A sudden feeling of the wonder of this marriage overcame Alexander Whitaker. This Indian maiden who was a creature of the woods, shy and proud as a wild animal, was to be married by him to an Englishman with centuries of civilization behind him. What boded it for them both and for their races?
Then with love for the maiden whom he had baptized and with faith in his heart, he listened while Dr. Buck began, until he himself asked in a loud, clear voice:
"Rebecca, wilt thou take this man to be thy wedded husband?"
After the feast was over the bride said to her husband, using his Christian name shyly for the first time:
"John, wilt thou walk with me into the forest a little?"
And Rolfe, nothing loath to escape the noisy crowd, rose to go with her.
"Why dost thou care to come here?" he asked when they found themselves beyond the causeway in the woods flecked with the white of the innumerable dogwood trees.
"Because I feel Jamestown too small to-day, John; because I have ever sought the forest when I was happy or sad; because it seemeth to me that the trees and beasts would be hurt if I did not let them see me this great day."
"'Tis a pretty fancy, but a pagan one, my child," said Rolfe, frowning slightly.
But Pocahontas did not notice. She had caught a glimpse across the leafy branches of the spotted sides of a deer, and she saw a striped chipmunk peer at her from overhead.