"Not know how to cook! For shame! and you a pioneer—I must have speech of your aunt, and counsel her to take order with you at once till the deficiency be mended. But for this once it will not matter, for I am taking back with me to Kent Fort a lame servant, Anne by name, owned by Sir Edmund Plowden and lent by him to my sister Margaret. She will be of our party, and likewise Councillor Neale and Captain Cornwaleys. So with them to guard us against foes without, and her to fortify us against the worse enemy of hunger within, you and I may have good hopes of coming safely to St. Gabriel's."
"O Aunt, Aunt!" Peggy called out, "his Excellency has asked me to ride with him to St. Gabriel's. Only think of it—to St. Gabriel's, and this very day!"
"Foolish child!" said her aunt, with reproof in her voice. "You can think of nothing but the pleasure of the moment. How could you manage your home-coming? And how do you know that Mistress Brent desires your company?"
"If you will permit me to take upon myself the burden of answering your questions, Madam, I think I can set your mind at rest on both points. My sister Margaret has in mind a journey to St. Mary's from Kent Fort, and will stop on her way to pick up your niece and bring her home to you in safety. As for the other question, it could only be asked by one who knew little of Mary Brent. Why, I have seen her eyes light up with joy when a total stranger stopped at the door for a meal or a night's lodging, and at a friend's coming she is clean daft with pleasure. Between you and me too she has a particular and foolish fondness for this saucy slip of a niece of yours, and will count it a red-letter day when she sees the baggage jump off her donkey at the gate, and come running in at the door. Oh, there will be great rejoicing at the manor this night,—I can promise you that."
The Governor of Maryland was not lightly to be denied. So it was settled that Peggy was to go, and the saddle-bags were filled on one side with her clothing, since, even in the wilderness, a maid must needs carry her bit of finery, and in the other side her aunt's hospitable care had stored away an ample supply of bread and meat and wine, with other eatables and drinkables to be heated in the ashes of the noonday fire.
When the two donkeys stood at the gate and Mistress Peggy and the lame serving-woman were mounted there was no happier or prouder maid in the province than Margaret Neville. Giles Brent joined the procession at the edge of the village. He was seated on Governor Calvert's horse, one of the few in the colony, and his large frame with its red-lined cloak showed well on the big black Flemish steed.
Behind him walked three men. Yes, Peggy distinctly counted three, though Governor Brent had named only two. There was Councillor Neale, with his heavy staff and big foreign boots, and Captain Cornwaleys, brave in his military uniform with gilt trimmings; but who was the third? Not—surely not—Oh, no, nothing could be more unlikely!—and yet—Yes, there was no doubt of it; however the thing had come about, the man who walked between them was Romney Huntoon. If there had been any doubt in her mind at the first glance, it was set at rest as they drew nearer, for the young man stepped forward close to the little brown donkey, and sweeping off his hat laid bare his dark curls, and then looked up at Peggy as though he had been the devoutest of Catholics, and she his patron saint.
Now, I will not deny that Peggy Neville was good to look at; but never did any one bear less resemblance to a saint than she as she sat perched upon her mottled brown and gray donkey, her saucy, smiling face peeping out from its scarlet hood, her cheeks as red as the wool covering around them, and her brown eyes sparkling with fun and health and girlish glee. Her first care was to give this youth fully to understand that it was with no thought of him she had joined this expedition. She took pains, therefore, to throw an extra amount of surprise into her tone as she exclaimed,—
"Master Huntoon!—and pray how happens it that you are acting as escort to the Governor of Maryland? Or is it but out of courtesy that you are walking with us as far as the gates of St. Mary's?"