The shadow of the Maypole was not much shrunken when the guests of the
house of Jaquelin began to arrive. First to come, and from farthest away,
was Mr. Richard Ambler, of Yorktown, who had ridden from that place to
Williamsburgh the afternoon before, and had that morning used the
planter's pace to Jamestown,--his industry being due to the fact that he
was courting the May Queen's elder sister. Following him came five Lees in
a chariot, then a delegation of Burwells, then two Digges in a chaise. A
Bland and a Bassett and a Randolph came on horseback, while a barge
brought up river a bevy of blooming Carters, a white-sailed sloop from
Warwick landed a dozen Carys, great and small, and two periaguas, filled
with Harrisons, Aliens, and Cockes, shot over from the Surrey shore.
From a stand at one end of the grassy stage, trumpet and drum proclaimed
that the company had gathered beneath the sycamores before the house, and
was about to enter the meadow. Shrill-voiced mothers warned their
children from the Maypole, the fiddlers ceased their twanging, and Pretty
Bessee, her name cut in twain, died upon the air. The throng of humble
folk--largely made up of contestants for the prizes of the day, and of
their friends and kindred--scurried to its appointed place, and with the
issuing from the house gates of the May Queen and her court the
festivities commenced.
An hour later, in the midst of a bout at quarterstaff between the
Jamestown blacksmith and the miller from Princess Creek, a coach and four,
accompanied by a horseman, crossed the neck, rolled through the street,
and, entering the meadow, drew up a hundred feet from the ring of
spectators.
The eyes of the commonalty still hung upon every motion of the blacksmith
and the miller, but by the people of quality the cudgelers were for the
moment quite forgot. The head of the house of Jaquelin hurried over the
grass to the coach door. "Ha, Colonel Byrd! When we heard that you were
staying overnight at Green Spring, we hoped that, being so near, you would
come to our merrymaking. Mistress Evelyn, I kiss your hands. Though we
can't give you the diversions of Spring Garden, yet such as we have are at
your feet. Mr. Marmaduke Haward, your servant, sir! Virginia has missed
you these ten years and more. We were heartily glad to hear, t'other day,
that the Golden Rose had brought you home."
As he spoke the worthy gentleman strove to open the coach door; but the
horseman, to whom the latter part of his speech was addressed, and who had
now dismounted, was beforehand with him. The door swung open, and a young
lady, of a delicate and pensive beauty, placed one hand upon the
deferential arm of Mr. Marmaduke Haward and descended from the painted
coach to the flower-enameled sward. The women amongst the assembled guests
fluttered and whispered; for this was youth, beauty, wealth, London, and
the Court, all drawn in the person of Mistress Evelyn Byrd, bred since
childhood in the politest society of England, newly returned with her
father to his estate of Westover in Virginia, and, from her garlanded
gypsy hat to the point of her silken shoe, suggestive of the rainbow world
of mode.