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Show Page 23 I nodded. "As are most of the other maids aboard." He continued as though I had not spoken. "I, too, am alone. At least I am alone in Virginia, since my family remains in England." "Will your wife and young ones be coming to Virginia to join you?" I blurted heedlessly, for I knew the man was not married. Methought a spark of annoyance flashed through Richard's eyes. "I am not married," he replied. "When I spoke of my family I meant my father, Sir William Kean, my mother, Lady Eliza, my brothers and my sisters. I have no wife and babes and I have no wish to spend my days in Virginia as I spent my days in Holland--alone. I am no longer young, having seen one and thirty years, and I mean to take me a wife. "I have been watching you the past few weeks, Mistress Douglas. Through all your great trials you have conducted yourself admirably. Although our stations in life are much different, I could see fit to marry such a one as yourself. 'Tis not meet that the better sort would send their daughters to this harsh new world. Least not till there are more amenities to which they are accustomed. So it would seem some of us gentry must join ourselves with persons of lesser quality, persons who can withstand the rigors of life in a new land. You seem to have adapted to the rugged life aboard ship very well. I trust you will do the same on land. In |
