CHAPTER XXXV
A CHAPTER OF HAPPENINGS
For happiness with a flaw in it, it was a very fair happiness which nowhung over the Delaplaine home near Spanish Town. Kate Bonnet's fatherwas still a pirate, but there was no Captain Vince in hot pursuit ofhim, seeking his blood. Kate could sing with the birds and laugh withDickory whenever she thought of the death of the wicked enemy. This wasnot, it may be thought, a proper joy for a young maiden's heart, but itcame to Kate whether she would or not; the change was so great from thefear which had possessed her before.
The old home life began again, although it was a very quiet life.Dickory went into Mr. Delaplaine's counting-house, but it was hard forthe young man to doff the naval uniform which had been bestowed upon himby Blackbeard, for he knew he looked very well in it, and everybody elsethought so and told him so; but it could not be helped, and with allconvenient speed he discarded his cocked hat and all the rest of it,and clothed himself in the simple garb of a merchant's clerk, althoughit might be said, that in all the West Indies, at that day, there was noclerk so good-looking as was Dickory. Dame Charter was so thankful thather boy had come safely through all his troubles, so proud of him, andso eminently well satisfied with his present position, that she askednothing of her particular guardian angel but that Stede Bonnet mightstay away. If, after tiring of piracy, that man came back, as hisrelatives wished him to do, the good dame was sure he would makemischief of some sort, and as like as not in the direction of herDickory. If this evil family genius should be lost at sea or shoulddisappear from the world in some equally painless and undisgracefulfashion, Dame Charter was sure that she could in a reasonable time quietthe grief of poor Kate; for what right-minded damsel could fail tomingle thankfulness with her sorrow that a kind death should relieve aparent from the sins and disgraces which in life always seemed to openup in front of him.
About this time there came a letter from Barbadoes, which was of greatinterest to everybody in the household. It was from Master MartinNewcombe, and of course was written to Kate, but she read many portionsof it to the others. The first part of the epistle was not read aloud,but it was very pleasant for Kate to read it to herself. This man was aclose lover and an ardent one. Whatever had happened to her fortunes,nothing had interfered with his affection; whatever he had said he stillbravely stood by, and to whatever she had objected in the way ofobstacles he had paid no attention whatever.
In the parts of the letter read to her uncle and the others, MasterNewcombe told how, not having heard from them for so long, he had beenbeginning to be greatly troubled, but the arrival of the Black Swan,which, after touching at Kingston, had continued her course toBarbadoes, had given him new life and hope; and it was his intention, assoon as he could arrange his affairs, to come to Jamaica, and there sayby word of mouth and do, in his own person, so much for which a letterwas totally inadequate. The thought of seeing Kate again made himtremble as he walked through his fields. This was read inadvertently,and Dickory frowned. Dame Charter frowned too. She had never supposedthat Master Newcombe would come to Spanish Town; she had always lookedupon him as a very worthy young farmer; so worthy that he would notneglect 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 shelike 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 beterrible; it would ruin everything."
"Ruin what?" he asked.
His mother answered diplomatically. "It would ruin all your fineopportunities in this family."
Dickory smiled with a certain sarcastic hardness. "I don't mean," saidhe, "that I am going to hack at him with a sword, because neither he norI properly know how to use swords, and after the wonderful practice thatI have seen, I would not want to prove myself a bungler even if theother man were a worse one. No, mother, I mean to fight with him by allfair means to gain the hand of my dear Kate. I love her, and I am farmore worthy of her than he is. He is not a well-disposed man, beingrough and inconsiderate in his speech." Dickory had never forgiven theinterview by the river bank when he had gone to see Madam Bonnet. "Andas to his being a stout lover, he is none of it. Had he been that, hewould long ago have crossed the little sea between Barbadoes and here."
"Do you mean, you foolish boy," exclaimed Dame Charter, "to say that youpresume to love our Mistress Kate?" And her eyes glowed upon him withall the warmth of a mother's pride, for this was the wish of her heart,and never absent from it.
"Ay, mother," said Dickory, "I shall fight for her; I shall show herthat I am worthier than he is and that I love her better. I shall evenstrive for her if that mad pirate comes back and tries to overseteverything."
"Oh, do it before that!" cried Dame Charter, anxiety in every wrinkle."Do it before that!"
Mr. Delaplaine was a little troubled by the promised visit fromBarbadoes. He had heard of Master Newcombe as being a most estimableyoung man, but the fault about him, in his opinion, was that he residednot in Jamaica. For a long time the good merchant had lived his ownlife, with no one to love him, and he now had with him his sister'schild, whom he had come to look upon as a daughter, and he did not wishto give her up. It was true that it might be possible, under favourablepressure, to induce young Newcombe to come to Jamaica and settle there,but this was all very vague. Had he had his own way, he would havedriven from Kate every thought of love or marriage until the time whenhis new clerk, Dickory Charter, had become a young merchant of goodstanding, worthy of such a wife. Then he might have been willing to giveKate to Dickory, and Dickory would have given her to him, and they mighthave all been happy. That is, if that hare-brained Bonnet did not comehome.
The Delaplaine family did not go much into society at that time, forpeople had known about the pirate and his ship, the Revenge, and thepursuit upon which Captain Vince of the royal corvette Badger had beensent. They had all heard, too, of the death of Captain Vince, and someof them were not quite certain whether he had been killed by the pirateBonnet or another desperado equally dangerous. Knowing all this,although if they had not known it they would scarcely have found it outfrom the speech of their neighbours, the Delaplaines kept much tothemselves. And they were happy, and the keynote of their happiness wasstruck by Kate, whose thankful heart could never forget the death ofCaptain Vince.
Mr. Delaplaine made his proper visit to Spanish Town, to carry histhanks and to tell the Governor how things had happened to him; and theGovernor still showed his interest in Mistress Kate Bonnet, andexpressed his regret that she had not come with her uncle, which was avery natural wish indeed for a governor of good taste.
This is a chapter of happenings, and the next happening was a letterfrom that good man, Ben Greenway, and it told the most wonderful,splendid, and glorious news that had ever been told under the bright sunof the beautiful West Indies. It told that Captain Stede Bonnet was nolonger a pirate, and that Kate was no longer a pirate's daughter. Thesehappy people did not join hands and dance and sing over the great news,but Kate's joy was so great that she might have done all these thingswithout knowing it, so thankful was she that once again she had afather. This rapture so far outshone her relief at the news of the deathof Captain Vince that she almost forgot that that wicked man was safeand dead. Kate was in such a state of wild delight that she insistedthat her uncle should make another visit to the Governor's house andtake her with him, that she herself might carry the Governor the goodnews; and the Governor said such heart-warming things when he heard itthat Kate kissed him in very joy. But as Dickory was not of the party,this incident was not entered as part of the proceedings.
Now society, both in Spanish Town and Kingston, opened its arms andinsisted that the fair star of Barbadoes should enter them, and therewere parties and dances and dinners, and it might have been supposedthat everybody had been a father or a mother to a prodigal son, sogenial and joyful were the festivities--Ka
te high above all others.
At some of these social functions Dickory Charter was present, but it isdoubtful whether he was happier when he saw Kate surrounded by gayadmirers or when he was at home imagining what was going on about her.
There was but one cloud in the midst of all this sunshine, and that wasthat Mr. Delaplaine, Dame Charter, and her son Dickory could not forgetthat it was now in the line of events that Stede Bonnet would soon bewith them, and beyond that all was chaos.
And over the seas sailed the good ship the Royal James, Captain Thomasin command.
Kate Bonnet: The Romance of a Pirate's Daughter Page 35