petition. Cary, during Porter's absence, had left the colony, and
William Glover, of Pasquotank, was administering the government. On
Porter's return, Glover was allowed to retain the office; but later, to
the surprise and disappointment of Friend and Dissenter, he, too,
decided to refuse to admit to office any who refused to take the hated
oaths.

Cary returned at this juncture and demanded to be reinstated as Deputy
Governor; and Porter and other former supporters of Glover now went to
his side. A new Council was chosen, and Cary made its president, on
condition, as we infer, that he carry out the will of the Proprietors as
expressed in the commission given to Porter.

But Glover was by no means disposed to surrender his office tamely to
Cary, and still claimed the authority with which he had been invested.
Many prominent citizens supported him in his claim, Thomas Pollock, one
of the most influential of the planters, being his warmest adherent. So
now there were two governments in the colony, each claiming to be the
only right and lawful one. Disputes over the matter grew so numerous and
violent that finally the two factions agreed to leave the decision of
the matter to a new Assembly which was elected at this juncture. And
this was the Assembly that convened at Captain Hecklefield's in 1708.

Edward Moseley was elected Speaker; the rival claims of the two
governors duly and hotly debated; and the result was, that Cary's
friends being in the majority, that worthy was declared to be the true
and lawful ruler of the colony. Glover, Pollock and Christopher Gale,
disgusted with the turn affairs had taken, left Carolina and went to
Virginia, where they remained for two years, at the end of which time
Edward Hyde, the Queen's first cousin, was appointed Governor of North
Carolina, and these malcontents returned to their homes in Albemarle.

And how did Madam Hecklefield manage to provide for the numerous guests
who so often met around her fireside? The housewife to-day would rebel
at such frequent invasions of the privacy of her home; and the high
price of living would indeed prohibit such wholesale entertainment of
the public; but in those good old days living was easy. The waters of
Little River and Albemarle Sound teemed with fish; the woods were full
of deer and other wild game; the fields were musical with the clear call
of the quail; slaves were ready to do the bidding of the lady of the
manor; wood was plentiful