CHAPTER XVI

ANOTHER VISITOR

Now, when Mr. Kinchella had been brought from England by Mr. Cliborne--his maintenance--to be supplied amongst us--being fifteen thousand pounds of tobacco annually and the frame-house built for the minister--it was not long ere we learnt the true history of Captain O'Rourke. Nay, it was so soon as we began to speak of the St. Amande family, and Mr. Kinchella could not but laugh softly when we related to him the conversation we had had with our visitor.

"The rogue! The adventurer!" he exclaimed. "And acquainted with the judges, too. I' faith, he is. With everyone in the land, I should warrant. Yet, naturally, he might say what he would here; tell his own tale, chaunt his own song. How was he to suppose any poor student of Trinity should ever wander to Virginia who knew his history?"

Then after a little further talk he fell meditating aloud again, saying:

"He may be in truth in the service of Mr. Oglethorpe--a gallant gentleman who served under Prince Eugene, and is, they say, recommended for a Generalship--yet how can he have obtained such service? He has been highwayman, if all told of him is true--perhaps, for that reason he wished not to encounter Mr. Peter Buck--guinea dropper and kidnapper--as with Gerald. Nay, Heaven only knows what he has not been, to say nothing of 'political agent' on both sides. Well. Well. Let us hope he has turned honest at last. Let us hope so."

That an intimacy should spring up between us and Mr. Kinchella was not to be wondered at, nor, indeed, that he also became popular among many other families in the counties before mentioned. For, independently of his own merits, the case of Mr. Roderick St. Amande and our charity and friendliness to him, as well as his base repayment of them, had made much talk in all the country round, not only with the gentry but among others. Even the convicts, we knew, talked about it, as did the bond-servants; and Christian Lamb, my maid, told me that her brother had often seen the late lord who died in such poverty ruffling it in London, where he was well known in gay circles. Indeed, Mr. Kinchella became mightily liked everywhere and was always welcome at the houses of his flock. For, besides his gifts of writing-verses and playing the fiddle and singing agreeably--which, simple accomplishments as they were, proved mighty acceptable in a community like ours, where we found the winter evenings long, and the summer ones, too, for the matter of that--besides all these, I say, and far above them, was his real goodness as well as sound piety. His sermons were easy and flowing, suitable alike to the educated and the simple; he expounded the Word most truthfully, and he never failed to exhort us to remember that we were Christian English folk, although in a new land, and that we owed it as a duty to our ancestors to remain such and to be a credit to the country which had sent us forth. Thus he struck a note that found an echo in all our hearts, since nothing was felt more strongly in Virginia than the sense of loyalty to our old home and home-government. 'Tis true that, in other states farther north, there were to be found those who talked wildly, and as though their minds must be distraught, of forming what they termed an American Union which should cast off the rule of our mother country; but their words were as idle breath and not to be regarded nor considered seriously. King George II. was firmly seated on his throne--as anyone might see who read the beautiful odes and other things written by Mr. Cibber, which were printed in the London news-journals, and, so, occasionally reached us--and all Virginians who went to and fro betwixt here and London spake highly of that great monarch, and of how he received the colonists graciously and spoke them fair.

For the ruse which had been played on Roderick St. Amande and his father, whereby the young lord had been saved from kidnapping and his miserable cousin sent in his place, there was little condemnation, but rather approval amongst our friends and neighbours; and, had it been possible for Mr. Quin to find his way amongst us, it would have been easy for him to establish himself comfortably in our colony.

"Although," said Mr. Kinchella, "that it was a wrong thing to do nobody can deny; yet, when Gerald came and told me of it, I could not find it in my heart to chide him or his friend, Quin, and so I let him go without a word of reproof. Yet now he is gone, too, and I know not where he may be. Sir Chaloner Ogle has the reputation of a fighting sailor, and, once his flag is hoisted at the main topmast-head, he may take his fleet around the world in search of adventure, and poor Gerald with it."

And now have I arrived at the year 1732, when I was twenty-three years of age--the year which was to be, perhaps, the most important in my life, and after which, when I have related all that occurred in it, I shall have but little more to tell.

In the early months of that year nothing happened worthy of record, except that our mastiffs were found poisoned in February in their kennels, as well as were those of Mr. Cliborne. This led us to fear the Indians might be meditating an attack on us, since they dreaded these animals more than anything else, and would, by hook or crook, invariably get them destroyed if possible before making a raid. Their method was for one of them to creep into the settlements and approach the kennels, when the poison could be easily cast in on some tempting pieces of meat. Then, the time of year when the nights were dark and long was that generally selected, as leaving them less open to observation. On such nights as these all the colonists would be huddled round their respective hearths, the convicts and bond-servants having great fires made for them in their outhouses, and the negroes still greater ones in their quarters. Amongst the gentry, too, the cold was also combated as best might be; huge wood fires blazed in every room, while, in the saloons, to add to the warmth and induce forgetfulness of the winter, games of all descriptions, as well as dances, would be indulged in. The Virginia reel shared with "Wooing a Widow," "Grind the Bottle," and "Brother, I am bobbed," the task of passing the long evenings, and those evenings were generally brought to a conclusion by hearty suppers, and, for the gentlemen, plentiful libations of brandy, rum from the West Indies, old Mountain wine imported from England, to which place it was sent from Malaga, tobacco, and so on. While such jollities as these prevailed indoors an Indian might easily creep about the plantations, survey the houses from the outside, and destroy or steal the live-stock.

The poisoning of our hounds led, however, to no further trouble at the time, and so the winter slipt away, and, at last, we burst into the glorious Virginian spring, a season when all Nature awakes and breaks into golden luxuriance. Then the pines begin to put on their fresh green cones and the gum-trees their leaves, the flowers spring forth as though born in a night, the creepers clothe themselves in tender green, and all the woods become gay with the songs of birds--the golden oriole, the mock-bird, and the whip-poor-will. And over and around all is the balmy warmth of a southern spring, the brightness of a southern sun, and the clear, blue atmosphere of a southern sky.

It was on such a day as this, in the afternoon, that I going down to see if my roses, which grew on that side of the lawn by which the road passed, were budding, observed a gentleman ride up the road, and, dismounting from his horse, take off his hat and advance to me.

"Madam," he said, "I think, from what I gathered in your village, that I am not mistaken. This is Pomfret Manor, is it not?"

This young gentleman--for I guessed he was but little older than I--was so handsome and bewitching to look upon, that, as I answered him, I could but gaze at him. His face, from which shone forth two eyes that to my foolish fancy seemed like stars, was oval, and his complexion, though much browned, very clear, while his other features were most shapely. He wore no wig--which seemed strange to a Virginian, where the wig is considered the certain mark, or necessary accompaniment, of a gentleman--yet he did well not to do so, for, besides considering the warmth of the day, his hair was most beautiful to see, since it hung down in dark brown curls to his shoulders where it reposed in a great mass. His apparel was plain, being a dark green riding-suit trimmed with silver lace, and he wore riding-boots of a handsome shape, while by his side he carried a small sword.

"It is Pomfret Manor, sir," I replied, noticing all these things. "May I ask what is your will?"

"I come, madam," he said, "first with the desire to renew a friendship with one for whom I cherish the warmest recollections; ay! for one who was my friend when I had scarce another, or only one other, in the world; and secondly, to pay my respects to Mr. Nicholas Bampfyld, to whom my family owe a debt."

"Sir," I said, "whatever your debt may be to Mr. Bampfyld it can never be paid now. My father has been dead these three years."

He looked surprised, and then said, "Dead! Madam, I grieve to hear it. I had hoped to see him. And Mr. Kinchella, the friend I seek, he, I hope and trust, is well."

"He is very well," I answered, "and is now in my house with my friend, Miss Mills, to whom he is under engagement to be shortly married."

"To be married," he said, with a smile, tho' a grave one; "to be married! This is indeed good news. He should make a worthy husband if ever man did."

As he had been speaking there had come across my mind a sudden thought--a wonderment! And--why, I have never known even to this day!--I fell a-trembling at that wonderment as to whom he should be. Was he, I asked myself,--he--was he----?

"Sir," I said, "you shall be brought to Mr. Kinchella. What name shall be announced to him?"

"I am called Lord St. Amande," he said quietly, while it seemed to me that he sighed as he spake.

"Called Lord St. Amande," I repeated in my surprise. "Lord Gerald St. Amande."

Once again he smiled, saying, "Not Lord Gerald St. Amande, though my name is Gerald. But I perceive Mr. Kinchella has been talking to you about me. Perhaps telling you my history. Well!" to himself, "heaven knows it has been common talk enough."

I think--looking back as I do now to those far-off years and to that happy, sunny day when first he came among us--that, in my heart, there was some little disappointment at seeing him whom we had pitied so looking thus prosperous. For although we knew that his great relative, the Marquis, had espoused his cause and taken him by the hand, it was ever as the poor outcast youth that we had thought of him. Yes, as an outcast roaming the streets of Dublin, or as a poor wandering sailor tossed on stormy seas, our hearts had gone out to him--and now, to see him standing before me, bravely apparelled and looking, indeed, as I thought, an English lord should look (for I had never before seen one), caused me, as I say, a disappointment. It may be that it did so because it seemed as though our pity was not needed. But, even as this passed through my mind, I reflected that it was no true Virginian hospitality to let him stand there holding his horse's bridle and waiting to see what welcome he might expect, so, calling to the negro gardener who was busy amongst the vines to take his steed, I bade him follow me. As we went to the great steps of the porch I laughed with joy at thinking what a pleasant surprise this would be for his friend, and felt glad, I knew not why, that it had fallen to my lot to be the first to see him and to bring those two together; therefore I said to him:

"I will not have you announced, but, if it pleases you, will bring you straight into the saloon. It will be good to see Mr. Kinchella's pleasure when you stand before him. It was but recently he wondered if he should ever see you again, and now you are here close to him."

"Do with me as you will," he said, "and I thank you for doing so much."

So we went up the steps together, when, drawing him behind the blue tatula bush that was now coming into flower with the warm spring, I bade him look within and he should see his friend. Seated by the harpsichord he saw him, his sweetheart sitting by his side, and he looking brave and happy, and dressed in his black silk coat and scarf.

"I should scarce have known him," whispered my lord, "he has changed so. His pallor is gone--it may be love has made him rosy--and he is fuller and plumper. It seems a crying shame to disturb him when he has so sweet a companion."

I laughed and said, "You will be easily absolved. To see you again is always his most earnest desire, while, for Mary, you are a hero of romance of whom she dreams often."

He looked at me from behind the bush, so that I thought he was wondering if it was to Mary alone such dreams came; and then, saying:

"Madam, I fear I shall be made vain here," he begged me to permit him to enter and greet his friend.

That greeting it was good to see. Mr. Kinchella gazed for a moment at the stranger entering so abruptly and then, springing to his feet, exclaimed, "Gerald! Gerald!" and folded him in his arms, while Mary, who had also risen hastily, repeated him, crying, "'Gerald!' Is this indeed Lord St. Amande?"

"Dear lad, dear heart!" said Mr. Kinchella, who, after his embrace, held the other at arm's length so as to survey him. "It is indeed you! And how you are grown; a man and a handsome one. But how you came here passes my understanding. Yet how I rejoice. How I do rejoice. Oh! Gerald! Gerald! this is a day of days." Then he went on, "Mistress Bampfyld, I see already you know; this other lady is my future wife, Miss Mills," whereon his lordship bowed with most stately grace while Mary curtsied low.

"But tell me, tell us," continued her lover, "what brings you here. We knew not, I knew not where you were. The last heard of you was that you had been impressed for the sea and had sailed under Sir Chaloner Ogle, who had testified a kindly disposition to you. But to what part of the world you had sailed, we did not know. Papers reach here but fitfully, and, though a friend of mine does sometimes send me _The London Journal_, owned by that sturdy writer, Mr. Osborne, I have seen nothing that told me of your fleet."

"'Tis not so far off now," said his lordship, with his grave smile, "I being at the moment on leave from it. I have adopted the calling of a sailor--what use to haunt the streets of London idly waiting until the House of Lords shall do me justice, if ever?"---there was a bitterness in his tone as he spake that we all well understood--"and I am now master's-mate in the _Namur_, with promise of a lieutenancy from Sir Chaloner. As for the fleet itself, a portion of it is at Halifax and a portion off Boston, while the _Namur_ is at the mouth of the James River waiting to capture some of the pirates that still haunt the spot."

"You have a long leave, I hope, Lord St. Amande," I said, though I knew that I blushed, as I did so. "You must not quit Mr. Kinchella for some time, and, in Virginia, we love to show hospitality to our friends or friends' friends."

He bowed graciously to me and told me he was entitled to many days' leave of absence, since he had had none in their long cruise, except now and then a day or so ashore; and then Mary, whose vivacity I always envied, asked him why the House of Lords behaved so ill to him and did not put him in possession of his rights.

"For," said she, "it would be the most idle affectation to pretend that here, far away as we are from England, we do not take the deepest interest in your affairs. Virginia has, and this portion of it particularly, been so much mixed up with your family and so interested in it by the fact of your friend, Mr. Kinchella, coming here, that it seems as though we, too, had some concern in those affairs."

"The House of Lords in Ireland has done me justice," he replied, "as I learnt but recently, since they had pronounced me to be what in very truth I am, my father's son. In England the House will not yet, however, decide that I am heir to the Marquis of Amesbury--though he hesitates not to acknowledge me--and it may not do so for years. Yet even my present title is disputed by my villainous uncle, Robert, who now has another son by his second wife, whom he proclaims as heir. For," addressing us all, "that the wretch, Roderick, is dead there can be, I imagine, no doubt; and his father amongst others believes so."

"'Tis thought so," we answered, while Mr. Kinchella added that many enquiries had been made for, him, not only in Virginia but in other colonies, and no word could be heard of him. "So that," he continued, "there can be no further thought but that he is dead."

"Even so," said my lord, "'twere best. For a wretch such as he death alone is fitting. And, madam, from the Marquis I have heard by letter of all the villainies he committed here, and, as one of his blood and race, I now tender you my apologies for his sins and wickedness."

"Oh, sir," I cried out with emotion, "I pray you do not so. He is gone and I have forgotten him; since he must surely be dead I have also forgiven him. I beg of you not to sully your fair fame by associating your name with his, nor your honour by deeming yourself accountable for his misdeeds."

Whereon, as I spake, his lordship, taking my hand in his, raised it to his lips and said he thanked me for my gracious goodness.