Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims

by Jane G. Austin

  CHAPTER XXIII.

  "SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, JOHN!"

  Further information gathered by Squanto and Hobomok from the Indianguests who were constantly in and out of the village proved that JohnBillington had wandered as far as Manomet, and that Canacum, the sachemof that place, had sent him on with some Nauset braves who were visitinghim, as a present or perhaps hostage to Aspinet, chief of the Nausetsand Pamets. The course of the rescuing party was thus determined, and,apart from the recovery of little Billington, Bradford was glad of theopportunity of offering payment to the Nausets for the corn borrowedfrom the mysterious granary near the First Encounter, and also muchdesired to hear an explanation of the grave containing the bones of theFrench sailor and little child.

  It was, therefore, with considerable satisfaction that he next morningled his little party to the water side, and embarked them just as thesun rising joyously from out the blue, blue sea, sent a handful of merryshafts to tip each wave with glory and glance in harmless flame fromevery point of armor or of weapon in the pinnace, as the crew movedevery man to his appointed place, the captain pushing sturdily with anoar while John Alden, half in, half out the water, heaved mightily atthe bows hanging at the foot of the Rock.

  "Once more! Now again! There she floats!" cried the captain. "One moreshove, John! There, there, enough! Fare thee well, lad, and mind thebusiness I bade thee take in hand!"

  "Ay, master," replied the youth, but as he stepped upon the Rock, andshook the waters from his mighty limbs, he heaved a sigh so ponderousthat surely it helped to fill the mainsail now curving grandly to thegathering breeze.

  But the summer day ripened to noon, and waned until the sun all buttouched the crest of Captain's Hill, before the young man gave over thework at which he had labored like a Titan all day long, and going downto the brook at a point where the captain and he had dug a semicircularbasin and paved it about with white sea-pebbles by way of a lavatory, hemade his toilet, chiefly by throwing the clear cool water in bucketfulsover his head and neck, and then rubbing himself with a coarse toweluntil the crisp hair curled vivaciously, and the fair skin glowed outfrom under its coat of sunbrown in strong relief to the white teeth andblue eyes that made the face so comely in its strength.

  A little brushing of the dark doublet and leathern small-clothes, thelow russet boots and knitted hose that completed his costume, and theunwilling envoy strolled down the hill to Elder Brewster's cottage andpaused unseen and unheard outside the open door. It was the quiet timein the afternoon when the rougher labors of the day were ended, and thehousewife might rest herself with the more delicate tasks of spinning,knitting, or needlework, for it was in these, "the good old days" we allso plaintively lament, that the distich--

  "Man may work from sun to sun But woman's work is never done"--

  originated, and was something more than a bitter jest.

  In the elder's busy household all the women were using this hour fortheir own refreshment. Mistress Brewster was lying upon her bed, MaryChilton had taken her knitting and gone to sit awhile with Desire Minterand Elizabeth Tilley, and Priscilla drawing her quaintly carvedspinning-wheel into the middle of the room so that she could look out ofthe window giving upon the brook and distant Manomet, was spinning someexquisitely fine linen thread, with which she purposed to weave cambricdelicate enough for kerchiefs and caps. As she spun, she sang as thebirds sing, that is from the heart, and not from the score; and now itwas a blithe chanson brought by her mother from her French home, and nowit was a snatch of some Dutch folks-lied or some Flemish drinking-song,and again the rude melody of an old Huguenot hymn, the half devout, halfdefiant invocation of men who prayed with naked swords in their hands.But suddenly into the sonorous strains of Luther's Hymn broke the joyoustrill of a linnet's song, and the bird alighting upon a neighboringpoplar seemed challenging the unseen songster to a trial of skill. Thestately hymn broke off in a little burst of laughter; and then acceptingthe challenge, the girl took up the linnet's strain in an unworded song,sweeter, richer, more full of joy, and love, and sunshine than his own,until the little fellow with an angry chirp and flirt of the wings flewonward to the forest where he knew no such unequal contest awaited him.

  "Well done, maid!" exclaimed Alden stepping in at the open door. "Thouhast so outsung the bird that he hath flown."

  "Nay, methinks he flew because he saw an owl abroad, and owls are evergrewsome neighbors to poor little songsters," replied Priscilla dryly,and, pressing the treadle swiftly she drew out her cobweb thread withsuch earnest care that she could not look up at the tall and comelyguest who awkwardly stood awaiting some more hospitable greeting.Receiving none, he presently subsided upon a stool hard by thespinning-wheel, and after watching its steady whirl for some momentssaid,--

  "What a fine thread thou drawest, Priscilla."

  "'T is hardly stout enough to hang a man, and yet stout enough for mypurposes, good John."

  "Wilt weave it on Master Allerton's loom when 't is done?"

  "Mayhap I'll weave it on a pillow into lace, as the maids in fairHolland are used to do."

  "Dost know their art?"

  "Ay. Jeanne De la Noye to whom I writ a letter by thy hand, John, shetaught me, and I overpassed my teacher ere I was done. What thinkstthou, John, would be said or done should I weave some ells of spanwidelace and trim my Sunday kirtle therewith? Mistress White, nay, MistressWinslow that is now, would rend it away with her own fingers."

  "And yet Master Winslow weareth cambric ruffs on occasion, and his damehath a paduasoy kirtle and mantle, and so had Mistress Carver, and someothers of our company."

  "Marry come up! How wise the lad hath grown! Hast been pondering women'sclothes instead of the books the Captain gives thee to study, John?"

  A change passed over the young man's face. The careless allusion hadrecalled his errand, and moreover linked itself with a memory Priscillahad willfully evoked. He was silent for a moment, and then pushing hisseat a little farther from the wheel he quietly said,--

  "Well do I like thy merry mood, Priscilla, and care not though thouflout me ever so sharply, but mine errand to-day is somewhat ofimportance, and I pray thee to listen seriously."

  "Nay, good lad, waste not such solemnities on me. 'T will be Sunday inthree days, and thou canst take the elder's place, and let him learn ofthee how soberly and seriously to exhort a sinner."

  "Priscilla, wilt thou be serious?"

  "As death, John. What is it?"

  "I writ a letter for thee to thy friend Jeanne De la Noye"--

  "'T is a sad truth, John."

  "And methought there was in it some word that pointed to--to"--

  "Yes; good youth, that pointed to--to--and what then?"

  "That pointed to some contract, or mayhap naught more than someunderstanding"--

  "If 't was a word that pointed to any understanding of thee and thystammerings, John Alden, I pray thee speak it without more ado. Say outwhat is in thy mind if indeed there is aught there."

  "Well then, art thou promised to Jacques De la Noye, and is he cominghere to wed thee?"

  The rich color of Priscilla's cheek deepened to crimson and the slenderthread in her hand snapped sharply, but in an instant she recoveredherself, and deftly joining the thread exclaimed.--

  "See now what mischief thy folly hath wrought! Of a truth there's nocall to complain of blindness in thy speech now, Master Alden. Butstill I have noted that if thou canst drive a bashful youth out of hisbashfulness, there are no bounds to his forwardness."

  "Loth were I to offend thee, Priscilla, and that thou knowest rightwell, but I fain would have an answer to my query. If 't is a secret,thou knowest I will keep it."

  "Nay, I'll keep it myself, and not trouble thee with what proved tooburdensome for myself."

  "But Priscilla, I am sent to thee with a proffer of marriage, and ifthou 'rt already bespoke 't is not fitting that thou shouldst hear it."

  "Thou 'rt sent, John Alden!" exclaimed the girl dropping the thread, andpre
ssing her foot upon the treadle until it creaked. "Who sent thee?"

  "Captain Standish."

  "Sent thee! Was it too much honor to a poor maid for him to do his ownerrand?"

  "Nay, be not angered, Priscilla, although he feared thou wouldst be."

  "Ah, he did fear it, did he. Then why did he do it?"

  "Why, he feared that thou wert angry already, and he would have theeknow he stood in terror, and dared not present himself"--

  "John Alden, art thou and thy master joined in league to flout andinsult me, an orphaned maid? If thou hast an errand from CaptainStandish to me, say it out in as few words as may be, or I will neverspeak word to thee again."

  Perhaps the sight of that suddenly pallid face, those blazing eyes andbrave scornful mouth, steadied the young man's nerves, as cowards in thecamp have been known to become heroes in the field; at any rate hisbrow cleared, his voice grew assured, and rising to his feet with acertain solemnity he said,--

  "Thou 'rt right, Priscilla, and I have done sore discredit thus far tothe honorable master on whose errand I come. Captain Standish, as nodoubt thou knowest, spake with thy father before he died of a marriagein time to come between him and thee"--

  "Nay, I knew it not, nor am bound by any such speech," interposedPriscilla hastily; but Alden continued unmoved,--

  "Captain Standish took it that thou didst know, and feared that thouhadst felt his silence to be some want of eagerness"--

  "Ay, I see! He feared that I was angered that he had not wooed me acrosshis wife's and my father's graves, and so thrust thee forward to bearthe first outburst of my fury! 'T was kindly thought on if notover-valiant, and 't is an honorable, a noble office for thee, John, whohast at odd times thrown me a soft word thyself."

  "Oh maiden, maiden, wilt thou trample to death the poor heart that thouknowest is all thine own! I 'throw thee a soft word now and again'! Why,thou knowest but too well how I hang like a beggar on thy footsteps tocatch even a careless word that thou mayst fling to me! Thou knowestthat I love thee, maid, as blind men love sight, and dying men water,and"--

  "_Then why don't you speak for yourself, John?_" demanded Priscillaquietly, and a dainty smile softened the proud curve of her lips, and agleam of tenderness quenched the fire of her eyes; but John, his eyesfixed upon the ground, saw it not.

  "Ah Priscilla, 't is not kind to try me thus!" cried he. "Sure thou hasttriumphed often enough in despising my humble suit, without wounding meafresh to-day, and when I fain would rally my poor wits to honorablyfulfill the embassage that brings me here. Sith I may not hope to callthee mine, maiden, I could better bear to see thee the wife of the noblesoldier whom I serve than of any other man, be he Fleming or Dutchman orwhat not, so that thou art not promised."

  "Go on, then, and say thy knight's message most worthy squire, and letus make an end on 't."

  "Thou knowest the captain for thyself, Priscilla, but mayhap thouknowest not that he cometh of noble lineage, a race that hath bornecoat-armor since Norman William led them across the Channel"--

  "Didst not bring some heraldic tree or chart to dazzle mine eyeswithal?" inquired Priscilla, mockingly; but the ambassador, determinednot again to be turned from his purpose, went on,--

  "Among his ancestors are men of noble deeds and proud achievements whohave carried the name of Standish of Standish in the forefront ofbattle, and in King's Councils, and have ranked among the princes of theidolatrous Church to which they still cling; but among them all,Priscilla, hath never risen a braver, or a nobler, or a more honorableman than he who woos thee"--

  "Did he bid thee say all that also?"

  "Nay, Priscilla, there's a time for all things, and I must feel itunworthy of thy womanhood to so perversely jeer and flout at a goodman's love, when 't is honestly offered thee."

  "Nor would I, John. But I have heard naught of any love offered me byMyles Standish. Thou hast offered in his name some coat-armor, and along lineage, and courage both ancestral and of his own person,and--what else? I forget, but surely there was no love among thesecommodities. Didst drop it by the way, or did the captain forget to sendit, John?"

  "Mayhap, he kept it back to give it thee by word of mouth, Priscilla,and if he did, it is a treasure even thou shouldst not despise, fornever did I see a nature at once so brave, so strong, and so tender.Thou knowest how sorely ill I was six weeks or so by-gone, and none dida hand's turn for me but the captain, nor needed to, for never was nurseso delicate of touch, so unwearied, so cheerful, and so full of deviceas he. No woman ever equaled him in those matters where we long forwoman's tendance, and yet never a soldier played the man more valiantlywhere man's work was in hand. Ah Priscilla, 't is a heart of gold, a manamong ten thousand, a tower of strength in danger, and a tendercomforter in suffering that is offered thee--be wise beyond thy years,and answer him comfortably."

  "And hast thou done, John? Hast said all thy say?"

  "Ay, maid."

  "Then clear thy memory of it all, and make room for the answer I willgive thee."

  "And let it be a gentle one, Priscilla."

  "Oh, thou knowest how to dress an unwelcome message in comely phrasebetter than any man of mine acquaintance, unless it be Master Winslow,"retorted Priscilla bitterly. "So try thy skill on simple NO, for 't isall I have to say."

  "But Priscilla, but maiden, bethink thee--be not so shrewd of tongue"--

  "Nay, wilt have my reasons, Master Envoy? Well then, I care not for aman who cares not to do his own wooing. I care not for a man so wellassured that I will be held by what he avers is my dead father'sbidding, that he can let weeks and months roll by or ever he finds timeto convince himself of the matter. I care naught for coat-armor, nor forpedigree, I, whose forbears were honest bourgeoisie of Lyons whoscrupled not to give up all for conscience sake, while this man isneither Papist like his kinsfolk, nor Independent like these he livesamong. And I care not for a red beard, nor for widowers, nor for men oldenough to be my sire"--

  "Nay, he is but six-and-thirty, maiden."

  "And I am naught-and-twenty, and I am a-weary of thy chat, John Alden,and I fain would be alone, so I wish thee good e'en--and a keener wit."

  "But Priscilla," gasped the poor fellow as the wheel was pushed sosuddenly aside that he had to spring out of its way, while its mistresswhirled past him and up the clumsy stair leading to her nook in the loftof the cabin.

  "But Priscilla!" came back in wrathful mimicry from the head of thestair, and while Alden still stood bewildered, in at the open doorflocked Mary Chilton, and Desire, and Elizabeth, their girlish laughterbubbling over at some girlish jest, and with a muttered greeting Aldenstalked through their midst and was gone.

  "He came looking for Priscilla, and is grumly at not finding her,"whispered Elizabeth Tilley; but Mary Chilton with a wise nod replied, asone who knows,--

  "Did he but know it, she's not ill inclined to him when all is said.Unless I sore mistake she'll say yea next time he asks her."