n were different from any Pocahontas had ever seen; the
colonists were all, willy nilly, workers, or at least adventure lovers.
These comfortable citizens were of a type as new to her as she to them.
As they rode slowly on their way to London at every mile of the road she
cried out with delighted interest and questioned Rolfe without ceasing
about the timbered and stuccoed cottages, the beautiful hedges, the rich
farms and paddocks filled with horses and cattle. At midday and at night
when they stopped at the inns, she was eager to examine everything, from
the still-room to the fragrant attics where bunches of herbs hung from
the rafters. Yet even in her girlish eagerness she bore herself with a
dignity that never allowed the simplest to doubt that, in spite of her
dark skin, she was a lady of high birth.
"Ah! John," she said, "this is so fair a land; I know not how thou
couldst leave it. I can scarcely wait when I lie abed at night for the
morn to come. There is ever something new, and new things, thou knowest,
have ever been delightful to my spirit."
"And to mine also, Rebecca," he answered; "for that reason did I seek
Wingandacoa and rejoiced in its strangeness, even as thou dost rejoice
in the strangeness of my country."
The nearer they drew to London the more there was to see. The highway
was filled with those coming and going from town; merchants, farmers
with their wares, butchers, travelling artisans, tinkers, peddlers,
gypsies, great ladies on horseback or in coaches, who stared at
Pocahontas, and gentlemen who questioned the servants about her. And
Pocahontas asked Rolfe about all of them, of their condition, their
manner of living and what their homes were like within.
When they reached the outskirts of London the crowds increased so that
Pocahontas turned to Rolfe and asked:
"Why do all the folk run hither and thither? Is there news of the return
of a war party or will they celebrate some great festival?" And she
could hardly believe that it was only a gathering such as was to be seen
every day. However, as soon as those in the crowd caught sight of her
they began to press more closely to gaze at her and at Uttamatomakkin,
who looked down at them as unconcernedly as if he had been accustomed
to such a sight all his life. Officers of the Virginia Company appeared
just then with a coach, into which they conducted Pocahontas, Rolfe and
little Thomas, so that they escaped from the curiosity of the cro
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