s in a distant mirror.
"Gentlemen, the devil, you see, can quote scripture. Let the cup go
roun', go roun', go roun'."

The toast was drunk with fervor, and the party broke up.

The Governor, with Colonel Ludlow and Captain Laramore, was to sleep at
Verney Manor, and Mistress Betty Carrington was left by her father to
bear Patricia company for a day or two. One by one the remainder of the
company rode or sailed away, those who had an even keel beneath them
being in much better case than their brethren on horseback.

When the last sail showed a white speck in the distance, Patricia and
Betty came out upon the porch and sat them down, one on either side of
the Governor, with whom they were great favorites. Colonel Ludlow and
Captain Laramore were at dice at a table within the hall, and Colonel
Verney had excused himself in order to hear the evening report from his
overseers. Sir Charles Carew, very idle and purposeless-looking, lounged
in a great chair, and studied the miniature upon his snuff-box. The
Governor, whom the wine had mellowed into a genial softness, a kind of
sunset glow, alternately puffed wide rings of smoke into the air, and
paid compliments to the young ladies. The evening breeze had sprung up,
rustling the leaves of the trees, and bringing with it the sound of the
water. In the western sky crimson islets forever shifted shapes in a sea
of gold. A rosy light suffused the earth. In it the water turned to the
pink of a shell, the marshes became ethereal and far away, earth and sky
seemed one. The flashing wings of gull and curlew were like fairy sails
faring to and fro.

"If I had wings," said Patricia dreamily, her hands clasped over her
knees, "I would fly straight to that highest island of cloud. The one,
Betty, that looks like a field of daffodils, with those beautiful peaks
rising from it, and the violet light in the hollows. I would set up my
standard there, Sir William, and the island should be mine, and I would
rule the fairies that must inhabit it, with a rod of iron--as you rule
Virginia," she ended with a laugh.

The Governor laughed with her. "You would have no such stiff-necked folk
to deal with, my love, as have I."

"No, they should all be good Cavaliers and Churchmen--no Roundheads, no
servants--and if Indians on neighboring isles threatened we would pray
for a wind and sail away from them, around and around the bright blue
sky."

"And when you are gone to take possession of your cas