Justice Warren's Daughter. A story of New England

Chapter I

That moment that his face I see I know the man that must hear me To him my tale I teach. COLERIDGK. The autumn of 1659 was a prosperous one in New England, and the circle of men who gathered round the kitchen fire in the little inn at Salem, on the night of the fifteenth of October, wore, for the most part, very cheer ful countenances. The mirth of Puritans has supplied many a jest to their enemies, and it must be confessed that there was something heavy and cumbersome in their mode of expressing happiness ; their jokes were elephantine, and a perpetual sense of responsibility seemed to hang over them, VOL. I. B preventing their spirits from ever rising to buoyancy. The faces of most of the party were rugged and deeply lined, as might be expected in men who had toiled to make homes for themselves on an unknown shore, but just now, while they leaned back on their benches very much at ease, smoke from their pipes risiag in clouds to the ceiling, the rigidity of their features relaxed, and one or two loud peals of laughter rang through the room.

It was characteristic of the com munity that at this holiday hour, when their minds were free to wander where they pleased, a theological subject engrossed their whole attention. One of the principal farmers in Salem, a grim-visaged, black haired man named Putnam, was holding forth upon a book which had been published in England about the year 1625, with the praiseworthy purpose of confuting the Church of Rome. It was called " A New Gag for an Old Goose," and Putnam was counting over, with the help of his fingers and thumbs, the various weak places in the argument where the Arminian tendencies of the clergyman, its author, had disgusted the Calvinistic party in the English Church. " Is it true," asked Giles Holmden, the owner of the inn, " that King Charles made the man who wrote it one of his own chap lains, and said that, after he had preached at Court, those might contradict him who durst ?

" " Ay, it is true," said Putnam, " and after wards he made him bishop. Thank God we have no kings or bishops here to thrust false doctrines down our throats, as if we were fools or children and could not tell for our selves which are true and which come from the devil ! " A murmur of applause followed the utterance of this sentiment, even the wife of the host joining her voice to the others. There was only one guest who remained silent, and this was a young man, dressed in shabby, travel-stained garments, who had taken his place at a bench remote from the fire, where he was eating his supper quickly, as if he were in haste to be gone. His complexion was fair, his features well cut, and an air of distinction, in direct contrast with his homely dress, seemed to belong to him naturally, evidently commanding respect from the rest of the company, since they allowed him to eat his meal in peace without being teased by questions.

All at once, when the noise of conversation was becoming louder, a knock sounded at the door, and the wife of the host, going to look who might be there, cried in a tone of surprise to her husband, "Quick, Giles, it is Justice Warren's daughter in a waggon ; she is beckoning for someone to go out to her." " Warren's daughter ! " repeated the man. " What brings her here so late as this ? There is nothing wrong, I hope." " Nothing, except that my horse has cast a shoe," said a clear, ringing voice, as a girl, wrapped in a warm mantle, came into the kitchen. " Can your men help me, Master Holmden r I want to get back this evening." " To be sure they can," said the host. " Come in, Mistress Kate ; we are always glad to see you at any hour of the twenty four. There is a good fire here, unless you would like to go up stairs."

" No, I will stay here," said Kate, taking off her cloak. " I have left my servant out side with the waggon : we shall be ready to start again so soon that you need not trouble to prepare anything for either of us." The circle of men round the table laid down their pipes and made a way for the new comer to pass, looking at her with a curious mixture of admiration and respect, while she acknowledged their politeness by a very frank, good-humoured smile. The Puritans had left kings and queens, and all the traditions of an aristocracy behind them when they crossed the sea, but they had not shaken off that tendency to show honour where honour is due, which has insured respect to a certain class of people in the sternest republics of the world. Kate Warren owed some of the reverence with which she was treated to the fact that her father was a magistrate, who represented Salem in the General Court of Massachusetts, but much more was drawn forth by her own character, and would not have failed had her condition in life been altogether different.

She had dark hair, well-marked eyebrows, and deep soft black eyes ; melancholy when she was silent, but sparkling and animated as she talked. There was great delicacy and refinement in her features, and a beautiful sweetness in her expression, more striking perhaps, because everything about her indi cated that it was not caused by insipidity, but was closely united with strength. As she stood among the grim, weather-beaten men who were smoking and eating at the hearth, she seemed an embodiment of that ideal purity for which the nobler spirits among the Puritans yearned ; a vision which might have inspired Milton's " Comus," or floated before his mind as he wrote one of his loveliest sonnets — Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth, Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green. " What news from Boston, Mistress Kathe rine ?

" said the host, after he had sent a man to shoe the horse. " Is the Justice coming home soon ?" " The General Court has not nearly finished its business," said Kate. "Ay; Governor Endicott has not had much rest lately," said Putnam. " He is a fine ruler for our colony. Massachusetts has never had a better. First he put the Indians down, and next he punished the Quakers, who are worse than Indians, for they draw the wrath of the Almighty upon us, so that He sends bad harvests and the good seeds rot in the ground." " That is a heavy count against them, if it can be proved," said Holmden, smiling a little. " They deserve all they have got in that case — hot irons, whips, gags, and halters." " It is as good as proved," said Putnam. " These men despise the Scriptures, and cast dishonour on the ordinances.

I have heard those say who know, that in Boston one man rose in the meeting-house and interrupted worthy Master Norton, who was in the pul pit, to declare before all the people that they trusted in the Word of God as heathen trust in wooden idols." " They call the ministers of religion priests," said another man. "I have heard them." " Priests ! " cried Mistress Holmden; " they could not do that, surely. We have no priesthood here ; the very name is like fire in our bones." " He is speaking the truth," said Putnam. " These people hate ministers, and would put them all to death if they had the power." " They are an evil set," said Kate ; " but I think the young and feeble amongst them should be spared severe punishment. Some children have been cast into gaol in Boston, whose only blame lay in having learned their lessons too carefully from their parents' lips."

" The children will grow up to spread this poison far and wide," said Putnam. " No ; let them suffer while there is hope that they may be redeemed." " It is wrong to permit such people to re main amongst us," said Kate. "I am not now defending their doctrines, which are hateful and perverse ; but I wish it were possible, while crushing their errors, to treat their bodies with more gentleness." At this moment the unknown guest rose from his solitary seat, and, coming forward, placed himself in front of Kate, his hat on his head, and his bright grey eyes fixed onher face, with as much intentness as if no one else was in the room. " Hearken to me," he said. " I have a message to deliver that gives me no rest until it has been spoken." " Take off your hat," shouted several voices, while Holmden got up, anxious to prevent a scuffle, and said quietly, " You are a stranger, perhaps, who is ignorant of our rules.

It is usual to uncover when we ad dress women." The young man paid no attention to this remark, but continued to speak, still keeping his eyes on Kate. " They have told thee much about the people whom they call Quakers. Hast thou ever proved for thyself if these things which they say are true ? " " He is one of them," cried Putnam. " Stop him, silence him, turn him out." " Friend," said the stranger, looking round quietly, " I shall leave when my message has been delivered. Until that is done, neither thou nor anyone else hast power to hinder me or prevent its utterance. Hear," he con tinued, turning once more to Kate, " what I shall say. I implore thee, for thy own soul's good, not to believe these calumnies. Some of those who persecute us have minds which no light has ever reached, but I perceive in thee a nature too good to be given to ignorance, and a heart which God has already softened.

Thou hearest from others that we despise the Scriptures. Nay, it is false ; we read them as the Word of God to our souls. Thou art told that we live apart from the All-holy, because we deny the virtue of ordi nances. Do those live apart from Him who desire to have their lives so full of His presence, that the smallest movement of His Spirit may be felt and obeyed ? Is it to live apart from Him, to turn away from the material forms in which His love was once content to be manifested before it overflowed and embraced the whole world ? They tell thee that the Scriptures must be thy guide to truth, but they do not show thee where to find the key which is to open the meaning of the words. They who teach thus are in bondage to the letter. We, who are led by the Spirit, are free. Be guided by the same Divine Instructor.

This is the lisdit which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Where it shines, no priest is needed to unravel the mysteries of God. Believe me ; taste for thyself, and see." Kate stood motionless, her large dark eyes fixed on the speaker, her lips parted, and her breath coming quickly like someone who hears strange news. The host and his wife were doubtful how to act, while the rest of the company seemed restrained by awe and did not again interrupt until the last words were spoken, when Putnam sprang to his feet. " Turn him out," he cried, " he is a Quaker. Do you hear his insolence ? Are you so familiar with Justice Warren that you may freely thou and thee his daughter? Holmden, turn him out. The law forbids you to give him shelter." " Is it true ? " asked the young man, still addressing Kate, though in a much lower voice, " Reginald Warren is thy father?

" " He is," said Kate quietly. A scene of confusion was now taking7 place around them. Putnam and one or two others were urging Holmden to lay hands on the unwelcome guest and turn him forciblv from the house. The host was reluctant to do anything violent, lest he should be blamed by the authorities for permitting brawls in a place of public resort. His wife also cried to him not to molest the Quaker, but to persuade him to go out quietly, since she feared the story would be told from mouth to mouth and they would incur a fine for having ever admitted him. In the midst of the turmoil, no one listened to the stranger or heard the next words which he said to Kate. " I knew I had a message for thee : it was borne in upon my mind when first I saw thy face. To-night the Lord hath need of thee. His servant will knock at thy door.

Do not refuse what shall be asked, and remember when the day comes in which thou shalt search for truth, as men search for water in a parched land, that it is not faith in dead letters which will guide thee, but the voice of God's Spirit speaking to thy soul." His voice was so remarkable, and its cadence so touching as he warned her of struggles to come, that Kate felt her heart beat rapidly, and, with a strong desire to hear more, put out her hand to detain him. It availed nothing7 : he had lingered because some hidden motive impelled him ; and, obeying the same mysterious impulse, he now turned to go away. The disorderly company separated to let him pass, not one man present venturing to touch him until he had reached the door, when Putnam made a movement forward ; but it was too late, the opportunity had gone, and without check or hindrance he passed through into the darkness.

" He is either a Quaker or a fiend," said Putnam. " Desmond, why did you not stop him ? He went nearer to you than to anyone else, while you stood with your mouth open." " Stop him ! " cried the man addressed. "No Christian could venture to touch him. I seemed to breathe an odour of death as he passed." " Well, he is gone," said the host, " and a good riddance. I have no mind to pay a fine for giving him a night's lodging. Mistress Kate, I am sorry you have been pestered by his insolence in my house." " There was no insolence in what he said," replied Kate, " though he did wrong to ad dress me at all. If my horse is ready, Master Holmden, I will go." " No doubt the horse is ready," said Holmden, " but I wish you would not leave until that fellow is safely at a distance." " I had much rather start at once," said Kate.

" The darkness has come down since I have been here, and I have two miles of road to travel over." vol. I. c Her face looked white, and her lips were compressed more tightly than usual, but she seemed resolved to hide her feelings from those around her, and would not admit that there had been any cause for alarm when Mistress Holmden came up to express regrets and sympathy. " Wait only twenty minutes," said Holm den, as he put the reins into her servant's hands. " Perhaps this abominable Quaker may try to stop your waggon." " I am not afraid," said Kate, " and I do not believe he will come near me. Farewell, and many thanks for your hospitality." She leaned back among her warm rugs and made a sign to the driver to start without further delay, but the good-natured face of the landlord looked anxious as he watched the waggon disappear on the darkening road.

Chapter II

The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest and Providence their gnide. Paradise Lost. It is related of George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, that on one occasion he met two women by the way-side whom he had never seen before ; but, moved by the Spirit of God, he stopped and declared to them his knowledge of their sins. The words came with terrible force to their consciences. Overwhelmed with shame, they confessed that Christ had reproved them through his lips, for all the things he laid to their charge were true. There is no need to find a supernatural explanation for facts which are after all only the insight of good ness, and an illustration of the words " None of us liveth to himself." It can easily be believed that there are people of sensitive natures who detect the presence of evil as quickly as travellers in the desert perceive the scorching breath of the simoon, and on the other hand, we can well imagine that the sight of a noble and pure face may awaken powerful sympathy in one who would otherwise be lonely in the midst of a crowd.

Kate Warren could not understand the reason of all that had taken place. She was not aware that her appearance had in it anything striking or unusual, and those strange words spoken by the young man had made a deep impression upon her, strengthened, no doubt by her remembrance of his bright grey eyes shining with such unnatural and feverish light. Those were days of superstition, when the real lessons taught by such incidents as these were lost, because men in sisted on finding miraculous causes for them. As the waggon rumbled along the road Kate looked everywhere around, almost hoping that the stranger would appear again and tell her what the future held concealed, but nothing could she see except the tall shadows of the trees in a forest which the path skirted. Once or twice she checked the horse, asking her servant if he heard the noise of footsteps, but when they were quiet the only sound which reached their ears was the melancholy plunge of the ocean, as it rolled in heavy breakers upon the shore.

Justice Warren lived in a large comfortable house, somewhat remote from the village of Salem, and surrounded by fields which he had brought under cultivation. A bright light placed in one of the top windows helped to guide the travellers, after they left the main road and turned down a steep path leading directly to the front door. When the waggon stopped, a sound of barking dogs and cheer ful voices silencing them came out into the darkness, and in another moment a girl of seventeen, fair, round, and very pretty, appeared on the threshold, speaking in cheerful tones of welcome. This was Winifred Carr, an orphan ward of Warren's, who had been adopted by him as a companion for his own motherless daughter Kate. " How late you are ! " she cried. " We began to fear you had met with an acci dent."

"So I have," said Kate. "White Star lost his front shoe. Here are my parcels, Winnie ; send one of the servants to take them in. Oh dear, I hope I have remem bered all the things I promised to buy in Salem ! " " Never mind the parcels," said Winnie ; " Hester will see to their safety. She has been prowling about for an hour, wondering every moment whether you had got her precious beeswax. Here, Hester, Mistress Kate has come at last." A hard-featured woman of five or six and thirty, dressed in black, with a disfiguring cap on her head, came into the hall in answer to this summons, and soon began to busy herself with the various parcels which had lain in the waggon, while the two girls sat by the fire and talked. The hall where they were was spacious and comfortable, furnished like a sitting-room, and made cheerful by two large sconces, placed in such a position that the flames of the wood fire should reflect themselves inside.

Some family portraits were also displayed, which the Justice had brought from his home in England. There was one of John Francis Warren, Kate's grandfather, a fair, broad-shouldered Englishman, and Elizabeth his wife, in whose features some shadowy likeness to her young descendant could be traced, though her beauty was under a cloud owing to the peculiar style of dress she wore, resembling a suit of whale bone, with a ruffle at the top as large as a peacock's spread tail, and not so prettily decorated. Kate told her story to Winnie ; carefully leaving out all allusion to the mysterious stranger ; but as they went to their own room, where supper was prepared, she turned round and said to Hester, " Be sure that the gate is left unlocked, for it is possible that someone may come to-night to see me." j) " It is not safe, mistress," said Hester.

" We have no thieves in Salem, and no witches, thank God, since Susan Pinfold suffered for her sins last New Year ; but wandering dogs might get in, or perhaps even a stray cow. Dame Anna Sirton's cow came in last week and ate some linen I had on the grass bleaching." " Never mind that," said Kate. " I have a particular reason for wishing the large gate left open. I will tell Giles when he may shut it." The Puritans were obliged to choose their domestic servants from the lowest class of the population. Some were criminals who had been sent to New England to undergo a kind of penal servitude ; others voluntarily bound themselves to their masters, and be came thralls during a term of years, stipu lating only that food and clothing should be supplied to them. Hester was one of these, and by no means a favourable specimen of her class.

She had a sour, forbidding counte nance and a very strong will; but Kate knew the secret of managing her, and though she often grumbled, she never disobeyed. On this occasion she went to give the necessary order to Giles, muttering under her breath that it was time the Justice came home to see after his own goods, since no one else but herself bestowed a thought upon them. Kate aud Winnie meanwhile shut themselves into a small cosy room, opening from the hall, where they kept their spinning-wheels and the various small treasures which girls love to gather round them. While they are taking their supper, and Kate is listening lest by any chance footsteps should be heard outside, we may use the time to learn some thing about the absent owner of the house and the other dwellers in Salem. Warren was not one of the earliest settlers in New England.

The first band of Puritans, who sailed from Southampton in the May flower, were chiefly men of humble rank — artisans and industrious work-people ; but they were followed ten years later by others of their countrymen who had filled high posi tions at home, and brought a new element into the Western World. He was one of these later colonists. His father had been a squire, who educated him for the profession of a lawyer, but the excitement which pre vailed in London during the reign of Charles I., as well as his own growing convictions about religious things, disgusted him with life in the old country, and determined him to join a party of emigrants who started for America in the year 1630 under the command of the celebrated Winthrop. By degrees the first band of Englishmen had begun to feel at home in the New World and to prosper in their undertakings.

They called their settlement New Plymouth, after the port from which they had started ; but the second party of colonists thought it better to go farther along the coast and find homes of their own ; so they passed New Plymouth by, and chose the shores of Massa chusetts Bay for their resting place. Here they built the towns of Boston and Salem. A few years later some enterprising men reared wooden houses still farther in the wilderness, which were afterwards gathered together, and formed the colony of Rhode Island. Other adventurers went into the region of Connecticut, and some to New Haven ; and so, one by one, the familiar names appeared in the pages of history. Behind these early settlers were primeval forests, peopled by wild tribes of Indians with whom they were often at war ; before them stretched the ocean over whose waves they had travelled, and there in compact companies they lived, a number of resolute men and women diligently reclaiming the soil and developing those powers of self government, which had been repressed at home, in a manner that to later generations seems visionary and incredible.

They had no idea of adapting laws to the varied needs of men. The men must learn to live accord ing to the laws : this was their theory of human life, and when it failed to work the results they hoped for, the blame was laid to the devil. Some of the rules they made appear child ish in the light of modern experience. No one was able to vote in the yearly election of magistrates, unless he was the member of a church, a form of religious disability which must have nurtured many hypocrites, and placed too much power in the hands of the ministers to be safe. Offences against the moral laws were punished as if they had been crimes against the State, and in every depart ment of life, even in those we are taught by our instincts to consider most sacred, the acts of men were placed under the guidance of their rulers.

The laws relating to marriage in this austere community were, as might be expected, of a very stern kind. No one was allowed to seek the affection of a woman without first asking leave from her parents, or, if these were dead, from the magistrates, after which the courtship went on openly, under a fire of criticism from all the tongues in the settlement. Many pro posals had been made to Warren by men who wished to marry his beautiful daughter, but Kate had a will of her own, and it was no part of the Puritan creed that women might be forced to take husbands against their inclination ; so one by one the suitors were dismissed. It was a great shock to the community when they learned at last that she was going to be married to Captain Keith, a young soldier of good family, who it was believed had dared to propose to her before Warren's consent had been asked ; some of the village gossips having met them on more than one occasion walking by them selves on the shore !

For some time the Babel of tongues found enough to keep them busy in discussing Captain Keith's audacious conduct, but by degrees the interest lessened and the fact of his engagement was peace ably accepted. He was away now, a dis turbance among the Indians having made his presence necessary in a distant settlement, but as soon as he came back the wedding was to take place, and in the meantime Kate had plenty of occupation in preparing her bridal things.

Chapter III

Neubrunn — And then the many posts of the enemy ! Thekla — They are haman beings Misery travels free Throngh the whole earth. Wallenstein. Supper was over, and Winnie had just taken her place at the wheel when she heard Kate's voice speaking in low, almost awe stricken tones. "There it is, Winnie; did you hear ? " " I heard Vep bark," said Winnie ; " he is always barking at wrong times, the foolish old dog. He dreams that he can hear your father's voice, perhaps." " But there were voices at the outside door," said Kate. " I shall go and see." " Mistress Katherine," said Hester, thrust ing her head inside, " here is your visitor, and I wish she were anywhere else ! "' Kate made no reply, but hastened into the hall, followed by Winnie, who looked anxious and at the same time curious. The first sight of the new arrival did not justify Hester's fears.

She was a girl of nineteen or twenty, very slender and deli cate looking, with soft bright hair of a golden shade, and large deep eyes. Kate thought that never in her life had she seen such eyes ; the soul seemed looking out from behind them like a prisoner on the brink of escaping and becoming free. They were marked beneath with blue shadows, signs of ill-health, and all the features were wasted and spiritualised as if from long watching and much sorrow. It was certainly a beautiful face, but with painful beauty of the kind which suggests mortality and change ; and after Kate had looked at her for a few seconds, she involuntarily gave a deep sigh, VOL. I. d feeling that some tension at her heart needed relief. " You are Mistress Katherine Warren ? " she said, and her voice, though sweet, had something in it which, like her face, spoke of illness and coming sorrow.

" Yes, I am," said Kate, with one of her brightest smiles of welcome. " I was told to come here, to ask if you would let me stay with you for three days." " Three days ! " cried Hester, holding up her hands, while Kate answered cheerfully, ■" Yes, I shall be very glad to help you, if I can." " For Heaven's sake, mistress, be careful !" said Hester. " Ask her name, and how she came to know you." " My name is Rose Halifax," said the girl, looking at Hester for the first time, and then turning her eyes to Kate with an expression which seemed to say, " I will tell you all when we are by ourselves." " Come here," said Kate, and led her into the little room where Winnie and she had been sitting, while Hester began to pour out her complaints to the only person who was left to hear them. "I do not want to deceive thee," said Rose, when she found herself alone with Kate.