Prisoners of Hope

Prisoners of Hope, by Mary
Johnston

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Title: Prisoners of Hope A Tale of Colonial Virginia
Author: Mary Johnston
Release Date: June 21, 2007 [EBook #21886]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: "WHY ARE YOU SO EAGER?" (Page 2)]
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PRISONERS OF HOPE
A Tale of Colonial Virginia
BY
MARY JOHNSTON
AUTHOR OF "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD," "AUDREY," ETC.
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
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COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY MARY JOHNSTON
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINTH THOUSAND
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TO MY FATHER
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A SLOOP COMES IN 1 II. ITS CARGO 15 III. A COLONIAL
DINNER PARTY 27 IV. THE BREAKING HEART 40 V. IN THE
THREE-MILE FIELD 50 VI. THE HUT ON THE MARSH 60 VII. A
MENDER OF NETS 71 VIII. THE NEW SECRETARY 86 IX. AN
INTERRUPTED WOOING 91 X. LANDLESS PAYS THE PIPER

100 XI. LANDLESS BECOMES A CONSPIRATOR 108 XII. A
DARK DEED 117 XIII. IN THE TOBACCO HOUSE 129 XIV. A
MIDNIGHT EXPEDITION 137 XV. THE WATERS OF
CHESAPEAKE 150 XVI. THE FACE IN THE DARK 162 XVII.
LANDLESS AND PATRICIA 173 XVIII. A CAPTURE 185 XIX.
THE LIBRARY OF THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL 193 XX.
WHEREIN THE PEACE PIPE IS SMOKED 205 XXI. THE DUEL
219 XXII. THE TOBACCO HOUSE AGAIN 226 XXIII. THE
QUESTION 239 XXIV. A MESSAGE 247 XXV. THE ROAD TO
PARADISE 252 XXVI. NIGHT 267 XXVII. MORNING 273 XXVIII.
BREAD CAST UPON THE WATERS 282 XXIX. THE BRIDGE OF
ROCK 295 XXX. THE BACKWARD TRACK 306 XXXI. THE HUT
IN THE CLEARING 315 XXXII. ATTACK 326 XXXIII. THE FALL
OF THE LEAF 335 XXXIV. AN ACCIDENT 343 XXXV. THE
BOAT THAT WAS NOT 349 XXXVI. THE LAST FIGHT 357
XXXVII. VALE 369
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PRISONERS OF HOPE
CHAPTER I
A SLOOP COMES IN
"She will reach the wharf in half an hour."
The speaker shaded her eyes with a great fan of carved ivory and
painted silk. They were beautiful eyes; large, brown, perfect in shape
and expression, and set in a lovely, imperious, laughing face. The
divinity to whom they belonged was clad in a gown of green dimity,
flowered with pink roses, and trimmed about the neck and half sleeves
with a fall of yellow lace. The gown was made according to the latest
Paris mode, as described in a year-old letter from the court of Charles
the Second, and its wearer gazed from under her fan towards the waters
of the great bay of Chesapeake, in his Majesty's most loyal and well

beloved dominion of Virginia.
The object of her attention was a large sloop that had left the bay and
was sailing up a wide inlet or creek that pierced the land, cork-screw
fashion, until it vanished from sight amidst innumerable green marshes.
The channel, indicated by a deeper blue in the midst of an expanse of
shoal water, was narrow, and wound like a gleaming snake in and out
among the interminable succession of marsh islets. The vessel,
following its curves, tacked continually, its great sail intensely white
against the blue of inlet, bay and sky, and the shadeless green of the
marshes, zigzagging from side to side with provoking leisureliness. The
girl who had spoken watched it eagerly, a color in her cheeks, and one
little foot in its square-toed, rosetted shoe tapping impatiently upon the
floor of the wide porch in which she stood.
Her companion, lounging upon the wooden steps, with his back to a
pillar, looked up with an amused light in his blue eyes.
"Why are you so eager, cousin?" he drawled. "You cannot be pining for
your father when 'tis scarce five days since he went to Jamestown. Do
the Virginia ladies watch for the arrival of a new batch of slaves with
such impatience?"
"The slaves! No, indeed! But, sir, in that boat there are three cases from
England."
"Ah, that accounts for it! And what may these wonderful cases
contain?"
"One contains the dress in which I shall dance with you at the party at
Green Spring which the governor is to give in your honor--if you ask
me, sir. Oh, I take it for granted that you will, so spare us your
protestations. 'Tis to have a petticoat of blue tabby and an overdress of
white satin trimmed with yards and yards