e epistle was not read aloud,
but it was very pleasant for Kate to read it to herself. This man was a
close lover and an ardent one. Whatever had happened to her fortunes,
nothing had interfered with his affection; whatever he had said he still
bravely stood by, and to whatever she had objected in the way of
obstacles he had paid no attention whatever.

In the parts of the letter read to her uncle and the others, Master
Newcombe told how, not having heard from them for so long, he had been
beginning to be greatly troubled, but the arrival of the Black Swan,
which, after touching at Kingston, had continued her course to
Barbadoes, had given him new life and hope; and it was his intention, as
soon as he could arrange his affairs, to come to Jamaica, and there say
by word of mouth and do, in his own person, so much for which a letter
was totally inadequate. The thought of seeing Kate again made him
tremble as he walked through his fields. This was read inadvertently,
and Dickory frowned. Dame Charter frowned too. She had never supposed
that Master Newcombe would come to Spanish Town; she had always looked
upon him as a very worthy young farmer; so worthy that he would not
neglect his interest by travelling about to other islands than his own.
She did not know exactly how her son felt about all this, nor did she
like to ask him, but Dickory saved her the trouble.

"If that Newcombe comes here," he said, "I am going to fight him."

"What!" cried his mother. "You would not do that. That would be
terrible; it would ruin everything."

"Ruin what?" he asked.

His mother answered diplomatically. "It would ruin all your fine
opportunities in this family."

Dickory smiled with a certain sarcastic hardness. "I don't mean," said
he, "that I am going to hack at him with a sword, because neither he nor
I properly know how to use swords, and after the wonderful practice that
I have seen, I would not want to prove myself a bungler even if the
other man were a worse one. No, mother, I mean to fight with him by all
fair means to gain the hand of my dear Kate. I love her, and I am far
more worthy of her than he is. He is not a well-disposed man, being
rough and inconsiderate in his speech." Dickory had never forgiven the
interview by the river bank when he had gone to see Madam Bonnet. "And
as to his being a stout lover, he is none of it. Had he been that, he
would long ago have crossed the little sea between Barbadoes and here."

"