To Have and To Hold | Page 8

laughter, they drifted apart like the petals of a
wind-blown rose, and silk doublet and hose gave chase. Five minutes
saw the goodly company of damsels errant and would-be bridegrooms
scattered far and near over the smiling meadow. For the most part they

went man and maid, but the fairer of the feminine cohort had rings of
clamorous suitors from whom to choose. As for me, I walked alone; for
if by chance I neared a maid, she looked (womanlike) at my apparel
first, and never reached my face, but squarely turned her back. So
disengaged, I felt like a guest at a mask, and in some measure enjoyed
the show, though with an uneasy consciousness that I was pledged to
become, sooner or later, a part of the spectacle. I saw a shepherdess
fresh from Arcadia wave back a dozen importunate gallants, then throw
a knot of blue ribbon into their midst, laugh with glee at the scramble
that ensued, and finally march off with the wearer of the favor. I saw a
neighbor of mine, tall Jack Pride, who lived twelve miles above me,
blush and stammer, and bow again and again to a milliner's apprentice
of a girl, not five feet high and all eyes, who dropped a curtsy at each
bow. When I had passed them fifty yards or more, and looked back,
they were still bobbing and bowing. And I heard a dialogue between
Phyllis and Corydon. Says Phyllis, "Any poultry?"
Corydon. "A matter of twalve hens and twa cocks."
Phyllis. "A cow?"
Corydon. "Twa."
Phyllis. "How much tobacco?"
Corydon. "Three acres, hinny, though I dinna drink the weed mysel'.
I'm a Stewart, woman, an' the King's puir cousin."
Phyllis. "What household plenishing?"
Corydon. "Ane large bed, ane flock bed, ane trundle bed, ane chest, ane
trunk, ane leather cairpet, sax cawfskin chairs an' twa-three rush, five
pair o' sheets an' auchteen dowlas napkins, sax alchemy spunes" -
Phyllis. "I'll take you."
At the far end of the meadow, near to the fort, I met young Hamor,
alone, flushed, and hurrying back to the more populous part of the

field.
"Not yet mated?" I asked. "Where are the maids' eyes?"
"By - !" he answered, with an angry laugh. "If they're all like the
sample I've just left, I'll buy me a squaw from the Paspaheghs!"
I smiled. "So your wooing has not prospered?"
His vanity took fire. "I have not wooed in earnest," he said carelessly,
and hitched forward his cloak of sky-blue tuftaffeta with an air. "I
sheered off quickly enough, I warrant you, when I found the nature of
the commodity I had to deal with."
"Ah!" I said. "When I left the crowd they were going very fast. You
had best hurry, if you wish to secure a bargain."
"I'm off," he answered; then, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "If
you keep on to the river and that clump of cedars, you will find
Termagaunt in ruff and farthingale."
When he was gone, I stood still for a while and watched the slow sweep
of a buzzard high in the blue, after which I unsheathed my dagger, and
with it tried to scrape the dried mud from my boots. Succeeding but
indifferently, I put the blade up, stared again at the sky, drew a long
breath, and marched upon the covert of cedars indicated by Hamor.
As I neared it, I heard at first only the wash of the river; but presently
there came to my ears the sound of a man's voice, and then a woman's
angry "Begone, sir!"
"Kiss and be friends," said the man.
The sound that followed being something of the loudest for even the
most hearty salutation, I was not surprised, on parting the bushes, to
find the man nursing his cheek, and the maid her hand.
"You shall pay well for that, you sweet vixen!" he cried, and caught her
by both wrists.

She struggled fiercely, bending her head this way and that, but his hot
lips had touched her face before I could come between.
When I had knocked him down he lay where he fell, dazed by the blow,
and blinking up at me with his small ferret eyes. I knew him to be one
Edward Sharpless, and I knew no good of him. He had been a lawyer in
England. He lay on the very brink of the stream, with one arm touching
the water. Flesh and blood could not resist it, so, assisted by the toe of
my boot, he took a cold bath to cool his hot blood.
When he had clambered out and had gone away, cursing, I turned to
face her. She stood against the trunk of a great cedar, her head thrown
back, a spot of angry crimson in