A faint smile lingered on his face; whether as a result of his joke on Adam and Halberd, or his pleasure derived from the song, could never be known.
CHAPTER VIII.
A WOMAN SCORNED.
Sir William Phipps and Increase Mather, together with the other Puritan patriots who made up the small band of charter-hunters at the Court of William and Mary, worked consistently, if not harmoniously, toward their end.
They found their monarch disposed to permit them to do about as they pleased, when at length he comprehended their situation and the needs of Massachusetts. His attorney-general was ordered to draw up a charter, on the broad lines suggested by the American council. No sooner did they get it into their hands, however, than they fell into heated discussions over trifling divergencies which they found between it and the older charter, which they had come to regard with almost idolatrous awe and reverence.
The new charter granted them many liberties and privileges which the old one had not contained. Time even proved the new one to be the better document for the colony, but despite these facts, and the further fact that it restored to their dominion the provinces of Maine, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia, to the St. Lawrence River, they found much at which to grumble.
However, they finally accepted what they had, with what show of gratitude they were able to simulate. Their disaffection doubtless had its purpose, and it might have been fruitful of the further concession which they gained, namely, the privilege of nominating their own next Governor.
Here, for once, they were quite unanimous. They requested that Sir William Phipps be appointed. They knew that without the priceless services which he had rendered the cause, during all his sojourn in England, they might never have received a tithe of what was now secured to their country with all possible stability.
The nomination of Captain Phipps was made complete by the King without delay. He was constituted Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, and likewise Captain-General of the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Weighted down with these new responsibilities, he went seeking for Adam Rust, at the gay salon of the Duchess of Kindlen, noted in its day for its scope and the liberties acceded to the guests who assembled in its spacious halls.