side with scant ceremony Burgess and Councilor, came also.
The Governor leaned forward out of his chair, and the crowd became
suddenly very still.

"I am waiting, my lord," I repeated.

In an instant, from what he had been he became the frank and guileless
nobleman. "A slip of the tongue, Captain Percy!" he cried, his white
teeth showing and his hand raised in a gesture of deprecation. "A
natural thing, seeing how often, how very often, I have so
addressed this lady in the days when we had not the pleasure of your
acquaintance." He turned to her and bowed, until the feather in his hat
swept the ground. "I won then," he said. "I shall win again--Mistress
Percy," and passed on to the seat that had been reserved for him.

The game began. I was to lead one side, and young Clement the other. At
the last moment he came over to me. "I am out of it, Captain Percy,"
he announced with a rueful face. "My lord there asks me to give him my
place. When we were hunting yesterday, and the stag turned upon me, he
came between and thrust his knife into the brute, which else might have
put an end to my hunting forever and a day: so you see I can't refuse
him. Plague take it all! and Dorothy Gookin sitting there watching!"

My lord and I stood forward, each with a bowl in his hand. We looked
toward the Governor. "My lord first, as becometh his rank," he said.
My lord stooped and threw, and his bowl went swiftly over the grass,
turned, and rested not a hands'-breadth from the jack. I threw. "One
is as near as the other!" cried Master Macocke for the judges. A murmur
arose from the crowd, and my lord swore beneath his breath. He and I
retreated to our several sides, and Rolfe and West took our places.
While they and those that followed bowled, the crowd, attentive though
it was, still talked and laughed, and laid wagers upon its favorites;
but when my lord and I again stood forth, the noise was hushed, and men
and women stared with all their eyes. He delivered, and his bowl touched
the jack. He straightened himself, with a smile, and I heard Jeremy
Sparrow behind me groan; but my bowl too kissed the jack. The crowd
began to laugh with sheer delight, but my lord turned red and his brows
drew together. We had but one turn more. While we waited, I marked his
black eyes studying every inch of the ground between him and that small
white ball, to strike which, at that moment, I verily believe he would
have given the King's favor. All men pray,