Governor bluntly. "An it please
you, give me plain words."

My lord laughed, his eyes traveling round the ring of greedily intent
faces. "So be it, sir," he assented. "May I ask who is this lady?"

"She came in the Bonaventure," answered the Governor. "She was one of
the treasurer's poor maids."

"With whom I trod a measure at court not long ago," said the favorite.
"I had to wait for the honor until the prince had been gratified."

The Governor's round eyes grew rounder. Young Hamor, a-tiptoe behind
him, drew a long, low whistle.

"In so small a community," went on my lord, "sure you must all know
one another. There can be no masks worn, no false colors displayed.
Everything must be as open as daylight. But we all have a past as well
as a present. Now, for instance"--

I interrupted him. "In Virginia, my lord, we live in the present. At
present, my lord, I like not the color of your lordship's cloak."

He stared at me, with his black brows drawn together. "It is not of your
choosing nor for your wearing, sir," he rejoined haughtily.

"And your sword knot is villainously tied," I continued. "And I like not
such a fire-new, bejeweled scabbard. Mine, you see, is out at heel."

"I see," he said dryly.

"The pinking of your doublet suits me not, either," I declared. "I could
make it more to my liking," and I touched his Genoa three-pile with the
point of my rapier.

A loud murmur arose from the crowd, and the Governor started forward,
crying out, "Captain Percy! Are you mad?"

"I was never saner in my life, sir," I answered. "French fashions like
me not,--that is all,--nor Englishmen that wear them. To my thinking
such are scarcely true-born."

That thrust went home. All the world knew the story of my late Lord
Carnal and the waiting woman in the service of the French ambassador's
wife. A gasp of admiration went up from the crowd. My lord's rapier was
out, the hand that held it shaking with passion. I had my blade in my
hand, but the point was upon the ground. "I'll lesson you, you madman!"
he said thickly. Suddenly, without any warning, he thrust at me; had
he been less blind with rage, the long score which each was to run up
against the other might have ended where it began. I swerved, and the
next instant with my own point sent his rapier whirling. It fell at the
Governor's feet.

"Your lordship may pick it up," I remarked. "Your grasp is as firm as
your honor, my lord."

He glared at me, foam upon his