Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 142: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

132 Grannie and I do send you our Love and Re- spect and She biddes me say she Considders "Twas y® Actte of Godde I was sette Upon in y® Mincing Lane what time you Came to my ‘Res- cue. We desire that you and Mistress Marjory may Deem y® house in Holbourne your home and ’twould deelight our Eyes might we See you Here. Butte of that you will bee y® Judges. Y°® New World is y® world for Youth, of that There can bee no Dispute. I do Enclose y® Miniature of your Mother which an Agente hath secured from y® Jew on y® (Quai de l’Horloge in Paris as you Tolde mee and Agane do Salute you with Afectionate Re- garde and asure you and your Wife all y® Love that Words may encompass. I drew the miniature from my pocket and recalled the damp, wintry day in Paris I had made up my mind to quit the Jaco- bite cause and try my fortune at all risks in England; the pang with which I had aban- doned the last link remaining with my dead parents; the rough trip in the smuggler’s lugger; the wet landing at night on the’ dreary Channel coast; the fruitless attempts to enlist the aid of former friends; the hue and cry my upstart cousins had raised; the flight to London; the—— “Ha, there, Ormerod!” : I looked up to see the burly figure of Governor Burnet rounding the corner. He waved a handful of papers at me. “The packet hath brought great news!” he cried. “What is it, your Excellency?” “The Lords of Trade have seen the light, —— ’em! After we had overridden ’em and pounded sense into their thick heads with mallets, by gad! But they are coming around to our view, and for that a humble provincial governor should be thankful, I daresay. Do but hark to this!” And, standing with legs spread apart in the middle of the paved sidewalk, he read: “And seeing that the resentment of the Six Nations is so deeply stirred by reason of the tabling of the law, we are resolved that the provincial Government shall have authority to impose the duties upon trade- goods for Canada as before. And _ his I:xcellency the governor shall be required to file a complete report of the situation with such addenda, facts and statistics relative to amounts and totals of trade and fluctua- tions therein in the recent past as may be helpful to their lordships in reaching a final decision in this matter.” He shook the paper with a quaint mixture of derision and satisfaction. ‘A final decision, forsooth! The plain, Adventure truth, Ormerod, is that the protests of the French Court have aroused our merchants at home to a realization of the dangers they ran, and now that Murray is defeated and broken his friends and fellow-plotters have no reason for pushing their intrigue. "Tis a commentary, indeed, upon the brains we have at Whitehall. I say naught of the City men, who after all can not be expected to be familiar with politics and the interplay of national ambitions. ‘“There is more of the same tone as that I -read, but I will not burden you with it. Do but wait until I write them, as I shall by the first sailing, that the price of beaver is declined again at Montreal to half our quotation at Albany. Aye, and that we are sending into the wilderness country this Summer twice the number of traders who went out last year. “But I am selfishly occupied with my own interests, Ormerod. Here is a matter which more nearly concerneth yourself.”’ He produced a large rolled sheet of parch- ment, imposingly enscrolled, across the top of which ran the legend: A Free Pardon “°*Twas bound to come,” he rambled on. “Do you go within and show it to Mistress Ormerod.” But Marjory had been listening at the window, and as I opened the door she fell into my arms and clung there, sobbing for the relief that came to both of us with the lifting of the menace which had overhung my life so long. ‘“‘There, there,’ admonished the gover- nor. ‘Gadslife, what does the girl weep for?”’ “‘Be-be-because—I am—so—happy,” an- swered Marjory. “Heaven help us should you weep for grief!’ he exclaimed. ‘And what will you say when I tell you I am come likewise to summon your husband to attend for the first time as a member of the Council?” His rubicund face gleamed with pleasure at the joy he had inspired in two hearts. “Tut, tut, tis nothing,” he pursued his discourse. ‘‘I do but serve myself. I have been housecleaning this past Spring. There were rats in the Council who sought to trip me in the days you know of. They are gone. Ormerod should have had a seat ere this, but ’twas best to await the pardon.” ‘“T am so happy I know not what to do,” MICLOOOKS Cc C@©