Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 297, 22 November 1906 — Page 7

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The Richmond Palladium, Thursday, November 22, 1906.

Page Seven.

II. -.V - - - . . ;" ." .- -"-.. . -.;. Vv II

pi mm

The ffleart s

Highway

- - - By - - - MARY E. WILKINS

1900. by DOUBLEDAV. PACE

CO.

SYNOPSIS OF STORY.

ChapterfHarry Wingfield, nar

rator of 'the story, is tutor to Mary

avendlsb. a belle of the colony of

Virginia in 16S2, and accompanies her on a ride to church. He discovers

her implication In a consptrao

Inst the kinsr. She has imported

'Arms and ammunition to aid in the

plot. II and III Wingfleld's past life In England. Although heir to large estates and well educated, he is now a deported convict In Virginia. Wingfield is devoted to his pupil. IV and V Sir Humphrey Hyde, In

love with Mary, Is with her in the plot, which is laid for the purpose of!

cuttlne down the young tooacco

It was a hot day and close, with all the heaviness of sweetness of the spring settling upon the earth, and my knofs had knocked together when my

brandy, and then my brother John came in and he turned to him. "A fine plan for escape I had." with the jaili-r drunk and the sentries blinded by my last winnings at cards, but Harry is too weak to ride." he said. Then I, being somewhat restored by the brandy, mustered up strength enough to have a mind and sieak it, and declared that I would not In any case avail myself of his aid to escape, since I should only bring trouble upon him who aided me, and should in the end be caught. And just as I spoke cam? a company of soldiers to escort me to the stocks, and the chance, for what it was worth, was over. This much, however. Imd my brother gained for me, since I was manifestly unable to walk or ride: One of the Cavendish chairs which they had

brought from England was at the pris-

sat. but felt that dignity and severity of bearing but made me more vulnerable to ridicule. Utterly weaponless I was against su-h odds. - . ' I w as glad enough -when the drums challenged again for a race of boys, who were to run one hundred and twelve yards for a hat. Everybody turned from me to see that, and I watched wearily 13:e' straining backs and elbows of the little fellows, and the shouts of encouragement and of trl-

uroiwr uj.uit-naui auu me iuj si-1 on uoor, ana some or our DiacK men cian, one on each side of me, led me ; for bearers, half blubbering at the er-

from the bed to the bench.

So very weak was I that morning, after my feverish night, that, although the physician had let a little more blood to counteract it, I veril3- seemed to forget the stocks and what I was to undergo of disgrace and ignominy, being

rand upon which they were bound. ' Somebody had rigged a curtain of thin silk for the chair, so that I, when I was set therein, had great privacy, though I knew by the sounds that I was attended by the motley crowd

The ieenng throng

umph when the winner came in smote my ears as through water, with curi

ous shocks of sound.

Then ten fiddlers played for a prize,

which usually is In following at siich

principally glad that the window was! affairs, besides the little troop of horse and wM!e thoy PlaJ"ed the People gathto the west and that burning sun which I whk-h was mv escort and mv brother ered aronn(J mo again, for races more

naci so rreitea me snut our. ? and Parson Downs riding on either The physician, long since dead, and j side. Parson Downs, though some an old man at that date, was exceed-! might reckon him as being somewhat ingly silent, eying everybody with an ; contumelious in his manner of leaving anxious corrugation of brows over ; the tobacco cuttfne. rPt wns not cn

than music have the ability to divert

the minds of English folk. But they left me again when there was a wres

tling for a pair of silver knee buckles.

I remember to this day, with a curious

olanta and thus depriving the king ; "arp eyes, and he had always a ner- j whcn there was anything to be gained 1 dizzin?ss f recollection, the straining

of his revenue under the unjust navi

gation act.

vous clutch of his hands to accompany

the glance, as if for lancets or the

necks of medicine flasks, never leav-

by his service. He was moreover quit ;

of any blame by bis office of spiritual

adviser, though it was not customary

VI ind " VII Mayday frolics at "eKS 01 meuicme nasss, never leav- adviser, though it was not customary J'"1; iU Drake Hill home of Wingfield and' in a Patient unless he had killed or. for a criminal to be attended to the j and finally ending the strife in t Marr Catherine Cavendish beseech-j cured- He nad vIslted me witb as j stocks by a clergyman, but only to the same as where beSun- leans Mary. Catherine cavenmsn ec" faithfulness as if I had been the scaffold - 1 i now tLose knotted arms and writhi es the tutor to save her sister from . . , . 1 -uuuiu. v , ,

es the tutor to save her sister from

participation in the conspiracy.

VIII Harry and Catherine conspire

So keeD knowledge of ther plot from

Ltfadam Cavendish, the girls grandmother, who is a stanch royalist. IX Mary is deceived by Wingfield into thinking that Catherine h:k purchased finery for her, the real bft3f actor being Wingfield, his object being not only to please her, but also to prevent

(Madam Cavendish from learninig "of

the disposition of Mary's own money.

rwhich has been expended for the

Jarms.

X Catherine, who knows why Wingfield is unjustly exiled, upbraids him for deceiving Mary. Planning to hid the arms and ammunition. XI Madam Cavendish, whose silence about WInfield's innocence

shields her own granddaughter, Catherine, wishes him to wed Mary. Wing-

jfield is guided by a witch to a secure ihlding place for the arms. XII The jgrand ball at the governor's, with

plary as belle. She reveals her afSection for Wingfield.

XIII and XIV The development of the plot to fight the king. XV Catherine and Mary both avow

jthelr lovo for Harry.

XVI and XVII The conspiracy

romes to a head with the departure of the governor, and the young tobacco

plants are cut down by the conspira-

ors. - XV I A fight with the militia, who

seek to prevent the destruction of the crop. Wingfield is wounded

while saving Mary, Catherine and Sir Humphrey Hyde. XIX A pris

oner In the hands of the authorities

(or trying to defraud the king of his revenue. XX Wherein the mystery

of Wingfteld's alleged English crime

is cleared up, and it Is shown that

he suffered exile and contumely in

silence to shUMri Catchilne, sister of

governor, and yet with no kindness, and

I know not to this day whether he was for or against the king, or bled both sides impartially. He looked at me with no compassion, and I might, from his manner, as well have been going to be set on a throne as in the stocks, but he counted my pulse beats and then bled me. My brother John's man, however, whom he had brought from England and whom I had known as a boy and sometimes stolen away to hunt with, he being one of the village lads, shaved

me as if It had been for my execution, and often I, somewhat dazed by the loss of blood, looking at him, saw the great tears trickling down his cheeks. A soft hearted man he was, who had met with sore troubles, having lost his family, a wife and three little ones, after which he returned to England and entered my brother's service, though he had been brought up independently, being the son of an innkeeper. Something there was about this gentle, downcast man, adding the weight of my sorrow to his own, which would have aroused me to courage if, as I said before, I had not been In such a state of body that for the time my consciousness of what was to com was clouded. There I sat on my bench, leaning sillily back against the prison wall, a strange buzzing in my ears, and I scarcely knew nor sensed It when Parson Downs entered hurriedly and leant over me, whispering that if I would and could, my chance to escape was outside. f "Tho fleetest horse in the colony," said he, "and. Harry, I have seen Dick Barry, ami if thou en nut but ride to the turn of the road thou wilt be met by Black Betty and guided to at unfo j place; nvd tho Juller hath drunk over

much Burgundy to which I trentcd

of those two stout wrestlers over the

field, each forcing the other with all his might and each scarce yielding a foot,

the

see

scaffold -- ; now inose Knotteu arms ami wninin

But, as I began to gather some ' nocks of strength and hear those quick strength through that nerv dran-ht , Pants of breath, and again it seems as

which I had swallowed and the fresh I tLen- Picture passing before my aw

nil reality or shame, men two young

air, it verily seemed to me, though I had done with any vain complaints and was of a mind to bear my Ignominywith as much bravery as though it were death, that It was as much of an occasion for spiritual consolation. I could not believe when we were arrived at the New field and I was assisted from my chair in the midst of that hooting and jeering throng, which even the soldiers and the threatening gestures of the parson andSny brother served but little to restrain that I was myself, and still more so when I was at last seated In that shameful instru

ment, the stocks

men danced for a pair of shoes, and the

crowd gathered around them, and I was quite deserted and could scarcely see for the throng the rhythmic flings of heels and tosses of heads. But when

that sport was over and the winner dancing merrily away in his new shoes

the crowd gathered about me again.

and in spite of my brother clods of

mud began to fly, and urchins to tweak at my two extended feet. Then that happened which verily never happened before nor since in Virginia, and can never happen again, because a maid like Mary Cavendish can

Ever since that time I have won- ! never live again.

dered whether mankind hath any bodily ills which are not dependent upon the mind for their existence, and are so curable by some sore stress of it.

For verily, though my wounds were

Slow pacing into the New field in

that same blue and silver gown which she had worn to the governor's ball, with a wonderful plumed hat on her head, and no mask, and her golden hair

not healed, and the sun was blistering , flowing free, behind her Catherine and with that damp blister -which frets' . .

lis eetheart. she ' MK nlso hus. hu,( n1(t-Mtll, ,f lhoU vnmU Hnrry.. peeled unjustly. XXI-Comlehine.l U T)r h(1 tnl1Hl uml look,.d llt

Ifor the tobacco plot, to b? u inock fof

the populace.

("atl ct .tu . , y, which iiotm

Mtt It Wolf 'm'A J,..tli. HtilCO It pet'tHllIM both to love utt.l authority, brought in to my netwt, mid I jjrew both brave md tiiihi'il nt tli fcutmi time, nmt yet

sfter dio hud noun never was anything

lk the stltijj of thnt Ijrnonitny which

wai I'i'f) nrcd for me tm the morrow

Many a time had I heeu men In th Mock, and pu.td them by with no

ridicule, for that, it i.ecnied to me, be.

loused to the saire class of folk as the

culprits, but with a ort of contempt which held them ns less than men and below pity even. The thought that some dny I; ten, was to sit there had never entered my head. I looked at my

two feet upholding the coverlid and pic

tured to myself how they would look

protruding . from the boards of the stocks.

f 1 recalled the faces of all I had ever

Keen therein and wondered whether I

would look like this or that one. I remembered seeing them pelted by mis

chievous boys, and as the dusk thick

ened it seemed alive with jeering faces and my ears rang with jibes. I said to myself that now Mary Cavendish was farther from me than ever before. Some dignity of wretchedness there might be In the fate of a convict condemned unjustly, but none in the fate

of a man who sat in the stocks for all the people to gaze and laugh at.

I said to myself that that crudest

fate of any to be made ridiculous in

the eyes of love was come to me, and love henceforth was over , and cone.

And thinking so, those grinning and

jibbering faces multiplied, and the air

raug with laughter, and I trow I was!

in a high fever all night.

the soul as well as the flesh,. I seemed to sense nothing except the shame and disgrace of my estate. As for my bodily ailments, they might have been cured, for aught I know of them. To this time, when I lay me down to sleep after a harder day's work than ordinary, I can see and hear the jeers of , that rude crowd around the stocks. Truly, after all, a man's vanity Is his point of vantage, and I wonder greatly if that be not the true meaning of the vulnerable spot la Achilles heel. Some slight dignity, though I had not so understood it. I Lad maintained In the midst of my

misfortunes. To be a convict of one's free will, to protect the maid of one's love from grief, was 0110 thing, but to sit lit the stocks, exposed to the Jibes of a common crowd, was another. And inure than might chc, I felt the

pped und looked at iu j smiR or 1110 t-omcuy 111 it.

and turned angrily to the physician. To sit there with my two feet straight who was packing tit his lancets' ami out, soles to the people, through thuo

vlnl to depart. "My f?od, sir," ho cried, "do you kill or cure? You hnvo not bled him ngtilti? Lord, Lord, hud I but n In ncet sud n pur for the spirit n you for the flesh, there would be not

only no sin, but no souls left In tli

colony! You hnvs not bled him again, sir?" But Mnrtyn Jennings paid no more heed to him than If he had been a part of the prlaou wall, and, Indeed, I doubt if he ever heeded any 0110 who had not need of cither his nostrums or his lancet, and after a last look at my bandages he went away. Then Parson Downs and my brother's man looked at each other. "It is of no use, sir," said the man, whose name was Will Wickett. "Poor Master Wingfield cannot ride a horse. He Is far too weak." And with that verily the tears rolled down his cheeks, so womanish had he grown by reason of the sore trials to which be had been put. "Faith, and I believe he would fall off at the first motion of the horse," agreed Parson . Downs, with a great scowl. I looked at and listened to them both, with a curious feeling that they were talking about some one else, such was my weakness and giddiness from that last blood letting. Then Parson Downs, with an exclamation which might have sounded oddly enough if heard from the pulpit, but which may, after all, have done honor to his heart, fetched out a flask of brandy from his pocket and bade Will

Wickett find a mug somewhere, which ! white and red, and the air was heavy

rude holes In the IxhiiiIk, nud nil nt

liberty to guo n nd laugh nt me, was Infinitely moixi? than to welter In my blood upon the scaffold. How ninny time, 0 I snt there, It came to me that If It bad been the scaffold, Mary Cuvendfau could at leut have held my memory Jn snmo respect; 11s it was, hw could but luugh. Full easy it may bo for any man with the courage of a man to figure In tragedy, but try blm In comedy if you would prove his mettle. Shortly after I arrived there Jn the New field, which was a wide, open space, tho sports began, and I saw them all as in a dream, or worse than a dream, a n I gh t ma re. FTrs t came I 'arson Downs, whispering to' me that as long as he could do me no good, and was in sore need of money, ami, moreOver since he would by so doing divert somewhat the, public attention from me, he would enter the race which was shortly to come off for a prize of 0. Then came a great challenge of drums, and the parson was in his saddle and the horses off on the three mile course, my eyes following them into the dust clouded distance and seeing the parson come riding in ahead to the winning post, with that curious uncertainty as to the reality which had been upon me all the morning that is, of the uncertainty of aught save my shameful abiding in the stocks. As I said before, it was a hot day, and all around the field waved fruit

boughs nearly past their bloom, with the green of new leaves overcoming the

Cicely Hyde, like two bridesmaids, came my love, Mary Cavendish. And while I shrank back, thinking that here was the worst sting of all, like the sting of death, that she should see me thus, straight up to the stocks she came'aul gathering her blue and silver gown about her made her way in to my side and sat there, thrusting her two tiny feet, in their dainty shoes, through the apertures next mine, for the stocks were made to accommodate two criminals. And then I looked at her and would have besought her to go, but the words died on my Hps, for In that minute I knew what love was and how it could Harry and Mary in the stocks

foremost among those who wrenched open the stocks was Captain Calvin Tabor. Then Mary Cavendish and I stood together there before them all. , It was all many years ago, but never hath my love for her dimmed, and it shall live after Jamestown is again in ashes, when the sea birus r.re calling over the sunset wsste, when the reeds are tall in the sarueus. wtca even the tombs are cru;r.bling. and maybe hers and mine among them, when the oa gates are icv n and the water washing

over the sites of the homes of the cavaliers. For I have learned that the blazon of love Is the or.'y one which hoM-s good forever tk:n:gii all the wilderness of b::i-:ry. :inu the path ot love is the only one wt.:e!i those taa: may ecrue after its 1 i sufeiy follov unto the end of the v, -. d.

't t. .!r.-'t f. The mistletoe is a true parasite, formerly never growing save on the branches of oaks in moit situations. Of late years it is extensively raised in greenhouses, the crushed seeds being placed upon slabs or bark in situations as nearly as possible approximating its original habitat.

PERT PARAGRAPHS.

he did speedily, and he gave me a drink which put new life into me,

with honey -sweet, and. as steady as a clock tick, through all the roaring of

CHAPTER XXII.

11IE sports and races of Royal I Oak day were to be held on

the New field so called) adjoining the plantation of

Barry UDDer Branch. The stocks hnrl

ben mnvprf from their sn.it Rtatlrm trt rjK maeea 11 would nave oeen, ana

this tdace to remind the neonle in thp I wouja aououess nave cost mm ms nv

midst of their gayety that the displeas- I ing- had 1 ridden across country on nr of th. v infr Ti-a. n i,inc i that famous horse of his. But he seem-

dreaded, and that they were not their

own masters even when they made

though it was still out of the question i the merrymakers came the hum of the for me to ride that fiery horse which j bees and the calls of the birds. A great stood pawing outside the prison. And j flag was streaming thirty feet high, and just here I would like to say that 1 1 the gay dresses of the women who had never forgot, nor ceased to be grateful ? congregated to see the sports were like for, the kindly interest in me and the f a flower garden, and the waistcoats of risk which the parson was disposed the men were as brilliant as the breasts

merry.

On the morning of that day came my

brother John's manservant to shave and dress me and the physician to attend to my wounds. It was a marvel

that I was. able to undergo the ordeal, and. indeed, my brother had striven hard to urge my wounds as a reason for my being released. But such a nat

urally strong constitution had I, or else

so faithfully had the physician tended me, with such copious lettings of blood

and purges, that except for exceeding weakness I was quite myself. Still I

wondered, after I had been shaven

and put into my clothes, which hung

somewhat loosely upon me, as I sat on

to take for my sake that day. A great , of birds, and nearly everybody wore

the green oak sprig which celebrated the Restoration. Then again the horses, after the challenge of the drums, sped around the three mile course, and attention was diverted somewhat from me. There had been mischievous bovs enough for

ed not to think of that, but shook his Harry sitting on his bench

LbIivln7'hWeVer IWaSl a'ter I had Swajhwed the

my torment, had it not been for my brother John, who stood, beside the stocks, his face white and his hand at his sword. Many a grinning urchin drew near with a stone in hand and looked at him and looked again, then slunk away and made as if he had no intention of throwing aught at me. After the horse racing came music of drums, trumpets and hautboys, and then. In spite of my brother, the crowd pressed close about me and many scurrilous things were said and many grinning faces thrust in mine, and thinking of it now, I would that I had them all in open battlefield, for how can a man fight ridicule? Verily it is like dueling with g niajj q feathers. OjjitesU I

triumph over not only the tragedy, but

that which is more cruel, tho comedy, of life. Surely no face of woman was ever like Mary Cavendish's as she sat there beside me, with such an exalta.

tlon of love which made it like the

face of an angel. Not one word she

said, but looked at me, and I knew that after that she was mine forever, in

spite of my love, which would fain

shield her from me lest I be for her

harm, and I realized that love, when it is nt its best, is past the considera

tion of any harm, being sufficient unto

itself for its own bliss and glory. But presently I, looking at her, felt my strength failing me again, and her face grew dim and she drew my head to her shoulder and sat so facing the multitude, and such a shout went up as never was. And first it was half derision, and Catherine and Cicely Hyde stood near us like bridesmaids, and my brother John kept his place. Then came Madam Judith Cavendish in a chair, and she was borne close to us through the throng and was looking forth with the teal's running over her old cheeks and extending her hands as if in blessing, and she never after made any opposition to our union. Then came blustering up Tarson Downs and Ralph Drake, who afterward wedded Cicely Hyde, and the two Barrys, who had braved leaving hiding, and the two black wenches who dwelt with them, one with a great white bandage swathing her head, and Sir Humphrey Hyde, who had just been released and who, while I think of it, wedded, a most amiable daughter of one of the burgesses within a year. And Madam Tabitha Story, with that mourning patch upon her forehead, was there, and Margery Key, with marvelous to relate in that crowd the white cat following at heel, and Mistresses Allgood and Longman with their husbands in tow. All these, with others whom I will not mention, who were friendly, gathered around me, the while Mary Cavendish sat there beside me, and. again that hair derisive shout of the multitude went up. But in a trice it all changed, for the temper of a mob is as subject to unex-:

plained changes as the wind, and It was a great shout of sympathy and triumph instead of derision. Then they tore off the oak sprigs with which they had bedecked themselves in honor of the day, and by so doing showed disloyalty to the king, and the militia making no resistance, and, indeed, I have always suspected, secretly rejoicing at It, they had nje released in a twinkling, and

You may be certain that separating the statesman from his pass was not a painless operation. It is not to be wondered at that the balloon is growing so popular in high life.

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