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Show Page 112 "What merriment!" he chuckled. "I cannot resist the sound of merriment, so I had to come and see what the fun was all about. Lieutenant Kean, is it not?" he asked, reaching out a hand to Richard. Richard nodded. "So tell me," Pory went on. "What is the cause of the jocularity?" "We were explaining to the clerk that Mistress Douglas wishes to file for her headright," explained Richard. "The simpleton seems to find the thought amusing." As Sharpless sputtered in rage at Richard's name-calling, John Pory turned his face to me. He studied me for a time, then gave me a merry wink of his eye. "If this one is yours, lieutenant," he said, "you be a right fortunate fellow. If she is not, you are, indeed, a simpleton yourself." In amazement I watched a flush of red creep above Richard's ruff. Mister Pory's words had caused the man, usually so self-assured and confident, some distress! "Now Edward," Pory continued, turning to the clerk. "What is all the pother?" "I've never had a person of her sort file for a headright before," he muttered defensively. "And of what sort might she be?" asked Pory. "You know. A woman," he spat. |