I took her hands and bowed my head upon them. “I believed thee dead,” I said. “I thought that thou hadst gone home, indeed, and I was left in the world alone. I can never tell thee how I love thee.”

“I need no telling,” she answered. “I am glad that I did so forget my womanhood as to come to Virginia on such an errand; glad that they did laugh at and insult me in the meadow at Jamestown, for else thou mightst have given me no thought; very heartily glad that thou didst buy me with thy handful of tobacco. With all my heart I love thee, my knight, my lover, my lord and husband” — Her voice broke, and I felt the trembling of her frame. “I love not thy tears upon my hands,” she murmured. “I have wandered far and am weary. Wilt rise and put thy arm around me and lead me home?”