CHAPTER II

The bridle was lying slack upon the neck of the horse, who picked his
way carefully along the road, his hoofs now clicking over the stony
highway, now falling noiselessly upon the brown pine needles. And the
occasional clatter of his shoes, or the busy chatter of a squirrel high
up in a tree, were the only sounds to interrupt the musings of the
stalwart rider, whose head was bowed, and whose eyes strayed moodily
about.

He was dark and tall, well knit, and of powerful build, yet lithe and
graceful. The wandering breeze whipped out stray curling locks about
his ears and temples from the mass of dark hair done up in a queue.
The broad-brimmed riding-hat was pulled well down over his strongly
marked brows, and the smooth-shaven face betrayed the compressed lips
of the large but finely formed mouth.

A flash of something white speeding across the road a few yards in
front of him caused the dark eyes to open wide, and brought his musings
to a sudden end.

Across the marshes to the left he caught a glimpse of twinkling feet,
encased in low steel-buckled shoes that seemed to be bearing away from
him a fleeting cloud of white drapery.

It was a female, with her so-called “cut” (a dress-skirt so narrow and
straight as to make rapid movement very difficult) thrown up over her
head and shoulders, as she went over the grass toward the beach at the
side of the road facing the Neck.

Recognizing her at once, the horseman called out, “Dorothy!” and
spurred his horse out of the road and across the marsh.

As though hearing him, she paused, and without lowering the “cut,”
turned to look over her shoulder.

The wind, catching her dress, blew the white folds aside, showing a
roguish face, and one bearing a strong family resemblance to the man in
pursuit. But her features were small and delicate, while his, although
not lacking in refinement, were far bolder in strength of outline.

She had the same dark eyes, set far apart under delicate but firmly
marked brows,–the same swart curling lashes, and riotous locks.

But here the likeness ceased; for while his face was grave, and full of
a set purpose and resolution, hers was almost babyish, and full of
witchery, with a peachy bloom coming and going in the rounded cheeks.

She was panting a little from her running, and now stood, waiting for
him to speak, her red lips parted in a mocking smile that showed two
rows of little teeth, white as the meat of a hazel-nut.

“What mischief have you been up to, you little rogue, and why are you
running away from me?” he asked. He spoke with quiet good nature, but
looked down at her with an elder brother’s reproof showing in his face.

She did not answer, but only glanced up at him from the sheltering
folds of the skirt, billowing about her face like a cloud, while the
horse, recognizing a loved playmate, whinnied, and bowed his head to
her shoulder as if mutely begging a caress.

“You have been to see Moll Pitcher again,” the young man asserted; “and
you know our father would be angry that you should do it. And ‘t is
very wrong, Dorothy, in these times, that you should be over in this
part of the town alone.”

Her brother called her so rarely by her full name that a change from
the caressing “Dot” to the solemn-sounding “Dorothy” was a sure mark of
his displeasure.

The smile died from her face, and her eyes fell. But she looked
mutinous, as she raised a small hand to stroke the horse’s nose.

“I did not come alone, Jack,” she explained. “Leet rowed me over, and
Pashar came with us; and I had little ‘Bitha, too.”

“An old darkey, who sits dozing in the boat, half a mile away from you,
with his twelve-year-old grandson, and little Tabitha! These make a
fine protection, truly, had you met with soldiers or other troublesome
people,” he said with some sarcasm. “Do you not know there was a new
vessel, filled with British soldiers, went into Salem harbor
yesterday–and belike they are roaming about the country to-day?” He
switched his riding-boot as he spoke, scowling as though the mention of
the matter had awakened vengeful thoughts.

“Hugh Knollys has but just ridden over from Salem; and he said they
were all housed there, along with the Governor,” the girl said eagerly,
glad to find something to say in her defence, as well as to turn the
current of her brother’s thoughts.

“Hugh Knollys!” he repeated. “Has he been at our house this day?”

“No-o,” she answered hesitatingly. “We met him just now as we came out
of Moll’s. He is at the Fountain Inn.”

“We,” he said, a smile showing about the corners of his lips. “Are you
His Gracious Majesty, Dot, that you speak of yourself as ‘We’?”

At the sound of her baby name, all the brightness returned to her face,
and glancing up at him, she whispered mischievously, “Look in the
thicket behind you.”

He turned to send a keen glance into the clump of bushes and vines
growing some dozen yards closer to the road he had just left; and there
he caught a glimpse of pale blue–like female raiment–showing amid the
foliage.

Wheeling his horse quickly, he rode toward it; and what he now saw was
a tall, blonde girl of eighteen or thereabouts, who arose slowly from
where she had been hiding, and came forward with a dignity that savored
of defiance, although there seemed to be a smile lurking in the corners
of her mouth.

Her gypsy hat hung by its blue ribbons on one white rounded arm, bared
to the elbow, as the fashion of her sleeve left it. The neck of her
pale blue gown was low cut; but a small cape of the same material was
over it,–crossed, fichu-wise, on her bosom, and then carried under the
arms, to be knotted at the back.

Her round white throat rose out of the sheer blue drapery in fine,
strong lines, to support a regal head, crowned with a glory of pale
brown hair, now bared to the sun, and glinting as though golden
sparkles were caught in its silky meshes.

As she approached, the rider held up his horse, and sat motionless,
staring at her, while a merry peal of laughter, silvery as chiming
bells, broke from sixteen-year-old Dorothy.

“Mary Broughton!” the young man exclaimed at length, as he looked
wonderingly at the fair-haired girl.

She paused a yard away and swept him a mocking courtesy as she
said,–and her musical voice was of the quality we are told is “good in
woman,”–“Aye; at your service, Master John Devereux.”

“Then you have been with our madcap here?” he asked, now finding his
tongue more readily.

“All the afternoon–an it please you, sir,” she replied in the same
tone of playful irony.

“It does please me,” he said, now with a smile, “for it was much better
than had Dot been alone, as I supposed at first. But think you it is
safe for you two girls to come wandering over here by yourselves?” And
in the look of his dark eyes, in the very tone of his voice, there was
something different,–more caressing than had been found even for his
small sister, who had now drawn close to them.

Mary Broughton slipped her arm through Dorothy’s, and the mockery left
her face.

“I suppose not,” she answered frankly. “But, to tell the truth, I had
not thought of such a thing until you mentioned it. We’ve not met a
soul, save Hugh Knollys, who was riding into the inn yard as we came
from Moll Pitcher’s.”

“And so you have been to consult Moll’s oracle?” the young man said
banteringly.

The white lids fell over the honest blue eyes that had been looking
straight up into his own. The girl seemed greatly embarrassed, and her
color deepened, while Dorothy only giggled, and slyly pinched the arm
upon which her slender fingers were resting.

Mary gave her a quick glance of reproof. Then she raised her eyes and
said hesitatingly, “We heard she was down from Lynn, on a visit to her
father.”

“You girls are bewitched with Moll Pitcher and her prophecies,” he
exclaimed with a laugh.

“Ah–but she tells such wonderful things,” began Dorothy, impetuously.
But Mary Broughton laid a small white hand over the red lips and
glanced warningly at her companion.

“What did she tell?” the young man asked. But now Dorothy only smiled,
and shook her head.

“Come, Dorothy,” Mary said, “we had best get back to the boat.” And
she turned to go; but the younger girl hung back.

“Are you going to a meeting at the inn, Jack?” she inquired, looking at
her brother.

“Little girls must not ask questions,” he answered, yet smiling at her
lovingly. “But do you hasten to the boat, and get home, Dot, you and
Mary. It troubles me that you should be about here. Hurry home,
now,–there’s a good little girl.” But he looked at both of them as he
spoke.

“Shall you be home by evening?” his sister asked, keeping her face
toward him as she backed away, obliged to move in the direction of the
beach; for Mary, still holding her arm, was walking along.

He nodded and smiled; then riding back to the highway, wheeled his
horse and stopped to watch the two figures making their hurried way
across the marsh. But his eyes rested longest upon one of them, tall
and regal, her blonde head showing golden in the waning light, the
vivid green of the marshes and the deep purple of the sea making a
defining background for the beauty of the woman to whom John Devereux
had given his lifelong love.