " That prim mouth doesn't promise well 
 for Flower's cause, I fear. But never mind. 
 What I should like, would be to stand in a 
 row all of the rascals who want our Betty, 
 and shoot 'em. But Flower Flower's far 
 and away the best she's got, excepting poor 
 dear Rolfe, and he doesn't count." 
 
 " No, Rolfe doesn't count. Do, pray, hus- 
 band, let us give over this Darby and Joan 
 business of chatting together at a Ball. * What- 
 ever will people think ? " 
 
 "That I have the prettiest partner in the 
 room," exclaimed the gallant Colonel, present- 
 ing her his arm. 
 
 " Who, Rolfe, is that dreadful-looking man 
 Betty is dancing with ? " asked May, in turn, 
 now pirouetting with her cousin. 
 
 They had had lessons together under a 
 " Terpsichorean professor" at Vue de 1'Eau 
 and in Williamsburg, and had done their 
 coupees, bourees, fleurets, bounds, and riga- 
 doons in concert, many a time before. May, 
 who felt as if she were treading upon air, 
 resented even the stop between dances for the 
 musicians to take breath. 
 
 "That? I don't know. He repels me, 
 somehow. But here they come our way, 
 May, and Betty wishes to speak to you." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 129 
 
 Betty introduced to the Earl, first, May, 
 who gave him indifferent finger-tips, then, 
 "our cousin, Mr. Poythress," to "our cousin, 
 the Earl of Avenel." 
 
 " Bah ! He has clammy hands," said May, 
 when she and Rolfe again pranced into the set. 
 " And a masked eye, and a weary look. Poor 
 Betty, to have to dance with him ! I don't 
 think I like Earls, Rolfe. I like Captains 
 better, such as that splendid Geoffry Flower 
 and cousins, too, when they are nice and 
 don't get tired of dancing. Rolfe, 'tis real 
 lace, mamma's second-best Malines, on my 
 tucker; and did you notice my hair is craped 
 high over a cushion like Miss Lee's ? Til 
 tell you a secret a fat old man, who is 
 married, told me I look heavenly, to-night. 
 He is thirty, Rolfe, and don't you think he 
 might be sensible, by now ? " 
 
 " I think he is very sensible," said Rolfe, 
 smiling down on her as they paused. 
 
 " Pshaw ! But I can't scold you, even if 
 you tease I feel so light-hearted. Yester- 
 day, it was all sadness, and black looks, and 
 down hearts and now, everybody has put 
 away trouble. What lovely music ! I wish 
 I could dance always. And your step suits 
 me better than any other. Oh ! No, papa 
 dear, don't, don't, dont! Just a little more. 
 I'm not tired. I'm not hot; I'm only happy. 
 And if you're very good, and let me be 
 
130 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 when I've done with Rolfe, I'll come and 
 dance with you ! " 
 
 Long, long afterwards, Rolfe remembered 
 the scarlet lips and cheeks, the starry eyes, 
 of the little girl whose first Ball led her, prat- 
 tling and dancing across the threshold between 
 peace and war ! 
 
 Three days later, when the blaze of glory 
 from the Ball had hardly died out, its gar- 
 lands were hardly faded, the inhabitants of 
 Williamsburg robed themselves in black, fasted 
 from dawn to sunset, flocked into churches, 
 and abased themselves in penitential prayer 
 before the God of nations, beseeching Him 
 to avert the misery of civil war. In order that 
 this movement might be general throughout 
 the Colony, the Burgesses had sent, at their 
 own expense, expresses to their respective 
 counties requesting that such services be held. 
 From shelves and band-boxes were brought 
 down the mourning robes set aside for funerals. 
 George Mason wrote home to his " dear little 
 family," at Gunston, ordaining that they should 
 observe the fast and attend services in black. 
 Washington records in his diary that on June 
 first he " went to church and fasted all day." 
 And in the autobiography of Jefferson, we find 
 the following : " The people met generally with 
 anxiety & alarm in their countenances, and the 
 
A. Son of the Old Dominion 131 
 
 effect of the day, thro' the whole Colony, was 
 like a shock of electricity, arousing every man 
 and placing him erectly & solidly on his 
 centre." 
 
 To the Governor, and those of his way of 
 thinking, this carrying out by the Burgesses 
 of their original scheme of the day of fast 
 following the Ball, seemed in the highest de- 
 gree audacious and defiant. Lord Dunmore, 
 furiously angry, threw away all pretence of 
 keeping his temper with the insurgents. 
 Whilst he brooded in his Palace over plans 
 to thwart them, the patriots met in conven- 
 tion to appoint their delegates to the General 
 Congress in September. And, lastly, Wash- 
 ington, the cool, dispassionate, long-waiting 
 Washington, seeing that the time had come 
 to declare himself before his fellow-citizens, 
 made at a meeting in Fairfax County the 
 enthusiastic declaration that he stood "ready 
 to raise one thousand men, subsist them at 
 his own expense, and march at their head to 
 the relief of Boston." 
 
 So, henceforth, there was no going back, and 
 could be no halting until the independence of 
 America should be won and made secure ! 
 
VI 
 
 WE leave, now, the tidewater region of old 
 Virginia, favoured alike by climate and 
 immigration ; the safe luxurious homes 
 of solvent landowners ; the series of estates en- 
 tailed upon eldest sons, forming petty principali- 
 ties that Thomas Jefferson was to sweep away 
 and recast into one broad democratic com- 
 munity of more equal fortunes; the manners 
 and customs of aristocratic England ; the life, in 
 short, of people mentioned by that vivacious 
 old reporter the Rev. Hugh Jones, A.M., 
 " Chaplain of the Honourable Assembly and 
 Minister at Jamestown," who, no doubt, had 
 expected to find them hanging to the limbs of 
 trees, by tails, but described them as " hand- 
 some, well-dressed, compleat gentlemen, that 
 live in the same neat manner, dress after the 
 same modes, and behave themselves exactly 
 as the gentry in London ! " 
 
 In sharp contrast were the existence and sur- 
 roundings of those settlers who had chosen to 
 make their homes in the country traversed by 
 the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains. 
 Many a young fellow, shouldering axe and rifle 
 
 13* 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 133 
 
 and tomahawk, had crossed the sapphire hills 
 into the primeval woods beyond, and annexed 
 the land he fancied, by the simple process of 
 asserting " tomahawk rights," i.e. blazing a few 
 trees with his Indian weapon and marking them 
 with his initials. Then, a clearing made, and a 
 cabin built of the logs he had felled, he went 
 back and returned with -his bride sitting upon 
 a pack-horse loaded with scantiest household 
 necessaries. If it so happened that the toma- 
 hawk rights were disputed by other claimants, 
 the difficulty was adjusted by a fair fight with 
 fists ; or the invaders were put to rout by stout 
 rods of hickory applied by lusty arms. The 
 Land Office and questions of title were left for 
 the future. 
 
 The food of these Colonial pioneers consisted 
 of venison, bear and elk-meat, wild turkey and 
 a variety of smaller game ; of other than a flesh 
 diet they had little but corn-meal mush and 
 balm tea. When the Indian meal, carried on 
 horseback across the toilsome trail, was ex- 
 hausted, they had to wait till the corn they 
 had planted should bear, ripen, and be broken 
 between stones for use, or rasped on the rude 
 grater that preluded the mortar and pestle or 
 the " sweep," a more advanced method of con- 
 verting grain into meal. One can picture the 
 eager exiles waiting for their roasting-ears to 
 fill, and for the shoots of their vegetables to 
 pierce the soil ! Not the lover of Picciola, 
 
134 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 hanging breathless over the progress of his 
 prison-plant, could have put into it more devo- 
 tion ! When salt gave out, they did without it. 
 For clothing, they spun and wove their own 
 flax and their wool into linsey ; and if the flax- 
 crop failed, or wolves carried off the sheep, 
 buckskin and doeskin furnished substitutes for 
 cloth. The women cut and sewed hunting- 
 shirts, trousers, and leggins, and the men 
 contrived shoes, moccasins, or "shoepacks," the 
 most primitive style of foot covering, out of 
 leather tanned by themselves. 
 
 But the air was pure, the climate invigorat- 
 ing. With years, with the gathering of neigh- 
 bourhoods, with success in crops when the cabins 
 had put on a look of thrifty comfort, and the 
 children born in the wilderness were trotting in 
 and out the doors, means and appliances in- 
 creased among the settlers. Water-mills were 
 built, the bolting cloth for sifting flour sup- 
 plied by parchments of deerskin stretched 
 over hoops and perforated with red-hot wires. 
 Ploughs, harrows, sleds, barrels, and tubs were 
 creditably fashioned ; cows, pigs, horses, barns, 
 hayricks, corn-bins, were accumulated ; to some, 
 the rewards of a farmer's life fell almost abun- 
 dantly. But there was one cloud always hovering 
 on the horizon ; always threatening to increase, 
 and never entirely disappearing. The women 
 with babies in arms, took the thought of it to 
 bed with them at night, and worked under it 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 135 
 
 all day while their husbands were absent in the 
 field or at the chase ; the terror beyond all ter- 
 rors that of attack by Indians. 
 
 From the beginning, the wars between the 
 aborigines and the pioneers had been bitter, 
 brutal, unrelenting ; the pages of Kercheval, 
 Doddridge, Withers, and other border histo- 
 rians are black with horrors committed on both 
 sides in the strife. For the white man who 
 had to avenge torture worse than death inflicted 
 upon whole families of captured Colonists ; who 
 had continually before him the trail of fire, the 
 funeral pile, the burning splinters, the gauntlet, 
 and that, not for himself only, but for his 
 wife and children, should he, not his enemy suc- 
 cumb fought accordingly. Sleep broken by 
 a war-whoop a torch put to his home a 
 household, dragged shuddering into the dark- 
 ness of the forest, from whom the mercy of the 
 tomahawk was withheld, such images did not 
 inspire forbearance in the man haunted by 
 them, when there came to him a chance of rid- 
 ding the world of an Indian ! 
 
 After the close of the French-Indian war, 
 there had been an interval of peace between the 
 races ; and the settlers of the beautiful western 
 Virginia valleys, and beyond the Alleghanies in 
 the direction of the Ohio, had begun to breathe 
 freer of their nightmare. But in April, 1774, 
 occurred at Yellow Creek, on the Ohio River, 
 an affray, the subject of fierce controversy in 
 
136 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Southern Colonial history, and generally ac- 
 knowledged to have been the immediate cause 
 of "Lord Dunmore's war." A party of Big 
 Knives (Virginians), smarting under a wrong 
 done to their traders, had attacked and cruelly 
 butchered the family of Logan, a renowned 
 chief of the Mingoes, who had hitherto shown 
 to the white men only the noblest side of the 
 savage character. The first result of this dis- 
 astrous action had been a reprisal from the 
 exasperated Mingoes upon the person of a 
 traveller named Jones, who, captured with his 
 party near the town of the Mingo captain, 
 White Eyes, was hacked to pieces and distrib- 
 uted upon the bushes in the vicinity, as a warn- 
 ing to his kind. From that moment, the dread 
 "Scalp Halloo" began to resound again in the 
 forests of the western boundary. War-parties, 
 sallying from the Indian towns, did their worst 
 with hunters and wayfarers, then proceeded to 
 make expeditions to harry the peaceful settlers 
 in their homes. Again were men at the plough 
 snatched away to torture or imprisonment, 
 leaving hapless families to the mercy of their 
 foes; again were women and children fortu- 
 nate enough to be forewarned sent hastily 
 into the shelter of the stockaded forts built at 
 intervals along the border ; again fire and the 
 tomahawk ruled supreme in Indian camps, and 
 from their tent poles fluttered fringes of gory 
 scalps. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 137 
 
 At this crisis, one of the scouting parties, 
 sent forward by government, was traversing a 
 lonely wilderness. 'Since daybreak, they had 
 struggled through underbrush in search of a 
 lost trail ; the summer sun was high in the 
 heavens when their captain came crashing back 
 to the spot where the party had been making 
 a half-hearted bivouac for it was forty-eight 
 hours since they last tasted food with the 
 announcement that he had at length struck the 
 settler's path leading to their destination, a 
 house in a valley where they might eat and 
 drink and rest before going further on their 
 way. 
 
 They were a band of five volunteers under 
 Rolfe Poythress ; all older than he, mostly 
 neighbours, known and trusted since his child- 
 hood, and at present occupied in cutting strips 
 from a deerskin upon which to chew as they 
 resumed the march. The glorious news of 
 shelter and refreshment within reach put into 
 them fresh strength, and joyfully they rose to 
 their feet. 
 
 " I allus said you wus a heap sight better' n 
 a hound, Cap'n," observed a tall young moun- 
 taineer named Adams, who had grown up with 
 Rolfe. 
 
 Rolfe did not waste words in answer and, 
 breaking camp, the men strode after him, 
 emerging soon upon a plateau whence they 
 could plainly see the narrow zig-zag of a path 
 
138 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 leading, at some distance farther on, down from 
 the ledge to a fertile valley nestling between 
 protecting walls of rock. It was a grand view 
 that burst upon them at this exit from the 
 woods. Far as the eye could reach, there 
 were woods clothing heights, mountains beyond 
 mountains a sea of ridges, growing bluer as 
 they receded from the eye, forty or fifty miles 
 away, till blent with the azure of the sky. 
 Down in the rich verdure of the valley ran the 
 gleaming thread of a little river, at which Rolfe, 
 pausing, looked approvingly. 
 
 " I fished there, last year," he said, " and I 
 thought I couldn't mistake about this trail. A 
 little farther along the ledge there's an easy 
 drop from the rocks into the bushes and 'twill 
 be a short cut to reach the path. I remember 
 'twas at that spot I first espied Robertson's, or, 
 at least, the smoke from his chimney curling 
 above the trees." 
 
 "'Twill be a welcome sight, Cap'n," said 
 Adams, " for men that have not had the luck 
 to kill a turkey, or so much as a snake since 
 day before yesterday. I reckon we can't go 
 much further on a diet o' sassafras leaves and 
 buck leather." 
 
 Pushing ahead, a ten-minutes walk brought 
 them to the point indicated by their leader. 
 While the men, with the glee of school-boys, 
 prepared to let themselves down from the rocky 
 bastion, Rolfe, who had been searching the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 139 
 
 valley with his gaze, stopped them with a gest- 
 ure. He wanted to make sure before he spoke. 
 
 " Robertson's house is there was there ! " 
 he said hoarsely, a shade of pallour coming 
 under the bronze of his cheek. " As you see, 
 there is smoke, but not from a chimney." 
 
 Involuntarily the men stiffened and drew 
 together. At that moment, a cock crew in the 
 clearing toward which all eyes were strained. 
 This homely note was followed by the bleating 
 of a calf. 
 
 " Come on. We may not be too late," 
 said Rolfe, briefly. 
 
 Forgetful of hunger and fatigue, the scouts, 
 falling one by one into the jungle of moun- 
 tain laurel beneath them, picked their way 
 without noise along the slope and to the path. 
 Not a sound broke the stillness of the scene, 
 but the repeated bleating of the calf. Crossing 
 the river upon the stones strewing its bed, they 
 passed through a bit of half-cleared woods, into 
 a rocky pasture where a couple of sheep were 
 grazing, and there stopped appalled. 
 
 There was no room to doubt the fate of the 
 house and family of Robertson. All that re- 
 mained was a heap of smouldering ashes and 
 charred floor beams, under a grove of burnt or 
 smoke-blackened pines. On either side of 
 what had been the doorway, stakes stuck into 
 the ground bore that which is best left unde- 
 scribed. 
 
140 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Rolfe, to whom the simple, kindly owners 
 of the place had given welcome the year before, 
 examined the premises with black fury in his 
 heart. Stooping over the door-stone, he lifted 
 from it an Indian war-club, to which was se- 
 cured, by plaited horsehair, a letter, written, to 
 his surprise, in a fair English hand. 
 
 "As I supposed a c War Message/ " he 
 said, glancing at the sheet ; then read it aloud, 
 as follows : 
 
 " CAPTAIN CRESAP : 
 
 " What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek, 
 for ? The white people killed my kin on Conestoga 
 a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. 
 But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek and 
 took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must 
 kill, too, and I have been three times to war, since; 
 but the Indians are not angry only myself. 
 
 "CAPTAIN JOHN LOGAN." 
 
 " Logan ! It is Logan, then, who is on 
 the war-path," exclaimed the young captain. 
 " Good God ! What have those men to 
 answer for, who fired the shots at Yellow 
 Creek?" 
 
 While his scouts, who, ransacking the ruins 
 of a hen-house, had unearthed some fowls 
 caught in the flames and cooked in their 
 feathers, fell eagerly upon this food, Rolfe, 
 after swallowing a few mouthfuls, and quench- 
 ing his thirst at the river, thought over the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 141 
 
 grave situation. His plain duty was, at once, 
 to carry Logan's message and token to the 
 county lieutenant at Fincastle, many miles 
 away ; and to ask for soldiers to guard those 
 parts of this unhappy country not already 
 fallen a victim to the Indians on the war-path. 
 But his thoughts had flown to a little seques- 
 tered cabin in the woods, out of the line the 
 savages would be likely to take another 
 stopping-place of his expedition of the year 
 before. In that humble abode dwelt a widow, 
 sore bestead to wring sustenance from the soil, 
 with her two daughters, and a son of fourteen, 
 a manly lad who had acted as Rolfe's guide. 
 Common humanity called upon him to go to 
 look after them and, if possible, convey them 
 to a fort for refuge. To Adams, therefore, 
 the stalwart and trusty mountaineer, who could 
 go at a dog's trot all day, and, hardly feel 
 fatigue ; who knew the secrets of the wilder- 
 ness almost as well as Rolfe did ; who, upon 
 reaching a horse and a country-road, would 
 ride until he dropped, before slacking speed in 
 the delivery of the message, was entrusted 
 Logan's club and letter ; and Adams, accord- 
 ingly, set off on the return. Then the five 
 who were left to follow up the war-trail, made 
 speed to take a by-path known to Rolfe, con- 
 necting Robertson's farm with that of the 
 Widow Baker. 
 
 A few miles of easy going brought them to 
 
142 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the clearing, before entering which Rolfe, keep- 
 ing back his men, went ahead to reconnoitre. 
 Alas ! an ominous hush brooded around the 
 spot ! In a green ring of turf, trampled and 
 blackened, another pile of ashes was sending up 
 dull puffs of smoke. There was one difference. 
 In this case, there was no horrid spectacle such 
 as had sickened them in the other. Nothing 
 was to be seen of any human being. 
 
 "The devils have carried them away/ 1 re- 
 marked the Captain, after a brief, dreadful 
 silence. The shock of this disappointment 
 quite took the nerve out of him ; and, throw- 
 ing himself exhausted on the ground, he pon- 
 dered over the course it was now best for him 
 to take. To push further with four men 
 toward the Indian country, seemed madness; 
 and yet, if there were a chance to rescue these 
 unfortunates, where was the man among them 
 who would hold back ? 
 
 While their captain thought it out, the men 
 were busy exploring the poor remains of the 
 widow's habitation with the hope of finding 
 food. Rewarded by the joyful discovery of a 
 bag of dried corn, and a few hens' eggs, with 
 some young potatoes from the field, their 
 spirits rose magically. With no great effort, 
 a fire was kindled, the scouts laughing and 
 joking over their camp cookery, as if the trag- 
 edy of the place had never been. Rolfe, only, 
 although he ate with them, was a prey to gloom. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 143 
 
 He had but just resolved to go on, cost what 
 it might, when a movement in the underwood 
 at the edge of the clearing attracted him. 
 Rifle to shoulder he was about to fire, but 
 was stopped by a pitiful cry for mercy ; and a 
 figure, tattered with briars, bleeding, soiled yet 
 still recognisable as a white boy, staggered out 
 of the thicket, ran toward them, and fell sense- 
 less at their feet. 
 
 Rolfe, who had recognised the widow's son, 
 succeeded in restoring him to consciousness ; 
 and when the lad could tell his wretched tale, 
 the men listened to it in swelling wrath and 
 pity. Young Baker had been hoeing in the 
 potato patch, the day before, when the Indians 
 fell upon their house like a lightning flash in a 
 clear sky. He had not been able to reach his 
 mother and two sisters, who were seized, bound, 
 and carried away, the stock driven before them, 
 the house and buildings fired ; and then the 
 lad, who expected to be tomahawked upon the 
 spot, was loaded down with a Dutch oven be- 
 longing to his mother, which his captor, a young 
 brave, ordered him to carry, although he could 
 hardly stagger beneath its weight. In this way, 
 they had walked for a long time, and, at the 
 first camp, Baker had pleaded in vain for leave 
 to rejoin his mother and sisters. The Indians, 
 giving him to understand that he would never 
 see them again, had, after eating, settled them- 
 selves to look on, while they made the lad 
 
144 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 collect wood and dead leaves to lay in a circle 
 round a tree. Baker, who like other Valley 
 boys, had heard of the torture this preluded, 
 again gave himself up for lost. But as his 
 captors were beginning to lash him with a loose 
 thong to the tree, intending to make him 
 run, back and forth, around it in a circle of 
 fire until he should drop dead, they were in- 
 terrupted by the arrival of a great chief, who 
 declared the boy was his. This chief proved 
 to be none other than the famous Logan, 
 known to have previously saved in the same 
 way a white man named Robinson, around 
 whose waist he had tied a belt of wampum, in 
 token that the prisoner was not to be harmed. 
 Upon Logan's interposition, Baker had been 
 put in charge of an old squaw, who tied up 
 his wounds and cuts with a healing salve, gave 
 him to eat and drink, and put him, still bound, 
 to sleep in her tent. In the night, Baker had 
 received a visit from Robinson, Logan's adopted 
 " cousin," who told him it was he whom Logan 
 had directed to write the letter attached to the 
 war-club, and that it was done with an ink made 
 of gunpowder, under Logan's dictation, who 
 informed Robinson it was to " be left in some 
 house" where he would "kill." Robinson 
 then advised Baker that although Logan was 
 of a high and noble temper, he had been often 
 inflamed by drink since the recent cruel mur- 
 ders of his kin, was moody, fitful, and could 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 145 
 
 not be relied upon always to stand Baker's 
 friend. So Robinson loosed Baker's cords, 
 gave him a tomahawk, and left him ; and the 
 boy, rallying all his courage, killed the sleep- 
 ing Indian who lay outside his tent, and ran 
 away. 
 
 The little fellow had but reached this point 
 of his woeful story, when a whoop came from 
 the underbrush, rifles cracked, and the lad fell 
 dead across Rolfe's knees. Two Indians, who 
 had tracked the runaway to his home, seeing 
 him under armed protection, had taken this 
 method to relieve their disappointment. As 
 their mahogany forms withdrew into the dense 
 woods, Rolfe, who had escaped as by a miracle 
 the bullet meant for him, started in pursuit. 
 But the Indians outran them, and were soon 
 beyond a present overhauling. 
 
 "It shall go hard with me, though," said 
 the Captain, setting his teeth grimly, "if be- 
 fore to-morrow, I do not make somebody pay 
 the price of that dead boy's wrongs." 
 
 His men were of one mind with him. After 
 this, there was no returning without a taste of 
 Indian blood. So, leaving the corpse across 
 the doorstep of his ruined home, they kept on 
 the march all night. Toward morning, they 
 espied what seemed to be a small encamp- 
 ment in the woods and, hardly trusting them- 
 selves to breathe, awaited daybreak to ascertain 
 the number of the foe. 
 
146 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 With the first pink of dawn, the Indians 
 stirred, stretched themselves, arose, and stood 
 around their fire. A dozen of them, Rolfe 
 counted from his ambuscade. Then, uttering 
 a cry, wild as the "Ahoi ! " of the Viking, he 
 opened fire. A hail of rifle-balls tattered the 
 young green of intervening leaves. Five Ind- 
 ians one a woman fell dead, the remainder, 
 surprised with empty guns, which they left 
 upon the ground, flying like the wind. 
 
 Such food as had awaited the Indians for 
 their morning meal fell to the share of their 
 victors, and put fresh life into the weary 
 rangers. The finding of the Dutch oven in 
 the bushes by the camp left no doubt that 
 this was the band they sought ; and, presently 
 they came upon the body of the brave slain 
 by Baker, lying in a sort of state, preparatory 
 to removal. 
 
 " So much for little Baker's score," said the 
 Captain, drawing a breath of relief. But he 
 could not rid himself of the thought of the 
 hapless women. The fancy of Betty and May 
 in such predicament crept into his brain and 
 haunted it. If there were but one chance in 
 a hundred of rescuing the poor souls, he would 
 not hold back from attempting it. And again 
 the scouts agreed with him. 
 
 They spent the day at rest in a secluded 
 thicket, sleeping and watching by turns. Dried 
 venison from the Indian camp they had 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 147 
 
 brought away in abundance for another hearty 
 meal. That night, also, was passed in creeping, 
 listening, holding their breath at the crackle of 
 a twig. 
 
 At last, at daybreak, their stealthy progress 
 was rewarded by the flicker of a distant camp- 
 fire. Rolfe, his heart thumping his ribs with 
 excitement, strained his gaze to ascertain the 
 size of the force; and, leaving the others with 
 loaded rifles pointed toward the camp, he 
 skirted it cautiously in the rear. As the faint 
 light grew brighter in the wood, he saw dis- 
 tinctly that the Indians, how many he knew 
 not, were asleep. Presently an old woman 
 who had been putting fuel on the fire stepped 
 back into a rude shelter made of blankets, and 
 called some one within to come to her assist- 
 ance. A girl with loose yellow hair, moving 
 like a sleep-walker, emerged from the tent, in 
 whose pallid face Rolfe recognised Peggy 
 Baker ; and, putting an iron pot into her 
 hands, the squaw directed her to go to the 
 water-side and fill it. 
 
 The girl obeying mechanically, Rolfe watched 
 her go down a path concealed by bushes, to the 
 stream; improving his opportunity, he followed 
 and, seizing her in his arms, besought her to 
 make no sound, if she would not sacrifice them 
 both. Then, carrying her back by the way 
 he had come, he rejoined his men, and they at 
 once began the retreat. 
 
148 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 There was not a minute to be lost, since at 
 the first alarm of the girl's absence, a search 
 would be made for her. Picking their way 
 with practised feet over scattered rocks, and 
 bog and briar, half-dragging, half-carrying the 
 girl between them, they ascertained from her 
 that the Indians had found out the killing of 
 their men the day before, and, in consequence, 
 were to-day to attack a settlement of farmer- 
 folk some miles further up the valley. A 
 question as to the whereabouts of her mother 
 and sister brought Rolfe a ghastly answer. 
 This one had been spared, because of her 
 youth and vigour, to be a servant to the 
 squaws. 
 
 With these facts in mind, the young Cap- 
 tain realised that his chances of escape with 
 the rescued prisoner were very, very slight. 
 Peggy Baker, who had now recovered from 
 the shock of her friendly abduction, begged 
 to be allowed to march beside them, and 
 proved herself to be as plucky as she was 
 patient. As their course on the retreat ran 
 parallel with the river, here widened between 
 steep banks, and swollen with recent heavy 
 rains, there was no hope of escaping pursuit ; 
 and, before long, they knew the Indians were 
 upon their trail. 
 
 When the sound of the battle yell drew 
 nearer, Rolfe braced himself for action. Giv- 
 ing the girl a weapon, and bidding her fly for 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 149 
 
 her life in the direction of her home, he put 
 his men into ambuscade behind a mass of 
 brushwood and fallen trees. 
 
 cc Swift death, an honest bullet in the brain, 
 who fears them ? " he said, as the horrid band 
 approached. a 'Tis the stake, boys, the burn- 
 ing splinters, we have got to fight, so fire ! " 
 
 Two ^ of Rolfe's men fell in the ensuing 
 skirmish ; but owing to their protected situa- 
 tion, not until after the scouts had strewn the 
 forest carpet with dead braves. A party of 
 Indians coming around to the rear dislodged 
 them and, with foes on both sides, the Vir- 
 ginians at last gave up the fight and fled, two 
 of the survivors escaping in the woods. Rolfe, 
 the daring leader, who had worked such havoc 
 in the Indian ranks, the especial object of their 
 wrath, was cut off and driven before a whirl- 
 wind of savage runners. On the river's bank, 
 near the steep verge of the stream, here a boil- 
 ing torrent, the Mingoes, now certain of their 
 prey, threw down their guns, and moved up 
 to close in a ring around him, flourishing their 
 tomahawks. But Rolfe, casting a glance at 
 the chasm, exceeding twenty feet in breadth, 
 gathered his full strength, and, suddenly run- 
 ning to the edge of the bluff, with the activity 
 of a panther leaped out of their grasp. When 
 the Indians, crowding to the cliff, looked down, 
 expecting to see their enemy struggling helpless 
 in the flood, they beheld him, instead, landed 
 
150 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 safely upon his feet upon the lower shore, 
 opposite, where, quick as light, he turned to 
 confront them with his rifle. 
 
 At no moment had Rolfe considered his 
 peril greater than at this. But while the sav- 
 ages made haste to pick up their own guns, a 
 chief of lofty figure who had been foremost in 
 the pursuit, stood on the edge of the chasm, 
 and waved them back, calling out to Rolfe in 
 English : 
 
 " Good jump ! Captain make good jump ! " 
 
 Rolfe lowered his rifle, in astonishment. 
 Although he had never laid eyes upon the 
 son of Shikellemus, who had so long been in 
 the confidence of the government and of the 
 Six Nations, as an arbitrator of disputes, he 
 could not doubt this stately being was the 
 famous Logan. 
 
 "You go this time safe, Captain," resumed 
 the chief. "You track me, you kill my men, 
 you steal my prisoner, but in fair fight. You 
 fought well ; you jumped like a deer, and you 
 are fit to be a brave ; so I let you go. But 
 tell your people that I have not done killing, 
 yet. If I believed in them I would not kill, 
 but I believe no more. The next time I get 
 you while I am killing, you do not go free." 
 
 So saying, the Indian turned and stalked 
 away, followed by his band. In the deep for- 
 est, Rolfe heard presently arising the death 
 chant over the bodies of their slain. 
 
VII 
 
 THE portion of the great woods in which 
 Rolfe now found himself isolated was, 
 on his side of the river, almost untrod- 
 den by the foot of man ; but, inured to soli- 
 tude in nature, to nights and days at large, to 
 finding his way by guidance of the sun and 
 stars, this did not serve to depress him. His 
 hope that poor Peggy Baker and his two 
 surviving comrades had escaped unhurt, the 
 possibility that the Indians were now moving 
 in an opposite direction from the fugitives, 
 and a determination to cross the stream again 
 and return to the settlements as soon as he 
 should think the attempt safe, relaxed for a 
 time the tense strain of his nerves. That he 
 should, meantime, be counted by his friends 
 the victim of a miserable death, was a fore- 
 gone conclusion. But Rolfe could afford to 
 be cheerful about that! 
 
 Presently, for the first time, he became con- 
 scious of a wound in the hip and a twist in 
 the ankle, these bars to progress making him 
 feel very grave. He limped for a while, 
 paused, limped more painfully, and then sat 
 
152 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 down on a bank of moss, covering the roots 
 of a great pine tree that hung its branches 
 over the river's brink. Quenching his thirst 
 by crawling down to scoop water with his 
 hand, he returned, yielded to the invitation of 
 the verdant couch beneath, and sank into its 
 deep elastic mattress. Here subtle sleep over- 
 took him, and tried to blot out all cares from 
 his brain ; but fever, interposing, sent new im- 
 ages and fancies trooping through it. Amid 
 the scenes of black tragedy that haunted him, 
 his dreams were filled with his Cousin Betty. 
 Betty mocking, Betty smiling, enticing in her 
 ripe young beauty, then evading him as he 
 drew near. In the murmur of the stream, he 
 caught his name spoken by her; in the wind 
 passing through the pines, her sigh over his 
 misfortunes. Opening his eyes, he expected 
 to find her at his side, her cool hand resting 
 on his head ; then, disappointed, fell asleep 
 again ; and lo ! it was not Betty after all, who 
 sat by and soothed him, but loving little May. 
 <c May ! May ! You won't forsake me, 
 dear ? " he pleaded, in the despair of tortured 
 dreams ; then started, broad awake, to hear 
 only the voice of the wilderness at night. It 
 was clear, and the stars shone through the can- 
 opy of leaves. He felt sore, stiff, confused, 
 but still master of himself. Again he crawled 
 down to drink, and returned to lie on his back, 
 staring upward, and wondering if this were to 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 153 
 
 be the end of his bright hopes and strong 
 ambition for a soldier's life. To die, starving, 
 in the trackless woods where it might be years 
 before a wayfarer would find his bones, if ever. 
 Better to have fallen in the skirmish yester- 
 day, with the Indians, bullets singing around 
 his ears ! 
 
 Then his thoughts played with the effect of 
 his loss upon individuals. His mother, stern, 
 cold, unselfish in her devotion, might mourn, 
 but no one would see her tears. His uncles 
 were too much like her to give token of any 
 grief. His cousins, far away at happy, shel- 
 tered Vue de 1'Eau, the generous Colonel, kind 
 if hasty Cousin Bess, the household, the stable- 
 men, all would remember him in sorrow, and 
 speak gently of his presence in their home. 
 His General would say he had done well. 
 That was something, that was much ; Rolfe 
 could even die for that, he thought, turning 
 laboriously on his bed, with an impulse of sol- 
 dier's pride swelling in his stout young heart. 
 But Betty that pricked him sorely ! Betty ! 
 Flower would get her, Rolfe had not a doubt. 
 Flower was worthy of her a gentleman a 
 soldier with a place in the world fit to offer 
 the peerless Rose of the Potomac, as he had 
 heard her called. Ah! well. It was little to 
 Rolfe now. Provided Flower made Betty 
 happy, it was little to a man so near to the 
 last gasp. 
 
154 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Again his fancy took up little May. True- 
 hearted, merry, imperious, tender little May. 
 What a wife she would make for somebody, 
 one day ! What a comrade to fight life's battles 
 with. Rolfe hoped his mother would remem- 
 ber to send to May the parcel of choice skins 
 he had cured and had set aside for her on a 
 cupboard shelf in the Lodge, the third shelf in 
 the left-hand cupboard. Then Rolfe fell asleep 
 again to dream of Logan's majestic figure, 
 standing facing him upon the cliff. 
 
 It was full day when he awakened next. 
 The sun shone brilliantly. He was not dead, 
 nor like to be, could he only get food and 
 drink. Shaking the vapours of fevered sleep 
 out of his brain, he sat up to look around him. 
 Far and near, leaves and branches, boles and 
 undergrowth, a mist of green overspreading 
 them. The river, with its incessant chatter, 
 teased him, but he managed to crawl again to 
 it, and drank and bathed his head. Then 
 espying a bush of young sassafras, he cut it off 
 at the root, and after chewing the glutinous, 
 pleasant-tasting leaves, applied them Indian 
 fashion, as a poultice to his wound. The relief 
 was great; and, while enjoying it, Rolfe me- 
 chanically shaped with his hunting-knife, out 
 of the remainder of the bush, a forked stick, 
 with sharp points, at which achievement he 
 smiled with feeble satisfaction, as a token that 
 he was in ordinary strength. While watching 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 155 
 
 a tribe of great ants travelling in and out of 
 a heap of earth, and trying to forget the pangs 
 of hunger that assailed his stomach, he turned, 
 in answer to a faint rustling sound over the 
 dead leaves, and beheld gliding near him an 
 enormous rattle-snake, unconscious of his 
 presence. 
 
 Rolfe, a master of woodcraft, struck true with 
 the crotch in his hand, pinning the creature to 
 the ground close to its beautiful deadly head. 
 To despatch it after that was a small matter, and 
 was done smiling again. It was not a thing 
 unknown to him to eat roast rattlesnake in 
 camp, and from the waist up, he had still a fair 
 possession of his powers. With flint and steel 
 he kindled a fire, cooked a section of his vic- 
 tim, and consumed it with relish. Twice that 
 day, this operation was accomplished, then his 
 gorge rose in rebellion against repeated rattle- 
 snake. He fell asleep, saying to himself pet- 
 tishly that he would rather starve than touch 
 another morsel of the accursed reptile's flesh. 
 
 Lying awake next morning, striving to 
 make up his mind to return to the loathed 
 diet, he espied, swooping from ether, a great 
 bird that circled and swooped again an eagle 
 in search of prey. 
 
 " He may get me, but not yet/' said Rolfe, 
 preparing for the conflict. 
 
 The huge object, plunging again downward, 
 came on this time like a cloud driven by wind, 
 
156 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 straight to the spot where the wounded ranger 
 lay. Rolfe was ready with his knife, to meet 
 the first element of comedy in his dire predica- 
 ment. The famished eagle taking no notice of 
 him, picked up the remainder of the snake and 
 flew away. At which climax the young man, 
 though a trifle ruefully, laughed aloud. 
 
 All day he lamented his lost provision, and 
 so the long hours wore away, and again fell one 
 of those lovely ethereal nights, in which all the 
 world rejoices save those obliged to lie abroad 
 in them. 
 
 By the following morning, fever had set in in 
 earnest ; and, finding that he had not strength 
 to drag his body to the water's edge, Rolfe 
 resigned himself to die. 
 
 A few rods above what he took to be his 
 final resting-place, the capricious mountain 
 river widened into a still and shallow pool, 
 where a tired horse might stand breast-deep 
 and drink his fill in comfort. Into this crystal 
 reservoir now stepped cautiously, from the 
 more travelled bank of the stream, a sturdy 
 black pony, whose rider, gathered into a gro- 
 tesque bunch upon the saddle, was of doubtful 
 sex and nondescript variety. The man's seat 
 on the horse, the nether garments of worn 
 buckskin, the faded uniform coat, the mascu- 
 line head-piece, the rifle and tomahawk, and 
 butcher's knife in the belt, no less than the 
 tanned face and large muscular hands, would 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 157 
 
 indicate one of creation's lords ; but the rough 
 hair worn in a knot behind, and a short petti- 
 coat like a kilt, of homespun linsey, contra- 
 dicted the first impression. 
 
 This was a character of wide repute among 
 the Virginians of the Valley in that day ; a 
 martial and alarming apparition to those who 
 beheld her for the first time, " Mad Ann," 
 the pony-messenger between the settlements, 
 who could be relied upon to do errands through 
 the wildest tracts of woodland, and was on 
 terms equally good with the Indians and the 
 whites. It was believed although nobody 
 knew for certain that her birthplace had 
 been Liverpool in England, chiefly because she 
 always bestowed that name upon her pony. 
 Those who affected to be best informed con- 
 cerning Ann Bailey averred that she had been 
 the wife of a soldier in one of Braddock's regi- 
 ments, and that, upon his death in the battle 
 where his General was killed, she had gone out 
 into the woods stark mad, reappearing after a 
 long interval of time supposed to have been 
 spent among friendly Indians and taking up 
 her present avocation. Where she lived, no 
 one was bold enough to say, since she repelled 
 curiosity as ardently as, on occasion, she could 
 follow the chase or drink whiskey with the 
 men. But that she was honest and, in her 
 own erratic way, dependable, the authorities of 
 the county had reason to know, as well as the 
 
158 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 farmers between whom she acted as interme- 
 diary and quasi-peddler. Mad Ann was now 
 about forty-five years old, short, stout, and 
 of iron constitution and strength. A moun- 
 taineer who offended her was once boxed from 
 his horse into the road, and it was whispered 
 that her late husband, before leaving England, 
 had been a professor in what was politely styled 
 " the fancy " art of pugilism. 
 
 Across her saddle-bow hung a young deer, 
 a wild turkey, and a pair of partridges. As 
 she sat puffing a corn-cob pipe, the fumes of 
 the tobacco, drifting to Rolfe's nostrils, stirred 
 him to notice when he had ceased to take 
 heed of sound. The movement, slight as it 
 was, caught her keen ear, and, through a tuft 
 of intervening bracken on the bank, she was 
 about to fire at him ; but second thoughts 
 prompted her rather to urge forward a step 
 or two the obstinate Liverpool, who, serene in 
 his aqueous encompassment, declined at first 
 to budge. Rolfe groaned, and, at sight of 
 him lying there alone, Ann eased herself of 
 that rarity upon her lips a pious exclamation. 
 
 "The Lord deliver us! 'Tis young Master 
 Poythress that I thought burned at the stake 
 by Logan's braves." 
 
 Drawing Liverpool into the bank nearer 
 Rolfe, she dismounted with agility, and was 
 soon supporting the young man in her stout 
 arms, giving him water with whiskey from her 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 I S9 
 
 canteen, and, following that, a supply of milk 
 from a goat's-hair pouch hanging amid the 
 well-filled larder at her saddle-bow. After 
 Rolfe had made out to give her the barest 
 outline of his escape, he was dropping off 
 again in a fevered doze, when Ann, to arouse 
 him, cried : 
 
 " You don't want to ask me nothing about 
 the gal Baker, then, nor your men that got 
 away ? " 
 
 " Peggy Baker ! She is safe ? Thank 
 God ! " exclaimed Rolfe, starting into con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 " If you'll help yourself to help me to get 
 you, instead o' the deer, afore me on that tar- 
 nation Liverpool, I'll tell you the good news," 
 said the woman ; and, thus urged, Rolfe made 
 an effort causing him to feel as if stretched 
 upon a rack ; an effort, that successful though 
 it was, sent him straight into Death's ante- 
 chamber a deep swoon. 
 
 While incidents like these were daily occur- 
 ring along the line of the frontier, to usher in 
 the greater events of the Indian campaign to 
 follow, my Lord Dunmore at Williamsburg 
 was preparing to take the field against the con- 
 federated chiefs of the savages beyond the 
 Ohio. Under the spur of his Council, the 
 Governor had been " prevailed upon to try 
 another Assembly " ; but the " inflammable 
 
160 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 patriots " had not failed to meet in conven- 
 tion, as proposed, and to appoint delegates 
 for a Congress in Philadelphia in September. 
 These and the Indian troubles had so wrought 
 up the angry ruler, that he took no pains to 
 conceal his wrath. The Colony everywhere 
 was in a turmoil of revolt ; in the lowlands 
 against the British Ministry ; in the highlands 
 against the incursions of the red Terror along 
 their borders. Cavillers in plenty there were, 
 to say that my Lord meant, not help, but 
 mischief to Virginians, by his expedition north- 
 ward ; that he had conceived the devilish idea 
 of avenging his annoyances at their hands, by 
 secretly fomenting the war spirit of the braves, 
 already aroused by his emissaries ; and that by 
 this method he hoped to divert the growth of 
 rebellion against the mother-country. But 
 these are questions for grave historians to 
 decide. 
 
 Among the men to whom the summons to 
 military action came as something of a relief, 
 was Captain Geoffry Flower. Time had not 
 healed the smart of Cupid's arrow in his 
 breast, nor had it greatly advanced his hopes 
 of winning his beloved. He had said adieu 
 to Miss Betty when that young lady had 
 started on the return with her mamma and 
 sister from Williamsburg to Vue de 1'Eau, 
 leaving Colonel Poythress on duty in the 
 Council. There had been no visible excuse 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 161 
 
 for forsaking his staff duty and riding back 
 with the ladies, as he had come. Even Colonel 
 Poythress, who, clapping him on the shoulder, 
 had said his room would be always ready, the 
 gate on the latch for him, at Vue de 1'Eau, had 
 not seemed to expect an immediate repetition 
 of Geoffry's visit ! 
 
 Unfortunately, except in the case of an ac- 
 cepted suitor, when sweet pain is stilled by 
 certainty, opportunity to bask in the fair one's 
 presence does not always come at a young 
 man's call. And Geoffry did not yet feel 
 that he dared step forward boldly as a suitor. 
 Betty had passed into the stage of blowing hot 
 and cold upon his passion ; and whether this 
 meant coquetry, or a tender desire to save him 
 pain, or both, or neither, he was too thor- 
 oughly wrought up by her, to tell. One thing 
 had been evident : that Betty's mamma, after 
 wavering for a while for and against encourag- 
 ing him, had, before they parted, showed 
 Geoffry frankly that she would welcome him 
 again only as an agreeable, rather detrimental 
 relative; the kind of young man one is glad 
 to see at dinner, or anywhere except on 
 those occasions in a daughter's life when the 
 mother is forced to feel that three is trump- 
 ery. 
 
 A dreadful suspicion had shot through Cap- 
 tain Flower, that the newly arrived Earl of 
 Avenel was in some way responsible for this. 
 
1 62 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 The Governor, laughing over an after-dinner 
 talk with the staff, had let fall a hint that 
 Avenel would try to pluck the Rose of the 
 Potomac from her stem ; and, although Geoffry 
 could not bring himself to believe that the 
 critical and clear-sighted Betty would ever put 
 up with a homely elderly widower, the sugges- 
 tion had not left him over pleased. 
 
 Then came the call to arms ; in imagina- 
 tion he saw the march, the gathering of troops, 
 red-coats bursting out like poppies over every 
 country-side where they passed ; the banner of 
 St. George courting summer breezes ; drum 
 and fife inviting volunteers to go and rid help- 
 less victims of the scourge that ravaged them. 
 Where is the manly heart that does not throb 
 like Flower's, in answer to such a summons ? 
 He or rather Keys did it for him packed 
 his kit ; and then he sat down to write to his 
 inamorata an honest letter in which he told 
 her he was going out to fight the Indians back 
 from the soil of the Province she had made 
 him love ; that, if he returned safe and sound 
 from the expedition, he would present himself 
 at Vue de 1'Eau to ask their congratulations; 
 and if he fell, she would know that then, and 
 always, he was hers, GeofFry Flower. 
 
 Betty, when she received this epistle at the 
 hands of the tutor, Nimrod Snow (returned 
 from Williamsburg to sail in a Poythress ship 
 for England), blushed, looked scared, blushed 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 163 
 
 again, then ran away with the missive to her 
 bedroom. May, who shared that apartment 
 with her sister (at night, still ensconced, it 
 must be told, in a " trundle bed," pulled out 
 from beneath the carved four-poster, with its 
 tent of snowy dimity, to which Miss Poythress 
 mounted, candlestick in hand, on a flight of 
 carpeted steps), was seized with a fit of wild 
 curiosity. She made the excuse of needing a 
 clean pinafore, after filling hers with cherries 
 in the orchard, and went and rattled at the 
 bolted door. But Betty only poked the apron 
 out, and bade her run away to Mrs. Judith's 
 room, and put it on, and not be a tiresome 
 little thing. Then May took cherries on a 
 cabbage-leaf, and coaxed Betty through the 
 keyhole to come out and eat the luscious 
 blackhearts. A muffled voice answered that 
 Betty did not. wish cherries, and did not think 
 May could condescend to be a horrid spy. 
 Whereat May burst out crying, and Betty flew 
 out at the door and hugged her, and May 
 saw she too had been in tears. But Betty 
 said nothing of the contents of her letter, and, 
 a little later, dressed herself in her prettiest 
 pink calimanco, and sat at the harpsichord 
 singing, for an hour at least, to my Lord of 
 Avenel. 
 
 Now, May, although she still wore pinafores 
 and slept in a trundle-bed, and sometimes 
 amused herself in her old torn-boy fashion, 
 
164 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 had of recent days developed much more 
 womanly feeling and intuition ; her romps and 
 antics were only those stirrings of the spirit, 
 " as though the rose would shut and be a 
 bud again." She had achieved a true friend- 
 ship for blithe and manly Geoffry Flower ; 
 and, in her heart, was busy at match-making 
 between him and Betty, most of her waking 
 hours. She could not help connecting the 
 mysterious letter with Geoffry, and longed to 
 talk of it with some sympathetic soul. 
 
 Pursuing her way through the dining-room, 
 and the still-room where Mrs. Judith, looking 
 pale and ill, was occupied in breaking up a loaf 
 of sugar into cubes for table use, she found her 
 mamma in a flagged courtyard shaded by a 
 large mulberry tree, whose over-ripe purple 
 fruits dropped from time to time upon the 
 stones, to become the spoil of predatory 
 chickens, wandered thither from their rightful 
 quarter. 
 
 Madam Poythress, who, albeit lady chate- 
 laine of a great estate, and owner of many 
 negroes, was not exempt from household cares 
 of the intimate sort practised in her time, wore 
 a sun-bonnet. Madam Poythress sat upon a 
 three-legged stool. Madam Poythress presided 
 over a cauldron beneath which a charcoal fire 
 was burning hot ; she was, in brief, engaged 
 in making raspberry jam. When the pink, 
 sticky mass in her bell-metal kettle sent up a 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 165 
 
 rich bubbling scum, she would remove the 
 same with a silver skimmer, repeating this until 
 her confection was reduced to the exact degree 
 of jamminess desired. As the operation was 
 slow, the lady allowed herself the relaxation of 
 a book. May's coming surprised her in the 
 perusal of a new novel, recently arrived from 
 the other side, which she was reading " to see 
 whether it would do to give to the girls." A 
 conviction that it would not " do," had been 
 forcing itself upon the mind of the chaperon ; 
 a little confused, a little vexed, a little red, she 
 arose hastily, put the book in question upon the 
 stool, dropped down on it and, thus panoplied 
 with a sense of right-doing, confronted her child. 
 
 " Isn't the jam almost made, mamma ? " asked 
 May, suavely. 
 
 " What, child, with all those yet to pre- 
 serve ? " answered Madam Poythress, pointing 
 to the trays of berries just borne into the court- 
 yard upon the turbaned heads of two negro 
 lasses. " How often have I bid you not dis- 
 turb me, May, when I'm engaged about the 
 housekeeping ? " 
 
 " But I am lonesome, mamma ; I want some- 
 body to talk to. With Hughey at school, papa 
 away at the Council, Rolfe, dear knows where, 
 in the Indian country, and Betty " 
 
 <c Well Betty ? " asked Madam Poythress, 
 a satisfied smile playing around the corners of 
 her comely mouth. 
 
1 66 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " I have no patience with her ! " burst out 
 the girl, letting her grievance loose. " I peeped 
 into the drawing-room as I ran past, and 
 she is there still singing singing half the 
 marble-backed book of ditties, I should think 
 and he, the old dullard, nodding in an arm- 
 chair beside the harpsichord. If it were me, I 
 should jump up, and throw all the music-books 
 down with a bang upon the floor, and see him 
 wake, and then laugh and leave him. Why 
 should such an ancient hang around a girl of 
 Betty's age ? Why should she put up with 
 him? Why " 
 
 " Matoaca, you will favour me by holding 
 your tongue about matters you cannot under- 
 stand. If you were older, wiser, less feather- 
 headed, more considerate of your parents' 
 interests, you would understand your sister's 
 reasons for putting herself to the pains of mak- 
 ing our guest at home." 
 
 w But, mamma it can't be as a suitor he 
 is " 
 
 " Matoaca ! " 
 
 "Indeed, ma'am, I have done. But if you'd 
 only tell me whether there's news from Captain 
 Flower." 
 
 " I know nothing about Captain Flower. 
 An excellent young man, no doubt, but mind 
 what I say, miss you are not to prate to 
 Betty about GeofFry Flower." 
 
 The matron's slim stock of patience was 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 167 
 
 exhausted. She wanted, besides, to return to 
 " The Adventures of a Valet." The idea of 
 a nobleman masquerading as his own man ! 
 Ridiculous ! And low ! But 'twould do no 
 harm to see how the creature came out of his 
 intrigues ; so May was put to flight unsatisfied ; 
 a new batch of raspberries went into the caul- 
 dron ; the sun-bonnet was tilted down at an 
 angle convenient for perusal of the book upon 
 the reader's knee ; bees boomed in and out of 
 a vine of morning-glories upon the lattice 
 screening the yard from view ; Mrs. Judith, 
 in the still-room, dipped circles of white paper 
 into brandy to put atop her jam-pots before 
 pasting covers upon these finished works of 
 household art. May, the disturber, had left 
 them to repose ! 
 
 A new idea struck the girl. Threading the 
 gravelled box-walks of the garden, she took 
 her way to a brick building known as "the 
 schoolhouse," where Mr. Snow had his quar- 
 ters, and whither the young people of the 
 family had always repaired to him for lessons. 
 Through a rose-grown porch, over which fell 
 a cascade of weeping-willow, she passed in to 
 a dim, green-lighted apartment surrounded by 
 shelves of books, where, amid boxes open for 
 packing, and piles of documents and volumes, 
 she found the dominie making ready his few 
 possessions to leave the Colony. 
 
 Matoaca well knew this place. Here had 
 
 
1 68 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 she stood with Hughey to recite the Latin 
 grammar the two had made so bitter a task for 
 the patient master to drill into their heads ; 
 there, curled up in a worn leather chair discarded 
 from the great house, she had often pored over 
 " Plutarch's Lives/' a work that to Colonial 
 Virginians, like the Bible to their Puritan 
 brothers in New England, was the book of 
 every day. 
 
 Mr. Nimrod Snow, in his shirt-sleeves, a 
 cobweb on his wig, and several smutches of 
 dust athwart his countenance and hands, begged 
 the young lady's permission to withdraw to 
 make himself presentable. 
 
 "If you do, Master Snow, I shall run away 
 at once/' she said decidedly. " No, no. Let 
 me rather help you to fill these boxes. This 
 pile of the 'Court Calendar,' and 'The Young 
 Man's Best Companion,' are they to be placed 
 in the black box, or the blue? And 'Horace' 
 that I can see Rolfe stealing out with, to 
 climb the great tulip-poplar, where he might 
 read it undisturbed ? " 
 
 "I was in the act of putting aside a few of 
 your cousin's especial favourites among my 
 books, to be left for him as a token of my 
 regard," said the tutor. '" Bolingbroke's Let- 
 ters,' 'Sir Walter Raleigh's Works,' Dean 
 Swift's productions, and those sweet verses, 
 entitled ' Night Thoughts,' by Mr. Young. 
 Rolfe has a taste for poetry, dear lad ! I would 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 169 
 
 that it were in my power to contribute more 
 largely to his library. Perhaps in the future 
 
 but who knows what is to follow this in- 
 fatuation of the so-called statesmen of the 
 Province ? It may be that I shall never again 
 set foot on American shores ; it may be that I 
 shall never again claim the hospitalities of my 
 benefactors, your gracious papa and mamma 
 excuse me, Miss Matoaca, I am feeling very 
 little like myself." 
 
 "Dear Mr. Snow, of course you will come 
 back here, and you will have a pulpit some- 
 where in the Colony, and we'll go to hear you 
 preach. There'll be seventhlies, and eighthlies, 
 and dust flying in a cloud, when you're behind 
 the cushion." 
 
 " And one, at least, of my listeners will go 
 fast asleep in the sermon," added the dominie. 
 
 " Could I read sermons for myself, I'd like 
 them better," exclaimed lawless May. " But if 
 I dozed, 'twould be following the fashion of 
 an aristocratic leader. The Earl napped at 
 Pohick, last Sunday ; and, by the same token, 
 he's napping now, and Betty warbling to him 
 just the same c Political Register ' to be left 
 
 the black box, then but Mr. Snow you 
 know everything. How does an old man act 
 who is in love ? " 
 
 Alas for the poor Dominie ! this query to 
 him whom the blind God had not spared 
 who, well on in years, wrinkled, poor, and ob- 
 
170 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 scure, was carrying away from Virginia a hope- 
 less passion for the lovely young destroyer of 
 men's peace, who had never flattered him by 
 singing c Strephon, betrayed, y e Cruel Maid 
 foreswore/ at the harpsichord ! To May's 
 surprise, who thought the master about to 
 sneeze, his face worked, a deep crimson 
 burnt upon his withered cheeks, he turned 
 aside his head. 
 
 " How long he is about it," said, to herself, 
 the impatient observer. 
 
 But the dominie did not sneeze. He 
 gulped, there was a queer sound in his throat, 
 he dusted Shakespeare's works with a ban- 
 danna handkerchief before laying them in the 
 blue box that was to accompany him in his 
 cabin on the voyage. " I hardly know if I 
 apprehend your meaning," he answered, having 
 at last conquered his agitation. 
 
 " I mean, then, since you will have it in plain 
 words, do you think our fossil Cousin Avenel 
 dreams that Betty would marry him? " 
 
 " Miss Poythress is born to fill high station," 
 said the tutor, valiantly. " I, who have seen 
 society on both sides the water, know that in 
 grace and beauty she might walk out before 
 the noblest lady that ever made her curtsey 
 to King George. She's rare, and fine, and 
 radiant ; and, among the aristocracy, at home, 
 where she rightly belongs, would shine a star. 
 Why, at the routs and balls and suppers and 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 171 
 
 spas, they'd be raving over her ! The best 
 wits of the day would make epigrams about her 
 shoe-buckle, that none of them, by George, are 
 fit to touch." 
 
 "That is true quite true," said May, 
 judicially. " Betty is not like other girls. 
 And I suppose my Cousin Avenel is no 
 stronger to resist her charms than all the other 
 men, old and young, that have come here 
 courting. But he can't win. He has every- 
 thing against him." 
 
 " But one," interrupted the tutor, now grown 
 pale. " He has Madam Poythress on his 
 side." 
 
 Matoaca, at first inclined to indignant denial, 
 reviewed many things that told her their old 
 friend was right. Upon which conclusion, 
 she felt ready to cry, but changed it into a 
 nervous laugh. 
 
 " I have faith in Betty," she exclaimed. 
 " She will never give her hand without her 
 heart. And besides this is what I came to 
 talk to you about, Mr. Snow. You have 
 just come from town. Did you see or hear 
 aught of Captain Flower ? " 
 
 " He is but just started on the march. 
 Dunmore County, or near it, is, I believe, 
 their first halting-place, in attendance upon His 
 Excellency." 
 
 " Geoffry, too ? " cried the girl, sorrowfully. 
 "It seems to me those Indian wretches get 
 
172 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 our best. To tell you truth, without fencing, 
 Mr. Snow, I rather fancied that you had 
 brought Betty tidings of Geoffry Flower, and 
 that she was more troubled by them than she 
 chose to let me know. There, now, is the 
 one of Betty's flames that suits her really. 
 When they walk, or ride, or dance together, 
 one can ask no sight more beautiful. And he 
 is honest and brave, as well as assorted to her 
 in age. Oh ! I wish / could settle people's 
 love affairs for them, instead of letting them 
 make such mistakes. Pray God, Geoffry comes 
 back safe from that war we dread so ; and then, 
 perhaps Do they say it will be hard fight- 
 ing, Mr. Snow ? " 
 
 " 'Tis general opinion that the Governor 
 and General Lewis, between them, ought to 
 wipe out the savages; even though the Indians 
 are led by such famous chiefs as Logan, head 
 of the Mingoes, Cornstalk, sachem of the 
 Shawnees, Blue Jacket, and Outacite, the man- 
 killer, King of the Cherokees ; all astute men, 
 and formidable in combination." 
 
 May, to whom the room seemed suddenly 
 to have passed into deeper shadow, shivered. 
 
 "And Rolfe," she said, after a moment's 
 pause. " He, of course, will be wherever 
 General Lewis is " 
 
 "And Lewis will be wherever the Indian 
 fire is deadliest," exclaimed the tutor, warming 
 to his theme. "He is an invincible warrior, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 173 
 
 and the best ally the Governor could have. 
 And, if my prophecy be worth anything, my 
 pupil, Rolfe Poythress, will, if spared in this 
 campaign, come out of it wearing a wreath 
 of laurels his elders might be proud to claim." 
 
 " He is all you say/* was the answer. Then 
 Matoaca worked till the chests of books were 
 rilled, after which she glided over to the win- 
 dow-seat, whither she had often been banished 
 to sit in duress until her tasks were learned. 
 In at the open sash leaned a Gloire de Dijon 
 rose-tree, full of branches. She buried her 
 face in one of these, and said nothing, until 
 Mr. Snow, accustomed to her vagaries, had 
 gone out to his bedroom, and returned in the 
 proper guise of his familiar self, clad in snuff- 
 Drown with a neatly brushed toupet. 
 
 " Mr. Snow," said May, after showering the 
 floor with petals from her rose, " I asked you 
 a question a little while ago, that you did not 
 answer. I will now ask it of you differently. 
 Is it known is it written in the books 
 how one may tell when he she they 
 first believe themselves to be in love." 
 
 " God bless my soul, no ! " said the tutor, 
 in all simplicity. 
 
VIII 
 
 IT was in the full flush of glorious sum- 
 mer, that a detachment of militia drafted 
 from neighbouring counties marched, un- 
 der command of the Royal Governor in per- 
 son, through the tramontane region of Virginia, 
 whose charm from earliest days has been sung 
 by travellers, as loving shepherds pipe of 
 Arcady. 
 
 The road lay through towering forests, be- 
 side sylvan dells, across broad streams, and 
 through prairies of grass so high the cavalry- 
 men made sport of tying the heads of it 
 together across their saddles. 
 
 To the satisfaction of his diminutive army, 
 Lord Dunmore had decided to halt by the 
 way while awaiting new drafts, volunteers, 
 and reinforcements generally. 
 
 The plan of this campaign, mapped out in 
 Williamsburg for the Governor by General 
 Andrew Lewis, was, like its deviser, simple 
 and daring. Lewis, with men gathered from 
 below the Blue Mountains, was to push his 
 way straight through the wilderness to the junc- 
 tion of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, the 
 
 174 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 175 
 
 objective point of the Indians now known to 
 be assembling. Lord Dunmore, with a force 
 in number equalling Lewis', was to march 
 directly to Fort Pitt ; thence proceeding on 
 the northern side of the Ohio, and striking at 
 the savages from the eastward, to cooperate 
 with Lewis in his strategy. But while Lewis, 
 the idol of the borderers, had been daily rally- 
 ing under his banner the best righting material 
 of his region, Lord Dunmore, disliked and sus- 
 pected, had experienced great difficulty in mak- 
 ing up from the upper counties his desired 
 quota of recruits. 
 
 The spot pitched upon by him in which to 
 assemble reinforcements was in Frederick, near 
 the home of an acquaintance, where His Ex- 
 cellency, secure not only of good cheer at 
 table, might also depend upon important coun- 
 sel from a veteran in Indian warfare. 
 
 Geoffry Flower, who bore a letter commend- 
 ing him to the owner from that nobleman's 
 brother in England, was familiar, by report, 
 with Greenway Court. The story of how the 
 sixth Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron in the 
 Scottish peerage, had, years before, forsaken, 
 for it, his ancient castle of Leeds in Kent, his 
 Jacobean manor-house in the Isle of Wight, 
 and the privileges of life among the beaux 
 esprits of London, was among the tid-bits of 
 gossip served to every newcomer at the Provin- 
 cial capital. 
 
176 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 The cause alleged for this romantic exile 
 the failure of his bride-betrothed to fulfil her 
 pledge to him when the marriage-day was set, 
 and her subsequent espousal of a duke did 
 not lessen the sympathy of Captain Flower in 
 the case. 
 
 It was, therefore, with keen interest that he 
 looked about him when, at sunset, the Gov- 
 ernor and his staff drew rein before the door 
 of a long, low dwelling built of native lime- 
 stone, its triple-planked oaken doors and shut- 
 ters and the belfries over the roof suggesting 
 readiness for an attack by Indians. In the 
 enclosure surrounding it were several two- 
 story cabins of the same solid construction, 
 serving for the uses of the household ; and, 
 in the deep woods adjacent, quarters for a 
 hundred and fifty white servants and negro 
 slaves, stables, workshops, barns, and kennels. 
 
 The surroundings of the house, upon a spur 
 of the Blue Ridge, hemmed in on every side 
 by bold wooded mountains, and dominated by 
 the stately shaft of Massanutton's peak, were 
 beautiful exceedingly ; the atmosphere was dia- 
 mond-clear and bracing. The situation was 
 embodied solitude; and Flower's sense of the 
 picturesque was further excited by the know- 
 ledge that the man who deliberately chose this 
 locality for a residence and this feudal sim- 
 plicity of living, was the lord proprietor of the 
 principality of land known as the " Northern 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 177 
 
 Neck," lying between the Rappahannock and 
 the Potomac rivers, extending throughout 
 their entire length and containing nearly six 
 millions of acres that, as the country-people 
 said, he could " give a hat full of guineas to 
 a beggar, without missing them." 
 
 The newcomers were at once the centre of 
 a group of negroes, with Indians, half-breeds, 
 and other backwoodsmen, retainers and hang- 
 ers-on of the proprietor, and enjoying life 
 at his expense ; and presently, the master of 
 Greenway himself, a stately and benign old 
 man in a conventional suit of black velvet, 
 came out, bareheaded, to stand by the stirrup 
 of the Governor, and to greet in his person a 
 far-av/ay Majesty. For, though Lord Fairfax 
 had for many years been a faithful son of his 
 adopted Virginia, had served the people in 
 many capacities and was still an active magis- 
 trate of the Colony, and intended to spend the 
 remainder of his life there, in his heart was 
 written, like " Calais" in Queen Mary's, "Eng- 
 land and the King." His personal motto 
 inscribed on his coffin-plate in old Winchester 
 church was " Je le feray durant ma vie"; 
 and the poignant sorrow of that life was to be 
 the separation of the Colonies and Crown. 
 
 Many a year had passed since the aged 
 dweller in this forest lodge which he had 
 built for a steward's house, intending one day 
 to erect upon the slope facing Massanatton, 
 
178 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 a Denton Hall, like the home of his youth in 
 Yorkshire had crossed the sea. The memo- 
 ries of his life in Queen Anne's court were 
 fading into grey ; he could no longer hunt ; 
 books palled a little; even land-grants and 
 county matters were of less absorbing interest. 
 What he liked best to talk about, was where 
 they had run the fox to earth; what crops 
 were made from such a field ; the yield of a 
 favourite peach-tree ; and the looks of the new 
 hound puppies. He was always glad of vis- 
 itors from below, and had been accustomed to 
 ask, first, about his friend George Washington, 
 who as a youth had spent weeks at a time at 
 Greenway Court, and had learned surveying by 
 chart in the stone "office" in the yard. 
 
 But nowadays when Washington wrote to 
 him but seldom, and there were strange stones 
 afloat of his utterances against established 
 things the old lord preferred not to hear 
 what travellers to Greenway had to say upon 
 this subject. The information brought to him 
 by a courier, of Lord Dunmore's anticipated 
 stop, had been to the veteran like the flick of 
 a whip to a mettled charger. He had deter- 
 mined upon the use of his house as head- 
 quarters for the Governor and staff, and had 
 set his negroes to digging a well in the grove 
 where the soldiers would encamp. His house- 
 keeper had orders to provision the Court 
 abundantly ; the stables were overhauled, the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 179 
 
 best wines brought from the cellars; no such 
 air of festa had hung over Greenway in the 
 memory of his servants ; and it was long since 
 any one of them had seen such a spring in the 
 weary old baron's step. 
 
 It was a man past eighty, from whom the 
 officers, in dismounting, received each a cour- 
 teous welcome, following him indoors as he 
 led the way with the Governor. Although 
 his hawk-eye was dim, his muscular frame no 
 longer finely erect, as in his prime, their host 
 did the honours of his house with grace. He 
 insisted upon attending Lord Dunmore to his 
 chamber, remained there awhile in consulta- 
 tion with the Governor, and on coming out 
 was noticed* to wear a grave and careworn air. 
 Flower, who had held back from too soon in- 
 truding his personal claims upon Lord Fair- 
 fax, was now singled out for notice among the 
 group of officers who stood outside the portal 
 before assembling for the evening meal within. 
 
 "You are known to me by repute, sir," 
 said Lord Fairfax, cordially, " and my brother 
 Robert's introduction had not been needed. 
 I think I can offer you a surprise in an ac- 
 quaintance of yours who arrived here from 
 the Potomac, day before yesterday." 
 
 "Colonel Poythress?" asked Geoffry, eagerly. 
 
 " His next of kin," smiled my Lord, leading 
 the way with Lord Dunmore into the dining- 
 room. 
 
180 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Geoffry could not believe his eyes. There, 
 sidling to meet him, came his late guardian, 
 Avenel. It could not be imagination that his 
 unpleasant relative, after giving him a limp 
 handshake, seemed unwilling to look Flower 
 full in the face ; or that, after saying he had 
 come off in pursuance of his original inten- 
 tion to visit the upper counties of Virginia at 
 that favourable season of the year, the Earl 
 withdrew, and, by maintaining close conversa- 
 tion with Flower's superiors in rank, kept at 
 a distance all overture from the young man 
 concerning his further movements or inten- 
 tions. Two or three times during the supper 
 for which my Lord Fairfax's housekeeper 
 had proudly set forth her best silver dishes, 
 the services of Canton porcelain (blue birds 
 perched upon blue branches, an old-time pres- 
 ent from Mount Vernon to Greenway Court), 
 and the precious Queen Anne damask she 
 would have scorned to spread for their fre- 
 quent " buckskin " guests Geoffry caught 
 Avenel's shifty eyes wandering toward him, 
 then hastily withdrawing. Was it fancy that 
 he detected in them an expression of ill-repressed 
 triumph ? To the confusion of his thoughts was 
 added a sense of baffled rage, hardly reverential 
 when directed toward an uncle. 
 
 It was a striking scene the group of red- 
 coats surrounding a table lighted by wax tapers 
 in branching candelabra, spread with the taste- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 181 
 
 ful appliances of wealth, in the boarded and 
 raftered room of a house hung throughout 
 with arms, and decorated with heads and horns 
 and pelts of big game from the wilderness that 
 came close to its doors ! 
 
 Beside the ivory-tinted countenance of the 
 venerable host, the ruddy visage of the Gov- 
 ernor was just beginning to expand with gen- 
 iality under the influence of Greenway Court 
 madeira. On the other side of Lord Fairfax 
 sat the little Earl of Avenel, richly attired in 
 a court suit of prune-coloured velvet, with lace 
 ruffles hanging like dog's ears around his 
 thin hands; behind whose back was posted 
 his sleek valet, M. Fleury, a functionary from 
 whom his Lordship was rarely seen apart. 
 Somebody, rash enough to venture upon 
 ground forbidden to the ordinary guests at 
 Lord Fairfax's table, started discussion con- 
 cerning the new Committee of Safety in Fair- 
 fax County, before which Colonel Washington 
 had come out with burning sympathy for the 
 plight of Boston ; and no sooner had that 
 question been hurried out of the way, than 
 another person took from his waistcoat pocket, 
 and craved permission to read before the com- 
 pany, the following item from a current Vir- 
 ginian newspaper : 
 
 " A Card. A Virginian presents his compli- 
 ments to the Jockey Clubs of Fredericksburg 
 
1 82 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 and Portsmouth, and begs that they will sup- 
 press their sporting spirit, till the circum- 
 stances of America can permit it with more 
 decency. He also begs leave to recommend 
 to the most serious consideration of these 
 clubs, whether their purses applied to the re- 
 lief of the distressed Bostonians would not 
 afford them more real pleasure than all that 
 can arise from viewing a painful contest be- 
 tween two or three animals." 
 
 "Hearken to that, will you?" commented 
 Lord Avenel, noisily. " A fine pass you have 
 come to, my Lord Governor, in this Colony 
 of yours ! 'Tis like a parcel of pert children 
 lecturing their mother. Faith, if I were in 
 your uniform, I'd make short work of the 
 saucy urchins by shutting them up in a dark 
 cupboard, on bread and water, till they come 
 to their senses and roar for mercy." 
 
 "You will pardon me, gentlemen, if I crave 
 a more pleasant topic for our hour of relaxa- 
 tion," said the host, whose face was overspread 
 with a look of pain ; a warning made evidently 
 needful by the rising choler of the Governor 
 and the chafing temper of the rest of the 
 company. 
 
 " 'Tis your affair, my Lord Governor, not 
 mine," went on Avenel, unheeding this mild 
 reproof. " But certainly, were I in your posi- 
 tion, I'd force these insolent agitators into 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 183 
 
 keeping their mouths shut, without sending 
 either to New York or to England for the 
 wherewithal. You have allies close at hand 
 and zealous I don't mean the savages. 
 They might answer for a last resort. But the 
 niggers this slave population that infests 
 your country like a swarm of alligators why 
 not arm " 
 
 " My Lord of Avenel," interrupted Lord 
 Fairfax, haughtily, "it is because, no doubt, 
 you are a stranger to Virginian ways, and an 
 observer of brief experience among us, that 
 you venture to trench upon a subject of all 
 others most abhorrent in our minds." 
 
 " Egad, my Lord, the shiny black fellows 
 give me the cold shivers, too, when I have 
 'em hanging around me," said the Earl, with 
 jocularity. 
 
 Geoffry, fuming at his end of the table, 
 knew, in general, what to expect of his uncle 
 in men's convivial company. But to-night, 
 something seemed to inspire the little wretch to 
 be peculiarly hard to bear ; a fact only partially 
 accounted for by the regularity with which M. 
 Fleury kept his master's glasses filled. Avenel, 
 never actually intoxicated, had a way of drink- 
 ing himself to the verge of that condition, 
 then expending the full resources of his powers 
 of offensiveness upon every one in reach. 
 
 When they began to call healths, and, as in 
 duty bound, the host proposed that of the Earl 
 
184 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 of Avenel, the company showed little zeal in 
 responding. Geoffry set his glass down with a 
 gesture of dissent that snapped the stem in 
 twain. 
 
 Of the three heads of the party, only Avenel 
 appeared to notice this little incident. When 
 the men on either side of him chid Geoffry for 
 his churlishness, he answered with a wild laugh : 
 
 " I can't help it. 'Twould have choked me 
 had I drank the sneak's health." 
 
 "And this of your own kinsman?" cried a 
 brother officer. 
 
 " I renounce him," said the reckless Geoffry. 
 " And, if he asks me, I shall tell him why." 
 
 Presently there was a movement into the 
 next room, where the card tables were set. 
 Geoffry took advantage of it to go out upon 
 the porch, and in the starlight tramped up and 
 down in a tumult of feeling he dared not trust 
 himself to put into more definite expression. 
 
 " So you have brought your childish sulks 
 where they will not disgrace you further ? " 
 said a voice at his elbow. 
 
 Geoffry mastered himself to answer his uncle 
 in an undertone. 
 
 " Since you have honoured me so far as to 
 follow me, my Lord," he said bitterly, " it is 
 evident that a conversation between us may 
 serve as a relief to both. But what we what 
 I, at least have to say, had better not be 
 overheard." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 185 
 
 " Do you mean to threaten me, you cub ? " 
 said his lordship, shrinking a little. " If I were 
 you, Master Geoffry, I should try to have a 
 more civil tongue in my head for my elders 
 and betters ; especially, now, when, if what the 
 chatterboxes tell me be true, you might be sus- 
 pected of the ill-temper of a child when he sees 
 his soap-bubble break between his hands. No, 
 I did not come here to quarrel with you. 
 What I would convey to you is what all the 
 world will soon hear. I was about, indeed, to 
 make announcement of it at table, to ask 
 the good wishes of our friends in yonder, 
 but a natural modesty, I have never been able 
 to conquer, restrained me. Then, too, I rather 
 preferred taking you, first, into my confidence. 
 You, of all men, my pretty nephew, will best 
 appreciate my good fortune. I have come up 
 here on a matter of business, preparatory to 
 sailing homeward. And in view of the threat- 
 ening nature of the times, I have deemed it 
 best not to defer my happiness too long " 
 
 His taunting, shuffling speech was more than 
 Geoffry could endure, who now let fly at his 
 relative such a phrase as is not commonly in 
 use between gentlemen. 
 
 " Speak out, will you ? " the young man 
 added, boiling over with rage and impatience. 
 " For I warn you, I won't listen long." 
 
 " I was prepared for this/' said my Lord, 
 drawing into the safer vicinity of the open 
 
1 86 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 window of the room wherein the party sat at 
 cards. " I must own that it is in deference to 
 the especial wishes of a fair pleader, that I treat 
 you now with such consideration. If you will 
 have it, abruptly, I expect not only to sail 
 early in the next month, but, with the sanction 
 of her parents, to take with me a bride who 
 will rarely grace the title and wealth I am able 
 to offer her." 
 
 GeorFry felt as if a mill-wheel were turning 
 in his brain. His impulse to give the lie to 
 his kinsman, to throttle him, to do any one of 
 the wild acts that suggest themselves under like 
 circumstances, was crushed before it could take 
 shape, by the overpowering thought that Betty 
 had willed this thing to be. Betty had placed 
 him in this ignominious attitude toward a rival 
 he thoroughly despised. 
 
 "If I believed you " he said, under his 
 breath. 
 
 " Believe what you please," said the Earl, 
 who had so far recovered himself as to take a 
 pinch of snuff. " But perhaps a billet I was 
 charged to give, should I meet him to a 
 former Corydon one Captain Geoffry Flower 
 may settle the uncertainty." 
 
 He took from his pocket, with his lace hand- 
 kerchief, a tiny sheet of paper, folded like a 
 cocked hat, and sealed with a drop of wax 
 pausing to brush from it a grain of snuff, be- 
 fore delivering it into Geoffry's hands. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 187 
 
 The young man, carrying the note to the 
 square of light streaming through the window, 
 read in a handwriting that he knew too well, 
 these words : 
 
 " You must know, from me, that I have said 
 I will marry Lord Avenel and that I am, 
 always and always, your true friend, who 
 thanks you for a thousand kindnesses. 
 
 "E. POYTHRESS." 
 
 Avenel, awaiting Geoffry's comment, was 
 taken aback by his utter silence. 
 
 <c At least you are now convinced," he said 
 tauntingly. " And I may as well add that, 
 after what has occurred to-night, if the Shaw- 
 nees permit you to return to old England, we 
 my Lady and I shall not be able to give 
 ourselves the pleasure of receiving you at 
 Avenel. Even if I could find it in my heart 
 to forgive your puppy love of the girl I shall 
 make my wife, and your puppy jealousy of me, 
 I want to forget all that is connected with the 
 past, to lead a new life at Avenel, to live, be 
 jolly, with my beauteous bride. You would 
 be an unpleasant reminder of old times." 
 
 " There will be more than me to remind you 
 of old times," exclaimed Geoffry, now goaded 
 to speak what he had long been framing in his 
 mind. " There will be ghosts there, my Lord 
 of Avenel. Ghosts you can never lay. Oh! 
 
1 88 A Son of the Old Dominiojr 
 
 you have said your say, now it is my turn. 
 Since I came out to America, I have learned 
 that about you that makes me ashamed to be 
 of your family. Do not believe but that, if I 
 thought you fit for her, I could submit to have 
 you taken, and me left. But you are not fit. 
 You are worse than a pretender to the title and 
 estates you carry. You are a thief, and I can 
 prove it to the world." 
 
 At these words, Lord Avenel, starting vio- 
 lently, cowered away from the speaker, putting 
 up one hand as if to ward away a blow. A 
 party of officers issuing from the door came up 
 to them, laughing and jesting over their late 
 game. GeofTry, who had no mind to repay his 
 host's hospitality by a scene, and who, besides, 
 felt the necessity of solitude to rally his scat- 
 tered faculties, saluted the Earl and left him. 
 
IX 
 
 UNTIL a late hour Greenway Court re- 
 sounded with the unwonted sounds of 
 good-fellowship and mirth. Flower, to 
 whom had been allotted a " prophet's cham- 
 ber " near that of his chief, the rest of the 
 staff quartered in cabins outside, the Earl of 
 Avenel occupying another guest-room in the 
 house, did not pretend to go to bed. In 
 intolerable pain of mind, he paced the floor, 
 threw himself, in shirt-sleeves, across his couch, 
 rose again, and went to the window to look out 
 into the night. In this attitude, he was sur- 
 prised by a touch upon his shoulder, and, turn- 
 ing, beheld his uncle, holding a candle in his 
 hand, pale, perturbed, an expression almost 
 imploring in his eyes. 
 
 " Geoff, my boy," he said, with a poor at- 
 tempt at lightness, "we had hard words, and I 
 can't sleep for thinking of them. 'Twas fool- 
 ish to take that tone with me, lad; but, for 
 old time's sake, if I tried you overmuch, I 
 want to ask your pardon. Just now, you 
 won't be wishing to see me or mine, and that's 
 only natural. But you'll come back to Eng- 
 land some day ; and, when you do, there'll be 
 
 189 
 
190 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 a neat little sum waiting for you at your bank- 
 ers, a tidy sum, such as I'd have given my 
 boy for an allowance, had he lived. And 
 you'll make Avenel your home, won't you, 
 nephew ? Besides which, you'll take back the 
 idle insinuations Heaven only knows what 
 prompted you to make. They're not kind, 
 Geoff not kind " 
 
 " Not kind, perhaps, but true," said Flower, 
 facing his visitor with total disregard of the 
 hand outstretched to him. " What I know 
 about your cursed kidnapping of your brother's 
 heir came to me lately, quite by accident and 
 much against my will. Certain evidences of it 
 were even put into my possession. For the 
 honour of the family, and because it seemed 
 that little less than a miracle would ever bring 
 Percy's son to light again, I had resolved to 
 keep quiet, and might still do so, if you did 
 not intend to insult the girl I love by attempt- 
 ing to make her the wife of one who ought, by 
 right, to be dealt with as a common felon. 
 Halloo, there, don't faint, please." 
 
 Lord Avenel, falling into a chair, gasped for 
 breath, and seemed hardly able to keep his bal- 
 ance. Geoffry, bestowing on him a glass of 
 water from the carafe, shook him up like a 
 bolster, and then retreated, surveying his rela- 
 tive with much disgust. 
 
 " What do you propose to do ? " asked the 
 Earl, after repeatedly moistening his lips. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 191 
 
 " Nothing, my Lord, so long as you with- 
 draw from your suit." 
 
 " A manly vengeance." 
 
 " I will not stand on your judgment as to 
 that." 
 
 " I care nothing for your gibes. You spoke 
 of proofs. What are they ? " 
 
 " Let it suffice that they came to me from 
 the hand of Judith Carnes." 
 
 This shaft hit hard. The Earl turned deadly 
 pale. 
 
 " That woman living still ? " 
 
 " Living, and you have lately been where 
 she could have an eye on you. Though, 
 Heaven knows, the poor tool shrinks from 
 you as you must from her." 
 
 "You say you pretend you have those 
 proofs in your hands do you mean here ? " 
 
 Involuntarily, Flower directed his glance to 
 a shagreen letter-case lying beneath his pistols 
 upon a night-stand beside the bed. Slight as 
 the movement was, it attracted my Lord's at- 
 tention. 
 
 " Where I mean to guard them till they be- 
 come indispensable for use. Let me assure 
 you that I never knew their value until now." 
 
 "And the the " but the question would 
 not out between his dry lips. 
 
 " The boy ? Set your mind at rest. She be- 
 lieves that he died in infancy. Had he lived, 
 trust me, I should not have held my peace." 
 
192 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 For the first time, a light sprang into 
 Avenel's dull eye. 
 
 "If as I begin to suspect," went on 
 Flower, " your errand in mousing around this 
 wild country is really to satisfy yourself on 
 that score, I welcome in you the symptoms of 
 an unsuspected possession a conscience. For 
 Heaven's sake, let us be done with this talk 
 that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Again, 
 I tell you and you believe me that it was 
 purest chance my finding out your crime. I 
 am no detective, I have no desire to see you 
 
 ?ublicly disgraced. But, to sum it up while 
 live, mark you you do not presume to 
 marry Betty Poythress." 
 
 "You make no allowances for the young 
 lady's feelings in the matter ? " ventured 
 Avenel, as a last resort. 
 
 " She and hers will live to thank me for 
 saving her from you," said the young man 
 despite himself, colouring deeply. 
 
 " And you look for your reward ? " sneered 
 Avenel. 
 
 " I shall have it when I hear you have sailed 
 by yourself and the sooner the better for 
 England." 
 
 " I should like to kill you, here," burst out 
 the Earl, furiously. 
 
 " No doubt. But 'twould hardly repay the 
 hospitality of our gracious host. No, my Lord 
 of Avenel, I will not even fight with you." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 193 
 
 The words were simple, the emphasis made 
 them sting. As Geoffry, to conclude an inter- 
 view that bore heavily upon his self-control, 
 now bowed formally, Avenel made a snarling 
 rush at him, then, restraining himself, left the 
 chamber. 
 
 Flower did not know when sleep overtook 
 him, so swelling were the emotions with which 
 he tossed upon his couch. Toward morning 
 for in the trees outside he could hear the 
 peep of drowsy birds he awoke to find the 
 candle guttered in its socket. It seemed to 
 him that there was a presence in the room, but 
 the heavy slumber of weary youth overtook 
 him as he was in the act of turning to take heed 
 of it ; and he knew no more, until broad light 
 and Keys, like rosy Phoebus, at his side, brought 
 him back to consciousness. 
 
 " It's high time to be stirring, Captain. A 
 grand day, and everybody in spirits. My Lord 
 the Governor is but just having breakfast in his 
 room. My Lord Fairfax has been walking 
 over the home-farm since sunrise, when he 
 stepped out to see my Lord of Avenel set off 
 upon his journey." 
 
 " His journey ? " said Geoffry, still bewildered 
 by somnolence. 
 
 "Yes, Captain; but I know not whither. A 
 good riddance beg pardon, sir, I mean to 
 that smooth-faced valet, that I believe to be a 
 Jesuit in disguise a prowling Frenchman, 
 
194 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 that smells and steps like a civet-cat. They 
 had armed guides, and a train of pack-horses 
 to carry my Lord's velvet coats and the valet's 
 scent bottles. There was a word left for you, 
 sir. The Earl caught sight o' me in the stable- 
 yard, where I was looking after my horses 
 and, by the same token, he crossed my hand 
 with a golden guinea, to make me remember 
 
 it." 
 
 "And the message," said Flower, impatiently. 
 
 " My Lord's compliments to his dear nephew, 
 and there is no need of further concern about 
 the matter discussed betwixt 'em overnight. 
 Upon consideration, my Lord has decided, 
 himself to take charge of the documents in 
 question." 
 
 Geoffry made a bound out of bed. His 
 pistols, emptied of their contents, lay upon the 
 table where he had left them; but the letter- 
 case was gone. There was a faint smell of 
 perfume in the air. 
 
 " 'Twas the mastiff matched against the fox," 
 he said bitterly, "and the fox has won. If you 
 had picked the pockets of that Fleury chap, 
 Keys, you might have found there what will 
 make or mar the fortunes of my life. It was 
 like them to do this sneaking deed in darkness. 
 I've been robbed, Keys, basely robbed ; and, 
 what's more, I can't stir hand or foot to help 
 myself. Not a word to any one, mind ; if I'm 
 ever to get even with those that have wronged 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 195 
 
 me, 'twill not be by blabbing my trouble to 
 the world." 
 
 Throughout the days following. Flower hated 
 the inaction of their summer holiday. He 
 would have been glad of a summons to battle, 
 or any outward excitement to counteract his 
 inner wretchedness. The daily drill of a raw 
 company of volunteers, and putting the men 
 through their exercises, until he and they were 
 equally worn out, was the chief relief he found. 
 At last, however, came news that for the first 
 time caused him to forget himself. A mes- 
 senger, arriving with despatches from General 
 Lewis to the Governor, brought tidings of the 
 loss, some weeks before in an Indian skirmish, 
 of the General's favourite pioneer scout, Captain 
 Rolfe Poythress, who with two of his men had 
 come to his death, fighting gallantly, but over- 
 powered by superior numbers of the savages. 
 
 Later, the same day, a tall, dark-skinned 
 woman on horseback, attended by an elderly 
 man who resembled her, and a negro servant 
 carrying luggage upon a mule, halted before 
 the porch of Greenway Court. The servants 
 of the old lord, accustomed to give prompt 
 accommodation to travellers, were about to 
 assign to the newcomers quarters to be aban- 
 doned when it should please them to resume 
 their journey. But the lady, taking no denial, 
 pleaded for an immediate audience with my 
 Lord, before whom, while sitting with the Gov- 
 
196 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 ernor and his aides, among them Geoffry 
 Flower, she was accordingly introduced. 
 
 " I think, madam," said the master of Green- 
 way Court, rising from his armchair to greet 
 his guest, " that I have had the pleasure of 
 seeing you here once before. A matter of a 
 land purchase, if I mistake not, although 
 now some years ago, and I hope the transac- 
 tion has proved all that you counted upon in ac- 
 quiring the property. You will pardon so old a 
 man, that the name of my visitor escapes me " 
 
 " I am the widow of Richard Poythress, who 
 was killed by the Indians in the uprising at 
 Wildcat Hollow," said the woman, in a clear 
 though monotonous voice. At the names 
 given, the attention of all present, including 
 Lord Dunmore, was fixed upon her. " And, 
 consequently," she went on, " a sister by mar- 
 riage of Colonel Poythress, who is a member 
 of my Lord Dunmore's Council." 
 
 "And my very good friend and ally, madam," 
 answered my Lord the Governor. " Would 
 that we had a few more like him to stay the 
 tide of this rebellious current against authority." 
 
 " Which you are going to find it vastly more 
 difficult to do than you imagine," said the 
 widow, darting upon him a glance of stern 
 significance. 
 
 " Perhaps, madam, perhaps," said Dunmore, 
 testily, turning on his heel, and walking across 
 to the window. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 197 
 
 " But I did not make a two-days journey to 
 talk of matters of public import/' went on the 
 newcomer, whose surprising command over 
 herself greatly impressed her audience. 
 
 " You are alone, madam ? You have allowed 
 them to offer you refreshment ? " interrupted 
 the host, kindly solicitous. 
 
 " I am accompanied by my brother, who is 
 not of a gregarious turn of mind, and conse- 
 quently will stay outside," was the answer ; 
 " and I ask nothing of your well-known hos- 
 pitality, my Lord. As soon as our horses 
 are fed, we shall return by the way we came, 
 my own servant being provided with what is 
 needful for our use. My mission is to make a 
 statement a deposition, before you as chief 
 magistrate of the county, of certain circum- 
 stances connected with my late son, known 
 to you, perhaps, as Rolfe Poythress, who was 
 lost in a recent encounter with Logan's braves, 
 when on duty, under orders from General 
 Lewis." 
 
 The men, Flower in particular, looked at her 
 in amazement. Not a tremour in the lines of 
 her stern Roman face, not a quaver of the voice 
 betrayed maternal feeling. 
 
 " A young man well spoken of in the county, 
 as full of true martial spirit," said Lord Fairfax. 
 " Accept, madam, my sincerest condolences in 
 your melancholy loss." 
 
 " I thank you, my Lord," she answered 
 
198 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 briefly. " If I had not yielded to his and 
 General Lewis' solicitations to enter him upon 
 a military life, I should not now be under the 
 necessity of telling you that he was not my son, 
 but a child adopted under unusual circum- 
 stances. The only child of my marriage with 
 Richard Poythress was snatched from my arms 
 and brutally murdered in my sight, by an Ind- 
 ian, in the raid when they carried off my hus- 
 band to his death. When this happened, I 
 fell down and lay like one dead, and was over- 
 looked in the savages' retreat. After I came 
 to myself, and had realised my condition, I 
 first dug a grave for my child and covered 
 him away, then started, I knew not whither, in 
 search of I knew not what. . . . From that 
 day to this, I have never shed a tear. . .*. I 
 went on through the forest. I had no wishes, 
 no hopes, no fears. Death was the same to me 
 as life. . . . At last, I came to a house that 
 had been sacked and burnt. I recognised the 
 farm that belonged to a thrifty Scotch-Irish 
 couple, who had succeeded in all their enter- 
 prises Angus McDuffie was the farmer's 
 name, but I knew no more of them than that. 
 You may recall him, my Lord, as one of the 
 settlers upon Burden's grant." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! Burden was my agent in '37 
 and afterward did business on his own account," 
 said the old man, rallying his memory. "He 
 brought over many colonists, and their de- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 199 
 
 scendants have proved of our best stock but 
 I interrupt you, madam, in a tale that, although 
 harrowing, is unfortunately like many another 
 that has come under my ken." 
 
 "The McDuffies, husband and wife, had 
 been killed and scalped, and the spectacle of 
 their bodies robbed me of my little remaining 
 strength. I was exhausted from my wandering 
 in the woods, so I dropped down in the little 
 garden where they lay, and gave up all wish to 
 live. Just then, I heard a little moan an- 
 other then another. I struggled up, and 
 listened. After it had gone on till I could no 
 longer bear it, I went in search of the sound. 
 Under a clump of currant bushes lay a child, 
 about the size of mine he was badly wounded, 
 but conscious of my presence, and he tried to 
 hold out his little arms to me. At first I 
 stared at him in a dull sort of way, and did not 
 move to take him. Then he cried, and I took 
 him. . . . But why go on ? You may guess 
 the rest. In gratitude because he saved my 
 reason, I nursed the child back into health and 
 reared him as my own. There was not one left 
 to say whether he was or not. The McDuf- 
 fies were wiped out of existence. Even my 
 brothers, who, upon hearing of my terrible 
 plight, came from the low country, and ended 
 by living with me, were unaware of the real 
 circumstances. I called the boy by my own 
 child's name. Day and night I worked for 
 
2OO A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 him, educated him like a gentleman, and he 
 grew up to be, not the joy for, to me, there 
 is no such word but the stay, of my hard 
 life. When Colonel Hugh Poythress came in 
 search of, and offered provision for, his brother's 
 child, I was dismayed. I could not tell him 
 the truth, still less would I receive a share of 
 the estate Rolfe had no right to claim. My 
 persistence angered Colonel Poythress. We 
 quarrelled. He left us in sore vexation, and 
 I have not seen him since. When he went 
 out of my house, I said to him, ' I will never 
 again in this world hold speech with you ' 
 nor have I. He meant well, perhaps, but his 
 people had cast my husband out, and, with me, 
 a breach is never healed. I suppose you, my 
 Lord, and you, gentlemen, who have shown 
 patience in listening to a story I have tried to 
 shorten, now understand my motives in mak- 
 ing this public declaration. If I did wrong in 
 allowing the boy to grow up believing himself 
 a Poythress, I undo it now. He is dead, he 
 is gone, he has left my life desolate, but I still 
 have my own creed of honesty. A recent let- 
 ter from Colonel Poythress informs me that he 
 has just settled upon Rolfe and his heirs for- 
 ever such a sum as would have been Richard's 
 had not my wronged husband been disinherited 
 by his father. I want you all to bear witness 
 that I decline that money. I will never take 
 a penny of it. I have lived without the Poy- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 201 
 
 thresses ; let them see that I can die without 
 them. That is all." 
 
 So rapidly had this narrative poured from 
 her lips, so complete the spell of her com- 
 manding voice and figure, that no one had 
 stirred until she ended. Then, as, with a 
 slight curtsey to the two noblemen, and an 
 inclination of her haughty head to the aides- 
 de-camp, she turned to leave the room, Geof- 
 fry Flower sprung to her side and offered her 
 his arm. 
 
 " I was your son's friend, madam," he said, 
 in a low tone. " I admired him, loved him, 
 as he deserved. The news of his death, that 
 has but just come to us, to-day, is felt by me 
 with a sense of personal bereavement. Will 
 you not, therefore, accept from me any service 
 that he might have rendered you ? " 
 
 But Helen Poythress, although turning upon 
 the handsome young officer a softer look than 
 had yet relieved the lines of her stern weather- 
 beaten face, declined assistance. The invitation 
 of Lord Fairfax that she should take posses- 
 sion of an uninhabited cabin in the grounds, 
 and remain there as his guest as long as she 
 felt inclined, fared likewise. Standing upon 
 the porch until her horses came around, one 
 of them bestridden by the brother, who had 
 proved to be a very oyster of reticence to the 
 hangers-on of the establishment, the other led 
 by the grey old negro man upon his mule, 
 
202 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 she mounted unaided, and soon all trace of 
 the odd cortege had disappeared. 
 
 " An eccentric, morbid, and most unhappy 
 creature," said the master of Greenway, when 
 Flower rejoined him, in the doorway, where he 
 had stood to see Mrs. Poythress leave. "It 
 returns to me, now, that I have heard some- 
 thing of her rebuff of our friend Poythress' 
 overtures. Her case has affected you, my 
 young friend, and I myself am not insensible 
 to its poignancy. But alas ! 'tis, in the his- 
 tory of our border families, an oft-told tale. 
 I have desired my secretary to make note of 
 the lady's statement, which I shall duly sub- 
 mit to Colonel Poythress." 
 
 " My Lord," said Geoffry, who hardly knew 
 how to frame his request, so burning was he 
 with the excitement of an idea that, during 
 the recital of Helen Poythress' woe, had sprung 
 full-fledged into his brain, " I do not know how 
 it may strike you ; if 'tis a liberty, I stand re- 
 buked. But Rolfe Poythress was my friend, 
 and, in the family of my Cousin Poythress, he 
 will ever be regarded as a dear kinsman. I 
 have time upon my hands. If you could put 
 me in the way of looking up the records of 
 the settlers on or near your lands, it is possi- 
 ble I may come upon some reference to the 
 McDuffies that would be of value and interest 
 to Colonel Poythress." 
 
 " The records are quite at your disposal," 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 203 
 
 said his lordship. " They have served some- 
 times to entertain other friends from home, 
 who cared to know how we have populated so 
 much of the wilderness. Now that I think 
 of it, 'twas your Uncle Avenel who last en- 
 gaged one of my secretaries to give him access 
 to the papers." 
 
 Geoffry, afraid that his face would betray 
 him, bent over to caress the favourite hound 
 of Lord Fairfax, standing at his master's knee. 
 His heart beat like a trip hammer. He felt 
 now there could be no doubt of Avenel's rea- 
 sons for " mousing " about in the north coun- 
 try. He could hardly wait till the slow speech 
 of the old man brought him to the end of his 
 kindly sentences. 
 
 With permission thus gained, he repaired at 
 once to the massive and isolated cc office," so 
 built for protection of its contents against fire 
 and Indians. The accumulations of records 
 relating to Lord Fairfax's transactions in land, 
 during his long control over a territory com- 
 prising about one-quarter of the present lim- 
 its of Virginia, were enormous. There were, 
 in addition, numerous papers deposited for safe 
 keeping among these archives by gentry and 
 small farmers, including wills. To a lover of 
 such things, the field was rich beyond com- 
 pare. But Geoffry at ordinary times a book- 
 worm, a delver in manuscripts, through pure 
 love of research was now too nervously ex- 
 
204 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 cited to do more than turn over bundle after 
 bundle, file after file, in a humdrum and me- 
 chanical fashion, looking eagerly for a name 
 that seemed nowhere to occur. Just at that 
 moment a McDuffie of any sort would have 
 appeared to him a Kohinoor ! 
 
 At last, folded away among a parcel of 
 dusty land grants and contracts, he came upon 
 a paper which had apparently lain for many 
 years untouched ; no trace of disturbance was 
 upon it ; and the depositor, having here placed 
 it in safety, had, perhaps, gone away to die. 
 This theory, conceived by Flower in idle 
 thought as he unfolded the document, was 
 surprisingly confirmed by the first words of it 
 he read. 
 
 " Deed from the chiefs of the Six United Nations 
 for land to A. McDuffie, November Qth, 1754." 
 
 Flower's eye travelled at too great a rate 
 of speed over the quaint document to enable 
 him to enjoy its phraseology. 
 
 "To all people to whom these presents shall come 
 Greeting : Know ye that we, Abraham, a Mohawk 
 chief; Sennghors, an Oneida chief; Sagnarisera, the 
 chief of the Tuscaroras ; Burt, an Onondaga chief; 
 Tagaaia, a Cayuga chief; and Gaustrax, a Seneca 
 chief; chiefs and sachems of the Six United Nations, 
 and being and effectually representing all the tribes 
 of the Six United Nations, send greeting. Whereas, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 205 
 
 Johonerissa, Scaroyadia, Cosswentanica chiefs or 
 sachems of the Six United Nations did, by their 
 deed duly executed, bearing date the 2nd day of 
 August, 1754, for and in consideration of the fol- 
 lowing goods and merchandise being paid and deliv- 
 ered to them at a full council of the Six United 
 Nations, Delawares and Shawanese, on the 2nd of 
 August, 1754, that is to say: 200 pieces of cloth, 
 300 Duffield blankets, 260 pair of half thick stock- 
 ings, 150 shirts, 15 pieces of calico, 10 pieces of 
 callimanco, 10 pieces of embossed serge, 40 pounds 
 of vermilion, 30 gross of gartering, 40 pieces of rib- 
 bons, 45 dozen of knives, 400 pounds of gunpowder, 
 500 pounds of bar lead, 2,000 gun flints, 30 pounds 
 of brass kettles, 200 pounds of thread, 900 needles, 
 six dozen jews-harps, 10 dozen tobacco tongs, and 
 80 pounds of tobacco ; grant and sell to Alan Mc- 
 Duffie, adopted son of Angus McDuffie, of the 
 County of Frederick, in the province of Virginia, 
 in fee, a certain tract or parcel of land situate " 
 
 The deed dropped from Flower's hand. 
 Alan McDuffie, adopted son of Angus Mc- 
 Duffie ! Alan ! Here was the name borne 
 by the last heir of Avenel. The blood rushed 
 into Flower's temples. When he had recov- 
 ered from his first surprise, he fell to wonder- 
 ing why his precious uncle had passed over 
 the discovery of a document so convincing ; 
 and examined it again, together with the packet 
 from which he had taken it. But they clearly 
 had escaped Avenel, to fall into Geoffry's hands. 
 On rereading the deed, it was also plain to him 
 
206 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 that the old Scotchman had intended to make 
 special provision for the waif drifted into his 
 hands. " Chiefs as aforesaid," he hurried on : 
 
 " By these presents, do grant, bargain, sell, alien, 
 release, enfeoffe, ratify, and fully confirm as to his 
 Most Sacred Majesty George III., King of Great 
 Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, 
 etc. ( c Hullo ! what's the King got to do with it ? ' 
 said bewildered Geoffry) his heirs and assigns for 
 the use, benefit, and behoof of the said ( c Here it 
 is again, as large as life') Alan McDuffie, adopted 
 son of Angus McDuffie . . . together with all mines, 
 mineral ores, trees, woods, underwoods, waters and 
 water courses, profits, commodities, advantages, rights, 
 liberties, privileges, hereditaments, and appurtenances 
 . . . one hundred thousand acres of land, be the same 
 more or less." 
 
 "'Tis a principality the poor fellow has slipped 
 away from ! " meditated the young soldier, turn- 
 ing to the " Nation marks " of the chiefs, duly 
 affixed opposite their signatures, as follows: 
 "The Steel," "The Stone," "The Cross," 
 "The Mountain," "The Pipe," and "The 
 High Hill." Nothing was lacking. To the 
 names of witnesses and of " The Interpreter 
 for the Crown," the deed was complete ; not 
 only was it a rare historical curiosity for some 
 searcher of future days, but also, as far as 
 Flower knew, the guarantee of a fortune to 
 Alan McDuffie and his heirs. That this was 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 207 
 
 but one of the speculations of shrewd Angus 
 McDuffie with the Indians, there was every 
 reason to suppose. 
 
 Poor " Rolfe Poythress," or "Alan McDuffie," 
 or " Alan Carnes," or " Alan Poythress, fifth Earl 
 of Avenel ! " Only that day Geoffry had heard 
 him talked about between two men in camp. 
 A hundred instances of his courage, endurance, 
 magnanimity, had been cited. And he was gone 
 to dust under an Indian tomahawk! What 
 did any of this matter to him, now? 
 
 But Flower, having, with an Englishman's 
 pertinacity, made up his mind to find out what 
 Lord Avenel had been doing in the office, 
 would not stop at the deed. He felt con- 
 vinced that, somewhere, there was another clew, 
 could he only lay hold of it. 
 
 Happening to look above his head, he saw 
 in a pigeon-hole a yellow parcel of papers, 
 older in appearance than any he had examined. 
 Mechanically, and by the singular process 
 of guiding induction that sometimes leads one 
 straight to the spot where it is intended he 
 should go, he sprang upon a chair, laid his 
 hand upon this packet, and, on drawing it out, 
 saw that it had recently been handled. In the 
 centre was thrust a paper, folded small, for the 
 purpose of inserting it. 
 
 And this paper, lying open in Flower's hands, 
 proved to be the last will and testament of 
 Angus McDuffie, bearing date a few months 
 
208 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 before the Indian attack upon Wild Cat Hol- 
 low, in 1775 ! But Flower's satisfaction in his 
 find was quickly overpowered by the startling 
 discovery that the name of the testator's bene- 
 ficiary, following that of his wife Sarah, had in 
 the three instances where it appeared in the 
 document, been carefully and recently cut 
 out! 
 
 For the first time since he had received 
 Betty's pitiful little note, announcing her en- 
 gagement with his uncle, Flower now ventured 
 to take it out and reread its contents. They 
 
 five him courage to pen a full letter to Hugh 
 oythress, asking him for God's sake to post- 
 pone the marriage until Flower should have an 
 opportunity to verify certain facts that now 
 made it seem impossible the nuptials should 
 go on. The letter despatched by a courier to 
 the low country from Lord Dunmore left not 
 a day too soon. On the morrow the army of 
 the Northern Division, now swelled to about 
 fifteen hundred men, broke camp and set for- 
 ward for Fort Pitt the site where, it will 
 be remembered, had once stood famous Fort 
 Duquesne, burnt by the French in 1758 after 
 which act, according to Washington, they had 
 "run away by the light of it," when General 
 Forbes' army of regulars and provincials, 
 among them a brigade of Virginians and Penn- 
 sylvanians commanded by Washington himself, 
 was close upon them. 
 
X 
 
 UT my dear " said the Colonel 
 "And if the charge were true, though, 
 to be sure, charge there is none, only 
 dark horrid hints it had come better from 
 another than from Captain Flower. A disap- 
 pointed suitor and about his own uncle 
 Really, Mr. Poythress, I believe that young 
 man is not what we fancied him. When I 
 think of the kindness lavished on him, in this 
 house " 
 
 " Which he has more than repaid, if he saves 
 my child's future " 
 
 " his conduct to me seems monstrous. 
 Haven't you the feelings of a father ? To so 
 hazard a marriage that would advance our Betty 
 before every lady in the Province. For should 
 we put it off, 'twould be small wonder if 
 Avenel withdraws definitely." 
 
 " I would that he might," was the weary 
 answer. 
 
 "There, now, husband, that's so like you. 
 
 I believe everybody is bewitched about this 
 
 thing. Even Betty has been behaving in an 
 
 untoward fashion, latterly. Instead of rejoicing 
 
 p 209 
 
2io A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 at the prize she has drawn in the matrimonial 
 lottery, she goes from high spirits into fits of 
 crying. Why, yesterday, when the patterns 
 came from the mercer's in Williamsburg, and 
 I called her to see the sweetest white-and- 
 silver I'd picked out for the wedding gown, 
 she just touched it with one finger, and looked 
 away, the tears coming into her eyes." 
 
 " Say you so ? " exclaimed the Colonel, joy- 
 fully. " Then, my dear Bess, I breathe free. 
 'Tis plain my poor dear girl has let herself be 
 overtempted by rank and riches. If she cares 
 no more than that, gladly will I send our little 
 kinsman who goes against my grain mightily 
 packing about his business." 
 
 "Colonel Poythress," said his lady, rallying 
 all her scorn (and inches) to confront this 
 alarming movement, "if you cannot understand 
 the workings of a mother's heart, at least you 
 might respect them." 
 
 " I'm blessed if I understand anything," said 
 the baited man. "You know, Bess, whether 
 I desired this alliance, or merely yielded to it 
 upon your representation that my girl's happi- 
 ness was involved." 
 
 "And I spoke true. 'Twas her own affair, 
 accepting him ; and when she came to ask me 
 to write to you that she had made up her 
 mind, she looked proud as a queen. And if I 
 do crave for her this title and fortune that 
 may never come to me, is it any wonder ? Is 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 21 1 
 
 Betty the girl to be thrown away upon some 
 tobacco-planting squire that will bury her alive 
 on a plantation? or shall she follow the drum 
 with a soldier ? Why, ever since our girl was 
 a tiny thing, she has heard stories from the 
 black people about the great lord that was 
 to sail across the sea and carry her away to 
 live in his palace. Every one has predicted 
 for her a great marriage ; and, now the great 
 marriage has come, are we to cast it aside 
 like a worn glove or an old shoe ? " 
 
 " If the fellow's not fit for her, he must go," 
 said papa, cutting short Madam Poythress' fine 
 speeches in the disagreeable fashion of hus- 
 bands with which wives are perfectly familiar. 
 
 Madam Poythress burst into tears. 
 
 " And this, when you have just returned to 
 me after so long an absence ! It must be that 
 I have grown old and plain " 
 
 " Is this relevant, Bess ? " asked her husband, 
 mildly. 
 
 " I know not what is relevant. I care for 
 naught, since your love for me has cooled." 
 
 After Poythress had made answer by a loyal 
 kiss, and sundry assurances of a nature evi- 
 dently satisfactory, the appeased lady returned 
 to the charge. 
 
 " Then do as you think best, husband, and 
 I will abide by it. But if I were you, I should 
 say nothing to Betty, but that the marriage 
 must be deferred. Avenel will not return here 
 
212 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 for some weeks and, before that, all may be 
 settled happily." 
 
 " Better put the marriage out of mind, dear. 
 No doubt Flower knows what he is about ; and 
 I think your own good sense, and your love 
 for Betty, will soon show you that we have 
 made a mistake, and should be glad to repair 
 it before it has gone too far." 
 
 " Trust Flower for trumping up something," 
 said the mother, unconvinced. " I'll declare, 
 Betty's beaux keep me in perpetual hot water. 
 That dreadful duel though, to be sure, there 
 was no blood shed between Major Trump- 
 ington and Charlie Steptoe at the Court-House, 
 last year ! For a week I could hardly sleep o' 
 nights ; and she cool as a cucumber the little 
 minx ! " 
 
 " 'Twould have been a sensible pleasure to 
 me had she cared for Geoffry Flower " ven- 
 tured the Colonel, feeling himself to be on 
 delicate ground. 
 
 " Captain Flower will know better than to 
 show himself here again, I fancy," returned the 
 lady, tossing her head. " But there, you have 
 other letters in your hand unopened, Colonel 
 Poythress." 
 
 " So dismayed was I by the contents of 
 Flower's, I thought naught of them," said her 
 husband. " The budget was sent to me from 
 Mount Vernon, where 'twas obligingly left by 
 Mr. Triplet, on his way from the Ferry. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 213 
 
 What's here a letter from General Lewis at 
 Headquarters at Staunton ? God send it may 
 not ah! the poor lad, the poor lad! Our 
 dear Rolfe is gone, Bess ; read it, wife, I can- 
 
 not see." 
 
 Madam Poythress, receiving the sad intel- 
 ligence with true womanly feeling, wept over 
 the boy's untimely end, his mother's desolation, 
 and the sorrow this event would cause to her 
 own flock. For the time, even the threatened 
 downfall of Betty's castle-in-the-air retired into 
 littleness. Leaning her head upon her hus- 
 band's shoulder, the two mingled honest tears. 
 
 The scene of this conjugal dialogue was 
 " The Chamber " pronounced with a broad 
 a ; a courtesy title, in an old Virginian house, 
 of the mother's room on the ground floor, pos- 
 sessing generally an exit out of doors, by which 
 came and went petitioners from the negro quar- 
 ters, to claim dole or sympathy from their 
 mistress. Here, also, work was cut out and 
 distributed ; lessons were given to the female 
 slaves in dusting, polishing floors, mending, 
 darning, and knitting ; and the -children were 
 taught their catechism on Sunday afternoon 
 to say nothing of receiving such daily expres- 
 sions of maternal authority as dosing, lecturing, 
 and penitential elevation upon stools. 
 
 "The Chamber" was a large, airy, exquisitely 
 neat room, full of the homely pleasantness that 
 children love ; and by them much affected, in 
 
214 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 spite of the memory of discipline that haunted 
 certain spots. By the length of time the doors 
 of this apartment remained shut, those outside 
 were enabled to reckon the magnitude of the 
 offence, ailment, or confidence under considera- 
 tion within ; and, in the hall leading away from 
 it, May and Hughey (the latter at home for 
 the school vacation) now waited, fixing an eager 
 gaze upon the mahogany panels of the barrier 
 that excluded them from the joy of their father's 
 presence. 
 
 " I believe he's getting it," said Hughey, 
 looking wise. 
 
 " You silly boy ! " cried May. 
 
 " Well, I'm glad 'tis not me, anyhow," went 
 on Madam Poythress' darling heir. "That 
 little cupboard behind the chimney-place I 
 couldn't ever think of it, without smelling 
 castor-oil ! But she keeps lollipops in there, 
 too, for I hooked some yesterday." 
 
 " Hughey, do be quiet, there's a dear. I 
 don't want to listen, but I think I think 'tis 
 mamma crying ! And mamma hardly ever cries. 
 Perhaps," she added, " we ought to go away." 
 
 " I hope 'tis an express to say the Indians 
 have scalped old Avenel," said Hughey, stoi- 
 cally. " For there's no fun in the house since 
 Betty's been going to be a Countess." 
 
 " Hush, Hughey, 'tis a secret yet. But I, 
 too, wish our brother-to-be had never set foot 
 at Vue de 1'Eau." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 215 
 
 " Mamma says Betty can have four coaches, 
 if she likes, and a palace far grander than the 
 Governor's. How fine England must be, 
 May ! But I like the Province better. Betty 
 says I may have all the shooting I want at 
 Avenel but they've no canvas-backs there, 
 and it seems a dull place, to my mind. Now, 
 if Betty'd taken Flower May, why do you 
 look so dumpish ? By George, I'd as soon be 
 back at school ! " 
 
 " I'm not dumpish," said the girl, making 
 an attempt to smile ; " I'm going to play with 
 you all day, now ; and, if you like, we'll tilt at 
 a ring on the pony this afternoon." 
 
 " I know a trick or two Rolfe taught me 
 that'll beat you easily," said the lad. " I wish 
 old Rolfe hadn't gone fighting, or that I was 
 with him. If I tell you something, sister, will 
 you never, never tell ? Well then, I was in the 
 stable-yard just now, and I heard two of the 
 men talking, and they said 'twas rumoured at 
 Dumfries whence John rid to-day with the 
 horse-doctor for the brown mare that Rolfe 
 had been hurt in a skirmish with the Indians 
 at least, I thought 'twas Rolfe, but when I 
 asked them, the men said 'twas not so, I was 
 mistaken, and made me promise to say nothing 
 about it at the great house, till the master 
 spoke. But, I'm almost sure ; and, May, I 
 have been heavy-hearted since. I had to tell 
 somebody." 
 
2i 6 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 May's heart leaped with a sharp pain she had 
 never known before. Clutching her brother by 
 the arm, she tried to speak, and failed ; and 
 the door of The Chamber that moment open- 
 ing, their parents came out, pale and grave, and 
 told them they need never hope to see their 
 Cousin Rolfe again. 
 
 " He was my only brother's son," said the 
 Colonel, solemnly. " And I had looked to him 
 to lift poor Dick's name from the dust, and 
 to found a new branch of our old line in the 
 Province. But God's will be done. He has 
 fallen fighting in defence of his native soil, and 
 resignation becomes us who survive him. I 
 shall rejoice if my own son learns, from this 
 afflicting loss of a young relative so recently 
 among us in full health and strength, the lesson 
 of a manly life and an heroic death." 
 
 Hughey, who had burst into loud weeping, 
 covered the silence of Matoaca, who, dry- 
 eyed and motionless, stood staring into space. 
 Betty, having heard, in her room above, the 
 unwonted sounds of woe, here came running 
 down the stairs, and stopped in alarm upon the 
 landing to survey the group. In her combing- 
 gown of rose-colour, with the auburn locks 
 hanging loose around her fair throat, the girl 
 had never looked more bewitching. When 
 she caught the last sentence of her father's 
 impressive speech, Betty did not think to 
 connect it with any but the one most often 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 217 
 
 present in her rebel thoughts. She uttered 
 a frightened note, grew white where she had 
 been rosy-red and, before her father could go 
 to catch her, sank in a heap upon the stairs, 
 crying out Geoffry Flower's name, in accents 
 of feeling unmistakable. 
 
 None of them ever forgot those days at Vue 
 de 1'Eau, following the tidings of Rolfe's loss. 
 The good Colonel, who had his hands full of 
 public troubles, as well as the cares of his own 
 fireside, spent most of his days in riding about 
 the neighbourhood, lifting up his voice in earnest 
 beseechings that his old friends would desist 
 from action until the British Ministry could 
 send to the political situation the relief for 
 which he confidently hoped. But the neigh- 
 bours had done with waiting upon the British 
 Ministry. They were now busily engaged in 
 organising a company of volunteers, whose 
 smart new uniforms of blue turned up with 
 buff made gay many a waste place at a cross- 
 roads' four corners. Drum and fife startled 
 the greenwood glades. Hughey, coming in 
 one day, with a request to be allowed to train 
 with the Fairfax volunteers, had his ears boxed 
 by his mamma, and was lectured by his papa, 
 until the whole system of the political world 
 broke up in stars within his cranium. 
 
 What went on in this little corner of Vir- 
 ginia was a sample of the spirit throughout the 
 
2i 8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Colonies. The scheme of a Continental Con- 
 gress, first proposed by the Sons of Liberty in 
 New York, and put into prompt operation by 
 the bold Virginians in their meeting at Raleigh 
 Tavern, had fired the whole country to emula- 
 tion. Massachusetts, under the spirited leader- 
 ship of Samuel Adams, who, at the June 
 meeting of their Legislature, had locked the 
 door of the hall and pocketed the key until he 
 could see his measures adopted, had voted to 
 send five delegates. All the other Colonies, 
 excepting Georgia, who, however, consented 
 to abide by the decision of the rest, had fol- 
 lowed suit. The electric spark of brotherhood 
 had flashed from end to end of the American 
 settlements. 
 
 Hugh Poythress, realising the weight of 
 these things to the utmost, would not, al- 
 though his arguments fell upon deaf ears, 
 give up belief in the ultimate concession by 
 the Crown of all just demands. His hope 
 of relief through the attempt by the Gov- 
 ernor to call a new Assembly on the nth of 
 August which the general disturbance of 
 public feeling had made it necessary to defer 
 until November had failed. The letters he 
 had sent to be read by Washington in his 
 capacity as chairman and moderator of the 
 peopled meetings of their county, during the 
 summer, had been listened to with respect, 
 but without conviction. It was a sore dis- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 219 
 
 tress to the loyal gentleman to go from house 
 to house of his old friends, to stand with the 
 familiar groups of neighbours outside the church 
 doors after service, and to find everywhere that, 
 " with the remembrance of the King, horror 
 was associated " ; that " he seemed to stalk 
 like the arch-enemy of mankind/' Even his 
 intimates men bound by the ties of a life- 
 time preferred no longer to talk with Poy- 
 thress about public affairs. From some of 
 them he had been obliged to endure utterances 
 bitterly at variance with his principles. The 
 situation was becoming daily more strained 
 and painful to his gentle spirit. Sometimes 
 he thought of himself as a straw sucked into 
 a whirlpool, and circling round and round be- 
 fore destruction. 
 
 An intention, formed in his mind upon hear- 
 ing of Rolfe's death, to ride away into the 
 up-country, and try to be of service to his 
 afflicted sister-in-law, was now fixed. He 
 was to leave in a day or two, and, to Hughey's 
 delight, had promised to take the lad with 
 him. Poythress did not care to admit to 
 himself, that his departure from the scene at 
 this critical juncture of county politics was a 
 virtual acknowledgment of defeat. But it did 
 not prevent his giving liberally money to the 
 fund for the Boston poor, and goods for the 
 same purpose to the ship then loading in the 
 Potomac, off his shore. 
 
22o A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 It was now a day or two lacking of the 
 time fixed for George Washington to repair in 
 company with his brother delegates, Henry 
 and Pendleton, to Philadelphia, for the open- 
 ing of the new Congress. Poythress, who felt 
 impelled to deliver to them a few final words 
 of friendly remonstrance, had determined to 
 visit Mount Vernon for the purpose, and was 
 seated in his library pondering over what was 
 wisest for him to say, when his wife, much 
 excited, came into the room. 
 
 "Troubles never come singly," said the 
 good lady, setting her key-basket on the table, 
 and dropping palpitating into a chair. " Here 
 is my poor Judith passed away suddenly 
 at the last, though yesterday the doctor gave 
 me little room for hope she would live long. 
 What I am to do without the faithful creature 
 such a clear starcher of the girls' tuckers, 
 such a hand at cleaning lace ! And in fine 
 cookery not her match on the Potomac tide- 
 water ! You remember my Lord the Governor 
 was helped three times to her lark pasty, the 
 last day they dined with us in town ; and, 
 husband, there was something on her mind 
 before she died. She slept, and waked, cry- 
 ing out to the Lord for mercy. Ah, poor 
 soul ! I am out of health with sitting by her 
 bed. I wonder what was the real story of 
 her life at home ? " 
 
 " Best not try to trace it, my dear. The 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 221 
 
 class she represents have always something 
 behind them to live down when they come 
 out to us. But she has been an honest and 
 devoted servant, and I am grieved that you 
 have this new care/' 
 
 " / could not have been dreaming," went on 
 his wife, reluctantly ; " and yet, just before 
 she died, the poor creature called out distinctly 
 ' shame on Lord Avenel for his treatment of 
 his brother's son/ Then she fell into a doze, 
 and started up again, begging ( Master Geoffry ' 
 to c see a foul wrong made right/ And all 
 else I could gather was, c it may be that the 
 boy is living yet/ Husband, dear, whatever 
 could she mean by that ? " 
 
 "Great Heavens!" said Hugh Poythress, 
 sitting upright in his chair. " What new pit 
 of duplicity is opening beneath my feet ? " 
 
 His wife hung her head. She knew he was 
 still deeply offended by the part she had taken 
 in furthering Betty's engagement with Avenel 
 that had come to an end so crashingly. It had 
 hurt him to think that his girl, while secretly 
 loving another man, should have been so near 
 to wrecking herself in this marriage of sheer 
 ambition ; and that his wife had not better con- 
 trolled, nay, had sanctioned, the treachery 
 for so it seemed to Hugh Poythress' straight- 
 forward mind. The household, ever since, had 
 been in an unnatural attitude of separation ; the 
 women keeping apart from their head, con- 
 
222 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 scious of his displeasure the boy, Hughey, 
 openly wishing for the day to come when he 
 might ride away from this dismal atmosphere. 
 And now again, the Colonel felt himself 
 stopped short on the brink of something 
 worse than any that had gone before. The 
 words of the dying housekeeper that might 
 otherwise have been set down to the fancies 
 of delirium gained weight through the testi- 
 mony of his wife that Judith had been thrown 
 into the greatest agitation by the arrival of 
 Lord Avenel, was almost unfitted for her 
 duties, and had in every way avoided meeting 
 him. That it was through urgent solicita- 
 tion only her mistress had induced the woman 
 not to give up her situation, and go to Williams- 
 burg or Richmond, in search of a new place. 
 
 " Why did you not speak to me of this ? " 
 said the Colonel, fixing his eyes searchingly 
 upon the speaker. 
 
 "Because because," said she, blushing 
 crimson, " I feared it would turn you further 
 against the Earl." 
 
 "Thank God for so much at least of open 
 speaking ! " said Poythress ; and, ashamed, she 
 glided from the room. 
 
 A close search of the effects of Judith Carnes 
 resulted only in the discovery of a will be- 
 queathing her savings to a distant relative in 
 Devon. There was no trace of anything to 
 otherwise indicate her connection with any 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 223 
 
 human being. And so, the sinning woman was 
 laid away in a corner of the Poythress family 
 burying-ground, on a hill looking down upon 
 the river, her stormy history, like many an- 
 other of its kind, covered away under Virginia's 
 friendly sod. 
 
 But Colonel Poythress, to whom the sugges- 
 tion of Flower's letter of warning against 
 Avenel was thus surprisingly confirmed, de- 
 termined to lose no time in seeing both uncle 
 and nephew, and, if possible, confronting them 
 with one another. 
 
 As, mounted upon his satin-coated Ajax, 
 our much-troubled Colonel was setting out 
 from his own door for Mount Vernon on the 
 morning of the last day of August, he espied, 
 crossing the lawn upon her way from the 
 quarter, where she had been to visit an ailing 
 servant, his daughter Matoaca. The maiden 
 walked with so listless a step, and her smile 
 in greeting him was so mechanical, his heart 
 filled up with love and pity for one whose truth 
 had never failed him. On the spur of the 
 moment, he invited her to go with him a-pil- 
 lion, as she had often done before. 
 
 " That will I, dearest father," she exclaimed 
 gratefully. " Since Betty left yesterday on her 
 visit to Cousin Mercer's, I am like the black 
 Poland hen's one little lonesome chicken ; for 
 Hughey will do nothing but catch fish and 
 
224 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 crabs and that is sport I do despise. If you 
 knew how I want to see my dear Colonel 
 Washington before he goes but I dared not 
 ask, now all is so changed " 
 
 Her lip trembling, her father bade her run 
 away and fetch hood and cushion ; and soon 
 she was perched behind his broad back, a 
 proceeding to which Ajax, upon their first set- 
 ting out, had always to be made forcibly re- 
 signed. May did not fear the horse's 
 caperings. With her slender arms embracing 
 her father, she felt happier than in days past. 
 She had longed to chat with him, to comfort 
 him in his altered spirits. As her guileless 
 talk fell on the Colonel's ears, it did, indeed, 
 something conduce toward the end desired. 
 He felt that it was good to have her so near 
 his heavy heart. 
 
 "What would I give for Hughey's chance 
 to ride with you to the up-country," she said, 
 presently, with a sigh. 
 
 " Would you so, darling ? Then come with 
 us," said the father, heartily. " But for the 
 difference in gear, you are as much a man as 
 Hughey, that is, as far as endurance of fatigue 
 and 'tis a lovely season. There is more 
 than one house of friends where you and the 
 boy might put up whilst I push on to see my 
 poor sister Poythress." 
 
 " Oh ! take me there, papa," cried Matoaca, 
 with a deep, choking breath. " Cousin Poy- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 225 
 
 thress has sent me many and many a kind 
 word by Rolfe, and I believe nay, I am sure 
 she would bid me welcome. I do so long 
 to share her grief, to see his home that I 
 know so well through his talk of it " 
 
 " Come, lady-bird, your sorrow wakens mine 
 afresh," said the Colonel. " Let us rather dis- 
 cuss the journey. There is your mother's 
 leave to get, remember." 
 
 " Father dear, she had thought of this her- 
 self. Only this morning, when she called me 
 into The Chamber to take bark, she said, if 
 she dared, she'd pray you to let me go too. 
 She even laid out my holland frocks and a 
 better one for Sundays ; and be sure, papa, 
 she will bid us carry the work-bag with that 
 
 shirt of yours I've been sewing this many a 
 
 j 
 
 day. 
 
 " That, if I depended on, would leave me a 
 Bersarker, indeed," said he, glad of the more 
 cheerful turn of her discourse. " Since it 
 seems you plotters have settled it all before- 
 hand, pray what is the use of the slight formal- 
 ity of asking leave of me ? " 
 
 " Ah ! daddy dear," cried the voice behind 
 him, "once we'd have dared to do anything 
 but now " 
 
 " Never mind c now,' ' said the Colonel, 
 bristling up. " You are to go, and that's 
 enough." 
 
 The reminder of his domestic grievances 
 
226 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 was, however, to be promptly swept away. 
 From the lodge-house at Mount Vernon, old 
 Bishop (the veteran who had served his master 
 in Braddock's war, now in clover with his fam- 
 ily in this snug retreat) issued to give the 
 Colonel the military salute, before opening 
 the gate. 
 
 "All well, Bishop?" said Mr. Poythress, 
 pleasantly. 
 
 "All well, Colonel. Your honour will find 
 Mr. Henry and Mr. Pendleton, together with 
 Colonel Mason of Gunston, who is here to 
 confer with the gentlemen. They are to set 
 off this afternoon, sir ; the horses to be around 
 in time to get their worships across the river 
 in good season to lie at Upper Marlboro* to- 
 night." 
 
 As they passed on, over a shady carriage 
 road, dipping now into fragrant hollows of the 
 woods, rising now to the crest of a hill whence 
 could be enjoyed pleasant glimpses of the 
 house, Hugh Poythress spoke not a word. 
 When nearing the - front door set midway 
 in a fa$ade extended on either side by wings, 
 to which it was united by arcades he said, 
 with a heavy sigh : 
 
 " Hast thought what this means, little 
 daughter ? " 
 
 " What, papa ? " asked she. 
 
 " This meeting of great leaders to journey 
 to Philadelphia ? 'Tis, believe me, the life, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 227 
 
 liberty, and property of three millions of happy 
 people they are hazarding. I would that I had 
 an archangel's trumpet to warn them from 
 the path they will pursue." 
 
 By the tremour of his voice, Matoaca knew 
 he was deeply stirred. An answer (that might 
 have pained him) was suppressed ; and, as they 
 now halted, she slipped down upon the horse- 
 block and ran away, with the privilege of long 
 intimacy, to find for herself her hostess. 
 Colonel Poythress, delivering Ajax to the care 
 of his own groom, more deliberately followed 
 the servant who came out to receive them. 
 They found Madam Washington a plump, 
 sweet-faced woman, dressed in a half-mourning 
 sack and petticoat of lilac and white chintz, a 
 gauze cap upon her soft, brown hair stand- 
 ing in the broad, stone-paved colonnade at the 
 rear of the house, giving directions to a group 
 of negroes who, upon the appearance of their 
 mistress' guests, scattered in different direc- 
 tions to execute her behests. Although traces 
 of tears remained upon the lady's cheeks, she 
 made a brave effort to smile as if in customary 
 spirits in giving welcome to her friends. 
 
 " Yes, 'tis a busy day for me," she said, in- 
 viting them to chairs ranged upon the flagging 
 of the colonnade where, in mild weather, it 
 was the habit of Mount Vernon folk to sit, in 
 preference to indoors ; " since I arose at six, 
 I have hardly rested. But now all is in readi- 
 
228 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 ness, and I am glad indeed to have you with 
 me, to withdraw my thoughts from the con- 
 sideration of my husband's going." 
 
 " I would with all my heart that he were 
 not leaving you on such a mission," burst out 
 the Colonel, irrepressibly. " For 'tis the first 
 time I've ever seen my friend George Wash- 
 ington set forth upon a public errand when I 
 could not wish him from my heart God 
 speed." 
 
 " And 'tis the first time," returned the lady, 
 with spirit, " that I have known my friend 
 Hugh Poythress support the cause of evil- 
 doing. But there, there, such talk does not 
 become neighbours as old and intimate as we. 
 If what my husband is about to do be folly, 
 then he will be first to admit himself in fault. 
 But I am convinced that George is right, now, 
 as always. My whole heart is in his cause. 
 He stands ready for any sacrifice, and is cheer- 
 ful. But I foresee darker days coming out 
 of this, than we've ever known in Virginia. 
 Alas ! wherever I turn, there are clouds around 
 me; but George knows best, and I must be 
 hopeful, and wait for his return. ' Surely, 
 Colonel, we may agree to let this make no 
 difference between us and ours ! " 
 
 Colonel Poythress lifted to his lips the white 
 hand she extended to him with a charming 
 grace, while May, throwing both arms around 
 Madam Washington's neck, gave her a hearty 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 229 
 
 hug and kiss. The gentlemen, returning at 
 this juncture from the paddock whither Wash- 
 ington had conducted them for a farewell look 
 at his colts and two-year-olds, strolled across 
 the lawn so deeply engaged in conversation as 
 not to notice the addition to their party upon 
 the colonnade. 
 
 Henry, walking in advance with Washing- 
 ton, was followed by Pendleton, arm-in-arm 
 with Mason, the rear brought up by one or 
 two gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who, like 
 Colonel Poythress, had dropped in to say 
 farewell. Of the four famous statesmen, the 
 one who appeared to be freest of concern re- 
 garding the result of their present action, was 
 undoubtedly Patrick Henry, who advanced 
 almost buoyantly to meet the great issues of 
 the hour. His eye beamed with unclouded 
 brilliancy ; his ardent spirit confessed no possi- 
 bility of failure. George Mason, not himself a 
 delegate, was in full sympathy with Henry's 
 aggressive schemes. His strong, dark, satirical 
 face, now kindled with patriotic enthusiasm, 
 made a striking contrast to the fine, thoughtful, 
 and intellectual face of Pendleton, v/hose habit 
 of pondering deeply before every move on the 
 political chess-board gave him an air of with- 
 drawal from the most active share in affairs. 
 
 Washington, upon whom, at this moment, 
 weighed heavily the thought of his solitary 
 wife, the abandonment of rural interests, of the 
 
230 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 home he loved, and, most of all, of the inevita- 
 ble consequence to the country of the step they 
 were about to take, was more than commonly 
 grave. When the three delegates to the first 
 Continental Congress saw awaiting them upon 
 the piazza at Mount Vernon a leading mem- 
 ber of the faction opposing them in His 
 Majesty's Council, it was certainly indicative 
 of the esteem in which they held the man, that 
 all went forward together to greet Poythress 
 with cordial outstretched hands. 
 
 Their talk, sitting afterwards in the cool 
 shadow of the colonnade, looking across the 
 river that here broadens to a noble width, at 
 the red shores of distant Maryland, was at first 
 chiefly of matters agricultural, but in due time 
 came around to the topic of the hour. May, 
 who, her hand tucked into the kind clasp of 
 her godfather, sat motionless by Washington, 
 drank in with avidity the arguments for the 
 last time rehearsed between her father and his 
 opponents. With her whole heart, she rever- 
 enced and longed to sympathise with her be- 
 loved sire. Once, leaving Washington, she 
 went over and stood beside her father's chair, 
 resting her arm upon his shoulder, and there 
 continued to listen. In this battle of giants, 
 the girl felt herself to be pitifully small; and, 
 yet under its influence, deep down in her heart 
 was throbbing into life something destined to 
 grow, to lift her to another level the im- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 231 
 
 mortal love of liberty. If she had hesitated 
 before, she knew now. If she had heretofore 
 trusted her father's opinions, she loved him the 
 better because now convinced that he was in 
 the wrong, and could not see it! And all the 
 while her thoughts were : " Rolfe thought that. 
 Rolfe believed this. Oh ! if Rolfe were but 
 here to share these moments with me." 
 
 " I have done," said Poythress, finally. 
 " What I have said ends my effort to stay a 
 flood I believe will overwhelm us. What you 
 have answered proves to me indubitably that a 
 repetition of my sentiments will avail nothing. 
 The matter goes now before the representative 
 body you have chosen. Pray God, they may 
 show wisdom in dealing with it. But not you, 
 Mr. Henry, who would charge with impetuos- 
 ity up the Hill Difficulty ; nor you, Mr. 
 Mason, who believe that a majority of the 
 community has a right to abolish the divine 
 
 right of kings ; nor you, Mr. Pendleton, who 
 i i 1 
 
 aim to encourage timid souls to combine m a 
 
 general united opposition ; last of all, you, 
 Colonel Washington, who have publicly offered 
 yourself to avenge the Wrong put upon Boston, 
 none of you, I say, can deny what you are 
 going to bring to pass. The end of this 
 movement will be separation from the mother- 
 country " 
 
 " God forbid ! " replied Washington, with an 
 expression of sharp pain. 
 
XI 
 
 A LITTLE band of mounted travellers 
 wound its way along the woodpath 
 hardly to be called a road that 
 severed the vast monotony of forests clothing 
 the west flank of the Alleghanies. Another 
 day or two of leisurely riding would bring 
 them to Deer Lodge, near which the exigen- 
 cies of the times had just caused to be erected 
 a new stockade fort, for use in an emergency 
 now seeming happily remote. For the Indians 
 under Logan, who had been roaming the border, 
 working out their scheme of vengeance for the 
 disaster at Yellow Creek, were now understood 
 to have set off to join the confederated tribes 
 massing to meet Lord Dunmore on the Ohio. 
 As the lowlanders penetrated farther into 
 this wildly romantic region, they were fuller of 
 wonder and enjoyment. The healing of mind 
 and body wrought by the balm of the woods 
 upon one of his children, the boyish delight of 
 the other, made Hugh Poythress rejoice that 
 he had given them this experience. But now, 
 on approaching an inn in the wilderness, re- 
 nowned for its hot cakes swimming in maple- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 233 
 
 syrup, its broiled partridges and trout cooked 
 upon wood-embers by a local celebrity, styled 
 " Joey's wife," a great disappointment awaited 
 Master Hugh. Here, where they had ex- 
 pected to pass the night, they found heavy 
 shutters nailed into the windows, the doors 
 barred, the interior unoccupied, and recently 
 vacated. No token, anywhere, of the " Lodg- 
 ing, Diet, Provender, Pasturage, and Other 
 Necessaries " exacted by Colonial law of the li- 
 censed keeper of an ordinary, such as "Joey's" 
 claimed to be. Hughey's face dropped, as did 
 those of the younger guide and the negroes. 
 Crogan, the stalwart mountaineer who con- 
 ducted their expedition, looked also blank, 
 though from another cause. 
 
 " 'Tis unaccountable, your worship," he said 
 in an undertone, stepping aside with his em- 
 ployer. " Not three days since, I had word 
 from an acquaintance that stopped here over- 
 night, and then Joey's was in full swing ; I 
 can't hide from you, sir, that I'm not pleased 
 with his movin' off so sudden. Not a word to 
 miss and master, but 'twould only be for extry 
 good reasons that Joey left his premises like 
 this." 
 
 " Good God ! " said Poythress, " had we not 
 every guarantee " The words choked in his 
 throat. 
 
 " True enough, your honour ; and my own 
 belief is that the redskins are far enough away. 
 
234 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 But you can't be sure, sir, and 'tis my business 
 as an old woodsman to listen if a twig cracks. 
 Joey has a long head in such matters; though 
 p'raps 'twas a false alarm. But I reckon he's 
 took his wife to Fort Shannon ; their two lone 
 selves could do nothing here in case of an 
 attack." 
 
 Poythress, hearing his children's young voices 
 blending in light talk about their prospects for 
 the night, cursed himself for having brought 
 them. 
 
 " There is nothing for us but to break open 
 this door and take possession," he said briefly. 
 
 " If I could strike some clew to the reason 
 for Joey's decamping, I'd be better satisfied," 
 answered the guide, meditating. 
 
 " Here come footsteps in the woods ; some 
 one singing a nasal ditty," exclaimed the 
 Colonel. 
 
 " A hunter, I hope, and our supper the bet- 
 ter for venison and birds," answered Crogan. 
 
 This, however, was no bold and brawny 
 huntsman, but a lank, sallow man clad in a 
 brown habit girdled about the waist, from 
 which hung a hand-sickle, carrying across his 
 left arm a large bunch of herbs and simples. 
 
 " Halloo to you, Brother Ezekiel ! " called 
 the guide. " I might have known 'twas one 
 of your fraternity, from the kill-joy way you 
 tune your pipes. Stop a bit, and give some 
 information to the gentry." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 235 
 
 " 'Tis a Dunkard, sir, or f Tunker,' as the 
 country people calls them. A sort of a seventh- 
 day Baptist, one of a lot that came over from 
 Pennsylvania some years ago, and founded a 
 new c Ephrata ' not far from here, named for 
 the head colony in the other Province. And 
 a good farm the brethren and sisters have made 
 out of their settlement. They're sad doleful 
 critters, sir, and no friends to outsiders ; but 
 'tis possible I can get out of Brother Ezekiel 
 the news o' the day, and so, by your leave, I'll 
 go forward, and talk with him." 
 
 The colloquy between Crogan and the Tun- 
 ker lasting longer than the Colonel's patience 
 could endure, he walked over, to himself inter- 
 rogate the newcomer. 
 
 " 'Tis as I supposed, your honour," said 
 Crogan, reluctantly, "though 'twas given out, 
 everywhere, that Logan had done killing and 
 was gone home to c tell his young men to sit in 
 peace.' This man says Joey Kent and his wife 
 got word by a Christian Indian that used to 
 work for 'em a fellow they nursed when he 
 was ill that a party of Mingoes was planning 
 to swoop down on these parts where they was 
 not expected. Sort o' finishing touch to their 
 campaign, sir. Joey's wife was badly scart, and 
 yesterday they moved up to Fort Shannon. If 
 'twas only us, your worship, I'd say stop where 
 we are, and bivouac in Joey's house. But as 
 long as we've a lady and a boy in the party, 
 
236 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the sensible thing would be to get the brother- 
 hood at Ephrata to give us shelter for the 
 night. No chance of a scare there, sir. The 
 savages think they're crazy-like, and will give 
 'em a wide berth." 
 
 "An excellent idea," said the poor Colonel, 
 catching at a straw. 
 
 " But, the trouble is the Community won't 
 harbour strangers, and Ezekiel is loath to hear 
 of taking us there. I've told him you'll pay 
 enough to buy their settlement a new cow." 
 
 " Of course, of course. There is no question 
 of pay let him lead us thither, without delay." 
 
 " 'Twill be a cold welcome, sir. But I think 
 Brother Ezekiel can make it straight with them, 
 if he draws a movin' pictur' o' that cow," said 
 Crogan, his cheerfulness regained. 
 
 The man, after some remonstrance, consent- 
 ing to pilot them, the party got again under 
 way. 
 
 In a lovely clearing on the slope of a moun- 
 tain whose summit was bathed in the strong 
 light of afternoon, while around its base fell 
 already the shadows of the night, stood the 
 Dunkard settlement, thrifty, trim, but forbid- 
 ding to the eye. Before one of two long and 
 low buildings housing the men and women, 
 who lived apart save on the occasions when 
 brought together by a communal banquet, 
 Brother Ezekiel stopped, blowing a cow's horn 
 at the door. In answer appeared a woman, to 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 237 
 
 whom, after some parley, he consigned Ma- 
 toaca ; the men in similar fashion were admitted 
 to the brothers' quarters. 
 
 " They'll take good care o' little miss, sir," 
 said Crogan, while they waited to get in. " For 
 though them old maids and widders are as cold 
 as fish, they live honest and decent, and are 
 good housekeepers. When these Tunkers bap- 
 tize, your worship, they make the person kneel 
 down on the edge of a pond or stream, and 
 tumble him over headlong, so as his head goes 
 under water first. Folks say they're rich, but 
 this don't look like it overmuch. And I mis- 
 trust we're goin' to get nothing but roots and 
 yarbs for our supper, and vegetable messes ; 
 for their rules forbid eatin' flesh, except mutton 
 at the love feasts. There ain't much love ap- 
 parent, the way they're keeping us shut out 
 here, I'm thinkin'." 
 
 Poythress, whose whole being was possessed 
 with gnawing anxiety for his children, tried to 
 smile ; but the distress of innocents betrayed 
 by him into such peril was too strong. The 
 memory of his wife, in their happy, safe home, 
 reproached him terribly. Of such food as the 
 Dunkards gave him, he ate sparingly and, upon 
 the bench serving as his bed, laid awake until 
 sleep took pity on him and wiped thought 
 away. 
 
 May followed her portress-guide into a long, 
 bare room, where a number of silent women 
 
238 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 sat fashioning garments and stockings for the 
 Community. On her appearance among the 
 sisters a few cold glances were bestowed upon 
 her, and then, left to herself upon a split-bot- 
 tomed chair, she tasted the full charm of avoid- 
 ance by her kind. After a half-hour of isolated 
 silence, she arose, and, picking up a half-fin- 
 ished yarn stocking with needles in place for 
 work, fell to knitting busily. 
 
 As her fingers flew, her fancies kept pace 
 with them. From this refrigerated atmosphere, 
 all that had inspired cheer in her journey 
 seemed to have fled away. She thought of 
 Rolfe for whom she had never ceased to mourn. 
 As her dream of comforting his mother, of 
 mingling her tears with the one nearest to him, 
 approached realisation, she felt anew the bitter 
 sense of his loss. That he was not of their 
 blood, had been kept from his children by 
 Hugh Poythress, who hesitated to cloud their 
 memory of one whom they had loved as their 
 very own. The interview with his sister-in- 
 law, that, panoplied by his children, he had re- 
 solved to seek, might be left to settle that. 
 His desire was to push to the utmost his offers 
 of help to his brother's widow, let poor Rolfe 
 be whom he might. And May, vaguely un- 
 derstanding that her father felt far from sure 
 of a welcome from Rolfe's mother, began now 
 to cherish doubts on her own account. She was 
 tired, lonely, dispirited ; and she burst into tears. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 239 
 
 At this demonstration, there was a swift 
 crossing of a space of clean scrubbed boards 
 by one of the younger sisters, who, with shy 
 reluctance, patted the girl upon the shoulder. 
 May, though nothing passed between them in 
 words, presently dried her eyes, and the sister, 
 beckoning her out, led the way into a cell of 
 the Dunkard dove-cote, where, upon the sleep- 
 ing-bench with its billet of wood for a pillow, 
 had been thrown a truss of fresh hay, spread 
 with a snowy sheet and homespun coverlid. 
 Washing-apparatus, with a bucket of sparkling 
 water from the spring, made up the fittings of 
 May's little bailiwick ; and when she had grate- 
 fully refreshed herself and removed the trace 
 of tears, the guardian sister reconducted her to 
 the refectory where the others had now as- 
 sembled for their evening repast. 
 
 Cakes of Indian meal ; fresh butter ; a cream 
 cheese ; berries from the mountain side ; new 
 milk ; and a salad of piquant herbs made up 
 the banquet, served with exquisite regard for 
 cleanliness. During the silent ceremonial, May 
 caught several glances directed toward her, that, 
 although restrained, were not unfriendly ; and 
 when, still in daylight, their flock scattered to 
 repose, and the girl, throwing herself wearily 
 upon her couch, fell asleep as she touched it, 
 she had a dim vision that some Presence had 
 paused beside her, had drawn the cover over 
 her shoulders, had stood looking at her for a 
 
240 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 little while, and had then glided away into the 
 world of spirits whence it came. 
 
 Before dawn, the sisterhood was stirring. 
 The sky above the mountain was streaked with 
 a deep orange warming to crimson, when the 
 reunited travellers met in the dewy grass out- 
 side the Community doors. 
 
 " I had a dream that mamma was there and 
 kissed me," May said, exchanging experiences 
 with Hughey. " And oh ! how I wanted her 
 when I awoke." 
 
 " Nobody kissed me," said the lad, with a 
 droll face. "And I never saw people so 
 strange. But, sister, the food was good, tho' I 
 dare swear I shall begin to feel an emptiness, 
 before we have gone a mile or two. 'Twas the 
 kind of eating that fills, but does not stay by a 
 fellow's inside." 
 
 " Hughey," she asked, riding beside her 
 brother, and speaking low, " do you know 
 what it is that ails papa ? He is so changed 
 since yesterday. But that he is not wont to be 
 out of temper, I should think one of us had 
 displeased him." 
 
 "'Tis nothing but your girl's fancy," said 
 the lad, growing a little red, and edging away 
 from her. Before going to bed the night be- 
 fore, he had heard the whole situation dis- 
 cussed between the men, and it had added 
 years to his age and sense of responsibility. 
 
 Their method of travel differed, to-day, from 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 241 
 
 that of yesterday. Crogan, instead of keeping 
 them company, enlivening every one with his 
 quips and cranks of fun and border anecdotes, 
 rode ahead, quite out of sight. From time to 
 time, he would come back to report, and, on 
 each occasion, May observed that her father's 
 face lightened of the cloud that, try as he 
 might, Hugh Poythress could not conceal from 
 her loving notice. 
 
 As the day progressed, and the woods, radi- 
 ant in early autumn dyes, became mellowed to 
 warmth by the mounting sun, Hugh Poythress 1 
 anxiety had indeed relaxed its grip on him. 
 Crogan's expectation that they would arrive by 
 midday without hindrance at the house of 
 Michael Boyle the Irish leader of a small 
 backwoods settlement seemed likely to be 
 realised. Shortly before that time, while they 
 halted for refreshment beside a babbling rivu- 
 let, the guide pricked up his ears. 
 
 "Horses," he said, "coming behind us, and 
 at a gallop." 
 
 Hugh Poythress, knowing not what this 
 might portend, felt his heart strike within him 
 hard and fast. The matter was not long in 
 declaring itself. Along the narrow briary road, 
 passed, at a breakneck speed, two young coun- 
 trymen, straining to the utmost two flying 
 steeds, horses and riders bedecked with tawdry 
 ribbons and rosettes. 
 
 " 'Tis only the race for the bottle, your 
 
242 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 honour," said Crogan, smiling broadly, as he 
 craned his neck to follow the contest, and 
 shouting approval of the rider in advance. 
 " Other things had put out o' my head that 
 to-day is the wedding of Micky Boyle's daugh- 
 ter, Bridget; the one they call the belle of the 
 Upper Tract. See, missy, those mad fellows 
 are the groom's men, that course over every 
 obstacle to try which can first reach the bride's 
 house, and win the prize of a bottle of whiskey. 
 Directly, you will see the bridegroom and his 
 party, following ; and if you've a mind for 
 backwoods fun, we will reach Boyle's in time 
 for the tying of the knot. 'Tis plain, sir," he 
 added, falling back to address himself to 
 Colonel Poythress' ear, " all's well beyond, since 
 Michael Boyle is a man that keeps his eyes 
 and ears always about him for alarms." 
 
 Poythress drew a breath of relief. Standing 
 beside his children on the leaf carpet of the 
 woods, they watched with amusement the pro- 
 gress of a pageant unfamiliar to their sight. 
 Cavaliers in buckskin hunting-shirts, their bare 
 feet covered by shoe-packs or moccasins, their 
 belts garnished with knives and pistols, escorted 
 brown and buxom dames and damsels, in form- 
 less sacques of linsey-woolsey ; she who wore 
 calico being condemned by public opinion as 
 outdressing the occasion, and trying to get even 
 with the bride. The heads of these pioneer 
 ladies were surmounted by ancient hats, tur- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 243 
 
 bans, and caps, brought from the old country 
 by themselves or their progenitors, and kept 
 inviolate upon cupboard shelves, for great occa- 
 sions. Scattered at random over other portions 
 of their costume were old brooches, beads, 
 feathers, ribbons, and artificial flowers. 
 
 The steeds assembled for the procession were 
 recent graduates of the plough, rusty and un- 
 certain in gait and temper, their long manes 
 and tails knotted with burs, ridden with or 
 without saddles, with rope bridles, and switches 
 cut from a wayside bush. The guests, to the 
 number of twenty, carried each an offering for 
 the bride, these gifts including bags of corn 
 and apples, small kegs of whiskey or cider, a 
 string of red peppers, a home-made broom, a 
 tick full of geese-feathers, and a live pig. 
 
 Twanging upon jews-harps, singing, shout- 
 ing, firing pistols and rifles, the hilarious party 
 clattered ahead. In their wake rode the bride- 
 groom, Simon Browne, a meek-looking man 
 of thirty-five, accompanied by his father and 
 mother, a stolid old Scotch-Irish couple, smok- 
 ing corn-cob pipes. Our travellers, hospitably 
 entreated by the company, fell into line at a 
 little distance in the rear. 
 
 At Boyle's a cabin marked in superior 
 gentility by an outside coat of paint and a 
 gourd-vine climbing over the front-door the 
 wedding procession halted amid much jollity. 
 Standing at the gate to receive them, was the 
 
244 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 red-headed winner of the bottle-race, a gawky 
 youngster dancing and flourishing his prize, 
 from which the ladies and gentlemen were re- 
 quested, on alighting, to take a dram to the 
 bride's health. 
 
 Next in order was the nuptial ceremony, 
 for which the bride and her mother had been 
 for days making preparation. Within doors, 
 all was in readiness. Tallow dips, stuck into 
 many bottles, proclaimed expectation that the 
 revels now to begin would continue until sun- 
 rise of next day. The minister, a prim Scotch- 
 man, out of keeping with his surroundings, and 
 the fiddler, a jolly negro, being on hand, there 
 was no reason for delay. The blushing bride, 
 who had been impatiently peeping through the 
 cracks of the flooring overhead, descended the 
 ladder leading from the loft, and stood re- 
 vealed in a callimanco gown of pumpkin-yellow 
 sprinkled with large red spots, and a necklace 
 of blue beads. The ample form of this charmer, 
 her bursting cherry cheeks, sloe-black eyes and 
 hair, and mouth like a drop of crimson sealing- 
 wax, confirmed her right of preeminence among 
 the fair of pioneer society. When she took her 
 place before the minister, the bridegroom, a 
 little in arrears about stepping forward, was 
 reprimanded by her, audibly, with the informa- 
 tion that he'd better hurry up, if he didn't 
 want the meat to be cooked to a cinder ; and 
 at once the meek Simon surrendered his small 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 245 
 
 individuality in the character of Miss Biddy 
 Boyle's husband. 
 
 The knot tied, everybody was invited to step 
 out of doors, where under the trees at the back 
 of the house was spread the wedding-feast on 
 a large slab of timber hewn from its parent 
 trunk with a broad-axe, its legs, four sticks set 
 in auger holes. To this, the host and hostess, 
 aided by the groom's parents and other inti- 
 mates, carried out from the house kitchen a 
 large supply of meats, game, vegetables, bread, 
 and pies. The plates were of wood or pewter ; 
 the cups, in which cider, root-beer, and whiskey 
 were bountifully served, of horn ; and, when- 
 ever a carving-knife was lacking, its place was 
 supplied by the scalping-knife (for obvious 
 reasons considered indispensable to a beau's 
 outfit in pioneer society), whipped from a 
 sheath at the owner's belt. Next, while the 
 bride sat beside her husband at the head of 
 the board, the groom's men crawling on all 
 fours, beneath it, vied with each other to see 
 who should snatch the slipper from her foot 
 he who succeeded, to be rewarded by her 
 hand in the first dance ! 
 
 As the contents of the kegs of drinkables 
 decreased, a hubbub of noisy jollity ensued. 
 May, who had soon enough of looking on, 
 withdrew from the feast, and strayed among 
 the old-fashioned posies of a little garden-patch 
 in front, where coxcomb, sweet-william, lark- 
 
246 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 spur, and bachelor's-buttons made a patriotic 
 attempt to adapt themselves to the soil of the 
 wilderness. 
 
 Here her attention was arrested by a new 
 arrival, whom she took to be a belated wed- 
 ding guest ; a stalwart, red-faced woman, dressed 
 half in man's attire, who, pulling up her reek- 
 ing pony at the hitching-post, gruffly addressed 
 the young lady to her surprise by name. 
 
 " Do you want me ? " asked the girl, recoil- 
 ing a little from one she believed to be under 
 ardent influence. 
 
 " I do, honey, and no mistake. I know you 
 better than you think for, and I come here a- 
 purpose to see your father ; so just you hurry 
 and find him for me, and don't let the grass 
 grow under your feet, a-goin'." 
 
 " Might I trouble you to tell me why ? " said 
 May, colouring at this rude address. 
 
 " 'Tis a matter o' life and death, child. The 
 party of Logan's braves that was said to ha' 
 left the country was hiding, and ha' started back 
 for the Upper Tract. And unless you folks 
 gits into Fort Shannon to-night, you may be 
 cut off without a place to shelter in and 
 that's why." 
 
 The blood streamed out of Matoaca's face, 
 leaving it chalk-white. 
 
 "There now, missy, he didn't want you % to 
 be scart, particular," added the woman, repent- 
 ing of her hasty news. " But there ain't no 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 247 
 
 time for manners, and I can see you're one of 
 the good-plucked kind ; so just keep up your 
 courage, and you'll git safe into the fort to- 
 night, and to-morrow there'll be them as is 
 looking out for you, to come with volunteers 
 to your relief " 
 
 While May wondered who had wished her 
 not to be alarmed, Hugh Poythress, his son, 
 and Crogan, the guide, leaving the boisterous 
 scene at the banquet, to discuss the resumption 
 of their line of march, came upon May and her 
 strange companion. 
 
 "What! Mad Ann?" exclaimed Crogan, 
 with familiar jocularity. " Come to the wed- 
 dih' after time, ain't you ? But 'tis all one to 
 you, so long as the whiskey keg holds out 
 eh?" 
 
 "If you can't give me, my right name o' 
 Mistress Bailey, John Crogan," said the 
 woman, angrily, " I'll settle your score as I 
 did Nick Green's at Sandy Creek, last Whit- 
 suntide, when you stood by, grinning, and 
 picked up what I left o' him. Colonel Poy- 
 thress, here's a letter for your worship I was 
 to give into no hands but yours ; and, when 
 you've read it, p'raps you'll tell little missy 
 here whether Ann Bailey's to be believed or 
 
 not.' 1 
 
 While the Colonel, with astonishment, joy, 
 and anxiety succeeding each other in his coun- 
 tenance, read the letter, Ann set about rubbing 
 
248 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 down her horse, whistling " Rule Britannia " 
 as she worked. 
 
 "You will be brave, my darling," said her 
 father, addressing May, at length. " 'Tis a 
 serious crisis, but by God's help we will 
 weather it. Just now, there is not a moment 
 to lose, since all daylight is precious, and we 
 know not how we may find the fords between 
 here and Fort Shannon. But, be you and 
 Hughey only what I count upon, 'twill give 
 me courage to forget that I have led my chil- 
 dren face to face with such a danger." 
 
 " You can trust me, papa," she said, looking 
 him firmly in the eyes, and her father's spirit 
 rose. In a few moments they were again en 
 route, Ann Bailey having decided to stop for 
 her dinner, and take her chances with the 
 rest. 
 
 Upon the wedding guests, the tidings fell 
 like a thunder-clap. What a diffusion of the 
 happy little company ! What huddling in 
 groups, women clinging to their husbands, 
 sweethearts clasping hands, in the first moment 
 of shocked uncertainty ! Then, the fact grasped 
 and accepted, the cool pioneers went about 
 meeting the situation as they and their fathers 
 had done various times before. Some, mount- 
 ing, galloped away to collect their children and 
 set their homes in a state of defence ; some took 
 the road to the fort, following Colonel Poy- 
 thress. The owner of the house was satisfied 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 249 
 
 to put his substantial domicile into condition 
 for a siege. In the midst of the tumult was 
 heard the voice of the late Miss Bridget Boyle, 
 addressing her new lord : 
 
 " An* it's me ye're asking to go away to the 
 fort is it. Si Browne ? A pretty infair 'twould 
 be for the folks to talk about ! Go yerself, if 
 ye want to. Me and me father and mother, 
 an' as many neighbours as likes it, stays right 
 here ! " 
 
 " Children," said Hugh Poythress, as, toward 
 evening, they neared the fort in safety, " what 
 if I tell you the wonderful good news that 
 came to me in the note I got by Ann Bailey ? 
 Will it cheer you after this great strain and 
 help you to bear what's coming, I wonder ? " 
 
 Matoaca, divining, and yet afraid to believe, 
 gazed at her father with rapt, ecstatic eyes. 
 
 " Rolfe's alive," shouted Hughey. 
 
 " Yes, alive and well, come out of the wil- 
 derness and hastening to our relief with volun- 
 teers whom he is collecting on his way. May, 
 dearest, good news hits you harder than bad, 
 'twould seem to me. What white cheeks you 
 have, little one ! Courage ! we're almost 
 there." 
 
 " I can bear anything, now, father," said the 
 girl, whose heart, indeed, beat a reveille to her 
 flagging strength and spirits. 
 
 " But not a thing must I convey of this to 
 
250 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 his poor mother, till he is able to present him- 
 self before her safe and sound. That is the 
 charge of his loving loyal heart, and we must 
 respect it." 
 
 May could not answer ! 
 
XII 
 
 THERE was no sleep for any of the fifteen 
 men and five-and-twenty non-combatants 
 gathered that September night inside the 
 new fort, meant as a place of refuge for the 
 families living in this remote and exposed 
 neighbourhood, and now to be tested by a siege 
 from Indians skilled in such warfare, under 
 Logan, whose name alone carried with it a 
 sense of terror. 
 
 None too soon had the Poythress party 
 gained the, shelter of this primitive stronghold, 
 consisting of cabins, block-houses, and a well of 
 water, enclosed by a stockade. The cabins, 
 provided for the accommodation of families, 
 with outer walls twelve feet high, and steep 
 roofs sloping inward, formed one side of the 
 fort. The block-houses, from which the men 
 fought through loop-holes provided for the 
 purpose, were placed at the angles of the en- 
 closure, and projected beyond the walls of the 
 cabins and stockade. Their upper stories, 
 overhanging the lower ones, had openings in 
 the floor through which the inmates might keep 
 at bay savages attempting to make lodgment 
 
 251 
 
252 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 underneath the walls; and the stout stockade 
 was finished with a double folding-gate. The 
 whole structure, built of heavy logs, was almost 
 bullet-proof. Although just finished, and not 
 fully equipped with ammunition, the little gar- 
 rison of refugees and volunteers who now 
 occupied it felt confident of its strength to 
 resist an ordinary siege. The size of Logan's 
 party was reckoned to be small, and the men to 
 be counted upon as defenders of the fort were 
 all quick of eye, fearless of nature, and habitu- 
 ated to alarms. 
 
 Among those brought by chance together in 
 this critical moment were the proprietors .of 
 Deer Lodge a forest domicile not a stone's 
 throw from the gates of the fortress Mrs. 
 Poythress, the widow, and her twin brothers, 
 the eccentric Randolphs, who were, if disin- 
 clined to speech with their fellow-mortals, ex- 
 cellent marksmen, cool and clear-headed in 
 such emergencies. 
 
 No experience that had fallen to our good 
 Colonel's lot was more surprising to him than 
 the implacable demeanour of his sister-in-law, 
 who refused to see his proffered hand, and 
 turned away when he addressed her. May 
 and her brother fared better at Mrs. Poy- 
 thress' hands. She even offered them a share 
 of the cabin assigned to her, which the vicinity 
 of her hastily abandoned home had enabled her 
 to provide with comforts lacking to the others. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 253 
 
 But there was no unbending of her chilly 
 manner, even to these two whom she appeared 
 inclined to favour. May, abashed and wounded, 
 went into her own shell, restraining all that 
 she would fain have lavished of sympathy and 
 loving-kindness upon her dear Rolfe's parent. 
 When, in the excitement of their installation 
 at the fort, she found time to whisper to her 
 father her grief over these conditions, she was 
 puzzled by his answer. 
 
 " Ah, well ! little daughter, if I have failed, I 
 have failed. I bear her no grudge. This is 
 not a time to flaunt poor human weaknesses. 
 Could I tell that bitter woman what we know, 
 to make her happier, 'twould be the only re- 
 venge I'd ask. But I must keep faith with 
 Rolfe, and trust that, by God's mercy, he will 
 soon safely reach us." 
 
 Under the instructions of the shrewd and 
 experienced Crogan, who had organised the 
 volunteers in the fort into fighting shape, 
 Colonel Poythress now took charge of the de- 
 fence. From the appearance of a couple of 
 redskins seen dodging in and out among the 
 trees and houses of the small deserted settle- 
 ment hard by, helping themselves to whatever 
 took their fancy, it was evident that the enemy 
 was lurking near at hand, awaiting a favourable 
 moment for attack. All firearms had been 
 brought inside the fort, and in those days, no 
 frontiersman ever parted from his rifle and 
 
254 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 minor equipments ; so they were fairly pro- 
 vided for resistance, and, in apportioning rifles, 
 tomahawks, scalping-knives, and spears to the 
 men, with pistols to the women, to whom was 
 set the task of running bullets in moulds and 
 cutting patches, and in stationing his men at 
 the loop-holes in the best position for defence, 
 Colonel Poythress passed the heavy hours be- 
 fore daybreak. 
 
 At sunrise there was a yell from the woods. 
 The women, who had been carrying around to 
 the garrison food hastily prepared, shivered and 
 looked into each other's eyes. Each read in 
 the other a determination to meet it as bravely 
 as might be, and at the worst to use her pistol 
 turned upon herself. 
 
 Into the rattle of gun-fire, the din of savage 
 cries that were to make hideous half its hours, 
 the beautiful day plunged at the outset. 
 Swarming from behind trees and bushes, the 
 savages dashed with incredible rapidity upon 
 the fort, those in the front rank attempting to 
 plant their rifles against the loop-holes; but 
 the attack went for naught. Four Indians fell 
 in the hail of balls that was returned, the others 
 howling in dismay, but stopping to pick up their 
 dead or disabled comrades before rushing back 
 into retreat. They had evidently not counted 
 upon an organised force within the fort, and 
 the surprise of their reception kept them silent 
 for some time. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 255 
 
 The next onslaught that of a close column 
 of Indians, carrying a heavy timber, with which 
 they advanced at a run upon the gates gave 
 Crogan the opportunity for which his fingers 
 had been itching, to touch off a jaunty little 
 French cannon planted on a platform in the 
 centre of the fort, though its balls (all save one 
 of a few used in experiment) were still some- 
 where on their way on the backs of pack- 
 mules. The single charge did an amount of 
 execution worthy of a full supply. In moral 
 effect, as honest Crogan said, it was worth its 
 weight in gold besides cutting aslant through 
 the array of savages to leave a wall of living on 
 either side of a trail of death. 
 
 While the redmen were again on the retreat 
 to ambuscade, and the fort, generally, was going 
 off its head with pride and satisfaction, Crogan 
 breathed into his chief's ear : 
 
 " Hard luck, your worship. The magazine 
 is empty ! That barrel we took to hold gun- 
 powder is full o' raw saltpetre ; and the Lord 
 knows what we're goin' to do, after we've used 
 what's in the block-houses. From what the 
 fellows that live in the cabins say, there's a 
 supply on the way, but it might's well be a 
 supply o' weddin' cake, for all the good we'll 
 get from it. One of them queer old gents that 
 lives in the widow's house over yonder says 
 he left 'bout a dozen pounds o' powder in a 
 keg hid in that shed, behind the door. But 
 
256 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Lord save us, sir, 'twould be facin' death for 
 any man to venture after it, with them red- 
 skins on the prowl." 
 
 " We must do without, then," said Hugh 
 Poythress, tightening his lips. " So far, all's 
 in our favour, and if we hold out till reinforce- 
 ments come, 'twill be better than I dared ex- 
 pect. And mind, Crogan, of all things, keep 
 up the heart of our garrison. Tell them relief 
 is sure to come, as soon as a fit number can be 
 assembled. If delayed a bit, 'tis only because 
 my nephew has not got the men he needs." 
 
 "If Cap'n Rolfe said he was comin', he'll be 
 here," said the Lieutenant. " There ain't any- 
 body in the fort, but what's interested in his 
 risin' from the dead, this way, and in keepin' 
 the secret from that poor mother o' his, that's 
 better inside than she 'pears upon the bark." 
 
 " Let no one who would lose heart by it, 
 know about our powder scrape," added the 
 Colonel. 
 
 " Lord, sir, trust me. But that wouldn't be 
 your little missy, Colonel. The men are all 
 buzzing over how she's got the spirit of a sol- 
 dier. And there's the young master, sir, if 
 you'd please give him orders to keep in the 
 rear ; for I can't take it on me to answer for 
 the lad. Why, sir, in the first charge, that 
 twelve-year-old picked off his man like any 
 
 veteran." 
 
 " Did he ? God bl Devil fetch the ras- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 257 
 
 cal ! " said Hughey's father, swallowing a lump 
 of pride. " No, Crogan, we have need of him, 
 and he must keep his place like the rest." 
 
 Matoaca, meanwhile, was the warm pulse of 
 the garrison. Now in the cabins, heartening 
 the wretched, terrified women and children and 
 patriarchs, again in the block-houses waiting 
 upon the men who dared not forsake the loop- 
 holes, her spirit brightened the interminable 
 day. 
 
 What damage had been done to the out- 
 works of the fort was repaired from within. 
 They had food enough and, but for the fatigue, 
 the condition of the little force was much as it 
 had been at the outset of the siege. But the 
 strain of suspense had begun to show. The 
 hint of a short supply of powder had somehow 
 crept around; and the fall of night upon a 
 wooded landscape bristling with hostile gun- 
 barrels made the cry of the birds in the forest 
 seem doubly dispiriting. Matoaca, on her 
 rounds with hot coffee, and portions of veni- 
 son steak served upon bits of hoe-cake, 
 stopped at the post where her brother had 
 held his ground all day, rifle in hand. 
 
 " Art tired, dearest ? " she said caressingly, 
 laying her hand on his. 
 
 "Nay, I am not a girl," said Hughey, edg- 
 ing away from her. cc For goodness* sake, give 
 me a full share of food, for starved am I, since 
 midday. Ah ! was ever coffee good as this, I 
 
258 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 wonder ? Sister, I'm sorry I was cross. Dost 
 know something ? Crogan said miss was not 
 to be told, but I said pooh ! He did not 
 know you. We are in a bad way for powder. 
 If we fight to-night, by to-morrow morning, 
 there'll be none left ! I've got such an idea, 
 May. If I could get into yonder shed see 
 where I'm pointing behind that door hid 
 under an old wash-tub is a little keg of 
 powder that I could carry easily 'tis not far 
 I could run fast if I thought papa would 
 not be vexed with me " 
 
 The girl, externally calm, did not answer 
 him at once. 
 
 " Sister, you hear me ? You wouldn't tell 
 if I went, and now is the best time when it 
 is growing dusk " 
 
 " The orders are, not a man shall leave his 
 post," she said, with a tremble of excitement in 
 her voice. 
 
 " I know," said Hughey, holding his head 
 erect. " And I couldn't really, unless you'd 
 take my rifle. You, that love shooting so " 
 he added coaxingly. 
 
 " I could fire," answered she ; " but oh ! 
 Hughey, did I hit any one, I'd never forgive 
 myself." 
 
 " Silly girl ! " said her brother. 
 
 "Yes, dear, I'm a silly girl, I know and 
 therefore you shouldn't ask me. I'll load for 
 you, all you like, but shoot live men no, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 259 
 
 don't speak of it. So you see, Hughey, you 
 dare not leave your post." 
 
 " Not unless you replace me," was his pout- 
 ing answer. And, in a little while, arose anew 
 the now familiar blood-curdling whoop that 
 sent every rifle again to its death-dealing work. 
 Soon there was no chance for any one to stir 
 from shelter. By the lurid flashes from the 
 guns, by the soft light of stars, the fight went 
 on all night. The stout resistance of the be- 
 sieged, giving proof to the besiegers of a power 
 not counted on, threw the Indians back upon 
 strategy, their devices keeping the garrison upon 
 a strain more dreadful than the heat of combat. 
 
 When another day broke, the little band in 
 the fort found themselves, save for a few tri- 
 fling casualties, not much the worse for the 
 night of horror. It was something to view 
 again the fair face of nature; and the hope of 
 relief from volunteers they knew to have rallied 
 to their aid, sprang high in their breasts. 
 
 After a long interval, a party of the enemy 
 again approached, surrounding a new engine of 
 destruction devised in imitation of the cannon, 
 their now silent enemy of the previous day. 
 A hollowed log, bound around with iron chains 
 and heavily charged with stones and powder, 
 escorted by two chiefs carrying lighted torches, 
 was directed toward the gate of the stockade. 
 With taunting cries, and gleeful caperings, the 
 band drew nearer, when a torch, slipping from 
 
260 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the bearer's hand upon the log, exploded it 
 instantly, scattering death and consternation 
 among them. At this, a shout of joy went up 
 from the block-houses, and the Indians, in dis- 
 may, beat a precipitate retreat. 
 
 During the ensuing intermission of hostili- 
 ties, the men snatched at a chance for rest, 
 some of them dropping asleep as their bodies 
 fell upon the ground; the women now sup- 
 plied their places at the rifles, and the puncheon 
 floors of the block-houses were soon strewn with 
 smoke-stained figures, chained in the slumber of 
 utter physical fatigue. 
 
 When Colonel Poythress, who left Crogan at 
 the lookout, went to search for his children, he 
 found the pair nestled together on the floor, 
 Helen Poythress, a grim, grey statue, at the 
 loop-hole, holding the rifle dropped from the 
 tired boy's hand. Kneeling down to kiss them, 
 he did not disturb the lad, but Matoaca opened 
 her eyes quickly and started upon her feet. 
 
 " I was not asleep, papa," she said, clinging 
 to him in a fond embrace ; " though I have 
 slept quite enough to freshen me. I was think- 
 ing hard. Tell me the truth, father. Is our 
 powder gone ? " 
 
 "Almost, my darling. If help does not 
 come to us from outside, and I think it can- 
 not tarry much longer, we must find some 
 means to get the powder left in yonder house." 
 
 " Who will go for it, father ? " 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 261 
 
 " God knows. I had thought of the men 
 drawing lots, though Crogan says we had best 
 call for a volunteer. But there, do not fret 
 thyself, little soldier mine. Put thy arms 
 around my neck and give me a good hug, and 
 so watch to awake thy brother when 'tis time/* 
 
 " Kiss me once more, father." 
 
 Straining her to his heart, breathing a bless- 
 ing above her childish head, Hugh Poythress 
 hurried away. For those two, he was ready to 
 live over again the stress of his late endeavour. 
 Helen Poythress, staring through the loop- 
 hole, took no heed of what went on at her 
 back. 
 
 When, on regaining his point of observation, 
 Poythress looked forth into the new day, the 
 trees, standing ringed in their autumnal liveries 
 around an amphitheatre of cleared ground, were 
 illumined by the risen sun. Over in the group 
 of cabins surrounding Deer Lodge, there was 
 no sign of movement. Not a sound broke the 
 stillness of the dewy matin hour. Behind the 
 door, less than a hundred yards distant from 
 the gate of the stockade, lay salvation for those 
 in the fort. 
 
 Crogan whose little, grey eyes twinkled 
 with eagerness to make the venture to secure 
 the keg dared not repeat his offer to do so, 
 to the chief. Poythress had answered that to 
 lose him would be like parting his right hand 
 from his wrist. 
 
262 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " I suppose we must/' groaned the Colonel, 
 with whom it went hard to consign to almost 
 certain death any one of the plucky fellows who 
 had borne with him the heat and burden of the 
 fray. " But our reinforcements, Crogan. At 
 any minute, my nephew may arrive." 
 
 " And, at any minute, them red devils may 
 get up on us again." 
 
 " Then there is no help for it. Powder we 
 must have." 
 
 " With it, sir, we can hold out as long again. 
 Without it ha ! Our men are stirring ; shall 
 I call for a volunteer ? " 
 
 " Let no man go who has wife or children, 
 mind you. Heaven knows it sickens me to 
 send a brave man out over that ground to be 
 riddled by savage bullets, or caught and put 
 to the torture Great God in heaven !" 
 
 Crogan saw his chief, whose gaze continually 
 scanned the space between them and the border 
 of the woods, turn white and stagger like one 
 stricken unto death. The voice that issued 
 from his lips seemed to belong to some one 
 else. While they had been talking, neither 
 man had noticed the shooting back of the 
 heavy bolts inside the stockade gates, or the 
 swift passage, through the opening thus secured, 
 of a lithe and agile form. When they saw her, 
 Matoaca was running at full speed toward the 
 little house behind the door of which lay the 
 gunpowder. Those who within the fort fol- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 263 
 
 lowed her course between rapid heart-beats, 
 marvelled not less at her splendid daring, than 
 at the fact that the Indians in ambush gave no 
 sign of having noticed her. 
 
 Hugh Poythress, totally unnerved, fell back 
 upon a bench and, covering his face with both 
 hands, sobbed like a child. 
 
 " Oh ! my lamb, my brave baby," he groaned. 
 " How shall I answer to thy mother for thee, 
 precious one ? " 
 
 Crogan, who had taken the Colonel's place, 
 now saw the girl, reaching her goal undisturbed, 
 disappear inside the door, and presently reap- 
 pear, clasping in her slender arms the object 
 of their hopes. At this, the borderer's stout 
 heart quivered in his great frame, his eyes were 
 dim with mist. 
 
 " 'Tis the end, God pity her," he said to him- 
 self. " They'll never let the child get back here 
 with that- but, as long as I can send a bullet 
 true, she sha'n't fall alive into their hands." 
 
 Another moment of desperate anxiety ; it 
 was incredible that, so far, not a ball had been 
 sent singing after the intrepid girl. 
 
 And now, again, the flying form was seen to 
 cross the deadly open space. She had nearly 
 reached the barricade, behind which eager hands 
 were hot to draw her in, when, with a shriek 
 of triumph, a young brave, hideously streaked 
 with war-paint, darted out of the underwood in 
 pursuit of her, flourishing his tomahawk. 
 
264 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Crogan clinched his teeth, asked God to for- 
 give him, and took aim at her heart. His own 
 heart was bursting with rage at the deed they 
 were forcing him to do. Woe to the redskin 
 who should be at his mercy after this ! 
 
 But it was not written in the book of Fate 
 that May Poythress should die at honest Cro- 
 gan's hand. Another bedaubed figure, issuing 
 swiftly from the thicket, overhauled her pur- 
 suer, tripping and throwing him to the ground, 
 then dragged him into the woods. 
 
 And an instant later, cheer after cheer of 
 pent-up emotion arose from the fort. Their 
 saviour, carrying her prize in safety, reached the 
 gate, was admitted, relieved of her precious bur- 
 den, and, amid acclamations of joy, and delight, 
 and gratitude, borne to her father's arms. 
 
 Nestled to the breast that a moment since 
 had seemed frozen with despair, panting a lit- 
 tle, yet self-possessed, she made no attempt 
 to speak. But those who lavished upon her 
 tears, thanks, kisses, and blessings, noticed that 
 her eye sought his as if to deprecate the sorrow 
 she had caused. 
 
 Last to come to her was Helen Poythress, 
 her stern face transfigured with deepest feeling. 
 With streaming eyes, she knelt beside father 
 and child, and whispered : 
 
 " Ah ! thank God, who has made you break 
 up the fountains of my deep ! Too late I see 
 what my Rolfe, that I worshipped, lavished his 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 265 
 
 love upon ! How could I eat my heart in 
 jealousy of such as you ? If we survive to- 
 day, you shall see that I can be grateful, for 
 myself as well as for my poor dead boy." 
 
 A shot from the thicket announced the re- 
 newal of hostilities. Hugh Poythress, like a 
 man waked out of sleep, sprang to his feet, 
 consigning his child to Helen. 
 
 "If we survive ! " he cried irrepressibly, 
 "'twill be because your boy's living, and on 
 his way to us, with volunteers. 'Twas his own 
 wish that you should not know it until he can 
 reach you in safety ; but alive he is, and well, 
 after a fever following his wound, and had set 
 out in search of you, when he heard of the 
 threatened attack upon Fort Shannon. So 
 now, comfort each other, you two, that love 
 the boy; for, if I do not mistake, he'll be here 
 erelong." 
 
 So saying, the Colonel became again the cool, 
 quiet leader, who throughout the siege had in- 
 spired courage and patience in all who looked 
 at him. May and Helen, who could only meet 
 in a long silent kiss of thankfulness for the 
 blessing thus revealed, hastened off to their 
 duties in the fort. 
 
 May's first care was for her brother, whom 
 she found aroused, but dropping with fatigue. 
 
 " Oh ! sister ! " the lad exclaimed wearily, 
 "what you did was grand for a girl, though 
 you might ha' left it for me, that first thought 
 
266 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 of it. When we get home I'll give you my 
 white mice, and the hawk's nest and you 
 shall have your pick of Fan's next puppies. 
 My heart jumped with joy for you, May. 
 There's not another fellow's sister that would 
 have done the same." 
 
 A great yawn opened Hughey's artless coun- 
 tenance, and stopped his speech. He would 
 have given all the world, just then, to lie down 
 and be tucked in bed by his mamma. But 
 while the conflict raged anew, till the men's 
 rifles grew hot with frequent firing, so that the 
 women had to cool them off before loading 
 again, the boy remained at his post, a little 
 demon of blackness and fierce resolve. Not 
 in vain mingled in his veins and Matoaca's two 
 currents of heroic blood, one from the far- 
 away savage ancestress who bequeathed to her 
 native country the story of a valiant act ; the 
 other, from a line of English soldiers, ending 
 in the progenitor who as a lad of thirteen had 
 helped to push Peterborough's guns up the 
 steep ascent of Monjuick, in the face of Spanish 
 fire. 
 
 The Indians, to recoup themselves for the 
 generosity of their chief in sparing the girl, 
 had now resolved at all risks to carry the for- 
 tress by assault. The trunk of a tree, used as 
 a battering-ram, had demolished one of the bas- 
 tions, and, though slowly, the garrison began to 
 feel itself worsted. The enemy, seeing their 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 267 
 
 advantage, held off for a parley. At the win- 
 dow of the house nearest the stockade appeared 
 an English-speaking Indian, recognised as a 
 near associate and lieutenant of the chief Logan, 
 waving a flag of truce. 
 
 "We think you have fought enough," said 
 the man. " We did not kill your squaw, because 
 she is fit to be a brave. But you had better 
 give up now. If you give up now, we will not 
 massacre nor burn. Will you give up now?" 
 
 " What do the men say ? " asked Poythress, 
 who had despatched Crogan to ascertain the 
 wishes of his force. 
 
 "They ain't so very trustful, sir," was the 
 answer. "And if 'tis just the same to you, 
 they think they'd rather fight." 
 
 Poythress smiled, well pleased. 
 
 "Then do you answer him, Crogan. Tell 
 them we prefer to fight." 
 
 He knew this might be their death warrant. 
 The long gloomy night was now to end in 
 a darker day. A last struggle of despairing 
 valour, and they might be overcome. 
 
 Poythress thought of the invalids and chil- 
 dren crouched in the cabins, half-mad with 
 fear; of the noble women who had shared 
 with their husbands and brothers and lovers 
 the rack of the terrible siege; last of all, he 
 trusted himself to think of his own two, and 
 this was like the rending apart of his limbs 
 and body, of flesh and bones. 
 
268 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 But there was no alternative. Better death 
 in battle than the other fate awaiting them. 
 
 At the moment when Crogan appeared above 
 the palisade to give the answer of the fort, 
 away in the woods to the eastward sounded a 
 long, deep, peculiar note. Every ear in the 
 garrison was strained to hear it repeated. 
 Then, Helen Poythress cried out in a thrill- 
 ing voice : 
 
 "That is my son's call. I should know it 
 in a thousand. He will save us ! Oh ! my 
 son." 
 
 And soon, with gallant clash of steel, and 
 thunder of horses* hoofs, a relieving party of 
 thirty volunteers galloped up before the stock- 
 ade gates, thrown wide at the moment of their 
 coming. The Indians, taken by surprise, and 
 fearing a larger force to follow, scattered towards 
 the woods. Those who were near fired wildly, 
 and, amid a rain of bullets bedded in the 
 wood-work of the palisade, every horseman 
 rode safely in, save Rolfe, who came last, and 
 was intercepted. Him, identified with delight 
 as a former and formidable foe, the savages 
 made no attempt to shoot. Having aban- 
 doned the siege of the fort, their present idea 
 was to surround and capture the famous Cap- 
 tain, and, holding him as a hostage, make their 
 own terms with the garrison or else 
 
 Isolated, set upon at every turn, Rolfe's one 
 hope of escape lay in his horse, and, turning 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 269 
 
 suddenly, he rode at full speed in the direction 
 by which he had come with the relief. Pound- 
 ing the ground with mighty hoof strokes, with 
 snorting nostrils and eyes of flame, Diabolus 
 flew like a whirlwind, parting one line of Ind- 
 ians who, having never seen a monster like 
 unto him, broke and let him pass unhurt be- 
 tween them. But Rolfe had reckoned without 
 his host. Headed off by others from the track 
 he sought, he dashed aside blindly, the horse 
 stopping on the verge of a precipitous and 
 deep descent to Shannon Creek. And when 
 the Captain looked around, he saw his retreat 
 on every side barred by the savages. 
 
 Now again, by a strange decree of fate, was 
 Logan's enemy brought to bay by him, in the 
 same fashion as before. The rider was on 
 the brink of an almost perpendicular cliff a 
 broken and bush-grown slope, ending, far be- 
 low, in a babbling mountain river. And here, 
 emerging from the line of grinning, painted 
 faces in Rolfe' s rear, came the chieftain who 
 had once given him the life he now meant to 
 take according to the strictest letter of his fore- 
 fathers' law. Logan wore no longer his look 
 of majestic manhood. Drink and the lust of 
 blood had wrought in him a degrading change. 
 His red-veined eyes shone with vengeful lustre 
 upon his prisoner. 
 
 " So you not dead, after all, Captain," he said^ 
 chuckling. " That is well for me. When I 
 
270 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 met you before, my blood was cold. Now it is 
 hot with much killing. But I do not kill you, 
 now. Your people in Fort Shannon owe me 
 a score the death of one man would not settle. 
 I remember your fine leap over yonder. Pity 
 no chance for you to do some jumping here. 
 This time, the hill too high above the creek. 
 By and by, maybe we get you to jump the way 
 we want to make you go." 
 
 The dreadful menace of the drunken chief- 
 tain's speech left Rolfe no alternative. With- 
 out hesitation, he sat back in his saddle, took 
 his rifle into his right hand, and spurred Di- 
 abolus over the edge of the abyss, to attempt 
 what seemed impossible. One instant, the 
 noble horse reared remonstrant, neighed, and 
 swerved away from the precipice. The next, 
 heading straight, he plunged downward, crash- 
 ing amid loose rocks and breaking branches ! 
 
 The story of this achievement is a part of 
 border history. How, by a miracle, the Cap- 
 tain and his steed, after reaching the bottom of 
 the slope, and dashing into the waters of the 
 creek, made their escape amid whistling bullets 
 through the woods of the shore opposite, has 
 been told to admiring generations succeeding 
 that in which the feat was triumphantly ac- 
 complished. 
 
 The chroniclers do not tell how our hero, 
 following some delays and hindrances, found 
 his way back again to Deer Lodge, now re- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 271 
 
 stored to its ancient peace by the final retreat 
 of the Indians to the Ohio, where there was 
 glad reunion with those who loved and had 
 watched for him ! 
 
 But Rolfe had not yet done with active 
 service the time to rest, to tell his tale to 
 eager ears, to hear theirs in return, and of 
 May's valiant act that had sent her name 
 ringing through the countryside linked with 
 his in praises and he was off again in pur- 
 suit of his general, whose army had opened 
 a way directly across the mountains to the 
 Kanawha. 
 
XIII 
 
 ON the eve of departure from the scene of 
 her memorable experience, May Poythress 
 wandered out alone to the fort, where the 
 space within the enclosure, so lately trampled 
 into by horses and sown with Indian bullets, 
 was already springing with- fresh grass and 
 flowers. Around the platform of the little 
 cannon, a mass of goldenrod had come into 
 bloom, and a blue-jay had perched upon the 
 gun. May, displacing him, sat looking at the 
 feast of splendour in the trees, and thinking of 
 many things. 
 
 Here she had brought her childhood, to 
 leave it forever behind. Here she had brought 
 great sorrow, that had fled away ! And of all 
 the tremendous events of the two nights and 
 a day of the Indian siege, she dwelt most upon 
 Rolfe's return the new terror of seeing him 
 cut off and the greatest of joys when he 
 was again restored to them. 
 
 To this spot, he had come with her, to hear 
 her own tale of the attack ; to tell of his long 
 illness in Ann Bailey's hut in the woods, so 
 hidden from sight by greenery and moss that 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 273 
 
 it was unsuspected by a passer-by ; of the nurse 
 he had found in grateful Peggy Baker, the poor 
 heart-broken girl, rescued by him from the 
 Indians, and picked up by Ann wandering foot- 
 sore and half distraught ; of his charge to his 
 mother to take Peggy into her home and care 
 for her ; of his recovery of Diabolus stolen 
 from the countryman's stable where he had 
 left him, who, refusing utterly to be backed 
 by the thieves, was turned loose in the woods 
 to stray where Ann had found him. These 
 details discussed, they had come to touch on a 
 matter more delicate Rolfe's feeling upon 
 making the discovery of his humble origin. 
 
 In those days, when between gentry and 
 commoner a great gulf was fixed, it is not to 
 be denied this had caused the young man a 
 pang. Not so much for the relinquishment of 
 a claim to aristocratic blood. That meant little 
 to the free rover he meant to be henceforth. 
 But he did not willingly abandon his kinship 
 with Hugh Poythress, whom he loved and 
 honoured ; with his adopted mother and the 
 eccentric uncles, whose one human interest had 
 been in helping to rear and educate him ; and 
 with the dear people at Vue de TEau. Though 
 it had not failed to occur to him that his lowly 
 birth would put a final barrier between him 
 and Betty, there was not in this idea quite 
 the former smart. During his illness, Betty's 
 bright image had faded a little, and the thought 
 
274 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 of her as another man's wife had ceased to 
 rouse him to impotent wrath. In the stress 
 and strain of later events, of mortal peril and 
 rude physical exertion, his fancy had taken 
 hold of a soldier's life as the only one worth 
 living. He burned to be away in the wake 
 of his general, finishing the punishment of 
 their red foes ; and, after that, there were the 
 ranks of the new Sons of Liberty to join, with 
 a chance to serve his country as he had served 
 his Province. What May had told him of the 
 conversation between the delegates to the Con- 
 tinental Congress upon the porch at Mount 
 Vernon, stirred the profoundest feelings of his 
 heart in this regard. And May, to whom the 
 young man's confidences had been poured out 
 in full measure, had listened to all with the 
 same clear and steadfast gaze of understanding. 
 In spite of her youth and vivacity, he had ever 
 found in her that divinest gift of sympathy 
 that now seemed richer and fuller than before. 
 She was the ideal sister of his dreams, as well 
 as the most glorious little heroine of his ac- 
 quaintance. 
 
 " So you see, cousin, what I have yet to do," 
 he had ended, tossing the long locks from his 
 thin face. " Since I've no right to the name I 
 bear, 'tis doubly my duty to make one for 
 myself." 
 
 " To us you would always be the same," 
 Matoaca had said in almost a whisper. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 275 
 
 " To you and my Uncle Poythress, for so I 
 must call him still, and to Hughey dear lad ! 
 But what of your mother, and Betty ? " 
 
 " Betty ! " cried her sister, colouring deeply. 
 " I think no one understands her save myself, 
 Rolfe. Betty plays with things others hold 
 sacred, maybe ; but she is loving and, once her 
 affections fixed, could be tender. To me, she 
 is dearer and lovelier because just now " 
 
 " What, just now ? " 
 
 "There is a misunderstanding," May said, 
 crimson because forced to be evasive. 
 
 " Nay, if you mean about Lord Avenel, 
 Hughey gave me a hint of it." 
 
 " Hughey is a tell-tale," cried the girl. 
 " Besides, 'tis all at an end. She will never 
 see him again, if papa can help it." 
 
 " Betty has temptations those less rare and 
 beautiful escape," said Rolfe, loyally. " Once, 
 she was in the clouds so high above me, I could 
 see no imperfections. When she came into the 
 room, 'twas like Aurora rising. While I live, 
 there will never be any one to me what Betty 
 was, but I see, now, what I was too blind to 
 recognise before, that the man who wins her 
 must have a place to offer her. If, in this 
 topsy-turvy world, the monstrous chance should 
 come to me, that I plain Alan McDuffie, 
 they tell me, though I shall never drop the 
 name I hold were raised to rank and fortune, 
 I might hope she could forget my plain looks, 
 
276 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 my slim personal pretensions. But till then 
 which means never, May I'll be no woman's 
 suitor. I shall woo Fortune in camp, and live 
 for my country; and, whatever comes, I'll think 
 of thee, little coz, as the best friend and coun- 
 sellor a poor devil ever had." 
 
 May, seated upon the cannon, went over 
 again every word of this pregnant interview. 
 Rolfe, upon Diabolus, had ridden away to a 
 conflict with the red savages beside which the 
 preliminary skirmishes of the summer were to 
 be of little account. A great void was in her 
 heart, that even the soothing of Helen Poy- 
 thress' changed manner could not cause her to 
 forget. Truth to tell, little May had passed 
 along the latter part of the path of maidenhood 
 to womanhood so rapidly, that now, when cer- 
 tain emotions sprang full fledged into being in 
 her heart, she knew not what they meant. Her 
 one feeling was to hide all, to suffer anything, 
 rather than betray herself to mortal ken. 
 
 To love one who not only loved not her, 
 but loved another, that was a sin of treachery 
 and forwardness. If all these people who praised 
 and glorified their little heroine could look into 
 her real self, and see what was there concealed, 
 how they would turn away from her in scorn 
 and mockery ! For May through environ- 
 ment of Virginian custom, through the nature 
 of her reading, through the habits of her iso- 
 lated life had the high-stepping, old chivalric 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 277 
 
 notion of a woman sitting upon a pedestal, be- 
 fore which the wooer must bend his knee to 
 sue repeatedly ere she could yield and confer 
 her finger-tips upon the despondent lover. In 
 her lexicon there were no such words as spon- 
 taneity of passion in a girl. And, therefore, she 
 looked upon her innocent devotion to Rolfe, 
 fostered by his absence, danger, and heroism, 
 as an abnormal growth of sentiment to be rep- 
 rehended by all persons under better self-con- 
 trol than she. 
 
 And yet Crogan, whom the Colonel's prom- 
 ises of bounty had enriched, the other partici- 
 pants of the fearful experience of the siege, who, 
 with the sang-froid of those hardened by alarms, 
 had scattered again to their several domiciles, 
 her father, Hughey, Aunt Poythress, every- 
 body, continued to bewilder her with praise 
 and kindness. With outsiders, she was the 
 heroine of the day. They had told her that 
 whenever, after this, her name was mentioned 
 in her native Province, 'twould be with honours 
 to the bravest of the brave. Might not that 
 atone for the indiscretion of her unmaidenly 
 casting of her heart before one who had neither 
 asked it nor desired it ? 
 
 Poor little May, sadly torn by these conflict- 
 ing thoughts, sat upon her perch, sorting the 
 large bunch of goldenrod she had picked from 
 the clearing. In this attitude, she was surprised 
 by her father, accompanied by the very last 
 
278 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 person either of them could have expected to 
 see at Deer Lodge, the wandering Earl, their 
 cousin. 
 
 Avenel his progress arrested by the out- 
 break of Logan's men had remained in hid- 
 ing in a farmhouse at a safe distance from the 
 raid. His explanation of his arrival in this 
 out-of-the-way spot was ineffectual, consist- 
 ing, as it did, of a lame plea that the family 
 name had led him to hope for a welcome, and 
 that, after the society of rude mountaineers, he 
 wished to treat himself to a glimpse of civilisation. 
 
 But the positive refusal of Helen Poythress 
 to receive him, on the ground that she never 
 conferred with strangers ; the cool greeting cf 
 the Colonel, who, however, felt that he would 
 be the better for an explanation bound to come; 
 and the uncouth reception accorded him by the 
 twin bachelors had enraged and disgusted the 
 traveller. So full was he of his late apprehen- 
 sions and discomforts, so continually harping 
 upon personal annoyance, that Hugh Poythress 
 had much ado to treat him with plain civility. 
 After partaking of a meal, unprovided with 
 which no vagrant would have been allowed to 
 leave Deer Lodge, my Lord had been invited 
 by his kinsman to stroll over to the fort, where 
 they could talk undisturbed. 
 
 May, springing to the ground, and curtsey- 
 ing, was about to withdraw, when her father 
 stopped her. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 279 
 
 " Remain here, my child," he said with au- 
 thority. " What I must say to Lord Avenel 
 may be the better for a witness. I had hoped 
 for this opportunity though later. My im- 
 pression that Lord Avenel had accompanied 
 the Governor on his journey to Fort Pitt had, 
 indeed, caused me to fear I should be disap- 
 pointed in intercepting him en route" 
 
 "I have naught to do with Lord Dunmore's 
 movements, and I confess I do not understand a 
 manner almost threatening. Colonel Poythress, 
 I presume, cannot have found cause to change 
 his opinion of one to whom he lately accorded 
 his daughter's hand," said Avenel, ill at ease. 
 
 "You jump to conclusions. But then that 
 saves explanation," answered the straightforward 
 Colonel. "The long and short of it is, my 
 Lord, that circumstances compel me not only 
 to cancel an engagement formed far too hastily, 
 but to tell you that my daughter deeply to 
 blame, I own mistook her feelings in making 
 it. Under no possible circumstances can she 
 become your wife." 
 
 " Then the skies have rained a richer suitor 
 into her lap," cried Avenel, with a snarl of 
 anger. "A month ago, you were all keen 
 enough to bag me for the girl." 
 
 " I pass over your discourtesy," said Poy- 
 thress, whose face was dyed in manly crimson. 
 " Allowance must be made for one under your 
 circumstances." 
 
280 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " It is some work of that cur of a nephew 
 of mine," went on the furious man. " I should 
 think that between the word of a jealous jacka- 
 napes like that, and a man of my position, even 
 a Colonial boor might " 
 
 "You have gone too far," said Poythress, 
 interrupting. " You are a coward, and perhaps 
 worse. It had not been my intention, until better 
 assured of the particulars of it from GeofFry 
 Flower, to speak of another matter, coming to 
 me through my housekeeper, Judith Carnes." 
 
 At this name, the Earl's face expressed a 
 painful degree of panic. His jaw dropped, his 
 bluster left him. He seemed suddenly to have 
 decreased in stature. With a string of oaths, 
 he declared there was a conspiracy between 
 Poythress and Flower to ruin him. That the 
 lying jade in question was no better than dirt 
 under his feet ; and that, in any case, he defied 
 them all to prove whatever cock-and-bull story 
 the creature had patched up to his discredit. 
 
 " Prove it, I say ; prove it ! " he ended, with 
 white lips, but having gained a sort of courage 
 as he went on uncontradicted. 
 
 " That will I do, without the shadow of a 
 doubt, the moment I get speech with GeofFry 
 Flower," answered Poythress, who had never 
 seemed to his daughter more admirable than 
 when he stood quietly face to face with this 
 gibbering, fretful foe. 
 
 " Then you are dependent on your fellow- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 281 
 
 conspirator," shouted Avenel. <c Ha ! 'Tis 
 just what I thought. You know nothing. 
 You are thrusting in the dark/' 
 
 "Then you deny all treachery to your 
 brother's child ? " queried Poythress. 
 
 What the Earl answered was a clear exposi- 
 tion of the man's real self. From fear to rage, 
 from rage to bravado, then back again to terror, 
 he passed so rapidly that Poythness needed no 
 further confirmation of his guilt. 
 
 Taking the arm of his frightened daughter 
 and turning upon his heel, he strode con- 
 temptuously away. 
 
 Had Avenel but left well alone ! It had 
 been coward conscience that led him to this 
 fall, following a series of ups and downs of an 
 almost pitiful experience. 
 
 During long years, his secret had remained 
 stowed away in a pigeonhole in the desk of his 
 library at Castle Avenel. So much of it, at 
 least, as was revealed by the letter of the master 
 of the sailing-ship, Victory, that in the year 
 1754, took out of Bristol Channel a fine cargo 
 of white servants for the Virginian market. 
 The name of the people by whom the lad, 
 Alan Carnes, had been adopted, the locality to 
 which they were bound, and a subsequent letter 
 reporting that the whole McDuffie family was 
 said to have perished in an Indian massacre, 
 were also on file in the same receptacle. 
 
282 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 In the course of time, Avenel believed he 
 had ceased to think of his wrong-doing. But, 
 like a dead tooth that begins to throb and 
 then will not be stayed, it had one day asserted 
 itself, since which he had had no peace. 
 
 The dreadful death of his neglected wife and 
 son, of a disease that sent Avenel shuddering 
 away from them into the farthest corner of the 
 Castle, had been followed by a period of re- 
 morse, making his nights a terror, his days a 
 curse. His fancy that his dead came back to 
 reproach him for having done that which kept 
 them from resting in their graves, became an 
 obsession. His shattered nerves threatened 
 something worse. 
 
 The supreme fear, that of being found out, 
 led him to devise the scheme alas ! for 
 Betty's vanity! of marrying Hugh Poy- 
 thress* daughter, in order to protect himself 
 from possible investigations in the future, in 
 that quarter. After Atra Cura, having once 
 discovered so promising a victim, had seated 
 herself upon his croup, not to be dislodged, 
 hypochondria and nervous strain had made of 
 him so exasperating a patient, that his doctors 
 wisely combined to ship him oversea. 
 
 Upon arrival in Williamsburg, his first act 
 was to put the search for any information con- 
 cerning the lost McDuffies into the hands of a 
 lawyer, a dryasdust antiquarian, who, accus- 
 tomed to spend his days in groping amid grave- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 283 
 
 yard mould, had no surprise to accord to the 
 Earl's investigation. The fact of the massacre 
 of Angus McDuffie and his wife Sarah, having 
 been established beyond peradventure, it re- 
 mained to see whether any claimants survived 
 of the McDuffie name and property. They 
 failing to appear, the Earl had taken courage 
 to pursue his successful wooing and, while at 
 Vue de 1'Eau, had received from his lawyer, 
 conscientiously anxious to give the full worth 
 of his fee, a further discovery. From a " Vir- 
 ginia Gazette" of the year of the Massacre at 
 Wild Cat Hollow, had been unearthed a quaint 
 lament in doggerel, depicting the sad fate of 
 Angus McDuffie and his wife, wherein cc Mel- 
 pomene " was called upon to aid the writer to 
 rejoice that the " sweet innocent babe, left for 
 dead on the banks of the stream," had been 
 "rescued by Charity's hand, and restored to 
 Hygeia's fair beam ! " 
 
 " Thus, curiously, hath come to light," wrote 
 the scribe to his noble client, " a suggestion that a 
 scion did survive, of the unfortunate family in 
 which your lordship is pleased to take interest. 
 But my utmost endeavours having failed to de- 
 velop aught further concerning them, I can but 
 submit this, with humble duty, from, my Lord, 
 
 " Your lordship's obligd. humble serv't 
 
 "TlMOTHEUS WORME, 
 
 "Atty & Counsellor at Law." 
 
284 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 A hundred times Avenel objurgated the 
 scribbler of those wretched lines published in 
 the poet's corner of the dull Provincial sheet. 
 But for them, he might have now slept o* 
 nights, and eaten with a hearty appetite ! 
 
 Now must he, after braving the odious sea, 
 encounter the scarcely more congenial journey 
 through western woodlands. There was no 
 help for it. Atra Cura bid him repair to the 
 region of the McDuffies and other savage 
 countrymen. Engaging the escort of Mr. 
 Timotheus Worme, to be utilised in the 
 search of parish registers and county records, 
 were such things existent in barbaric wilds 
 and attended by his valet and guides and reti- 
 nue, he had accomplished the expedition as 
 we have seen, turning aside to search the rec- 
 ords at Greenway Court. The discovery 
 there ofthe McDuffie will, and his secret re- 
 moval of Alan's name from it, might have 
 enabled him to go on his way in some degree 
 .of comfort. Then had fallen the thunder of 
 heaven in Geoffry Flower's attack ! 
 
 Thus, like the Genie of the Bottle before 
 the Arabian fisherman, his crime, arising, had 
 at once assumed a formidable shape and size. 
 His successful theft of Flower's papers had 
 saved him from collapse into utter desperation. 
 Taking hasty leave of Greenway Court, he 
 had gone away, intending to visit the neigh- 
 bourhood of the old home of the McDuffies, 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 285 
 
 and there renew his search for a trace of the 
 lost heir. 
 
 As luck would have it, my Lord, twisting 
 his ankle by the fall of his horse in a wash of 
 the road, was detained for a few days at a way- 
 side hostelry, where an officer, sent ahead of 
 Lord Dunmore on business of the commissariat, 
 made their evening together pleasant by a dra- 
 matic account of the visit of Helen Poythress 
 and her party to Lord Fairfax, adding the facts 
 of her story as publicly declared. 
 
 Now was Avenel's way lightened by radiance 
 from the clouds ! All that he had sought was 
 made clear to him. The identity of Alan 
 Carnes with Alan McDuffie, and with Rolfe 
 Poythress, lately killed by the Indians, was 
 assured. 
 
 Into what extravagance of cruel joy the man 
 was led by this sudden bursting of his "big bub- 
 ble of fear, can be imagined. Far into that 
 night he had remained at table, drinking 
 deeply of the landlord's brandy, and talking, 
 to the disgust of the British Major who finally 
 consigned him in a maudlin state to the care of 
 Fleury to be taken off to bed. 
 
 Next morning, although heavy from over- 
 night's potations, Avenel was hilarious. An- 
 nouncing to Fleury that they should return 
 now to the low country, where his marriage 
 would at once take place, after which event he 
 should sail for home, and never again set foot 
 
286 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 in this " raw unsupportable region/' my Lord 
 strolled out on the patch of greensward in front 
 of the inn door. There, by a horse-trough, 
 under a great spreading walnut-tree, his men 
 were employed in packing his beasts to get away. 
 
 To-day, even old Worme came under the 
 influence of his lordship's good spirits. The 
 rusty old fellow thought it, indeed, the height 
 of condescension in his patron to avow him- 
 self so well pleased with his surroundings. 
 Avenel, warming in praise, declared that he 
 found the sun of Virginia brighter, the soil 
 richer, the air finer than anything within the 
 circumference of the British Isles ; which, al- 
 though historically true, was yet a surprising 
 admission from such a source. His lordship 
 had just proceeded so far as to slap Worme 
 upon the back, and swear be was the jolliest 
 old blade out of England, when lo ! from afar 
 came the sound of horses' hoofs, galloping 
 evenly and in numbers ! Presently, our trav- 
 ellers saw coming from the direction they 
 meant to take, a party of armed men in fringed 
 hunting-shirts and caps, who, pulling up for a 
 moment beside the horse-trough to wash the 
 mouths of their sweating steeds, announced 
 that the Indians were on the move! 
 
 Avenel, whose knees shook under him, was 
 now accosted by the leader of the band, a tall, 
 powerful young man, with sallow cheeks, and 
 long locks of carelessly dressed hair. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 287 
 
 "You don't recognise me, my Lord," said 
 this individual, courteously. " And no wonder, 
 since 'tis from the grave, so to speak, I have 
 emerged my best friends believing me at 
 this moment to be whitening with my bones a 
 Mingo battle-ground. But I saw you in town, 
 at the Ball given to my Lady Dunmore, and 
 had the honour of presentation to you at the 
 hands of my cousin, Miss Poythress." 
 
 "Curse his provincial ceremony," said my 
 Lord within himself. " To stand palavering 
 here, when every minute's precious to our 
 scalps." 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt," he said stiffly. 
 "But I can't be expected to remember every 
 one. Pray, sir whatever may be your 
 name " 
 
 " Rolfe Poythress, at your service," said the 
 other, taking off his hat, with an air as clearly 
 well-bred as it was tinctured with contempt ; 
 " and I may add, my Lord, that my intention 
 in addressing you, was to favour my uncle, by 
 indicating to his kinsman a safe place of retreat 
 until this alarm be over. By taking the right 
 one of the cross-roads some three miles farther, 
 as we go now, half a day's ride will bring you 
 to the house of one Swan, a farmer, where you 
 will find decent accommodations. And so, 
 my Lord, you will permit me to wish you 
 good morning, and bon voyage" 
 
 As he again lifted his hat, and, summoning 
 
288 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 his troopers, rode with them at mad speed 
 through the country they were going to put 
 upon its guard, Avenel stood aghast. The 
 people of his retinue, who believed him dazed 
 by apprehension of the foe, had to assist him 
 into the saddle, and then to direct his course 
 according to the suggestion of the Captain of 
 the rangers. 
 
 What was the true motive of Avenel's visit 
 to Deer Lodge ? Atra Cura again. So soon 
 as the Indian scare was over, he had been 
 driven miserably to seek the adoptive mother 
 of one he had not failed to recognise. A curl 
 of the young man's lip, a certain inflation of 
 the nostril, permitted the usurper no doubt of 
 his parentage. Heredity had betrayed what 
 had been covered in the grave of years. 
 
 What he was to accomplish with Mrs. Poy- 
 thress, he did not know. Should she give evi- 
 dence of possessing his secret, his hope was to 
 make terms with her and her son. Surely, a 
 poor uncouth provincial widow had her price ! 
 
 But here he had been scorned, ignored by 
 her, and on top of that, had been met by Hugh 
 Poythress, with the blasting announcement that 
 his treachery was common property. 
 
 What to do, whither to turn, wrapping the 
 poor shreds of aristocratic dignity around him, 
 did not at first suggest itself. The desperation 
 of a villain was in his case tempered by the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 289 
 
 cunning of one timorous by nature. So long 
 as he held in his possession the attested confes- 
 sion of Judith Carnes, he felt safe enough against 
 conviction. But a long interminable vista of 
 care and shame and annoyance opened before 
 him, and the break of the marriage angered 
 and mortified him. All the malignity of his 
 disposition centred in the thought of Flower, 
 who must have betrayed him to Colonel Poy- 
 thress. Rolfe, the real obstacle in his path, 
 assumed, for the moment, a less important as- 
 pect. It would be time enough to machinate 
 further against him, when he had done with 
 Geoffry Flower. If it were to the ends of the 
 earth, he would run Flower down, disgrace 
 him, taste the sweets of revenge. And in aid 
 of this, he counted greatly upon his influence 
 with Flower's chief. 
 
XIV 
 
 "Let us mind the tenth day of October 
 Seventy-four which caused woe, 
 The Indian savages, they did discover 
 The pleasant banks of the Ohio. 
 
 " The battle beginning in the morning 
 Throughout the day it lasted sore, 
 Till the coming shades were returning down 
 Upon the banks of the Ohio. 
 
 ****** 
 
 " Col. Lewis and some noble Captains 
 Did down to death like Uriah go. 
 Alas ! their heads wound up in napkins 
 Upon the banks of the Ohio." 
 
 (From an old song made upon the battle of Point Pleasant by the moun- 
 taineers of Western Virginia. ) 
 
 WHILE the first Congress at Philadelphia 
 held its sittings under the veil of se- 
 crecy, and people in the lowlands of 
 Virginia were rent with apprehension of what 
 Great Britain meant to do regarding this bold 
 performance, Lord Dunmore, on the frontier, 
 kept his intentions also very dark. The notion 
 that he was in treaty with the Indians to fight 
 for the Crown against Virginia, gained ground 
 
 290 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 291 
 
 because of this reticence about his plans. All 
 that was actually known about Dunmore's army, 
 was that he had agreed to come down the Ohio 
 from Fort Pitt, and, meeting Andrew Lewis, 
 give fight to the Nations somewhere near the 
 banks of that river. 
 
 The task before Lewis' volunteers that 
 of breaking a way across a hundred and sixty 
 miles of resistant woodland to reach the river 
 was formidable. Its success was in great 
 part due to the magnetic quality of the leader 
 chosen to conduct the expedition. Lewis, of 
 heroic Scottish stock, a lord of the hill country 
 where he had grown up, a warm friend of Pro- 
 vincial progress, was known also as a soldier 
 tried and true. So the sons and grandsons of 
 Caledonian immigrants took down from their 
 cabin walls the Andrea Ferrara blades with 
 which their sires had fought Scotland's battles ; 
 the descendants of Englishmen, Irishmen, and 
 Germans ; gentlemen, farmers, mechanics, deer- 
 stalkers, still-hunters, all wearing buckskin 
 suits and bucktails in their hats, seized their 
 rifles, packed their own horses with their own 
 tents, and arms, and provisions, and, bidding 
 adieu to sweethearts, wives, and mothers, fell 
 into line to swell the numbers of " Long 
 Knives." 
 
 Seventeen years before, Lewis had made a 
 similar essay to traverse the wilderness, although 
 farther to the south. He had conducted four 
 
292 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 companies of home militia, of whom the Cap- 
 tains were Audley Paul, William Preston, 
 William Hogg, and John Alexander ; and after 
 an abortive effort to find the Shawnee tribe they 
 desired to punish, the heroes of the " Sandy 
 Creek Voyage " had marched back, footsore, 
 frozen, starved ; those who did not perish out- 
 right having subsisted for days on the leather 
 strings of their moccasins, the belts of their 
 hunting-shirts, and the flaps of their shot- 
 pouches. 
 
 But now the season smiled; the men de- 
 prived of spirituous excitement, their rations 
 reduced to meal, flour, beef, and such game 
 as they could kill were in good marching 
 plight sound, clear-headed, and vigorous; 
 and so, piloted by Arbuckle, a skilled rover of 
 the forest, their flour, salt, and ammunition 
 carried on unshod horses, preceding a drove of 
 cattle intended for the meat supply of the 
 troops, the great march began. 
 
 Leaving Camp Union, now the town of 
 Lewisburg, about nine miles west of the White 
 Sulphur Springs, this army of eleven hundred 
 men forced a way through nature's fastness, 
 never before penetrated except by red-men. 
 Into the haunts of beautiful, free-roaming 
 deer and elk, bear and buffalo and beaver 
 where wolves prowled, and the jewel eyes 
 of panther and wildcat glittered after dark ; 
 where, in the covert of the ferns, rattlesnake 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 293 
 
 and copperhead, moccasin and blacksnake lay, 
 scarcely stirring at the approach of their ap- 
 pointed enemy, they marched, finding it like 
 Jparadise before the fall of man. For daily de- 
 lectation, the soldiers came upon such wonders 
 as the black, bituminous tarns, into which ob- 
 jects cast return no more to light ; the burning 
 springs ; the picture-stones of the aborigines 
 spaces cleared upon the mountain wall and 
 carved with an infinitude of images represent- 
 ing warriors, birds, and beasts ; the gorges, pin- 
 nacles, arches of rock, and caverns bedight 
 with mineral gems and stalactites ; dewdrops of 
 alum fringing the watercourses ; rocky moun- 
 tains of silvery sheen rising out of forests of 
 oak or chestnut where the ground beneath was 
 crusted with layers of many crops of nuts ; 
 mighty waterfalls plunging between gates of 
 granite from rivers navigable with canoes 
 almost to their source, and full of fish ; the 
 huge shafts of magnolia-trees crowned with 
 glossy leaves ; the liriodendrons, with trunks 
 six feet in diameter, soaring eighty or even a 
 hundred feet before they condescended to -put 
 forth a limb ; majestic pines and other coni- 
 fers; sugar maples yielding nectar to a hole 
 through their bark ; festoons of ripe, purple 
 grapes, and abundant berries, all the treas- 
 ure-house, in short, of the American forest of 
 the tempered region, as it was known by the 
 red-man first. 
 
294 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Eight and a half miles a day of marching 
 carried the troops across the full distance in 
 nineteen days ; and, arriving at Point Pleasant, 
 tattered and torn to almost nakedness, their 
 General, who had shared with them the hard- 
 ships of the way, found his men not appreci- 
 ably the worse for it all. 
 
 Amid the glades of rainbow hues between 
 the banks of the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, 
 a camp was formed ; for nine days the troops 
 rested on their arms, their hearts pulsing with 
 keen expectation of an action, that, with the 
 aid of Lord Dunmore's forces, they had every 
 reason to hope would be victorious. 
 
 Day after day, they strained eyes and ears 
 for news of his lordship, to whom Lewis had 
 sent scouts asking for directions ; but no news 
 came not a hint of the Governor's where- 
 abouts, believed to be in the vicinity of the 
 Indian villages some eighty miles distant in the 
 woods of the trans-Ohio. What place was that 
 for an ally ! grumbled Lewis' men. At last, on 
 the ninth of October, three couriers, formerly 
 traders among the Indians, arrived, bearing 
 despatches from the General of the Northern 
 Division. Lewis, holding his eager army in a 
 leash, was told to break camp, cross the Ohio, 
 and march directly to the Scioto villages, where 
 Dunmore would give him rendezvous. At 
 this, the chafing anger of the famous borderer 
 who could see neither rhyme nor reason in 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 295 
 
 the move proposed fairly boiled over. He, 
 under whose tread "the ground seemed to 
 tremble/' now burst forth in awful wrath against 
 the English commander, declaring the capri- 
 cious order had come too late, since there was 
 every indication of a foe close at hand, lurking 
 and waiting opportunity to strike. 
 
 Simultaneously with the arrival in camp of 
 the Governor's express, Captain Rolfe Poy- 
 thress reported for duty, and was assigned to 
 the staff of the General's brother Charles, the 
 Colonel at the head of the Augusta troops. 
 When, seeing that a fight was imminent, Poy- 
 thress, at the recommendation of his chief, 
 repaired to his tent of boughs for a night's 
 sound sleep, while there was yet time to enjoy 
 it, he was accosted by an old acquaintance in 
 the person of one of the division-captains, going 
 off his day's command of the guard. 
 
 cc Welcome, comrade," said Matthews, offer- 
 ing Rolfe a hearty handshake. <c You have 
 come in the nick of time ; for to-morrow, if I 
 mistake not, the red fellows will be down on us 
 hot and thick. Hark ye, Poythress, you have 
 got what we country folks call horse-sense. I 
 want your opinion on a bit of gossip I picked 
 up just now from one of the couriers sent by 
 my Lord Governor with our strange orders." 
 
 "Till I hear it, I'm like the donkey, all 
 ears," replied Rolfe, smiling. 
 
 "This man a sneaking customer I used to 
 
296 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 know up Frederick way, tells me that just across 
 the river yesterday he saw a force of Indians 
 would cover four acres of ground ; an army fit 
 to overwhelm and wipe us out for numbers. 
 Now, if Lord Dunmore's courier knows so 
 much, of course Dunmore knows it, and if he 
 is going to leave us in the lurch, then are we 
 betrayed most treacherously by our paternal 
 Governor. And, if this be the case, let my 
 Lord the Governor beware of the vengeance 
 of Virginians." 
 
 " Great Heavens ! 'tis fairly impossible," said 
 Rolfe. 
 
 " We shall see," added the Captain, wagging 
 a beard that reached to his waist. " 'Tis not my 
 business to put such matters before the Gen- 
 eral. To judge from the wrath he is in since 
 these messengers arrived, he is fully aware of 
 our peril. The whole camp is in a turmoil of 
 indignation, and you hear naught but threats 
 against all Britishers." 
 
 " It has a black look, I own," answered 
 Rolfe, ragged and worn from his continuous 
 ride, and dropping with want of sleep. 
 
 " Take my advice and get a nap now," went 
 on his friend Matthews; "for whether to-mor- 
 row we move or no, to-morrow's sun may rise 
 upon bloody work." 
 
 The Captain's prophecy proved true. Early 
 in the morning of the tenth of October, two 
 of Lewis' pickets, taking observations three 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 297 
 
 miles up the river's bank, came upon a vast 
 body of savages, who, having crossed on rafts 
 in the night, were preparing for instant con- 
 flict. One of the scouts, struck down by a 
 flying bullet, was left lying in the underwood. 
 The other, with eyes like saucers, tore back 
 to headquarters, declaring that far as the eye 
 could reach he had seen painted faces, rifles, 
 tomahawks, war-clubs, and battle-axes such 
 an Indian force as no man had viewed before 
 him! 
 
 So now there was no longer question of de- 
 pendence upon absent allies. Launched like 
 a thunderbolt, the Augusta troops took the 
 lead in meeting the attack. Of this regiment 
 every man was personally known to and be- 
 loved by the Commander, and it was led by 
 his younger brother, "Brave Charley," the hero 
 of so many gallant exploits and daring escapes 
 from danger that, among the mountaineers of 
 the Alleghanies, his deeds were as household 
 words. Most of his men were above average 
 height, inured to every kind of hardship, accus- 
 tomed to toy with peril, and they now swung 
 into line coolly, carrying with them the flower 
 of youth from every family in their region. 
 
 Opposed to them were a strong and pictu- 
 resque group of the greatest warriors of the 
 gathered tribes. Of the Indian army, the larger 
 number were Shawnees, chief of the Algonquin 
 family, who, of the terrible foes of our early 
 
298 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 settlers, were the most to be feared, since they 
 held in contempt as weaklings all men other 
 than themselves, and boasted of having killed 
 more whites than any other tribe. It was they 
 who had cut off the British force under Brad- 
 dock in 1755, had defeated Major Grant and 
 his Scotch Highlanders at Fort Duquesne in 
 1758, in 1783 routed the Kentuckians at Blue 
 Licks, and were later to rebuff the United 
 States troops under Harmar, and beat the army 
 of St. Clair. In the van of this formidable 
 host was the sachem Cornstalk, king of the 
 Northern Confederacy, and commander-in- 
 chief of the whole savage army now in the 
 field. Under him were Logan, Blue Jacket, 
 Red Hawk, Chiyawee, and other warriors as 
 notable, at the head of their several tribes. 
 
 Cornstalk the general now brought into 
 opposition with Andrew Lewis in the great 
 struggle was a foeman worthy of Lewis' 
 steel; a born hero, a type of the best of his 
 race. To him have always been conceded by 
 history, a generous nature, valour, eloquence, 
 inexhaustible strength, and great beauty of 
 person, as well as high ability in council. In 
 the halls of border tradition his form and 
 Logan's tower. 
 
 Hardly had the Augusta troops passed 
 swiftly beyond the outer limits of their camp, 
 when the Indians, greatly outnumbering them, 
 advanced to encounter them with the fierce but 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 299 
 
 stealthy approach characteristic of their method 
 of attack. In the first onset, fell "Brave 
 Charley," the idol of his troops and friends ; 
 he whose headlong charge into the fray, wear- 
 ing a scarlet waistcoat, made him a shining 
 mark for the bullets that laid him low. Fall- 
 ing at the foot of a tree, the young Colonel 
 strove to cheer his men to determined victory ; 
 then, his words cut short by the agony of 
 death, was carried back into a tent, where he 
 shortly breathed his last. After this lamenta- 
 ble occurrence, Captain Benjamin Harrison 
 took the Colonel's place, and bravely carried 
 on the stubborn fight till, borne down by 
 superior forces, the Long Knives began to 
 waver. Colonel Fleming, on the left, his 
 regiment supporting Harrison's, was, like his 
 predecessor Lewis, shot and borne helpless 
 from the field. At this loss of important offi- 
 cers the savages rejoiced, and thought their 
 triumph assured. But directly the whole re- 
 serve of Virginian troops, charging to the rescue 
 of their brothers, sent into the Indian ranks 
 such a continuous galling fire as made even 
 the stoic warriors falter and recoil. 
 
 Let us quote the description of this famous 
 affair from an historian of long ago, de Haas: 
 " The battle scene was now terribly grand. 
 There stood the combatants ; terror, rage, dis- 
 appointment, and despair riveted upon the 
 painted faces of one, while calm resolution and 
 
joo A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 the unbending will to do or die were marked 
 upon the other. Neither party would retreat, 
 neither could advance. The noise of the firing 
 was tremendous. No single gun could be dis- 
 tinguished it was one constant roar. The 
 rifle and tomahawk now did their work with 
 dreadful certainty. The confusion and per- 
 turbation of the camp had now arrived at its 
 greatest height. The confused sounds and 
 wild uproar of the battle added greatly to the 
 terror of the scene. The shouting of the 
 whites, the continual roar of firearms, the war- 
 whoops and dismal yellings of the Indians, 
 were discordant and terrific." 
 
 From a later chronicler 1 we take another 
 version: "It was throughout a terrible scene 
 the ring of rifles and roar of muskets, 
 the clubbed guns and flashing knives the 
 fight hand to hand the scream for mercy, 
 smothered in the death groan the crashing 
 through the brush the advance the re- 
 treat the pursuit, every man for himself 
 with his enemy in view the scattering on 
 every side the sounds of battle dying away 
 into a pistol shot here and there through the 
 wood, and a shriek the collecting again of 
 the whites, covered with gore and sweat, bear- 
 ing trophies of the slain, their dripping knives 
 in one hand, and rifle barrel bent and smeared 
 
 1 J. Lewis Peyton, author of " History of Augusta County." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 301 
 
 with brain and hair in the other no language 
 can adequately describe it." 
 
 The author of" The Winning of the West " 1 
 calls attention to the fact that this fight was 
 " a succession of single combats, each man 
 sheltering himself behind a stump or rock, or 
 tree trunk, the superiority of the backwoods- 
 men in the use of the rifle being offset by the 
 superiority of their foes in the art of hiding 
 and shielding themselves from harm. The 
 hostile lines, though about a mile and a quarter 
 in length, were so close together, being never 
 more than twenty yards apart, that many of 
 the combatants grappled in hand-to-hand fight- 
 ing, and tomahawked or stabbed each other to 
 death." 
 
 Rolfe Poythress, his hunting-suit literally 
 dyed in the blood of a comrade who had 
 fallen in his arms, was seen ever in the thick 
 of the combat. He had escaped what seemed 
 certain death, time and again. With his jaw 
 set, his eye afire, his finger untiring at the trig- 
 ger, he had sent more than one of the heathen 
 to their last account, when a brave, meeting 
 him in a hand-to-hand encounter, after a tussle 
 straining every nerve of the Virginian to hold 
 his own, had been struck down on his knees, 
 and, at Rolfe's mercy, expected the final death- 
 stroke of his knife. 
 
 l Hon. Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
302 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Throughout the long and frightful morning, 
 the whites had heard repeatedly the ringing 
 tones of Cornstalk, urging his warriors to " be 
 strong" and "strike true." But not until this 
 moment, did a voice sound in Rolfe's ears with 
 which two previous occasions had made him 
 now familiar. Across a chasm filled with fallen 
 trees into which bodies had been tumbling 
 thick and fast, came a cry : 
 
 " Hold, Captain ! It is the last one who 
 belongs to me, though he is not of my blood. 
 If he must die, let it be by my bullet, not your 
 knife. And this I ask, because you, Captain, 
 have twice escaped death at my hands." 
 
 Rolfe turned and confronted Logan. The 
 Mingo chief, now free from the influence 
 of drink, had resumed his former lofty air. 
 Stained with battle, he yet retained the com- 
 mand of himself others less great had seemed 
 to lose in the wild-beast fury of their attack. 
 There was even a tinge of melancholy in his 
 voice and eye. 
 
 Without hesitation, Rolfe let his knife fall 
 to his belt, and standing back waved to his 
 captive to go free. 
 
 " He is yours, Chief," said the young Vir- 
 ginian. "And let him come to his end by 
 another hand than yours or mine. I give him 
 to you for the day of our first meeting not 
 our last, remember, when you drove me to 
 almost certain death." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 303 
 
 A faint smile illumined the stern features of 
 the chief, passing as it came. 
 
 " I think you have a charmed life, Captain," 
 he said, while the freed Indian bounded like a 
 fawn into the bushes. " If you like, I promise 
 never to fight with you again. But Logan's 
 course is almost run. Soon, he will be heard 
 of no more among the braves. Now, Captain, 
 let us again try to see which of our armies will 
 win this day." 
 
 Logan vanished. In the few moments occu- 
 pied by this episode of battle, the tide had turned 
 decisively for the Virginians. Although their 
 ground was scattered with dead and wounded, 
 high noon heard a distinct decrease in the 
 enemy's fire and, a few hours later, the Indians 
 were in full retreat across the Ohio. Corn- 
 stalk, who had conducted his side with mas- 
 terly skill, knew that their chance was gone; 
 and, to save useless bloodshed, gathered up his 
 corpses scalped by their friends to prevent such 
 a fate at the hands of enemies, and, throwing 
 them into the river, stole silently away. 
 
 The Virginians, left in possession of a field 
 of victory, now found out the full extent of 
 their own terrible losses. Many an ingleside 
 of the Valley beyond the mountains would be 
 called upon to mourn this sad day's work. 
 Among their officers, in especial, the murder- 
 ous Indian fire had left numerous gaps. Rolfe, 
 crossing the field, and identifying with a sad 
 
304 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 heart, one after the other, friends of a lifetime 
 in the stark figures they were sorting out, came 
 upon Matthews, the late Captain of the guard. 
 
 The poor fellow was at the last gasp, his 
 skull cloven with a frightful wound from a 
 tomahawk. When Rolfe knelt beside him, he 
 writhed and cried out, " What did I tell you ? 
 Who was it let us be outnumbered ? " Then, 
 cursing Lord Dunmore, he gave up the ghost. 
 
 Andrew Lewis, busy with the transportation 
 of the wounded into a rude fortification that 
 during the heat of battle had been hastily con- 
 structed by him for the safety of his army in 
 case they should be worsted for the day, looked 
 years older than he had done before the fight. 
 To him the joy of triumph was more than 
 balanced by the loss of his valiant brother and 
 of other dear friends who had bit the dust. 
 Already, the nether side of war had begun to 
 show its web of horror. 
 
 But he had no time to spend upon any sen- 
 timent save the desire to follow up their victory. 
 
 On the morning after the battle, Lewis, with 
 all his available forces, left Point Pleasant, 
 crossed the river, and proceeded by forced 
 marches through the woods in the direction 
 of Pickaway Plains. The Indians, fleeing be- 
 fore him or hanging upon his flanks, trembled 
 at sight of this yet unexhausted force of an 
 army which had wrought such havoc in their 
 ranks. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 305 
 
 Arrived at the Plains, the first object to 
 greet the eyes of the leader of the Virginians 
 was the smoke of some villages fired by their 
 owners, who, retreating, had made all haste to 
 reach the Governor's camp and there implore 
 protection against the formidable Lewis. In- 
 formation of this fact, conveyed to Lewis where 
 they had halted for the night, roused in him 
 a new accession of swelling anger. 
 
 " Captain Poythress will remain alone with 
 me," he remarked to a group of officers, who 
 accordingly withdrew. 
 
 " The air smells of treachery, Captain," said 
 Lewis, frowning darkly. 
 
 " I begin to agree with you, General," an- 
 swered Rolfe, his lips tightening. 
 
 " I presume you are aware that I have just 
 had an express from my Lord, bidding me 
 imperatively stay where I am, and push no 
 further. What ! I, who carry upon my hands 
 the blood of my brother and kin and friends 
 slaughtered because they were not reinforced 
 by Dunmore? I to stand here like a sheep 
 and allow the enemy to escape unhurt ? By 
 the living God, I'd not do it were there twenty 
 such arrogant Britishers to bid me. To-mor- 
 
 row we move on." 
 
 "You have orders for me, sir?" interposed 
 Rolfe, seeing a favourable moment to stem the 
 tide of his superior's wrath. 
 
 " I have. The letter coming to you by the 
 
306 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 same courier, from one of my Lord Dunmore's 
 staff officers " 
 
 "You knew of it, sir?" 
 
 " I must see it." 
 
 " I am at your orders, General," said the 
 young man, colouring as he drew a paper from 
 the inner pocket of his hunting-shirt stained 
 and stiffened with dried gore. " But I may 
 explain 'tis only from a friend, who, having 
 heard I was raised again from the dead, writes 
 to congratulate me. The rest as you will 
 see relates to the inaction of their life." 
 
 " It is there I wish to begin," said the 
 General, his eyes running over the sheet 
 hungrily. 
 
 " You may believe," the letter ran, from the 
 indicated point, " that our camp in this moun- 
 tainous pine wood is little cheerful. 'Tis varied 
 but by the ceremonial visits of solemn chieftains 
 who wait on my Lord to discuss questions of 
 treaty, and Heaven knows what beside all 
 our fine visions of a scrimmage with the red 
 fellows have melted into thin air. You, no 
 doubt, are like us, chafing at Mars' delays " 
 
 " Great God ! To read this after Monday's 
 fight," the General exclaimed. " Even his staff 
 unacquainted with our dangerous position. 
 Hum ! ' Questions of treaty, and Heaven knows 
 what beside* The whole thing's a puzzle. A 
 damnable maze in which I wander helpless. 
 Poythress, this plunges me into fresh anxiety." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 307 
 
 Rolfe waited respectfully till the General 
 emerged from brown study. 
 
 " Captain/' said his chief, at last, " I want 
 you to take a good guide, and ride to the 
 Governor's camp, bearing him a letter from 
 me. Whilst there, keep on the lookout, and 
 return as soon as you have gained anything 
 of what I need to know you understand ? " 
 
 " I think so, sir. And I am to start ? " 
 
 " Now," said Lewis, wearily. 
 
 Rolfe bowed and withdrew. On the tent's 
 portal, he was recalled. 
 
 " You may need to inform His Excellency 
 that under the present aspect of affairs I shall 
 have to answer personally for the safety of any 
 Englishman coming into my camp from his. 
 Perhaps that will convince him he cannot 
 pull overstrong at the curb with which he 
 rides us." 
 
 Saluting once more, Poythress retired. By 
 starlight before dawn next day he and his guide 
 passed the pickets of the other camp. The 
 cheerful challenge of the men spoke of stag- 
 nant times and no fear of attack from any 
 quarter. To a tent over which the King's ban- 
 ner dangled sleepily, Rolfe directed his steps, 
 to be informed by the sentinel posted outside 
 of it a Virginian known to him that my 
 Lord would be stirring early, since he had given 
 orders to allow entry to my Lord of Avenel, 
 who was leaving at sunrise to return to Will- 
 
308 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 iamsburg, and was to carry despatches from 
 His Excellency. 
 
 " My Lord of Avenel ? " said Rolfe, recall- 
 ing his last interview with that ungracious 
 nobleman. " Here in the wilderness ? Why, 
 'tis a Will o' the Wisp in human shape." 
 
 " His lordship reported at headquarters some 
 days since," answered the gossiping sentry. 
 " 'Tis not known at what point he crossed the 
 river, but one thing we do know, that his 
 guides left him here, refusing flatly to conduct 
 his lordship back again ; so he has had to get 
 others for the return journey. 'Twill be no 
 loss to any one when he goes ! But, Captain, 
 this is not telling you I'm glad you are alive. 
 I heard of your death, sir, as did every one in 
 our detachment, but here you are looking much 
 as you did in Williamsburg, when I saw you 
 there last spring. And we are all wild to hear 
 about the battle of the tenth." 
 
 " I did not sport this for my only coat when 
 you saw me last, Jervis," said Rolfe, evading 
 his last query. " Could you see it well, you'd 
 have turned me back for a common vagabond. 
 But since I'm in great need of rest, I'll just 
 drop down on this patch of moss under the 
 pines and be ready to deliver my despatches 
 when his lordship stirs." 
 
 Jervis went on his beat, and Rolfe, picking 
 out an elastic cushion, sank into it luxuriously. 
 After a half hour's wait, during which he had 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 309 
 
 much ado to keep his eyes open, the sound of 
 a flint striking steel inside the tent caught his 
 attention, followed by a glow of faint light 
 from a waxen taper. Getting upon his feet, 
 Rolfe drew near although keeping out of sight. 
 Much as he disliked the part of eavesdropper, 
 his duty to his chief demanded that he should 
 know all that was possible about the real 
 condition of Lord Dunmore's plans. At this 
 moment, a man in riding-clothes approached 
 the tent, asked for admission, and was requested 
 to enter. 
 
 " A barbarous hour to disturb your Excel- 
 lency," said the newcomer. "But the honour 
 of bearing your letters to her ladyship is my 
 excuse." 
 
 " I finished them late last night," said a 
 drowsy voice. " The other despatches I spoke 
 of are in this packet. And I believe the orders 
 you are so kind as to promise to place in the 
 hands of my doughty brother-in-arms, General 
 Lewis, will bring that obstinate fellow to 
 obedience, and permanently check his idea of 
 advance." 
 
 "You are convinced I have no interruption 
 to fear from the savages ? " 
 
 " Leave them to me. The way before you 
 is as clear as a primrose path, from them. But, 
 for the length of the journey, though that is 
 no bar to a backwoods traveller so efficient as 
 you have proved yourself, my Lord, what 
 
jio A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 tales you will have to tell in the clubs at home ! 
 I confess I envy you being rid altogether of 
 this country and the people, whom I detest. 
 But I have set myself to break their spirit 
 and, at whatever cost, I'll do it. You have 
 here, also, my order to Lewis to send with 
 you as escort an officer you mentioned, I 
 think, preferring your young kinsman Poy- 
 thress, whom, till you enlightened us, we had 
 fancied killed by an Indian hatchet some 
 months since." 
 
 " I have reason to believe the young man 
 would be pleased to accompany me," said an 
 unsteady voice. "And though 'tis a matter 
 of no great moment, I supposed " 
 
 " Poythress, or another," interrupted His Ex- 
 cellency, with indifference. "What does it 
 matter since I'm intending to send all of those 
 country bumpkins home by the road they 
 came, in short order? Lewis will let you have 
 Poythress, certainly." 
 
 "Thank God, he will not," meditated the 
 listener, who without analysing them had begun 
 to have uncomfortable sensations creeping in 
 the region of his spine. He imagined, though 
 he could not see it, something sinister in the 
 manner of his would-be relative. 
 
 " I have left to the last, your Excellency," 
 said Avenei, after a moment's silence, " a most 
 painful matter, but one nearest my heart. 
 When you asked my reasons for making this 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 311 
 
 forced march and toilsome journey from the 
 Cheat River district to your present camp, I 
 could not at first bring myself to confess to 
 a family disgrace. But your confidence, your 
 generous kindness to me, will not allow such a 
 matter to pass untold." 
 
 There was another pause, the speaker appar- 
 ently overcome by emotion. Then Rolfe heard 
 unfolded such an artfully dressed web of accu- 
 sation against Geoffry Flower as filled his soul 
 with loathing. What was alleged in general 
 about the offender was supposed to date far 
 back to his life in England. The specific 
 charge entitling Flower to His Excellency's rep- 
 rehension, was a letter written to a member of 
 Lewis' staff, betraying certain intentions and 
 movements of Dunmore's toward the Indians. 
 
 " 'Tis impossible ! " cried His Excellency, 
 with choking fury in his tones. " Let me 
 call " 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis not that he has done mischief yet, 
 but that he should have wished so to do," 
 hastily interrupted one, evidently a past master 
 in the art of fabrication. " And to prove that 
 he knows I have detected his evil-doing and 
 despise it, I ask your lordship to recall his 
 avoidance of me since I have been one of your 
 military family ; nay, the open insult of his 
 manner to me last night at supper with your 
 Excellency, when he arose and left the table. 
 But, for many reasons, I beseech your clemency 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 for him. Rid yourself of the culprit, if you 
 must, but place him where he will have a 
 chance to live down his offences. He is but 
 young, my Lord " 
 
 " Enough, Lord Avenel," said the Gov- 
 ernor, whose one effort seemed to the hearer 
 to be to compass self-control. " We will dwell 
 no more upon a subject most odious. You 
 will leave it to me to dispose of the affairs of 
 my staff-officers, and believe that I am quite 
 competent to deal with them as they merit. 
 And now, since you have to use all your hours 
 of daylight, I will not detain you longer from 
 the start. Adieu, and a good passage to you 
 through the wilderness, a happy landing in 
 Hymen's toils, and safe arrival in the country 
 of civilisation. Your guides, I presume, are 
 satisfactory ? " 
 
 " I have secured two trappers, who will 
 serve, as well, to supply my table on the 
 march. Since you have assured me of the ces- 
 sation of hostilities from the Indians, I can 
 have nothing to apprehend." 
 
 " Not with the safe-conduct I have given 
 you," said Dunmore, significantly. 
 
 When the visitor had exchanged a final fare- 
 well with His Excellency and left the tent, it 
 occurred to Rolfe Poythress to follow him. 
 On the outskirts of the camp he saw a small 
 riding-party drawn up ready for the road, con- 
 sisting of Fleury and a couple of villainous- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 313 
 
 looking fellows, half French, half Indian, who 
 were receiving from the valet instructions in his 
 own tongue. As they rode off, Rolfe rubbed 
 his hands with satisfaction. 
 
 " I am free from that coil, at any rate," he 
 said to himself. " To be escort to such a gang 
 were hardly my notion of a pleasuring. But 
 now for my Lord, and, after him, to greet dear 
 GeofFry Flower and put him upon his guard 
 against a malignant enemy." 
 
 Rolfe's interview with His Excellency, tread- 
 ing as it did upon the heels of that of Lord 
 Avenel, found the Commander-in-chief in a 
 humour so bitter toward all created things, so 
 full of indignation over the spirited letter sent 
 to him by General Lewis, that Rolfe had not 
 a happy half hour in the great man's presence. 
 But in the end, the Governor, appearing to 
 rally and reproach himself for showing too 
 much animus, dismissed the Captain with orders 
 to take rest and refreshment. 
 
 " I had thought to impose upon you another 
 mission, Captain Poythress," said the General- 
 in-chief. " But since here you are, here you may 
 stay till after to-morrow, when I shall have an 
 important express for your commander, one 
 that will cool his hot fancy to push the war 
 in the enemy's country, and to shed blood 
 without authority from his superior." 
 
 Extinguished by this scathing sarcasm, Rolfe 
 made haste to find GeofFry Flower, who, sitting 
 
314 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 at breakfast in the mess-tent, was delighted be- 
 yond measure at the apparition of the blood- 
 stained, travel-worn ranger, amid their group of 
 natty redcoats. The officers, when Flower's 
 warm greeting established Rolfe's identity, re- 
 ceived with acclamation the hero of such a 
 summer of hard fight and close shaves against 
 peril such as they had been longing in vain to 
 experience. They listened enviously, while 
 Rolfe, urged by admiring Flower, modestly 
 told his tale of skirmish, siege, and battle. 
 And when Geoffry, seeing his friend's fatigue, 
 carried him off to his own tent for further par- 
 ley, Rolfe could not understand why the young 
 Englishman looked at him from head to foot 
 with a sort of mysterious interest. 
 
 "What is it?" he asked simply. "Till I 
 saw myself in a tin plate of maple syrup at 
 mess the day before the fight, I had not beheld 
 this ugly phiz in weeks. Perhaps 'tis worse 
 than even I supposed it." 
 
 " My dear Poythress, you are the hero of 
 the camp," cried Geoffry. " But if they knew 
 what I know, you'd be Agamemnon and Ama- 
 dis de Gaul in one " 
 
 " My dear Flower, your imagination runs 
 away with you. In the meantime, I have that 
 to tell you, which, unpleasant as it is, will ad- 
 mit of no delay. Circumstances have brought 
 to my knowledge the fact that your uncle, 
 Lord Avenel " 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 315 
 
 "Yes, my uncle, Lord Avenel," repeated 
 Flower, breathlessly. 
 
 " has been guilty of outrageous treachery 
 to one whom all ties of blood and honour call 
 upon him to protect " 
 
 " You know it then. But how ? " exclaimed 
 Geoffry, puzzled. 
 
 " How, I cannot explain to you," said Rolfe, 
 ashamed at the part he had been forced to 
 play. "I can only say that I believe him to 
 mean mischief dire mischief " 
 
 "What again!" shouted Geoffry. "Not 
 another word, my dear fellow. I understand. 
 While I have strength I'll stand by you ; and, 
 unless matters go dead against me, between us 
 we'll see you in your rightful place. Huzza ! 
 We will win yet ; never fear." 
 
 Rolfe, who looked at him in stupefaction, 
 thought Geoffry was possessed. 
 
 " Look here, Flower," he said calmly. 
 " The reason why I didn't tell you point 
 blank what that uncle of yours said about you 
 to Lord Dunmore, was because I overheard 
 it ; and that sort of business is not the kind I 
 deal in. But if you must know, you must. 
 Avenel was plotting to get you disgraced and 
 sent away from the staff and his chief 
 ground of complaint is a letter you're said 
 to have written to somebody in our camp, 
 exposing His Excellency's secret dealings 
 with the savages. Farther than that I know 
 
316 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 nothing, I swear, about your uncle's scaly 
 tricks. 1 ' 
 
 " Oh ! the sneak, the liar, that I blush to 
 call an uncle," cried Flower, whose veins were 
 charged with wrath. " 'Twas that Fleury of 
 his who intercepted my letter to you, on which 
 slight foundation has been built this monstrous 
 edifice. I thought when he followed me here, 
 'twas to hound me to some trouble or disgrace, 
 He dared not face me openly, or you. Poy- 
 thress, but for a promise to a woman that 
 was his tool, that is binding on me during her 
 lifetime, I could tell you why that rascal has 
 good cause to wish both you and me out of his 
 way." 
 
 " Me ? " said the Virginian. " I cannot so 
 flatter myself." 
 
 " My word for it, he is your enemy, too, and 
 for good reasons. Luckily, he and his bravos 
 are well ahead of you. Oh ! this is beyond 
 credence. But believe me, should my General 
 give me the sack upon any such pretence as 
 that alleged, I'll leave him gladly, and trust to 
 a clean record to right me before the world. 
 To say truth, I'm sick to death of my service 
 and my master. But I know well that my 
 orders will be given without publicity. My 
 Lord is too wise to openly antagonise one who 
 has been so close to him, at the present crisis 
 of his affairs, when he stands over a mine your 
 Virginians are ready to explode. There, you 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 317 
 
 are reeling with want of sleep, man. Take my 
 bed, and I'll call you when you're needed." 
 
 Rolfe yielded, because he could not keep 
 awake. The exertions of body, the excitement 
 of mind, following his convalescence, had fairly 
 sapped his powers of endurance, and he now 
 rolled like a log into Flower's bunk, and slept 
 profoundly. 
 
 When he next became aware of matters of 
 every day, Flower was standing beside him, 
 laughing, while Keys, bringing up the rear with 
 hot water and a change of clothes, looked like 
 the genius of old England transplanted into 
 western wilds. 
 
 "The Seven Sleepers were naught beside 
 you, man," cried Geoffry, exploding with 
 mirth. " Do you know that you have not 
 stirred since noon yesterday, and here it is 
 6 A.M., and orders are that you are to accom- 
 pany His Excellency on his grand peace mis- 
 sion to the Indian village. Up, stir yourself, 
 take the breakfast Keys will give you, and join 
 us outside, where I have told your man to have 
 your horse in readiness." 
 
 Rolfe sprang out of bed, and hurried to do 
 his friend's behest. While he envied Geoffry 
 his power of throwing off an annoyance, he 
 could not but confess that his own heart sat 
 lighter upon its throne, than in many a long 
 day. 
 
XV 
 
 WITHIN a short distance of the Indian 
 town of Chillicothe, Lord Dunmore's 
 party, the General and staff equipped in 
 full-dress uniform, were met by a flag of truce 
 with the request that their escort of troops 
 might be halted at that point, the officers alone 
 presenting themselves before the council. 
 
 The Commander-in-chief made no demur to 
 this proposition, feeling evident confidence in 
 the favourable disposition toward him of the 
 foes who a few days before had cut down his 
 allies in bloody combat. 
 
 The wigwams, grouped in a square, sur- 
 rounded four communal houses built of logs, 
 in the centre of which arose a rotunda, or 
 council-house, having a conical roof of bark. 
 In this chamber, seated upon a dais stained 
 white and red, and strewn with skins, the savage 
 chiefs were arrayed in conclave. On either side 
 of their group stood an eagle carved in wood, 
 and around the hall were scattered other rude 
 images of birds, beasts, and warriors, and of 
 the sun and moon. 
 
 Tall, straight, admirably proportioned, the 
 318 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 319 
 
 rich red brown of their half-bare bodies undis- 
 figured by war-paint, their heads crowned with 
 eagle plumes and hawk wings, the forest mon- 
 archs received their visitors with a truly royal 
 dignity ; the strong thoughtful lines of their 
 faces betraying anxiety to make no mistake 
 in conducting a negotiation so vital to their 
 interests. 
 
 Among this striking group, one only of the 
 leaders who had been conspicuous at the battle 
 of Point Pleasant was absent. Logan, who, 
 " for magnanimity in war and greatness in 
 peace, was unsurpassed among his nation," dis- 
 dained to be seen among the suppliants. Away 
 in his cabin he remained secluded, nursing his 
 grief and wrongs, while upon the King of the 
 Confederated Nations, Cornstalk, an orator 
 without peer among them, devolved the duty 
 of laying the Indians' case before their victors. 
 
 It was well known by those present that this 
 chief had, before the battle, advocated a treaty 
 with the whites, but upon receiving the ulti- 
 matum of his brothers that fight they would, 
 had changed his attitude. Brandishing the 
 war-hatchet above his head, he had then de- 
 clared himself ready to lead them to battle, 
 adding the threat that the Indian who flinched 
 in the encounter should perish by Cornstalk's 
 hand. It was also well known to everybody 
 that to Cornstalk's impetuous dash in this affair, 
 the Indians owed whatever advantage they had 
 
320 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 attained. Bitter was his mortification over their 
 defeat, and, upon returning from the battle, he 
 had, in council, boldly impugned the chiefs for 
 forcing an attack that had cost so great a loss 
 of braves ; ending with the impassioned cry : 
 "And now, what shall we do? By two roads, 
 the Long Knives are upon us. Shall we give 
 them fight again ? " 
 
 There was no response, and Cornstalk had 
 burst forth anew : 
 
 "Speak, brothers. Shall we kill our squaws 
 and children, and then let the whites kill us?" 
 
 Another silence, which the leader had ended 
 by dashing his war-hatchet violently into the 
 war-post in the centre of the council, and de- 
 claring he would now offer peace to Lord 
 Dunmore. 
 
 Cornstalk's speech, the first to be made be- 
 fore the assembled whites and Indians, was 
 brave, feeling, and eloquent. After depicting 
 Logan's wrongs, and fearlessly casting the re- 
 sponsibility for the war upon the threshold of 
 the whites, he disclaimed Lord Dunmore's 
 charge that the Indians had failed to keep their 
 former treaties, and had proved themselves 
 mere brutal murderers. In ringing tones, he 
 depicted the once happy and prosperous condi- 
 tion of his people, now dispossessed of their 
 lands and degraded because of the false 
 promises of the whites, and the cunning of 
 traders who bought their submission with 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 321 
 
 firewater ; and so wrought upon his hearers of 
 both sides that, when he ended, the officers 
 surrounding the Governor burst into loud 
 applause. 
 
 Following other speeches, a treaty was agreed 
 upon, ceding all Indian hunting-grounds south 
 of the Ohio, and signed by those present. 
 But, deeming this incomplete without the 
 formal assent of the great Logan, and anxious 
 to assure the goodwill of one he had no mind 
 to offend, Lord Dunmore despatched to the 
 quarters of the implacable warrior, two mes- 
 sengers instructed to crave, in appropriate 
 phrase, his cooperation with the agreement. 
 This deputation, consisting of Colonel John 
 Gibson to represent the Commander-in-chief, 
 and Captain Rolfe Poythress, to appear for 
 General Lewis, repaired under Indian escort 
 to the wigwam of the illustrious Mingo. 
 
 Entering the hut between two lines of 
 braves, the embassy at first scarce distin- 
 guished, in the gloom of an interior lighted 
 only by the smoke vent, the bent form and 
 dejected countenance of the lonely sachem, who, 
 offering them seats upon a log of wood oppo- 
 site him, greeted his guests with a haughty, 
 though not ungraceful, gesture of welcome. 
 
 Rolfe, having now seen Logan under divers 
 aspects, could not but be deeply impressed 
 with his present expression of profound melan- 
 choly, the lack-lustre of his hollow brilliant eyes. 
 
322 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " So, Captain, we are met again," said 
 Logan, addressing him first. " If your chief 
 sent you to me because you are an enemy I 
 respect, he did well. Said I not you would 
 survive that battle ? Aye, and many more ; 
 for if Logan reads the future right, you have a 
 high destiny before you. But you are come 
 upon a useless errand, if you think to make 
 Logan join yonder band that swears friendship 
 with the whites." 
 
 Colonel Gibson, speaking for his Com- 
 mander, set forth in courteous terms their 
 reasons for being unwilling to conclude the 
 matter in hand without the consent of one so 
 high in his Nation's councils, so great a sol- 
 dier, so wise a man, as Logan. To these com- 
 pliments the answer was cold silence, and the 
 two envoys had begun to think they were to be 
 honoured with no further notice of any kind, 
 when the chief, rising to his full height and 
 extending one arm with tragic vehemence, 
 spoke in a voice trembling with emotion : 
 
 " I appeal to any white man to say, if ever 
 he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he 
 gave him not meat ; if ever he came cold and 
 naked, and he clothed him not. During the 
 course of the last long and bloody war, Logan 
 remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for 
 peace. Such was my love for the whites, that 
 my countrymen pointed as they passed, and 
 said : Logan is the friend of white men. I 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 323 
 
 had even thought to have lived with you, but 
 for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, 
 the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, 
 murdered all the relations of Logan, not even 
 sparing my women and children. There runs 
 not a drop of my blood in the veins of 
 any living creature. This called on me for 
 revenge. I have sought it. I have killed 
 many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. 
 For my country, I rejoice at the beams of 
 peace. But do not harbour a thought that mine 
 is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He 
 will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who 
 is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." 
 
 So ending, the unhappy man dropped again 
 into his former brooding attitude, and, although 
 the trace of tears was in his keen eyes, no 
 other words would he vouchsafe. 
 
 The envoys, waiting for a time in respectful 
 silence, arose, and, as they passed again between 
 the double file of Logan's followers, the im- 
 pulsive movement of a young brave toward 
 Poythress sent the Captain's hand to seek his 
 pistol, relinquished when he became aware that 
 this was the friend of Logan the Virginian had 
 let go from beneath his knife at Point Pleasant. 
 The Indian, seizing Rolfe's hand, shook it with 
 grateful phrases, offering at the same time the 
 gift of a pipe carved by himself and taken from 
 the pouch worn at his waist. 
 
 Logan's speech, reported by Gibson to Lord 
 
324 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 Dunmore, and put upon record at the time 
 as a splendid example of aboriginal oratory, 
 brought to an end these important proceed- 
 ings between the Indians and the whites. The 
 King of the Northern Confederacy and his 
 associates, acting without Logan, signed the 
 treaty of peace with the subjects of King George 
 that was to lift from the inhabitants of the 
 western frontier an intolerable burden of alarm. 
 The battle of Point Pleasant, fierce and fatal 
 to both sides, had finished the war gloriously 
 enough for the Virginians, although they 
 carried out of it such bitter anger against the 
 ally who had failed them as to poison their 
 memories of success. 
 
 That night all was in happy motion in Lord 
 Dunmore' s camp. The men, believing them- 
 selves about to be disbanded, began prepara- 
 tions for the march on the return home. 
 
 Geoffry Flower, who had received no other 
 indications of his chief's displeasure, called into 
 the great man's presence, was ordered curtly to 
 accompany Captain Poythress back to Lewis' 
 camp and there announce the approaching visit 
 of the Commander-in-chief for a conference 
 with the Virginian General concerning the 
 future movements of the army. 
 
 "And by the way, Captain Flower, should 
 you care to consider yourself detached from 
 duty upon my staff," remarked my Lord, casu- 
 ally, as an after-thought, " you may join Gen- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 325 
 
 eral Lewis, and, proceeding to Williamsburg, 
 await my further orders there." 
 
 " Very good, my Lord," answered the young 
 man, whose utterance was choked. Even after 
 they were en route (he, Rolfe, the servant Keys, 
 and Rolfe's guide) he could not force himself 
 to put his grievance into words. 
 
 To be thus dismissed like a lackey, whose 
 feelings his master desires to spare ! For this 
 he had borne the whims and moods of his 
 General, served him, sworn by him oh, 'twas 
 galling, and none the less so because antici- 
 pated ! His indignation against his crafty 
 uncle who had taken such enormous pains thus 
 to belittle him, his ambition to repay that wor- 
 thy in kind, rendered him incapable of any 
 conversation with his comrade. 
 
 " What did you say ? " asked Rolfe's voice 
 at last, as they jogged along through the scented 
 darkness of a pine wood. 
 
 " Did I speak ? " exclaimed Geoffry. " If 
 so, 'twas the utterance of inward prayer that 
 you and I may get even with my Uncle Ave- 
 nel." 
 
 "The sooner the better, say I," laughed 
 Rolfe, glad of a break in the poor chap's dis- 
 mal reverie. 
 
 The party travelled slowly through the 
 night, Rolfe hardly believing that he need no 
 longer be on the watch against savage attacks ; 
 that the whoop and yell, the maddening sound 
 
326 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 of Indian drum, were silenced; the great forest 
 no more the lair of human wild animals, lurk- 
 ing for a spring. But as daylight stealing 
 around them brought to view a solitary defile 
 of which the trees, blazing in October hues, 
 bore marks indicating to their guide that they 
 were within a few miles of their destination, a 
 long cry of mortal terror issuing from a thicket 
 just ahead smote on their ears. 
 
 Spurring onward, Rolfe and Flower rode 
 into a glade where a man in his shirt-sleeves, 
 bareheaded, his hands tied behind him, and 
 a rope around his neck, was standing beneath 
 the limb of a stalwart oak, in custody of a 
 party of rangers wearing uniform of Andrew 
 Lewis* troops. 
 
 In the executioner, Rolfe at once recognised 
 the sergeant of a company that had gone into 
 the fight beside him at Point Pleasant ; and, 
 in the victim, both young men saw, with a thrill 
 of horror, their enemy, my Lord of Avenel ! 
 
 " Stop, stop, Long ! " shouted Poythress, 
 dashing up, ahead. " There is some mistake. 
 I know this man. Untie his hands." 
 
 "If you do, Cap'n," answered the Sergeant, 
 reluctantly, <f perhaps, you'll be luckier than 
 I have been in getting out of him what'll save 
 his neck." 
 
 " I have nothing to tell," shrieked Avenel, 
 despairingly clutching at the newcomers. 
 " They are murdering me on suspicion, as they 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 327 
 
 murdered my two guides " and he broke 
 into a babel of lamentations and abject prayers 
 for salvation. 
 
 " Of what do you accuse him ? " said Rolfe. 
 
 " Of being a spy and go-between of Lord 
 Dunmore and the savages," answered Long, 
 sturdily. " Else what would he be doing 
 here, in plain clothes, in such company as that 
 Frenchman we've got tied up in yonder thicket, 
 and those half-breed scamps that we knew to be 
 murderers ? Why, we caught this fellow burn- 
 ing papers in our campfire, Cap'n, and the men 
 we hung confessed they came straight out o' 
 Dunmore's headquarters. I tell you, the way 
 our General and every man in our army feels 
 toward Lord Dunmore now, 'twouldn't be 
 safe for my Lord himself to venture down Andy 
 Lewis' way. If that officer is a friend of yours," 
 he added, casting upon Geoffry's red coat a 
 glance of hardly disguised intimidation, " he'd 
 better turn right round, and ride back where 
 he belongs, instead o' goin' on where it ain't 
 safe just now for Britishers of any kidney." 
 
 " I answer for my friend," said Poythress, 
 imperiously. " But the prisoner, Long. Let 
 me question him a bit." 
 
 " All right, sir," said the Sergeant, stepping 
 back, but still holding the rope in his hand. 
 " You'll find him mortal obstinate and a bad 
 un, through and through. His spies told us, 
 before we hung 'em, that he and his man were 
 
328 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 plottin' to decoy into the woods an officer from 
 Lewis' headquarters whom they were well paid 
 to put out of the way." 
 
 " Is this true ? " Rolfe asked, fiercely, re- 
 membering what he had heard in Lord Dun- 
 more's tent. 
 
 " Pardon, pardon," screamed the wretch, 
 guilt written upon his face. 
 
 " Ask him if he's got any more papers hid, 
 Cap'n," said the Sergeant. " 'Pears like I can't 
 be satisfied without hangin' him, unless I get 
 somethin' to show for my affair." And so say- 
 ing, he gave a persuasive tug to the rope. 
 " Better leave us to settle him, Cap'n, and you 
 two go your ways." 
 
 A howl from Avenel arose. Frantically ad- 
 juring Flower to intercede for him with Poy- 
 thress, beseeching Poythress to save him, and 
 full justice should be done, he directed Long 
 to look in the inner lining of his saddle for a 
 roll of papers, " the only ones, before God," 
 remaining in his possession. 
 
 Long, bounding away to the little copse 
 where the horses were secured, soon returned 
 with the documents in question. Turning them 
 over and over with a disgruntled air, he finally 
 laid the roll into Poythress' hand. 
 
 " I can't make head or tail of it, sir," he said, 
 discontentedly. " But since I promised this fel- 
 low his life, if he would give 'em up, maybe you'll 
 see whether the game is worth the candle." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 329 
 
 " Ask Geoffry he knows what they're 
 worth to you," cried the prisoner, in mortal 
 dread that his affair was again going the wrong 
 way. 
 
 " Flower ? " said Rolfe, in astonishment. 
 " What has he to do with it ? " and he looked 
 his friend full in the eyes. 
 
 The suspicious Sergeant, catching the pris- 
 oner's glance of intelligence with the British 
 officer, also looked narrowly at Flower. Not 
 a muscle of Geoffry's face moved under this 
 mute interrogatory ; not a shadow fell upon his 
 candid gaze, until he turned to the craven who 
 sued. to him for pity, with a lightning flash of 
 contempt. 
 
 " Poythress knows nothing yet of your 
 scoundrel work against him," said he; "and I 
 can only tell him and my friend the Sergeant 
 here, that the worst I know of you has had to 
 do with family affairs that, for the sake of all 
 concerned, should be settled privately between 
 Poythress and yourself." 
 
 " Give me your prisoner, Long," said Rolfe, 
 impulsively. 
 
 "All right, Cap'n, if you choose to take it 
 on yourself. That oily French fellow we've 
 got gagged, might's well go to your share, 
 too ; but I can trust you, sir, if you get any- 
 thing out of them that has to do with the 
 Indian business, you'll give me credit for it 
 with our General. So here you are, sir," 
 
330 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 handing over the rope, "an* me an* my men 
 will just be gettin' on." 
 
 The revulsion was too much for Avenel. 
 With a scream like a woman's he fell forward 
 on his face, and when they lifted him, his cruel 
 heart had ceased to beat. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 They made a grave for him under the oak- 
 tree that had so nearly been the scene of a 
 more gruesome tragedy, setting free the French 
 servant to find his way where he would. 
 Fleury, protesting innocence of complicity with 
 my Lord's various ill designs, pleaded with them 
 pitifully not to leave him alone in the woods 
 with the mound covering his master, and that 
 branch away back in the thicket bearing such 
 dreadful fruit. But Rolfe and Geoffry were 
 inexorable, and forsook the fat Frenchman, 
 crying like a child; though as M. Fleury was 
 seen in those parts some years later engaged in 
 dispensing whiskey and trinkets to the Indians, 
 it is presumed he made the best of a difficult 
 situation. 
 
 The campaign in the west brought to an 
 end by a furious quarrel between General Lewis 
 and the English Commander-in-chief, the Pro- 
 vincial troops set out for their homes, Rolfe 
 Poythress quitting his General and making all 
 speed to the Potomac, where he was on fire to 
 be. Flower, with whom he parted when the 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 331 
 
 latter went on to Williamsburg, and to whom 
 he had kept very quiet about his intended ac- 
 tion in the matter of Lord Avenel's succes- 
 sion, had his own suspicions regarding the 
 outcome of Rolfe's visit to his uncle. Hugh 
 Poythress, sitting alone in his library, was 
 surprised by the impetuous onslaught of his 
 nephew, now grown broad and hearty under 
 the healing influence of the woods, who, 
 laying before him the whole story of Avenel's 
 wretched death and lonely burial, told also the 
 discovery of his own claim to the family title. 
 And, before Colonel Poythress could make 
 comment upon these surprising facts, the young 
 man, glowing with love and loyalty, declared 
 that never, no never, could he consent to oc- 
 cupy a place a thousand times better and more 
 nobly filled by his honoured uncle, for so he 
 must always call him. 
 
 cc But my dear, my dear," protested the 
 Colonel, tears coming into his eyes. " What 
 you propose is beautiful, but impossible. If 
 you are the son of my Cousin Percy, no power 
 under heaven could make me Lord Avenel." 
 
 " But there is only this to prove it," cried 
 Rolfe, drawing out of his breast pocket Mrs. 
 Judith's statement. "And, this destroyed, who 
 is there to dispossess you ? " 
 
 There was a little autumn fire of bark and 
 pine-cones burning on the hearth. Rolfe, ad- 
 vancing toward it, held out the paper which 
 
332 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 he was about to drop into the flames, when 
 his uncle, making a stride toward him, snatched 
 it from his grasp. 
 
 " Do you know what you are about ? " said 
 Hugh Poythress, hotly. " You are playing 
 with my honour. Once convinced of the truth 
 of its contents, does it seem to you that the 
 destruction of this paper would make any dif- 
 ference in my action ? I forbid you to destroy 
 it, now or hereafter. I shall at once set to 
 work to have the story that I have no reason 
 to doubt investigated. If 'tis true, as I said 
 before, all the King's horses and all the King's 
 men cannot make me put myself in the mean 
 position of a claimant who knows his claim to 
 be a false one. My dear lad, if I speak with 
 heat, 'tis not because I fail to be touched by 
 your love and deference." 
 
 " You may do as you like then," cried Rolfe, 
 as obstinate on his side; "but rest assured, my 
 mind also is fixed. And I may as well tell you, 
 sir, that I'm going to enlist for the war against 
 the Crown. To my thinking, 'tis the right 
 cause, the only cause for a true American, and 
 such I shall ever be. I'd like to see the House 
 of Lords letting in a fellow of my stripe to sit 
 among them; and I'd like to see myself want- 
 ing to get in ! For you, 'tis different ; and 
 should the war rage a dozen years, 'twould 
 not alter my respect for your convictions. So 
 there, Uncle Poythress, you have my ultima- 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 333 
 
 turn. Believe me when I say that I give up, 
 without a pang, something I never dreamed of 
 possessing till a few days since something I'm 
 not fit for, do not covet, nay, will not have. 
 With all my heart I urge you to believe that I 
 speak simple truth/' 
 
 The Colonel sighed heavily. 
 
 " What you tell me about your intention of 
 joining the opposition is no surprise. Is not 
 my own Hughey, since his late bout with the 
 Indians, ever chafing to get leave from me to 
 volunteer in the Virginian militia ? Well, well, 
 the world is turned upside down ! But, al- 
 though I'm touched, I'm not convinced by 
 you, Master Poythress. 'Twould require many 
 months of thought over the matter to move me 
 to your side. What I propose to do is this. 
 For the present, we will admit no outsider into 
 knowledge of our family affairs. I will devote 
 myself to close investigation of the facts ; and, 
 as for you, let us see if at the end of, say, three 
 years, you still remain of your present inten- 
 tion to renounce the claim." 
 
 " Three years ! What may not happen in 
 three years," said Rolfe, with the discontent of 
 youth. 
 
 " Three years ! " echoed Madam Poythress, 
 coming, followed by her daughters, into the 
 library, from the French window open upon 
 the lawn. " My dearest Rolfe, it has seemed 
 that, since you left us ! Let me give you a 
 
334 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 hug and a kiss of gratitude and a welcome to 
 our hero from the wars/' 
 
 Betty, who came next, was in royal beauty. 
 When she stepped into the room walled with 
 dull volumes, it was as if meadow larks were 
 singing on a joyous day in spring. The rich 
 bloom of her cheeks deepened, as she advanced 
 and offered him her hand ; whereat arose up 
 in Rolfe, once more, his old intense delight in 
 her. It was of no use remembering her broken 
 engagement with Avenel, that, when out of her 
 presence, had seemed to him a perpetual bar 
 between them. As usual, the spell of her radi- 
 ant personality held every thought of reproof 
 of her in abject check. 
 
 But what ailed little May ? What could 
 account for the child's pale looks and want of 
 animation ? He missed his delightful com- 
 rade, his naive adviser; then recalled what Aunt 
 Poythress had once said, about Betty's beauty 
 at fifteen being a thing of doubt. 
 
 " All girls," had observed the matron, " are 
 apt to go through a transition stage, when their 
 friends are uncertain whether or not they will 
 turn out good looking/' Too bad, dainty 
 May should succumb to a " transition stage " ! 
 Next it occurred to him she was feeling the 
 reaction of the strain of Fort Shannon and 
 her heroic act; and a great tenderness for the 
 little maid possessed his heart. Kissing her in 
 brotherly fashion, he held her hand in his while 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 335 
 
 they were talking. Hughey, who now ran in, 
 added to the family chorus of questions, praises, 
 congratulations poured upon their warrior re- 
 turned. When, at last, there was a lull in this 
 torrent of chat, Colonel Poythress claimed the 
 attention of his family. 
 
 " Now that you have all had your chance, 
 my ladies, and my young gentleman/' he be- 
 gan jocularly, "perhaps you will permit the 
 head of the family to put in one word. But 
 what am I saying ? 'Tis Rolfe, not I, who 
 turns out to be head of this family. For I 
 have to announce to you the very recent death, 
 from heart failure, in the woods of the Ohio, 
 of our Cousin Avenel." 
 
 Betty gave a little shiver and drew behind 
 her mother. 
 
 " And of a wonderful series of events, like a 
 fairy tale indeed, leading up to the culmination 
 that Rolfe here, our dear intimate, and loyal 
 kinsman, is, by right, Alan Poythress, the son 
 of Percy Avenel, and, to my belief, fully en- 
 titled to go across the sea and take his place in 
 the Castle of our fathers. But no interrup- 
 tions, please the young man is wilful and 
 recalcitrant. He is full of objections to the 
 glory thrust upon him. He is a Provincial of 
 the Provincials, a would-be Continental soldier, 
 and follower of our neighbour of Mount Ver- 
 non. And lastly, it is his urgent wish that /, 
 knowing him to be what he is, should take the 
 
336 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 prize that will leave him nameless and obscure 
 which I flatly decline to do. Now, wife, 
 now, children, judge between us which is 
 right ? " 
 
 Madam Poythress, betwixt agitation at these 
 announcements, and a vain attempt to think 
 over all sides of the question at once, became 
 quite hysterical. Betty, in whose cheeks burned 
 twin roses, would not look up or speak. 
 Hughey, after a movement toward Rolfe, 
 bounded back to the side of his father's chair 
 and stood with an arm around his sire's neck, 
 gravely pondering. 
 
 Matoaca, who had slipped her hand out of 
 Rolfe's, was the only one who found speech 
 in comment. 
 
 " If I were Rolfe," she said, weighing her 
 words, " I should do what Rolfe has done. 
 But oh ! father, 'tis you that are in the right." 
 
 "You see, Rolfe," resumed the Colonel, 
 smiling, " the matter, having gone from us into 
 a higher Court, has been decided by a cherub. 
 Let us say no more. 'Tis my opinion that 
 even a week hence, Lord Avenel, here, will 
 look at the matter with very different eyes." 
 
 Presently, when Rolfe found himself alone 
 with Betty, the girl, with an impetuous move- 
 ment, lifted his brown sinewy hand in hers and 
 kissed it with a tender grace. 
 
 " Let me thank you for myself, cousin," 
 she said. "I for good reasons could not 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 337 
 
 speak before the family. But because I am 
 cast in a lighter mould than the rest of you 
 not a heroine like our splendid little May I 
 would not have you think me unable to appre- 
 ciate " her voice broke, and she could say 
 no more. 
 
 " Betty ! " he cried, melted to the heart by 
 her beauty, her tribute, her unwonted mood of 
 softness. " If what I would renounce were 
 worth anything to me, 'twould be that I might 
 lay it at the feet of the loveliest lady of my 
 acquaintance." 
 
 " No, no, dear Rolfe," said the girl, suffused 
 with shame and contrition. " Do not think, 
 if I yielded once to an ambition that cost me 
 dear, I shall ever again be tempted by it. 
 Your feeling for me has been a boy's fancy, 
 and mine for you is only the sisterly love of 
 one who has learned, if late, to value what you 
 represent. You are the pride of our family, 
 now, and will be its head ; and we shall look 
 for you to win more honours for us as you go. 
 But you and I were not meant for one another, 
 cousin, even if " 
 
 " Even if what?" he said, his heart beating 
 fiercely as he drew nearer to her, and strove to 
 look into her eyes. 
 
 " Even if my heart were mine to give," she 
 answered, faltering, then burst into a passion 
 of hot tears. 
 
 It was all over then. Rolfe knew her secret. 
 
33 8 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 " Oh, my darling, my darling ! " he said. 
 " God knows I would help you to bear your 
 trouble if I could." 
 
 " I must live it down,'* she answered drearily. 
 "'Tis my right punishment for what I did 
 deliberately. Let me go to my room, now, 
 cousin ; and try to think of me kindly, but as 
 never more than " 
 
 "Always the fairest, the dearest "he 
 broke in, enthusiastically ; but with a sad 
 smile, she walked away from him. 
 
 Here went out with a final flicker in the 
 socket the flame so long burning on the altar 
 of Rolfe Poythress' young manhood a flame 
 nothing in life could ever rekindle. 
 
 Some time later, in recognition of his gallant 
 behaviour at Point Pleasant and elsewhere, he 
 received a commission as Colonel of Virginian 
 Volunteers, and in due time marched north- 
 ward to fight under his old friend the new 
 Commander-in-chief of the Confederated Col- 
 onies. 
 
 By that date, Lord Dunmore's pranks with 
 Virginia had culminated in the affair of the 
 Powder Magazine at Williamsburg ; when, 
 fearing the just wrath of the people, the Royal 
 Governor had escaped from his palace to take 
 refuge aboard the man-of-war, Fowey, lying off 
 Yorktown. His lordship's subsequent achieve- 
 ments on Virginian soil may be rapidly reviewed. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 339 
 
 Urgently appealing to his friends to aid him, 
 he organised black troops (as he had been 
 accused of convoking Indian allies), offering 
 their freedom to all slaves who would come to 
 his support ; proclaimed martial law ; played 
 havoc with the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, 
 and along Virginian rivers ; fought, and was de- 
 feated by, the Provincial defenders at Great 
 Bridge ; and started the great fire of Norfolk, 
 continued by the Provincial troops themselves. 
 In July, 1776, when intrenched at Given's 
 Island, on the west shore of the Chesapeake, 
 he was attacked in his ships, cannonaded, and 
 put to rout by no less a foeman than General 
 Andrew Lewis of the Virginian troops, who, 
 by driving him forever from the soil of Vir- 
 ginia, not only settled their old score on the 
 Ohio, but obtained that concession of Provi- 
 dence a balance of justice. A few days 
 before this, on the fourth of July, 1776, the 
 independence of America upon England had 
 been declared. 
 
 These great events were to the family at Vue 
 de 1'Eau merged into the minor distress of the 
 loss of their beloved home by a firebrand 
 applied by one of Lord Dunmore's gangs of 
 drunken soldiery sent ashore from his ship in 
 the Potomac to destroy the dwelling of the 
 arch-rebel against the Crown, for which it had 
 been mistaken. 
 
 The family, retiring to an overseer's house at 
 
34 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 some distance from the site of their former man- 
 sion, passed the opening years of the Revolution 
 in those narrow quarters. Here they lived, as 
 the Colonel desired to do, in sad and dignified 
 seclusion ; from time to time receiving letters 
 of sympathy and kindness from their kinsman 
 who wore blue and buff, as well as from him, 
 in scarlet, Geoffry Flower. The latter, trans- 
 ferred immediately upon his return to Williams- 
 burg to a command in one of his Majesty's 
 regiments at the north, had been fighting 
 through the war almost as continuously as had 
 Colonel Rolfe Poythress on the other side. 
 
XVI 
 
 T T ALLEY FORGE ! A bitter winter, the 
 y little starved American army of less than 
 six thousand men holding out against a 
 great, splendidly equipped force of British of 
 three times its number ! Sir William Howe 
 hesitating, debating how and when to follow 
 up the successes or his arms. Inside of Phila- 
 delphia, fiddling, dancing, dining, wining, the 
 English officers indulging themselves in every 
 whim of luxurious fancy for amusement. In 
 the headquarters of the American camp, a 
 Commander who bore in his own indomitable 
 person the concentrated cares of the whole 
 struggling nation. Lying upon the earth, a 
 mantle of snow, tracked with blood from the 
 naked feet of freemen who had marched over 
 it. On the 2jd of December, Washington 
 reported to Congress that he had in camp 
 2898 soldiers unfit for duty because barefoot 
 and otherwise naked. A little while before 
 this, two brigades had been near mutiny for 
 want of food. As the winter progressed, the 
 men, lacking blankets, had had to " sit up all 
 night by fires, instead of taking comfortable 
 
 34* 
 
Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 rest in a natural and common way/' For 
 want of horses and oxen, men harnessed them- 
 selves to sledges and wagons, dragging into 
 camp necessary supplies for the hospitals 
 tents made of plaited boughs wherein many 
 sick lay upon the frozen ground because there 
 was no hay to serve them as beds. These 
 dreadful distresses of the army made the war- 
 cloud lower as it had never lowered before. 
 
 The household and military family of the 
 American Commander-in-chief shared, to the 
 full, the trials of the hour. 
 
 At this time, when American affairs seemed 
 at their worst, Colonel Rolfe Poythress of the 
 Virginian Line, occupying a hut near the little 
 stone farmhouse of the Quaker, Isaac Potts, 
 serving as headquarters for the Commander-in- 
 chief, was again disturbed by the suggestion 
 of his English title and estates. 
 
 Madam Washington, who, arriving in Feb- 
 ruary, 1778, to share her husband's fortunes in 
 camp, had just parted with Rolfe's kinspeople 
 at Vue de 1'Eau, told him a surprising piece of 
 news. A windfall of inheritance coming to 
 Hugh Poythress through the death of a cousin 
 in Hampshire, had decided the good Colonel 
 to go over to England with his family, and 
 take possession of the fair manor thus unex- 
 pectedly acquired. 
 
 "And I was bid to tell you, Colonel," said 
 the lady, with a smile, " that whether you do or 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 343 
 
 do not assert your claim to Avenel, your uncle 
 considers himself fairly provided with this 
 'consolation stakes/ 'Tis my old friend, 
 Bessy Poythress, who, alone of her family, will 
 require the sympathy of the benevolent, since 
 for so many years she has been accustomed 
 to think of ending her days a Countess of 
 Avenel." 
 
 " Leave America ! " exclaimed Rolfe, unheed- 
 ing this mild feminine shaft. " Why, May 
 will " 
 
 " You are right, my dear sir/' went on the 
 lady, supplying what in his excitement he had 
 cut short to walk up and down the little sitting- 
 room lighted chiefly by a glowing fire of logs. 
 " May will suffer most keenly from this re- 
 moval. The dear child, whom I dare no 
 longer call my little friend, since she's taller 
 by a head than I am, and of a noble port 
 and presence, is, in these days, my favourite 
 heroine. Her whole heart is with us ; her 
 father's, and the disposition of the household, 
 with our enemy. What a situation for a young 
 female possessing her sensibility and conscience. 
 I protest, if 'twere not for the presence in their 
 home of your mother, who has been indispen- 
 sable to her during this time of trial, I know 
 not how she could have borne up under it." 
 
 "My dear brave May ! " cried the soldier, 
 irrepressibly. " How long is it, I wonder, 
 since my best thoughts of Vue de 1'Eau have 
 
344 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 been hers. You cannot imagine what her 
 spirit, her letters, have been to me. She is 
 the inspiration of my life, and has promised 
 some day to marry me." 
 
 " Then why, pray," said Madam Washing- 
 ton, quickly, " do you permit yourself to part 
 with her?"' 
 
 "You think " exclaimed the young man, 
 returning quickly to her side, " you believe I 
 may dare ? I, a ragged starveling soldier, who 
 knows not what fate awaits him " 
 
 " Is it not so with many another of our 
 brave officers ? " answered the gentle temptress, 
 in whose white hands flashed the needles with 
 which she was knitting her General a pair of 
 socks. 
 
 " Dearest lady ! " cried he, kneeling beside 
 her to pour out his full heart. " If you knew 
 what a flood of light you have turned upon my 
 path!'; 
 
 "'Tis because I've long divined your true 
 feelings," she said, smiling demurely, " that I 
 have ventured to speak thus. And, to let a 
 big cat out of the bag, 'tis not my fancy only, 
 but the General's, that May would be better 
 remaining in this country as your wife, than 
 separated from you and all of us, under such 
 untoward circumstances. Lastly, I cannot 
 think of the happiness of any one that would 
 more confirm my husband's, than that of his 
 darling god-daughter." 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 345 
 
 Rolfe sprang again upon his feet. As he 
 stood there, with the firelight playing upon his 
 great frame in the shabby uniform, upon his 
 noble manly head, his friend, with womanly 
 approval, decided that May would have a hus- 
 band second in good looks only to her own ! 
 
 " This makes me bold enough to tell you," 
 he said, his deep voice tender, "that my love 
 for her coming I know not when fed 
 upon absence and the honour I bear her lofty 
 womanhood has for many months held sole 
 empire of my heart. To win her has been my 
 dearest hope but to win her, now I Not 
 even the reward of her hand in marriage could 
 tempt me to leave the Line at such a crisis." 
 
 " I have reserved for the last my final argu- 
 ment," exclaimed his confidante. " Your 
 uncle has had it already in mind to pass by 
 our camp in April on his way to Philadelphia 
 to take ship in New York. The General has 
 offered him, indeed, a safe-conduct through 
 our lines from here. 'Twould be an odd wed- 
 ding and a strange honeymoon for our May, in 
 a waiting camp like this. But a soldier's sweet- 
 heart must not be too choice ; and oh ! Colonel, 
 how the contagion of your felicity will inspire 
 our hearts ! What pleasure my General will 
 have in a matrimonial connection between two 
 friends so esteemed by him. And, above all, 
 what satisfaction for me in the thought that I 
 may not lose my dear neighbours altogether. 
 
346 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 For, when the war is over, you will no doubt 
 make it your congenial task to rebuild Vue de 
 1'Eau There, there, how my fancies lead me 
 on there is no matchmaker, says my husband, 
 like a happy wife ! " 
 
 As Madam Washington paused to staunch 
 the tears that, despite her cheerful talk, gath- 
 ered in her eyes, the two were joined by the 
 Comrnander-in-chief, whose careworn face, 
 when the subject under debate was transmitted 
 to him by his wife, wore a sparkle of satisfac- 
 tion foreign to it for many a day. 
 
 " You have my warmest wishes in your 
 endeavour, Colonel," he said. " God knows 
 I should welcome a beam of sunshine through 
 the clouds of this heavy season. And let me 
 tell you, sir, that whatever you win of happi- 
 ness, you will have fairly earned. Believe me, 
 of such patriots as you, your country has good 
 right to be, as your General is, proud ! " 
 
 Rolfe bowed low. After that there was 
 never any backward thought of the worldly 
 advantages he had renounced. He did, in- 
 deed, go so far as to consult his Chief in the 
 matter, and Washington counselled him to 
 make no formal renunciation of his claims, 
 which indeed would be useless, since the affair, 
 already known to several people, must be fully 
 exposed in the event of any litigation; in which 
 case, no claimant could attempt to supersede 
 Rolfe, least of all the honest and conscientious 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 347 
 
 Hugh Poythress. And although the anomaly 
 was patent of a soldier in arms against the 
 British Crown asserting a present claim to a 
 seat in the House of Lords, the time might 
 come when Rolfe would think differently of 
 his privileges. But although his Chief's 
 words were restrained and prudent, Rolfe felt 
 the influence of " that mind, like light gleam- 
 ing through an unshaped world," that in those 
 days "rode upon the storm of Revolution." 
 He knew instinctively that, as he meant to 
 act, his glorious leader would have acted in 
 similar circumstances. And so, what Rolfe 
 had avowed more than three years before in 
 the first heat of boyish enthusiasm, was now 
 confirmed by the resolute purpose of his man- 
 hood. 
 
 He sent off to his Uncle Poythress for 
 whom no difference of politics could change 
 his ardent affection a letter reiterating his 
 former disinclination to offer himself as a 
 claimant of the English title ; congratulating 
 Hugh Poythress upon the substantial addition 
 to his means that would make up to him his 
 losses by the war ; and urging that May should 
 be married, and left in America with him. 
 
 In the matter of property, Rolfe had already 
 accepted from his uncle the portion set aside 
 for Richard Poythress' son ; which, with the 
 lands coming to him under the deed from the 
 Indian Nations, would, in the event of the sue- 
 
348 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 cess of the American arms, give him enough 
 for his needs as a son of the "infant Republic " ! 
 
 Thus came about, in the month of April of 
 that year, the great joy and great trial of May 
 Poythress' life. To part, under such circum- 
 stances, with her family rent her affectionate 
 heart. But, for this and all other earthly cares, 
 there was requital in the possession of Rolfe's 
 love, and comradeship for life. 
 
 A war-wedding at headquarters ! Madam 
 Poythress, recapitulating the incidents of this 
 occasion with her eldest daughter as their 
 party went on its way into Philadelphia, leav- 
 ing May with her husband, to return afterward 
 to live at the plantation in his mother's com- 
 pany whilst war lasted, wondered if, ever in the 
 world, a bride had stood up before the clergy- 
 man in a riding-habit of gray duffle in fashion 
 three years old. 
 
 " Mrs. Knox and my Lady Stirling were 
 vastly civil in offering my child furbelows, but 
 May was obstinate in wearing what would 
 match with poor dear Rolfe's threadbare blue 
 and buff. My first care shall be to send her 
 some clothes more suited to her condition. 
 And you, Betty, are but a dowdy in that faded 
 great-coat and hat. What a figure to meet the 
 officers who will undoubtedly wait upon us on 
 our arrival in Philadelphia." 
 
 " I would wear this as long again," cried 
 Betty, with sudden passion, " to be as happy 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 349 
 
 as darling May looked when we left her. I 
 think, mother, when I am a little old maid, 
 riding bodkin, or playing cards with you and 
 my father, and visiting our poor, I shall still 
 remember that joyous, trustful, wholly satisfied 
 expression of my sister's face, when she gave 
 herself to the man she loves." 
 
 " Nonsense, Betty. You a little old maid, 
 indeed ! " exclaimed Madam Poythress, bris- 
 tling up. 
 
 " We shall see," answered Betty, quietly. 
 
 No doubt Miss Poythress, in making this 
 prophecy, was entirely sincere. But we all 
 know that such arrangements on the part of 
 handsome young women are liable to change 
 by circumstance. Certainly, the portrait painted 
 by Sir Joshua Reynolds of " Mrs. Flower," 
 which, in mezzo-tint, has since been often 
 reproduced, and is to this day admired, shows 
 the Rose of the Potomac in unruffled beauty, 
 every petal wide open to the sun of prosperity 
 and love. 
 
 If Betty had not met Geoffry Flower at 
 the Mischianza, to which gay function she had 
 gone unwillingly directly after her arrival in 
 Philadelphia at the solicitation of some friends, 
 Sir Joshua might, perhaps, have had his sitter 
 under another name. For it is a fact that 
 Miss Poythress had a brilliant career at the 
 Court of King George III., and was sought in. 
 
350 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 marriage by more than one suitor of distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 But while Betty, with her mother, had been 
 looking on at the war-pageant on the banks of 
 the Delaware, her heart had wandered afar off, 
 back to a stretch of blossomy woodland road 
 in old Virginia, where she had ridden side by 
 side with one whose pulses had seemed to 
 keep bounding time with hers ! Cards had 
 been left for the ladies by Colonel Flower the 
 day before ; but they had missed him, and this 
 depressing occurrence confirmed the sadness of 
 her thoughts in his direction. She longed, yet 
 dreaded, to lay eyes on him again. How was 
 it possible a man of his pretension, opportunity, 
 distinction, should have retained, during all 
 these years, any tender sentiment for a girl 
 who had played him false ? Was it not, there- 
 fore, better they should never meet again, than 
 meet and clasp hands over a passion dead for 
 him ? 
 
 Happening to look across a sea of interven- 
 ing faces, she saw one turned upon her with an 
 eager appeal, a radiant joy, that could mean 
 but one thing, in all this weary world ! De- 
 taching himself from a group of brother-officers, 
 Geoffry worked his way through the crowd to 
 reach her side, his heart light as his tread, his 
 hopes high as heaven. The prim messages of 
 friendship she had schooled herself to send 
 him through her father's letters, were forgotten. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 351 
 
 The barricade of pride and strained humility 
 she had been for so long struggling to main- 
 tain between them, fell as at a touch. For, 
 in the moment of the meeting of their gaze, 
 Flower had discerned much more than she 
 knew herself to have revealed. And he noted, 
 too, with quick delight, that her cheeks wore 
 his King's colour ! 
 
 Before they left the bright historic scene, 
 Betty had promised to wait for him till the war 
 should be over; so it is clear that Geoffry was 
 determined to lose no more time in uncertainty. 
 Their nuptials, upon his ultimate return to 
 England, were upon a scale of elegance that 
 quite consoled Madam Poythress for what had 
 been lacking in May's affair at Valley Forge. 
 
 A tale is told in Virginia, about Betty's pres- 
 entation at Court by her mamma upon her 
 marriage, how, in the crush on a staircase, the 
 bride, feeling her train of white satin jerked at 
 by the sword-hilt of some one near her, turning, 
 discovered the innocent offender to be His Ex- 
 cellency the late Royal Governor of Virginia. 
 Whereat so gossip says Lord Dunmore 
 bowed and apologised, and Betty, with a 
 haughty sweep of her lovely head, turned away 
 from him and refused to speak to her husband's 
 old commander. The little spangled fan car- 
 ried by her on this occasion (sent over, later, to 
 a namesake at Vue de 1'Eau) was sported in 
 fancy dress at a " Starvation Party " in Rich- 
 
352 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 mond during our war between the States, by a 
 pretty young person who styled herself "Lady 
 Betty Flower." 
 
 The Flowers visited Virginia, after the Revo- 
 lution, as guests of the Poythresses at Vue de 
 1'Eau ; during which time in the spring of 
 1785 they met at dinner at Mount Vern on 
 several of the leaders of the triumphant move- 
 ment against which GeofFry Flower had fought 
 from first to last. But since not only was he a 
 guest of the Commander-in-chief, but General 
 Rolfe Poythress, his brother-in-law, could af- 
 ford to be on such excellent terms with him, 
 in spite of the late unpleasantness, Colonel 
 Flower was received by Virginians with no 
 token of resentment. 
 
 May and Rolfe, who had rebuilt the old 
 home, cared hardly ever to leave it and their 
 beloved little family, to cross the boisterous 
 seas. But they did so, more than once, because 
 Madam Poythress, always a poor sailor, could 
 not bring herself to go in search of them. 
 They found their parents duly installed at their 
 manor house in Hampshire, and fitted into 
 their niche as a hand is suited to the well-made 
 glove. Madam Poythress filled to perfection 
 her part of lady bountiful. The Colonel, soon 
 a general favourite in his county, took up poli- 
 tics with zest, and restored to a gloomy old 
 dwelling its long-vanished cheerfulness ; devot- 
 ing himself otherwise to the education of his 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 353 
 
 son, who from Oxford went into the army, made 
 an excellent marriage and in every way real- 
 ised the hopes of his honest sire. A great joy 
 of Colonel Poythress was the petting of his 
 grandchildren, who blossomed about the ver- 
 dant lawns and under the forest reaches sur- 
 rounding his estate, whenever he could decoy 
 them for a visit from their home in Devon- 
 shire. 
 
 Of the Flowers' establishment, one of the 
 lesser dignitaries was trooper Keys, the lodge- 
 keeper, espoused unto a damsel of this his 
 native county, whom he had beheld one Sun- 
 day afternoon after his return from the Ameri- 
 can war, sitting under a hedge of foxgloves, 
 and had courted with small delay. 
 
 Parson Nimrod Snow, arriving in Virginia at 
 the close of hostilities, presented to his friends 
 a large masterful lady a ship-chandler's widow 
 of Liverpool whom he had married, presum- 
 ably because she willed him so to do ; but 
 as Mrs. Snow was comfortably off, and took 
 good care of him, the little gentleman could 
 not complain of Fortune's allotment in his 
 direction. 
 
 Lord Fairfax of Greenway Court, living to 
 hear of the surrender of His Majesty's troops 
 at Yorktown to Washington, whom he had 
 trained and cherished as a son, turned wearily 
 to his faithful servant Joe, and said : " Take 
 me to bed, Joe. It is time for me to go." 
 
354 A Son of the Old Dominion 
 
 With his death, shortly after, and the treaty 
 recognising Virginia as a State independent of 
 the mother country, my Lord's great proprie- 
 tary domain in the broad lands of the Northern 
 Neck vanished from the grasp of his successors 
 in the Fairfax title which, returning to England 
 for a while, was again transplanted to Virginia 
 in the next generation and still remains with us. 
 
 Mad Ann Bailey was long known in the 
 frontier country for her acts of eccentric kind- 
 ness. Her visits to cabin and farmhouse were 
 welcomed heartily, and, so long as she lived, 
 once a year was despatched to her from Vue de 
 TEau a substantial token of its owner's grati- 
 tude for benefits received. 
 
 Crogan, Adams, Long, and the rest of 
 the hardy borderers, those strong, simple, pas- 
 sionate, powerful conquerors of the wilderness, 
 who founded many of the present families in 
 their part of Virginia and in Kentucky, con- 
 tinued to fight Indians for years following Lord 
 Dunmore's war. After them came another 
 kind of settlers carrying rifles sometimes, axes 
 always, whose peaceful occupation of the soil 
 had been secured to them by the blood and 
 the sweat of their predecessors. 
 
 Helen Poythress resided for some years at 
 Deer Lodge, surviving her brothers, but refus- 
 ing to leave again her forest home. Still cold 
 and grim in exterior, she was at heart a loving 
 devotee to her children and to their daughters. 
 
A Son of the Old Dominion 355 
 
 General Poythress never called himself Lord 
 Avenel or made any assertion of right to use 
 the title ; he never had a son, and it was left to 
 his wife's brother to establish an unquestioned 
 claim to that dignity in the British galaxy. 
 
 As for the other personages of this chronicle, 
 those who belong to history, are not their 
 names inscribed upon stones that do not lean, 
 or split asunder, or gather moss ? 
 
 THE END 
 
1*37