and a pumpkin vine, rooted at some distance, had
run across the intervening space, and deposited one of its gigantic products
directly beneath the hall-window; as if to warn the Governor that this great
lump of vegetable gold was as rich an ornament as New England earth would offer
him. There were a few rose-bushes, however, and a number of apple-trees,
probably the descendants of those planted by the Reverend Mr. Blackstone, the
first settler of the peninsula; that half mythological personage who rides
through our early annals, seated on the back of a bull.
    Pearl, seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose, and would not be
pacified.
    »Hush, child, hush!« said her mother earnestly. »Do not cry, dear little
Pearl! I hear voices in the garden. The Governor is coming, and gentlemen along
with him!«
    In fact, adown the vista of the garden-avenue, a number of persons were seen
approaching towards the house. Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to
quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent; not from any notion
of obedience, but because the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition was
excited by the appearance of these new personages.
 

                      VIII. The Elf-Child and the Minister

Governor Bellingham, in a loose gown and easy cap, - such as elderly gentlemen
loved to indue themselves with, in their domestic privacy, - walked foremost,
and appeared to be showing off his estate, and expatiating on his projected
improvements. The wide circumference of an elaborate ruff, beneath his gray
beard, in the antiquated fashion of King James's reign, caused his head to look
not a little like that of John the Baptist in a charger. The impression made by
his aspect, so rigid and severe, and frostbitten with more than autumnal age,
was hardly in keeping with the appliances of worldly enjoyment wherewith he had
evidently done his utmost to surround himself. But it is an error to suppose
that our grave forefathers - though accustomed to speak and think of human
existence as a state merely of trial and warfare, and though unfeignedly
prepared to sacrifice goods and life at the behest of duty - made it a matter of
conscience to reject such means of comfort, or even luxury, as lay fairly within
their grasp. This creed was never taught, for instance, by the venerable pastor,
John Wilson, whose beard, white as a snow-drift, was seen over Governor
Bellingham's shoulder; while its wearer suggested