"I go wit' John here."
"Have it your own way," I returned cavalierly. "Shall I find the governor in the fort, John?"
"Ay, sir." He hesitated. "But sure, Master Ormerod, you'll stop in Pearl Street. Elspeth and——"
"Anon, anon," I said airily. "I am not much of a home-body, John."
And I swaggered on my way, poor fool, secretly fearful of the memories that Pearl Street might evoke.
At the fort I was recognized by an officer, and he passed me into the governor's house with a celerity that made me fume all the more during the hour I must cool my heels in his anteroom. But all things end in time, even the whims of jacks-in-office. A liveried servant opened the inner door, and I was ushered in my motley forest-garb into a room which expressed in every detail the finicking niceties of its occupant.
A small man, with a pompous carriage, insignificant features expressing vanity and pride, Master Montgomery made no effort to disguise his displeasure that a citizen should have ventured to appear before him so roughly dressed.
"Master Ormerod?" he said. "Ah, yes, I am aware who you are, sir. The late—ah—governor was pleased to give me some account of you, and of the—ah—ridiculous mission upon which he was pleased to dispatch you. Close to four years gone, was it not? You have been overlong, sir. I——"
"One moment," I interrupted. "You call my mission ridiculous. Are you aware, sir, that I have traveled where no Englishman has been before? Do you understand the value of the information I bring? Does it mean nothing that I have news of the French dispositions in the Wilderness Country?"
He waved me to silence.