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Show Page 116 last, settling himself in his green velvet chair. My heart gave a great thump within me. My head swirled and my knees went limp. I knew not what to say. For a time I stood silent, the men's gaze fixed upon me as I tried to gather my wits. Then, as had sometimes happened on board the Jonathan when it was darkest and I despaired of ever reaching Virginia, I felt my father at my shoulder, his thin body stooping over me just as he used to while I recited Greek or Latin, while I did my numbers or practiced the piano. "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small," his voice echoed deep in my memory. Proverbs. My father's favorite. A cold calm enfolded me. "It is true I have seen few years," I said then. "Yet I make my own way in the world. I am servant to no one, ward to no one, wife to no one. I am indebted to neither man nor company, having paid my own fare to Virginia and having survived the perilous voyage, which, woefully, my only relative did not. I hope you will take it upon yourselves, good gentlemen, to grant me my headright in spite of my youth, for I have no dream greater than to hold a piece of the New World for my own. 'Twas likely a dream that brought each of you to this land. Pray, sirs, do not deny me mine." I was silent except for the continued thudding of my heart, so loud I was certain all could hear. |
