“I don’t want anything—I need very little, and when I’m in the woods, as I expect to be most of the time, I need nothing at all.” Colonel Dale rose.
“I wish you would go to college at Williamsburg for a year or two to better fit yourself—in case——”
“I’d like to go—to learn to fence,” smiled the boy, and the colonel smiled too.
“You’ll certainly need to know that, if you are going to be as reckless as you were today.” Erskine’s eyes darkened.
“Uncle Harry, you may think me foolish, but I don’t like or trust Grey. What was he doing with those British traders out in the Northwest?—he was not buying furs. It’s absurd. Why was he hand in glove with Lord Dunmore?”
“Lord Dunmore had a daughter,” was the dry reply, and Erskine flung out a gesture that made words unnecessary. Colonel Dale crossed the porch and put his hand on the lad’s shoulders.
“Erskine,” he said, “don’t worry—and—don’t give up hope. Be patient, wait, come back to us. Go to William and Mary. Fit yourself to be one of us in all ways. Then everything may yet come out in the only way that would be fitting and right.” The boy blushed, and the colonel went on earnestly:
“I can think of nothing in the world that would make me quite so happy.”
“It’s no use,” the boy said tremblingly, “but I’ll never forget what you have just said as long as I live, and, no matter what becomes of me, I’ll love Barbara as long as I live. But, even if things were otherwise, I’d never risk making her unhappy even by trying. I’m not fit for her nor for this life. I’ll never forget the goodness of all of you to me—I can’t explain—but I can’t get over my life in the woods and among the Indians. Why, but for all of you I might have gone back to them—I would yet. I can’t explain, but I get choked and I can’t breathe—such a longing for the woods comes over me and I can’t help me. I must go—and nothing can hold me.”
“Your father was that way,” said Colonel Dale sadly. “You may get over it, but he never did. And it must be harder for you because of your early associations. Blow out the lights in the hall. You needn’t bolt the door. Good night, and God bless you.” And the kindly gentleman was gone.