"
"You mean Blood?"
"Of gourse. Could any man be bedder? You haf seen vhad he can do."
"You think so, too, eh? Egad! I had thought of it; and, rip me,
why not? He's a better man than Morgan, and Morgan was made
Governor."
Blood was sent for. He came, spruce and debonair once more, having
exploited the resources of Port Royal so to render himself. He was
a trifle dazzled by the honour proposed to him, when Lord Willoughby
made it known. It was so far beyond anything that he had dreamed,
and he was assailed by doubts of his capacity to undertake so
onerous a charge.
"Damme!" snapped Willoughby, "Should I offer it unless I were
satisfied of your capacity? If that's your only objection...."
"It is not, my lord. I had counted upon going home, so I had.
I am hungry for the green lanes of England." He sighed. "There
will be apple-blossoms in the orchards of Somerset."
"Apple-blossoms!" His lordship's voice shot up like a rocket, and
cracked on the word. "What the devil...? Apple-blossoms!" He
looked at van der Kuylen.
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