Chapter 6

"But, by your leave,
I am an officer of state, and come
To speak with--"

Coriolanus.

Notwithstanding the sharp look which the Messenger of the Crown
deliberately and now openly fastened on the master of Wish-Ton-Wish, while
the latter was reading the instrument that was placed before his eyes,
there was no evidence of uneasiness to be detected in the unmoved features
of the latter. Mark Heathcote had too long schooled his passions, to
suffer an unseemly manifestation of surprise to escape him; and he was by
nature a man of far too much nerve, to betray alarm at any trifling
exhibition of danger. Returning the parchment to the other, he said with
unmoved calmness to his son--

"We must open wide the doors of Wish-Ton-Wish. Here is one charged with
authority to look into the secrets of all the dwellings of the colony."
Then, turning with dignity to the agent of the Crown, he added, "Thou
hadst better commence thy duty in season, for we are many and occupy
much space."

The face of the stranger flushed a little, it might have been with shame
for the vocation in which he had come so far, or it might have been in
resentment at so direct a hint that the sooner his disagreeable office
should be ended, the better it would please his host. Still, he betrayed
no intention of shrinking from its performance. On the contrary,
discarding somewhat of that subdued manner which he had probably thought
it politic to assume, while sounding the opinions of one so rigid, he
broke out rather suddenly in the exhibition of a humor somewhat better
suited to the tastes of him he served.

"Come then," he cried, winking at his companions, "since doors are opened,
it would speak ill of our breeding should we refuse to enter. Captain
Heathcote has been a soldier, and he knows how to excuse a traveller's
freedom. Surely one who has tasted of the pleasures of the camp, must
weary at times of this sylvan life!"

"The stedfast in faith weary not, though the road be long and the
wayfaring grievous."

"Hum--'tis pity that the journeying between merry England and these
Colonies is not more brisk. I do not presume to instruct a gentleman who
is my senior, and peradventure my better; but opportunity is everything,
in a man's fortunes. It were charity to let you know, worthy sir, that
opinions have changed at home: it is full a twelvemonth since I have heard
a line of the Psalms, or a verse of St. Paul quoted, in discourse; at
least by men who are at all esteemed for their discretion."

"This change in the fashion of speech may better suit thy earthly than thy
heavenly master," said Mark Heathcote, sternly.