OCR Text |
Show Page 208 head, the other across her chest, her fingers folded. She may have tried to hide, for I do not think the loss of her scalp killed her. I fear exposure to the cold March night sent her to an endless sleep. She had found her own grave," he finished. "We simply filled it in." I groaned. "Then if we had found her that first day, she might yet live." "But would she have wanted to?" John cried fiercely. "She was a proud woman. I knew her for many years, long ere we came to Virginia." "I did not know," I replied. John nodded. "Her father farmed the land next ours in Surrey. He was an honest yeoman of the country and had accumulated considerable wealth, though he was known for his savage temper. Margaret, his only daughter, fell in love and married below her station, for Walter was only a poor tenant farmer upon her father's land. Mister Jones was most outraged at her. When he heard, he gave her the blow that lost her her teeth and cast her off from him. Though they farmed her father's land for years, her father never spoke to Margaret again. At last she and Walter came to Virginia, for she was determined that one day her husband would be a wealthy landowner Then could she prove her father wrong and once again hold up her head before him." |