The Heart

I followed him back to the house, and he sprang from his saddle, had

a shutter unhasped in a twinkling, knowing evidently the secret of

it, and we were inside, standing amongst the litter of casks and

cases in the great silent desertion of the hall of Locust Creek.

Then he grasped me hard by both hands, and cried out, "Harry, Harry

Wingfield, come to thee I must, for, convict though thou be, thou

art a man with a head packed with wit, and Ralph Drake is half the

time in his cups, and Parson Downs riding his own will at such a

hard gallop that 'twill surprise me not if he leave his head behind,

and as for Dick and Nick Barry, and Captain Dickson, and--and

Major Robert Beverly, and all the others, what is it to them about

this one matter which is more to me than the whole damned hell-broth?"

"You mean?" I said, and pointed to the litter on the hall floor.

"Yes," and then, with a great show of passion, "My God, Harry

Wingfield, why, why did we gentlemen and cavaliers of Virginia allow

a woman to be mixed in this matter? If, if--these goods be

traced to her--"

"And, faith, and I see no reason why they should not be, with a

whole colony in the secret of it," I said, coldly.

"Nay, none but me and Nick and Dick Barry, and the parson since

yesterday, and Major Beverly and Capt. Noel Jaynes and you and the

captain and sailors on the Golden Horn, who value their own necks.

As God is my witness, none beside, Harry."

I could scarcely help laughing at the length of the list and the

innocence of the lad. "Her sister Catherine, Sir Humphrey," said I.

"Hath she told her, Harry?"

"And the captain of the Earl of Fairfax."

"The governor's ship? Well, then, let us go through Jamestown

proclaiming it with a horn," he gasped out, and made more of the two

last than his own long list.

"Nay, the two last are as safe as we," said I. "Mistress Catherine

holds her sister dearer than herself, and as for the captain of the

governor's ship, lock a man's tongue with the key of his own

interest if you wish it not to wag. But these goods must be moved

from here."

"That is what I well know, Harry," he said, eagerly. "All night did

I toss and study the matter. But where?"