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Show Page 248 the governor had hoped for, but only one, Mistress Boyse. Believing the English would be mollified to see that the woman was treated well, the Indians had bedecked Mistress Boyse as a queen-but as an Indian queen, not an English queen, an act that would have served only to harden English hearts even more against the Indians, had it not been for Mistress Boyse herself. She was covered about her middle with a deerskin apron, her limbs adorned with copper beads, her upper body painted with pocone. But she was naked above the waist except for a handsome mantle of turkey feathers, which did little to cover her. Yet she did not strive to hide her nakedness, as I would have been wont to do. She walked through the gate of the fort as if she were indeed a queen, bearing herself regally, heedless of the shocked stares, the averted glances, the angry muttering of the crowd. I had never met Mistress Boyse, but my heart swelled with pride when she came hither. Mistress Pierce bid the freed woman to come to her home, as she had no other in James Towne, banishing John to the company compound since his leg was healed enough for him to get about. (I dreaded seeing him go to the compound, knowing how many lay ill there, but knew it was for one night only.) That evening, after Mistress Boyse returned from meeting with the governor, we pleaded with her to tell us all that had |