forward to where their fellow
pilgrims are preparing to embark in small boats.

Priscilla jumps into the bow of the first of these to shove off.

As the small craft bumps the shore, Priscilla rises joyously. She
stretches her hands in ecstasy toward the new world. She leans forward
against the breeze, her whole figure alive with the joy of expectant
youth.

She leaps with an irrepressible "Yippee" from the boat to the shore.

She remains for an instant, a vibrant pagan, drunk with the joy of life;
Pan poised for an unforgettable moment on Plymouth Rock.

The next minute her foot slips on the hard, wet, unyielding stone.
She clutches desperately. She slides slowly back into the cold chill
saltness of Cape Cod Bay.

She is pulled, dripping and ashamed, into the boat. She crouches there,
shivering and hopeless. She hears someone whisper, "Pride goeth before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

A coarse mirthless chuckle.

The pilgrims disembark.

II

Plymouth.

A year later.

Night.

She lay sleepless on her bed.

She heard the outside door open; Kennicott returning from prayer
meeting.

He sat down on the bed and began pulling off his boots. She knew that
the left boot would stick. She knew exactly what he would say and how
long it would take him to get it off. She rolled over in bed, a tactical
movement which left no blanket for her husband.

"You weren't at prayer meeting," he said.

"I had a headache," she lied. He expressed no sympathy.

"Miles Standish was telling me what you did today at the meeting of the
Jolly Seventeen." He had got the boot off at last; he lay down beside
her and pulled all the blankets off her onto himself.

"That was kind of Miles." She jerked at the covers but he held them
tight. "What charming story did he tell this time?"

"Now look here, Prissie--Miles Standish isn't given to fabrication. He
said you told the Jolly Seventeen that next Thanksgiving they ought to
give a dance instead of an all-day prayer service."

"Well--anything else?" She gave a tremendous tug at the bedclothes and
Kennicott was uncovered again.

"He said you suggested that they arrange a series of lectures on modern
religions, and invite Quakers and other radicals to speak right here in
Plymouth and tell us all about their beliefs. And not only that but he
said you suggested sending a message to the Roman Catholic exiles from
England, inviting them to make their home with us. Y