The Heart

"Why do you not tell Master Wingfield that the maid, and not you nor

Cousin Ralph, is the prime mover in this mystery of the cargo of

furbelows on the Golden Horn?" said she, and laughed again.

"I shield not myself behind a maiden's skirts," said Sir Humphrey,

grimly.

"Then," cried Mary, "will I tell thee, Master Wingfield, what it

means. He cannot betray us, Humphrey, for his tongue is tied with

honour, even if he be not on our side. But he is on our side, as is

every true Englishman." Then Mary Cavendish leaned far out the

window, and a white lace scarf she wore floated forth, and she cried

with a great burst of triumph and childish enthusiasm: "I will tell

thee what it means, Master Wingfield, I will tell thee what it

means; I am but a maid, but the footsteps of General Bacon be yet

plain enough to follow in this soil of Virginia, and--and--the king

gets not our tobacco crops!"