diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-8.txt | 10422 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 201784 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 706780 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/35358-h.htm | 13865 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/002.png | bin | 0 -> 29111 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-100gs.png | bin | 0 -> 60424 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-208gs.png | bin | 0 -> 58009 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-320gs.png | bin | 0 -> 59874 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-330gs.png | bin | 0 -> 17376 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-cvr.jpg | bin | 0 -> 143785 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg | bin | 0 -> 124220 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358-h/music/singlenote.mid | bin | 0 -> 733 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358.txt | 10422 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 35358.zip | bin | 0 -> 201760 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
17 files changed, 34725 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35358-8.txt b/35358-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2148df3 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10422 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Song of a Single Note, by Amelia Edith +Huddleston Barr + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Song of a Single Note + A Love Story + + +Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr + + + +Release Date: February 22, 2011 [eBook #35358] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE*** + + +E-text prepared by Darleen Dove, Ernest Schaal, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations and + added music. + See 35358-h.htm or 35358-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35358/35358-h/35358-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35358/35358-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text in bold face is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=), and text in + small capitals is replaced by all capitals. + + A list of corrections is at the end of the e-book. + + + + + +[Illustration: THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE.] + +A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE + +A Love Story + +by + +AMELIA E. BARR + +Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "The Maid +of Maiden Lane," etc. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +New York +Dodd, Mead & Company +1902 + +Copyright, 1902, +By Dodd, Mead & Company. + +First Edition published October, 1902. + +The Burr Printing House, +New York. + + + + + TO + MY FRIEND, + + DR. STEPHEN DECATUR HARRISON: + + An American who loves his country "Right or Wrong," + And who always believes she is "Right," + + THIS NOVEL + IS WITH MUCH ESTEEM + DEDICATED. + + + + +Contents + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. RED OR BLUE RIBBONS . . . . . . . . 1 + + II. THE FAIR AND THE BRAVE . . . . . . . 21 + + III. LIFE IN THE CAPTIVE CITY . . . . . . . 50 + + IV. A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE . . . . . . . 75 + + V. LOVE'S SWEET DREAM . . . . . . . . 103 + + VI. THE INTERCEPTED MESSAGE . . . . . . . 134 + + VII. THE PRICE OF HARRY'S LIFE . . . . . . 160 + + VIII. THE HELP OF JACOB COHEN . . . . . . . 185 + + IX. THE TURN OF THE TIDE . . . . . . . . 211 + + X. MARIA GOES TO LONDON . . . . . . . . 253 + + XI. THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE . . . . . . . 283 + + XII. LOVE AND VICTORY . . . . . . . . . 306 + + + + +List of Illustrations + + PAGE + + THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE--_Frontispiece_. + + MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED _facing_ 100 + + THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT + SEE HIM _facing_ 208 + + HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON + SHORE _facing_ 320 + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + + "Love, its flutes will still be stringing, + Lovers still will sigh and kneel; + Freedom sets her trumpets ringing + To the clash of smiting steel." + So I weave of love and glory, + Homely toil, and martial show, + Fair romance from the grand story + Lived a century ago. + + + + +A Song of a Single Note + + +CHAPTER I. + +RED OR BLUE RIBBONS. + + +It was the fourth year of the captivity of New York, and the beleaguered +city, in spite of military pomp and display, could not hide the +desolations incident to her warlike occupation. The beautiful trees and +groves which once shaded her streets and adorned her suburbs had been +cut down by the army sappers; her gardens and lawns upturned for +entrenchments and indented by artillery wheels; and some of the best +parts of the city blackened and mutilated by fire. Her churches had been +turned into prisons and hospitals, and were centres of indescribable +suffering and poisonous infection; while over the burnt district there +had sprung up a town of tents inhabited by criminals and by miserable +wretches whom starvation and despair had turned into highwaymen. + +But these conditions were the work of man. Nature still lavished upon +the captive city a glory of sunshine and blue skies, and winds, full of +the freshness and sparkle of the great sea, blew through all her sickly +streets. Wherever the gardens had not been destroyed, there was the +scent of mays and laburnums, and the indescribable beauty of apple +blossoms on the first day of their birth. + +In front of one of these fortunate enclosures, belonging to a little +house on Queen Street, an old gentleman was standing, looking wistfully +in at a trellis of small red roses. He turned away with a sigh as a man +dressed like a sailor touched him on the arm, saying, as he did so: + +"Well, then, Elder, a good afternoon to you? I am just from Boston, and +I have brought you a letter from your son." + +"You, De Vries! I didna look for you just yet." + +"You know how it is. I am a man of experience, and I had a good voyage +both ways." + +"And Robertson and Elliot and Ludlow will have a good percentage on your +cargoes?" + +"That is the way of business. It is as it ought to be. I do not defraud +or condemn the Government. It is the young--who have no knowledge or +experience--who do such things." + +"What do you bring in, Captain?" + +"Some provisions of all kinds; and I shall take back some merchandise of +all kinds--for them who can not get it in any other way." + +"To Boston again?" + +"This time only to the Connecticut coast. The goods will easily go +further. The trade is great. What then? I must waste no time; I have to +live by my business." + +"And I have nae doubt you think the 'business' on the King's service." + +"Every respectable man is of that way of thinking. We carry no military +stores. I am very precise about that. It is one of my principles. And +what, then, would the merchants of New York do without this opening for +trade? They would be ruined; and there would also be starvation. They +who say different are fools; we give help and comfort to the royalists, +and we distress the rebels, for we take from them all their ready money. +If the trade was not 'on the King's service,' the Governor would not be +in it." + +"Even so! That circumstance shows it is not far out o' the way." + +"'Out of the way!' What the deuce, Elder! I am a deacon in the Middle +Kirk. My respectability and honesty cannot be concealed: any one can see +them. Batavius de Vries would not steal a groschen; no, nor half of +one!" + +"Easy, easy, Captain! Why should you steal? It is far mair lucrative to +cheat than to steal; and the first is in the way o' business--as you +were remarking. But this or that, my good thanks for the letter you have +brought me; and is there anything I can do in return for your civility?" + +"If you will kindly call at my dwelling and tell Madame I am arrived +here safe and sound; that would be a great satisfaction for us both." + +"I pass your door, Captain, and I will tell Madame the good news. Nae +doubt she will gie me a smile for it." + +Then De Vries turned away with some remark about business, and Elder +Semple stood still a moment, fingering the bulky letter which had been +given him; and, as he did so, wondering what he should do, for "ill news +comes natural these days," he thought, "and maybe I had better read it +through, before I speak a word to Janet anent it. I'll step into the +King's Arms and see what Alexander has to say." + +When he entered the coffee-room he saw his son, Mr. Neil Semple, and +Governor Robertson sitting at a table with some papers between them. +Neil smiled gravely, and moved a chair into place for his father, and +the Governor said pleasantly: + +"How are you, Elder? It is a long time since I saw you." + +"I am as well as can be expected, considering a' things, Governor; but +what for will I be 'Elder,' when I have nae kirk to serve?" + +"Is that my fault, Elder?" + +"You might have spoke a word for the reopening of the kirk, and the +return o' Dr. Rogers. Your affirmative would have gone a long way toward +it. And the loyal Calvinists o' New York hae been too long kirkless. +What for didn't you speak the word, Governor? What for?" + +"Indeed, Elder, you know yourself that Dr. Rogers is a proved traitor. +As a fundamental rule, a Calvinist is a democrat--exceptions, of +course--like yourself and your worthy sons, but as a fundamental, +natural democrats. There is the Church of England open for all +services." + +"Aye; and there is the Kirk o' Scotland closed for all services. What +has the Kirk done against King George?" + +"Must I remind you, Elder, that her ministers, almost without exception, +are against the King? Did not this very Dr. Rogers pray in the pulpit +for the success of the rebels? As for the Church of Scotland, she has +been troubling kings, and encouraging rebellion ever since there was a +Church of Scotland. What for? No reason at all, that I can see." + +"Yes, she had reason enough. Scotsmen read their Bibles, and they +thought it worth while to fight for the right to do so. There's your +colleague, Judge Ludlow; his great-grandfather fought with Oliver +Cromwell in England in a quarrel of the same kind. He should have said a +word for us." + +"Elder, it is undeniable that Dissent and Calvinism are opposed to +royalty." + +"The Kirk is not subject to Cæsar; she is a law unto hersel'; and the +Methodists are dissenters, yet their chapel is open." + +"The loyalty of John Wesley is beyond impeachment. He is a friend of the +King." + +"Yet his brother Charles was imprisoned for praying for the Pretender, +and nae doubt at all, he himsel' would gladly have followed Prince +Charlie." + +"As the Semples and Gordons _did do_." + +"To their everlasting glory and honor! God bless them!" + +"Will your Excellency please to sign these papers?" interrupted Neil; +and his calm ignoring of the brewing quarrel put a stop to it. The +papers were signed, and the Governor rising, said, as he offered his +hand to the Elder: + +"Our sufferings and deprivations are unavoidable, sir. Is there any use +in quarreling with the wheel that splashes us?" + +"There is nane; yet, if men have grievances----" + +"Grievances! That is a word that always pleases, and always cheats. +There are no grievances between you and me, I hope." + +"None to breed ill-will. Human nature is fallible, but as a rule, Tory +doesna eat Tory." + +"And as for the Whigs, Elder, you know the old fable of the wolf and the +lamb. Judging from that past event, Tory and Whig may soon make an +eternal peace." + +He went out well pleased at the implication, and Neil, after a few +moments' silence, said, "I am going to register these documents, sir, or +I would walk home with you." + +"Much obligated to you, Neil, but I can tak' very good care o' mysel'. +And I have a letter from your brother Alexander. I must see what news he +sends, before I tell your mother." + +He was opening his letter as he spoke, carefully cutting round the large +red seal, which bore the arms of the Semples, and which, therefore, he +would have thought it a kind of sacrilege to mutilate. A cup of coffee +had been brought to him, and he took one drink of it, and then no more; +for everything was quickly forgotten or ignored in the intelligence he +was receiving. That it was unexpected and astonishing was evident from +his air of perplexity and from the emotion which quite unconsciously +found relief in his constant ejaculation, _"Most extraordinary! Most +extraordinary!"_ + +Finally, he folded up the epistle, threw a shilling on the table for his +entertainment, and with more speed than was usual, took the road to the +west of Broadway. He had been remarkable in days past for his erect +carriage, but he walked now with his head bent and his eyes fixed on the +ground. There was so much that he did not want to see, though he was +naturally the most curious and observant of mortals. Fifteen minutes' +walk brought him to the river side, and anon to a large house separated +from his own by a meadow. There were horses tied to the fence and horses +tethered in the garden; and in a summer-house under a huge linden tree, +a party of soldiers drinking and playing dominoes. The front door was +partly open, and a piece of faded red ribbon was nailed on its lintel. +Semple knocked loudly with his walking-stick, and immediately a stout, +rosy woman came toward him, wiping her hands on a clean towel as she did +so. + +"Well, then, Elder!" she cried, "you are a good sight! What is the +matter, that you never come once to see us, this long time?" + +"I come now to bring you good news Joanna--Madame, I should say." + +"No, no! I make not so much ceremony. When you say 'Joanna' I think of +the good days, before everybody was unfriends with each other." + +"Well, then, Joanna, your husband is back again; as he says, safe and +sound, and I promised him to let you know as I passed." + +"But come in once, Elder--come in!" + +"Some day--some day soon. I am in haste at this time--and you have much +company, I see." He spoke with evident disapproval, and Joanna was at +once on the defensive. + +"I know not how to alter that. A good wife must do some little thing +these hard times; for what is to come after them, who knows--and there +are many boys and girls--but I am not discontented; I like to look at +the bright side, and that is right, is it not?" + +Semple had already turned away, and he only struck his cane on the +flagged walk in answer. For while Joanna was speaking he had casually +noticed the fluttering red ribbon above her head; and it had brought +from the past a memory, unbidden and unexpected, which filled his eyes +with the thin, cold tears of age, and made his heart tremble with a fear +he would not allow himself to entertain. + +He was so troubled that he had to consciously gather his forces together +before he entered his own dwelling. It, at least, kept visible state and +order; the garden, perhaps, showed less variety and wealth of flowers; +but the quiet dignity of its handsomely furnished rooms was intact. In +their usual parlor, which was at the back of the house, he found his +wife. "You are late to-day, Alexander," she said pleasantly; "I was just +waiting till I heard your footstep. Now I can make the tea." + +"I'll be glad o' a cup, Janet. I'm fairly tired, my dearie." + +"What kept you so far ahint your ordinar time? I thought it long waiting +for you." + +"Twa or three things kept me, that I am not accountable for. I was on +the way hame, when Batavius De Vries spoke to me." + +"He's back again, is he? Few words would do between you and him." + +"He brought me a letter from our lad in Boston; and I thought I would go +into the King's Arms and read it." + +"You might have come hame." + +"I might; but I thought if there was any bad news folded in the paper, I +would just leave it outside our hame." + +"There is naething wrang, then?" + +"It is an astonishment--the lad has sold all he had and gone to +Scotland. When he can find a small estate that suits him, he thinks o' +buying it, and becoming 'Semple o' that Ilk.' Alexander aye had a +hankering after land." + +"He has the siller, I suppose; there is no land given awa in Scotland." + +"Alexander wasn't born yesterday. He has been sending siller to England +ever since the first whisper o' these troubles. Ten years ago, he told +me the Stamp Act riots spelt Revolution and maybe Independence; and that +in such case the best we could hope for would be a dozen or mair states, +each with its ain rights and privileges and government; and a constant +war between them. He is a far-seeing lad, is Alexander." + +"I think little o' his far sight. There are others who see further and +clearer: petty states and constant war! Na, na! _It's not so written."_ + +"Perhaps he is right, Janet." + +"Perhaps is a wide word, Alexander. Perhaps he is wrang. Has he sailed +yet? And pray, what is to become of the little Maria?" + +"He sailed a week since--and Maria is coming to us." + +"Coming to us! And what will we do wi' the lassie?" + +"We'll just hae to love and comfort her. In a way she has neither +father nor mother--the one being in the grave and the other beyond seas. +She may be a pleasure to our auld age; when she was here last she was a +bonnie, lovesome little creature." + +"That is mair than eight years ago, and she was eight years old then; +she'll be sixteen and a half, or, perhaps, nearer seventeen now--you ken +weel what to expect from lassies o' that indiscreet age; or, if you +don't, you ought to." + +"I know she is our ain grandbairn and that we be to give her love and +all that love calls for. She was the very image o' yoursel' Janet, and +her father was much set up o'er the extraordinar likeness." + +"I thought she favored you, Alexander." + +"A little--a little, perhaps--but not enough to spoil her. If she has +kept the Gordon beauty, she will be a' the mair welcome to me. I have +aye had a strong prejudice in its favor;" and he leaned forward and took +Madame's small brown hand, and then there was a look and a smile between +the old lovers that made all words impotent and unnecessary. + +Such pauses are embarrassing; the lealest hearts must come back quickly +to ordinary life, and as the Elder passed his cup for more tea, Madame +asked: "What way is the lassie coming? By land or water?" + +"She is coming by land, with John Bradley and his daughter." + +"How's that?" + +"Madame Charlton's school had to be closed, and Agnes Bradley was one of +the scholars. Her father has gone to Boston to bring her hame, and +Maria being her friend and schoolmate, Bradley promised Alexander to +see her safe in our home and care. Doubtless, he is well able to keep +his word. If the Governor and the Commander-in-Chief can do ought to +mak' travel safe, John Bradley will hae their assistance; but I'm vexed +to be put under an obligation to him. I would rather have sent Neil, or +even gane mysel'." + +"What ails you at John Bradley? He wears the red ribbon on his breast, +and it blaws o'er his shop door, and he is thick as thack with a' the +dignities--civil and military." + +"I don't like him, and I don't like his daughter being friends with my +granddaughter." + +"He serves our turn now, and once is nae custom." + +"Let alone the fact that girls' friendships are naething but fine words +and sugar candy. I shall put a stop to this one at the very outset." + +"You'll do what, gudeman?" + +"Put my commands on Maria. I shall tell her that beyond yea and nay, and +a fine day, or the like o' that, she is to have no intercourse wi' John +Bradley's daughter." + +"You'll have revolution inside the house, as weel as outside. Let the +girls alane. Some young men will come between them and do your business +for you. You have managed your lads pretty well--wi' my help--but two +schoolgirls in love wi' one anither! they will be aboon your thumb--ane +o' them may keep you busy." + +"I shall lay my commands on Maria." + +"And if Maria tak's after the Gordons, she'll be far mair ready to give +commands than to tak' them. Let be till she gets here. When did she +leave Boston?" + +"Mair than a week ago, but Sunday intromits, and Bradley, being what +they call a local preacher would hae to exploit his new sermon and hold +a class meeting or a love feast; forbye, he wouldna neglect ony bit o' +business that came his way on the road. I shouldn't wonder if they were +at Stamford last Sunday, and if so, they would be maist likely at East +Chester to-night. They might be here to-morrow. I'll ask Neil to ride as +far as the Halfway House; he will either find, or hear tell o' them +there." + +"What for should Neil tak' that trouble? You ken, as weel as I do, that +if Bradley promised Maria's father to deliver her into your hand, at +your ain house, he would do no other way. Say you were from hame, he +would just keep the lassie till he could keep his promise. He is a very +Pharisee anent such sma' matters. If you have finished your tea, +gudeman, I will get the dishes put by." + +They both rose at these words, Madame pulled a bell rope made of a band +of embroidery, and a girl brought her a basin of hot water and two clean +towels. Semple lit his long, clay pipe and went into the garden to see +how the early peas were coming on, and to meditate on the events the day +had brought to him. Madame also had her meditations, as she carefully +washed the beautiful Derby china, and the two or three Apostle +teaspoons, and put them away in the glass cupboard that was raised in +one corner of the room. Her thoughts were complex, woven of love and +hope and fear and regret. The advent of her granddaughter was not an +unmixed delight; she was past sixty, not in perfect health, and she +feared the care and guiding of a girl of scarce seventeen years old. + +"Just the maist unreasonable time of any woman's life," she sighed. "At +that age, they are sure they know a' things, and can judge a' things; +and to doubt it is rank tyranny, and they are in a blaze at a word, for +they have every feeling at fever heat. A body might as well try to +reason wi' a baby or a bull, for they'll either cry or rage, till you +give in to them. However, Maria has a deal o' Gordon in her, and they +are sensible bodies--in the main. I'll even do as the auld song advises: + + "Bide me yet, and bide me yet, + For I know not what will betide me yet." + +When the room was in order, she threw a shawl round her and went to her +husband. "I hae come to bring you inside, Elder," she said, "the night +air is chilly and damp yet, and you arena growing younger." + +"I walked down as far as the river bank, Janet," he answered, "and I see +the boat is rocking at her pier. Neil should look after her." + +"Neil is looking after another kind of a boat at present. I hope he will +have as much sense as the rats, and leave a sinking ship in good time to +save himsel'." + +"Janet, you should be feared to say such like words! They are fairly +wicked--and they gie me a sair heart." + +"Oh, forgive me, Alexander! My thoughts will fly to my lips. I forget! I +forget! I hae a sair heart, too"--and they went silently into the house +with this shadow between them until Janet said: + +"Let me help you off wi' your coat, dearie. Your soft, warm wrap is here +waiting for you," and against her gentle words and touch he had no +armor. His offense melted away, he let her help him to remove his heavy +satin-lined coat, with its long stiffened skirts, and fold round his +spare form the damasse wrap with its warm lining of flannel. Then, with +a sigh of relief he sat down, loosened his neckband, handed Madame his +laces, and called for a fresh pipe. + +In the meantime Madame hung the coat carefully over a chair, and in +flecking off a little dust from its richly trimmed lapel, she tossed +aside with an unconscious contempt, the bit of scarlet ribbon at the +buttonhole. "You are requiring a new ribbon, Alexander," she said. "If +you must wear your colors on your auld breast, I would, at least, hae +them fresh." + +He either ignored, or did not choose to notice the spirit of her words; +he took them at their face value, and answered: "You are right, Janet. +I'll buy a half yard in the morning. I tell you, that one bit o' rusty, +draggled red ribbon gave me a heart-ache this afternoon." + +Madame did not make the expected inquiry, and after a glance into her +face he continued: "It was at the Van Heemskirk's house. I was talking +to Joanna, and I saw it o'er the door, and remembered the night my +friend Joris nailed up the blue ribbon which Batavius has taken down. I +could see him standing there, with his large face smiling and shining, +and his great arms reaching upward, and I could hear the stroke o' the +hammer that seemed to keep time to his words: '_Alexander myn jougen!_' +he said, 'for Freedom the color is always blue. Over my house door let +it blow; yes, then, over my grave also, if God's will it be.' And I +answered him, 'you are a fool, Joris, and you know not what you are +saying or doing, and God help you when you do come to your senses.' Then +he turned round with the hammer in his hand and looked at me--I shall +never forget that look--and said 'a little piece of blue ribbon, +Alexander, but for a man's life and liberty it stands, for dead already +is that man who is not free.' Then he took me into the garden, and as we +walked he could talk of naething else, 'men do not need in their coffins +to lie stark,' he said, 'they may without that, be dead; walking about +this city are many dead men.'" + +"Joris Van Heemskirk is a good man. Wherever he is, I ken well, he is +God's man," said Janet, "doing his duty simply and cheerfully." + +"As he sees duty, Janet; I am sure o' that. And as he talked he kept +touching the ribbon in his waistcoat, as if it was a sacred thing, and +when I said something o' the kind, he answered me out o' the Holy Book, +and bid me notice God himself had chosen blue and told Israel to wear it +on the fringes o' their garments as a reminder o' their deliverance by +Him. Then I couldna help speaking o' the Scotch Covenanters wearing the +blue ribbon, and he followed wi' the Dutch Protestors, and I was able +to cap the noble army wi' the English Puritans fighting under Cromwell +for civil and religious liberty." + +"And gudeman!" cried Janet, all in a tremble of enthusiasm, "General +Washington is at this very time wearing a broad blue ribbon across his +breast;" and there was such a light in her eyes, and such pride in her +voice, the Elder could not say the words that were on his tongue; he +magnanimously passed by her remark and returned to his friend, Joris Van +Heemskirk. "Blue or red," he continued, "we had a wonderfu' hour, and +when we came to part that night we had no need to take each other's +hands; we had been walking hand-in-hand together like twa laddies, and +we did not know it." + +"You'll have many a happy day with your friend yet, gudeman; Joris Van +Heemskirk will come hame again." + +"He will hae a sair heart when he sees his hame, specially his garden." + +"He will hae something in his heart to salve all losses and all wrongs; +but I wonder Joanna doesna take better care o' her father's place." + +"She canna work miracles. I thought when I got her there as tenant o' +the King, she would keep a' things as they were left; but Batavius has +six or eight soldiers boarding there--low fellows, non-commissioned +officers and the like o' them--and the beautiful house is naething but +barricks in their sight; and as for the garden, what do they care for +boxwood and roses? They dinna see a thing beyond their victuals, and +liquor, and the cards and dominoes in their hands. Joanna has mair than +she can manage." + +"Didn't Batavius sell his house on the East river?" + +"Of course he did--to the Government--made a good thing of it; then he +got into his father-in-law's house as a tenant of the Government. I +don't think he ever intends to move out of it. When the war is over he +will buy it for a trifle, as confiscated property." + +"He'll do naething o' the kind! He'll never, never, never buy it. You +may tak' my solemn word for that, Alexander Semple." + +"How do you ken so much, Janet?" + +"The things we ken best, are the things we were never told. I will not +die till I have seen Joris Van Heemskirk smoking his pipe with you on +his ain hearth, and in his ain summer-house. He can paint some new +mottoes o'er it then." + +She was on the verge of crying, but she spoke with an irresistible +faith, and in spite of his stubborn loyalty to King George, Semple could +not put away the conviction that his wife's words were true. They had +all the force of an intuition. He felt that the conversation could not +be continued with Joris Van Heemskirk as its subject, and he said, "I +wonder what is keeping Neil? He told me he would be hame early +to-night." + +"Then you saw him to-day?" + +"He was in the King's Arms, when I went there to read my letter--he and +Governor Robertson--and I had a few words wi' the Governor anent Dr. +Rogers and the reopening of our kirk." + +"You did well and right to speak to them. It is a sin and a shame in a +Christian country to be kept out o' Sabbath ordinances." + +"He told me we had the Church o' England to go to." + +"Aye; and we hae the King o' England to serve." + +"Here comes Neil, and I am glad o' it. Somehow, he makes things mair +bearable." + +The young man entered with a grave cheerfulness; he bowed to his father, +kissed his mother, and then drew a chair to the cold hearth. In a few +minutes he rang the bell, and when it was answered, bid the negro bring +hot coals and kindle the fire. + +"Neil, my dear lad," said the Elder, "are you remembering that wood is +nearly ungetable--ten pounds or mair a cord? I hae but little left. I'm +feared it won't see the war out." + +"If wood is getable at any price, I am not willing to see mother and you +shivering. Burn your wood as you need it, and trust for the future." + +"I hae told your father the same thing often, Neil; careful, of course, +we must be, but sparing is not caring. There was once a wife who always +took what she wanted, and she always had enough." The fire blazed +merrily, and Neil smiled, and the Elder stretched out his thin legs to +the heat, and the whole feeling of the room was changed. Then Madame +said: + +"Neil, your brother Alexander has gane to Scotland." + +"I expected him to take that step." + +"And he is sending little Maria to us, until he gets a home for her." + +"I should not think she will be much in the way, mother. She is only a +child." + +"She is nearly seventeen years old. She won't be much in my way; it is +you that will hae to take her out--to military balls and the like." + +"Nonsense! I can't have a child trailing after me in such places." + +"Vera likely you will trail after her. You will be better doing that +than after some o' the ladies o' Clinton's court." + +"I can tell you, Neil," said Neil's father, "that it is a vera pleasant +sensation, to hae a bonnie lassie on your arm wha is, in a manner, your +ain. I ken naething in the world that gives a man such a superior +feeling." + +Neil looked at the speaker with a curious admiration. He could not help +envying the old man who had yet an enthusiasm about lovely women. + +"I fancy, sir," he answered, "that the women of your youth were a +superior creation to those of the present day. I cannot imagine myself +with any woman whose society would give me that sensation." + +"Women are always the same, Neil--yesterday, to-day, and forever. What +they are now, they were in Abraham's time, and they will be when time +shall be nae langer. Is not that so, mother?" + +"Maybe; but you'll tak' notice, they hae suited a' kinds o' men, in a' +countries and in a' ages. I dare say our little Maria will hae her +lovers as well as the lave o' them, and her uncle Neil will be to keep +an eye on them. But I'm weary and sleepy, and if you men are going to +talk the fire out I'll awa' to my room and my bed." + +"I have something to say to father," answered Neil, "about the +Government, and so----" + +"Oh, the Government!" cried Madame, as she stood with her lighted candle +in her hand at the open door; "dinna call it a government, Neil; call it +a blunderment, or a plunderment, if you like, but the other name is out +o' all befitting." + +"Mother, wait a moment," said Neil. "You were saying that Maria would +want to be taken to dances; I got an invitation to-day. What do you say +to this for an introduction?" As he spoke he took out of his pocket a +gilt-edged note tied with transverse bands of gold braid and narrow red +ribbon. Madame watched him impatiently as he carefully and deliberately +untied the bows, and his air of reverential regard put her in a little +temper. + +"Cut the strings and be done wi' it, Neil," she said crossly. "There is +nae invite in the world worth such a to-do as you are making. And dinna +forget, my lad, that you once nearly threw your life awa' for a bit o' +orange ribbon! Maybe the red is just as dangerous." + +Then Neil took the red ribbon between his finger and thumb, and dropping +it into the fire looked at his mother with the denial in his face. "It +is from Mrs. Percival," he said; and she nodded her understanding, but +could not help giving him a last word ere she closed the door: + +"If you hae a fancy for ribbons, Neil, tak' my advice, and get a blue +one; a' the good men in the country are wearing blue." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FAIR AND THE BRAVE. + + +At breakfast next morning the conversation turned naturally upon the +arrival of Maria Semple. The Elder showed far the most enthusiasm +concerning it. He wondered, and calculated, and supposed, till he felt +he had become tiresome and exhausted sympathy, and then he subsided into +that painful attitude of disappointment and resignation, which is, alas, +too often the experience of the aged? His companions were not in +sympathy with him. Madame was telling herself she must not expect too +much. Once she had set her heart upon a beautiful girl who was to become +Neil's wife, and her love had been torn up by the roots: "maist women +carry a cup of sorrow for some one to drink," she thought, "and I'm +feared for them." As for Neil, he felt sure the girl was going to be a +tie and a bore, and he considered his brother exceedingly selfish in +throwing the care of his daughter upon his aged parents. + +It was not a pleasant meal, but in good hearts depression and doubt find +no abiding place. When Neil had gone to his affairs, the Elder looked at +his wife, and she gave him his pipe with a smile, and talked to him +about Maria as she put away her china. And she had hardly turned the key +of the glass closet, when the knocker of the front door fell twice--two +strokes, clear, separate, distinct. The Elder rose quickly and with much +excitement. "That is Bradley's knock," he said; "I never heard it +before, but it is just the way he would call any one." + +He was going out of the room as he spoke, and Madame joined him. When +they entered the hall the front door was open, and a short, stout man +was standing on the threshold, holding a young girl by the hand. He +delivered her to the Elder very much as he would have delivered a +valuable package intrusted to his care, and then, as they stood a few +moments in conversation, Maria darted forward, and with a little cry of +joy nestled her head on her grandmother's breast. The confiding love of +the action was irresistible. "You darling!" whispered the old lady with +a kiss; "let me look at you!" And she put her at arm's length, and gazed +at the pretty, dark face with its fine color, and fine eyes, charmingly +set off by the scarlet hood of her traveling cloak. + +"What do you think o' your granddaughter, Elder?" she asked, when he +joined them, and her voice was trembling with love and pride. + +"I think she is yoursel' o'er again; the vera same bonnie Janet Gordon I +woo'd and loved in Strathallen nearly fifty years syne. Come and gie me +twenty kisses, bairnie. You are a vera cordial o' gladness to our +hearts." + +Madame had swithered in her own mind before the arrival of Maria about +the room she was to occupy--the little one in the wing, furnished in +rush and checked blue and white linen; or the fine guest room over the +best parlor. A few moments with her grandchild had decided her. "She +shall hae the best we have," she concluded. "What for would I gie it to +my cousin Gordon's wife, and lock my ain flesh and blood out o' it?" So +she took Maria to her best guest chamber, and when the girl stood in the +center of it and looked round with an exclamation of delight, she was +well rewarded. + +"This is the finest room I ever saw," said Maria. "I love splendid +rooms, and mahogany makes any place handsome. And the looking glasses! O +grandmother, I can see myself from top to toe!" and she flung aside her +cloak, and surveyed her little figure in its brown camblet dress and +long white stomacher, with great satisfaction. + +"And where are your clothes, Maria?" asked Madame. + +"I brought a small trunk with me, and Mr. Bradley will send it here this +morning; the rest of my trunks were sent with Captain De Vries. I dare +say they will be here soon." + +"They are here already, De Vries arrived yesterday, but the rest o' your +trunks, how many more have you, lassie?" + +"Three large, and one little one. Father told me I was to get +everything I wanted, and I wanted so many things. I got them all, +grandmother--beautiful dresses, and mantillas, and pelerines; and dozens +of pretty underwear. I have had four women sewing for me ever since last +Christmas." + +"But the expense o' it, Maria!" + +"Mrs. Charlton said I had simply received the proper outfit for a young +lady entering society." + +"But whatever did your father say?" + +"He whistled very softly. There are many ways of whistling, grandmother, +and my father's whistle was his form of saying he was astonished." + +"I hae no doubt he was astonished." + +"I had to have summer and winter dresses, and ball dresses, and home +dresses, and street dresses; and all the little things which Mrs. +Charlton says are the great things. Father is very generous to me, and +he has ordered Lambert and Co. to send me thirty pounds every month. He +told me that food and wood and every necessity of life was very dear in +New York, and that if I was a good girl I would do my full share in +bearing the burden of life." + +This was her pretty way of making it understood that she was to pay +liberally for her board, and then, with a kiss, she added, "let us go +downstairs. I want to see all the house, grandmother. It is like home, +and I have had so little home. All my life nearly has been spent at +school. Now I am come home." + +They went down hand in hand, and found the Elder walking about in an +excited manner. "I think I shall bide awa' from business to-day," he +said; "I dinna feel like it. It isna every day a man gets a +granddaughter." + +_"Tuts!_ Nonsense, Alexander! Go your ways to the store, then you can +talk to your acquaintance o' your good fortune. Maria and I will hae +boxes to unpack, and clothes to put away; and you might as weel call at +De Vries, and tell him to get Miss Semple's trunks here without +sauntering about them. Batavius is a slow creature. And Neil must hae +the news also, so just be going as quick as you can, Alexander." + +He was disappointed; he had hoped that Maria would beg him to stay at +home, but he put on his long coat with affected cheerfulness, and with +many little delays finally took the road. Then the two women went +through the house together, and by that time Bradley had sent the small +trunk, and they unpacked it, and talked about the goods, and about a +variety of subjects that sprang naturally from the occupation. + +All at once Madame remembered to ask Maria where she had spent the +previous night, and the girl answered, "I slept at the Bradley's. It was +quite twilight when we reached their house, and Mr. Bradley said this +road was beset by thieves and bad people after dark, and he also thought +you retired early and would not care to be disturbed." + +"Vera considerate o' Mr. Bradley, I am sure; perhaps mair so than +necessary. Maria, my dear, I hope you are not very friendly wi' his +daughter." + +"Not friendly with Agnes Bradley! Why, grandmother, I could not be happy +without her! She has been my good angel for three years. When she came +to Mrs. Charlton's I had no friends, for I had such a bad temper the +girls called me 'Spitfire' and 'Vixen' and such names, and I was proud +of it. Agnes has made me gentle and wishful to do right. Agnes is as +nearly an angel as a woman can be." + +"Fair nonsense, Maria! And I never was fond o' angelic women, they dinna +belong to this world; and your grandfather dislikes John Bradley, he +will not allow any friendship between you and Agnes Bradley. That is +sure and certain." + +"What has Mr. Bradley done wrong to grandfather?" + +"Naething; naething at all! He just does not like him." + +"I shall have to explain things to grandfather. He ought not to take +dislikes to people without reason." + +"There's no one can explain things to your grandfather that he does not +want to understand. I know naething o' John Bradley, except that he is a +Methodist, and that kind o' people are held in scorn." + +"I think we can use up all our scorn on the Whigs, grandmother, and let +the Methodists alone. Mr. Bradley is a Tory, and trusted and employed by +the Government, and I am sure he preached a beautiful sermon last Sunday +at Stamford." + +"Your grandfather said he would preach at Stamford." + +"He preached on the green outside the town. There were hundreds to +listen to him. Agnes led the singing." + +"Maria Semple! You don't mean to tell me you were at a field preaching!" + +"It was a good preaching and----" + +"The man is a saddle-maker! I hae seen him working, day in and day out, +in his leather apron." + +"St. Paul was a tent-maker; he made a boast of it, and as he was a +sensible man, I have no doubt he wore an apron. He would not want to +spoil his toga." + +_"Hush! Hush!_ You must not speak o' Saint Paul in that tempered and +common way. The Apostles belong to the Kirk. Your father was brought up +a good Presbyterian." + +"Dear grandmother, I am the strictest kind of Presbyterian. I really +went to hear Agnes. If you had seen her standing by her father's side on +that green hill and heard her sing: + + 'Israel, what hast thou to dread? + Safe from all impending harms, + Round thee, and beneath thee, spread, + Are the everlasting arms.' + +you would have caught up the song as hundreds did do, till it spread to +the horizon, and rose to the sky, and was singing and praying both. +People were crying with joy, and they did not know it." + +"I would call her a dangerous kind o' girl. Has she any brothers or +sisters?" + +"Her brother went to an English school at the beginning of the war. He +was to finish his education at Oxford. Annie Gardiner--one of the +schoolgirls--told me so. He was her sweetheart. She has no sisters." + +"Sweetheart?" + +"Just boy and girl sweethearting. Agnes seldom spoke of him; sometimes +she got letters from him." + +"Has Agnes a sweetheart?" + +"There was a young gentleman dressed like a sailor that called on her +now and then. We thought he might be an American privateer." + +"Then Agnes Bradley is for the Americans! Well, a good girl, like her, +would be sure to take the right side. Nae doubt the hymn she sung +referred to the American army." + +"I am sure people thought so; indeed, I fear Agnes is a little bit of a +rebel, but she has to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself." + +"Plenty o' folks hae to do the same; thought may be free here, but +speech is bond slave to His Majesty George o' Hanover, or England, or +Brunswick, or what you like." + +"Or America!" + +"Nae, nae! You may make that last statement wi' great reservation, +Maria. But we must make no statements that will vex your grandfather, +for he is an auld man, and set in his ways, and he does not believe in +being contradicted." + +And at this moment they heard the Elder's voice and step. He came in so +happily, and with such transparent excuses for his return home, that the +women could not resist his humor. They pretended to be delighted; they +said, "how nice it was that he had happened to arrive just as dinner was +ready to serve;" they even helped him to reasons that made his return +opportune and fortunate. And Batavius arriving with the trunks +immediately after the meal, Madame made unblushing statements about her +dislike of the man, and her satisfaction in the Elder being at hand to +prevent overcharges, and see to the boxes being properly taken upstairs. + +Then Maria begged him to remain and look at her pretty things, and that +was exactly what he wished to do; and so, what with exhibiting them, and +trying some of them on, and sorting, and putting them into drawers and +wardrobes, the afternoon slipped quickly away. The Elder had his pipe +brought upstairs, and he sat down and smoked it on the fine sofa Mrs. +Gordon had covered with her own needlework when she occupied the room; +and no one checked him or made discouraging demurs. He had his full +share of the happy hours; and he told himself so as the ladies were +dressing; and he sat waiting for Neil, alone with his pleasant thoughts +and anticipations. + +"Auld age has its compensations," he reflected. "They wouldna hae let +Neil sit and smoke amid their fallals; and it was the bonniest sight to +watch them, to listen to their _Ohs!_ and _Ahs!_ and their selfish bits +o' prattle, anent having what no ither woman was able, or likely to +have. Women are queer creatures, but, Oh, dear me, what a weary world it +would be without them!" + +And when Maria came down stairs in a scarlet gown over a white silk +petticoat, a string of gold beads round her neck, and her hair dressed +high and fastened with a gold comb, he was charmed afresh. He rose with +the gallantry of a young man, to get her a chair, but she made him sit +down and brought a stool to his side, and nestled so close to him that +he put his arm across her pretty shoulders. And it added greatly to his +satisfaction that Neil came suddenly in, and discovered them in this +affectionate attitude. + +"One o' the compensations o' auld age," he said in happy explanation. +"Here is your niece, Maria Semple, Neil; and proud you may be o' +her!"--and Maria rose, and made her uncle a sweeping courtesy, and then +offered him her hand and her cheek. The young man gave her a warm +welcome, and yet at the same moment wondered what changes the little +lady would bring to the house. For he had sense and experience enough to +know that a girl so attractive would irresistibly draw events to her. + +In two or three days the excitement of her advent was of necessity put +under restraint. Age loves moderation in all things, and Maria began to +feel the still, stately house less interesting than the schoolroom. +Whigs and Tories, however unequally, divided that ground, and the two +parties made that quarrel the outlet for all their more feminine +dislikes. Her last weeks at school had also been weeks full of girlish +triumphs; for she was not only receiving a new wardrobe of an elaborate +kind, but she was permitted to choose it; to have interviews with +mantua-makers and all kinds of tradespeople; and above all, she was +going to New York. And New York at that time was invested with all the +romance of a mediæval city. It was the center around which the chief +events of the war revolved. Within her splendid mansions the officers of +King George feasted, and danced, and planned warlike excursions; and in +her harbor great fleets were anchored whose mission was to subjugate the +whole Southern seaboard. This of itself was an interesting situation, +but how much more so, when Whig and Tory alike knew, that just over the +western shore every hilltop, and every lofty tree held an American +sentinel, while Washington himself, amid the fastnesses of New Jersey, +watched with unerring sagacity and untiring patience the slightest +military movement on Manhattan Island. + +Thus, the possibilities and probabilities of her expected change of life +had made her the envy of romantic girls; for all of them, no matter what +their political faith, had their own conception of the great things +which might be achieved in a city full of military and naval officers. +It was the subject on which conversation was always interesting, and +often provocative; thus, in the very last talk she had with her +schoolmates, one little Tory maid said: + +"O, the dear officers! How delightful it will be to dance with brave men +so magnificently dressed in scarlet and gold! How I wish that I was you, +Maria!" + +"O, the hateful creatures!" ejaculated another girl of different +opinions. "I would not dance a step with one of them; but if I did, I +should be saying to myself all the time: very soon my fine fellow, some +brave man in homespun blue will kill you." + +"If I was Maria," said another, "and had a British officer for my +servant, I would coax him to tell me what General Clinton was going to +do; and then I would send word to General Washington." + +"O, you mean girl!" answered Maria, "would you be a spy?" + +"Yes, I would." + +"And so would I!" + +"And I!" + +"And I!" + +"And I!" And then an equal chorus of "What a shame! Just like Whigs!" + +Maria missed these encounters. She saw that her grandmother usually +deprecated political conversation, and that her uncle and grandfather +did not include her in the discussion of any public event. On the +fourth day she began to feel herself of less importance than she +approved; and then there followed naturally the demoralizing luxury of +self-pity: + +"Because I am a girl, and a very young girl, no one appears to think I +have common sense. I am as loyal to the King as any one. I wish +grandmother would speak out. I believe she is a Whig. Uncle Neil said he +would take me to some entertainments; he has not done so. I am not +tired--that is just an excuse--I want to go out and I want to see Agnes. +I will not give up Agnes--no one, no one shall make me--she is part of +my heart! No, I will not give up Agnes; her father may be a saddler--and +a Methodist--I am above noticing such things. I will love who I +like--about my friends I will not yield an inch--I will not!" + +She was busy tatting to this quite unnecessary tirade of protestations +and her grandmother noticed the passionate jerk of the shuttle +emphasizing her thoughts. "What is vexing you, dearie?" she asked. + +"Oh, I am wretched about Agnes," she answered. "I am afraid grandfather +has been rude in some way." + +"You needna be afraid on that ground, Maria; your grandfather is never +rude where women are concerned." + +"But he is unkind. If he was not, there could be no objections to my +calling on Agnes." + +"Is it not her place to call on you? She is at home--born and bred in +New York--you are a stranger here. She is older than you are; she seems +to have assumed some kind of care or oversight----." + +"She has been my guardian angel." + +"Then I think she ought to be looking after a desolate bairn like you; +one would think you had neither kith nor kin near you, Maria." Madame +spoke with an air of offense or injury, and as the words were uttered, +the door was softly moved inward, and Agnes Bradley entered. + +She courtesied to Madame, and then stretched out her hands to Maria. The +girl rose with a cry of joy, and all her discontent was gone in a +moment. Madame could not forget so easily; in fact, her sense of +unkindness was intensified by the unlooked-for entrance of its cause. +But there was no escaping the influence of Agnes. She brought the very +atmosphere of peace into the room with her. In ten minutes she was +sitting between Madame and Maria, and both appeared to be alike happy in +her society. She did not speak of the war, or the soldiers, or the +frightful price of food and fuel, or the wicked extravagance of the Tory +ladies in dress and entertainments, or even of the unendurable impudence +of the negro slaves. She talked of Maria, and of the studies she ought +to continue, and of Madame's flowers and needlework, and a sweet feeling +of rest from all the fretful life around was insensibly diffused. In a +short time Madame felt herself to be under the same spell as her +granddaughter, and she looked at the charmer with curious interest; she +wondered what kind of personality this daughter of tranquility +possessed. + +A short scrutiny showed her a girl about nineteen years old, tall, but +not very slender, with a great deal of pale brown hair above a broad +forehead; with eyebrows thick and finely arched, and eyelids so +transparent from constant contact with the soul that they seemed to have +already become spiritual. Her eyes were dark grey, star-like, mystical, +revealing--when they slowly dilated--one hardly knew what of the unseen +and heavenly. Her face was oval and well shaped, but a little heavy +except when the warm pallor of its complexion was suddenly transfigured +from within; then showing a faint rose color quickly passing away. Her +movements were all slow, but not ungraceful, and her soft voice had +almost a caress in it. Yet it was not these things, one, or all of them, +that made her so charmful; it was the invisible beauty in the visible, +that delighted. + +Without question here was a woman who valued everything at its eternal +worth; who in the midst of war, sheltered life in the peace of God; and +in the presence of sorrow was glad with the gladness of the angels. An +hour with Agnes Bradley made Madame think more highly of her +granddaughter; for surely it was a kind of virtue in Maria to love the +goodness she herself could not attain unto. + +Nearly two hours passed quickly away. They walked in the garden and +talked of seeds, and of the green things springing from them; and down +at the lily bed by the river, Madame had a sudden memory of a young +girl, who had one Spring afternoon gone down there to meet her fate; and +she said to Agnes--with a note of resentment still in her voice: + +"A lassie I once loved dearly, came here to gather lilies, and to listen +to a lover she had nae business to listen to. She would sit doubtless on +the vera step you are now sitting on, Maria; and she made sorrow and +suffering enough for more than one good heart; forbye putting auld +friends asunder, and breeding anger where there had always been love. I +hope you'll never do the like, either o' you." + +"Who was she, grandmother?" + +"Her name was Katherine Van Heemskirk. You'll hae heard tell o' her, +Miss Bradley?" + +"I saw her several times when she was here four years ago. She is very +beautiful." + +Madame did not answer, and Maria stepped lower and gathered a few lilies +that were yet in bloom, though the time of lilies was nearly over. But +Agnes turned away with Madame, and both of them were silent; Madame +because she could not trust herself to begin speech on this subject, and +Agnes because she divined, that for some reason, silence was in this +case better than the fittest words that could be spoken. + +After a short pause, Agnes said, "My home is but a quarter of a mile +from here, and it is already orderly and pleasant. Will you, Madame, +kindly permit Maria to come often to see me! I will help her with her +studies, and she might take the little boat at the end of your garden, +and row herself along the water edge until she touches the pier in our +garden." + +"She had better walk." + +In this way the permission was granted without reserves or conditions. +Madame had not thought of making any, and as soon as she realized her +implied approval, she was resolved to stand by it. "The lassie requires +young people to consort wi'," she thought, "and better a young lass than +a young lad; and if her grandfather says contrary, I must make him +wiser." + +With this concession the visit ended, but the girls went out of the +parlor together, and stood talking for some time in the entrance hall. +The parting moment, however, had to come, and Maria lifted her lips to +her friend, and they were kissing each other good-bye, when Neil Semple +and a young officer in the uniform of the Eighty-fourth Royal +Highlanders opened the door. The picture of the two girls in their +loving embrace was a momentary one, but it was flooded with the colored +sunshine pouring on them from the long window of stained glass, and the +men saw and acknowledged its beauty, with an involuntary exclamation of +delight. Maria sheltered herself in a peal of laughter, and over the +face of Agnes there came and went a quick transfiguring flush; but she +instantly regained her mental poise, and with the composure of a goddess +was walking toward the door, when Neil advanced, and assuming the duty +of a host, walked with her down the flagged path to the garden gate. +Maria and the young soldier stood in the doorway watching them; and +Madame at the parlor window did the same thing, with an indescribable +amazement on her face. + +"It isna believable!" she exclaimed. "Neil Semple, the vera proudest o' +mortals walking wi' auld Bradley's daughter! his hat in his hand too! +and bowing to her! bowing to his vera knee buckles! After this, the +Stuarts may come hame again, or any other impossible thing happen. The +world is turning tapsalterie, and I wonder whether I am Janet Sample, or +some ither body." + +But the world was all right in a few minutes; for then Neil entered the +room with Maria and Captain Macpherson, and the mere sight of the young +Highlandman brought oblivion of all annoyances. Madame's heart flew to +her head whenever she saw the kilt and the plaid; she hastened to greet +its wearer; she took his plumed bonnet from his hand, and said it was +"just out o' calculation that he should go without breaking bread with +them." + +Captain Macpherson had no desire to go. He had seen and spoken with +Maria, and she was worth staying for; besides which, a Scot in a strange +land feels at home in a countryman's house. Macpherson quickly made +himself so. He went with Neil to his room, and anon to the garden, and +finally loosed the boat and rowed up the river, resting on the oars at +the Bradley place, hoping for a glance at Agnes. But nothing was to be +seen save the white house among the green trees, and the white shades +gently stirring in the wind. The place was as still as a resting wheel, +and the stillness infected the rowers; yet when Macpherson was in +Semple's garden, the merry ring of his boyish laughter reached Madame +and Maria in the house, and set their hearts beating with pleasure as +they arranged the tea-table, and brought out little dishes of hoarded +luxuries. And though Madame's chickens were worth three dollars each, +she unhesitatingly sacrificed one to a national hero. + +When the Elder came home he was equally pleased. He loved young people, +and the boyish captain with his restless, brimming life, was an element +that the whole house responded to. His heart had a little quake at the +abundance of the meal, but it was only a momentary reserve, and he +smiled as his eyes fell on the motto carved around the wooden +bread-plate--_"Spare Not! Waste Not! Want Not!"_ + +Madame looked very happy and handsome sitting before her tray of pretty +china, and the blended aromas of fine tea and hot bread, of broiled +chicken, and Indian preserves and pickles were made still more +appetizing by the soft wind blowing through the open window, the perfume +of the lilacs and the southernwood. Madame had kept the place at her +right hand for Macpherson; and Maria sat next to him with her +grandfather on her right hand, so that Neil was at his mother's left +hand. Between the two young men the old lady was radiantly happy; for +Macpherson was such a guest as it is a delight to honor. He ate of all +Madame had prepared for him, thoroughly enjoyed it, and frankly said so. +And his chatter about the social entertainments given by Generals +Clinton and Tryon, Robertson and Ludlow was very pleasant to the ladies. +Neil never had anything to say about these affairs, except that they +were "all alike, and all stupid, and all wickedly extravagant;" and such +criticism was too general to be interesting. + +Very different was Macpherson's description of the last ball at General +Tryon's; he could tell all its details--the reception of the company +with kettle drums and trumpets--the splendid furniture of his +residence, its tapestries, carpets, and silk hangings--the music, the +dancing, the feasting--the fine dressing of both men and women--all +these things he described with delightful enthusiasm and a little +pleasant mimicry. And when Madame asked after her acquaintances, +Macpherson could tell her what poplins and lutestrings, and lace and +jewels they wore. Moreover, he knew what grand dames crowded William +Street in the mornings and afternoons, and what merchants had the +largest display of the fashions and luxuries of Europe. + +"John Ambler," he said, "is now showing a most extraordinary cargo of +English silks and laces, and fine broadcloths, taken by one of Dirk +Vandercliff's privateers. Really, Madame, the goods are worth looking +at. I assure you our beauties lack nothing that Europe can produce." + +"Yes, there is one thing the privateers canna furnish you, and that is +fuel. You shivered all last winter in your splendid rooms," said the +Elder. + +"True," replied Macpherson. "The cold was frightful, and though General +Clinton issued one proclamation after another to the farmers of Long +Island to send in their wood, they did not do it." + +"Why should they?" asked Madame. + +"On the King's service, Madame," answered the young man with a final +air. + +"Vera good," retorted Madame; "but if the King wanted my forest trees +for naething, I should say, 'your Majesty has plenty o' soldiers wi' +little to do; let them go and cut what they want.' They wouldna waste it +if they had it to cut. But the wastrie in everything is simply sinful, +and I canna think where the Blacks and Vanderlanes, and all the other +'Vans' you name--and whom I never heard tell of in our kirk--get the +money." + +"Privateering!" said Macpherson with a gay laugh. "Who would not be a +roving privateer? I have myself longings for the life. I have thoughts +of joining Vandercliff's fleet." + +"You are just leeing, young man," interrupted Madame. "It would be a +thing impossible. The Macphersons have nae salt water in their blood. +Could you fling awa' your tartans for a sailor's tarry coat and +breeches? How would you look if you did? And you would feel worse than +you looked." + +Macpherson glanced at his garb with a smile of satisfaction. "I am a +Macpherson," he answered, proudly, "and I would not change the colors of +my regiment for a royal mantle; but privateering is no small temptation. +On the deck of a privateer you may pick up gold and silver." + +"That is not very far from the truth," said Neil. "In the first year of +the war the rebel privateers took two hundred and fifty West Indiamen, +valued at nearly two millions of pounds, and Mr. Morris complained that +the Eastern states cared for nothing but privateering." + +"Weel, Morris caught the fever himself," said the Elder. "I have been +told he made nearly four hundred thousand dollars in the worst year the +rebel army ever had." + +"Do the rebels call that patriotism?" asked Macpherson. + +"Yes," answered the Elder, "from a Whig point of view it is vera +patriotic; what do you think, Neil?" + +"If I was a Whig," answered Neil, "I should certainly own privateers. +Without considering the personal advantage, privateering brings great +riches into the country; it impoverishes the enemy, and it adds +enormously to the popularity of the war. The men who have hitherto gone +to the Arctic seas for whales, find more wealthy and congenial work in +capturing English ships." + +"And when men get money by wholesale high-seas robbery----" + +"Privateering, Madame," corrected Macpherson. + +"Weel, weel, give it any name you like--what I want to say is, that +money got easy goes easy." + +"In that, Madame, you are correct. While we were in Philadelphia that +city was the scene of the maddest luxury. While the rebels were begging +money from France to feed their starving army at Valley Forge, every +kind of luxury and extravagance ran riot in Philadelphia. At one +entertainment there was eight hundred pounds spent in pastry alone." + +"Stop, Macpherson!" cried Madame, "I will not hear tell o' such +wickedness," and she rose with the words, and the gentlemen went into +the parlor to continue their conversation. + +Madame had been pleased with her granddaughter's behavior. She had not +tittered, nor been vulgarly shy or affected, nor had she intruded her +opinions or feelings among those of her elders; and yet her +self-possession, and her expressive face had been full of that charm +which showed her to be an interested and a comprehending listener. Now, +however, Madame wished her to talk, and she was annoyed when she did +not do so. It was only natural that she should express some interest in +the bright young soldier, and her silence concerning him Madame regarded +as assumed indifference. At last she condescended to the leading +question: + +"What do you think o' Captain Macpherson, Maria?" + +"I do not know, grandmother." + +"He is a very handsome lad. It did my heart good to see his bright +face." + +"His face is covered with freckles." + +"Freckles! Why not? He has been brought up in the wind and the sunshine, +and not in a boarding-school, or a lady's parlor." + +"Freckles are not handsome, however, grandmother." + +Madame would not dally with half-admissions, and she retorted sharply: + +"Freckles are the handsomest thing about a man; they are only the human +sunshine tint; the vera same sunshine that colored the roses and ripened +the wheat gave the lad the golden-brown freckles o' rich young life. +Freckles! I consider them an improvement to any one. If you had a few +yoursel' you would be the handsomer for them." + +"Grandmother!" + +"Yes, and your friend likewise. She has scarce a mite o' color o' any +kind; a little o' the human sunshine tint--the red and gold on her +cheeks--and she might be better looking." + +"Better looking! Why, grandmother, Agnes was the beauty of the school." + +"Schoolgirls are poor judges o' beauty. She has a wonderfu' pleasant +way with her, but that isn't beauty." + +"I thought you liked her, I am so sorry and disappointed." + +"She is weel enough--in her way. There are plenty o' girls not as +pleasant; but she is neither Venus, nor Helen o' Troy. I was speaking o' +Captain Macpherson; when he stood in the garden with your uncle Neil, +his hand on his sword and the wind blowing his golden hair----" + +"Grandmother! His hair is red." + +"It is naething o' the kind, Maria. It is a bonnie golden-brown. It may, +perhaps, have a cast o' red, but only enough to give it color. And he +has a kindly handsome face, sweet-eyed and fearless." + +"I did not notice his eyes. He seems fearless, and he is certainly +good-tempered. Have you known him a long time, grandmother?" + +"I never saw him before this afternoon," the old lady answered wearily. +She had become suddenly tired. Maria's want of enthusiasm chilled her. +She could not tell whether the girl was sincere or not. Women generally +have two estimates of the men they meet; one which they acknowledge, one +which they keep to themselves. + +When the gentlemen returned to the sitting-room a young negro was +lighting the fire, and Macpherson looked at him with attention. "A +finely built fellow," he said, when the slave had left the room; "such +men ought to make good fighters." Then turning to Madame he added, +"Captain de Lancey lost four men, and Mr. Bayard five men last week. +They were sent across the river to cut wood and they managed to reach +the rebel camp. We have knowledge that there is a full regiment of them +there now." + +"They are fighting for their personal freedom," said the Elder, "and who +wouldna fight for that? Washington has promised it, if they fight to the +end o' the war." + +"They have a good record already," said Macpherson. + +"I have nae doubt o' it," answered the Elder. "Fighting would come +easier than wood cutting, no to speak o' the question o' freedom. I +heard a sough o' rumor about them and the Hessians; true, or not, I +can't say." + +"It is true. They beat back the Hessians three times in one engagement." + +"I'm glad o' it," said Madame, "slaves are good enough to fight hired +human butchers." + +"O, you know, Madame, the Hessians are mercenaries; they make arms a +profession." He spoke with a languid air of defense; the Hessians were +not of high consideration in his opinion, but Madame answered with +unusual warmth: + +"A profession! Well, it isn't a respectable one in their hands--men +selling themselves to fight they care not whom, or for what cause. If a +man fights for his country he is her soldier and her protector; if he +sells himself to all and sundry, he is worth just what he sells himself +for, and the black slave fighting for his freedom is a gentleman beside +him." Then, before any one could answer her tart disparagement, she +opened a little Indian box, and threw on the table a pack of cards. + +"There's some paper kings for you to play wi'," she said, "and neither +George nor Louis has a title to compare wi' them--kings and knaves! +Ancient tyrants, and like ithers o' their kind, they would trick the +warld awa' at every game but for some brave ace," and the ace of hearts +happening to be in her hand she flung it defiantly down on the top of +the pack; and that with an air of confidence and triumph that was very +remarkable. + +With the help of these royalties and some desultory conversation on the +recent alliance of France with the rebels, the evening passed away. +Madame sat quiet in the glow of the fire, and Maria, as Neil's partner, +enlivened the game with many bewitching airs and graces she had not +known she possessed, until this opportunity called them forth. And +whatever Macpherson gained at cards he lost in another direction; for +the little schoolgirl, he had at first believed himself to be +patronizing, reversed the situation. He became embarrassed by a +realization of her beauty and cleverness; and the sweet old story began +to tell itself in his heart--the story that comes no one knows whence, +and commences no one knows how. In that hour of winning and losing he +first understood how charming Maria Semple was. + +The new feeling troubled him; he wished to be alone with it, and the +ardent pleasure of his arrival had cooled. The Elder and his wife were +tired, and Neil seemed preoccupied and did not exert himself to restore +the tone of the earlier hours; so the young officer felt it best to make +his adieu. Then, the farewell in a measure renewed the joy of meeting; +he was asked to come again, "to come whenever he wanted to come," said +Madame, with a smile of motherly kindness. And when Maria, with a +downward and upward glance laid her little hand in his, that incident +made the moment wonderful, and he felt that not to come again would be a +great misfortune. + +Maria was going to her room soon afterward but Neil detained her. "Can +you sit with me a little while, Maria?" he asked; "or are you also +sleepy?" + +"I am not the least weary, uncle; and I never was wider awake in my +life. I will read to you or copy for you----" + +"Come and talk to me. The fire still burns. It is a pity to leave its +warmth. Sit down here. I have never had a conversation with you. I do +not know my niece yet, and I want to know her." + +Maria was much flattered. Neil's voice had a tone in it that she had +never before heard. He brought her a shawl to throw around her +shoulders, a footstool for her feet, and drawing a small sofa before the +fire, seated himself by her side. Then he talked with her about her +early life; about her father and mother, and Mrs. Charlton, and without +asking one question about Agnes Bradley led her so naturally to the +subject, and so completely round and through it, that he had learned in +an hour all Maria could tell concerning the girl whose presence and +appearance had that day so powerfully attracted him. He was annoyed when +he heard her name, and annoyed at her pronounced Methodism, which was +evidently of that early type, holding it a sin not to glory in the scorn +of those who derided it. Yet he could not help being touched by Maria's +enthusiastic description of the girl's sweet godliness. + +"You know, uncle," she said, "Agnes's religion is not put on; it is part +of Agnes; it is Agnes. Girls find one another out, but all the girls +loved Agnes. We were ashamed to be ill-natured, or tell untruths, or do +mean things when she was there. And if you heard her sing, uncle, you +would feel as if the heavens had opened, and you could see angels." + +Now there is no man living who does not at some time dream of a good +woman--a woman much better than himself--upon his hearthstone. Neil felt +in that hour this divine longing; and he knew also, that the thing had +befallen him which he had vowed never would befall him again. Without +resistance, without the desire to resist, he had let the vision of Agnes +Bradley fill his imagination; he had welcomed it, and he knew that it +would subjugate his heart--that it had already virtually done so. For +Maria's descriptions of the pretty trivialities of their school life was +music and wine to his soul. He was captivated by her innocent +revelations, and the tall girl with her saintly pallor and star-like +eyes was invisibly present to him. He had the visionary sense, the glory +and the dream of love, and he longed to realize this vision. Therefore +he was delighted when he heard that Maria had permission to continue her +studies under the direction of her friend. It was an open door to him. + +It was at this point that Maria made her final admission: "I am obliged +to tell you, uncle, that I am sure Agnes is a Whig." This damaging item +in her idol's character Maria brought out with deprecating apologies +and likelihood of change, "not a bad Whig, uncle; she is so gentle, and +she hates war, and so she feels so sorry for the poor Americans who are +suffering so much, because, you know, they think they are right. Then +her father is a Tory, and she is very fond of her father, and very proud +of him, and she will now be under his influence, and of course do what +he tells her--only--only----" + +"Only what, Maria? You think there is a difficulty; what is it?" + +"Her lover. I am almost certain he is a rebel." + +"Has she a lover? She is very young--you must be mistaken?" He spoke so +sharply Maria hardly knew his voice, and she considered it best to +hesitate a little, so she answered in a dubious manner: + +"I suppose he is her lover. The girls all thought so. He sent her +letters, and he sometimes came to see her; and then she seemed so +happy." + +"A young man?" + +"Yes, a very young man." + +"A soldier?" + +"I think, more likely, he was a sailor. I never asked Agnes. You could +not ask Agnes things, as you did other girls." + +"I understand that." + +"He wore plain clothes, but all of us were sure he was a sailor; and +once we saw Agnes watching some ships as far as she could see them, and +he had called on her that day." + +Neil did not answer her conjecture. He rose and stood silently on the +hearth, his dark eyes directed outward, as if he was calling up the +vision of the sea, and the ships and the girl watching them. For the +first time Maria realized the personal attractiveness of her uncle. "He +is not old," she thought, "and he is handsomer than any one I ever saw. +Why has he not got married before this?" And as she speculated on this +question, Neil let his eyes fall upon the dead fire and in a melancholy +voice said: + +"Maria, my dear, it is very late, I did not remember--you have given me +two pleasant hours. Good-night, child." + +He spoke with restraint, coldly and wearily. He was not aware of it, for +his mind was full of thoughts well-nigh unspeakable, and Maria felt +their influence, though they had not been named. She went away depressed +and silent, like one who has suddenly discovered they were no longer +desired. + +Neil speedily put out the lights, and went to the solitude his heart +craved. He was not happy; but doubt and fear are love's first food. For +another hour he sat motionless, wondering how this woman, whom he had +not in any way summoned, had taken such possession of him. For not yet +had it been revealed to him, that "love is always a great invisible +presence," and that in his case, Agnes Bradley was but its material +revelation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LIFE IN THE CAPTIVE CITY. + + +At this time in New York, John Bradley was a man of considerable +importance. He was not only a native of the city, but many generations +of Bradleys had been born, and lived, and died in the wide, low house +close to the river bank, not far north of old Trinity. They were +originally a Yorkshire family who had followed the great Oliver Cromwell +from Marston Moor to Worcester, and who, having helped to build the +Commonwealth of England, refused to accept the return of royalty. Even +before Charles the Second assumed the crown, Ezra Bradley and his six +sons had landed in New York. They were not rich, but they had gold +sufficient to build a home, and to open near the fort a shop for the +making and repairing of saddlery. + +Ever since that time this trade had been the distinctive occupation of +the family, and the John Bradley who represented it in the year 1779, +had both an inherited and a trained capability in the craft. No one in +all America could make a saddle comparable with Bradley's; the trees +were of his own designing, and the leather work unequalled in strength +and beauty. In addition to this important faculty, he was a veterinary +surgeon of great skill, and possessed some occult way of managing +ungovernable horses, which commended itself peculiarly to officers whose +mounts were to be renewed frequently from any available source. And +never had his business been so lucrative as at the present date, for New +York was full of mounted military during the whole period of the war, +and enormous prices were willingly paid for the fine saddlery turned out +of the workshop of John Bradley. + +Contrary to all the traditions of his family, he had positively taken +the part of the King, and at the very commencement of the national +quarrel had shown the red ribbon of loyalty to England. His wife dying +at this time, he sent his daughter to a famous boarding-school in +Boston, and his son to the great dissenting academy in Gloucester, +England; then he closed his house and lived solitarily in very humble +fashion above his workroom and shop. In this way, he believed himself to +have provided for the absolute safety of his two children; the boy was +out of the war circle; the thundering drum and screaming fife could not +reach him in the cloistered rooms of the Doddridge School; and as for +Agnes, Mrs. Charlton's house was as secure as a convent; he had no fear +that either English or American soldiers would molest a dwelling full of +schoolgirls. And John Bradley could keep the door of his mouth; and he +believed that a man who could do that might pursue a trade so necessary +as his, with an almost certain degree of safety. + +In appearance he was a short, powerful-looking man with tranquil, +meditating eyes and a great talent for silence; an armed soul dwelling +in a strong body. Some minds reflect, shift, argue, and are like the +surface of a lake; but John Bradley's mind was like stubborn clay; when +once impressed it was sure to harden and preserve the imprint through +his life, and perhaps the other one. His Methodism was of this +character, and he never shirked conversation on this subject; he was as +ready to tell his experience to General Howe or General Clinton as to +the members of his own class meeting; for his heart was saturated with +the energy of his faith; he had the substance of things hoped for, the +evidence of things not seen. + +On politics he would not talk; he said, "public affairs were in wiser +hands than his, and that to serve God and be diligent in business, was +the length and breadth of his commission." His shop was a place where +many men and many minds met, and angry words were frequently thrown +backward and forward there; yet his needle never paused an instant for +them. Only once had he been known to interfere; it was on a day when one +of De Lancey's troop drew his sword against a boyish English ensign +almost at his side. He stopped them with his thread half drawn out, and +said sternly: + +"If you two fools are in a hurry for death, and the judgment after +death, there are more likely places to kill each other than my shop," +and the words were cold as ice and sharp as steel, and the men went out +rebuked and checked, and washed away their hot temper in wine instead of +blood. For the vision of death, and the judgment after death, which +Bradley's words and manner had evoked, was not to be faced at that hour. +Yet, withal, Bradley was rather a common-looking man, ill-mannered and +rough as hemp to the generality; but not so where childhood or calamity +appealed to his strength or forbearance. In other respects, General Howe +had, not inaptly, described him as "very unlike other men when at +chapel, but not much so, when among horses in the stable, or selling +saddles in the shop." + +This was the man who came up from the waterside early one morning in the +beginning of July, singing Dr. Watts' lyrical dream of heaven: + + "There is a land of pure delight, + Where saints immortal reign." + +His voice was strong and melodious, and it was evident that Agnes had +inherited her charming vocal power from him. He did not cease as he +entered the house, but continued his hymn until he was in the little +sitting-room, and Agnes finished the verse with him: + + "And see the Canaan that we love, + With unbeclouded eyes." + +He sat down to breakfast with the heavenly vision in his heart, and +reluctantly let it pass away. But his spiritual nature had hands as well +as wings, and he felt also the stress of the daily labor waiting him. + +"The expedition leaves for the Connecticut coast to-day," he said. +"General Clinton is determined to strike a blow at the people in New +Haven, and Fairfield, and New London." + +"Well, father? What do you say to that?" + +"I say it is better they should be struck down than that they should lie +down." + +"Matthews has but just returned from ravaging the river counties of +Virginia, and Clinton from Stony Point. Have they not made misery enough +for a little while? Who is going with the Connecticut expedition?" + +"Tryon, and he goes to do mischief with the joy of an ape." + +"I heard trumpets sounding and men mustering, as I was dressing myself." + +"Trumpets may sound, and not to victory, Agnes. Fire and pillage are +cowardly arms; but I heard Tryon say, any stick was good enough to beat +a dog with, and all who differ from Tryon are dogs. Vile work! Vile +work! And yet all this does not keep New York from dancing and drinking, +and racing, and gambling, and trading; nor yet New York women from +painting and dressing themselves as if there were no such persons as +King George and George Washington." + +"Yes, father, a great many of our best families are very poor." + +"Those not employed by the government, or those who are not contractors +or privateers, are whipped and driven to the last pinch by poverty. Ah, +Agnes, remember New York before this war began, its sunny streets shaded +with trees, and its busy, happy citizens talking, laughing, smoking, +trading, loving and living through every sense they had at the same +time. Now there is nothing but covert ill-will and suspicion. Our +violent passions have not cured our mean ones; to the common list of +rogueries, we have only added those of contractors and commissioners." + +"I think war is the most terrible calamity that can befall a people, +father." + +"The despair of subjugated souls would be worse." + +"Do they never doubt you, father?" + +"Howe never did. That amiable, indolent officer might have liked me all +the more if he had doubted me. Clinton is a different man; and I think +he may have thought my loyalty to royalty lukewarm, for he sent for me +on the King's birthday, and after some talk about a horse and saddle, he +said, 'Mr. Bradley, it is the King's birthday; shall we drink his +Majesty's health?' And I answered him, 'if it please you, General.' So +he filled a glass with Portugal wine for me, and then filling one for +himself raised it, and waited for me to speak. There were several +officers present, and I lifted my glass and said, 'To King George the +Third! God bless him, and make him and all his officers good John Wesley +Methodists!'" + +"Then, father?" + +"Clinton put down his glass with a ringing guffaw, and the rest followed +him. Only one bit of a beardless boy spoke, and he said: 'you think, +Bradley, Methodism might make his Majesty a better king?' And I +answered, 'I am not here to judge his Majesty's kingship. I think it +would make him and all present, better and happier men.' I did not try +to go away or shirk questions; I looked squarely in their faces until +General Clinton said, 'Very good, Bradley. You will remember Saladin and +the new saddle for him'; and I answered, 'I will see to it at once, +General.' So I went out then, and I think they were not all sure of me; +but they cannot do without me, and they know it is better to put their +doubts out of inquiry. Wise men obey necessity, and that is true for +them as well as for me. Agnes, I want to know something about that +little girl of Semple's? I don't like her coming here day after day. She +will be seeing or hearing something she ought not to see or hear. Women +are dangerous in politics, for, as a rule, politics either find or leave +them vixens." + +"Maria is to be trusted." + +"You can not be sure. She is passionate, and though a woman in a temper +may not intend to burn any one, she pokes the fire and makes a blaze and +sets others looking and wondering. I can tell you of many such women in +New York; they think ill of their neighbor, and the thoughts get to +their tongues, and before they know the mischief is done. Then, like the +wolf in the fable, they thank God they are not ferocious. Oh, no! They +have only loosed the dogs of war and left others to set them worrying." + +"How you do run on, father! And not one word you have said fits the +little Maria, no, nor any one of the Semples. Indeed, I am sure Madame +is as true a patriot as you could find anywhere." + +"The old man is as bitter a royalist as I could find anywhere." + +"He is, however, a good old man. Last Monday night, when you had to go +to the leaders' meeting, I walked home with Maria and stayed to tea +there. And after tea Madame asked me to sing a hymn, and I sang the one +you were singing this morning, and when I had finished, the Elder said, +'Now, then, we will supplement Isaac Watts with the Apostle John'; and +he opened the Bible and read aloud John's vision of 'the land of pure +delight' from the twenty-first of Revelation; then standing up, he asked +us all to join in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we stood up +with him and said to 'Our Father which is in heaven,' the words he +taught us. I felt it to be a very precious few minutes." + +"I have nothing to say against such experiences, Agnes. If people would +stick to what Christ says, there might be only one creed and one church; +it is Peter and Paul that make disputing. But if you go to Semple's +house do not stop after sunset. There are bad men about." + +"Mr. Neil Semple walked home with me." + +"Oh! Mr. Neil Semple! And what had he to say?" + +"Very little. He praised my singing, he said it went to his heart; and +he spoke about the moon, and the perfume of the locust flowers. I think +that was all." + +"The moon and the locust flowers! What does Mr. Neil Semple know about +the moon and the locust flowers? And he spoke very little! He can talk +fast enough when he is in court, and well paid for it. He is a proud +man--ill-tempered, too, I should think." + +"I am sure he is not ill-tempered. He is as sweet as a child to his +father and mother; and Maria says many pleasant things about him." + +"Let him pass for what he is worth; but remember always this thing, +Agnes, I am trusting my life in your hands. If you inadvertently +repeated even what I have said this morning, I should be hard put to +answer it." + +"You know well that I would die rather than reveal anything you said to +me. My life for yours, father!" + +"I trust you as my own soul. You are an inexpressible comfort to me. I +can speak to you. I can open my heart to you. I can get relief and +sympathy from you. Your coming home makes me a hundred-fold safer. If +your brother with his hot temper and young imprudences had been here, no +one knows what would have happened before this. I thank God continually +that he is so far out of the way. Has he left school yet?" + +"School does not close until June." + +"Then he will go directly to Doctor Brudenel in London?" + +"That was your instruction to him." + +"When did you have a letter from him?" + +"It is nearly a month since." + +"When will you write to him next?" + +"I write to him every opportunity I have." + +"Does he need money? Young men are often extravagant." + +"He has never named money to me. He is well and happy." + +"Tell him he must not come home, not think of coming home till I give +him permission. Tell him that his being away from home is my great +comfort. Make that plain to him, Agnes, my great comfort. Tell him he +must stay in London till a man can speak his mind safely in New York, +whatever his mind may be." + +"I will tell him all, father." + +Then Bradley went to his shop and his daughter sat down to consider +with herself. Many persons stimulate or regulate thought in movement and +find a positive assistance to their mental powers in action of some +kind, but Agnes had the reverse of this temperament. She needed quiet, +so closing the door of her room she sat still, recalling, reviewing, and +doing her best to anticipate events. There were certain things which +must be revealed to Maria, wholly, or in part, if she continued to visit +the house, and Agnes saw not how to prevent those visits. Nor did she +wish to prevent them; she loved Maria and delighted in her +companionship. They had many acquaintances and events in common to talk +about, and she was also interested in Maria's life, which was very +different to her own. She felt, too, that her influence was necessary +and valuable to the young girl, suddenly thrown into the midst of what +Agnes regarded as sinful and dangerous society. And then into this +process of self-examination there drifted another form--the stately, +rather sombre, but altogether kindly personality of Neil Semple. It was +linked with Maria, she could not separate the two; and as intrusion +involved some heart-searching she was not inclined to, she rather +promptly decided the question without any further prudential +considerations, and as she did so Maria called her. + +She answered the call gladly. It was to her one of those leadings on +which she spiritually relied, and her face was beaming with love and +pleasure as she went down stairs to her friend. Maria was standing in +the middle of the small parlor, most beautifully arrayed in an Indian +muslin, white as snow and lustrously fine, as only Dacca looms could +weave it. Her shoulders were covered with a little cape of the same +material, ruffled and laced and fastened with pink ribbons, and on her +head was a bewitching gypsy hat tied under her chin with bows of the +same color. Her uncle stood at her side, smiling with grave tolerance at +her girlish pride in her dress, and the pretty airs with which she +exhibited it to Agnes. + +"Am I not handsome?" she cried. "Am I not dressed in the most perfect +taste? Why do you not say as Miss Robinson is sure to say--'La, child, +you are adorable!'" + +Agnes fell quite naturally into her friend's excited mood, and in the +happiest tone of admiring mimicry, repeated the words dictated. She made +the most perfect contrast to Maria; her pale blue gown of simple +material and simple fashion was without ornament of any kind, except its +large falling collar of white muslin embroidery, but the long, unbroken +line of the skirt seemed to Neil Semple the most fitting, the only +fitting, garment he had ever seen on any woman. + +"Its modesty and simplicity is an instinct," he thought; "and I have +this morning seen a woman clothed by her raiment. Now I understand the +difference between being dressed and clothed. Maria is dressed, Agnes is +clothed; her garments interpret her." + +He was lifted up by his love for her; and her calico gown became a royal +robe in his imagination. Every time he saw her she appeared to have been +adorned for that time only. It was a delightful thing for him to watch +her tenderness and pride in Maria. It was motherly and sisterly, and +without a thought of envy, and he trembled with delight when she turned +her sweet, affectionate face to his for sympathy in it. And really this +morning Agnes might reasonably have given some of her admiring interest +to Maria's escort. He was undeniably handsome. His suit of fine, dark +cloth, his spotless lawn ruffles, his long, light sword, his black +beaver in his hand, were but fitting adjuncts to a noble face, graven +with many experiences and alight with the tender glow of love and the +steady fire of intellectual power and purpose. + +He did not stay at this time many minutes, but the girls watched him to +the garden gate and shared the courtly salute of his adieu there. "Is he +not the most graceful and beautiful of men?" asked Maria. + +"Indeed he is very handsome," replied Agnes. + +"There is not an officer in New York fit to latch his shoe buckles." + +"Then why do you dress so splendidly, only to show yourself to them?" + +"Well, Agnes, see how _they_ dress. As we were coming here we met men in +all the colors of the rainbow; they were rattling swords and spurs, and +tossing their heads like war horses scenting the battle afar off." + +"You are quoting the Bible, Maria." + +"Uncle did it first. You don't suppose I thought of that. We passed a +regiment of Hessians with their towering brass-fronted helmets, their +yellow breeches, and black gaiters; really, Agnes, they were +grand-looking men." + +"Very," answered Agnes, scornfully. "I have seen them standing like +automatons, taking both the commands and the canes of their officers. +Very grand-looking indeed!" + +"You need not be angry at the poor fellows. It must be very disagreeable +for them to be caned in public and not dare to move an eyelash or utter +a word of protest." + +"Men that will suffer such things are no better than the beasts of the +field; not as good, for the beasts do speak in their way with hoofs, or +horns, or teeth, or claws, and that to some purpose, when their sense of +justice is outraged." + +"It is all military discipline, you know, Agnes. And you must allow, the +regiments make fine appearances. I dare say these Hessians have to be +caned--most men have, in one way or another. Uncle is coming back for me +this afternoon. We are going to see the troops leaving; it will be a +fine sight. I told uncle you might like to go with us, and he said he +would ask you, but he did not." + +"He had more grace granted him, Maria." + +"I think he is a little afraid of you, Agnes." + +"Nothing of the kind. He had sense enough to understand I would not go." +Then, without further thought or preliminary she said: "Sit down here +beside me, Maria, I have something very important to say to you. I know +that I can perfectly trust you, but I want to hear you tell me so. Can +you keep a secret inviolate and sure, Maria?" + +"If the secret is yours, Agnes, neither in life nor in the hour of death +would I tell it." + +"If you were questioned----" + +"I should be stupid and dumb; if it was your secret, fire could not burn +it out of me." + +"I believe you. Many times in Boston you must have known that a young +man called on me. You may have seen his face." + +"None of the girls saw his face but Sally Laws; we all knew that he +called on you. I should recognize his figure and his walk anywhere, but +his face I never saw. Sally said he was as handsome as Apollo." + +"Such nonsense! He has an open, bright, strong countenance, but there is +nothing Greek about him, nothing at all. He is an American, and he loves +his native land, and would give his life for her freedom." + +"And he will come here to see you now?" + +"Yes, but my father must not know it." + +"I thought you were always so against anything being done unknown to our +parents. When I wanted to write good-bye to Teddy Bowen you would not +let me." + +"I expected you to remind me of this, and at present I can give you no +explanation. But I tell you positively that I am doing right. Can you +take my word for it?" + +"I believe in you, Agnes, as if you were the Bible. I know you will only +do right." + +"All that you see or hear or are told about this person must be to you +as if you had dreamed a dream, and you must forget that you ever had +it." + +"I have said that I would be faithful. Darling Agnes, you know that you +may trust me." + +"Just suppose that my friend should be seen, and that my father should +be told," she was silent a moment in consideration of such an event, and +Maria impulsively continued: + +"In that case I would say it was my friend." + +"That would not be the truth." + +"But he might be my friend, we might have become friends, not as he is +your friend, nothing like that, just a friend. Are you very fond of him, +Agnes?" + +"I love him as my own life." + +"And he loves you in that way?" + +"He loves me! Oh, yes, Maria, he loves me! even as I love him." + +"Sweetest Agnes, thank you for telling me. I will see what you tell me +to see, and hear what you tell me to hear; that, and that only. I will +be as true to you as your own heart." + +"I am sure you will. Some day you shall know all. Now, we will say no +more until there is a reason; everything is so uncertain. Tell me about +the rout last night." + +"It was at Governor Robertson's. His daughter called and asked me to +honor them with my company; and grandmother said I ought to go, and +uncle Neil said I ought to go--so I went. There was a great time +dressing me, but I made a fine appearance when it was done. I wore my +silver-tissue gown, and grandmother loaned me her pearl necklace. She +told me how many generations of Gordon ladies had worn it, and I felt +uncanny as she clasped it round my throat. I wondered if they knew----" + +"You should not wonder about such things. Did you dance much?" + +"I had the honor to dance with many great people. Every gentleman danced +one minuet with his partner, and then began cotillon and allemand +dances; and there were some songs sung by Major André, and a fine supper +at midnight. It was two o'clock when I got home." + +"Tell me who you talked with." + +"Oh, everybody, Agnes; but I liked most of all, the lady who stays with +the Robertsons--Mrs. Gordon; her husband was with Burgoyne and is a +prisoner yet. She was very pleasant to me; indeed, she told Uncle Neil +'I was the perfectest creature she had ever seen,' and that she was +'passionately taken with me.' She insisted that I should be brought to +her, and talked to me about my dress and my lovers, and also about +grandfather and grandmother." + +"She lived with them once, and helped to make great sorrow in their +house." + +"I know. Grandmother does not forgive her." + +"And your uncle?" + +"He is very civil to her, for she is vastly the fashion. She played +cards all the evening, and called me to her side more often than I +liked. She said I brought her luck. I don't think she approved of my +dancing so often with Captain Macpherson. She asked questions about him, +and smiled in a way that was not pleasant, and that made me praise the +Highlander far more than I meant to, and she barely heard me to the end +of my talk ere she turned back to her cards, and as she did so, said: +'What a paragon in tartan! Before this holy war there may have been such +men, but if you are a good child pray that a husband may drop down from +heaven for you; there are no good ones bred here now.' Then every one +near began to protest, and she spread out her cards and cried, 'Who +leads? Diamonds are trump.' When she called me next, she was sweeping +the sovereigns into her reticule; and Governor Ludlow said she was +Fortune's favorite, and uncle Neil said, 'I see, Madame, that you now +play for gold,' and I think uncle meant something that she understood, +for she looked queerly at him for a moment, and then answered, 'Yes I +play for money now. I confess it. Why not? If you take away that excuse, +the rest is sinning without temptation.' She is so well bred, Agnes, and +she speaks with such an air, you are forced to notice and remember what +she says." + +Agnes was troubled to think of the innocent child in such society, and +without obtruding counsel, yet never restraining it when needful, she +did her best to keep Maria's conscience quick and her heart right. It +was evident that she regarded the whole as a kind of show, whose color +and sound and movement attracted her; yet even so, this show was full of +temptation to a girl who had no heart care and no lack of anything +necessary for the pride of life. + +This afternoon the half-camp and half-garrison condition of New York was +very conspicuous. All was military bustle and excitement; trumpets were +calling, drums beating, and regiments parading the streets once devoted +to peaceful commerce and domestic happiness. Royalist merchants stood in +the doors of their shops exchanging snuff-box compliments and flattering +prophecies concerning the expedition about to leave--prophecies which +did not hide the brooding fear in their eyes or the desponding shake of +the head when sure of a passer's sympathy. And a sensitive observer +would have felt the gloom, the shame and sorrow that no one dared to +express; for, just because no one dared to express it, the very stones +of the streets found a voice that spoke to every heart. The bitterest +royalist remembered. All the riot of military music could not drown the +memory of sounds once far more familiar--the cheerful greeting of men in +the market place, and all the busy, happy tumult of prosperous trade; +the laughter and chatter of joyful women and children, and the music of +the church bells above the pleasant streets. + +Neil was silent and unhappy; Maria full of the excitement of the passing +moment. They sat in the open window of Neil's office and watched company +after company march to the warships in which they were to embark: +Grenadiers of Auspach with their towering black caps and sombre military +air; brass-fronted Hessians; gaudy Waldeckers; English corps glittering +in scarlet pomp; and Highlanders loaded with weapons, but free and +graceful in their flowing contour. On these latter especially, both Neil +and Maria fixed their interest. Who can say how long national feeling, +expatriated, may live? Neil leaped to his feet as the plaided men came +in sight. Their bagpipes made him drunk with emotion; they played on his +heartstrings and called up centuries of passionate feelings. He clasped +his sword unconsciously; his hand trembled with that magnetic attraction +for iron that soldiers know. At that moment he said proudly to his soul, +"Thou also art of Scottish birth!" and a vision of hills and straths +and of a tossing ocean filled his spiritual sight. + +Maria's interest was of the present and was centered on the young +captain walking at the head of his company; for Quentin Macpherson was a +born soldier, and whatever he might lack in a ball-room, he lacked +nothing at the head of his men. His red hair flowing from under his +plaided bonnet was the martial color; it seemed proper to his stern face +and to the musket and bayonet, the broadsword, dirk and pistols which he +wore or carried with the ease and grace of long usage. He stepped so +proudly to the strains of "Lochaber;" he looked so brave and so +naturally full of authority that Maria was, for the moment, quite +subjugated. She had told him on the previous night, at what place she +was to view the embarkment; and she detected the first movement which +showed him to be on the watch for her. + +This fleeting pleasure of exhibiting himself at his best to the girl he +loves, is a soldier's joy; and the girl is heartless who refuses him the +small triumph. Maria was kind, and she shared the triumph with him; she +knew that her white-robed figure was entrancing to the young captain, +and she stood ready to rain down all of Beauty's influence upon his +lifted face. Only a moment was granted them, but in that one moment of +meeting eyes, Maria's handkerchief drifted out of her hand and +Macpherson caught it on his lifted bayonet, kissed, and put it in his +bosom. The incident was accomplished as rapidly and perfectly as events +unpremeditated usually are; for they are managed by that Self that +sometimes takes our affairs out of all other control and does +perfectly, in an instant, what all our desiring and planning would have +failed to do in any space of time. + +Neil was much annoyed, and made a movement to stop the fluttering lawn. + +"What have you done, Maria?" he asked angrily. "The Van der Donck's and +half a dozen other women are watching you." + +"I could not help it, Uncle Neil. I do not know how it happened. I never +intended to let it fall. Honor bright! I did not." + +And perhaps Neil understood, for he said no more on the subject as they +walked silently home through the disenchanted city. All the bareness of +its brutal usage was now poignantly evident, and the very atmosphere was +heavy with an unconquerable melancholy. Some half-tipsy members of the +De Lancey militia singing about "King George the Third" only added to +the sense of some incongruous disaster. Everyone has felt the +intolerable _ennui_ which follows a noisy merry-making--the deserted +disorder, the spilled wine, the disdained food, the withered flowers, +the silenced jest, the giving over of all left to desecration and +destruction--all this, and far more was concentrated in that wretched +_ennui_ of unhappy souls which filled the streets of New York that hot +summer afternoon. For an intense dejection lay heavy on every heart. +Like people with the same disease, men avoided and yet sought each +other. They dared not say, they hardly dared to think, that their love +for the King was dying of a disease that had no pity--that their idol +had himself torn away the roots of their loyalty. But they closed their +shops early, and retreated to the citadel of their homes. Melancholy, +hopelessness, silence, infected the atmosphere and became epidemic, and +men and women, sensitive to spiritual maladies, went into their chambers +and shut their doors, but could not shut out the unseen contagion. It +rained down on them in their sleep, and they dreamed of the calamities +they feared. + +It was on this afternoon that John Bradley received a new "call" and +answered it. Affected deeply by the events of the day, he left his shop +in the middle of the hot afternoon and went about some business which +took him near the King's College Building, then crowded with American +prisoners. As he came under the windows, he heard a thin, quavering +voice singing lines very dear and familiar to him: + + Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take! + The clouds ye so much dread + Are big with mercy, and shall break + In blessings on your head. + + Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, + But trust him for his grace: + Behind a frowning providence + He hides a smiling face. + +Then there was a pause and Bradley called aloud: "Brother, who are you?" + +"William Watson," was the answer. + +"I thought so. How are you?" + +"Dying," then a pause, and a stronger voice added, "and in need of all +things." + +"Brother Watson, what do you want that I can get now?" + +"Cold water to drink, and some fresh fruit," and then, as if further +instructed the voice added, "when you can, a clean shirt to be buried +in." + +"Tell William he shall have them." His whole manner had changed. There +was something he could do, and he went at once for the fruit and water. +Fortunately, he knew the provost of this prison and had done him some +favors, so he had no hesitation in asking him to see that the small +comforts were given to William Watson. + +"He was a member of my class meeting, Provost," said Bradley; "a +Methodist leader must love his brother in Christ." Here Bradley's voice +failed him and the Provost added, "I knew him too--he used to live in +good style in Queen Street. I will see that he gets the fruit and +water." + +"And if you need anything for yourself in the way of saddlery, Provost, +I will be glad to serve you." + +"I was thinking of a new riding whip." + +"I will bring you the best I have. One good turn deserves another." + +Then, after a little further conversation he turned homeward, and men +who met him on the way wondered what was the matter with John Bradley. +For, without cessation, as he walked, he went over and over the same +three words, _"Christ forgive me!"_ And no one could smile at the +monotonous iteration; the man was in too dead earnest; his face was too +remorseful, his voice too tragic. + +The next morning he was very early in Superintendent Ludlow's office. +The great man of the Court of Police had not arrived, but Bradley waited +until he came. + +"You are an early visitor, Mr. Bradley," he said pleasantly. + +"I have a favor to ask, Judge." + +"Come in here then. What is it? You are no place or plunder hunter." + +"Judge, a month ago you asked me to make you a saddle." + +"And you would not do it. I remember." + +"I could not--at least I thought I could not; now, if you will let me, I +will make you the fittest saddle possible--it shall be my own work, +every stitch of it." + +"How much money do you want for such a saddle, Bradley?" + +"I want no money at all. I want a very small favor from you." + +"Nothing for the rebels, I hope. I cannot grant any favor in that +direction." + +"I want nothing for the rebels; I want one hour every Sunday afternoon +in the College prison with my class members." + +"Oh, I don't know, Bradley----" + +"Yes, you know, Judge. You know, if I give you my promise, I will keep +every letter of it." + +"What is your promise?" + +"I want only to pray with my brothers or to walk awhile with them as +they go through the Valley of the Shadow. I promise you that no word of +war, or defeat or victory; that no breath of any political opinion shall +pass my lips. Nor will I listen to any such." + +"Bradley, I don't think I can grant you this request. It would not be +right." + +"Judge, this is a thing within your power, and you must grant it. We +shall stand together at the Judgment, and when the Lord Christ says, 'I +was hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no +drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me +not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not:' don't let me be +obliged to plead, 'Lord Christ, I would have fed, and clothed, and +visited the sick and in prison, but this man barred my way.' Open the +door, Judge, and it shall be well with you for it." + +Then, without a word, Ludlow turned to his desk and wrote an order +permitting John Bradley to visit his friends for one hour every Sunday +afternoon; and as he did so, his face cleared, and when he signed his +name he had the glow of a good deed in his heart, and he said: + +"Never mind the saddle, Bradley. I don't want to be paid for this thing. +You say William Watson is dying--poor Willie! We have fished together +many a long summer day"; and he took a few gold pieces from his pocket +and added, "they are for the old friend, not for the rebel. You +understand. Good morning, sir." + +"Good morning, Judge. I won't overstep your grant in any way. I know +better." + +From this interview he went direct to the prison and sent the gold to +the dying man. And as he stood talking to the provost the dead cart +came, and five nearly naked bodies were thrown into it, their faces +being left uncovered for the provost's inspection. Bradley gazed on them +with a hot heart; emaciated to the last point with fever and want, +there was yet on every countenance the peace that to the living, passeth +understanding. They had died in the night-watches, in the dark, without +human help or sympathy, but doubtless sustained by Him whose name is +_Wonderful!_ + +"All of them quite common men!" said the provost carelessly--"country +rustics--plebeians!" + +But when Bradley told his daughter of this visit, he added, +passionately, _"Plebeians!_ Well, then, Agnes, _Plebeians who found out +the secret of a noble death!"_ + + Sweeter than Joy, tho' Joy might abide; + Dearer than Love, tho' Love might endure, + Is this thing, for a man to have died + For the wronged and the poor! + + Let none be glad until all are free; + The song be still and the banner furled, + Till all have seen what the poets see + And foretell to the world! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE. + + +The next morning, very soon after breakfast, Maria came down stairs +ready to visit her friend. She was dressed like a schoolgirl in a little +frock of India chintz, her black hair combed backward and plaited in two +long, loose braids. One morning she had tied these braids with red +ribbon, and been scornfully criticised by her grandmother for "makin' a +show of herself." The next morning she had tied them with blue, and been +heart-pained by her grandfather's sigh and look of reproach; so this +morning they were tied with ribbons as black as her hair, and as she +turned herself before the long mirror she was pleased with the change. + +"They make my braids look ever so much longer," she said with a pretty +toss of her head; "and grandmother can not say I am making a show of +myself. One must have ribbons of some color, and black is really +distinguished. I suppose that is the reason Uncle Neil wears so much +black cloth and velvet." + +To these thoughts she ran gaily down stairs. The Elder was reading +Rivington's _Royal Gazette_; Madame had a hank of wool over two chairs, +and was slowly winding it. She looked at Maria with a little +disappointment. Her hat was on her head, her books in her hand, and she +understood where the girl was going; yet she asked: "Is it Agnes Bradley +again, Maria?" + +"Yes, grandmother. I said no lessons yesterday. We were watching the +soldiers pass, and the people, and I was expecting Neil, and there +seemed no use in beginning then. I told Agnes I would say extra lessons +to-day." + +"And I'm doubting, even with the 'extra,' if the lessons amount to +much." + +"Oh grandmother! I have learned a page of 'Magnall's Questions,' and +studied a whole chapter in 'Goldsmith's History' about King John." + +"King _who?"_ asked Madame, suspiciously. "I never heard tell o' a King +John. David, and Robert, and James I ken; but John! No, no, lassie! +There's nae King John." + +"Maria means John of England," explained the Elder. "He was a vera bad +king." + +"John of England, or George of England!" answered Madame disdainfully, +"kings are much of a muchness. And if he was a bad king, he was a bad +man, and ye ought to put your commandments on your granddaughter, Elder, +to learn naething about such wicked men. Ye ken as well as I do, that +the Almighty forbid the children o' Israel even to _inquire_ anent the +doings of thae sinners, the Canaanites. And it is bad enough to hae to +thole the evil doings o' a living king, without inquiring after the +crimes o' a dead one." + +"I will give up my history if you wish it, grandmother. I care nothing +about King John." + +"Maria must learn what other people learn," said the Elder. "She has to +live in the world, and she has sense enough to make her own reflections. +Give me a kiss, dearie, and study King John if you like to, he was a bad +man, and a bad king, but----" + +"Others worse than him!" ejaculated Madame. + +"Give me a kiss, darling grandmother, one for myself, and one for Agnes; +she always asks for it." + +"Oh, you flattering lassie!" But the old lady gave the two kisses, and +with a sweeping courtesy, Maria closed the door and went humming down +the garden walk: _"Who Saw Fair Pamela?"_ + +She had not gone far before she met Moselle, the only slave Bradley +possessed. She was in her Sunday clothing, and she said Missee had given +her a whole day's holiday. In that case Agnes would be alone, and Maria +hastened her steps onward. The little house was as calm and peaceful +looking as usual, the windows all open, the mignonette boxes on their +sills in full bloom; the white shades gently stirring in the wind. The +door was closed, but on the latch, and Maria turned the handle and went +into the parlor. It was empty, but the ruffle Agnes was gathering was on +the table, and Maria took off her bonnet and laid it and her books down +on the cushioned seat within the window recess. As she lifted her head +an astonishing sight met her eyes. In the middle of the yard there was a +very handsome young man. He was bareheaded, tall, and straight as a +ramrod, and stood with one hand on his hip and his face lifted to the +sunshine. Maria's heart beat quick, she lifted her bonnet and books, +retreated to the front door, and called "Agnes" in a clear, eager +voice. + +In a moment or two, Agnes came in at the opposite door. "Maria!" she +cried, "I am glad to see you. Is your uncle with you? No? That is well. +Come with me to the kitchen. I have given Moselle a holiday. Maria, I +have a friend--a very dear friend. I am cooking him some breakfast. Come +and help me." + +Agnes spoke in a hurried, excited manner very unusual to her, and as she +did so, the two girls went into the little outside kitchen. The coffee +was ready, the steak broiled, and as Agnes lifted the food she +continued, "yes, I have a friend this morning. He is going to eat in the +summer-house, and you will help me to wait upon him. Will you not, +Maria? Oh, my dear, I am so happy!" And Maria, who remembered only too +vividly the bare-headed youth she had seen for a moment, gladly accepted +the office. A spirit of keen pleasure was in the dingy little kitchen, +and the girls moved gaily to it. "You shall carry the coffee, and I will +carry the steak," said Agnes; "the bread and the china are already +placed." So laughing and chatting, and delighted with their service the +two girls entered the summer-house. + +"Harry," said Agnes, "this is my friend, Maria Semple; and Maria, this +is Harry Deane." And Harry looked with frank eyes into Maria's eyes, and +in a moment they knew each other. What was this strange impression made +by a look? Not a word was spoken, but the soul salutation through +meeting eyes was a far more overwhelming influence than any spoken word +could have evoked. Then came the current forms of courtesy, and the +happy tones of low laughter slipping in between the mingling of voices, +or the soft tinkling of glass and china, and everyone knows that as soon +as talking begins the divine gates close. It mattered not, Maria knew +that something wonderful had happened to her; and never in all her +subsequent life could she forget that breakfast under the clematis +vines. + +Swiftly the hot, still hours of the mid-day passed. The city was torpid +in the quivering heat. There was no stir of traffic--no lumbering sound +of loaded wagons--no noise of shouting drivers--no footsteps of hurrying +men. The streets were almost empty; the very houses seemed asleep. Only +the cicadas ran from hedge to hedge calling shrilly; or now and then a +solitary trumpet stirred the drowsy air, or, in the vicinity of the +prisons, the moaning of the dying men, made the silence terribly vocal. + +"Let us go into the house," said Agnes, "it will be cooler there." And +they took Maria's hands and went to the shaded parlor. Then Harry drew +some cool water from the well, and as they drank it they remembered the +men in the various prisons and their pitiful need of water at all times. + +"They are the true heroes," said Agnes; "tortured by heat and by cold, +by cruel hunger and more cruel thirst, in all extremities of pain and +sorrow, they are paying their life blood, drop by drop, like coin, for +our freedom." + +"And when our freedom is won," answered Harry, "we will give to the dead +their due. They, too, have saved us." + +"Do you think, Harry, this French alliance is going to end the war?" + +"Those who know best say it will. But these Frenchmen are giving +Washington no end of trouble. They are mostly military adventurers. They +worry Washington for promotion and for increase of pay; they have only +their own interest in view. They scorn our privations and simplicity, +and their demands can only be gratified at the expense of native +officers whose rights they unjustly wish to invade. Yet I am told that +without French money and French help we should have to give up the +struggle. I don't believe it. Starving and demoralized as our army is, +there are many who will never give up while Washington is alive to lead +them." + +"If I was a rebel," said Maria, "I should want our freedom won by our +own hands only. The French are coming here at the last hour, and they +will get all the credit. Do you think it is for love of freedom they +help the Americans? If so, why do they not give freedom to France? She +has the most tyrannical and despotic of governments; Uncle Neil says so; +and yet she pretends to thrill with indignation because England violates +the liberties of her colonies. France had better mind her own affairs, +or, as grandmother says, she will scald herself with other people's +broth." + +"God made the French, and He may understand them, I do not," answered +Harry. "Fancy the French government allowing our Declaration of +Independence to be translated and scattered broadcast all over the +country! No wonder that Lafayette smiled grimly when he heard of it; no +wonder he said that 'the principles of government we had announced +would soon be heard from in France.' He can see the results, but the +king and queen--who catch up every fashion and every enthusiasm with +childish levity--do not imagine any one will have the audacity to apply +American principles of government to the French monarchy. 'Give me good +news from our dear American republicans,' is always Marie Antoinette's +greeting to Franklin, and he himself is one of her prime favorites." + +"Oh, he is a cunning old man," said Maria. "I have heard grandfather +talk about him. I am sure he is disagreeable; yet the French have his +picture on their snuff-boxes and rings and brooches. It is such +foolishness. And Uncle Neil--who is a very clever lawyer--says some very +disparaging things about this famous Declaration. It is at least most +inconsistent." + +Harry looked his dissent, and Agnes said: "Perhaps you did not +understand your uncle, Maria." + +"I am not quite a fool, Agnes. In one respect I am cleverer than Mr. +Jefferson. Imagine an assembly composed largely, like himself, of +slave-owners, saying 'that all men were created equal, and were given by +God an unalienable right to liberty.' And do you think if I were king or +queen of France I would scatter a paper in every house telling my +miserable, starving subjects, that 'whenever a government did not do +what it ought to do, it was the right of the people to alter or abolish +it.' Indeed, I think King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette will be sorry +some day for teaching their people American ideas of government." + +"What do they say in England about the French alliance?" asked Agnes. + +"The Parliament declares we have not only rebelled against the +mother-country, but also mortgaged ourselves to her enemy; and that if +we are to become an accession to France, self-preservation requires +England to make that accession of as little value as possible. That does +not sound very bad, Agnes, but it means killing men, women and children, +burning houses, ravaging land, and making life so wretched that death +will be preferable. Now you understand such expeditions as Matthew's and +Tryon's. So I say with Miss Semple, it is a pity for many reasons we had +to beg foreign help; especially from the three nations who are +hereditary foes of England." + +"The French did not help you much at Newport," said Maria scornfully. + +"They left us in the very oncoming of the battle; as soon as Lord Howe +came in sight--sailed away to the West Indies, where they had plans of +their own to carry out. The indignation of our army was beyond +description; no one but Washington could at this time have kept peace +between the French and American soldiers. Their jealousy was flaming, +and Washington could not help saying he wished there was not a foreigner +in the army but Lafayette. But when Necessity compels, it becomes +Destiny, eh, Agnes?" + +"Yes. I think England must now be in a very dangerous predicament, +Harry." + +"She has thirteen colonies in revolt; France, Spain, Holland, uniting +against her, and a large majority of her own people conspicuously in our +favor. Our old mother-country! I am sorry for her, for she _is ours_, +and we are her sons, even though we have been compelled to rebel against +her." + +"I think it is England that has rebelled against us," said Agnes. "She +has repudiated our chartered rights, and made us aliens to the laws and +privileges which are our natural heritage. England is traitor to +America, and I don't see why you should be sorry for her." + +"Can you take the English blood out of my heart? No. I want our +Independence, that we must have, nothing less will now satisfy us; but I +don't want to see three other nations, who have no business in our +family quarrel, badgering the old mother. If you had a liking for some +noble old mastiff, and saw him attacked by three strange dogs, how would +you feel?" + +"Well, Harry, if the mastiff was hurting me, I might feel obliged to the +strange dogs. I do not wonder that France, Spain, and Holland should +take this opportunity to fight England; but I do wonder that Englishmen, +living in England, should be on our side." + +"They have been so from the very first. The King has found it impossible +to get soldiers to fight us. They regard us as their countrymen. They +refuse to acknowledge the war as an 'English' war; they call it 'The +King's War'; and they look upon our victories as triumphs for +representative government. I saw a letter from Judge Curwen of Boston, +in which he says he visited a large factory in Birmingham where they +were making rifles to be used by the English troops in America; and he +found that the proprietor, as well as every man thus employed, was +enthusiastically on our side. Fox spoke of an English success on Long +Island as 'the terrible news from America'; and many say that the Whig +party, of which he is the leader, adopted blue and buff for their +colors, because Washington had chosen them for his troop. In both houses +of Parliament we have many powerful friends, and the American cause is +spoken of throughout England as the cause of Liberty." + +"Oh, you must be mistaken!" cried Maria. "Grandfather says things very +different; and if England is for us, why does the war go on? Whose fault +is that." + +"It is the fault of King George; the most stupid of men, but with a will +as indomitable as the beasts of the desert. Not even King Charles was so +determined to ruin himself and the nation. He is cruel as he is +immovable. It is _The King's War_, my mistresses, and only the King's +friends and sycophants and the clergy defend it." + +"And what will those Englishmen who would not lift a finger against us +do against our allies?" + +"Do? They are preparing with joyful enthusiasm to fight their old +enemies. It made my heart throb to hear how they were jumping to arms, +at the mere idea of a French and Spanish fleet in the English Channel." + +"You are half an Englishman, Mr. Deane," said Maria. + +"No," he answered warmly; "I am out and out, from head to foot, an +American! I was born here, bred here, and I shall live and die here; nor +do I wish to live in any other country. But brave men and free men feel +with a gigantic throb each other's rights and wrongs, even across +oceans--thus we are brothers. And the roots of my being are somewhere in +England; I can not cut myself loose from them; I do not wish to. The +feeling belongs to the unknown side of human reasons--but it governs +me." + +"I thought," said Maria, "you would talk about nothing but Washington, +and you have hardly named him. Is he as great a man as we are told he +is? Or does he have faults like the rest of poor mortals?" + +"Indeed, Miss Semple, he is so great a man I have forgotten whether he +has a fault. He is such a man as men build their love round while he +leads them on the way to immortality. Often I have seen the whole army +shaken, confused, hopeless; but Washington never shrank, or slipped, or +compromised; he looked unswervingly to the end. He is the Moses of +America; our people's hope, our young men's idol, our old men's staff +and sword. And even physically, who would compare our god-like +Washington with this?" and he took from his pocket-case a pen-and-ink +sketch of King George, taken at the beginning of the war and showed it +to the girls. + +They looked at it curiously, and Maria said: "Surely, Mr. Deane, that is +not a true likeness; it is what you call a pasquil--a lampoon--to make +ridiculous his Majesty." + +"It is not intended as a lampoon. But I never see it without thinking of +the mighty ghosts of the great Henrys, and the armed Edwards, and then I +wonder if they are not watching, with anger and amazement, the idiotic +folly of this German." + +"I must really go home now," said Maria. She spoke as if she had all at +once become aware of the gravity of the words she was listening to. "I +should not have stopped so long. Grandmother is not well." + +And she thought Agnes was not sorry to bid her good-bye; "but that is +natural," she reflected, "I suppose I should feel the same. She must +have a great many things to tell such a lover. I dare be bound I have +been much in the way." + +Her feelings were captious and impetuous, and she walked rapidly to +them, in spite of the heat. Somehow she was not pleased with Agnes, and +Harry Deane also had bid her but a formal farewell. And yet not formal, +for when he held her hand a moment, he laid it open within his own, and +said with a look she could not forget, "my life lies there. I have put +it in your hand myself, knowingly, willingly." And she had clasped his +hand and answered gravely: + +"It is as safe there as it would be in the hand of your mother--or of +Agnes." + +It was not Harry that she was fretted at, it was Agnes. She felt that in +some way Agnes had deceived her. She had not said secrecy would include +hours of rebel conversation--"and I wonder at myself for listening to +it," said the little woman angrily. "I suppose it was Mr Deane--men talk +women down. I know I should not have let Agnes talk in that way to +me--just as if I believed all he said! If Uncle Neil had been there, he +would have scattered every word to the four winds with little trouble. +And," she continued, with rising temper, "I don't think Agnes acts +fairly to Uncle Neil. He is her devoted lover, and she knows it, she +must know it. People don't walk slowly up and down in the moonlight and +not know such things. I am, they say, only a child, but I have walked +with Captain Macpherson in the moonlight, and I know how amiable it +makes me feel. I am disappointed in Agnes!" and she really felt at that +moment as if her friend had done her some great wrong. So much easier is +it to blame others than to look deep down into our own hearts for the +reason of dissatisfaction. For whenever we are disappointed, we are +disappointed with ourselves, though we may not admit it. + +When she entered the Semple garden she was encompassed with the +delicious perfume of carnations. Then she remembered that they were her +grandfather's favorite flower, and that before the war his garden had +been a wonder and delight with their beauty and fragrance. And in some +subtle way, the flowers made an avenue for a spiritual influence, more +in accord with the natural uprightness of the girl's nature. She sighed +and sauntered through the scented space, and as she did so, began to +make her confession. "Perhaps it was my fault--perhaps I was just a +little jealous--it is not pleasant to be the outside one; if Captain +Macpherson, or even that stupid Lord Medway had been my servant +I should not have felt so small; but that was not the fault of +Agnes--nevertheless, Agnes ought not to treat Uncle Neil badly." + +It was a kind of inconsequent reasoning, but it restored her to +herself, and she entered the house very cheerfully, looking into the +parlor first of all, to see whom she could find to talk to. All the +rooms down stairs were sweet with the same enthralling odor of +carnations; but they were dusky, silent and empty; and she went to her +grandmother's room on the second floor. "Are you awake, dear +grandmother?" she asked, as she tapped gently on the door. + +"Come in, dearie," was the answer, and Madame raised herself from the +bed as Maria entered and went to a large chair by the open window. "It +is hotter than needs be," she said, "and I have had company." + +"Who has been here, grandmother?" + +"Mrs. Jermyn brought us an invitation to the Bayards. It is for a three +days' visit." + +"I am so happy. I have heard about Colonel Bayard's fine house on the +Heights; you will surely go, grandmother?" + +"I can not go, Maria; but Mrs. Jermyn offered to take you in her party; +and to that I am agreeable. Madame Jacobus will go with you, and I am +vera fond o' Madame Jacobus. She is not an ordinary woman; she has had +romantics in her life, and the vera look o' her sets you thinking o' all +sorts o' impossibilities. Tell her Madame Semple keeps good mind o' her, +and would be glad to see her again;" then she added sharply, "Mrs. +Gordon was with her. I was quite taken aback. I was all in a tremble at +first." + +"She is so anxious to be friends with you; can't you forgive her, +grandmother? It is a long time since." + +"Maria Semple, no one is mair willing than I am, to let byganes be +byganes. But mind this, there are folks simply unlucky to you, and not +intending it; and Adelaide Gordon and Janet Semple are best apart. She +is one o' them women who bring happenings and events, and I notice they +are not pleasant or favorable. You will hae heard say, Maria, _wha_ it +is, that sends a woman, where he canna go himsel'. Cousin Gordon means +no harm--but." + +"Indeed, she really likes you. She talks to me of the days she lived +with you, and of all your kindness to her. It was Katherine Van +Heemskirk that behaved badly. I don't think I like that person--and I +want you to forgive Mrs. Gordon." + +"I have forgiven Mrs. Gordon, Maria. Do you think I would put the Lord's +prayer behind my back for Adelaide Gordon? And I couldna dare to say it +and not forgive her; but to love your friend, and look to yoursel' isna +out o' the way o' wisdom." + +"When am I to go, grandmother?" + +"Mrs. Jermyn will call for you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. How +about thae lessons, and the 'extras' you were speaking o'?" + +"It is such warm weather. I think I ought to have my holiday now; and +what about my frocks, grandmother? Shall I not have to pack my small +trunk?" + +This subject was, of course, paramount, and Madame went to Maria's room +with her, and the proper garments were selected and packed. Very soon +the whole house was infected with the hurry and excitement of the little +lady, and the Elder tried to join in the discussion and employment; it +being one of his pet ideas that he had a pretty taste about women's +clothing. But his first suggestion that the simple frock of India chintz +Maria was wearing was a most becoming morning gown, met with such a +decided rebuff he had no courage left for further advice. For Maria +looking scornfully down at its short simplicity asked, "Why do you not +advise a white ruffled pinafore also, grandfather? Then I would be fit +for an infant school. I am a young lady now," she continued, as she +spread out its three breadths to their utmost capacity, showing in the +act the prettiest little feet, shod in bronze leather with red rosettes +on the instep. And when a man finds his opinions out of date, what can +he do but retire with them into silence? + +The quiet that fell upon the house after Maria's departure was a +grateful respite. The old people sat down with a sigh of relief, and +while they praised their granddaughter's sweet nature, and talked +proudly of all her excellences, they were not sorry to be at rest for a +day or two. Neither was the Elder sorry to casually notice the absence +of Maria to certain royalist upstarts who had won wealth through their +chicaneries, but who had not been able to win the social notice they +craved. + +"Elder Semple may be pinched, now and then, for a few sovereigns," he +thought, "but he and his can sit down with the highest of the King's +servants and be counted one o' them. And it will be lang ere the Paynes +and the Bradleys and many others I could name, will get that far!" + +Such reflections gave to the old gentleman's steps something of the +carriage of his more prosperous days; he looked outward and upward in +his old manner, and thus saw Mr. Cohen, the Jewish trader, standing in +his shop door. He asked pleasantly after his health, and by so doing +brought a few good words on himself, which somehow went warmly to his +heart. In this amiable temper he passed the famous saddlery shop. John +Bradley was just dismissing a customer. He was wearing his apron of blue +and white ticking, and had a paper cap upon his head, and he looked +precisely what he was--a capable, self-respecting workman. Semple had +always permitted a polite salutation to cover all claims on his courtesy +that Bradley might have; but this morning he said with a friendly air, +"How's all with you, Mr. Bradley? Will you tell your charming daughter +that her friend, Miss Semple, has gone wi' a party o' our military +friends to the Bayards' for a three days' visit?" + +"Agnes will miss her friend, Elder." + +"Yes, yes! They went off this morning early, up the river wi' music and +singing. Young things, most o' them, Mr. Bradley, and we must make +allowances." + +"If we must, we must, Elder. And God knows, if it isn't the lute and the +viol, and the tinkling feet of the foolish maidens, it is the trumpet, +and the sword, and the hell of the battlefield. Evil times we are fallen +on, sir." + +"But they are to bring us good times. We must not doubt that. My +respects, sir, to Miss Bradley, who has a voice to lift a soul on the +wings of melody, heavenward. Good day, sir." + +Semple went forward a little dashed, he hardly knew why; and Bradley +was chagrined. He had tried to say something that should not only +represent himself, but also acknowledge the kindness he was sensible of; +but he had only blundered into commonplaces, and quite against his will, +shown much of his roughest side. Why did he include the Elder's +granddaughter among the tinkling feet of foolish maidens? She was the +friend of his own child also. He felt that he had had an opportunity and +mismanaged it, and a sense of his inabilities in all social matters +mortified and fretted him all the day afterward. + +Maria was expected home in three days, but she did not come. Her party +went directly from the Bayard house to Hempstead, where Colonel Birch +was entertaining a large company from the city; so it was fully a week +before the young lady returned to New York. In the meantime Destiny was +not asleep, and affairs in which Maria was interested did not lie still +waiting for her reappearance. + +Maria had left a message for Agnes with her uncle, and he resolved to +take it personally that evening. But as he was drinking his tea the +Elder said, "I saw Mr. Bradley this morning, and I sent word by him to +his daughter anent Maria's absence." Neil did not make any answer, but +his mother noticed the sweep of color up and down his dark face, and she +was on the point of saying, "you hae taken the job out o' hands that +would hae done it better, gudeman." But the wisdom and kindness of +silence was granted her; yet the Elder felt his remark to be +unpropitious, and sighed. There were so many subjects these days that he +made mistakes about; and he had a moment's recollection of his old +authoritative speech, and a wonder as to what had happened him. Was it +that he had fallen out of the ranks of the workers of the world? Or, was +it because he was growing old? He was silent, and so pathetic in his +silence, that Neil observed it and blamed himself. + +"Father," he said, "pardon me! I was thinking. I have been with Major +Crosby all day about the Barrack Department finances, and that is not +work to be talked about. It is well you told Mr. Bradley of Maria's +absence." + +"I wonder you did not go with Maria; you had an invitation." + +"Yes, I had an invitation, but I had engagements of more importance with +Brigadier Skinner and Treasurer McEvers. McEvers is to pay me with wood +from a rebel tract granted him. So when the cold weather comes we shall +not require to count the sticks; we can at least keep warm." + +He rose with these words and went to his room. He told himself that he +would there consider a visit to Miss Bradley, and yet he knew that he +intended to make it no matter what considerations came up for his +deliberation. Not for a moment did he deceive himself; he was well aware +that for the first time in his life he was really in love. He admitted +frankly that his early passion for the pretty Katherine Van Heemskirk +had been a selfish affair; and that his duel with Captain Hyde was +fought, not so much for love of Katherine, as for hatred and jealousy of +his rival. He had never loved Katherine as he loved Agnes, for it was +the soul of Agnes that attracted him and drew him to her by a +gravitation, like that which one star exerts upon another. His first +love he had watched grow from childhood to maidenhood; he could count on +his fingers the number of times he had seen Agnes Bradley; and yet from +this slender experience there had sprung an invincible longing to say to +her, "O, Soul of my Soul, I love you! I need you!" + +Yet to make Agnes his wife at this time was to make sacrifices that he +durst not contemplate. They included the forfeiture of his social +position, and this loss was certain to entail the same result on his +political standing and emoluments. His father was connected with his +financial affairs, and to ruin himself meant also ruin to the parents he +loved so truly. Then the sudden fear that assails honest lovers made his +heart tremble; Agnes might have scruples and reluctances; she might not +be able to love him; she might love some other man, Maria had named such +a probability; with a motion of his hand he swept all contingencies +aside; no difficulties should abate his ardor; he loved Agnes Bradley +and he was determined to win her. + +With this decision he rose, stood before his mirror, and looked at +himself. Too proud a man to be infected with so small a vice as vanity, +he regarded his personality without unreasonable favor. "I am still +handsome," he said. "If I have not youth, I have in its place the +perfection of my own being; I am now in the prime of life, and have not +begun to fall away from it. Many young and beautiful women have shown me +favor I never sought. Now, I will seek favor; I will woo it, beg it, +pray for it. I will do anything within honor and honesty to win this +woman of my soul, this adorable Agnes!" + +He found her in the garden of her home; that is, she was sitting on the +topmost step of the short flight leading to the door. Her silent, +penetrative loveliness encompassed her like an atmosphere in which all +the shafts of the shelterless, worrying day fell harmless. She smiled +more than spoke her welcome, and her eyes unbarred her soul so that they +seemed to understand each other at a glance; for Neil's love was set far +above all passionate tones of welcome or personal adulation. Sitting +quiet by her side he noticed a man walking constantly before the house, +and he pointed out the circumstance to Agnes. + +"He will walk there until my father comes home," she answered. "It is +Elias Hurd the chapel keeper. Father pays him to come here every day at +sunset and watch till he returns." + +"Your words take a great fear from me," said Neil; and then, though his +heart was brim full he could say no more. Silence again enfolded them, +and the song in each heart remained unsung. Yet the overwhelming +influence of feelings which had not found words was upon them, and this +speechless interlude had been to both the clearest of revealers. + +After a week's pleasure-seeking Maria returned home. It was in the +middle of a hot afternoon, and life was at its most languid pitch. The +Elder was asleep in his chair, Madame asleep on the sofa, and the +negroes dozing in the kitchen. Her entry aroused the house, her +personality instantly filled it. She was flushed and tired, but alive +with the egotistical spirit of youth. "Were you not expecting me?" she +asked with an air of injury, as she entered the drowsy, tidy house. "And +I do want a cup of tea so much, grandmother." + +"You were coming Monday, and then you were coming Wednesday; we did not +know whether you would come to-day or not; but you are very welcome, +dear, and you shall have tea in ten minutes." + +She went upstairs while it was preparing, took off her bonnet and her +silk coat, dashed cool water over her flushed face and shoulders and +arms, wet her hair and brushed it backward, and then put on a loose gown +of thin muslin. "Now I can drink my tea in comfort," she said, "and just +talk at my leisure. And dear me! What a week of tumult it has been!" + +"Have you enjoyed your visits?" asked the Elder when she reappeared. + +"So, so, grandfather," she answered; and as she spoke, she lifted the +small tea-table close to his side, and whispered on his cheek, "you will +have a cup of tea with me, dear grandfather, I shall not enjoy mine +unless you do." He said "pooh! pooh! child," but he was delighted, and +with beaming smiles watched her small hands busy among the china, and +the bread and meat. + +"I am downright hungry," she said. "We had breakfast before leaving, but +that seems hours and hours ago, and, O grandmother! there is no tea and +bread like yours in all the world." + +Then she began her long gossip concerning people and events: the water +parties on the river, the picnics in the woods, the dancing and +gambling and games in the house. "And I must tell you," she said, "that +really and truly, I was the most admired of all the beauties there. The +ladies all envied my frocks, and asked where I got them, and begged for +the patterns; and I wished I had taken more with me. It is so +exhilarating to have a new one for every evening. Lord Medway said every +fresh one became me better than the last." + +"Lord Medway!" said the Elder. "Is he that long, lazy man that trails +after General Clinton like his shadow?" + +"Well, they love each other. It seems funny for men to love one another; +but General Clinton and Lord Ernest Medway are like David and Jonathan." + +"Maria Semple!" cried Madame, "I think you might even the like o' +Clinton and the English Lord, to some one o' less respectability than +Bible characters." + +"O grandmother! General Clinton is just as blood-thirsty as General +David ever was. He hates his enemies quite as perfectly, and wishes them +all the same sorts and kinds of calamities. I don't know whether +Jonathan was good-natured, but Lord Medway is. He danced with me as +often as I would let him, and he danced with nobody else! think of that, +grandmother! the women were all madly jealous of me. I did not care for +that much." + +"Janet, dear," said the Elder to his wife, "if you had ever seen this +Lord Medway trailing up William Street or Maiden Lane, you wouldna +believe the lassie. He is just the maist inert piece o' humanity you +could imagine. _Dancing! Tuts! Tuts! lassie!"_ + +"He can dance, grandfather. Mrs. Gordon said the way he led me through a +minuet was adorable; and Major André told me that in a skirmish or a +cavalry charge, no one could match him. He was the hardest rider and +fiercest fighter in the army." + +"Weel, weel!" said Madame, "a man that isna roused by anything short o' +a battle or a cavalry charge, might be easy to live with--if you have +any notion for English lords." + +"Indeed, I have not any notion for Lord Medway. He is the most provoking +of men. He takes no interest in games, he won't stake money on cards, he +listened to the music with his eyes shut; and when Miss Robertson and +Major André acted a little piece the Major had written, he pretended to +be asleep. He was not asleep, for I caught him awake, and he smiled at +me, as much as to say that I knew all about his deception, and +sanctioned it. I told him so afterward, and he laughed so heartily that +every one looked amazed, and what do you think he said? 'It is a fact, +ladies; I really laughed, but it is Miss Semple's fault.' I don't think, +grandmother, I would have been invited to Hempstead if he had not let it +be known that he was not going unless Miss Semple went." + +"Is he in love with you?" + +"He thinks he is." + +"Are you in love with him?" + +Maria smiled, and with her teacup half-way to her mouth hummed a line +from an old Scotch song: + + "I'm glad that my heart's my ain." + +Such conversation, touching many people and many topics, was naturally +prolonged, and when Neil came home it was carried on with renewed +interest and vigor. And Maria was not deceived when Neil with some +transparent excuse of 'going to see a friend' went out at twilight. + +"He is going to see Agnes," she thought; "my coming home is too good an +excuse to lose, but why did he not tell me? Lovers are so sly, and yet +all their cunning is useless. People always see through their little +moves. In the morning I shall go to Agnes, and I hope she will not be +too advising, because I am old enough to have my own ideas: besides, I +have some experiences." + +All the way to her friend's house in the morning, she was making +resolutions which vanished as soon as they were put to the test. It was +only too easy to fall into her old confidential way, to tell all she had +seen and heard and felt; to be petted and admired and advised. Also, she +could relate many little episodes to Agnes that she had not felt +disposed to tell her grandparents, or even Neil--compliments and +protestations, and sundry "spats" of envy and jealousy with the ladies +of the party. But the conversation settled mainly, however often it +diverged, upon Lord Medway. Agnes had often heard her father speak of +him. He knew John Wesley, and had asked him to preach at Market-Medway +to his tenants and servants; and on the anniversary of the Wesley Chapel +in John Street he had given Mr. Bradley twenty pounds toward the Chapel +fund. "He is a far finer man than he affects to be," she added, "and +father says he wears that drawling, trailing habit like a cloak, to +hide his real nature. Do you think he has fallen in love with you, +Maria?" + +"Would it be a very unlikely thing to happen, Agnes? He danced only with +me, and when Major André arranged the Musical Masque, he consented to +sing only on the condition that I sang with him." + +"And what else, Maria?" + +"One evening Quentin Macpherson danced the Scotch sword dance--a very +clever barbaric thing--but I did not like it; the man looks better at +the head of his company. However, he sang a little song called 'The +Soldier's Kiss' that was pretty enough. The melody went in this +way"--and Maria hummed a strain that sounded like the gallop of horses +and shaking of bridles--"I only remember the chorus," she said. + + "A kiss, Sweet, a kiss, Sweet, + For the drums are beat along the street, + And we part, and know not when we meet, + With another kiss like this, Sweet. + +"And Lord Medway whispered to me that Shakespeare had said it all far +better in one line, _'Touch her soft mouth and march.'_ In Major Andre's +masque we had a charming little verse; I brought you a copy of it, see, +here it is. The first two lines have a sweet crescendo melody; at the +third line there was a fanfare of trumpets in the distance and the +gentlemen rattled their swords. The fourth line we sang alone, and at +the close Lord Medway bowed to me, and the whole room took up the +refrain." Then the girls leaned over the paper, and Agnes read the words +aloud slowly, evidently committing them to her memory as she read: + + "A song of a single note! + But it soars and swells above + The trumpet's call, and the clash of arms, + For the name of the song is Love." + +"Now sing me the melody, Maria," said Agnes; and Maria sang, and Agnes +listened, and then they sang it together until it was perfect. "Just +once more," said Maria, and as they reached the close of the verse, a +strong, musical voice joined in the refrain, and then Harry came into +the room singing it. + +"Harry! Harry!" cried Agnes, joyfully. + +_"And the name of the song is Love!"_ he answered, taking Agnes in his +arms and kissing the word on her lips. Then he turned with a glowing +face to Maria, and she bent her head a little proudly, and remained +silent. But soon Agnes went away to order coffee for her visitor, and +then Harry sat down by Maria, and asked to see the song, and their hands +met above the passionate words, and the dumb letters became vocal. They +sang them over and over, their clear, fresh voices growing softer and +softer, till, almost in a whisper of delight, they uttered the last word +_"Love!"_ Then he looked at her as only a lover can look, and she looked +at him like one who suddenly awakens. Her past was a sleep, a dream; +that moment her life began. And she had all the tremors that mark the +beginnings of life; a great quiet fell upon her, and she wanted to go +into solitude and examine this wonderful experience. For Harry had +stirred one of those unknown soul depths that only Love ventures down +to. + +When Agnes returned she said she must go home, her grandmother was not +well; and then she blundered into such a number of foolish excuses as +made Agnes look curiously, perhaps anxiously, at her. And for several +days she continued these excuses; she sent Neil with messages and +letters, but she did not go to her friend. There was something wrong +between them, and Maria finally threw the blame upon Agnes. + +"Any one may see that she is deceiving either Harry or uncle Neil--and I +hate a deceiver. It is not fair--I am sure if Harry knew about uncle--if +he was not engaged to Agnes--Oh, no! I must not think of him. Poor uncle +Neil! If Agnes treats him badly, I shall never forgive her, never!" +Thus, and so on, ran her reflections day after day, and yet she had not +the courage to go and talk the matter out with Agnes. But she noticed an +unusual exaltation in her uncle's manner; he dressed with more than his +usual sombre richness; he seemed to tread upon air, and though more +silent than ever, a smile of great sweetness was constantly on his lips. +And one afternoon as Maria sat at her tambour frame, Madame entered the +parlor hastily, looking almost frightened. + +"Do you hear him? Your uncle, I mean. Do you hear him, Maria?" she +cried. "He is singing. He must be _fey_. I haven't heard him sing since +he was a lad going to Paul Gerome's singing class. It's uncanny! It +frightens me! And what is he singing, Maria?" + +And Maria lifting a calm face answered--_"The name of the song is +Love."_ + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LOVE'S SWEET DREAM. + + +It is not truth, but falsehood which requires explanation, and Maria was +sensible of this fact as she sat at her tambour frame thinking of Agnes +and of Harry and of her uncle Neil. There was something not +straightforward in the life of Agnes, and she resolved every day to make +inquiry into it, and every day she made, instead, some deferring excuse. +But one morning, while eating breakfast, they were all sensitive to +unusual movements in the city, and the air was tense with human emotion. +The Elder and Neil became restless and anticipative, and Maria could not +escape the feverish mental contagion. When the men had left the house +she hurried through her few duties, and then went to her friend. Agnes +was standing at the garden gate, watching and listening. "There is news +of some kind, Maria," she said; "I am anxious to know what it is." + +"Grandmother says we need not run after news, it will find us out, and I +dare say it is only more Connecticut ravaging." + +Then Agnes turned into the house with Maria, for she perceived something +unusual in her voice and manner--dissatisfaction, and perhaps a tone of +injury. There was no pretence of study about her, she had not even +brought her books, and Agnes became silent, and lifted her sewing. At +length Maria spoke: + +"What is the matter with you, Agnes?" she asked, and then added: "you +are not like yourself this morning." + +"Whatever the matter is, Maria, I caught it from you." + +"You are cross." + +"I was only curious and anxious when you came. You brought +dissatisfaction and annoyance with you. I think you had better tell me +at once what has displeased you." + +"Oh, you must know what displeases me, Agnes. Do you think I can bear to +see you playing with two lovers at once? I am very fond of my uncle +Neil, and he adores you. And when Harry is away, uncle Neil is +everything; but as soon as Harry comes, then Harry is everything. It is +not fair to uncle, and I do not approve of such ways. If I were to act +in that kind of fashion between Lord Medway and Quentin Macpherson, who +would be so shocked as Agnes Bradley? I am so disappointed in you, +Agnes. I have not been able to come and see you for days; this morning I +felt that I must speak to you about things." + +"Maria, I once asked you to defer judgment on whatever you saw or heard +or suspected, and to take my word for it being all right. It seems that +I asked too much." + +"But how can it be all right, if you allow two men to make love to +you?--and you seem to like it from both of them." + +"I do like it--from both of them. The two loves are different." + +"Agnes! Agnes! I am shocked at you!" and Maria hid her face on the sofa +cushion and began to cry. + +Then Agnes knelt at her side, and lifted her face and kissed it, and +whispered four words in her ear; and there was a look of wonder, and +Maria asked softly, "Why did you not tell me before?" + +"I thought every time you saw him you would surely guess the truth." + +"I did not." + +"You must have seen also that Harry is deeply in love with you. Now, how +could he be in love with me also?" + +"Harry in love with me! O Agnes!" + +"You know it. Love cannot be hid. Only lovers look at a woman as I have +seen Harry look at you." + +"I do think Harry likes me, and I felt as if--I don't know what I felt, +Agnes. I am very unhappy." + +"Let me tell you what you felt. You said to yourself: if Harry was not +bound to Agnes he would be my lover; and Agnes does not care for him, +she does not treat him well, and yet she treats him too well to be doing +right to uncle Neil. You would include your uncle, because you would +feel it selfish to be wounded and disappointed only on your own +account." + +"You ought not to speak in that way, Agnes. Suppose I had such feelings, +it is not nice of you to put them into words so plain and rude." + +"I do not blame you, Maria. Your attitude is natural, and specially +womanly. It is I who have been wrong. I must now excuse myself to you; +once you said you could believe in me without explanations." + +"Forgive me, Agnes. I do not want explanations now." + +"For I have told you that Harry is my brother, not my lover. That is the +main fact, and accounts for all that specially troubles you. Now you +must know the whole truth. Harry was sent to England out of the way of +the war, for my father lives and moves in his being and welfare. But +Harry wanted to be in the thick of the war; he wanted the post of most +danger for his country's sake. He said he was ashamed to be in England; +that every American who could be in active service ought to be there, +because it might be, God intended to use just him. I gave in to all he +proposed; I had no heart to resist him. I only stipulated that come what +would, our father should not know he was in the country." + +"Why did you not tell me at first that he was your brother?" + +"Harry is handsome, and I was afraid you might be attracted by him; and +the secrecy and romance of the situation and the danger he was +constantly facing--these are things that capture a woman's imagination. +And marriage is such an important affair, I could not think it right to +run the risk of engaging you to Harry unknown to your father or friends. +I told Harry that you believed him to be my lover, and I was sure that +this belief would save you from thinking of him in any light but that of +a friend or brother." + +"It ought to have done, dear Agnes; it did do--but Harry." + +"I know, at Harry's second visit, if not at his first, he was your +lover; and I knew that this explanation must come. Now, I can only beg +you to keep the knowledge of Harry Bradley's presence in America +absolutely to yourself. I assure you, if father knew he was here and in +constant danger, he would be distracted." + +"But does he not suspect? He must wonder that Harry does not write to +him." + +"Harry does write. He sends letters to a friend in London, who re-mails +them to father. About three times a year father gets a London letter, +and that satisfies him. And he so little suspects Harry's presence in +America that the boy has passed his father on the street without the +slightest recognition on father's part; for he has more disguises than +you could believe possible. I have seen him as a poor country doctor, +buying medicines for his settlement; as an old schoolmaster, after a few +books and slates at Rivington's; and a week ago, I met him one day +shouting to the horses which were pulling a load of wood up Golden Hill. +And he has no more transitions than a score of other young men who serve +their country in this secret and dangerous manner. I can assure you +General Washington's agents go in and out of New York constantly, and it +is beyond the power of England to prevent them." + +"Suppose in some evil hour he should be suspected! Oh, Agnes!" + +"There are houses in every street in the city where a window or a door +is always left open. Harry told me he knew of sixteen, and that he +could pass from one to the other in safety." + +"Suppose he should be noticed on the river, at your landing or any +other." + +"He can swim like a fish and dive like a seal and run like a deer. The +river banks that look like a tangle to you and me, are clear as a +highway to Harry. And you know it is the East river that is watched; no +one thinks much about the water on this side; especially so near the +fort. I do not think Harry is in any great danger; and he will be mainly +on the river now for some months." + +"I wish I had not said a word, Agnes, I am so sorry! So sorry!" + +"We are always sorry when we doubt. I felt that you were mistrusting me, +and I promised Harry, on his last visit, to tell you the truth before he +came again. I have been waiting for you all week. I should have told you +to-day, even if you had not said a word." + +"I shall never forgive myself." + +"I was wrong also, Maria. I ought, at the first, to have trusted you +fully." + +"Or not trusted me at all, Agnes." + +"You are right, Maria." + +A great chagrin made Maria miserable. A little faith, a little patience, +and the information she had demanded in spirit unlovely and unloving, +would have come to her by Harry's desire, and with the affectionate +confidence of Agnes. But neither of the girls were fully satisfied or +happy, and the topic was dropped. Both felt that the matter would have +to rest, in order to clear itself, and Agnes was not unconscious of +those mute powers within, which, if left to themselves, clear +noiselessly away the débris of our disputes and disappointments. She +proposed a walk in the afternoon; she said she had shopping to do, and +if there was any news, they would likely hear it from some one. + +There was evidently news, and Agnes at once judged it unfavorable for +the royalists. The military were moving with sullen port; the houses +were generally closed, and the people on the streets not inclined to +linger or to talk. "We had better ask my father," she said, and they +turned aside to Bradley's store to make the inquiry. The saddler was +standing at the door talking to Lord Medway; and his eyes flashed an +instant's triumphant signal as they caught his daughter's glance of +inquiry. But he kept his stolid air, and when he found Lord Medway and +Maria so familiarly pleased to meet each other, he introduced Agnes and +gave a ready acquiescence to Lord Medway's proposal to walk with the +ladies home. + +Then, Maria, suddenly brilliant with a sense of her power, asked, "What +is the matter with the city this afternoon? Every one seems so depressed +and ill-humored." + +"We have lost Stony Point," answered Medway. "There was a midnight +attack by twelve hundred picked men. It was an incomparable deed of +daring. I would like to have been present. I said to General Clinton +when I heard the story, 'Such men are born to rule, and coming from the +stock they do, you will never subdue them!'" + +"Who led the attack?" asked Agnes. + +"Anthony Wayne, a brave daring man, they tell me. The Frenchman, De +Fleury, was first in, and he hauled down our flags. _Dash it!_ If it had +been an American, I would not have cared so much. Now, perhaps, Generals +Clinton and Tryon will understand the kind of men they have to fight. +When Americans fight Englishmen, it is Greek meeting Greek. Clinton +tells me the rebels have taken four thousand pounds' worth of ordnance +and stores and nearly seven hundred prisoners. Oh, you know a deed like +this makes even an enemy proud of the men who could do it!" + +"Was it a very difficult deed?" asked Maria. + +"I am told that Stony Point is a rock two hundred feet high, surrounded +by the Hudson River on three sides, and almost isolated from the land on +the fourth side by a marsh, which at high tide is two feet under water. +They reached the fort about midnight, and while one column drew the +defenders to the front by a rapid continuous fire, two other columns, +armed only with the bayonet, broke into the fort from opposite points. +In five minutes the rebels were rushing through every embrasure, and a +thousand tongues crying 'Victory'! There is no use belittling such an +affair. It was as brave a thing as ever men did, and I wish I had seen +the doing of it." + +In such conversation they passed up Maiden Lane, and by the ruins of +Trinity Church to the river side; all of them influenced by the tense +feeling which found no vocal outlet for its passion. Men and women would +appear for a moment at a window, and then disappear. They were American +patriots on the look-out to spread the good news. A flash from the +lifted eyes of Agnes was sufficient. Again they would meet two or three +royalists talking in a dejected, disparaging way of the victory; or else +blustering in anger over the supineness or inefficiency of their +generals. + +"I hope General Clinton will now find his soldiers some tougher work +than hay-making," sneered an irate old man who stopped Lord Medway. "If +he goes out hay-making, he ought to leave fighting men in the forts. Why +the commander at Stony Point--Colonel Johnson--I know him, had a wine +party, and the officers from Verplanck's Point were drinking with him, +when Wayne walked into their midst and made them all prisoners. I am +told the sentinels had been secured, the abatis removed, and the rebels +in the works before our fine soldiers knew an enemy was near. And it was +that tanner from Pennsylvania--that Dandy Wayne, that stole the march on +them! It makes me ashamed of our English troops, my lord! + +"Well, Mr. Smith, General Clinton will be in New York in a few days. +There will be many to call him to account, I have no doubt." + +In this electric atmosphere heart spoke to heart very readily, for in +the midst of great realities conventionalities are of so little +consequence, and genuine feeling, of any kind, forgets, or puts aside, +flatteries or compliments. So when they reached the Bradley house, Agnes +asked Lord Medway if he would enter and rest awhile? And he said he +would, and so sat talking about the war until it was tea-time for the +simple maidens, who ate their dinner at twelve o'clock. Then he saw +Agnes bring in the tray, and take out the china, and lay the round +table with a spotless nicety; and it delighted him to watch the homely +scene. Maria was knitting, and he turned her ball of pink yarn in his +hands and watched her face glow and smile and pout and change with every +fresh sentiment. Or, if he lifted his eyes from this picture, he could +look at Agnes, who had pinned a clean napkin across her breast, and was +cutting bread and butter in the wafer slices he approved. He wondered if +she would ask him to take tea with them; if she did not he was resolved +to ask himself. Then he noticed she had placed three cups on the tray, +and he was sure of her hospitality. + +It made him very happy, and he never once fell into the affectation of +talk and manner appropriate to a fashionable tea-table. He seemed to +enjoy both the rebel sentiments of Agnes, and the royalist temper of +Maria; and he treated both girls with such hearty deference and respect +as he did not always show to much more famous dames. And it was while +sitting at this tea-table he gave his heart without reserve to Maria +Semple. If he had any doubts or withdrawals, he abandoned them in that +happy hour, and said frankly to himself: + +"I will make her my wife. That is my desire and my resolve; and I will +not turn aside from it for anything, nor for any man living; Maria +Semple is the woman I love, no one else shall have her." + +In following out this resolve he understood the value of Agnes; and he +did all he could to gain her good-will. She was well disposed to give +it; her father's approval bespoke hers. A feeling of good comradeship +and confidence grew rapidly as they ate, and drank their tea, and talked +freely and without many reservations, for the sake of their political +feelings. So much so, that when Lord Medway rose to go, there came to +Agnes a sudden fear and chill. She looked at him apprehensively, and +while he held her hand, she said: + +"Lord Medway, Maria and I have been very sincere with you, but I am sure +our sincerity cannot wrong us, in your keeping." + +This was not very explicit, but he understood her meaning. He laid his +hand upon the table at which they had eaten, and said: "It is an altar +to faith and friendship. When I am capable of repeating anything said at +the table where I sit as guest, I shall be lost to truth and honor, and +be too vile to remember." He spoke with force, and with a certain +eloquence, very different from his usual familiar manner, and both Agnes +and Maria showed him in their shining eyes and confiding air how surely +they believed in him. + +After this event there was continual excitement in the city, and General +Clinton returned to it at once. He called in the little army he had +cutting grass for winter fodder, and with twenty thousand troops shut +himself up in New York. + +"For once the man has been employing himself well and wiselike," said +Madame Semple. "He has cut all the grass, and cured all the grass round +about Rye, and White Plains, and New Rochelle, and East Chester, and a +few other places; and he has left it all ahint him. What a wiselike +wonderfu' man is General Sir Henry Clinton!" + +"And the rebels have carried off the last wisp o' hay he made," said the +Elder angrily. "They were on the vera heels o' our soldiers. It's beyond +believing! It's just the maist mortifying thing that ever happened us." + +Madame looked pityingly at her husband, raised her shoulders to +emphasize the look, and then in a thin voice, quavering a little with +her weakness and emotion, began to sing to herself from that old +translation of the Psalms so dear to every Scottish heart: + + "Kings of great armies foiled were + And forced to flee away; + And women who remained at home + Did distribute the prey. + God's chariots twenty thousand are, + Thousands of angels strong." + +"Janet! Janet! Will you sing some kind o' calming verse? The Lord is +naething but a _man of war_ in your thoughts. Do you believe He goes +through the earth wi' a bare, lifted sword in His hand?" + +"Whiles He does, Alexander. And the light from that lifted sword +lightens the earth. I hae tasted o' the goodness of the Lord; I know of +old His tender mercy, and His loving kindness, but in these awfu' days, +I am right glad to think o' Him as _The Lord of Hosts!_ He is sure to be +on the right side, and He can make of one man a thousand, and of a +handful, a great multitude." + +"It's a weary warld." + +"But just yet there's nae better one, my dear auld man! So we may as +well tak' cheerfully what good comes to-day, there will be mair +to-morrow, or I'm far wrang." + +If Janet's "to-morrow" be taken as she meant it to be taken, her set +time was long enough for other startling events. Tryon's expedition was +ordered back to New York, and Quentin Macpherson brought the news of his +own return. He did not meet with as warm a welcome as he hoped for. +Madame was contemptuous and indignant over the ravaging character of the +expedition. The Elder said they had "alienated royalists without +intimidating rebels"; and Maria looked critically at the young soldier, +and thought him less handsome than she had supposed: the expedition, so +cowardly and cruel, had been demoralizing and had left its mark on the +young man. He was disappointed, jealous, offended; he had an overweening +opinion of the nobility of his family and not a very modest one as to +his own deserts. He was also tenacious, and the thing he desired grew in +value as it receded from his grasp; so, although angry at Maria, he had +no idea of relinquishing his suit for her hand. + +She kept as much as possible out of his company, and this was not +difficult. The troops were constantly on the alert, for one piece of bad +news, for the royalists, followed another. A month after the capture of +Stony Point, the rebels took Paulus Hook in a midnight attack. This fort +had been most tenaciously held by the English from the earliest days of +the war, it being the only safe landing-place in Jersey for their +foraging parties. It was within sight of New York, and almost within +reach of its guns. The shame and anger of the royalist burghers was +unspeakable; they would have openly insulted the military, if they had +dared to do so. + +About two weeks later came the news of Sullivan's sweeping victory over +the Six Nations of Indians under Sir John Johnson and the Indian Chief, +Brandt. The Americans turned their country into a desert, and drove the +whole people in headlong flight as far as Niagara. This Autumn also was +rendered remarkable by the astonishing success of the American +privateers; never had they been at once so troublesome and so fortunate. +So that there was plenty for every one to talk about, if there had been +neither lovers nor love-making in the land. But it seemed as if Love +regarded the movement of great armies and the diplomacies of great +nations, as the proper background and vehicles for his expression. While +Medway was talking, or fishing, or hunting with Clinton, he was thinking +of Maria. While Macpherson was inspecting his company, he was thinking +of Maria. While Harry was traversing the woods and the waters, he was +thinking of Maria. And while Neil Semple was drawing out titles, and +making arguments in Court, he was always conscious of the fact that his +happiness was bound up in the love of Agnes Bradley. On every side also, +other lovers were wooing and wedding. The sound of trumpets did not +sadden the music of the marriage feast, nor did the bridal dance tarry a +moment for the tramp of marching soldiers. All the chances and changes +of war were but ministers of Love, and did his pleasure. + +In the meantime John Bradley was stitching his saddles, and praying and +working for Washington, the idol of his hopes, quite unconscious of how +completely his home had been confiscated to the service of love and +lovers. No house in all the restless city seemed less likely to be the +rendezvous of meeting hearts; and yet quite naturally, and by the force +of the simplest circumstances, it had assumed this character. It began +with Maria. Her beauty and charm had given her three lovers, who were, +all of them, men with sufficient character to find, or to make a way to +her presence. But every movement, whether of the body or the soul, +takes, by a certain law, the direction in which there is the least +resistance; and the road of least resistance to Maria, was by way of +Agnes Bradley. + +At the Semple house, Madame was a barrier Medway could not pass. She +told Maria plainly, "no English lord should cross her doorstep." She +could not believe in his good heart, or his good sense, and she asked +scornfully, "how a close friend of General Clinton's could be fit +company for an American girl? He has nae charm for touching pitch +without being defiled," she said, "and I'll not hae him sitting on my +chairs, and putting his feet on my hearth, and fleching and flattering +you in my house while my name is Janet Semple. And you may tell him I +said so." + +And in order to prevent Madame giving her own message, Maria was +compelled to confess to Lord Medway, her grandmother's antagonism. He +was politely sorry for her dislike to Englishmen--for he preferred to +accept it as a national, rather than a personal feeling; but it did not +interfere with his intentions. There was Miss Bradley. She had a kind +feeling toward him, and Maria spent a large part of every day with her +friend. By calling on Miss Bradley he could see Miss Semple. As the +best means toward this end he cultivated Agnes through her father. He +talked with him, listened to his experiences, and gave him subscriptions +for Wesley Chapel, and for the prisoners he could find means to help. He +made such a good impression on John Bradley, that he told his daughter +he felt sure the good seed he had sown would bring forth good fruit in +its season. + +Macpherson had a certain welcome at the Semples, but he could not strain +it. Madame was not well, company fatigued her, and, though he did not +suspect this reason, she was feeling bitterly that she must give up her +life-long hospitality--she could not afford to be hospitable any longer. +She did not tell Maria this, she said rather, "the laddie wearied her +mair than once a week. She wasna strong, and she didna approve o' his +excuses for General Clinton. I could tear them all to ravlins," she +said, angrily, "but I wad tear mysel' to pieces doing it. He has the +reiving, reiving Highland spirit, and nae wonder! The Macphersons have +carried fire and sword for centuries." + +As for Harry Deane, he, of course, could not come at all, though Madame +might have borne him more than once a week, if she had been trusted. But +Harry was as uncertain as the wind. He came when no one looked for him, +and when he was expected, he was miles away. So there was no possible +neutral ground for Love but such as Agnes in her good-nature and wisdom +would allow. But Agnes was not difficult. Neil Semple had taught her the +sweetness and clemency of love, and she would not deprive Maria of +those pleasant hours, with which so many days were brightened that would +otherwise have been dull and monotonous. For, during the summer's heat +the royalist families, who could afford to do so, left the city, and the +little tea parties at Agnes Bradley's were nearly the only entertainment +at Maria's command. + +These were informal and often delightful. Lord Medway knew that about +five o'clock Agnes would be setting the tea-tray, and he liked to sit +beside Maria and watch her do it. And sometimes Maria made the tea, and +poured his out, and put in the sugar and cream with such enchanting +smiles and ways that he vowed never tea in this world tasted so +refreshing and delicious. And not infrequently Quentin Macpherson would +come clattering in when the meal had begun, take a chair at the round +table, and drinking his tea a little awkwardly, soothe his self-esteem +by an aggressive self-importance. For Lord Medway's nonchalant manner +provoked him to such personal assertion as always mortified when the +occasion was over. About half-past seven was Neil's hour, and then the +conversation became general, and love found all sorts of tender +occasions; every glance of meeting eyes, and every clasp of meeting +hands, bearing the one sweet message, "I love you, dear!" + +It was usually in the morning that Harry came springing up the garden +path. There was neither work nor lessons that day, nor any pretense of +them. Harry had too much to tell, and both Agnes and Maria hung upon his +words as if they held the secret of life and happiness. Now, granted two +beautiful girls with a moderate amount of freedom, and four lovers in +that pleasantly painful condition between hope and fear that people in +love make, if it is not made for them, and put all in a position where +they have the accessories of sunlight and moonlight, a shady garden, a +noble river, the scent of flowers, the goodness of fine fruit, the +pleasures of the tea-table, and if these young people do not advance in +the sweet study their hearts set them, they must be either coldly +indifferent, or stupidly selfish. + +This company of lovers was however neither stupid nor selfish. In the +midst of war's alarms, while fleets and armies were gathering for +battle, they were attending very faithfully to their own little drama. +Quentin Macpherson had one advantage over both his rivals: he went to +the Semple house every Sunday evening, and then he had Maria wholly +under his influence. He walked in the garden with her, she made his tea +for him, he sat by her side during the evening exercise, sung the psalm +from the same Bible, and then, rising with the family, stood, as one of +them, while the Elder offered his anxious yet trustful prayer. It was +Madame who had thought of connecting this service with the young +soldier. "It is little good he can get from thae Episcopals," she said, +"and it's your duty, Alexander, to gie him a word in season," and though +Macpherson was mainly occupied in watching Maria, and listening to her +voice, he had been too well grounded in his faith not to be sensible of +the sacredness of those few minutes, and to be insensibly influenced by +their spirit. + +Neil was never present. When the tea-table was cleared, he went quietly +out, and those who cared to follow him would have been led to the little +Wesleyan Chapel on John Street. He always took the same seat in a pew +near the door, and there he worshipped for an hour or two the beautiful +daughter of John Bradley. He was present to watch them enter. Sometimes +the father went to the pulpit, sometimes he went with Agnes to the +singing-pew. And to hear these two translating into triumphant song the +holy aspirations and longings of Watts and Wesley, was reason enough for +any one who loved music to be in Wesley Chapel when they were singing +together. + +All who have ever loved, all who yet dream of love, can tell the further +story of those summer days for themselves. They have only to keep in +mind that it had a constant obligato of trumpets and drums and marching +men, and a constant refrain, made up of all the rumors of war, victory, +and defeat; good news and bad news, fear, and hope, and sighing despair. +At length the warm weather gave place to the dreamy hours of the Indian +summer. A heavenly veil of silvery haze lay over the river and the city; +a veil which seemed to deaden every sound but the shrill chirping of the +crickets; and a certain sense of peace calmed for a short time the most +restless hearts. The families who had been at various places during the +hot months returned to their homes in New York, with fresh dreams of +conquest and pleasure, for as yet the terrors of the coming winter were +not taken into thought or account. The war was always going to be "over +very soon," and General Clinton assured the butterflies of his military +court they might eat, drink, and be merry, for he intended at once to +"strike such a blow as would put an end to confederated rebellion for +ever." And they gladly believed him. + +In less than a week Maria received half-a-dozen invitations to dinners, +dances, card parties, and musical recitations. She began at once to look +over her gowns, and Agnes came every day to the Semple house to assist +in remodeling and retrimming them. They were delightful days long to be +remembered. Both the Elder and Madame enjoyed them quite as much as the +girls; and even Neil entered into the discussions about colors, and the +suitability of guimpes and fringes, with a smiling gravity that was very +attractive. + +"Uncle Neil thinks he is taking depositions and weighing evidence; see +how the claims of pink and amber perplex him!" and then Neil would laugh +a little, and decide in such haste that he generally contradicted his +first opinion. + +The Sunday in this happy week was made memorable by the news which +Quentin Macpherson brought. "Some one," he said, "had whispered to +General Clinton that it was the intention of Washington to unite with +the French army and besiege New York, and Clinton had immediately +ordered the troops garrisoning Rhode Island to return to the city with +all possible speed. And would you believe it, Elder?" said the young +soldier, "they came so hastily that they left behind them all the wood +they had cut for winter, and all the forage and stores provided for six +thousand men. No sooner were they out of sight than the American army +slipped in and took possession of everything; and now it appears that +it was a false report--the general is furious, and is looking for the +author of it." + +"He needna look very far," answered Semple. "There is a man that dips +his sop in the dish wi' him, and that coils him round his finger wi' a +mouthful o' words, wha could maist likely give him the whole history o' +the matter, for he'll be at the vera beginning o' it." + +"Do you mean to say, sir, that our Commander-in-Chief has a traitor for +his friend and confidant and adviser?" + +"I mean to say all o' that. But where will you go and not find +Washington's emissaries beguiling thae stupid English?" + +"You cannot call the English stupid, sir." + +"I can and I will. They are sae sure o' their ain power and wisdom that +they are mair than stupid. They are ridic'lus. It makes them the easy +tools of every clever American that is willing to take a risk--and they +maist o' them are willing." + +"But when the English realize----" + +"Aye, _when_ they realize!" + +"Well, sir, they came to realization last month splendidly in that +encounter with the privateer, Paul Jones. It was the grandest seafight +ever made between seadogs of the same breed. Why, the muzzles of their +guns touched each other; the ships were nearly torn to pieces, and +three-fourths of the men killed or wounded. Gentlemen, too, as well as +fighters though but lowborn men, for I am told they began the combat +with a courtesy worthy of the days of chivalry. Both captains bowed and +remained uncovered until the foremost guns of the English ship bore on +the starboard quarter of the American. Then Captain Paul Jones put on +his hat, as a sign that formalities were over, and the battle began, and +raged until the English ship was sinking; then she surrendered." + +"Mair's the pity!" said the Elder, "she ought to have gone down +fighting." + +"She saved the great fleet of merchantmen she was convoying from the +Baltic; while she was fighting the American every one of them got safe +away and into port, and the American ship went down two days +afterward--literally died of her wounds and went down to her grave. And +by the bye, Mr. Semple, this Paul Jones is a countryman of ours--a +Scotchman." + +"Aye, is he!--from Kirkcudbright. I was told he had an intention o' +sacking Edinburgh. Fair, perfect nonsense!" + +"An old friend of the Macphersons--Stuart of Invernalyle--was sought out +to defend the town. I had a letter from the family." + +"Weel, Stuart could tak' that job easy. The west wind is a vera reliable +one in the Firth o' Edinburgh, and it is weel able, and extremely +likely, to defend its ain city. In fact, it did do so, for Paul couldna +win near, and so he went 'north about' and found the Baltic fleet with +the _Serapis_ guarding it. Weel, then, he had his fight, though he lost +the plunder. But it was a ridic'lus thing in any mortal, menacing the +capital o' Scotland wi' three brigs that couldna have sacked a Fife +fishing village! And what is mair," added the old man with a tear +glistening in his eyes, "he wouldna have hurt Leith or Edinburgh. Not +he! Scots may love America, but they never hate their ain dear Scotland; +they wouldna hurt the old land, not even in thought. If put to the +question, all o' them would say, as David o' Israel and David o' +Scotland baith said, 'let my right hand forget its cunning----' you ken +the rest, and if you don't, it will do you good to look up the 137th +Psalm." + +The stir of admiration concerning these and other events--all favorable +to the Americans--irritated General Clinton and made him much less +courteous in his manner to both friends and foes. And, moreover, it was +not pleasant for him to know that General Washington was entertaining +the first French Minister to the United States at Newburgh, and that +John Jay was then on his way to Madrid to complete with the Spanish +government terms of recognition and alliance. So that even through the +calmness of these Indian summer days there were definite echoes of +defeat and triumph, whether expressed publicly or discussed so privately +that the bird of the air found no whisper to carry. + +One day at the end of October, Agnes did not come until the afternoon, +and Maria rightly judged that Harry was in New York. There was no need +to tell her so, the knowledge was an intuition, and when Agnes said to +Madame, "she had a friend, and would like Maria to bring the pelerine +they were retrimming to her house, and spend the evening with her," no +objection was made. "I shall miss you baith; so will the Elder," she +answered, "but I dare say that English lord is feeling I have had mair +than my share o' your company." + +"Oh, Madame!" said Agnes, "it is not the English lord, it is a true +American boy from--up the river," and Agnes opened her eyes wide as she +lifted them to Madame's, and there was some sort of instantaneous and +satisfactory understanding. Then she added, "Will you ask Mr. Neil +Semple to come for Maria about eight o'clock?" + +"There will be nae necessity to ask him. His feet o' their ain accord +will find their way to your house, Agnes," said Madame. "Before he has +told himsel' where he is going he will be at your doorstep. He must be +very fond o' his niece Maria--or of somebody else," and the old lady +smiled pleasantly at the blushing girl. Then both girls kissed Madame +and stopped at the garden gate to speak to the Elder, and so down the +road together full of happy expectation, divining nothing of _One_ who +went forth with them. How should they? Neither had ever seen the face of +sorrow or broke with her the ashen crust. They were not aware of her +presence and they heard not the stir of her black mantle trailing upon +the dust and the dead leaves as she walked at their side. + +"Harry will be here for tea," said Agnes, when they reached the house, +and a soft, delightful sense of pleasure to come pervaded the room as +they sat sewing and talking until it was time to set the table. And as +soon as Agnes began this duty there was a peculiar whistle, and Maria +glanced at Agnes, threw aside her work, and went down the garden to meet +her lover. He was tying his boat to the little jetty, and when the duty +was done they sat down on the wooden steps and talked of this, and that, +and of everything but love, and yet everything they said was a +confession of their interest in each other. But the truest love has +often the least to say, and those lovers are to be doubted and pitied +who must always be seeking assurances, for thus they sow the path of +love with thorns. Far happier are they who leave something unsaid, who +dare to enter into that living silence which clasps hearts like a book +of songs unsung. They will sing them all, but not all at once. One by +one, as their hour comes, they will learn them together. + +That calm, sweet afternoon was provocative of this very mood. Maria and +Harry sat watching the river rocking the boat, and listening to the +chirruping of the crickets, and both were satisfied with their own +silence. It was a heavenly hour, hushed and halcyon, full of that lazy +happiness which is the most complete expression of perfect love. When +Agnes called, they walked hand in hand up the garden, and at the +tea-table came back again into the world. Harry had much to tell them, +and was full of confidence in the early triumph of the Americans. + +"Then I hope we shall have peace, and all be friends again," said Maria. +She spoke a little wearily, as if she had no faith in her words, and +Harry answered her doubt rather than her hope. + +"There will not be much friendship this generation," he said; "things +have happened between England and America which men will remember until +they forget themselves." + +After tea, Harry said, "Maria is going with me to the river to see if +the boat is safe," and Agnes, smiling, watched them a little way; then +turned again to her china, and without any conscious application began +to sing softly the aria of an old English anthem by King: + +"I went down into the garden of nuts, to see whether the pomegranates +budded--to see whether the pomegranates--the pomegranates budded,"[1] +but suddenly, even as her voice rose and fell sweetly to her thoughts, a +strange chill arrested the flow of the melody; and she was angry at +herself because she had inadvertently wondered, "if the buds would ever +open full and flowerwise?" + + [1] "Solomon's Song," 6:11. + +In about half an hour Agnes, having finished her house duties, went to +the door opening into the garden and called Harry and Maria. They turned +toward the house when they heard her voice, and she remained in the open +door to watch them come through the tall box-shrubs and the many-colored +asters. And as she did so, Quentin Macpherson reached the front +door--which also stood open--and perceiving Agnes, he did not knock, but +waited for her to turn inward. Consequently he saw Harry and Maria, and +did not fail to notice the terms of affectionate familiarity between +them. The fire of jealousy was kindled in a moment; he strode forward to +meet the company, and was received with the usual friendly welcome; for +such a situation had often been spoken of as possible, and Agnes was not +in the least disconcerted. + +"My friend, Mr. Harry Deane, Captain Macpherson," she said, without +hesitation, and the Captain received the introduction with his most +military air. Then Agnes set herself to keep the conversation away from +the war, but that was an impossible thing; every incident of life +somehow or other touched it, and before she realized the fact, Harry was +deprecating Tryon's outrages in Connecticut, and Macpherson defending +them on the ground that "the towns destroyed had fitted out most of the +privateers which had so seriously interfered with English commerce. Both +the building of the ships and the destruction of the towns for building +them are natural incidents of war," he said, and then pointedly, +"perhaps you are a native of Connecticut?" + +"No," answered Harry, "I am a native of New York." + +"Ah! I have not met you before." + +"I am a great deal away----" then receiving from Agnes a look of anxious +warning, he thought it best to take his leave. Agnes rose and went to +the door with him, and Maria wished Captain Macpherson anywhere but in +her society; especially as he began to ask her questions she did not +wish to answer. + +"So Miss Bradley has a lover?" he said, looking pointedly at the couple +as they left the room. + +"I used to think so once," answered Maria. + +"But not now?" + +"But not now. Mr. Deane is an old friend, a playmate even." + +"I suppose he is a King's man?" + +"Ask him; he is still standing at the gate. I talk to him on much +pleasanter subjects." + +"Love, for instance?" + +"Perhaps." + +"How can you be so cruel, Maria?" + +"It is _Miss Semple's_ nature to be cruel." + +The reproof snubbed him, and both were silent for some minutes; then the +same kind of desultory fencing was renewed, and Maria felt the time to +be long and the tension unendurable. She could have cried out with +anger. Why had not Agnes let her go to the door with Harry? She had had +no opportunity to bid him "good-bye"; and yet, even after Harry had +gone, there Agnes stood at the gate, "watching for Uncle Neil, of +course," thought Maria, "and no doubt she has a message for me; she +might come and give it to me--very likely Harry is at the boat waiting +for me--oh, dear! Why does she not come?" + +With such thoughts urging her, the very attitude of Agnes was beyond +endurance. She stood at the gate as still as if she was a part of it, +and at length Maria could bear the delay no longer. + +"I wish to speak to Agnes," she said, "will you permit me a moment?" + +"Certainly," he answered with an air of offense. "I fear I am in the way +of some one or something." + +"Oh, no, no!" cried Maria, decisively. "I only want to make her come in. +She says the night air is so unhealthy, and yet there she stands in +it--bareheaded, too." + +"It is an unusually warm evening." + +"Yes, but you know there is the malaria. I shall bring her in a moment, +you shall see how quickly I am obeyed." + +In unison with these words, she rose in a hurry, and as she did so there +came through the open window a little stone wrapped in white paper. If +she had not moved, it would have fallen into her lap; as it was, it fell +on the floor and almost at the feet of Macpherson. He lifted it, and +went to the candle. It was a message, as he expected, and read thus: + +_"Keep that Scot amused for an hour, and meet me at Semple's landing at +nine o'clock. Harry."_ + +"Oh! Oh!" he said with an intense inward passion. "I am to be amused! I +am to be cajoled! deceived! _that Scot_ is to be used for some purpose, +and by St. Andrew, I'll wager it is treason. This affair must be looked +into--quick, too." With this thought he put the paper in his pocket, and +followed Maria to the gate where she stood talking with Agnes. + +"I will bid you good-night," he said with a purposed air of offense. "I +am sure that I am an intruder on more welcome company." + +He would listen to no explanations or requests. Maria became suddenly +kind, and assumed the prettiest of her coaxing ways, but he knew she was +only "amusing" him, and he would not respond to what he considered her +base, alluring treachery. + +"There, now, Maria! You have been very foolish," said Agnes. "Captain +Macpherson is angry. You ought to have been particularly kind to him +to-night--after Harry." + +"You were so selfish, Agnes--so unreasonably selfish! You might have let +me go to the gate with Harry. I never had a chance to say 'good-bye' to +him; there you stood, watching for Uncle Neil, and I was on pins and +needles of anxiety. Why didn't you stay with the man, and let me go to +the gate?" + +"If you must know why; I had some money to give Harry. Could I do that +before Captain Macpherson?" + +"I hate the man! I am glad he has gone! I hope he will never come +again!" + +"I do not think he will, Maria." + +They went into the house thoroughly vexed with each other, and Maria +said in a tone of pique or offense, "I wonder what delays my uncle! I +wish he would come!" + +In reality Neil was no later than usual, but Maria was quivering with +disappointment and annoyance, and when he did arrive it was not possible +for any one to escape the influence of an atmosphere charged with the +miserable elements of frustrated happiness. Maria was not a girl to bear +disagreeable things alone or in silence. She would talk only of +Macpherson and his unwelcome visit; "but he always did come when he was +not wanted," she said angrily. "Last Sunday when grandmother was sick, +and I was writing a long letter to father, and nobody cared to see him +at all, enter Captain Macpherson with his satisfied smile, and his +clattering sword, and his provoking air of conferring a favor on us by +his company. I hate the creature! And I think it is a dreadful thing to +make set days for people's visits; we have all got to dislike Sunday +afternoons, just for his sake!" and so on, with constant variations. + +Fortunately Mr. Bradley came home soon after eight o'clock, and Maria +would not make any further delay. She had many reasons for her hurry, +but undoubtedly the chief one, was a feeling that Agnes ought not to +have the pleasure of a conversation between her father and her lover, +and probably a walk home with her, and then a walk back with Neil alone. +She would go at once, and she would not ask Agnes to go with her. If she +was disappointed, it was only a just retribution for her selfishness +about Harry. And though she noticed Agnes was depressed and cast down, +she was not appeased; "However, I will come in the morning and make all +right," she thought; "to-night Agnes may suffer a little. I will come in +the morning and make all right." + +Yes, she would come in the morning, but little she dreamed on what +errand she would come. Still, Maria is not to be blamed over much; there +is some truth in every reproach that is made. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE INTERCEPTED MESSAGE. + + +While this unhappy interlude was passing, a far greater sorrow was +preparing. Captain Macpherson went at once to his colonel with the +pebble-sent note. He told himself that his duty to his King and his +colors demanded it, and that no harm could come to the two women except +such as was reflected from the trouble that saucy young man might be +entitled to. He had no objections to giving him trouble; he felt that he +ought to be made to understand a little better what was due to an +officer of the King. _"That Scot!"_ He flung his plaid passionately over +his shoulder and stamped his foot with the offended temper of centuries +of Macphersons. As for Maria, he would not think of her. He could not +know what the consequences of the interrupted tryst would be, but let +her take them! A girl who could prefer quite a common-looking young man +to himself needed a lesson. He said over and over that he had only done +a duty he would have performed under any circumstances; and he kept +reiterating the word "duty,"--still he knew right well that duty in this +case had been powerfully seconded by jealousy and by his personal +offense. + +What action his colonel would take he knew not. He desired to be excused +from any part in it, because of the Semple's hospitality to him. His +request was granted; and then he went to his rooms hot with uncertain +excitement. The colonel had no sentimental reasons for ignoring what +might prove a valuable arrest. Nothing had provoked General Clinton more +than the ubiquitous nature of Washington's spies. They were everywhere; +they were untiring, unceasing and undaunted. The late reverses, which +had mortified every English soldier, had been undoubtedly brought about +by the false reports they spread,--no one knew by whose assistance,--and +this night might be a turning-point in affairs. + +He ordered ten picked men to wait for the boat at Semple's landing. The +place was easily reached; they had but to walk to the bottom of the +fence, climb over it, and secrete themselves in the little boathouse, or +among the shrubbery, if it had yet foliage enough to screen them. He +looked over his roll of suspects and found Madame Semple's name among +them. Likely enough, her family sympathized with her. It would at least +be prudent to secure the husband and son. If they were good royalists, +they could easily prove it. Then he sat down to smoke and to drink +brandy; he, too, had done his duty, and was not troubled at all about +results. The Semples, to him, were only two or three out of sixty +thousand reputed royalists in the city. If they were honest, they had +little to fear; if they were traitors, they deserved all they would +certainly get from Clinton in his present surly mood. + +Quite unconscious of what was transpiring, John Bradley was eating a +frugal supper of oatmeal and bread and cheese, and telling his daughter +about a handsome saddle that was going up the river to "the man in all +the world most worthy of it." Elder Semple was asleep, and Madame, lying +in the darkness, was softly praying away her physical pain and her +mental anxieties. Suddenly she heard an unusual stir and the prompt, +harsh voices of men either quarreling or giving orders. + +"It is on our ain place!" and a sick terror assailing her, she cried: +"Wake up! Wake up, Alexander! There's men at the door, and angry men, +and they're calling you!" + +Neil, who was sitting dressed in his room, instantly answered the +summons, and was instantly under arrest; and as no effort was made to +prevent noise or confusion, the tumult and panic soon reached Maria. She +was combing her hair to fretful thoughts, and a keen sense of +disappointment; but when Madame entered the room wringing her hands and +lamenting loudly, she let the comb fall and stood up trembling with +apprehension. + +"Maria! Maria! They are taking your grandfather and uncle to prison! Oh, +God, my dear auld man! My dear auld man!" + +"Grandmother! What are you saying? You must be mistaken--you must be!" + +"Come, and see for yoursel';" and Madame flung open the window and with +a shriek of futile distress cried, "Alexander, look at me! Speak to me." + +At these words the Elder, who was standing with a soldier, lifted his +face to the distracted woman, in her white gown at the open window, and +cried to her: + +"Janet, my dearie, you'll get your death o' cold. It is a' a mistake. Go +to your bed, dear woman. I'll be hame in the morning." + +Neil repeated this advice, and then there was a sharp order and a small +body of men marched forward, and in their midst Harry walked bareheaded +and manacled. He tried to look up, for he had heard the colloquy between +the Elder and his wife, and understood Maria might be also at the +window; but as he turned his head a gigantic Highlander struck him with +the flat of his sword, and as the blow fell rattling on the youth's +shoulder Maria threw up her hands with a shriek and fell into a chair +sobbing. + +"Dinna cry that way, Maria, my dearie; they'll be hame in the morning." + +"Yes, yes, grandmother! It was the blow on that last prisoner. Did you +see it? Did you hear it? Oh, what a shame!" + +"Poor lad! I know naething about him; but he is in a terrible sair +strait." + +"What is he doing here in our house? Surely you know, grandmother?" + +"I know naething about him. He is doubtless one o' Washington's +messengers--there's plenty o' them round. Why he came near us is mair +than I can say." Then a sudden fear made her look intently at Maria, and +she asked, "Do you think your Uncle Neil has turned to the American +cause?" + +"Oh, grandmother, how can you?" + +"He has been so much wi' that Agnes Bradley. My heart misgave me at the +first about her. Neil is in love, and men in love do anything." + +"Uncle Neil is as true a royalist as grandfather." + +"See, then, what they have, baith o' them, got for standing by King +George. It serves them right! It serves them right! O dear, dear me! +What shall we do?" + +Two weary hours were spent in such useless conversation; then Madame, +being perfectly exhausted, was compelled to go to bed. "We can do +naething till morning," she said; "and Neil will hae his plans laid by +that time. They will be to bail, doubtless; and God knows where the +friends and the money are to come from. But there's plenty o' time for +grief to-morrow; go and sleep an hour or two now." + +"And you, grandmother? What will you do?" + +"He who never fails will strengthen me. When the morn comes I shall be +able for all it can bring. This was such a sudden blow I lost my grip." + +Alone in her room, Maria felt the full force of the sudden blow. +Although Harry's note had missed her, she understood that he had been +waiting for a few words with her. Twice before she had been in the +garden when he passed up the river, and he had landed and spent a +delicious half-hour with her. She was sure now that he had been as much +disappointed as herself, and had hoped she would come and say good-bye +as soon as she reached home. But who had betrayed him? And why was her +grandfather and uncle included in his arrest? + +For some time she could think of nothing but her lover walking so +proudly in the midst of his enemies; reviled by them, struck by them, +yet holding his head as authoritatively as if he was their captain, +rather than their prisoner. Then she remembered Agnes, and at first it +was with anger. "If she had not been so selfish, Harry would not have +needed to take such a risk!" she cried. "It is dreadful! dreadful! And +just as soon as it is light I must go and tell her. Her father must now +know all; he ought to have been told long ago. I shall insist on her +telling now, for Harry's life is first of all, and his father has power +some way or other." + +Thus through the long hours she wept and complained and blamed Agnes and +even herself, and perhaps most of all was angry with the intrusive +Macpherson, whose unwelcome presence had been the cause of the trouble. +And, oh! what arid torturing vigils are those where God is not! Madame +lying on her bed with her hands folded over her breast and thoughts +heavenward, was at peace compared with this tumultuous little heart in +the midst of doubt, darkness, and the terror of dreadful death for one +dear to her. She knew not what to abandon, nor what to defend; her brain +seemed stupefied by calamity so inevitable. And yet, it was not +inevitable; it had depended for many minutes on herself. A word, a look, +and Agnes would have understood her desire; and half a dozen times +before she had made the movement which was just _too late;_ her heart +had urged her to call her friend. But she had doubted, wavered, and +delayed, and so given to Destiny the very weapons that were used against +her. + +As soon as the morning dawned she dressed herself. Before her +grandmother came down stairs it was imperative on her to see Agnes and +tell her what had happened. A dismal, anxious stillness had succeeded +the storm of her terror and grief; a feeling of outrage, of resentment +against events, and an agony of love and pity, as she remembered Harry +smitten and helpless in the power of a merciless foe. She had now one +driving thought and purpose--the release of her lover. She must save the +life he had risked for her sake, though she gave her own for it. + +As she went through the gray dawning she was sensitive to some +antagonism, even in Nature. The unseasonable warmth of the previous +evening had been followed by a frost. The faded grass snapped under her +fleet steps, the last foliage had withered during the night, and was +black and yellow as death, and everything seemed to shiver in the pale +light. And though the waning moon yet hung low in the west, and all the +mystery and majesty of earth was round her, Maria was only conscious of +the chill terror in her heart, and of the chill, damp mist from the +river which enfolded her like a cloak, and was the very atmosphere of +sorrow. + +When she reached the Bradley home all was shut and still; the very house +seemed to be asleep, but why did its closed door affect her so +painfully? She went round to the kitchen and found the slave woman +Mosella bending over a few blazing chips, making herself a cup of tea. +The woman looked at her wonderingly, and when Maria said, "Mosella, I +must see Miss Agnes at once," she rose without a word and opened the +garden door of the house. The shutters were all closed, the stairway +dim, and the creaking of the steps under her feet made her quiver. It +was an hour too early for light and life, and a noiseless noise around +her seemed to protest against this premature invasion of the day. + +She entered the room of her friend very softly. It was breathless, +shadowy, and on the white bed Agnes was lying, asleep. For a moment +Maria stood looking at the orderly place and the unconscious woman. The +pure pallor of her cheeks had the flush of healthy sleep; her brown +hair, braided, lay loose upon her pillow, her white hands upon the white +coverlet. She was the image of deep, dreamless, peaceful oblivion. It +seemed a kind of wrong to awaken her; but though the eyes of Agnes were +closed, Maria's gaze called to the soul on guard behind them, and +without one premonitory movement she opened them wide and saw Maria at +her bedside. A quick fear leaped into her heart. She was momentarily +speechless. She laid her hand on Maria's arm, and looked at her with +apprehending inquiry. + +_"Harry!"_ said Maria, and then she sat down and covered her face and +began to cry softly. There was no necessity to say more. Agnes +understood. She rose and began to dress herself, and in a few minutes +asked, though almost in a whisper: + +"Is he taken?" + +"Yes." + +"Where?" + +"At our landing." + +"When?" + +"Last night." + +"Why did you not send me word last night? Neil would have come." + +"Neil was arrested, and also my dear old grandfather. It is shameful! +shameful!" + +"What was Harry doing at your landing?" + +"I don't know. I was in my room. I was half-undressed, combing my hair +out, when grandmother rushed to me with the news. It is not my fault, +Agnes." + +"Did you ever meet Harry at your landing, Maria?" + +"Only twice, both times in the daylight. He was passing and happened to +see me. There was no tryst between us; and I know nothing about last +night, except----" + +"Except what?" + +"That if you had given him a chance to say 'Good-bye' to me here, he +would not have thought of stopping at our landing; but," she added in a +weary voice, "you were watching for Uncle Neil, and so, of course, you +forgot other people." + +"Don't be cruel, Maria, as well as unjust." + +"All the same, it is the truth." + +"How was he discovered? You surely know that?" + +"No, I do not. There were at least ten or twelve soldiers--Highlanders. +One of them struck Harry." + +"Oh, why do you tell me? Who could have betrayed him? Macpherson? You +know you offended him." + +"It could not be Macpherson. He never saw Harry before. He knew nothing +about him. He thought his name was Deane. If it had been Macpherson, +your landing, not ours, would have been watched." + +"No; for he saw you and Harry coming through the garden hand-in-hand. I +am sure he did. He went away in a fit of jealousy, and he would think of +your landing as well as ours. But all that is nothing. We have but a few +hours in which to try and save his life. I must awake father and tell +him. It will break his heart." + +"You ought to have told him----" + +"I know." + +"What can I do?" + +"Women can do nothing but suffer. I am sorry with all my soul for you, +Maria, and I will let you know what father does. Go home to your poor +grandmother; she will need all the comfort you can give her." + +"I am sorry for you, Agnes; yes, I am! I will do anything I can. There +is Lord Medway, he loves me; and General Clinton loves him, I know he +does; I have seen them together." + +"Father is first. I must awaken him. Leave me now, Maria, dear. None but +God can stand by me in this hour." + +Then Maria kissed her, and Agnes fell upon her knees, her arms spread +out on her bed and her face buried in them. There were no words given +her; she could not pray; but when the Gate of Prayer is closed the Gate +of Tears is still open. She wept and was somewhat helped, though it was +only by that intense longing after God which made her cry out, "O that I +knew where to find Him, that I might come into His presence!" + +When she went to her father's door he was already awake. She heard him +moving about his room, washing and dressing, and humming to himself in +strong snatches a favorite hymn tune; no words seemed to have come to +him, for the melody was kept by a single syllable that served to connect +the notes. Nevertheless, the tone was triumphant and the singer full of +energy. It made Agnes shiver and sicken to listen to him. She sat down +on the topmost stair and waited. It could not be many minutes, and +nothing for or against Harry could be done till the world awoke and went +to business. Very soon the hymn tune ceased, and there was a few minutes +of a silence that could be felt, for it was threaded through by a low, +solemn murmur easy to translate,--the man was praying. When he came out +of his room he saw Agnes sitting on the stair, and as soon as she lifted +her face to him he was frightened and asked sharply: + +"What are you doing there, Agnes? What has happened?" + +She spoke one word only, but that word went like a sword to the father's +heart,--_"Harry!"_ + +He repeated the word after her: "Harry! Is he ill? Let me see the +letter, where is he? With Doctor Brudenel? Can't you speak, girl?" + +"Harry is here, in New York, in prison?" + +The words fell shivering from her lips; she raised herself, watching her +father's face the while, for she thought he was going to fall. He shook +like a great tree in a storm, and then retreated to the door of his room +and stood with his back against it. He could not speak, and Agnes was +afraid. + +"Father," she said in a low, passionate voice of entreaty, "we have the +boy to save. Do not lose yourself. You have _your Father_ to lean upon." + +"I know! I feel! Go and make me a cup of coffee. I will be ready when +you call me." + +Then he went back into his room and shut the door, and Agnes, with a +sick, heavy heart, prepared the necessary meal. For though danger, +sorrow and death press on every side, the body must have sustenance; and +every-day meals, that look so tragically common and out of place must go +on as usual. But it was a little respite and she was grateful, because +in it her father would talk the trouble over with God before she had to +explain it to him. The interval was a short one, but during it John +Bradley found Him who is "a very present help in every hour of need." He +came down to his coffee in full possession of himself and ready for the +fight before him. But he had also realized the disobedience which had +brought on this sorrow, and the deception which had sanctioned the boy +in his disobedience. Therefore Agnes was afraid when she saw his severe +eyes, and shrank from them as from a blow, and large tears filled her +own and rolled down her white cheeks unchecked. + +"Agnes," he said, "tell me the whole truth. I must know everything, or +you may add your brother's murder to the other wrongdoing. When did he +come back to America?" + +"Six months after you sent him to England. He said he could not, durst +not, stay there. He thought that God might have some work that needed +_just him_ to do it. I think Harry found that work." + +"Why did you not tell me at the time?" + +"I was in Boston, at school, when Harry first came to me, and we talked +together then about telling you. But at that time both of us supposed +you to be a King's man, and the party feeling was then riotously cruel. +Harry had been three months with Washington, and his peculiar fitness +for the New York Secret Service had been found out. Still, Washington +took no unfair advantage of his youth and enthusiasm. He told him he +would be one of a band of young men who lived with their lives in their +hands. And when Harry answered, 'General, if I can bring you information +that will help Freedom forward one step, my life gladly for it,' +Washington's eyes shone, and he gave Harry his hand and said, 'Brave +boy! Your father must be a happy man.'" + +She paused here and looked at the father, and saw that his face was +lifted and that a noble pride strove with a noble pain for the mastery. +So she continued: "Harry _has_ helped Freedom forward. He found out, +while pretending to fish for the garrison at Stony Point, the best way +across the marsh and up the rocks. He helped to set afloat the reports +that brought Tryon back from Connecticut, and the garrison from Rhode +Island. He has prepared the way for many a brave deed, taken all the +danger and the labor, getting no fame and wanting none, his only aim to +serve his country and to be loved and trusted by Washington. If we erred +in keeping these things from you, it has been an error of love. And when +we knew you also were serving your country in your own way, Harry was +sure you would do it better and safer if you were not always looking for +him--fearing for him. Oh, father! surely you see how his presence would +have embarrassed you and led to suspicion." + +"I would like to have seen the boy," he said, softly, as if he were +thinking the words to himself. + +"He saw you often, never came to the city without passing the shop to +see you; and it made both of us happy to believe that very soon now he +would dare to speak to you and to say, 'Father, forgive me.'" + +"I must go to him, Agnes. Harry's life must be saved, or I, John +Bradley, will know the reason why. Yes, and if he has to die there are +some big men here, playing double-face, that will die with him. I know +them----" + +"Oh, father! father! What are you saying? Vengeance is not ours. Would +it bring Harry back to us?" + +"It is more than I can bear. Who was the informer? Tell me that. And +where was he taken?" + +"I cannot tell who informed. He was taken with his little boat at Elder +Semple's landing by a party of Scotch Highlanders." + +"What on earth was he doing at Semple's? Do you think the Elder, or that +fine gentleman Neil, gave information?" + +"They were both arrested with Harry. They also are in prison." + +"Am I losing my senses? The Semples! They are royalists, known +royalists, bitter as gall. What was Harry doing at their place? Tell +me." + +"I do not certainly know, father. I think he may have gone there hoping +that Maria would come down to the river to say a good-bye to him." + +_"Maria!_ That is it, of course. If a man is to be led to destruction +and death, it is some woman who will do the business for him. I warned +you about that Maria. My heart misgave me about the whole family. So +Harry is in love with her! That is your doing, girl. What business had +you to let them meet at all? If Harry perishes, I shall find it hard to +forgive you; hard to ever see you again. All this sorrow for your +sentimental nonsense about Maria. If she had been kept out of Harry's +life, he would have gone safely and triumphantly on to victory with the +rest of us. But you must have your friend and your friend's brother, and +your own brother must pay the price of it." + +"Oh, father, be just! Even if you cannot pity me, be just. I am +suffering as much as I can bear." + +Then he rose and put on his hat and coat. "Stay where you are," he said. +"I will not have women meddling with what I have now to do. Don't leave +the house for anyone or anything." + +"You will send me some word, father. I shall be in an agony of +suspense." + +"If there is any word to send, I will send it." Then he went away +without kissing her, without one of his ordinary tender words; he left +her alone with her crushing sorrow, and the consciousness that upon her +he would lay the blame of whatever disaster came to Harry. She had no +heart for her household duties, and she left the unwashed china and went +back to her room. She was yet in a state of pitiful bewilderment; her +grief was so certain, its need was so urgent, and at that hour Heaven +seemed so far off; and yet she questioned her soul so eagerly for the +watchword that should give her that stress of spirit which would connect +her with the Unseen World and permit her to claim its invincible help. + +Agnes had told her father that it was Highlanders who arrested Harry, +and Bradley went first to their quarters. There he learned that the +young man had disclaimed connection with any regiment whatever; and, +being in citizen's clothes and wearing no arms, his claim had been +allowed and his case turned over to the Military Court of Police. So far +it was favorable; the cruel haste of a court martial shut the door of +hope; but John Bradley knew the Court of Police was composed of men who +put financial arguments before all others. He was, however, too early, +an hour too early, to see any one; and the prisoner was under watch in +one of the guard-houses and could not be approached. + +He wandered back to his shop utterly miserable and restless and wrote a +letter to Thomas Curtis, a clever lawyer, and a partner of Neil Semple, +explaining the position of his son and begging him to be at the Court of +Police when it opened. This letter he carried to the lawyer's office and +paid the boy in attendance to deliver it immediately on the arrival of +his master. Then he went back to his shop for money, and as he was +slowly leaving the place Lord Medway spoke to him. He had his rifle over +his shoulder and was going with a friend to Long Island to shoot birds. +The sight of the man made John Bradley's heart leap and burn. He had +been waiting for some leading as to the way he ought to take, and he +felt that it had been given him. + +"Good morning, Mr. Bradley," said the nobleman. + +"My lord, turn back with me to my shop. I have something of the greatest +importance to tell you." + +Medway smiled: "My hunting is of the greatest importance at present, Mr. +Bradley, for my friend, Colonel Pennington, is waiting for me; but if I +can be of service----" + +"I think you can; at least, listen to me." + +Medway bent his head in acquiescence, and Bradley led the way to the +small room behind his shop, which had been his sitting and dining room +while his daughter was at school. He plunged at once into the subject of +his anxieties. + +"There was a prisoner taken last night." + +"A young man in a boat; I heard of it. General Clinton thinks they may +have made an important arrest." + +"He is my son--my only son! I did not know until an hour ago that he was +in America. I sent him to England at the beginning of the war--to a fine +school there--and I thought he was safe; and he has been here, one of +Washington's scouts, carrying messages from camp to camp, in and out of +New York in all kinds of disguises, spreading reports and gathering +reports, buying medicines, and clothing, and what not; doing, in short, +duties which in every case were life and death matters. For three years +or more he has done these things safely; last night he was discovered." + +"And you thought he was in England, safe and comfortable, and learning +his lessons?" + +"I did, and thanked God for it." + +"Now, I would offer thanks for the other things. If I were an American +it would gladden my heart to have a son like that. The young man thinks +he has been doing his duty; be a little proud of him. I'll be bound he +deserves it. Who arrested him?" + +"Some soldiers from the Highland regiment." + +"How did they happen to know? Could Macpherson have informed? Oh, +impossible! What am I saying? Where was he taken?" + +"At Elder Semple's landing." + +"You confound me, Bradley. I will stake my honor on the Semples's +loyalty--father and son both. What was he doing there?" + +"He had the old reason for calamity--a woman. He is in love with the +Elder's granddaughter, and Agnes thinks he must have landed hoping to +see her." + +"You mean, he had a tryst with her?" + +"I only surmise. I can tell nothing surely." + +"I will go with you to court, Bradley. Can you send a man with a message +to Colonel Pennington?" + +This done they went out together, and many looked curiously at the lord +and the saddler walking the streets of New York in company. For in those +days the lines of caste were severely drawn. When they entered the +courtroom the case of the Semples was being heard; but Harry sat a +little apart, on either side of him a soldier. The father fixed his +eyes upon him, and a proud flush warmed his white face at the sight of +the lad's dauntless bearing and calm, almost cheerful, aspect. + +Lord Medway looked first toward the Semples, and conspicuously bowed to +both of them. The Elder was evidently sick, fretful, and suffering. Neil +was wounded in every fiber of his proud nature. The loyalty, the honor, +the good name of the Semples had been, he believed, irrevocably injured; +for he was lawyer enough to know that it is nearly as bad to be +suspected as to be guilty. And, small as the matter seemed in +comparison, he was intensely mortified at the personal disarray of his +father and himself. The men who arrested them had given them no time to +arrange their clothing, and Neil knew they looked more suspiciously +guilty for want of their clean laces and the renovating influences of +water and brushes. + +The assistant magistrate, Peter DuBois, was just questioning Elder +Semple. + +"Look at the prisoner taken on your premises, Mr. Semple. Do you know +him?" + +"I never saw him in a' my life before his arrest." + +"Did you know he was using your landing?" + +"Not I. I was fast asleep in my bed." + +"Mr. Neil Semple, what have you to say?" + +"I was sitting partially dressed, reading in my room. I have no +knowledge whatever of the young man, nor can I give you any reason why +our landing should have been used by him." + +Mr. Curtis then spoke eloquently of the unstained loyalty of the +Semples, and of their honorable life for half a century in the city of +New York. But Peter DuBois held that they were not innocent, inasmuch as +they had been so careless of His Majesty's interests as to permit their +premises to be used for treasonable purposes. + +"The Court must first prove the treasonable purposes," said Mr. Curtis. + +"The Court proposes to do so," answered DuBois. "Henry Deane, stand up!" +and as he did so Bradley uttered a sharp cry and rose to his feet also. +In this hour Harry looked indeed a son to be proud of. He showed no +fear, and was equally free from that bluster that often cloaks fear, but +raised a face calm and cheerful--the face of a man who knows that he has +done nothing worthy of blame. + +"Henry Deane," said DuBois, "is there anyone in New York who knows you?" + +_"I do!"_ shouted John Bradley. "He is my son! My dear son, Henry Deane +Bradley;" and with the words he marched to his son's side and threw his +arms about his neck. + +"Oh, father! father, forgive me!" + +"Oh, Harry! Harry! I have nothing to forgive!" and he kissed him in the +sight of the whole court, and wept over him like a mother. + +The whole affair had been so sudden, so startling and affecting, that it +was not at once interrupted. But in a few moments the examination +proceeded, DuBois asking, "Do you know the Semples?" + +"I have seen them often. I have never spoken to either of them in all my +life." + +"What took you to their landing, then?" + +"I know it so well. When I was a little boy I used to borrow Elder +Semple's boat if I wished to fish or row, because I knew they were busy +in the city and would not miss it. So I got used to their landing years +ago." + +"Had you any special reason for going there last night?" + +"Yes. It was a good place to wait until the moon rose." + +"No other reason?" + +"Habit." + +"Nothing to get there?" + +"Nothing at all." + +"No one to see there?" + +"No one." + +Lord Medway sighed heavily. The words were a tremendous relief. If the +young man had named Maria it would have been shameful and unbearable. He +began now to take more interest in him. + +"You refused to tell last night," said DuBois, "to whom you were +carrying the clothing and _the saddle_ that was in your boat. Will you +now name the person or persons?" + +"No. I refuse to name them." + +"From whom did you receive or purchase these articles?" + +"I refuse to say." + +"Perhaps from the Semples?" + +"Certainly not. I never received and never bought a pin's worth from the +Semples." + +In fact, no evidence of complicity could either be found or manufactured +against the Semples, and Mr. Curtis demanded their honorable acquittal. +But they were good subjects for plunder, and DuBois had already +intimated to Judge Matthews how their purses could be reached. In +pursuance of this advice, Judge Matthews said: + +"The loyalty of Alexander Semple and of his son, Neil Semple, cannot be +questioned; but they have been unfortunately careless of His Majesty's +rights in permitting their premises to be of aid and comfort to rebels; +and therefore, as an acknowledgment of this fault, and as a preventative +to its recurrence, Alexander Semple is fined two hundred pounds and Neil +Semple one hundred pounds. The prisoners are free upon their own +recognizances until the fifteenth day of November, when they must appear +in this court and pay the fines as decided." + +The Elder heard the decision in a kind of stupefaction. Neil, neither by +himself or his lawyer, made any protest. What use was there in doing so? +They had been sentenced by a court accountable to no tribunal whatever: +a court arbitrary and illegal, that troubled itself neither with juries +nor oaths, and from which there was no appeal. Lord Medway watched the +proceedings with indignation, and the feeling in the room was full of +sympathy for the two men. Neil's haughty manner and stern face betrayed +nothing of the anger he felt, but the Elder was hardly prevented from +speaking words which would have brought him still greater loss. As it +was, it taxed Neil's strength and composure to the uttermost to get his +father with dignity away from the scene. He gave him his arm, and +whispered authoritatively, "Do not give way, father! Do not open your +lips!" So the old gentleman straightened himself, and, leaning heavily +on his son, reached the lobby before he fell into a state bordering on +collapse. + +Neil placed him in a chair, got him water, and was wondering where he +could most easily procure a carriage, when the sound of wheels coming at +a furious rate arrested his attention. They stopped at the court house, +and as Neil went to the door the lovely Madame Jacobus sprang out of the +vehicle. + +"Neil!" she cried. "Neil Semple! I only heard an hour ago, I came as +soon as the horses were ready, it is disgraceful. Where is the Elder? +Can I take him home?" + +"Madame, it will be the greatest kindness. He is ready to faint." + +The Elder looked at her with eyes full of tears. + +"Madame," he said, "they have fined me in my auld age for a +misdemeanor"--and then he laughed hysterically. "I hae lived fifty years +in New York, and I am fined--I hae----" + +She stopped the quavering voice with a kiss, and with Neil's help led +him gently to her carriage; and as soon as he reached its friendly +shelter he closed his eyes and looked like one dead. Madame was in a +tempest of rage. "It is just like the ravening wolves," she said. "They +saw an opportunity to rob you,--you need not tell me, I know Matthews! +He has the winter's routs and dances for his luxurious wife and +daughters to provide for, as well as what he calls his own 'damned good +dinners.' How much did he mulct you in? Never mind telling me now, Neil, +but come and lunch with me to-morrow; I shall have something to say to +you then." + +She had the Elder's hand in her's as she spoke, and she did not loosen +her clasp until she saw him safely at his own home and in the care of +his wife. She remained a few moments to comfort Madame Semple, then, +divining they would be best alone with their sorrow, she went away with +a reminder to Neil that she wished to speak to him privately on the +following day. + +"It is as if God sent her," said Madame gratefully. + +"Get me to my bed, Janet, dearie," said the Elder. "I'll just awa' out +o' this warld o' sorrows and wrongs and robbery." + +"You'll just stop havering and talking nonsense, Alexander. Are you +going to die and leave me my lane for a bit o' siller? I'm ashamed o' +you. Twa or three hundred pounds! Is that what you count your life +worth? Help your father to his bed, Neil, and I'll bring him some gude +mutton broth. He's hungry and faint and out o' his sleep--it tak's +little to make men talk o' dying. Parfect nonsense!" + +"You don't know, Janet Semple----" + +"Yes, I do know, Alexander. Quit whining, and put a stout heart to a +steep hill. You hae a wife and sons and friends yet about you, and you +talk o' dying! I'll not hear tell o' such things, not I!" + +But when the Elder had taken a good meal and fallen asleep, Janet spoke +with less spirit to her son. And Neil was in a still fury; he found it +difficult to answer his mother's questions. + +"The money is to be found, and that at once," he said. "Father will not +rest until it is paid; and I have not the least idea where I can procure +it." + +"You must sell some o' that confiscated property you and your father +wared all your ready money on," said Janet bitterly. + +"At the present time it is worth nothing, mother; and houses and lands +are not sold at an hour's notice. I suppose if I ask Batavius DeVries he +will help father. I think Curtis can manage my share of the blackmail." + +"That poor lad wha has made a' the mischief, what of him?" + +"He is John Bradley's son." Then Neil described the scene in the +courtroom, and Madame's eyes filled with tears as she said, "I never +thought so well o' the Bradleys before. Poor Agnes!" + +Yes, "poor Agnes!" Neil was feeling a consuming impatience to be with +her, to comfort her and help her to bear whatever might be appointed. + +"So the lad is to be tried in the Military Police Court. Is not that a +good thing?" + +"Yes. John Bradley has money. It is all the 'law' there is to satisfy in +that court." + +"Are they trying him to-day?" + +"Yes. I heard his case called as we left the room. Where is Maria?" + +"She has cried herself blind, deaf and dumb. She is asleep now. I went +to tell her you were hame, and she was sobbing like a bairn that has +been whipped ere it shut its eyes. I dinna waken her." + +Then Neil went to his room to dress himself. He felt as if no care and +no nicety of apparel could ever atone for the crumpled disorder of his +toilet in the courtroom, which had added itself so keenly to his sense +of disgrace. Then he must go to Agnes; her brother was his brother, +and, though he had brought such shame and loss on the Semples, still he +must do all he could for him, for the sake of Agnes. And there was the +money to find, and Madame Jacobus to see! A sense of necessary haste +pressed him like a goad. Not a moment must be lost, for he felt through +every sense of his mortal and spiritual being that Agnes was calling +him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PRICE OF HARRY'S LIFE. + + +He heard Agnes calling him, and he resolved to go at once to her. And +never had he looked handsomer than at this hour, for he had clothed +himself with that rich and rigid propriety he understood so well while +the sense of injustice under which he so inwardly burned gave to him a +haughty dignity, suiting his grave face and lofty stature to admiration. +He went very softly along the upper corridor of his home, but Madame +heard his step, and opening her door, said in a whisper: + +"Your father has fallen asleep, Neil, and much he needed sleep. Where +are you going?" + +"I am going back to the court. I wish to know what has been done in +Bradley's case." + +"Why trouble yourself with other people's business? The lad has surely +given us sorrow enough." + +"He is her brother--I mean----" + +"I know who you mean; weel, then, go your way; neither love nor wisdom +will win a hearing from you on that road." + +"There is money to be found somewhere, mother. Until his fine is paid, +father will be miserable. I want to borrow the amount as soon as +possible." + +_"Borrow!_ Has it come to that?" + +"It has, for a short time. I think Captain DeVries will let me have it. +He ought to." + +"He'll do naething o' the kind. I would ask any other body but him." + +"There are few to ask. I must get it where I can. Curtis will advance +one hundred pounds for me." + +"They who go borrowing go sorrowing. I'm vexed for you, my dear lad. It +is the first time I ever heard tell o' a Semple seeking money not their +ain." + +"It is our own fault, mother. If father and I had taken your advice and +let confiscated property alone we should have had money to lend to-day; +certainly, we should have been able to help ourselves out of all +difficulties without asking the assistance of strangers." + +The confession pleased her. "What you say is the truth," she answered; +"but everybody has a fool up their sleeve some time in their life. May +God send you help, Neil, for I'm thinking it will hae to come by His +hand; and somehow, I dinna believe He'll call on Batavius DeVries to gie +you it." + +With these words she retreated into her room, closing the door +noiselessly, and Neil left the house. As soon as he was in the public +road he saw Batavius standing at his garden gate, smoking and talking +with Cornelius Haring and Adrian Rutgers. They were discussing Bradley's +trouble and the Semples's connection with it, and Neil felt the spirit +of their conversation. It was not kindly, and as he approached them +Haring and Rutgers walked away. For a moment Batavius seemed inclined to +do the same, but Neil was too near to be avoided without intentional +offense, and he said to himself, "I will stand still. Out of my own way +I will not move, because Neil Semple comes." So he stolidly continued to +smoke, staring idly before him with a gaze fixed and ruminating. + +"Good afternoon, Captain. Are you at liberty for a few minutes?" asked +Neil. + +"Yes. What then, Mr. Semple? I heard tell, from my friends, that you are +in trouble." + +"We have been fined because Mr. Bradley's son used our landing. It is a +great injustice, for in this matter we were as innocent as yourself." + +"That is not the truth, sir. If, like me, you had boarded in your house +a few soldiers, then the care and the watch would have been their +business, not yours. Those who don't act prudently must feel the +chastisement of the government; but so! I will have nothing to do with +the matter. It is a steady principle of mine never to interfere in other +people's affairs." + +"There is no necessity for interference. The case is settled. My father +is fined two hundred pounds, a most outrageous wrong." + +"Whoever is good and respectable is not fined by the government." + +"In our case there was neither law nor justice. It was simple robbery." + +"I know not what you mean. The government is the King, and I do not talk +against either King or government. The Van Emerlies, who are always +sneering at the King, have had to take twenty-seven per cent. out of the +estate of a bankrupt cousin; and the Remsens, who are discontented and +always full of complaints, have spoiled their business. God directs +things so that contentment leads to wealth." + +"I was speaking of neither the King nor his government, but of the +Military Police Court." + +"Oh! Well, then, I think all the stories I hear about its greediness and +tyranny are downright lies." + +"I must, however, assert that this court has been unjust and tyrannical +both to my father and myself." + +"That is your business, not mine." + +"I was in hopes that you would feel differently. My father has often +helped you out of tight places. I thought at this time you would +remember that. There was that cargo at Perth Amboy, but for my father, +it had gone badly with you!" + +"Yes, yes! I give good for good, but not to my own cost. People who go +against the government and are in trouble are not my friends. I do not +meddle with affairs that are against the government. It is dangerous, +and I am a husband and a father, not a fool." + +"To assist my father for a few days, till I can turn property into +money, is not going against the government." + +"You will not turn property into money these days; it is too late. I, +who am noted for my prudence, got rid of all my property at the +beginning of the war; you and your father bought other people's houses, +while I sold mine. So! I was right, as I always am." + +"Then you had no faith in the King's cause, even at the beginning; and +I have heard it said you are not unfriendly now to the rebels." + +_"Ja!_ I give the Americans a little, quietly. One must sail as the wind +serves; and who can tell which way it will blow to-morrow? I am a good +sailor; never shall I row against wind and tide. Who am I, Batavius +DeVries, to oppose the government? It is one of my most sacred +principles to obey the government." + +"Then if the Americans succeed, you will obey their government? Your +principles are changeable, Captain." + +"It is a bad principle not to be able to change your principles. The +world is always changing. I change with it. That is prudent, for I will +not stand alone, or be left behind. That is my way; your ways do not +suit me." + +"This talk comes to nothing. To be plain with you, I want to borrow two +hundred pounds for a month. I hope you will lend it. In the Perth Amboy +matter my father stood for you in a thousand pounds." + +"That is eaten bread, and your father knew I could secure the money. I +wish I could help Elder Semple, but it would not be prudent." + +"Good gracious, sir!" + +"Oh, then, you must keep such words to yourself! I say it would not be +prudent. He has swamped himself with other men's houses, his business is +decayed, he is old; and you are also in a bad way and cannot help him, +or why do you come to me?" + +"I can give you good security, good land----" + +"Land! What is good land to me? It will not be useful in my business. +And there is another thing, you are not particular in your company. I +have heard about your Methodist friends; there is Vestryman William +Ustick, he was a Methodist servant, and he has become bankrupt; so, +then----" + +"You will not repay my father's frequent loans to you. If your +father-in-law, Joris Van Heemskirk, was here----" + +"I am not Joris Van Heemskirk. He is a rebel. I, who have always been +loyal, have made twelve thousand dollars this last year. Is not that a +hint for me to go on in the right way?" + +Without waiting for the end of this self-complacent tirade, Neil went +forward. Batavius was only a broken reed in his hand. Never before in +all his life had he felt such humiliating anxiety. Even the slipping +away of Haring and Rutgers, and the uncivil refusal of Batavius, were +distinctly new and painful experiences. He felt, through Haring and +Rutgers, the public withdrawal of sympathy and respect; and through +Batavius, the coming bitterness of the want of ready money. The Semples +had been fined; they were suspects; their names would now be on the roll +of the doubtful, and it would be bad policy for the generality of +citizens to be friendly with them. And the necessity for borrowing money +revealed poverty, which otherwise they would have been able to conceal. +He knew, also, that he would have to meet many such rebuffs, and he was +well aware that his own proud temper would make them a pleasant payment +to many whom he had offended by his exclusiveness. + +As he approached the Bradley house he put all these bitter thoughts +aside. What were they in comparison with the sorrow Agnes was compelled +to endure? His whole soul went out to the suffering girl, and he blamed +himself for allowing any hope of Batavius to delay him. The very house +had taken on an air of loneliness and calamity. The door was closed, the +blinds down, and the wintry frost that had blackened the garden seemed +in some inscrutable way to have touched the dwelling also. He saw the +slave woman belonging to the Bradleys talking to a group of negroes down +the road, and he did not call her. If Agnes was within, he would see +her; and if her father had returned, they would probably be together. + +Thinking thus, he knocked loudly, and then entered the little hall. All +was silent as the grave. "Agnes! Agnes!" he cried; and the next moment +she appeared at the head of the stairs. "Agnes!" he cried again, and the +word was full of love and sorrow, as he stretched out his arms to the +descending girl. She was whiter than snow, her eyes were heavy and dark +with weeping, her hair had fallen down, and she still wore the plain, +blue gingham dress she had put on while Maria was telling her tragical +tale. Yet in spite of these tokens of mental disturbance, she was +encompassed by the serene stillness of a spirit which had reached the +height of "Thy will be done." + +When her father left her, smitten afresh by his anger she had fled to +her room, and locking the door of this sanctuary, she had sat for two +hours astonished, stupefied by the inevitable, speechless and +prayerless. Yet while she was musing the fire burned; she became +conscious of that secret voice in her soul which is the spirit that +helpeth our infirmities, and ere she was aware she began to pray. It was +as if she stood alone in some great hall of the universe, with an +infinite, invisible audience of spirits watching her. Then the miracle +of the ladder between heaven and earth was renewed, and angels of help +and blessing once more ascended and descended. An inward, deep, +untroubled peace calmed the struggle of her soul; one by one the clouds +departed and the light steadily grew until fears were slain, and doubts +had become a sure confidence that + + Naught should prevail against her or disturb + Her cheerful faith that all which looked so dark + Was full of blessing. + +She was sitting waiting when she heard Neil's call, and Oh! how sweet is +the voice of love in the hour of anxious sorrow! She never thought of +her appearance or her dress; she hasted to Neil, and he folded her to +his heart and for the first time touched her white cheek with his lips. +She made no resistance, it was not an hour for coy withdrawals, and they +understood, amid their silent tears, far more than any future words +could explain. + +Then Neil told her all that had happened, and when he described John +Bradley's open recognition of his son she smiled proudly and said, "That +was like father. If I had been there I would have done the same. It is a +long time," she said, looking anxiously at Neil. "Will father soon be +home?" + +"I expected to find him here. I will go to the court now; the trial +ought to be over." + +But complications had arisen in what at first seemed to be a case that +proved itself. Harry was not easily managed. He admitted that he had +been in America for more than three years, but declared that his father +had been totally ignorant of his presence. When asked where he had dwelt +and how he had employed himself during that time, he gave to every +question the same answer, "I refuse to tell." + +Then the saddle found in his boat was brought forward, and he was asked +from whom he received it and to whom he was taking it. And to both these +questions there was the same reply, "I refuse to tell." + +"It is indisputably a Bradley saddle," said the assistant magistrate, +DuBois. "Let John Bradley identify it." + +Bradley came forward, looked at the saddle, and answered, "I made it; +every stitch of it." + +"For whom? Mr. Bradley?" + +"I should have few saddles to make if I talked about my patrons in this +place. I refuse to tell for whom I made it." + +"The court can fine you, sir, for contempt of its requests." + +"I would rather pay the fine than bring my patron's name in question and +cause him annoyance." + +There was considerable legal fencing on this subject, but nothing +gained; a parcel also found in the boat was opened and its contents +spread out for examination. They consisted of a piece of damasse for a +lady's gown, some lace, two pairs of silk stockings, two pairs of +gloves, some ribbon, and a fan that had been mended. Everything in this +parcel was obviously intended for a woman, but Harry was as obdurately +noncommittal as he had been about the saddle. Nothing could be gained by +continuing an examination so one-sided, and the next witness called was +Captain Quentin Macpherson. He came forward with more than his usual +haughty clangor, and was first asked if he had ever seen the prisoner +before. + +"Yes," he answered, "for about half an hour yesterday evening, say, +between half-past seven and eight o'clock." + +"Did you have any conversation with him?" + +"Very little. When I began to question him about his residence he rose +and went away." + +"Who else was present?" + +"Miss Bradley and Miss Semple." + +"Tell the court what occurred when the prisoner left." + +"Miss Bradley went to the gate with him, Miss Semple remained with me. I +noticed that she was anxious, and found my company disagreeable; and +suddenly she excused herself and left the room. As she did so a pebble +was thrown through the window, it fell at my feet; a note was wrapped +round it, and I read the note." + +There was a low _hiss-s-s-s!_ at these words, which pervaded the whole +room. Macpherson waited until it had subsided, and then in a loud, +defiant voice repeated his last sentence, "I read the note, and acted +upon it." + +The note was then handed to him, and he positively recognized it, and +as it was not his note, nor intended for him, he was unable to protest +against DuBois's reading it aloud. It made a pleasant impression. Men +looked at the boy prisoner sympathetically, and a little scornful laugh +pointed the epithet _"that Scot!"_ which infuriated Macpherson. + +In this favorable atmosphere Mr. Curtis rose, and sarcastically advised +Judge Matthews that it was "evident the posse of Highland soldiers had +been called out to prevent a lovers' tryst and satisfy the wounded +vanity or jealousy of Captain Macpherson." The soldier glared at the +lawyer, and the lawyer smiled and nodded at the audience, as if telling +them a secret; and it really seemed possible for a minute or two that +Harry might escape through the never-failing sympathy that lovers draw +to themselves. + +Unfortunately, at this moment a man entered with a shabby-looking little +book, and Harry's face showed an unmistakable anxiety. + +"What is the purport of this interruption?" asked DuBois as the volume +was handed to him. + +"This book fell from the prisoner's jacket last night and John VanBrunt, +the jailor, picked it up. This morning he noticed that it had been +freshly bound, and he ripped open the leather and found this letter +between the boards." + +The letter was eagerly examined, but it was in cipher and nothing could +be made of it. One thing, however, instantly struck Judge Matthews; it +was written on paper presumably only to be obtained in the +Commander-in-Chief's quarters. This discovery caused the greatest +sensation, and Harry was angrily questioned as to how the letter got +inside the binding of a book he was carrying. + +"The book is one of my schoolbooks," said Harry. "I am a poor counter, +and it is, as you see, a Ready Reckoner. I use its tables in my business +calculations constantly; it was falling to pieces, and a friend offered +to bind it afresh for me. As for the letter, I did not put it there. I +do not know who put it there. I do not know a word of its meaning. It +may be an old puzzle, put there for want of a better piece of paper. +That is all I can tell." + +"You can tell the name of the friend who rebound your book?" + +"No, I cannot." + +"Will not, you mean?" + +"As you say." + +A recess was taken at this point of the examination, and the Judges +retired to consider what ought to be done. "The letter must, of course, +be laid before General Clinton at once," said DuBois; "and as for the +prisoner, there can now be no doubt of his treason. I am in favor of +hanging him at sunset to-day." + +"I think," answered Matthews, "we had better give the young man a day to +tell us what he knows. This letter proves that there are worse traitors, +and more powerful ones, behind him. It is our duty to at least try and +reach them through their emissary." + +"He will never tell." + +"The shadow of the gallows is a great persuader. This cipher message is +a most important affair. I propose to make the sentence of death +to-morrow at sunset, with the promise of life if he gives us the +information we want." + +Matthews carried his point, and Neil Semple arrived at the court house +just as the sentence in accord with this opinion was pronounced. Harry +hardly appeared to notice it; his gaze was fixed upon his father. The +words had transfigured, not petrified him. His soul was at his eyes, and +that fiery particle went through those on whom he looked and infected +them with fear or with sympathy. He had risen to his feet when his son +did, and every one looked at him, rather than at the prisoner. For +mental, or spiritual, stature is as real a thing as physical; and in the +day of trial this large-souled man, far from shrinking, appeared to grow +more imposing. He had a look about him of a mountain among hills. The +accepted son of a divine Father, he knew himself to be of celestial +race, and he scorned the sentence of shameful death that had fallen from +the lips of man upon his only son. + +As he turned to the door he smiled bravely on Harry, and his smile was +full of promise. He declined all help from both Medway and Semple, and +was almost the first to leave the room. The crowd fell away from him as +he passed; though he neither spoke nor moved his hands, it fell away as +if he pushed it aside. Yet it was a pitiful, friendly crowd; not a man +in it but would have gladly helped him to save his boy's life. + +"What will he do?" asked Medway of his companion. + +"I cannot tell," answered Semple. "He has some purpose, for he walks +like a man who knows what he intends and is in a hurry to perform it." + +"This is a very bad case. I see not how, in any ordinary way, the young +man can be saved. You are a lawyer, what think you?" + +"Unless there are extraordinary ways of helping him; there are no +ordinary ones. He is undoubtedly a rebel spy. Any court, either police +or court-martial, would consider his life justifiably forfeit." + +"Have you any influence, secret or open?" + +"None whatever. If I had, we should not have been fined. Bradley may +have, but I doubt it." + +"I think he has. Men are not silent and observant year after year for +nothing. But we must not trust to Bradley. Can I see Miss Semple at +seven o'clock this evening? I know, madame your mother is averse to +Englishmen, but in this case----" + +"Miss Semple will certainly see you." + +Then the young men parted and Neil returned to his home, for he did not +dare to intrude his presence at that hour between the distressed father +and daughter. It was hard enough to have Maria to meet; and the moment +she heard his step she came weeping to him. + +"Tell me, Uncle Neil," she cried, "what have they done to Harry? I am +sick with suspense. Are they going to kill--to hang him?" + +Her voice had sunk to a terrified whisper, and he looked pitifully at +her and drew her within his embrace. "My dear Maria!" then his lips +refused to say more, and he suffered his silence to confirm her worst +fears. After a few moments he added: + +"His only hope is in Lord Medway's influence. I think Medway may do +something." + +"Oh!" she sobbed "if he can only save his life! I would be content never +to see him again! Only ask him to save his life. If Harry is killed I +shall feel like a murderer as long as I live. I shall not dare to look +at myself, no one will want to look at me. I shall die of grief and +shame! Uncle, pity me! pity me!" + +"My dear Maria, it is not your fault." + +"It is, it is! He took his life in his hand just to see me." + +"He was a selfish fool to do such a thing. See what misery he has made. +It is his own fault and folly." + +"Every one will despise me. I cannot bear it. People will say, 'She +deserves it all. Why did she meet the young man unknown to her friends? +See what she has done to her grandparents and her uncle.' People like +Captain DeVries will frown at me and cross the street; and their wives +and children will go into their houses when I come near and peep at me +through the windows, and the mothers will say, 'Look at her! look at +her! She brought a fine young man to the gallows, and her friends to +shame and poverty.' Uncle, how am I to bear it?" + +"I think, my poor child, Lord Medway has some plan. Money unbars all +doors but heaven's, and Medway has plenty of money. Besides, General +Clinton is easily moved by him. I do not think Clinton will refuse +Medway anything; certainly not, if Harry will tell who wrote the cipher +message he was carrying." + +"But Harry will not tell, will he?" + +"I feel sure he will not." + +"If he did, he would deserve to die. I would not shed a tear for him. As +for Quentin Macpherson!--I wish that I was a man. I would cut his tongue +out." + +"Maria!" + +"I would, truly. Then I would flog him to death." + +Neil's dark face flushed crimson; his fingers twitched; he looked with +approval and admiration at the passionate girl. "One hundred years +ago--in Scotland," he said, "I would have answered, 'Yes! He deserves +it! I will do it for you!'" + +"It is so wretched to be a woman! You can go out, see for yourself, hear +for yourself; a girl can only suffer. Hour after hour, all night long, +all day long, I have walked the floor in misery. How does Agnes bear it? +She was cross, and sent me away this morning." + +"She looks very ill; but she is calm, and not without hope. She has +spoken to God and been comforted. Can you not do so?" + +"No. I am not Agnes. I cannot pray. I want to _do_ something. Oh, dear +me! all this shame and sorrow because I had a little love-making with +her brother and we did not tell the whole town about it. It is too great +a punishment! It is not just nor kind. What wrong have I done? Yet how I +have to suffer! No, I cannot pray, but if I can _do_ anything, see any +one, be of any earthly help or use----" + +"I think Medway has some scheme, if Clinton should fail, and that this +scheme requires a woman's help." + +"I hope it does! I hope it does! I will run any risk." + +"Medway is coming here at seven o'clock. He wishes distinctly to see +you. Run what risk you choose. I am not afraid of you. Nothing will make +you forget you are Maria Semple." + +"Thank you, Uncle Neil. Lord Medway and I have always been good friends. +He will not ask me to do anything wrong; and if he did, I would not do +it." + +The prospect of his visit somewhat soothed Maria. Though Medway had +never said a word of love to her, she knew she was adorable in his eyes +as well as she knew the fact of her own existence. Women need no formal +declarations; they have considered a lover's case and decided it many a +time before he comes to actual confession. In her great trouble she +hoped to find this love sufficient in some way for the alleviation of +Harry's desperate position. But though she really was in the greatest +sorrow, she was not oblivious to her beauty. She knew if she had a favor +to ask, it was the best reason she had to offer. So, as the hour +approached, she bathed her face and put on the _negligée_ of scarlet +silk, which was one of her most becoming house costumes. She thought her +intentional, pleasing carelessness of dress would only be noticed in its +effect; but Lord Medway was much in love, and love is an occult +teacher. He noticed at once the studied effort to make grief +attractive--the glowing silk of her gown, the bronze slippers, the +bewitching abandon of her dark, curling hair against the amber cushion +of the chair on which she sat. And though he had an astonishing plan for +Harry's life to propose, Maria's careful negligence gave him hope and +courage. For if he had been quite indifferent to her, she would have +been more indifferent to the dress she was to meet him in. + +Nothing else in her surroundings spoke of love or happiness. The best +parlor had been opened for his reception; but the few sticks of wood +sobbed and sung wearily on the cold hearth, and the room was chill and +half-lighted and full of shadows. He noticed, nothing, however, but the +lovely girl who came to meet him as he entered it, and who, even in the +gloom, showed signs of the violent grief which she soon ceased to +restrain. For his tenderness loosed afresh all her complaining; and he +encouraged her to open her heart, and to weep with that passionate +abandon youth finds comfort in. But when she was weary and had sobbed +herself into silence he said: + +"Miss Semple--may I call you Maria?" + +"Yes, if you will be my friend, if you will help me." + +"I am your friend, and if there is help in man I will get it for you." + +"I want Harry's life; he risked it for me. If they kill him, all my days +I shall see that sight and feel that horror. I shall go mad, or die." + +"Would you be content if I saved his life? He may be sent to prison." + +"There is hope in that. I could bear it better." + +"He will certainly be forbidden to come near New York, for----" + +"Only let him live." + +"He is without doubt a rebel." + +"So am I, from this day forth." + +"And a spy." + +"I wish I could be one. There is nothing I would not tell." + +He looked at her with the unreasoning adoration of a lover; then taking +her cold hands between his own, he said in a slow, fervent voice: + +"If you will promise to marry me, I will save the young man's life." + +"You are taking advantage of my trouble." + +"I know I am. A man who loves as I do must make all events go to further +his love." + +"But I love Harry Bradley." + +"You think so. If you had met him under ordinary circumstances you would +not have looked twice at him. It was the romance, the secrecy, the +danger, the stolen minutes--all that kind of thing. There is no root in +such love." + +"I shall never cease to love Harry." + +"I will teach you to forget him." + +"No, no! How can you ask me in an hour like this? It is cruel." + +"Love is cruel. Sooner or later love wounds; for love is selfish. I want +you for my wife, Maria. I put aside so," and he swept his hand outward, +"everything that comes in the way." + +"You want to buy me! You say plainly, 'I will give you your lover's life +for yourself.' I cannot listen to you!" + +"Be sensible, Maria. This infatuation for a rebel spy is infatuation. +There is nothing real to it. If the war were over, and you saw young +Bradley helping his father in his shop and going about in ordinary +clothes about ordinary business, you would wonder what possessed you +ever to have fancied yourself in love with him." + +"Oh, but you are mistaken!" + +"You would say to yourself, 'I wish I had listened to Ernest Medway. He +would have taken me all over the happy, beautiful world, to every lovely +land, to every splendid court. He would have surrounded me with a love +that no trouble could put aside; he would have given me all that wealth +can buy; he would have loved me more and more until the very last moment +of my life, and followed me beyond life with longings that would soon +have brought us together again.' Yes, Maria, that is how I love you." + +"Harry loves me." + +"Not he! If he had loved you he would not, for his own pleasure, have +run any risk of giving you this trouble. What did I say? Love is +selfish, love wounds----" + +"You wound me. You are selfish." + +"I am. I love you. You seemed to belong to me that first hour I saw you. +I will not give you up." + +"If you really loved me, if you were really noble, you would save Harry +without any conditions." + +"Perhaps. I am not really noble. I can't trust such fine sentiments. +They will lead, I know not where, only away from you. I tell you +plainly, I will save the young fellow's life, if it be possible, on +condition that you promise to marry me." + +"I am not eighteen years old yet." + +"I will wait any reasonable time." + +"Till the end of the war?" + +"Yes, provided it is over when you are twenty-one." + +She pondered this answer, looking up covertly a moment at the handsome, +determined face watching her. Three years held innumerable +possibilities. It was a period very far away. Lord Medway might have +ceased to love her before it was over; he might have fallen in love with +some other girl. He might die; she might die; the wide Atlantic ocean +might be between them. The chances were many in her favor. She remained +silent, considering them, and Medway watched with a curious devotion the +expressions flitting across her face. + +"Think well, Maria," he said at last, letting her hands drop gently from +his own. "Remember that I shall hold you to every letter of your +promise. Do not try to make yourself believe that if Bradley escapes and +you come weeping and entreating to me I shall give way. _I shall not._ I +want to be very plain with you. I insist that you understand, Harry +Bradley is to be given up finally and forever. He is to have no more to +do with your life. I am planning for _our_ future; I do not think of him +at all. When he leaves New York to-morrow he must be to you as if he had +never been." + +"Suppose I do not promise to marry you, what then?" + +"Nothing. I shall go away till you want me, and send for me." + +"Oh!" + +"Yes." + +"And not even try to save Harry's life? Not even try?" + +"Why should I? Better men than Harry Bradley have died in the same +cause." + +She rose and walked across the room a few times, and then, being cold, +came back to the fire, knelt on the rug and warmed her hands. He watched +her intently, but did not speak. She was trying to find something which +should atone to her better self for such a contract. It came with the +thought of Harry's father and Agnes. For their sakes, she ought to do +all she could. Harry, for her sake, had taken his life in his hand and +forfeited it; surely, then, it was right that she, having the power to +do so, should redeem it. Better that he should live for others than die +for her. Better that she should lose him in the living world than in the +silent grave. Through Agnes she would hear of his comings and goings, +his prosperity, and his happiness; but there would come no word to her +from the dead whether at all he lived and loved, or not. With a quick, +decisive motion she rose and looked at the man who was waiting in such +motionless, but eager, silence. + +"A life for a life!" she said simply, offering Medway her hand. + +"You mean that you will be my wife?" + +"Yes. I will marry you when the war is over." + +"Or when you are twenty-one, even if it be not over?" + +"Yes." + +"Now, then," he said, "you are my betrothed;" and he drew her within his +arm. "My honor, my hopes, my happiness, are in your hands." + +"They are safe. Though I am only a girl, I know what my promise means. I +shall keep it." + +"I believe you. And you will love me? You will learn to love me, Maria?" + +"I will do my best to make you happy, you ought not to ask more." + +"Very well." He looked at her with a new and delightful interest. She +was his own, her promise had been given. He could, indeed, tell by her +eyes,--languid, but obstinately masterful--that she would not be easily +won, but he did not dislike that; he would conquer her by the strength +of his own love; he would make her understand what love really meant. +Still, he felt that for the present it would be better to go away, so he +said: + +"You shall hear from me as soon as possible. Try and sleep, my dear one. +You may tell yourself, 'Ernest is doing all that can be done.'" Then he +took her hands and kissed them, and in a moment she was alone. Her heart +was heavy as lead, and she was cold and trembling, but she was no longer +in the shadow of Death. Medway's face, turned to her in the +semi-darkness of the open door, was full of hope; and there was an +atmosphere of power about the man which assured her of success; but she +truly felt at that hour as if it was bought with her life. She was in +the dungeon of despair; there seemed nothing to hope for, nothing to +desire, in all the to-morrows of the years before her. "And I may have +sixty years to live," she moaned; for youth exaggerates every feeling, +and would be grieved to believe that its sorrows were not immortal. + +She pushed the dying fire safely together, looked mournfully round the +darksome room, closed and locked the door. Then Neil came toward her and +asked if Lord Medway could do anything, and she answered, "He can save +Harry's life; he has promised that. I suppose he will be imprisoned, but +his life is saved. What did grandmother say about Lord Medway being +here?" + +"She has never been down stairs. She does not know he was here." + +"Then we will not tell her. What is the use?" + +"None at all. Father and mother have their own trouble. They are very +anxious and almost broken-hearted at the indignity put upon our family. +I heard my father crying as I passed his door and mother trying to +comfort him, but crying, too. It made my heart stand still." + +"It is my fault! It is my fault! Oh! what a wicked, miserable girl I am! +What can I do? What can I do?" + +"Try and sleep, and get a little strength for tomorrow. Within the next +twenty-four hours Harry Bradley will be saved or dead." + +"I think he is saved. I am sure of it." + +"Then try and sleep; will you try, Maria?" + +"Yes." + +She said the word with a hopeless indifference, half nullifying the +promise. Then, lighting her candle, she went slowly to her room. Oh, but +the joy that is dead weighs heavy! Maria could hardly trail her body +upstairs. Her life felt haggard and thin, as if it was in its eleventh +hour; and she was too physically exhausted to stretch out her hand into +the dark and find the clasp of that Unseen Hand always waiting the hour +of need, strong to uphold, and ready to comfort. No, she could not pray; +she had lost Harry: there was nothing else she desired. In her room +there was a picture of the crucifixion, and she cast her eyes up to the +Christ hanging there, forsaken in the dark, and wondered if He pitied +her, but the pang of unpermitted prayer made her dumb in her lonely +grief. + + Alas, God Christ! along the weary lands, + What lone, invisible Calvaries are set! + What drooping brows with dews of anguish wet, + What faint outspreading of unwilling hands + Bound to a viewless cross, with viewless bands. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE HELP OF JACOB COHEN. + + +On leaving Maria, Lord Medway went straight to his friend General +Clinton. He had just dined, and having taken much wine, was bland and +good-tempered. Medway's entrance delighted him. "I have had my orderly +riding about for a couple of hours looking for you," he said. "Where +have you been Ernest? My dinner wanted flavor without you." + +"I have been seeing some people about this son of Bradley's that the +Police Court has in its clutches. By-the-bye, why don't you put a stop +to its infamous blackmailing? As a court, it is only a part of Howe's +treachery, formed for the very purpose of extortion, and of bringing His +Majesty's Government into disrepute. Abolish the whole affair, Henry. +You are court sufficient, in a city under martial law." + +"All you say is true, Ernest, and there is no doubt that Matthews and +DuBois and the rest of them are the worst of oppressors. But I am +expected to subjugate the whole South this winter, and I must leave New +York in three or four weeks now." + +"The Government expects miracles of you, Henry; but if military +miracles are possible, you are the soldier to work them. I have found +out to-day why you are not more popular; it is this Police Court, and +they call it a _Military_ Police Court, I believe; and all its tyrannies +are laid to you because your predecessor instituted it. They might as +well lay Howe's love for rebels to you." + +"Speaking of rebels, I hear most suspicious things of Bradley's son. In +fact, he is a spy. Matthews tells me that he ought to have been hung +to-day. There is something unusual about the affair and I wanted to talk +to you concerning it. Bradley himself has been here and said things that +have made me uncomfortable--you know how he brings the next world into +this one; Smith has been here, also, asking me to pardon the fellow, +because the feeling in the city about Tryon's doings in Connecticut is +yet like smoldering fire in the hearts of the burghers. Powell has been +here asking me to pardon, because the spy's father has a thousand +bridles to make for the troops going South, and he thinks hanging the +youth would kill his father, or at least incapacitate him for work, and +Rivington has just left, vowing he will not answer for consequences if +his newspaper does not sympathize with the Bradleys. If Bradley's son +had been the arch-rebel's son, there could hardly have been more +petitions for his life. I don't understand the case. What do you say?" + +"That Matthews and DuBois have made a tremendous blunder in fining the +Semples for disloyalty in the matter. I will warrant the Semples' +loyalty with my own." + +"So would I. It is indisputable." + +"Yet the Elder has been fined two hundred pounds, and Mr. Neil Semple +one hundred pounds, because Bradley's son tied his boat at their +landing; a fact they were as ignorant of as you or I. And you get the +blame and ill-will of such tyranny, Henry. It is shameful!" + +"It is," answered Clinton in a tone of self-pity; "the boat, however, +was full of goods, about which the young man would say nothing at all." + +"Women's bits of lace and ribbons; a mended fan, and some gloves and +stockings." + +"There was also a Bradley saddle." + +"Yes, Bradley acknowledged it." + +"Then father or son ought to have given information about it." + +"It was their business; and if either you or I were brought before such +an irresponsible court and such autocratic judges, I dare say we should +consider silence our most practical weapon of defense. In Harry +Bradley's position, I should have acted precisely as he did. The whole +affair resolves itself into a lovers' tryst; the lad would not give the +lady a disagreeable publicity; he would die first. You yourself would +shield any good woman with your life, Henry, you know you would." + +And Clinton thought of the bewitching Mrs. Badely and the lovely Miss +Blundell, and answered with an amazing air of chivalry, "Indeed I +would!" + +"Have you ever noticed a Captain Macpherson, belonging to your own +Highland regiment?" + +"Who could help noticing him? He is always the most prominent figure in +every room." + +"He will be so no longer. He was almost hissed out of court to-day, and +I was told the demonstrations on the street sent him stamping and +swearing to his quarters. Well, he is the villain of this pitiful little +drama. The heroine is that lovely granddaughter of Semples." + +"I know her; a little darling! and as good as she is beautiful." + +Then Medway, with an inimitable scornful mimicry told the story of the +pebble and the note, the alarm of the Highland troops, the arrest of the +Elder and his son, the subsequent proceedings in court, the sympathy of +the people with the Semples, and the contempt which no one tried to +conceal for the informer. Then, changing his voice and attitude, he +described Bradley's speechless grief, the Semple's wounded loyalty and +indignation, and finally the passionate sorrow of the mistress and +sister of the doomed man. + +"It is the most pitiful story of the age," he continued, "and if I were +you, Henry, I would not permit civilians to usurp the power you ought to +hold in your own hand. You have to bear the blame of all the crimes +committed by this infamous court. Pardon the prisoner with a stroke of +your pen, if only to put these fellows in their proper place." + +"But there was a cipher message in his possession--here it is. It was in +the binding of a book he carried in his pocket." + +"He says he did not put it there. No one can read it. If you found a +letter in the Babylonish speech, would you hang a man because you could +not read the message he carried!" + +"Special pleading, Ernest. And he ought to have told who rebound the +book, and to whom he was carrying it. The paper on which the cipher is +written is my paper. Some one, not far from me, must have taken it." + +"Suppose you question Smith?" + +"Do you intend to say that Smith is a traitor?" + +"I say, ask Smith. I have no doubt he can read the Babylonish for +you--if he will." + +"You alarm me. Am I surrounded by enemies?" + +"I think you have many round you. I have warned you often. My advice to +you at this time is to pardon young Bradley." + +"Why are you taking such an interest in young Bradley?" + +"I have no secrets from you, he is my rival." + +"Preposterous! How could he rival you in anything?" + +"Yet he is my rival in the affections of Maria Semple." + +"Then let him hang! He will be out of your way." + +"No, he would be forever in my way. She would idolize him, make him a +hero and a saint, and worship him in some secret shrine of memory as +long as she lives. I am going to marry her, and I want no secret +shrines. He is a very good-looking, ordinary young man; only the +circumstances of the time lifted him out of the average and the +commonplace. Let him go scot free that he may find his level which is +far below the horizon of my peerless Maria." + +"I don't think I can let him go 'scot free,' Ernest. I should offend +many if I did, and it would be made a precedent; suppose I imprison him +during the continuance of the war!" + +"That is too romantic. Maria would haunt the prison and contrive some +way of communication. He would still be her hero and her lover." + +"And you will marry this infatuated girl?" + +"Yes, a thousand times, yes! Her love for that boy is mere sentiment. I +will teach her what love really means. She has promised to marry me--if +I save Harry Bradley's life." + +"I never saw you taken so with any woman before." + +"I never cared for a woman before. The moment I saw Maria Semple it was +different. I knew that she belonged to me. Henry, you are my best +friend, give me my wife; no one but you can do so." + +"Ernest! Ernest! You ask a great thing." + +"Not too great for you to grant. You have the will and you have the +power. Are you not going to make me happy, Henry?" + +"Privately, it would be a delight to humor you, Ernest; but officially, +what am I to say to Matthews, DuBois and others." + +"Tell them, that as a matter of military policy, you wish the prisoner +released. Why should you make explanations to them? Oh, they are such +courtiers, they will smile and do all you wish. You are above their +rascally court; reverse their decision in this affair and show them your +power. Believe me, it will be, politically, a wise step." + +There was silence for a few moments, and then Clinton said: "I am sorry +for the Semples. I like them both, and there is something about the +saddler that sets him above other men. But it would not be right to let +this young spy--for he is a spy--off, without some punishment." + +"I think that is right." + +"He must be told that he will be shot on sight if he enters New York +again." + +"He will deserve it." + +"And I will have him drummed out of the city as a rogue and a suspect. +We will make no hero of him--quite the contrary." + +"I oppose nothing of that kind. I ask for his life and his freedom, +because he stands between Maria Semple and myself. If I wanted any other +reason, because I thoroughly respect his father, and am on excellent +terms with his sister, who has been very hospitable to me and who is a +remarkable girl. It has troubled me to-day to remember her lonely sorrow +and anxiety." + +"You have given me three good reasons for granting your request, and +have omitted the strongest of all, Ernest." + +"What is that, Henry?" + +"That I love you." + +"And I love you. You have always been like a big brother to me; always +petted me and humored my desires." + +"Well, then, I will see Matthews and DuBois in the morning." + +"Send for them here to-night. If their court is a Military Police Court, +you are Commander-in-Chief." + +"Right! I will send for them. It is only about nine o'clock." + +"And you will insist that the prisoner be given his life and +freedom--nothing less?" + +"I give you my word for it. But I will have him punished as I said. He +must be prevented from coming to New York again. This kind of thing can +not happen twice." + +"I know. If words could thank you, Henry, I would say them." + +"Nonsense, Ernest; what are words between us? We know each other's +heart;" then he laid his arm across his friend's shoulder and their +hands clasped; there was no need of words. + +Very early in the morning Maria and Agnes received the good tidings. +Maria was asleep when Medway's letter, with a basket of hot-house fruit +was brought to her. Agnes was making her father's coffee, and they both +looked at the unexpected letter with a fearful anticipation. But as soon +as Agnes glanced at it, she perceived that it brought good news, and she +gave it to her father. She could not speak, and for a few minutes +Bradley was equally silent. Not that they were ungrateful, oh, no! They +were only inarticulate. They had a gratitude so deep and holy that they +had no words with which to express it; and when the happy father found +speech, it was weak and tremulous as that of a man in the last +extremity. _"I was brought low, and He helped me!"_ That was all, but he +stood up, steadying himself by his chair, and uttered the verse with a +reverence and holy joy that no language can describe. + +In a little while he began to talk to his daughter. "I knew God would +not fail me," he said. "Yesterday afternoon I did all I could, and then +I left the rest with Him. I saw General Clinton and said a few words +which he could not gainsay. I saw Smith, and told him plainly if Harry +died, he should translate that cypher message to the Commander-in-Chief. +I saw Powell, and many others, whom _I hold at my mercy_, and they know +_that_ now, if they never knew it before. Andrews left New York an hour +after I saw him; he is a fearful creature and he believed I would speak, +though Harry had been silent; well, I must see the boy as soon as +possible, there is certain to be some difficulty that only gold can +overcome. I hope they will not imprison him." + +"Lord Medway says, he will be set free." + +"Thank God!" + +He rose with the words and Agnes brought him his top-coat. Then, as they +stood face to face, she was shocked at the ravage thirty hours of +travail in the shadow of death had made on him. "Father," she said, "oh, +father, forgive me! I did wrong to deceive you! I did wrong!" + +"Yes, my girl, you did wrong; and nothing right can come from wrong; but +Agnes, I have been worse than you. I, also, have been living a deceitful +life, thinking that the end justified the means. I set you the example. +Your fault is my fault. We have both been trying to do the right thing +in _our own way_. We have been patriots, as Nicodemus was a +Christian--by night. That is wrong. We must do right first hand, not +second hand. From this hour that kind of thing will be sinning with our +eyes open; it will be looking God's Commandments in the face, and then +breaking them. Do you understand, Agnes?" + +Then he went away, and Agnes tried to turn to her household duties. She +wondered if Maria would come and see her or if she ought to go to Maria, +and while she was debating the question Neil called. He was much +depressed. The good news about Harry only affected him through Agnes, +and he was very anxious about his father, who was in a high fever and +was constantly talking of his fine and his inability to pay it. "Maybe +I'll hae to go to prison for the debt," was his constant cry, and Neil +felt that his father's fine must be satisfied, no matter at what cost. +So it was a troubled little visit; the day before each was so uncertain, +so full of probabilities which the slightest momentum might divert to +either joy or sorrow. They could not feel that their congratulations +were full ripe; something might yet happen to destroy their hopes. + +Neil went first to his office. He found Mr. Curtis preparing for the +court, and as yet unaware of the decision in Harry's case; "but it is a +great piece of good luck for the young scamp," he said, when Neil told +him, "for he's a spy, if ever there was one. I have no doubt he deserves +death, fifty times over." + +"I have no doubt there are fifty men in New York who deserve it more +than he does--men of power and prominence." + +"I would keep such observations to myself, Neil. Your father is far too +outspoken and he is paying for it now." + +"I hope my father will never be less outspoken." + +"Well, as I say, he has to pay for his opinions. He has two hundred +pounds to pay, but then he had his two hundred pounds worth of +fault-finding." + +"What do you mean, Curtis?" + +"Don't you remember how imprudently he spoke about Mr. Hulen's +imprisonment?" + +"He said nothing but the truth. Mr. Hulens is the most loyal of +gentlemen, but because he was not sufficiently polite to a town major, +he was imprisoned with felons and vagabonds and afterward compelled to +publicly apologize. It was an infamous wrong." + +"Precisely what the Elder said. It has not been forgotten." + +"There were the two De Lanceys----" + +"Yes, to be sure! And why did he trouble himself about them? There are +enough of De Lanceys to look after De Lanceys." + +"The injustice of the affair was every man's business. These two De +Lanceys were private gentlemen, who, because they had some words +with a German chasseur, were seized in their homes and tried by +court-martial--though they had no connection whatever with the army: at +the worst it was a simple assault, the most trifling offense the civil +law notices, yet the De Lanceys were degraded and imprisoned for two +months, and then compelled to beg this German mercenary's pardon before +all the troops at Kingsbridge. Remember Mr. Hicks, turned out of his +hotel by General Patterson at the request of that unmentionable creature +Loring--because Loring wanted it for one of his parasites. Remember poor +Amberman, the miller at Hempstead, who, because he asked Major Stockton +for payment for the flour he had bought, was nearly flogged to death, +and then run through with Major Crew's sword, and kicked out of the +way--dead. Nothing was done to Stockton; I met him on the street an hour +ago, still an officer in His Majesty's service. I could add one hundred +examples to these--but what is the use? And why are we lawyers? There is +no law. The will of any military officer is the law." + +"Still we are lawyers, Neil; and special counselors to three of the +commissaries." + +"I shall not be counselor much longer. I am going to write my +resignation now." + +"Are you mad? These fees are about all the ready money we make." + +"I should deserve to be called mad, or worse, if I continued to serve a +government which had just fined me for not being careful of its +interests." + +"For Heaven's sake, don't throw hundreds a year away for a figment!" + +"Honor is something more than a figment. But you had better go to court +early this morning. When you come back, I want you to let me have two +hundred pounds until I can sell some property." + +Curtis burst into a loud laugh: "I could not let you have two hundred +shillings," he said. "Good gracious, Neil, how can you suppose I have +money to spare?" + +"I know you have money, but if you are averse to lending it, that is a +different thing. I thought you might have some memory of all I have done +for you." + +"I have. Of course I have. You have put thousands of pounds in my way; +I don't deny or forget it, but I have a family----" + +"I understand. I wish you would hasten about Bradley's case. His father +will be expected to pay for their service." + +"I suppose his case is settled. I am sorry he has got off--deuced sorry! +A saucy youth who looked defiance at his betters all the time." + +"Were they his betters?" + +"He ought to be hung!" And he went on talking rapidly about Bradley's +deserts. Neil knew the bluster was affected in order to prevent +recurrence to the subject of money, and with a heart hot and wounded he +sat down to write his resignation of the offices which were his +principal support. Curtis was disconcerted and uneasy, and his last +words on leaving the office were an entreaty to Neil to do "nothing +foolish and hasty." But the papers were written, and then he took +himself to the proper departments. + +He was woefully unhappy. His father's and mother's condition made his +strong heart tremble, and though no one could have supposed from his +appearance that he had a single care, the sudden falling away of his +friends and acquaintances wounded him like a sword. + +As he walked the streets, so gravely erect, so haughtily apart, he was +made to feel, in many ways, that he had lost in public estimation. No +one took the trouble to ask him a favor or stopped to seek his opinion, +or told him bits of gossip about events transpiring. He was classed with +the Bradleys. The Misses Robertson passed him with the most formal of +recognitions; Miss Smith did not notice him at all, while Joris Van +Emerslie, who had taken his advice the previous week about the sale of +his business, crossed the street to avoid him. + +Friends were not far behind enemies. As he stood a moment on the steps +of the barracks commissary, Judge Lawson, an old man and an intimate +acquaintance of the Semples, stopped and said, "Good-morning, Neil. I am +glad to see you here. I heard Cornelius Bloch had asked for your +position and was likely to get it." + +"I did not resign my position, Judge, until five minutes ago. The +commissioners have not yet received it." + +"Very true, but every one knew you must resign--the servants of the King +must be above suspicion, eh?" + +"Suspicion, sir!" + +"Now, now, Neil! You must keep your temper for younger men; I am too old +to be bluffed." + +Then Neil walked silently away, and the old friend of the family watched +him with a queer mingling of pity and satisfaction. "Proud creatures, +them Semples, old and young," he muttered; "but good, true hearts in +them, I'm half sorry for Neil, he was always ready to do me a kindness; +but a little pull-down won't hurt him, he carries his head too high for +anything." + +But high as Neil carried his head, his heart was in the depths. It +seemed to him that all the fair, honorable life he had built was falling +into ruin. He needed now both help and sympathy, and his friends looked +coldly upon him, or took the same reproving tone as the self-righteous +comforters of the man of Uz. Full of bitter thoughts he was walking down +Queen Street, when he heard a soft, familiar voice, almost at his ear, +say, "Mr. Semple! Honored sir, will you speak to me for a few minutes?" +He looked up quickly, and saw that he was close to the doorstep of Jacob +Cohen, the Jewish dealer in fine furniture, china, jewelry, etc. + +"Certainly, Mr. Cohen," he answered, as he stepped inside the gloomy +warehouse, crowded with articles of great beauty and astonishing value. + +"Will you sit here, if you please, sir," and Cohen drew a large stool +forward for Neil; "I must not detain you, your time is worth much money, +many people wish to buy it, but it is land I would buy, if you will sell +it to me." + +"Land, Mr. Cohen! Perhaps a house----" + +"No, it is the land you own next to our synagogue. If you will remember, +I had it in my heart to buy this plot of ground six years ago. I thought +then we could build a larger temple, one more worthy for our worship; +but we did not reach agreement at that time and then came the war. I +offered you then, four hundred pounds for the land; to-day I make you +the same offer if you will take it." + +Neil's emotion was almost beyond his control. For a few minutes he could +not answer the proposition, but Cohen had the patience of the Jew, and +he divined the young man's agitation and mental tremor. Silent and +motionless he waited for Neil's reply. It came strained and hesitating, +as if speech was an effort. + +"Mr. Cohen--I will sell you the land--yes, indeed! As you say, for four +hundred pounds." + +"To-morrow? Can the sale be completed to-morrow?" + +"I will prepare the papers to-day." + +"I am well pleased." + +"Mr. Cohen, this is a great surprise--a good surprise--you do not +understand how good. I believe it is something more than business you +intend; it is sympathy, kindness, friendship." + +"It is business, but it is kindness also, if you will accept it. Your +house have ever done me good, and not evil. I and mine prayed for +you--yes, the Jew knows the pang of injustice that must be borne without +protest and without redress." + +"You have done my family and myself an unspeakable kindness. I were the +worst of ingrates not to acknowledge it," and Neil rose and offered his +hand. And when Cohen took it, and held it for a few moments within his +own, a marvellous change passed over the old man. The timid attitude, +the almost servile respect, vanished; his face beamed with a lofty +expression, his eyes met Neil's frankly; in the prosaic surroundings of +the dark, crowded shop he looked, for a few moments, like an Eastern +prince. + +As they stood thus together, Neil longing to say something that should +show his deep gratitude and friendship, and forgetting that Israel in +America at that day still preserved much of their Oriental seclusion in +household matters, asked after his daughter, Mrs. Belasco. "I have not +seen her since her marriage," he said; "but I can never forget her. It +was her promptitude in the duel between Captain Hyde and myself that +saved my life." + +"She has a good heart;" then suddenly, "come, come into my home, yes, +come in and see her." + +He walked toward the back of the shop and Neil followed him into a +large, low room, where there was a table covered with a white cloth. +Another white cloth, folded lengthwise, shielded the bread and the china +laid ready for the noonday meal. Cohen stood at the entrance and +permitted Neil to pass in. As he did so, a small, dark Jew rose and +bringing forward a chair, said, "Welcome be the guest." + +"This is Mr. Belasco," said Cohen, and then Neil knew the woman who was +standing behind Mr. Belasco's chair. It was the still beautiful Miriam. +The happiness of perfect love lighted the dusky white of her complexion +and filled her glorious eyes. A brilliant silk kerchief was thrown over +her black hair, and she wore a rich, flowing garment of many colors. +There were gems in her ears and around her neck, and her slim, brown +fingers sparkled with sapphires and diamonds. Behind her was the +whitewashed wall of a room on which was traced some black Hebrew +characters--wise or comforting passages from the Psalms or the Prophets; +and on shelves of ordinary wood, a quantity of beautiful china, some +silver vessels, and a copper lamp with seven beaks, brightly polished. +Before her sat Belasco, his swarthy face revealing both power and +intellect, purposely veiled beneath a manner of almost obsequious +deference. But his voice, like Cohen's, was full of those vague tones of +softness and melody, of which Orientals preserve the eternal poetry, +with the eternal secret. Outside, but within sight and hearing, was the +vibrant, noisy, military life of New York--western turmoil--hurry of +business--existence without pause; but here, in this grave, unornamented +room, with its domestic simplicity and biblical air, was the very +atmosphere of the East. + +Neil, who really possessed the heart and the imagination of a poet, felt +the vibration of the far-off life, and even while addressing Mr. +Belasco, had visions of palm-trees and of deserts and of long, long +journeys with the caravans of camels, from oasis to oasis. He was +standing amid the children of the patriarchs. These souls were of older +race than himself; they had the noblest of kindreds, a country that was +the mother of nations. + +With the ideal respect born of such thoughts he offered his hand to Mrs. +Belasco. Then she called her children and proudly exhibited them to +Neil, and in a few moments a slave brought in a dish of lamb stewed with +rice and herbs, some dates, a plate of little cakes strewed with caraway +seeds, and some strong coffee. A roll of bread was at each plate, and +Cohen broke his with Neil. Miriam did not eat with them; she waited +silently on their wants, her face beaming with pleasure and goodwill. +And Neil felt as if he had suddenly passed through a little wooden door +into the life of the far East. + +He said something like this, and Cohen answered, "God has said to us, as +to His servant Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy +kindred. We are the wayfarers of the Eternal, confessing still, as +Moses in the Law taught us--'a Syrian ready to perish was my father.'" +Deut. 26:5. + +It was an unlooked-for and wonderful hour, and Neil left the shop of +Jacob Cohen a very different being from the depressed, anxious man who +had entered it an hour previously. His first thought was his father and +mother, and he went to his office, wrote the following note, and sent a +messenger with it to them: + + MY HONORED AND BELOVED PARENTS: + I have sold a plot of land in Mill Street for four hundred + pounds, and the fines will be paid to-morrow. We shall not + require to borrow a farthing from any one. Be at ease. I will + come to you as soon as I have written the necessary transfer + papers. + Your affectionate son, + NEIL. + +Then an unconquerable desire to see Agnes, or at least to do something +for her, took entire possession of him; and he laid aside his business, +and went as rapidly as possible to the Bradley house. But Agnes would +not see him. She asked to be left alone, and Neil understood her need of +solitude, and respected it. In Maiden Lane he met Lord Medway, who said, +"I have been at your office seeking you, Mr. Semple. Young Bradley is to +be put outside the city at two o'clock to-day." + +"He is pardoned then, on what conditions?" + +"He will be shot on sight if he comes within five miles of New York; and +I fear he will not have a pleasant escort to the barricade." + +"You mean that he will be drummed out by the military and assaulted by +the mob?" + +"Yes, the court said, as a vagabond and spy and common rogue against His +Majesty's government and interests." + +"Oh! I suppose the court is right; there is nothing to be done." + +"His father has sent a number of men with some message to all the +respectable burghers he can influence; and I think Bradley can influence +a great many, either through their fear of him, or their respect for +him." + +"What does he propose to do? He can not prevent this public +demonstration, and he ought not to try to do so. His son has got off +miraculously well. It is his place to submit and be grateful." + +"He tells me the last man drummed out of town was nearly killed by the +missiles thrown at him, and did lose the sight of one eye. He proposes +to prevent the mob's playfulness, if he can." + +"But how?" + +"He has asked a number of the tradesmen and merchants in the city to +send their apprentices and clerks, and thus, by influence and example, +keep the unruly element in check. No one can prevent their presence. In +fact, good citizens are expected to countenance the rogue's punishment. +I may show myself at some point of the route," he added, with a laugh; +"I have a little friend who may ask me about it," and he looked +curiously at Neil, wondering if Maria had told him how the miracle had +been performed which saved Harry's life. + +But Neil made no sign, and Medway continued: "I wish you would dine +with me this evening, Mr. Semple. I have something of importance to tell +you. I dine at five, shall we say at The King's Arms. Afterward I will +walk home with you, if I may." + +"I will join you at five o'clock. What time does the young man begin his +march, and from what point?" + +"From Whitehall Slip to Dock Street, Hanover Square, Queen Street, Crown +Street, William Street, King George Street to the Boston Road, and so to +the eastern gate of the barrier. I rather think the companions of the +journey will be few in number ere they reach the barrier. They start +about two o'clock I believe. You will not forget dinner at five?" + +Then the young men parted and Neil went to his office to consider his +movements. Events had happened with a celerity that made him nervous and +uncertain. He was used to method and plenty of time. Hurry, under any +circumstances, destroyed his balance. Between his father and mother, +Agnes, Maria, John Bradley and his son, Jacob Cohen and Lord Medway, he +felt as if in a whirlwind. He wanted an hour of solitude in which to +collect himself. But his office, that usually quiet, methodical place, +was this day full of unrest. His partner was fuming at Harry Bradley's +release, and wondering "what on earth was the use of the law, or the +necessity for lawyers to interpret it?" + +"There is now no necessity for either law or lawyers," answered Neil; +"we may pack our books and lock our door." + +"Neil, I have been thinking how I could manage to get two hundred for +you." + +"It is not necessary. I am sorry I spoke to you on the subject." + +"I hope you have reconsidered the question of resignation." + +"I sent in my resignation this morning." + +"Of course the commissioners will include me with you." + +"Not necessarily." + +"Yes, necessarily; and I think you have been very selfish and unkind." + +"My honor." + +"My wife and children! They are of as much account as your honor." + +Then Neil rose and went out again; there seemed no peace anywhere, he +had scarcely reached the street when he heard in the distance the +mocking strains of the drums and the fifes. They sounded so intolerable +that he fled to his home to escape their cruel clamor. His mother saw +his approach and was at the door to meet him. Her face looked strangely +grey and thin, but it had something too of its old spirit and +cheerfulness as she said: + +"Neil, my dear lad, your letter set our old hearts singing. How did you +manage it? Who helped you?" + +"God and Jacob Cohen helped me," he answered. "The Jew has bought my +land in Mill Street, and the strange thing is that he bought it out of +respect and sympathy for my father. I am as sure of that as I am that +Jacob Cohen is the only Christian in New York who remembered us for past +kindness or cared for us in present trouble. I want to rest an hour, +mother; I have an appointment with Lord Medway at five o'clock, and I +feel like a leaf that has been blown hither and thither by the wind for +two days. You might tell Maria that Agnes Bradley's brother will be +outside of New York, a free man, in an hour." + +"I am glad he is out o' our life, anyway. Much sorrow and loss he has +brought us, and you will see that Maria's good name will be none the +better for being mixed up with the affair." + +"That is Macpherson's fault. For her sake, and for your sake, he might +have held his tongue. I will not forgive him." + +"His duty, Neil----" + +"Nonsense! He could have given the information without bringing in +Maria's name. He was mad with wounded vanity, it was a miserable, +cowardly bit of revenge." + +"I don't think he is a coward." + +"He is; any man is a coward who takes his spite out on a woman, and you +have been so kind, so motherly to him. He is a disgrace to the tartan: +but I want an hour's rest, and tell father to be perfectly easy about +the money. I shall have it in the morning. It rests on Cohen's word; I +know no better human security." + +"Are you not hungry?" + +"I had dinner with the Cohens, a simple, excellent meal." + +"The world is tapsalteerie; I wonder at nothing that happens. Did you +see the young man? I mean Bradley's son?" + +"Not I. I did not want to see him. I heard the drums and got out of +sight and hearing as quickly as possible. I believe his father has +managed the affair very wisely; I should not wonder if the rogue's march +turns out more of a triumph than an ignominy." + +In a measure Neil's judgment proved to be correct. Respectable young +men, charged to discountenance riotous abuse, began to join the +procession at its outset, and this element was continually augmented. As +they passed Bradley's shop, Bradley himself stepped out of it and +walking at the head of the line, took his place at Harry's right hand. +No one interfered. The drummers and fifers in front did not see him, and +the stupid Waldeckers, ignorant of English and of everything but the +routine of their regiment, took him as a part of the event. He was +dressed in black cloth, with a white lawn band around his neck, and if +they speculated about him at all, they thought he was a clergyman, and +concluded the prisoner was to be hung at the barrier. + + [Illustration: THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT SEE HIM.] + +But Harry turned to his father a face full of love and gratitude. The +youth's self-control was complete, for his disdain of the whole +proceeding was both breastplate and weapon to him. He was bare-headed +and with the wind in his hair and the sunlight in his eyes he went +swinging onward to the song of victory he heard in his own heart. By the +side of his father's massive contour and stern countenance, Harry looked +like some young Michael, bright-faced and fearless. + +Now and then a taunt was hurled at the lad, and occasionally a jibe far +more tangible, but of neither missile did he show the least +consciousness. The presence of his father touched the rudest heart. He +removed his hat when he saw his son's uncovered head, and his grey hairs +evoked far more pity than contempt. When they passed through the +fashionable residence streets, the sympathy was even remarkable; windows +were thrown up, handkerchiefs fluttered, and now and then a shrill +little _"bravo!"_ made Harry look up and catch the influences of pity +and admiration that women, young and lovely, and women, old and wayworn, +rained down on him. As Medway predicted, the crowd melted away long +before the barrier was reached, for the mood of mischief was not in it. +The fifes screamed and the drums beat, but could not summon the devilish +spirit of mob violence, and Harry Bradley's tramp to the Rogue's March +was a much more quiet and orderly affair than the Police Court intended +it to be. + +At the barrier the gate was flung open, and, in the midst of a +fanfaronade of discordant sounds and scornful shouts Harry was hustled +outside. But his father had found opportunity to give him gold and to +tell him a negro was waiting with a swift horse behind the gates; and +just at the last moment, amid the scoffing and jeering of the soldiers, +he put his arms about his son's neck and kissed and blessed him. He had +drunk the shameful cup to the dregs with the lad, and he turned to the +little gathering a face that awed them. As one man they moved aside to +let him pass, and for a few moments watched him, as, with a mighty +stride he took the road homeward. For he looked beyond his nature large +and commanding, and he walked as if moved by some interior force that +was beyond his control. Men gazed at him with awe and pity, but no one +ventured to speak to him. + +As he approached his home the inner momentum that had carried him +without let or hinderance at a marvelous speed seemed to fail; he +faltered, looked round wearily, and then stumbled forward, as if he had +charged his spirit for the last mile of life. When he reached his gate +he could not open it, and Agnes ran out to help him; speech was +impossible, but with a pitiful glance he let her lead him into the +house. Leaning on her, he stumbled forward until he reached the sofa, +then, with a great cry he fell backward. + +Fortunately, Neil Semple at that moment entered the house, and he was +instantly at Bradley's side, rendering, with Agnes, the help at once +necessary, and soothing the afflicted man with words of such sympathy +and affection as few mortals had ever heard pass the lips of Neil +Semple. "Mr. Bradley," he entreated, "do not fail yourself at this hour! +We are all so sorry for you--all ready to weep with you--think of +Agnes--are you suffering?--Shall I go for a physician? What is the +matter? Speak to me, Mr. Bradley." + +"Sir," he answered, stretching out his trembling arms, "sir, I can +neither see nor hear." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE TURN OF THE TIDE. + + +Every misfortune has its horizon, but as yet Maria was not able to lift +up her eyes and see any comfort coming from afar. It seemed to her that +all the joy and glory of living was over. It was not only that Harry was +taken out of her schemes of happiness for the future; the present, also, +was denuded of every hope and clouded by very real annoyances. She felt +bitterly the publicity given to her name, and she knew that this +publicity would supply those who disliked her with continual +opportunities for her humiliation. + +"I shall have to stop at home," she thought; "and grandmother is sick +and grandfather fretful, and Neil's whole care is given to Agnes +Bradley. I think he might consider me a little; but nobody does; I am +only Maria. Yet my life is ruined, quite ruined;" and the unhappy child +wept over herself and wondered how she was to live through the long, +long years before her. + +Very frequently, however, this tearful mood gave place to indignation +against her friends in general, and Agnes in particular. For she still +held steadily to the opinion that all the trouble had arisen from her +selfishness and inability to remember any one's desires but her own. +And so, in plaintive or passionate wandering from one wrong to another, +she passed some very miserable days. Finally, Neil persuaded her to go +and see Agnes. He said, "Even the walk may do you good; and Agnes is +certain to have some comforting words to say." + +Maria doubted both assertions. She could not see what good it could do +her to go from one wretched house to another even more wretched, and +Neil's assurances that John Bradley was better and able to go to his +shop did not give her any more eager desire to try the suggested change. +Yet to please Neil she went, though very reluctantly; and Madame +sympathized with this reluctance. She thought it was Agnes Bradley's +place to come and make some acknowledgment of the sorrow and loss her +family had brought upon the Semples; and she recalled the innate +aversion the Elder had always felt for the Bradley family. + +"The soul kens which way trouble can come," she said. "But what is the +good o' its warnings? Nobody heeds them." + +"I never heard any warning, grandmother." + +"There's nane so deaf as those who won't hear; but go your ways to your +friend Agnes! I'll warrant she would rather you would bide at hame." + +The morning was cold and damp and inexpressibly depressing, but Maria +was in that mood which defies anything to be of consequence. She put on +her hat and cloak and walked silently by her uncle's side until they +came to the Bradley cottage. All the prettiness of its summer and autumn +surroundings was blighted or dead; the door shut, the window covered, +the whole place infected by the sorrow which had visited it. Agnes +opened the door. She was wan and looked physically ill and weary, but +she smiled brightly at her visitor, and kissed her as she crossed the +threshold. + +"My father has been very ill, Maria, or I should have been to see you +before this," she said; "but he has gone to the shop this morning. I +fear he ought not." + +"My grandfather has been very ill and is still unable to leave his +room," replied Maria. "My dear grandmother also! As for myself--but that +is of little importance, only I must say that it has been a dreadful +thing to happen to us, a cruel thing!" + +"It was a wrong thing to begin with. That is where all the trouble +sprang from. I see it now Maria." + +"Of course! You ought not to have deceived your father, Agnes." + +"I was to blame in that, very much to blame. I have nearly broken my +heart over the sin and its consequences." + +"Consequences! Yes, for they fell upon the innocent--that is what you +ought to be sorry for--my grandfather and grandmother, my Uncle Neil, +and even myself." + +"But as for yourself, Maria, you also were to blame. If you would have +been content with seeing Harry here----" + +"Oh, indeed! You did not permit me to see Harry here, or even to bid him +good-bye that night. If you had----" + +"It would have made no difference. Harry as well as you seemed willing +to run all risks to meet--elsewhere." + +"I never thought of meeting Harry elsewhere. I have told you this fact +before." + +"If you had not done so, if Harry had not known you would do so again, +he would not have asked you." + +"This is the last time I will condescend to tell you, Agnes, that I +never once met Harry by appointment; much less, at nine o'clock at +night. Please remember this!" + +"It is, then, very strange, that Harry should have asked you that +night." + +"Not only very strange, but very impertinent. Why should he suppose +Maria Semple would obey such a command? For it was a command. And it was +a further impertinence to send me this command on a bit of common paper, +wrapped around a stone and thrown at me through a window. It was a +vulgar thing to do, also, and I never gave Harry Bradley the smallest +right to order me to meet him anywhere." + +"Oh, if you look at things that way! But why did he ask you? That is a +question hard to answer." + +"Not at all. He was jealous of Macpherson and wished to show off his +familiarity with me and make Macpherson jealous. Under this distracting +passion he forgot, or he did not care, for the risk. It was your +selfishness put the idea into his head, and it was his selfishness that +carried it out, regardless of the consequences." + +"And your selfishness, Maria, what of it?" + +"I was not selfish at all. I knew nothing about it. If I had received +the note, I should not have answered it in any way." + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"Absolutely sure. It angered me, humiliated me, wronged me beyond words. +And to have it read in the Police Court! How would you feel, Agnes? It +has ruined my life." + +"Poor Harry!" + +"Oh, but poor Maria! All this misery was brought to me without my +knowledge and without any desert on my part. And don't you suppose I +love my grandparents and Uncle Neil? Think what I have suffered when I +saw them dragged to prison, tried, fined and disgraced, and all for a +scribble of presumptuous words that Harry Bradley ought to have been +ashamed to write. It was very thoughtless, it was very cruel." + +"Harry suffered for his presumption; and as for the fine, my father will +repay it to your grandfather. He said so this morning; said it would +only be just; and I think so, too." + +"The fine is the least part of the wrong. Who can repay grandfather and +uncle for the loss of their good name and their honorable record? Who +can give uncle his business back again? These are wrongs that cannot be +put right with money. You know that, Agnes." + +"Do not quarrel with me, Maria. I am not able to bear your reproaches. +Let us at least be thankful that Harry's life is spared. When the war is +over you may yet be happy together." + +Then Maria burst into passionate weeping. "You know nothing Agnes! You +know nothing!" she cried. "I can never see Harry again! Never, never! +Not even if he was in this house, _now_. How do you suppose he was +saved?" + +"Father has a great deal of influence, and he used it." Her calm, sad +face, with its settled conviction of her father's power, irritated Maria +almost beyond endurance. For a moment she thought she would tell her the +truth, and then that proud, "not-caring," never far away from a noble +nature stayed such a petty retaliation. She dried her eyes, wrapped her +cloak around her, and said she "must not stop longer; there was trouble +and sorrow at home and she was needed." + +Agnes did not urge her to remain, yet she could not bear her to leave in +a mood so unfriendly, and so despairing. "Forgive me, dear Maria," she +whispered. "I have been wrong and perhaps unkind. I fear you are right +in blaming me. Forgive me! I cannot part in such misunderstanding. If +you knew all----" + +"Oh, yes! And if you knew all." + +"But forgive me! God knows I have suffered for my fault." + +"And I also." + +"Put your arms around my neck and kiss me. I cannot let you go feeling +so unkindly to me. Do you hear, little one? I am sorry, indeed I am. +Maria! Maria!" + +Then they wept a little in each other's arms, and Maria, tear stained +and heavy hearted, left her friend. Was she happier? More satisfied? +More hopeful, for the interview? No. There had been no real confidence. +And what is forgiveness under any circumstances? Only incomplete +understanding; a resolution to be satisfied with the wrong acknowledged +and the pain suffered, and to let things go. + +Certainly, nothing was changed by the apparent reconciliation; for as +Maria sat by the fire that night she said to herself, "It is her fault. +If she had given Harry five minutes, only five minutes, that night he +never would have written that shameful note. It came of her delay and +his hurry. I do not forgive her, and I will not forgive her! Besides, in +her heart I know she blames me; I, who am perfectly innocent! She has +ruined my life, and she looked as injured as if it was I who had ruined +her life. I was not to blame at all, and I will not take any blame, and +I will not forgive her!" + +Maria's divination in the matter was clearly right. Agnes did blame her. +She was sure Harry would not have written the note he did write unless +he had received previous encouragement. "There must have been meetings +in the Semples's garden before," she mused. "Oh, there must have been, +or else Harry's note was inexcusable, it was impertinence, it was +vulgarity. All the same, she need not have said these words to me." + +So the reconciliation was only a truce; the heart-wound in both girls +was unhealed; and if it were healed would not the scar remain forever? + +Three or four days after this unsatisfactory meeting Neil came home in +the afternoon just as the family were sitting down to the tea-table. "It +is cruelly cold, mother," he said. "I will be grateful for a cup. I am +shivering at my very heart." Then he gave his father a business-like +paper, saying, "I found it at my office this morning, sir." + +"What is it Neil? What is it? More trouble?" + +"No, sir. It is a deed making over to you the property in which Mr. +Bradley has his shop and workrooms. He says in a letter to me that 'he +feels this deed to be your right and his duty.' You are to hold the +property as security until he pays you three hundred pounds with +interest; and if you are not paid within three years you are to sell the +property and satisfy yourself." + +"You can give Mr. Bradley his deed back again, my lad. I can pay my own +fines; or if I can't, I can go to prison. I'll not be indebted to him." + +"You mistake, sir. This is a moral obligation, and quite as binding as a +legal one to Mr. Bradley." + +"Take the paper, Alexander," said Madame, "and be thankfu' to save so +much out o' the wreck o' things. We havena the means nor the right, +these days, to fling awa' siller in order to flatter our pride. In my +opinion, it was as little as Bradley could do." + +"I went at once to his shop to see him," continued Neil, "but he was not +there. In the afternoon I called again, and found he had been absent all +day. Fearing he was sick, I stopped at his house on my way home. A +strange woman opened the door. She said Mr. Bradley and his daughter had +gone away." + +"Gone away!" cried Maria. "Where have they gone? Agnes said nothing to +me about going away." + +"The woman, Mrs. Hurd, she called herself, told me Agnes did not know +she was to leave New York until fifteen minutes before she started." + +"When will they return?" asked Madame. + +"God knows," answered Neil, going to the fire and stooping over it. "I +am cold and sick, mother," he said. "It was such a shock. No one at the +shop expected such an event; everything was as busy as possible there, +but the house! the house is desolate." + +"When did they go, Neil?" + +"Last night, mother, at eleven o'clock. Mr. Bradley came in about twenty +minutes before eleven, put Mr. and Mrs. Hurd in possession, and told +Agnes to pack a change of clothing for herself in a leather saddlebag he +gave her. There was a boat waiting for them, and they went away in the +darkness without a word. _O Agnes!"_ + +"What did the Hurds say?" + +"They know nothing." + +"Did Agnes leave no letter?" asked Maria, looking with pitying eyes at +her uncle. + +"How could she? The poor child, how could she? She had no time. Some one +had taken away her pens and pencils. She left a message with Mrs. Hurd. +That was all." + +That was all. The next day New York City knew that John Bradley had left +his business and his home and disappeared as completely as a stone +dropped into the river. No one had suspected his intention; not his +foreman, nor any of the fifteen men working in his shop; not his most +intimate friends, not even his daughter. But it was at once surmised +that he had gone to the rebel army. People began to murmur at the +clemency shown to his son, and to comment on the almost offensive +sympathy of the father for him. For a few days John Bradley was the +absorbing topic of conversation; then he was forgotten by every one but +Neil. His shop, indeed, was kept open by the foreman, under control of +the government, but the name of Bradley was removed from above its +entrance and the royal cipher G. R. put in its place. And in a few weeks +his home was known as Hurd's place, and had lost all its little +characteristics. Neil passed it every day with a heavy heart. There was +no sweet face at the window to smile him a greeting; no beautiful woman +to stand with him at the gate, or, hand in his hand, lead him into the +little parlor and with ten minutes' conversation make the whole day +bright and possible. The house looked forlorn; fire or candlelight were +never visible, and he could only think of Agnes as driven away in the +dark night by Destiny and wandering, he knew not where. + +Maria, too, was unhappy. Her last visit to Agnes had been such a mockery +of their once loving companionship. Her last visit! That word "last" +took hold of her, reproached her, hurt her, made her sorry and anxious. +She felt also for her uncle, who looked old and gray in his silent +sorrow. Poor Neil! he had suffered so many losses lately; loss of money, +loss of business, loss of friends, and to crown all these bereavements, +the loss of the woman on whom he had fixed the love and light and hopes +of his life. No wonder he was so mournful and so quiet; he, who had just +begun to be really happy, to smile and be gracious and pleasant to every +one, yes, and even to sing! Madame could not help noticing the change. +"He is worse than ever he was before," she said with a weary pity. "Dear +me! what lots of sorrow women do manage to make!" + +This remark Maria did not approve of, and she answered it with some +temper. "All this sorrow came from a man's hand, grandmother," she said, +"and no woman is to blame." + +"Not even yoursel', Maria?" + +"I, least of all. Do you think that I would have met any man by the +river side at nine o'clock at night?" + +"I'll confess I have had my doubts." + +"Then you ought to say, 'Maria, I am sorry I have had one doubt of you.' +When you were Janet Gordon, would you have done a thing like that?" + +"Not a man in Scotland could have trysted me at an hour when all my folk +were in their rooms and maybe sleeping." + +"Not a man in America could make such a tryst with me. I am your +granddaughter." + +"But that letter, Maria." + +"It was a shame! A wrong I cannot forgive. I called it an impertinence +to Agnes, and I feel it so. He had no reason to suppose I would answer +such a request, such an order, I may say. I am telling you the truth, +grandmother." + +"I believe you, Maria; but the pity of it is that you canna advertise +that fact." + +"I know that. I know that everyone will doubt me or shun me. I shall be +made to suffer, of course. Well, I can suffer and smile as well as any +woman,--we all have that experience at some time or other." + +"Men have it, too. Look at your uncle." + +"Men don't smile when they suffer; they don't even try to. Uncle +suffers, any one can see that, but he does not dress up in velvet and +silk, and laugh, and dance, and talk nonsense merrily over the grave +where all his hopes are buried. No, indeed! He looks as if he had lost +the world. And he shuts himself in his room and swears at something or +somebody; he does not cry like a woman and get a headache, as well as a +heartache; he swears at his trouble and at everything connected with it. +That is the way with men, grandmother, you know it is. I have heard both +my grandfather and my uncle comforting themselves after this fashion. +Grandfather, I thought, even seemed to enjoy it." + +Madame smiled and then admitted "men had their ain ways, and so couldna +be judged by woman's ways." Moreover, she told Maria in regard to Agnes +that a friendship which had begun to decay was best cut off at once. And +Maria, in spite of certain regrets, felt this to be a truth. Things were +not the same between Agnes and herself; it was, then, more comfortable +that they should not be at all. + +Only, as day after day went by and no one took the place of Agnes or +showed the slightest desire to do so, her life became very monotonous. +This was specially remarkable, because New York was at a feverish point +of excitement. General Clinton was hurrying his preparations for the +reduction of the South. Any hour the troops might get marching orders, +and every entertainment had the gaiety and the melancholy of a farewell +feast. All day long troops were moving hither and thither, and orderlies +galloping in every direction. There was a constant rumble of army wagons +in motion; trumpets were calling men together, drums beating them to +their stations; and through all the blare and movement of a great +military town in motion there was the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the +glancing of splendidly caparisoned sleighs, full of women brilliantly +dressed. + +Now, although the Semple house was beyond the actual throng and tumult +of these things, Maria heard the confused murmur of their activity; and +Neil told her bare facts, which she easily clothed with all the +accessories of their existence and movement. But although there were +dinner parties and sleighing parties, nightly dances, and the promise of +a fine theatrical season, with the officers of the army as actors, no +one remembered her. She was shocked when she realized that she had been +cut off from all social recognition. Setting aside the fact that Harry +Bradley was a rebel, she had done nothing to deserve such ostracism; +but, though conscious of her innocence, she did not find this inner +approval as satisfying a compensation for outward respect and pleasant +company as it is supposed to be. + +As the days went on, she began to wonder at Lord Medway's absence. At +least, if she was to be his wife he ought to show her some care and +attention. She remembered that in their last important interview she had +told him not to trouble her; but he ought to have understood that a +woman's words, in such trying circumstances, meant much less or much +more than their face value. + +Household anxieties of all kinds were added to these personal ones. +Madame Semple was sick and full of domestic cares. Never had there been +known in New York such bitter frost, such paralyzing cold. Snow lay four +to six feet deep; loaded teams or galloping cavalry crossed the river +safely on its solid ice. Neil had made arrangements for wood in the +summer months, but only part of it had been delivered; the rest, though +felled, could not be extricated from the frozen snowdrifts. The sale of +the Mill Street property had left them a margin of ready money, but +provisions had risen to fabulous prices and were not always procurable +at any price. New York was experiencing, this cruel winter, all the +calamities of a great city beleaguered both by its enemies and the +elements. + +Yet the incessant social gaiety never ceased. Thousands were preparing +for the battlefield; thousands were dying in a virulent smallpox +epidemic; thousands were half-frozen and half-fed; the prisons were +crowded hells of unspeakable agonies; yet the officers in command of the +city, and the citizens in office, the rich, the young and the beautiful, +made themselves merry in the midst of all this death and famine, and +found very good recreation in driving their jingling sleighs over the +solid waters of the river and the bay. + +In these bad times Neil was the stay and comfort of the Semple +household. He catered for their necessities cheerfully, but his heart +was heavy with anxious fear; and when he saw those he loved deprived of +any comfort, he reproached himself for the pride which had made him +resign offices so necessary for their welfare. This pinch of poverty, +which he must conceal, made his whole being shrink with suffering he +never named to any one. And besides, there was always that desolate +house to pass and repass. How was it that its shut door affected him so +painfully? He could only feel this question; he could not answer it. +But, though he was not conscious of the fact, never had Neil Semple in +all his life been at once so great and so wretched: great because he was +able to put his own misery under the feet of those he loved; to forget +it in noble smiles that might cheer them and in hopeful words, often +invented for their comfort. + +One day as he was walking down Broadway he saw a sleigh coming toward +him. It was drawn by four black horses blanketed in scarlet, glittering +with silver harness and tossing their plumed heads to the music of a +thousand bells. As it drew nearer a faint smile came to his lips. He saw +the fantastically-dressed driver and footman, and the brilliant mass of +color surrounded by minever furs, and he knew it was Madame Jacobus, out +to defy any other sleigh to approach her. + +He expected only a swift, bright smile in passing, but she stopped, +called him imperatively, and then insisted that he should take a seat +beside her. "I have caught you at last," she said with a laugh. "It is +high time. I asked you to come soon and see me, and you said you would. +You have broken your word, sir. But nothing is binding where a woman is +concerned; we have to live on broken scraps of all kinds, or perish. +You are going to dine with me. I shall take it very ill if you refuse;" +then, more soberly, "I have some important things to say to you." + +"It will be a great pleasure to dine with you," answered Neil. + +"First, however, we will gallop a mile or two, just to show ourselves +and get an appetite;" and the grave smile of pleasurable assent which +accepted this proposition delighted her. In and out of the city ways +they flew, until they reached the Bowery road; there they met the +sleighs of generals and governors, dandy officers and wealthy +commissioners, and passed them all. And Neil shared the thrill of her +triumph and the physical delight of a pace no one could approach. +Something like his old expression of satisfied consideration came into +his face, and he was alive from head to feet when he reached Madame's +fine house in lower Broadway,--a handsome, luxurious house, filled with +treasures from every part of the world; no shadow of limitation in +anything within it. The lunch, elaborately laid for Madame, was +instantly extended for the guest, and Neil marvelled at the dainty +liberality of all its arrangements. It was, indeed, well known that the +Jacobus wealth was enormous, but here was a room warmed as if wood was +of no great value; broiled birds, the finest of wheat bread, the oldest +and best of wines. + +"You see, I take good care of myself, Neil," said Madame. "I don't wish +to die till the war is over. I am resolved to see Troy taken." + +"You mean New York." + +"I mean New York, of course." + +"Do you really think the rebels will take New York?" + +"The Greeks got into Troy by trying. I think others can do the same." + +This was the only allusion made to public events during the meal; but +when it was over and the servants had disappeared she set her chair +before the roaring fire, spread out her splendid scarlet skirt, and, +holding a gemmed fan between her face and the blaze, said: + +"Now we will talk. You must tell me everything, Neil, without holdbacks. +You are a lawyer and know that everything must be told or nothing. Do +you feel that you can trust me?" + +Then Neil looked into the dark, speaking face, bending slightly toward +him. Kindness lighted its eyes and parted its lips, but, above all, it +was a countenance whose truth was beyond question. "Madame," he +answered, "I believe you are my friend." + +"In plain truth, I am your friend. I am also your mother's friend. She +is the best of women. I love her, and there's an end of it. When I came +to New York first I was a stranger and people looked curiously, even +doubtfully, at me. Janet Semple stood by me like a mother just as long +as I needed her care. Do I forget? That is far from Angelica Jacobus. I +never forget a kindness. Now, Neil, I have known you more than twenty +years. What can I do for you?" + +"O Madame, what can you not do? Your sympathy has put new life into me. +I feel as if, perhaps, even yet there may be happy days in store." + +"Plenty of them. I hear you paid the fines immediately. Did they pinch +you much?" + +"No. Jacob Cohen bought a piece of land from me. I do believe he bought +it out of pure kindness." + +"Pure kindness and good business. He knows how to mingle things. But +that Jew has a great soul. Jacobus has said so often, and no one can +deceive Jacobus. But what are these stories I hear about your lovely +niece? Is there any truth in them?" + +"None, I'll warrant," answered Neil warmly. "But I will tell you the +exact truth, and then you may judge if little Maria deserves to be +treated as people are now treating her." + +Then Neil succinctly, and with clearness and feeling, told the story of +Maria's entanglement with Harry Bradley, laying particular stress on the +fact that she never had met him clandestinely, and that his note had +been a great offense and astonishment to her. "I was present," he said, +"when my father told her of the note, and of its being read in the +Police Court, and I shall never forget her face. It is an easy thing to +say that a person was shocked, but Maria's very soul was so dismayed and +shocked that I seemed to see it fly from her face. She would have fallen +had I not caught her. Why was that note written? I cannot understand +it." + +"It was never intended for Maria. It was written to wound the vanity and +fire the jealousy of that Scot. As soon as Maria left the room the +opportunity was seized. Can you not see that? And Harry Bradley never +dreamed that the kilted fool would turn an apparent love-tryst into a +political event. He wished to make trouble between Macpherson and Maria, +but he had no intention of making the trouble he did make. He also was +jealous, and when two jealous men are playing with fire the consequences +are sure to be calamitous. But Macpherson is sorry enough now for his +zeal in His Majesty's affairs. He is thoroughly despised by both men and +women of the first class. I, myself, have made a few drawing-rooms +places of extreme humiliation to him." + +"Still, others think the man simply did his duty. A Scotsman has very +strong ideas about military honor and duty." + +"Fiddlesticks! Honor and duty! Nothing of the kind. It was a dirty deed, +and he is a dirty fellow to have done it. There was some decent way out +of the dilemma without going through the Police Court to find it. Grant +me patience with such bouncing, swaggering, selfish patriotism! A +penny's worth of common-sense and good feeling would have been better; +but it was his humor to be revengeful and ill-natured, and he is, of +course, swayed by his inclinations. Let us forget the creature." + +"With all my soul." + +"The stories are various about Maria going to General Clinton and +begging her lover's life with such distraction that he could not refuse +it to her. Which story is the true one?" + +"They are all lies, I assure you, Madame. It was Lord Medway who begged +Harry Bradley's life." + +"But why?" + +Neil paused a minute, and then answered softly, "For Maria's sake." + +"Oh, I begin to understand." + +"She has promised to marry him when she is of age--then, or before." + +"I am very glad. Medway is a man full of queer kinds of goodness. When +the Robinsons and Blundells, when Joan Attwood and Kitty Errol and all +the rest of the beauties, hear the news, may I be there to see? Is it +talkable yet?" + +"No, not yet. Maria has told no one but me, and I have told no one but +you. Medway is to see my father and mother; after that--perhaps. He has +not called since the arrangement; he told me 'he was doing the best +thing under the circumstances.'" + +"Of course he is. Medway understands women. He knows that he is making +more progress absent than he would present. Come, now, things are not so +bad, socially. Mrs. Gordon and Angelica Jacobus will look after Maria; +and, though women can always be abominable enough to their own sex, I +think Maria will soon be beyond their shafts. Now, it is business I must +speak of. Patrick Huges, my agent, is robbing me without rhyme or +reason. I had just sent him packing when I met you. The position is +vacant. Will you manage my affairs for me? The salary is two hundred +pounds a year." + +"Madame, the offer is a great piece of good fortune. From this hour, if +you wish it, I will do your business as if it were my own." + +"Thank you, Neil. In plain truth, it will be a great kindness to me. We +will go over the rascal's accounts to-morrow, and he will cross the +river to-night if he hears that Neil Semple is to prosecute the +examination." + +Then Neil rose to leave. Madame's sympathy and help had made a new man +of him; he felt able to meet and master his fate, whatever it might be. +At the last moment she laid her hand upon his arm. "Neil," she asked, +"Has not this great outrage opened your eyes a little. Do you still +believe in the justice or clemency of the King?" + +"It was not the King." + +"It was the King's representatives. If such indignity is possible when +we are still fighting, what kind of justice should we get if we were +conquered?" + +"I know, I know. But there is my father. It would break his heart if I +deserted the royal party now. They do not know in England----" + +"Then they ought to know; but for many years I have been saying, +'England was mad'; and she grows no wiser." + +"Englishmen move so slowly." + +"Of course. All the able Englishmen are on this side of the Atlantic. +Lord! how many from the other side could be changed for the one Great +One on this side. What do you think? It was my silk, lace, ribbons and +fallals Harry Bradley was taking across the river. The little vanities +were for my old friend Martha. I am sorry she missed them." + +Neil looked at her with an admiring smile. "How do you manage?" he +asked. + +"I have arranged my politics long since, and quite to my satisfaction. +So has Jacobus. He left New York flying the English flag, but the ocean +has a wonderful influence on him; his political ideas grow large and +free there; he becomes--a different man. Society has the same effect on +me. When I see American women put below that vulgar Mrs. Reidesel----" + +"Oh, no, Madame!" + +"Oh, yes, sir. In the fashionable world we are all naught unless Mrs. +General Reidesel figures before us; then, perhaps, we may acquire a kind +of value. See how she is queening it in General Tryron's fine mansion. +And then, this foreign mercenary, Knyphausen, put over American officers +and American citizens! It is monstrous! Not to be endured! I only bear +it by casting my heart and eyes to the Jersey Highlands. There our +natural ruler waits and watches; here, we wait and watch, and some hour, +it must be, our hopes shall touch God's purposes for us. For that hour +we secretly pray. It is not far off." And Neil understood, as he met her +shining eyes and radiant smile, that there are times when faith may +indeed have all the dignity of works. + +Then the young man, inexpressibly cheered and strengthened, went rapidly +home; and when Madame heard her son's steps on the garden walk she knew +that something pleasant had happened to him. And it is so often that +fortune, as well as misfortune, goes where there is more of it that Neil +was hardly surprised to see an extraordinarily cheerful group around an +unusually cheerful fireside when he opened the parlor door. The Elder, +smiling and serene, sat in his arm-chair, with his finger-tips placidly +touching each other. Madame's voice had something of its old confident +ring in it, and Maria, with heightened color and visible excitement, +sat between her grandparents, an unmistakable air of triumph on her +face. + +"Come to the fire, Neil," said his mother, making a place for his chair. +"Come and warm yoursel'; and we'll hae a cup o' tea in ten or fifteen +minutes." + +"How cheerful the blazing logs are," he answered. "Is it some festival? +You are as delightfully extravagant as Madame Jacobus. Oh, if the old +days were back again, mother!" + +"They will come, Neil. But wha or what will bring us back the good days +we hae lost forever out o' our little lives while we tholed this weary +war? However, there is good news, or at least your father thinks so. +Maria has had an offer o' marriage, and her not long turned eighteen +years auld, and from an English lord, and your father has made a bonfire +o'er the matter, and I've nae doubt he would have likit to illuminate +the house as weel." + +The Elder smiled tolerantly. "Janet," he answered, "a handsome young +man, without mair than his share o' faults and forty thousand pounds a +year, is what I call a godsend to any girl. And I'm glad it has come to +our little Maria. I like the lad. I like him weel. He spoke out like a +man. He told me o' his castle and estate in Lancashire, and o' the great +coal mines on it; the lands he owned in Cumberland and Kent, his town +house in Belgrave Square, and forbye showed me his last year's rental, +and stated in so many words what settlement he would make on Maria. And +I'm proud and pleased wi' my new English grandson that is to be. I shall +hold my head higher than ever before; and as for Matthews and Peter +DuBois, they and their dirty Police Court may go to----, where they +ought to have been years syne, but for God Almighty's patience; and I'll +say nae worse o' them than that. It's a great day for the Semples, Neil, +and I am wonderfully happy o'er it." + +"It's a great day for the Medways," answered Madame. "I could see fine +how pleased he was at the Gordon connection, for when I told him Colonel +William Gordon, son o' the Earl o' Aberdeen--him wha raised the Gordon +Highlanders a matter o' three years syne--was my ain first cousin, he +rose and kissed my hand and said he was proud to call Colonel Gordon his +friend. And he knew a' about the Gordons and the warlike Huntleys, and +could even tell me that the fighting force o' the clan was a thousand +claymores; a most intelligent young man! And though I dinna like the +thought o' an Englishman among the Gordons, there's a differ even in +Englishmen; some are less almighty and mair sensible than others." + +"He spoke very highly o' the Americans," answered the Elder. "He said +'we were all o' one race, the children o' the same grand old mother.'" + +"The Americans are obligated for his recognition," replied Madame a +trifle scornfully. "To be sure, it's a big feather in our caps when Lord +Medway calls cousins with us." + +"What does Maria say?" asked Neil. And Maria raised her eyes to his with +a look in them of which he only had the key. So to spare her talking on +the subject, he continued: "I also have had a piece of good fortune +to-day. I met Madame Jacobus, went home with her to dinner, and she has +offered me the position of her business agent, with a salary of two +hundred pounds a year." + +"It's a vera springtide o' good fortune," said the Elder, "and I am a +grateful auld man." + +"Weel, then," cried Madame, "here comes the tea and the hot scones; and +I ken they are as good as a feast. It's a thanksgiving meal and no less; +come to the table wi' grateful hearts, children. I'm thinking the tide +has turned for the Semples; and when the tide turns, wha is able to stop +it?" + +The turn of the tide! How full of hope it is! Not even Maria was +inclined to shadow the cheerful atmosphere. Indeed, she was grateful to +Lord Medway for the fresh, living element he had brought into the house. +Life had been gloomy and full of small mortifications to her since the +unfortunate Bradley affair. Her friends appeared to have forgotten her, +and the dancing and feasting and sleighing went on without her presence. +Even her home had been darkened by the same event; her grandfather had +not quite recovered the shock of his arrest; her grandmother had made +less effort to hide her own failing health. Neil had a heartache about +Agnes that nothing eased, and the whole household felt the fear and +pinch of poverty and the miserable uncertainty about the future. + +Maria bore her share in these conditions, and she had also began to +wonder and to worry a little over Lord Medway's apparent indifference. +If he really loved her, why did he not give her the recognition of his +obvious friendship? His presence and attentions would at least place her +beyond the spite and envy of her feminine rivals. Why did he let them +have one opportunity after another to smile disdain on her presence, or +to pointedly relegate her to the outer darkness of non-recognition? When +she had examined all her slights and sorrows, Lord Medway's neglect was +the most cutting thong in the social scourge. + +Madame Jacobus, however, was correct in her opinion. Medway was making +in these days of lonely neglect a progress which would have been +impossible had he spent them at the girl's side. And if he had been +aware of every feeling and event in the lives of the Semples, he could +not have timed his hour of reappearance more fortunately, for not only +was Maria in the depths of despondency, but the Elder had also begun to +believe his position and credit much impaired. He had been passed, +avoided, curtly answered by men accustomed to defer to him; and he did +not take into consideration the personal pressure on these very men from +lack of money, or work, or favor; nor yet those accidental offenses +which have no connection with the people who receive them. In the days +of his prosperity he would have found or made excuses in every case, but +a failing or losing man is always suspicious, and ready to anticipate +wrong. + +But now! Now it would be different. As he drank his tea and ate his +buttered scone he thought so. "It will be good-morning, Elder. How's all +with you? Have you heard the news? and the like of that. It will be a +different call now." And he looked at Maria happily, and began to +forgive her for the calamity she had brought upon them. For it was +undeniable that even in her home she had been made to feel her +responsibility, although the blame had never been voiced. + +She understood the change, and was both happy and angry. She did not +feel as if any one--grandfather, grandmother, Lord Medway, or Uncle +Neil--had stood by her with the loyal faith they ought to have shown. +All of them had, more or less, suspected her of imprudence and reckless +disregard of their welfare. All of them had thought her capable of +ruining her family for a flirtation. Even Agnes, the beginning and end +of all the trouble, had been cold and indifferent, and blamed, and left +her without a word. And as she did not believe herself to have done +anything very wrong, the injustice of the situation filled her with +angry pain and dumb reproach. + +Lord Medway's straightforward proposal cleared all the clouds away. It +gave her a position at once that even her grandfather respected. She was +no longer a selfish child, whose vanity and folly had nearly ruined her +family. She was the betrothed wife of a rich and powerful nobleman, and +she knew that even socially reprisals of a satisfactory kind would soon +be open to her. The dejected, self-effacing manner induced by her +culpable position dropped from her like a useless garment; she lifted +her handsome face with confident smiles; she was going, not only to be +exonerated, but to be set far above the envy and jealousy of her +enemies. For Medway had asked her to go sleighing with him on the +following day, and she expected that ride to atone for many small +insults and offenses. + +Twice during the night she got up in the cruel cold to peep at the stars +and the skies. She wanted a clear, sunny day, such a day as would bring +out every sleigh in the fashionable world; and she got her desire. The +sun rose brilliantly, and the cold had abated to just the desirable +point; the roads, also, were in perfect condition for rapid sleighing, +and at half-past eleven Medway entered the parlor, aglow with the frost +and the rapid motion. + +His fine presence, his hearty laugh, his genial manners, were +irresistible. He bowed over Madame's hand, and then drew Maria within +his embrace. "Is she not a darling? and may I take her for an hour or +two, grandmother?" he asked. And Madame felt his address to be beyond +opposition. He had claimed her kinship; he had called her "grandmother," +and she gave him at once the key of her heart. + +As they stood all three together before the fire, a servant man entered +and threw upon the sofa an armful of furs. "I have had these made for +you, Maria," said Medway. "Look here, my little one! Their equals do not +exist outside of Russia." And he wrapped her in a cloak of the finest +black fox lined with scarlet satin, and put on her head a hood of +scarlet satin and black fox, and slipped her hands into a muff of the +same fur lined with scarlet satin; and when they reached the waiting +sleigh he lifted her as easily as a baby into it, and seating himself +beside her, off they went to the music in their hearts and the music in +the bells; and the pace of the four horses was so great that Madame +declared "all she could see was a bundle of black fur and flying +scarlet ribbons." + +That day Maria's cup of triumph was full and running over. Before they +had reached the half-way house they had met the entire fashionable world +of New York, and every member of it had understood that Maria Semple and +Lord Medway would now have to be reckoned with together. For Medway +spoke to no one and returned no greeting that did not include Maria in +it. Indeed, his neglect of those who made this omission was so pointed +that none could misconstrue it. Maria was, therefore, very happy. She +had found a friend and a defender in her trouble, and she was, at least, +warmly grateful to him. He could see it in her shining eyes, and feel +it, oh, so delightfully! in her unconscious drawing closer and closer to +him, so that finally his hands were clasping hers within the muff of +black fox, and his face was bending to her with that lover-like, +protecting poise there was no mistaking. + +"Are you satisfied, Maria? Are you happy?" he asked, when the pace +slackened and they could talk a little. + +"Oh, yes!" she answered. "But why did you wait so long? I was suffering. +I needed a friend; did you not understand?" + +"But you had a sorrow I could not share. I did not blame you for it. It +was but natural you should weep a little, for the young man had +doubtless made some impression. He was a gallant fellow, and between +life and death carried himself like a prince. I am glad I was able to +save his life; but I did not wish to see you fretting about him; that +was also natural." + +She did not answer, nor did he seem to expect an answer. But she was +pleased he did not speak slightingly of Harry. Had he done so, she felt +that she would have defended him; and yet, in her deepest consciousness +she knew this defense would have been forced and uncertain. The +circumstances were too painful to be called from the abyss of past +calamity. It was better everything should be forgotten. And with the +unerring instinct of a lover, Medway quickly put a stop to her painful +reverie by words that seldom miss a woman's appreciation. He told her +how much he had longed to be with her; how tardily the weeks had flown; +how happy it made him to see her face again. He called her beautiful, +bewitching, the loveliest creature the sun shone on, and he said these +things with that air of devoted respect which was doubly sweet to the +girl, after the social neglect of the past weeks. Finally he asked her +if she was cold, and she answered: + +"How can I be cold? These exquisite furs are cold-proof. Where did you +get them? I have never seen any like them before." + +"I got them in St. Petersburg. I was there two years ago on a political +embassy, and while I was waiting until you partly recovered yourself I +had my long coat cut up and made for you. I am delighted I did it. You +never looked so lovely in anything I have seen you wear. Do you like +them, Maria, sweet Maria?" + +She looked at him with a smile so ravishing that he had there and then +no words to answer it. He spoke to the driver instead, and the horses +bounded forward, and so rapid was the pace that the city was soon +reached, and then her home. Neil was at the gate to meet them, and +Medway lifted Maria out of the sleigh and gave her into his care. "I +will not keep the horses standing now;" he said, "but shall I call +to-morrow, Maria, at the same time?" And she said, "Yes," and "I have +had a happy drive." So he bowed and went away in a dash of trampling +horses and jingling bells, and Maria watched him a moment or two, being +greatly impressed by his languid, yet masterful, air and manner, the +result of wealth long inherited and of social station beyond question. + +With a sigh--and she knew not why she sighed--Maria went into the house. +She was now quite forgiven; she could feel that she was once more loved +without reservation, and also that she had become a person of +importance. It was a happy change, and she did not inquire about it, or +dampen the pleasure by asking for reasons. She took off her beautiful +furs, showed them to her grandmother and grandfather, and told at what +personal sacrifice Lord Medway had given them to her. And then, drawing +close to the hearth, she described the people they had met, and the +snubs and recognitions given and received. It was all interesting to +Madame, and even to the Elder; the latter, indeed, was in extraordinary +high spirits, and added quite as much salt and vinegar to the dish of +gossip as either of the women. + +In spite, therefore, of the bitter weather and the scarcity of all the +necessaries of life, the world went very well again for the Semples; +and though at the end of December, Clinton sailed southward, Lord Medway +had a furlough for some weeks, so that in this respect the military +movement did not interfere with Maria's social pleasures. Two days +before the embarkment of the troops Colonel DeLancey called one morning +on the Elder. He had sold a piece of property to the government, and in +making out the title information was wanted that only Elder Semple, who +was the original proprietor, could give. DeLancey asked him, therefore, +to drive back with him to the King's Arms and settle the matter, and the +Elder was pleased to do so. Anything that took him among his old +associates and gave him a little importance was particularly agreeable, +and in spite of the cold he went off in the highest spirits. + +The King's Arms was soon reached, and he found in its comfortable parlor +General Ludlow, Recorder John Watts, Jr., Treasurer Cruger, +Commissioners DeGeist and Housewert, and Lawyer Spiegel. After Semple's +arrival the business which had called them together was soon settled, +and it being near noon, Ludlow called for a bottle of old port and some +beef sandwiches. The room was warm and bright, the company friendly and +well informed on political matters, and a second bottle was drunk ere +they made a movement to break up the pleasant meeting. Then Ludlow +arose, and for a few minutes they stood around the blazing fire, the +Elder very happy in the exercise of his old influence and authority. But +just as they were going to shake hands the door was flung open and +Captain Macpherson appeared. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +suddenly made up his mind that he had chanced upon a great opportunity +for placing himself right with the public, and so, advancing toward +Elder Semple, who had pointedly turned his back upon him, he said: + +"Elder, I am grateful for this fortunate occasion. I wish before these +gentlemen to assure you that I did my duty with the most painful +reluctance. I beg you to forgive the loss and annoyance this duty has +caused you." + +Then Semple turned to him. His eyes were flashing, his face red and +furious. He looked thirty years younger than usual, as with withering +scorn he answered: + +_"Caitiff!_ Out of my sight!" + +"No, sir," continued the foolish young man, "not until you listen to me. +As a soldier and a gentleman, I had a duty to perform." + +"You hae covered the names o' 'soldier' and 'gentleman' wi' infamy. +Duty, indeed! What duty o' yours was it to examine a letter that came to +a house where you were making an evening call? No matter how the letter +came--through the window or by the door--you had nae duty in the matter. +It was your cursed, curious, spying impertinence. No gentleman would hae +opened it. The letter was not directed to you,--you admitted that in +court. God in Heaven! What right had you to open it?" + +"Allow me to ask, Elder, what you would have done if you had been an +officer in His Majesty's service and had been placed in the same +circumstances?" + +"Done? Why, you villain, there was only _one_ _thing to do_, and an +officer, if he was a gentleman, would have done it,--given the letter to +Miss Bradley unopened. She was the mistress of the house, and entitled +to see the letters coming to it. What had you to do wi' her letters? If +you had kept your fingers frae picking and your e'en frae spying, you +would not have put yoursel' in an utterly shamefu' dilemma." + +"In these times, sir----" + +"In this case the times are nae excuse. Mr. Bradley was believed by +everybody to be a friend of His Majesty. You had nae reason whatever to +suppose a treasonable note would come to his house. You did not suppose +it. My God, sir! if our letters are to be examined by His Majesty's +officers, wha is safe? An enemy might throw a note full o' treason +through a window, and if _you_ happened to be calling there----" + +"Mr. Semple, you are insulting." + +"I mean to be insulting. What right had you to speak to me? You Judas! +who could eat my bread, and borrow my siller, and pretend to love my +granddaughter. You have smirched your colors and dishonored your sword, +and you deserve to be drummed out o' your regiment; you do that, you +eternal scoundrel, you!" + +By this time the Elder's voice filled the room, and he brought his cane +down as if it were twenty. "Out o' my sight," he shouted, "or I'll lay +it o'er your shoulders, you blackguard aboon ten thousand." + +"Your age, sir! your age!" screamed the enraged young fellow; but his +words almost choked him, and de Geist and Cruger took him forcibly out +of the room. + +Then DeLancey filled a glass with wine. "Sit down and drink it, Elder," +he said. "Afterward I shall have the great honor and pleasure of driving +you home." And the approval of every one present was too marked to be +misunderstood. Semple felt it in every handclasp, and saw it in every +face. + +Also, Semple had his own approval, and the result of it in his voice and +manner troubled Janet. She was ignorant of its cause, and the Elder was +not prepared to tell her. "The fool may think himself bound to challenge +me," he thought, "and I'll e'en wait till he does it, or else till +Clinton carries him awa' to fight rebels." + +But he was nearly betrayed by Neil, who entered the parlor in an almost +buoyant manner for one so naturally grave. "Why, father," he said, "what +is this I hear?" and then he suddenly stopped, having caught his +father's warning glance. + +"You hae heard many things doubtless, Neil," answered the Elder, "and +among them that I and DeLancey were driving together. We had a rather +cheerful time at the King's Arms o'er a bit of transferring business. +The government must hae clear titles, you ken, to the property it buys." + +"A clear title is beyond the government," interrupted Madame, "and the +government needna' fash itsel' about titles. Nane that can be made will +hold good much longer for the government. Sit down, Neil, and see if you +can steady your father a bit; he's as much excited about a ride wi' auld +DeLancey as if King George himsel' had gien him a ride in his chariot;" +and she flipped her dress scornfully to the words as she left the room +to give some household order. + +"You vera near told tales on me, Neil," said the old man gleefully; "and +there's nae need to mention the bit o' scrimmage till we see if it's +finished. The lad might send me a challenge," he added with a little +mirthful laugh. + +"Not he, father! If he did, I should quickly answer it." + +"You would mind your ain business, sir. As long as I bide in this warld +I'll do my ain fighting, if I die for it." + +"There's none can do it better, father. Errol told me your scorn +overwhelmed Macpherson; and he said, moreover, that if the quarrel had +come to blows he had no doubt you would have caned the scoundrel +consumedly. They are talking of the affair all over town, and DeLancey +is quite beyond himself about it. I heard him say that, though your +hands quivered with passion, you stood firm as a rock, and that there +were a few minutes at the last when no man could have tackled you +safely." Then there was a sudden pause, for Madame reëntered, and the +Elder looked at her in a way so full of triumph and self-satisfaction +that he troubled her. "To think o' Alexander Semple being sae set up wi' +DeLancey's nod and smile," she thought. + +Then Neil turned the conversation on the social events of the day, and +the topic allowed Madame some scope for the relief of her annoyance. Yet +her anxiety about her husband continued, for the Elder was in +extraordinarily high spirits. His piquant, pawkie humor finally alarmed +Madame. "Alexander," she said, "you had better go awa' to your bed. I +dinna like to hear you joking out o' season, as it were. What has come +o'er you, man?" + +"Hear to your mother, Neil!" he answered. "When I sit still and silent, +she asks, 'Have you naething to say, auld man?' and when I say something +she doesna' like my way o' joking, and is for sending me awa' to bed for +it, as if I was a bairn. However, the day is o'er, and we hae had the +glory o' it, and may as weel get rested for the day to come." + +He left the room in his old sober fashion, with a blessing and a +"Good-night, children," and Madame followed him. Maria rose with her; +she was anxious to carry her thoughts into solitude. But Neil sat still +by the fireside, dreaming of Agnes Bradley, and yet finding the dream +often invaded by the thought of the retributive scene in the parlor of +the King's Arms. And perhaps never in all his life had Neil loved and +honored his father more sincerely. + +When Madame returned to the room he came suddenly out of his reverie. He +saw at once that his mother was strangely troubled. She sat down and +covered her face with her thin, trembling hands, and when Neil bent over +her with a few soothing words she sobbed: + +"Oh, my dear lad, I'm feared your father is _fey_, or else he has been +drinking beyond his reason; and goodness knows what nonsense he has been +saying. The men who brought sae much wine out may have done it to set +him talking; and anyway, it shames me, it pains me, to think o' +Alexander Semple being the butt o' a lot o' fellows not worthy to latch +his shoe buckles. But he's getting auld, Neil, he's getting auld; and +he's always been at the top o' the tree in every one's respect, and I +canna bear it." + +"Dear mother, never has father stood so high in all good men's opinion +as he stands this night. He has a little secret from you, and, I dare +say, it is the first in his life, and it is more than wine to him. It is +the secret, not the wine." + +"What is it, Neil? What is it?" + +Then Neil sat down by his mother's side, and looking into her face with +his own smiling and beaming, he told her with dramatic power and passion +the story of "the bit scrimmage," as the Elder defined the wordy battle, +adding, "There is not a man, young or old, in New York, that this night +is more praised and respected for his righteous wrath than Alexander +Semple. As for Quentin Macpherson, he may go hang!" + +And long before the story was finished Madame was bridling and blushing +with pride and pleasure. "The dear auld man! The brave auld man!" she +kept ejaculating; and her almost uncontrollable impulse was to go to him +and give him the kiss and the few applauding words which she knew would +crown his satisfaction. But Neil persuaded her to dissemble her delight, +and then turned the conversation on the condition of the city. + +"It is bad enough," he said. "Famine and freezing will soon be here, and +the town is left under the orders of a hired mercenary--a German, a +foreigner, who neither understands us nor our lives or language. It is +a shameful thing. Was there no Englishman to defend New York? Every +citizen, no matter what his politics, is insulted and sulky, and if +Washington attacks the city in Clinton's absence, which he will surely +do, they won't fight under Knyphausen as they would under a countryman. +Even DeLancey would have been better. I, myself, would fight with a +DeLancey leading, where I would be cold as ice behind Knyphausen." + +"When men are left to themselves what fools they are," said Madame. + +"They don't think so. You should hear the talk about what Clinton is +going to do in the South, and he will find Cornwallis too much for him." + +"How is that? Cornwallis?" + +"Cornwallis hates Clinton passionately; he will sacrifice everything +rather than coöperate with him. Clinton successful would be worse than +his own disgrace. Yet Clinton is sure he will succeed in subduing the +whole South." + +"And Knyphausen?" + +"Is sure he will capture General Washington, though Clinton failed in +his alert for that purpose. The four hundred light horsemen he +despatched came back as they went twenty-four hours after they started +full of confidence." + +"What frightened them?" asked Madame with a scornful laugh. + +"The guides. They lost the road,--rebels at heart, doubtless,--the cold +was intense, the snow deep, and the four hundred came home all. The +wretched rebel army must have had a hearty laugh at Clinton's +'alert'--the alert which was to end the war by the capture of +Washington." + +"How could they expect such a thing?" + +"Well, Washington was living in a house at Morristown, some distance +from the huts occupied by the army. The army were in the greatest +distress, nearly naked, hungry and cold, and the snow was deep around +them. There was every reason to hope four hundred men on swift horses +might be alert enough to surprise and capture the man they wanted." + +"Nae! nae!" cried Madame. "The tree God plants no wind hurts; and George +Washington is set for the defense and freedom o' these colonies. Cold +and hungry men, snow-strangled roads, and four hundred alerts! What are +they against the tree God plants? Only a bit wind that shook the +branches and made the roots strike deeper and wider. And sae Clinton's +alert having failed, Knyphausen is trying for another; is that it, +Neil?" + +"Yes. He considers Washington's capture his commission." + +"And if he should capture him, what then?" + +"If he is taken alive he will die the death of a traitor." + +"And then?" + +"Then the war would be over, the idea of independence would be buried, +and we should be English subjects forever." + +"And after that comes a cow to be shod. One thing is as likely as the +other. The idea of independence will never be buried; we shall never +again be subjects of the King o' England. In spite of all the elements +can do, in spite of what seems to us impossibilities, the tree God has +planted no wind shall hurt. Many a day, Neil, I have steadied my soul +and my heart as I went to and fro in my house singing or saying this bit +verse, and I wrote it my ain sel': + + No wind that blows can ever kill + The tree God plants; + It bloweth east; it bloweth west; + The tender leaves have little rest, + But any wind that blows is best. + The tree God plants + Strikes deeper root, grows higher still, + Spreads wider boughs for God's good will, + Meets all its wants." + +Neil sighed, and rising suddenly, said, "Let us go upstairs; the room is +growing very cold. And, mother, do not let father know I have told you +about his 'bit scrimmage.' It would rob him of the triumph of his own +recital." + +"I'll not say a word, Neil; you may be sure o' that." + +And she did not say a word. Nevertheless, the Elder looked queerly at +Neil the following evening, and when he found an opportunity, said, +"You've been telling tales on me, lad. Your mother hasna petted me a' +the day lang for naething. Some one has whispered a word in her ear. I +can see it in her e'en and hear it in her voice, and feel it in the +stroke o' her hand. I wonder who it was." + +"A bird of the air often carries such matters, sir. It would be but the +generality; the particulars can come from yourself only." + +"Aye, to be sure!" And he smiled and seated himself comfortably in his +chair before the blaze, adding, "It was a wonderfu' bit o' comfort, +Neil, and you'll stand by me if your mother thinks wrong o' it?" + +"Shoulder to shoulder, sir. You did quite right." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARIA GOES TO LONDON. + + +As the days lengthened, the cold strengthened, and New York experienced +a winter of unparallelled severity. Food could only be procured with +hard money, and at exorbitant prices, and the scarcity of fuel added +greatly to the general distress. Wall Street surrendered most of its +beautiful century-old shade trees, to warm the family of the German +General Riederel, and before Spring, the streets and lanes of the city, +the gardens and pleasure grounds of the burghers, were shorn of their +finest fruit and shade trees. The aged, the very young, the men in the +prisons and hospitals perished in great numbers, and the deathly cold of +the atmosphere was full of the unspeakable misery everywhere present. + +These distressing conditions were intensified by the fear of an attack +from Washington. The waters around New York were for several weeks so +hard frozen that the heaviest artillery could easily have crossed on +them; and the city in losing its insular position, lost its chief +advantage for defense. Knyphausen constantly expected Washington to +cross the ice, and refugees and citizens alike, were formed into +companies and subjected to garrison duty. During the dark, bitter +watches, men sometimes froze at their posts, and women in their +unheated rooms, knelt listening to the children's breathing, for the +atmosphere was so deadly cold that the babes shivered, even in the +covert of their mothers' breasts. + +Yet, in this city of frost, and famine, and suffering, a hectic and most +unnatural gaiety was kept up. Maria would have little part in it. She +could find no pleasure in listening to comedies and songs, in a freezing +temperature, and the warmth induced by dancing was generally followed by +a most uncomfortable and dangerous chill. Her status in society also led +her to feel more content in withdrawing from it a little. She was not +yet to be classed among the married belles, nor was she quite at one +with the girlhood that surrounded her. Her engagement to Lord Medway had +set her a little apart; it was understood that she could not be in +perfect sympathy with the plans and hopes of either maids or wives. + +Yet her life was far from unhappy. She visited Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. +Jacobus a great deal; and the latter delighted in making little lunches +and dinners, where the three ladies were joined by Lord Medway, and Neil +Semple, and very often also by Major André, whose versatile gifts and +cheerful temperament were the necessary and delightful antitheses to +Neil's natural gravity and Medway's cultivated restraint. The splendid +rooms of Madame Jacobus were warm, her dinners well cooked, her wines of +the finest quality, her good nature never failing. She made a pet of +Maria, and Lord Medway--reclining with half-closed eyes in some +luxurious chair--watched his betrothed managing this clever woman, so +much older than herself, with infinite satisfaction and amusement. He +foresaw that she would be equal to any social position, and it never +occurred to him that it was likely she would manage Lord Medway quite as +thoroughly as she managed Madame Jacobus. Occasionally, Medway gave +return dinners, at which Madame Semple presided, and then Maria sat at +his right hand, and he proved himself to be the most charming of hosts, +and the most devoted and respectful of lovers. + +Conversation was never to make, every one spoke as they listed, and as +their prejudices or convictions led them. There was no Quentin +Macpherson present, and opinions were as much individual property as +purses. One day, toward the end of January, when the temperature was so +low that the dining-table had been drawn close to the hearth, the usual +party were sitting in the warmth and glow of its roaring fire. The +dinner was over, the servants had left the room, Medway and Maria were +picking their walnuts out together, and Major André and Neil Semple +talking of a game of chess. Then Madame Jacobus drawing her gay Indian +shawl closer around her, said suddenly, "Pray what is the news? Has +nobody a mouthful of intelligence? Are we to wait for the Americans to +make us something to talk about?" + +"Indeed Madame," answered Maria, "we have not yet exhausted their night +attack on the British troops encamped on Staten Island." + +"They got nothing but five hundred sets of frozen hands and ears," said +Major André. + +"Oh, yes, they did, sir; blankets and food count for something these +days," said Madame, "not to speak of the nine vessels destroyed at +Decker's Ferry--and the prisoners." + +"It was a dashing absurdity, Madame." + +"With all my soul; yet I am glad, it was an American dashing absurdity." + +"You should have seen Knyphausen when he heard of it," continued André. +He pulled his whiskers savagely and said 'Egad! Damn! These Americans +have the come-back-again, come-back-again, of the flies; to drive them +off--it is impossible--they come-back-again.' We have, however, had our +turn. Four nights ago, our troops entered Newark and Elizabeth and made +a few reprisals, and then he began to hum: + + "The New York rebs are fat, + But the Jersey rebs are fatter; + So we made an expedition, + And carried off the latter." + +Medway laughed. "Madame," he said, "the Major was desperately dull last +night, and I wondered at it. But, this morning, as you hear, he is +delivered of his verse, and he is cheerful." + +"Oh, if the war is degenerating into midnight robberies!" cried Madame, +"why does not Washington come? What hinders him from at least trying to +get into New York? I do believe if he simply stood on Broadway, he would +draw three-fourths of the men in the city to him; why does he not try? +It might end this dreadful war one way or the other, and people are +beginning to be indifferent, which way. Why, in the name of wonder, does +he not try?" + +"It would be a desperate 'try,'" answered André. + +"Yes, but when ordinary means fail, desperate remedies should be tried." + +"I saw the exact copy of a letter written by General Washington on the +eighth of this month," said Lord Medway, "and in it he declares that his +troops, both officers and men, are almost perishing for food; that they +have been alternately without bread and meat for two weeks, a very +scanty allowance of either, and frequently destitute of both. +Furthermore, he describes his troops as almost naked, riotous, and +robbing the people from sheer necessity. Can you expect a general to +lead men in such a condition to battle? He performs a miracle in simply +holding them together." + +"The poor fellows! And we are warm and comfortable. It seems almost +wrong." + +"Oh, no!" said André. "It is the rebels who are wrong; they are like +runaway horses, and, as I said to one who talked to me, 'my lad, a +runaway horse punishes himself.'" + +In such freedom of conversation, without a moment's doubt of each other, +they passed the hours, and about four o'clock the party usually broke +up, and Lord Medway wrapped Maria in her furs, and drove her home. + +However, the weariest road sometimes comes to an end, and the long +dreadful winter wore itself away, the ice broke up, and the sun shone +warmly out of the blue skies, and the trees put forth their young, +tender, little leaves. Every one was ready to cry with joy, the simple +endurance of misery was over, men could now work and fight, and some +movement and change would be possible. Coming home from a delightful +drive in the sweet Spring evening, Medway told Maria this, and added +that his furlough, so long extended by General Clinton's love, would +probably terminate as soon as active hostilities began. But it was not +yet a present case, and Maria did not take the supposition to heart. +Besides, there had been frequent talk of her lover's departure, and +somehow or other, he had never gone. At the Semple gate they stood a +while. There were some lilies growing near it, and their fairy-like +bells shook in the fresh wind and scattered incense all around. Maria +stooped, gathered a handful, and offered them to her lover. + +"Kiss them first, for me, Maria," he said, and she buried her lovely +face in the fragrant posy, and then lifted it full of delight and +perfume. He thought he had never before seen her so purely exquisite, so +freshly adorable. His love was a great longing, he could hardly bear to +leave her. So he stood holding her hands and the lilies, and looking +into her face, but saying nothing, till Maria herself spoke the parting +words: "I see grandmother at the door, Ernest, she is calling me; now we +must say good-bye!" He could not answer her, he only kissed the lilies, +leaped into the carriage, and went speechlessly away. + +Maria watched him a few moments, and then hastened into the house. +Madame met her at the door. "There is a letter from your father, Maria," +she said; "I thought you might want to tell Ernest what news it +contained, so I called you, but you didna answer me." + +"Yes, I answered, 'coming, grandmother,' and here I am. What a thick +letter! Have you one also?" + +"Aye, there was one for your grandfather. Better take yours to your +room. When you have read it, and changed your dress, tea will be +waiting." + +"Is grandfather at home?" + +"He is; so do not stay up stairs too long." + +She nodded a bright assent, and holding the letter in her hand went +swiftly up the stairway. In half an hour she came back to the parlor, +but her face was then troubled and even angry, and her eyes full of +tears. She held out the letter to her grandmother, and asked, "Do you +know what father has written to me about?" + +"I have a very sure suspect," answered Madame; but she went on setting +out her china, and did not lift her face, or offer any further opinion. + +"It is a shame! I ought to have been told before." + +Then the Elder rose, and came toward the tea-table, "Maria," he said, +"you will not use such like words, whatever your father pleases to do. I +hae nae doubt at all that he has chosen a good wife for himsel' and a +good mother for you. You had a long letter; what does he say anent her?" + +"She is a nonesuch, of course. No woman in England, or out of England +like her." + +"I expect as much; my son Alexander has my ain perception concerning +women-folk. He would hae the best, or nane at a'. Wha was she? He said +in my letter you would gie us a' the particulars." + +"He has filled six pages about her. She was Miss Elizabeth Spencer. +Father says her family is one of the best and oldest in England. The +Reverend Oswald Spencer married them; he is rector of St. Margaret's +Church in London, and a distant relative." + +"A very fashionable congregation, and nae doubt the living is +according." + +"Father has become a member of St. Margaret's, and he has a large +mansion in the wealthy Bloomsbury district. He tells me that I must come +home, the first opportunity that gives me a respectable companion." + +"And it is just destiny, Maria, and not to be," said her grandmother; +"for Mrs. Gordon was here this afternoon to bid me farewell. Colonel +Gordon has been exchanged, and has reached New York, and they sail in +Saturday's packet for London. She will be delighted to hae your company, +and a mair proper person to travel wi' you couldna find in America; for +it isna only hersel', you will hae the Colonel also, to watch o'er you +baith." + +"Destiny or not, I won't go, grandmother." + +"Dinna sow sorrow to yoursel'. They who cross destiny, make a cross for +themsel's." + +"I will hear what Ernest says about it." + +"You arena your ain mistress yet, and God and man, baith, expect you to +put your father's commands before all others," said the Elder. + +"I think grandmother and you wish to get rid of me," and the tears +sprang to her eyes, and she set her cup down with a noisy petulance. + +There was a moment's silence and then the Elder continued, "Your +education isna finished yet, as your father says; it was broken up by +the war." + +"And the lessons at Bradley's house were worse than nane at all," +interrupted Madame. + +"You are to have masters of a' kinds; and your stepmother is a grand +musician, I hear, and willing to teach you hersel'." + +"I will not go to school again. I know all I want to know." + +"You will hae to be schooled for the station you are to fit; your father +has turned his loyalty into gold, for he has got it noticed by His +Majesty, and been appointed to a rich place in the government offices. +Forbye, he tells me, his new wife has a fortune in her ain right, and +sae the world stands straight with him and his. You'll hae society o' +the best sort, and I hope you'll do your part, to show all and sundry, +that a little Colonial maid isna' behind English girls, in any usefu' or +ornamental particular." + +But Maria was indignant and unhappy, and the thought of going to London +and of being under authority again was very distasteful to her. The +Elder went early upstairs, in order to escape her complaining, and +Madame after his departure, was a little more sympathetic. She petted +her grandchild, and tried to make her see the bright side of the new +life before her. + +"You'll be taken to Court, doubtless, Maria, and there is the grand +opera you have heard so much about, and lords and ladies for +company----" + +"I have had enough of lords and ladies, grandmother." + +"And fine houses, and nae cold rooms in them; and plenty o' food and +clothing at Christian prices, and a rich, powerfu' father, and a musical +mother----" + +"Stepmother you mean. Nobody can have more than one mother. My mother is +dead, and no other woman can take her place." + +"Ay, weel, I suppose you are nearby right. And I hae seen--mair than +once or twice--that the bairn who gets a stepmother gets a stepfather, +also. Sae mind your ways and your words, and give nae occasion to +friend, or foe, for complaint." + +As they were talking thus, they heard the garden gate open, and Madame +said, "That is your Uncle Neil at last;" but Maria, with an eager, +listening face, knew better. "It is not Uncle Neil," she said, "it is +Ernest. Why does he come to-night? He told me he was going to a military +dinner, given in honor of Colonel Gordon's return." + +"If it is Lord Medway, bring him in here," said Madame. "Your +grandfather is needing me, and doubtless wondering and fretting already +at my delaying." She left the room with these words, and Lord Medway +immediately joined Maria. He appeared hurried and annoyed, and without +any preliminaries said: + +"I must leave New York immediately, my dear Maria; sit down here, close +beside me, my sweet one, and comfort me. I have worn out the patience of +Lord Clinton, and now I must obey orders, not desires." + +"I, also, am in the same predicament, Ernest. I am ordered to London, +and must go by the first opportunity," said Maria; and then she told +her lover the fear and trouble that was in her heart, and found plenty +of sympathy in all that either wounded or angered her. + +"But there is a remedy, my darling," said Medway. "Marry me to-morrow +morning. I will make all the arrangements to-night--see the +clergyman--see Mrs. Gordon, and your uncle Neil----" + +"Stop, Ernest. It is useless to talk of such a thing as that. It is +beyond our compact, too." + +"The compact is idle wind before our love--you do love me, Maria?" and +he slipped down to his knees beside the little maid, and putting his arm +around her waist, drew her face within the shining influence, the tender +eagerness, of his entreating eyes. + +Then a strange, wilful contradictious spirit took possession of her. +This very outlet to her position had been in her mind--though +unacknowledged--from the first presentment of the journey, and the new +mother, and the resumed lessons; but now, that the gate was opened to +her desire, something within her obstinately refused to move a step. +Half the accidents in the hunting-field arise from arresting the horse +in the leap, and half the disappointments of life may be laid to that +hesitation, or stubbornness of will, which permits happiness--coming +without notice, and demanding a confiding and instantaneous decision--to +go past, and be probably lost for ever. + +"You do love me, Maria? Oh, yes! you must have caught love from me. At +this hour, say one word to assure me--will you not? Maria! Queen of my +soul, say you love me--Speak--only yes----Maria!" + +He waited, he watched her lovely face for some tender change, her eyes +for some assuring glance, her lips for the one little word that would +make the hour heaven to him, and she was still and speechless as some +exquisite picture. + +"After all these happy weeks, will you send me away without one word? It +is incredible--impossible! Why are you so cold?--now--when we must +part--or be always together? Are you afraid to be with me always? You +have promised to marry me----" + +"Yes--when the time comes." + +"Cannot love put the time forward?" + +"I don't know." + +"We could then go South together." + +"I do not want to go South." + +"With me, Maria?" + +"No." + +"Then you will go to London, and your father will have complete control +of you, he may make you marry some other man." + +"No one can make me break my word of honor--you have my promise." + +"I am wretched. I am broken-hearted. I have failed in making you love +me. I will go to the front--what does it matter if I am killed? You will +not care." + +"Of course I shall care, Ernest." + +"Say that a little differently, then I shall be satisfied. Put your arms +round my neck; kiss me, if only once, you never have kissed me yet, +say, 'I love you, Ernest'; come, my dear one, comfort me a little!" + +Her heart was on fire, it throbbed and struggled like a bound creature. +She looked sadly, even tenderly at her lover, but she could not break +the thrall of careless impassiveness that bound her, as streams are +bound in ice. Medway wearied himself with entreaty. She trembled to its +passion, but remained inarticulate. He was at first disappointed, then +astonished, then, weary with his own emotion, wounded and sorrowful. He +rose, put on his hat and gloves, and prepared to leave her. It was like +the nailing of the coffin lid over a sensitive form; but still that +strange, insuperable apathy was not broken. + +"Good-bye, Maria! My life, my love, good-bye! and if forever, +still----_Maria! Maria!"_ and those two last words were not only speech, +they were a cry from a heart hurt beyond hoping, a cry full of +despairing affection. The door closed to them, and its clash broke the +icy bounds of that soul stupor which had held her like a spell. + +"Ernest! Ernest!" she called passionately, but he was beyond hearing, +and ere she reached the parlor door, she heard the entrance door clash +in the same fatal, final manner. Yet, walking as if in some evil dream +she reached it, and with a great effort threw it wide open. Her lover +was just beyond the garden gate. Would he not turn his head? Oh, would +he not look round and see her! No. He caught no sound of her sorrowful +entreaty; he cast no backward glance to the distracted girl, who +reached the outer gate, only to see his tall, soldierly figure blend +itself with the misty night shadows, and then vanish entirely. + +Never, never in all her life had Maria been so wretched. In the Bradley +affair, she had at least the consciousness that it was not her doing; +she was the victim of circumstances she could not control; but this cup +of sorrow she had stubbornly mixed for herself. And that was the +smallest part of her remorse; she had made the man who loved her so +dearly, drink of it also. And it had all happened in such a tragically +short time. Oh, to call back the last hour! only five minutes of it, +that she might see again the handsome face that had never turned to her +except with love and tender kindness! Alas, alas, there is no return to +our lost Edens! Whatever gardens of pleasure we may find in the future, +our past Edens are closed. The cherubim are at the gate, and the flaming +sword. + +She went despairingly to her room, and sat for two bitter hours +speechless, astonished at her own folly and wilfulness. She could blame +no one. Destiny in this case had used only the weapons she herself put +into her hand. She did not complain, nor even weep, her grief found no +passage to her eyes, it sank inward and seemed for the first hour or two +to drown her heart in a dismal, sullen stillness, which made her feel +the most forlorn and abandoned of creatures. + +But even in these dark hours she was trying the wings that should take +her out of them. As she sat musing the inner woman returned to the post +she had so criminally deserted, and at once began to suggest remedies. +"Nothing is desperate," she whispered; "in every loss, but the loss of +death, there is room for hope; write a letter, Neil will take it, he may +yet be detained." + +She took out pen and paper, and wrote the words Medway had begged her to +say; wrote, indeed, far more than the one tender "yes" he had asked for. +Then she sealed the letter and sat with it in her hand, waiting for +Neil. He was so late that she thought he must have reached his room +unheard, and toward midnight she tip-toed along the corridor to his +door. There was no light, no sound, and when she knocked, no response. +Anxiously she resumed her watch, and soon after twelve o'clock heard him +enter the house. She went noiselessly down stairs to meet him. "Neil," +she said, "can you find Ernest? Oh, if you can, you must carry this +letter to him! Neil, it is the very greatest favor I can ever ask of +you. Do not speak, if you are going to refuse me." + +"My dear Maria, I know not where to find Lord Medway. He ought to have +been at the dinner given to Colonel Gordon, and he was not there." + +"He was here," she said wearily; "he is going South at once; he must, he +must have this letter first. Neil, good, kind Uncle Neil, try and find +him!" + +"Be reasonable, Maria. If he is paying farewell calls--which is +likely--how can I tell at whose house he may be; at any rate it is too +late now for him to be out, the city is practically closed; any one +wandering about it after midnight is liable to arrest, and if Ernest is +not visiting, he is in his rooms, and likely to be there till near noon +to-morrow. I will carry this letter before breakfast, if you say so, +but----" + +"I tell you he is going to General Clinton at once. He told me so." + +"He cannot go until the _Arethusa_ sails. She leaves to-morrow, but the +tide will not serve before two o'clock. Give me the letter; I will see +he gets it very early in the morning." + +With a sigh she assented to this promise, and then slipped back into the +sorrowful solitude of her room. But the talk with Neil had slightly +steadied her. Nothing more was possible; she had done all she could to +atone for her unkindness, and after a little remorseful wandering +outside the Eden she had herself closed, she fell asleep and forgot all +her anxiety. + +And it is this breaking up of our troubles by bars of sleep that enables +us to bear them and even grow strong in conquering them. When the day +broke Maria was more alert, more full of purpose, and ready for what the +morning would bring her. Neil was missing at breakfast and she found out +that he had left the house soon after seven o'clock. So she dressed +herself carefully and took her sewing to the front window. When she saw +her lover at the gate, she intended to go and meet him, and her heart +was warm and eager with the kind words that she would at last comfort +him with. + +It was half-past eight; by nine o'clock--at the very latest by half-past +nine--he would surely answer that loving letter. Nine o'clock struck, +and the hands on the dial moved forward inexorably to ten o'clock--to +eleven--to noon. But long before that hour Maria had ceased to sew, +ceased to watch, ceased to hope. Soon after twelve she saw Neil coming +and her heart turned sick within her. She could hardly walk into the +hall to meet him. She found it difficult to articulate the questioning +word "Well?" + +He gave her the letter back. "Ernest sailed this morning at two +o'clock," he said. + +She looked at him with angry despair. "You might have taken that letter +last night. You have ruined my life. I will never forgive you." + +"Maria, listen to me. Ernest went on board an hour before you asked me. +The ship dropped down the river to catch the early tide; he was on her +at half-past ten. I could not have given him the letter, even if I had +tried to." + +"No; of all the nights in the year, you must stop out last night until +twelve o'clock! I never knew you do such a thing before; well, as +grandmother says, it is destiny; I am going to my room. I want no +dinner; don't let them worry me, or worry about me." + +Sitting alone she faced the circumstances she had evoked, considered +them in every light, and came to a conclusion as to her future: + +"I will go to London, and make no fuss about it," she decided; "here I +should miss Ernest wherever I went; miss him in every way, and people +would make me feel he was absent. I have been a great trouble and +expense to grandfather and grandmother. I dare say they will be glad to +be quiet and alone again. I don't know much about father--he has always +been generous with money--but I wonder if he cared much for me! He sent +me away, first to nurses, then to school; I saw little of him, but I can +make him care. As for Madame, my stepmother, I shall not let her annoy +me. And there will be Mrs. Gordon for a refuge, if I need one. She has +always been good to me, and I will see her at once. I cannot help +understanding that I am come to the end of this road; but there are many +roads in life, and from this moment, I am on the way to London." + +Evidently it was destiny, for there was never a let or hinderance in all +her preparations. The Gordons took her as a godsend, and all her +arrangements went without a hitch. And when it was known she was +absolutely going away from New York there was a great access of kindness +toward her. The young women she had known--and not always +pleasantly--brought her good-bye mementoes; books to read on the voyage, +book-marks of their own working, little bags and cases of various kinds +for toilet needs, and needlework; and all were given with a conspicuous +intention of apology for past offense and conciliation for any future +intercourse. + +Maria valued it pretty accurately. "It is far better than ill-will," she +said to her grandmother; "but I dare say they think I am going home to +be married, and as they all look forward to England eventually, they +feel that Lady Medway may not be unserviceable in the future." + +"Dinna look a gift-horse in the mouth, Maria. Few folks give away +anything of real value to themselves. You needna feel under any special +obligation for aught but the good will, and that's aye worth having. As +for being Lady Medway, there is many a slip between cup and lip, and +oceans between you and a' the accidents o' war, and love not +unchangeable in this warld o' change; and there's your father's will +that may stand in your road like a wall you can neither win round nor +over. I'm real glad at this hour that your grandfather was wise enough +to write naething about Lord Medway. You can now tell your ain news, or +keep it, whichever seems best to you." + +"Do you mean to say, grandmother, that my father has not been told about +my engagement to Lord Medway?" + +"Just so. At first your grandfather was too ill to write one thing or +another; and by the time he was able to hold a pen, we had, baith o' us, +come to the conclusion that silence anent the matter was wisdom. It +would hae been a hard matter to tell, without telling the whole story, +Police Court and young Bradley included, and then there was aye the +uncertainty of a man's love and liking to be reckoned with; none o' us +could be sure Lord Medway would hold to his promise; he might meet other +women to take his heart from you; he might be killed in battle, or in a +duel, for it is said he has fought three already; the chances o' the +engagement coming to naething were so many on every side we came to the +conclusion to leave a' to the future, and I'm sure we did the best thing +we could do." + +"I am so glad you did it, grandmother. I shall now go home on my own +merits. If I win love, it will be because I am Maria Semple, not because +I am going to be Lady Medway. And if my engagement was known I should +never hear the last of it. I should be questioned about letters--whether +they came or not; my stepmother might talk about the matter; my father +insists on a public recognition of my position, and so on. There would +be such endless discussions about Lord Medway that I should get weary to +even hear his name. And I must bear my fate, whatever it is." + +"Nonsense! Parfect nonsense! There is nae such thing as fate. You're in +the care and guidance of a wise and loving Creator, and not in thrall to +some vague, wandering creature, that you ca' _Fate_. Your ain will is +your Fate. Commit your will and way to God, and He will direct your +path; and you may snap your thumb and finger at that will o' the +wisp--Fate!" + +In such conversation over their duties together the three last days were +spent, and the girl caught hope and strength from the feeble old woman +as they mended and brushed clothing and put it into the trunks standing +open in the hall. The Elder wandered silently about. The packing was a +mournful thing to him; for, with all her impetuosities and little +troublesome ways, Maria was close to his heart, and he feared he had +given her the impression that she was in some way a burden. Indeed, he +had not felt this, and had only been solicitous that she should obey her +father's wishes, and obey them in a loving and dutiful spirit. On the +last morning, however, as they rose from the breakfast table, he put +even this wise intention behind his anxious love, and drawing her aside +he said: + +"Maria, my dearie, you will heed your father, of course, in a' things +that are your duty--but--but--my dear bairn! I ken my son Alexander is a +masterfu' man, and perhaps, it may be, that he might go beyond his +right and your duty. I hae told you to obey him as your father, that's +right, but if he is your father, he is my son, and so speaking in that +relation, I may say, if my son doesna treat you right, or if he lets +that strange English woman treat you wrong, then you are to come back to +me--to your auld grandfather--to sort matters between you. And I'll see +no one do you wrong, Maria, no one, though it be my auldest son +Alexander. You are in my heart, child, and there is always room in my +heart for you; and I speak for your grandmother and uncle as well as for +mysel'." His voice was low and broken at this point, tears rolled slowly +down his cheeks, and he clasped her tenderly in his arms: "God bless you +my little lassie! Be strong and of a good courage. Act for the best, and +hope for the best, and take bravely whatever comes." + +To such wise, tender words she set her face eastward, and the Elder and +Neil watched the vessel far down the river, while in her silent home +Madame slowly and tearfully put her household in order. Fortunately, the +day was sunny and the Spring air full of life and hope, and as soon as +they turned homeward, the Elder began to talk of the possibility of +Maria's return: + +"If she isna happy, I hae told her to come back to us," he said to Neil, +and then added: "Your brother is sometimes gey ill to live wi', and the +bit lassie has had, maybe, too much o' her ain way here," and Neil +wondered at the brave old man; he spoke as if his love would always be +present and always sufficient. He spoke like a young man, and yet he was +so visibly aging. But Neil had forgotten at the moment that the moral +nature is inaccessible to Time; that though the physical man grows old, +the moral man is eternally young. + +Not long after the departure of Maria, Neil was one morning sorting and +auditing some papers regarding the affairs of Madame Jacobus. Suddenly +the thought of Agnes Bradley came to him with such intense clarity and +sweetness that his hands dropped the paper they held; he remained +motionless, and in that pause had a mental vision of the girl, while her +sweet voice filled the chambers of his spiritual ears with melody. As he +sat still, seeing and listening, a faint, dreamy smile brightened his +face, and Madame softly opening the door, stood a moment and looked at +him. Then advancing, the sound of her rustling silk garments brought +Neil out of his happy trance, and he turned toward her. + +"Dreaming of St. Agnes?" she asked, and he answered, "I believe I was +Madame." + +"Sometimes dreams come true," she continued. "Can you go to Philadelphia +for me? Here is an offer from Gouverneur Morris for my property on +Market Street. He proposes to turn the first floor into storage room. At +present it is a rather handsome residence, and I am not sure the price +he offers will warrant me making the change." + +Neil was "ready to leave at any time," he said, and Madame added, "Then +go at once. If it is a good offer, it will not wait on our leisure." + +He began to lock away the papers under his hands, and Madame watched him +with a pleasant smile. As he rose she asked, "Have you heard anything +yet from Miss Bradley?" + +"Not a word." + +"Do you know where she is?" + +"I have not the least idea. I think the Hurds know, but they will not +tell me." + +"I will tell you then. Agnes is in Philadelphia." + +"Madame! Madame! I----" + +"I am sure of it. On this slip of paper you will find her address. She +boards with a Quaker family called Wakefield--a mother and four +daughters; the father and brothers are with the American army. I suppose +you can leave to-day?" + +"In two hours I will be on the road. I need but a change of clothing and +a good horse." + +"The horse is waiting you in my stables. Choose which animal you wish, +and have it saddled: and better mount here; you can ride to Semple house +quicker than you can walk." + +Neil's face spoke his thanks. He waited for no explanations, he was +going to see Agnes; Madame had given him her address, it was not worth +while asking how she had procured it. But as he left the room he lifted +Madame's hand and kissed it, and in that act imparted so much of his +feeling and his gratitude that there was no necessity for words. + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Madame, and then she walked to the window and +looked sadly into Broadway. "Soldiers instead of citizens," she +murmured, "war horses instead of wagon horses; that screaming fife! that +braying, blustering drum! Oh, how I wish the kings of earth would fight +their own battles! Wouldn't the duello between George of England and +George of America be worth seeing? Lord! I would give ten years of my +life for the sight." + +With the smile of triumph on her face she turned to see Neil re-entering +the room. "Madame," he said, "I must have appeared selfishly ungrateful. +My heart was too full for speech." + +"I know, I know, Neil. I have been suffering lately the same cruel pain +as yourself. I have not heard from Captain Jacobus for nearly a year. +Something, I fear, is wrong; he takes so many risks." + +"He is sailing as an American privateer. If he had been captured by the +English, we should have heard of the capture." + +"That is not all. I will tell you just what Jacobus would do, as soon as +he was fairly out at sea, he would call his men together on deck, and +pointing to the British colors, would say something like this: 'Men, I +don't like that bunting, and I'm going to change it for the flag of our +own country. If there is any one here that doesn't like the American +flag, he can leave the ship in any way he chooses,' then down would go +the British flag, and up, with rattling cheers, the American. So far he +would be only in ordinary danger, but that is never enough for Jacobus; +he would continue after this extraordinary fashion: 'Men, you have all +heard of these French and Spanish alliances. As the son of a hundred +thousand Dutchmen, I hate the Spaniards, and I'm going to fight and sink +every Spanish ship I meet. _Allies!_ To the deep sea with such allies! +We want no Spanish allies; we want their ships though, and we'll take +them wherever on the wide ocean we can find them.' Then he would put his +hand on his first mate's shoulder and continue, 'Here's Jack Tyler, an +Englishman from beard to boots, born in the city of London, and there's +more on board like him. What does an Englishman want with Frenchmen? +Nothing, only to fight them, and that we'll do wherever we meet them! +And as for English ships coming our way, they're out of their course, +and we'll have to give them a lesson they'll remember. So then, all of +you, keep your eyes open for English, French, or Spanish sails. Nothing +but American colors in American waters, and American water rolls round +the world, as I take it.' So you see, Neil, Jacobus would always have a +threefold enemy to fight, and I have not a doubt that was his first +thought when he heard of our alliance with France and Spain. And though +we might hear of his capture by a British vessel, it is not likely we +should do so if he fell into the hands of a French or Spanish privateer. +When you come from Philadelphia we will consider this circumstance; but +now, good-bye, and good fortune go with you." + +It did not take Neil long to go to the Semple house and obtain a change +of clothing, and after this short delay nothing interfered with the +prosperous course of his journey. The weather was delightful, and his +heart so full of hope that he felt no fatigue. And he had such +confidence in all Madame Jacobus said, or did, that no doubts as to +finding Agnes troubled him. It was, however, too late in the evening of +the day on which he reached Philadelphia, to make a call, and he +contented himself with locating the house to which he had been +directed. He found it in a quiet street, a small brick house, with white +wooden shutters, and a tiny plot of garden in front. No sign of light or +life appeared, and after walking a while in front of it, he returned to +his inn and tried to sleep. + +But he was not very successful. His hopes and his fears kept him waking. +He fancied the house he had been directed to looked too silent and dark +to be occupied; he longed for the daylight to come that he might settle +this fear; and then the possibility of its reality made him sick with +anxiety and suspense, holding a measure of hope, seemed better than +certain disappointment. In the morning his rigid, upright business +instinct asserted itself, and he felt that he must first attend to those +affairs which were the ostensible reason of his journey. So it was the +early afternoon before he was at liberty to gratify the hunger of his +heart. + +Happily, when he reached the house indicated, there were many signs of +its occupancy; the windows were open, and he saw a young woman sitting +near one of them, knitting. His knock was answered by her. He heard her +move her chair and come leisurely toward the door, which she opened with +the knitting in her hand, and a smile on her face. + +"Does Mr. Wakefield live here?" he asked. + +"This is his house, but he is not at home now." + +"I was told that Miss Bradley of New York was staying here." + +"She is here. Does thee want to see her?" + +A great weight rolled from Neil's heart. "Yes," he answered, "will you +tell her that Mr. Neil Semple of New York desires to speak with her." + +She bowed her head, and then took him into a small darkened parlor. He +was glad the light was dim; he had a feeling that he looked worse than +he had ever looked in all his life. He knew that he was pale and +trembling with a score of fears and doubts, and the short five minutes +of suspense seemed to him a long hour of uncertain apprehensions. Yet it +was barely five minutes ere he heard Agnes coming down the stairs, and +her steps were quick and eager; and he took courage from the welcoming +sound in them, and as the door opened, went with open arms to meet her. +He held her in his embrace, her cheek was against his cheek--what need +was there for speech? Both indeed felt what they had no power to +express, for as all know who have lived and loved, there is in the heart +feelings yet dumb; chambers of thought which need the key of new words +to unlock them. Still, in that heavenly silence all was said that each +heart longed for, and when at length they sat down hand in hand and +began to talk, it was of the ordinary affairs of the individual lives +dear to them. + +Neil's first inquiry concerned John Bradley and his son, and he was glad +to notice the proud pleasure with which Agnes answered him. "My father +is now in his proper place," she said, "and I have never seen him so +well and so happy." + +"Is he under arms?" + +"Not unless there is fighting on hand; but he is in camp, and all day he +is busy mending the accoutrements of the soldiers. At night he sings to +them as they sit round the camp fires, or he holds a prayer meeting, or +he reads the Bible; and every Sunday he preaches twice. St. Paul made +tents, and as he stitched found time to preach Jesus Christ crucified; +my father mends saddles and bridles, and does the same thing, and he is +happy, oh, so happy! What is better still, he makes the men around him +happy and hopeful, and that is a great thing to do, when they are +hungry, and naked, and without pay. Sometimes, when the camp is very +bare and hungry, he takes his implements and goes to the outlying farms, +mends all their leather, and begs in return corn, and flour, and meat +for the men. He never fails in getting some relief; and often he has so +moved the poor farmers that they have filled a wagon with food and +driven it to the perishing soldiers." + +"And Harry? Where is he?" + +"With the greatest and best of men. He is now a regular soldier in +Washington's own regiment." + +"I am glad, and my dear one, are you happy here?" + +"As I can be, out of my own home. There are six women in this house; all +the men are at the war; some at Morristown; some are gone South. We +spend our time in knitting stockings for the soldiers, or in any +needlework likely to be of service. But how is Maria? Tell me about her. +I thought you might have brought me a letter." + +"Maria is on her way to England. Her father has married again. He has +obtained an excellent place in the government and furnished a home in +London. Naturally, he desired Maria to join him at once. You know that +she is engaged to Lord Medway?" + +"No. Poor Harry! He still dreams that Maria is faithful to him. I think +she might have given Harry one year's remembrance." + +"What did she tell you about Harry in your last interview?" + +"Nothing. She was more fretful and unreasonable than I ever before saw +her. She could only cry and make reproaches; we parted in sorrow, and I +fear in misunderstanding." + +"Yes, if you do not know the price paid for your brother's life." + +"The price paid! What do you mean, Neil?" + +"The night Harry was condemned to death Lord Medway came to see Maria. +He told her he would save Harry's life, if she would marry him. He would +listen to no compromise, and she accepted the terms. It was a decision +bitter as death at the time, but she has learned to love Medway." + +Agnes did not appear to listen, she was occupied with the one thought +that Maria had been the saviour of her brother. + +"It seems incredible," she said at length; "why did she not tell me that +last--last time I saw her. It would have changed everything. Oh, Maria! +Maria! how I have misjudged you!" + +"You had better tell Harry, and be very positive, there is really not a +shadow of hope for him. Maria _had_ to forget; it was her first duty." + +Neil spent nearly three days with his beloved, and then they had to +part. But this parting was full of hope, full of happy plans for the +future, full of promises in all directions. In those three days Neil +forgot all the sorrowful weeks of his despairing love. As a dream when +one awaketh, they slipped even from his memory. For Agnes was loving and +faithful, a steady hand to hold, and a steady heart to trust. And oh, +she was so lovely and desirable! As he rode joyfully home, he could +think of nothing but Agnes; of her eyes, gray as mountain lakes and full +of light and shadow; of her smile, that filled even silence with +content; her white arms, her brown hair, the warm pallor of her cheeks +catching a rosy glow from the pink dimity she wore! Oh, how perfect she +was! Beauty! Love! Fidelity! all in one exquisite woman, and that one +woman loved him! + +Ah, well! Love wakes men once in a lifetime, and some give thanks and +rejoice, and some neglect and betray; but either way, love, and their +childhood's unheeded dream + + Is all the light, of all their day. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE. + + +Maria reached London in the early days of June. Her voyage had been +uneventful, and though long, not unpleasant. Still she was glad to feel +the earth beneath her feet, and the stir of trafficking humanity around +her. They landed late in the afternoon and she remained with the Gordons +all night, but early the following morning the colonel took her to +Bloomsbury. Mr. Semple's house was not difficult to find; it was the +largest in the fine square, an imposing mansion of red brick with a wide +flight of stone steps leading to its main entrance. This entrance +impressed Maria very much. It was so ample and so handsome. + +"I think, indeed," said the Colonel to her, "two sedan chairs could +easily be taken in, or out, at the same time." + +Her welcome, if not effusive, was full of kindness and interest; she was +brought at once to the sunny parlor at the back of the house where her +father and stepmother were breakfasting, and nothing could have been +more properly affectionate than the latter's greeting. And although she +had breakfasted with the Gordons, she found it pleasant enough to sit +down beside her father and talk of the voyage and the war, and the +conditions of life in America. He was obviously both astonished and +delighted with his daughter; her beauty was so great, her manner so +charming, her conversation so full of clever observations, that he felt +her to be a personal credit. "There are very few young girls so +perfectly formed, so admirably finished," he said to himself; and he +rose and walked loftily about the room, proudly aware of the piquant +loveliness and intelligence of the girl who called him father. The word +sounded well in his ears, and even touched his heart; and she herself +was a crowning grace to his splendid habitation. And for her, and for +all her beauties and graces and accomplishments, he took the entire +credit. She was his daughter, as much his property as his wife, or his +house, or his purse. + +This appropriation of herself did not then displease Maria. She was +longing to be loved, longing to be cared for and protected. And she +loved her father, and felt that she could easily love him a great deal +more. His appearance invited this feeling. He was a strikingly handsome +man, though touching fifty years of age, tall and erect like her +grandfather, but with a manner much more haughty and dictatorial. He was +dressed in a dark blue cloth coat lined with white satin and ornamented +with large gilt buttons; his long vest and breeches were of black satin, +his stockings of black silk, and his low shoes clasped with gold +latches. He wore his own hair combed back from his large ruddy face and +tied behind with a black ribbon. + +His new wife was very suitable to him. She was thirty-eight years old +and distinctly handsome, tall and fair, rather highly colored, and +dressed with great care in a morning robe of Indian silk. She was very +cheerful and composed, had fine health, lived in the unruffled +atmosphere of her interests, and had no nerves worth speaking of--a nice +woman apparently, who would always behave as nice women were then taught +to behave. And yet there were within her elements much at variance with +that habitual subservience she showed her husband. Maria was not long in +discovering that, though she spoke little and never boasted, she got all +she wished to get and did all she wished to do. + +After Mr. Semple had gone to business she took Maria to the rooms +prepared for her. They were light and airy and prettily furnished, and +Mrs. Semple pointed out particularly the little sitting-room attached. +It contained a small library of books which are now classic, a spinnet +for practice, maps and globes, and a convenient desk furnished with all +the necessary implements for writing or correspondence. + +Maria had fully resolved not to be forced into any kind of study, but as +she stood listening to her stepmother's plans and explanations she +changed her mind. She resolved rather to insist on the finest teachers +London could furnish. She would perfect herself in music and singing; +she would enlarge her knowledge and accomplishments in every direction, +and all this that she might astonish and please Lord Medway when he came +for her. That he would do so she never doubted; and he could not doubt +_her_ love when he saw and heard what she had done to make herself more +worthy of him. + +But this incitement she kept to herself. She permitted her father and +stepmother to believe that the fulfilling of their desires was her sole +motive, and this beautiful obedience gave her much liberty in other +directions. So the weeks and months went past very pleasantly. She had +an Italian singing master and a French dancing master, Kalkbrenner gave +her music lessons, Madame Jermyn taught her embroidery and lace, and two +hours every day were spent in the study of history and geography, and +her much neglected grammar. It was all pleasant enough; every master or +mistress brought in a fresh element, a little gossip, a different +glimpse of the great city in which they all lived. And the preparation +of her studies and the practice of her music gave her almost unbounded +control of her time. If things were not agreeable down stairs her study +was a safe retreat, and she began to take off their shelves the books +provided for her amusement and instruction, and to make friends of them +and become familiar with their thoughts and opinions. + +The evenings were often spent at the theatre or opera, and still more +frequently at Vauxhall or Ranelagh gardens, and at the latter places she +was always sure of a personal triumph. Her beauty was so remarkable and +so admirably set off by her generally fine toilets that she quickly +became a noted visitor. Sir Horace Walpole had called her on one +occasion "The American Beauty," and the sobriquet clung like a perfume +to her. When the Semples had a box and a supper in the rotunda the most +noble and fashionable of the young bloods hung round it, paraded past +it, or when possible took a box in such close proximity that their +toasts to "The Divine American" could be distinctly or indistinctly +heard. Both Mr. and Mrs. Semple were proud of this notoriety. It was +quite in keeping with the social _élat_ of the age that every glass +should be raised when they entered their box at the theatre or opera; +quite honorable and flattering to walk between the admiring beaux who +watched their entry into the gardens. Maria gave them distinction, +exhilarating notice and attention. She was spoken of in the papers as +"the lovely Miss Semple, the beautiful daughter of our new collector," +and her _début_ at the next spring functions of the Court was +confidently predicted. + +The break in this generally agreeable life came, of course, through a +man's selfish desires, dignified with the name of love. Mrs. Semple had +a cousin who was largely engaged in the Mediterranean trade--then +entirely in English hands--and when Maria had been about eighteen months +in London he returned to that city after a sojourn in Turkey and the +Greek islands of nearly three years. He had been named at intervals to +Maria, but his existence had made no impression upon her, and she was +astonished on coming to the dinner table one day to meet him there. The +instinct of conquest was immediately aroused; she smiled and he was +subdued. The man who had snubbed Turkish bashaws and won concessions +from piratical beys in Tunis and Algiers was suddenly afraid of a woman. +He might have run away, but he did not; he was under a spell, and he +went with her to the opera, and became her willing slave thereafter. + +Now during her residence in London, Maria had had many admirers; some +she had frowned away, some her father had bowed out, but Richard Spencer +was a very different man to be reckoned with. He was Mrs. Semple's +cousin, and Mrs. Semple was strongly attached to every member of her +family. Cousin Richard's suit was advocated, pressed, even insisted upon +by her. He was present at every meal and went with them to every +entertainment, and the generality of Maria's admirers understood that he +was her accepted lover. + +In fact, this relationship was speedily assumed by the whole Semple +household, and before the man had even had the courage to ask her to be +his wife she was made to understand that her marriage to Cousin Richard +was a consummation certain and inevitable. Of course she rebelled, +treating the supposition at first as an absurdity, and, when this +attitude was resented and punished, as an impossibility. + +The affair soon became complicated with business relations and important +money interests, Mr. Semple becoming a silent partner in the gigantic +ventures of the Spencer Company. He had always felt, even in Maria's +social triumphs, a proprietary share; she was his daughter, he could +give or refuse her society to all who asked it. She had never denied his +power to dismiss all the pretenders to her favor that had as yet asked +it. He considered himself to have an equal right to grant her hand to +the suitor he thought proper for her. + +And as his interests became more and more associated with Mr. Spencer's +he became more and more positive in Mr. Spencer's favor. There was +little need then for Mrs. Semple's diplomacies. He had "taken the +matter in his own hands" he said, "and he should carry it through." + +For some time Maria did not really believe that her father and +stepmother were in earnest, but on her twentieth birthday the position +was made painfully clear, for when she came to the breakfast table her +father kissed her, an unusual token of affection, and put into her hand +an order on his banker for a large sum of money. + +"It is for your wedding clothes, Maria," he said, "and I wish you to +have the richest and best of everything. Such jewels as I think +necessary I will buy for you myself. Our relatives and friends will dine +with you to-day and I shall announce your engagement." + +"But father!" she exclaimed, "I do not want to marry. Let me return this +money. Indeed, I cannot spend it for wedding clothes. The idea is so +absurd! I do not want to marry." + +"Maria, you are twenty years old this twenty-fifth of November. It is +time you settled yourself. Mr. Spencer will have his new house ready by +the end of next June. As nearly as I can tell, your marriage to him will +take place on the twenty-ninth of June. Your mother thinks that with the +help of needlewomen your clothing can be finished by that time." + +"I told Mr. Spencer a month ago that I would not marry him." + +"All right; girls always say such things. It appears modest, and you +have a certain privilege in this respect. But I advise you not to carry +such pretty affectations too far." + +"Father, I do not love Mr. Spencer." + +"He loves you, that is the necessary point. It is not proper, it is not +requisite that a girl should take love into her consideration. I have +chosen for you a good husband, a man who will probably be Lord Mayor of +London within a few years, and the prospect of such an honor ought to +content you." + +It is difficult for an American girl at this time to conceive of the +situation of the daughters of England in the year 1782. The law gave +them absolutely into their father's power until they were twenty-one +years old; and the law was stupendously strengthened and upheld by +universal public approval, and by barriers of social limitations that +few women had the daring to cross. Maria was environed by influences +that all made for her total subjection to her parent's will, and at this +time she ventured no further remark. But her whole nature was insurgent, +and she mentally promised herself that neither on the twenty-ninth of +June nor on any other day that followed it would she marry Richard +Spencer. + +After breakfast she went to her room to consider her position, and no +one prevented her withdrawal. + +"It is the best thing she can do," said Mr. Semple to his wife. "A +little reflection will show her the hopeless folly of resistance to my +commands." + +"Her behavior is not flattering to Richard." + +"Richard has more sense than to notice it. He said to me that 'there was +always a little chaffering before a good bargain.' He understands +women." + +"Maria has been brought up badly. She has dangerous ideas about the +claims and privileges and personal rights of women." + +"Balderdash! Claims of women, indeed! Give them the least power, and +they would stake the world away for a whim. See that she dresses herself +properly for dinner. I have told her I shall then announce her +engagement, and in the midst of all our relatives and friends she will +not dare to deny it." + +In a great measure Mr. Semple was correct. Maria was not ready to deny +it, nor did she think the relatives and friends had anything to do with +her private affairs. She made no answer whatever to her father's notice +of her approaching marriage, and the congratulations of the company fell +upon her consciousness like snowflakes upon a stone wall. They meant +nothing at all to her. + +The day following Mrs. Semple went to buy the lawn and linen and lace +necessary for the wedding garments. Maria would not accompany her; her +stepmother complained and Maria was severely reprimanded, and for a few +days thoroughly frightened. But a constant succession of such scenes +blunted her sense of fear. She remembered her grandfather's brave words, +"Be strong and of good courage," and gradually gathered herself together +for the struggle she saw to be inevitable. To break her promise to Lord +Medway! That was a thing she never would do! No, not even the law of +England should make her utter words false to every true feeling she had. +And day by day this resolve grew stronger, as day by day it was +confronted by a trial she hardly dared to contemplate. + +There was no one to whom she could go for advice or sympathy. Mrs. +Gordon was in Scotland, where her husband had an estate, and she had no +other intimate friend. But at the worst, it was only another year and +then she would be her own mistress and Ernest Medway would come and +marry her. Of this result she never had one doubt. True, she heard very +little from him; but if not one word had come to assure her she would +still have been confident that he would keep his word, if alive to do +so. Letter-writing was not then the easily practised relief it is now, +and she knew Lord Medway disliked it. Yet she was not without even these +evidences of his remembrance, and considering the conditions of the +country in which they had been written, the great distance between them, +the difficulty of getting letters to New York and the uncertainty of +getting letters from New York to England, these evidences of his +affection had been fairly numerous. All of them had come enclosed in her +Uncle Neil's letters, and without mention or explanation, for Neil was +sympathetically cautious and did not know what effect they might have on +the life of Maria, though he did not know _his_ letters were sure to be +inquired after and read by her parents. + +They were intensely symbolic of a man who preferred to _do_ rather than +to _say_, and are fairly represented by the three quoted: + + * * * * * + +"SWEETEST MARIA: Have you forgiven your adoring lover? + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +"MY LITTLE DARLING: I have been wounded. I have been ill with fever; but +no pain is like the pain of living away from you. + + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +"STAR OF MY LIFE: I have counted the days until the twenty-fifth of +November; they are two hundred and fifty-five. Every day I come nearer +to you, my adorable Maria. + + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +This last letter was dated March the fourteenth, and with it lying next +her heart, was it likely she would consent to or even be compelled to +marry Richard Spencer? She smiled a positive denial of such a +supposition. But for all that, the preparations went on with a stubborn +persistence that would have dismayed a weaker spirit. The plans for +furnishing the Spencer house, the patterns of the table silver, all the +little items of the new life proposed for her were as a matter of duty +submitted to her taste or judgment. She was always stolidly indifferent, +and her answer was invariably the same, "I do not care. It is nothing to +me." Then Mr. Semple would answer with cold authority, "You have +excellent taste, Elizabeth. Make the selection you think best for +Maria." + +Mr. Spencer's method was entirely different. He treated Maria's +apathetic unconcern with constant good nature, pretended to believe it +maidenly modesty, and under all circumstances refused to understand or +appropriate her evident dislike. But his cousin saw the angry sparkle in +his black eyes, and to her he had once permitted himself to say, "I am +bearing _now_, Elizabeth. When she is Mrs. Spencer it will be her turn +to bear." And Elizabeth did not think it necessary to repeat the veiled +threat to Maria's father. + +Medway's last letter, dated March the fourteenth, did not reach Maria +until May the first. On the morning of that day she had been told by +Mrs. Semple to dress and accompany her to Bond Street. + +"We are going to choose your wedding dress," she said, "and I do hope, +Maria, you will take some interest in it. I have spoken to Madame Delamy +about the fashion and trimmings, and your father says I am to spare no +expense." + +"I will not have anything to do in choosing a wedding dress. I will not +wear it if it is made." + +"I think it is high time you stopped such outrageous insults to your +intended husband, your father and myself. I am astonished your father +endures them. Many parents would consider you insane and put you under +restraint." + +"I can hardly be under greater restraint," answered Maria calmly, but +there was a cold, sick terror at her heart. Nevertheless she refused to +take any part in the choosing of the wedding dress, and Mrs. Semple went +alone to make the selection. + +But Maria was at last afraid. "Under restraint!" She could not get the +words out of her consciousness. Surely her dear grandfather had had some +prescience of this grave dilemma when he told her if she was not treated +right to come back to him. But how was she to manage a return to New +York? Women then did not travel, could not travel, alone. No ships would +take her without companions or authority. She did not know the first of +the many steps necessary, she had no money. She was, in fact, quite in +the position of a little child left to its own helplessness in a great +city. The Gordons would be likely to come to London before the winter, +but until then she could find neither ways nor means for a return to New +York. All she could do was to take day by day the steps that +circumstances rendered imperative. + +The buying of the wedding dress brought things so terribly close to her +that she finally resolved to tell her father and stepmother of her +engagement to Lord Medway. "I will take the first opportunity," she said +to herself, and the opportunity came that night. Mr. Spencer was not +present. They dined alone, and Mr. Semple was indulging one of those +tempers which made him, as his father had said to Neil, "gey ill to live +with." He had been told of Maria's behavior about the wedding dress, and +the thundery aspect of his countenance during the meal found speech as +soon as the table was cleared and they were alone. He turned almost +savagely to his daughter and asked in a voice of low intensity: + +"What do you mean, Miss, by your perverse temper? Why did you not go +with your mother to choose your wedding dress?" + +"Because it is not my wedding dress, sir. I have told you for many weeks +that I will not marry Mr. Spencer;" then with a sudden access of +courage, _"and I will not_. I am the promised wife of Lord Medway." + +Mr. Semple laughed, and then asked scornfully, "And pray, who is Lord +Medway?" + +"He is my lover; my husband on the twenty-ninth of next November." + +All the passion and pride of a lifetime glowed in the girl's face. Her +voice was clear and firm, and at that hour she was not a bit afraid. "I +will tell you about him," she continued, and her attitude had in those +few minutes so far dominated her audience that she obtained the hearing +she might otherwise not have gained. Rapidly, but with singular dramatic +power, she related the story of her life in New York--her friendship +with Agnes Bradley, the attraction between herself and Harry Bradley, +his arrest, trial and death sentence, Lord Medway's interference and her +own engagement, her subsequent intimacy with the man she had promised to +marry, and the love which had sprung up in her heart for him. + +"And I will not break my word, not a letter of it," she said in +conclusion. + +"If there was any truth in this story," answered her father, "who cares +for a woman's promises in love matters? They are not worth the breath +that made them." + +"My promise to Lord Medway, father, rests on my honor. I could give him +no security but my word. I must keep my word." + +"A woman's honor! A woman's word to a lover! Pshaw! Let us hear no more +of such rant. What do you think of this extraordinary story, Elizabeth?" + +"I think it is a dream, a fabrication. Maria has imagined it. Who knows +Lord Medway? I never heard tell of such a person." + +"Nevertheless, he will come for me on the twenty-fifth of November," +said Maria. + +"Long before that time you will be Mrs. Richard Spencer," answered her +father. + +"I declare to you, father, I will not. You may carry me to the altar, +that is as far as you can go; you cannot make me speak. I will not say +one word that makes me Richard Spencer's wife. I entreat you not to +force such a trial on me. It will make me the town's talk, you also." + +"Do not dare to consider me as a part of such a mad scene. Go to your +room at once, before I--before I make you." + +She fled before his passion, and terrified and breathless locked the +door upon her sorrow. But she was not conquered. In fact, her resolution +had gained an invincible strength by the mere fact of its utterance. +Words had given it substance, form, even life, and she felt that now she +would give her own life rather than relinquish her resolve. + +In reality her confidence did her case no good. Mr. Semple easily +adopted the opinion of his wife that Maria had invented the story to +defer what she could not break off. "And you know, Alexander," she +added, "those Gordons will be back before the date she has fixed this +pretended lover to appear, and in my opinion they are capable of +encouraging Maria to all lengths against your lawful authority. As for +myself, I am sure Mrs. Gordon disliked me on sight, I know I disliked +her, and Maria was rebellious the whole time they were in London. I +wonder Richard does not break off the wedding, late as it is." + +"I should not permit him to do so, even if he felt inclined. But he is +as resolute as myself. Why, Elizabeth, we two men should be the +laughing-stock of the town for a twelvemonth if we allowed a chit of a +girl to master us. It is unthinkable. Go on with the necessary +preparations. The Spencers living in Durham and in Kendal must be +notified at once. The greater the company present the more impossible it +will be for her to carry out her absurd threat. And even if she will not +speak, silence gives consent. I shall tell the clergyman to proceed." + +After this there were no more pretenses of any kind. Maria's reluctance +to her marriage was openly acknowledged to the household, and her +disobedience complained of and regretted. Among the two men-servants and +three maids there was not one who sympathized with her. The men were +married and had daughters, from whom they expected implicit obedience. +The women wondered what the young mistress wanted: "A man with such +black eyes and nice, curly hair," said the cook, "any proper girl would +like; so free with his jokes and his money, too; six foot tall, and well +set up as ever I saw a man. And the fine house he is giving her, and the +fine things of all kinds he sends her! Oh, she's a proud, set-up little +thing as ever came my way!" These remarks and many more of the same kind +from the powers in the kitchen indicated the sentiment of the whole +house, and Maria felt the spirit of opposition to her, though it was not +expressed. + +She could only endure it and affect not to notice what was beyond her +power to prevent. But she wrote to her Uncle Neil and desired him to see +Lord Medway and tell him exactly how she was situated. In this letter +she declared in the most positive manner her resolve not to marry Mr. +Spencer, and described the uneasiness which her stepmother's remark +about "restraint" had caused her. And this letter, with one to Mrs. +Gordon, were the only outside influences she had any power to reach. + +At length the twenty-eighth day of June arrived. The Spencer house was +filled with relatives from the Northern and Midland countries, and in +Maria's home the wedding feast was already prepared. A huge wedding cake +was standing on the sideboard, and in the middle of the afternoon her +wedding dress came home. Mrs. Semple brought it herself to Maria and +spread out its shimmering widths of heavy white satin and the costly +lace to be worn with it. + +"It is sure to fit you, Maria," she said. "Madame Delamy made it from +your gray cloth dress, which you know is perfect every way. Will you try +it on? I will help you." + +"No, thank you. I would as willingly try my shroud on." + +"I think you are very selfish and unkind. You know that I am not well; +indeed, I feel scarcely able to bear the fatigue of the ceremony, and +you are turning what ought to be a pleasure to your father and every one +else into a fear and a weariness." + +She did not answer her stepmother, but in the hurry of preparations +going on down stairs she sought her father and found him resting in the +freshly decorated drawing-room. He was sitting with closed eyes and +evidently trying to sleep. She stood a little way from him, and with +many bitter tears made her final appeal. "Say I am ill, father, for +indeed I am, and stop this useless preparation. It is all for +disappointment and sorrow." + +He listened without denial or interruption to her words, but when she +ceased in a passion of weeping he answered, "There is no turning back +and there is no delay, Maria. You are very silly to cry over the +inevitable, especially when both my love and wisdom decide that the +inevitable is good for you. You will certainly be married to Richard +Spencer to-morrow morning. Prepare yourself for ten o'clock. I shall +come to your study for you at five minutes before ten. At nine o'clock +Madame Delamy will send two women to arrange your dress. See that you +are ready in time. Good night." + +There was nothing now to be done in the way of prevention, and a dull, +sullen anger took the place of entreaty in Maria's mind. "If they will +set my back to the wall, they shall see I can fight," she thought, as +she wretchedly took her way to her room. The beauteous gown was shining +on her bed, and she passionately tossed it aside and lay down and fell +asleep. When she awoke it was morning, a gusty, rainy morning with +glints of sunshine between the showers. She was greatly depressed, and +not a little frightened. What she had to do she determined to do, but +oh! what would come after it? Then she was shocked to find that the +scene she was resolved to enact, though gone over so often in her mind, +slipped away from her consciousness whenever she tried to recall or +arrange it. For a few minutes she was in a mood to be driven against her +will, and she fully realized this condition. "I must be strong and of +good courage," she whispered. "I must cease thinking and planning. I +must leave this thing to be done till the moment comes to do it. I am +only wasting my strength." + +Fortunately, she was continually interrupted. Coffee was sent to her +room. Then the hairdresser arrived, and the women to robe her for the +ceremony. She was quite passive in their hands, and when her father +appeared, ready to answer his "Come, Maria." + +The parlors were crowded with the Spencers and their friends, and +congratulations sounded fitfully in her ears as carriage after carriage +rolled away to St. Margaret's Church. Mr. Semple and Maria were in the +last coach, and his wife and the bridegroom in the one immediately +before them. So that when they arrived at the church, the company were +already grouped around the communion railing. + +Maria felt like a soul in a bad dream; she was just aware when she left +the carriage that it was raining heavily, and that her father took her +arm and sharply bid her to "lift her wedding dress from the plashy +pavement." She made a motion with her hand, but failed to grasp it, and +then she was walking up the gloomy aisle, she was at the rail, the +clergyman was standing before her, the bridegroom at her side, the +company all about her. There was prayer, and she felt the pressure of +her father's hand force her to her knees; and then there was a constant +murmur of voices, and a spell like that which held her during her last +interview with Lord Medway was upon her. But suddenly she remembered +this fateful apathy, and the memory was like movement in a nightmare. +The instant she recognized it the influence was broken and she was +almost painfully conscious of Richard Spencer's affirmative: + +"I will." + +She knew then what was coming and what she had to do, and those who +watched her saw the girl lift herself erect and listen to the priest +asking those solemnly momentous questions which were to bind her forever +to obey Richard Spencer, to love and honor him, and in sickness and +health, forsaking all others, keep unto him as long as she lived. She +had but to say two words and her promise would be broken, her lover lost +and her life made wretched beyond hope. + +"But I will never say them!" and this passionate assurance to her soul +gave her all the strength she needed. When the clergyman stopped +speaking she looked straight into his face and in a voice low, but +perfectly distinct, answered: + +"I will not." + +There was a moment's startled pause. Her father's voice broke it: + +"Go on, sir." + +But before this was possible Maria continued: + +"I am the promised wife of another man. I do not love this man. I will +not marry him." + +Her eyes, full of pitiful entreaty, held the clergyman's eyes. He looked +steadily at the company and said, "God's law and the laws of this realm +forbid this marriage until such time as the truth of this allegation be +tried." And with these words he walked to the altar, laid the Book of +Common Prayer upon it, and then disappeared in the vestry. + +Before he did so, however, there was a shrill, sharp cry of mortal pain, +and Mrs. Semple was barely saved by her husband's promptitude from +falling prone on the marble aisle before the chancel. Immediately all +was confusion. The sick woman was carried insensible to her coach. Mr. +Spencer took his sobbing sister on his arm, and the guests broke up into +couples. With hurrying feet, amazed, ashamed, all talking together, they +sought the vehicles that were to carry them away from a scene so painful +and so unexpected. Maria sat down in the nearest pew and waited to see +what would happen. She heard carriage after carriage roll away, and then +realized that every one had deserted her. + +In about twenty minutes the sexton began to close the church, and she +asked him, "Has nobody waited for me?" + +"No, miss, you be here alone." Then she took a ring from her finger and +offered it to him: "Get me a closed carriage and I will give you this +ring," she said, but he answered: + +"Nay, I want no ring from a little lass in trouble. I'll get the +carriage, and you may drop into the church some better day to pay me." + +She went back home in the midst of a thunderstorm. The day was darkened, +the rain driven furiously by the wind, and yet when she reached her +father's house the front entrance stood open and there was neither men +nor women servants in sight. She ran swiftly to her room, locked the +door and sank into a chair, spent with fear and sick with apprehension. +What had happened? What would be done to her? "Oh, to be back in New +York!" she cried. "Nobody there would force a poor girl into misery and +make a prayer over it, and a feast about it." + +A sudden movement of her head showed her Maria Semple in her wedding +dress. She turned herself quickly from the glass, and with frantic haste +unfastened the gown and hung it up. All the trinkets in which they had +dressed her were as quickly removed, and she was not satisfied until she +had cast off every symbol of the miserably frustrated marriage. But as +hour after hour passed and no one came near her she became sick with +terror, and she was also faint with hunger and thirst. Something must be +ventured, some one must be seen; she felt that she would lose +consciousness if she was left alone much longer. + +After repeatedly ringing her bell, it was answered by one of the women. +"I want some tea, Mary, and some meat and bread. What is the matter with +every one?" + +"The doctors do say as Mrs. Semple is dying, and the master is like a +man out of his mind." The woman spoke with an air of distinct +displeasure, if not dislike, but she brought the food and tea to Maria, +and without further speech left her to consider what she had been told. + +Oh, how long were the gloomy hours of the day! How much longer those of +the terrible night! The very atmosphere was full of pain and fear; +lights were passing up and down, and footsteps and inarticulate +movements, all indicating the great struggle between life and death. And +Maria lay dressed upon her bed, sleepless, listening and watching, and +seeing always in the dim rushlight that white shimmering gown splashed +with rain, and hanging limply by one sleeve. It grew frightful to her, +threatening, uncanny, and she finally tore it angrily down and flung it +into a closet. + + [Illustration: MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED.] + +But the weariest suspense comes to some end finally, and just as dawn +broke there was a sudden change. The terror and the suffering were over; +peace stole through every room in the house, for a man child was born to +the house of Semple. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LOVE AND VICTORY. + + +This event was in many ways favorable to Maria. She was put aside, +nearly forgotten for a month, in the more imminent danger to the +household. And by that time the almost brutal passion which in the first +hours of shame and distress could think of no equivalent but personal +punishment, had become more reasonable. For men and women, if worthy of +that name, do not tarry in the Valley of the Shadow of Death without +learning much they would learn nowhere else. + +Still her position was painful enough. Her father did not speak unless +it was necessary to ask her a question, her stepmother for nearly eight +weeks remained in her room, and the once obsequious servants hardly +troubled themselves to attend to her wants or obey her requests. In the +cold isolation of her disgrace she often longed for a more active +displeasure. If only the anger against her would come to words she could +plead for herself, or at least she could ask to be forgiven. + +But Mr. Semple, though ordinarily a passionate and hot-spoken man, was +afraid to say or do anything which would disturb the peace necessary for +his wife's restoration and his son's health. He felt that it was better +for Maria to suffer. She deserved punishment; they were innocent. Yet, +being naturally a just man, he had allowed her such excuse as reflection +brought. He had told himself that the girl had never had a mother's care +and guidance; that he himself had been too busy making money to instill +into her mind the great duty of obedience to his commands. He had +considered also that the very atmosphere in which she had lived and +moved nearly all the years of her life had been charged with assertion +and rebellion. It was the attitude of every one around her to resist +authority, even the authority of kings and governors. If she had been +brought up in the submissive, self-effacing manner proper to English +girls her offense would have been unnatural and unpardonable; but he +remembered with a sigh that American women, as a rule, arrogated to +themselves power and individuality, which American men, as a rule, did +not ask them to surrender. These things he accepted as some palliation +of Maria's abnormal misconduct; and also he was not oblivious to the +fact that her grandparents had for a year given her great freedom, and +that he, for his own convenience, had placed her with her grandparents. +Besides which, anger in a good heart burns itself out. + +Very slowly, but yet surely, this process was going on, and Maria's +attitude was favorable to it, for she was heart-sorry for the +circumstances that had compelled her to assert the right of her +womanhood, and her pathetic self-effacement was sincere and without +reproach. By-the-by the babe came in as peacemaker. As soon as she was +permitted to see her stepmother she bent all the sweet magnetism of her +nature to winning, at least, her forgiveness. She carried the fretful +child in her arms and softly sung him to sleep, she praised his beauty, +she learned to love him, and she made the lonely hours when Mr. Semple +was at the office pass pleasantly to the sick woman. Finally one day +they came to tears and explanations; the dreadful affair was talked out, +Maria entreated forgiveness, and was not ungenerously pardoned. + +This was at the close of August, and a few days afterward she received a +letter from Mrs. Gordon. "We are in London for the winter," she wrote. +"Come, child, and let me see how you look." Rather reluctantly Mrs. +Semple permitted her to make the visit. "She is the next thing to an +American," she thought, "and she will make Maria unreasonable and +disobedient again." But she need not so have feared; the primal +obligations of humanity are planted in childhood, and when we are old we +are apt to refer to them and judge accordingly. + +Mrs. Gordon's first remark was not flattering, for as Maria entered her +room she cried out, "La, child! what is the matter with you? You look +ill, worried, older than you ought to look. Are you in trouble?" + +"Yes, Madame." + +"Stepmother?" + +"Father." + +"Ah! Stepmothers make stepfathers, every one knows that. We shall have a +dish of tea and you shall tell me about it. Then I will help you. But +one can't build without stone. What has the stepfather done?" + +Then Maria told her friend all her trouble, and was rather chilled in +the telling by certain signs of qualified sympathy. And when the story +was finished Mrs. Gordon's first remark was yet more disheartening: + +"'Tis a common calamity," she said, "and better people than you have +endured it." + +"But, Madame----" + +"Yes, I know what you are going to say. But you must consider first that +your father was acting quite within his authority. He had the right to +choose your husband." + +"I had already chosen my husband." + +"Then you ought, when you first came home, to have notified your +parents. Sure, you had so much responsibility to fulfill. Why did you +not do your duty in this matter?" + +"I think I was afraid." + +"To be sure you were. Little coward! Pray what did you fear? Ernest +Medway?" + +"Yes. I thought, perhaps--as I told you, we parted in anger, and I +thought perhaps he might not keep his word, there were so many reasons +why he might like to break it, and also, in war-time life is uncertain. +He has been wounded, sick; he might have died." + +"So might you, or I, for that matter. A pretty account you give of +yourself. Lord, child! you surely had letters to show your father." + +"I had a few, but they were only a line or two. I was sure they would be +made fun of, and I was angry, too. I thought if they would not take my +word, I would not give vouchers for it. Not I!" + +"Don't dash at things in that way, child. Your father was not bound to +believe your story, especially as you did not tell it until he had made +all arrangements for your marriage with this Mr. Spencer. Your conduct +was too zigzaggery; you should have been straight." + +"Father ought to have believed me." + +"We have it on good authority that all men are liars, and I daresay that +your father has known better people than either you or I to tell lies. +Really, I ought to give you a scolding, and this is nothing like it." + +"It was such an outrage to force me to the very altar. The consequences +were at my father's door." + +"Custom, use and wont, take the outrage out of many things. Good +gracious, Maria, most of the women I know were in some way or other +forced to the altar; good for them, too, and generally they found that +out. My own cousin, Lady Clarisse Home, went weeping there; Miss Anne +Gordon, a cousin of my husband, refused to get up, said she was ill, and +her friends had the marriage at her bedside. 'Tis above or below reason, +but these same women adored their husbands within a week's time." + +"Oh, dear! what shall I say? What shall I do?" + +"Poor little Maria! You come to England, and then are astonished that a +girl of eighteen is not allowed to have her own way, even in a husband." + +"I have heard that you took your own way in England, Madame." + +"In Scotland, there was some difference, and I was twenty-three and had +a fortune of my own." + +"Tell me then, Madame, what I ought to do." + +"I think you ought to go back to New York. You are unhappy here, and +you must make your father's home unhappy. That is not fair. If you are +in New York, Ernest Medway will have no difficulty in keeping his +word--if he wishes to do so. If he does not keep his word, you will +escape the mortification you would certainly feel in your father's +house. Ask the stepmother for permission to go back; she will manage the +rest." + +"Had I not better wait till the twenty-ninth of November has come and +gone?" + +"If you are a fool, do so. If you are wise, do not give opportunity so +much scope. Go at once." + +This advice was carried out with all the speed possible. That very night +Maria found a good time to ask her stepmother's influence, and in spite +of some affected reluctances, she understood that her proposal was one +that gave great and unexpected satisfaction. She felt almost that she +might begin to prepare for the voyage; nor were her premonitions false. +On the third evening after the request her father came to her room to +grant it. He said he was "sorry she wished to leave him, but that under +the circumstances it was better that she left England, at least for a +year. The war is practically over," he continued, "and New York will +speedily recover herself." Then he entered into some financial +explanations of a very generous character, and finally, taking a small +package from his pocket, said: + +"Give this to your grandfather. It is a miniature of his grandson, +Alexander Semple the third. He will be much delighted to see that child, +for he has no other grandson. My brothers' children are only girls." + +_"Only girls!"_ The two words cut like a two-edged blade, but they were +not said with any unkind intent, though he felt the unkind impression +they made, and rose and went slowly toward the door. His manner was +hesitating, as if he had forgotten something he wished to say, and the +momentary delay gave to Maria a good thought. She followed him quickly, +and while his hand was on the door laid hers upon it. "Father," she +said, "stay a little while. I want to ask you to forgive me. I have so +often been troublesome and self-willed, I have given you so much +annoyance, I feel it now. I am sorry for it. I cannot go back to America +until you forgive me. Father, will you forgive me? Indeed, I am sorry." + +He hesitated a moment, looked into her white, upturned face, and then +answered, "I forgive you, Maria. You have caused me great shame and +disappointment, but I forgive you." + +"Not in that way! Oh, not in that way, father! Kiss me as you used to +do. You have not kissed me for nearly a year. Dear father, do not be so +cold and so far-off. I am only a little girl, but I am _your_ little +girl. Perhaps I do not deserve to be forgiven, but for my mother's sake +be kind to me." + +At these words he turned fully to her, took her hands, and in a low, +constrained voice said, "You are a very dear little girl, and we will +let all the trouble between us be as if it had never been. We will bury +it, forgive it, and forget it evermore. It is not to be spoken of again, +not as long as we live." + +Then she leaned her head against his breast and he kissed her as those +who love and forgive kiss, and the joy of reconciliation was between +them. + +"Good night, Maria;" and as he held her close within his arm he added +with a laugh, "What a little bit of a woman! How high are you? Maria?" + +"Just as high as your heart, father. I don't want to be any higher." + +"That is a very pretty speech," and this time he kissed her voluntarily, +and with a most tender affection. + +Five days after this interview Maria sailed for America. Her father had +carefully attended to all things necessary for her safety and comfort, +and her stepmother had tried to atone by profuse and handsome gifts for +the apparent unkindness which had hastened her departure. But Maria knew +herself much to blame, and she was too happy to bear ill will. She was +going to see her lover. She was going to give him the assurances which +she had so long withheld. She was now impatient to give voice to all the +tenderness in her heart. + +It was the nineteenth day of September when she sailed, and on the +following day, as Mr. Semple was sitting in his office, one of the +messengers brought him a card. The light was dim and he looked intently +at it, appeared startled, rose and took it to the window for further +inspection. "Lord Medway" was certainly the name it bore, and ere he +could give any order concerning it the door opened and Lord Medway +entered. + +Mr. Semple advanced to meet him, and the nobleman took the chair he +offered. "Sir," he said, hardly waiting for the preliminary courtesies, +"Sir, I cannot believe myself quite unknown to you. And I hope that you +have already some anticipation of the purport of my visit. I come to ask +the hand of your daughter Maria in marriage. I have been her devoted +lover for more than three years, and now I would make her my wife. I beg +you, sir, to examine these papers. They will give you a generally +correct idea of my wealth and of the settlement I propose to make in +favor of my wife." + +Mr. Semple looked at the eager young man with a face so troubled that he +was instantly alarmed. + +"What is it?" he cried. "Is Maria sick? Married? Sir, do not keep me in +suspense." + +"Maria must be very near to New York. She sailed three weeks ago." + +"Oh, how unfortunate I am! I am indeed distracted at this +disappointment." + +"Will you come with me to my home? Mrs. Semple will tell you all that +you desire to know about Maria." + +"I am obliged for your kindness, sir, but there is only one thing for me +to do. I must go back to New York by the first opportunity. I have your +permission, I trust." + +"I have nothing to oppose to your wishes, Lord Medway. Maria has been +faithful to your memory, and I have every reason to know that you are +dear to her. I wish you both to be happy." + +"Then, sir, farewell for the present. If Fate be not most unkind to me, +I will return with Lady Medway before the year be fully out." + +He seemed to gather hope from his own prophecy, and with the charming +manner he knew well how to assume he left Mr. Semple penetrated with his +importance and dignity, and exceedingly exalted in the prospect of his +daughter's great fortune. + +"I do not wonder that Maria would accept no lover in his place," he said +to Mrs. Semple. "I think, Elizabeth, he is the handsomest man I ever +saw. And I glanced at the total of his rent-roll; it is close on forty +thousand pounds a year, and likely to increase as his mining property is +opened up. Maria has done very well for herself." + +"Then we have good authority for saying all men will praise her. +Nevertheless, Cousin Richard was a handsome man and an excellent match," +said Mrs. Semple. "You had better tell Richard. It will close that +affair forever." + +She was vexed, but not insensible to the social glory of the match. And +there was also the precious boy in the cradle. A relative among the +nobility would be a good thing for him; and, indeed, the subject opened +up on all sides in a manner flattering both to the pride and the +interest of the Semples. + +They could not cease talking of it until sleep put an end to their hopes +and speculations. And in the morning they were so readily excited that +Mrs. Semple felt impelled to make a confidante of her nursery maid; and +Mr. Semple, being under the same necessity of conversation, was pleased +to remember that his wife had advised him to inform Richard Spencer. He +told himself that she was right, and that Richard ought to know the +reason of his rejection. It would only be proper kindness to let him +understand that Maria's reluctance was not a dislike for him +personally, but was consequent upon her love for one who had won her +heart previous to their acquaintance. That fact altered Richard's +position and made it much less humiliating. + +So he went to the offices of the Spencer Company, and after some tedious +talk on the Zante currant question, he told the rejected man of Lord +Medway's visit, described his appearance, and revealed, under a promise +of secrecy, the amount of his rent-roll and the settlement proposed for +his wife. + +The effect of this story was precisely in the line of what Mr. Semple +had supposed. The weakness of Richard Spencer's nature was a slavish +adoration of the nobility. To have had Lord Medway for a rival was an +honor to be fully appreciated; and to the end of his life it supplied +him, in all his hours of after-dinner confidences, with a sentimental +story he delighted to tell. "Yes, gentlemen," he would say, even when an +old man, "Yes, gentlemen, I was once in love, madly in love, with as +beautiful a creature as ever trod this earth. And she led me a pretty +dance right to the altar steps, and then deserted me. But I cannot blame +her. No, by St. George, I cannot! I had a rival, gentlemen, the young, +handsome, rich and powerful Lord Medway, a nobleman that sits in the +house of Lords and may be of the Privy Council. What hope for poor Dick +Spencer against such a rival? None at all, gentlemen, and so you see, +for Lord Medway's sake I am a bachelor, and always shall be one. No girl +for me, after the divine Maria was lost. I saw her going to the last +drawing-room and she smiled at me. I live for such little favors, and I +have reason to know my great rival does not grudge them to me." + +And in this way Richard Spencer consoled himself, and was perhaps more +reasonably happy than if he had married a reluctant woman and been +grieved all the years of his life by her contradictions. + +The unexpected return of Maria to her grandparents quite overthrew Lord +Medway's plans for a few hours. He had hoped to marry her in London, and +take her at once to his town house, which was even then being prepared +and adorned for her. And affairs in New York were in such a state of +chaos that he was even anxious for her personal safety. He had left +everything and every one in a state of miserable transition and +uncertainty, and he was sure things were growing worse and would +continue to do so until the departure of the hostile army and the return +of the patriotic citizens. For it was they, and they only, who had any +interest in the preservation of their beautiful city from plunder and +destruction. + +And as he thought on these things, he reflected that it would be an +impossibility to secure for Maria and himself any comfortable passage +home, in the ordinary shipping, or even in the ships of war. He was sure +every available inch of room would be filled with royalist refugees, and +he knew well the likely results of men and women and children crowded +together, without sufficient food and water, and exposed to the winter's +cold and storm without any preparation for it. + +"It will not do, it will not do!" he ejaculated, "whatever it costs, I +must charter a vessel for our own use." + +In pursuance of this decision, he was in the largest shipping-house very +early the next morning, and with its aid, speedily secured a swift +sailing clipper. Her long, sharp bow and raking masts, pleased his +nautical sense; she was staunchly built, fit to buffet wind and waves, +and had a well-seasoned captain, who feared nothing, and was pleased at +the terms Lord Medway offered him. + +Nearly two weeks were spent in victualing and fitting her for the dainty +lady she was to carry. The softest pillows and rugs and carpets, made +her small space luxuriously sufficient. Silver and china and fine linen +were provided for her table, and when all her lockers had been filled +and all her sailing wants provided for, Lord Medway brought on board a +good cook, a maid for Maria, and a valet for himself. Then he set sail +joyously; surely, at last, he was on the right road to his bridal. + +Overtaking Maria was of course beyond a possibility, but he desired to +reach New York before its evacuation. He had many reasons for this, but +the chief one was a fear that unless he did so, there might be no +clergyman in New York to perform the marriage ceremony. Lovers have a +thousand anxieties, and if they do not have them, make them; and as the +"Dolphin" flew before the wind, Medway walked her deck, wondering if +Maria had arrived safely in New York, if her ship had been delayed, if +it had been taken by a privateer, if there had been any shipwreck, or +even great storms; if by any cruel chance he should reach New York, and +not find Maria there. How could he endure the consequent disappointment +and anxiety? He trembled, he turned heartsick, at any such possibility, +and when the green shores of the new world appeared, he almost wished +for a little longer suspense; he thought a certainty of Maria's absence +would kill him. + +As they came nearer to the city it was found impossible to approach any +of the usual wharfs. The river was crowded with men-of-war, transports, +and vessels of every kind, and after some consideration they took to the +North River, and finally anchored in midstream, nearly opposite the +house of Madame Jacobus. + +The sight of her residence inspired him with something like hope, and he +caused the small boat by which he landed to put him on shore as far +north of the heart of the city as possible. But even so, he could +distinctly hear, and still more distinctly _feel_ the sorrowful tumult +of the chaotic, almost frantic town. With swift steps and beating heart +he reached the Semple house. He stood still a moment and looked at it. +In the morning sunshine it had its usual, peaceful, orderly aspect, and +as he reached the gate, he saw the Elder open the door, and, oh, sight +of heaven! Maria stepped into the garden with him. + + [Illustration: HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON SHORE.] + +What happened then? Let each heart tell itself. We have many words to +express grief, none that translate the transports of love that has +conquered all the accidents of a contrary fortune. Such joy speaks +like a child, two or three words at a time, "My Darling--Oh, +Beloved--Sweetest Maria--Ernest--Ernest--At last--At last!" + +But gradually they came back to the sense of those proprieties that very +wisely invade the selfishness of human beings. They remembered there +were others in the world besides themselves, and broke their bliss in +two, that they might share it. And as conversation became more general +Medway perceived that haste was an imperative necessity, and that even +haste might be too late. It was now exceedingly doubtful if a clergyman +could be procured. Trinity had no authorized rector, the Reverend Mr. +Inglis having resigned the charge on the first of November, just three +weeks previously, and the appointment of the Reverend Mr. Moore, +selected by the corporation of Trinity, not being yet approved by the +Governor of the State of New York. To an Englishman of that day, there +was no marriage legally performed but by an accredited Episcopal +minister, and this was the obstacle Lord Medway had now to face. + +If General Clinton had been still in New York, the chaplain attached to +his staff would have been easily available; but Lord Medway knew little +of Sir Guy Carleton, then in command, and could only suppose his staff +would be similarly provided. As this difficulty demanded instant +attention, Medway went immediately about it. He was but barely in time. +Sir Guy thought the chaplain had already embarked, but fortunately, he +was found in his rooms, in the midst of his packing, and the offer of a +large fee made a short delay possible to him. It was then the twentieth +of November, and the evacuation of the British troops and refugees was +to be completed on the twenty-fifth. There was no time to be lost, for +an almost insane terror pervaded the minds of the royalists, and Medway +hastened back to Maria to expedite her preparations. + +"Only one day, my dear one," he said, "can be allowed you. You must +pack immediately. If your trunks can be sent to Madame Jacobus to-night, +I will have the captain of the 'Dolphin' get them on board as early as +possible to-morrow. During to-day you must make all your arrangements. +The clergyman will be waiting for us in St. Paul's Chapel at nine +o'clock in the morning. Will your grandparents go with us to the +church?" + +"I think not, Ernest. They would rather bid me good-bye in their own +home, and it will be better so. Uncle Neil has begged grandfather not to +go into the city; he says it would be both dangerous and heart-breaking +to him--yet we will ask them." + +It was as Maria had supposed; the Elder and Madame preferred to part +with their little girl in private. With smiles and tears and blessings, +they gave her into Lord Medway's care and then sat down on their lonely +hearth to rejoice in her joy and good fortune. They did not, however, +talk much; a few words now and then, and long pauses between, in which +they wandered back to their own bridal, and the happy, busy days that +were gone forever. + +"It will be Neil next," said the Elder sadly. + +"Yes. The Bradleys will be home on the twenty-seventh. He is set on +Agnes Bradley." + +"I'm sorry for it." + +"She suits him. I know you never liked the family." + +"Far awa' from it." + +"Neil says the son is to marry Mary Wakefield. Agnes has been with the +Wakefields; Mary is the youngest daughter." + +"And the saddler will open his shop again?" + +"Yes. His son is to be his partner. John Bradley thinks he has a 'call' +to preach. He has got the habit of wandering about, working and +preaching. Agnes says he will never give it up." + +After a long pause the Elder spoke again: "Maria is sure to be happy; +she has done well." + +"No woman could be happier. Has Neil told you what he is going to do?" + +"He canna stay here, Janet. That is beyond thinking of. Any bill of +attainder would include him. He is going to Boston to pick up the lines +o' his brother's business. Alexander made a fortune there; the name o' +Semple is known and respected, and John Curwen, who has plenty o' money, +will be in the business with him. He'll do well, no fear o' Neil." + +"Then he'll get married." + +"To be sure; men are aye eager to meet that trouble." + +"Alexander!" + +"And speaking o' bills o' attainder, I'll like enough hae my name on +one." + +"No, you won't. If you'll only bide at hame and keep your whist anent a' +public matters, you'll be left alane. If you have enemies, I hae +friends--great and powerful friends--and there's our two sons to stand +on your right hand and your left. Robert and Allen left a' and followed +the American cause from the first. They are good sureties for you. And +what of your friend, Joris Van Heemskirk?" + +"We'll see, we'll see. He may have changed a deal; he was always fond o' +authority, and for eight years he has been giving orders and saying 'go' +and 'come' and 'do this.' I took a bit walk down the road yestreen, and +I saw that creature Batavius polishing up the brass knocker o' his +father-in-law's front door. He had raked the littered garden, and Joanna +was putting up clean curtains. And he came waddling down to the gate and +said, 'Good-morning, Elder,' and I could but say the same to him. And +then he said, 'We are all getting ready for the coming home o' our brave +soldiers, and I am satisfied; it is a steady principle of mine to be +satisfied with the government. Governor Clinton bowed to me yesterday, +and he is the friend of General Washington. I notice these things, for +it is my way to notice everything.' And I interrupted him and said, +'Your principles change with your interests, sir,' and he fired up and +asked: 'Why not, then? It is a principle of mine to go with the times, +for I will not be left behind. I am a sailor, and I know that it is a +fool that does not turn his sail with the wind. When the wind blows west +I will not sail east;' and I said, 'you will do very well in these +times,' and he laughed and answered, '_Ja!_ I always do very well. I am +known for that everywhere.' So I left him, but the world seems slipping +awa' from me, Janet." + +"I am at your side, and there's nae bride nor bridegroom o' a day half +as much to each other as you are to me and I to you. And if this warld +fails, it is not the only warld." And they looked lovingly at each other +and were silent and satisfied. + +In the meantime the little wedding party had gathered at the altar of +St. Paul's Chapel: Neil, who gave away Maria, Madame Jacobus and her +friend Counselor Van Ahrens; Lord Medway with Sir Francis Lauve and his +sister Miss Estelle Lauve, members of an English family with whom he had +been familiar. The chaplain was waiting when the bride arrived, and the +words that made her Lord Medway's wife were solemnly said. There was no +music, no flowers, no bells, no theatrical effects of any kind, but the +simple, grand words of resignation and consecration had all the serious +joy and sacred character of a happy religious rite, and every heart felt +that nothing could have been more satisfactory. Maria wore the dark +cloth dress and long coat she intended to travel in, and as she knelt +bareheaded at the altar, Madame Jacobus held the pretty head-covering +that matched it. So that as soon as the registry had been made in the +vestry, she bid farewell to all her friends, and with a look of adorable +love and confidence placed her hand in her husband's. + +He was so happy that he was speechless, and he feared a moment's delay. +Until he had Maria safely on board the "Dolphin," he could not feel +certain of her possession. The suspense made him silent and nervous; he +could only look at his bride and clasp her hands, until she had passed +safely through the crowded streets and was securely in the cabin of the +waiting ship. Then, with the wind in her sails and the sunshine on her +white deck, the "Dolphin" went swiftly out to sea. + +But not until the low-lying land was quite lost to sight was Lord Medway +completely satisfied. Then he suffered the rapture in his heart to find +words. He folded Maria in her furs, and clasped her close to his side, +and as the daylight faded and the stars shone out upon her lovely face, +he told her a thousand times over, how dear, how sweet, how beautiful +she was! + +Ah! Youth is sweet! and Life is dear to Love and Youth; and these two +were supremely happy while whole days long they talked of their past and +their future. And though the journey lasted their honeymoon out, they +were not sorry. They were going to be in London for the Christmas feast, +and Medway remembered that he had promised Mr. Semple to "bring Lady +Medway home before the New Year," and he was pleased to redeem his word. + +"For I liked your father, Maria," he said. "He seemed to me one of the +finest gentlemen I ever met, and----" + +"My stepmother is a lady also," Maria answered, "one of the Norfolk +Spencers; and many women would have been worse to me than she was. +Sometimes I was in the wrong too." + +"They must keep Christmas with us. _Christmas in our own home!_ Maria, +you hold me by my heart. Sweet, say what you wish, and you shall have +it." And indeed it would be impossible to express in written words a +tithe of the great content they had. For all their hopes and plans and +dreams of future happiness were + + "but Ministers of Love + And fed his sacred flame," + +and the bliss so long afar, at length so nigh, rested in the great peace +of its attainment. + +In leaving New York immediately after their marriage, Lord and Lady +Medway escaped the misery of seeing the last agony of the royalist +inhabitants of that city. For six months Sir Guy Carleton had been +sending them to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Canada, to the Bahamas and +the West India Islands, and yet the condition of the city in these last +days is indescribable. To remove a large household is no easy matter, +but the whole city had practically to be moved, and at the same time at +least two thousand families driven from their homes at the occupation of +New York, had returned and were gradually taking possession of their +deserted dwellings. The confusion was intensified at the last by the +distraction of those who had hesitated until delay was no longer +possible, by the sick and the helpless, and the remnant who had been +striving to procure money, or were waiting for relatives and friends. +Such a scene as New York presented on the morning of the final +evacuation on the twenty-fifth of November, 1783, has no parallel in +modern history. + +It was followed by a scene not only as intensely dramatic, but also as +exhilarating and joyful as the former was distracting and +despairing--the entry of the triumphant Army of Freedom. As the +rearguard of the British army left the Battery, it came marching down +the Bowery--picked heroes of a score of battlefields--led by General +Knox. It passed by Chatham Street and Pearl Street to Wall Street and so +to Broadway, where it waited for the procession headed by General +Washington and Governor Clinton, the officers of the army, citizens on +horseback, and citizens on foot. A salute of thirteen guns greeted the +columns as they met, arms were presented and the drums beat. As a +military procession, it was without impressiveness, as a moral +procession, it was without equal in the annals of the world. No bells +chimed congratulations, no bands of music stirred popular enthusiasm; it +notably lacked all the usual pomp of military display, but no grander +army of self-wrought freemen ever greeted their chief, their homes, and +their native city. + +Madame Jacobus, weeping tears of joy, viewed it from her window. Early +in the morning she had sent a closed carriage for her friend Madame +Semple; but it had returned empty. + +"Janet Semple kept herself alive for this day," she said. "I wonder why +she did not come. She prayed that her eyes might see this salvation, and +then she has not come to see it. What is the matter, I wonder?" + +A very simple and yet a very great thing was the matter. When Madame had +put on her best gown, some little necessity took her back to the parlor. +The Elder was crouching over the fire and down his white face tears were +unconsciously streaming. She could not bear it; she could not leave him. + +"The joy is there, the victory is won, and the blessing is for a' +generations," she said. "I'll never be missed in the crowd, and I can +sing 'Glory be to God' in my ain house. So I'll stay where I'm needed, +by my dear auld man; it was for better or for worse, for richer or +poorer, in joy, or in sorrow, while baith our lives lasted," she mused, +"and Janet Semple isna one to forget that bargain." She went quickly +back to her room, spoke only into the ear of God her joy and her +thanksgiving, and then taking off her festival garments, knocked at +Neil's door as she went down stairs. + +"Are you going out, Neil?" + +"No; I shall stay with father. I am just going to him." + +They went together, and as they entered the room, the Elder looked up: + +"Aren't you going to see the show, Neil?" he asked. + +"I prefer to stay with you, sir," was the answer. The old man looked +from his son to his wife gratefully, and murmuring, "Thank you baith," +he fainted away. + +Tenderly they lifted him to a couch, and he soon responded to the +remedies applied; but Janet gave him a soothing draught, and they sat +the afternoon through, watching him. They could hear the joyful +acclaims--the shouts and songs of a redeemed people--the noise of a +multitude giving itself to a tumultuous joy; but the real gladness of +grateful hearts was by the rekindled hearth fires. Fathers and mothers +at home again! After seven years' wandering, they knew what Home meant. +Their houses were dismantled, but they had Liberty! Their gardens were +destroyed, their shade trees burnt, but they had Liberty! Their churches +were desecrated, but they had Liberty! Their trade was gone, their fair +city mutilated and blackened with fire, her streets torn up, and her +wharfs decayed, but thank God, they had Liberty! Never again would they +be the subjects of any king, or the victims of any imposed tyranny. They +were free men. They had won their freedom, and they who have once tasted +of the sharp, strong wine of Freedom will drink thereof forever. + + * * * * * + +These events occurred exactly one hundred and eighteen years ago, but +those who happen to be in that lovely country which lies between +Yorkshire and Lancashire can find in Medway Castle one frail memento of +them. A little diplomacy and a little coin of the realm dropped into the +keeper's hand will procure them admittance. And after viewing its rooms +of state, its splendid library, and its picture gallery, they may seek a +little room toward the sunrising, called "the Lady Maria's parlor." Its +furniture of crimson satin is faded now, but it doubtless suited well +the dark beauty so well depicted in a large portrait of her, that is one +of the ornaments of the east wall. The portrait of her husband, Lord +Ernest Medway, is near to it, but between them is a sheet of ordinary +writing paper, yellow with age, but still keeping a legible copy of +three verses and the pretty, simple, old tune to which they were sung. +It is the original copy of _"The Song of a Single Note,"_ the song they +sang together at Nicholas Bayard's summer entertainment one hundred and +twenty-one years ago. Lord Medway always said it was an enchanted song, +and that, as its melodious tones fell from his lady's lips, they charmed +his heart away and gave it to her forever. + +And if other lovers would learn this fateful melody, why here is a copy +of it. If they sing it but once together, it may be that they will sing +it as long as they live: + + "For through the sense, the song shall fit + The soul to understand." + + + + + A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE. + + [Illustration: A song of a sin-gle note. + But it soars and swells a-bove + The trum-pet's call and clash of arms, + For the name of the song is Love, + Love, Love, The name of the song is Love.] + + Mortals may sing it here below, + The angels sing it above; + For all of heaven that earth can know + Is set to the Song of Love, + Love, love, love, is set to the Song of Love. + + Then bid the trumpet and drum be still, + And battle flags idly float; + Better by far that men should sing + The Song of a Single Note. + Love, love, love, the Song of a Single Note. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Some of the illustrations have been moved so that they correspond to +the text and do not break up paragraphs. The biggest change was the +movement of the illustration "Maria lay dressed upon her bed" from +facing page 100 to page 305, near the corresponding text. Because of +these changes, the page numbers of the illustrations no longer match +the page numbers in the List of Illustrations. + +Throughout the book, the name of one of the characters was "DuBois", +but four times the name was given as "Du Bois". In each of those four, +instances, "Du Bois" was replaced with "DuBois". Likewise, another +character was sometimes named "André" and sometimes named "Andre". In +this case, "Andre" was replaced with "André". + +Thoughout the book, quotation mark usage is different than current +usage. Quotation mark usage was "corrected" only where the printed +usage would be confusing to the reader. In some cases a single set of +quotation marks was used for multiple paragraphs, in those caes the +quotation marks were not changed. + +Throughout the dialogues, there were words and punctuation used to +mimic accents of the speakers. Those words and punctuation were +retained. + +In the Contents, a period was placed after "V". + +In the Prologue, a quotation mark was placed at the end of the poem. + +On page 2, a period was placed after "easily go further". + +On page 7, a period was placed after "by a meadow", and a period was +placed after "I should say". + +On page 14, a quotation mark was removed after the phrase "called for +a fresh pipe.". + +On page 17, "to speak them" was replaced with "to speak to them". + +On page 27, the double quotation marks around the poem has been +replaced with single quotation marks, as the poem is part of a larger +quote. + +On page 38, "He eat of all" was replaced with "He ate of all". + +On page 48, a period was placed after "he is her lover". + +On page 49, "doubt and fear and love's first food" was replaced with +"doubt and fear are love's first food". + +On page 55, a double quotation mark before "Mr. Bradley, it is the +King's birthday" was replaced with a single quotation mark. + +On page 65, "she asked" was replaced with "She asked". + +On page 74, the double quotation mark was removed after "Wonderful!". + +On page 79, the single quotation mark after "They, too, have saved +us." was replased with a double quotation mark. + +On page 84, a double quotation mark was placed before "Oh, you must +be". + +On page 86, the quotation mark was removed after "though we may not +admit it." + +On page 94, "have not began" was replaced with "have not began". + +On page 97, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating". + +On page 109, the quotation mark was removed after "they would likely +hear it from some one.". + +On page 110, "colums" was replaced with "columns". + +On page 123, "confident and adviser" was replaced with "confidant and +adviser". + +On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed after "at nine +o'clock. Harry.". + +On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed before "I am sure +that". + +On page 154, a period was added after "I refuse to say". + +On page 162, the quotation mark was removed after "I will stand +still." + +On page 163, a quotation mark was added after "but for my father, it +had gone badly with you!" + +On page 165, a comma was added after "And there is another thing". + +On page 169, "There has a low" was replaced with "There was a low". + +On page 171, a period was added after "said Harry". + +On page 175, a quotation mark was added before "One hundred years +ago--in Scotland". + +On page 178, the period after "Would you be content if I saved his +life" was replaced with a question mark. + +On page 182, a double quotation mark was added after "'Ernest is doing +all that can be done.'" + +On page 188, "The horoine is" was replaced with "The heroine is". + +On page 195, a person is referred to as "Hulen" and as "Hulens". +No change was made because there was no indication of which is the +correct name. + +On page 197, "a saucy youth" was replaced with "A saucy youth". + +On page 197, "and he went on talking" was replaced with "and he went +on talking". + +On page 198, "he had builded" was replaced with "he had built". + +On page 199, a quotation mark was added after "I make you the same +offer if you will take it." + +On page 199, a period was placed after "and mental tremor". + +On page 199, a period was placed after "waited for Neil's reply". + +On page 200, "as you say" was replaced with "As you say". + +On page 203, a period was placed after "will be paid to-morrow". + +On page 207, "tapsalterie" was replaced with "tapsalteerie". + +On page 221, A double quotation mark was removed before "This remark +Maria did not approve of". + +On page 227, "curiuosly" was replaced with "curiously". + +On page 234, a quotation mark was added after "less almighty and mair +sensible than others.". + +On page 240, "consiousness" was replaced with "consciousness". + +On page 244, the semicolon after "aboon ten thousand" was replaced +with a period. + +On page 248, "the butt o 'a lot o' fellows" was replaced with "the +butt o' a lot o' fellows". + +On page 253, a period was put after "lost its chief advantage for +defense". + +On page 251, a quotation mark was added after "Meets all its wants." + +On page 251, "scrimage" was replaced with "scrimmage". + +On page 257, a quotation mark was added after the phrase "said Lord +Medway,". + +On page 258, the period after "in the sweet Spring evening" was +replaced with a comma. + +On page 263, a quotation mark was placed after "do love me, Maria?". + +On page 272, "my father insist" was replaced with "my father insists". + +On page 283, a double quotation mark was placed after "I think, +indeed,". + +On page 290, "situaton" was replaced with "situation." + +On page 296, the quotation mark after "in her heart for him." was +removed. + +On page 296, a quotation mark was placed after "such a person". + +On page 302, "vesty" was replaced with "vestry". + +On page 309, a quotation mark was placed after "to show your father." + +On page 310, a quotation mark was placed after "you should have been +straight." + +On page 323, the quotation mark was removed after "silent and +satisfied." + +On page 323, "alter" was replaced with "altar". + +On page 326, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating". + +On page 329, "they may seek a litttle" was replaced with "they may +seek a little". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE*** + + +******* This file should be named 35358-8.txt or 35358-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/3/5/35358 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/35358-8.zip b/35358-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..636602c --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-8.zip diff --git a/35358-h.zip b/35358-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8401dfe --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h.zip diff --git a/35358-h/35358-h.htm b/35358-h/35358-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e54f62e --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/35358-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13865 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Song of a Single Note, by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + +h1 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h1.pg { + margin-top: 0%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2 { + margin-top: 4%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h3, h4 { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* paragraphs */ + +p { + margin-top: 3%; + margin-bottom: 3%; + text-align: justify; +} /* general paragraph */ + +p.h2 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.h2a { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} /* centered h2 no top margin */ + +p.cnobmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.nobmargin { + text-indent: 4%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.cnomargins { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom or top margin */ + +p.cnotmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no top margin */ + +p.indent { + text-indent: 4%; +} /* indented paragraph */ + +/* horizontal rules */ + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 8%; + margin-bottom: 8%; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr2 +{ + width: 90%; + color: #CCCCCC; + background-color: #FFFFFF; + border: none; + border-bottom: 6px double black; + margin: 8% auto; +} /* horizontal rule for chapter divisions */ + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* block quotes and notes */ +.blockquote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +/* Formatting */ + +.center { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; +} + +.right { + margin-top: .0%; + text-align: right; +} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Links attributes */ + +a:link { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:visited { color:#25383C; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:hover { color:#008000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:active { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +ins {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #dcdcdc;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + border: 1px solid black; + padding: 6px; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; background-color: #FFCCFF;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:20%; + margin-right:20%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 4% 0% 4% 0%;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0%; + padding-left: 12%; + text-indent: -12%; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4%; + padding-left: 12%; + text-indent: -12%; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 8%; + padding-left: 12%; + text-indent: -12%; +} + +/* Other */ + +span.ralign { + position: absolute; + right: 10%; + top: auto; +} + +.TOCRSC { + list-style-type:upper-roman; + margin-left: 10%; + font-variant: small-caps; + color:black; +} + +.TOCU { + list-style-type:none; + margin-left: 10%; + color:black; +} + +div.tnote { + border-style: dotted; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: justify; + background-color: #FFCCFF; +} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Song of a Single Note, by Amelia Edith +Huddleston Barr</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: A Song of a Single Note</p> +<p> A Love Story</p> +<p>Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr</p> +<p>Release Date: February 22, 2011 [eBook #35358]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Darleen Dove, Ernest Schaal,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-cvr.jpg" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a><img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt="THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE." title="THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE." /><br /> +<span class="caption">THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/002.png" alt="A SONG OF A +SINGLE NOTE + +A LOVE STORY + +By +AMELIA E. BARR + +Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "The Maid +of Maiden Lane," etc. + +[Decoration] + +New York +DODD, MEAD & COMPANY +1902" title="A SONG OF A +SINGLE NOTE + +A LOVE STORY + +By +AMELIA E. BARR + +Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "The Maid +of Maiden Lane," etc. + +[Decoration] + +New York +DODD, MEAD & COMPANY +1902" /> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="cnobmargin"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1902,</span></p> + +<p class="cnomargins">By <span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead & Company</span>.</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin"><i>First Edition published October, 1902</i>.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="cnobmargin">THE BURR PRINTING HOUSE,</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">NEW YORK.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="cnobmargin">TO</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">MY FRIEND,</p> + +<p class="center">DR. STEPHEN DECATUR HARRISON:</p> + +<p class="cnobmargin">An American who loves his country "Right or Wrong,"</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">And who always believes she is "Right,"</p> + +<p class="cnobmargin"><span class="smcap">This Novel</span></p> + +<p class="cnomargins">IS WITH MUCH ESTEEM</p> + +<p class="cnotmargin">DEDICATED.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="h2">Contents</p> + +<p class="indent">CHAPTER <span class="ralign">PAGE</span></p> + +<ul class="TOCRSC"> +<li>Red or Blue Ribbons <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></span></li> + +<li>The Fair and the Brave <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">21</a></span></li> + +<li>Life in the Captive City <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">50</a></span></li> + +<li>A Song of a Single Note <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">75</a></span></li> + +<li>Love's Sweet Dream <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">103</a></span></li> + +<li>The Intercepted Message <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">134</a></span></li> + +<li>The Price of Harry's Life <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">160</a></span></li> + +<li>The Help of Jacob Cohen <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">185</a></span></li> + +<li>The Turn of the Tide <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">211</a></span></li> + +<li>Maria Goes to London <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">253</a></span></li> + +<li>The Question of Marriage <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">283</a></span></li> + +<li>Love and Victory <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">306</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="h2">List of Illustrations</p> + +<p class="right">PAGE</p> +<ul class="TOCU"> +<li><span class="smcap">The Song of a Single Note</span>—<span class="ralign"><a href="#illus1"><i>Frontispiece</i>.</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Maria lay dressed upon her bed</span><span class="ralign"><i>facing</i> <a href="#illus2">100</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">The drummers and fifers in front did not see him</span><span class="ralign"><i>facing</i> <a href="#illus3">208</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">He caused the small boat to put him on shore</span><span class="ralign"><i>facing</i> <a href="#illus4">320</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2>PROLOGUE.</h2> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Love, its flutes will still be stringing,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Lovers still will sigh and kneel;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Freedom sets her trumpets ringing</span><br /> +<span class="i2">To the clash of smiting steel."</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So I weave of love and glory,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Homely toil, and martial show,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fair romance from the grand story</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Lived a century ago.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h1>A Song of a Single Note</h1> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">RED OR BLUE RIBBONS.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">It</span> was the fourth year of the captivity of New +York, and the beleaguered city, in spite of military +pomp and display, could not hide the desolations +incident to her warlike occupation. The beautiful +trees and groves which once shaded her streets and +adorned her suburbs had been cut down by the army +sappers; her gardens and lawns upturned for entrenchments +and indented by artillery wheels; and +some of the best parts of the city blackened and +mutilated by fire. Her churches had been turned +into prisons and hospitals, and were centres of indescribable +suffering and poisonous infection; while +over the burnt district there had sprung up a town +of tents inhabited by criminals and by miserable +wretches whom starvation and despair had turned +into highwaymen.</p> + +<p class="indent">But these conditions were the work of man. Nature +still lavished upon the captive city a glory of +sunshine and blue skies, and winds, full of the freshness +and sparkle of the great sea, blew through all +her sickly streets. Wherever the gardens had not +been destroyed, there was the scent of mays and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span> +laburnums, and the indescribable beauty of apple +blossoms on the first day of their birth.</p> + +<p class="indent">In front of one of these fortunate enclosures, belonging +to a little house on Queen Street, an old +gentleman was standing, looking wistfully in at a +trellis of small red roses. He turned away with a +sigh as a man dressed like a sailor touched him on +the arm, saying, as he did so:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, then, Elder, a good afternoon to you? I +am just from Boston, and I have brought you a +letter from your son."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You, De Vries! I didna look for you just yet."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You know how it is. I am a man of experience, +and I had a good voyage both ways."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And Robertson and Elliot and Ludlow will have +a good percentage on your cargoes?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is the way of business. It is as it ought +to be. I do not defraud or condemn the Government. +It is the young—who have no knowledge or +experience—who do such things."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do you bring in, Captain?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Some provisions of all kinds; and I shall take +back some merchandise of all kinds—for them who +can not get it in any other way."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To Boston again?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"This time only to the Connecticut coast. The +goods will easily go further. The trade is great. +What then? I must waste no time; I have to live +by my business."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I have nae doubt you think the 'business' on +the King's service."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Every respectable man is of that way of thinking. +We carry no military stores. I am very precise +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span> +about that. It is one of my principles. And what, +then, would the merchants of New York do without +this opening for trade? They would be ruined; and +there would also be starvation. They who say different +are fools; we give help and comfort to the +royalists, and we distress the rebels, for we take from +them all their ready money. If the trade was not +'on the King's service,' the Governor would not be +in it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Even so! That circumstance shows it is not far +out o' the way."</p> + +<p class="indent">"'Out of the way!' What the deuce, Elder! I +am a deacon in the Middle Kirk. My respectability +and honesty cannot be concealed: any one can see +them. Batavius de Vries would not steal a groschen; +no, nor half of one!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Easy, easy, Captain! Why should you steal? +It is far mair lucrative to cheat than to steal; and +the first is in the way o' business—as you were remarking. +But this or that, my good thanks for the +letter you have brought me; and is there anything I +can do in return for your civility?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you will kindly call at my dwelling and tell +Madame I am arrived here safe and sound; that +would be a great satisfaction for us both."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I pass your door, Captain, and I will tell Madame +the good news. Nae doubt she will gie me a +smile for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then De Vries turned away with some remark +about business, and Elder Semple stood still a moment, +fingering the bulky letter which had been given +him; and, as he did so, wondering what he should +do, for "ill news comes natural these days," he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span> +thought, "and maybe I had better read it through, +before I speak a word to Janet anent it. I'll step +into the King's Arms and see what Alexander has +to say."</p> + +<p class="indent">When he entered the coffee-room he saw his son, +Mr. Neil Semple, and Governor Robertson sitting at +a table with some papers between them. Neil smiled +gravely, and moved a chair into place for his father, +and the Governor said pleasantly:</p> + +<p class="indent">"How are you, Elder? It is a long time since I +saw you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am as well as can be expected, considering a' +things, Governor; but what for will I be 'Elder,' +when I have nae kirk to serve?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is that my fault, Elder?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You might have spoke a word for the reopening +of the kirk, and the return o' Dr. Rogers. Your +affirmative would have gone a long way toward it. +And the loyal Calvinists o' New York hae been too +long kirkless. What for didn't you speak the word, +Governor? What for?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed, Elder, you know yourself that Dr. +Rogers is a proved traitor. As a fundamental rule, +a Calvinist is a democrat—exceptions, of course—like +yourself and your worthy sons, but as a fundamental, +natural democrats. There is the Church of +England open for all services."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye; and there is the Kirk o' Scotland closed for +all services. What has the Kirk done against King +George?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Must I remind you, Elder, that her ministers, +almost without exception, are against the King? +Did not this very Dr. Rogers pray in the pulpit for +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span> +the success of the rebels? As for the Church of +Scotland, she has been troubling kings, and encouraging +rebellion ever since there was a Church of +Scotland. What for? No reason at all, that I can +see."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, she had reason enough. Scotsmen read +their Bibles, and they thought it worth while to fight +for the right to do so. There's your colleague, +Judge Ludlow; his great-grandfather fought with +Oliver Cromwell in England in a quarrel of the same +kind. He should have said a word for us."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Elder, it is undeniable that Dissent and Calvinism +are opposed to royalty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Kirk is not subject to Cæsar; she is a law +unto hersel'; and the Methodists are dissenters, yet +their chapel is open."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The loyalty of John Wesley is beyond impeachment. +He is a friend of the King."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yet his brother Charles was imprisoned for praying +for the Pretender, and nae doubt at all, he himsel' +would gladly have followed Prince Charlie."</p> + +<p class="indent">"As the Semples and Gordons <i>did do</i>."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To their everlasting glory and honor! God +bless them!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Will your Excellency please to sign these +papers?" interrupted Neil; and his calm ignoring +of the brewing quarrel put a stop to it. The papers +were signed, and the Governor rising, said, as he +offered his hand to the Elder:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Our sufferings and deprivations are unavoidable, +sir. Is there any use in quarreling with the wheel +that splashes us?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is nane; yet, if men have grievances——"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> +"Grievances! That is a word that always pleases, +and always cheats. There are no grievances between +you and me, I hope."</p> + +<p class="indent">"None to breed ill-will. Human nature is fallible, +but as a rule, Tory doesna eat Tory."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And as for the Whigs, Elder, you know the old +fable of the wolf and the lamb. Judging from +that past event, Tory and Whig may soon make an +eternal peace."</p> + +<p class="indent">He went out well pleased at the implication, and +Neil, after a few moments' silence, said, "I am going +to register these documents, sir, or I would walk +home with you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Much obligated to you, Neil, but I can tak' very +good care o' mysel'. And I have a letter from your +brother Alexander. I must see what news he sends, +before I tell your mother."</p> + +<p class="indent">He was opening his letter as he spoke, carefully +cutting round the large red seal, which bore the +arms of the Semples, and which, therefore, he would +have thought it a kind of sacrilege to mutilate. A +cup of coffee had been brought to him, and he took +one drink of it, and then no more; for everything +was quickly forgotten or ignored in the intelligence +he was receiving. That it was unexpected and astonishing +was evident from his air of perplexity +and from the emotion which quite unconsciously +found relief in his constant ejaculation, <i>"Most extraordinary! +Most extraordinary!"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">Finally, he folded up the epistle, threw a shilling +on the table for his entertainment, and with more +speed than was usual, took the road to the west of +Broadway. He had been remarkable in days past +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> +for his erect carriage, but he walked now with his +head bent and his eyes fixed on the ground. There +was so much that he did not want to see, though he +was naturally the most curious and observant of +mortals. Fifteen minutes' walk brought him to the +river side, and anon to a large house separated from +his own by a meadow. There were horses tied to the +fence and horses tethered in the garden; and in a +summer-house under a huge linden tree, a party of +soldiers drinking and playing dominoes. The front +door was partly open, and a piece of faded red ribbon +was nailed on its lintel. Semple knocked loudly +with his walking-stick, and immediately a stout, rosy +woman came toward him, wiping her hands on a +clean towel as she did so.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, then, Elder!" she cried, "you are a good +sight! What is the matter, that you never come +once to see us, this long time?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I come now to bring you good news Joanna—Madame, +I should say."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, no! I make not so much ceremony. When +you say 'Joanna' I think of the good days, before +everybody was unfriends with each other."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, then, Joanna, your husband is back again; +as he says, safe and sound, and I promised him to +let you know as I passed."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But come in once, Elder—come in!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Some day—some day soon. I am in haste at +this time—and you have much company, I see." He +spoke with evident disapproval, and Joanna was at +once on the defensive.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know not how to alter that. A good wife must +do some little thing these hard times; for what is to +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> +come after them, who knows—and there are many +boys and girls—but I am not discontented; I like +to look at the bright side, and that is right, is it not?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Semple had already turned away, and he only +struck his cane on the flagged walk in answer. For +while Joanna was speaking he had casually noticed +the fluttering red ribbon above her head; and it had +brought from the past a memory, unbidden and unexpected, +which filled his eyes with the thin, cold +tears of age, and made his heart tremble with a fear +he would not allow himself to entertain.</p> + +<p class="indent">He was so troubled that he had to consciously +gather his forces together before he entered his own +dwelling. It, at least, kept visible state and order; +the garden, perhaps, showed less variety and wealth +of flowers; but the quiet dignity of its handsomely +furnished rooms was intact. In their usual parlor, +which was at the back of the house, he found his +wife. "You are late to-day, Alexander," she said +pleasantly; "I was just waiting till I heard your +footstep. Now I can make the tea."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I'll be glad o' a cup, Janet. I'm fairly tired, my +dearie."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What kept you so far ahint your ordinar time? +I thought it long waiting for you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Twa or three things kept me, that I am not accountable +for. I was on the way hame, when Batavius +De Vries spoke to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He's back again, is he? Few words would do +between you and him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He brought me a letter from our lad in Boston; +and I thought I would go into the King's Arms and +read it."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> +"You might have come hame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I might; but I thought if there was any bad +news folded in the paper, I would just leave it outside +our hame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is naething wrang, then?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is an astonishment—the lad has sold all he had +and gone to Scotland. When he can find a small +estate that suits him, he thinks o' buying it, and becoming +'Semple o' that Ilk.' Alexander aye had a +hankering after land."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He has the siller, I suppose; there is no land +given awa in Scotland."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Alexander wasn't born yesterday. He has been +sending siller to England ever since the first whisper +o' these troubles. Ten years ago, he told me the +Stamp Act riots spelt Revolution and maybe Independence; +and that in such case the best we could +hope for would be a dozen or mair states, each with +its ain rights and privileges and government; and a +constant war between them. He is a far-seeing lad, +is Alexander."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think little o' his far sight. There are others +who see further and clearer: petty states and constant +war! Na, na! <i>It's not so written."</i></p> + +<p class="indent">"Perhaps he is right, Janet."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Perhaps is a wide word, Alexander. Perhaps +he is wrang. Has he sailed yet? And pray, what +is to become of the little Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He sailed a week since—and Maria is coming +to us."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Coming to us! And what will we do wi' the +lassie?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"We'll just hae to love and comfort her. In a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> +way she has neither father nor mother—the one being +in the grave and the other beyond seas. She +may be a pleasure to our auld age; when she was +here last she was a bonnie, lovesome little creature."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is mair than eight years ago, and she was +eight years old then; she'll be sixteen and a half, or, +perhaps, nearer seventeen now—you ken weel what +to expect from lassies o' that indiscreet age; or, if +you don't, you ought to."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know she is our ain grandbairn and that we be +to give her love and all that love calls for. She was +the very image o' yoursel' Janet, and her father was +much set up o'er the extraordinar likeness."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought she favored you, Alexander."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A little—a little, perhaps—but not enough to +spoil her. If she has kept the Gordon beauty, she +will be a' the mair welcome to me. I have aye had +a strong prejudice in its favor;" and he leaned forward +and took Madame's small brown hand, and +then there was a look and a smile between the old +lovers that made all words impotent and unnecessary.</p> + +<p class="indent">Such pauses are embarrassing; the lealest hearts +must come back quickly to ordinary life, and as the +Elder passed his cup for more tea, Madame asked: +"What way is the lassie coming? By land or +water?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is coming by land, with John Bradley and his +daughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How's that?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Madame Charlton's school had to be closed, and +Agnes Bradley was one of the scholars. Her father +has gone to Boston to bring her hame, and Maria +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +being her friend and schoolmate, Bradley promised +Alexander to see her safe in our home and care. +Doubtless, he is well able to keep his word. If the +Governor and the Commander-in-Chief can do ought +to mak' travel safe, John Bradley will hae their assistance; +but I'm vexed to be put under an obligation +to him. I would rather have sent Neil, or even +gane mysel'."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What ails you at John Bradley? He wears the +red ribbon on his breast, and it blaws o'er his shop +door, and he is thick as thack with a' the dignities—civil +and military."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I don't like him, and I don't like his daughter +being friends with my granddaughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He serves our turn now, and once is nae custom."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Let alone the fact that girls' friendships are naething +but fine words and sugar candy. I shall put a +stop to this one at the very outset."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You'll do what, gudeman?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Put my commands on Maria. I shall tell her +that beyond yea and nay, and a fine day, or the like +o' that, she is to have no intercourse wi' John Bradley's +daughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You'll have revolution inside the house, as weel +as outside. Let the girls alane. Some young men +will come between them and do your business for +you. You have managed your lads pretty well—wi' +my help—but two schoolgirls in love wi' one anither! +they will be aboon your thumb—ane o' them may +keep you busy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall lay my commands on Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And if Maria tak's after the Gordons, she'll be +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> +far mair ready to give commands than to tak' them. +Let be till she gets here. When did she leave Boston?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mair than a week ago, but Sunday intromits, +and Bradley, being what they call a local preacher +would hae to exploit his new sermon and hold a class +meeting or a love feast; forbye, he wouldna neglect +ony bit o' business that came his way on the +road. I shouldn't wonder if they were at Stamford +last Sunday, and if so, they would be maist likely at +East Chester to-night. They might be here to-morrow. +I'll ask Neil to ride as far as the Halfway +House; he will either find, or hear tell o' them +there."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What for should Neil tak' that trouble? You +ken, as weel as I do, that if Bradley promised +Maria's father to deliver her into your hand, at your +ain house, he would do no other way. Say you were +from hame, he would just keep the lassie till he could +keep his promise. He is a very Pharisee anent such +sma' matters. If you have finished your tea, gudeman, +I will get the dishes put by."</p> + +<p class="indent">They both rose at these words, Madame pulled a +bell rope made of a band of embroidery, and a girl +brought her a basin of hot water and two clean +towels. Semple lit his long, clay pipe and went into +the garden to see how the early peas were coming +on, and to meditate on the events the day had +brought to him. Madame also had her meditations, +as she carefully washed the beautiful Derby china, +and the two or three Apostle teaspoons, and put them +away in the glass cupboard that was raised in one +corner of the room. Her thoughts were complex, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span> +woven of love and hope and fear and regret. The +advent of her granddaughter was not an unmixed +delight; she was past sixty, not in perfect health, +and she feared the care and guiding of a girl of +scarce seventeen years old.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Just the maist unreasonable time of any woman's +life," she sighed. "At that age, they are sure they +know a' things, and can judge a' things; and to +doubt it is rank tyranny, and they are in a blaze at a +word, for they have every feeling at fever heat. A +body might as well try to reason wi' a baby or a +bull, for they'll either cry or rage, till you give in to +them. However, Maria has a deal o' Gordon in +her, and they are sensible bodies—in the main. I'll +even do as the auld song advises:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"Bide me yet, and bide me yet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For I know not what will betide me yet."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent">When the room was in order, she threw a shawl +round her and went to her husband. "I hae come to +bring you inside, Elder," she said, "the night air +is chilly and damp yet, and you arena growing +younger."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I walked down as far as the river bank, Janet," +he answered, "and I see the boat is rocking at her +pier. Neil should look after her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil is looking after another kind of a boat at +present. I hope he will have as much sense as the +rats, and leave a sinking ship in good time to save +himsel'."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Janet, you should be feared to say such like +words! They are fairly wicked—and they gie me a +sair heart."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> +"Oh, forgive me, Alexander! My thoughts will +fly to my lips. I forget! I forget! I hae a sair +heart, too"—and they went silently into the house +with this shadow between them until Janet said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Let me help you off wi' your coat, dearie. Your +soft, warm wrap is here waiting for you," and +against her gentle words and touch he had no armor. +His offense melted away, he let her help him to remove +his heavy satin-lined coat, with its long stiffened +skirts, and fold round his spare form the damasse +wrap with its warm lining of flannel. Then, +with a sigh of relief he sat down, loosened his neckband, +handed Madame his laces, and called for a +fresh pipe.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the meantime Madame hung the coat carefully +over a chair, and in flecking off a little dust from its +richly trimmed lapel, she tossed aside with an unconscious +contempt, the bit of scarlet ribbon at the +buttonhole. "You are requiring a new ribbon, Alexander," +she said. "If you must wear your colors +on your auld breast, I would, at least, hae them +fresh."</p> + +<p class="indent">He either ignored, or did not choose to notice the +spirit of her words; he took them at their face value, +and answered: "You are right, Janet. I'll buy a +half yard in the morning. I tell you, that one bit +o' rusty, draggled red ribbon gave me a heart-ache +this afternoon."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame did not make the expected inquiry, and +after a glance into her face he continued: "It was at +the Van Heemskirk's house. I was talking to Joanna, +and I saw it o'er the door, and remembered the +night my friend Joris nailed up the blue ribbon +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> +which Batavius has taken down. I could see him +standing there, with his large face smiling and shining, +and his great arms reaching upward, and I +could hear the stroke o' the hammer that seemed to +keep time to his words: '<i>Alexander myn jougen!</i>' +he said, 'for Freedom the color is always blue. Over +my house door let it blow; yes, then, over my grave +also, if God's will it be.' And I answered him, 'you +are a fool, Joris, and you know not what you are +saying or doing, and God help you when you do +come to your senses.' Then he turned round with +the hammer in his hand and looked at me—I shall +never forget that look—and said 'a little piece of +blue ribbon, Alexander, but for a man's life and +liberty it stands, for dead already is that man who +is not free.' Then he took me into the garden, and +as we walked he could talk of naething else, 'men +do not need in their coffins to lie stark,' he said, +'they may without that, be dead; walking about this +city are many dead men.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Joris Van Heemskirk is a good man. Wherever +he is, I ken well, he is God's man," said Janet, "doing +his duty simply and cheerfully."</p> + +<p class="indent">"As he sees duty, Janet; I am sure o' that. +And as he talked he kept touching the ribbon in his +waistcoat, as if it was a sacred thing, and when I +said something o' the kind, he answered me out o' +the Holy Book, and bid me notice God himself +had chosen blue and told Israel to wear it on the +fringes o' their garments as a reminder o' their deliverance +by Him. Then I couldna help speaking o' +the Scotch Covenanters wearing the blue ribbon, and +he followed wi' the Dutch Protestors, and I was able +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> +to cap the noble army wi' the English Puritans fighting +under Cromwell for civil and religious liberty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And gudeman!" cried Janet, all in a tremble of +enthusiasm, "General Washington is at this very +time wearing a broad blue ribbon across his breast;" +and there was such a light in her eyes, and such +pride in her voice, the Elder could not say the words +that were on his tongue; he magnanimously passed +by her remark and returned to his friend, Joris Van +Heemskirk. "Blue or red," he continued, "we had a +wonderfu' hour, and when we came to part that +night we had no need to take each other's hands; +we had been walking hand-in-hand together like twa +laddies, and we did not know it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You'll have many a happy day with your friend +yet, gudeman; Joris Van Heemskirk will come +hame again."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will hae a sair heart when he sees his hame, +specially his garden."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will hae something in his heart to salve all +losses and all wrongs; but I wonder Joanna doesna +take better care o' her father's place."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She canna work miracles. I thought when I got +her there as tenant o' the King, she would keep a' +things as they were left; but Batavius has six or +eight soldiers boarding there—low fellows, non-commissioned +officers and the like o' them—and the +beautiful house is naething but barricks in their +sight; and as for the garden, what do they care for +boxwood and roses? They dinna see a thing beyond +their victuals, and liquor, and the cards and +dominoes in their hands. Joanna has mair than she +can manage."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span> +"Didn't Batavius sell his house on the East river?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course he did—to the Government—made a +good thing of it; then he got into his father-in-law's +house as a tenant of the Government. I don't think +he ever intends to move out of it. When the war is +over he will buy it for a trifle, as confiscated property."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He'll do naething o' the kind! He'll never, +never, never buy it. You may tak' my solemn word +for that, Alexander Semple."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How do you ken so much, Janet?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The things we ken best, are the things we were +never told. I will not die till I have seen Joris Van +Heemskirk smoking his pipe with you on his ain +hearth, and in his ain summer-house. He can paint +some new mottoes o'er it then."</p> + +<p class="indent">She was on the verge of crying, but she spoke with +an irresistible faith, and in spite of his stubborn loyalty +to King George, Semple could not put away the +conviction that his wife's words were true. They +had all the force of an intuition. He felt that the +conversation could not be continued with Joris Van +Heemskirk as its subject, and he said, "I wonder +what is keeping Neil? He told me he would be +hame early to-night."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then you saw him to-day?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He was in the King's Arms, when I went there +to read my letter—he and Governor Robertson—and +I had a few words wi' the Governor anent Dr. Rogers +and the reopening of our kirk."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You did well and right to speak to them. It is a +sin and a shame in a Christian country to be kept out +o' Sabbath ordinances."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> +"He told me we had the Church o' England to +go to."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye; and we hae the King o' England to serve."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Here comes Neil, and I am glad o' it. Somehow, +he makes things mair bearable."</p> + +<p class="indent">The young man entered with a grave cheerfulness; +he bowed to his father, kissed his mother, and +then drew a chair to the cold hearth. In a few +minutes he rang the bell, and when it was answered, +bid the negro bring hot coals and kindle the fire.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil, my dear lad," said the Elder, "are you remembering +that wood is nearly ungetable—ten +pounds or mair a cord? I hae but little left. I'm +feared it won't see the war out."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If wood is getable at any price, I am not willing +to see mother and you shivering. Burn your wood +as you need it, and trust for the future."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hae told your father the same thing often, Neil; +careful, of course, we must be, but sparing is not +caring. There was once a wife who always took +what she wanted, and she always had enough." The +fire blazed merrily, and Neil smiled, and the Elder +stretched out his thin legs to the heat, and the whole +feeling of the room was changed. Then Madame +said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil, your brother Alexander has gane to Scotland."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I expected him to take that step."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And he is sending little Maria to us, until he gets +a home for her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I should not think she will be much in the way, +mother. She is only a child."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is nearly seventeen years old. She won't be +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> +much in my way; it is you that will hae to take her +out—to military balls and the like."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nonsense! I can't have a child trailing after me +in such places."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Vera likely you will trail after her. You will be +better doing that than after some o' the ladies o' +Clinton's court."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I can tell you, Neil," said Neil's father, "that +it is a vera pleasant sensation, to hae a bonnie lassie +on your arm wha is, in a manner, your ain. I ken +naething in the world that gives a man such a superior +feeling."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil looked at the speaker with a curious admiration. +He could not help envying the old man who +had yet an enthusiasm about lovely women.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I fancy, sir," he answered, "that the women of +your youth were a superior creation to those of the +present day. I cannot imagine myself with any +woman whose society would give me that sensation."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Women are always the same, Neil—yesterday, +to-day, and forever. What they are now, they were +in Abraham's time, and they will be when time shall +be nae langer. Is not that so, mother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maybe; but you'll tak' notice, they hae suited a' +kinds o' men, in a' countries and in a' ages. I dare +say our little Maria will hae her lovers as well as the +lave o' them, and her uncle Neil will be to keep an +eye on them. But I'm weary and sleepy, and if you +men are going to talk the fire out I'll awa' to my +room and my bed."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have something to say to father," answered +Neil, "about the Government, and so——"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +"Oh, the Government!" cried Madame, as she +stood with her lighted candle in her hand at the open +door; "dinna call it a government, Neil; call it a +blunderment, or a plunderment, if you like, but the +other name is out o' all befitting."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mother, wait a moment," said Neil. "You were +saying that Maria would want to be taken to dances; +I got an invitation to-day. What do you say to this +for an introduction?" As he spoke he took out of +his pocket a gilt-edged note tied with transverse +bands of gold braid and narrow red ribbon. Madame +watched him impatiently as he carefully and +deliberately untied the bows, and his air of reverential +regard put her in a little temper.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Cut the strings and be done wi' it, Neil," she said +crossly. "There is nae invite in the world worth +such a to-do as you are making. And dinna forget, +my lad, that you once nearly threw your life awa' for +a bit o' orange ribbon! Maybe the red is just as +dangerous."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil took the red ribbon between his finger +and thumb, and dropping it into the fire looked at +his mother with the denial in his face. "It is from +Mrs. Percival," he said; and she nodded her understanding, +but could not help giving him a last word +ere she closed the door:</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you hae a fancy for ribbons, Neil, tak' my +advice, and get a blue one; a' the good men in the +country are wearing blue."</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE FAIR AND THE BRAVE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">At</span> breakfast next morning the conversation +turned naturally upon the arrival of Maria Semple. +The Elder showed far the most enthusiasm concerning +it. He wondered, and calculated, and supposed, +till he felt he had become tiresome and exhausted +sympathy, and then he subsided into that painful attitude +of disappointment and resignation, which is, +alas, too often the experience of the aged? His +companions were not in sympathy with him. Madame +was telling herself she must not expect too +much. Once she had set her heart upon a beautiful +girl who was to become Neil's wife, and her love had +been torn up by the roots: "maist women carry a +cup of sorrow for some one to drink," she thought, +"and I'm feared for them." As for Neil, he felt +sure the girl was going to be a tie and a bore, and he +considered his brother exceedingly selfish in throwing +the care of his daughter upon his aged parents.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was not a pleasant meal, but in good hearts depression +and doubt find no abiding place. When +Neil had gone to his affairs, the Elder looked at his +wife, and she gave him his pipe with a smile, and +talked to him about Maria as she put away her china. +And she had hardly turned the key of the glass +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> +closet, when the knocker of the front door fell twice—two +strokes, clear, separate, distinct. The Elder +rose quickly and with much excitement. "That is +Bradley's knock," he said; "I never heard it before, +but it is just the way he would call any one."</p> + +<p class="indent">He was going out of the room as he spoke, and +Madame joined him. When they entered the hall +the front door was open, and a short, stout man was +standing on the threshold, holding a young girl by +the hand. He delivered her to the Elder very much +as he would have delivered a valuable package intrusted +to his care, and then, as they stood a few +moments in conversation, Maria darted forward, and +with a little cry of joy nestled her head on her grandmother's +breast. The confiding love of the action +was irresistible. "You darling!" whispered the +old lady with a kiss; "let me look at you!" And she +put her at arm's length, and gazed at the pretty, dark +face with its fine color, and fine eyes, charmingly set +off by the scarlet hood of her traveling cloak.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do you think o' your granddaughter, Elder?" +she asked, when he joined them, and her voice +was trembling with love and pride.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think she is yoursel' o'er again; the vera same +bonnie Janet Gordon I woo'd and loved in Strathallen +nearly fifty years syne. Come and gie me +twenty kisses, bairnie. You are a vera cordial o' +gladness to our hearts."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame had swithered in her own mind before +the arrival of Maria about the room she was to occupy—the +little one in the wing, furnished in rush +and checked blue and white linen; or the fine guest +room over the best parlor. A few moments with her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span> +grandchild had decided her. "She shall hae the best +we have," she concluded. "What for would I gie +it to my cousin Gordon's wife, and lock my ain flesh +and blood out o' it?" So she took Maria to her best +guest chamber, and when the girl stood in the center +of it and looked round with an exclamation of delight, +she was well rewarded.</p> + +<p class="indent">"This is the finest room I ever saw," said Maria. +"I love splendid rooms, and mahogany makes any +place handsome. And the looking glasses! O +grandmother, I can see myself from top to toe!" and +she flung aside her cloak, and surveyed her little figure +in its brown camblet dress and long white stomacher, +with great satisfaction.</p> + +<p class="indent">"And where are your clothes, Maria?" asked +Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I brought a small trunk with me, and Mr. Bradley +will send it here this morning; the rest of my +trunks were sent with Captain De Vries. I dare say +they will be here soon."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They are here already, De Vries arrived yesterday, +but the rest o' your trunks, how many more +have you, lassie?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Three large, and one little one. Father told me +I was to get everything I wanted, and I wanted so +many things. I got them all, grandmother—beautiful +dresses, and mantillas, and pelerines; and dozens +of pretty underwear. I have had four women sewing +for me ever since last Christmas."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But the expense o' it, Maria!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mrs. Charlton said I had simply received the +proper outfit for a young lady entering society."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But whatever did your father say?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span> +"He whistled very softly. There are many ways +of whistling, grandmother, and my father's whistle +was his form of saying he was astonished."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hae no doubt he was astonished."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I had to have summer and winter dresses, and +ball dresses, and home dresses, and street dresses; +and all the little things which Mrs. Charlton says +are the great things. Father is very generous to +me, and he has ordered Lambert and Co. to send +me thirty pounds every month. He told me that +food and wood and every necessity of life was +very dear in New York, and that if I was a good +girl I would do my full share in bearing the burden +of life."</p> + +<p class="indent">This was her pretty way of making it understood +that she was to pay liberally for her board, and then, +with a kiss, she added, "let us go downstairs. I +want to see all the house, grandmother. It is like +home, and I have had so little home. All my life +nearly has been spent at school. Now I am come +home."</p> + +<p class="indent">They went down hand in hand, and found the Elder +walking about in an excited manner. "I think I +shall bide awa' from business to-day," he said; "I +dinna feel like it. It isna every day a man gets a +granddaughter."</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Tuts!</i> Nonsense, Alexander! Go your ways +to the store, then you can talk to your acquaintance +o' your good fortune. Maria and I will hae boxes to +unpack, and clothes to put away; and you might as +weel call at De Vries, and tell him to get Miss Semple's +trunks here without sauntering about them. +Batavius is a slow creature. And Neil must hae the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span> +news also, so just be going as quick as you can, +Alexander."</p> + +<p class="indent">He was disappointed; he had hoped that Maria +would beg him to stay at home, but he put on his +long coat with affected cheerfulness, and with many +little delays finally took the road. Then the two +women went through the house together, and by that +time Bradley had sent the small trunk, and they +unpacked it, and talked about the goods, and about +a variety of subjects that sprang naturally from the +occupation.</p> + +<p class="indent">All at once Madame remembered to ask Maria +where she had spent the previous night, and the girl +answered, "I slept at the Bradley's. It was quite +twilight when we reached their house, and Mr. +Bradley said this road was beset by thieves and bad +people after dark, and he also thought you retired +early and would not care to be disturbed."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Vera considerate o' Mr. Bradley, I am sure; +perhaps mair so than necessary. Maria, my dear, I +hope you are not very friendly wi' his daughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not friendly with Agnes Bradley! Why, +grandmother, I could not be happy without her! +She has been my good angel for three years. When +she came to Mrs. Charlton's I had no friends, for +I had such a bad temper the girls called me 'Spitfire' +and 'Vixen' and such names, and I was proud +of it. Agnes has made me gentle and wishful to +do right. Agnes is as nearly an angel as a woman +can be."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Fair nonsense, Maria! And I never was fond +o' angelic women, they dinna belong to this world; +and your grandfather dislikes John Bradley, he will +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span> +not allow any friendship between you and Agnes +Bradley. That is sure and certain."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What has Mr. Bradley done wrong to grandfather?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Naething; naething at all! He just does not +like him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall have to explain things to grandfather. +He ought not to take dislikes to people without +reason."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There's no one can explain things to your +grandfather that he does not want to understand. +I know naething o' John Bradley, except that he is +a Methodist, and that kind o' people are held in +scorn."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think we can use up all our scorn on the Whigs, +grandmother, and let the Methodists alone. Mr. +Bradley is a Tory, and trusted and employed by the +Government, and I am sure he preached a beautiful +sermon last Sunday at Stamford."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Your grandfather said he would preach at Stamford."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He preached on the green outside the town. +There were hundreds to listen to him. Agnes led +the singing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria Semple! You don't mean to tell me you +were at a field preaching!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was a good preaching and——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The man is a saddle-maker! I hae seen him +working, day in and day out, in his leather apron."</p> + +<p class="indent">"St. Paul was a tent-maker; he made a boast of +it, and as he was a sensible man, I have no doubt +he wore an apron. He would not want to spoil +his toga."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span> +<i>"Hush! Hush!</i> You must not speak o' Saint +Paul in that tempered and common way. The +Apostles belong to the Kirk. Your father was +brought up a good Presbyterian."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dear grandmother, I am the strictest kind of +Presbyterian. I really went to hear Agnes. If you +had seen her standing by her father's side on that +green hill and heard her sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Israel, what hast thou to dread?</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Safe from all impending harms,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Round thee, and beneath thee, spread,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Are the everlasting arms.'</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">you would have caught up the song as hundreds did +do, till it spread to the horizon, and rose to the sky, +and was singing and praying both. People were +crying with joy, and they did not know it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I would call her a dangerous kind o' girl. Has +she any brothers or sisters?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Her brother went to an English school at the +beginning of the war. He was to finish his education +at Oxford. Annie Gardiner—one of the schoolgirls—told +me so. He was her sweetheart. She +has no sisters."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Sweetheart?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Just boy and girl sweethearting. Agnes seldom +spoke of him; sometimes she got letters from +him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Has Agnes a sweetheart?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"There was a young gentleman dressed like a +sailor that called on her now and then. We thought +he might be an American privateer."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then Agnes Bradley is for the Americans! +Well, a good girl, like her, would be sure to take the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span> +right side. Nae doubt the hymn she sung referred +to the American army."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am sure people thought so; indeed, I fear +Agnes is a little bit of a rebel, but she has to keep +her thoughts and feelings to herself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Plenty o' folks hae to do the same; thought may +be free here, but speech is bond slave to His Majesty +George o' Hanover, or England, or Brunswick, or +what you like."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Or America!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nae, nae! You may make that last statement +wi' great reservation, Maria. But we must make +no statements that will vex your grandfather, for +he is an auld man, and set in his ways, and he does +not believe in being contradicted."</p> + +<p class="indent">And at this moment they heard the Elder's voice +and step. He came in so happily, and with such +transparent excuses for his return home, that the +women could not resist his humor. They pretended +to be delighted; they said, "how nice it was that he +had happened to arrive just as dinner was ready to +serve;" they even helped him to reasons that made +his return opportune and fortunate. And Batavius +arriving with the trunks immediately after the meal, +Madame made unblushing statements about her dislike +of the man, and her satisfaction in the Elder +being at hand to prevent overcharges, and see to +the boxes being properly taken upstairs.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Maria begged him to remain and look at +her pretty things, and that was exactly what he +wished to do; and so, what with exhibiting them, +and trying some of them on, and sorting, and putting +them into drawers and wardrobes, the afternoon +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span> +slipped quickly away. The Elder had his pipe +brought upstairs, and he sat down and smoked it on +the fine sofa Mrs. Gordon had covered with her own +needlework when she occupied the room; and no +one checked him or made discouraging demurs. He +had his full share of the happy hours; and he told +himself so as the ladies were dressing; and he sat +waiting for Neil, alone with his pleasant thoughts +and anticipations.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Auld age has its compensations," he reflected. +"They wouldna hae let Neil sit and smoke amid their +fallals; and it was the bonniest sight to watch them, +to listen to their <i>Ohs!</i> and <i>Ahs!</i> and their selfish +bits o' prattle, anent having what no ither woman +was able, or likely to have. Women are queer creatures, +but, Oh, dear me, what a weary world it would +be without them!"</p> + +<p class="indent">And when Maria came down stairs in a scarlet +gown over a white silk petticoat, a string of gold +beads round her neck, and her hair dressed high and +fastened with a gold comb, he was charmed afresh. +He rose with the gallantry of a young man, to get +her a chair, but she made him sit down and brought +a stool to his side, and nestled so close to him that he +put his arm across her pretty shoulders. And it +added greatly to his satisfaction that Neil came suddenly +in, and discovered them in this affectionate +attitude.</p> + +<p class="indent">"One o' the compensations o' auld age," he said in +happy explanation. "Here is your niece, Maria +Semple, Neil; and proud you may be o' her!"—and +Maria rose, and made her uncle a sweeping courtesy, +and then offered him her hand and her cheek. The +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span> +young man gave her a warm welcome, and yet at +the same moment wondered what changes the little +lady would bring to the house. For he had sense +and experience enough to know that a girl so attractive +would irresistibly draw events to her.</p> + +<p class="indent">In two or three days the excitement of her advent +was of necessity put under restraint. Age loves +moderation in all things, and Maria began to feel the +still, stately house less interesting than the schoolroom. +Whigs and Tories, however unequally, divided +that ground, and the two parties made that +quarrel the outlet for all their more feminine dislikes. +Her last weeks at school had also been weeks +full of girlish triumphs; for she was not only receiving +a new wardrobe of an elaborate kind, but she +was permitted to choose it; to have interviews with +mantua-makers and all kinds of tradespeople; and +above all, she was going to New York. And New +York at that time was invested with all the romance +of a mediæval city. It was the center around which +the chief events of the war revolved. Within her +splendid mansions the officers of King George feasted, +and danced, and planned warlike excursions; and +in her harbor great fleets were anchored whose mission +was to subjugate the whole Southern seaboard. +This of itself was an interesting situation, but how +much more so, when Whig and Tory alike knew, +that just over the western shore every hilltop, and +every lofty tree held an American sentinel, while +Washington himself, amid the fastnesses of New +Jersey, watched with unerring sagacity and untiring +patience the slightest military movement on Manhattan +Island.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span> +Thus, the possibilities and probabilities of her expected +change of life had made her the envy of romantic +girls; for all of them, no matter what their +political faith, had their own conception of the great +things which might be achieved in a city full of military +and naval officers. It was the subject on which +conversation was always interesting, and often +provocative; thus, in the very last talk she had with +her schoolmates, one little Tory maid said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"O, the dear officers! How delightful it will be +to dance with brave men so magnificently dressed in +scarlet and gold! How I wish that I was you, +Maria!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"O, the hateful creatures!" ejaculated another +girl of different opinions. "I would not dance a +step with one of them; but if I did, I should be saying +to myself all the time: very soon my fine fellow, +some brave man in homespun blue will kill you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If I was Maria," said another, "and had a British +officer for my servant, I would coax him to tell +me what General Clinton was going to do; and then +I would send word to General Washington."</p> + +<p class="indent">"O, you mean girl!" answered Maria, "would +you be a spy?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, I would."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And so would I!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I!" And then an equal chorus of "What +a shame! Just like Whigs!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria missed these encounters. She saw that her +grandmother usually deprecated political conversation, +and that her uncle and grandfather did not include +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span> +her in the discussion of any public event. On +the fourth day she began to feel herself of less importance +than she approved; and then there followed +naturally the demoralizing luxury of self-pity:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Because I am a girl, and a very young girl, no +one appears to think I have common sense. I am as +loyal to the King as any one. I wish grandmother +would speak out. I believe she is a Whig. Uncle +Neil said he would take me to some entertainments; +he has not done so. I am not tired—that is just an +excuse—I want to go out and I want to see Agnes. +I will not give up Agnes—no one, no one shall make +me—she is part of my heart! No, I will not give +up Agnes; her father may be a saddler—and a +Methodist—I am above noticing such things. I +will love who I like—about my friends I will not +yield an inch—I will not!"</p> + +<p class="indent">She was busy tatting to this quite unnecessary +tirade of protestations and her grandmother noticed +the passionate jerk of the shuttle emphasizing her +thoughts. "What is vexing you, dearie?" she +asked.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, I am wretched about Agnes," she answered. +"I am afraid grandfather has been rude in some +way."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You needna be afraid on that ground, Maria; +your grandfather is never rude where women are +concerned."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But he is unkind. If he was not, there could be +no objections to my calling on Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is it not her place to call on you? She is at +home—born and bred in New York—you are +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span> +a stranger here. She is older than you are; she +seems to have assumed some kind of care or oversight——."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has been my guardian angel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then I think she ought to be looking after a +desolate bairn like you; one would think you had +neither kith nor kin near you, Maria." Madame +spoke with an air of offense or injury, and as the +words were uttered, the door was softly moved inward, +and Agnes Bradley entered.</p> + +<p class="indent">She courtesied to Madame, and then stretched out +her hands to Maria. The girl rose with a cry of +joy, and all her discontent was gone in a moment. +Madame could not forget so easily; in fact, her +sense of unkindness was intensified by the unlooked-for +entrance of its cause. But there was no escaping +the influence of Agnes. She brought the very +atmosphere of peace into the room with her. In ten +minutes she was sitting between Madame and +Maria, and both appeared to be alike happy in her +society. She did not speak of the war, or the soldiers, +or the frightful price of food and fuel, or the +wicked extravagance of the Tory ladies in dress and +entertainments, or even of the unendurable impudence +of the negro slaves. She talked of Maria, +and of the studies she ought to continue, and of +Madame's flowers and needlework, and a sweet feeling +of rest from all the fretful life around was insensibly +diffused. In a short time Madame felt herself +to be under the same spell as her granddaughter, +and she looked at the charmer with curious interest; +she wondered what kind of personality this daughter +of tranquility possessed.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span> +A short scrutiny showed her a girl about nineteen +years old, tall, but not very slender, with a great deal +of pale brown hair above a broad forehead; with +eyebrows thick and finely arched, and eyelids so +transparent from constant contact with the soul that +they seemed to have already become spiritual. Her +eyes were dark grey, star-like, mystical, revealing—when +they slowly dilated—one hardly knew what of +the unseen and heavenly. Her face was oval and +well shaped, but a little heavy except when the warm +pallor of its complexion was suddenly transfigured +from within; then showing a faint rose color quickly +passing away. Her movements were all slow, +but not ungraceful, and her soft voice had almost a +caress in it. Yet it was not these things, one, or all +of them, that made her so charmful; it was the invisible +beauty in the visible, that delighted.</p> + +<p class="indent">Without question here was a woman who valued +everything at its eternal worth; who in the midst of +war, sheltered life in the peace of God; and in the +presence of sorrow was glad with the gladness of +the angels. An hour with Agnes Bradley made +Madame think more highly of her granddaughter; +for surely it was a kind of virtue in Maria to love +the goodness she herself could not attain unto.</p> + +<p class="indent">Nearly two hours passed quickly away. They +walked in the garden and talked of seeds, and +of the green things springing from them; and down +at the lily bed by the river, Madame had a sudden +memory of a young girl, who had one Spring afternoon +gone down there to meet her fate; and she said +to Agnes—with a note of resentment still in her +voice:</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span> +"A lassie I once loved dearly, came here to gather +lilies, and to listen to a lover she had nae business to +listen to. She would sit doubtless on the vera step +you are now sitting on, Maria; and she made sorrow +and suffering enough for more than one good +heart; forbye putting auld friends asunder, and +breeding anger where there had always been love. +I hope you'll never do the like, either o' you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Who was she, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Her name was Katherine Van Heemskirk. +You'll hae heard tell o' her, Miss Bradley?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I saw her several times when she was here four +years ago. She is very beautiful."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame did not answer, and Maria stepped lower +and gathered a few lilies that were yet in bloom, +though the time of lilies was nearly over. But +Agnes turned away with Madame, and both of them +were silent; Madame because she could not trust +herself to begin speech on this subject, and Agnes +because she divined, that for some reason, silence +was in this case better than the fittest words that +could be spoken.</p> + +<p class="indent">After a short pause, Agnes said, "My home is but +a quarter of a mile from here, and it is already orderly +and pleasant. Will you, Madame, kindly permit +Maria to come often to see me! I will help her with +her studies, and she might take the little boat at the +end of your garden, and row herself along the water +edge until she touches the pier in our garden."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She had better walk."</p> + +<p class="indent">In this way the permission was granted without +reserves or conditions. Madame had not thought +of making any, and as soon as she realized her implied +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span> +approval, she was resolved to stand by it. +"The lassie requires young people to consort wi'," +she thought, "and better a young lass than a young +lad; and if her grandfather says contrary, I must +make him wiser."</p> + +<p class="indent">With this concession the visit ended, but the girls +went out of the parlor together, and stood talking +for some time in the entrance hall. The parting +moment, however, had to come, and Maria lifted her +lips to her friend, and they were kissing each other +good-bye, when Neil Semple and a young officer in +the uniform of the Eighty-fourth Royal Highlanders +opened the door. The picture of the two girls in +their loving embrace was a momentary one, but it +was flooded with the colored sunshine pouring on +them from the long window of stained glass, and the +men saw and acknowledged its beauty, with an involuntary +exclamation of delight. Maria sheltered +herself in a peal of laughter, and over the face of +Agnes there came and went a quick transfiguring +flush; but she instantly regained her mental poise, +and with the composure of a goddess was walking +toward the door, when Neil advanced, and assuming +the duty of a host, walked with her down the +flagged path to the garden gate. Maria and the +young soldier stood in the doorway watching them; +and Madame at the parlor window did the same +thing, with an indescribable amazement on her face.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It isna believable!" she exclaimed. "Neil Semple, +the vera proudest o' mortals walking wi' auld +Bradley's daughter! his hat in his hand too! and +bowing to her! bowing to his vera knee buckles! +After this, the Stuarts may come hame again, or any +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span> +other impossible thing happen. The world is turning +tapsalterie, and I wonder whether I am Janet +Sample, or some ither body."</p> + +<p class="indent">But the world was all right in a few minutes; for +then Neil entered the room with Maria and Captain +Macpherson, and the mere sight of the young Highlandman +brought oblivion of all annoyances. Madame's +heart flew to her head whenever she saw the +kilt and the plaid; she hastened to greet its wearer; +she took his plumed bonnet from his hand, and said +it was "just out o' calculation that he should go +without breaking bread with them."</p> + +<p class="indent">Captain Macpherson had no desire to go. He +had seen and spoken with Maria, and she was worth +staying for; besides which, a Scot in a strange land +feels at home in a countryman's house. Macpherson +quickly made himself so. He went with Neil to +his room, and anon to the garden, and finally loosed +the boat and rowed up the river, resting on the oars +at the Bradley place, hoping for a glance at Agnes. +But nothing was to be seen save the white house +among the green trees, and the white shades gently +stirring in the wind. The place was as still as a +resting wheel, and the stillness infected the rowers; +yet when Macpherson was in Semple's garden, the +merry ring of his boyish laughter reached Madame +and Maria in the house, and set their hearts beating +with pleasure as they arranged the tea-table, and +brought out little dishes of hoarded luxuries. And +though Madame's chickens were worth three dollars +each, she unhesitatingly sacrificed one to a national +hero.</p> + +<p class="indent">When the Elder came home he was equally +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span> +pleased. He loved young people, and the boyish +captain with his restless, brimming life, was an +element that the whole house responded to. His +heart had a little quake at the abundance of the meal, +but it was only a momentary reserve, and he smiled +as his eyes fell on the motto carved around the +wooden bread-plate—<i>"Spare Not! Waste Not! +Want Not!"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">Madame looked very happy and handsome sitting +before her tray of pretty china, and the blended aromas +of fine tea and hot bread, of broiled chicken, +and Indian preserves and pickles were made still +more appetizing by the soft wind blowing through +the open window, the perfume of the lilacs and the +southernwood. Madame had kept the place at her +right hand for Macpherson; and Maria sat next to +him with her grandfather on her right hand, so that +Neil was at his mother's left hand. Between the two +young men the old lady was radiantly happy; for +Macpherson was such a guest as it is a delight to +honor. He ate of all Madame had prepared for +him, thoroughly enjoyed it, and frankly said so. +And his chatter about the social entertainments +given by Generals Clinton and Tryon, Robertson +and Ludlow was very pleasant to the ladies. Neil +never had anything to say about these affairs, except +that they were "all alike, and all stupid, and all wickedly +extravagant;" and such criticism was too general +to be interesting.</p> + +<p class="indent">Very different was Macpherson's description of +the last ball at General Tryon's; he could tell all +its details—the reception of the company with kettle +drums and trumpets—the splendid furniture of his +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span> +residence, its tapestries, carpets, and silk hangings—the +music, the dancing, the feasting—the fine +dressing of both men and women—all these things +he described with delightful enthusiasm and a little +pleasant mimicry. And when Madame asked after +her acquaintances, Macpherson could tell her what +poplins and lutestrings, and lace and jewels they +wore. Moreover, he knew what grand dames +crowded William Street in the mornings and afternoons, +and what merchants had the largest display +of the fashions and luxuries of Europe.</p> + +<p class="indent">"John Ambler," he said, "is now showing a most +extraordinary cargo of English silks and laces, and +fine broadcloths, taken by one of Dirk Vandercliff's +privateers. Really, Madame, the goods are worth +looking at. I assure you our beauties lack nothing +that Europe can produce."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, there is one thing the privateers canna furnish +you, and that is fuel. You shivered all last +winter in your splendid rooms," said the Elder.</p> + +<p class="indent">"True," replied Macpherson. "The cold was +frightful, and though General Clinton issued one +proclamation after another to the farmers of Long +Island to send in their wood, they did not do it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why should they?" asked Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"On the King's service, Madame," answered the +young man with a final air.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Vera good," retorted Madame; "but if the King +wanted my forest trees for naething, I should say, +'your Majesty has plenty o' soldiers wi' little to do; +let them go and cut what they want.' They wouldna +waste it if they had it to cut. But the wastrie in +everything is simply sinful, and I canna think where +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span> +the Blacks and Vanderlanes, and all the other 'Vans' +you name—and whom I never heard tell of in our +kirk—get the money."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Privateering!" said Macpherson with a gay +laugh. "Who would not be a roving privateer? I +have myself longings for the life. I have thoughts +of joining Vandercliff's fleet."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are just leeing, young man," interrupted +Madame. "It would be a thing impossible. The +Macphersons have nae salt water in their blood. +Could you fling awa' your tartans for a sailor's tarry +coat and breeches? How would you look if you +did? And you would feel worse than you looked."</p> + +<p class="indent">Macpherson glanced at his garb with a smile of +satisfaction. "I am a Macpherson," he answered, +proudly, "and I would not change the colors of my +regiment for a royal mantle; but privateering is no +small temptation. On the deck of a privateer you +may pick up gold and silver."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is not very far from the truth," said Neil. +"In the first year of the war the rebel privateers took +two hundred and fifty West Indiamen, valued at +nearly two millions of pounds, and Mr. Morris complained +that the Eastern states cared for nothing but +privateering."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Weel, Morris caught the fever himself," said the +Elder. "I have been told he made nearly four hundred +thousand dollars in the worst year the rebel +army ever had."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do the rebels call that patriotism?" asked Macpherson.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes," answered the Elder, "from a Whig point +of view it is vera patriotic; what do you think, +Neil?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span> +"If I was a Whig," answered Neil, "I should certainly +own privateers. Without considering the +personal advantage, privateering brings great riches +into the country; it impoverishes the enemy, and it +adds enormously to the popularity of the war. The +men who have hitherto gone to the Arctic seas for +whales, find more wealthy and congenial work in +capturing English ships."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And when men get money by wholesale high-seas +robbery——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Privateering, Madame," corrected Macpherson.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Weel, weel, give it any name you like—what I +want to say is, that money got easy goes easy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"In that, Madame, you are correct. While we +were in Philadelphia that city was the scene of the +maddest luxury. While the rebels were begging +money from France to feed their starving army at +Valley Forge, every kind of luxury and extravagance +ran riot in Philadelphia. At one entertainment +there was eight hundred pounds spent in pastry +alone."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Stop, Macpherson!" cried Madame, "I will not +hear tell o' such wickedness," and she rose with +the words, and the gentlemen went into the parlor to +continue their conversation.</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame had been pleased with her granddaughter's +behavior. She had not tittered, nor been vulgarly +shy or affected, nor had she intruded her opinions +or feelings among those of her elders; and yet +her self-possession, and her expressive face had been +full of that charm which showed her to be an interested +and a comprehending listener. Now, however, +Madame wished her to talk, and she was annoyed +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span> +when she did not do so. It was only natural +that she should express some interest in the bright +young soldier, and her silence concerning him Madame +regarded as assumed indifference. At last she +condescended to the leading question:</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do you think o' Captain Macpherson, +Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not know, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is a very handsome lad. It did my heart +good to see his bright face."</p> + +<p class="indent">"His face is covered with freckles."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Freckles! Why not? He has been brought up +in the wind and the sunshine, and not in a boarding-school, +or a lady's parlor."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Freckles are not handsome, however, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame would not dally with half-admissions, +and she retorted sharply:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Freckles are the handsomest thing about a man; +they are only the human sunshine tint; the vera +same sunshine that colored the roses and ripened the +wheat gave the lad the golden-brown freckles o' +rich young life. Freckles! I consider them an improvement +to any one. If you had a few yoursel' +you would be the handsomer for them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Grandmother!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, and your friend likewise. She has scarce a +mite o' color o' any kind; a little o' the human sunshine +tint—the red and gold on her cheeks—and she +might be better looking."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Better looking! Why, grandmother, Agnes +was the beauty of the school."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Schoolgirls are poor judges o' beauty. She has +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span> +a wonderfu' pleasant way with her, but that isn't +beauty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought you liked her, I am so sorry and disappointed."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is weel enough—in her way. There are +plenty o' girls not as pleasant; but she is neither +Venus, nor Helen o' Troy. I was speaking o' Captain +Macpherson; when he stood in the garden with +your uncle Neil, his hand on his sword and the wind +blowing his golden hair——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Grandmother! His hair is red."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is naething o' the kind, Maria. It is a bonnie +golden-brown. It may, perhaps, have a cast o' red, +but only enough to give it color. And he has a +kindly handsome face, sweet-eyed and fearless."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I did not notice his eyes. He seems fearless, +and he is certainly good-tempered. Have you +known him a long time, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never saw him before this afternoon," the old +lady answered wearily. She had become suddenly +tired. Maria's want of enthusiasm chilled her. +She could not tell whether the girl was sincere or +not. Women generally have two estimates of the +men they meet; one which they acknowledge, one +which they keep to themselves.</p> + +<p class="indent">When the gentlemen returned to the sitting-room +a young negro was lighting the fire, and Macpherson +looked at him with attention. "A finely built +fellow," he said, when the slave had left the room; +"such men ought to make good fighters." Then +turning to Madame he added, "Captain de Lancey +lost four men, and Mr. Bayard five men last week. +They were sent across the river to cut wood and they +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span> +managed to reach the rebel camp. We have knowledge +that there is a full regiment of them there +now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They are fighting for their personal freedom," +said the Elder, "and who wouldna fight for that? +Washington has promised it, if they fight to the end +o' the war."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They have a good record already," said Macpherson.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have nae doubt o' it," answered the Elder. +"Fighting would come easier than wood cutting, no +to speak o' the question o' freedom. I heard a +sough o' rumor about them and the Hessians; true, +or not, I can't say."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is true. They beat back the Hessians three +times in one engagement."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I'm glad o' it," said Madame, "slaves are good +enough to fight hired human butchers."</p> + +<p class="indent">"O, you know, Madame, the Hessians are mercenaries; +they make arms a profession." He spoke +with a languid air of defense; the Hessians were +not of high consideration in his opinion, but Madame +answered with unusual warmth:</p> + +<p class="indent">"A profession! Well, it isn't a respectable one in +their hands—men selling themselves to fight they +care not whom, or for what cause. If a man fights +for his country he is her soldier and her protector; +if he sells himself to all and sundry, he is worth just +what he sells himself for, and the black slave fighting +for his freedom is a gentleman beside him." Then, +before any one could answer her tart disparagement, +she opened a little Indian box, and threw on the table +a pack of cards.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span> +"There's some paper kings for you to play wi'," +she said, "and neither George nor Louis has a title to +compare wi' them—kings and knaves! Ancient +tyrants, and like ithers o' their kind, they would +trick the warld awa' at every game but for some +brave ace," and the ace of hearts happening to be in +her hand she flung it defiantly down on the top of +the pack; and that with an air of confidence and +triumph that was very remarkable.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the help of these royalties and some desultory +conversation on the recent alliance of France +with the rebels, the evening passed away. Madame +sat quiet in the glow of the fire, and Maria, as Neil's +partner, enlivened the game with many bewitching +airs and graces she had not known she possessed, +until this opportunity called them forth. And whatever +Macpherson gained at cards he lost in another +direction; for the little schoolgirl, he had at first +believed himself to be patronizing, reversed the situation. +He became embarrassed by a realization of +her beauty and cleverness; and the sweet old story +began to tell itself in his heart—the story that comes +no one knows whence, and commences no one knows +how. In that hour of winning and losing he first +understood how charming Maria Semple was.</p> + +<p class="indent">The new feeling troubled him; he wished to be +alone with it, and the ardent pleasure of his arrival +had cooled. The Elder and his wife were tired, and +Neil seemed preoccupied and did not exert himself +to restore the tone of the earlier hours; so the young +officer felt it best to make his adieu. Then, the +farewell in a measure renewed the joy of meeting; +he was asked to come again, "to come whenever he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> +wanted to come," said Madame, with a smile of +motherly kindness. And when Maria, with a downward +and upward glance laid her little hand in his, +that incident made the moment wonderful, and he +felt that not to come again would be a great misfortune.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria was going to her room soon afterward but +Neil detained her. "Can you sit with me a little +while, Maria?" he asked; "or are you also sleepy?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am not the least weary, uncle; and I never was +wider awake in my life. I will read to you or copy +for you——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Come and talk to me. The fire still burns. It +is a pity to leave its warmth. Sit down here. I +have never had a conversation with you. I do not +know my niece yet, and I want to know her."</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria was much flattered. Neil's voice had a +tone in it that she had never before heard. He +brought her a shawl to throw around her shoulders, +a footstool for her feet, and drawing a small sofa +before the fire, seated himself by her side. Then he +talked with her about her early life; about her father +and mother, and Mrs. Charlton, and without +asking one question about Agnes Bradley led her so +naturally to the subject, and so completely round +and through it, that he had learned in an hour all +Maria could tell concerning the girl whose presence +and appearance had that day so powerfully attracted +him. He was annoyed when he heard her name, +and annoyed at her pronounced Methodism, which +was evidently of that early type, holding it a sin +not to glory in the scorn of those who derided it. +Yet he could not help being touched by Maria's +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span> +enthusiastic description of the girl's sweet godliness.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You know, uncle," she said, "Agnes's religion is +not put on; it is part of Agnes; it is Agnes. Girls +find one another out, but all the girls loved Agnes. +We were ashamed to be ill-natured, or tell untruths, +or do mean things when she was there. And if you +heard her sing, uncle, you would feel as if the heavens +had opened, and you could see angels."</p> + +<p class="indent">Now there is no man living who does not at some +time dream of a good woman—a woman much better +than himself—upon his hearthstone. Neil felt +in that hour this divine longing; and he knew also, +that the thing had befallen him which he had vowed +never would befall him again. Without resistance, +without the desire to resist, he had let the vision of +Agnes Bradley fill his imagination; he had welcomed +it, and he knew that it would subjugate his +heart—that it had already virtually done so. For +Maria's descriptions of the pretty trivialities of their +school life was music and wine to his soul. He was +captivated by her innocent revelations, and the tall +girl with her saintly pallor and star-like eyes was invisibly +present to him. He had the visionary sense, +the glory and the dream of love, and he longed to +realize this vision. Therefore he was delighted +when he heard that Maria had permission to continue +her studies under the direction of her friend. +It was an open door to him.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was at this point that Maria made her final +admission: "I am obliged to tell you, uncle, that I +am sure Agnes is a Whig." This damaging item in +her idol's character Maria brought out with deprecating +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span> +apologies and likelihood of change, "not a +bad Whig, uncle; she is so gentle, and she hates +war, and so she feels so sorry for the poor Americans +who are suffering so much, because, you know, +they think they are right. Then her father is a +Tory, and she is very fond of her father, and very +proud of him, and she will now be under his influence, +and of course do what he tells her—only—only——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Only what, Maria? You think there is a difficulty; +what is it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Her lover. I am almost certain he is a rebel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Has she a lover? She is very young—you must +be mistaken?" He spoke so sharply Maria hardly +knew his voice, and she considered it best to hesitate +a little, so she answered in a dubious manner:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I suppose he is her lover. The girls all thought +so. He sent her letters, and he sometimes came to +see her; and then she seemed so happy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A young man?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, a very young man."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A soldier?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think, more likely, he was a sailor. I never +asked Agnes. You could not ask Agnes things, as +you did other girls."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I understand that."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He wore plain clothes, but all of us were sure he +was a sailor; and once we saw Agnes watching +some ships as far as she could see them, and he had +called on her that day."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil did not answer her conjecture. He rose and +stood silently on the hearth, his dark eyes directed +outward, as if he was calling up the vision of the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span> +sea, and the ships and the girl watching them. For +the first time Maria realized the personal attractiveness +of her uncle. "He is not old," she thought, +"and he is handsomer than any one I ever saw. +Why has he not got married before this?" And as +she speculated on this question, Neil let his eyes fall +upon the dead fire and in a melancholy voice said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria, my dear, it is very late, I did not remember—you +have given me two pleasant hours. +Good-night, child."</p> + +<p class="indent">He spoke with restraint, coldly and wearily. He +was not aware of it, for his mind was full of +thoughts well-nigh unspeakable, and Maria felt their +influence, though they had not been named. She +went away depressed and silent, like one who has +suddenly discovered they were no longer desired.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil speedily put out the lights, and went to the +solitude his heart craved. He was not happy; but +doubt and fear are love's first food. For another +hour he sat motionless, wondering how this woman, +whom he had not in any way summoned, had taken +such possession of him. For not yet had it been +revealed to him, that "love is always a great invisible +presence," and that in his case, Agnes Bradley was +but its material revelation.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">LIFE IN THE CAPTIVE CITY.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">At</span> this time in New York, John Bradley Was a +man of considerable importance. He was not only +a native of the city, but many generations of Bradleys +had been born, and lived, and died in the wide, +low house close to the river bank, not far north of +old Trinity. They were originally a Yorkshire family +who had followed the great Oliver Cromwell +from Marston Moor to Worcester, and who, having +helped to build the Commonwealth of England, refused +to accept the return of royalty. Even before +Charles the Second assumed the crown, Ezra Bradley +and his six sons had landed in New York. They +were not rich, but they had gold sufficient to build a +home, and to open near the fort a shop for the making +and repairing of saddlery.</p> + +<p class="indent">Ever since that time this trade had been the distinctive +occupation of the family, and the John Bradley +who represented it in the year 1779, had both an +inherited and a trained capability in the craft. No +one in all America could make a saddle comparable +with Bradley's; the trees were of his own designing, +and the leather work unequalled in strength and +beauty. In addition to this important faculty, he +was a veterinary surgeon of great skill, and possessed +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span> +some occult way of managing ungovernable horses, +which commended itself peculiarly to officers whose +mounts were to be renewed frequently from any +available source. And never had his business been +so lucrative as at the present date, for New York +was full of mounted military during the whole +period of the war, and enormous prices were willingly +paid for the fine saddlery turned out of the workshop +of John Bradley.</p> + +<p class="indent">Contrary to all the traditions of his family, he +had positively taken the part of the King, and at +the very commencement of the national quarrel had +shown the red ribbon of loyalty to England. His +wife dying at this time, he sent his daughter to a +famous boarding-school in Boston, and his son to +the great dissenting academy in Gloucester, England; +then he closed his house and lived solitarily +in very humble fashion above his workroom and +shop. In this way, he believed himself to have provided +for the absolute safety of his two children; +the boy was out of the war circle; the thundering +drum and screaming fife could not reach him in the +cloistered rooms of the Doddridge School; and as +for Agnes, Mrs. Charlton's house was as secure as a +convent; he had no fear that either English or +American soldiers would molest a dwelling full of +schoolgirls. And John Bradley could keep the +door of his mouth; and he believed that a man who +could do that might pursue a trade so necessary as +his, with an almost certain degree of safety.</p> + +<p class="indent">In appearance he was a short, powerful-looking +man with tranquil, meditating eyes and a great talent +for silence; an armed soul dwelling in a strong +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span> +body. Some minds reflect, shift, argue, and are like +the surface of a lake; but John Bradley's mind was +like stubborn clay; when once impressed it was sure +to harden and preserve the imprint through his life, +and perhaps the other one. His Methodism was +of this character, and he never shirked conversation +on this subject; he was as ready to tell his experience +to General Howe or General Clinton as to +the members of his own class meeting; for his +heart was saturated with the energy of his faith; he +had the substance of things hoped for, the evidence +of things not seen.</p> + +<p class="indent">On politics he would not talk; he said, "public +affairs were in wiser hands than his, and that to +serve God and be diligent in business, was the +length and breadth of his commission." His shop +was a place where many men and many minds met, +and angry words were frequently thrown backward +and forward there; yet his needle never paused an +instant for them. Only once had he been known to +interfere; it was on a day when one of De Lancey's +troop drew his sword against a boyish English ensign +almost at his side. He stopped them with his +thread half drawn out, and said sternly:</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you two fools are in a hurry for death, and the +judgment after death, there are more likely places +to kill each other than my shop," and the words were +cold as ice and sharp as steel, and the men went out +rebuked and checked, and washed away their hot +temper in wine instead of blood. For the vision of +death, and the judgment after death, which Bradley's +words and manner had evoked, was not to be +faced at that hour. Yet, withal, Bradley was rather +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span> +a common-looking man, ill-mannered and rough as +hemp to the generality; but not so where childhood +or calamity appealed to his strength or forbearance. +In other respects, General Howe had, not inaptly, +described him as "very unlike other men when +at chapel, but not much so, when among horses in +the stable, or selling saddles in the shop."</p> + +<p class="indent">This was the man who came up from the waterside +early one morning in the beginning of July, +singing Dr. Watts' lyrical dream of heaven:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"There is a land of pure delight,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Where saints immortal reign."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent">His voice was strong and melodious, and it was +evident that Agnes had inherited her charming vocal +power from him. He did not cease as he entered +the house, but continued his hymn until he was in +the little sitting-room, and Agnes finished the verse +with him:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"And see the Canaan that we love,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With unbeclouded eyes."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent">He sat down to breakfast with the heavenly vision +in his heart, and reluctantly let it pass away. But +his spiritual nature had hands as well as wings, and +he felt also the stress of the daily labor waiting him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The expedition leaves for the Connecticut coast +to-day," he said. "General Clinton is determined +to strike a blow at the people in New Haven, and +Fairfield, and New London."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, father? What do you say to that?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I say it is better they should be struck down than +that they should lie down."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Matthews has but just returned from ravaging +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span> +the river counties of Virginia, and Clinton from +Stony Point. Have they not made misery enough +for a little while? Who is going with the Connecticut +expedition?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tryon, and he goes to do mischief with the joy +of an ape."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I heard trumpets sounding and men mustering, +as I was dressing myself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Trumpets may sound, and not to victory, Agnes. +Fire and pillage are cowardly arms; but I heard +Tryon say, any stick was good enough to beat a dog +with, and all who differ from Tryon are dogs. Vile +work! Vile work! And yet all this does not keep +New York from dancing and drinking, and racing, +and gambling, and trading; nor yet New York +women from painting and dressing themselves as if +there were no such persons as King George and +George Washington."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, father, a great many of our best families +are very poor."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Those not employed by the government, or those +who are not contractors or privateers, are whipped +and driven to the last pinch by poverty. Ah, Agnes, +remember New York before this war began, its +sunny streets shaded with trees, and its busy, happy +citizens talking, laughing, smoking, trading, loving +and living through every sense they had at the same +time. Now there is nothing but covert ill-will and +suspicion. Our violent passions have not cured our +mean ones; to the common list of rogueries, we have +only added those of contractors and commissioners."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think war is the most terrible calamity that +can befall a people, father."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span> +"The despair of subjugated souls would be +worse."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do they never doubt you, father?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Howe never did. That amiable, indolent officer +might have liked me all the more if he had doubted +me. Clinton is a different man; and I think he may +have thought my loyalty to royalty lukewarm, for +he sent for me on the King's birthday, and after +some talk about a horse and saddle, he said, 'Mr. +Bradley, it is the King's birthday; shall we drink +his Majesty's health?' And I answered him, 'if it +please you, General.' So he filled a glass with Portugal +wine for me, and then filling one for himself +raised it, and waited for me to speak. There were +several officers present, and I lifted my glass and +said, 'To King George the Third! God bless him, +and make him and all his officers good John Wesley +Methodists!'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then, father?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Clinton put down his glass with a ringing guffaw, +and the rest followed him. Only one bit of a +beardless boy spoke, and he said: 'you think, Bradley, +Methodism might make his Majesty a better +king?' And I answered, 'I am not here to judge +his Majesty's kingship. I think it would make him +and all present, better and happier men.' I did not +try to go away or shirk questions; I looked squarely +in their faces until General Clinton said, 'Very good, +Bradley. You will remember Saladin and the new +saddle for him'; and I answered, 'I will see to it at +once, General.' So I went out then, and I think +they were not all sure of me; but they cannot do +without me, and they know it is better to put their +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span> +doubts out of inquiry. Wise men obey necessity, +and that is true for them as well as for me. Agnes, +I want to know something about that little girl of +Semple's? I don't like her coming here day after +day. She will be seeing or hearing something she +ought not to see or hear. Women are dangerous in +politics, for, as a rule, politics either find or leave +them vixens."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria is to be trusted."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You can not be sure. She is passionate, and +though a woman in a temper may not intend to burn +any one, she pokes the fire and makes a blaze and sets +others looking and wondering. I can tell you of +many such women in New York; they think ill of +their neighbor, and the thoughts get to their tongues, +and before they know the mischief is done. Then, +like the wolf in the fable, they thank God they are +not ferocious. Oh, no! They have only loosed the +dogs of war and left others to set them worrying."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How you do run on, father! And not one word +you have said fits the little Maria, no, nor any one of +the Semples. Indeed, I am sure Madame is as true +a patriot as you could find anywhere."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The old man is as bitter a royalist as I could find +anywhere."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is, however, a good old man. Last Monday +night, when you had to go to the leaders' meeting, +I walked home with Maria and stayed to tea there. +And after tea Madame asked me to sing a hymn, and +I sang the one you were singing this morning, and +when I had finished, the Elder said, 'Now, then, we +will supplement Isaac Watts with the Apostle John'; +and he opened the Bible and read aloud John's vision +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span> +of 'the land of pure delight' from the twenty-first +of Revelation; then standing up, he asked us all to +join in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And +we stood up with him and said to 'Our Father which +is in heaven,' the words he taught us. I felt it to be +a very precious few minutes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have nothing to say against such experiences, +Agnes. If people would stick to what Christ says, +there might be only one creed and one church; it is +Peter and Paul that make disputing. But if you +go to Semple's house do not stop after sunset. +There are bad men about."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mr. Neil Semple walked home with me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh! Mr. Neil Semple! And what had he to +say?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Very little. He praised my singing, he said it +went to his heart; and he spoke about the moon, and +the perfume of the locust flowers. I think that was +all."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The moon and the locust flowers! What does +Mr. Neil Semple know about the moon and the locust +flowers? And he spoke very little! He can +talk fast enough when he is in court, and well paid +for it. He is a proud man—ill-tempered, too, I +should think."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am sure he is not ill-tempered. He is as sweet +as a child to his father and mother; and Maria says +many pleasant things about him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Let him pass for what he is worth; but remember +always this thing, Agnes, I am trusting my life +in your hands. If you inadvertently repeated even +what I have said this morning, I should be hard put +to answer it."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span> +"You know well that I would die rather than reveal +anything you said to me. My life for yours, +father!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I trust you as my own soul. You are an inexpressible +comfort to me. I can speak to you. I +can open my heart to you. I can get relief and sympathy +from you. Your coming home makes me a +hundred-fold safer. If your brother with his hot +temper and young imprudences had been here, no one +knows what would have happened before this. I +thank God continually that he is so far out of the +way. Has he left school yet?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"School does not close until June."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then he will go directly to Doctor Brudenel in +London?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That was your instruction to him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When did you have a letter from him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is nearly a month since."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When will you write to him next?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I write to him every opportunity I have."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Does he need money? Young men are often extravagant."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He has never named money to me. He is well +and happy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell him he must not come home, not think of +coming home till I give him permission. Tell him +that his being away from home is my great comfort. +Make that plain to him, Agnes, my great comfort. +Tell him he must stay in London till a man can +speak his mind safely in New York, whatever his +mind may be."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will tell him all, father."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Bradley went to his shop and his daughter +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span> +sat down to consider with herself. Many persons +stimulate or regulate thought in movement and find +a positive assistance to their mental powers in action +of some kind, but Agnes had the reverse of this temperament. +She needed quiet, so closing the door +of her room she sat still, recalling, reviewing, and +doing her best to anticipate events. There were +certain things which must be revealed to Maria, +wholly, or in part, if she continued to visit the house, +and Agnes saw not how to prevent those visits. +Nor did she wish to prevent them; she loved Maria +and delighted in her companionship. They had +many acquaintances and events in common to talk +about, and she was also interested in Maria's life, +which was very different to her own. She felt, too, +that her influence was necessary and valuable to the +young girl, suddenly thrown into the midst of what +Agnes regarded as sinful and dangerous society. +And then into this process of self-examination there +drifted another form—the stately, rather sombre, +but altogether kindly personality of Neil Semple. +It was linked with Maria, she could not separate the +two; and as intrusion involved some heart-searching +she was not inclined to, she rather promptly decided +the question without any further prudential +considerations, and as she did so Maria called her.</p> + +<p class="indent">She answered the call gladly. It was to her +one of those leadings on which she spiritually relied, +and her face was beaming with love and pleasure as +she went down stairs to her friend. Maria was +standing in the middle of the small parlor, most +beautifully arrayed in an Indian muslin, white as +snow and lustrously fine, as only Dacca looms could +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span> +weave it. Her shoulders were covered with a little +cape of the same material, ruffled and laced and fastened +with pink ribbons, and on her head was a bewitching +gypsy hat tied under her chin with bows +of the same color. Her uncle stood at her side, +smiling with grave tolerance at her girlish pride in +her dress, and the pretty airs with which she exhibited +it to Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Am I not handsome?" she cried. "Am I not +dressed in the most perfect taste? Why do you not +say as Miss Robinson is sure to say—'La, child, you +are adorable!'"</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes fell quite naturally into her friend's excited +mood, and in the happiest tone of admiring mimicry, +repeated the words dictated. She made the most +perfect contrast to Maria; her pale blue gown of +simple material and simple fashion was without ornament +of any kind, except its large falling collar of +white muslin embroidery, but the long, unbroken +line of the skirt seemed to Neil Semple the most fitting, +the only fitting, garment he had ever seen on +any woman.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Its modesty and simplicity is an instinct," he +thought; "and I have this morning seen a woman +clothed by her raiment. Now I understand the difference +between being dressed and clothed. Maria +is dressed, Agnes is clothed; her garments interpret +her."</p> + +<p class="indent">He was lifted up by his love for her; and her +calico gown became a royal robe in his imagination. +Every time he saw her she appeared to have +been adorned for that time only. It was a delightful +thing for him to watch her tenderness and pride +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span> +in Maria. It was motherly and sisterly, and without +a thought of envy, and he trembled with delight +when she turned her sweet, affectionate face to his +for sympathy in it. And really this morning Agnes +might reasonably have given some of her admiring +interest to Maria's escort. He was undeniably +handsome. His suit of fine, dark cloth, his spotless +lawn ruffles, his long, light sword, his black beaver +in his hand, were but fitting adjuncts to a noble face, +graven with many experiences and alight with the +tender glow of love and the steady fire of intellectual +power and purpose.</p> + +<p class="indent">He did not stay at this time many minutes, but +the girls watched him to the garden gate and +shared the courtly salute of his adieu there. "Is he +not the most graceful and beautiful of men?" asked +Maria.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed he is very handsome," replied Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is not an officer in New York fit to latch +his shoe buckles."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then why do you dress so splendidly, only to +show yourself to them?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, Agnes, see how <i>they</i> dress. As we were +coming here we met men in all the colors of the rainbow; +they were rattling swords and spurs, and tossing +their heads like war horses scenting the battle +afar off."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are quoting the Bible, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Uncle did it first. You don't suppose I thought +of that. We passed a regiment of Hessians with +their towering brass-fronted helmets, their yellow +breeches, and black gaiters; really, Agnes, they +were grand-looking men."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span> +"Very," answered Agnes, scornfully. "I have +seen them standing like automatons, taking both +the commands and the canes of their officers. Very +grand-looking indeed!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You need not be angry at the poor fellows. It +must be very disagreeable for them to be caned in +public and not dare to move an eyelash or utter a +word of protest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Men that will suffer such things are no better +than the beasts of the field; not as good, for the +beasts do speak in their way with hoofs, or horns, or +teeth, or claws, and that to some purpose, when their +sense of justice is outraged."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is all military discipline, you know, Agnes. +And you must allow, the regiments make fine appearances. +I dare say these Hessians have to be +caned—most men have, in one way or another. +Uncle is coming back for me this afternoon. We +are going to see the troops leaving; it will be a fine +sight. I told uncle you might like to go with us, +and he said he would ask you, but he did not."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He had more grace granted him, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think he is a little afraid of you, Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing of the kind. He had sense enough to +understand I would not go." Then, without further +thought or preliminary she said: "Sit down +here beside me, Maria, I have something very important +to say to you. I know that I can perfectly +trust you, but I want to hear you tell me so. Can +you keep a secret inviolate and sure, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"If the secret is yours, Agnes, neither in life nor +in the hour of death would I tell it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you were questioned——"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span> +"I should be stupid and dumb; if it was your secret, +fire could not burn it out of me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I believe you. Many times in Boston you must +have known that a young man called on me. You +may have seen his face."</p> + +<p class="indent">"None of the girls saw his face but Sally Laws; +we all knew that he called on you. I should recognize +his figure and his walk anywhere, but his face +I never saw. Sally said he was as handsome as +Apollo."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Such nonsense! He has an open, bright, strong +countenance, but there is nothing Greek about him, +nothing at all. He is an American, and he loves his +native land, and would give his life for her freedom."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And he will come here to see you now?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, but my father must not know it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought you were always so against anything +being done unknown to our parents. When I +wanted to write good-bye to Teddy Bowen you +would not let me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I expected you to remind me of this, and at present +I can give you no explanation. But I tell you +positively that I am doing right. Can you take my +word for it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I believe in you, Agnes, as if you were the Bible. +I know you will only do right."</p> + +<p class="indent">"All that you see or hear or are told about this +person must be to you as if you had dreamed a +dream, and you must forget that you ever had it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have said that I would be faithful. Darling +Agnes, you know that you may trust me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Just suppose that my friend should be seen, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span> +that my father should be told," she was silent a moment +in consideration of such an event, and Maria +impulsively continued:</p> + +<p class="indent">"In that case I would say it was my friend."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That would not be the truth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But he might be my friend, we might have become +friends, not as he is your friend, nothing like +that, just a friend. Are you very fond of him, +Agnes?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I love him as my own life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And he loves you in that way?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He loves me! Oh, yes, Maria, he loves me! +even as I love him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Sweetest Agnes, thank you for telling me. I +will see what you tell me to see, and hear what you +tell me to hear; that, and that only. I will be as +true to you as your own heart."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am sure you will. Some day you shall know +all. Now, we will say no more until there is a reason; +everything is so uncertain. Tell me about the +rout last night."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was at Governor Robertson's. His daughter +called and asked me to honor them with my company; +and grandmother said I ought to go, and +uncle Neil said I ought to go—so I went. There +was a great time dressing me, but I made a fine appearance +when it was done. I wore my silver-tissue +gown, and grandmother loaned me her pearl necklace. +She told me how many generations of Gordon +ladies had worn it, and I felt uncanny as she clasped +it round my throat. I wondered if they knew——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You should not wonder about such things. Did +you dance much?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span> +"I had the honor to dance with many great people. +Every gentleman danced one minuet with his partner, +and then began cotillon and allemand dances; +and there were some songs sung by Major André, +and a fine supper at midnight. It was two o'clock +when I got home."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell me who you talked with."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, everybody, Agnes; but I liked most of all, +the lady who stays with the Robertsons—Mrs. Gordon; +her husband was with Burgoyne and is a prisoner +yet. She was very pleasant to me; indeed, she +told Uncle Neil 'I was the perfectest creature she had +ever seen,' and that she was 'passionately taken with +me.' She insisted that I should be brought to her, +and talked to me about my dress and my lovers, and +also about grandfather and grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She lived with them once, and helped to make +great sorrow in their house."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know. Grandmother does not forgive her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And your uncle?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is very civil to her, for she is vastly the fashion. +She played cards all the evening, and called +me to her side more often than I liked. She said I +brought her luck. I don't think she approved of +my dancing so often with Captain Macpherson. +She asked questions about him, and smiled in a way +that was not pleasant, and that made me praise the +Highlander far more than I meant to, and she barely +heard me to the end of my talk ere she turned back +to her cards, and as she did so, said: 'What a paragon +in tartan! Before this holy war there may have +been such men, but if you are a good child pray that +a husband may drop down from heaven for you; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span> +there are no good ones bred here now.' Then every +one near began to protest, and she spread out her +cards and cried, 'Who leads? Diamonds are +trump.' When she called me next, she was sweeping +the sovereigns into her reticule; and Governor +Ludlow said she was Fortune's favorite, and uncle +Neil said, 'I see, Madame, that you now play for +gold,' and I think uncle meant something that she +understood, for she looked queerly at him for a moment, +and then answered, 'Yes I play for money +now. I confess it. Why not? If you take away +that excuse, the rest is sinning without temptation.' +She is so well bred, Agnes, and she speaks with such +an air, you are forced to notice and remember what +she says."</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes was troubled to think of the innocent child +in such society, and without obtruding counsel, yet +never restraining it when needful, she did her best to +keep Maria's conscience quick and her heart right. +It was evident that she regarded the whole as a kind +of show, whose color and sound and movement attracted +her; yet even so, this show was full of temptation +to a girl who had no heart care and no lack of +anything necessary for the pride of life.</p> + +<p class="indent">This afternoon the half-camp and half-garrison +condition of New York was very conspicuous. All +was military bustle and excitement; trumpets were +calling, drums beating, and regiments parading the +streets once devoted to peaceful commerce and domestic +happiness. Royalist merchants stood in the +doors of their shops exchanging snuff-box compliments +and flattering prophecies concerning the expedition +about to leave—prophecies which did not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> +hide the brooding fear in their eyes or the desponding +shake of the head when sure of a passer's sympathy. +And a sensitive observer would have felt the +gloom, the shame and sorrow that no one dared to +express; for, just because no one dared to express it, +the very stones of the streets found a voice that +spoke to every heart. The bitterest royalist remembered. +All the riot of military music could not +drown the memory of sounds once far more familiar—the +cheerful greeting of men in the market place, +and all the busy, happy tumult of prosperous trade; +the laughter and chatter of joyful women and children, +and the music of the church bells above the +pleasant streets.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil was silent and unhappy; Maria full of the +excitement of the passing moment. They sat in the +open window of Neil's office and watched company +after company march to the warships in which they +were to embark: Grenadiers of Auspach with their +towering black caps and sombre military air; brass-fronted +Hessians; gaudy Waldeckers; English +corps glittering in scarlet pomp; and Highlanders +loaded with weapons, but free and graceful in their +flowing contour. On these latter especially, both +Neil and Maria fixed their interest. Who can say +how long national feeling, expatriated, may live? +Neil leaped to his feet as the plaided men came in +sight. Their bagpipes made him drunk with emotion; +they played on his heartstrings and called up +centuries of passionate feelings. He clasped his +sword unconsciously; his hand trembled with that +magnetic attraction for iron that soldiers know. At +that moment he said proudly to his soul, "Thou also +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span> +art of Scottish birth!" and a vision of hills and +straths and of a tossing ocean filled his spiritual +sight.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria's interest was of the present and was centered +on the young captain walking at the head of +his company; for Quentin Macpherson was a born +soldier, and whatever he might lack in a ball-room, +he lacked nothing at the head of his men. His red +hair flowing from under his plaided bonnet was the +martial color; it seemed proper to his stern face and +to the musket and bayonet, the broadsword, dirk and +pistols which he wore or carried with the ease and +grace of long usage. He stepped so proudly to the +strains of "Lochaber;" he looked so brave and so +naturally full of authority that Maria was, for the +moment, quite subjugated. She had told him on +the previous night, at what place she was to view the +embarkment; and she detected the first movement +which showed him to be on the watch for her.</p> + +<p class="indent">This fleeting pleasure of exhibiting himself at his +best to the girl he loves, is a soldier's joy; and the +girl is heartless who refuses him the small triumph. +Maria was kind, and she shared the triumph with +him; she knew that her white-robed figure was entrancing +to the young captain, and she stood ready +to rain down all of Beauty's influence upon his lifted +face. Only a moment was granted them, but in that +one moment of meeting eyes, Maria's handkerchief +drifted out of her hand and Macpherson caught it +on his lifted bayonet, kissed, and put it in his bosom. +The incident was accomplished as rapidly and perfectly +as events unpremeditated usually are; for +they are managed by that Self that sometimes takes +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span> +our affairs out of all other control and does perfectly, +in an instant, what all our desiring and planning +would have failed to do in any space of time.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil was much annoyed, and made a movement +to stop the fluttering lawn.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What have you done, Maria?" he asked angrily. +"The Van der Donck's and half a dozen other women +are watching you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I could not help it, Uncle Neil. I do not know +how it happened. I never intended to let it fall. +Honor bright! I did not."</p> + +<p class="indent">And perhaps Neil understood, for he said no more +on the subject as they walked silently home through +the disenchanted city. All the bareness of its brutal +usage was now poignantly evident, and the very atmosphere +was heavy with an unconquerable melancholy. +Some half-tipsy members of the De Lancey +militia singing about "King George the Third" only +added to the sense of some incongruous disaster. +Everyone has felt the intolerable <i>ennui</i> which follows +a noisy merry-making—the deserted disorder, +the spilled wine, the disdained food, the withered +flowers, the silenced jest, the giving over of all left +to desecration and destruction—all this, and far +more was concentrated in that wretched <i>ennui</i> of +unhappy souls which filled the streets of New York +that hot summer afternoon. For an intense dejection +lay heavy on every heart. Like people with the +same disease, men avoided and yet sought each +other. They dared not say, they hardly dared to +think, that their love for the King was dying of a +disease that had no pity—that their idol had himself +torn away the roots of their loyalty. But they +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span> +closed their shops early, and retreated to the citadel +of their homes. Melancholy, hopelessness, silence, +infected the atmosphere and became epidemic, and +men and women, sensitive to spiritual maladies, went +into their chambers and shut their doors, but could +not shut out the unseen contagion. It rained down +on them in their sleep, and they dreamed of the +calamities they feared.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was on this afternoon that John Bradley received +a new "call" and answered it. Affected +deeply by the events of the day, he left his shop in +the middle of the hot afternoon and went about some +business which took him near the King's College +Building, then crowded with American prisoners. +As he came under the windows, he heard a thin, +quavering voice singing lines very dear and familiar +to him:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The clouds ye so much dread</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Are big with mercy, and shall break</span><br /> +<span class="i2">In blessings on your head.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But trust him for his grace:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Behind a frowning providence</span><br /> +<span class="i2">He hides a smiling face.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Then there was a pause and Bradley called aloud: +"Brother, who are you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"William Watson," was the answer.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought so. How are you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dying," then a pause, and a stronger voice added, +"and in need of all things."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Brother Watson, what do you want that I can +get now?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Cold water to drink, and some fresh fruit," and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> +then, as if further instructed the voice added, "when +you can, a clean shirt to be buried in."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell William he shall have them." His whole +manner had changed. There was something he +could do, and he went at once for the fruit and +water. Fortunately, he knew the provost of this +prison and had done him some favors, so he had no +hesitation in asking him to see that the small comforts +were given to William Watson.</p> + +<p class="indent">"He was a member of my class meeting, Provost," +said Bradley; "a Methodist leader must love +his brother in Christ." Here Bradley's voice failed +him and the Provost added, "I knew him too—he +used to live in good style in Queen Street. I will +see that he gets the fruit and water."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And if you need anything for yourself in the +way of saddlery, Provost, I will be glad to serve +you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was thinking of a new riding whip."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will bring you the best I have. One good turn +deserves another."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then, after a little further conversation he turned +homeward, and men who met him on the way wondered +what was the matter with John Bradley. For, +without cessation, as he walked, he went over and +over the same three words, <i>"Christ forgive me!"</i> +And no one could smile at the monotonous iteration; +the man was in too dead earnest; his face was too +remorseful, his voice too tragic.</p> + +<p class="indent">The next morning he was very early in Superintendent +Ludlow's office. The great man of the +Court of Police had not arrived, but Bradley waited +until he came.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span> +"You are an early visitor, Mr. Bradley," he said +pleasantly.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have a favor to ask, Judge."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Come in here then. What is it? You are no +place or plunder hunter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Judge, a month ago you asked me to make you a +saddle."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And you would not do it. I remember."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I could not—at least I thought I could not; now, +if you will let me, I will make you the fittest saddle +possible—it shall be my own work, every stitch of +it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How much money do you want for such a saddle, +Bradley?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I want no money at all. I want a very small +favor from you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing for the rebels, I hope. I cannot grant +any favor in that direction."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I want nothing for the rebels; I want one hour +every Sunday afternoon in the College prison with +my class members."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, I don't know, Bradley——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, you know, Judge. You know, if I give you +my promise, I will keep every letter of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is your promise?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I want only to pray with my brothers or to +walk awhile with them as they go through the Valley +of the Shadow. I promise you that no word +of war, or defeat or victory; that no breath of any +political opinion shall pass my lips. Nor will I listen +to any such."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Bradley, I don't think I can grant you this request. +It would not be right."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span> +"Judge, this is a thing within your power, and +you must grant it. We shall stand together at the +Judgment, and when the Lord Christ says, 'I was +hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, +and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye +took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, +and in prison, and ye visited me not:' don't let me +be obliged to plead, 'Lord Christ, I would have fed, +and clothed, and visited the sick and in prison, but +this man barred my way.' Open the door, Judge, +and it shall be well with you for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then, without a word, Ludlow turned to his desk +and wrote an order permitting John Bradley to visit +his friends for one hour every Sunday afternoon; +and as he did so, his face cleared, and when he +signed his name he had the glow of a good deed in +his heart, and he said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Never mind the saddle, Bradley. I don't want +to be paid for this thing. You say William Watson +is dying—poor Willie! We have fished together +many a long summer day"; and he took a few +gold pieces from his pocket and added, "they are +for the old friend, not for the rebel. You understand. +Good morning, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good morning, Judge. I won't overstep your +grant in any way. I know better."</p> + +<p class="indent">From this interview he went direct to the prison +and sent the gold to the dying man. And as he +stood talking to the provost the dead cart came, and +five nearly naked bodies were thrown into it, their +faces being left uncovered for the provost's inspection. +Bradley gazed on them with a hot heart; +emaciated to the last point with fever and want, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span> +there was yet on every countenance the peace that to +the living, passeth understanding. They had died +in the night-watches, in the dark, without human +help or sympathy, but doubtless sustained by Him +whose name is <i>Wonderful!</i></p> + +<p class="indent">"All of them quite common men!" said the provost +carelessly—"country rustics—plebeians!"</p> + +<p class="indent">But when Bradley told his daughter of this visit, +he added, passionately, <i>"Plebeians!</i> Well, then, +Agnes, <i>Plebeians who found out the secret of a noble +death!"</i></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sweeter than Joy, tho' Joy might abide;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Dearer than Love, tho' Love might endure,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is this thing, for a man to have died</span><br /> +<span class="i4">For the wronged and the poor!</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let none be glad until all are free;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The song be still and the banner furled,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Till all have seen what the poets see</span><br /> +<span class="i4">And foretell to the world!</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">The</span> next morning, very soon after breakfast, +Maria came down stairs ready to visit her friend. +She was dressed like a schoolgirl in a little frock of +India chintz, her black hair combed backward and +plaited in two long, loose braids. One morning she +had tied these braids with red ribbon, and been +scornfully criticised by her grandmother for "makin' +a show of herself." The next morning she had tied +them with blue, and been heart-pained by her grandfather's +sigh and look of reproach; so this morning +they were tied with ribbons as black as her hair, and +as she turned herself before the long mirror she was +pleased with the change.</p> + +<p class="indent">"They make my braids look ever so much longer," +she said with a pretty toss of her head; "and grandmother +can not say I am making a show of myself. +One must have ribbons of some color, and black is +really distinguished. I suppose that is the reason +Uncle Neil wears so much black cloth and velvet."</p> + +<p class="indent">To these thoughts she ran gaily down stairs. The +Elder was reading Rivington's <i>Royal Gazette</i>; Madame +had a hank of wool over two chairs, and was +slowly winding it. She looked at Maria with a +little disappointment. Her hat was on her head, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span> +her books in her hand, and she understood where +the girl was going; yet she asked: "Is it Agnes +Bradley again, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, grandmother. I said no lessons yesterday. +We were watching the soldiers pass, and the people, +and I was expecting Neil, and there seemed no +use in beginning then. I told Agnes I would say +extra lessons to-day."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I'm doubting, even with the 'extra,' if the +lessons amount to much."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh grandmother! I have learned a page of +'Magnall's Questions,' and studied a whole chapter +in 'Goldsmith's History' about King John."</p> + +<p class="indent">"King <i>who?"</i> asked Madame, suspiciously. "I +never heard tell o' a King John. David, and Robert, +and James I ken; but John! No, no, lassie! +There's nae King John."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria means John of England," explained the +Elder. "He was a vera bad king."</p> + +<p class="indent">"John of England, or George of England!" answered +Madame disdainfully, "kings are much of a +muchness. And if he was a bad king, he was a bad +man, and ye ought to put your commandments on +your granddaughter, Elder, to learn naething about +such wicked men. Ye ken as well as I do, that the +Almighty forbid the children o' Israel even to <i>inquire</i> +anent the doings of thae sinners, the Canaanites. +And it is bad enough to hae to thole the evil +doings o' a living king, without inquiring after the +crimes o' a dead one."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will give up my history if you wish it, grandmother. +I care nothing about King John."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria must learn what other people learn," said +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span> +the Elder. "She has to live in the world, and she +has sense enough to make her own reflections. Give +me a kiss, dearie, and study King John if you like +to, he was a bad man, and a bad king, but——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Others worse than him!" ejaculated Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Give me a kiss, darling grandmother, one for +myself, and one for Agnes; she always asks for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, you flattering lassie!" But the old lady gave +the two kisses, and with a sweeping courtesy, Maria +closed the door and went humming down the garden +walk: <i>"Who Saw Fair Pamela?"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">She had not gone far before she met Moselle, the +only slave Bradley possessed. She was in her Sunday +clothing, and she said Missee had given her a +whole day's holiday. In that case Agnes would be +alone, and Maria hastened her steps onward. The +little house was as calm and peaceful looking as +usual, the windows all open, the mignonette boxes +on their sills in full bloom; the white shades gently +stirring in the wind. The door was closed, but on +the latch, and Maria turned the handle and went +into the parlor. It was empty, but the ruffle Agnes +was gathering was on the table, and Maria took off +her bonnet and laid it and her books down on the +cushioned seat within the window recess. As she +lifted her head an astonishing sight met her eyes. +In the middle of the yard there was a very handsome +young man. He was bareheaded, tall, and straight +as a ramrod, and stood with one hand on his hip +and his face lifted to the sunshine. Maria's heart +beat quick, she lifted her bonnet and books, retreated +to the front door, and called "Agnes" in a +clear, eager voice.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span> +In a moment or two, Agnes came in at the opposite +door. "Maria!" she cried, "I am glad to see +you. Is your uncle with you? No? That is well. +Come with me to the kitchen. I have given Moselle +a holiday. Maria, I have a friend—a very dear +friend. I am cooking him some breakfast. Come +and help me."</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes spoke in a hurried, excited manner very +unusual to her, and as she did so, the two girls went +into the little outside kitchen. The coffee was +ready, the steak broiled, and as Agnes lifted the food +she continued, "yes, I have a friend this morning. +He is going to eat in the summer-house, and you will +help me to wait upon him. Will you not, Maria? +Oh, my dear, I am so happy!" And Maria, who remembered +only too vividly the bare-headed youth +she had seen for a moment, gladly accepted the office. +A spirit of keen pleasure was in the dingy little +kitchen, and the girls moved gaily to it. "You +shall carry the coffee, and I will carry the steak," +said Agnes; "the bread and the china are already +placed." So laughing and chatting, and delighted +with their service the two girls entered the summer-house.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry," said Agnes, "this is my friend, Maria +Semple; and Maria, this is Harry Deane." And +Harry looked with frank eyes into Maria's eyes, and +in a moment they knew each other. What was this +strange impression made by a look? Not a word +was spoken, but the soul salutation through meeting +eyes was a far more overwhelming influence than +any spoken word could have evoked. Then came +the current forms of courtesy, and the happy tones +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span> +of low laughter slipping in between the mingling of +voices, or the soft tinkling of glass and china, and +everyone knows that as soon as talking begins the +divine gates close. It mattered not, Maria knew +that something wonderful had happened to her; and +never in all her subsequent life could she forget that +breakfast under the clematis vines.</p> + +<p class="indent">Swiftly the hot, still hours of the mid-day passed. +The city was torpid in the quivering heat. There +was no stir of traffic—no lumbering sound of loaded +wagons—no noise of shouting drivers—no footsteps +of hurrying men. The streets were almost +empty; the very houses seemed asleep. Only the +cicadas ran from hedge to hedge calling shrilly; or +now and then a solitary trumpet stirred the drowsy +air, or, in the vicinity of the prisons, the moaning of +the dying men, made the silence terribly vocal.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Let us go into the house," said Agnes, "it will +be cooler there." And they took Maria's hands and +went to the shaded parlor. Then Harry drew some +cool water from the well, and as they drank it they +remembered the men in the various prisons and their +pitiful need of water at all times.</p> + +<p class="indent">"They are the true heroes," said Agnes; "tortured +by heat and by cold, by cruel hunger and more +cruel thirst, in all extremities of pain and sorrow, +they are paying their life blood, drop by drop, like +coin, for our freedom."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And when our freedom is won," answered +Harry, "we will give to the dead their due. They, +too, have saved us."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you think, Harry, this French alliance is going +to end the war?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span> +"Those who know best say it will. But these +Frenchmen are giving Washington no end of +trouble. They are mostly military adventurers. +They worry Washington for promotion and for increase +of pay; they have only their own interest in +view. They scorn our privations and simplicity, +and their demands can only be gratified at the expense +of native officers whose rights they unjustly +wish to invade. Yet I am told that without French +money and French help we should have to give up +the struggle. I don't believe it. Starving and demoralized +as our army is, there are many who will +never give up while Washington is alive to lead +them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If I was a rebel," said Maria, "I should want +our freedom won by our own hands only. The +French are coming here at the last hour, and they +will get all the credit. Do you think it is for love +of freedom they help the Americans? If so, why +do they not give freedom to France? She has the +most tyrannical and despotic of governments; +Uncle Neil says so; and yet she pretends to thrill +with indignation because England violates the liberties +of her colonies. France had better mind her +own affairs, or, as grandmother says, she will scald +herself with other people's broth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"God made the French, and He may understand +them, I do not," answered Harry. "Fancy the +French government allowing our Declaration of Independence +to be translated and scattered broadcast +all over the country! No wonder that Lafayette +smiled grimly when he heard of it; no wonder he +said that 'the principles of government we had announced +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span> +would soon be heard from in France.' He +can see the results, but the king and queen—who +catch up every fashion and every enthusiasm with +childish levity—do not imagine any one will have +the audacity to apply American principles of government +to the French monarchy. 'Give me good news +from our dear American republicans,' is always +Marie Antoinette's greeting to Franklin, and he +himself is one of her prime favorites."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, he is a cunning old man," said Maria. "I +have heard grandfather talk about him. I am sure +he is disagreeable; yet the French have his picture +on their snuff-boxes and rings and brooches. It is +such foolishness. And Uncle Neil—who is a very +clever lawyer—says some very disparaging things +about this famous Declaration. It is at least most +inconsistent."</p> + +<p class="indent">Harry looked his dissent, and Agnes said: "Perhaps +you did not understand your uncle, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am not quite a fool, Agnes. In one respect I +am cleverer than Mr. Jefferson. Imagine an assembly +composed largely, like himself, of slave-owners, +saying 'that all men were created equal, and were +given by God an unalienable right to liberty.' And +do you think if I were king or queen of France I +would scatter a paper in every house telling my +miserable, starving subjects, that 'whenever a government +did not do what it ought to do, it was the +right of the people to alter or abolish it.' Indeed, I +think King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette will +be sorry some day for teaching their people American +ideas of government."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do they say in England about the French +alliance?" asked Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span> +"The Parliament declares we have not only rebelled +against the mother-country, but also mortgaged +ourselves to her enemy; and that if we are +to become an accession to France, self-preservation +requires England to make that accession of as little +value as possible. That does not sound very bad, +Agnes, but it means killing men, women and children, +burning houses, ravaging land, and making +life so wretched that death will be preferable. Now +you understand such expeditions as Matthew's and +Tryon's. So I say with Miss Semple, it is a pity for +many reasons we had to beg foreign help; especially +from the three nations who are hereditary foes of +England."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The French did not help you much at Newport," +said Maria scornfully.</p> + +<p class="indent">"They left us in the very oncoming of the battle; +as soon as Lord Howe came in sight—sailed away +to the West Indies, where they had plans of their +own to carry out. The indignation of our army was +beyond description; no one but Washington could +at this time have kept peace between the French and +American soldiers. Their jealousy was flaming, +and Washington could not help saying he wished +there was not a foreigner in the army but Lafayette. +But when Necessity compels, it becomes Destiny, eh, +Agnes?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. I think England must now be in a very +dangerous predicament, Harry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has thirteen colonies in revolt; France, +Spain, Holland, uniting against her, and a large majority +of her own people conspicuously in our favor. +Our old mother-country! I am sorry for her, for +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span> +she <i>is ours</i>, and we are her sons, even though we +have been compelled to rebel against her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think it is England that has rebelled against +us," said Agnes. "She has repudiated our chartered +rights, and made us aliens to the laws and privileges +which are our natural heritage. England is traitor +to America, and I don't see why you should be sorry +for her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Can you take the English blood out of my heart? +No. I want our Independence, that we must have, +nothing less will now satisfy us; but I don't want to +see three other nations, who have no business in our +family quarrel, badgering the old mother. If you +had a liking for some noble old mastiff, and saw him +attacked by three strange dogs, how would you +feel?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, Harry, if the mastiff was hurting me, I +might feel obliged to the strange dogs. I do not +wonder that France, Spain, and Holland should take +this opportunity to fight England; but I do wonder +that Englishmen, living in England, should be on +our side."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They have been so from the very first. The +King has found it impossible to get soldiers to fight +us. They regard us as their countrymen. They +refuse to acknowledge the war as an 'English' war; +they call it 'The King's War'; and they look upon +our victories as triumphs for representative government. +I saw a letter from Judge Curwen of Boston, +in which he says he visited a large factory in Birmingham +where they were making rifles to be used by +the English troops in America; and he found that the +proprietor, as well as every man thus employed, was +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span> +enthusiastically on our side. Fox spoke of an English +success on Long Island as 'the terrible news +from America'; and many say that the Whig party, +of which he is the leader, adopted blue and buff for +their colors, because Washington had chosen them +for his troop. In both houses of Parliament we +have many powerful friends, and the American +cause is spoken of throughout England as the cause +of Liberty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, you must be mistaken!" cried Maria. +"Grandfather says things very different; and if +England is for us, why does the war go on? Whose +fault is that."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is the fault of King George; the most stupid +of men, but with a will as indomitable as the beasts +of the desert. Not even King Charles was so determined +to ruin himself and the nation. He is cruel +as he is immovable. It is <i>The King's War</i>, my +mistresses, and only the King's friends and sycophants +and the clergy defend it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And what will those Englishmen who would not +lift a finger against us do against our allies?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do? They are preparing with joyful enthusiasm +to fight their old enemies. It made my heart +throb to hear how they were jumping to arms, at the +mere idea of a French and Spanish fleet in the English +Channel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are half an Englishman, Mr. Deane," said +Maria.</p> + +<p class="indent">"No," he answered warmly; "I am out and out, +from head to foot, an American! I was born +here, bred here, and I shall live and die here; nor do +I wish to live in any other country. But brave men +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span> +and free men feel with a gigantic throb each other's +rights and wrongs, even across oceans—thus we are +brothers. And the roots of my being are somewhere +in England; I can not cut myself loose from +them; I do not wish to. The feeling belongs to the +unknown side of human reasons—but it governs +me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought," said Maria, "you would talk about +nothing but Washington, and you have hardly +named him. Is he as great a man as we are told he +is? Or does he have faults like the rest of poor +mortals?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed, Miss Semple, he is so great a man I have +forgotten whether he has a fault. He is such a man +as men build their love round while he leads them on +the way to immortality. Often I have seen the whole +army shaken, confused, hopeless; but Washington +never shrank, or slipped, or compromised; he looked +unswervingly to the end. He is the Moses of America; +our people's hope, our young men's idol, our +old men's staff and sword. And even physically, +who would compare our god-like Washington with +this?" and he took from his pocket-case a pen-and-ink +sketch of King George, taken at the beginning +of the war and showed it to the girls.</p> + +<p class="indent">They looked at it curiously, and Maria said: +"Surely, Mr. Deane, that is not a true likeness; it is +what you call a pasquil—a lampoon—to make +ridiculous his Majesty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is not intended as a lampoon. But I never +see it without thinking of the mighty ghosts of +the great Henrys, and the armed Edwards, and +then I wonder if they are not watching, with +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span> +anger and amazement, the idiotic folly of this German."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I must really go home now," said Maria. She +spoke as if she had all at once become aware of the +gravity of the words she was listening to. "I should +not have stopped so long. Grandmother is not +well."</p> + +<p class="indent">And she thought Agnes was not sorry to bid her +good-bye; "but that is natural," she reflected, "I +suppose I should feel the same. She must have a +great many things to tell such a lover. I dare be +bound I have been much in the way."</p> + +<p class="indent">Her feelings were captious and impetuous, and +she walked rapidly to them, in spite of the heat. +Somehow she was not pleased with Agnes, and +Harry Deane also had bid her but a formal farewell. +And yet not formal, for when he held her hand a +moment, he laid it open within his own, and said +with a look she could not forget, "my life lies there. +I have put it in your hand myself, knowingly, willingly." +And she had clasped his hand and answered +gravely:</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is as safe there as it would be in the hand of +your mother—or of Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">It was not Harry that she was fretted at, it was +Agnes. She felt that in some way Agnes had deceived +her. She had not said secrecy would include +hours of rebel conversation—"and I wonder at myself +for listening to it," said the little woman angrily. +"I suppose it was Mr Deane—men talk women +down. I know I should not have let Agnes talk in +that way to me—just as if I believed all he said! If +Uncle Neil had been there, he would have scattered +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span> +every word to the four winds with little trouble. +And," she continued, with rising temper, "I don't +think Agnes acts fairly to Uncle Neil. He is her +devoted lover, and she knows it, she must know it. +People don't walk slowly up and down in the moonlight +and not know such things. I am, they say, +only a child, but I have walked with Captain Macpherson +in the moonlight, and I know how amiable +it makes me feel. I am disappointed in Agnes!" +and she really felt at that moment as if her friend +had done her some great wrong. So much easier is +it to blame others than to look deep down into our +own hearts for the reason of dissatisfaction. For +whenever we are disappointed, we are disappointed +with ourselves, though we may not admit it.</p> + +<p class="indent">When she entered the Semple garden she was encompassed +with the delicious perfume of carnations. +Then she remembered that they were her grandfather's +favorite flower, and that before the war his +garden had been a wonder and delight with their +beauty and fragrance. And in some subtle way, the +flowers made an avenue for a spiritual influence, +more in accord with the natural uprightness of +the girl's nature. She sighed and sauntered through +the scented space, and as she did so, began to make +her confession. "Perhaps it was my fault—perhaps +I was just a little jealous—it is not pleasant to be the +outside one; if Captain Macpherson, or even that +stupid Lord Medway had been my servant I should +not have felt so small; but that was not the fault of +Agnes—nevertheless, Agnes ought not to treat +Uncle Neil badly."</p> + +<p class="indent">It was a kind of inconsequent reasoning, but it +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span> +restored her to herself, and she entered the house +very cheerfully, looking into the parlor first of all, +to see whom she could find to talk to. All the rooms +down stairs were sweet with the same enthralling +odor of carnations; but they were dusky, silent and +empty; and she went to her grandmother's room on +the second floor. "Are you awake, dear grandmother?" +she asked, as she tapped gently on the +door.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Come in, dearie," was the answer, and Madame +raised herself from the bed as Maria entered and +went to a large chair by the open window. "It is +hotter than needs be," she said, "and I have had +company."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Who has been here, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mrs. Jermyn brought us an invitation to the +Bayards. It is for a three days' visit."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am so happy. I have heard about Colonel +Bayard's fine house on the Heights; you will surely +go, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I can not go, Maria; but Mrs. Jermyn offered +to take you in her party; and to that I am agreeable. +Madame Jacobus will go with you, and I am vera +fond o' Madame Jacobus. She is not an ordinary +woman; she has had romantics in her life, and the +vera look o' her sets you thinking o' all sorts o' impossibilities. +Tell her Madame Semple keeps good +mind o' her, and would be glad to see her again;" +then she added sharply, "Mrs. Gordon was with her. +I was quite taken aback. I was all in a tremble at +first."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is so anxious to be friends with you; can't +you forgive her, grandmother? It is a long time +since."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span> +"Maria Semple, no one is mair willing than I am, +to let byganes be byganes. But mind this, there are +folks simply unlucky to you, and not intending it; +and Adelaide Gordon and Janet Semple are best +apart. She is one o' them women who bring happenings +and events, and I notice they are not pleasant +or favorable. You will hae heard say, Maria, +<i>wha</i> it is, that sends a woman, where he canna go +himsel'. Cousin Gordon means no harm—but."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed, she really likes you. She talks to me +of the days she lived with you, and of all your kindness +to her. It was Katherine Van Heemskirk that +behaved badly. I don't think I like that person—and +I want you to forgive Mrs. Gordon."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have forgiven Mrs. Gordon, Maria. Do you +think I would put the Lord's prayer behind my back +for Adelaide Gordon? And I couldna dare to say it +and not forgive her; but to love your friend, and +look to yoursel' isna out o' the way o' wisdom."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When am I to go, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mrs. Jermyn will call for you at ten o'clock tomorrow +morning. How about thae lessons, and the +'extras' you were speaking o'?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is such warm weather. I think I ought to +have my holiday now; and what about my frocks, +grandmother? Shall I not have to pack my small +trunk?"</p> + +<p class="indent">This subject was, of course, paramount, and Madame +went to Maria's room with her, and the proper +garments were selected and packed. Very soon the +whole house was infected with the hurry and excitement +of the little lady, and the Elder tried to join in +the discussion and employment; it being one of his +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span> +pet ideas that he had a pretty taste about women's +clothing. But his first suggestion that the simple +frock of India chintz Maria was wearing was a most +becoming morning gown, met with such a decided +rebuff he had no courage left for further advice. +For Maria looking scornfully down at its short simplicity +asked, "Why do you not advise a white ruffled +pinafore also, grandfather? Then I would be fit for +an infant school. I am a young lady now," she +continued, as she spread out its three breadths to +their utmost capacity, showing in the act the prettiest +little feet, shod in bronze leather with red rosettes +on the instep. And when a man finds his opinions +out of date, what can he do but retire with them +into silence?</p> + +<p class="indent">The quiet that fell upon the house after Maria's +departure was a grateful respite. The old people +sat down with a sigh of relief, and while they praised +their granddaughter's sweet nature, and talked +proudly of all her excellences, they were not sorry +to be at rest for a day or two. Neither was the Elder +sorry to casually notice the absence of Maria to +certain royalist upstarts who had won wealth +through their chicaneries, but who had not been able +to win the social notice they craved.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Elder Semple may be pinched, now and then, for +a few sovereigns," he thought, "but he and his can +sit down with the highest of the King's servants and +be counted one o' them. And it will be lang ere the +Paynes and the Bradleys and many others I could +name, will get that far!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Such reflections gave to the old gentleman's steps +something of the carriage of his more prosperous +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span> +days; he looked outward and upward in his old +manner, and thus saw Mr. Cohen, the Jewish trader, +standing in his shop door. He asked pleasantly +after his health, and by so doing brought a few good +words on himself, which somehow went warmly to +his heart. In this amiable temper he passed the famous +saddlery shop. John Bradley was just dismissing +a customer. He was wearing his apron of +blue and white ticking, and had a paper cap upon his +head, and he looked precisely what he was—a capable, +self-respecting workman. Semple had always +permitted a polite salutation to cover all claims on +his courtesy that Bradley might have; but this morning +he said with a friendly air, "How's all with you, +Mr. Bradley? Will you tell your charming daughter +that her friend, Miss Semple, has gone wi' a +party o' our military friends to the Bayards' for a +three days' visit?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Agnes will miss her friend, Elder."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, yes! They went off this morning early, up +the river wi' music and singing. Young things, +most o' them, Mr. Bradley, and we must make allowances."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If we must, we must, Elder. And God knows, +if it isn't the lute and the viol, and the tinkling feet of +the foolish maidens, it is the trumpet, and the sword, +and the hell of the battlefield. Evil times we are +fallen on, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But they are to bring us good times. We must +not doubt that. My respects, sir, to Miss Bradley, +who has a voice to lift a soul on the wings of melody, +heavenward. Good day, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">Semple went forward a little dashed, he hardly +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span> +knew why; and Bradley was chagrined. He had +tried to say something that should not only represent +himself, but also acknowledge the kindness +he was sensible of; but he had only blundered into +commonplaces, and quite against his will, shown +much of his roughest side. Why did he include the +Elder's granddaughter among the tinkling feet of +foolish maidens? She was the friend of his own +child also. He felt that he had had an opportunity +and mismanaged it, and a sense of his inabilities in +all social matters mortified and fretted him all the +day afterward.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria was expected home in three days, but she +did not come. Her party went directly from the +Bayard house to Hempstead, where Colonel Birch +was entertaining a large company from the city; so +it was fully a week before the young lady returned +to New York. In the meantime Destiny was not +asleep, and affairs in which Maria was interested did +not lie still waiting for her reappearance.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria had left a message for Agnes with her +uncle, and he resolved to take it personally that evening. +But as he was drinking his tea the Elder said, +"I saw Mr. Bradley this morning, and I sent word +by him to his daughter anent Maria's absence." +Neil did not make any answer, but his mother noticed +the sweep of color up and down his dark face, +and she was on the point of saying, "you hae taken +the job out o' hands that would hae done it better, +gudeman." But the wisdom and kindness of silence +was granted her; yet the Elder felt his remark +to be unpropitious, and sighed. There were so +many subjects these days that he made mistakes +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span> +about; and he had a moment's recollection of his +old authoritative speech, and a wonder as to what +had happened him. Was it that he had fallen out of +the ranks of the workers of the world? Or, was it +because he was growing old? He was silent, and so +pathetic in his silence, that Neil observed it and +blamed himself.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father," he said, "pardon me! I was thinking. +I have been with Major Crosby all day about the +Barrack Department finances, and that is not work +to be talked about. It is well you told Mr. Bradley +of Maria's absence."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I wonder you did not go with Maria; you had +an invitation."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, I had an invitation, but I had engagements +of more importance with Brigadier Skinner and +Treasurer McEvers. McEvers is to pay me with +wood from a rebel tract granted him. So when the +cold weather comes we shall not require to count the +sticks; we can at least keep warm."</p> + +<p class="indent">He rose with these words and went to his room. +He told himself that he would there consider a visit +to Miss Bradley, and yet he knew that he intended +to make it no matter what considerations came up +for his deliberation. Not for a moment did he deceive +himself; he was well aware that for the first +time in his life he was really in love. He admitted +frankly that his early passion for the pretty Katherine +Van Heemskirk had been a selfish affair; and +that his duel with Captain Hyde was fought, not so +much for love of Katherine, as for hatred and jealousy +of his rival. He had never loved Katherine as +he loved Agnes, for it was the soul of Agnes that +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span> +attracted him and drew him to her by a gravitation, +like that which one star exerts upon another. His +first love he had watched grow from childhood to +maidenhood; he could count on his fingers the number +of times he had seen Agnes Bradley; and yet +from this slender experience there had sprung an invincible +longing to say to her, "O, Soul of my Soul, +I love you! I need you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Yet to make Agnes his wife at this time was to +make sacrifices that he durst not contemplate. They +included the forfeiture of his social position, and +this loss was certain to entail the same result on his +political standing and emoluments. His father was +connected with his financial affairs, and to ruin himself +meant also ruin to the parents he loved so truly. +Then the sudden fear that assails honest lovers made +his heart tremble; Agnes might have scruples and +reluctances; she might not be able to love him; she +might love some other man, Maria had named such +a probability; with a motion of his hand he swept all +contingencies aside; no difficulties should abate his +ardor; he loved Agnes Bradley and he was determined +to win her.</p> + +<p class="indent">With this decision he rose, stood before his mirror, +and looked at himself. Too proud a man to +be infected with so small a vice as vanity, he regarded +his personality without unreasonable favor. +"I am still handsome," he said. "If I have not +youth, I have in its place the perfection of my own +being; I am now in the prime of life, and have not +begun to fall away from it. Many young and beautiful +women have shown me favor I never sought. +Now, I will seek favor; I will woo it, beg it, pray +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span> +for it. I will do anything within honor and honesty +to win this woman of my soul, this adorable Agnes!"</p> + +<p class="indent">He found her in the garden of her home; that is, +she was sitting on the topmost step of the short +flight leading to the door. Her silent, penetrative +loveliness encompassed her like an atmosphere in +which all the shafts of the shelterless, worrying day +fell harmless. She smiled more than spoke her welcome, +and her eyes unbarred her soul so that they +seemed to understand each other at a glance; for +Neil's love was set far above all passionate tones of +welcome or personal adulation. Sitting quiet by +her side he noticed a man walking constantly before +the house, and he pointed out the circumstance to +Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will walk there until my father comes home," +she answered. "It is Elias Hurd the chapel keeper. +Father pays him to come here every day at sunset +and watch till he returns."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Your words take a great fear from me," said +Neil; and then, though his heart was brim full he +could say no more. Silence again enfolded them, +and the song in each heart remained unsung. Yet +the overwhelming influence of feelings which had +not found words was upon them, and this speechless +interlude had been to both the clearest of revealers.</p> + +<p class="indent">After a week's pleasure-seeking Maria returned +home. It was in the middle of a hot afternoon, and +life was at its most languid pitch. The Elder was +asleep in his chair, Madame asleep on the sofa, and +the negroes dozing in the kitchen. Her entry +aroused the house, her personality instantly filled it. +She was flushed and tired, but alive with the egotistical +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span> +spirit of youth. "Were you not expecting me?" +she asked with an air of injury, as she entered the +drowsy, tidy house. "And I do want a cup of tea +so much, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You were coming Monday, and then you were +coming Wednesday; we did not know whether +you would come to-day or not; but you are very +welcome, dear, and you shall have tea in ten +minutes."</p> + +<p class="indent">She went upstairs while it was preparing, took off +her bonnet and her silk coat, dashed cool water over +her flushed face and shoulders and arms, wet her +hair and brushed it backward, and then put on a +loose gown of thin muslin. "Now I can drink my +tea in comfort," she said, "and just talk at my leisure. +And dear me! What a week of tumult it has +been!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Have you enjoyed your visits?" asked the Elder +when she reappeared.</p> + +<p class="indent">"So, so, grandfather," she answered; and as she +spoke, she lifted the small tea-table close to his side, +and whispered on his cheek, "you will have a cup of +tea with me, dear grandfather, I shall not enjoy mine +unless you do." He said "pooh! pooh! child," but +he was delighted, and with beaming smiles watched +her small hands busy among the china, and the bread +and meat.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am downright hungry," she said. "We had +breakfast before leaving, but that seems hours and +hours ago, and, O grandmother! there is no tea and +bread like yours in all the world."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then she began her long gossip concerning people +and events: the water parties on the river, the picnics +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span> +in the woods, the dancing and gambling and +games in the house. "And I must tell you," she +said, "that really and truly, I was the most admired +of all the beauties there. The ladies all envied my +frocks, and asked where I got them, and begged for +the patterns; and I wished I had taken more with +me. It is so exhilarating to have a new one for +every evening. Lord Medway said every fresh one +became me better than the last."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Lord Medway!" said the Elder. "Is he that +long, lazy man that trails after General Clinton like +his shadow?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, they love each other. It seems funny for +men to love one another; but General Clinton and +Lord Ernest Medway are like David and Jonathan."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria Semple!" cried Madame, "I think you +might even the like o' Clinton and the English Lord, +to some one o' less respectability than Bible characters."</p> + +<p class="indent">"O grandmother! General Clinton is just as +blood-thirsty as General David ever was. He hates +his enemies quite as perfectly, and wishes them all +the same sorts and kinds of calamities. I don't +know whether Jonathan was good-natured, but Lord +Medway is. He danced with me as often as I would +let him, and he danced with nobody else! think of +that, grandmother! the women were all madly jealous +of me. I did not care for that much."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Janet, dear," said the Elder to his wife, "if you +had ever seen this Lord Medway trailing up William +Street or Maiden Lane, you wouldna believe the lassie. +He is just the maist inert piece o' humanity +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span> +you could imagine. <i>Dancing! Tuts! Tuts! lassie!"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">"He can dance, grandfather. Mrs. Gordon said +the way he led me through a minuet was adorable; +and Major André told me that in a skirmish or a +cavalry charge, no one could match him. He was +the hardest rider and fiercest fighter in the army."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Weel, weel!" said Madame, "a man that isna +roused by anything short o' a battle or a cavalry +charge, might be easy to live with—if you have any +notion for English lords."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed, I have not any notion for Lord Medway. +He is the most provoking of men. He takes no interest +in games, he won't stake money on cards, he +listened to the music with his eyes shut; and when +Miss Robertson and Major André acted a little piece +the Major had written, he pretended to be asleep. +He was not asleep, for I caught him awake, and he +smiled at me, as much as to say that I knew all about +his deception, and sanctioned it. I told him so afterward, +and he laughed so heartily that every one +looked amazed, and what do you think he said? 'It +is a fact, ladies; I really laughed, but it is Miss Semple's +fault.' I don't think, grandmother, I would +have been invited to Hempstead if he had not let it +be known that he was not going unless Miss Semple +went."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is he in love with you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He thinks he is."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you in love with him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria smiled, and with her teacup half-way to +her mouth hummed a line from an old Scotch song:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"I'm glad that my heart's my ain."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span> +Such conversation, touching many people and +many topics, was naturally prolonged, and when +Neil came home it was carried on with renewed interest +and vigor. And Maria was not deceived +when Neil with some transparent excuse of 'going +to see a friend' went out at twilight.</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is going to see Agnes," she thought; "my +coming home is too good an excuse to lose, but why +did he not tell me? Lovers are so sly, and yet all +their cunning is useless. People always see through +their little moves. In the morning I shall go to +Agnes, and I hope she will not be too advising, because +I am old enough to have my own ideas: besides, +I have some experiences."</p> + +<p class="indent">All the way to her friend's house in the morning, +she was making resolutions which vanished as soon +as they were put to the test. It was only too easy +to fall into her old confidential way, to tell all she +had seen and heard and felt; to be petted and admired +and advised. Also, she could relate many little +episodes to Agnes that she had not felt disposed +to tell her grandparents, or even Neil—compliments +and protestations, and sundry "spats" of envy and +jealousy with the ladies of the party. But the conversation +settled mainly, however often it diverged, +upon Lord Medway. Agnes had often heard her +father speak of him. He knew John Wesley, and +had asked him to preach at Market-Medway to his +tenants and servants; and on the anniversary of the +Wesley Chapel in John Street he had given Mr. +Bradley twenty pounds toward the Chapel fund. +"He is a far finer man than he affects to be," she +added, "and father says he wears that drawling, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span> +trailing habit like a cloak, to hide his real nature. +Do you think he has fallen in love with you, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Would it be a very unlikely thing to happen, +Agnes? He danced only with me, and when Major +André arranged the Musical Masque, he consented +to sing only on the condition that I sang with him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And what else, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"One evening Quentin Macpherson danced the +Scotch sword dance—a very clever barbaric thing—but +I did not like it; the man looks better at the +head of his company. However, he sang a little +song called 'The Soldier's Kiss' that was pretty +enough. The melody went in this way"—and Maria +hummed a strain that sounded like the gallop of +horses and shaking of bridles—"I only remember the +chorus," she said.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A kiss, Sweet, a kiss, Sweet,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">For the drums are beat along the street,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And we part, and know not when we meet,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">With another kiss like this, Sweet.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"And Lord Medway whispered to me that Shakespeare +had said it all far better in one line, <i>'Touch +her soft mouth and march.'</i> In Major Andre's +masque we had a charming little verse; I brought +you a copy of it, see, here it is. The first two lines +have a sweet crescendo melody; at the third line +there was a fanfare of trumpets in the distance and +the gentlemen rattled their swords. The fourth line +we sang alone, and at the close Lord Medway bowed +to me, and the whole room took up the refrain." +Then the girls leaned over the paper, and Agnes +read the words aloud slowly, evidently committing +them to her memory as she read:</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A song of a single note!</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But it soars and swells above</span><br /> +<span class="i0">The trumpet's call, and the clash of arms,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">For the name of the song is Love."</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"Now sing me the melody, Maria," said Agnes; +and Maria sang, and Agnes listened, and then they +sang it together until it was perfect. "Just once +more," said Maria, and as they reached the close of +the verse, a strong, musical voice joined in the refrain, +and then Harry came into the room singing it.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry! Harry!" cried Agnes, joyfully.</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"And the name of the song is Love!"</i> he answered, +taking Agnes in his arms and kissing the +word on her lips. Then he turned with a glowing +face to Maria, and she bent her head a little proudly, +and remained silent. But soon Agnes went away to +order coffee for her visitor, and then Harry sat down +by Maria, and asked to see the song, and their hands +met above the passionate words, and the dumb letters +became vocal. They sang them over and over, +their clear, fresh voices growing softer and softer, +till, almost in a whisper of delight, they uttered the +last word <i>"Love!"</i> Then he looked at her as only +a lover can look, and she looked at him like one who +suddenly awakens. Her past was a sleep, a dream; +that moment her life began. And she had all the +tremors that mark the beginnings of life; a great +quiet fell upon her, and she wanted to go into solitude +and examine this wonderful experience. For +Harry had stirred one of those unknown soul depths +that only Love ventures down to.</p> + +<p class="indent">When Agnes returned she said she must go home, +her grandmother was not well; and then she blundered +into such a number of foolish excuses as made +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span> +Agnes look curiously, perhaps anxiously, at her. +And for several days she continued these excuses; +she sent Neil with messages and letters, but she did +not go to her friend. There was something wrong +between them, and Maria finally threw the blame +upon Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Any one may see that she is deceiving either +Harry or uncle Neil—and I hate a deceiver. It is +not fair—I am sure if Harry knew about uncle—if +he was not engaged to Agnes—Oh, no! I must not +think of him. Poor uncle Neil! If Agnes treats +him badly, I shall never forgive her, never!" Thus, +and so on, ran her reflections day after day, and +yet she had not the courage to go and talk the matter +out with Agnes. But she noticed an unusual exaltation +in her uncle's manner; he dressed with more +than his usual sombre richness; he seemed to tread +upon air, and though more silent than ever, a smile +of great sweetness was constantly on his lips. And +one afternoon as Maria sat at her tambour frame, +Madame entered the parlor hastily, looking almost +frightened.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you hear him? Your uncle, I mean. Do +you hear him, Maria?" she cried. "He is singing. +He must be <i>fey</i>. I haven't heard him sing since he +was a lad going to Paul Gerome's singing class. +It's uncanny! It frightens me! And what is he +singing, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">And Maria lifting a calm face answered—<i>"The +name of the song is Love."</i></p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">LOVE'S SWEET DREAM.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">It</span> is not truth, but falsehood which requires explanation, +and Maria was sensible of this fact as she +sat at her tambour frame thinking of Agnes and of +Harry and of her uncle Neil. There was something +not straightforward in the life of Agnes, and she +resolved every day to make inquiry into it, and every +day she made, instead, some deferring excuse. But +one morning, while eating breakfast, they were all +sensitive to unusual movements in the city, and the +air was tense with human emotion. The Elder and +Neil became restless and anticipative, and Maria +could not escape the feverish mental contagion. +When the men had left the house she hurried +through her few duties, and then went to her +friend. Agnes was standing at the garden gate, +watching and listening. "There is news of some +kind, Maria," she said; "I am anxious to know what +it is."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Grandmother says we need not run after news, it +will find us out, and I dare say it is only more Connecticut +ravaging."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Agnes turned into the house with Maria, for +she perceived something unusual in her voice and +manner—dissatisfaction, and perhaps a tone of injury. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span> +There was no pretence of study about her, +she had not even brought her books, and Agnes became +silent, and lifted her sewing. At length +Maria spoke:</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is the matter with you, Agnes?" she +asked, and then added: "you are not like yourself +this morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Whatever the matter is, Maria, I caught it from +you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are cross."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was only curious and anxious when you came. +You brought dissatisfaction and annoyance with +you. I think you had better tell me at once what +has displeased you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, you must know what displeases me, Agnes. +Do you think I can bear to see you playing with two +lovers at once? I am very fond of my uncle Neil, +and he adores you. And when Harry is away, +uncle Neil is everything; but as soon as Harry +comes, then Harry is everything. It is not fair to +uncle, and I do not approve of such ways. If I were +to act in that kind of fashion between Lord Medway +and Quentin Macpherson, who would be so shocked +as Agnes Bradley? I am so disappointed in you, +Agnes. I have not been able to come and see you +for days; this morning I felt that I must speak to +you about things."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria, I once asked you to defer judgment on +whatever you saw or heard or suspected, and to take +my word for it being all right. It seems that I +asked too much."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But how can it be all right, if you allow two men +to make love to you?—and you seem to like it from +both of them."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span> +"I do like it—from both of them. The two loves +are different."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Agnes! Agnes! I am shocked at you!" and +Maria hid her face on the sofa cushion and began +to cry.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Agnes knelt at her side, and lifted her face +and kissed it, and whispered four words in her ear; +and there was a look of wonder, and Maria asked +softly, "Why did you not tell me before?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I thought every time you saw him you would +surely guess the truth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I did not."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You must have seen also that Harry is deeply +in love with you. Now, how could he be in love +with me also?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry in love with me! O Agnes!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You know it. Love cannot be hid. Only lovers +look at a woman as I have seen Harry look at you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do think Harry likes me, and I felt as if—I +don't know what I felt, Agnes. I am very unhappy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Let me tell you what you felt. You said to +yourself: if Harry was not bound to Agnes he would +be my lover; and Agnes does not care for him, she +does not treat him well, and yet she treats him too +well to be doing right to uncle Neil. You would include +your uncle, because you would feel it selfish +to be wounded and disappointed only on your own +account."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You ought not to speak in that way, Agnes. +Suppose I had such feelings, it is not nice of you to +put them into words so plain and rude."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not blame you, Maria. Your attitude is +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span> +natural, and specially womanly. It is I who have +been wrong. I must now excuse myself to you; +once you said you could believe in me without explanations."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Forgive me, Agnes. I do not want explanations +now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"For I have told you that Harry is my brother, +not my lover. That is the main fact, and accounts +for all that specially troubles you. Now you must +know the whole truth. Harry was sent to England +out of the way of the war, for my father lives and +moves in his being and welfare. But Harry wanted +to be in the thick of the war; he wanted the post of +most danger for his country's sake. He said he was +ashamed to be in England; that every American +who could be in active service ought to be there, because +it might be, God intended to use just him. I +gave in to all he proposed; I had no heart to resist +him. I only stipulated that come what would, our +father should not know he was in the country."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why did you not tell me at first that he was your +brother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry is handsome, and I was afraid you might +be attracted by him; and the secrecy and romance of +the situation and the danger he was constantly facing—these +are things that capture a woman's imagination. +And marriage is such an important affair, +I could not think it right to run the risk of engaging +you to Harry unknown to your father or +friends. I told Harry that you believed him to be +my lover, and I was sure that this belief would save +you from thinking of him in any light but that of +a friend or brother."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span> +"It ought to have done, dear Agnes; it did do—but +Harry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know, at Harry's second visit, if not at his +first, he was your lover; and I knew that this explanation +must come. Now, I can only beg you to +keep the knowledge of Harry Bradley's presence in +America absolutely to yourself. I assure you, if +father knew he was here and in constant danger, he +would be distracted."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But does he not suspect? He must wonder that +Harry does not write to him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry does write. He sends letters to a friend +in London, who re-mails them to father. About +three times a year father gets a London letter, and +that satisfies him. And he so little suspects Harry's +presence in America that the boy has passed his father +on the street without the slightest recognition +on father's part; for he has more disguises than you +could believe possible. I have seen him as a poor +country doctor, buying medicines for his settlement; +as an old schoolmaster, after a few books and slates +at Rivington's; and a week ago, I met him one day +shouting to the horses which were pulling a load of +wood up Golden Hill. And he has no more transitions +than a score of other young men who serve +their country in this secret and dangerous manner. +I can assure you General Washington's agents go +in and out of New York constantly, and it is beyond +the power of England to prevent them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Suppose in some evil hour he should be suspected! +Oh, Agnes!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"There are houses in every street in the city where +a window or a door is always left open. Harry told +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span> +me he knew of sixteen, and that he could pass from +one to the other in safety."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Suppose he should be noticed on the river, at +your landing or any other."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He can swim like a fish and dive like a seal and +run like a deer. The river banks that look like a +tangle to you and me, are clear as a highway to +Harry. And you know it is the East river that is +watched; no one thinks much about the water on +this side; especially so near the fort. I do not think +Harry is in any great danger; and he will be mainly +on the river now for some months."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I wish I had not said a word, Agnes, I am so +sorry! So sorry!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"We are always sorry when we doubt. I felt that +you were mistrusting me, and I promised Harry, on +his last visit, to tell you the truth before he came +again. I have been waiting for you all week. I +should have told you to-day, even if you had not said +a word."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall never forgive myself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was wrong also, Maria. I ought, at the first, +to have trusted you fully."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Or not trusted me at all, Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are right, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">A great chagrin made Maria miserable. A little +faith, a little patience, and the information she had +demanded in spirit unlovely and unloving, would +have come to her by Harry's desire, and with the +affectionate confidence of Agnes. But neither of +the girls were fully satisfied or happy, and the topic +was dropped. Both felt that the matter would have +to rest, in order to clear itself, and Agnes was not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span> +unconscious of those mute powers within, which, if +left to themselves, clear noiselessly away the débris +of our disputes and disappointments. She proposed +a walk in the afternoon; she said she had shopping +to do, and if there was any news, they would likely +hear it from some one.</p> + +<p class="indent">There was evidently news, and Agnes at once +judged it unfavorable for the royalists. The military +were moving with sullen port; the houses were +generally closed, and the people on the streets not inclined +to linger or to talk. "We had better ask my +father," she said, and they turned aside to Bradley's +store to make the inquiry. The saddler was standing +at the door talking to Lord Medway; and his +eyes flashed an instant's triumphant signal as they +caught his daughter's glance of inquiry. But he +kept his stolid air, and when he found Lord Medway +and Maria so familiarly pleased to meet each +other, he introduced Agnes and gave a ready acquiescence +to Lord Medway's proposal to walk with +the ladies home.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then, Maria, suddenly brilliant with a sense of +her power, asked, "What is the matter with the city +this afternoon? Every one seems so depressed and +ill-humored."</p> + +<p class="indent">"We have lost Stony Point," answered Medway. +"There was a midnight attack by twelve hundred +picked men. It was an incomparable deed of daring. +I would like to have been present. I said to +General Clinton when I heard the story, 'Such men +are born to rule, and coming from the stock they +do, you will never subdue them!'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Who led the attack?" asked Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span> +"Anthony Wayne, a brave daring man, they tell +me. The Frenchman, De Fleury, was first in, and +he hauled down our flags. <i>Dash it!</i> If it had been +an American, I would not have cared so much. +Now, perhaps, Generals Clinton and Tryon will understand +the kind of men they have to fight. When +Americans fight Englishmen, it is Greek meeting +Greek. Clinton tells me the rebels have taken four +thousand pounds' worth of ordnance and stores and +nearly seven hundred prisoners. Oh, you know a +deed like this makes even an enemy proud of the +men who could do it!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Was it a very difficult deed?" asked Maria.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am told that Stony Point is a rock two hundred +feet high, surrounded by the Hudson River on three +sides, and almost isolated from the land on the +fourth side by a marsh, which at high tide is two +feet under water. They reached the fort about midnight, +and while one column drew the defenders to +the front by a rapid continuous fire, two other columns, +armed only with the bayonet, broke into the +fort from opposite points. In five minutes the +rebels were rushing through every embrasure, and a +thousand tongues crying 'Victory'! There is no use +belittling such an affair. It was as brave a thing as +ever men did, and I wish I had seen the doing of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">In such conversation they passed up Maiden Lane, +and by the ruins of Trinity Church to the river side; +all of them influenced by the tense feeling which +found no vocal outlet for its passion. Men and +women would appear for a moment at a window, +and then disappear. They were American patriots +on the look-out to spread the good news. A flash +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span> +from the lifted eyes of Agnes was sufficient. Again +they would meet two or three royalists talking in a +dejected, disparaging way of the victory; or else +blustering in anger over the supineness or inefficiency +of their generals.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hope General Clinton will now find his soldiers +some tougher work than hay-making," sneered an +irate old man who stopped Lord Medway. "If he +goes out hay-making, he ought to leave fighting men +in the forts. Why the commander at Stony Point—Colonel +Johnson—I know him, had a wine party, +and the officers from Verplanck's Point were drinking +with him, when Wayne walked into their midst +and made them all prisoners. I am told the sentinels +had been secured, the abatis removed, and the +rebels in the works before our fine soldiers knew an +enemy was near. And it was that tanner from +Pennsylvania—that Dandy Wayne, that stole the +march on them! It makes me ashamed of our English +troops, my lord!</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, Mr. Smith, General Clinton will be in New +York in a few days. There will be many to call +him to account, I have no doubt."</p> + +<p class="indent">In this electric atmosphere heart spoke to heart +very readily, for in the midst of great realities conventionalities +are of so little consequence, and genuine +feeling, of any kind, forgets, or puts aside, flatteries +or compliments. So when they reached the +Bradley house, Agnes asked Lord Medway if he +would enter and rest awhile? And he said he +would, and so sat talking about the war until it was +tea-time for the simple maidens, who ate their dinner +at twelve o'clock. Then he saw Agnes bring in the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span> +tray, and take out the china, and lay the round table +with a spotless nicety; and it delighted him to watch +the homely scene. Maria was knitting, and he +turned her ball of pink yarn in his hands and +watched her face glow and smile and pout and +change with every fresh sentiment. Or, if he lifted +his eyes from this picture, he could look at Agnes, +who had pinned a clean napkin across her breast, +and was cutting bread and butter in the wafer slices +he approved. He wondered if she would ask him +to take tea with them; if she did not he was resolved +to ask himself. Then he noticed she had +placed three cups on the tray, and he was sure of her +hospitality.</p> + +<p class="indent">It made him very happy, and he never once fell +into the affectation of talk and manner appropriate +to a fashionable tea-table. He seemed to enjoy both +the rebel sentiments of Agnes, and the royalist temper +of Maria; and he treated both girls with such +hearty deference and respect as he did not always +show to much more famous dames. And it was +while sitting at this tea-table he gave his heart without +reserve to Maria Semple. If he had any doubts +or withdrawals, he abandoned them in that happy +hour, and said frankly to himself:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will make her my wife. That is my desire +and my resolve; and I will not turn aside from it +for anything, nor for any man living; Maria Semple +is the woman I love, no one else shall have her."</p> + +<p class="indent">In following out this resolve he understood the +value of Agnes; and he did all he could to gain her +good-will. She was well disposed to give it; her +father's approval bespoke hers. A feeling of good +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span> +comradeship and confidence grew rapidly as they ate, +and drank their tea, and talked freely and without +many reservations, for the sake of their political +feelings. So much so, that when Lord Medway +rose to go, there came to Agnes a sudden fear and +chill. She looked at him apprehensively, and while +he held her hand, she said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Lord Medway, Maria and I have been very sincere +with you, but I am sure our sincerity cannot +wrong us, in your keeping."</p> + +<p class="indent">This was not very explicit, but he understood her +meaning. He laid his hand upon the table at which +they had eaten, and said: "It is an altar to faith and +friendship. When I am capable of repeating anything +said at the table where I sit as guest, I shall be +lost to truth and honor, and be too vile to remember." +He spoke with force, and with a certain eloquence, +very different from his usual familiar manner, +and both Agnes and Maria showed him in their +shining eyes and confiding air how surely they believed +in him.</p> + +<p class="indent">After this event there was continual excitement in +the city, and General Clinton returned to it at once. +He called in the little army he had cutting grass for +winter fodder, and with twenty thousand troops shut +himself up in New York.</p> + +<p class="indent">"For once the man has been employing himself +well and wiselike," said Madame Semple. "He has +cut all the grass, and cured all the grass round about +Rye, and White Plains, and New Rochelle, and East +Chester, and a few other places; and he has left it all +ahint him. What a wiselike wonderfu' man is General +Sir Henry Clinton!"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span> +"And the rebels have carried off the last wisp o' +hay he made," said the Elder angrily. "They were +on the vera heels o' our soldiers. It's beyond believing! +It's just the maist mortifying thing that +ever happened us."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame looked pityingly at her husband, raised +her shoulders to emphasize the look, and then in a +thin voice, quavering a little with her weakness and +emotion, began to sing to herself from that old translation +of the Psalms so dear to every Scottish heart:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Kings of great armies foiled were</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And forced to flee away;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And women who remained at home</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Did distribute the prey.</span><br /> +<span class="i0">God's chariots twenty thousand are,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Thousands of angels strong."</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"Janet! Janet! Will you sing some kind o' calming +verse? The Lord is naething but a <i>man of war</i> +in your thoughts. Do you believe He goes through +the earth wi' a bare, lifted sword in His hand?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Whiles He does, Alexander. And the light +from that lifted sword lightens the earth. I hae +tasted o' the goodness of the Lord; I know of old +His tender mercy, and His loving kindness, but in +these awfu' days, I am right glad to think o' Him as +<i>The Lord of Hosts!</i> He is sure to be on the right +side, and He can make of one man a thousand, and +of a handful, a great multitude."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It's a weary warld."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But just yet there's nae better one, my dear auld +man! So we may as well tak' cheerfully what good +comes to-day, there will be mair to-morrow, or I'm +far wrang."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span> +If Janet's "to-morrow" be taken as she meant it to +be taken, her set time was long enough for other +startling events. Tryon's expedition was ordered +back to New York, and Quentin Macpherson +brought the news of his own return. He did not +meet with as warm a welcome as he hoped for. +Madame was contemptuous and indignant over the +ravaging character of the expedition. The Elder +said they had "alienated royalists without intimidating +rebels"; and Maria looked critically at the +young soldier, and thought him less handsome than +she had supposed: the expedition, so cowardly and +cruel, had been demoralizing and had left its mark on +the young man. He was disappointed, jealous, offended; +he had an overweening opinion of the nobility +of his family and not a very modest one as to +his own deserts. He was also tenacious, and the +thing he desired grew in value as it receded from +his grasp; so, although angry at Maria, he had no +idea of relinquishing his suit for her hand.</p> + +<p class="indent">She kept as much as possible out of his company, +and this was not difficult. The troops were constantly +on the alert, for one piece of bad news, for +the royalists, followed another. A month after the +capture of Stony Point, the rebels took Paulus Hook +in a midnight attack. This fort had been most tenaciously +held by the English from the earliest days of +the war, it being the only safe landing-place in Jersey +for their foraging parties. It was within sight +of New York, and almost within reach of its guns. +The shame and anger of the royalist burghers was +unspeakable; they would have openly insulted the +military, if they had dared to do so.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span> +About two weeks later came the news of Sullivan's +sweeping victory over the Six Nations of Indians +under Sir John Johnson and the Indian Chief, +Brandt. The Americans turned their country into +a desert, and drove the whole people in headlong +flight as far as Niagara. This Autumn also was +rendered remarkable by the astonishing success of +the American privateers; never had they been at +once so troublesome and so fortunate. So that there +was plenty for every one to talk about, if there had +been neither lovers nor love-making in the land. +But it seemed as if Love regarded the movement of +great armies and the diplomacies of great nations, +as the proper background and vehicles for his expression. +While Medway was talking, or fishing, +or hunting with Clinton, he was thinking of Maria. +While Macpherson was inspecting his company, he +was thinking of Maria. While Harry was traversing +the woods and the waters, he was thinking of +Maria. And while Neil Semple was drawing out +titles, and making arguments in Court, he was always +conscious of the fact that his happiness was +bound up in the love of Agnes Bradley. On every +side also, other lovers were wooing and wedding. +The sound of trumpets did not sadden the music of +the marriage feast, nor did the bridal dance tarry a +moment for the tramp of marching soldiers. All the +chances and changes of war were but ministers of +Love, and did his pleasure.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the meantime John Bradley was stitching his +saddles, and praying and working for Washington, +the idol of his hopes, quite unconscious of how completely +his home had been confiscated to the service +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> +of love and lovers. No house in all the restless city +seemed less likely to be the rendezvous of meeting +hearts; and yet quite naturally, and by the force of +the simplest circumstances, it had assumed this character. +It began with Maria. Her beauty and +charm had given her three lovers, who were, all of +them, men with sufficient character to find, or to +make a way to her presence. But every movement, +whether of the body or the soul, takes, by a certain +law, the direction in which there is the least resistance; +and the road of least resistance to Maria, was +by way of Agnes Bradley.</p> + +<p class="indent">At the Semple house, Madame was a barrier Medway +could not pass. She told Maria plainly, "no +English lord should cross her doorstep." She could +not believe in his good heart, or his good sense, and +she asked scornfully, "how a close friend of General +Clinton's could be fit company for an American girl? +He has nae charm for touching pitch without being +defiled," she said, "and I'll not hae him sitting on +my chairs, and putting his feet on my hearth, and +fleching and flattering you in my house while my +name is Janet Semple. And you may tell him I +said so."</p> + +<p class="indent">And in order to prevent Madame giving her own +message, Maria was compelled to confess to Lord +Medway, her grandmother's antagonism. He was +politely sorry for her dislike to Englishmen—for he +preferred to accept it as a national, rather than a +personal feeling; but it did not interfere with his +intentions. There was Miss Bradley. She had a +kind feeling toward him, and Maria spent a large +part of every day with her friend. By calling on +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span> +Miss Bradley he could see Miss Semple. As the +best means toward this end he cultivated Agnes +through her father. He talked with him, listened to +his experiences, and gave him subscriptions for +Wesley Chapel, and for the prisoners he could find +means to help. He made such a good impression on +John Bradley, that he told his daughter he felt sure +the good seed he had sown would bring forth good +fruit in its season.</p> + +<p class="indent">Macpherson had a certain welcome at the Semples, +but he could not strain it. Madame was not +well, company fatigued her, and, though he did not +suspect this reason, she was feeling bitterly that she +must give up her life-long hospitality—she could not +afford to be hospitable any longer. She did not tell +Maria this, she said rather, "the laddie wearied her +mair than once a week. She wasna strong, and she +didna approve o' his excuses for General Clinton. I +could tear them all to ravlins," she said, angrily, +"but I wad tear mysel' to pieces doing it. He has +the reiving, reiving Highland spirit, and nae wonder! +The Macphersons have carried fire and sword +for centuries."</p> + +<p class="indent">As for Harry Deane, he, of course, could not come +at all, though Madame might have borne him more +than once a week, if she had been trusted. But +Harry was as uncertain as the wind. He came when +no one looked for him, and when he was expected, +he was miles away. So there was no possible neutral +ground for Love but such as Agnes in her good-nature +and wisdom would allow. But Agnes was +not difficult. Neil Semple had taught her the sweetness +and clemency of love, and she would not deprive +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span> +Maria of those pleasant hours, with which so +many days were brightened that would otherwise +have been dull and monotonous. For, during the +summer's heat the royalist families, who could afford +to do so, left the city, and the little tea parties at +Agnes Bradley's were nearly the only entertainment +at Maria's command.</p> + +<p class="indent">These were informal and often delightful. Lord +Medway knew that about five o'clock Agnes would +be setting the tea-tray, and he liked to sit beside +Maria and watch her do it. And sometimes Maria +made the tea, and poured his out, and put in the +sugar and cream with such enchanting smiles and +ways that he vowed never tea in this world tasted so +refreshing and delicious. And not infrequently +Quentin Macpherson would come clattering in when +the meal had begun, take a chair at the round table, +and drinking his tea a little awkwardly, soothe his +self-esteem by an aggressive self-importance. For +Lord Medway's nonchalant manner provoked him +to such personal assertion as always mortified when +the occasion was over. About half-past seven was +Neil's hour, and then the conversation became general, +and love found all sorts of tender occasions; +every glance of meeting eyes, and every clasp of +meeting hands, bearing the one sweet message, "I +love you, dear!"</p> + +<p class="indent">It was usually in the morning that Harry came +springing up the garden path. There was neither +work nor lessons that day, nor any pretense of them. +Harry had too much to tell, and both Agnes and +Maria hung upon his words as if they held the secret +of life and happiness. Now, granted two beautiful +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span> +girls with a moderate amount of freedom, and four +lovers in that pleasantly painful condition between +hope and fear that people in love make, if it is not +made for them, and put all in a position where they +have the accessories of sunlight and moonlight, a +shady garden, a noble river, the scent of flowers, the +goodness of fine fruit, the pleasures of the tea-table, +and if these young people do not advance in the +sweet study their hearts set them, they must be either +coldly indifferent, or stupidly selfish.</p> + +<p class="indent">This company of lovers was however neither stupid +nor selfish. In the midst of war's alarms, while +fleets and armies were gathering for battle, they +were attending very faithfully to their own little +drama. Quentin Macpherson had one advantage +over both his rivals: he went to the Semple house +every Sunday evening, and then he had Maria +wholly under his influence. He walked in the garden +with her, she made his tea for him, he sat by her +side during the evening exercise, sung the psalm +from the same Bible, and then, rising with the family, +stood, as one of them, while the Elder offered his +anxious yet trustful prayer. It was Madame who +had thought of connecting this service with the +young soldier. "It is little good he can get from +thae Episcopals," she said, "and it's your duty, Alexander, +to gie him a word in season," and though +Macpherson was mainly occupied in watching +Maria, and listening to her voice, he had been too +well grounded in his faith not to be sensible of the +sacredness of those few minutes, and to be insensibly +influenced by their spirit.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil was never present. When the tea-table was +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span> +cleared, he went quietly out, and those who cared to +follow him would have been led to the little Wesleyan +Chapel on John Street. He always took the same +seat in a pew near the door, and there he worshipped +for an hour or two the beautiful daughter of John +Bradley. He was present to watch them enter. +Sometimes the father went to the pulpit, sometimes +he went with Agnes to the singing-pew. And to +hear these two translating into triumphant song the +holy aspirations and longings of Watts and Wesley, +was reason enough for any one who loved music +to be in Wesley Chapel when they were singing together.</p> + +<p class="indent">All who have ever loved, all who yet dream of +love, can tell the further story of those summer days +for themselves. They have only to keep in mind +that it had a constant obligato of trumpets and +drums and marching men, and a constant refrain, +made up of all the rumors of war, victory, and defeat; +good news and bad news, fear, and hope, and +sighing despair. At length the warm weather gave +place to the dreamy hours of the Indian summer. A +heavenly veil of silvery haze lay over the river and +the city; a veil which seemed to deaden every sound +but the shrill chirping of the crickets; and a certain +sense of peace calmed for a short time the most restless +hearts. The families who had been at various +places during the hot months returned to their homes +in New York, with fresh dreams of conquest and +pleasure, for as yet the terrors of the coming winter +were not taken into thought or account. The war +was always going to be "over very soon," and General +Clinton assured the butterflies of his military +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span> +court they might eat, drink, and be merry, for he +intended at once to "strike such a blow as would put +an end to confederated rebellion for ever." And +they gladly believed him.</p> + +<p class="indent">In less than a week Maria received half-a-dozen +invitations to dinners, dances, card parties, and +musical recitations. She began at once to look over +her gowns, and Agnes came every day to the Semple +house to assist in remodeling and retrimming +them. They were delightful days long to be remembered. +Both the Elder and Madame enjoyed +them quite as much as the girls; and even Neil entered +into the discussions about colors, and the suitability +of guimpes and fringes, with a smiling gravity +that was very attractive.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Uncle Neil thinks he is taking depositions and +weighing evidence; see how the claims of pink and +amber perplex him!" and then Neil would laugh a +little, and decide in such haste that he generally contradicted +his first opinion.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Sunday in this happy week was made memorable +by the news which Quentin Macpherson +brought. "Some one," he said, "had whispered to +General Clinton that it was the intention of Washington +to unite with the French army and besiege +New York, and Clinton had immediately ordered +the troops garrisoning Rhode Island to return to the +city with all possible speed. And would you believe +it, Elder?" said the young soldier, "they came +so hastily that they left behind them all the wood +they had cut for winter, and all the forage and stores +provided for six thousand men. No sooner were +they out of sight than the American army slipped in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span> +and took possession of everything; and now it appears +that it was a false report—the general is furious, +and is looking for the author of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He needna look very far," answered Semple. +"There is a man that dips his sop in the dish wi' him, +and that coils him round his finger wi' a mouthful +o' words, wha could maist likely give him the whole +history o' the matter, for he'll be at the vera beginning +o' it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you mean to say, sir, that our Commander-in-Chief +has a traitor for his friend and confidant +and adviser?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I mean to say all o' that. But where will you +go and not find Washington's emissaries beguiling +thae stupid English?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You cannot call the English stupid, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I can and I will. They are sae sure o' their ain +power and wisdom that they are mair than stupid. +They are ridic'lus. It makes them the easy tools of +every clever American that is willing to take a risk—and +they maist o' them are willing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But when the English realize——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye, <i>when</i> they realize!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, sir, they came to realization last month +splendidly in that encounter with the privateer, Paul +Jones. It was the grandest seafight ever made between +seadogs of the same breed. Why, the muzzles +of their guns touched each other; the ships were +nearly torn to pieces, and three-fourths of the men +killed or wounded. Gentlemen, too, as well as +fighters though but lowborn men, for I am told they +began the combat with a courtesy worthy of the +days of chivalry. Both captains bowed and remained +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span> +uncovered until the foremost guns of the +English ship bore on the starboard quarter of the +American. Then Captain Paul Jones put on his +hat, as a sign that formalities were over, and the +battle began, and raged until the English ship was +sinking; then she surrendered."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mair's the pity!" said the Elder, "she ought to +have gone down fighting."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She saved the great fleet of merchantmen she +was convoying from the Baltic; while she was fighting +the American every one of them got safe away +and into port, and the American ship went down two +days afterward—literally died of her wounds and +went down to her grave. And by the bye, Mr. Semple, +this Paul Jones is a countryman of ours—a +Scotchman."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye, is he!—from Kirkcudbright. I was told +he had an intention o' sacking Edinburgh. Fair, +perfect nonsense!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"An old friend of the Macphersons—Stuart of +Invernalyle—was sought out to defend the town. I +had a letter from the family."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Weel, Stuart could tak' that job easy. The +west wind is a vera reliable one in the Firth o' +Edinburgh, and it is weel able, and extremely likely, +to defend its ain city. In fact, it did do so, for Paul +couldna win near, and so he went 'north about' and +found the Baltic fleet with the <i>Serapis</i> guarding it. +Weel, then, he had his fight, though he lost the plunder. +But it was a ridic'lus thing in any mortal, menacing +the capital o' Scotland wi' three brigs that +couldna have sacked a Fife fishing village! And +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span> +what is mair," added the old man with a tear glistening +in his eyes, "he wouldna have hurt Leith or Edinburgh. +Not he! Scots may love America, but +they never hate their ain dear Scotland; they wouldna +hurt the old land, not even in thought. If put +to the question, all o' them would say, as David o' +Israel and David o' Scotland baith said, 'let my right +hand forget its cunning——' you ken the rest, and +if you don't, it will do you good to look up the 137th +Psalm."</p> + +<p class="indent">The stir of admiration concerning these and other +events—all favorable to the Americans—irritated +General Clinton and made him much less courteous +in his manner to both friends and foes. And, moreover, +it was not pleasant for him to know that General +Washington was entertaining the first French +Minister to the United States at Newburgh, and that +John Jay was then on his way to Madrid to complete +with the Spanish government terms of recognition +and alliance. So that even through the calmness +of these Indian summer days there were definite +echoes of defeat and triumph, whether expressed +publicly or discussed so privately that the +bird of the air found no whisper to carry.</p> + +<p class="indent">One day at the end of October, Agnes did not +come until the afternoon, and Maria rightly judged +that Harry was in New York. There was no need +to tell her so, the knowledge was an intuition, and +when Agnes said to Madame, "she had a friend, and +would like Maria to bring the pelerine they were retrimming +to her house, and spend the evening with +her," no objection was made. "I shall miss you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span> +baith; so will the Elder," she answered, "but I dare +say that English lord is feeling I have had mair than +my share o' your company."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, Madame!" said Agnes, "it is not the English +lord, it is a true American boy from—up the +river," and Agnes opened her eyes wide as she lifted +them to Madame's, and there was some sort of instantaneous +and satisfactory understanding. Then +she added, "Will you ask Mr. Neil Semple to come +for Maria about eight o'clock?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"There will be nae necessity to ask him. His feet +o' their ain accord will find their way to your house, +Agnes," said Madame. "Before he has told himsel' +where he is going he will be at your doorstep. He +must be very fond o' his niece Maria—or of somebody +else," and the old lady smiled pleasantly at +the blushing girl. Then both girls kissed Madame +and stopped at the garden gate to speak to the Elder, +and so down the road together full of happy expectation, +divining nothing of <i>One</i> who went forth with +them. How should they? Neither had ever seen +the face of sorrow or broke with her the ashen crust. +They were not aware of her presence and they heard +not the stir of her black mantle trailing upon the dust +and the dead leaves as she walked at their side.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry will be here for tea," said Agnes, when +they reached the house, and a soft, delightful sense +of pleasure to come pervaded the room as they sat +sewing and talking until it was time to set the table. +And as soon as Agnes began this duty there was a +peculiar whistle, and Maria glanced at Agnes, threw +aside her work, and went down the garden to meet +her lover. He was tying his boat to the little jetty, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span> +and when the duty was done they sat down on the +wooden steps and talked of this, and that, and of +everything but love, and yet everything they said +was a confession of their interest in each other. But +the truest love has often the least to say, and those +lovers are to be doubted and pitied who must always +be seeking assurances, for thus they sow the path of +love with thorns. Far happier are they who leave +something unsaid, who dare to enter into that living +silence which clasps hearts like a book of songs unsung. +They will sing them all, but not all at once. +One by one, as their hour comes, they will learn them +together.</p> + +<p class="indent">That calm, sweet afternoon was provocative of +this very mood. Maria and Harry sat watching +the river rocking the boat, and listening to the chirruping +of the crickets, and both were satisfied with +their own silence. It was a heavenly hour, hushed +and halcyon, full of that lazy happiness which is the +most complete expression of perfect love. When +Agnes called, they walked hand in hand up the garden, +and at the tea-table came back again into the +world. Harry had much to tell them, and was full +of confidence in the early triumph of the Americans.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then I hope we shall have peace, and all be +friends again," said Maria. She spoke a little wearily, +as if she had no faith in her words, and Harry +answered her doubt rather than her hope.</p> + +<p class="indent">"There will not be much friendship this generation," +he said; "things have happened between England +and America which men will remember until +they forget themselves."</p> + +<p class="indent">After tea, Harry said, "Maria is going with me +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span> +to the river to see if the boat is safe," and Agnes, +smiling, watched them a little way; then turned +again to her china, and without any conscious application +began to sing softly the aria of an old English +anthem by King:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I went down into the garden of nuts, to see +whether the pomegranates budded—to see whether +the pomegranates—the pomegranates budded,"<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> but +suddenly, even as her voice rose and fell sweetly to +her thoughts, a strange chill arrested the flow of the +melody; and she was angry at herself because she +had inadvertently wondered, "if the buds would ever +open full and flowerwise?"</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p class="indent"><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> "Solomon's Song," 6:11.</p></div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">In about half an hour Agnes, having finished her +house duties, went to the door opening into the garden +and called Harry and Maria. They turned toward +the house when they heard her voice, and she +remained in the open door to watch them come +through the tall box-shrubs and the many-colored +asters. And as she did so, Quentin Macpherson +reached the front door—which also stood open—and +perceiving Agnes, he did not knock, but waited for +her to turn inward. Consequently he saw Harry +and Maria, and did not fail to notice the terms of +affectionate familiarity between them. The fire of +jealousy was kindled in a moment; he strode forward +to meet the company, and was received with +the usual friendly welcome; for such a situation had +often been spoken of as possible, and Agnes was not +in the least disconcerted.</p> + +<p class="indent">"My friend, Mr. Harry Deane, Captain Macpherson," +she said, without hesitation, and the Captain +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span> +received the introduction with his most military air. +Then Agnes set herself to keep the conversation +away from the war, but that was an impossible +thing; every incident of life somehow or other +touched it, and before she realized the fact, Harry +was deprecating Tryon's outrages in Connecticut, +and Macpherson defending them on the ground that +"the towns destroyed had fitted out most of the +privateers which had so seriously interfered with +English commerce. Both the building of the ships +and the destruction of the towns for building them +are natural incidents of war," he said, and then +pointedly, "perhaps you are a native of Connecticut?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No," answered Harry, "I am a native of New +York."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ah! I have not met you before."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am a great deal away——" then receiving +from Agnes a look of anxious warning, he thought +it best to take his leave. Agnes rose and went to +the door with him, and Maria wished Captain Macpherson +anywhere but in her society; especially as +he began to ask her questions she did not wish to +answer.</p> + +<p class="indent">"So Miss Bradley has a lover?" he said, looking +pointedly at the couple as they left the room.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I used to think so once," answered Maria.</p> + +<p class="indent">"But not now?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"But not now. Mr. Deane is an old friend, a +playmate even."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I suppose he is a King's man?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ask him; he is still standing at the gate. I talk +to him on much pleasanter subjects."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span> +"Love, for instance?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Perhaps."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How can you be so cruel, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is <i>Miss Semple's</i> nature to be cruel."</p> + +<p class="indent">The reproof snubbed him, and both were silent +for some minutes; then the same kind of desultory +fencing was renewed, and Maria felt the time to be +long and the tension unendurable. She could have +cried out with anger. Why had not Agnes let her +go to the door with Harry? She had had no opportunity +to bid him "good-bye"; and yet, even after +Harry had gone, there Agnes stood at the gate, +"watching for Uncle Neil, of course," thought +Maria, "and no doubt she has a message for me; she +might come and give it to me—very likely Harry is +at the boat waiting for me—oh, dear! Why does +she not come?"</p> + +<p class="indent">With such thoughts urging her, the very attitude +of Agnes was beyond endurance. She stood at the +gate as still as if she was a part of it, and at length +Maria could bear the delay no longer.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I wish to speak to Agnes," she said, "will you +permit me a moment?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Certainly," he answered with an air of offense. +"I fear I am in the way of some one or something."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, no, no!" cried Maria, decisively. "I only +want to make her come in. She says the night air +is so unhealthy, and yet there she stands in it—bareheaded, +too."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is an unusually warm evening."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, but you know there is the malaria. I shall +bring her in a moment, you shall see how quickly I +am obeyed."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span> +In unison with these words, she rose in a hurry, +and as she did so there came through the open window +a little stone wrapped in white paper. If she +had not moved, it would have fallen into her lap; +as it was, it fell on the floor and almost at the feet +of Macpherson. He lifted it, and went to the candle. +It was a message, as he expected, and read +thus:</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Keep that Scot amused for an hour, and meet me +at Semple's landing at nine o'clock. Harry."</i></p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh! Oh!" he said with an intense inward passion. +"I am to be amused! I am to be cajoled! +deceived! <i>that Scot</i> is to be used for some purpose, +and by St. Andrew, I'll wager it is treason. This +affair must be looked into—quick, too." With this +thought he put the paper in his pocket, and followed +Maria to the gate where she stood talking with +Agnes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will bid you good-night," he said with a purposed +air of offense. "I am sure that I am an intruder +on more welcome company."</p> + +<p class="indent">He would listen to no explanations or requests. +Maria became suddenly kind, and assumed the prettiest +of her coaxing ways, but he knew she was +only "amusing" him, and he would not respond to +what he considered her base, alluring treachery.</p> + +<p class="indent">"There, now, Maria! You have been very foolish," +said Agnes. "Captain Macpherson is angry. +You ought to have been particularly kind to him to-night—after +Harry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You were so selfish, Agnes—so unreasonably +selfish! You might have let me go to the gate with +Harry. I never had a chance to say 'good-bye' to +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span> +him; there you stood, watching for Uncle Neil, and +I was on pins and needles of anxiety. Why didn't +you stay with the man, and let me go to the gate?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you must know why; I had some money to +give Harry. Could I do that before Captain Macpherson?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hate the man! I am glad he has gone! I hope +he will never come again!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not think he will, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">They went into the house thoroughly vexed with +each other, and Maria said in a tone of pique or offense, +"I wonder what delays my uncle! I wish he +would come!"</p> + +<p class="indent">In reality Neil was no later than usual, but Maria +was quivering with disappointment and annoyance, +and when he did arrive it was not possible for any +one to escape the influence of an atmosphere charged +with the miserable elements of frustrated happiness. +Maria was not a girl to bear disagreeable things +alone or in silence. She would talk only of Macpherson +and his unwelcome visit; "but he always +did come when he was not wanted," she said angrily. +"Last Sunday when grandmother was sick, and I +was writing a long letter to father, and nobody cared +to see him at all, enter Captain Macpherson with his +satisfied smile, and his clattering sword, and his provoking +air of conferring a favor on us by his company. +I hate the creature! And I think it is a +dreadful thing to make set days for people's visits; +we have all got to dislike Sunday afternoons, just +for his sake!" and so on, with constant variations.</p> + +<p class="indent">Fortunately Mr. Bradley came home soon after +eight o'clock, and Maria would not make any further +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span> +delay. She had many reasons for her hurry, +but undoubtedly the chief one, was a feeling that +Agnes ought not to have the pleasure of a conversation +between her father and her lover, and probably +a walk home with her, and then a walk back with +Neil alone. She would go at once, and she would +not ask Agnes to go with her. If she was disappointed, +it was only a just retribution for her selfishness +about Harry. And though she noticed Agnes +was depressed and cast down, she was not appeased; +"However, I will come in the morning and make all +right," she thought; "to-night Agnes may suffer a +little. I will come in the morning and make all +right."</p> + +<p class="indent">Yes, she would come in the morning, but little she +dreamed on what errand she would come. Still, +Maria is not to be blamed over much; there is some +truth in every reproach that is made.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE INTERCEPTED MESSAGE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">While</span> this unhappy interlude was passing, a far +greater sorrow was preparing. Captain Macpherson +went at once to his colonel with the pebble-sent +note. He told himself that his duty to his King +and his colors demanded it, and that no harm could +come to the two women except such as was reflected +from the trouble that saucy young man might be +entitled to. He had no objections to giving him +trouble; he felt that he ought to be made to understand +a little better what was due to an officer of +the King. <i>"That Scot!"</i> He flung his plaid passionately +over his shoulder and stamped his foot +with the offended temper of centuries of Macphersons. +As for Maria, he would not think of her. +He could not know what the consequences of the +interrupted tryst would be, but let her take them! +A girl who could prefer quite a common-looking +young man to himself needed a lesson. He said +over and over that he had only done a duty he would +have performed under any circumstances; and he +kept reiterating the word "duty,"—still he knew +right well that duty in this case had been powerfully +seconded by jealousy and by his personal offense.</p> + +<p class="indent">What action his colonel would take he knew not. +He desired to be excused from any part in it, because +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span> +of the Semple's hospitality to him. His request +was granted; and then he went to his rooms hot +with uncertain excitement. The colonel had no +sentimental reasons for ignoring what might prove +a valuable arrest. Nothing had provoked General +Clinton more than the ubiquitous nature of Washington's +spies. They were everywhere; they were +untiring, unceasing and undaunted. The late reverses, +which had mortified every English soldier, +had been undoubtedly brought about by the false +reports they spread,—no one knew by whose assistance,—and +this night might be a turning-point in +affairs.</p> + +<p class="indent">He ordered ten picked men to wait for the boat +at Semple's landing. The place was easily reached; +they had but to walk to the bottom of the fence, +climb over it, and secrete themselves in the little boathouse, +or among the shrubbery, if it had yet foliage +enough to screen them. He looked over his roll +of suspects and found Madame Semple's name +among them. Likely enough, her family sympathized +with her. It would at least be prudent to +secure the husband and son. If they were good +royalists, they could easily prove it. Then he sat +down to smoke and to drink brandy; he, too, had +done his duty, and was not troubled at all about +results. The Semples, to him, were only two or +three out of sixty thousand reputed royalists in the +city. If they were honest, they had little to fear; +if they were traitors, they deserved all they would +certainly get from Clinton in his present surly mood.</p> + +<p class="indent">Quite unconscious of what was transpiring, John +Bradley was eating a frugal supper of oatmeal and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span> +bread and cheese, and telling his daughter about a +handsome saddle that was going up the river to +"the man in all the world most worthy of it." Elder +Semple was asleep, and Madame, lying in the darkness, +was softly praying away her physical pain and +her mental anxieties. Suddenly she heard an unusual +stir and the prompt, harsh voices of men either +quarreling or giving orders.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is on our ain place!" and a sick terror assailing +her, she cried: "Wake up! Wake up, Alexander! +There's men at the door, and angry men, and +they're calling you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil, who was sitting dressed in his room, instantly +answered the summons, and was instantly +under arrest; and as no effort was made to prevent +noise or confusion, the tumult and panic soon +reached Maria. She was combing her hair to fretful +thoughts, and a keen sense of disappointment; +but when Madame entered the room wringing her +hands and lamenting loudly, she let the comb fall +and stood up trembling with apprehension.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria! Maria! They are taking your grandfather +and uncle to prison! Oh, God, my dear auld +man! My dear auld man!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Grandmother! What are you saying? You +must be mistaken—you must be!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Come, and see for yoursel';" and Madame flung +open the window and with a shriek of futile distress +cried, "Alexander, look at me! Speak to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">At these words the Elder, who was standing with +a soldier, lifted his face to the distracted woman, +in her white gown at the open window, and cried to +her:</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span> +"Janet, my dearie, you'll get your death o' cold. +It is a' a mistake. Go to your bed, dear woman. +I'll be hame in the morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil repeated this advice, and then there was a +sharp order and a small body of men marched forward, +and in their midst Harry walked bareheaded +and manacled. He tried to look up, for he had +heard the colloquy between the Elder and his wife, +and understood Maria might be also at the +window; but as he turned his head a gigantic Highlander +struck him with the flat of his sword, and as +the blow fell rattling on the youth's shoulder Maria +threw up her hands with a shriek and fell into a +chair sobbing.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dinna cry that way, Maria, my dearie; they'll +be hame in the morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, yes, grandmother! It was the blow on +that last prisoner. Did you see it? Did you hear it? +Oh, what a shame!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Poor lad! I know naething about him; but he +is in a terrible sair strait."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is he doing here in our house? Surely +you know, grandmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know naething about him. He is doubtless +one o' Washington's messengers—there's plenty o' +them round. Why he came near us is mair than +I can say." Then a sudden fear made her look intently +at Maria, and she asked, "Do you think your +Uncle Neil has turned to the American cause?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, grandmother, how can you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He has been so much wi' that Agnes Bradley. +My heart misgave me at the first about her. Neil +is in love, and men in love do anything."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span> +"Uncle Neil is as true a royalist as grandfather."</p> + +<p class="indent">"See, then, what they have, baith o' them, got +for standing by King George. It serves them +right! It serves them right! O dear, dear me! +What shall we do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Two weary hours were spent in such useless conversation; +then Madame, being perfectly exhausted, +was compelled to go to bed. "We can do naething +till morning," she said; "and Neil will hae his plans +laid by that time. They will be to bail, doubtless; +and God knows where the friends and the money are +to come from. But there's plenty o' time for grief +to-morrow; go and sleep an hour or two now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And you, grandmother? What will you do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He who never fails will strengthen me. When +the morn comes I shall be able for all it can bring. +This was such a sudden blow I lost my grip."</p> + +<p class="indent">Alone in her room, Maria felt the full force of the +sudden blow. Although Harry's note had missed +her, she understood that he had been waiting for +a few words with her. Twice before she had been +in the garden when he passed up the river, and he +had landed and spent a delicious half-hour with +her. She was sure now that he had been as much +disappointed as herself, and had hoped she would +come and say good-bye as soon as she reached home. +But who had betrayed him? And why was her +grandfather and uncle included in his arrest?</p> + +<p class="indent">For some time she could think of nothing but her +lover walking so proudly in the midst of his enemies; +reviled by them, struck by them, yet holding +his head as authoritatively as if he was their captain, +rather than their prisoner. Then she remembered +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span> +Agnes, and at first it was with anger. "If +she had not been so selfish, Harry would not have +needed to take such a risk!" she cried. "It is dreadful! +dreadful! And just as soon as it is light I +must go and tell her. Her father must now know +all; he ought to have been told long ago. I +shall insist on her telling now, for Harry's life is +first of all, and his father has power some way or +other."</p> + +<p class="indent">Thus through the long hours she wept and complained +and blamed Agnes and even herself, and +perhaps most of all was angry with the intrusive +Macpherson, whose unwelcome presence had been +the cause of the trouble. And, oh! what arid torturing +vigils are those where God is not! Madame +lying on her bed with her hands folded over her +breast and thoughts heavenward, was at peace compared +with this tumultuous little heart in the midst +of doubt, darkness, and the terror of dreadful death +for one dear to her. She knew not what to abandon, +nor what to defend; her brain seemed stupefied by +calamity so inevitable. And yet, it was not inevitable; +it had depended for many minutes on herself. +A word, a look, and Agnes would have understood +her desire; and half a dozen times before she +had made the movement which was just <i>too late;</i> +her heart had urged her to call her friend. But she +had doubted, wavered, and delayed, and so given to +Destiny the very weapons that were used against +her.</p> + +<p class="indent">As soon as the morning dawned she dressed herself. +Before her grandmother came down stairs +it was imperative on her to see Agnes and tell her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span> +what had happened. A dismal, anxious stillness +had succeeded the storm of her terror and grief; a +feeling of outrage, of resentment against events, +and an agony of love and pity, as she remembered +Harry smitten and helpless in the power of a merciless +foe. She had now one driving thought and +purpose—the release of her lover. She must save +the life he had risked for her sake, though she gave +her own for it.</p> + +<p class="indent">As she went through the gray dawning she was +sensitive to some antagonism, even in Nature. The +unseasonable warmth of the previous evening had +been followed by a frost. The faded grass snapped +under her fleet steps, the last foliage had withered +during the night, and was black and yellow as +death, and everything seemed to shiver in the pale +light. And though the waning moon yet hung low +in the west, and all the mystery and majesty of +earth was round her, Maria was only conscious of +the chill terror in her heart, and of the chill, damp +mist from the river which enfolded her like a cloak, +and was the very atmosphere of sorrow.</p> + +<p class="indent">When she reached the Bradley home all was shut +and still; the very house seemed to be asleep, but +why did its closed door affect her so painfully? +She went round to the kitchen and found the slave +woman Mosella bending over a few blazing chips, +making herself a cup of tea. The woman looked +at her wonderingly, and when Maria said, "Mosella, +I must see Miss Agnes at once," she rose without +a word and opened the garden door of the house. +The shutters were all closed, the stairway dim, and +the creaking of the steps under her feet made her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span> +quiver. It was an hour too early for light and +life, and a noiseless noise around her seemed to +protest against this premature invasion of the day.</p> + +<p class="indent">She entered the room of her friend very softly. +It was breathless, shadowy, and on the white bed +Agnes was lying, asleep. For a moment Maria +stood looking at the orderly place and the unconscious +woman. The pure pallor of her cheeks had +the flush of healthy sleep; her brown hair, braided, +lay loose upon her pillow, her white hands upon +the white coverlet. She was the image of deep, +dreamless, peaceful oblivion. It seemed a kind of +wrong to awaken her; but though the eyes of Agnes +were closed, Maria's gaze called to the soul on guard +behind them, and without one premonitory movement +she opened them wide and saw Maria at her +bedside. A quick fear leaped into her heart. She +was momentarily speechless. She laid her hand on +Maria's arm, and looked at her with apprehending +inquiry.</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Harry!"</i> said Maria, and then she sat down and +covered her face and began to cry softly. There +was no necessity to say more. Agnes understood. +She rose and began to dress herself, and in a few +minutes asked, though almost in a whisper:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is he taken?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Where?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"At our landing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Last night."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why did you not send me word last night? +Neil would have come."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span> +"Neil was arrested, and also my dear old grandfather. +It is shameful! shameful!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"What was Harry doing at your landing?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I don't know. I was in my room. I was half-undressed, +combing my hair out, when grandmother +rushed to me with the news. It is not my fault, +Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Did you ever meet Harry at your landing, +Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Only twice, both times in the daylight. He +was passing and happened to see me. There was +no tryst between us; and I know nothing about last +night, except——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Except what?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That if you had given him a chance to say +'Good-bye' to me here, he would not have thought +of stopping at our landing; but," she added in a +weary voice, "you were watching for Uncle Neil, +and so, of course, you forgot other people."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Don't be cruel, Maria, as well as unjust."</p> + +<p class="indent">"All the same, it is the truth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How was he discovered? You surely know +that?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, I do not. There were at least ten or +twelve soldiers—Highlanders. One of them struck +Harry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, why do you tell me? Who could have betrayed +him? Macpherson? You know you offended +him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It could not be Macpherson. He never saw +Harry before. He knew nothing about him. He +thought his name was Deane. If it had been Macpherson, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span> +your landing, not ours, would have been +watched."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No; for he saw you and Harry coming through +the garden hand-in-hand. I am sure he did. He +went away in a fit of jealousy, and he would think +of your landing as well as ours. But all that is +nothing. We have but a few hours in which to +try and save his life. I must awake father and tell +him. It will break his heart."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You ought to have told him——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What can I do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Women can do nothing but suffer. I am sorry +with all my soul for you, Maria, and I will let you +know what father does. Go home to your poor +grandmother; she will need all the comfort you can +give her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am sorry for you, Agnes; yes, I am! I will do +anything I can. There is Lord Medway, he loves +me; and General Clinton loves him, I know he does; +I have seen them together."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father is first. I must awaken him. Leave +me now, Maria, dear. None but God can stand by +me in this hour."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Maria kissed her, and Agnes fell upon her +knees, her arms spread out on her bed and her face +buried in them. There were no words given her; +she could not pray; but when the Gate of Prayer is +closed the Gate of Tears is still open. She wept +and was somewhat helped, though it was only by +that intense longing after God which made her cry +out, "O that I knew where to find Him, that I +might come into His presence!"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span> +When she went to her father's door he was already +awake. She heard him moving about his +room, washing and dressing, and humming to himself +in strong snatches a favorite hymn tune; no +words seemed to have come to him, for the melody +was kept by a single syllable that served to connect +the notes. Nevertheless, the tone was triumphant +and the singer full of energy. It made Agnes shiver +and sicken to listen to him. She sat down on the topmost +stair and waited. It could not be many minutes, +and nothing for or against Harry could be done till +the world awoke and went to business. Very soon +the hymn tune ceased, and there was a few minutes +of a silence that could be felt, for it was threaded +through by a low, solemn murmur easy to translate,—the +man was praying. When he came out of +his room he saw Agnes sitting on the stair, and as +soon as she lifted her face to him he was frightened +and asked sharply:</p> + +<p class="indent">"What are you doing there, Agnes? What has +happened?"</p> + +<p class="indent">She spoke one word only, but that word went like +a sword to the father's heart,—<i>"Harry!"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">He repeated the word after her: "Harry! Is he +ill? Let me see the letter, where is he? With +Doctor Brudenel? Can't you speak, girl?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry is here, in New York, in prison?"</p> + +<p class="indent">The words fell shivering from her lips; she raised +herself, watching her father's face the while, for +she thought he was going to fall. He shook like +a great tree in a storm, and then retreated to the +door of his room and stood with his back against +it. He could not speak, and Agnes was afraid.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span> +"Father," she said in a low, passionate voice of +entreaty, "we have the boy to save. Do not lose +yourself. You have <i>your Father</i> to lean upon."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know! I feel! Go and make me a cup of +coffee. I will be ready when you call me."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then he went back into his room and shut the +door, and Agnes, with a sick, heavy heart, prepared +the necessary meal. For though danger, sorrow +and death press on every side, the body must have +sustenance; and every-day meals, that look so tragically +common and out of place must go on as usual. +But it was a little respite and she was grateful, because +in it her father would talk the trouble over +with God before she had to explain it to him. The +interval was a short one, but during it John Bradley +found Him who is "a very present help in every +hour of need." He came down to his coffee in full +possession of himself and ready for the fight before +him. But he had also realized the disobedience +which had brought on this sorrow, and the deception +which had sanctioned the boy in his disobedience. +Therefore Agnes was afraid when she +saw his severe eyes, and shrank from them as from +a blow, and large tears filled her own and rolled +down her white cheeks unchecked.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Agnes," he said, "tell me the whole truth. I +must know everything, or you may add your brother's +murder to the other wrongdoing. When did +he come back to America?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Six months after you sent him to England. He +said he could not, durst not, stay there. He thought +that God might have some work that needed <i>just +him</i> to do it. I think Harry found that work."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span> +"Why did you not tell me at the time?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was in Boston, at school, when Harry first +came to me, and we talked together then about telling +you. But at that time both of us supposed you +to be a King's man, and the party feeling was then +riotously cruel. Harry had been three months with +Washington, and his peculiar fitness for the New +York Secret Service had been found out. Still, +Washington took no unfair advantage of his youth +and enthusiasm. He told him he would be one of +a band of young men who lived with their lives +in their hands. And when Harry answered, 'General, +if I can bring you information that will help +Freedom forward one step, my life gladly for it,' +Washington's eyes shone, and he gave Harry his +hand and said, 'Brave boy! Your father must be +a happy man.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">She paused here and looked at the father, and +saw that his face was lifted and that a noble pride +strove with a noble pain for the mastery. So she +continued: "Harry <i>has</i> helped Freedom forward. +He found out, while pretending to fish for the garrison +at Stony Point, the best way across the marsh +and up the rocks. He helped to set afloat the reports +that brought Tryon back from Connecticut, +and the garrison from Rhode Island. He has prepared +the way for many a brave deed, taken all +the danger and the labor, getting no fame and +wanting none, his only aim to serve his country and +to be loved and trusted by Washington. If we erred +in keeping these things from you, it has been an +error of love. And when we knew you also were +serving your country in your own way, Harry was +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> +sure you would do it better and safer if you were +not always looking for him—fearing for him. Oh, +father! surely you see how his presence would have +embarrassed you and led to suspicion."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I would like to have seen the boy," he said, +softly, as if he were thinking the words to himself.</p> + +<p class="indent">"He saw you often, never came to the city without +passing the shop to see you; and it made both +of us happy to believe that very soon now he would +dare to speak to you and to say, 'Father, forgive +me.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I must go to him, Agnes. Harry's life must be +saved, or I, John Bradley, will know the reason why. +Yes, and if he has to die there are some big +men here, playing double-face, that will die with +him. I know them——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, father! father! What are you saying? +Vengeance is not ours. Would it bring Harry back +to us?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is more than I can bear. Who was the informer? +Tell me that. And where was he taken?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I cannot tell who informed. He was taken with +his little boat at Elder Semple's landing by a party +of Scotch Highlanders."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What on earth was he doing at Semple's? Do +you think the Elder, or that fine gentleman Neil, +gave information?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"They were both arrested with Harry. They also +are in prison."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Am I losing my senses? The Semples! They +are royalists, known royalists, bitter as gall. What +was Harry doing at their place? Tell me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not certainly know, father. I think he may +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span> +have gone there hoping that Maria would come +down to the river to say a good-bye to him."</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Maria!</i> That is it, of course. If a man is to +be led to destruction and death, it is some woman +who will do the business for him. I warned you +about that Maria. My heart misgave me about +the whole family. So Harry is in love with her! +That is your doing, girl. What business had you +to let them meet at all? If Harry perishes, I shall +find it hard to forgive you; hard to ever see you +again. All this sorrow for your sentimental nonsense +about Maria. If she had been kept out of +Harry's life, he would have gone safely and triumphantly +on to victory with the rest of us. But +you must have your friend and your friend's +brother, and your own brother must pay the price +of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, father, be just! Even if you cannot pity +me, be just. I am suffering as much as I can bear."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then he rose and put on his hat and coat. "Stay +where you are," he said. "I will not have women +meddling with what I have now to do. Don't leave +the house for anyone or anything."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You will send me some word, father. I shall +be in an agony of suspense."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If there is any word to send, I will send it." +Then he went away without kissing her, without +one of his ordinary tender words; he left her alone +with her crushing sorrow, and the consciousness +that upon her he would lay the blame of whatever +disaster came to Harry. She had no heart for her +household duties, and she left the unwashed china +and went back to her room. She was yet in a state +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span> +of pitiful bewilderment; her grief was so certain, +its need was so urgent, and at that hour Heaven +seemed so far off; and yet she questioned her soul +so eagerly for the watchword that should give her +that stress of spirit which would connect her with +the Unseen World and permit her to claim its invincible +help.</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes had told her father that it was Highlanders +who arrested Harry, and Bradley went first to their +quarters. There he learned that the young man +had disclaimed connection with any regiment whatever; +and, being in citizen's clothes and wearing +no arms, his claim had been allowed and his case +turned over to the Military Court of Police. So +far it was favorable; the cruel haste of a court martial +shut the door of hope; but John Bradley knew +the Court of Police was composed of men who put +financial arguments before all others. He was, +however, too early, an hour too early, to see any +one; and the prisoner was under watch in one of +the guard-houses and could not be approached.</p> + +<p class="indent">He wandered back to his shop utterly miserable +and restless and wrote a letter to Thomas Curtis, +a clever lawyer, and a partner of Neil Semple, +explaining the position of his son and begging +him to be at the Court of Police when it opened. +This letter he carried to the lawyer's office and paid +the boy in attendance to deliver it immediately on +the arrival of his master. Then he went back to +his shop for money, and as he was slowly leaving +the place Lord Medway spoke to him. He had his +rifle over his shoulder and was going with a friend +to Long Island to shoot birds. The sight of the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span> +man made John Bradley's heart leap and burn. He +had been waiting for some leading as to the way he +ought to take, and he felt that it had been given +him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good morning, Mr. Bradley," said the nobleman.</p> + +<p class="indent">"My lord, turn back with me to my shop. I have +something of the greatest importance to tell you."</p> + +<p class="indent">Medway smiled: "My hunting is of the greatest +importance at present, Mr. Bradley, for my friend, +Colonel Pennington, is waiting for me; but if I can +be of service——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think you can; at least, listen to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">Medway bent his head in acquiescence, and Bradley +led the way to the small room behind his shop, +which had been his sitting and dining room while +his daughter was at school. He plunged at once into +the subject of his anxieties.</p> + +<p class="indent">"There was a prisoner taken last night."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A young man in a boat; I heard of it. General +Clinton thinks they may have made an important +arrest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is my son—my only son! I did not know +until an hour ago that he was in America. I sent +him to England at the beginning of the war—to a +fine school there—and I thought he was safe; and +he has been here, one of Washington's scouts, carrying +messages from camp to camp, in and out of +New York in all kinds of disguises, spreading reports +and gathering reports, buying medicines, and +clothing, and what not; doing, in short, duties +which in every case were life and death matters. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span> +For three years or more he has done these things +safely; last night he was discovered."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And you thought he was in England, safe and +comfortable, and learning his lessons?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I did, and thanked God for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Now, I would offer thanks for the other things. +If I were an American it would gladden my heart to +have a son like that. The young man thinks he +has been doing his duty; be a little proud of him. +I'll be bound he deserves it. Who arrested him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Some soldiers from the Highland regiment."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How did they happen to know? Could Macpherson +have informed? Oh, impossible! What +am I saying? Where was he taken?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"At Elder Semple's landing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You confound me, Bradley. I will stake my +honor on the Semples's loyalty—father and son +both. What was he doing there?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He had the old reason for calamity—a woman. +He is in love with the Elder's granddaughter, and +Agnes thinks he must have landed hoping to see +her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You mean, he had a tryst with her?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I only surmise. I can tell nothing surely."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will go with you to court, Bradley. Can you +send a man with a message to Colonel Pennington?"</p> + +<p class="indent">This done they went out together, and many +looked curiously at the lord and the saddler walking +the streets of New York in company. For in +those days the lines of caste were severely drawn. +When they entered the courtroom the case of the +Semples was being heard; but Harry sat a little +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span> +apart, on either side of him a soldier. The father +fixed his eyes upon him, and a proud flush warmed +his white face at the sight of the lad's dauntless +bearing and calm, almost cheerful, aspect.</p> + +<p class="indent">Lord Medway looked first toward the Semples, +and conspicuously bowed to both of them. The +Elder was evidently sick, fretful, and suffering. +Neil was wounded in every fiber of his proud nature. +The loyalty, the honor, the good name of the Semples +had been, he believed, irrevocably injured; for +he was lawyer enough to know that it is nearly as +bad to be suspected as to be guilty. And, small +as the matter seemed in comparison, he was intensely +mortified at the personal disarray of his +father and himself. The men who arrested them +had given them no time to arrange their clothing, +and Neil knew they looked more suspiciously guilty +for want of their clean laces and the renovating +influences of water and brushes.</p> + +<p class="indent">The assistant magistrate, Peter DuBois, was +just questioning Elder Semple.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Look at the prisoner taken on your premises, +Mr. Semple. Do you know him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never saw him in a' my life before his arrest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Did you know he was using your landing?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not I. I was fast asleep in my bed."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mr. Neil Semple, what have you to say?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was sitting partially dressed, reading in my +room. I have no knowledge whatever of the young +man, nor can I give you any reason why our landing +should have been used by him."</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Curtis then spoke eloquently of the unstained +loyalty of the Semples, and of their honorable life +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span> +for half a century in the city of New York. But +Peter DuBois held that they were not innocent, inasmuch +as they had been so careless of His Majesty's +interests as to permit their premises to be used for +treasonable purposes.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Court must first prove the treasonable purposes," +said Mr. Curtis.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Court proposes to do so," answered DuBois. +"Henry Deane, stand up!" and as he did so Bradley +uttered a sharp cry and rose to his feet also. In +this hour Harry looked indeed a son to be proud +of. He showed no fear, and was equally free from +that bluster that often cloaks fear, but raised a face +calm and cheerful—the face of a man who knows +that he has done nothing worthy of blame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Henry Deane," said DuBois, "is there anyone +in New York who knows you?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"I do!"</i> shouted John Bradley. "He is my son! +My dear son, Henry Deane Bradley;" and with the +words he marched to his son's side and threw his +arms about his neck.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, father! father, forgive me!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, Harry! Harry! I have nothing to forgive!" +and he kissed him in the sight of the whole court, +and wept over him like a mother.</p> + +<p class="indent">The whole affair had been so sudden, so startling +and affecting, that it was not at once interrupted. +But in a few moments the examination proceeded, +DuBois asking, "Do you know the Semples?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have seen them often. I have never spoken to +either of them in all my life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What took you to their landing, then?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know it so well. When I was a little boy I +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span> +used to borrow Elder Semple's boat if I wished to +fish or row, because I knew they were busy in the +city and would not miss it. So I got used to their +landing years ago."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Had you any special reason for going there last +night?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. It was a good place to wait until the moon +rose."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No other reason?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Habit."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing to get there?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing at all."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No one to see there?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No one."</p> + +<p class="indent">Lord Medway sighed heavily. The words were +a tremendous relief. If the young man had named +Maria it would have been shameful and unbearable. +He began now to take more interest in him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You refused to tell last night," said DuBois, "to +whom you were carrying the clothing and <i>the saddle</i> +that was in your boat. Will you now name the +person or persons?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No. I refuse to name them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"From whom did you receive or purchase these +articles?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I refuse to say."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Perhaps from the Semples?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Certainly not. I never received and never +bought a pin's worth from the Semples."</p> + +<p class="indent">In fact, no evidence of complicity could either be +found or manufactured against the Semples, and +Mr. Curtis demanded their honorable acquittal. +But they were good subjects for plunder, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span> +DuBois had already intimated to Judge Matthews +how their purses could be reached. In pursuance +of this advice, Judge Matthews said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"The loyalty of Alexander Semple and of his son, +Neil Semple, cannot be questioned; but they have +been unfortunately careless of His Majesty's rights +in permitting their premises to be of aid and comfort +to rebels; and therefore, as an acknowledgment +of this fault, and as a preventative to its recurrence, +Alexander Semple is fined two hundred pounds and +Neil Semple one hundred pounds. The prisoners +are free upon their own recognizances until the fifteenth +day of November, when they must appear in +this court and pay the fines as decided."</p> + +<p class="indent">The Elder heard the decision in a kind of stupefaction. +Neil, neither by himself or his lawyer, +made any protest. What use was there in doing +so? They had been sentenced by a court accountable +to no tribunal whatever: a court arbitrary and +illegal, that troubled itself neither with juries nor +oaths, and from which there was no appeal. Lord +Medway watched the proceedings with indignation, +and the feeling in the room was full of sympathy +for the two men. Neil's haughty manner and +stern face betrayed nothing of the anger he felt, but +the Elder was hardly prevented from speaking +words which would have brought him still greater +loss. As it was, it taxed Neil's strength and composure +to the uttermost to get his father with dignity +away from the scene. He gave him his arm, and +whispered authoritatively, "Do not give way, +father! Do not open your lips!" So the old gentleman +straightened himself, and, leaning heavily +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span> +on his son, reached the lobby before he fell into a +state bordering on collapse.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil placed him in a chair, got him water, and +was wondering where he could most easily procure +a carriage, when the sound of wheels coming at a +furious rate arrested his attention. They stopped +at the court house, and as Neil went to the door +the lovely Madame Jacobus sprang out of the vehicle.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil!" she cried. "Neil Semple! I only heard +an hour ago, I came as soon as the horses were +ready, it is disgraceful. Where is the Elder? Can +I take him home?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Madame, it will be the greatest kindness. He +is ready to faint."</p> + +<p class="indent">The Elder looked at her with eyes full of tears.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Madame," he said, "they have fined me in my +auld age for a misdemeanor"—and then he laughed +hysterically. "I hae lived fifty years in New York, +and I am fined—I hae——"</p> + +<p class="indent">She stopped the quavering voice with a kiss, and +with Neil's help led him gently to her carriage; and +as soon as he reached its friendly shelter he closed +his eyes and looked like one dead. Madame was in +a tempest of rage. "It is just like the ravening +wolves," she said. "They saw an opportunity to +rob you,—you need not tell me, I know Matthews! +He has the winter's routs and dances for his luxurious +wife and daughters to provide for, as well as +what he calls his own 'damned good dinners.' How +much did he mulct you in? Never mind telling me +now, Neil, but come and lunch with me to-morrow; +I shall have something to say to you then."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span> +She had the Elder's hand in her's as she spoke, +and she did not loosen her clasp until she saw him +safely at his own home and in the care of his wife. +She remained a few moments to comfort Madame +Semple, then, divining they would be best alone +with their sorrow, she went away with a reminder +to Neil that she wished to speak to him privately on +the following day.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is as if God sent her," said Madame gratefully.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Get me to my bed, Janet, dearie," said the Elder. +"I'll just awa' out o' this warld o' sorrows and +wrongs and robbery."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You'll just stop havering and talking nonsense, +Alexander. Are you going to die and leave me my +lane for a bit o' siller? I'm ashamed o' you. Twa +or three hundred pounds! Is that what you count +your life worth? Help your father to his bed, Neil, +and I'll bring him some gude mutton broth. He's +hungry and faint and out o' his sleep—it tak's little +to make men talk o' dying. Parfect nonsense!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You don't know, Janet Semple——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, I do know, Alexander. Quit whining, and +put a stout heart to a steep hill. You hae a wife and +sons and friends yet about you, and you talk o' +dying! I'll not hear tell o' such things, not I!"</p> + +<p class="indent">But when the Elder had taken a good meal and +fallen asleep, Janet spoke with less spirit to her son. +And Neil was in a still fury; he found it difficult to +answer his mother's questions.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The money is to be found, and that at once," he +said. "Father will not rest until it is paid; and I +have not the least idea where I can procure it."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span> +"You must sell some o' that confiscated property +you and your father wared all your ready money +on," said Janet bitterly.</p> + +<p class="indent">"At the present time it is worth nothing, mother; +and houses and lands are not sold at an hour's notice. +I suppose if I ask Batavius DeVries he will +help father. I think Curtis can manage my share +of the blackmail."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That poor lad wha has made a' the mischief, +what of him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is John Bradley's son." Then Neil described +the scene in the courtroom, and Madame's eyes +filled with tears as she said, "I never thought so +well o' the Bradleys before. Poor Agnes!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Yes, "poor Agnes!" Neil was feeling a consuming +impatience to be with her, to comfort her and +help her to bear whatever might be appointed.</p> + +<p class="indent">"So the lad is to be tried in the Military Police +Court. Is not that a good thing?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. John Bradley has money. It is all the +'law' there is to satisfy in that court."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are they trying him to-day?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. I heard his case called as we left the +room. Where is Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has cried herself blind, deaf and dumb. She +is asleep now. I went to tell her you were hame, +and she was sobbing like a bairn that has been +whipped ere it shut its eyes. I dinna waken her."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil went to his room to dress himself. He +felt as if no care and no nicety of apparel could ever +atone for the crumpled disorder of his toilet in the +courtroom, which had added itself so keenly to +his sense of disgrace. Then he must go to Agnes; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span> +her brother was his brother, and, though he had +brought such shame and loss on the Semples, still +he must do all he could for him, for the sake of +Agnes. And there was the money to find, and Madame +Jacobus to see! A sense of necessary haste +pressed him like a goad. Not a moment must be +lost, for he felt through every sense of his mortal +and spiritual being that Agnes was calling him.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE PRICE OF HARRY'S LIFE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">He</span> heard Agnes calling him, and he resolved to +go at once to her. And never had he looked handsomer +than at this hour, for he had clothed himself +with that rich and rigid propriety he understood so +well while the sense of injustice under which he so +inwardly burned gave to him a haughty dignity, +suiting his grave face and lofty stature to admiration. +He went very softly along the upper corridor +of his home, but Madame heard his step, and opening +her door, said in a whisper:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Your father has fallen asleep, Neil, and much +he needed sleep. Where are you going?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am going back to the court. I wish to know +what has been done in Bradley's case."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why trouble yourself with other people's business? +The lad has surely given us sorrow enough."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is her brother—I mean——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know who you mean; weel, then, go your way; +neither love nor wisdom will win a hearing from +you on that road."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is money to be found somewhere, mother. +Until his fine is paid, father will be miserable. I +want to borrow the amount as soon as possible."</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Borrow!</i> Has it come to that?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span> +"It has, for a short time. I think Captain +DeVries will let me have it. He ought to."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He'll do naething o' the kind. I would ask any +other body but him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There are few to ask. I must get it where I +can. Curtis will advance one hundred pounds for +me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They who go borrowing go sorrowing. I'm +vexed for you, my dear lad. It is the first time I +ever heard tell o' a Semple seeking money not their +ain."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is our own fault, mother. If father and I had +taken your advice and let confiscated property alone +we should have had money to lend to-day; certainly, +we should have been able to help ourselves +out of all difficulties without asking the assistance +of strangers."</p> + +<p class="indent">The confession pleased her. "What you say is +the truth," she answered; "but everybody has a fool +up their sleeve some time in their life. May God +send you help, Neil, for I'm thinking it will hae to +come by His hand; and somehow, I dinna believe +He'll call on Batavius DeVries to gie you it."</p> + +<p class="indent">With these words she retreated into her room, +closing the door noiselessly, and Neil left the house. +As soon as he was in the public road he saw Batavius +standing at his garden gate, smoking and talking +with Cornelius Haring and Adrian Rutgers. They +were discussing Bradley's trouble and the Semples's +connection with it, and Neil felt the spirit of their +conversation. It was not kindly, and as he approached +them Haring and Rutgers walked away. +For a moment Batavius seemed inclined to do the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span> +same, but Neil was too near to be avoided without +intentional offense, and he said to himself, "I will +stand still. Out of my own way I will not move, +because Neil Semple comes." So he stolidly continued +to smoke, staring idly before him with a gaze +fixed and ruminating.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good afternoon, Captain. Are you at liberty +for a few minutes?" asked Neil.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. What then, Mr. Semple? I heard tell, +from my friends, that you are in trouble."</p> + +<p class="indent">"We have been fined because Mr. Bradley's son +used our landing. It is a great injustice, for in this +matter we were as innocent as yourself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is not the truth, sir. If, like me, you had +boarded in your house a few soldiers, then the care +and the watch would have been their business, not +yours. Those who don't act prudently must feel +the chastisement of the government; but so! I will +have nothing to do with the matter. It is a steady +principle of mine never to interfere in other people's +affairs."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is no necessity for interference. The case +is settled. My father is fined two hundred pounds, +a most outrageous wrong."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Whoever is good and respectable is not fined by +the government."</p> + +<p class="indent">"In our case there was neither law nor justice. +It was simple robbery."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know not what you mean. The government is +the King, and I do not talk against either King or +government. The Van Emerlies, who are always +sneering at the King, have had to take twenty-seven +per cent. out of the estate of a bankrupt cousin; and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span> +the Remsens, who are discontented and always full +of complaints, have spoiled their business. God +directs things so that contentment leads to wealth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was speaking of neither the King nor his government, +but of the Military Police Court."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh! Well, then, I think all the stories I hear +about its greediness and tyranny are downright +lies."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I must, however, assert that this court has been +unjust and tyrannical both to my father and myself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is your business, not mine."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was in hopes that you would feel differently. +My father has often helped you out of tight places. +I thought at this time you would remember that. +There was that cargo at Perth Amboy, but for my +father, it had gone badly with you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, yes! I give good for good, but not to my +own cost. People who go against the government +and are in trouble are not my friends. I do not +meddle with affairs that are against the government. +It is dangerous, and I am a husband and a +father, not a fool."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To assist my father for a few days, till I can turn +property into money, is not going against the government."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You will not turn property into money these +days; it is too late. I, who am noted for my prudence, +got rid of all my property at the beginning +of the war; you and your father bought other people's +houses, while I sold mine. So! I was right, +as I always am."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then you had no faith in the King's cause, even +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span> +at the beginning; and I have heard it said you are +not unfriendly now to the rebels."</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Ja!</i> I give the Americans a little, quietly. One +must sail as the wind serves; and who can tell which +way it will blow to-morrow? I am a good sailor; +never shall I row against wind and tide. Who am +I, Batavius DeVries, to oppose the government? It +is one of my most sacred principles to obey the government."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then if the Americans succeed, you will obey +their government? Your principles are changeable, +Captain."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is a bad principle not to be able to change your +principles. The world is always changing. I +change with it. That is prudent, for I will not stand +alone, or be left behind. That is my way; your +ways do not suit me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"This talk comes to nothing. To be plain with +you, I want to borrow two hundred pounds for a +month. I hope you will lend it. In the Perth +Amboy matter my father stood for you in a thousand +pounds."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is eaten bread, and your father knew I +could secure the money. I wish I could help Elder +Semple, but it would not be prudent."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good gracious, sir!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, then, you must keep such words to yourself! +I say it would not be prudent. He has +swamped himself with other men's houses, his business +is decayed, he is old; and you are also in a bad +way and cannot help him, or why do you come +to me?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I can give you good security, good land——"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span> +"Land! What is good land to me? It will not +be useful in my business. And there is another +thing, you are not particular in your company. I +have heard about your Methodist friends; there is +Vestryman William Ustick, he was a Methodist +servant, and he has become bankrupt; so, then——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You will not repay my father's frequent loans to +you. If your father-in-law, Joris Van Heemskirk, +was here——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am not Joris Van Heemskirk. He is a rebel. I, +who have always been loyal, have made twelve thousand +dollars this last year. Is not that a hint for +me to go on in the right way?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Without waiting for the end of this self-complacent +tirade, Neil went forward. Batavius was only a +broken reed in his hand. Never before in all his +life had he felt such humiliating anxiety. Even +the slipping away of Haring and Rutgers, and the +uncivil refusal of Batavius, were distinctly new and +painful experiences. He felt, through Haring and +Rutgers, the public withdrawal of sympathy and +respect; and through Batavius, the coming bitterness +of the want of ready money. The Semples had +been fined; they were suspects; their names would +now be on the roll of the doubtful, and it would be +bad policy for the generality of citizens to be +friendly with them. And the necessity for borrowing +money revealed poverty, which otherwise they +would have been able to conceal. He knew, also, +that he would have to meet many such rebuffs, and +he was well aware that his own proud temper would +make them a pleasant payment to many whom he +had offended by his exclusiveness.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span> +As he approached the Bradley house he put all +these bitter thoughts aside. What were they in +comparison with the sorrow Agnes was compelled +to endure? His whole soul went out to the suffering +girl, and he blamed himself for allowing any +hope of Batavius to delay him. The very house +had taken on an air of loneliness and calamity. The +door was closed, the blinds down, and the wintry +frost that had blackened the garden seemed in some +inscrutable way to have touched the dwelling also. +He saw the slave woman belonging to the Bradleys +talking to a group of negroes down the road, and +he did not call her. If Agnes was within, he would +see her; and if her father had returned, they would +probably be together.</p> + +<p class="indent">Thinking thus, he knocked loudly, and then entered +the little hall. All was silent as the grave. +"Agnes! Agnes!" he cried; and the next moment +she appeared at the head of the stairs. "Agnes!" +he cried again, and the word was full of love and +sorrow, as he stretched out his arms to the descending +girl. She was whiter than snow, her eyes were +heavy and dark with weeping, her hair had fallen +down, and she still wore the plain, blue gingham +dress she had put on while Maria was telling her +tragical tale. Yet in spite of these tokens of mental +disturbance, she was encompassed by the serene +stillness of a spirit which had reached the height of +"Thy will be done."</p> + +<p class="indent">When her father left her, smitten afresh by his +anger she had fled to her room, and locking the +door of this sanctuary, she had sat for two hours +astonished, stupefied by the inevitable, speechless +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span> +and prayerless. Yet while she was musing the +fire burned; she became conscious of that secret +voice in her soul which is the spirit that helpeth our +infirmities, and ere she was aware she began to +pray. It was as if she stood alone in some great +hall of the universe, with an infinite, invisible audience +of spirits watching her. Then the miracle of +the ladder between heaven and earth was renewed, +and angels of help and blessing once more ascended +and descended. An inward, deep, untroubled peace +calmed the struggle of her soul; one by one the +clouds departed and the light steadily grew until +fears were slain, and doubts had become a sure confidence +that</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Naught should prevail against her or disturb</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Her cheerful faith that all which looked so dark</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Was full of blessing.</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent">She was sitting waiting when she heard Neil's call, +and Oh! how sweet is the voice of love in the hour +of anxious sorrow! She never thought of her appearance +or her dress; she hasted to Neil, and he +folded her to his heart and for the first time touched +her white cheek with his lips. She made no resistance, +it was not an hour for coy withdrawals, and +they understood, amid their silent tears, far more +than any future words could explain.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil told her all that had happened, and +when he described John Bradley's open recognition +of his son she smiled proudly and said, "That was +like father. If I had been there I would have done +the same. It is a long time," she said, looking anxiously +at Neil. "Will father soon be home?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span> +"I expected to find him here. I will go to the +court now; the trial ought to be over."</p> + +<p class="indent">But complications had arisen in what at first +seemed to be a case that proved itself. Harry was +not easily managed. He admitted that he had been +in America for more than three years, but declared +that his father had been totally ignorant of his presence. +When asked where he had dwelt and how he +had employed himself during that time, he gave to +every question the same answer, "I refuse to tell."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then the saddle found in his boat was brought +forward, and he was asked from whom he received +it and to whom he was taking it. And to both these +questions there was the same reply, "I refuse to tell."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is indisputably a Bradley saddle," said the +assistant magistrate, DuBois. "Let John Bradley +identify it."</p> + +<p class="indent">Bradley came forward, looked at the saddle, and +answered, "I made it; every stitch of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"For whom? Mr. Bradley?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I should have few saddles to make if I talked +about my patrons in this place. I refuse to tell for +whom I made it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The court can fine you, sir, for contempt of its +requests."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I would rather pay the fine than bring my +patron's name in question and cause him annoyance."</p> + +<p class="indent">There was considerable legal fencing on this subject, +but nothing gained; a parcel also found in the +boat was opened and its contents spread out for +examination. They consisted of a piece of damasse +for a lady's gown, some lace, two pairs of silk +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span> +stockings, two pairs of gloves, some ribbon, and a +fan that had been mended. Everything in this parcel +was obviously intended for a woman, but Harry +was as obdurately noncommittal as he had been +about the saddle. Nothing could be gained by continuing +an examination so one-sided, and the next +witness called was Captain Quentin Macpherson. +He came forward with more than his usual haughty +clangor, and was first asked if he had ever seen the +prisoner before.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes," he answered, "for about half an hour yesterday +evening, say, between half-past seven and +eight o'clock."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Did you have any conversation with him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Very little. When I began to question him +about his residence he rose and went away."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Who else was present?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Miss Bradley and Miss Semple."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell the court what occurred when the prisoner +left."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Miss Bradley went to the gate with him, Miss +Semple remained with me. I noticed that she was +anxious, and found my company disagreeable; and +suddenly she excused herself and left the room. As +she did so a pebble was thrown through the window, +it fell at my feet; a note was wrapped round +it, and I read the note."</p> + +<p class="indent">There was a low <i>hiss-s-s-s!</i> at these words, which +pervaded the whole room. Macpherson waited +until it had subsided, and then in a loud, defiant +voice repeated his last sentence, "I read the note, +and acted upon it."</p> + +<p class="indent">The note was then handed to him, and he positively +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span> +recognized it, and as it was not his note, nor +intended for him, he was unable to protest against +DuBois's reading it aloud. It made a pleasant impression. +Men looked at the boy prisoner sympathetically, +and a little scornful laugh pointed the +epithet <i>"that Scot!"</i> which infuriated Macpherson.</p> + +<p class="indent">In this favorable atmosphere Mr. Curtis rose, and +sarcastically advised Judge Matthews that it was +"evident the posse of Highland soldiers had been +called out to prevent a lovers' tryst and satisfy the +wounded vanity or jealousy of Captain Macpherson." +The soldier glared at the lawyer, and the +lawyer smiled and nodded at the audience, as if telling +them a secret; and it really seemed possible for +a minute or two that Harry might escape through +the never-failing sympathy that lovers draw to +themselves.</p> + +<p class="indent">Unfortunately, at this moment a man entered +with a shabby-looking little book, and Harry's face +showed an unmistakable anxiety.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is the purport of this interruption?" asked +DuBois as the volume was handed to him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"This book fell from the prisoner's jacket last +night and John VanBrunt, the jailor, picked it up. +This morning he noticed that it had been freshly +bound, and he ripped open the leather and found +this letter between the boards."</p> + +<p class="indent">The letter was eagerly examined, but it was in +cipher and nothing could be made of it. One thing, +however, instantly struck Judge Matthews; it was +written on paper presumably only to be obtained in +the Commander-in-Chief's quarters. This discovery +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span> +caused the greatest sensation, and Harry was +angrily questioned as to how the letter got inside the +binding of a book he was carrying.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The book is one of my schoolbooks," said +Harry. "I am a poor counter, and it is, as you see, +a Ready Reckoner. I use its tables in my business +calculations constantly; it was falling to pieces, and +a friend offered to bind it afresh for me. As for +the letter, I did not put it there. I do not know +who put it there. I do not know a word of its meaning. +It may be an old puzzle, put there for want +of a better piece of paper. That is all I can tell."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You can tell the name of the friend who rebound +your book?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, I cannot."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Will not, you mean?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"As you say."</p> + +<p class="indent">A recess was taken at this point of the examination, +and the Judges retired to consider what ought +to be done. "The letter must, of course, be laid +before General Clinton at once," said DuBois; "and +as for the prisoner, there can now be no doubt of his +treason. I am in favor of hanging him at sunset +to-day."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think," answered Matthews, "we had better +give the young man a day to tell us what he knows. +This letter proves that there are worse traitors, and +more powerful ones, behind him. It is our duty to +at least try and reach them through their emissary."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will never tell."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The shadow of the gallows is a great persuader. +This cipher message is a most important affair. I +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span> +propose to make the sentence of death to-morrow at +sunset, with the promise of life if he gives us the information +we want."</p> + +<p class="indent">Matthews carried his point, and Neil Semple +arrived at the court house just as the sentence in +accord with this opinion was pronounced. Harry +hardly appeared to notice it; his gaze was fixed upon +his father. The words had transfigured, not petrified him. +His soul was at his eyes, and that fiery +particle went through those on whom he looked and +infected them with fear or with sympathy. He had +risen to his feet when his son did, and every one +looked at him, rather than at the prisoner. For +mental, or spiritual, stature is as real a thing as +physical; and in the day of trial this large-souled +man, far from shrinking, appeared to grow more +imposing. He had a look about him of a mountain +among hills. The accepted son of a divine Father, +he knew himself to be of celestial race, and he +scorned the sentence of shameful death that had +fallen from the lips of man upon his only son.</p> + +<p class="indent">As he turned to the door he smiled bravely on +Harry, and his smile was full of promise. He declined +all help from both Medway and Semple, and +was almost the first to leave the room. The crowd +fell away from him as he passed; though he neither +spoke nor moved his hands, it fell away as if he +pushed it aside. Yet it was a pitiful, friendly +crowd; not a man in it but would have gladly helped +him to save his boy's life.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What will he do?" asked Medway of his companion.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I cannot tell," answered Semple. "He has some +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span> +purpose, for he walks like a man who knows what +he intends and is in a hurry to perform it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"This is a very bad case. I see not how, in any +ordinary way, the young man can be saved. You +are a lawyer, what think you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Unless there are extraordinary ways of helping +him; there are no ordinary ones. He is undoubtedly +a rebel spy. Any court, either police or court-martial, +would consider his life justifiably forfeit."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Have you any influence, secret or open?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"None whatever. If I had, we should not have +been fined. Bradley may have, but I doubt it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think he has. Men are not silent and observant +year after year for nothing. But we must not trust +to Bradley. Can I see Miss Semple at seven o'clock +this evening? I know, madame your mother is +averse to Englishmen, but in this case——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Miss Semple will certainly see you."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then the young men parted and Neil returned +to his home, for he did not dare to intrude his presence +at that hour between the distressed father and +daughter. It was hard enough to have Maria to +meet; and the moment she heard his step she came +weeping to him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell me, Uncle Neil," she cried, "what have they +done to Harry? I am sick with suspense. Are +they going to kill—to hang him?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Her voice had sunk to a terrified whisper, and he +looked pitifully at her and drew her within his embrace. +"My dear Maria!" then his lips refused +to say more, and he suffered his silence to confirm +her worst fears. After a few moments he +added:</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span> +"His only hope is in Lord Medway's influence. I +think Medway may do something."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh!" she sobbed "if he can only save his life! I +would be content never to see him again! Only ask +him to save his life. If Harry is killed I shall feel +like a murderer as long as I live. I shall not dare +to look at myself, no one will want to look at me. +I shall die of grief and shame! Uncle, pity me! pity +me!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"My dear Maria, it is not your fault."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is, it is! He took his life in his hand just to +see me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He was a selfish fool to do such a thing. See +what misery he has made. It is his own fault and +folly."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Every one will despise me. I cannot bear it. +People will say, 'She deserves it all. Why did she +meet the young man unknown to her friends? See +what she has done to her grandparents and her +uncle.' People like Captain DeVries will frown at +me and cross the street; and their wives and children +will go into their houses when I come near and +peep at me through the windows, and the mothers +will say, 'Look at her! look at her! She brought a +fine young man to the gallows, and her friends +to shame and poverty.' Uncle, how am I to +bear it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think, my poor child, Lord Medway has some +plan. Money unbars all doors but heaven's, and +Medway has plenty of money. Besides, General +Clinton is easily moved by him. I do not think Clinton +will refuse Medway anything; certainly not, if +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span> +Harry will tell who wrote the cipher message he was +carrying."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But Harry will not tell, will he?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I feel sure he will not."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If he did, he would deserve to die. I would not +shed a tear for him. As for Quentin Macpherson!—I +wish that I was a man. I would cut his tongue +out."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I would, truly. Then I would flog him to +death."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil's dark face flushed crimson; his fingers +twitched; he looked with approval and admiration +at the passionate girl. "One hundred years ago—in +Scotland," he said, "I would have answered, 'Yes! +He deserves it! I will do it for you!'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is so wretched to be a woman! You can go +out, see for yourself, hear for yourself; a girl can +only suffer. Hour after hour, all night long, all +day long, I have walked the floor in misery. How +does Agnes bear it? She was cross, and sent me +away this morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She looks very ill; but she is calm, and not without +hope. She has spoken to God and been comforted. +Can you not do so?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No. I am not Agnes. I cannot pray. I want +to <i>do</i> something. Oh, dear me! all this shame and +sorrow because I had a little love-making with her +brother and we did not tell the whole town about it. +It is too great a punishment! It is not just +nor kind. What wrong have I done? Yet how +I have to suffer! No, I cannot pray, but if I can +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span> +<i>do</i> anything, see any one, be of any earthly help or +use——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think Medway has some scheme, if Clinton +should fail, and that this scheme requires a woman's +help."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hope it does! I hope it does! I will run any +risk."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Medway is coming here at seven o'clock. He +wishes distinctly to see you. Run what risk you +choose. I am not afraid of you. Nothing will +make you forget you are Maria Semple."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Thank you, Uncle Neil. Lord Medway and I +have always been good friends. He will not ask +me to do anything wrong; and if he did, I would +not do it."</p> + +<p class="indent">The prospect of his visit somewhat soothed +Maria. Though Medway had never said a word +of love to her, she knew she was adorable in his +eyes as well as she knew the fact of her own existence. +Women need no formal declarations; they +have considered a lover's case and decided it many +a time before he comes to actual confession. In her +great trouble she hoped to find this love sufficient +in some way for the alleviation of Harry's desperate +position. But though she really was in the greatest +sorrow, she was not oblivious to her beauty. She +knew if she had a favor to ask, it was the best reason +she had to offer. So, as the hour approached, she +bathed her face and put on the <i>negligée</i> of scarlet +silk, which was one of her most becoming house +costumes. She thought her intentional, pleasing +carelessness of dress would only be noticed in +its effect; but Lord Medway was much in love, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span> +and love is an occult teacher. He noticed at once +the studied effort to make grief attractive—the +glowing silk of her gown, the bronze slippers, the +bewitching abandon of her dark, curling hair +against the amber cushion of the chair on which +she sat. And though he had an astonishing plan +for Harry's life to propose, Maria's careful negligence +gave him hope and courage. For if he +had been quite indifferent to her, she would have +been more indifferent to the dress she was to meet +him in.</p> + +<p class="indent">Nothing else in her surroundings spoke of love +or happiness. The best parlor had been opened for +his reception; but the few sticks of wood sobbed and +sung wearily on the cold hearth, and the room was +chill and half-lighted and full of shadows. He noticed, +nothing, however, but the lovely girl who came +to meet him as he entered it, and who, even in the +gloom, showed signs of the violent grief which she +soon ceased to restrain. For his tenderness loosed +afresh all her complaining; and he encouraged her +to open her heart, and to weep with that passionate +abandon youth finds comfort in. But when she +was weary and had sobbed herself into silence he +said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Miss Semple—may I call you Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, if you will be my friend, if you will help +me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am your friend, and if there is help in man I +will get it for you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I want Harry's life; he risked it for me. If +they kill him, all my days I shall see that sight and +feel that horror. I shall go mad, or die."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span> +"Would you be content if I saved his life? He +may be sent to prison."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is hope in that. I could bear it better."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will certainly be forbidden to come near New +York, for——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Only let him live."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is without doubt a rebel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"So am I, from this day forth."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And a spy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I wish I could be one. There is nothing I would +not tell."</p> + +<p class="indent">He looked at her with the unreasoning adoration +of a lover; then taking her cold hands between his +own, he said in a slow, fervent voice:</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you will promise to marry me, I will save the +young man's life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are taking advantage of my trouble."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know I am. A man who loves as I do must +make all events go to further his love."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But I love Harry Bradley."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You think so. If you had met him under ordinary +circumstances you would not have looked twice +at him. It was the romance, the secrecy, the danger, +the stolen minutes—all that kind of thing. +There is no root in such love."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall never cease to love Harry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will teach you to forget him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, no! How can you ask me in an hour like +this? It is cruel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Love is cruel. Sooner or later love wounds; for +love is selfish. I want you for my wife, Maria. I +put aside so," and he swept his hand outward, +"everything that comes in the way."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span> +"You want to buy me! You say plainly, 'I will +give you your lover's life for yourself.' I cannot +listen to you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Be sensible, Maria. This infatuation for a rebel +spy is infatuation. There is nothing real to it. If +the war were over, and you saw young Bradley helping +his father in his shop and going about in ordinary +clothes about ordinary business, you would +wonder what possessed you ever to have fancied +yourself in love with him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, but you are mistaken!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You would say to yourself, 'I wish I had listened +to Ernest Medway. He would have taken me all +over the happy, beautiful world, to every lovely +land, to every splendid court. He would have surrounded +me with a love that no trouble could put +aside; he would have given me all that wealth can +buy; he would have loved me more and more until +the very last moment of my life, and followed me +beyond life with longings that would soon have +brought us together again.' Yes, Maria, that is +how I love you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry loves me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not he! If he had loved you he would not, for +his own pleasure, have run any risk of giving you +this trouble. What did I say? Love is selfish, love +wounds——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You wound me. You are selfish."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am. I love you. You seemed to belong to +me that first hour I saw you. I will not give you +up."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you really loved me, if you were really noble, +you would save Harry without any conditions."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span> +"Perhaps. I am not really noble. I can't trust +such fine sentiments. They will lead, I know not +where, only away from you. I tell you plainly, I +will save the young fellow's life, if it be possible, +on condition that you promise to marry me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am not eighteen years old yet."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will wait any reasonable time."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Till the end of the war?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, provided it is over when you are twenty-one."</p> + +<p class="indent">She pondered this answer, looking up covertly a +moment at the handsome, determined face watching +her. Three years held innumerable possibilities. +It was a period very far away. Lord Medway +might have ceased to love her before it was over; +he might have fallen in love with some other girl. +He might die; she might die; the wide Atlantic +ocean might be between them. The chances were +many in her favor. She remained silent, considering +them, and Medway watched with a curious devotion +the expressions flitting across her face.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Think well, Maria," he said at last, letting her +hands drop gently from his own. "Remember that +I shall hold you to every letter of your promise. Do +not try to make yourself believe that if Bradley escapes +and you come weeping and entreating to me +I shall give way. <i>I shall not.</i> I want to be very +plain with you. I insist that you understand, Harry +Bradley is to be given up finally and forever. He +is to have no more to do with your life. I am planning +for <i>our</i> future; I do not think of him at all. +When he leaves New York to-morrow he must be +to you as if he had never been."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span> +"Suppose I do not promise to marry you, what +then?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing. I shall go away till you want me, +and send for me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And not even try to save Harry's life? Not +even try?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why should I? Better men than Harry Bradley +have died in the same cause."</p> + +<p class="indent">She rose and walked across the room a few times, +and then, being cold, came back to the fire, knelt on +the rug and warmed her hands. He watched her +intently, but did not speak. She was trying to find +something which should atone to her better self for +such a contract. It came with the thought of Harry's +father and Agnes. For their sakes, she ought to do +all she could. Harry, for her sake, had taken his life +in his hand and forfeited it; surely, then, it was right +that she, having the power to do so, should redeem +it. Better that he should live for others than +die for her. Better that she should lose him in the +living world than in the silent grave. Through +Agnes she would hear of his comings and goings, +his prosperity, and his happiness; but there would +come no word to her from the dead whether at all +he lived and loved, or not. With a quick, decisive +motion she rose and looked at the man who was +waiting in such motionless, but eager, silence.</p> + +<p class="indent">"A life for a life!" she said simply, offering Medway +her hand.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You mean that you will be my wife?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. I will marry you when the war is over."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span> +"Or when you are twenty-one, even if it be not +over?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Now, then," he said, "you are my betrothed;" +and he drew her within his arm. "My honor, my +hopes, my happiness, are in your hands."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They are safe. Though I am only a girl, I know +what my promise means. I shall keep it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I believe you. And you will love me? You will +learn to love me, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will do my best to make you happy, you ought +not to ask more."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Very well." He looked at her with a new and +delightful interest. She was his own, her promise +had been given. He could, indeed, tell by her eyes,—languid, +but obstinately masterful—that she +would not be easily won, but he did not dislike that; +he would conquer her by the strength of his own +love; he would make her understand what love really +meant. Still, he felt that for the present it would +be better to go away, so he said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"You shall hear from me as soon as possible. +Try and sleep, my dear one. You may tell yourself, +'Ernest is doing all that can be done.'" Then +he took her hands and kissed them, and in a moment +she was alone. Her heart was heavy as lead, +and she was cold and trembling, but she was no +longer in the shadow of Death. Medway's face, +turned to her in the semi-darkness of the open door, +was full of hope; and there was an atmosphere of +power about the man which assured her of success; +but she truly felt at that hour as if it was bought +with her life. She was in the dungeon of despair; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span> +there seemed nothing to hope for, nothing to desire, +in all the to-morrows of the years before her. "And +I may have sixty years to live," she moaned; for +youth exaggerates every feeling, and would be +grieved to believe that its sorrows were not immortal.</p> + +<p class="indent">She pushed the dying fire safely together, looked +mournfully round the darksome room, closed and +locked the door. Then Neil came toward her and +asked if Lord Medway could do anything, and she +answered, "He can save Harry's life; he has promised +that. I suppose he will be imprisoned, but his +life is saved. What did grandmother say about +Lord Medway being here?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has never been down stairs. She does not +know he was here."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then we will not tell her. What is the use?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"None at all. Father and mother have their own +trouble. They are very anxious and almost broken-hearted +at the indignity put upon our family. I +heard my father crying as I passed his door and +mother trying to comfort him, but crying, too. It +made my heart stand still."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is my fault! It is my fault! Oh! what a +wicked, miserable girl I am! What can I do? What +can I do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Try and sleep, and get a little strength for tomorrow. +Within the next twenty-four hours Harry +Bradley will be saved or dead."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think he is saved. I am sure of it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then try and sleep; will you try, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="indent">She said the word with a hopeless indifference, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span> +half nullifying the promise. Then, lighting her +candle, she went slowly to her room. Oh, but the +joy that is dead weighs heavy! Maria could hardly +trail her body upstairs. Her life felt haggard and +thin, as if it was in its eleventh hour; and she was +too physically exhausted to stretch out her hand into +the dark and find the clasp of that Unseen Hand +always waiting the hour of need, strong to uphold, +and ready to comfort. No, she could not pray; +she had lost Harry: there was nothing else she desired. +In her room there was a picture of the crucifixion, +and she cast her eyes up to the Christ hanging +there, forsaken in the dark, and wondered if He +pitied her, but the pang of unpermitted prayer made +her dumb in her lonely grief.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Alas, God Christ! along the weary lands,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What lone, invisible Calvaries are set!</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What drooping brows with dews of anguish wet,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">What faint outspreading of unwilling hands</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Bound to a viewless cross, with viewless bands.</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE HELP OF JACOB COHEN.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">On</span> leaving Maria, Lord Medway went straight +to his friend General Clinton. He had just dined, +and having taken much wine, was bland and good-tempered. +Medway's entrance delighted him. "I +have had my orderly riding about for a couple of +hours looking for you," he said. "Where have you +been Ernest? My dinner wanted flavor without +you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have been seeing some people about this son of +Bradley's that the Police Court has in its clutches. +By-the-bye, why don't you put a stop to its infamous +blackmailing? As a court, it is only a part of +Howe's treachery, formed for the very purpose of +extortion, and of bringing His Majesty's Government +into disrepute. Abolish the whole affair, +Henry. You are court sufficient, in a city under +martial law."</p> + +<p class="indent">"All you say is true, Ernest, and there is no doubt +that Matthews and DuBois and the rest of them are +the worst of oppressors. But I am expected to subjugate +the whole South this winter, and I must leave +New York in three or four weeks now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Government expects miracles of you, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span> +Henry; but if military miracles are possible, you +are the soldier to work them. I have found out to-day +why you are not more popular; it is this Police +Court, and they call it a <i>Military</i> Police Court, I believe; +and all its tyrannies are laid to you because +your predecessor instituted it. They might as well +lay Howe's love for rebels to you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Speaking of rebels, I hear most suspicious things +of Bradley's son. In fact, he is a spy. Matthews +tells me that he ought to have been hung to-day. +There is something unusual about the affair and I +wanted to talk to you concerning it. Bradley himself +has been here and said things that have made +me uncomfortable—you know how he brings the +next world into this one; Smith has been here, also, +asking me to pardon the fellow, because the feeling +in the city about Tryon's doings in Connecticut is +yet like smoldering fire in the hearts of the burghers. +Powell has been here asking me to pardon, +because the spy's father has a thousand bridles to +make for the troops going South, and he thinks +hanging the youth would kill his father, or at least +incapacitate him for work, and Rivington has just +left, vowing he will not answer for consequences if +his newspaper does not sympathize with the Bradleys. +If Bradley's son had been the arch-rebel's +son, there could hardly have been more petitions for +his life. I don't understand the case. What do +you say?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That Matthews and DuBois have made a tremendous +blunder in fining the Semples for disloyalty +in the matter. I will warrant the Semples' loyalty +with my own."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span> +"So would I. It is indisputable."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yet the Elder has been fined two hundred +pounds, and Mr. Neil Semple one hundred pounds, +because Bradley's son tied his boat at their landing; +a fact they were as ignorant of as you or I. And +you get the blame and ill-will of such tyranny, +Henry. It is shameful!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is," answered Clinton in a tone of self-pity; +"the boat, however, was full of goods, about which +the young man would say nothing at all."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Women's bits of lace and ribbons; a mended +fan, and some gloves and stockings."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There was also a Bradley saddle."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, Bradley acknowledged it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then father or son ought to have given information +about it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was their business; and if either you or I +were brought before such an irresponsible court and +such autocratic judges, I dare say we should consider +silence our most practical weapon of defense. +In Harry Bradley's position, I should have acted +precisely as he did. The whole affair resolves itself +into a lovers' tryst; the lad would not give the lady +a disagreeable publicity; he would die first. You +yourself would shield any good woman with your +life, Henry, you know you would."</p> + +<p class="indent">And Clinton thought of the bewitching Mrs. +Badely and the lovely Miss Blundell, and answered +with an amazing air of chivalry, "Indeed I would!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Have you ever noticed a Captain Macpherson, +belonging to your own Highland regiment?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Who could help noticing him? He is always the +most prominent figure in every room."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span> +"He will be so no longer. He was almost hissed +out of court to-day, and I was told the demonstrations +on the street sent him stamping and swearing +to his quarters. Well, he is the villain of this pitiful +little drama. The heroine is that lovely granddaughter +of Semples."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know her; a little darling! and as good as she +is beautiful."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Medway, with an inimitable scornful mimicry +told the story of the pebble and the note, the +alarm of the Highland troops, the arrest of the +Elder and his son, the subsequent proceedings in +court, the sympathy of the people with the Semples, +and the contempt which no one tried to conceal for +the informer. Then, changing his voice and attitude, +he described Bradley's speechless grief, the +Semple's wounded loyalty and indignation, and finally +the passionate sorrow of the mistress and sister +of the doomed man.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is the most pitiful story of the age," he continued, +"and if I were you, Henry, I would not permit +civilians to usurp the power you ought to hold +in your own hand. You have to bear the blame of +all the crimes committed by this infamous court. +Pardon the prisoner with a stroke of your pen, if +only to put these fellows in their proper place."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But there was a cipher message in his possession—here +it is. It was in the binding of a book he carried +in his pocket."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He says he did not put it there. No one can +read it. If you found a letter in the Babylonish +speech, would you hang a man because you could not +read the message he carried!"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span> +"Special pleading, Ernest. And he ought to have +told who rebound the book, and to whom he was +carrying it. The paper on which the cipher is written +is my paper. Some one, not far from me, must +have taken it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Suppose you question Smith?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you intend to say that Smith is a traitor?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I say, ask Smith. I have no doubt he can read +the Babylonish for you—if he will."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You alarm me. Am I surrounded by enemies?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think you have many round you. I have +warned you often. My advice to you at this time is +to pardon young Bradley."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Why are you taking such an interest in young +Bradley?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have no secrets from you, he is my rival."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Preposterous! How could he rival you in anything?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yet he is my rival in the affections of Maria +Semple."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then let him hang! He will be out of your +way."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, he would be forever in my way. She would +idolize him, make him a hero and a saint, and worship +him in some secret shrine of memory as long as +she lives. I am going to marry her, and I want no +secret shrines. He is a very good-looking, ordinary +young man; only the circumstances of the time lifted +him out of the average and the commonplace. Let +him go scot free that he may find his level which is +far below the horizon of my peerless Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I don't think I can let him go 'scot free,' Ernest. +I should offend many if I did, and it would be made +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span> +a precedent; suppose I imprison him during the continuance +of the war!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is too romantic. Maria would haunt the +prison and contrive some way of communication. +He would still be her hero and her lover."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And you will marry this infatuated girl?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, a thousand times, yes! Her love for that +boy is mere sentiment. I will teach her what love +really means. She has promised to marry me—if I +save Harry Bradley's life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never saw you taken so with any woman before."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never cared for a woman before. The moment +I saw Maria Semple it was different. I knew +that she belonged to me. Henry, you are my best +friend, give me my wife; no one but you can do so."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ernest! Ernest! You ask a great thing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not too great for you to grant. You have the +will and you have the power. Are you not going +to make me happy, Henry?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Privately, it would be a delight to humor you, +Ernest; but officially, what am I to say to Matthews, +DuBois and others."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell them, that as a matter of military policy, +you wish the prisoner released. Why should you +make explanations to them? Oh, they are such +courtiers, they will smile and do all you wish. You +are above their rascally court; reverse their decision +in this affair and show them your power. Believe me, +it will be, politically, a wise step."</p> + +<p class="indent">There was silence for a few moments, and then +Clinton said: "I am sorry for the Semples. I like +them both, and there is something about the saddler +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span> +that sets him above other men. But it would not be +right to let this young spy—for he is a spy—off, +without some punishment."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think that is right."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He must be told that he will be shot on sight if +he enters New York again."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will deserve it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I will have him drummed out of the city +as a rogue and a suspect. We will make no hero of +him—quite the contrary."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I oppose nothing of that kind. I ask for his life +and his freedom, because he stands between Maria +Semple and myself. If I wanted any other reason, +because I thoroughly respect his father, and am on +excellent terms with his sister, who has been very +hospitable to me and who is a remarkable girl. It +has troubled me to-day to remember her lonely sorrow +and anxiety."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You have given me three good reasons for granting +your request, and have omitted the strongest of +all, Ernest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is that, Henry?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"That I love you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I love you. You have always been like a +big brother to me; always petted me and humored +my desires."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, then, I will see Matthews and DuBois +in the morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Send for them here to-night. If their court is +a Military Police Court, you are Commander-in-Chief."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Right! I will send for them. It is only about +nine o'clock."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span> +"And you will insist that the prisoner be given his +life and freedom—nothing less?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I give you my word for it. But I will have him +punished as I said. He must be prevented from +coming to New York again. This kind of thing +can not happen twice."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know. If words could thank you, Henry, I +would say them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nonsense, Ernest; what are words between us? +We know each other's heart;" then he laid his arm +across his friend's shoulder and their hands clasped; +there was no need of words.</p> + +<p class="indent">Very early in the morning Maria and Agnes received +the good tidings. Maria was asleep when +Medway's letter, with a basket of hot-house fruit +was brought to her. Agnes was making her father's +coffee, and they both looked at the unexpected +letter with a fearful anticipation. But as soon as +Agnes glanced at it, she perceived that it brought +good news, and she gave it to her father. She could +not speak, and for a few minutes Bradley was +equally silent. Not that they were ungrateful, oh, +no! They were only inarticulate. They had a +gratitude so deep and holy that they had no words +with which to express it; and when the happy father +found speech, it was weak and tremulous as +that of a man in the last extremity. <i>"I was brought +low, and He helped me!"</i> That was all, but he +stood up, steadying himself by his chair, and uttered +the verse with a reverence and holy joy that no language +can describe.</p> + +<p class="indent">In a little while he began to talk to his daughter. +"I knew God would not fail me," he said. "Yesterday +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span> +afternoon I did all I could, and then I left the +rest with Him. I saw General Clinton and said a +few words which he could not gainsay. I saw +Smith, and told him plainly if Harry died, he +should translate that cypher message to the Commander-in-Chief. +I saw Powell, and many others, +whom <i>I hold at my mercy</i>, and they know <i>that</i> now, +if they never knew it before. Andrews left New +York an hour after I saw him; he is a fearful creature +and he believed I would speak, though Harry +had been silent; well, I must see the boy as soon as +possible, there is certain to be some difficulty that +only gold can overcome. I hope they will not imprison +him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Lord Medway says, he will be set free."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Thank God!"</p> + +<p class="indent">He rose with the words and Agnes brought him +his top-coat. Then, as they stood face to face, she +was shocked at the ravage thirty hours of travail in +the shadow of death had made on him. "Father," +she said, "oh, father, forgive me! I did wrong to +deceive you! I did wrong!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, my girl, you did wrong; and nothing right +can come from wrong; but Agnes, I have been +worse than you. I, also, have been living a deceitful +life, thinking that the end justified the means. +I set you the example. Your fault is my fault. We +have both been trying to do the right thing in <i>our +own way</i>. We have been patriots, as Nicodemus +was a Christian—by night. That is wrong. We +must do right first hand, not second hand. From +this hour that kind of thing will be sinning with our +eyes open; it will be looking God's Commandments +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span> +in the face, and then breaking them. Do you understand, +Agnes?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then he went away, and Agnes tried to turn to +her household duties. She wondered if Maria +would come and see her or if she ought to go to +Maria, and while she was debating the question +Neil called. He was much depressed. The good +news about Harry only affected him through Agnes, +and he was very anxious about his father, who was +in a high fever and was constantly talking of his +fine and his inability to pay it. "Maybe I'll hae to +go to prison for the debt," was his constant cry, and +Neil felt that his father's fine must be satisfied, no +matter at what cost. So it was a troubled little +visit; the day before each was so uncertain, so full +of probabilities which the slightest momentum might +divert to either joy or sorrow. They could not feel +that their congratulations were full ripe; something +might yet happen to destroy their hopes.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil went first to his office. He found Mr. Curtis +preparing for the court, and as yet unaware of +the decision in Harry's case; "but it is a great piece +of good luck for the young scamp," he said, when +Neil told him, "for he's a spy, if ever there was one. +I have no doubt he deserves death, fifty times over."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have no doubt there are fifty men in New York +who deserve it more than he does—men of power +and prominence."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I would keep such observations to myself, Neil. +Your father is far too outspoken and he is paying +for it now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hope my father will never be less outspoken."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, as I say, he has to pay for his opinions. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span> +He has two hundred pounds to pay, but then he had +his two hundred pounds worth of fault-finding."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do you mean, Curtis?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Don't you remember how imprudently he spoke +about Mr. Hulen's imprisonment?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He said nothing but the truth. Mr. Hulens is +the most loyal of gentlemen, but because he was not +sufficiently polite to a town major, he was imprisoned +with felons and vagabonds and afterward compelled +to publicly apologize. It was an infamous +wrong."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Precisely what the Elder said. It has not been +forgotten."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There were the two De Lanceys——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, to be sure! And why did he trouble himself +about them? There are enough of De Lanceys +to look after De Lanceys."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The injustice of the affair was every man's business. +These two De Lanceys were private gentlemen, +who, because they had some words with a German chasseur, +were seized in their homes and tried +by court-martial—though they had no connection +whatever with the army: at the worst it was a simple assault, +the most trifling offense the civil law +notices, yet the De Lanceys were degraded and imprisoned +for two months, and then compelled to beg +this German mercenary's pardon before all the +troops at Kingsbridge. Remember Mr. Hicks, +turned out of his hotel by General Patterson at the +request of that unmentionable creature Loring—because +Loring wanted it for one of his parasites. Remember +poor Amberman, the miller at Hempstead, +who, because he asked Major Stockton for payment +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span> +for the flour he had bought, was nearly flogged to +death, and then run through with Major Crew's +sword, and kicked out of the way—dead. Nothing +was done to Stockton; I met him on the street an +hour ago, still an officer in His Majesty's service. I +could add one hundred examples to these—but what +is the use? And why are we lawyers? There is no +law. The will of any military officer is the law."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Still we are lawyers, Neil; and special counselors +to three of the commissaries."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall not be counselor much longer. I am going +to write my resignation now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you mad? These fees are about all the +ready money we make."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I should deserve to be called mad, or worse, if I +continued to serve a government which had just +fined me for not being careful of its interests."</p> + +<p class="indent">"For Heaven's sake, don't throw hundreds a year +away for a figment!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Honor is something more than a figment. But +you had better go to court early this morning. +When you come back, I want you to let me have two +hundred pounds until I can sell some property."</p> + +<p class="indent">Curtis burst into a loud laugh: "I could not let +you have two hundred shillings," he said. "Good +gracious, Neil, how can you suppose I have money +to spare?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know you have money, but if you are averse +to lending it, that is a different thing. I thought +you might have some memory of all I have done for +you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have. Of course I have. You have put thousands +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span> +of pounds in my way; I don't deny or forget +it, but I have a family——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I understand. I wish you would hasten about +Bradley's case. His father will be expected to pay +for their service."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I suppose his case is settled. I am sorry he has +got off—deuced sorry! A saucy youth who looked +defiance at his betters all the time."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Were they his betters?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He ought to be hung!" And he went on talking +rapidly about Bradley's deserts. Neil knew the +bluster was affected in order to prevent recurrence to +the subject of money, and with a heart hot and +wounded he sat down to write his resignation of the +offices which were his principal support. Curtis was +disconcerted and uneasy, and his last words on leaving +the office were an entreaty to Neil to do "nothing +foolish and hasty." But the papers were written, +and then he took himself to the proper departments.</p> + +<p class="indent">He was woefully unhappy. His father's and +mother's condition made his strong heart tremble, +and though no one could have supposed from his appearance +that he had a single care, the sudden falling +away of his friends and acquaintances wounded him +like a sword.</p> + +<p class="indent">As he walked the streets, so gravely erect, so +haughtily apart, he was made to feel, in many ways, +that he had lost in public estimation. No one took +the trouble to ask him a favor or stopped to seek his +opinion, or told him bits of gossip about events transpiring. +He was classed with the Bradleys. The +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span> +Misses Robertson passed him with the most formal +of recognitions; Miss Smith did not notice him at +all, while Joris Van Emerslie, who had taken his +advice the previous week about the sale of his business, +crossed the street to avoid him.</p> + +<p class="indent">Friends were not far behind enemies. As he +stood a moment on the steps of the barracks commissary, +Judge Lawson, an old man and an intimate +acquaintance of the Semples, stopped and said, +"Good-morning, Neil. I am glad to see you here. +I heard Cornelius Bloch had asked for your position +and was likely to get it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I did not resign my position, Judge, until five +minutes ago. The commissioners have not yet received +it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Very true, but every one knew you must resign—the +servants of the King must be above suspicion, +eh?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Suspicion, sir!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Now, now, Neil! You must keep your temper +for younger men; I am too old to be bluffed."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil walked silently away, and the old +friend of the family watched him with a queer mingling +of pity and satisfaction. "Proud creatures, +them Semples, old and young," he muttered; "but +good, true hearts in them, I'm half sorry for Neil, +he was always ready to do me a kindness; but a little +pull-down won't hurt him, he carries his head too +high for anything."</p> + +<p class="indent">But high as Neil carried his head, his heart was +in the depths. It seemed to him that all the fair, +honorable life he had built was falling into ruin. +He needed now both help and sympathy, and his +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span> +friends looked coldly upon him, or took the same reproving +tone as the self-righteous comforters of the +man of Uz. Full of bitter thoughts he was walking +down Queen Street, when he heard a soft, familiar +voice, almost at his ear, say, "Mr. Semple! Honored +sir, will you speak to me for a few minutes?" +He looked up quickly, and saw that he was close to +the doorstep of Jacob Cohen, the Jewish dealer in +fine furniture, china, jewelry, etc.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Certainly, Mr. Cohen," he answered, as he +stepped inside the gloomy warehouse, crowded with +articles of great beauty and astonishing value.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Will you sit here, if you please, sir," and Cohen +drew a large stool forward for Neil; "I must +not detain you, your time is worth much money, +many people wish to buy it, but it is land I would +buy, if you will sell it to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Land, Mr. Cohen! Perhaps a house——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, it is the land you own next to our synagogue. +If you will remember, I had it in my heart +to buy this plot of ground six years ago. I thought +then we could build a larger temple, one more +worthy for our worship; but we did not reach agreement +at that time and then came the war. I offered +you then, four hundred pounds for the land; to-day +I make you the same offer if you will take it."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil's emotion was almost beyond his control. +For a few minutes he could not answer the proposition, +but Cohen had the patience of the Jew, and he +divined the young man's agitation and mental +tremor. Silent and motionless he waited for Neil's +reply. It came strained and hesitating, as if speech +was an effort.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span> +"Mr. Cohen—I will sell you the land—yes, indeed! +As you say, for four hundred pounds."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To-morrow? Can the sale be completed to-morrow?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will prepare the papers to-day."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am well pleased."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mr. Cohen, this is a great surprise—a good surprise—you +do not understand how good. I believe +it is something more than business you intend; it is +sympathy, kindness, friendship."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is business, but it is kindness also, if you will +accept it. Your house have ever done me good, and +not evil. I and mine prayed for you—yes, the Jew +knows the pang of injustice that must be borne without +protest and without redress."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You have done my family and myself an unspeakable +kindness. I were the worst of ingrates +not to acknowledge it," and Neil rose and offered +his hand. And when Cohen took it, and held it for +a few moments within his own, a marvellous change +passed over the old man. The timid attitude, the +almost servile respect, vanished; his face beamed +with a lofty expression, his eyes met Neil's frankly; +in the prosaic surroundings of the dark, crowded +shop he looked, for a few moments, like an Eastern +prince.</p> + +<p class="indent">As they stood thus together, Neil longing to say +something that should show his deep gratitude +and friendship, and forgetting that Israel in America +at that day still preserved much of their Oriental +seclusion in household matters, asked after his +daughter, Mrs. Belasco. "I have not seen her since +her marriage," he said; "but I can never forget her. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span> +It was her promptitude in the duel between Captain +Hyde and myself that saved my life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has a good heart;" then suddenly, "come, +come into my home, yes, come in and see her."</p> + +<p class="indent">He walked toward the back of the shop and Neil +followed him into a large, low room, where there +was a table covered with a white cloth. Another +white cloth, folded lengthwise, shielded the bread +and the china laid ready for the noonday meal. +Cohen stood at the entrance and permitted Neil to +pass in. As he did so, a small, dark Jew rose and +bringing forward a chair, said, "Welcome be the +guest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"This is Mr. Belasco," said Cohen, and then Neil +knew the woman who was standing behind Mr. Belasco's +chair. It was the still beautiful Miriam. +The happiness of perfect love lighted the dusky +white of her complexion and filled her glorious eyes. +A brilliant silk kerchief was thrown over her black +hair, and she wore a rich, flowing garment of many +colors. There were gems in her ears and around +her neck, and her slim, brown fingers sparkled with +sapphires and diamonds. Behind her was the whitewashed +wall of a room on which was traced some +black Hebrew characters—wise or comforting passages +from the Psalms or the Prophets; and on +shelves of ordinary wood, a quantity of beautiful +china, some silver vessels, and a copper lamp with +seven beaks, brightly polished. Before her sat Belasco, +his swarthy face revealing both power and intellect, +purposely veiled beneath a manner of almost +obsequious deference. But his voice, like Cohen's, +was full of those vague tones of softness and melody, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span> +of which Orientals preserve the eternal poetry, with +the eternal secret. Outside, but within sight and +hearing, was the vibrant, noisy, military life of New +York—western turmoil—hurry of business—existence +without pause; but here, in this grave, unornamented +room, with its domestic simplicity and +biblical air, was the very atmosphere of the East.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil, who really possessed the heart and the imagination +of a poet, felt the vibration of the far-off +life, and even while addressing Mr. Belasco, had +visions of palm-trees and of deserts and of long, +long journeys with the caravans of camels, from +oasis to oasis. He was standing amid the children +of the patriarchs. These souls were of older race +than himself; they had the noblest of kindreds, a +country that was the mother of nations.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the ideal respect born of such thoughts +he offered his hand to Mrs. Belasco. Then she +called her children and proudly exhibited them to +Neil, and in a few moments a slave brought in a +dish of lamb stewed with rice and herbs, some dates, +a plate of little cakes strewed with caraway seeds, +and some strong coffee. A roll of bread was at +each plate, and Cohen broke his with Neil. Miriam +did not eat with them; she waited silently on their +wants, her face beaming with pleasure and goodwill. +And Neil felt as if he had suddenly passed +through a little wooden door into the life of the far +East.</p> + +<p class="indent">He said something like this, and Cohen answered, +"God has said to us, as to His servant Abraham, +Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred. +We are the wayfarers of the Eternal, confessing +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span> +still, as Moses in the Law taught us—'a Syrian ready +to perish was my father.'" Deut. 26:5.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was an unlooked-for and wonderful hour, and +Neil left the shop of Jacob Cohen a very different +being from the depressed, anxious man who had entered +it an hour previously. His first thought was +his father and mother, and he went to his office, +wrote the following note, and sent a messenger with +it to them:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="nobmargin"><span class="smcap">My Honored and Beloved Parents</span>:</p> + +<p class="nobmargin">I have sold a plot of land in Mill Street for four +hundred pounds, and the fines will be paid to-morrow. +We shall not require to borrow a farthing +from any one. Be at ease. I will come to you as +soon as I have written the necessary transfer papers.</p> + +<p class="cnomargins">Your affectionate son,</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Neil</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Then an unconquerable desire to see Agnes, or at +least to do something for her, took entire possession +of him; and he laid aside his business, and went as +rapidly as possible to the Bradley house. But Agnes +would not see him. She asked to be left alone, and +Neil understood her need of solitude, and respected +it. In Maiden Lane he met Lord Medway, who +said, "I have been at your office seeking you, Mr. +Semple. Young Bradley is to be put outside the +city at two o'clock to-day."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is pardoned then, on what conditions?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He will be shot on sight if he comes within five +miles of New York; and I fear he will not have a +pleasant escort to the barricade."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span> +"You mean that he will be drummed out by the +military and assaulted by the mob?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, the court said, as a vagabond and spy and +common rogue against His Majesty's government +and interests."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh! I suppose the court is right; there is nothing +to be done."</p> + +<p class="indent">"His father has sent a number of men with some +message to all the respectable burghers he can influence; +and I think Bradley can influence a great +many, either through their fear of him, or their respect +for him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What does he propose to do? He can not prevent +this public demonstration, and he ought not to +try to do so. His son has got off miraculously well. +It is his place to submit and be grateful."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He tells me the last man drummed out of town +was nearly killed by the missiles thrown at him, and +did lose the sight of one eye. He proposes to prevent +the mob's playfulness, if he can."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But how?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He has asked a number of the tradesmen and +merchants in the city to send their apprentices and +clerks, and thus, by influence and example, keep the +unruly element in check. No one can prevent their +presence. In fact, good citizens are expected to +countenance the rogue's punishment. I may show +myself at some point of the route," he added, with +a laugh; "I have a little friend who may ask me +about it," and he looked curiously at Neil, wondering +if Maria had told him how the miracle had been +performed which saved Harry's life.</p> + +<p class="indent">But Neil made no sign, and Medway continued: +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span> +"I wish you would dine with me this evening, Mr. +Semple. I have something of importance to tell +you. I dine at five, shall we say at The King's +Arms. Afterward I will walk home with you, if +I may."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will join you at five o'clock. What time does +the young man begin his march, and from what +point?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"From Whitehall Slip to Dock Street, Hanover +Square, Queen Street, Crown Street, William +Street, King George Street to the Boston Road, and +so to the eastern gate of the barrier. I rather think +the companions of the journey will be few in number +ere they reach the barrier. They start about two +o'clock I believe. You will not forget dinner at +five?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then the young men parted and Neil went to his +office to consider his movements. Events had happened +with a celerity that made him nervous and uncertain. +He was used to method and plenty of time. +Hurry, under any circumstances, destroyed his balance. +Between his father and mother, Agnes, +Maria, John Bradley and his son, Jacob Cohen and +Lord Medway, he felt as if in a whirlwind. He +wanted an hour of solitude in which to collect himself. +But his office, that usually quiet, methodical +place, was this day full of unrest. His partner was +fuming at Harry Bradley's release, and wondering +"what on earth was the use of the law, or the necessity +for lawyers to interpret it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is now no necessity for either law or lawyers," +answered Neil; "we may pack our books and +lock our door."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span> +"Neil, I have been thinking how I could manage +to get two hundred for you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is not necessary. I am sorry I spoke to you +on the subject."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I hope you have reconsidered the question of +resignation."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I sent in my resignation this morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course the commissioners will include me +with you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not necessarily."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, necessarily; and I think you have been very +selfish and unkind."</p> + +<p class="indent">"My honor."</p> + +<p class="indent">"My wife and children! They are of as much account +as your honor."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil rose and went out again; there seemed +no peace anywhere, he had scarcely reached the +street when he heard in the distance the mocking +strains of the drums and the fifes. They sounded +so intolerable that he fled to his home to escape their +cruel clamor. His mother saw his approach and +was at the door to meet him. Her face looked +strangely grey and thin, but it had something too of +its old spirit and cheerfulness as she said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil, my dear lad, your letter set our old hearts +singing. How did you manage it? Who helped +you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"God and Jacob Cohen helped me," he answered. +"The Jew has bought my land in Mill Street, and the +strange thing is that he bought it out of respect and +sympathy for my father. I am as sure of that as I +am that Jacob Cohen is the only Christian in New +York who remembered us for past kindness or cared +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span> +for us in present trouble. I want to rest an hour, +mother; I have an appointment with Lord Medway +at five o'clock, and I feel like a leaf that has been +blown hither and thither by the wind for two days. +You might tell Maria that Agnes Bradley's brother +will be outside of New York, a free man, in an +hour."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am glad he is out o' our life, anyway. Much +sorrow and loss he has brought us, and you will see +that Maria's good name will be none the better for +being mixed up with the affair."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is Macpherson's fault. For her sake, and +for your sake, he might have held his tongue. I +will not forgive him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"His duty, Neil——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nonsense! He could have given the information +without bringing in Maria's name. He was +mad with wounded vanity, it was a miserable, cowardly +bit of revenge."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I don't think he is a coward."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is; any man is a coward who takes his spite +out on a woman, and you have been so kind, so +motherly to him. He is a disgrace to the tartan: +but I want an hour's rest, and tell father to be perfectly +easy about the money. I shall have it in the +morning. It rests on Cohen's word; I know no +better human security."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you not hungry?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I had dinner with the Cohens, a simple, excellent +meal."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The world is tapsalterie; I wonder at nothing +that happens. Did you see the young man? I +mean Bradley's son?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span> +"Not I. I did not want to see him. I heard the +drums and got out of sight and hearing as quickly +as possible. I believe his father has managed the +affair very wisely; I should not wonder if the +rogue's march turns out more of a triumph than an +ignominy."</p> + +<p class="indent">In a measure Neil's judgment proved to be correct. +Respectable young men, charged to discountenance +riotous abuse, began to join the procession at +its outset, and this element was continually augmented. +As they passed Bradley's shop, Bradley +himself stepped out of it and walking at the head of +the line, took his place at Harry's right hand. No +one interfered. The drummers and fifers in front +did not see him, and the stupid Waldeckers, ignorant +of English and of everything but the routine of their +regiment, took him as a part of the event. He was +dressed in black cloth, with a white lawn band +around his neck, and if they speculated about him at +all, they thought he was a clergyman, and concluded +the prisoner was to be hung at the barrier.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a><img src="images/illus-208gs.png" alt="THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT SEE HIM." +title="THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT SEE HIM." /><br /> +<span class="caption">THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT SEE HIM.</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">But Harry turned to his father a face full of love +and gratitude. The youth's self-control was complete, +for his disdain of the whole proceeding was +both breastplate and weapon to him. He was bare-headed +and with the wind in his hair and the sunlight +in his eyes he went swinging onward to the +song of victory he heard in his own heart. By the +side of his father's massive contour and stern countenance, +Harry looked like some young Michael, +bright-faced and fearless.</p> + +<p class="indent">Now and then a taunt was hurled at the lad, and +occasionally a jibe far more tangible, but of neither +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span> +missile did he show the least consciousness. The +presence of his father touched the rudest heart. He +removed his hat when he saw his son's uncovered +head, and his grey hairs evoked far more pity than +contempt. When they passed through the fashionable +residence streets, the sympathy was even remarkable; +windows were thrown up, handkerchiefs +fluttered, and now and then a shrill little <i>"bravo!"</i> +made Harry look up and catch the influences of pity +and admiration that women, young and lovely, and +women, old and wayworn, rained down on him. +As Medway predicted, the crowd melted away long +before the barrier was reached, for the mood of mischief +was not in it. The fifes screamed and the +drums beat, but could not summon the devilish spirit +of mob violence, and Harry Bradley's tramp to the +Rogue's March was a much more quiet and orderly +affair than the Police Court intended it to be.</p> + +<p class="indent">At the barrier the gate was flung open, and, in the +midst of a fanfaronade of discordant sounds and +scornful shouts Harry was hustled outside. But +his father had found opportunity to give him gold +and to tell him a negro was waiting with a swift +horse behind the gates; and just at the last moment, +amid the scoffing and jeering of the soldiers, he +put his arms about his son's neck and kissed and +blessed him. He had drunk the shameful cup to the +dregs with the lad, and he turned to the little gathering +a face that awed them. As one man they moved +aside to let him pass, and for a few moments +watched him, as, with a mighty stride he took the +road homeward. For he looked beyond his nature +large and commanding, and he walked as if moved +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span> +by some interior force that was beyond his control. +Men gazed at him with awe and pity, but no one +ventured to speak to him.</p> + +<p class="indent">As he approached his home the inner momentum +that had carried him without let or hinderance at a +marvelous speed seemed to fail; he faltered, looked +round wearily, and then stumbled forward, as if he +had charged his spirit for the last mile of life. +When he reached his gate he could not open it, and +Agnes ran out to help him; speech was impossible, +but with a pitiful glance he let her lead him into +the house. Leaning on her, he stumbled forward +until he reached the sofa, then, with a great cry he +fell backward.</p> + +<p class="indent">Fortunately, Neil Semple at that moment entered +the house, and he was instantly at Bradley's side, +rendering, with Agnes, the help at once necessary, +and soothing the afflicted man with words of such +sympathy and affection as few mortals had ever +heard pass the lips of Neil Semple. "Mr. Bradley," +he entreated, "do not fail yourself at this hour! We +are all so sorry for you—all ready to weep with you—think +of Agnes—are you suffering?—Shall I go +for a physician? What is the matter? Speak to +me, Mr. Bradley."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Sir," he answered, stretching out his trembling +arms, "sir, I can neither see nor hear."</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE TURN OF THE TIDE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Every</span> misfortune has its horizon, but as yet +Maria was not able to lift up her eyes and see any +comfort coming from afar. It seemed to her that +all the joy and glory of living was over. It was not +only that Harry was taken out of her schemes of +happiness for the future; the present, also, was denuded +of every hope and clouded by very real +annoyances. She felt bitterly the publicity given +to her name, and she knew that this publicity would +supply those who disliked her with continual opportunities +for her humiliation.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I shall have to stop at home," she thought; "and +grandmother is sick and grandfather fretful, and +Neil's whole care is given to Agnes Bradley. I +think he might consider me a little; but nobody +does; I am only Maria. Yet my life is ruined, +quite ruined;" and the unhappy child wept over herself +and wondered how she was to live through the +long, long years before her.</p> + +<p class="indent">Very frequently, however, this tearful mood gave +place to indignation against her friends in general, +and Agnes in particular. For she still held steadily +to the opinion that all the trouble had arisen from +her selfishness and inability to remember any one's +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span> +desires but her own. And so, in plaintive or passionate +wandering from one wrong to another, she +passed some very miserable days. Finally, Neil persuaded +her to go and see Agnes. He said, "Even +the walk may do you good; and Agnes is certain to +have some comforting words to say."</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria doubted both assertions. She could not +see what good it could do her to go from one +wretched house to another even more wretched, +and Neil's assurances that John Bradley was better +and able to go to his shop did not give her any more +eager desire to try the suggested change. Yet to +please Neil she went, though very reluctantly; and +Madame sympathized with this reluctance. She +thought it was Agnes Bradley's place to come and +make some acknowledgment of the sorrow and loss +her family had brought upon the Semples; and she +recalled the innate aversion the Elder had always +felt for the Bradley family.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The soul kens which way trouble can come," she +said. "But what is the good o' its warnings? Nobody +heeds them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never heard any warning, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There's nane so deaf as those who won't hear; +but go your ways to your friend Agnes! I'll warrant +she would rather you would bide at hame."</p> + +<p class="indent">The morning was cold and damp and inexpressibly +depressing, but Maria was in that mood +which defies anything to be of consequence. She +put on her hat and cloak and walked silently by her +uncle's side until they came to the Bradley cottage. +All the prettiness of its summer and autumn surroundings +was blighted or dead; the door shut, the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span> +window covered, the whole place infected by the +sorrow which had visited it. Agnes opened the +door. She was wan and looked physically ill and +weary, but she smiled brightly at her visitor, and +kissed her as she crossed the threshold.</p> + +<p class="indent">"My father has been very ill, Maria, or I should +have been to see you before this," she said; "but he +has gone to the shop this morning. I fear he ought +not."</p> + +<p class="indent">"My grandfather has been very ill and is still unable +to leave his room," replied Maria. "My dear +grandmother also! As for myself—but that is of +little importance, only I must say that it has been a +dreadful thing to happen to us, a cruel thing!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was a wrong thing to begin with. That is +where all the trouble sprang from. I see it now +Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course! You ought not to have deceived +your father, Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was to blame in that, very much to blame. I +have nearly broken my heart over the sin and its +consequences."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Consequences! Yes, for they fell upon the innocent—that +is what you ought to be sorry for—my +grandfather and grandmother, my Uncle Neil, and +even myself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But as for yourself, Maria, you also were to +blame. If you would have been content with seeing +Harry here——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, indeed! You did not permit me to see Harry +here, or even to bid him good-bye that night. If +you had——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It would have made no difference. Harry as +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span> +well as you seemed willing to run all risks to meet—elsewhere."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I never thought of meeting Harry elsewhere. +I have told you this fact before."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you had not done so, if Harry had not +known you would do so again, he would not have +asked you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"This is the last time I will condescend to tell you, +Agnes, that I never once met Harry by appointment; +much less, at nine o'clock at night. Please +remember this!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is, then, very strange, that Harry should have +asked you that night."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not only very strange, but very impertinent. +Why should he suppose Maria Semple would obey +such a command? For it was a command. And it +was a further impertinence to send me this command +on a bit of common paper, wrapped around +a stone and thrown at me through a window. It +was a vulgar thing to do, also, and I never gave +Harry Bradley the smallest right to order me to +meet him anywhere."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, if you look at things that way! But why +did he ask you? That is a question hard to answer."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not at all. He was jealous of Macpherson and +wished to show off his familiarity with me and make +Macpherson jealous. Under this distracting passion +he forgot, or he did not care, for the risk. It +was your selfishness put the idea into his head, and +it was his selfishness that carried it out, regardless +of the consequences."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And your selfishness, Maria, what of it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was not selfish at all. I knew nothing about +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span> +it. If I had received the note, I should not have +answered it in any way."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you sure of that?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Absolutely sure. It angered me, humiliated me, +wronged me beyond words. And to have it read in +the Police Court! How would you feel, Agnes? It +has ruined my life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Poor Harry!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, but poor Maria! All this misery was +brought to me without my knowledge and without +any desert on my part. And don't you suppose I love +my grandparents and Uncle Neil? Think what I +have suffered when I saw them dragged to prison, +tried, fined and disgraced, and all for a scribble of +presumptuous words that Harry Bradley ought to +have been ashamed to write. It was very thoughtless, +it was very cruel."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Harry suffered for his presumption; and as for +the fine, my father will repay it to your grandfather. +He said so this morning; said it would only be just; +and I think so, too."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The fine is the least part of the wrong. Who +can repay grandfather and uncle for the loss of their +good name and their honorable record? Who can +give uncle his business back again? These are +wrongs that cannot be put right with money. You +know that, Agnes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do not quarrel with me, Maria. I am not able +to bear your reproaches. Let us at least be thankful +that Harry's life is spared. When the war is over +you may yet be happy together."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Maria burst into passionate weeping. "You +know nothing Agnes! You know nothing!" she +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span> +cried. "I can never see Harry again! Never, +never! Not even if he was in this house, <i>now</i>. +How do you suppose he was saved?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father has a great deal of influence, and he used +it." Her calm, sad face, with its settled conviction +of her father's power, irritated Maria almost beyond +endurance. For a moment she thought she would +tell her the truth, and then that proud, "not-caring," +never far away from a noble nature stayed such a +petty retaliation. She dried her eyes, wrapped her +cloak around her, and said she "must not stop +longer; there was trouble and sorrow at home and +she was needed."</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes did not urge her to remain, yet she could +not bear her to leave in a mood so unfriendly, and so +despairing. "Forgive me, dear Maria," she whispered. +"I have been wrong and perhaps unkind. +I fear you are right in blaming me. Forgive me! +I cannot part in such misunderstanding. If you +knew all——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, yes! And if you knew all."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But forgive me! God knows I have suffered +for my fault."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I also."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Put your arms around my neck and kiss me. I +cannot let you go feeling so unkindly to me. Do +you hear, little one? I am sorry, indeed I am. +Maria! Maria!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then they wept a little in each other's arms, and +Maria, tear stained and heavy hearted, left her +friend. Was she happier? More satisfied? More +hopeful, for the interview? No. There had been +no real confidence. And what is forgiveness under +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 217]</span> +any circumstances? Only incomplete understanding; +a resolution to be satisfied with the wrong acknowledged +and the pain suffered, and to let +things go.</p> + +<p class="indent">Certainly, nothing was changed by the apparent +reconciliation; for as Maria sat by the fire that +night she said to herself, "It is her fault. If she +had given Harry five minutes, only five minutes, +that night he never would have written that shameful +note. It came of her delay and his hurry. I +do not forgive her, and I will not forgive her! Besides, +in her heart I know she blames me; I, who +am perfectly innocent! She has ruined my life, and +she looked as injured as if it was I who had ruined +her life. I was not to blame at all, and I will not +take any blame, and I will not forgive her!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria's divination in the matter was clearly right. +Agnes did blame her. She was sure Harry would +not have written the note he did write unless he had +received previous encouragement. "There must +have been meetings in the Semples's garden before," +she mused. "Oh, there must have been, or else +Harry's note was inexcusable, it was impertinence, +it was vulgarity. All the same, she need not have +said these words to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">So the reconciliation was only a truce; the heart-wound +in both girls was unhealed; and if it were +healed would not the scar remain forever?</p> + +<p class="indent">Three or four days after this unsatisfactory meeting +Neil came home in the afternoon just as the family +were sitting down to the tea-table. "It is cruelly +cold, mother," he said. "I will be grateful for a +cup. I am shivering at my very heart." Then he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 218]</span> +gave his father a business-like paper, saying, "I +found it at my office this morning, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is it Neil? What is it? More trouble?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, sir. It is a deed making over to you the +property in which Mr. Bradley has his shop and +workrooms. He says in a letter to me that 'he +feels this deed to be your right and his duty.' You +are to hold the property as security until he pays +you three hundred pounds with interest; and if you +are not paid within three years you are to sell the +property and satisfy yourself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You can give Mr. Bradley his deed back again, +my lad. I can pay my own fines; or if I can't, I can +go to prison. I'll not be indebted to him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You mistake, sir. This is a moral obligation, +and quite as binding as a legal one to Mr. Bradley."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Take the paper, Alexander," said Madame, "and +be thankfu' to save so much out o' the wreck o' +things. We havena the means nor the right, these +days, to fling awa' siller in order to flatter our pride. +In my opinion, it was as little as Bradley could do."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I went at once to his shop to see him," continued +Neil, "but he was not there. In the afternoon I +called again, and found he had been absent all day. +Fearing he was sick, I stopped at his house on my +way home. A strange woman opened the door. +She said Mr. Bradley and his daughter had gone +away."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Gone away!" cried Maria. "Where have they +gone? Agnes said nothing to me about going +away."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The woman, Mrs. Hurd, she called herself, told +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 219]</span> +me Agnes did not know she was to leave New York +until fifteen minutes before she started."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When will they return?" asked Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"God knows," answered Neil, going to the fire +and stooping over it. "I am cold and sick, mother," +he said. "It was such a shock. No one at the shop +expected such an event; everything was as busy as +possible there, but the house! the house is desolate."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When did they go, Neil?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Last night, mother, at eleven o'clock. Mr. Bradley +came in about twenty minutes before eleven, put +Mr. and Mrs. Hurd in possession, and told Agnes +to pack a change of clothing for herself in a leather +saddlebag he gave her. There was a boat waiting +for them, and they went away in the darkness without +a word. <i>O Agnes!"</i></p> + +<p class="indent">"What did the Hurds say?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"They know nothing."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Did Agnes leave no letter?" asked Maria, looking +with pitying eyes at her uncle.</p> + +<p class="indent">"How could she? The poor child, how could +she? She had no time. Some one had taken away +her pens and pencils. She left a message with Mrs. +Hurd. That was all."</p> + +<p class="indent">That was all. The next day New York City +knew that John Bradley had left his business and +his home and disappeared as completely as a stone +dropped into the river. No one had suspected his intention; +not his foreman, nor any of the fifteen men +working in his shop; not his most intimate friends, +not even his daughter. But it was at once surmised +that he had gone to the rebel army. People +began to murmur at the clemency shown to his son, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 220]</span> +and to comment on the almost offensive sympathy +of the father for him. For a few days John Bradley +was the absorbing topic of conversation; then +he was forgotten by every one but Neil. His shop, +indeed, was kept open by the foreman, under control +of the government, but the name of Bradley +was removed from above its entrance and the royal +cipher G. R. put in its place. And in a few weeks +his home was known as Hurd's place, and had lost +all its little characteristics. Neil passed it every day +with a heavy heart. There was no sweet face at the +window to smile him a greeting; no beautiful +woman to stand with him at the gate, or, hand in +his hand, lead him into the little parlor and with +ten minutes' conversation make the whole day bright +and possible. The house looked forlorn; fire or +candlelight were never visible, and he could only +think of Agnes as driven away in the dark night by +Destiny and wandering, he knew not where.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria, too, was unhappy. Her last visit to +Agnes had been such a mockery of their once loving +companionship. Her last visit! That word "last" +took hold of her, reproached her, hurt her, made +her sorry and anxious. She felt also for her uncle, +who looked old and gray in his silent sorrow. Poor +Neil! he had suffered so many losses lately; loss of +money, loss of business, loss of friends, and to +crown all these bereavements, the loss of the woman +on whom he had fixed the love and light and hopes +of his life. No wonder he was so mournful and so +quiet; he, who had just begun to be really happy, to +smile and be gracious and pleasant to every one, yes, +and even to sing! Madame could not help noticing +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 221]</span> +the change. "He is worse than ever he was before," +she said with a weary pity. "Dear me! what lots +of sorrow women do manage to make!"</p> + +<p class="indent">This remark Maria did not approve of, and she +answered it with some temper. "All this sorrow +came from a man's hand, grandmother," she said, +"and no woman is to blame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not even yoursel', Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I, least of all. Do you think that I would have +met any man by the river side at nine o'clock at +night?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I'll confess I have had my doubts."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then you ought to say, 'Maria, I am sorry I +have had one doubt of you.' When you were Janet +Gordon, would you have done a thing like that?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not a man in Scotland could have trysted me at +an hour when all my folk were in their rooms and +maybe sleeping."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not a man in America could make such a tryst +with me. I am your granddaughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But that letter, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was a shame! A wrong I cannot forgive. I +called it an impertinence to Agnes, and I feel it so. +He had no reason to suppose I would answer such a +request, such an order, I may say. I am telling you +the truth, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I believe you, Maria; but the pity of it is that +you canna advertise that fact."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know that. I know that everyone will doubt +me or shun me. I shall be made to suffer, of course. +Well, I can suffer and smile as well as any woman,—we +all have that experience at some time or +other."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 222]</span> +"Men have it, too. Look at your uncle."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Men don't smile when they suffer; they don't +even try to. Uncle suffers, any one can see that, +but he does not dress up in velvet and silk, and +laugh, and dance, and talk nonsense merrily over +the grave where all his hopes are buried. No, indeed! +He looks as if he had lost the world. And +he shuts himself in his room and swears at something +or somebody; he does not cry like a woman +and get a headache, as well as a heartache; he +swears at his trouble and at everything connected +with it. That is the way with men, grandmother, +you know it is. I have heard both my grandfather +and my uncle comforting themselves after this fashion. +Grandfather, I thought, even seemed to +enjoy it."</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame smiled and then admitted "men had +their ain ways, and so couldna be judged by +woman's ways." Moreover, she told Maria in +regard to Agnes that a friendship which had begun +to decay was best cut off at once. And Maria, in +spite of certain regrets, felt this to be a truth. +Things were not the same between Agnes and herself; +it was, then, more comfortable that they should +not be at all.</p> + +<p class="indent">Only, as day after day went by and no one took +the place of Agnes or showed the slightest desire to +do so, her life became very monotonous. This was +specially remarkable, because New York was at a +feverish point of excitement. General Clinton was +hurrying his preparations for the reduction of the +South. Any hour the troops might get marching +orders, and every entertainment had the gaiety and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 223]</span> +the melancholy of a farewell feast. All day long +troops were moving hither and thither, and orderlies +galloping in every direction. There was a constant +rumble of army wagons in motion; trumpets +were calling men together, drums beating them to +their stations; and through all the blare and movement +of a great military town in motion there was +the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the glancing of +splendidly caparisoned sleighs, full of women brilliantly +dressed.</p> + +<p class="indent">Now, although the Semple house was beyond the +actual throng and tumult of these things, Maria +heard the confused murmur of their activity; and +Neil told her bare facts, which she easily clothed +with all the accessories of their existence and movement. +But although there were dinner parties and +sleighing parties, nightly dances, and the promise +of a fine theatrical season, with the officers of the +army as actors, no one remembered her. She was +shocked when she realized that she had been cut off +from all social recognition. Setting aside the fact +that Harry Bradley was a rebel, she had done nothing +to deserve such ostracism; but, though conscious +of her innocence, she did not find this inner +approval as satisfying a compensation for outward +respect and pleasant company as it is supposed +to be.</p> + +<p class="indent">As the days went on, she began to wonder at Lord +Medway's absence. At least, if she was to be his +wife he ought to show her some care and attention. +She remembered that in their last important +interview she had told him not to trouble her; but +he ought to have understood that a woman's words, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 224]</span> +in such trying circumstances, meant much less or +much more than their face value.</p> + +<p class="indent">Household anxieties of all kinds were added to +these personal ones. Madame Semple was sick and +full of domestic cares. Never had there been known +in New York such bitter frost, such paralyzing cold. +Snow lay four to six feet deep; loaded teams or galloping +cavalry crossed the river safely on its solid ice. +Neil had made arrangements for wood in the summer +months, but only part of it had been delivered; +the rest, though felled, could not be extricated from +the frozen snowdrifts. The sale of the Mill Street +property had left them a margin of ready money, +but provisions had risen to fabulous prices and were +not always procurable at any price. New York +was experiencing, this cruel winter, all the calamities +of a great city beleaguered both by its enemies +and the elements.</p> + +<p class="indent">Yet the incessant social gaiety never ceased. +Thousands were preparing for the battlefield; thousands +were dying in a virulent smallpox epidemic; +thousands were half-frozen and half-fed; the prisons +were crowded hells of unspeakable agonies; yet +the officers in command of the city, and the citizens +in office, the rich, the young and the beautiful, made +themselves merry in the midst of all this death and +famine, and found very good recreation in driving +their jingling sleighs over the solid waters of the +river and the bay.</p> + +<p class="indent">In these bad times Neil was the stay and comfort +of the Semple household. He catered for their +necessities cheerfully, but his heart was heavy with +anxious fear; and when he saw those he loved deprived +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 225]</span> +of any comfort, he reproached himself for +the pride which had made him resign offices so necessary +for their welfare. This pinch of poverty, +which he must conceal, made his whole being shrink +with suffering he never named to any one. And +besides, there was always that desolate house to pass +and repass. How was it that its shut door affected +him so painfully? He could only feel this question; +he could not answer it. But, though he was +not conscious of the fact, never had Neil Semple in +all his life been at once so great and so wretched: +great because he was able to put his own misery +under the feet of those he loved; to forget it in noble +smiles that might cheer them and in hopeful words, +often invented for their comfort.</p> + +<p class="indent">One day as he was walking down Broadway he +saw a sleigh coming toward him. It was drawn by +four black horses blanketed in scarlet, glittering +with silver harness and tossing their plumed heads +to the music of a thousand bells. As it drew nearer +a faint smile came to his lips. He saw the fantastically-dressed +driver and footman, and the brilliant +mass of color surrounded by minever furs, and he +knew it was Madame Jacobus, out to defy any other +sleigh to approach her.</p> + +<p class="indent">He expected only a swift, bright smile in passing, +but she stopped, called him imperatively, and +then insisted that he should take a seat beside her. +"I have caught you at last," she said with a laugh. +"It is high time. I asked you to come soon and see +me, and you said you would. You have broken your +word, sir. But nothing is binding where a woman +is concerned; we have to live on broken scraps of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 226]</span> +all kinds, or perish. You are going to dine with +me. I shall take it very ill if you refuse;" then, +more soberly, "I have some important things to say +to you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It will be a great pleasure to dine with you," +answered Neil.</p> + +<p class="indent">"First, however, we will gallop a mile or two, +just to show ourselves and get an appetite;" and +the grave smile of pleasurable assent which accepted +this proposition delighted her. In and out of the +city ways they flew, until they reached the Bowery +road; there they met the sleighs of generals and +governors, dandy officers and wealthy commissioners, +and passed them all. And Neil shared the thrill +of her triumph and the physical delight of a pace +no one could approach. Something like his old +expression of satisfied consideration came into his +face, and he was alive from head to feet when he +reached Madame's fine house in lower Broadway,—a +handsome, luxurious house, filled with treasures +from every part of the world; no shadow of limitation +in anything within it. The lunch, elaborately +laid for Madame, was instantly extended for the +guest, and Neil marvelled at the dainty liberality +of all its arrangements. It was, indeed, well known +that the Jacobus wealth was enormous, but here was +a room warmed as if wood was of no great value; +broiled birds, the finest of wheat bread, the oldest +and best of wines.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You see, I take good care of myself, Neil," said +Madame. "I don't wish to die till the war is over. +I am resolved to see Troy taken."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You mean New York."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 227]</span> +"I mean New York, of course."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you really think the rebels will take New +York?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Greeks got into Troy by trying. I think +others can do the same."</p> + +<p class="indent">This was the only allusion made to public events +during the meal; but when it was over and the +servants had disappeared she set her chair before the +roaring fire, spread out her splendid scarlet skirt, +and, holding a gemmed fan between her face and +the blaze, said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Now we will talk. You must tell me everything, +Neil, without holdbacks. You are a lawyer +and know that everything must be told or nothing. +Do you feel that you can trust me?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil looked into the dark, speaking face, +bending slightly toward him. Kindness lighted +its eyes and parted its lips, but, above all, it was +a countenance whose truth was beyond question. +"Madame," he answered, "I believe you are my +friend."</p> + +<p class="indent">"In plain truth, I am your friend. I am also your +mother's friend. She is the best of women. I love +her, and there's an end of it. When I came to New +York first I was a stranger and people looked curiously, +even doubtfully, at me. Janet Semple stood +by me like a mother just as long as I needed her +care. Do I forget? That is far from Angelica +Jacobus. I never forget a kindness. Now, Neil, I +have known you more than twenty years. What +can I do for you?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"O Madame, what can you not do? Your +sympathy has put new life into me. I feel as if, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 228]</span> +perhaps, even yet there may be happy days in +store."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Plenty of them. I hear you paid the fines immediately. +Did they pinch you much?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No. Jacob Cohen bought a piece of land from +me. I do believe he bought it out of pure kindness."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Pure kindness and good business. He knows +how to mingle things. But that Jew has a great +soul. Jacobus has said so often, and no one can +deceive Jacobus. But what are these stories I hear +about your lovely niece? Is there any truth in +them?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"None, I'll warrant," answered Neil warmly. +"But I will tell you the exact truth, and then you +may judge if little Maria deserves to be treated as +people are now treating her."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil succinctly, and with clearness and feeling, +told the story of Maria's entanglement with +Harry Bradley, laying particular stress on the fact +that she never had met him clandestinely, and that +his note had been a great offense and astonishment +to her. "I was present," he said, "when my father +told her of the note, and of its being read in the +Police Court, and I shall never forget her face. It +is an easy thing to say that a person was shocked, +but Maria's very soul was so dismayed and shocked +that I seemed to see it fly from her face. She would +have fallen had I not caught her. Why was that +note written? I cannot understand it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was never intended for Maria. It was written +to wound the vanity and fire the jealousy of that +Scot. As soon as Maria left the room the opportunity +was seized. Can you not see that? And +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 229]</span> +Harry Bradley never dreamed that the kilted fool +would turn an apparent love-tryst into a political +event. He wished to make trouble between Macpherson +and Maria, but he had no intention of +making the trouble he did make. He also was jealous, +and when two jealous men are playing with +fire the consequences are sure to be calamitous. But +Macpherson is sorry enough now for his zeal in His +Majesty's affairs. He is thoroughly despised by +both men and women of the first class. I, myself, +have made a few drawing-rooms places of extreme +humiliation to him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Still, others think the man simply did his duty. +A Scotsman has very strong ideas about military +honor and duty."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Fiddlesticks! Honor and duty! Nothing of the +kind. It was a dirty deed, and he is a dirty fellow +to have done it. There was some decent way out +of the dilemma without going through the Police +Court to find it. Grant me patience with such +bouncing, swaggering, selfish patriotism! A penny's +worth of common-sense and good feeling would have +been better; but it was his humor to be revengeful +and ill-natured, and he is, of course, swayed by his +inclinations. Let us forget the creature."</p> + +<p class="indent">"With all my soul."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The stories are various about Maria going to +General Clinton and begging her lover's life with +such distraction that he could not refuse it to her. +Which story is the true one?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"They are all lies, I assure you, Madame. It was +Lord Medway who begged Harry Bradley's life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But why?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 230]</span> +Neil paused a minute, and then answered softly, +"For Maria's sake."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, I begin to understand."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She has promised to marry him when she is of +age—then, or before."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am very glad. Medway is a man full of queer +kinds of goodness. When the Robinsons and Blundells, +when Joan Attwood and Kitty Errol and all +the rest of the beauties, hear the news, may I be +there to see? Is it talkable yet?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, not yet. Maria has told no one but me, +and I have told no one but you. Medway is to see +my father and mother; after that—perhaps. He +has not called since the arrangement; he told me 'he +was doing the best thing under the circumstances.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course he is. Medway understands women. +He knows that he is making more progress absent +than he would present. Come, now, things are not +so bad, socially. Mrs. Gordon and Angelica Jacobus +will look after Maria; and, though women can +always be abominable enough to their own sex, I +think Maria will soon be beyond their shafts. Now, +it is business I must speak of. Patrick Huges, my +agent, is robbing me without rhyme or reason. I +had just sent him packing when I met you. The +position is vacant. Will you manage my affairs for +me? The salary is two hundred pounds a year."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Madame, the offer is a great piece of good fortune. +From this hour, if you wish it, I will do your +business as if it were my own."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Thank you, Neil. In plain truth, it will be a +great kindness to me. We will go over the rascal's +accounts to-morrow, and he will cross the river to-night +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 231]</span> +if he hears that Neil Semple is to prosecute the +examination."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil rose to leave. Madame's sympathy +and help had made a new man of him; he felt able +to meet and master his fate, whatever it might be. +At the last moment she laid her hand upon his arm. +"Neil," she asked, "Has not this great outrage +opened your eyes a little. Do you still believe in +the justice or clemency of the King?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was not the King."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was the King's representatives. If such indignity +is possible when we are still fighting, what +kind of justice should we get if we were conquered?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know, I know. But there is my father. It +would break his heart if I deserted the royal party +now. They do not know in England——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then they ought to know; but for many years +I have been saying, 'England was mad'; and she +grows no wiser."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Englishmen move so slowly."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course. All the able Englishmen are on this +side of the Atlantic. Lord! how many from the +other side could be changed for the one Great One +on this side. What do you think? It was my silk, +lace, ribbons and fallals Harry Bradley was taking +across the river. The little vanities were for my +old friend Martha. I am sorry she missed them."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil looked at her with an admiring smile. "How +do you manage?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have arranged my politics long since, and quite +to my satisfaction. So has Jacobus. He left New +York flying the English flag, but the ocean has a +wonderful influence on him; his political ideas grow +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 232]</span> +large and free there; he becomes—a different man. +Society has the same effect on me. When I see +American women put below that vulgar Mrs. +Reidesel——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, no, Madame!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, yes, sir. In the fashionable world we are +all naught unless Mrs. General Reidesel figures before +us; then, perhaps, we may acquire a kind of +value. See how she is queening it in General Tryron's +fine mansion. And then, this foreign mercenary, +Knyphausen, put over American officers and +American citizens! It is monstrous! Not to be +endured! I only bear it by casting my heart and +eyes to the Jersey Highlands. There our natural +ruler waits and watches; here, we wait and watch, +and some hour, it must be, our hopes shall touch +God's purposes for us. For that hour we secretly +pray. It is not far off." And Neil understood, as +he met her shining eyes and radiant smile, that there +are times when faith may indeed have all the dignity +of works.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then the young man, inexpressibly cheered and +strengthened, went rapidly home; and when Madame +heard her son's steps on the garden walk +she knew that something pleasant had happened to +him. And it is so often that fortune, as well as misfortune, +goes where there is more of it that Neil was +hardly surprised to see an extraordinarily cheerful +group around an unusually cheerful fireside when +he opened the parlor door. The Elder, smiling and +serene, sat in his arm-chair, with his finger-tips +placidly touching each other. Madame's voice had +something of its old confident ring in it, and Maria, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 233]</span> +with heightened color and visible excitement, sat +between her grandparents, an unmistakable air of +triumph on her face.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Come to the fire, Neil," said his mother, making +a place for his chair. "Come and warm yoursel'; +and we'll hae a cup o' tea in ten or fifteen minutes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How cheerful the blazing logs are," he answered. +"Is it some festival? You are as delightfully +extravagant as Madame Jacobus. Oh, if the old days +were back again, mother!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"They will come, Neil. But wha or what will +bring us back the good days we hae lost forever out +o' our little lives while we tholed this weary war? +However, there is good news, or at least your father +thinks so. Maria has had an offer o' marriage, +and her not long turned eighteen years auld, and +from an English lord, and your father has made +a bonfire o'er the matter, and I've nae doubt he +would have likit to illuminate the house as weel."</p> + +<p class="indent">The Elder smiled tolerantly. "Janet," he answered, +"a handsome young man, without mair than +his share o' faults and forty thousand pounds a year, +is what I call a godsend to any girl. And I'm glad +it has come to our little Maria. I like the lad. I +like him weel. He spoke out like a man. He told +me o' his castle and estate in Lancashire, and o' the +great coal mines on it; the lands he owned in Cumberland +and Kent, his town house in Belgrave +Square, and forbye showed me his last year's rental, +and stated in so many words what settlement he +would make on Maria. And I'm proud and pleased +wi' my new English grandson that is to be. I shall +hold my head higher than ever before; and as for +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 234]</span> +Matthews and Peter DuBois, they and their dirty +Police Court may go to——, where they ought to +have been years syne, but for God Almighty's patience; +and I'll say nae worse o' them than that. +It's a great day for the Semples, Neil, and I am +wonderfully happy o'er it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It's a great day for the Medways," answered +Madame. "I could see fine how pleased he was at +the Gordon connection, for when I told him Colonel +William Gordon, son o' the Earl o' Aberdeen—him +wha raised the Gordon Highlanders a matter o' +three years syne—was my ain first cousin, he rose +and kissed my hand and said he was proud to call +Colonel Gordon his friend. And he knew a' about +the Gordons and the warlike Huntleys, and could +even tell me that the fighting force o' the clan was +a thousand claymores; a most intelligent young +man! And though I dinna like the thought o' an +Englishman among the Gordons, there's a differ +even in Englishmen; some are less almighty and +mair sensible than others."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He spoke very highly o' the Americans," answered +the Elder. "He said 'we were all o' one +race, the children o' the same grand old mother.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Americans are obligated for his recognition," +replied Madame a trifle scornfully. "To be +sure, it's a big feather in our caps when Lord Medway +calls cousins with us."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What does Maria say?" asked Neil. And Maria +raised her eyes to his with a look in them of which +he only had the key. So to spare her talking on the +subject, he continued: "I also have had a piece of +good fortune to-day. I met Madame Jacobus, went +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 235]</span> +home with her to dinner, and she has offered me the +position of her business agent, with a salary of two +hundred pounds a year."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It's a vera springtide o' good fortune," said the +Elder, "and I am a grateful auld man."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Weel, then," cried Madame, "here comes the tea +and the hot scones; and I ken they are as good as +a feast. It's a thanksgiving meal and no less; come +to the table wi' grateful hearts, children. I'm thinking +the tide has turned for the Semples; and when +the tide turns, wha is able to stop it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">The turn of the tide! How full of hope it is! +Not even Maria was inclined to shadow the cheerful +atmosphere. Indeed, she was grateful to Lord +Medway for the fresh, living element he had brought +into the house. Life had been gloomy and full of +small mortifications to her since the unfortunate +Bradley affair. Her friends appeared to have forgotten +her, and the dancing and feasting and sleighing +went on without her presence. Even her home +had been darkened by the same event; her grandfather +had not quite recovered the shock of his +arrest; her grandmother had made less effort to hide +her own failing health. Neil had a heartache about +Agnes that nothing eased, and the whole household +felt the fear and pinch of poverty and the miserable +uncertainty about the future.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria bore her share in these conditions, and she +had also began to wonder and to worry a little over +Lord Medway's apparent indifference. If he really +loved her, why did he not give her the recognition +of his obvious friendship? His presence and attentions +would at least place her beyond the spite and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 236]</span> +envy of her feminine rivals. Why did he let them +have one opportunity after another to smile disdain +on her presence, or to pointedly relegate her to the +outer darkness of non-recognition? When she had +examined all her slights and sorrows, Lord Medway's +neglect was the most cutting thong in the +social scourge.</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame Jacobus, however, was correct in her +opinion. Medway was making in these days of +lonely neglect a progress which would have been +impossible had he spent them at the girl's side. And +if he had been aware of every feeling and event in +the lives of the Semples, he could not have timed his +hour of reappearance more fortunately, for not only +was Maria in the depths of despondency, but the +Elder had also begun to believe his position and +credit much impaired. He had been passed, avoided, +curtly answered by men accustomed to defer to +him; and he did not take into consideration the personal +pressure on these very men from lack of +money, or work, or favor; nor yet those accidental +offenses which have no connection with the people +who receive them. In the days of his prosperity he +would have found or made excuses in every case, +but a failing or losing man is always suspicious, and +ready to anticipate wrong.</p> + +<p class="indent">But now! Now it would be different. As he +drank his tea and ate his buttered scone he thought +so. "It will be good-morning, Elder. How's all +with you? Have you heard the news? and the like +of that. It will be a different call now." And he +looked at Maria happily, and began to forgive her +for the calamity she had brought upon them. For +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 237]</span> +it was undeniable that even in her home she had +been made to feel her responsibility, although the +blame had never been voiced.</p> + +<p class="indent">She understood the change, and was both happy +and angry. She did not feel as if any one—grandfather, +grandmother, Lord Medway, or Uncle Neil—had +stood by her with the loyal faith they ought +to have shown. All of them had, more or less, suspected +her of imprudence and reckless disregard of +their welfare. All of them had thought her capable +of ruining her family for a flirtation. Even Agnes, +the beginning and end of all the trouble, had been +cold and indifferent, and blamed, and left her without +a word. And as she did not believe herself to +have done anything very wrong, the injustice of the +situation filled her with angry pain and dumb reproach.</p> + +<p class="indent">Lord Medway's straightforward proposal cleared +all the clouds away. It gave her a position at once +that even her grandfather respected. She was no +longer a selfish child, whose vanity and folly had +nearly ruined her family. She was the betrothed +wife of a rich and powerful nobleman, and she knew +that even socially reprisals of a satisfactory kind +would soon be open to her. The dejected, self-effacing +manner induced by her culpable position +dropped from her like a useless garment; she lifted +her handsome face with confident smiles; she was +going, not only to be exonerated, but to be set far +above the envy and jealousy of her enemies. For +Medway had asked her to go sleighing with him on +the following day, and she expected that ride to +atone for many small insults and offenses.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 238]</span> +Twice during the night she got up in the cruel +cold to peep at the stars and the skies. She wanted +a clear, sunny day, such a day as would bring out +every sleigh in the fashionable world; and she got +her desire. The sun rose brilliantly, and the cold +had abated to just the desirable point; the roads, +also, were in perfect condition for rapid sleighing, +and at half-past eleven Medway entered the parlor, +aglow with the frost and the rapid motion.</p> + +<p class="indent">His fine presence, his hearty laugh, his genial +manners, were irresistible. He bowed over Madame's +hand, and then drew Maria within his +embrace. "Is she not a darling? and may I take +her for an hour or two, grandmother?" he asked. +And Madame felt his address to be beyond opposition. +He had claimed her kinship; he had called +her "grandmother," and she gave him at once the +key of her heart.</p> + +<p class="indent">As they stood all three together before the fire, a +servant man entered and threw upon the sofa an +armful of furs. "I have had these made for you, +Maria," said Medway. "Look here, my little one! +Their equals do not exist outside of Russia." And +he wrapped her in a cloak of the finest black fox +lined with scarlet satin, and put on her head a hood +of scarlet satin and black fox, and slipped her hands +into a muff of the same fur lined with scarlet satin; +and when they reached the waiting sleigh he lifted +her as easily as a baby into it, and seating himself +beside her, off they went to the music in their hearts +and the music in the bells; and the pace of the four +horses was so great that Madame declared "all she +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 239]</span> +could see was a bundle of black fur and flying scarlet +ribbons."</p> + +<p class="indent">That day Maria's cup of triumph was full and +running over. Before they had reached the half-way +house they had met the entire fashionable world +of New York, and every member of it had understood +that Maria Semple and Lord Medway would +now have to be reckoned with together. For Medway +spoke to no one and returned no greeting that +did not include Maria in it. Indeed, his neglect of +those who made this omission was so pointed that +none could misconstrue it. Maria was, therefore, +very happy. She had found a friend and a defender +in her trouble, and she was, at least, warmly grateful +to him. He could see it in her shining eyes, and +feel it, oh, so delightfully! in her unconscious drawing +closer and closer to him, so that finally his hands +were clasping hers within the muff of black fox, and +his face was bending to her with that lover-like, protecting +poise there was no mistaking.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you satisfied, Maria? Are you happy?" he +asked, when the pace slackened and they could talk +a little.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, yes!" she answered. "But why did you wait +so long? I was suffering. I needed a friend; did +you not understand?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"But you had a sorrow I could not share. I did +not blame you for it. It was but natural you should +weep a little, for the young man had doubtless made +some impression. He was a gallant fellow, and between +life and death carried himself like a prince. +I am glad I was able to save his life; but I did not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 240]</span> +wish to see you fretting about him; that was also +natural."</p> + +<p class="indent">She did not answer, nor did he seem to expect an +answer. But she was pleased he did not speak +slightingly of Harry. Had he done so, she felt that +she would have defended him; and yet, in her deepest +consciousness she knew this defense would have +been forced and uncertain. The circumstances were +too painful to be called from the abyss of past +calamity. It was better everything should be forgotten. +And with the unerring instinct of a lover, +Medway quickly put a stop to her painful reverie by +words that seldom miss a woman's appreciation. He +told her how much he had longed to be with her; +how tardily the weeks had flown; how happy it made +him to see her face again. He called her beautiful, +bewitching, the loveliest creature the sun shone on, +and he said these things with that air of devoted +respect which was doubly sweet to the girl, after the +social neglect of the past weeks. Finally he asked +her if she was cold, and she answered:</p> + +<p class="indent">"How can I be cold? These exquisite furs are +cold-proof. Where did you get them? I have never +seen any like them before."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I got them in St. Petersburg. I was there two +years ago on a political embassy, and while I was +waiting until you partly recovered yourself I had +my long coat cut up and made for you. I am +delighted I did it. You never looked so lovely in +anything I have seen you wear. Do you like them, +Maria, sweet Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">She looked at him with a smile so ravishing that +he had there and then no words to answer it. He +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 241]</span> +spoke to the driver instead, and the horses bounded +forward, and so rapid was the pace that the city +was soon reached, and then her home. Neil was at +the gate to meet them, and Medway lifted Maria out +of the sleigh and gave her into his care. "I will not +keep the horses standing now;" he said, "but shall +I call to-morrow, Maria, at the same time?" And +she said, "Yes," and "I have had a happy drive." +So he bowed and went away in a dash of trampling +horses and jingling bells, and Maria watched him +a moment or two, being greatly impressed by his +languid, yet masterful, air and manner, the result of +wealth long inherited and of social station beyond +question.</p> + +<p class="indent">With a sigh—and she knew not why she sighed—Maria +went into the house. She was now quite +forgiven; she could feel that she was once more +loved without reservation, and also that she had become +a person of importance. It was a happy +change, and she did not inquire about it, or dampen +the pleasure by asking for reasons. She took off +her beautiful furs, showed them to her grandmother +and grandfather, and told at what personal sacrifice +Lord Medway had given them to her. And then, +drawing close to the hearth, she described the people +they had met, and the snubs and recognitions given +and received. It was all interesting to Madame, +and even to the Elder; the latter, indeed, was in extraordinary +high spirits, and added quite as much +salt and vinegar to the dish of gossip as either of the +women.</p> + +<p class="indent">In spite, therefore, of the bitter weather and the +scarcity of all the necessaries of life, the world went +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 242]</span> +very well again for the Semples; and though at the +end of December, Clinton sailed southward, Lord +Medway had a furlough for some weeks, so that in +this respect the military movement did not interfere +with Maria's social pleasures. Two days before the +embarkment of the troops Colonel DeLancey called +one morning on the Elder. He had sold a piece of +property to the government, and in making out the +title information was wanted that only Elder Semple, +who was the original proprietor, could give. +DeLancey asked him, therefore, to drive back with +him to the King's Arms and settle the matter, and +the Elder was pleased to do so. Anything that took +him among his old associates and gave him a little +importance was particularly agreeable, and in spite +of the cold he went off in the highest spirits.</p> + +<p class="indent">The King's Arms was soon reached, and he found +in its comfortable parlor General Ludlow, Recorder +John Watts, Jr., Treasurer Cruger, Commissioners +DeGeist and Housewert, and Lawyer Spiegel. +After Semple's arrival the business which had called +them together was soon settled, and it being near +noon, Ludlow called for a bottle of old port and +some beef sandwiches. The room was warm and +bright, the company friendly and well informed on +political matters, and a second bottle was drunk ere +they made a movement to break up the pleasant +meeting. Then Ludlow arose, and for a few minutes +they stood around the blazing fire, the Elder +very happy in the exercise of his old influence and +authority. But just as they were going to shake +hands the door was flung open and Captain Macpherson +appeared. For a moment he stood irresolute, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 243]</span> +then he suddenly made up his mind that he had +chanced upon a great opportunity for placing himself +right with the public, and so, advancing toward +Elder Semple, who had pointedly turned his back +upon him, he said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Elder, I am grateful for this fortunate occasion. +I wish before these gentlemen to assure you that I +did my duty with the most painful reluctance. I +beg you to forgive the loss and annoyance this duty +has caused you."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Semple turned to him. His eyes were flashing, +his face red and furious. He looked thirty years +younger than usual, as with withering scorn he +answered:</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>"Caitiff!</i> Out of my sight!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, sir," continued the foolish young man, "not +until you listen to me. As a soldier and a gentleman, +I had a duty to perform."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You hae covered the names o' 'soldier' and 'gentleman' +wi' infamy. Duty, indeed! What duty o' +yours was it to examine a letter that came to a house +where you were making an evening call? No matter +how the letter came—through the window or by +the door—you had nae duty in the matter. It was +your cursed, curious, spying impertinence. No gentleman +would hae opened it. The letter was not +directed to you,—you admitted that in court. God +in Heaven! What right had you to open it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Allow me to ask, Elder, what you would have +done if you had been an officer in His Majesty's +service and had been placed in the same circumstances?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Done? Why, you villain, there was only <i>one</i> +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 244]</span> +<i>thing to do</i>, and an officer, if he was a gentleman, +would have done it,—given the letter to Miss Bradley +unopened. She was the mistress of the house, +and entitled to see the letters coming to it. What +had you to do wi' her letters? If you had kept your +fingers frae picking and your e'en frae spying, you +would not have put yoursel' in an utterly shamefu' +dilemma."</p> + +<p class="indent">"In these times, sir——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"In this case the times are nae excuse. Mr. Bradley +was believed by everybody to be a friend of His +Majesty. You had nae reason whatever to suppose +a treasonable note would come to his house. You +did not suppose it. My God, sir! if our letters are +to be examined by His Majesty's officers, wha is +safe? An enemy might throw a note full o' treason +through a window, and if <i>you</i> happened to be calling +there——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Mr. Semple, you are insulting."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I mean to be insulting. What right had you +to speak to me? You Judas! who could eat my +bread, and borrow my siller, and pretend to love my +granddaughter. You have smirched your colors +and dishonored your sword, and you deserve to be +drummed out o' your regiment; you do that, you +eternal scoundrel, you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">By this time the Elder's voice filled the room, and +he brought his cane down as if it were twenty. +"Out o' my sight," he shouted, "or I'll lay it o'er +your shoulders, you blackguard aboon ten thousand."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Your age, sir! your age!" screamed the enraged +young fellow; but his words almost choked him, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 245]</span> +de Geist and Cruger took him forcibly out of the +room.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then DeLancey filled a glass with wine. "Sit +down and drink it, Elder," he said. "Afterward I +shall have the great honor and pleasure of driving +you home." And the approval of every one present +was too marked to be misunderstood. Semple felt +it in every handclasp, and saw it in every face.</p> + +<p class="indent">Also, Semple had his own approval, and the result +of it in his voice and manner troubled Janet. She +was ignorant of its cause, and the Elder was not +prepared to tell her. "The fool may think himself +bound to challenge me," he thought, "and I'll e'en +wait till he does it, or else till Clinton carries him +awa' to fight rebels."</p> + +<p class="indent">But he was nearly betrayed by Neil, who entered +the parlor in an almost buoyant manner for one so +naturally grave. "Why, father," he said, "what is +this I hear?" and then he suddenly stopped, having +caught his father's warning glance.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You hae heard many things doubtless, Neil," answered +the Elder, "and among them that I and +DeLancey were driving together. We had a rather +cheerful time at the King's Arms o'er a bit of transferring +business. The government must hae clear +titles, you ken, to the property it buys."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A clear title is beyond the government," interrupted +Madame, "and the government needna' fash +itsel' about titles. Nane that can be made will hold +good much longer for the government. Sit down, +Neil, and see if you can steady your father a bit; he's +as much excited about a ride wi' auld DeLancey as +if King George himsel' had gien him a ride in his +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 246]</span> +chariot;" and she flipped her dress scornfully to the +words as she left the room to give some household +order.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You vera near told tales on me, Neil," said the +old man gleefully; "and there's nae need to mention +the bit o' scrimmage till we see if it's finished. The +lad might send me a challenge," he added with a +little mirthful laugh.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not he, father! If he did, I should quickly answer +it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You would mind your ain business, sir. As +long as I bide in this warld I'll do my ain fighting, +if I die for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"There's none can do it better, father. Errol told +me your scorn overwhelmed Macpherson; and he +said, moreover, that if the quarrel had come to blows +he had no doubt you would have caned the scoundrel +consumedly. They are talking of the affair all over +town, and DeLancey is quite beyond himself about +it. I heard him say that, though your hands quivered +with passion, you stood firm as a rock, and +that there were a few minutes at the last when no +man could have tackled you safely." Then there +was a sudden pause, for Madame reëntered, and +the Elder looked at her in a way so full of triumph +and self-satisfaction that he troubled her. "To +think o' Alexander Semple being sae set up wi' +DeLancey's nod and smile," she thought.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil turned the conversation on the social +events of the day, and the topic allowed Madame +some scope for the relief of her annoyance. Yet +her anxiety about her husband continued, for the +Elder was in extraordinarily high spirits. His +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 247]</span> +piquant, pawkie humor finally alarmed Madame. +"Alexander," she said, "you had better go awa' to +your bed. I dinna like to hear you joking out o' +season, as it were. What has come o'er you, man?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Hear to your mother, Neil!" he answered. +"When I sit still and silent, she asks, 'Have you naething +to say, auld man?' and when I say something +she doesna' like my way o' joking, and is for sending +me awa' to bed for it, as if I was a bairn. However, +the day is o'er, and we hae had the glory o' it, +and may as weel get rested for the day to come."</p> + +<p class="indent">He left the room in his old sober fashion, with +a blessing and a "Good-night, children," and Madame +followed him. Maria rose with her; she was +anxious to carry her thoughts into solitude. But +Neil sat still by the fireside, dreaming of Agnes +Bradley, and yet finding the dream often invaded +by the thought of the retributive scene in the parlor +of the King's Arms. And perhaps never in all his +life had Neil loved and honored his father more sincerely.</p> + +<p class="indent">When Madame returned to the room he came suddenly +out of his reverie. He saw at once that his +mother was strangely troubled. She sat down and +covered her face with her thin, trembling hands, and +when Neil bent over her with a few soothing words +she sobbed:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, my dear lad, I'm feared your father is <i>fey</i>, +or else he has been drinking beyond his reason; and +goodness knows what nonsense he has been saying. +The men who brought sae much wine out may have +done it to set him talking; and anyway, it shames +me, it pains me, to think o' Alexander Semple being +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 248]</span> +the butt o' a lot o' fellows not worthy to latch his +shoe buckles. But he's getting auld, Neil, he's getting +auld; and he's always been at the top o' the tree +in every one's respect, and I canna bear it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dear mother, never has father stood so high in +all good men's opinion as he stands this night. He +has a little secret from you, and, I dare say, it is the +first in his life, and it is more than wine to him. It +is the secret, not the wine."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is it, Neil? What is it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Neil sat down by his mother's side, and +looking into her face with his own smiling and +beaming, he told her with dramatic power and passion +the story of "the bit scrimmage," as the Elder +defined the wordy battle, adding, "There is not +a man, young or old, in New York, that this night is +more praised and respected for his righteous wrath +than Alexander Semple. As for Quentin Macpherson, +he may go hang!"</p> + +<p class="indent">And long before the story was finished Madame +was bridling and blushing with pride and pleasure. +"The dear auld man! The brave auld man!" she +kept ejaculating; and her almost uncontrollable impulse +was to go to him and give him the kiss and the +few applauding words which she knew would crown +his satisfaction. But Neil persuaded her to dissemble +her delight, and then turned the conversation on +the condition of the city.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is bad enough," he said. "Famine and freezing +will soon be here, and the town is left under the +orders of a hired mercenary—a German, a foreigner, +who neither understands us nor our lives or +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 249]</span> +language. It is a shameful thing. Was there no +Englishman to defend New York? Every citizen, +no matter what his politics, is insulted and sulky, +and if Washington attacks the city in Clinton's absence, +which he will surely do, they won't fight +under Knyphausen as they would under a countryman. +Even DeLancey would have been better. I, +myself, would fight with a DeLancey leading, where +I would be cold as ice behind Knyphausen."</p> + +<p class="indent">"When men are left to themselves what fools they +are," said Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"They don't think so. You should hear the talk +about what Clinton is going to do in the South, and +he will find Cornwallis too much for him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How is that? Cornwallis?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Cornwallis hates Clinton passionately; he will +sacrifice everything rather than coöperate with him. +Clinton successful would be worse than his own disgrace. +Yet Clinton is sure he will succeed in subduing +the whole South."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And Knyphausen?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is sure he will capture General Washington, +though Clinton failed in his alert for that purpose. +The four hundred light horsemen he despatched +came back as they went twenty-four hours after they +started full of confidence."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What frightened them?" asked Madame with a +scornful laugh.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The guides. They lost the road,—rebels at +heart, doubtless,—the cold was intense, the snow +deep, and the four hundred came home all. +The wretched rebel army must have had a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 250]</span> +hearty laugh at Clinton's 'alert'—the alert which +was to end the war by the capture of Washington."</p> + +<p class="indent">"How could they expect such a thing?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Well, Washington was living in a house at Morristown, +some distance from the huts occupied by the +army. The army were in the greatest distress, +nearly naked, hungry and cold, and the snow was +deep around them. There was every reason to hope +four hundred men on swift horses might be alert +enough to surprise and capture the man they +wanted."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nae! nae!" cried Madame. "The tree God +plants no wind hurts; and George Washington is set +for the defense and freedom o' these colonies. Cold +and hungry men, snow-strangled roads, and four +hundred alerts! What are they against the tree +God plants? Only a bit wind that shook the +branches and made the roots strike deeper and wider. +And sae Clinton's alert having failed, Knyphausen +is trying for another; is that it, Neil?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. He considers Washington's capture his +commission."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And if he should capture him, what then?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"If he is taken alive he will die the death of a +traitor."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And then?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then the war would be over, the idea of independence +would be buried, and we should be English +subjects forever."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And after that comes a cow to be shod. One +thing is as likely as the other. The idea of independence +will never be buried; we shall never again +be subjects of the King o' England. In spite of all +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 251]</span> +the elements can do, in spite of what seems to us +impossibilities, the tree God has planted no wind +shall hurt. Many a day, Neil, I have steadied my +soul and my heart as I went to and fro in my house +singing or saying this bit verse, and I wrote it my +ain sel':</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i2">No wind that blows can ever kill</span><br /> +<span class="i4">The tree God plants;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">It bloweth east; it bloweth west;</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The tender leaves have little rest,</span><br /> +But any wind that blows is best.<br /> +<span class="i4">The tree God plants</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Strikes deeper root, grows higher still,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Spreads wider boughs for God's good will,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Meets all its wants."</span><br /> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Neil sighed, and rising suddenly, said, "Let us go +upstairs; the room is growing very cold. And, +mother, do not let father know I have told you about +his 'bit scrimmage.' It would rob him of the triumph +of his own recital."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I'll not say a word, Neil; you may be sure o' +that."</p> + +<p class="indent">And she did not say a word. Nevertheless, the +Elder looked queerly at Neil the following evening, +and when he found an opportunity, said, "You've +been telling tales on me, lad. Your mother hasna +petted me a' the day lang for naething. Some one +has whispered a word in her ear. I can see it in her +e'en and hear it in her voice, and feel it in the stroke +o' her hand. I wonder who it was."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A bird of the air often carries such matters, sir. +It would be but the generality; the particulars can +come from yourself only."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye, to be sure!" And he smiled and seated +himself comfortably in his chair before the blaze, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 252]</span> +adding, "It was a wonderfu' bit o' comfort, Neil, +and you'll stand by me if your mother thinks wrong +o' it?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Shoulder to shoulder, sir. You did quite +right."</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">MARIA GOES TO LONDON.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">As</span> the days lengthened, the cold strengthened, +and New York experienced a winter of unparallelled +severity. Food could only be procured with hard +money, and at exorbitant prices, and the scarcity of +fuel added greatly to the general distress. Wall +Street surrendered most of its beautiful century-old +shade trees, to warm the family of the German General +Riederel, and before Spring, the streets and +lanes of the city, the gardens and pleasure grounds +of the burghers, were shorn of their finest fruit and +shade trees. The aged, the very young, the men in +the prisons and hospitals perished in great numbers, +and the deathly cold of the atmosphere was full of +the unspeakable misery everywhere present.</p> + +<p class="indent">These distressing conditions were intensified by +the fear of an attack from Washington. The +waters around New York were for several weeks so +hard frozen that the heaviest artillery could easily +have crossed on them; and the city in losing its insular +position, lost its chief advantage for defense. +Knyphausen constantly expected Washington to +cross the ice, and refugees and citizens alike, were +formed into companies and subjected to garrison +duty. During the dark, bitter watches, men sometimes +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 254]</span> +froze at their posts, and women in their unheated +rooms, knelt listening to the children's +breathing, for the atmosphere was so deadly cold +that the babes shivered, even in the covert of their +mothers' breasts.</p> + +<p class="indent">Yet, in this city of frost, and famine, and suffering, +a hectic and most unnatural gaiety was kept up. +Maria would have little part in it. She could find +no pleasure in listening to comedies and songs, in a +freezing temperature, and the warmth induced by +dancing was generally followed by a most uncomfortable +and dangerous chill. Her status in society +also led her to feel more content in withdrawing +from it a little. She was not yet to be classed among +the married belles, nor was she quite at one with the +girlhood that surrounded her. Her engagement to +Lord Medway had set her a little apart; it was understood +that she could not be in perfect sympathy +with the plans and hopes of either maids or wives.</p> + +<p class="indent">Yet her life was far from unhappy. She visited +Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. Jacobus a great deal; and the +latter delighted in making little lunches and dinners, +where the three ladies were joined by Lord Medway, +and Neil Semple, and very often also by Major André, +whose versatile gifts and cheerful temperament +were the necessary and delightful antitheses to Neil's +natural gravity and Medway's cultivated restraint. +The splendid rooms of Madame Jacobus were warm, +her dinners well cooked, her wines of the finest quality, +her good nature never failing. She made a pet +of Maria, and Lord Medway—reclining with half-closed +eyes in some luxurious chair—watched his +betrothed managing this clever woman, so much +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 255]</span> +older than herself, with infinite satisfaction and +amusement. He foresaw that she would be equal +to any social position, and it never occurred to him +that it was likely she would manage Lord Medway +quite as thoroughly as she managed Madame Jacobus. +Occasionally, Medway gave return dinners, at +which Madame Semple presided, and then Maria sat +at his right hand, and he proved himself to be the +most charming of hosts, and the most devoted and +respectful of lovers.</p> + +<p class="indent">Conversation was never to make, every one spoke +as they listed, and as their prejudices or convictions +led them. There was no Quentin Macpherson present, +and opinions were as much individual property +as purses. One day, toward the end of January, +when the temperature was so low that the dining-table +had been drawn close to the hearth, the usual +party were sitting in the warmth and glow of its +roaring fire. The dinner was over, the servants had +left the room, Medway and Maria were picking their +walnuts out together, and Major André and Neil +Semple talking of a game of chess. Then Madame +Jacobus drawing her gay Indian shawl closer +around her, said suddenly, "Pray what is the news? +Has nobody a mouthful of intelligence? Are we to +wait for the Americans to make us something to +talk about?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Indeed Madame," answered Maria, "we have +not yet exhausted their night attack on the British +troops encamped on Staten Island."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They got nothing but five hundred sets of frozen +hands and ears," said Major André.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, yes, they did, sir; blankets and food count +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 256]</span> +for something these days," said Madame, "not to +speak of the nine vessels destroyed at Decker's Ferry—and +the prisoners."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was a dashing absurdity, Madame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"With all my soul; yet I am glad, it was an +American dashing absurdity."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You should have seen Knyphausen when he +heard of it," continued André. He pulled his whiskers +savagely and said 'Egad! Damn! These +Americans have the come-back-again, come-back-again, +of the flies; to drive them off—it is impossible—they +come-back-again.' We have, however, +had our turn. Four nights ago, our troops entered +Newark and Elizabeth and made a few reprisals, +and then he began to hum:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The New York rebs are fat,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">But the Jersey rebs are fatter;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">So we made an expedition,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And carried off the latter."</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Medway laughed. "Madame," he said, "the +Major was desperately dull last night, and I wondered +at it. But, this morning, as you hear, he is +delivered of his verse, and he is cheerful."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, if the war is degenerating into midnight +robberies!" cried Madame, "why does not Washington +come? What hinders him from at least trying +to get into New York? I do believe if he simply +stood on Broadway, he would draw three-fourths +of the men in the city to him; why does he +not try? It might end this dreadful war one way +or the other, and people are beginning to be indifferent, +which way. Why, in the name of wonder, does +he not try?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 257]</span> +"It would be a desperate 'try,'" answered André.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, but when ordinary means fail, desperate +remedies should be tried."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I saw the exact copy of a letter written by General +Washington on the eighth of this month," said +Lord Medway, "and in it he declares that his troops, +both officers and men, are almost perishing for food; +that they have been alternately without bread and +meat for two weeks, a very scanty allowance of +either, and frequently destitute of both. Furthermore, +he describes his troops as almost naked, riotous, +and robbing the people from sheer necessity. +Can you expect a general to lead men in such a condition +to battle? He performs a miracle in simply +holding them together."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The poor fellows! And we are warm and comfortable. +It seems almost wrong."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, no!" said André. "It is the rebels who are +wrong; they are like runaway horses, and, as I said +to one who talked to me, 'my lad, a runaway horse +punishes himself.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">In such freedom of conversation, without a moment's +doubt of each other, they passed the hours, +and about four o'clock the party usually broke up, +and Lord Medway wrapped Maria in her furs, and +drove her home.</p> + +<p class="indent">However, the weariest road sometimes comes to +an end, and the long dreadful winter wore itself +away, the ice broke up, and the sun shone warmly +out of the blue skies, and the trees put forth their +young, tender, little leaves. Every one was ready +to cry with joy, the simple endurance of misery was +over, men could now work and fight, and some +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 258]</span> +movement and change would be possible. Coming +home from a delightful drive in the sweet Spring +evening, Medway told Maria this, and added that +his furlough, so long extended by General Clinton's +love, would probably terminate as soon as active hostilities +began. But it was not yet a present case, and +Maria did not take the supposition to heart. Besides, +there had been frequent talk of her lover's departure, +and somehow or other, he had never gone. +At the Semple gate they stood a while. There were +some lilies growing near it, and their fairy-like bells +shook in the fresh wind and scattered incense all +around. Maria stooped, gathered a handful, and +offered them to her lover.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Kiss them first, for me, Maria," he said, and she +buried her lovely face in the fragrant posy, and then +lifted it full of delight and perfume. He thought +he had never before seen her so purely exquisite, so +freshly adorable. His love was a great longing, he +could hardly bear to leave her. So he stood holding +her hands and the lilies, and looking into her face, +but saying nothing, till Maria herself spoke the parting +words: "I see grandmother at the door, Ernest, +she is calling me; now we must say good-bye!" He +could not answer her, he only kissed the lilies, leaped +into the carriage, and went speechlessly away.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria watched him a few moments, and then hastened +into the house. Madame met her at the door. +"There is a letter from your father, Maria," she +said; "I thought you might want to tell Ernest what +news it contained, so I called you, but you didna answer +me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, I answered, 'coming, grandmother,' and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 259]</span> +here I am. What a thick letter! Have you one +also?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aye, there was one for your grandfather. Better +take yours to your room. When you have read +it, and changed your dress, tea will be waiting."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is grandfather at home?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is; so do not stay up stairs too long."</p> + +<p class="indent">She nodded a bright assent, and holding the letter +in her hand went swiftly up the stairway. In half +an hour she came back to the parlor, but her face +was then troubled and even angry, and her eyes full +of tears. She held out the letter to her grandmother, +and asked, "Do you know what father has +written to me about?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have a very sure suspect," answered Madame; +but she went on setting out her china, and did not +lift her face, or offer any further opinion.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is a shame! I ought to have been told before."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then the Elder rose, and came toward the tea-table, +"Maria," he said, "you will not use such like +words, whatever your father pleases to do. I hae +nae doubt at all that he has chosen a good wife for +himsel' and a good mother for you. You had a +long letter; what does he say anent her?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is a nonesuch, of course. No woman in +England, or out of England like her."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I expect as much; my son Alexander has my ain +perception concerning women-folk. He would hae +the best, or nane at a'. Wha was she? He said in +my letter you would gie us a' the particulars."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He has filled six pages about her. She was Miss +Elizabeth Spencer. Father says her family is one +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 260]</span> +of the best and oldest in England. The Reverend +Oswald Spencer married them; he is rector of St. +Margaret's Church in London, and a distant relative."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A very fashionable congregation, and nae doubt +the living is according."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father has become a member of St. Margaret's, +and he has a large mansion in the wealthy Bloomsbury +district. He tells me that I must come home, +the first opportunity that gives me a respectable companion."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And it is just destiny, Maria, and not to be," +said her grandmother; "for Mrs. Gordon +was here this afternoon to bid me farewell. Colonel +Gordon has been exchanged, and has reached +New York, and they sail in Saturday's packet for +London. She will be delighted to hae your company, +and a mair proper person to travel wi' you +couldna find in America; for it isna only hersel', +you will hae the Colonel also, to watch o'er you +baith."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Destiny or not, I won't go, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dinna sow sorrow to yoursel'. They who cross +destiny, make a cross for themsel's."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will hear what Ernest says about it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You arena your ain mistress yet, and God and +man, baith, expect you to put your father's commands +before all others," said the Elder.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think grandmother and you wish to get rid of +me," and the tears sprang to her eyes, and she set +her cup down with a noisy petulance.</p> + +<p class="indent">There was a moment's silence and then the Elder +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 261]</span> +continued, "Your education isna finished yet, as +your father says; it was broken up by the war."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And the lessons at Bradley's house were worse +than nane at all," interrupted Madame.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are to have masters of a' kinds; and your +stepmother is a grand musician, I hear, and willing +to teach you hersel'."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will not go to school again. I know all I want +to know."</p> + +<p class="indent">"You will hae to be schooled for the station you +are to fit; your father has turned his loyalty into +gold, for he has got it noticed by His Majesty, and +been appointed to a rich place in the government offices. +Forbye, he tells me, his new wife has a fortune +in her ain right, and sae the world stands +straight with him and his. You'll hae society o' the +best sort, and I hope you'll do your part, to show all +and sundry, that a little Colonial maid isna' behind +English girls, in any usefu' or ornamental particular."</p> + +<p class="indent">But Maria was indignant and unhappy, and the +thought of going to London and of being under authority +again was very distasteful to her. The +Elder went early upstairs, in order to escape her +complaining, and Madame after his departure, was +a little more sympathetic. She petted her grandchild, +and tried to make her see the bright side of +the new life before her.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You'll be taken to Court, doubtless, Maria, and +there is the grand opera you have heard so much +about, and lords and ladies for company——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have had enough of lords and ladies, grandmother."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 262]</span> +"And fine houses, and nae cold rooms in them; +and plenty o' food and clothing at Christian prices, +and a rich, powerfu' father, and a musical mother——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Stepmother you mean. Nobody can have more +than one mother. My mother is dead, and no other +woman can take her place."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ay, weel, I suppose you are nearby right. And +I hae seen—mair than once or twice—that the bairn +who gets a stepmother gets a stepfather, also. +Sae mind your ways and your words, and give nae +occasion to friend, or foe, for complaint."</p> + +<p class="indent">As they were talking thus, they heard the garden +gate open, and Madame said, "That is your Uncle +Neil at last;" but Maria, with an eager, listening +face, knew better. "It is not Uncle Neil," she said, +"it is Ernest. Why does he come to-night? He +told me he was going to a military dinner, given in +honor of Colonel Gordon's return."</p> + +<p class="indent">"If it is Lord Medway, bring him in here," said +Madame. "Your grandfather is needing me, and +doubtless wondering and fretting already at my delaying." +She left the room with these words, and +Lord Medway immediately joined Maria. He appeared +hurried and annoyed, and without any preliminaries +said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I must leave New York immediately, my dear +Maria; sit down here, close beside me, my sweet +one, and comfort me. I have worn out the patience +of Lord Clinton, and now I must obey orders, not +desires."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I, also, am in the same predicament, Ernest. I +am ordered to London, and must go by the first opportunity," +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 263]</span> +said Maria; and then she told her lover +the fear and trouble that was in her heart, and found +plenty of sympathy in all that either wounded or +angered her.</p> + +<p class="indent">"But there is a remedy, my darling," said Medway. +"Marry me to-morrow morning. I will +make all the arrangements to-night—see the clergyman—see +Mrs. Gordon, and your uncle Neil——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Stop, Ernest. It is useless to talk of such a +thing as that. It is beyond our compact, too."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The compact is idle wind before our love—you +do love me, Maria?" and he slipped down to his +knees beside the little maid, and putting his arm +around her waist, drew her face within the shining +influence, the tender eagerness, of his entreating +eyes.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then a strange, wilful contradictious spirit took +possession of her. This very outlet to her position +had been in her mind—though unacknowledged—from +the first presentment of the journey, and the +new mother, and the resumed lessons; but now, that +the gate was opened to her desire, something within +her obstinately refused to move a step. Half the +accidents in the hunting-field arise from arresting +the horse in the leap, and half the disappointments +of life may be laid to that hesitation, or stubbornness +of will, which permits happiness—coming without +notice, and demanding a confiding and instantaneous +decision—to go past, and be probably lost +for ever.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You do love me, Maria? Oh, yes! you must +have caught love from me. At this hour, say one +word to assure me—will you not? Maria! Queen +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 264]</span> +of my soul, say you love me—Speak—only yes——Maria!"</p> + +<p class="indent">He waited, he watched her lovely face for some +tender change, her eyes for some assuring glance, +her lips for the one little word that would make the +hour heaven to him, and she was still and speechless +as some exquisite picture.</p> + +<p class="indent">"After all these happy weeks, will you send me +away without one word? It is incredible—impossible! +Why are you so cold?—now—when we must +part—or be always together? Are you afraid to be +with me always? You have promised to marry +me——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes—when the time comes."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Cannot love put the time forward?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I don't know."</p> + +<p class="indent">"We could then go South together."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not want to go South."</p> + +<p class="indent">"With me, Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then you will go to London, and your father +will have complete control of you, he may make you +marry some other man."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No one can make me break my word of honor—you +have my promise."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am wretched. I am broken-hearted. I have +failed in making you love me. I will go to the +front—what does it matter if I am killed? You will +not care."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Of course I shall care, Ernest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Say that a little differently, then I shall be satisfied. +Put your arms round my neck; kiss me, if +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 265]</span> +only once, you never have kissed me yet, say, 'I +love you, Ernest'; come, my dear one, comfort me a +little!"</p> + +<p class="indent">Her heart was on fire, it throbbed and struggled +like a bound creature. She looked sadly, even tenderly +at her lover, but she could not break the thrall +of careless impassiveness that bound her, as streams +are bound in ice. Medway wearied himself with +entreaty. She trembled to its passion, but remained +inarticulate. He was at first disappointed, then astonished, +then, weary with his own emotion, wounded +and sorrowful. He rose, put on his hat and +gloves, and prepared to leave her. It was like the +nailing of the coffin lid over a sensitive form; but +still that strange, insuperable apathy was not broken.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good-bye, Maria! My life, my love, good-bye! +and if forever, still——<i>Maria! Maria!"</i> and those +two last words were not only speech, they were a +cry from a heart hurt beyond hoping, a cry full of +despairing affection. The door closed to them, and +its clash broke the icy bounds of that soul stupor +which had held her like a spell.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ernest! Ernest!" she called passionately, but +he was beyond hearing, and ere she reached the parlor +door, she heard the entrance door clash in the +same fatal, final manner. Yet, walking as if in +some evil dream she reached it, and with a great +effort threw it wide open. Her lover was just beyond +the garden gate. Would he not turn his head? +Oh, would he not look round and see her! No. He +caught no sound of her sorrowful entreaty; he cast +no backward glance to the distracted girl, who +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 266]</span> +reached the outer gate, only to see his tall, soldierly +figure blend itself with the misty night shadows, +and then vanish entirely.</p> + +<p class="indent">Never, never in all her life had Maria been so +wretched. In the Bradley affair, she had at least +the consciousness that it was not her doing; she was +the victim of circumstances she could not control; +but this cup of sorrow she had stubbornly mixed for +herself. And that was the smallest part of her remorse; +she had made the man who loved her so +dearly, drink of it also. And it had all happened in +such a tragically short time. Oh, to call back the +last hour! only five minutes of it, that she might see +again the handsome face that had never turned to +her except with love and tender kindness! Alas, alas, +there is no return to our lost Edens! Whatever +gardens of pleasure we may find in the future, our +past Edens are closed. The cherubim are at the +gate, and the flaming sword.</p> + +<p class="indent">She went despairingly to her room, and sat for +two bitter hours speechless, astonished at her own +folly and wilfulness. She could blame no one. +Destiny in this case had used only the weapons she +herself put into her hand. She did not complain, +nor even weep, her grief found no passage to her +eyes, it sank inward and seemed for the first hour +or two to drown her heart in a dismal, sullen stillness, +which made her feel the most forlorn and abandoned +of creatures.</p> + +<p class="indent">But even in these dark hours she was trying the +wings that should take her out of them. As she sat +musing the inner woman returned to the post she +had so criminally deserted, and at once began to suggest +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 267]</span> +remedies. "Nothing is desperate," she whispered; +"in every loss, but the loss of death, there +is room for hope; write a letter, Neil will take it, he +may yet be detained."</p> + +<p class="indent">She took out pen and paper, and wrote the words +Medway had begged her to say; wrote, indeed, far +more than the one tender "yes" he had asked for. +Then she sealed the letter and sat with it in her hand, +waiting for Neil. He was so late that she thought +he must have reached his room unheard, and toward +midnight she tip-toed along the corridor to his door. +There was no light, no sound, and when she +knocked, no response. Anxiously she resumed her +watch, and soon after twelve o'clock heard him enter +the house. She went noiselessly down stairs to meet +him. "Neil," she said, "can you find Ernest? Oh, +if you can, you must carry this letter to him! Neil, +it is the very greatest favor I can ever ask of you. +Do not speak, if you are going to refuse me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"My dear Maria, I know not where to find Lord +Medway. He ought to have been at the dinner +given to Colonel Gordon, and he was not there."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He was here," she said wearily; "he is going +South at once; he must, he must have this letter first. +Neil, good, kind Uncle Neil, try and find him!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Be reasonable, Maria. If he is paying farewell +calls—which is likely—how can I tell at whose house +he may be; at any rate it is too late now for him to +be out, the city is practically closed; any one wandering +about it after midnight is liable to arrest, and +if Ernest is not visiting, he is in his rooms, and likely +to be there till near noon to-morrow. I will carry +this letter before breakfast, if you say so, but——"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 268]</span> +"I tell you he is going to General Clinton at once. +He told me so."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He cannot go until the <i>Arethusa</i> sails. She +leaves to-morrow, but the tide will not serve before +two o'clock. Give me the letter; I will see he gets +it very early in the morning."</p> + +<p class="indent">With a sigh she assented to this promise, and then +slipped back into the sorrowful solitude of her room. +But the talk with Neil had slightly steadied her. +Nothing more was possible; she had done all she +could to atone for her unkindness, and after a little +remorseful wandering outside the Eden she had herself +closed, she fell asleep and forgot all her anxiety.</p> + +<p class="indent">And it is this breaking up of our troubles by +bars of sleep that enables us to bear them and even +grow strong in conquering them. When the day +broke Maria was more alert, more full of purpose, +and ready for what the morning would bring her. +Neil was missing at breakfast and she found out that +he had left the house soon after seven o'clock. So +she dressed herself carefully and took her sewing to +the front window. When she saw her lover at the +gate, she intended to go and meet him, and her +heart was warm and eager with the kind words that +she would at last comfort him with.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was half-past eight; by nine o'clock—at the +very latest by half-past nine—he would surely answer +that loving letter. Nine o'clock struck, and +the hands on the dial moved forward inexorably to +ten o'clock—to eleven—to noon. But long before +that hour Maria had ceased to sew, ceased to watch, +ceased to hope. Soon after twelve she saw Neil +coming and her heart turned sick within her. She +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 269]</span> +could hardly walk into the hall to meet him. She +found it difficult to articulate the questioning word +"Well?"</p> + +<p class="indent">He gave her the letter back. "Ernest sailed this +morning at two o'clock," he said.</p> + +<p class="indent">She looked at him with angry despair. "You +might have taken that letter last night. You have +ruined my life. I will never forgive you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria, listen to me. Ernest went on board an +hour before you asked me. The ship dropped down +the river to catch the early tide; he was on her at +half-past ten. I could not have given him the letter, +even if I had tried to."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No; of all the nights in the year, you must stop +out last night until twelve o'clock! I never knew +you do such a thing before; well, as grandmother +says, it is destiny; I am going to my room. I want +no dinner; don't let them worry me, or worry about +me."</p> + +<p class="indent">Sitting alone she faced the circumstances she had +evoked, considered them in every light, and came to +a conclusion as to her future:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will go to London, and make no fuss about it," +she decided; "here I should miss Ernest wherever I +went; miss him in every way, and people would +make me feel he was absent. I have been a great +trouble and expense to grandfather and grandmother. +I dare say they will be glad to be quiet and +alone again. I don't know much about father—he +has always been generous with money—but I wonder +if he cared much for me! He sent me away, +first to nurses, then to school; I saw little of him, +but I can make him care. As for Madame, my stepmother, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 270]</span> +I shall not let her annoy me. And there will +be Mrs. Gordon for a refuge, if I need one. She +has always been good to me, and I will see her at +once. I cannot help understanding that I am come +to the end of this road; but there are many roads in +life, and from this moment, I am on the way to +London."</p> + +<p class="indent">Evidently it was destiny, for there was never a let +or hinderance in all her preparations. The Gordons +took her as a godsend, and all her arrangements +went without a hitch. And when it was known she +was absolutely going away from New York there +was a great access of kindness toward her. The +young women she had known—and not always +pleasantly—brought her good-bye mementoes; +books to read on the voyage, book-marks of their +own working, little bags and cases of various kinds +for toilet needs, and needlework; and all were given +with a conspicuous intention of apology for past offense +and conciliation for any future intercourse.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria valued it pretty accurately. "It is far better +than ill-will," she said to her grandmother; "but +I dare say they think I am going home to be married, +and as they all look forward to England eventually, +they feel that Lady Medway may not be unserviceable +in the future."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dinna look a gift-horse in the mouth, Maria. +Few folks give away anything of real value to themselves. +You needna feel under any special obligation +for aught but the good will, and that's aye +worth having. As for being Lady Medway, there +is many a slip between cup and lip, and oceans +between you and a' the accidents o' war, and love +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 271]</span> +not unchangeable in this warld o' change; and +there's your father's will that may stand in your +road like a wall you can neither win round nor over. +I'm real glad at this hour that your grandfather was +wise enough to write naething about Lord Medway. +You can now tell your ain news, or keep it, whichever +seems best to you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you mean to say, grandmother, that my father +has not been told about my engagement to Lord +Medway?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Just so. At first your grandfather was too ill +to write one thing or another; and by the time he was +able to hold a pen, we had, baith o' us, come to the +conclusion that silence anent the matter was wisdom. +It would hae been a hard matter to tell, without telling +the whole story, Police Court and young Bradley +included, and then there was aye the uncertainty +of a man's love and liking to be reckoned +with; none o' us could be sure Lord Medway would +hold to his promise; he might meet other women to +take his heart from you; he might be killed in battle, +or in a duel, for it is said he has fought three +already; the chances o' the engagement coming to +naething were so many on every side we came to the +conclusion to leave a' to the future, and I'm sure we +did the best thing we could do."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am so glad you did it, grandmother. I shall +now go home on my own merits. If I win love, it +will be because I am Maria Semple, not because I am +going to be Lady Medway. And if my engagement +was known I should never hear the last of it. I +should be questioned about letters—whether they +came or not; my stepmother might talk about the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 272]</span> +matter; my father insists on a public recognition of +my position, and so on. There would be such endless +discussions about Lord Medway that I should +get weary to even hear his name. And I must bear +my fate, whatever it is."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nonsense! Parfect nonsense! There is nae +such thing as fate. You're in the care and guidance +of a wise and loving Creator, and not in thrall to +some vague, wandering creature, that you ca' <i>Fate</i>. +Your ain will is your Fate. Commit your will and +way to God, and He will direct your path; and you +may snap your thumb and finger at that will o' the +wisp—Fate!"</p> + +<p class="indent">In such conversation over their duties together the +three last days were spent, and the girl caught hope +and strength from the feeble old woman as they +mended and brushed clothing and put it into the +trunks standing open in the hall. The Elder wandered +silently about. The packing was a mournful +thing to him; for, with all her impetuosities and little +troublesome ways, Maria was close to his heart, +and he feared he had given her the impression that +she was in some way a burden. Indeed, he had not +felt this, and had only been solicitous that she should +obey her father's wishes, and obey them in a loving +and dutiful spirit. On the last morning, however, +as they rose from the breakfast table, he put even +this wise intention behind his anxious love, and +drawing her aside he said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria, my dearie, you will heed your father, of +course, in a' things that are your duty—but—but—my +dear bairn! I ken my son Alexander is a masterfu' +man, and perhaps, it may be, that he might go +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 273]</span> +beyond his right and your duty. I hae told you to +obey him as your father, that's right, but if he is +your father, he is my son, and so speaking in that +relation, I may say, if my son doesna treat you right, +or if he lets that strange English woman treat you +wrong, then you are to come back to me—to your +auld grandfather—to sort matters between you. +And I'll see no one do you wrong, Maria, no one, +though it be my auldest son Alexander. You are in +my heart, child, and there is always room in my +heart for you; and I speak for your grandmother +and uncle as well as for mysel'." His voice was low +and broken at this point, tears rolled slowly down +his cheeks, and he clasped her tenderly in his arms: +"God bless you my little lassie! Be strong and of a +good courage. Act for the best, and hope for the +best, and take bravely whatever comes."</p> + +<p class="indent">To such wise, tender words she set her face eastward, +and the Elder and Neil watched the vessel far +down the river, while in her silent home Madame +slowly and tearfully put her household in order. +Fortunately, the day was sunny and the Spring air +full of life and hope, and as soon as they turned +homeward, the Elder began to talk of the possibility +of Maria's return:</p> + +<p class="indent">"If she isna happy, I hae told her to come back to +us," he said to Neil, and then added: "Your brother +is sometimes gey ill to live wi', and the bit lassie has +had, maybe, too much o' her ain way here," and Neil +wondered at the brave old man; he spoke as if his +love would always be present and always sufficient. +He spoke like a young man, and yet he was so visibly +aging. But Neil had forgotten at the moment that +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 274]</span> +the moral nature is inaccessible to Time; that though +the physical man grows old, the moral man is eternally +young.</p> + +<p class="indent">Not long after the departure of Maria, Neil was +one morning sorting and auditing some papers regarding +the affairs of Madame Jacobus. Suddenly +the thought of Agnes Bradley came to him with such +intense clarity and sweetness that his hands dropped +the paper they held; he remained motionless, and in +that pause had a mental vision of the girl, while her +sweet voice filled the chambers of his spiritual ears +with melody. As he sat still, seeing and listening, a +faint, dreamy smile brightened his face, and Madame +softly opening the door, stood a moment and +looked at him. Then advancing, the sound of her +rustling silk garments brought Neil out of his happy +trance, and he turned toward her.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Dreaming of St. Agnes?" she asked, and he answered, +"I believe I was Madame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Sometimes dreams come true," she continued. +"Can you go to Philadelphia for me? Here is an +offer from Gouverneur Morris for my property on +Market Street. He proposes to turn the first floor +into storage room. At present it is a rather handsome +residence, and I am not sure the price he offers +will warrant me making the change."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil was "ready to leave at any time," he said, +and Madame added, "Then go at once. If it is a +good offer, it will not wait on our leisure."</p> + +<p class="indent">He began to lock away the papers under his +hands, and Madame watched him with a pleasant +smile. As he rose she asked, "Have you heard anything +yet from Miss Bradley?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 275]</span> +"Not a word."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do you know where she is?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have not the least idea. I think the Hurds +know, but they will not tell me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will tell you then. Agnes is in Philadelphia."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Madame! Madame! I——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am sure of it. On this slip of paper you will +find her address. She boards with a Quaker family +called Wakefield—a mother and four daughters; +the father and brothers are with the American army. +I suppose you can leave to-day?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"In two hours I will be on the road. I need but +a change of clothing and a good horse."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The horse is waiting you in my stables. Choose +which animal you wish, and have it saddled: and +better mount here; you can ride to Semple house +quicker than you can walk."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil's face spoke his thanks. He waited for no +explanations, he was going to see Agnes; Madame +had given him her address, it was not worth while +asking how she had procured it. But as he left the +room he lifted Madame's hand and kissed it, and in +that act imparted so much of his feeling and his +gratitude that there was no necessity for words.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Poor fellow!" sighed Madame, and then she +walked to the window and looked sadly into Broadway. +"Soldiers instead of citizens," she murmured, +"war horses instead of wagon horses; that screaming +fife! that braying, blustering drum! Oh, how +I wish the kings of earth would fight their own battles! +Wouldn't the duello between George of England +and George of America be worth seeing? +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 276]</span> +Lord! I would give ten years of my life for the +sight."</p> + +<p class="indent">With the smile of triumph on her face she turned +to see Neil re-entering the room. "Madame," he +said, "I must have appeared selfishly ungrateful. +My heart was too full for speech."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I know, I know, Neil. I have been suffering +lately the same cruel pain as yourself. I have not +heard from Captain Jacobus for nearly a year. +Something, I fear, is wrong; he takes so many +risks."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is sailing as an American privateer. If he +had been captured by the English, we should have +heard of the capture."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is not all. I will tell you just what Jacobus +would do, as soon as he was fairly out at sea, he +would call his men together on deck, and pointing to +the British colors, would say something like this: +'Men, I don't like that bunting, and I'm going to +change it for the flag of our own country. If there +is any one here that doesn't like the American flag, +he can leave the ship in any way he chooses,' then +down would go the British flag, and up, with rattling +cheers, the American. So far he would be only in +ordinary danger, but that is never enough for Jacobus; +he would continue after this extraordinary +fashion: 'Men, you have all heard of these French +and Spanish alliances. As the son of a hundred +thousand Dutchmen, I hate the Spaniards, and I'm +going to fight and sink every Spanish ship I meet. +<i>Allies!</i> To the deep sea with such allies! We +want no Spanish allies; we want their ships though, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 277]</span> +and we'll take them wherever on the wide ocean we +can find them.' Then he would put his hand on his +first mate's shoulder and continue, 'Here's Jack Tyler, +an Englishman from beard to boots, born in the +city of London, and there's more on board like him. +What does an Englishman want with Frenchmen? +Nothing, only to fight them, and that we'll do +wherever we meet them! And as for English ships +coming our way, they're out of their course, and +we'll have to give them a lesson they'll remember. +So then, all of you, keep your eyes open for English, +French, or Spanish sails. Nothing but American +colors in American waters, and American water rolls +round the world, as I take it.' So you see, Neil, +Jacobus would always have a threefold enemy to +fight, and I have not a doubt that was his first +thought when he heard of our alliance with France +and Spain. And though we might hear of his capture +by a British vessel, it is not likely we should do +so if he fell into the hands of a French or Spanish +privateer. When you come from Philadelphia we +will consider this circumstance; but now, good-bye, +and good fortune go with you."</p> + +<p class="indent">It did not take Neil long to go to the Semple +house and obtain a change of clothing, and after this +short delay nothing interfered with the prosperous +course of his journey. The weather was delightful, +and his heart so full of hope that he felt no fatigue. +And he had such confidence in all Madame Jacobus +said, or did, that no doubts as to finding Agnes +troubled him. It was, however, too late in the evening +of the day on which he reached Philadelphia, to +make a call, and he contented himself with locating +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 278]</span> +the house to which he had been directed. He found +it in a quiet street, a small brick house, with white +wooden shutters, and a tiny plot of garden in front. +No sign of light or life appeared, and after walking a +while in front of it, he returned to his inn and tried to +sleep.</p> + +<p class="indent">But he was not very successful. His hopes and +his fears kept him waking. He fancied the house +he had been directed to looked too silent and dark to +be occupied; he longed for the daylight to come +that he might settle this fear; and then the possibility +of its reality made him sick with anxiety and +suspense, holding a measure of hope, seemed better +than certain disappointment. In the morning his +rigid, upright business instinct asserted itself, and he +felt that he must first attend to those affairs which +were the ostensible reason of his journey. So it was +the early afternoon before he was at liberty to gratify +the hunger of his heart.</p> + +<p class="indent">Happily, when he reached the house indicated, +there were many signs of its occupancy; the windows +were open, and he saw a young woman sitting +near one of them, knitting. His knock was answered +by her. He heard her move her chair and +come leisurely toward the door, which she opened +with the knitting in her hand, and a smile on her +face.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Does Mr. Wakefield live here?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="indent">"This is his house, but he is not at home now."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I was told that Miss Bradley of New York was +staying here."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She is here. Does thee want to see her?"</p> + +<p class="indent">A great weight rolled from Neil's heart. "Yes," +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 279]</span> +he answered, "will you tell her that Mr. Neil Semple +of New York desires to speak with her."</p> + +<p class="indent">She bowed her head, and then took him into a +small darkened parlor. He was glad the light was +dim; he had a feeling that he looked worse than he +had ever looked in all his life. He knew that he +was pale and trembling with a score of fears and +doubts, and the short five minutes of suspense +seemed to him a long hour of uncertain apprehensions. +Yet it was barely five minutes ere he heard +Agnes coming down the stairs, and her steps were +quick and eager; and he took courage from the welcoming +sound in them, and as the door opened, went +with open arms to meet her. He held her in his embrace, +her cheek was against his cheek—what need +was there for speech? Both indeed felt what they +had no power to express, for as all know who have +lived and loved, there is in the heart feelings yet +dumb; chambers of thought which need the key of +new words to unlock them. Still, in that heavenly +silence all was said that each heart longed for, and +when at length they sat down hand in hand and +began to talk, it was of the ordinary affairs of the +individual lives dear to them.</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil's first inquiry concerned John Bradley and +his son, and he was glad to notice the proud pleasure +with which Agnes answered him. "My father is +now in his proper place," she said, "and I have never +seen him so well and so happy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Is he under arms?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not unless there is fighting on hand; but he is +in camp, and all day he is busy mending the accoutrements +of the soldiers. At night he sings to them as +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 280]</span> +they sit round the camp fires, or he holds a prayer +meeting, or he reads the Bible; and every Sunday +he preaches twice. St. Paul made tents, and as he +stitched found time to preach Jesus Christ crucified; +my father mends saddles and bridles, and does the +same thing, and he is happy, oh, so happy! What +is better still, he makes the men around him happy +and hopeful, and that is a great thing to do, when +they are hungry, and naked, and without pay. +Sometimes, when the camp is very bare and hungry, +he takes his implements and goes to the outlying +farms, mends all their leather, and begs in return +corn, and flour, and meat for the men. He never +fails in getting some relief; and often he has so +moved the poor farmers that they have filled a wagon +with food and driven it to the perishing soldiers."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And Harry? Where is he?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"With the greatest and best of men. He is now a +regular soldier in Washington's own regiment."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am glad, and my dear one, are you happy +here?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"As I can be, out of my own home. There are +six women in this house; all the men are at the war; +some at Morristown; some are gone South. We +spend our time in knitting stockings for the soldiers, +or in any needlework likely to be of service. But +how is Maria? Tell me about her. I thought you +might have brought me a letter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria is on her way to England. Her father +has married again. He has obtained an excellent +place in the government and furnished a home in +London. Naturally, he desired Maria to join him +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 281]</span> +at once. You know that she is engaged to Lord +Medway?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No. Poor Harry! He still dreams that Maria +is faithful to him. I think she might have given +Harry one year's remembrance."</p> + +<p class="indent">"What did she tell you about Harry in your last +interview?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nothing. She was more fretful and unreasonable +than I ever before saw her. She could only +cry and make reproaches; we parted in sorrow, and +I fear in misunderstanding."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, if you do not know the price paid for your +brother's life."</p> + +<p class="indent">"The price paid! What do you mean, Neil?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The night Harry was condemned to death Lord +Medway came to see Maria. He told her he would +save Harry's life, if she would marry him. He +would listen to no compromise, and she accepted the +terms. It was a decision bitter as death at the time, +but she has learned to love Medway."</p> + +<p class="indent">Agnes did not appear to listen, she was occupied +with the one thought that Maria had been the saviour +of her brother.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It seems incredible," she said at length; "why +did she not tell me that last—last time I saw her. It +would have changed everything. Oh, Maria! +Maria! how I have misjudged you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"You had better tell Harry, and be very positive, +there is really not a shadow of hope for him. Maria +<i>had</i> to forget; it was her first duty."</p> + +<p class="indent">Neil spent nearly three days with his beloved, and +then they had to part. But this parting was full of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 282]</span> +hope, full of happy plans for the future, full of promises +in all directions. In those three days Neil forgot +all the sorrowful weeks of his despairing love. +As a dream when one awaketh, they slipped even +from his memory. For Agnes was loving and faithful, +a steady hand to hold, and a steady heart to +trust. And oh, she was so lovely and desirable! As +he rode joyfully home, he could think of nothing but +Agnes; of her eyes, gray as mountain lakes and full +of light and shadow; of her smile, that filled even +silence with content; her white arms, her brown +hair, the warm pallor of her cheeks catching a rosy +glow from the pink dimity she wore! Oh, how perfect +she was! Beauty! Love! Fidelity! all in +one exquisite woman, and that one woman loved +him!</p> + +<p class="indent">Ah, well! Love wakes men once in a lifetime, +and some give thanks and rejoice, and some neglect +and betray; but either way, love, and their childhood's +unheeded dream</p> + +<p class="center"> +Is all the light, of all their day.<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Maria</span> reached London in the early days of June. +Her voyage had been uneventful, and though long, +not unpleasant. Still she was glad to feel the earth +beneath her feet, and the stir of trafficking humanity +around her. They landed late in the afternoon and +she remained with the Gordons all night, but early +the following morning the colonel took her to +Bloomsbury. Mr. Semple's house was not difficult +to find; it was the largest in the fine square, an imposing +mansion of red brick with a wide flight of +stone steps leading to its main entrance. This entrance +impressed Maria very much. It was so +ample and so handsome.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think, indeed," said the Colonel to her, "two +sedan chairs could easily be taken in, or out, at the +same time."</p> + +<p class="indent">Her welcome, if not effusive, was full of kindness +and interest; she was brought at once to the sunny +parlor at the back of the house where her father and +stepmother were breakfasting, and nothing could +have been more properly affectionate than the latter's +greeting. And although she had breakfasted +with the Gordons, she found it pleasant enough to +sit down beside her father and talk of the voyage +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 284]</span> +and the war, and the conditions of life in America. +He was obviously both astonished and delighted +with his daughter; her beauty was so great, her +manner so charming, her conversation so full of +clever observations, that he felt her to be a personal +credit. "There are very few young girls so perfectly +formed, so admirably finished," he said to +himself; and he rose and walked loftily about the +room, proudly aware of the piquant loveliness and +intelligence of the girl who called him father. The +word sounded well in his ears, and even touched his +heart; and she herself was a crowning grace to his +splendid habitation. And for her, and for all her +beauties and graces and accomplishments, he took +the entire credit. She was his daughter, as much +his property as his wife, or his house, or his purse.</p> + +<p class="indent">This appropriation of herself did not then displease +Maria. She was longing to be loved, longing +to be cared for and protected. And she loved +her father, and felt that she could easily love him a +great deal more. His appearance invited this feeling. +He was a strikingly handsome man, though +touching fifty years of age, tall and erect like her +grandfather, but with a manner much more haughty +and dictatorial. He was dressed in a dark blue cloth +coat lined with white satin and ornamented with +large gilt buttons; his long vest and breeches were +of black satin, his stockings of black silk, and his +low shoes clasped with gold latches. He wore his +own hair combed back from his large ruddy face +and tied behind with a black ribbon.</p> + +<p class="indent">His new wife was very suitable to him. She was +thirty-eight years old and distinctly handsome, tall +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 285]</span> +and fair, rather highly colored, and dressed with +great care in a morning robe of Indian silk. She was +very cheerful and composed, had fine health, lived +in the unruffled atmosphere of her interests, and had +no nerves worth speaking of—a nice woman apparently, +who would always behave as nice women were +then taught to behave. And yet there were within +her elements much at variance with that habitual +subservience she showed her husband. Maria was +not long in discovering that, though she spoke little +and never boasted, she got all she wished to get and +did all she wished to do.</p> + +<p class="indent">After Mr. Semple had gone to business she took +Maria to the rooms prepared for her. They were +light and airy and prettily furnished, and Mrs. Semple +pointed out particularly the little sitting-room +attached. It contained a small library of books +which are now classic, a spinnet for practice, maps +and globes, and a convenient desk furnished with all +the necessary implements for writing or correspondence.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria had fully resolved not to be forced into any +kind of study, but as she stood listening to her stepmother's +plans and explanations she changed her +mind. She resolved rather to insist on the finest +teachers London could furnish. She would perfect +herself in music and singing; she would enlarge her +knowledge and accomplishments in every direction, +and all this that she might astonish and please Lord +Medway when he came for her. That he would +do so she never doubted; and he could not doubt <i>her</i> +love when he saw and heard what she had done to +make herself more worthy of him.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 286]</span> +But this incitement she kept to herself. She permitted +her father and stepmother to believe that the +fulfilling of their desires was her sole motive, and +this beautiful obedience gave her much liberty in +other directions. So the weeks and months went +past very pleasantly. She had an Italian singing +master and a French dancing master, Kalkbrenner +gave her music lessons, Madame Jermyn taught her +embroidery and lace, and two hours every day were +spent in the study of history and geography, and her +much neglected grammar. It was all pleasant +enough; every master or mistress brought in a fresh +element, a little gossip, a different glimpse of the +great city in which they all lived. And the preparation +of her studies and the practice of her music gave +her almost unbounded control of her time. If things +were not agreeable down stairs her study was a safe +retreat, and she began to take off their shelves the +books provided for her amusement and instruction, +and to make friends of them and become familiar +with their thoughts and opinions.</p> + +<p class="indent">The evenings were often spent at the theatre or +opera, and still more frequently at Vauxhall or +Ranelagh gardens, and at the latter places she was +always sure of a personal triumph. Her beauty was +so remarkable and so admirably set off by her generally +fine toilets that she quickly became a noted +visitor. Sir Horace Walpole had called her on +one occasion "The American Beauty," and the sobriquet +clung like a perfume to her. When the Semples +had a box and a supper in the rotunda the most +noble and fashionable of the young bloods hung +round it, paraded past it, or when possible took a box +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 287]</span> +in such close proximity that their toasts to "The +Divine American" could be distinctly or indistinctly +heard. Both Mr. and Mrs. Semple were proud of +this notoriety. It was quite in keeping with the +social <i>élat</i> of the age that every glass should be +raised when they entered their box at the theatre or +opera; quite honorable and flattering to walk between +the admiring beaux who watched their entry +into the gardens. Maria gave them distinction, exhilarating +notice and attention. She was spoken of +in the papers as "the lovely Miss Semple, the beautiful +daughter of our new collector," and her <i>début</i> +at the next spring functions of the Court was confidently +predicted.</p> + +<p class="indent">The break in this generally agreeable life came, +of course, through a man's selfish desires, dignified +with the name of love. Mrs. Semple had a cousin +who was largely engaged in the Mediterranean trade—then +entirely in English hands—and when Maria +had been about eighteen months in London he returned +to that city after a sojourn in Turkey and +the Greek islands of nearly three years. He had +been named at intervals to Maria, but his existence +had made no impression upon her, and she was astonished +on coming to the dinner table one day to +meet him there. The instinct of conquest was immediately +aroused; she smiled and he was subdued. +The man who had snubbed Turkish bashaws and +won concessions from piratical beys in Tunis and +Algiers was suddenly afraid of a woman. He might +have run away, but he did not; he was under a spell, +and he went with her to the opera, and became her +willing slave thereafter.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 288]</span> +Now during her residence in London, Maria had +had many admirers; some she had frowned away, +some her father had bowed out, but Richard Spencer +was a very different man to be reckoned with. He +was Mrs. Semple's cousin, and Mrs. Semple was +strongly attached to every member of her family. +Cousin Richard's suit was advocated, pressed, even +insisted upon by her. He was present at every meal +and went with them to every entertainment, and the +generality of Maria's admirers understood that he +was her accepted lover.</p> + +<p class="indent">In fact, this relationship was speedily assumed by +the whole Semple household, and before the man +had even had the courage to ask her to be his wife she +was made to understand that her marriage to Cousin +Richard was a consummation certain and inevitable. +Of course she rebelled, treating the supposition at +first as an absurdity, and, when this attitude was resented +and punished, as an impossibility.</p> + +<p class="indent">The affair soon became complicated with business +relations and important money interests, Mr. Semple +becoming a silent partner in the gigantic ventures +of the Spencer Company. He had always felt, even +in Maria's social triumphs, a proprietary share; she +was his daughter, he could give or refuse her society +to all who asked it. She had never denied his power +to dismiss all the pretenders to her favor that had as +yet asked it. He considered himself to have an +equal right to grant her hand to the suitor he thought +proper for her.</p> + +<p class="indent">And as his interests became more and more associated +with Mr. Spencer's he became more and more +positive in Mr. Spencer's favor. There was little +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 289]</span> +need then for Mrs. Semple's diplomacies. He had +"taken the matter in his own hands" he said, "and he +should carry it through."</p> + +<p class="indent">For some time Maria did not really believe that +her father and stepmother were in earnest, but on +her twentieth birthday the position was made painfully +clear, for when she came to the breakfast table +her father kissed her, an unusual token of affection, +and put into her hand an order on his banker +for a large sum of money.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is for your wedding clothes, Maria," he said, +"and I wish you to have the richest and best of +everything. Such jewels as I think necessary I will +buy for you myself. Our relatives and friends will +dine with you to-day and I shall announce your engagement."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But father!" she exclaimed, "I do not want to +marry. Let me return this money. Indeed, I cannot +spend it for wedding clothes. The idea is so +absurd! I do not want to marry."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria, you are twenty years old this twenty-fifth +of November. It is time you settled yourself. +Mr. Spencer will have his new house ready by the +end of next June. As nearly as I can tell, your +marriage to him will take place on the twenty-ninth +of June. Your mother thinks that with the help +of needlewomen your clothing can be finished by +that time."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I told Mr. Spencer a month ago that I would not +marry him."</p> + +<p class="indent">"All right; girls always say such things. It appears +modest, and you have a certain privilege in +this respect. But I advise you not to carry such +pretty affectations too far."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 290]</span> +"Father, I do not love Mr. Spencer."</p> + +<p class="indent">"He loves you, that is the necessary point. It is +not proper, it is not requisite that a girl should take +love into her consideration. I have chosen for you +a good husband, a man who will probably be Lord +Mayor of London within a few years, and the prospect +of such an honor ought to content you."</p> + +<p class="indent">It is difficult for an American girl at this time to +conceive of the situation of the daughters of England +in the year 1782. The law gave them absolutely +into their father's power until they were twenty-one +years old; and the law was stupendously strengthened +and upheld by universal public approval, and +by barriers of social limitations that few women had +the daring to cross. Maria was environed by influences +that all made for her total subjection to her +parent's will, and at this time she ventured no further +remark. But her whole nature was insurgent, +and she mentally promised herself that neither on +the twenty-ninth of June nor on any other day that +followed it would she marry Richard Spencer.</p> + +<p class="indent">After breakfast she went to her room to consider +her position, and no one prevented her withdrawal.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is the best thing she can do," said Mr. Semple +to his wife. "A little reflection will show her the +hopeless folly of resistance to my commands."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Her behavior is not flattering to Richard."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Richard has more sense than to notice it. He +said to me that 'there was always a little chaffering +before a good bargain.' He understands women."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria has been brought up badly. She has dangerous +ideas about the claims and privileges and +personal rights of women."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 291]</span> +"Balderdash! Claims of women, indeed! Give +them the least power, and they would stake the world +away for a whim. See that she dresses herself +properly for dinner. I have told her I shall then +announce her engagement, and in the midst of all +our relatives and friends she will not dare to deny it."</p> + +<p class="indent">In a great measure Mr. Semple was correct. +Maria was not ready to deny it, nor did she think the +relatives and friends had anything to do with her +private affairs. She made no answer whatever to +her father's notice of her approaching marriage, and +the congratulations of the company fell upon her +consciousness like snowflakes upon a stone wall. +They meant nothing at all to her.</p> + +<p class="indent">The day following Mrs. Semple went to buy the +lawn and linen and lace necessary for the wedding +garments. Maria would not accompany her; her +stepmother complained and Maria was severely reprimanded, +and for a few days thoroughly frightened. +But a constant succession of such scenes blunted +her sense of fear. She remembered her grandfather's +brave words, "Be strong and of good courage," +and gradually gathered herself together for +the struggle she saw to be inevitable. To break her +promise to Lord Medway! That was a thing she +never would do! No, not even the law of England +should make her utter words false to every true feeling +she had. And day by day this resolve grew +stronger, as day by day it was confronted by a trial +she hardly dared to contemplate.</p> + +<p class="indent">There was no one to whom she could go for advice +or sympathy. Mrs. Gordon was in Scotland, where +her husband had an estate, and she had no other intimate +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 292]</span> +friend. But at the worst, it was only another +year and then she would be her own mistress and +Ernest Medway would come and marry her. Of +this result she never had one doubt. True, she +heard very little from him; but if not one word had +come to assure her she would still have been confident +that he would keep his word, if alive to do so. +Letter-writing was not then the easily practised relief +it is now, and she knew Lord Medway disliked +it. Yet she was not without even these evidences +of his remembrance, and considering the conditions +of the country in which they had been written, the +great distance between them, the difficulty of getting +letters to New York and the uncertainty of getting +letters from New York to England, these evidences +of his affection had been fairly numerous. All of +them had come enclosed in her Uncle Neil's letters, +and without mention or explanation, for Neil was +sympathetically cautious and did not know what +effect they might have on the life of Maria, though +he did not know <i>his</i> letters were sure to be inquired +after and read by her parents.</p> + +<p class="indent">They were intensely symbolic of a man who preferred +to <i>do</i> rather than to <i>say</i>, and are fairly represented +by the three quoted:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="nobmargin">"<span class="smcap">Sweetest Maria</span>: Have you forgiven your +adoring lover?</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Ernest</span>."</p> + +<p class="nobmargin">"<span class="smcap">My Little Darling</span>: I have been wounded. I +have been ill with fever; but no pain is like the pain +of living away from you.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Ernest</span>."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 293]</span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="nobmargin">"<span class="smcap">Star of My Life</span>: I have counted the days until +the twenty-fifth of November; they are two hundred +and fifty-five. Every day I come nearer to you, my +adorable Maria.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Ernest</span>."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">This last letter was dated March the fourteenth, +and with it lying next her heart, was it likely she +would consent to or even be compelled to marry +Richard Spencer? She smiled a positive denial of +such a supposition. But for all that, the preparations +went on with a stubborn persistence that would +have dismayed a weaker spirit. The plans for furnishing +the Spencer house, the patterns of the table +silver, all the little items of the new life proposed for +her were as a matter of duty submitted to her taste +or judgment. She was always stolidly indifferent, +and her answer was invariably the same, "I do not +care. It is nothing to me." Then Mr. Semple would +answer with cold authority, "You have excellent +taste, Elizabeth. Make the selection you think best +for Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Spencer's method was entirely different. He +treated Maria's apathetic unconcern with constant +good nature, pretended to believe it maidenly modesty, +and under all circumstances refused to understand +or appropriate her evident dislike. But his +cousin saw the angry sparkle in his black eyes, and +to her he had once permitted himself to say, "I am +bearing <i>now</i>, Elizabeth. When she is Mrs. Spencer +it will be her turn to bear." And Elizabeth did not +think it necessary to repeat the veiled threat to +Maria's father.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 294]</span> +Medway's last letter, dated March the fourteenth, +did not reach Maria until May the first. On the +morning of that day she had been told by Mrs. Semple +to dress and accompany her to Bond Street.</p> + +<p class="indent">"We are going to choose your wedding dress," +she said, "and I do hope, Maria, you will take some +interest in it. I have spoken to Madame Delamy +about the fashion and trimmings, and your father +says I am to spare no expense."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will not have anything to do in choosing a wedding +dress. I will not wear it if it is made."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think it is high time you stopped such outrageous +insults to your intended husband, your +father and myself. I am astonished your father endures +them. Many parents would consider you +insane and put you under restraint."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I can hardly be under greater restraint," answered +Maria calmly, but there was a cold, sick +terror at her heart. Nevertheless she refused to +take any part in the choosing of the wedding dress, +and Mrs. Semple went alone to make the selection.</p> + +<p class="indent">But Maria was at last afraid. "Under restraint!" +She could not get the words out of her consciousness. +Surely her dear grandfather had had some prescience +of this grave dilemma when he told her if she +was not treated right to come back to him. But how +was she to manage a return to New York? Women +then did not travel, could not travel, alone. No ships +would take her without companions or authority. +She did not know the first of the many steps necessary, +she had no money. She was, in fact, quite in +the position of a little child left to its own helplessness +in a great city. The Gordons would be likely to +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 295]</span> +come to London before the winter, but until then she +could find neither ways nor means for a return to +New York. All she could do was to take day by day +the steps that circumstances rendered imperative.</p> + +<p class="indent">The buying of the wedding dress brought things +so terribly close to her that she finally resolved to +tell her father and stepmother of her engagement to +Lord Medway. "I will take the first opportunity," +she said to herself, and the opportunity came that +night. Mr. Spencer was not present. They dined +alone, and Mr. Semple was indulging one of those +tempers which made him, as his father had said to +Neil, "gey ill to live with." He had been told of +Maria's behavior about the wedding dress, and the +thundery aspect of his countenance during the meal +found speech as soon as the table was cleared and +they were alone. He turned almost savagely to his +daughter and asked in a voice of low intensity:</p> + +<p class="indent">"What do you mean, Miss, by your perverse temper? +Why did you not go with your mother to +choose your wedding dress?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Because it is not my wedding dress, sir. I have +told you for many weeks that I will not marry Mr. +Spencer;" then with a sudden access of courage, +<i>"and I will not</i>. I am the promised wife of Lord +Medway."</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Semple laughed, and then asked scornfully, +"And pray, who is Lord Medway?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He is my lover; my husband on the twenty-ninth +of next November."</p> + +<p class="indent">All the passion and pride of a lifetime glowed in +the girl's face. Her voice was clear and firm, and at +that hour she was not a bit afraid. "I will tell you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 296]</span> +about him," she continued, and her attitude had in +those few minutes so far dominated her audience that +she obtained the hearing she might otherwise not +have gained. Rapidly, but with singular dramatic +power, she related the story of her life in New York—her +friendship with Agnes Bradley, the attraction +between herself and Harry Bradley, his arrest, trial +and death sentence, Lord Medway's interference and +her own engagement, her subsequent intimacy with +the man she had promised to marry, and the love +which had sprung up in her heart for him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"And I will not break my word, not a letter of it," +she said in conclusion.</p> + +<p class="indent">"If there was any truth in this story," answered +her father, "who cares for a woman's promises in +love matters? They are not worth the breath that +made them."</p> + +<p class="indent">"My promise to Lord Medway, father, rests on +my honor. I could give him no security but my +word. I must keep my word."</p> + +<p class="indent">"A woman's honor! A woman's word to a lover! +Pshaw! Let us hear no more of such rant. What +do you think of this extraordinary story, Elizabeth?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think it is a dream, a fabrication. Maria has +imagined it. Who knows Lord Medway? I never +heard tell of such a person."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nevertheless, he will come for me on the twenty-fifth +of November," said Maria.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Long before that time you will be Mrs. Richard +Spencer," answered her father.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I declare to you, father, I will not. You may +carry me to the altar, that is as far as you can go; +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 297]</span> +you cannot make me speak. I will not say one word +that makes me Richard Spencer's wife. I entreat +you not to force such a trial on me. It will make +me the town's talk, you also."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Do not dare to consider me as a part of such a +mad scene. Go to your room at once, before I—before +I make you."</p> + +<p class="indent">She fled before his passion, and terrified and +breathless locked the door upon her sorrow. But +she was not conquered. In fact, her resolution had +gained an invincible strength by the mere fact of its +utterance. Words had given it substance, form, +even life, and she felt that now she would give her +own life rather than relinquish her resolve.</p> + +<p class="indent">In reality her confidence did her case no good. +Mr. Semple easily adopted the opinion of his wife +that Maria had invented the story to defer what she +could not break off. "And you know, Alexander," +she added, "those Gordons will be back before the +date she has fixed this pretended lover to appear, and +in my opinion they are capable of encouraging Maria +to all lengths against your lawful authority. As +for myself, I am sure Mrs. Gordon disliked me on +sight, I know I disliked her, and Maria was rebellious +the whole time they were in London. I wonder +Richard does not break off the wedding, late as +it is."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I should not permit him to do so, even if he felt +inclined. But he is as resolute as myself. Why, +Elizabeth, we two men should be the laughing-stock +of the town for a twelvemonth if we allowed a chit +of a girl to master us. It is unthinkable. Go on +with the necessary preparations. The Spencers living +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 298]</span> +in Durham and in Kendal must be notified at +once. The greater the company present the more +impossible it will be for her to carry out her absurd +threat. And even if she will not speak, silence gives +consent. I shall tell the clergyman to proceed."</p> + +<p class="indent">After this there were no more pretenses of any +kind. Maria's reluctance to her marriage was openly +acknowledged to the household, and her disobedience +complained of and regretted. Among the two +men-servants and three maids there was not one who +sympathized with her. The men were married and +had daughters, from whom they expected implicit +obedience. The women wondered what the young +mistress wanted: "A man with such black eyes and +nice, curly hair," said the cook, "any proper girl +would like; so free with his jokes and his money, +too; six foot tall, and well set up as ever I saw a +man. And the fine house he is giving her, and the +fine things of all kinds he sends her! Oh, she's a +proud, set-up little thing as ever came my way!" +These remarks and many more of the same kind +from the powers in the kitchen indicated the sentiment +of the whole house, and Maria felt the spirit +of opposition to her, though it was not expressed.</p> + +<p class="indent">She could only endure it and affect not to notice +what was beyond her power to prevent. But she +wrote to her Uncle Neil and desired him to see Lord +Medway and tell him exactly how she was situated. +In this letter she declared in the most positive manner +her resolve not to marry Mr. Spencer, and described +the uneasiness which her stepmother's +remark about "restraint" had caused her. And this +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 299]</span> +letter, with one to Mrs. Gordon, were the only outside +influences she had any power to reach.</p> + +<p class="indent">At length the twenty-eighth day of June arrived. +The Spencer house was filled with relatives from the +Northern and Midland countries, and in Maria's +home the wedding feast was already prepared. A +huge wedding cake was standing on the sideboard, +and in the middle of the afternoon her wedding dress +came home. Mrs. Semple brought it herself to +Maria and spread out its shimmering widths of +heavy white satin and the costly lace to be worn +with it.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It is sure to fit you, Maria," she said. "Madame +Delamy made it from your gray cloth dress, which +you know is perfect every way. Will you try it on? +I will help you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, thank you. I would as willingly try my +shroud on."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think you are very selfish and unkind. You +know that I am not well; indeed, I feel scarcely able +to bear the fatigue of the ceremony, and you are +turning what ought to be a pleasure to your father +and every one else into a fear and a weariness."</p> + +<p class="indent">She did not answer her stepmother, but in the +hurry of preparations going on down stairs she +sought her father and found him resting in the +freshly decorated drawing-room. He was sitting +with closed eyes and evidently trying to sleep. She +stood a little way from him, and with many bitter +tears made her final appeal. "Say I am ill, father, +for indeed I am, and stop this useless preparation. It +is all for disappointment and sorrow."</p> + +<p class="indent">He listened without denial or interruption to her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 300]</span> +words, but when she ceased in a passion of weeping +he answered, "There is no turning back and there +is no delay, Maria. You are very silly to cry over +the inevitable, especially when both my love and +wisdom decide that the inevitable is good for you. +You will certainly be married to Richard Spencer +to-morrow morning. Prepare yourself for ten +o'clock. I shall come to your study for you at five +minutes before ten. At nine o'clock Madame Delamy +will send two women to arrange your dress. +See that you are ready in time. Good night."</p> + +<p class="indent">There was nothing now to be done in the way of +prevention, and a dull, sullen anger took the place of +entreaty in Maria's mind. "If they will set my back +to the wall, they shall see I can fight," she thought, +as she wretchedly took her way to her room. The +beauteous gown was shining on her bed, and she passionately +tossed it aside and lay down and fell asleep. +When she awoke it was morning, a gusty, rainy +morning with glints of sunshine between the showers. +She was greatly depressed, and not a little +frightened. What she had to do she determined +to do, but oh! what would come after it? Then she +was shocked to find that the scene she was resolved +to enact, though gone over so often in her mind, +slipped away from her consciousness whenever she +tried to recall or arrange it. For a few minutes she +was in a mood to be driven against her will, and she +fully realized this condition. "I must be strong and +of good courage," she whispered. "I must cease +thinking and planning. I must leave this thing to +be done till the moment comes to do it. I am only +wasting my strength."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 301]</span> +Fortunately, she was continually interrupted. +Coffee was sent to her room. Then the hairdresser +arrived, and the women to robe her for the ceremony. +She was quite passive in their hands, and +when her father appeared, ready to answer his +"Come, Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">The parlors were crowded with the Spencers and +their friends, and congratulations sounded fitfully in +her ears as carriage after carriage rolled away to +St. Margaret's Church. Mr. Semple and Maria +were in the last coach, and his wife and the bridegroom +in the one immediately before them. So that +when they arrived at the church, the company were +already grouped around the communion railing.</p> + +<p class="indent">Maria felt like a soul in a bad dream; she was just +aware when she left the carriage that it was raining +heavily, and that her father took her arm and +sharply bid her to "lift her wedding dress from the +plashy pavement." She made a motion with her +hand, but failed to grasp it, and then she was walking +up the gloomy aisle, she was at the rail, the +clergyman was standing before her, the bridegroom +at her side, the company all about her. There was +prayer, and she felt the pressure of her father's hand +force her to her knees; and then there was a constant +murmur of voices, and a spell like that which held +her during her last interview with Lord Medway +was upon her. But suddenly she remembered this +fateful apathy, and the memory was like movement +in a nightmare. The instant she recognized it the +influence was broken and she was almost painfully +conscious of Richard Spencer's affirmative:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 302]</span> +She knew then what was coming and what she +had to do, and those who watched her saw the girl +lift herself erect and listen to the priest asking those +solemnly momentous questions which were to bind +her forever to obey Richard Spencer, to love and +honor him, and in sickness and health, forsaking all +others, keep unto him as long as she lived. She had +but to say two words and her promise would be +broken, her lover lost and her life made wretched beyond +hope.</p> + +<p class="indent">"But I will never say them!" and this passionate +assurance to her soul gave her all the strength she +needed. When the clergyman stopped speaking she +looked straight into his face and in a voice low, but +perfectly distinct, answered:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I will not."</p> + +<p class="indent">There was a moment's startled pause. Her +father's voice broke it:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Go on, sir."</p> + +<p class="indent">But before this was possible Maria continued:</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am the promised wife of another man. I do +not love this man. I will not marry him."</p> + +<p class="indent">Her eyes, full of pitiful entreaty, held the clergyman's +eyes. He looked steadily at the company and +said, "God's law and the laws of this realm forbid +this marriage until such time as the truth of this allegation +be tried." And with these words he walked +to the altar, laid the Book of Common Prayer upon +it, and then disappeared in the vestry.</p> + +<p class="indent">Before he did so, however, there was a shrill, +sharp cry of mortal pain, and Mrs. Semple was +barely saved by her husband's promptitude from +falling prone on the marble aisle before the chancel. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 303]</span> +Immediately all was confusion. The sick woman +was carried insensible to her coach. Mr. Spencer +took his sobbing sister on his arm, and the guests +broke up into couples. With hurrying feet, amazed, +ashamed, all talking together, they sought the vehicles +that were to carry them away from a scene so +painful and so unexpected. Maria sat down in the +nearest pew and waited to see what would happen. +She heard carriage after carriage roll away, and +then realized that every one had deserted her.</p> + +<p class="indent">In about twenty minutes the sexton began to close +the church, and she asked him, "Has nobody waited +for me?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, miss, you be here alone." Then she took a +ring from her finger and offered it to him: "Get me +a closed carriage and I will give you this ring," she +said, but he answered:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Nay, I want no ring from a little lass in trouble. +I'll get the carriage, and you may drop into the +church some better day to pay me."</p> + +<p class="indent">She went back home in the midst of a thunderstorm. +The day was darkened, the rain driven furiously +by the wind, and yet when she reached her +father's house the front entrance stood open and +there was neither men nor women servants in sight. +She ran swiftly to her room, locked the door and +sank into a chair, spent with fear and sick with apprehension. +What had happened? What would +be done to her? "Oh, to be back in New York!" +she cried. "Nobody there would force a poor girl +into misery and make a prayer over it, and a feast +about it."</p> + +<p class="indent">A sudden movement of her head showed her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 304]</span> +Maria Semple in her wedding dress. She turned +herself quickly from the glass, and with frantic +haste unfastened the gown and hung it up. All the +trinkets in which they had dressed her were as +quickly removed, and she was not satisfied until she +had cast off every symbol of the miserably frustrated +marriage. But as hour after hour passed and no +one came near her she became sick with terror, and +she was also faint with hunger and thirst. Something +must be ventured, some one must be seen; she +felt that she would lose consciousness if she was left +alone much longer.</p> + +<p class="indent">After repeatedly ringing her bell, it was answered +by one of the women. "I want some tea, Mary, and +some meat and bread. What is the matter with +every one?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"The doctors do say as Mrs. Semple is dying, and +the master is like a man out of his mind." The +woman spoke with an air of distinct displeasure, if +not dislike, but she brought the food and tea to +Maria, and without further speech left her to consider +what she had been told.</p> + +<p class="indent">Oh, how long were the gloomy hours of the day! +How much longer those of the terrible night! The +very atmosphere was full of pain and fear; lights +were passing up and down, and footsteps and inarticulate +movements, all indicating the great struggle +between life and death. And Maria lay dressed +upon her bed, sleepless, listening and watching, and +seeing always in the dim rushlight that white shimmering +gown splashed with rain, and hanging +limply by one sleeve. It grew frightful to her, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 305]</span> +threatening, uncanny, and she finally tore it angrily +down and flung it into a closet.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a><img src="images/illus-100gs.png" alt="MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED." title="MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED." /><br /> +<span class="caption">MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED.</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">But the weariest suspense comes to some end +finally, and just as dawn broke there was a sudden +change. The terror and the suffering were over; +peace stole through every room in the house, for a +man child was born to the house of Semple.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="h2a">LOVE AND VICTORY.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">This</span> event was in many ways favorable to Maria. +She was put aside, nearly forgotten for a month, in +the more imminent danger to the household. And +by that time the almost brutal passion which in the +first hours of shame and distress could think of no +equivalent but personal punishment, had become +more reasonable. For men and women, if worthy +of that name, do not tarry in the Valley of the +Shadow of Death without learning much they would +learn nowhere else.</p> + +<p class="indent">Still her position was painful enough. Her father +did not speak unless it was necessary to ask her a +question, her stepmother for nearly eight weeks +remained in her room, and the once obsequious +servants hardly troubled themselves to attend to her +wants or obey her requests. In the cold isolation +of her disgrace she often longed for a more active +displeasure. If only the anger against her would +come to words she could plead for herself, or at least +she could ask to be forgiven.</p> + +<p class="indent">But Mr. Semple, though ordinarily a passionate +and hot-spoken man, was afraid to say or do anything +which would disturb the peace necessary for +his wife's restoration and his son's health. He felt +that it was better for Maria to suffer. She deserved +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 307]</span> +punishment; they were innocent. Yet, being naturally +a just man, he had allowed her such excuse +as reflection brought. He had told himself that the +girl had never had a mother's care and guidance; +that he himself had been too busy making money to +instill into her mind the great duty of obedience to +his commands. He had considered also that the +very atmosphere in which she had lived and moved +nearly all the years of her life had been charged with +assertion and rebellion. It was the attitude of every +one around her to resist authority, even the authority +of kings and governors. If she had been +brought up in the submissive, self-effacing manner +proper to English girls her offense would have been +unnatural and unpardonable; but he remembered +with a sigh that American women, as a rule, arrogated +to themselves power and individuality, which +American men, as a rule, did not ask them to surrender. +These things he accepted as some palliation of +Maria's abnormal misconduct; and also he was not +oblivious to the fact that her grandparents had for +a year given her great freedom, and that he, for his +own convenience, had placed her with her grandparents. +Besides which, anger in a good heart burns +itself out.</p> + +<p class="indent">Very slowly, but yet surely, this process was going +on, and Maria's attitude was favorable to it, for +she was heart-sorry for the circumstances that had +compelled her to assert the right of her womanhood, +and her pathetic self-effacement was sincere and +without reproach. By-the-by the babe came in as +peacemaker. As soon as she was permitted to see +her stepmother she bent all the sweet magnetism of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 308]</span> +her nature to winning, at least, her forgiveness. +She carried the fretful child in her arms and softly +sung him to sleep, she praised his beauty, she learned +to love him, and she made the lonely hours when Mr. +Semple was at the office pass pleasantly to the sick +woman. Finally one day they came to tears and +explanations; the dreadful affair was talked out, +Maria entreated forgiveness, and was not ungenerously +pardoned.</p> + +<p class="indent">This was at the close of August, and a few days +afterward she received a letter from Mrs. Gordon. +"We are in London for the winter," she wrote. +"Come, child, and let me see how you look." Rather +reluctantly Mrs. Semple permitted her to make the +visit. "She is the next thing to an American," she +thought, "and she will make Maria unreasonable and +disobedient again." But she need not so have +feared; the primal obligations of humanity are +planted in childhood, and when we are old we are +apt to refer to them and judge accordingly.</p> + +<p class="indent">Mrs. Gordon's first remark was not flattering, for +as Maria entered her room she cried out, "La, child! +what is the matter with you? You look ill, worried, +older than you ought to look. Are you in trouble?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, Madame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Stepmother?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Ah! Stepmothers make stepfathers, every one +knows that. We shall have a dish of tea and you +shall tell me about it. Then I will help you. But +one can't build without stone. What has the stepfather +done?"</p> + +<p class="indent">Then Maria told her friend all her trouble, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 309]</span> +was rather chilled in the telling by certain signs of +qualified sympathy. And when the story was finished +Mrs. Gordon's first remark was yet more disheartening:</p> + +<p class="indent">"'Tis a common calamity," she said, "and better +people than you have endured it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"But, Madame——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes, I know what you are going to say. But +you must consider first that your father was acting +quite within his authority. He had the right to +choose your husband."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I had already chosen my husband."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then you ought, when you first came home, to +have notified your parents. Sure, you had so much +responsibility to fulfill. Why did you not do your +duty in this matter?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think I was afraid."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To be sure you were. Little coward! Pray +what did you fear? Ernest Medway?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. I thought, perhaps—as I told you, we +parted in anger, and I thought perhaps he might not +keep his word, there were so many reasons why +he might like to break it, and also, in war-time life +is uncertain. He has been wounded, sick; he might +have died."</p> + +<p class="indent">"So might you, or I, for that matter. A pretty +account you give of yourself. Lord, child! you +surely had letters to show your father."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I had a few, but they were only a line or two. I +was sure they would be made fun of, and I was +angry, too. I thought if they would not take my +word, I would not give vouchers for it. Not I!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Don't dash at things in that way, child. Your +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 310]</span> +father was not bound to believe your story, especially +as you did not tell it until he had made all arrangements +for your marriage with this Mr. Spencer. +Your conduct was too zigzaggery; you should have +been straight."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Father ought to have believed me."</p> + +<p class="indent">"We have it on good authority that all men are +liars, and I daresay that your father has known better +people than either you or I to tell lies. Really, +I ought to give you a scolding, and this is nothing +like it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"It was such an outrage to force me to the very +altar. The consequences were at my father's door."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Custom, use and wont, take the outrage out of +many things. Good gracious, Maria, most of the +women I know were in some way or other forced to +the altar; good for them, too, and generally they +found that out. My own cousin, Lady Clarisse +Home, went weeping there; Miss Anne Gordon, a +cousin of my husband, refused to get up, said she +was ill, and her friends had the marriage at her bedside. +'Tis above or below reason, but these same +women adored their husbands within a week's time."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, dear! what shall I say? What shall I do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Poor little Maria! You come to England, and +then are astonished that a girl of eighteen is not +allowed to have her own way, even in a husband."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have heard that you took your own way in +England, Madame."</p> + +<p class="indent">"In Scotland, there was some difference, and I +was twenty-three and had a fortune of my own."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Tell me then, Madame, what I ought to do."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think you ought to go back to New York. You +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 311]</span> +are unhappy here, and you must make your father's +home unhappy. That is not fair. If you are in +New York, Ernest Medway will have no difficulty +in keeping his word—if he wishes to do so. If he +does not keep his word, you will escape the mortification +you would certainly feel in your father's +house. Ask the stepmother for permission to go +back; she will manage the rest."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Had I not better wait till the twenty-ninth of +November has come and gone?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"If you are a fool, do so. If you are wise, do +not give opportunity so much scope. Go at once."</p> + +<p class="indent">This advice was carried out with all the speed +possible. That very night Maria found a good time +to ask her stepmother's influence, and in spite of +some affected reluctances, she understood that her +proposal was one that gave great and unexpected satisfaction. +She felt almost that she might begin to +prepare for the voyage; nor were her premonitions +false. On the third evening after the request her +father came to her room to grant it. He said he +was "sorry she wished to leave him, but that under +the circumstances it was better that she left England, +at least for a year. The war is practically +over," he continued, "and New York will speedily +recover herself." Then he entered into some financial +explanations of a very generous character, and +finally, taking a small package from his pocket, said:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Give this to your grandfather. It is a miniature +of his grandson, Alexander Semple the third. He +will be much delighted to see that child, for he has +no other grandson. My brothers' children are only +girls."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 312]</span> +<i>"Only girls!"</i> The two words cut like a two-edged +blade, but they were not said with any unkind +intent, though he felt the unkind impression they +made, and rose and went slowly toward the door. +His manner was hesitating, as if he had forgotten +something he wished to say, and the momentary delay +gave to Maria a good thought. She followed +him quickly, and while his hand was on the door laid +hers upon it. "Father," she said, "stay a little +while. I want to ask you to forgive me. I have +so often been troublesome and self-willed, I have +given you so much annoyance, I feel it now. I +am sorry for it. I cannot go back to America +until you forgive me. Father, will you forgive me? +Indeed, I am sorry."</p> + +<p class="indent">He hesitated a moment, looked into her white, +upturned face, and then answered, "I forgive you, +Maria. You have caused me great shame and disappointment, +but I forgive you."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Not in that way! Oh, not in that way, father! +Kiss me as you used to do. You have not kissed +me for nearly a year. Dear father, do not be so cold +and so far-off. I am only a little girl, but I am +<i>your</i> little girl. Perhaps I do not deserve to be +forgiven, but for my mother's sake be kind to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">At these words he turned fully to her, took her +hands, and in a low, constrained voice said, "You +are a very dear little girl, and we will let all the +trouble between us be as if it had never been. We +will bury it, forgive it, and forget it evermore. It +is not to be spoken of again, not as long as we live."</p> + +<p class="indent">Then she leaned her head against his breast and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 313]</span> +he kissed her as those who love and forgive kiss, and +the joy of reconciliation was between them.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Good night, Maria;" and as he held her close +within his arm he added with a laugh, "What a little +bit of a woman! How high are you? Maria?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"Just as high as your heart, father. I don't want +to be any higher."</p> + +<p class="indent">"That is a very pretty speech," and this time he +kissed her voluntarily, and with a most tender affection.</p> + +<p class="indent">Five days after this interview Maria sailed for +America. Her father had carefully attended to all +things necessary for her safety and comfort, and her +stepmother had tried to atone by profuse and handsome +gifts for the apparent unkindness which had +hastened her departure. But Maria knew herself +much to blame, and she was too happy to bear ill +will. She was going to see her lover. She was +going to give him the assurances which she had so +long withheld. She was now impatient to give voice +to all the tenderness in her heart.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was the nineteenth day of September when she +sailed, and on the following day, as Mr. Semple was +sitting in his office, one of the messengers brought +him a card. The light was dim and he looked intently +at it, appeared startled, rose and took it to +the window for further inspection. "Lord Medway" +was certainly the name it bore, and ere he +could give any order concerning it the door opened +and Lord Medway entered.</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Semple advanced to meet him, and the nobleman +took the chair he offered. "Sir," he said, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 314]</span> +hardly waiting for the preliminary courtesies, "Sir, +I cannot believe myself quite unknown to you. And +I hope that you have already some anticipation of +the purport of my visit. I come to ask the hand +of your daughter Maria in marriage. I have been +her devoted lover for more than three years, and +now I would make her my wife. I beg you, sir, to +examine these papers. They will give you a generally +correct idea of my wealth and of the settlement +I propose to make in favor of my wife."</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Semple looked at the eager young man with +a face so troubled that he was instantly alarmed.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What is it?" he cried. "Is Maria sick? Married? +Sir, do not keep me in suspense."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Maria must be very near to New York. She +sailed three weeks ago."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Oh, how unfortunate I am! I am indeed distracted +at this disappointment."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Will you come with me to my home? Mrs. +Semple will tell you all that you desire to know about +Maria."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am obliged for your kindness, sir, but there is +only one thing for me to do. I must go back to New +York by the first opportunity. I have your permission, +I trust."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I have nothing to oppose to your wishes, Lord +Medway. Maria has been faithful to your memory, +and I have every reason to know that you are dear +to her. I wish you both to be happy."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then, sir, farewell for the present. If Fate be +not most unkind to me, I will return with Lady Medway +before the year be fully out."</p> + +<p class="indent">He seemed to gather hope from his own prophecy, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 315]</span> +and with the charming manner he knew well how +to assume he left Mr. Semple penetrated with his +importance and dignity, and exceedingly exalted in +the prospect of his daughter's great fortune.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not wonder that Maria would accept no +lover in his place," he said to Mrs. Semple. "I +think, Elizabeth, he is the handsomest man I ever +saw. And I glanced at the total of his rent-roll; it +is close on forty thousand pounds a year, and likely +to increase as his mining property is opened up. +Maria has done very well for herself."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then we have good authority for saying all men +will praise her. Nevertheless, Cousin Richard was +a handsome man and an excellent match," said Mrs. +Semple. "You had better tell Richard. It will +close that affair forever."</p> + +<p class="indent">She was vexed, but not insensible to the social +glory of the match. And there was also the precious +boy in the cradle. A relative among the nobility +would be a good thing for him; and, indeed, +the subject opened up on all sides in a manner flattering +both to the pride and the interest of the Semples.</p> + +<p class="indent">They could not cease talking of it until sleep put +an end to their hopes and speculations. And in the +morning they were so readily excited that Mrs. Semple +felt impelled to make a confidante of her nursery +maid; and Mr. Semple, being under the same necessity +of conversation, was pleased to remember that +his wife had advised him to inform Richard Spencer. +He told himself that she was right, and that +Richard ought to know the reason of his rejection. +It would only be proper kindness to let him understand +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 316]</span> +that Maria's reluctance was not a dislike for +him personally, but was consequent upon her love +for one who had won her heart previous to their +acquaintance. That fact altered Richard's position +and made it much less humiliating.</p> + +<p class="indent">So he went to the offices of the Spencer Company, +and after some tedious talk on the Zante currant +question, he told the rejected man of Lord Medway's +visit, described his appearance, and revealed, under +a promise of secrecy, the amount of his rent-roll and +the settlement proposed for his wife.</p> + +<p class="indent">The effect of this story was precisely in the line +of what Mr. Semple had supposed. The weakness +of Richard Spencer's nature was a slavish adoration +of the nobility. To have had Lord Medway for a +rival was an honor to be fully appreciated; and to +the end of his life it supplied him, in all his hours of +after-dinner confidences, with a sentimental story he +delighted to tell. "Yes, gentlemen," he would say, +even when an old man, "Yes, gentlemen, I was once +in love, madly in love, with as beautiful a creature +as ever trod this earth. And she led me a pretty +dance right to the altar steps, and then deserted me. +But I cannot blame her. No, by St. George, I cannot! +I had a rival, gentlemen, the young, handsome, +rich and powerful Lord Medway, a nobleman +that sits in the house of Lords and may be of the +Privy Council. What hope for poor Dick Spencer +against such a rival? None at all, gentlemen, and +so you see, for Lord Medway's sake I am a bachelor, +and always shall be one. No girl for me, after the +divine Maria was lost. I saw her going to the last +drawing-room and she smiled at me. I live for such +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 317]</span> +little favors, and I have reason to know my great +rival does not grudge them to me."</p> + +<p class="indent">And in this way Richard Spencer consoled himself, +and was perhaps more reasonably happy than if +he had married a reluctant woman and been grieved +all the years of his life by her contradictions.</p> + +<p class="indent">The unexpected return of Maria to her grandparents +quite overthrew Lord Medway's plans for a +few hours. He had hoped to marry her in London, +and take her at once to his town house, which was +even then being prepared and adorned for her. And +affairs in New York were in such a state of chaos +that he was even anxious for her personal safety. +He had left everything and every one in a state of +miserable transition and uncertainty, and he was sure +things were growing worse and would continue to do +so until the departure of the hostile army and the return +of the patriotic citizens. For it was they, and +they only, who had any interest in the preservation +of their beautiful city from plunder and destruction.</p> + +<p class="indent">And as he thought on these things, he reflected +that it would be an impossibility to secure for Maria +and himself any comfortable passage home, in the +ordinary shipping, or even in the ships of war. He +was sure every available inch of room would be filled +with royalist refugees, and he knew well the likely +results of men and women and children crowded together, +without sufficient food and water, and exposed +to the winter's cold and storm without any +preparation for it.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It will not do, it will not do!" he ejaculated, +"whatever it costs, I must charter a vessel for our +own use."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 318]</span> +In pursuance of this decision, he was in the largest +shipping-house very early the next morning, and +with its aid, speedily secured a swift sailing clipper. +Her long, sharp bow and raking masts, pleased his +nautical sense; she was staunchly built, fit to buffet +wind and waves, and had a well-seasoned captain, +who feared nothing, and was pleased at the terms +Lord Medway offered him.</p> + +<p class="indent">Nearly two weeks were spent in victualing and fitting +her for the dainty lady she was to carry. The +softest pillows and rugs and carpets, made her small +space luxuriously sufficient. Silver and china and +fine linen were provided for her table, and when all +her lockers had been filled and all her sailing wants +provided for, Lord Medway brought on board a +good cook, a maid for Maria, and a valet for himself. +Then he set sail joyously; surely, at last, he +was on the right road to his bridal.</p> + +<p class="indent">Overtaking Maria was of course beyond a possibility, +but he desired to reach New York before its +evacuation. He had many reasons for this, but the +chief one was a fear that unless he did so, there might +be no clergyman in New York to perform the marriage +ceremony. Lovers have a thousand anxieties, +and if they do not have them, make them; and as +the "Dolphin" flew before the wind, Medway walked +her deck, wondering if Maria had arrived safely in +New York, if her ship had been delayed, if it had +been taken by a privateer, if there had been any shipwreck, +or even great storms; if by any cruel chance +he should reach New York, and not find Maria there. +How could he endure the consequent disappointment +and anxiety? He trembled, he turned heartsick, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 319]</span> +at any such possibility, and when the green +shores of the new world appeared, he almost wished +for a little longer suspense; he thought a certainty of +Maria's absence would kill him.</p> + +<p class="indent">As they came nearer to the city it was found impossible +to approach any of the usual wharfs. The +river was crowded with men-of-war, transports, and +vessels of every kind, and after some consideration +they took to the North River, and finally anchored in +midstream, nearly opposite the house of Madame +Jacobus.</p> + +<p class="indent">The sight of her residence inspired him with something +like hope, and he caused the small boat by +which he landed to put him on shore as far north of +the heart of the city as possible. But even so, he +could distinctly hear, and still more distinctly <i>feel</i> the +sorrowful tumult of the chaotic, almost frantic town. +With swift steps and beating heart he reached the +Semple house. He stood still a moment and looked +at it. In the morning sunshine it had its usual, +peaceful, orderly aspect, and as he reached the gate, +he saw the Elder open the door, and, oh, sight of +heaven! Maria stepped into the garden with him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a><img src="images/illus-320gs.png" alt="HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON SHORE." title="HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON SHORE." /><br /> +<span class="caption">HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON SHORE.</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">What happened then? Let each heart tell itself. +We have many words to express grief, none that +translate the transports of love that has conquered all +the accidents of a contrary fortune. Such joy speaks +like a child, two or three words at a time, "My Darling—Oh, +Beloved—Sweetest Maria—Ernest—Ernest—At +last—At last!"</p> + +<p class="indent">But gradually they came back to the sense of those +proprieties that very wisely invade the selfishness of +human beings. They remembered there were others +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 320]</span> +in the world besides themselves, and broke their bliss +in two, that they might share it. And as conversation +became more general Medway perceived that +haste was an imperative necessity, and that even +haste might be too late. It was now exceedingly +doubtful if a clergyman could be procured. Trinity +had no authorized rector, the Reverend Mr. Inglis +having resigned the charge on the first of November, +just three weeks previously, and the appointment of +the Reverend Mr. Moore, selected by the corporation +of Trinity, not being yet approved by the Governor +of the State of New York. To an Englishman of +that day, there was no marriage legally performed +but by an accredited Episcopal minister, and this was +the obstacle Lord Medway had now to face.</p> + +<p class="indent">If General Clinton had been still in New York, the +chaplain attached to his staff would have been easily +available; but Lord Medway knew little of Sir Guy +Carleton, then in command, and could only suppose +his staff would be similarly provided. As this difficulty +demanded instant attention, Medway went immediately +about it. He was but barely in time. Sir +Guy thought the chaplain had already embarked, but +fortunately, he was found in his rooms, in the midst +of his packing, and the offer of a large fee made a +short delay possible to him. It was then the twentieth +of November, and the evacuation of the British +troops and refugees was to be completed on the +twenty-fifth. There was no time to be lost, for an +almost insane terror pervaded the minds of the royalists, +and Medway hastened back to Maria to expedite +her preparations.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Only one day, my dear one," he said, "can be +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 321]</span> +allowed you. You must pack immediately. If your +trunks can be sent to Madame Jacobus to-night, I +will have the captain of the 'Dolphin' get them on +board as early as possible to-morrow. During to-day +you must make all your arrangements. The +clergyman will be waiting for us in St. Paul's Chapel +at nine o'clock in the morning. Will your grandparents +go with us to the church?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"I think not, Ernest. They would rather bid me +good-bye in their own home, and it will be better so. +Uncle Neil has begged grandfather not to go into +the city; he says it would be both dangerous and +heart-breaking to him—yet we will ask them."</p> + +<p class="indent">It was as Maria had supposed; the Elder and +Madame preferred to part with their little girl in +private. With smiles and tears and blessings, they +gave her into Lord Medway's care and then sat down +on their lonely hearth to rejoice in her joy and good +fortune. They did not, however, talk much; a few +words now and then, and long pauses between, in +which they wandered back to their own bridal, and +the happy, busy days that were gone forever.</p> + +<p class="indent">"It will be Neil next," said the Elder sadly.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Yes. The Bradleys will be home on the twenty-seventh. +He is set on Agnes Bradley."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I'm sorry for it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"She suits him. I know you never liked the family."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Far awa' from it."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Neil says the son is to marry Mary Wakefield. +Agnes has been with the Wakefields; Mary is the +youngest daughter."</p> + +<p class="indent">"And the saddler will open his shop again?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 322]</span> +"Yes. His son is to be his partner. John Bradley +thinks he has a 'call' to preach. He has got the +habit of wandering about, working and preaching. +Agnes says he will never give it up."</p> + +<p class="indent">After a long pause the Elder spoke again: "Maria +is sure to be happy; she has done well."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No woman could be happier. Has Neil told you +what he is going to do?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"He canna stay here, Janet. That is beyond +thinking of. Any bill of attainder would include +him. He is going to Boston to pick up the lines o' +his brother's business. Alexander made a fortune +there; the name o' Semple is known and respected, +and John Curwen, who has plenty o' money, will be +in the business with him. He'll do well, no fear o' +Neil."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Then he'll get married."</p> + +<p class="indent">"To be sure; men are aye eager to meet that +trouble."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Alexander!"</p> + +<p class="indent">"And speaking o' bills o' attainder, I'll like enough +hae my name on one."</p> + +<p class="indent">"No, you won't. If you'll only bide at hame and +keep your whist anent a' public matters, you'll be +left alane. If you have enemies, I hae friends—great +and powerful friends—and there's our two +sons to stand on your right hand and your left. +Robert and Allen left a' and followed the American +cause from the first. They are good sureties for you. +And what of your friend, Joris Van Heemskirk?"</p> + +<p class="indent">"We'll see, we'll see. He may have changed a +deal; he was always fond o' authority, and for eight +years he has been giving orders and saying 'go' and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 323]</span> +'come' and 'do this.' I took a bit walk down the +road yestreen, and I saw that creature Batavius polishing +up the brass knocker o' his father-in-law's +front door. He had raked the littered garden, and +Joanna was putting up clean curtains. And he came +waddling down to the gate and said, 'Good-morning, +Elder,' and I could but say the same to him. And +then he said, 'We are all getting ready for the coming +home o' our brave soldiers, and I am satisfied; it +is a steady principle of mine to be satisfied with the +government. Governor Clinton bowed to me yesterday, +and he is the friend of General Washington. +I notice these things, for it is my way to notice everything.' +And I interrupted him and said, 'Your principles +change with your interests, sir,' and he fired +up and asked: 'Why not, then? It is a principle of +mine to go with the times, for I will not be left behind. +I am a sailor, and I know that it is a fool that +does not turn his sail with the wind. When the +wind blows west I will not sail east;' and I said, +'you will do very well in these times,' and he laughed +and answered, '<i>Ja!</i> I always do very well. I am +known for that everywhere.' So I left him, but the +world seems slipping awa' from me, Janet."</p> + +<p class="indent">"I am at your side, and there's nae bride nor +bridegroom o' a day half as much to each other as +you are to me and I to you. And if this warld fails, +it is not the only warld." And they looked lovingly +at each other and were silent and satisfied.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the meantime the little wedding party had gathered +at the altar of St. Paul's Chapel: Neil, who gave +away Maria, Madame Jacobus and her friend Counselor +Van Ahrens; Lord Medway with Sir Francis +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 324]</span> +Lauve and his sister Miss Estelle Lauve, members +of an English family with whom he had been familiar. +The chaplain was waiting when the bride arrived, +and the words that made her Lord Medway's +wife were solemnly said. There was no music, no +flowers, no bells, no theatrical effects of any kind, but +the simple, grand words of resignation and consecration +had all the serious joy and sacred character of +a happy religious rite, and every heart felt that nothing +could have been more satisfactory. Maria wore +the dark cloth dress and long coat she intended to +travel in, and as she knelt bareheaded at the altar, +Madame Jacobus held the pretty head-covering that +matched it. So that as soon as the registry had been +made in the vestry, she bid farewell to all her friends, +and with a look of adorable love and confidence +placed her hand in her husband's.</p> + +<p class="indent">He was so happy that he was speechless, and he +feared a moment's delay. Until he had Maria safely +on board the "Dolphin," he could not feel certain +of her possession. The suspense made him +silent and nervous; he could only look at his bride +and clasp her hands, until she had passed safely +through the crowded streets and was securely +in the cabin of the waiting ship. Then, with the +wind in her sails and the sunshine on her white +deck, the "Dolphin" went swiftly out to sea.</p> + +<p class="indent">But not until the low-lying land was quite lost to +sight was Lord Medway completely satisfied. Then +he suffered the rapture in his heart to find words. +He folded Maria in her furs, and clasped her close +to his side, and as the daylight faded and the stars +shone out upon her lovely face, he told her a thousand +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 325]</span> +times over, how dear, how sweet, how beautiful +she was!</p> + +<p class="indent">Ah! Youth is sweet! and Life is dear to Love and +Youth; and these two were supremely happy while +whole days long they talked of their past and their +future. And though the journey lasted their honeymoon +out, they were not sorry. They were going to +be in London for the Christmas feast, and Medway +remembered that he had promised Mr. Semple to +"bring Lady Medway home before the New Year," +and he was pleased to redeem his word.</p> + +<p class="indent">"For I liked your father, Maria," he said. "He +seemed to me one of the finest gentlemen I ever met, +and——"</p> + +<p class="indent">"My stepmother is a lady also," Maria answered, +"one of the Norfolk Spencers; and many women +would have been worse to me than she was. Sometimes +I was in the wrong too."</p> + +<p class="indent">"They must keep Christmas with us. <i>Christmas +in our own home!</i> Maria, you hold me by my heart. +Sweet, say what you wish, and you shall have it." +And indeed it would be impossible to express in written +words a tithe of the great content they had. For +all their hopes and plans and dreams of future happiness +were</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i4">"but Ministers of Love</span><br /> +<span class="i0">And fed his sacred flame,"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>and the bliss so long afar, at length so nigh, rested in +the great peace of its attainment.</p> + +<p class="indent">In leaving New York immediately after their marriage, +Lord and Lady Medway escaped the misery +of seeing the last agony of the royalist inhabitants +of that city. For six months Sir Guy Carleton had +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 326]</span> +been sending them to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, +Canada, to the Bahamas and the West India Islands, +and yet the condition of the city in these last days +is indescribable. To remove a large household is no +easy matter, but the whole city had practically to be +moved, and at the same time at least two thousand +families driven from their homes at the occupation +of New York, had returned and were gradually taking +possession of their deserted dwellings. The confusion +was intensified at the last by the distraction of +those who had hesitated until delay was no longer +possible, by the sick and the helpless, and the remnant +who had been striving to procure money, or +were waiting for relatives and friends. Such a +scene as New York presented on the morning of the +final evacuation on the twenty-fifth of November, +1783, has no parallel in modern history.</p> + +<p class="indent">It was followed by a scene not only as intensely +dramatic, but also as exhilarating and joyful as the +former was distracting and despairing—the entry of +the triumphant Army of Freedom. As the rearguard +of the British army left the Battery, it came +marching down the Bowery—picked heroes of a +score of battlefields—led by General Knox. It +passed by Chatham Street and Pearl Street to Wall +Street and so to Broadway, where it waited for the +procession headed by General Washington and Governor +Clinton, the officers of the army, citizens on +horseback, and citizens on foot. A salute of thirteen +guns greeted the columns as they met, arms were +presented and the drums beat. As a military procession, +it was without impressiveness, as a moral +procession, it was without equal in the annals of the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 327]</span> +world. No bells chimed congratulations, no bands +of music stirred popular enthusiasm; it notably +lacked all the usual pomp of military display, but no +grander army of self-wrought freemen ever greeted +their chief, their homes, and their native city.</p> + +<p class="indent">Madame Jacobus, weeping tears of joy, viewed it +from her window. Early in the morning she had +sent a closed carriage for her friend Madame Semple; +but it had returned empty.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Janet Semple kept herself alive for this day," she +said. "I wonder why she did not come. She +prayed that her eyes might see this salvation, and +then she has not come to see it. What is the matter, +I wonder?"</p> + +<p class="indent">A very simple and yet a very great thing was the +matter. When Madame had put on her best gown, +some little necessity took her back to the parlor. The +Elder was crouching over the fire and down his +white face tears were unconsciously streaming. She +could not bear it; she could not leave him.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The joy is there, the victory is won, and the blessing +is for a' generations," she said. "I'll never be +missed in the crowd, and I can sing 'Glory be to God' +in my ain house. So I'll stay where I'm needed, by +my dear auld man; it was for better or for worse, +for richer or poorer, in joy, or in sorrow, while baith +our lives lasted," she mused, "and Janet Semple isna +one to forget that bargain." She went quickly back +to her room, spoke only into the ear of God her joy +and her thanksgiving, and then taking off her festival +garments, knocked at Neil's door as she went +down stairs.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Are you going out, Neil?"</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 328]</span> +"No; I shall stay with father. I am just going +to him."</p> + +<p class="indent">They went together, and as they entered the room, +the Elder looked up:</p> + +<p class="indent">"Aren't you going to see the show, Neil?" he +asked.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I prefer to stay with you, sir," was the answer. +The old man looked from his son to his wife gratefully, +and murmuring, "Thank you baith," he +fainted away.</p> + +<p class="indent">Tenderly they lifted him to a couch, and he soon +responded to the remedies applied; but Janet gave +him a soothing draught, and they sat the afternoon +through, watching him. They could hear the joyful +acclaims—the shouts and songs of a redeemed +people—the noise of a multitude giving itself to a +tumultuous joy; but the real gladness of grateful +hearts was by the rekindled hearth fires. Fathers +and mothers at home again! After seven years' +wandering, they knew what Home meant. Their +houses were dismantled, but they had Liberty! +Their gardens were destroyed, their shade trees +burnt, but they had Liberty! Their churches were +desecrated, but they had Liberty! Their trade was +gone, their fair city mutilated and blackened with +fire, her streets torn up, and her wharfs decayed, +but thank God, they had Liberty! Never again +would they be the subjects of any king, or the victims +of any imposed tyranny. They were free men. +They had won their freedom, and they who have +once tasted of the sharp, strong wine of Freedom +will drink thereof forever.</p> + +<hr/> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 329]</span></p> + +<p class="indent">These events occurred exactly one hundred and +eighteen years ago, but those who happen to be in +that lovely country which lies between Yorkshire and +Lancashire can find in Medway Castle one frail memento +of them. A little diplomacy and a little coin +of the realm dropped into the keeper's hand will procure +them admittance. And after viewing its rooms +of state, its splendid library, and its picture gallery, +they may seek a little room toward the sunrising, +called "the Lady Maria's parlor." Its furniture +of crimson satin is faded now, but it doubtless suited +well the dark beauty so well depicted in a large portrait +of her, that is one of the ornaments of the east +wall. The portrait of her husband, Lord Ernest +Medway, is near to it, but between them is a sheet +of ordinary writing paper, yellow with age, but still +keeping a legible copy of three verses and the pretty, +simple, old tune to which they were sung. It is the +original copy of <i>"The Song of a Single Note,"</i> the +song they sang together at Nicholas Bayard's summer +entertainment one hundred and twenty-one years +ago. Lord Medway always said it was an enchanted +song, and that, as its melodious tones fell from his +lady's lips, they charmed his heart away and gave it +to her forever.</p> + +<p class="indent">And if other lovers would learn this fateful +melody, why here is a copy of it. If they sing it but +once together, it may be that they will sing it as +long as they live:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">"For through the sense, the song shall fit</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The soul to understand."</span><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 330]</span></p> + +<p class="h2">A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/illus-330gs.png" +alt="A song of a sin-gle note. But +it soars and swells a-bove The +trum-pet's call and clash of arms, For the +name of the song is Love, Love, Love, +The name of the song is Love." +title="A song of a sin-gle note. But +it soars and swells a-bove The +trum-pet's call and clash of arms, For the +name of the song is Love, Love, Love, +The name of the song is Love." /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="music/singlenote.mid">Listen</a></span> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Mortals may sing it here below,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The angels sing it above;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For all of heaven that earth can know</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Is set to the Song of Love,</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Love, love, love, is set to the Song of Love.</span><br /></div> +</div> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then bid the trumpet and drum be still,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">And battle flags idly float;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Better by far that men should sing</span><br /> +<span class="i2">The Song of a Single Note.</span><br /> +<span class="i4">Love, love, love, the Song of a Single Note.</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="h2a">Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p class="indent">Some of the illustrations have been moved so that they correspond to the +text and do not break up paragraphs. The biggest change was the movement +of the illustration "Maria lay dressed upon her bed" from facing page +100 to page 305, near the corresponding text. Because of these changes, +the page numbers of the illustrations no longer match the page numbers +in the List of Illustrations.</p> + +<p class="indent">Throughout the book, the name of one of the characters was "DuBois", but +four times the name was given as "Du Bois". In each of those four, +instances, "Du Bois" was replaced with "DuBois". Likewise, another +character was sometimes named "André" and sometimes named "Andre". +In this case, "Andre" was replaced with "André".</p> + +<p class="indent">Thoughout the book, quotation mark usage is different than current usage. +Quotation mark usage was "corrected" only where the printed usage would be +confusing to the reader. In some cases a single set of quotation marks was +used for multiple paragraphs, in those caes the quotation marks were not +changed.</p> + +<p class="indent">Throughout the dialogues, there were words and punctuation used to +mimic accents of the speakers. Those words and punctuation were retained + as-is.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the Contents, a period was placed after "V".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 2, a period was placed after "easily go further".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 7, a period was placed after "by a meadow", and a period was +placed after "I should say".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 14, a quotation mark was removed after the phrase "called for +a fresh pipe.".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 17, "to speak them" was replaced with "to speak to them".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 27, the double quotation marks around the poem has been replaced +with single quotation marks, as the poem is part of a larger quote.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 38, "He eat of all" was replaced with "He ate of all".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 48, a period was placed after "he is her lover".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 49, "doubt and fear and love's first food" was replaced with +"doubt and fear are love's first food".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 55, a double quotation mark before "Mr. Bradley, it is the +King's birthday" was replaced with a single quotation mark.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 65, "she asked" was replaced with "She asked".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 74, the double quotation mark was removed after "Wonderful!".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 79, the single quotation mark after "They, too, have saved us." +was replased with a double quotation mark.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 84, a double quotation mark was placed before "Oh, you must be".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 86, the quotation mark was removed after "though we may not +admit it."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 94, "have not began" was replaced with "have not began".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 97, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 109, the quotation mark was removed after "they would likely +hear it from some one.".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 110, "colums" was replaced with "columns".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 123, "confident and adviser" was replaced with "confidant and +adviser".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed after "at nine o'clock. +Harry.".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed before "I am sure that".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 154, a period was added after "I refuse to say".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 162, the quotation mark was removed after "I will +stand still."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 163, a quotation mark was added after "but for my +father, it had gone badly with you!"</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 165, a comma was added after "And there is another thing".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 169, "There has a low" was replaced with "There was a low".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 171, a period was added after "said Harry".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 175, a quotation mark was added before "One hundred years ago—in +Scotland".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 178, the period after "Would you be content if I saved his life" +was replaced with a question mark.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 182, a double quotation mark was added after +"'Ernest is doing all that can be done.'"</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 188, "The horoine is" was replaced with "The heroine is".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 195, a person is referred to as "Hulen" and as "Hulens". No +change was made because there was no indication of which is the correct +name.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 197, "a saucy youth" was replaced with "A saucy youth".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 197, "and he went on talking" was replaced with "and he went on +talking".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 198, "he had builded" was replaced with "he had built".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 199, a quotation mark was added after "I make you the same +offer if you will take it."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 199, a period was placed after "and mental tremor".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 199, a period was placed after "waited for Neil's reply".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 200, "as you say" was replaced with "As you say".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 203, a period was placed after "will be paid to-morrow".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 221, A double quotation mark was removed before "This remark +Maria did not approve of".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 227, "curiuosly" was replaced with "curiously".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 234, a quotation mark was added after "less almighty and +mair sensible than others.".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 240, "consiousness" was replaced with "consciousness".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 244, the semicolon after "aboon ten thousand" was replaced with +a period.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 248, "the butt o 'a lot o' fellows" was replaced with "the butt +o' a lot o' fellows".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 251, a quotation mark was added after "Meets all its wants."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 251, "scrimage" was replaced with "scrimmage".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 253, a period was put after "lost its chief advantage for +defense".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 257, a quotation mark was added after the phrase "said Lord +Medway,".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 258, the period after "in the sweet Spring evening" was replaced +with a comma.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 263, a quotation mark was placed after "do love me, +Maria?".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 272, "my father insist" was replaced with "my father insists".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 283, a double quotation mark was placed after "I think, +indeed,".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 290, "situaton" was replaced with "situation."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 296, the quotation mark after "in her heart for him." was removed.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 296, a quotation mark was placed after "such a person".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 302, "vesty" was replaced with "vestry".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 309, a quotation mark was placed after "to show your father."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 310, a quotation mark was placed after "you should have +been straight."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 323, the quotation mark was removed after "silent and satisfied."</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 323, "alter" was replaced with "altar".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 326, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 329, "they may seek a litttle" was replaced with "they may seek +a little".</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 35358-h.txt or 35358-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/3/5/35358">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/5/35358</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license">http://www.gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">http://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/35358-h/images/002.png b/35358-h/images/002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6837a3d --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/002.png diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-100gs.png b/35358-h/images/illus-100gs.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..abcae58 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-100gs.png diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-208gs.png b/35358-h/images/illus-208gs.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7166fa --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-208gs.png diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-320gs.png b/35358-h/images/illus-320gs.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..efe1d5a --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-320gs.png diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-330gs.png b/35358-h/images/illus-330gs.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f72e47 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-330gs.png diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-cvr.jpg b/35358-h/images/illus-cvr.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2888e22 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-cvr.jpg diff --git a/35358-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg b/35358-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c39dcd --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/images/illus-fpc.jpg diff --git a/35358-h/music/singlenote.mid b/35358-h/music/singlenote.mid Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..233b890 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358-h/music/singlenote.mid diff --git a/35358.txt b/35358.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e2055f --- /dev/null +++ b/35358.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10422 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Song of a Single Note, by Amelia Edith +Huddleston Barr + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: A Song of a Single Note + A Love Story + + +Author: Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr + + + +Release Date: February 22, 2011 [eBook #35358] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE*** + + +E-text prepared by Darleen Dove, Ernest Schaal, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations and + added music. + See 35358-h.htm or 35358-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35358/35358-h/35358-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35358/35358-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text in bold face is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=), and text in + small capitals is replaced by all capitals. + + A list of corrections is at the end of the e-book. + + + + + +[Illustration: THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE.] + +A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE + +A Love Story + +by + +AMELIA E. BARR + +Author of "The Bow of Orange Ribbon," "The Maid +of Maiden Lane," etc. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +New York +Dodd, Mead & Company +1902 + +Copyright, 1902, +By Dodd, Mead & Company. + +First Edition published October, 1902. + +The Burr Printing House, +New York. + + + + + TO + MY FRIEND, + + DR. STEPHEN DECATUR HARRISON: + + An American who loves his country "Right or Wrong," + And who always believes she is "Right," + + THIS NOVEL + IS WITH MUCH ESTEEM + DEDICATED. + + + + +Contents + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. RED OR BLUE RIBBONS . . . . . . . . 1 + + II. THE FAIR AND THE BRAVE . . . . . . . 21 + + III. LIFE IN THE CAPTIVE CITY . . . . . . . 50 + + IV. A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE . . . . . . . 75 + + V. LOVE'S SWEET DREAM . . . . . . . . 103 + + VI. THE INTERCEPTED MESSAGE . . . . . . . 134 + + VII. THE PRICE OF HARRY'S LIFE . . . . . . 160 + + VIII. THE HELP OF JACOB COHEN . . . . . . . 185 + + IX. THE TURN OF THE TIDE . . . . . . . . 211 + + X. MARIA GOES TO LONDON . . . . . . . . 253 + + XI. THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE . . . . . . . 283 + + XII. LOVE AND VICTORY . . . . . . . . . 306 + + + + +List of Illustrations + + PAGE + + THE SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE--_Frontispiece_. + + MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED _facing_ 100 + + THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT + SEE HIM _facing_ 208 + + HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON + SHORE _facing_ 320 + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + + "Love, its flutes will still be stringing, + Lovers still will sigh and kneel; + Freedom sets her trumpets ringing + To the clash of smiting steel." + So I weave of love and glory, + Homely toil, and martial show, + Fair romance from the grand story + Lived a century ago. + + + + +A Song of a Single Note + + +CHAPTER I. + +RED OR BLUE RIBBONS. + + +It was the fourth year of the captivity of New York, and the beleaguered +city, in spite of military pomp and display, could not hide the +desolations incident to her warlike occupation. The beautiful trees and +groves which once shaded her streets and adorned her suburbs had been +cut down by the army sappers; her gardens and lawns upturned for +entrenchments and indented by artillery wheels; and some of the best +parts of the city blackened and mutilated by fire. Her churches had been +turned into prisons and hospitals, and were centres of indescribable +suffering and poisonous infection; while over the burnt district there +had sprung up a town of tents inhabited by criminals and by miserable +wretches whom starvation and despair had turned into highwaymen. + +But these conditions were the work of man. Nature still lavished upon +the captive city a glory of sunshine and blue skies, and winds, full of +the freshness and sparkle of the great sea, blew through all her sickly +streets. Wherever the gardens had not been destroyed, there was the +scent of mays and laburnums, and the indescribable beauty of apple +blossoms on the first day of their birth. + +In front of one of these fortunate enclosures, belonging to a little +house on Queen Street, an old gentleman was standing, looking wistfully +in at a trellis of small red roses. He turned away with a sigh as a man +dressed like a sailor touched him on the arm, saying, as he did so: + +"Well, then, Elder, a good afternoon to you? I am just from Boston, and +I have brought you a letter from your son." + +"You, De Vries! I didna look for you just yet." + +"You know how it is. I am a man of experience, and I had a good voyage +both ways." + +"And Robertson and Elliot and Ludlow will have a good percentage on your +cargoes?" + +"That is the way of business. It is as it ought to be. I do not defraud +or condemn the Government. It is the young--who have no knowledge or +experience--who do such things." + +"What do you bring in, Captain?" + +"Some provisions of all kinds; and I shall take back some merchandise of +all kinds--for them who can not get it in any other way." + +"To Boston again?" + +"This time only to the Connecticut coast. The goods will easily go +further. The trade is great. What then? I must waste no time; I have to +live by my business." + +"And I have nae doubt you think the 'business' on the King's service." + +"Every respectable man is of that way of thinking. We carry no military +stores. I am very precise about that. It is one of my principles. And +what, then, would the merchants of New York do without this opening for +trade? They would be ruined; and there would also be starvation. They +who say different are fools; we give help and comfort to the royalists, +and we distress the rebels, for we take from them all their ready money. +If the trade was not 'on the King's service,' the Governor would not be +in it." + +"Even so! That circumstance shows it is not far out o' the way." + +"'Out of the way!' What the deuce, Elder! I am a deacon in the Middle +Kirk. My respectability and honesty cannot be concealed: any one can see +them. Batavius de Vries would not steal a groschen; no, nor half of +one!" + +"Easy, easy, Captain! Why should you steal? It is far mair lucrative to +cheat than to steal; and the first is in the way o' business--as you +were remarking. But this or that, my good thanks for the letter you have +brought me; and is there anything I can do in return for your civility?" + +"If you will kindly call at my dwelling and tell Madame I am arrived +here safe and sound; that would be a great satisfaction for us both." + +"I pass your door, Captain, and I will tell Madame the good news. Nae +doubt she will gie me a smile for it." + +Then De Vries turned away with some remark about business, and Elder +Semple stood still a moment, fingering the bulky letter which had been +given him; and, as he did so, wondering what he should do, for "ill news +comes natural these days," he thought, "and maybe I had better read it +through, before I speak a word to Janet anent it. I'll step into the +King's Arms and see what Alexander has to say." + +When he entered the coffee-room he saw his son, Mr. Neil Semple, and +Governor Robertson sitting at a table with some papers between them. +Neil smiled gravely, and moved a chair into place for his father, and +the Governor said pleasantly: + +"How are you, Elder? It is a long time since I saw you." + +"I am as well as can be expected, considering a' things, Governor; but +what for will I be 'Elder,' when I have nae kirk to serve?" + +"Is that my fault, Elder?" + +"You might have spoke a word for the reopening of the kirk, and the +return o' Dr. Rogers. Your affirmative would have gone a long way toward +it. And the loyal Calvinists o' New York hae been too long kirkless. +What for didn't you speak the word, Governor? What for?" + +"Indeed, Elder, you know yourself that Dr. Rogers is a proved traitor. +As a fundamental rule, a Calvinist is a democrat--exceptions, of +course--like yourself and your worthy sons, but as a fundamental, +natural democrats. There is the Church of England open for all +services." + +"Aye; and there is the Kirk o' Scotland closed for all services. What +has the Kirk done against King George?" + +"Must I remind you, Elder, that her ministers, almost without exception, +are against the King? Did not this very Dr. Rogers pray in the pulpit +for the success of the rebels? As for the Church of Scotland, she has +been troubling kings, and encouraging rebellion ever since there was a +Church of Scotland. What for? No reason at all, that I can see." + +"Yes, she had reason enough. Scotsmen read their Bibles, and they +thought it worth while to fight for the right to do so. There's your +colleague, Judge Ludlow; his great-grandfather fought with Oliver +Cromwell in England in a quarrel of the same kind. He should have said a +word for us." + +"Elder, it is undeniable that Dissent and Calvinism are opposed to +royalty." + +"The Kirk is not subject to Caesar; she is a law unto hersel'; and the +Methodists are dissenters, yet their chapel is open." + +"The loyalty of John Wesley is beyond impeachment. He is a friend of the +King." + +"Yet his brother Charles was imprisoned for praying for the Pretender, +and nae doubt at all, he himsel' would gladly have followed Prince +Charlie." + +"As the Semples and Gordons _did do_." + +"To their everlasting glory and honor! God bless them!" + +"Will your Excellency please to sign these papers?" interrupted Neil; +and his calm ignoring of the brewing quarrel put a stop to it. The +papers were signed, and the Governor rising, said, as he offered his +hand to the Elder: + +"Our sufferings and deprivations are unavoidable, sir. Is there any use +in quarreling with the wheel that splashes us?" + +"There is nane; yet, if men have grievances----" + +"Grievances! That is a word that always pleases, and always cheats. +There are no grievances between you and me, I hope." + +"None to breed ill-will. Human nature is fallible, but as a rule, Tory +doesna eat Tory." + +"And as for the Whigs, Elder, you know the old fable of the wolf and the +lamb. Judging from that past event, Tory and Whig may soon make an +eternal peace." + +He went out well pleased at the implication, and Neil, after a few +moments' silence, said, "I am going to register these documents, sir, or +I would walk home with you." + +"Much obligated to you, Neil, but I can tak' very good care o' mysel'. +And I have a letter from your brother Alexander. I must see what news he +sends, before I tell your mother." + +He was opening his letter as he spoke, carefully cutting round the large +red seal, which bore the arms of the Semples, and which, therefore, he +would have thought it a kind of sacrilege to mutilate. A cup of coffee +had been brought to him, and he took one drink of it, and then no more; +for everything was quickly forgotten or ignored in the intelligence he +was receiving. That it was unexpected and astonishing was evident from +his air of perplexity and from the emotion which quite unconsciously +found relief in his constant ejaculation, _"Most extraordinary! Most +extraordinary!"_ + +Finally, he folded up the epistle, threw a shilling on the table for his +entertainment, and with more speed than was usual, took the road to the +west of Broadway. He had been remarkable in days past for his erect +carriage, but he walked now with his head bent and his eyes fixed on the +ground. There was so much that he did not want to see, though he was +naturally the most curious and observant of mortals. Fifteen minutes' +walk brought him to the river side, and anon to a large house separated +from his own by a meadow. There were horses tied to the fence and horses +tethered in the garden; and in a summer-house under a huge linden tree, +a party of soldiers drinking and playing dominoes. The front door was +partly open, and a piece of faded red ribbon was nailed on its lintel. +Semple knocked loudly with his walking-stick, and immediately a stout, +rosy woman came toward him, wiping her hands on a clean towel as she did +so. + +"Well, then, Elder!" she cried, "you are a good sight! What is the +matter, that you never come once to see us, this long time?" + +"I come now to bring you good news Joanna--Madame, I should say." + +"No, no! I make not so much ceremony. When you say 'Joanna' I think of +the good days, before everybody was unfriends with each other." + +"Well, then, Joanna, your husband is back again; as he says, safe and +sound, and I promised him to let you know as I passed." + +"But come in once, Elder--come in!" + +"Some day--some day soon. I am in haste at this time--and you have much +company, I see." He spoke with evident disapproval, and Joanna was at +once on the defensive. + +"I know not how to alter that. A good wife must do some little thing +these hard times; for what is to come after them, who knows--and there +are many boys and girls--but I am not discontented; I like to look at +the bright side, and that is right, is it not?" + +Semple had already turned away, and he only struck his cane on the +flagged walk in answer. For while Joanna was speaking he had casually +noticed the fluttering red ribbon above her head; and it had brought +from the past a memory, unbidden and unexpected, which filled his eyes +with the thin, cold tears of age, and made his heart tremble with a fear +he would not allow himself to entertain. + +He was so troubled that he had to consciously gather his forces together +before he entered his own dwelling. It, at least, kept visible state and +order; the garden, perhaps, showed less variety and wealth of flowers; +but the quiet dignity of its handsomely furnished rooms was intact. In +their usual parlor, which was at the back of the house, he found his +wife. "You are late to-day, Alexander," she said pleasantly; "I was just +waiting till I heard your footstep. Now I can make the tea." + +"I'll be glad o' a cup, Janet. I'm fairly tired, my dearie." + +"What kept you so far ahint your ordinar time? I thought it long waiting +for you." + +"Twa or three things kept me, that I am not accountable for. I was on +the way hame, when Batavius De Vries spoke to me." + +"He's back again, is he? Few words would do between you and him." + +"He brought me a letter from our lad in Boston; and I thought I would go +into the King's Arms and read it." + +"You might have come hame." + +"I might; but I thought if there was any bad news folded in the paper, I +would just leave it outside our hame." + +"There is naething wrang, then?" + +"It is an astonishment--the lad has sold all he had and gone to +Scotland. When he can find a small estate that suits him, he thinks o' +buying it, and becoming 'Semple o' that Ilk.' Alexander aye had a +hankering after land." + +"He has the siller, I suppose; there is no land given awa in Scotland." + +"Alexander wasn't born yesterday. He has been sending siller to England +ever since the first whisper o' these troubles. Ten years ago, he told +me the Stamp Act riots spelt Revolution and maybe Independence; and that +in such case the best we could hope for would be a dozen or mair states, +each with its ain rights and privileges and government; and a constant +war between them. He is a far-seeing lad, is Alexander." + +"I think little o' his far sight. There are others who see further and +clearer: petty states and constant war! Na, na! _It's not so written."_ + +"Perhaps he is right, Janet." + +"Perhaps is a wide word, Alexander. Perhaps he is wrang. Has he sailed +yet? And pray, what is to become of the little Maria?" + +"He sailed a week since--and Maria is coming to us." + +"Coming to us! And what will we do wi' the lassie?" + +"We'll just hae to love and comfort her. In a way she has neither +father nor mother--the one being in the grave and the other beyond seas. +She may be a pleasure to our auld age; when she was here last she was a +bonnie, lovesome little creature." + +"That is mair than eight years ago, and she was eight years old then; +she'll be sixteen and a half, or, perhaps, nearer seventeen now--you ken +weel what to expect from lassies o' that indiscreet age; or, if you +don't, you ought to." + +"I know she is our ain grandbairn and that we be to give her love and +all that love calls for. She was the very image o' yoursel' Janet, and +her father was much set up o'er the extraordinar likeness." + +"I thought she favored you, Alexander." + +"A little--a little, perhaps--but not enough to spoil her. If she has +kept the Gordon beauty, she will be a' the mair welcome to me. I have +aye had a strong prejudice in its favor;" and he leaned forward and took +Madame's small brown hand, and then there was a look and a smile between +the old lovers that made all words impotent and unnecessary. + +Such pauses are embarrassing; the lealest hearts must come back quickly +to ordinary life, and as the Elder passed his cup for more tea, Madame +asked: "What way is the lassie coming? By land or water?" + +"She is coming by land, with John Bradley and his daughter." + +"How's that?" + +"Madame Charlton's school had to be closed, and Agnes Bradley was one of +the scholars. Her father has gone to Boston to bring her hame, and +Maria being her friend and schoolmate, Bradley promised Alexander to +see her safe in our home and care. Doubtless, he is well able to keep +his word. If the Governor and the Commander-in-Chief can do ought to +mak' travel safe, John Bradley will hae their assistance; but I'm vexed +to be put under an obligation to him. I would rather have sent Neil, or +even gane mysel'." + +"What ails you at John Bradley? He wears the red ribbon on his breast, +and it blaws o'er his shop door, and he is thick as thack with a' the +dignities--civil and military." + +"I don't like him, and I don't like his daughter being friends with my +granddaughter." + +"He serves our turn now, and once is nae custom." + +"Let alone the fact that girls' friendships are naething but fine words +and sugar candy. I shall put a stop to this one at the very outset." + +"You'll do what, gudeman?" + +"Put my commands on Maria. I shall tell her that beyond yea and nay, and +a fine day, or the like o' that, she is to have no intercourse wi' John +Bradley's daughter." + +"You'll have revolution inside the house, as weel as outside. Let the +girls alane. Some young men will come between them and do your business +for you. You have managed your lads pretty well--wi' my help--but two +schoolgirls in love wi' one anither! they will be aboon your thumb--ane +o' them may keep you busy." + +"I shall lay my commands on Maria." + +"And if Maria tak's after the Gordons, she'll be far mair ready to give +commands than to tak' them. Let be till she gets here. When did she +leave Boston?" + +"Mair than a week ago, but Sunday intromits, and Bradley, being what +they call a local preacher would hae to exploit his new sermon and hold +a class meeting or a love feast; forbye, he wouldna neglect ony bit o' +business that came his way on the road. I shouldn't wonder if they were +at Stamford last Sunday, and if so, they would be maist likely at East +Chester to-night. They might be here to-morrow. I'll ask Neil to ride as +far as the Halfway House; he will either find, or hear tell o' them +there." + +"What for should Neil tak' that trouble? You ken, as weel as I do, that +if Bradley promised Maria's father to deliver her into your hand, at +your ain house, he would do no other way. Say you were from hame, he +would just keep the lassie till he could keep his promise. He is a very +Pharisee anent such sma' matters. If you have finished your tea, +gudeman, I will get the dishes put by." + +They both rose at these words, Madame pulled a bell rope made of a band +of embroidery, and a girl brought her a basin of hot water and two clean +towels. Semple lit his long, clay pipe and went into the garden to see +how the early peas were coming on, and to meditate on the events the day +had brought to him. Madame also had her meditations, as she carefully +washed the beautiful Derby china, and the two or three Apostle +teaspoons, and put them away in the glass cupboard that was raised in +one corner of the room. Her thoughts were complex, woven of love and +hope and fear and regret. The advent of her granddaughter was not an +unmixed delight; she was past sixty, not in perfect health, and she +feared the care and guiding of a girl of scarce seventeen years old. + +"Just the maist unreasonable time of any woman's life," she sighed. "At +that age, they are sure they know a' things, and can judge a' things; +and to doubt it is rank tyranny, and they are in a blaze at a word, for +they have every feeling at fever heat. A body might as well try to +reason wi' a baby or a bull, for they'll either cry or rage, till you +give in to them. However, Maria has a deal o' Gordon in her, and they +are sensible bodies--in the main. I'll even do as the auld song advises: + + "Bide me yet, and bide me yet, + For I know not what will betide me yet." + +When the room was in order, she threw a shawl round her and went to her +husband. "I hae come to bring you inside, Elder," she said, "the night +air is chilly and damp yet, and you arena growing younger." + +"I walked down as far as the river bank, Janet," he answered, "and I see +the boat is rocking at her pier. Neil should look after her." + +"Neil is looking after another kind of a boat at present. I hope he will +have as much sense as the rats, and leave a sinking ship in good time to +save himsel'." + +"Janet, you should be feared to say such like words! They are fairly +wicked--and they gie me a sair heart." + +"Oh, forgive me, Alexander! My thoughts will fly to my lips. I forget! I +forget! I hae a sair heart, too"--and they went silently into the house +with this shadow between them until Janet said: + +"Let me help you off wi' your coat, dearie. Your soft, warm wrap is here +waiting for you," and against her gentle words and touch he had no +armor. His offense melted away, he let her help him to remove his heavy +satin-lined coat, with its long stiffened skirts, and fold round his +spare form the damasse wrap with its warm lining of flannel. Then, with +a sigh of relief he sat down, loosened his neckband, handed Madame his +laces, and called for a fresh pipe. + +In the meantime Madame hung the coat carefully over a chair, and in +flecking off a little dust from its richly trimmed lapel, she tossed +aside with an unconscious contempt, the bit of scarlet ribbon at the +buttonhole. "You are requiring a new ribbon, Alexander," she said. "If +you must wear your colors on your auld breast, I would, at least, hae +them fresh." + +He either ignored, or did not choose to notice the spirit of her words; +he took them at their face value, and answered: "You are right, Janet. +I'll buy a half yard in the morning. I tell you, that one bit o' rusty, +draggled red ribbon gave me a heart-ache this afternoon." + +Madame did not make the expected inquiry, and after a glance into her +face he continued: "It was at the Van Heemskirk's house. I was talking +to Joanna, and I saw it o'er the door, and remembered the night my +friend Joris nailed up the blue ribbon which Batavius has taken down. I +could see him standing there, with his large face smiling and shining, +and his great arms reaching upward, and I could hear the stroke o' the +hammer that seemed to keep time to his words: '_Alexander myn jougen!_' +he said, 'for Freedom the color is always blue. Over my house door let +it blow; yes, then, over my grave also, if God's will it be.' And I +answered him, 'you are a fool, Joris, and you know not what you are +saying or doing, and God help you when you do come to your senses.' Then +he turned round with the hammer in his hand and looked at me--I shall +never forget that look--and said 'a little piece of blue ribbon, +Alexander, but for a man's life and liberty it stands, for dead already +is that man who is not free.' Then he took me into the garden, and as we +walked he could talk of naething else, 'men do not need in their coffins +to lie stark,' he said, 'they may without that, be dead; walking about +this city are many dead men.'" + +"Joris Van Heemskirk is a good man. Wherever he is, I ken well, he is +God's man," said Janet, "doing his duty simply and cheerfully." + +"As he sees duty, Janet; I am sure o' that. And as he talked he kept +touching the ribbon in his waistcoat, as if it was a sacred thing, and +when I said something o' the kind, he answered me out o' the Holy Book, +and bid me notice God himself had chosen blue and told Israel to wear it +on the fringes o' their garments as a reminder o' their deliverance by +Him. Then I couldna help speaking o' the Scotch Covenanters wearing the +blue ribbon, and he followed wi' the Dutch Protestors, and I was able +to cap the noble army wi' the English Puritans fighting under Cromwell +for civil and religious liberty." + +"And gudeman!" cried Janet, all in a tremble of enthusiasm, "General +Washington is at this very time wearing a broad blue ribbon across his +breast;" and there was such a light in her eyes, and such pride in her +voice, the Elder could not say the words that were on his tongue; he +magnanimously passed by her remark and returned to his friend, Joris Van +Heemskirk. "Blue or red," he continued, "we had a wonderfu' hour, and +when we came to part that night we had no need to take each other's +hands; we had been walking hand-in-hand together like twa laddies, and +we did not know it." + +"You'll have many a happy day with your friend yet, gudeman; Joris Van +Heemskirk will come hame again." + +"He will hae a sair heart when he sees his hame, specially his garden." + +"He will hae something in his heart to salve all losses and all wrongs; +but I wonder Joanna doesna take better care o' her father's place." + +"She canna work miracles. I thought when I got her there as tenant o' +the King, she would keep a' things as they were left; but Batavius has +six or eight soldiers boarding there--low fellows, non-commissioned +officers and the like o' them--and the beautiful house is naething but +barricks in their sight; and as for the garden, what do they care for +boxwood and roses? They dinna see a thing beyond their victuals, and +liquor, and the cards and dominoes in their hands. Joanna has mair than +she can manage." + +"Didn't Batavius sell his house on the East river?" + +"Of course he did--to the Government--made a good thing of it; then he +got into his father-in-law's house as a tenant of the Government. I +don't think he ever intends to move out of it. When the war is over he +will buy it for a trifle, as confiscated property." + +"He'll do naething o' the kind! He'll never, never, never buy it. You +may tak' my solemn word for that, Alexander Semple." + +"How do you ken so much, Janet?" + +"The things we ken best, are the things we were never told. I will not +die till I have seen Joris Van Heemskirk smoking his pipe with you on +his ain hearth, and in his ain summer-house. He can paint some new +mottoes o'er it then." + +She was on the verge of crying, but she spoke with an irresistible +faith, and in spite of his stubborn loyalty to King George, Semple could +not put away the conviction that his wife's words were true. They had +all the force of an intuition. He felt that the conversation could not +be continued with Joris Van Heemskirk as its subject, and he said, "I +wonder what is keeping Neil? He told me he would be hame early +to-night." + +"Then you saw him to-day?" + +"He was in the King's Arms, when I went there to read my letter--he and +Governor Robertson--and I had a few words wi' the Governor anent Dr. +Rogers and the reopening of our kirk." + +"You did well and right to speak to them. It is a sin and a shame in a +Christian country to be kept out o' Sabbath ordinances." + +"He told me we had the Church o' England to go to." + +"Aye; and we hae the King o' England to serve." + +"Here comes Neil, and I am glad o' it. Somehow, he makes things mair +bearable." + +The young man entered with a grave cheerfulness; he bowed to his father, +kissed his mother, and then drew a chair to the cold hearth. In a few +minutes he rang the bell, and when it was answered, bid the negro bring +hot coals and kindle the fire. + +"Neil, my dear lad," said the Elder, "are you remembering that wood is +nearly ungetable--ten pounds or mair a cord? I hae but little left. I'm +feared it won't see the war out." + +"If wood is getable at any price, I am not willing to see mother and you +shivering. Burn your wood as you need it, and trust for the future." + +"I hae told your father the same thing often, Neil; careful, of course, +we must be, but sparing is not caring. There was once a wife who always +took what she wanted, and she always had enough." The fire blazed +merrily, and Neil smiled, and the Elder stretched out his thin legs to +the heat, and the whole feeling of the room was changed. Then Madame +said: + +"Neil, your brother Alexander has gane to Scotland." + +"I expected him to take that step." + +"And he is sending little Maria to us, until he gets a home for her." + +"I should not think she will be much in the way, mother. She is only a +child." + +"She is nearly seventeen years old. She won't be much in my way; it is +you that will hae to take her out--to military balls and the like." + +"Nonsense! I can't have a child trailing after me in such places." + +"Vera likely you will trail after her. You will be better doing that +than after some o' the ladies o' Clinton's court." + +"I can tell you, Neil," said Neil's father, "that it is a vera pleasant +sensation, to hae a bonnie lassie on your arm wha is, in a manner, your +ain. I ken naething in the world that gives a man such a superior +feeling." + +Neil looked at the speaker with a curious admiration. He could not help +envying the old man who had yet an enthusiasm about lovely women. + +"I fancy, sir," he answered, "that the women of your youth were a +superior creation to those of the present day. I cannot imagine myself +with any woman whose society would give me that sensation." + +"Women are always the same, Neil--yesterday, to-day, and forever. What +they are now, they were in Abraham's time, and they will be when time +shall be nae langer. Is not that so, mother?" + +"Maybe; but you'll tak' notice, they hae suited a' kinds o' men, in a' +countries and in a' ages. I dare say our little Maria will hae her +lovers as well as the lave o' them, and her uncle Neil will be to keep +an eye on them. But I'm weary and sleepy, and if you men are going to +talk the fire out I'll awa' to my room and my bed." + +"I have something to say to father," answered Neil, "about the +Government, and so----" + +"Oh, the Government!" cried Madame, as she stood with her lighted candle +in her hand at the open door; "dinna call it a government, Neil; call it +a blunderment, or a plunderment, if you like, but the other name is out +o' all befitting." + +"Mother, wait a moment," said Neil. "You were saying that Maria would +want to be taken to dances; I got an invitation to-day. What do you say +to this for an introduction?" As he spoke he took out of his pocket a +gilt-edged note tied with transverse bands of gold braid and narrow red +ribbon. Madame watched him impatiently as he carefully and deliberately +untied the bows, and his air of reverential regard put her in a little +temper. + +"Cut the strings and be done wi' it, Neil," she said crossly. "There is +nae invite in the world worth such a to-do as you are making. And dinna +forget, my lad, that you once nearly threw your life awa' for a bit o' +orange ribbon! Maybe the red is just as dangerous." + +Then Neil took the red ribbon between his finger and thumb, and dropping +it into the fire looked at his mother with the denial in his face. "It +is from Mrs. Percival," he said; and she nodded her understanding, but +could not help giving him a last word ere she closed the door: + +"If you hae a fancy for ribbons, Neil, tak' my advice, and get a blue +one; a' the good men in the country are wearing blue." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FAIR AND THE BRAVE. + + +At breakfast next morning the conversation turned naturally upon the +arrival of Maria Semple. The Elder showed far the most enthusiasm +concerning it. He wondered, and calculated, and supposed, till he felt +he had become tiresome and exhausted sympathy, and then he subsided into +that painful attitude of disappointment and resignation, which is, alas, +too often the experience of the aged? His companions were not in +sympathy with him. Madame was telling herself she must not expect too +much. Once she had set her heart upon a beautiful girl who was to become +Neil's wife, and her love had been torn up by the roots: "maist women +carry a cup of sorrow for some one to drink," she thought, "and I'm +feared for them." As for Neil, he felt sure the girl was going to be a +tie and a bore, and he considered his brother exceedingly selfish in +throwing the care of his daughter upon his aged parents. + +It was not a pleasant meal, but in good hearts depression and doubt find +no abiding place. When Neil had gone to his affairs, the Elder looked at +his wife, and she gave him his pipe with a smile, and talked to him +about Maria as she put away her china. And she had hardly turned the key +of the glass closet, when the knocker of the front door fell twice--two +strokes, clear, separate, distinct. The Elder rose quickly and with much +excitement. "That is Bradley's knock," he said; "I never heard it +before, but it is just the way he would call any one." + +He was going out of the room as he spoke, and Madame joined him. When +they entered the hall the front door was open, and a short, stout man +was standing on the threshold, holding a young girl by the hand. He +delivered her to the Elder very much as he would have delivered a +valuable package intrusted to his care, and then, as they stood a few +moments in conversation, Maria darted forward, and with a little cry of +joy nestled her head on her grandmother's breast. The confiding love of +the action was irresistible. "You darling!" whispered the old lady with +a kiss; "let me look at you!" And she put her at arm's length, and gazed +at the pretty, dark face with its fine color, and fine eyes, charmingly +set off by the scarlet hood of her traveling cloak. + +"What do you think o' your granddaughter, Elder?" she asked, when he +joined them, and her voice was trembling with love and pride. + +"I think she is yoursel' o'er again; the vera same bonnie Janet Gordon I +woo'd and loved in Strathallen nearly fifty years syne. Come and gie me +twenty kisses, bairnie. You are a vera cordial o' gladness to our +hearts." + +Madame had swithered in her own mind before the arrival of Maria about +the room she was to occupy--the little one in the wing, furnished in +rush and checked blue and white linen; or the fine guest room over the +best parlor. A few moments with her grandchild had decided her. "She +shall hae the best we have," she concluded. "What for would I gie it to +my cousin Gordon's wife, and lock my ain flesh and blood out o' it?" So +she took Maria to her best guest chamber, and when the girl stood in the +center of it and looked round with an exclamation of delight, she was +well rewarded. + +"This is the finest room I ever saw," said Maria. "I love splendid +rooms, and mahogany makes any place handsome. And the looking glasses! O +grandmother, I can see myself from top to toe!" and she flung aside her +cloak, and surveyed her little figure in its brown camblet dress and +long white stomacher, with great satisfaction. + +"And where are your clothes, Maria?" asked Madame. + +"I brought a small trunk with me, and Mr. Bradley will send it here this +morning; the rest of my trunks were sent with Captain De Vries. I dare +say they will be here soon." + +"They are here already, De Vries arrived yesterday, but the rest o' your +trunks, how many more have you, lassie?" + +"Three large, and one little one. Father told me I was to get +everything I wanted, and I wanted so many things. I got them all, +grandmother--beautiful dresses, and mantillas, and pelerines; and dozens +of pretty underwear. I have had four women sewing for me ever since last +Christmas." + +"But the expense o' it, Maria!" + +"Mrs. Charlton said I had simply received the proper outfit for a young +lady entering society." + +"But whatever did your father say?" + +"He whistled very softly. There are many ways of whistling, grandmother, +and my father's whistle was his form of saying he was astonished." + +"I hae no doubt he was astonished." + +"I had to have summer and winter dresses, and ball dresses, and home +dresses, and street dresses; and all the little things which Mrs. +Charlton says are the great things. Father is very generous to me, and +he has ordered Lambert and Co. to send me thirty pounds every month. He +told me that food and wood and every necessity of life was very dear in +New York, and that if I was a good girl I would do my full share in +bearing the burden of life." + +This was her pretty way of making it understood that she was to pay +liberally for her board, and then, with a kiss, she added, "let us go +downstairs. I want to see all the house, grandmother. It is like home, +and I have had so little home. All my life nearly has been spent at +school. Now I am come home." + +They went down hand in hand, and found the Elder walking about in an +excited manner. "I think I shall bide awa' from business to-day," he +said; "I dinna feel like it. It isna every day a man gets a +granddaughter." + +_"Tuts!_ Nonsense, Alexander! Go your ways to the store, then you can +talk to your acquaintance o' your good fortune. Maria and I will hae +boxes to unpack, and clothes to put away; and you might as weel call at +De Vries, and tell him to get Miss Semple's trunks here without +sauntering about them. Batavius is a slow creature. And Neil must hae +the news also, so just be going as quick as you can, Alexander." + +He was disappointed; he had hoped that Maria would beg him to stay at +home, but he put on his long coat with affected cheerfulness, and with +many little delays finally took the road. Then the two women went +through the house together, and by that time Bradley had sent the small +trunk, and they unpacked it, and talked about the goods, and about a +variety of subjects that sprang naturally from the occupation. + +All at once Madame remembered to ask Maria where she had spent the +previous night, and the girl answered, "I slept at the Bradley's. It was +quite twilight when we reached their house, and Mr. Bradley said this +road was beset by thieves and bad people after dark, and he also thought +you retired early and would not care to be disturbed." + +"Vera considerate o' Mr. Bradley, I am sure; perhaps mair so than +necessary. Maria, my dear, I hope you are not very friendly wi' his +daughter." + +"Not friendly with Agnes Bradley! Why, grandmother, I could not be happy +without her! She has been my good angel for three years. When she came +to Mrs. Charlton's I had no friends, for I had such a bad temper the +girls called me 'Spitfire' and 'Vixen' and such names, and I was proud +of it. Agnes has made me gentle and wishful to do right. Agnes is as +nearly an angel as a woman can be." + +"Fair nonsense, Maria! And I never was fond o' angelic women, they dinna +belong to this world; and your grandfather dislikes John Bradley, he +will not allow any friendship between you and Agnes Bradley. That is +sure and certain." + +"What has Mr. Bradley done wrong to grandfather?" + +"Naething; naething at all! He just does not like him." + +"I shall have to explain things to grandfather. He ought not to take +dislikes to people without reason." + +"There's no one can explain things to your grandfather that he does not +want to understand. I know naething o' John Bradley, except that he is a +Methodist, and that kind o' people are held in scorn." + +"I think we can use up all our scorn on the Whigs, grandmother, and let +the Methodists alone. Mr. Bradley is a Tory, and trusted and employed by +the Government, and I am sure he preached a beautiful sermon last Sunday +at Stamford." + +"Your grandfather said he would preach at Stamford." + +"He preached on the green outside the town. There were hundreds to +listen to him. Agnes led the singing." + +"Maria Semple! You don't mean to tell me you were at a field preaching!" + +"It was a good preaching and----" + +"The man is a saddle-maker! I hae seen him working, day in and day out, +in his leather apron." + +"St. Paul was a tent-maker; he made a boast of it, and as he was a +sensible man, I have no doubt he wore an apron. He would not want to +spoil his toga." + +_"Hush! Hush!_ You must not speak o' Saint Paul in that tempered and +common way. The Apostles belong to the Kirk. Your father was brought up +a good Presbyterian." + +"Dear grandmother, I am the strictest kind of Presbyterian. I really +went to hear Agnes. If you had seen her standing by her father's side on +that green hill and heard her sing: + + 'Israel, what hast thou to dread? + Safe from all impending harms, + Round thee, and beneath thee, spread, + Are the everlasting arms.' + +you would have caught up the song as hundreds did do, till it spread to +the horizon, and rose to the sky, and was singing and praying both. +People were crying with joy, and they did not know it." + +"I would call her a dangerous kind o' girl. Has she any brothers or +sisters?" + +"Her brother went to an English school at the beginning of the war. He +was to finish his education at Oxford. Annie Gardiner--one of the +schoolgirls--told me so. He was her sweetheart. She has no sisters." + +"Sweetheart?" + +"Just boy and girl sweethearting. Agnes seldom spoke of him; sometimes +she got letters from him." + +"Has Agnes a sweetheart?" + +"There was a young gentleman dressed like a sailor that called on her +now and then. We thought he might be an American privateer." + +"Then Agnes Bradley is for the Americans! Well, a good girl, like her, +would be sure to take the right side. Nae doubt the hymn she sung +referred to the American army." + +"I am sure people thought so; indeed, I fear Agnes is a little bit of a +rebel, but she has to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself." + +"Plenty o' folks hae to do the same; thought may be free here, but +speech is bond slave to His Majesty George o' Hanover, or England, or +Brunswick, or what you like." + +"Or America!" + +"Nae, nae! You may make that last statement wi' great reservation, +Maria. But we must make no statements that will vex your grandfather, +for he is an auld man, and set in his ways, and he does not believe in +being contradicted." + +And at this moment they heard the Elder's voice and step. He came in so +happily, and with such transparent excuses for his return home, that the +women could not resist his humor. They pretended to be delighted; they +said, "how nice it was that he had happened to arrive just as dinner was +ready to serve;" they even helped him to reasons that made his return +opportune and fortunate. And Batavius arriving with the trunks +immediately after the meal, Madame made unblushing statements about her +dislike of the man, and her satisfaction in the Elder being at hand to +prevent overcharges, and see to the boxes being properly taken upstairs. + +Then Maria begged him to remain and look at her pretty things, and that +was exactly what he wished to do; and so, what with exhibiting them, and +trying some of them on, and sorting, and putting them into drawers and +wardrobes, the afternoon slipped quickly away. The Elder had his pipe +brought upstairs, and he sat down and smoked it on the fine sofa Mrs. +Gordon had covered with her own needlework when she occupied the room; +and no one checked him or made discouraging demurs. He had his full +share of the happy hours; and he told himself so as the ladies were +dressing; and he sat waiting for Neil, alone with his pleasant thoughts +and anticipations. + +"Auld age has its compensations," he reflected. "They wouldna hae let +Neil sit and smoke amid their fallals; and it was the bonniest sight to +watch them, to listen to their _Ohs!_ and _Ahs!_ and their selfish bits +o' prattle, anent having what no ither woman was able, or likely to +have. Women are queer creatures, but, Oh, dear me, what a weary world it +would be without them!" + +And when Maria came down stairs in a scarlet gown over a white silk +petticoat, a string of gold beads round her neck, and her hair dressed +high and fastened with a gold comb, he was charmed afresh. He rose with +the gallantry of a young man, to get her a chair, but she made him sit +down and brought a stool to his side, and nestled so close to him that +he put his arm across her pretty shoulders. And it added greatly to his +satisfaction that Neil came suddenly in, and discovered them in this +affectionate attitude. + +"One o' the compensations o' auld age," he said in happy explanation. +"Here is your niece, Maria Semple, Neil; and proud you may be o' +her!"--and Maria rose, and made her uncle a sweeping courtesy, and then +offered him her hand and her cheek. The young man gave her a warm +welcome, and yet at the same moment wondered what changes the little +lady would bring to the house. For he had sense and experience enough to +know that a girl so attractive would irresistibly draw events to her. + +In two or three days the excitement of her advent was of necessity put +under restraint. Age loves moderation in all things, and Maria began to +feel the still, stately house less interesting than the schoolroom. +Whigs and Tories, however unequally, divided that ground, and the two +parties made that quarrel the outlet for all their more feminine +dislikes. Her last weeks at school had also been weeks full of girlish +triumphs; for she was not only receiving a new wardrobe of an elaborate +kind, but she was permitted to choose it; to have interviews with +mantua-makers and all kinds of tradespeople; and above all, she was +going to New York. And New York at that time was invested with all the +romance of a mediaeval city. It was the center around which the chief +events of the war revolved. Within her splendid mansions the officers of +King George feasted, and danced, and planned warlike excursions; and in +her harbor great fleets were anchored whose mission was to subjugate the +whole Southern seaboard. This of itself was an interesting situation, +but how much more so, when Whig and Tory alike knew, that just over the +western shore every hilltop, and every lofty tree held an American +sentinel, while Washington himself, amid the fastnesses of New Jersey, +watched with unerring sagacity and untiring patience the slightest +military movement on Manhattan Island. + +Thus, the possibilities and probabilities of her expected change of life +had made her the envy of romantic girls; for all of them, no matter what +their political faith, had their own conception of the great things +which might be achieved in a city full of military and naval officers. +It was the subject on which conversation was always interesting, and +often provocative; thus, in the very last talk she had with her +schoolmates, one little Tory maid said: + +"O, the dear officers! How delightful it will be to dance with brave men +so magnificently dressed in scarlet and gold! How I wish that I was you, +Maria!" + +"O, the hateful creatures!" ejaculated another girl of different +opinions. "I would not dance a step with one of them; but if I did, I +should be saying to myself all the time: very soon my fine fellow, some +brave man in homespun blue will kill you." + +"If I was Maria," said another, "and had a British officer for my +servant, I would coax him to tell me what General Clinton was going to +do; and then I would send word to General Washington." + +"O, you mean girl!" answered Maria, "would you be a spy?" + +"Yes, I would." + +"And so would I!" + +"And I!" + +"And I!" + +"And I!" And then an equal chorus of "What a shame! Just like Whigs!" + +Maria missed these encounters. She saw that her grandmother usually +deprecated political conversation, and that her uncle and grandfather +did not include her in the discussion of any public event. On the +fourth day she began to feel herself of less importance than she +approved; and then there followed naturally the demoralizing luxury of +self-pity: + +"Because I am a girl, and a very young girl, no one appears to think I +have common sense. I am as loyal to the King as any one. I wish +grandmother would speak out. I believe she is a Whig. Uncle Neil said he +would take me to some entertainments; he has not done so. I am not +tired--that is just an excuse--I want to go out and I want to see Agnes. +I will not give up Agnes--no one, no one shall make me--she is part of +my heart! No, I will not give up Agnes; her father may be a saddler--and +a Methodist--I am above noticing such things. I will love who I +like--about my friends I will not yield an inch--I will not!" + +She was busy tatting to this quite unnecessary tirade of protestations +and her grandmother noticed the passionate jerk of the shuttle +emphasizing her thoughts. "What is vexing you, dearie?" she asked. + +"Oh, I am wretched about Agnes," she answered. "I am afraid grandfather +has been rude in some way." + +"You needna be afraid on that ground, Maria; your grandfather is never +rude where women are concerned." + +"But he is unkind. If he was not, there could be no objections to my +calling on Agnes." + +"Is it not her place to call on you? She is at home--born and bred in +New York--you are a stranger here. She is older than you are; she seems +to have assumed some kind of care or oversight----." + +"She has been my guardian angel." + +"Then I think she ought to be looking after a desolate bairn like you; +one would think you had neither kith nor kin near you, Maria." Madame +spoke with an air of offense or injury, and as the words were uttered, +the door was softly moved inward, and Agnes Bradley entered. + +She courtesied to Madame, and then stretched out her hands to Maria. The +girl rose with a cry of joy, and all her discontent was gone in a +moment. Madame could not forget so easily; in fact, her sense of +unkindness was intensified by the unlooked-for entrance of its cause. +But there was no escaping the influence of Agnes. She brought the very +atmosphere of peace into the room with her. In ten minutes she was +sitting between Madame and Maria, and both appeared to be alike happy in +her society. She did not speak of the war, or the soldiers, or the +frightful price of food and fuel, or the wicked extravagance of the Tory +ladies in dress and entertainments, or even of the unendurable impudence +of the negro slaves. She talked of Maria, and of the studies she ought +to continue, and of Madame's flowers and needlework, and a sweet feeling +of rest from all the fretful life around was insensibly diffused. In a +short time Madame felt herself to be under the same spell as her +granddaughter, and she looked at the charmer with curious interest; she +wondered what kind of personality this daughter of tranquility +possessed. + +A short scrutiny showed her a girl about nineteen years old, tall, but +not very slender, with a great deal of pale brown hair above a broad +forehead; with eyebrows thick and finely arched, and eyelids so +transparent from constant contact with the soul that they seemed to have +already become spiritual. Her eyes were dark grey, star-like, mystical, +revealing--when they slowly dilated--one hardly knew what of the unseen +and heavenly. Her face was oval and well shaped, but a little heavy +except when the warm pallor of its complexion was suddenly transfigured +from within; then showing a faint rose color quickly passing away. Her +movements were all slow, but not ungraceful, and her soft voice had +almost a caress in it. Yet it was not these things, one, or all of them, +that made her so charmful; it was the invisible beauty in the visible, +that delighted. + +Without question here was a woman who valued everything at its eternal +worth; who in the midst of war, sheltered life in the peace of God; and +in the presence of sorrow was glad with the gladness of the angels. An +hour with Agnes Bradley made Madame think more highly of her +granddaughter; for surely it was a kind of virtue in Maria to love the +goodness she herself could not attain unto. + +Nearly two hours passed quickly away. They walked in the garden and +talked of seeds, and of the green things springing from them; and down +at the lily bed by the river, Madame had a sudden memory of a young +girl, who had one Spring afternoon gone down there to meet her fate; and +she said to Agnes--with a note of resentment still in her voice: + +"A lassie I once loved dearly, came here to gather lilies, and to listen +to a lover she had nae business to listen to. She would sit doubtless on +the vera step you are now sitting on, Maria; and she made sorrow and +suffering enough for more than one good heart; forbye putting auld +friends asunder, and breeding anger where there had always been love. I +hope you'll never do the like, either o' you." + +"Who was she, grandmother?" + +"Her name was Katherine Van Heemskirk. You'll hae heard tell o' her, +Miss Bradley?" + +"I saw her several times when she was here four years ago. She is very +beautiful." + +Madame did not answer, and Maria stepped lower and gathered a few lilies +that were yet in bloom, though the time of lilies was nearly over. But +Agnes turned away with Madame, and both of them were silent; Madame +because she could not trust herself to begin speech on this subject, and +Agnes because she divined, that for some reason, silence was in this +case better than the fittest words that could be spoken. + +After a short pause, Agnes said, "My home is but a quarter of a mile +from here, and it is already orderly and pleasant. Will you, Madame, +kindly permit Maria to come often to see me! I will help her with her +studies, and she might take the little boat at the end of your garden, +and row herself along the water edge until she touches the pier in our +garden." + +"She had better walk." + +In this way the permission was granted without reserves or conditions. +Madame had not thought of making any, and as soon as she realized her +implied approval, she was resolved to stand by it. "The lassie requires +young people to consort wi'," she thought, "and better a young lass than +a young lad; and if her grandfather says contrary, I must make him +wiser." + +With this concession the visit ended, but the girls went out of the +parlor together, and stood talking for some time in the entrance hall. +The parting moment, however, had to come, and Maria lifted her lips to +her friend, and they were kissing each other good-bye, when Neil Semple +and a young officer in the uniform of the Eighty-fourth Royal +Highlanders opened the door. The picture of the two girls in their +loving embrace was a momentary one, but it was flooded with the colored +sunshine pouring on them from the long window of stained glass, and the +men saw and acknowledged its beauty, with an involuntary exclamation of +delight. Maria sheltered herself in a peal of laughter, and over the +face of Agnes there came and went a quick transfiguring flush; but she +instantly regained her mental poise, and with the composure of a goddess +was walking toward the door, when Neil advanced, and assuming the duty +of a host, walked with her down the flagged path to the garden gate. +Maria and the young soldier stood in the doorway watching them; and +Madame at the parlor window did the same thing, with an indescribable +amazement on her face. + +"It isna believable!" she exclaimed. "Neil Semple, the vera proudest o' +mortals walking wi' auld Bradley's daughter! his hat in his hand too! +and bowing to her! bowing to his vera knee buckles! After this, the +Stuarts may come hame again, or any other impossible thing happen. The +world is turning tapsalterie, and I wonder whether I am Janet Sample, or +some ither body." + +But the world was all right in a few minutes; for then Neil entered the +room with Maria and Captain Macpherson, and the mere sight of the young +Highlandman brought oblivion of all annoyances. Madame's heart flew to +her head whenever she saw the kilt and the plaid; she hastened to greet +its wearer; she took his plumed bonnet from his hand, and said it was +"just out o' calculation that he should go without breaking bread with +them." + +Captain Macpherson had no desire to go. He had seen and spoken with +Maria, and she was worth staying for; besides which, a Scot in a strange +land feels at home in a countryman's house. Macpherson quickly made +himself so. He went with Neil to his room, and anon to the garden, and +finally loosed the boat and rowed up the river, resting on the oars at +the Bradley place, hoping for a glance at Agnes. But nothing was to be +seen save the white house among the green trees, and the white shades +gently stirring in the wind. The place was as still as a resting wheel, +and the stillness infected the rowers; yet when Macpherson was in +Semple's garden, the merry ring of his boyish laughter reached Madame +and Maria in the house, and set their hearts beating with pleasure as +they arranged the tea-table, and brought out little dishes of hoarded +luxuries. And though Madame's chickens were worth three dollars each, +she unhesitatingly sacrificed one to a national hero. + +When the Elder came home he was equally pleased. He loved young people, +and the boyish captain with his restless, brimming life, was an element +that the whole house responded to. His heart had a little quake at the +abundance of the meal, but it was only a momentary reserve, and he +smiled as his eyes fell on the motto carved around the wooden +bread-plate--_"Spare Not! Waste Not! Want Not!"_ + +Madame looked very happy and handsome sitting before her tray of pretty +china, and the blended aromas of fine tea and hot bread, of broiled +chicken, and Indian preserves and pickles were made still more +appetizing by the soft wind blowing through the open window, the perfume +of the lilacs and the southernwood. Madame had kept the place at her +right hand for Macpherson; and Maria sat next to him with her +grandfather on her right hand, so that Neil was at his mother's left +hand. Between the two young men the old lady was radiantly happy; for +Macpherson was such a guest as it is a delight to honor. He ate of all +Madame had prepared for him, thoroughly enjoyed it, and frankly said so. +And his chatter about the social entertainments given by Generals +Clinton and Tryon, Robertson and Ludlow was very pleasant to the ladies. +Neil never had anything to say about these affairs, except that they +were "all alike, and all stupid, and all wickedly extravagant;" and such +criticism was too general to be interesting. + +Very different was Macpherson's description of the last ball at General +Tryon's; he could tell all its details--the reception of the company +with kettle drums and trumpets--the splendid furniture of his +residence, its tapestries, carpets, and silk hangings--the music, the +dancing, the feasting--the fine dressing of both men and women--all +these things he described with delightful enthusiasm and a little +pleasant mimicry. And when Madame asked after her acquaintances, +Macpherson could tell her what poplins and lutestrings, and lace and +jewels they wore. Moreover, he knew what grand dames crowded William +Street in the mornings and afternoons, and what merchants had the +largest display of the fashions and luxuries of Europe. + +"John Ambler," he said, "is now showing a most extraordinary cargo of +English silks and laces, and fine broadcloths, taken by one of Dirk +Vandercliff's privateers. Really, Madame, the goods are worth looking +at. I assure you our beauties lack nothing that Europe can produce." + +"Yes, there is one thing the privateers canna furnish you, and that is +fuel. You shivered all last winter in your splendid rooms," said the +Elder. + +"True," replied Macpherson. "The cold was frightful, and though General +Clinton issued one proclamation after another to the farmers of Long +Island to send in their wood, they did not do it." + +"Why should they?" asked Madame. + +"On the King's service, Madame," answered the young man with a final +air. + +"Vera good," retorted Madame; "but if the King wanted my forest trees +for naething, I should say, 'your Majesty has plenty o' soldiers wi' +little to do; let them go and cut what they want.' They wouldna waste it +if they had it to cut. But the wastrie in everything is simply sinful, +and I canna think where the Blacks and Vanderlanes, and all the other +'Vans' you name--and whom I never heard tell of in our kirk--get the +money." + +"Privateering!" said Macpherson with a gay laugh. "Who would not be a +roving privateer? I have myself longings for the life. I have thoughts +of joining Vandercliff's fleet." + +"You are just leeing, young man," interrupted Madame. "It would be a +thing impossible. The Macphersons have nae salt water in their blood. +Could you fling awa' your tartans for a sailor's tarry coat and +breeches? How would you look if you did? And you would feel worse than +you looked." + +Macpherson glanced at his garb with a smile of satisfaction. "I am a +Macpherson," he answered, proudly, "and I would not change the colors of +my regiment for a royal mantle; but privateering is no small temptation. +On the deck of a privateer you may pick up gold and silver." + +"That is not very far from the truth," said Neil. "In the first year of +the war the rebel privateers took two hundred and fifty West Indiamen, +valued at nearly two millions of pounds, and Mr. Morris complained that +the Eastern states cared for nothing but privateering." + +"Weel, Morris caught the fever himself," said the Elder. "I have been +told he made nearly four hundred thousand dollars in the worst year the +rebel army ever had." + +"Do the rebels call that patriotism?" asked Macpherson. + +"Yes," answered the Elder, "from a Whig point of view it is vera +patriotic; what do you think, Neil?" + +"If I was a Whig," answered Neil, "I should certainly own privateers. +Without considering the personal advantage, privateering brings great +riches into the country; it impoverishes the enemy, and it adds +enormously to the popularity of the war. The men who have hitherto gone +to the Arctic seas for whales, find more wealthy and congenial work in +capturing English ships." + +"And when men get money by wholesale high-seas robbery----" + +"Privateering, Madame," corrected Macpherson. + +"Weel, weel, give it any name you like--what I want to say is, that +money got easy goes easy." + +"In that, Madame, you are correct. While we were in Philadelphia that +city was the scene of the maddest luxury. While the rebels were begging +money from France to feed their starving army at Valley Forge, every +kind of luxury and extravagance ran riot in Philadelphia. At one +entertainment there was eight hundred pounds spent in pastry alone." + +"Stop, Macpherson!" cried Madame, "I will not hear tell o' such +wickedness," and she rose with the words, and the gentlemen went into +the parlor to continue their conversation. + +Madame had been pleased with her granddaughter's behavior. She had not +tittered, nor been vulgarly shy or affected, nor had she intruded her +opinions or feelings among those of her elders; and yet her +self-possession, and her expressive face had been full of that charm +which showed her to be an interested and a comprehending listener. Now, +however, Madame wished her to talk, and she was annoyed when she did +not do so. It was only natural that she should express some interest in +the bright young soldier, and her silence concerning him Madame regarded +as assumed indifference. At last she condescended to the leading +question: + +"What do you think o' Captain Macpherson, Maria?" + +"I do not know, grandmother." + +"He is a very handsome lad. It did my heart good to see his bright +face." + +"His face is covered with freckles." + +"Freckles! Why not? He has been brought up in the wind and the sunshine, +and not in a boarding-school, or a lady's parlor." + +"Freckles are not handsome, however, grandmother." + +Madame would not dally with half-admissions, and she retorted sharply: + +"Freckles are the handsomest thing about a man; they are only the human +sunshine tint; the vera same sunshine that colored the roses and ripened +the wheat gave the lad the golden-brown freckles o' rich young life. +Freckles! I consider them an improvement to any one. If you had a few +yoursel' you would be the handsomer for them." + +"Grandmother!" + +"Yes, and your friend likewise. She has scarce a mite o' color o' any +kind; a little o' the human sunshine tint--the red and gold on her +cheeks--and she might be better looking." + +"Better looking! Why, grandmother, Agnes was the beauty of the school." + +"Schoolgirls are poor judges o' beauty. She has a wonderfu' pleasant +way with her, but that isn't beauty." + +"I thought you liked her, I am so sorry and disappointed." + +"She is weel enough--in her way. There are plenty o' girls not as +pleasant; but she is neither Venus, nor Helen o' Troy. I was speaking o' +Captain Macpherson; when he stood in the garden with your uncle Neil, +his hand on his sword and the wind blowing his golden hair----" + +"Grandmother! His hair is red." + +"It is naething o' the kind, Maria. It is a bonnie golden-brown. It may, +perhaps, have a cast o' red, but only enough to give it color. And he +has a kindly handsome face, sweet-eyed and fearless." + +"I did not notice his eyes. He seems fearless, and he is certainly +good-tempered. Have you known him a long time, grandmother?" + +"I never saw him before this afternoon," the old lady answered wearily. +She had become suddenly tired. Maria's want of enthusiasm chilled her. +She could not tell whether the girl was sincere or not. Women generally +have two estimates of the men they meet; one which they acknowledge, one +which they keep to themselves. + +When the gentlemen returned to the sitting-room a young negro was +lighting the fire, and Macpherson looked at him with attention. "A +finely built fellow," he said, when the slave had left the room; "such +men ought to make good fighters." Then turning to Madame he added, +"Captain de Lancey lost four men, and Mr. Bayard five men last week. +They were sent across the river to cut wood and they managed to reach +the rebel camp. We have knowledge that there is a full regiment of them +there now." + +"They are fighting for their personal freedom," said the Elder, "and who +wouldna fight for that? Washington has promised it, if they fight to the +end o' the war." + +"They have a good record already," said Macpherson. + +"I have nae doubt o' it," answered the Elder. "Fighting would come +easier than wood cutting, no to speak o' the question o' freedom. I +heard a sough o' rumor about them and the Hessians; true, or not, I +can't say." + +"It is true. They beat back the Hessians three times in one engagement." + +"I'm glad o' it," said Madame, "slaves are good enough to fight hired +human butchers." + +"O, you know, Madame, the Hessians are mercenaries; they make arms a +profession." He spoke with a languid air of defense; the Hessians were +not of high consideration in his opinion, but Madame answered with +unusual warmth: + +"A profession! Well, it isn't a respectable one in their hands--men +selling themselves to fight they care not whom, or for what cause. If a +man fights for his country he is her soldier and her protector; if he +sells himself to all and sundry, he is worth just what he sells himself +for, and the black slave fighting for his freedom is a gentleman beside +him." Then, before any one could answer her tart disparagement, she +opened a little Indian box, and threw on the table a pack of cards. + +"There's some paper kings for you to play wi'," she said, "and neither +George nor Louis has a title to compare wi' them--kings and knaves! +Ancient tyrants, and like ithers o' their kind, they would trick the +warld awa' at every game but for some brave ace," and the ace of hearts +happening to be in her hand she flung it defiantly down on the top of +the pack; and that with an air of confidence and triumph that was very +remarkable. + +With the help of these royalties and some desultory conversation on the +recent alliance of France with the rebels, the evening passed away. +Madame sat quiet in the glow of the fire, and Maria, as Neil's partner, +enlivened the game with many bewitching airs and graces she had not +known she possessed, until this opportunity called them forth. And +whatever Macpherson gained at cards he lost in another direction; for +the little schoolgirl, he had at first believed himself to be +patronizing, reversed the situation. He became embarrassed by a +realization of her beauty and cleverness; and the sweet old story began +to tell itself in his heart--the story that comes no one knows whence, +and commences no one knows how. In that hour of winning and losing he +first understood how charming Maria Semple was. + +The new feeling troubled him; he wished to be alone with it, and the +ardent pleasure of his arrival had cooled. The Elder and his wife were +tired, and Neil seemed preoccupied and did not exert himself to restore +the tone of the earlier hours; so the young officer felt it best to make +his adieu. Then, the farewell in a measure renewed the joy of meeting; +he was asked to come again, "to come whenever he wanted to come," said +Madame, with a smile of motherly kindness. And when Maria, with a +downward and upward glance laid her little hand in his, that incident +made the moment wonderful, and he felt that not to come again would be a +great misfortune. + +Maria was going to her room soon afterward but Neil detained her. "Can +you sit with me a little while, Maria?" he asked; "or are you also +sleepy?" + +"I am not the least weary, uncle; and I never was wider awake in my +life. I will read to you or copy for you----" + +"Come and talk to me. The fire still burns. It is a pity to leave its +warmth. Sit down here. I have never had a conversation with you. I do +not know my niece yet, and I want to know her." + +Maria was much flattered. Neil's voice had a tone in it that she had +never before heard. He brought her a shawl to throw around her +shoulders, a footstool for her feet, and drawing a small sofa before the +fire, seated himself by her side. Then he talked with her about her +early life; about her father and mother, and Mrs. Charlton, and without +asking one question about Agnes Bradley led her so naturally to the +subject, and so completely round and through it, that he had learned in +an hour all Maria could tell concerning the girl whose presence and +appearance had that day so powerfully attracted him. He was annoyed when +he heard her name, and annoyed at her pronounced Methodism, which was +evidently of that early type, holding it a sin not to glory in the scorn +of those who derided it. Yet he could not help being touched by Maria's +enthusiastic description of the girl's sweet godliness. + +"You know, uncle," she said, "Agnes's religion is not put on; it is part +of Agnes; it is Agnes. Girls find one another out, but all the girls +loved Agnes. We were ashamed to be ill-natured, or tell untruths, or do +mean things when she was there. And if you heard her sing, uncle, you +would feel as if the heavens had opened, and you could see angels." + +Now there is no man living who does not at some time dream of a good +woman--a woman much better than himself--upon his hearthstone. Neil felt +in that hour this divine longing; and he knew also, that the thing had +befallen him which he had vowed never would befall him again. Without +resistance, without the desire to resist, he had let the vision of Agnes +Bradley fill his imagination; he had welcomed it, and he knew that it +would subjugate his heart--that it had already virtually done so. For +Maria's descriptions of the pretty trivialities of their school life was +music and wine to his soul. He was captivated by her innocent +revelations, and the tall girl with her saintly pallor and star-like +eyes was invisibly present to him. He had the visionary sense, the glory +and the dream of love, and he longed to realize this vision. Therefore +he was delighted when he heard that Maria had permission to continue her +studies under the direction of her friend. It was an open door to him. + +It was at this point that Maria made her final admission: "I am obliged +to tell you, uncle, that I am sure Agnes is a Whig." This damaging item +in her idol's character Maria brought out with deprecating apologies +and likelihood of change, "not a bad Whig, uncle; she is so gentle, and +she hates war, and so she feels so sorry for the poor Americans who are +suffering so much, because, you know, they think they are right. Then +her father is a Tory, and she is very fond of her father, and very proud +of him, and she will now be under his influence, and of course do what +he tells her--only--only----" + +"Only what, Maria? You think there is a difficulty; what is it?" + +"Her lover. I am almost certain he is a rebel." + +"Has she a lover? She is very young--you must be mistaken?" He spoke so +sharply Maria hardly knew his voice, and she considered it best to +hesitate a little, so she answered in a dubious manner: + +"I suppose he is her lover. The girls all thought so. He sent her +letters, and he sometimes came to see her; and then she seemed so +happy." + +"A young man?" + +"Yes, a very young man." + +"A soldier?" + +"I think, more likely, he was a sailor. I never asked Agnes. You could +not ask Agnes things, as you did other girls." + +"I understand that." + +"He wore plain clothes, but all of us were sure he was a sailor; and +once we saw Agnes watching some ships as far as she could see them, and +he had called on her that day." + +Neil did not answer her conjecture. He rose and stood silently on the +hearth, his dark eyes directed outward, as if he was calling up the +vision of the sea, and the ships and the girl watching them. For the +first time Maria realized the personal attractiveness of her uncle. "He +is not old," she thought, "and he is handsomer than any one I ever saw. +Why has he not got married before this?" And as she speculated on this +question, Neil let his eyes fall upon the dead fire and in a melancholy +voice said: + +"Maria, my dear, it is very late, I did not remember--you have given me +two pleasant hours. Good-night, child." + +He spoke with restraint, coldly and wearily. He was not aware of it, for +his mind was full of thoughts well-nigh unspeakable, and Maria felt +their influence, though they had not been named. She went away depressed +and silent, like one who has suddenly discovered they were no longer +desired. + +Neil speedily put out the lights, and went to the solitude his heart +craved. He was not happy; but doubt and fear are love's first food. For +another hour he sat motionless, wondering how this woman, whom he had +not in any way summoned, had taken such possession of him. For not yet +had it been revealed to him, that "love is always a great invisible +presence," and that in his case, Agnes Bradley was but its material +revelation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LIFE IN THE CAPTIVE CITY. + + +At this time in New York, John Bradley was a man of considerable +importance. He was not only a native of the city, but many generations +of Bradleys had been born, and lived, and died in the wide, low house +close to the river bank, not far north of old Trinity. They were +originally a Yorkshire family who had followed the great Oliver Cromwell +from Marston Moor to Worcester, and who, having helped to build the +Commonwealth of England, refused to accept the return of royalty. Even +before Charles the Second assumed the crown, Ezra Bradley and his six +sons had landed in New York. They were not rich, but they had gold +sufficient to build a home, and to open near the fort a shop for the +making and repairing of saddlery. + +Ever since that time this trade had been the distinctive occupation of +the family, and the John Bradley who represented it in the year 1779, +had both an inherited and a trained capability in the craft. No one in +all America could make a saddle comparable with Bradley's; the trees +were of his own designing, and the leather work unequalled in strength +and beauty. In addition to this important faculty, he was a veterinary +surgeon of great skill, and possessed some occult way of managing +ungovernable horses, which commended itself peculiarly to officers whose +mounts were to be renewed frequently from any available source. And +never had his business been so lucrative as at the present date, for New +York was full of mounted military during the whole period of the war, +and enormous prices were willingly paid for the fine saddlery turned out +of the workshop of John Bradley. + +Contrary to all the traditions of his family, he had positively taken +the part of the King, and at the very commencement of the national +quarrel had shown the red ribbon of loyalty to England. His wife dying +at this time, he sent his daughter to a famous boarding-school in +Boston, and his son to the great dissenting academy in Gloucester, +England; then he closed his house and lived solitarily in very humble +fashion above his workroom and shop. In this way, he believed himself to +have provided for the absolute safety of his two children; the boy was +out of the war circle; the thundering drum and screaming fife could not +reach him in the cloistered rooms of the Doddridge School; and as for +Agnes, Mrs. Charlton's house was as secure as a convent; he had no fear +that either English or American soldiers would molest a dwelling full of +schoolgirls. And John Bradley could keep the door of his mouth; and he +believed that a man who could do that might pursue a trade so necessary +as his, with an almost certain degree of safety. + +In appearance he was a short, powerful-looking man with tranquil, +meditating eyes and a great talent for silence; an armed soul dwelling +in a strong body. Some minds reflect, shift, argue, and are like the +surface of a lake; but John Bradley's mind was like stubborn clay; when +once impressed it was sure to harden and preserve the imprint through +his life, and perhaps the other one. His Methodism was of this +character, and he never shirked conversation on this subject; he was as +ready to tell his experience to General Howe or General Clinton as to +the members of his own class meeting; for his heart was saturated with +the energy of his faith; he had the substance of things hoped for, the +evidence of things not seen. + +On politics he would not talk; he said, "public affairs were in wiser +hands than his, and that to serve God and be diligent in business, was +the length and breadth of his commission." His shop was a place where +many men and many minds met, and angry words were frequently thrown +backward and forward there; yet his needle never paused an instant for +them. Only once had he been known to interfere; it was on a day when one +of De Lancey's troop drew his sword against a boyish English ensign +almost at his side. He stopped them with his thread half drawn out, and +said sternly: + +"If you two fools are in a hurry for death, and the judgment after +death, there are more likely places to kill each other than my shop," +and the words were cold as ice and sharp as steel, and the men went out +rebuked and checked, and washed away their hot temper in wine instead of +blood. For the vision of death, and the judgment after death, which +Bradley's words and manner had evoked, was not to be faced at that hour. +Yet, withal, Bradley was rather a common-looking man, ill-mannered and +rough as hemp to the generality; but not so where childhood or calamity +appealed to his strength or forbearance. In other respects, General Howe +had, not inaptly, described him as "very unlike other men when at +chapel, but not much so, when among horses in the stable, or selling +saddles in the shop." + +This was the man who came up from the waterside early one morning in the +beginning of July, singing Dr. Watts' lyrical dream of heaven: + + "There is a land of pure delight, + Where saints immortal reign." + +His voice was strong and melodious, and it was evident that Agnes had +inherited her charming vocal power from him. He did not cease as he +entered the house, but continued his hymn until he was in the little +sitting-room, and Agnes finished the verse with him: + + "And see the Canaan that we love, + With unbeclouded eyes." + +He sat down to breakfast with the heavenly vision in his heart, and +reluctantly let it pass away. But his spiritual nature had hands as well +as wings, and he felt also the stress of the daily labor waiting him. + +"The expedition leaves for the Connecticut coast to-day," he said. +"General Clinton is determined to strike a blow at the people in New +Haven, and Fairfield, and New London." + +"Well, father? What do you say to that?" + +"I say it is better they should be struck down than that they should lie +down." + +"Matthews has but just returned from ravaging the river counties of +Virginia, and Clinton from Stony Point. Have they not made misery enough +for a little while? Who is going with the Connecticut expedition?" + +"Tryon, and he goes to do mischief with the joy of an ape." + +"I heard trumpets sounding and men mustering, as I was dressing myself." + +"Trumpets may sound, and not to victory, Agnes. Fire and pillage are +cowardly arms; but I heard Tryon say, any stick was good enough to beat +a dog with, and all who differ from Tryon are dogs. Vile work! Vile +work! And yet all this does not keep New York from dancing and drinking, +and racing, and gambling, and trading; nor yet New York women from +painting and dressing themselves as if there were no such persons as +King George and George Washington." + +"Yes, father, a great many of our best families are very poor." + +"Those not employed by the government, or those who are not contractors +or privateers, are whipped and driven to the last pinch by poverty. Ah, +Agnes, remember New York before this war began, its sunny streets shaded +with trees, and its busy, happy citizens talking, laughing, smoking, +trading, loving and living through every sense they had at the same +time. Now there is nothing but covert ill-will and suspicion. Our +violent passions have not cured our mean ones; to the common list of +rogueries, we have only added those of contractors and commissioners." + +"I think war is the most terrible calamity that can befall a people, +father." + +"The despair of subjugated souls would be worse." + +"Do they never doubt you, father?" + +"Howe never did. That amiable, indolent officer might have liked me all +the more if he had doubted me. Clinton is a different man; and I think +he may have thought my loyalty to royalty lukewarm, for he sent for me +on the King's birthday, and after some talk about a horse and saddle, he +said, 'Mr. Bradley, it is the King's birthday; shall we drink his +Majesty's health?' And I answered him, 'if it please you, General.' So +he filled a glass with Portugal wine for me, and then filling one for +himself raised it, and waited for me to speak. There were several +officers present, and I lifted my glass and said, 'To King George the +Third! God bless him, and make him and all his officers good John Wesley +Methodists!'" + +"Then, father?" + +"Clinton put down his glass with a ringing guffaw, and the rest followed +him. Only one bit of a beardless boy spoke, and he said: 'you think, +Bradley, Methodism might make his Majesty a better king?' And I +answered, 'I am not here to judge his Majesty's kingship. I think it +would make him and all present, better and happier men.' I did not try +to go away or shirk questions; I looked squarely in their faces until +General Clinton said, 'Very good, Bradley. You will remember Saladin and +the new saddle for him'; and I answered, 'I will see to it at once, +General.' So I went out then, and I think they were not all sure of me; +but they cannot do without me, and they know it is better to put their +doubts out of inquiry. Wise men obey necessity, and that is true for +them as well as for me. Agnes, I want to know something about that +little girl of Semple's? I don't like her coming here day after day. She +will be seeing or hearing something she ought not to see or hear. Women +are dangerous in politics, for, as a rule, politics either find or leave +them vixens." + +"Maria is to be trusted." + +"You can not be sure. She is passionate, and though a woman in a temper +may not intend to burn any one, she pokes the fire and makes a blaze and +sets others looking and wondering. I can tell you of many such women in +New York; they think ill of their neighbor, and the thoughts get to +their tongues, and before they know the mischief is done. Then, like the +wolf in the fable, they thank God they are not ferocious. Oh, no! They +have only loosed the dogs of war and left others to set them worrying." + +"How you do run on, father! And not one word you have said fits the +little Maria, no, nor any one of the Semples. Indeed, I am sure Madame +is as true a patriot as you could find anywhere." + +"The old man is as bitter a royalist as I could find anywhere." + +"He is, however, a good old man. Last Monday night, when you had to go +to the leaders' meeting, I walked home with Maria and stayed to tea +there. And after tea Madame asked me to sing a hymn, and I sang the one +you were singing this morning, and when I had finished, the Elder said, +'Now, then, we will supplement Isaac Watts with the Apostle John'; and +he opened the Bible and read aloud John's vision of 'the land of pure +delight' from the twenty-first of Revelation; then standing up, he asked +us all to join in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we stood up +with him and said to 'Our Father which is in heaven,' the words he +taught us. I felt it to be a very precious few minutes." + +"I have nothing to say against such experiences, Agnes. If people would +stick to what Christ says, there might be only one creed and one church; +it is Peter and Paul that make disputing. But if you go to Semple's +house do not stop after sunset. There are bad men about." + +"Mr. Neil Semple walked home with me." + +"Oh! Mr. Neil Semple! And what had he to say?" + +"Very little. He praised my singing, he said it went to his heart; and +he spoke about the moon, and the perfume of the locust flowers. I think +that was all." + +"The moon and the locust flowers! What does Mr. Neil Semple know about +the moon and the locust flowers? And he spoke very little! He can talk +fast enough when he is in court, and well paid for it. He is a proud +man--ill-tempered, too, I should think." + +"I am sure he is not ill-tempered. He is as sweet as a child to his +father and mother; and Maria says many pleasant things about him." + +"Let him pass for what he is worth; but remember always this thing, +Agnes, I am trusting my life in your hands. If you inadvertently +repeated even what I have said this morning, I should be hard put to +answer it." + +"You know well that I would die rather than reveal anything you said to +me. My life for yours, father!" + +"I trust you as my own soul. You are an inexpressible comfort to me. I +can speak to you. I can open my heart to you. I can get relief and +sympathy from you. Your coming home makes me a hundred-fold safer. If +your brother with his hot temper and young imprudences had been here, no +one knows what would have happened before this. I thank God continually +that he is so far out of the way. Has he left school yet?" + +"School does not close until June." + +"Then he will go directly to Doctor Brudenel in London?" + +"That was your instruction to him." + +"When did you have a letter from him?" + +"It is nearly a month since." + +"When will you write to him next?" + +"I write to him every opportunity I have." + +"Does he need money? Young men are often extravagant." + +"He has never named money to me. He is well and happy." + +"Tell him he must not come home, not think of coming home till I give +him permission. Tell him that his being away from home is my great +comfort. Make that plain to him, Agnes, my great comfort. Tell him he +must stay in London till a man can speak his mind safely in New York, +whatever his mind may be." + +"I will tell him all, father." + +Then Bradley went to his shop and his daughter sat down to consider +with herself. Many persons stimulate or regulate thought in movement and +find a positive assistance to their mental powers in action of some +kind, but Agnes had the reverse of this temperament. She needed quiet, +so closing the door of her room she sat still, recalling, reviewing, and +doing her best to anticipate events. There were certain things which +must be revealed to Maria, wholly, or in part, if she continued to visit +the house, and Agnes saw not how to prevent those visits. Nor did she +wish to prevent them; she loved Maria and delighted in her +companionship. They had many acquaintances and events in common to talk +about, and she was also interested in Maria's life, which was very +different to her own. She felt, too, that her influence was necessary +and valuable to the young girl, suddenly thrown into the midst of what +Agnes regarded as sinful and dangerous society. And then into this +process of self-examination there drifted another form--the stately, +rather sombre, but altogether kindly personality of Neil Semple. It was +linked with Maria, she could not separate the two; and as intrusion +involved some heart-searching she was not inclined to, she rather +promptly decided the question without any further prudential +considerations, and as she did so Maria called her. + +She answered the call gladly. It was to her one of those leadings on +which she spiritually relied, and her face was beaming with love and +pleasure as she went down stairs to her friend. Maria was standing in +the middle of the small parlor, most beautifully arrayed in an Indian +muslin, white as snow and lustrously fine, as only Dacca looms could +weave it. Her shoulders were covered with a little cape of the same +material, ruffled and laced and fastened with pink ribbons, and on her +head was a bewitching gypsy hat tied under her chin with bows of the +same color. Her uncle stood at her side, smiling with grave tolerance at +her girlish pride in her dress, and the pretty airs with which she +exhibited it to Agnes. + +"Am I not handsome?" she cried. "Am I not dressed in the most perfect +taste? Why do you not say as Miss Robinson is sure to say--'La, child, +you are adorable!'" + +Agnes fell quite naturally into her friend's excited mood, and in the +happiest tone of admiring mimicry, repeated the words dictated. She made +the most perfect contrast to Maria; her pale blue gown of simple +material and simple fashion was without ornament of any kind, except its +large falling collar of white muslin embroidery, but the long, unbroken +line of the skirt seemed to Neil Semple the most fitting, the only +fitting, garment he had ever seen on any woman. + +"Its modesty and simplicity is an instinct," he thought; "and I have +this morning seen a woman clothed by her raiment. Now I understand the +difference between being dressed and clothed. Maria is dressed, Agnes is +clothed; her garments interpret her." + +He was lifted up by his love for her; and her calico gown became a royal +robe in his imagination. Every time he saw her she appeared to have been +adorned for that time only. It was a delightful thing for him to watch +her tenderness and pride in Maria. It was motherly and sisterly, and +without a thought of envy, and he trembled with delight when she turned +her sweet, affectionate face to his for sympathy in it. And really this +morning Agnes might reasonably have given some of her admiring interest +to Maria's escort. He was undeniably handsome. His suit of fine, dark +cloth, his spotless lawn ruffles, his long, light sword, his black +beaver in his hand, were but fitting adjuncts to a noble face, graven +with many experiences and alight with the tender glow of love and the +steady fire of intellectual power and purpose. + +He did not stay at this time many minutes, but the girls watched him to +the garden gate and shared the courtly salute of his adieu there. "Is he +not the most graceful and beautiful of men?" asked Maria. + +"Indeed he is very handsome," replied Agnes. + +"There is not an officer in New York fit to latch his shoe buckles." + +"Then why do you dress so splendidly, only to show yourself to them?" + +"Well, Agnes, see how _they_ dress. As we were coming here we met men in +all the colors of the rainbow; they were rattling swords and spurs, and +tossing their heads like war horses scenting the battle afar off." + +"You are quoting the Bible, Maria." + +"Uncle did it first. You don't suppose I thought of that. We passed a +regiment of Hessians with their towering brass-fronted helmets, their +yellow breeches, and black gaiters; really, Agnes, they were +grand-looking men." + +"Very," answered Agnes, scornfully. "I have seen them standing like +automatons, taking both the commands and the canes of their officers. +Very grand-looking indeed!" + +"You need not be angry at the poor fellows. It must be very disagreeable +for them to be caned in public and not dare to move an eyelash or utter +a word of protest." + +"Men that will suffer such things are no better than the beasts of the +field; not as good, for the beasts do speak in their way with hoofs, or +horns, or teeth, or claws, and that to some purpose, when their sense of +justice is outraged." + +"It is all military discipline, you know, Agnes. And you must allow, the +regiments make fine appearances. I dare say these Hessians have to be +caned--most men have, in one way or another. Uncle is coming back for me +this afternoon. We are going to see the troops leaving; it will be a +fine sight. I told uncle you might like to go with us, and he said he +would ask you, but he did not." + +"He had more grace granted him, Maria." + +"I think he is a little afraid of you, Agnes." + +"Nothing of the kind. He had sense enough to understand I would not go." +Then, without further thought or preliminary she said: "Sit down here +beside me, Maria, I have something very important to say to you. I know +that I can perfectly trust you, but I want to hear you tell me so. Can +you keep a secret inviolate and sure, Maria?" + +"If the secret is yours, Agnes, neither in life nor in the hour of death +would I tell it." + +"If you were questioned----" + +"I should be stupid and dumb; if it was your secret, fire could not burn +it out of me." + +"I believe you. Many times in Boston you must have known that a young +man called on me. You may have seen his face." + +"None of the girls saw his face but Sally Laws; we all knew that he +called on you. I should recognize his figure and his walk anywhere, but +his face I never saw. Sally said he was as handsome as Apollo." + +"Such nonsense! He has an open, bright, strong countenance, but there is +nothing Greek about him, nothing at all. He is an American, and he loves +his native land, and would give his life for her freedom." + +"And he will come here to see you now?" + +"Yes, but my father must not know it." + +"I thought you were always so against anything being done unknown to our +parents. When I wanted to write good-bye to Teddy Bowen you would not +let me." + +"I expected you to remind me of this, and at present I can give you no +explanation. But I tell you positively that I am doing right. Can you +take my word for it?" + +"I believe in you, Agnes, as if you were the Bible. I know you will only +do right." + +"All that you see or hear or are told about this person must be to you +as if you had dreamed a dream, and you must forget that you ever had +it." + +"I have said that I would be faithful. Darling Agnes, you know that you +may trust me." + +"Just suppose that my friend should be seen, and that my father should +be told," she was silent a moment in consideration of such an event, and +Maria impulsively continued: + +"In that case I would say it was my friend." + +"That would not be the truth." + +"But he might be my friend, we might have become friends, not as he is +your friend, nothing like that, just a friend. Are you very fond of him, +Agnes?" + +"I love him as my own life." + +"And he loves you in that way?" + +"He loves me! Oh, yes, Maria, he loves me! even as I love him." + +"Sweetest Agnes, thank you for telling me. I will see what you tell me +to see, and hear what you tell me to hear; that, and that only. I will +be as true to you as your own heart." + +"I am sure you will. Some day you shall know all. Now, we will say no +more until there is a reason; everything is so uncertain. Tell me about +the rout last night." + +"It was at Governor Robertson's. His daughter called and asked me to +honor them with my company; and grandmother said I ought to go, and +uncle Neil said I ought to go--so I went. There was a great time +dressing me, but I made a fine appearance when it was done. I wore my +silver-tissue gown, and grandmother loaned me her pearl necklace. She +told me how many generations of Gordon ladies had worn it, and I felt +uncanny as she clasped it round my throat. I wondered if they knew----" + +"You should not wonder about such things. Did you dance much?" + +"I had the honor to dance with many great people. Every gentleman danced +one minuet with his partner, and then began cotillon and allemand +dances; and there were some songs sung by Major Andre, and a fine supper +at midnight. It was two o'clock when I got home." + +"Tell me who you talked with." + +"Oh, everybody, Agnes; but I liked most of all, the lady who stays with +the Robertsons--Mrs. Gordon; her husband was with Burgoyne and is a +prisoner yet. She was very pleasant to me; indeed, she told Uncle Neil +'I was the perfectest creature she had ever seen,' and that she was +'passionately taken with me.' She insisted that I should be brought to +her, and talked to me about my dress and my lovers, and also about +grandfather and grandmother." + +"She lived with them once, and helped to make great sorrow in their +house." + +"I know. Grandmother does not forgive her." + +"And your uncle?" + +"He is very civil to her, for she is vastly the fashion. She played +cards all the evening, and called me to her side more often than I +liked. She said I brought her luck. I don't think she approved of my +dancing so often with Captain Macpherson. She asked questions about him, +and smiled in a way that was not pleasant, and that made me praise the +Highlander far more than I meant to, and she barely heard me to the end +of my talk ere she turned back to her cards, and as she did so, said: +'What a paragon in tartan! Before this holy war there may have been such +men, but if you are a good child pray that a husband may drop down from +heaven for you; there are no good ones bred here now.' Then every one +near began to protest, and she spread out her cards and cried, 'Who +leads? Diamonds are trump.' When she called me next, she was sweeping +the sovereigns into her reticule; and Governor Ludlow said she was +Fortune's favorite, and uncle Neil said, 'I see, Madame, that you now +play for gold,' and I think uncle meant something that she understood, +for she looked queerly at him for a moment, and then answered, 'Yes I +play for money now. I confess it. Why not? If you take away that excuse, +the rest is sinning without temptation.' She is so well bred, Agnes, and +she speaks with such an air, you are forced to notice and remember what +she says." + +Agnes was troubled to think of the innocent child in such society, and +without obtruding counsel, yet never restraining it when needful, she +did her best to keep Maria's conscience quick and her heart right. It +was evident that she regarded the whole as a kind of show, whose color +and sound and movement attracted her; yet even so, this show was full of +temptation to a girl who had no heart care and no lack of anything +necessary for the pride of life. + +This afternoon the half-camp and half-garrison condition of New York was +very conspicuous. All was military bustle and excitement; trumpets were +calling, drums beating, and regiments parading the streets once devoted +to peaceful commerce and domestic happiness. Royalist merchants stood in +the doors of their shops exchanging snuff-box compliments and flattering +prophecies concerning the expedition about to leave--prophecies which +did not hide the brooding fear in their eyes or the desponding shake of +the head when sure of a passer's sympathy. And a sensitive observer +would have felt the gloom, the shame and sorrow that no one dared to +express; for, just because no one dared to express it, the very stones +of the streets found a voice that spoke to every heart. The bitterest +royalist remembered. All the riot of military music could not drown the +memory of sounds once far more familiar--the cheerful greeting of men in +the market place, and all the busy, happy tumult of prosperous trade; +the laughter and chatter of joyful women and children, and the music of +the church bells above the pleasant streets. + +Neil was silent and unhappy; Maria full of the excitement of the passing +moment. They sat in the open window of Neil's office and watched company +after company march to the warships in which they were to embark: +Grenadiers of Auspach with their towering black caps and sombre military +air; brass-fronted Hessians; gaudy Waldeckers; English corps glittering +in scarlet pomp; and Highlanders loaded with weapons, but free and +graceful in their flowing contour. On these latter especially, both Neil +and Maria fixed their interest. Who can say how long national feeling, +expatriated, may live? Neil leaped to his feet as the plaided men came +in sight. Their bagpipes made him drunk with emotion; they played on his +heartstrings and called up centuries of passionate feelings. He clasped +his sword unconsciously; his hand trembled with that magnetic attraction +for iron that soldiers know. At that moment he said proudly to his soul, +"Thou also art of Scottish birth!" and a vision of hills and straths +and of a tossing ocean filled his spiritual sight. + +Maria's interest was of the present and was centered on the young +captain walking at the head of his company; for Quentin Macpherson was a +born soldier, and whatever he might lack in a ball-room, he lacked +nothing at the head of his men. His red hair flowing from under his +plaided bonnet was the martial color; it seemed proper to his stern face +and to the musket and bayonet, the broadsword, dirk and pistols which he +wore or carried with the ease and grace of long usage. He stepped so +proudly to the strains of "Lochaber;" he looked so brave and so +naturally full of authority that Maria was, for the moment, quite +subjugated. She had told him on the previous night, at what place she +was to view the embarkment; and she detected the first movement which +showed him to be on the watch for her. + +This fleeting pleasure of exhibiting himself at his best to the girl he +loves, is a soldier's joy; and the girl is heartless who refuses him the +small triumph. Maria was kind, and she shared the triumph with him; she +knew that her white-robed figure was entrancing to the young captain, +and she stood ready to rain down all of Beauty's influence upon his +lifted face. Only a moment was granted them, but in that one moment of +meeting eyes, Maria's handkerchief drifted out of her hand and +Macpherson caught it on his lifted bayonet, kissed, and put it in his +bosom. The incident was accomplished as rapidly and perfectly as events +unpremeditated usually are; for they are managed by that Self that +sometimes takes our affairs out of all other control and does +perfectly, in an instant, what all our desiring and planning would have +failed to do in any space of time. + +Neil was much annoyed, and made a movement to stop the fluttering lawn. + +"What have you done, Maria?" he asked angrily. "The Van der Donck's and +half a dozen other women are watching you." + +"I could not help it, Uncle Neil. I do not know how it happened. I never +intended to let it fall. Honor bright! I did not." + +And perhaps Neil understood, for he said no more on the subject as they +walked silently home through the disenchanted city. All the bareness of +its brutal usage was now poignantly evident, and the very atmosphere was +heavy with an unconquerable melancholy. Some half-tipsy members of the +De Lancey militia singing about "King George the Third" only added to +the sense of some incongruous disaster. Everyone has felt the +intolerable _ennui_ which follows a noisy merry-making--the deserted +disorder, the spilled wine, the disdained food, the withered flowers, +the silenced jest, the giving over of all left to desecration and +destruction--all this, and far more was concentrated in that wretched +_ennui_ of unhappy souls which filled the streets of New York that hot +summer afternoon. For an intense dejection lay heavy on every heart. +Like people with the same disease, men avoided and yet sought each +other. They dared not say, they hardly dared to think, that their love +for the King was dying of a disease that had no pity--that their idol +had himself torn away the roots of their loyalty. But they closed their +shops early, and retreated to the citadel of their homes. Melancholy, +hopelessness, silence, infected the atmosphere and became epidemic, and +men and women, sensitive to spiritual maladies, went into their chambers +and shut their doors, but could not shut out the unseen contagion. It +rained down on them in their sleep, and they dreamed of the calamities +they feared. + +It was on this afternoon that John Bradley received a new "call" and +answered it. Affected deeply by the events of the day, he left his shop +in the middle of the hot afternoon and went about some business which +took him near the King's College Building, then crowded with American +prisoners. As he came under the windows, he heard a thin, quavering +voice singing lines very dear and familiar to him: + + Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take! + The clouds ye so much dread + Are big with mercy, and shall break + In blessings on your head. + + Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, + But trust him for his grace: + Behind a frowning providence + He hides a smiling face. + +Then there was a pause and Bradley called aloud: "Brother, who are you?" + +"William Watson," was the answer. + +"I thought so. How are you?" + +"Dying," then a pause, and a stronger voice added, "and in need of all +things." + +"Brother Watson, what do you want that I can get now?" + +"Cold water to drink, and some fresh fruit," and then, as if further +instructed the voice added, "when you can, a clean shirt to be buried +in." + +"Tell William he shall have them." His whole manner had changed. There +was something he could do, and he went at once for the fruit and water. +Fortunately, he knew the provost of this prison and had done him some +favors, so he had no hesitation in asking him to see that the small +comforts were given to William Watson. + +"He was a member of my class meeting, Provost," said Bradley; "a +Methodist leader must love his brother in Christ." Here Bradley's voice +failed him and the Provost added, "I knew him too--he used to live in +good style in Queen Street. I will see that he gets the fruit and +water." + +"And if you need anything for yourself in the way of saddlery, Provost, +I will be glad to serve you." + +"I was thinking of a new riding whip." + +"I will bring you the best I have. One good turn deserves another." + +Then, after a little further conversation he turned homeward, and men +who met him on the way wondered what was the matter with John Bradley. +For, without cessation, as he walked, he went over and over the same +three words, _"Christ forgive me!"_ And no one could smile at the +monotonous iteration; the man was in too dead earnest; his face was too +remorseful, his voice too tragic. + +The next morning he was very early in Superintendent Ludlow's office. +The great man of the Court of Police had not arrived, but Bradley waited +until he came. + +"You are an early visitor, Mr. Bradley," he said pleasantly. + +"I have a favor to ask, Judge." + +"Come in here then. What is it? You are no place or plunder hunter." + +"Judge, a month ago you asked me to make you a saddle." + +"And you would not do it. I remember." + +"I could not--at least I thought I could not; now, if you will let me, I +will make you the fittest saddle possible--it shall be my own work, +every stitch of it." + +"How much money do you want for such a saddle, Bradley?" + +"I want no money at all. I want a very small favor from you." + +"Nothing for the rebels, I hope. I cannot grant any favor in that +direction." + +"I want nothing for the rebels; I want one hour every Sunday afternoon +in the College prison with my class members." + +"Oh, I don't know, Bradley----" + +"Yes, you know, Judge. You know, if I give you my promise, I will keep +every letter of it." + +"What is your promise?" + +"I want only to pray with my brothers or to walk awhile with them as +they go through the Valley of the Shadow. I promise you that no word of +war, or defeat or victory; that no breath of any political opinion shall +pass my lips. Nor will I listen to any such." + +"Bradley, I don't think I can grant you this request. It would not be +right." + +"Judge, this is a thing within your power, and you must grant it. We +shall stand together at the Judgment, and when the Lord Christ says, 'I +was hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no +drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me +not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not:' don't let me be +obliged to plead, 'Lord Christ, I would have fed, and clothed, and +visited the sick and in prison, but this man barred my way.' Open the +door, Judge, and it shall be well with you for it." + +Then, without a word, Ludlow turned to his desk and wrote an order +permitting John Bradley to visit his friends for one hour every Sunday +afternoon; and as he did so, his face cleared, and when he signed his +name he had the glow of a good deed in his heart, and he said: + +"Never mind the saddle, Bradley. I don't want to be paid for this thing. +You say William Watson is dying--poor Willie! We have fished together +many a long summer day"; and he took a few gold pieces from his pocket +and added, "they are for the old friend, not for the rebel. You +understand. Good morning, sir." + +"Good morning, Judge. I won't overstep your grant in any way. I know +better." + +From this interview he went direct to the prison and sent the gold to +the dying man. And as he stood talking to the provost the dead cart +came, and five nearly naked bodies were thrown into it, their faces +being left uncovered for the provost's inspection. Bradley gazed on them +with a hot heart; emaciated to the last point with fever and want, +there was yet on every countenance the peace that to the living, passeth +understanding. They had died in the night-watches, in the dark, without +human help or sympathy, but doubtless sustained by Him whose name is +_Wonderful!_ + +"All of them quite common men!" said the provost carelessly--"country +rustics--plebeians!" + +But when Bradley told his daughter of this visit, he added, +passionately, _"Plebeians!_ Well, then, Agnes, _Plebeians who found out +the secret of a noble death!"_ + + Sweeter than Joy, tho' Joy might abide; + Dearer than Love, tho' Love might endure, + Is this thing, for a man to have died + For the wronged and the poor! + + Let none be glad until all are free; + The song be still and the banner furled, + Till all have seen what the poets see + And foretell to the world! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE. + + +The next morning, very soon after breakfast, Maria came down stairs +ready to visit her friend. She was dressed like a schoolgirl in a little +frock of India chintz, her black hair combed backward and plaited in two +long, loose braids. One morning she had tied these braids with red +ribbon, and been scornfully criticised by her grandmother for "makin' a +show of herself." The next morning she had tied them with blue, and been +heart-pained by her grandfather's sigh and look of reproach; so this +morning they were tied with ribbons as black as her hair, and as she +turned herself before the long mirror she was pleased with the change. + +"They make my braids look ever so much longer," she said with a pretty +toss of her head; "and grandmother can not say I am making a show of +myself. One must have ribbons of some color, and black is really +distinguished. I suppose that is the reason Uncle Neil wears so much +black cloth and velvet." + +To these thoughts she ran gaily down stairs. The Elder was reading +Rivington's _Royal Gazette_; Madame had a hank of wool over two chairs, +and was slowly winding it. She looked at Maria with a little +disappointment. Her hat was on her head, her books in her hand, and she +understood where the girl was going; yet she asked: "Is it Agnes Bradley +again, Maria?" + +"Yes, grandmother. I said no lessons yesterday. We were watching the +soldiers pass, and the people, and I was expecting Neil, and there +seemed no use in beginning then. I told Agnes I would say extra lessons +to-day." + +"And I'm doubting, even with the 'extra,' if the lessons amount to +much." + +"Oh grandmother! I have learned a page of 'Magnall's Questions,' and +studied a whole chapter in 'Goldsmith's History' about King John." + +"King _who?"_ asked Madame, suspiciously. "I never heard tell o' a King +John. David, and Robert, and James I ken; but John! No, no, lassie! +There's nae King John." + +"Maria means John of England," explained the Elder. "He was a vera bad +king." + +"John of England, or George of England!" answered Madame disdainfully, +"kings are much of a muchness. And if he was a bad king, he was a bad +man, and ye ought to put your commandments on your granddaughter, Elder, +to learn naething about such wicked men. Ye ken as well as I do, that +the Almighty forbid the children o' Israel even to _inquire_ anent the +doings of thae sinners, the Canaanites. And it is bad enough to hae to +thole the evil doings o' a living king, without inquiring after the +crimes o' a dead one." + +"I will give up my history if you wish it, grandmother. I care nothing +about King John." + +"Maria must learn what other people learn," said the Elder. "She has to +live in the world, and she has sense enough to make her own reflections. +Give me a kiss, dearie, and study King John if you like to, he was a bad +man, and a bad king, but----" + +"Others worse than him!" ejaculated Madame. + +"Give me a kiss, darling grandmother, one for myself, and one for Agnes; +she always asks for it." + +"Oh, you flattering lassie!" But the old lady gave the two kisses, and +with a sweeping courtesy, Maria closed the door and went humming down +the garden walk: _"Who Saw Fair Pamela?"_ + +She had not gone far before she met Moselle, the only slave Bradley +possessed. She was in her Sunday clothing, and she said Missee had given +her a whole day's holiday. In that case Agnes would be alone, and Maria +hastened her steps onward. The little house was as calm and peaceful +looking as usual, the windows all open, the mignonette boxes on their +sills in full bloom; the white shades gently stirring in the wind. The +door was closed, but on the latch, and Maria turned the handle and went +into the parlor. It was empty, but the ruffle Agnes was gathering was on +the table, and Maria took off her bonnet and laid it and her books down +on the cushioned seat within the window recess. As she lifted her head +an astonishing sight met her eyes. In the middle of the yard there was a +very handsome young man. He was bareheaded, tall, and straight as a +ramrod, and stood with one hand on his hip and his face lifted to the +sunshine. Maria's heart beat quick, she lifted her bonnet and books, +retreated to the front door, and called "Agnes" in a clear, eager +voice. + +In a moment or two, Agnes came in at the opposite door. "Maria!" she +cried, "I am glad to see you. Is your uncle with you? No? That is well. +Come with me to the kitchen. I have given Moselle a holiday. Maria, I +have a friend--a very dear friend. I am cooking him some breakfast. Come +and help me." + +Agnes spoke in a hurried, excited manner very unusual to her, and as she +did so, the two girls went into the little outside kitchen. The coffee +was ready, the steak broiled, and as Agnes lifted the food she +continued, "yes, I have a friend this morning. He is going to eat in the +summer-house, and you will help me to wait upon him. Will you not, +Maria? Oh, my dear, I am so happy!" And Maria, who remembered only too +vividly the bare-headed youth she had seen for a moment, gladly accepted +the office. A spirit of keen pleasure was in the dingy little kitchen, +and the girls moved gaily to it. "You shall carry the coffee, and I will +carry the steak," said Agnes; "the bread and the china are already +placed." So laughing and chatting, and delighted with their service the +two girls entered the summer-house. + +"Harry," said Agnes, "this is my friend, Maria Semple; and Maria, this +is Harry Deane." And Harry looked with frank eyes into Maria's eyes, and +in a moment they knew each other. What was this strange impression made +by a look? Not a word was spoken, but the soul salutation through +meeting eyes was a far more overwhelming influence than any spoken word +could have evoked. Then came the current forms of courtesy, and the +happy tones of low laughter slipping in between the mingling of voices, +or the soft tinkling of glass and china, and everyone knows that as soon +as talking begins the divine gates close. It mattered not, Maria knew +that something wonderful had happened to her; and never in all her +subsequent life could she forget that breakfast under the clematis +vines. + +Swiftly the hot, still hours of the mid-day passed. The city was torpid +in the quivering heat. There was no stir of traffic--no lumbering sound +of loaded wagons--no noise of shouting drivers--no footsteps of hurrying +men. The streets were almost empty; the very houses seemed asleep. Only +the cicadas ran from hedge to hedge calling shrilly; or now and then a +solitary trumpet stirred the drowsy air, or, in the vicinity of the +prisons, the moaning of the dying men, made the silence terribly vocal. + +"Let us go into the house," said Agnes, "it will be cooler there." And +they took Maria's hands and went to the shaded parlor. Then Harry drew +some cool water from the well, and as they drank it they remembered the +men in the various prisons and their pitiful need of water at all times. + +"They are the true heroes," said Agnes; "tortured by heat and by cold, +by cruel hunger and more cruel thirst, in all extremities of pain and +sorrow, they are paying their life blood, drop by drop, like coin, for +our freedom." + +"And when our freedom is won," answered Harry, "we will give to the dead +their due. They, too, have saved us." + +"Do you think, Harry, this French alliance is going to end the war?" + +"Those who know best say it will. But these Frenchmen are giving +Washington no end of trouble. They are mostly military adventurers. They +worry Washington for promotion and for increase of pay; they have only +their own interest in view. They scorn our privations and simplicity, +and their demands can only be gratified at the expense of native +officers whose rights they unjustly wish to invade. Yet I am told that +without French money and French help we should have to give up the +struggle. I don't believe it. Starving and demoralized as our army is, +there are many who will never give up while Washington is alive to lead +them." + +"If I was a rebel," said Maria, "I should want our freedom won by our +own hands only. The French are coming here at the last hour, and they +will get all the credit. Do you think it is for love of freedom they +help the Americans? If so, why do they not give freedom to France? She +has the most tyrannical and despotic of governments; Uncle Neil says so; +and yet she pretends to thrill with indignation because England violates +the liberties of her colonies. France had better mind her own affairs, +or, as grandmother says, she will scald herself with other people's +broth." + +"God made the French, and He may understand them, I do not," answered +Harry. "Fancy the French government allowing our Declaration of +Independence to be translated and scattered broadcast all over the +country! No wonder that Lafayette smiled grimly when he heard of it; no +wonder he said that 'the principles of government we had announced +would soon be heard from in France.' He can see the results, but the +king and queen--who catch up every fashion and every enthusiasm with +childish levity--do not imagine any one will have the audacity to apply +American principles of government to the French monarchy. 'Give me good +news from our dear American republicans,' is always Marie Antoinette's +greeting to Franklin, and he himself is one of her prime favorites." + +"Oh, he is a cunning old man," said Maria. "I have heard grandfather +talk about him. I am sure he is disagreeable; yet the French have his +picture on their snuff-boxes and rings and brooches. It is such +foolishness. And Uncle Neil--who is a very clever lawyer--says some very +disparaging things about this famous Declaration. It is at least most +inconsistent." + +Harry looked his dissent, and Agnes said: "Perhaps you did not +understand your uncle, Maria." + +"I am not quite a fool, Agnes. In one respect I am cleverer than Mr. +Jefferson. Imagine an assembly composed largely, like himself, of +slave-owners, saying 'that all men were created equal, and were given by +God an unalienable right to liberty.' And do you think if I were king or +queen of France I would scatter a paper in every house telling my +miserable, starving subjects, that 'whenever a government did not do +what it ought to do, it was the right of the people to alter or abolish +it.' Indeed, I think King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette will be sorry +some day for teaching their people American ideas of government." + +"What do they say in England about the French alliance?" asked Agnes. + +"The Parliament declares we have not only rebelled against the +mother-country, but also mortgaged ourselves to her enemy; and that if +we are to become an accession to France, self-preservation requires +England to make that accession of as little value as possible. That does +not sound very bad, Agnes, but it means killing men, women and children, +burning houses, ravaging land, and making life so wretched that death +will be preferable. Now you understand such expeditions as Matthew's and +Tryon's. So I say with Miss Semple, it is a pity for many reasons we had +to beg foreign help; especially from the three nations who are +hereditary foes of England." + +"The French did not help you much at Newport," said Maria scornfully. + +"They left us in the very oncoming of the battle; as soon as Lord Howe +came in sight--sailed away to the West Indies, where they had plans of +their own to carry out. The indignation of our army was beyond +description; no one but Washington could at this time have kept peace +between the French and American soldiers. Their jealousy was flaming, +and Washington could not help saying he wished there was not a foreigner +in the army but Lafayette. But when Necessity compels, it becomes +Destiny, eh, Agnes?" + +"Yes. I think England must now be in a very dangerous predicament, +Harry." + +"She has thirteen colonies in revolt; France, Spain, Holland, uniting +against her, and a large majority of her own people conspicuously in our +favor. Our old mother-country! I am sorry for her, for she _is ours_, +and we are her sons, even though we have been compelled to rebel against +her." + +"I think it is England that has rebelled against us," said Agnes. "She +has repudiated our chartered rights, and made us aliens to the laws and +privileges which are our natural heritage. England is traitor to +America, and I don't see why you should be sorry for her." + +"Can you take the English blood out of my heart? No. I want our +Independence, that we must have, nothing less will now satisfy us; but I +don't want to see three other nations, who have no business in our +family quarrel, badgering the old mother. If you had a liking for some +noble old mastiff, and saw him attacked by three strange dogs, how would +you feel?" + +"Well, Harry, if the mastiff was hurting me, I might feel obliged to the +strange dogs. I do not wonder that France, Spain, and Holland should +take this opportunity to fight England; but I do wonder that Englishmen, +living in England, should be on our side." + +"They have been so from the very first. The King has found it impossible +to get soldiers to fight us. They regard us as their countrymen. They +refuse to acknowledge the war as an 'English' war; they call it 'The +King's War'; and they look upon our victories as triumphs for +representative government. I saw a letter from Judge Curwen of Boston, +in which he says he visited a large factory in Birmingham where they +were making rifles to be used by the English troops in America; and he +found that the proprietor, as well as every man thus employed, was +enthusiastically on our side. Fox spoke of an English success on Long +Island as 'the terrible news from America'; and many say that the Whig +party, of which he is the leader, adopted blue and buff for their +colors, because Washington had chosen them for his troop. In both houses +of Parliament we have many powerful friends, and the American cause is +spoken of throughout England as the cause of Liberty." + +"Oh, you must be mistaken!" cried Maria. "Grandfather says things very +different; and if England is for us, why does the war go on? Whose fault +is that." + +"It is the fault of King George; the most stupid of men, but with a will +as indomitable as the beasts of the desert. Not even King Charles was so +determined to ruin himself and the nation. He is cruel as he is +immovable. It is _The King's War_, my mistresses, and only the King's +friends and sycophants and the clergy defend it." + +"And what will those Englishmen who would not lift a finger against us +do against our allies?" + +"Do? They are preparing with joyful enthusiasm to fight their old +enemies. It made my heart throb to hear how they were jumping to arms, +at the mere idea of a French and Spanish fleet in the English Channel." + +"You are half an Englishman, Mr. Deane," said Maria. + +"No," he answered warmly; "I am out and out, from head to foot, an +American! I was born here, bred here, and I shall live and die here; nor +do I wish to live in any other country. But brave men and free men feel +with a gigantic throb each other's rights and wrongs, even across +oceans--thus we are brothers. And the roots of my being are somewhere in +England; I can not cut myself loose from them; I do not wish to. The +feeling belongs to the unknown side of human reasons--but it governs +me." + +"I thought," said Maria, "you would talk about nothing but Washington, +and you have hardly named him. Is he as great a man as we are told he +is? Or does he have faults like the rest of poor mortals?" + +"Indeed, Miss Semple, he is so great a man I have forgotten whether he +has a fault. He is such a man as men build their love round while he +leads them on the way to immortality. Often I have seen the whole army +shaken, confused, hopeless; but Washington never shrank, or slipped, or +compromised; he looked unswervingly to the end. He is the Moses of +America; our people's hope, our young men's idol, our old men's staff +and sword. And even physically, who would compare our god-like +Washington with this?" and he took from his pocket-case a pen-and-ink +sketch of King George, taken at the beginning of the war and showed it +to the girls. + +They looked at it curiously, and Maria said: "Surely, Mr. Deane, that is +not a true likeness; it is what you call a pasquil--a lampoon--to make +ridiculous his Majesty." + +"It is not intended as a lampoon. But I never see it without thinking of +the mighty ghosts of the great Henrys, and the armed Edwards, and then I +wonder if they are not watching, with anger and amazement, the idiotic +folly of this German." + +"I must really go home now," said Maria. She spoke as if she had all at +once become aware of the gravity of the words she was listening to. "I +should not have stopped so long. Grandmother is not well." + +And she thought Agnes was not sorry to bid her good-bye; "but that is +natural," she reflected, "I suppose I should feel the same. She must +have a great many things to tell such a lover. I dare be bound I have +been much in the way." + +Her feelings were captious and impetuous, and she walked rapidly to +them, in spite of the heat. Somehow she was not pleased with Agnes, and +Harry Deane also had bid her but a formal farewell. And yet not formal, +for when he held her hand a moment, he laid it open within his own, and +said with a look she could not forget, "my life lies there. I have put +it in your hand myself, knowingly, willingly." And she had clasped his +hand and answered gravely: + +"It is as safe there as it would be in the hand of your mother--or of +Agnes." + +It was not Harry that she was fretted at, it was Agnes. She felt that in +some way Agnes had deceived her. She had not said secrecy would include +hours of rebel conversation--"and I wonder at myself for listening to +it," said the little woman angrily. "I suppose it was Mr Deane--men talk +women down. I know I should not have let Agnes talk in that way to +me--just as if I believed all he said! If Uncle Neil had been there, he +would have scattered every word to the four winds with little trouble. +And," she continued, with rising temper, "I don't think Agnes acts +fairly to Uncle Neil. He is her devoted lover, and she knows it, she +must know it. People don't walk slowly up and down in the moonlight and +not know such things. I am, they say, only a child, but I have walked +with Captain Macpherson in the moonlight, and I know how amiable it +makes me feel. I am disappointed in Agnes!" and she really felt at that +moment as if her friend had done her some great wrong. So much easier is +it to blame others than to look deep down into our own hearts for the +reason of dissatisfaction. For whenever we are disappointed, we are +disappointed with ourselves, though we may not admit it. + +When she entered the Semple garden she was encompassed with the +delicious perfume of carnations. Then she remembered that they were her +grandfather's favorite flower, and that before the war his garden had +been a wonder and delight with their beauty and fragrance. And in some +subtle way, the flowers made an avenue for a spiritual influence, more +in accord with the natural uprightness of the girl's nature. She sighed +and sauntered through the scented space, and as she did so, began to +make her confession. "Perhaps it was my fault--perhaps I was just a +little jealous--it is not pleasant to be the outside one; if Captain +Macpherson, or even that stupid Lord Medway had been my servant +I should not have felt so small; but that was not the fault of +Agnes--nevertheless, Agnes ought not to treat Uncle Neil badly." + +It was a kind of inconsequent reasoning, but it restored her to +herself, and she entered the house very cheerfully, looking into the +parlor first of all, to see whom she could find to talk to. All the +rooms down stairs were sweet with the same enthralling odor of +carnations; but they were dusky, silent and empty; and she went to her +grandmother's room on the second floor. "Are you awake, dear +grandmother?" she asked, as she tapped gently on the door. + +"Come in, dearie," was the answer, and Madame raised herself from the +bed as Maria entered and went to a large chair by the open window. "It +is hotter than needs be," she said, "and I have had company." + +"Who has been here, grandmother?" + +"Mrs. Jermyn brought us an invitation to the Bayards. It is for a three +days' visit." + +"I am so happy. I have heard about Colonel Bayard's fine house on the +Heights; you will surely go, grandmother?" + +"I can not go, Maria; but Mrs. Jermyn offered to take you in her party; +and to that I am agreeable. Madame Jacobus will go with you, and I am +vera fond o' Madame Jacobus. She is not an ordinary woman; she has had +romantics in her life, and the vera look o' her sets you thinking o' all +sorts o' impossibilities. Tell her Madame Semple keeps good mind o' her, +and would be glad to see her again;" then she added sharply, "Mrs. +Gordon was with her. I was quite taken aback. I was all in a tremble at +first." + +"She is so anxious to be friends with you; can't you forgive her, +grandmother? It is a long time since." + +"Maria Semple, no one is mair willing than I am, to let byganes be +byganes. But mind this, there are folks simply unlucky to you, and not +intending it; and Adelaide Gordon and Janet Semple are best apart. She +is one o' them women who bring happenings and events, and I notice they +are not pleasant or favorable. You will hae heard say, Maria, _wha_ it +is, that sends a woman, where he canna go himsel'. Cousin Gordon means +no harm--but." + +"Indeed, she really likes you. She talks to me of the days she lived +with you, and of all your kindness to her. It was Katherine Van +Heemskirk that behaved badly. I don't think I like that person--and I +want you to forgive Mrs. Gordon." + +"I have forgiven Mrs. Gordon, Maria. Do you think I would put the Lord's +prayer behind my back for Adelaide Gordon? And I couldna dare to say it +and not forgive her; but to love your friend, and look to yoursel' isna +out o' the way o' wisdom." + +"When am I to go, grandmother?" + +"Mrs. Jermyn will call for you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. How +about thae lessons, and the 'extras' you were speaking o'?" + +"It is such warm weather. I think I ought to have my holiday now; and +what about my frocks, grandmother? Shall I not have to pack my small +trunk?" + +This subject was, of course, paramount, and Madame went to Maria's room +with her, and the proper garments were selected and packed. Very soon +the whole house was infected with the hurry and excitement of the little +lady, and the Elder tried to join in the discussion and employment; it +being one of his pet ideas that he had a pretty taste about women's +clothing. But his first suggestion that the simple frock of India chintz +Maria was wearing was a most becoming morning gown, met with such a +decided rebuff he had no courage left for further advice. For Maria +looking scornfully down at its short simplicity asked, "Why do you not +advise a white ruffled pinafore also, grandfather? Then I would be fit +for an infant school. I am a young lady now," she continued, as she +spread out its three breadths to their utmost capacity, showing in the +act the prettiest little feet, shod in bronze leather with red rosettes +on the instep. And when a man finds his opinions out of date, what can +he do but retire with them into silence? + +The quiet that fell upon the house after Maria's departure was a +grateful respite. The old people sat down with a sigh of relief, and +while they praised their granddaughter's sweet nature, and talked +proudly of all her excellences, they were not sorry to be at rest for a +day or two. Neither was the Elder sorry to casually notice the absence +of Maria to certain royalist upstarts who had won wealth through their +chicaneries, but who had not been able to win the social notice they +craved. + +"Elder Semple may be pinched, now and then, for a few sovereigns," he +thought, "but he and his can sit down with the highest of the King's +servants and be counted one o' them. And it will be lang ere the Paynes +and the Bradleys and many others I could name, will get that far!" + +Such reflections gave to the old gentleman's steps something of the +carriage of his more prosperous days; he looked outward and upward in +his old manner, and thus saw Mr. Cohen, the Jewish trader, standing in +his shop door. He asked pleasantly after his health, and by so doing +brought a few good words on himself, which somehow went warmly to his +heart. In this amiable temper he passed the famous saddlery shop. John +Bradley was just dismissing a customer. He was wearing his apron of blue +and white ticking, and had a paper cap upon his head, and he looked +precisely what he was--a capable, self-respecting workman. Semple had +always permitted a polite salutation to cover all claims on his courtesy +that Bradley might have; but this morning he said with a friendly air, +"How's all with you, Mr. Bradley? Will you tell your charming daughter +that her friend, Miss Semple, has gone wi' a party o' our military +friends to the Bayards' for a three days' visit?" + +"Agnes will miss her friend, Elder." + +"Yes, yes! They went off this morning early, up the river wi' music and +singing. Young things, most o' them, Mr. Bradley, and we must make +allowances." + +"If we must, we must, Elder. And God knows, if it isn't the lute and the +viol, and the tinkling feet of the foolish maidens, it is the trumpet, +and the sword, and the hell of the battlefield. Evil times we are fallen +on, sir." + +"But they are to bring us good times. We must not doubt that. My +respects, sir, to Miss Bradley, who has a voice to lift a soul on the +wings of melody, heavenward. Good day, sir." + +Semple went forward a little dashed, he hardly knew why; and Bradley +was chagrined. He had tried to say something that should not only +represent himself, but also acknowledge the kindness he was sensible of; +but he had only blundered into commonplaces, and quite against his will, +shown much of his roughest side. Why did he include the Elder's +granddaughter among the tinkling feet of foolish maidens? She was the +friend of his own child also. He felt that he had had an opportunity and +mismanaged it, and a sense of his inabilities in all social matters +mortified and fretted him all the day afterward. + +Maria was expected home in three days, but she did not come. Her party +went directly from the Bayard house to Hempstead, where Colonel Birch +was entertaining a large company from the city; so it was fully a week +before the young lady returned to New York. In the meantime Destiny was +not asleep, and affairs in which Maria was interested did not lie still +waiting for her reappearance. + +Maria had left a message for Agnes with her uncle, and he resolved to +take it personally that evening. But as he was drinking his tea the +Elder said, "I saw Mr. Bradley this morning, and I sent word by him to +his daughter anent Maria's absence." Neil did not make any answer, but +his mother noticed the sweep of color up and down his dark face, and she +was on the point of saying, "you hae taken the job out o' hands that +would hae done it better, gudeman." But the wisdom and kindness of +silence was granted her; yet the Elder felt his remark to be +unpropitious, and sighed. There were so many subjects these days that he +made mistakes about; and he had a moment's recollection of his old +authoritative speech, and a wonder as to what had happened him. Was it +that he had fallen out of the ranks of the workers of the world? Or, was +it because he was growing old? He was silent, and so pathetic in his +silence, that Neil observed it and blamed himself. + +"Father," he said, "pardon me! I was thinking. I have been with Major +Crosby all day about the Barrack Department finances, and that is not +work to be talked about. It is well you told Mr. Bradley of Maria's +absence." + +"I wonder you did not go with Maria; you had an invitation." + +"Yes, I had an invitation, but I had engagements of more importance with +Brigadier Skinner and Treasurer McEvers. McEvers is to pay me with wood +from a rebel tract granted him. So when the cold weather comes we shall +not require to count the sticks; we can at least keep warm." + +He rose with these words and went to his room. He told himself that he +would there consider a visit to Miss Bradley, and yet he knew that he +intended to make it no matter what considerations came up for his +deliberation. Not for a moment did he deceive himself; he was well aware +that for the first time in his life he was really in love. He admitted +frankly that his early passion for the pretty Katherine Van Heemskirk +had been a selfish affair; and that his duel with Captain Hyde was +fought, not so much for love of Katherine, as for hatred and jealousy of +his rival. He had never loved Katherine as he loved Agnes, for it was +the soul of Agnes that attracted him and drew him to her by a +gravitation, like that which one star exerts upon another. His first +love he had watched grow from childhood to maidenhood; he could count on +his fingers the number of times he had seen Agnes Bradley; and yet from +this slender experience there had sprung an invincible longing to say to +her, "O, Soul of my Soul, I love you! I need you!" + +Yet to make Agnes his wife at this time was to make sacrifices that he +durst not contemplate. They included the forfeiture of his social +position, and this loss was certain to entail the same result on his +political standing and emoluments. His father was connected with his +financial affairs, and to ruin himself meant also ruin to the parents he +loved so truly. Then the sudden fear that assails honest lovers made his +heart tremble; Agnes might have scruples and reluctances; she might not +be able to love him; she might love some other man, Maria had named such +a probability; with a motion of his hand he swept all contingencies +aside; no difficulties should abate his ardor; he loved Agnes Bradley +and he was determined to win her. + +With this decision he rose, stood before his mirror, and looked at +himself. Too proud a man to be infected with so small a vice as vanity, +he regarded his personality without unreasonable favor. "I am still +handsome," he said. "If I have not youth, I have in its place the +perfection of my own being; I am now in the prime of life, and have not +begun to fall away from it. Many young and beautiful women have shown me +favor I never sought. Now, I will seek favor; I will woo it, beg it, +pray for it. I will do anything within honor and honesty to win this +woman of my soul, this adorable Agnes!" + +He found her in the garden of her home; that is, she was sitting on the +topmost step of the short flight leading to the door. Her silent, +penetrative loveliness encompassed her like an atmosphere in which all +the shafts of the shelterless, worrying day fell harmless. She smiled +more than spoke her welcome, and her eyes unbarred her soul so that they +seemed to understand each other at a glance; for Neil's love was set far +above all passionate tones of welcome or personal adulation. Sitting +quiet by her side he noticed a man walking constantly before the house, +and he pointed out the circumstance to Agnes. + +"He will walk there until my father comes home," she answered. "It is +Elias Hurd the chapel keeper. Father pays him to come here every day at +sunset and watch till he returns." + +"Your words take a great fear from me," said Neil; and then, though his +heart was brim full he could say no more. Silence again enfolded them, +and the song in each heart remained unsung. Yet the overwhelming +influence of feelings which had not found words was upon them, and this +speechless interlude had been to both the clearest of revealers. + +After a week's pleasure-seeking Maria returned home. It was in the +middle of a hot afternoon, and life was at its most languid pitch. The +Elder was asleep in his chair, Madame asleep on the sofa, and the +negroes dozing in the kitchen. Her entry aroused the house, her +personality instantly filled it. She was flushed and tired, but alive +with the egotistical spirit of youth. "Were you not expecting me?" she +asked with an air of injury, as she entered the drowsy, tidy house. "And +I do want a cup of tea so much, grandmother." + +"You were coming Monday, and then you were coming Wednesday; we did not +know whether you would come to-day or not; but you are very welcome, +dear, and you shall have tea in ten minutes." + +She went upstairs while it was preparing, took off her bonnet and her +silk coat, dashed cool water over her flushed face and shoulders and +arms, wet her hair and brushed it backward, and then put on a loose gown +of thin muslin. "Now I can drink my tea in comfort," she said, "and just +talk at my leisure. And dear me! What a week of tumult it has been!" + +"Have you enjoyed your visits?" asked the Elder when she reappeared. + +"So, so, grandfather," she answered; and as she spoke, she lifted the +small tea-table close to his side, and whispered on his cheek, "you will +have a cup of tea with me, dear grandfather, I shall not enjoy mine +unless you do." He said "pooh! pooh! child," but he was delighted, and +with beaming smiles watched her small hands busy among the china, and +the bread and meat. + +"I am downright hungry," she said. "We had breakfast before leaving, but +that seems hours and hours ago, and, O grandmother! there is no tea and +bread like yours in all the world." + +Then she began her long gossip concerning people and events: the water +parties on the river, the picnics in the woods, the dancing and +gambling and games in the house. "And I must tell you," she said, "that +really and truly, I was the most admired of all the beauties there. The +ladies all envied my frocks, and asked where I got them, and begged for +the patterns; and I wished I had taken more with me. It is so +exhilarating to have a new one for every evening. Lord Medway said every +fresh one became me better than the last." + +"Lord Medway!" said the Elder. "Is he that long, lazy man that trails +after General Clinton like his shadow?" + +"Well, they love each other. It seems funny for men to love one another; +but General Clinton and Lord Ernest Medway are like David and Jonathan." + +"Maria Semple!" cried Madame, "I think you might even the like o' +Clinton and the English Lord, to some one o' less respectability than +Bible characters." + +"O grandmother! General Clinton is just as blood-thirsty as General +David ever was. He hates his enemies quite as perfectly, and wishes them +all the same sorts and kinds of calamities. I don't know whether +Jonathan was good-natured, but Lord Medway is. He danced with me as +often as I would let him, and he danced with nobody else! think of that, +grandmother! the women were all madly jealous of me. I did not care for +that much." + +"Janet, dear," said the Elder to his wife, "if you had ever seen this +Lord Medway trailing up William Street or Maiden Lane, you wouldna +believe the lassie. He is just the maist inert piece o' humanity you +could imagine. _Dancing! Tuts! Tuts! lassie!"_ + +"He can dance, grandfather. Mrs. Gordon said the way he led me through a +minuet was adorable; and Major Andre told me that in a skirmish or a +cavalry charge, no one could match him. He was the hardest rider and +fiercest fighter in the army." + +"Weel, weel!" said Madame, "a man that isna roused by anything short o' +a battle or a cavalry charge, might be easy to live with--if you have +any notion for English lords." + +"Indeed, I have not any notion for Lord Medway. He is the most provoking +of men. He takes no interest in games, he won't stake money on cards, he +listened to the music with his eyes shut; and when Miss Robertson and +Major Andre acted a little piece the Major had written, he pretended to +be asleep. He was not asleep, for I caught him awake, and he smiled at +me, as much as to say that I knew all about his deception, and +sanctioned it. I told him so afterward, and he laughed so heartily that +every one looked amazed, and what do you think he said? 'It is a fact, +ladies; I really laughed, but it is Miss Semple's fault.' I don't think, +grandmother, I would have been invited to Hempstead if he had not let it +be known that he was not going unless Miss Semple went." + +"Is he in love with you?" + +"He thinks he is." + +"Are you in love with him?" + +Maria smiled, and with her teacup half-way to her mouth hummed a line +from an old Scotch song: + + "I'm glad that my heart's my ain." + +Such conversation, touching many people and many topics, was naturally +prolonged, and when Neil came home it was carried on with renewed +interest and vigor. And Maria was not deceived when Neil with some +transparent excuse of 'going to see a friend' went out at twilight. + +"He is going to see Agnes," she thought; "my coming home is too good an +excuse to lose, but why did he not tell me? Lovers are so sly, and yet +all their cunning is useless. People always see through their little +moves. In the morning I shall go to Agnes, and I hope she will not be +too advising, because I am old enough to have my own ideas: besides, I +have some experiences." + +All the way to her friend's house in the morning, she was making +resolutions which vanished as soon as they were put to the test. It was +only too easy to fall into her old confidential way, to tell all she had +seen and heard and felt; to be petted and admired and advised. Also, she +could relate many little episodes to Agnes that she had not felt +disposed to tell her grandparents, or even Neil--compliments and +protestations, and sundry "spats" of envy and jealousy with the ladies +of the party. But the conversation settled mainly, however often it +diverged, upon Lord Medway. Agnes had often heard her father speak of +him. He knew John Wesley, and had asked him to preach at Market-Medway +to his tenants and servants; and on the anniversary of the Wesley Chapel +in John Street he had given Mr. Bradley twenty pounds toward the Chapel +fund. "He is a far finer man than he affects to be," she added, "and +father says he wears that drawling, trailing habit like a cloak, to +hide his real nature. Do you think he has fallen in love with you, +Maria?" + +"Would it be a very unlikely thing to happen, Agnes? He danced only with +me, and when Major Andre arranged the Musical Masque, he consented to +sing only on the condition that I sang with him." + +"And what else, Maria?" + +"One evening Quentin Macpherson danced the Scotch sword dance--a very +clever barbaric thing--but I did not like it; the man looks better at +the head of his company. However, he sang a little song called 'The +Soldier's Kiss' that was pretty enough. The melody went in this +way"--and Maria hummed a strain that sounded like the gallop of horses +and shaking of bridles--"I only remember the chorus," she said. + + "A kiss, Sweet, a kiss, Sweet, + For the drums are beat along the street, + And we part, and know not when we meet, + With another kiss like this, Sweet. + +"And Lord Medway whispered to me that Shakespeare had said it all far +better in one line, _'Touch her soft mouth and march.'_ In Major Andre's +masque we had a charming little verse; I brought you a copy of it, see, +here it is. The first two lines have a sweet crescendo melody; at the +third line there was a fanfare of trumpets in the distance and the +gentlemen rattled their swords. The fourth line we sang alone, and at +the close Lord Medway bowed to me, and the whole room took up the +refrain." Then the girls leaned over the paper, and Agnes read the words +aloud slowly, evidently committing them to her memory as she read: + + "A song of a single note! + But it soars and swells above + The trumpet's call, and the clash of arms, + For the name of the song is Love." + +"Now sing me the melody, Maria," said Agnes; and Maria sang, and Agnes +listened, and then they sang it together until it was perfect. "Just +once more," said Maria, and as they reached the close of the verse, a +strong, musical voice joined in the refrain, and then Harry came into +the room singing it. + +"Harry! Harry!" cried Agnes, joyfully. + +_"And the name of the song is Love!"_ he answered, taking Agnes in his +arms and kissing the word on her lips. Then he turned with a glowing +face to Maria, and she bent her head a little proudly, and remained +silent. But soon Agnes went away to order coffee for her visitor, and +then Harry sat down by Maria, and asked to see the song, and their hands +met above the passionate words, and the dumb letters became vocal. They +sang them over and over, their clear, fresh voices growing softer and +softer, till, almost in a whisper of delight, they uttered the last word +_"Love!"_ Then he looked at her as only a lover can look, and she looked +at him like one who suddenly awakens. Her past was a sleep, a dream; +that moment her life began. And she had all the tremors that mark the +beginnings of life; a great quiet fell upon her, and she wanted to go +into solitude and examine this wonderful experience. For Harry had +stirred one of those unknown soul depths that only Love ventures down +to. + +When Agnes returned she said she must go home, her grandmother was not +well; and then she blundered into such a number of foolish excuses as +made Agnes look curiously, perhaps anxiously, at her. And for several +days she continued these excuses; she sent Neil with messages and +letters, but she did not go to her friend. There was something wrong +between them, and Maria finally threw the blame upon Agnes. + +"Any one may see that she is deceiving either Harry or uncle Neil--and I +hate a deceiver. It is not fair--I am sure if Harry knew about uncle--if +he was not engaged to Agnes--Oh, no! I must not think of him. Poor uncle +Neil! If Agnes treats him badly, I shall never forgive her, never!" +Thus, and so on, ran her reflections day after day, and yet she had not +the courage to go and talk the matter out with Agnes. But she noticed an +unusual exaltation in her uncle's manner; he dressed with more than his +usual sombre richness; he seemed to tread upon air, and though more +silent than ever, a smile of great sweetness was constantly on his lips. +And one afternoon as Maria sat at her tambour frame, Madame entered the +parlor hastily, looking almost frightened. + +"Do you hear him? Your uncle, I mean. Do you hear him, Maria?" she +cried. "He is singing. He must be _fey_. I haven't heard him sing since +he was a lad going to Paul Gerome's singing class. It's uncanny! It +frightens me! And what is he singing, Maria?" + +And Maria lifting a calm face answered--_"The name of the song is +Love."_ + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LOVE'S SWEET DREAM. + + +It is not truth, but falsehood which requires explanation, and Maria was +sensible of this fact as she sat at her tambour frame thinking of Agnes +and of Harry and of her uncle Neil. There was something not +straightforward in the life of Agnes, and she resolved every day to make +inquiry into it, and every day she made, instead, some deferring excuse. +But one morning, while eating breakfast, they were all sensitive to +unusual movements in the city, and the air was tense with human emotion. +The Elder and Neil became restless and anticipative, and Maria could not +escape the feverish mental contagion. When the men had left the house +she hurried through her few duties, and then went to her friend. Agnes +was standing at the garden gate, watching and listening. "There is news +of some kind, Maria," she said; "I am anxious to know what it is." + +"Grandmother says we need not run after news, it will find us out, and I +dare say it is only more Connecticut ravaging." + +Then Agnes turned into the house with Maria, for she perceived something +unusual in her voice and manner--dissatisfaction, and perhaps a tone of +injury. There was no pretence of study about her, she had not even +brought her books, and Agnes became silent, and lifted her sewing. At +length Maria spoke: + +"What is the matter with you, Agnes?" she asked, and then added: "you +are not like yourself this morning." + +"Whatever the matter is, Maria, I caught it from you." + +"You are cross." + +"I was only curious and anxious when you came. You brought +dissatisfaction and annoyance with you. I think you had better tell me +at once what has displeased you." + +"Oh, you must know what displeases me, Agnes. Do you think I can bear to +see you playing with two lovers at once? I am very fond of my uncle +Neil, and he adores you. And when Harry is away, uncle Neil is +everything; but as soon as Harry comes, then Harry is everything. It is +not fair to uncle, and I do not approve of such ways. If I were to act +in that kind of fashion between Lord Medway and Quentin Macpherson, who +would be so shocked as Agnes Bradley? I am so disappointed in you, +Agnes. I have not been able to come and see you for days; this morning I +felt that I must speak to you about things." + +"Maria, I once asked you to defer judgment on whatever you saw or heard +or suspected, and to take my word for it being all right. It seems that +I asked too much." + +"But how can it be all right, if you allow two men to make love to +you?--and you seem to like it from both of them." + +"I do like it--from both of them. The two loves are different." + +"Agnes! Agnes! I am shocked at you!" and Maria hid her face on the sofa +cushion and began to cry. + +Then Agnes knelt at her side, and lifted her face and kissed it, and +whispered four words in her ear; and there was a look of wonder, and +Maria asked softly, "Why did you not tell me before?" + +"I thought every time you saw him you would surely guess the truth." + +"I did not." + +"You must have seen also that Harry is deeply in love with you. Now, how +could he be in love with me also?" + +"Harry in love with me! O Agnes!" + +"You know it. Love cannot be hid. Only lovers look at a woman as I have +seen Harry look at you." + +"I do think Harry likes me, and I felt as if--I don't know what I felt, +Agnes. I am very unhappy." + +"Let me tell you what you felt. You said to yourself: if Harry was not +bound to Agnes he would be my lover; and Agnes does not care for him, +she does not treat him well, and yet she treats him too well to be doing +right to uncle Neil. You would include your uncle, because you would +feel it selfish to be wounded and disappointed only on your own +account." + +"You ought not to speak in that way, Agnes. Suppose I had such feelings, +it is not nice of you to put them into words so plain and rude." + +"I do not blame you, Maria. Your attitude is natural, and specially +womanly. It is I who have been wrong. I must now excuse myself to you; +once you said you could believe in me without explanations." + +"Forgive me, Agnes. I do not want explanations now." + +"For I have told you that Harry is my brother, not my lover. That is the +main fact, and accounts for all that specially troubles you. Now you +must know the whole truth. Harry was sent to England out of the way of +the war, for my father lives and moves in his being and welfare. But +Harry wanted to be in the thick of the war; he wanted the post of most +danger for his country's sake. He said he was ashamed to be in England; +that every American who could be in active service ought to be there, +because it might be, God intended to use just him. I gave in to all he +proposed; I had no heart to resist him. I only stipulated that come what +would, our father should not know he was in the country." + +"Why did you not tell me at first that he was your brother?" + +"Harry is handsome, and I was afraid you might be attracted by him; and +the secrecy and romance of the situation and the danger he was +constantly facing--these are things that capture a woman's imagination. +And marriage is such an important affair, I could not think it right to +run the risk of engaging you to Harry unknown to your father or friends. +I told Harry that you believed him to be my lover, and I was sure that +this belief would save you from thinking of him in any light but that of +a friend or brother." + +"It ought to have done, dear Agnes; it did do--but Harry." + +"I know, at Harry's second visit, if not at his first, he was your +lover; and I knew that this explanation must come. Now, I can only beg +you to keep the knowledge of Harry Bradley's presence in America +absolutely to yourself. I assure you, if father knew he was here and in +constant danger, he would be distracted." + +"But does he not suspect? He must wonder that Harry does not write to +him." + +"Harry does write. He sends letters to a friend in London, who re-mails +them to father. About three times a year father gets a London letter, +and that satisfies him. And he so little suspects Harry's presence in +America that the boy has passed his father on the street without the +slightest recognition on father's part; for he has more disguises than +you could believe possible. I have seen him as a poor country doctor, +buying medicines for his settlement; as an old schoolmaster, after a few +books and slates at Rivington's; and a week ago, I met him one day +shouting to the horses which were pulling a load of wood up Golden Hill. +And he has no more transitions than a score of other young men who serve +their country in this secret and dangerous manner. I can assure you +General Washington's agents go in and out of New York constantly, and it +is beyond the power of England to prevent them." + +"Suppose in some evil hour he should be suspected! Oh, Agnes!" + +"There are houses in every street in the city where a window or a door +is always left open. Harry told me he knew of sixteen, and that he +could pass from one to the other in safety." + +"Suppose he should be noticed on the river, at your landing or any +other." + +"He can swim like a fish and dive like a seal and run like a deer. The +river banks that look like a tangle to you and me, are clear as a +highway to Harry. And you know it is the East river that is watched; no +one thinks much about the water on this side; especially so near the +fort. I do not think Harry is in any great danger; and he will be mainly +on the river now for some months." + +"I wish I had not said a word, Agnes, I am so sorry! So sorry!" + +"We are always sorry when we doubt. I felt that you were mistrusting me, +and I promised Harry, on his last visit, to tell you the truth before he +came again. I have been waiting for you all week. I should have told you +to-day, even if you had not said a word." + +"I shall never forgive myself." + +"I was wrong also, Maria. I ought, at the first, to have trusted you +fully." + +"Or not trusted me at all, Agnes." + +"You are right, Maria." + +A great chagrin made Maria miserable. A little faith, a little patience, +and the information she had demanded in spirit unlovely and unloving, +would have come to her by Harry's desire, and with the affectionate +confidence of Agnes. But neither of the girls were fully satisfied or +happy, and the topic was dropped. Both felt that the matter would have +to rest, in order to clear itself, and Agnes was not unconscious of +those mute powers within, which, if left to themselves, clear +noiselessly away the debris of our disputes and disappointments. She +proposed a walk in the afternoon; she said she had shopping to do, and +if there was any news, they would likely hear it from some one. + +There was evidently news, and Agnes at once judged it unfavorable for +the royalists. The military were moving with sullen port; the houses +were generally closed, and the people on the streets not inclined to +linger or to talk. "We had better ask my father," she said, and they +turned aside to Bradley's store to make the inquiry. The saddler was +standing at the door talking to Lord Medway; and his eyes flashed an +instant's triumphant signal as they caught his daughter's glance of +inquiry. But he kept his stolid air, and when he found Lord Medway and +Maria so familiarly pleased to meet each other, he introduced Agnes and +gave a ready acquiescence to Lord Medway's proposal to walk with the +ladies home. + +Then, Maria, suddenly brilliant with a sense of her power, asked, "What +is the matter with the city this afternoon? Every one seems so depressed +and ill-humored." + +"We have lost Stony Point," answered Medway. "There was a midnight +attack by twelve hundred picked men. It was an incomparable deed of +daring. I would like to have been present. I said to General Clinton +when I heard the story, 'Such men are born to rule, and coming from the +stock they do, you will never subdue them!'" + +"Who led the attack?" asked Agnes. + +"Anthony Wayne, a brave daring man, they tell me. The Frenchman, De +Fleury, was first in, and he hauled down our flags. _Dash it!_ If it had +been an American, I would not have cared so much. Now, perhaps, Generals +Clinton and Tryon will understand the kind of men they have to fight. +When Americans fight Englishmen, it is Greek meeting Greek. Clinton +tells me the rebels have taken four thousand pounds' worth of ordnance +and stores and nearly seven hundred prisoners. Oh, you know a deed like +this makes even an enemy proud of the men who could do it!" + +"Was it a very difficult deed?" asked Maria. + +"I am told that Stony Point is a rock two hundred feet high, surrounded +by the Hudson River on three sides, and almost isolated from the land on +the fourth side by a marsh, which at high tide is two feet under water. +They reached the fort about midnight, and while one column drew the +defenders to the front by a rapid continuous fire, two other columns, +armed only with the bayonet, broke into the fort from opposite points. +In five minutes the rebels were rushing through every embrasure, and a +thousand tongues crying 'Victory'! There is no use belittling such an +affair. It was as brave a thing as ever men did, and I wish I had seen +the doing of it." + +In such conversation they passed up Maiden Lane, and by the ruins of +Trinity Church to the river side; all of them influenced by the tense +feeling which found no vocal outlet for its passion. Men and women would +appear for a moment at a window, and then disappear. They were American +patriots on the look-out to spread the good news. A flash from the +lifted eyes of Agnes was sufficient. Again they would meet two or three +royalists talking in a dejected, disparaging way of the victory; or else +blustering in anger over the supineness or inefficiency of their +generals. + +"I hope General Clinton will now find his soldiers some tougher work +than hay-making," sneered an irate old man who stopped Lord Medway. "If +he goes out hay-making, he ought to leave fighting men in the forts. Why +the commander at Stony Point--Colonel Johnson--I know him, had a wine +party, and the officers from Verplanck's Point were drinking with him, +when Wayne walked into their midst and made them all prisoners. I am +told the sentinels had been secured, the abatis removed, and the rebels +in the works before our fine soldiers knew an enemy was near. And it was +that tanner from Pennsylvania--that Dandy Wayne, that stole the march on +them! It makes me ashamed of our English troops, my lord! + +"Well, Mr. Smith, General Clinton will be in New York in a few days. +There will be many to call him to account, I have no doubt." + +In this electric atmosphere heart spoke to heart very readily, for in +the midst of great realities conventionalities are of so little +consequence, and genuine feeling, of any kind, forgets, or puts aside, +flatteries or compliments. So when they reached the Bradley house, Agnes +asked Lord Medway if he would enter and rest awhile? And he said he +would, and so sat talking about the war until it was tea-time for the +simple maidens, who ate their dinner at twelve o'clock. Then he saw +Agnes bring in the tray, and take out the china, and lay the round +table with a spotless nicety; and it delighted him to watch the homely +scene. Maria was knitting, and he turned her ball of pink yarn in his +hands and watched her face glow and smile and pout and change with every +fresh sentiment. Or, if he lifted his eyes from this picture, he could +look at Agnes, who had pinned a clean napkin across her breast, and was +cutting bread and butter in the wafer slices he approved. He wondered if +she would ask him to take tea with them; if she did not he was resolved +to ask himself. Then he noticed she had placed three cups on the tray, +and he was sure of her hospitality. + +It made him very happy, and he never once fell into the affectation of +talk and manner appropriate to a fashionable tea-table. He seemed to +enjoy both the rebel sentiments of Agnes, and the royalist temper of +Maria; and he treated both girls with such hearty deference and respect +as he did not always show to much more famous dames. And it was while +sitting at this tea-table he gave his heart without reserve to Maria +Semple. If he had any doubts or withdrawals, he abandoned them in that +happy hour, and said frankly to himself: + +"I will make her my wife. That is my desire and my resolve; and I will +not turn aside from it for anything, nor for any man living; Maria +Semple is the woman I love, no one else shall have her." + +In following out this resolve he understood the value of Agnes; and he +did all he could to gain her good-will. She was well disposed to give +it; her father's approval bespoke hers. A feeling of good comradeship +and confidence grew rapidly as they ate, and drank their tea, and talked +freely and without many reservations, for the sake of their political +feelings. So much so, that when Lord Medway rose to go, there came to +Agnes a sudden fear and chill. She looked at him apprehensively, and +while he held her hand, she said: + +"Lord Medway, Maria and I have been very sincere with you, but I am sure +our sincerity cannot wrong us, in your keeping." + +This was not very explicit, but he understood her meaning. He laid his +hand upon the table at which they had eaten, and said: "It is an altar +to faith and friendship. When I am capable of repeating anything said at +the table where I sit as guest, I shall be lost to truth and honor, and +be too vile to remember." He spoke with force, and with a certain +eloquence, very different from his usual familiar manner, and both Agnes +and Maria showed him in their shining eyes and confiding air how surely +they believed in him. + +After this event there was continual excitement in the city, and General +Clinton returned to it at once. He called in the little army he had +cutting grass for winter fodder, and with twenty thousand troops shut +himself up in New York. + +"For once the man has been employing himself well and wiselike," said +Madame Semple. "He has cut all the grass, and cured all the grass round +about Rye, and White Plains, and New Rochelle, and East Chester, and a +few other places; and he has left it all ahint him. What a wiselike +wonderfu' man is General Sir Henry Clinton!" + +"And the rebels have carried off the last wisp o' hay he made," said the +Elder angrily. "They were on the vera heels o' our soldiers. It's beyond +believing! It's just the maist mortifying thing that ever happened us." + +Madame looked pityingly at her husband, raised her shoulders to +emphasize the look, and then in a thin voice, quavering a little with +her weakness and emotion, began to sing to herself from that old +translation of the Psalms so dear to every Scottish heart: + + "Kings of great armies foiled were + And forced to flee away; + And women who remained at home + Did distribute the prey. + God's chariots twenty thousand are, + Thousands of angels strong." + +"Janet! Janet! Will you sing some kind o' calming verse? The Lord is +naething but a _man of war_ in your thoughts. Do you believe He goes +through the earth wi' a bare, lifted sword in His hand?" + +"Whiles He does, Alexander. And the light from that lifted sword +lightens the earth. I hae tasted o' the goodness of the Lord; I know of +old His tender mercy, and His loving kindness, but in these awfu' days, +I am right glad to think o' Him as _The Lord of Hosts!_ He is sure to be +on the right side, and He can make of one man a thousand, and of a +handful, a great multitude." + +"It's a weary warld." + +"But just yet there's nae better one, my dear auld man! So we may as +well tak' cheerfully what good comes to-day, there will be mair +to-morrow, or I'm far wrang." + +If Janet's "to-morrow" be taken as she meant it to be taken, her set +time was long enough for other startling events. Tryon's expedition was +ordered back to New York, and Quentin Macpherson brought the news of his +own return. He did not meet with as warm a welcome as he hoped for. +Madame was contemptuous and indignant over the ravaging character of the +expedition. The Elder said they had "alienated royalists without +intimidating rebels"; and Maria looked critically at the young soldier, +and thought him less handsome than she had supposed: the expedition, so +cowardly and cruel, had been demoralizing and had left its mark on the +young man. He was disappointed, jealous, offended; he had an overweening +opinion of the nobility of his family and not a very modest one as to +his own deserts. He was also tenacious, and the thing he desired grew in +value as it receded from his grasp; so, although angry at Maria, he had +no idea of relinquishing his suit for her hand. + +She kept as much as possible out of his company, and this was not +difficult. The troops were constantly on the alert, for one piece of bad +news, for the royalists, followed another. A month after the capture of +Stony Point, the rebels took Paulus Hook in a midnight attack. This fort +had been most tenaciously held by the English from the earliest days of +the war, it being the only safe landing-place in Jersey for their +foraging parties. It was within sight of New York, and almost within +reach of its guns. The shame and anger of the royalist burghers was +unspeakable; they would have openly insulted the military, if they had +dared to do so. + +About two weeks later came the news of Sullivan's sweeping victory over +the Six Nations of Indians under Sir John Johnson and the Indian Chief, +Brandt. The Americans turned their country into a desert, and drove the +whole people in headlong flight as far as Niagara. This Autumn also was +rendered remarkable by the astonishing success of the American +privateers; never had they been at once so troublesome and so fortunate. +So that there was plenty for every one to talk about, if there had been +neither lovers nor love-making in the land. But it seemed as if Love +regarded the movement of great armies and the diplomacies of great +nations, as the proper background and vehicles for his expression. While +Medway was talking, or fishing, or hunting with Clinton, he was thinking +of Maria. While Macpherson was inspecting his company, he was thinking +of Maria. While Harry was traversing the woods and the waters, he was +thinking of Maria. And while Neil Semple was drawing out titles, and +making arguments in Court, he was always conscious of the fact that his +happiness was bound up in the love of Agnes Bradley. On every side also, +other lovers were wooing and wedding. The sound of trumpets did not +sadden the music of the marriage feast, nor did the bridal dance tarry a +moment for the tramp of marching soldiers. All the chances and changes +of war were but ministers of Love, and did his pleasure. + +In the meantime John Bradley was stitching his saddles, and praying and +working for Washington, the idol of his hopes, quite unconscious of how +completely his home had been confiscated to the service of love and +lovers. No house in all the restless city seemed less likely to be the +rendezvous of meeting hearts; and yet quite naturally, and by the force +of the simplest circumstances, it had assumed this character. It began +with Maria. Her beauty and charm had given her three lovers, who were, +all of them, men with sufficient character to find, or to make a way to +her presence. But every movement, whether of the body or the soul, +takes, by a certain law, the direction in which there is the least +resistance; and the road of least resistance to Maria, was by way of +Agnes Bradley. + +At the Semple house, Madame was a barrier Medway could not pass. She +told Maria plainly, "no English lord should cross her doorstep." She +could not believe in his good heart, or his good sense, and she asked +scornfully, "how a close friend of General Clinton's could be fit +company for an American girl? He has nae charm for touching pitch +without being defiled," she said, "and I'll not hae him sitting on my +chairs, and putting his feet on my hearth, and fleching and flattering +you in my house while my name is Janet Semple. And you may tell him I +said so." + +And in order to prevent Madame giving her own message, Maria was +compelled to confess to Lord Medway, her grandmother's antagonism. He +was politely sorry for her dislike to Englishmen--for he preferred to +accept it as a national, rather than a personal feeling; but it did not +interfere with his intentions. There was Miss Bradley. She had a kind +feeling toward him, and Maria spent a large part of every day with her +friend. By calling on Miss Bradley he could see Miss Semple. As the +best means toward this end he cultivated Agnes through her father. He +talked with him, listened to his experiences, and gave him subscriptions +for Wesley Chapel, and for the prisoners he could find means to help. He +made such a good impression on John Bradley, that he told his daughter +he felt sure the good seed he had sown would bring forth good fruit in +its season. + +Macpherson had a certain welcome at the Semples, but he could not strain +it. Madame was not well, company fatigued her, and, though he did not +suspect this reason, she was feeling bitterly that she must give up her +life-long hospitality--she could not afford to be hospitable any longer. +She did not tell Maria this, she said rather, "the laddie wearied her +mair than once a week. She wasna strong, and she didna approve o' his +excuses for General Clinton. I could tear them all to ravlins," she +said, angrily, "but I wad tear mysel' to pieces doing it. He has the +reiving, reiving Highland spirit, and nae wonder! The Macphersons have +carried fire and sword for centuries." + +As for Harry Deane, he, of course, could not come at all, though Madame +might have borne him more than once a week, if she had been trusted. But +Harry was as uncertain as the wind. He came when no one looked for him, +and when he was expected, he was miles away. So there was no possible +neutral ground for Love but such as Agnes in her good-nature and wisdom +would allow. But Agnes was not difficult. Neil Semple had taught her the +sweetness and clemency of love, and she would not deprive Maria of +those pleasant hours, with which so many days were brightened that would +otherwise have been dull and monotonous. For, during the summer's heat +the royalist families, who could afford to do so, left the city, and the +little tea parties at Agnes Bradley's were nearly the only entertainment +at Maria's command. + +These were informal and often delightful. Lord Medway knew that about +five o'clock Agnes would be setting the tea-tray, and he liked to sit +beside Maria and watch her do it. And sometimes Maria made the tea, and +poured his out, and put in the sugar and cream with such enchanting +smiles and ways that he vowed never tea in this world tasted so +refreshing and delicious. And not infrequently Quentin Macpherson would +come clattering in when the meal had begun, take a chair at the round +table, and drinking his tea a little awkwardly, soothe his self-esteem +by an aggressive self-importance. For Lord Medway's nonchalant manner +provoked him to such personal assertion as always mortified when the +occasion was over. About half-past seven was Neil's hour, and then the +conversation became general, and love found all sorts of tender +occasions; every glance of meeting eyes, and every clasp of meeting +hands, bearing the one sweet message, "I love you, dear!" + +It was usually in the morning that Harry came springing up the garden +path. There was neither work nor lessons that day, nor any pretense of +them. Harry had too much to tell, and both Agnes and Maria hung upon his +words as if they held the secret of life and happiness. Now, granted two +beautiful girls with a moderate amount of freedom, and four lovers in +that pleasantly painful condition between hope and fear that people in +love make, if it is not made for them, and put all in a position where +they have the accessories of sunlight and moonlight, a shady garden, a +noble river, the scent of flowers, the goodness of fine fruit, the +pleasures of the tea-table, and if these young people do not advance in +the sweet study their hearts set them, they must be either coldly +indifferent, or stupidly selfish. + +This company of lovers was however neither stupid nor selfish. In the +midst of war's alarms, while fleets and armies were gathering for +battle, they were attending very faithfully to their own little drama. +Quentin Macpherson had one advantage over both his rivals: he went to +the Semple house every Sunday evening, and then he had Maria wholly +under his influence. He walked in the garden with her, she made his tea +for him, he sat by her side during the evening exercise, sung the psalm +from the same Bible, and then, rising with the family, stood, as one of +them, while the Elder offered his anxious yet trustful prayer. It was +Madame who had thought of connecting this service with the young +soldier. "It is little good he can get from thae Episcopals," she said, +"and it's your duty, Alexander, to gie him a word in season," and though +Macpherson was mainly occupied in watching Maria, and listening to her +voice, he had been too well grounded in his faith not to be sensible of +the sacredness of those few minutes, and to be insensibly influenced by +their spirit. + +Neil was never present. When the tea-table was cleared, he went quietly +out, and those who cared to follow him would have been led to the little +Wesleyan Chapel on John Street. He always took the same seat in a pew +near the door, and there he worshipped for an hour or two the beautiful +daughter of John Bradley. He was present to watch them enter. Sometimes +the father went to the pulpit, sometimes he went with Agnes to the +singing-pew. And to hear these two translating into triumphant song the +holy aspirations and longings of Watts and Wesley, was reason enough for +any one who loved music to be in Wesley Chapel when they were singing +together. + +All who have ever loved, all who yet dream of love, can tell the further +story of those summer days for themselves. They have only to keep in +mind that it had a constant obligato of trumpets and drums and marching +men, and a constant refrain, made up of all the rumors of war, victory, +and defeat; good news and bad news, fear, and hope, and sighing despair. +At length the warm weather gave place to the dreamy hours of the Indian +summer. A heavenly veil of silvery haze lay over the river and the city; +a veil which seemed to deaden every sound but the shrill chirping of the +crickets; and a certain sense of peace calmed for a short time the most +restless hearts. The families who had been at various places during the +hot months returned to their homes in New York, with fresh dreams of +conquest and pleasure, for as yet the terrors of the coming winter were +not taken into thought or account. The war was always going to be "over +very soon," and General Clinton assured the butterflies of his military +court they might eat, drink, and be merry, for he intended at once to +"strike such a blow as would put an end to confederated rebellion for +ever." And they gladly believed him. + +In less than a week Maria received half-a-dozen invitations to dinners, +dances, card parties, and musical recitations. She began at once to look +over her gowns, and Agnes came every day to the Semple house to assist +in remodeling and retrimming them. They were delightful days long to be +remembered. Both the Elder and Madame enjoyed them quite as much as the +girls; and even Neil entered into the discussions about colors, and the +suitability of guimpes and fringes, with a smiling gravity that was very +attractive. + +"Uncle Neil thinks he is taking depositions and weighing evidence; see +how the claims of pink and amber perplex him!" and then Neil would laugh +a little, and decide in such haste that he generally contradicted his +first opinion. + +The Sunday in this happy week was made memorable by the news which +Quentin Macpherson brought. "Some one," he said, "had whispered to +General Clinton that it was the intention of Washington to unite with +the French army and besiege New York, and Clinton had immediately +ordered the troops garrisoning Rhode Island to return to the city with +all possible speed. And would you believe it, Elder?" said the young +soldier, "they came so hastily that they left behind them all the wood +they had cut for winter, and all the forage and stores provided for six +thousand men. No sooner were they out of sight than the American army +slipped in and took possession of everything; and now it appears that +it was a false report--the general is furious, and is looking for the +author of it." + +"He needna look very far," answered Semple. "There is a man that dips +his sop in the dish wi' him, and that coils him round his finger wi' a +mouthful o' words, wha could maist likely give him the whole history o' +the matter, for he'll be at the vera beginning o' it." + +"Do you mean to say, sir, that our Commander-in-Chief has a traitor for +his friend and confidant and adviser?" + +"I mean to say all o' that. But where will you go and not find +Washington's emissaries beguiling thae stupid English?" + +"You cannot call the English stupid, sir." + +"I can and I will. They are sae sure o' their ain power and wisdom that +they are mair than stupid. They are ridic'lus. It makes them the easy +tools of every clever American that is willing to take a risk--and they +maist o' them are willing." + +"But when the English realize----" + +"Aye, _when_ they realize!" + +"Well, sir, they came to realization last month splendidly in that +encounter with the privateer, Paul Jones. It was the grandest seafight +ever made between seadogs of the same breed. Why, the muzzles of their +guns touched each other; the ships were nearly torn to pieces, and +three-fourths of the men killed or wounded. Gentlemen, too, as well as +fighters though but lowborn men, for I am told they began the combat +with a courtesy worthy of the days of chivalry. Both captains bowed and +remained uncovered until the foremost guns of the English ship bore on +the starboard quarter of the American. Then Captain Paul Jones put on +his hat, as a sign that formalities were over, and the battle began, and +raged until the English ship was sinking; then she surrendered." + +"Mair's the pity!" said the Elder, "she ought to have gone down +fighting." + +"She saved the great fleet of merchantmen she was convoying from the +Baltic; while she was fighting the American every one of them got safe +away and into port, and the American ship went down two days +afterward--literally died of her wounds and went down to her grave. And +by the bye, Mr. Semple, this Paul Jones is a countryman of ours--a +Scotchman." + +"Aye, is he!--from Kirkcudbright. I was told he had an intention o' +sacking Edinburgh. Fair, perfect nonsense!" + +"An old friend of the Macphersons--Stuart of Invernalyle--was sought out +to defend the town. I had a letter from the family." + +"Weel, Stuart could tak' that job easy. The west wind is a vera reliable +one in the Firth o' Edinburgh, and it is weel able, and extremely +likely, to defend its ain city. In fact, it did do so, for Paul couldna +win near, and so he went 'north about' and found the Baltic fleet with +the _Serapis_ guarding it. Weel, then, he had his fight, though he lost +the plunder. But it was a ridic'lus thing in any mortal, menacing the +capital o' Scotland wi' three brigs that couldna have sacked a Fife +fishing village! And what is mair," added the old man with a tear +glistening in his eyes, "he wouldna have hurt Leith or Edinburgh. Not +he! Scots may love America, but they never hate their ain dear Scotland; +they wouldna hurt the old land, not even in thought. If put to the +question, all o' them would say, as David o' Israel and David o' +Scotland baith said, 'let my right hand forget its cunning----' you ken +the rest, and if you don't, it will do you good to look up the 137th +Psalm." + +The stir of admiration concerning these and other events--all favorable +to the Americans--irritated General Clinton and made him much less +courteous in his manner to both friends and foes. And, moreover, it was +not pleasant for him to know that General Washington was entertaining +the first French Minister to the United States at Newburgh, and that +John Jay was then on his way to Madrid to complete with the Spanish +government terms of recognition and alliance. So that even through the +calmness of these Indian summer days there were definite echoes of +defeat and triumph, whether expressed publicly or discussed so privately +that the bird of the air found no whisper to carry. + +One day at the end of October, Agnes did not come until the afternoon, +and Maria rightly judged that Harry was in New York. There was no need +to tell her so, the knowledge was an intuition, and when Agnes said to +Madame, "she had a friend, and would like Maria to bring the pelerine +they were retrimming to her house, and spend the evening with her," no +objection was made. "I shall miss you baith; so will the Elder," she +answered, "but I dare say that English lord is feeling I have had mair +than my share o' your company." + +"Oh, Madame!" said Agnes, "it is not the English lord, it is a true +American boy from--up the river," and Agnes opened her eyes wide as she +lifted them to Madame's, and there was some sort of instantaneous and +satisfactory understanding. Then she added, "Will you ask Mr. Neil +Semple to come for Maria about eight o'clock?" + +"There will be nae necessity to ask him. His feet o' their ain accord +will find their way to your house, Agnes," said Madame. "Before he has +told himsel' where he is going he will be at your doorstep. He must be +very fond o' his niece Maria--or of somebody else," and the old lady +smiled pleasantly at the blushing girl. Then both girls kissed Madame +and stopped at the garden gate to speak to the Elder, and so down the +road together full of happy expectation, divining nothing of _One_ who +went forth with them. How should they? Neither had ever seen the face of +sorrow or broke with her the ashen crust. They were not aware of her +presence and they heard not the stir of her black mantle trailing upon +the dust and the dead leaves as she walked at their side. + +"Harry will be here for tea," said Agnes, when they reached the house, +and a soft, delightful sense of pleasure to come pervaded the room as +they sat sewing and talking until it was time to set the table. And as +soon as Agnes began this duty there was a peculiar whistle, and Maria +glanced at Agnes, threw aside her work, and went down the garden to meet +her lover. He was tying his boat to the little jetty, and when the duty +was done they sat down on the wooden steps and talked of this, and that, +and of everything but love, and yet everything they said was a +confession of their interest in each other. But the truest love has +often the least to say, and those lovers are to be doubted and pitied +who must always be seeking assurances, for thus they sow the path of +love with thorns. Far happier are they who leave something unsaid, who +dare to enter into that living silence which clasps hearts like a book +of songs unsung. They will sing them all, but not all at once. One by +one, as their hour comes, they will learn them together. + +That calm, sweet afternoon was provocative of this very mood. Maria and +Harry sat watching the river rocking the boat, and listening to the +chirruping of the crickets, and both were satisfied with their own +silence. It was a heavenly hour, hushed and halcyon, full of that lazy +happiness which is the most complete expression of perfect love. When +Agnes called, they walked hand in hand up the garden, and at the +tea-table came back again into the world. Harry had much to tell them, +and was full of confidence in the early triumph of the Americans. + +"Then I hope we shall have peace, and all be friends again," said Maria. +She spoke a little wearily, as if she had no faith in her words, and +Harry answered her doubt rather than her hope. + +"There will not be much friendship this generation," he said; "things +have happened between England and America which men will remember until +they forget themselves." + +After tea, Harry said, "Maria is going with me to the river to see if +the boat is safe," and Agnes, smiling, watched them a little way; then +turned again to her china, and without any conscious application began +to sing softly the aria of an old English anthem by King: + +"I went down into the garden of nuts, to see whether the pomegranates +budded--to see whether the pomegranates--the pomegranates budded,"[1] +but suddenly, even as her voice rose and fell sweetly to her thoughts, a +strange chill arrested the flow of the melody; and she was angry at +herself because she had inadvertently wondered, "if the buds would ever +open full and flowerwise?" + + [1] "Solomon's Song," 6:11. + +In about half an hour Agnes, having finished her house duties, went to +the door opening into the garden and called Harry and Maria. They turned +toward the house when they heard her voice, and she remained in the open +door to watch them come through the tall box-shrubs and the many-colored +asters. And as she did so, Quentin Macpherson reached the front +door--which also stood open--and perceiving Agnes, he did not knock, but +waited for her to turn inward. Consequently he saw Harry and Maria, and +did not fail to notice the terms of affectionate familiarity between +them. The fire of jealousy was kindled in a moment; he strode forward to +meet the company, and was received with the usual friendly welcome; for +such a situation had often been spoken of as possible, and Agnes was not +in the least disconcerted. + +"My friend, Mr. Harry Deane, Captain Macpherson," she said, without +hesitation, and the Captain received the introduction with his most +military air. Then Agnes set herself to keep the conversation away from +the war, but that was an impossible thing; every incident of life +somehow or other touched it, and before she realized the fact, Harry was +deprecating Tryon's outrages in Connecticut, and Macpherson defending +them on the ground that "the towns destroyed had fitted out most of the +privateers which had so seriously interfered with English commerce. Both +the building of the ships and the destruction of the towns for building +them are natural incidents of war," he said, and then pointedly, +"perhaps you are a native of Connecticut?" + +"No," answered Harry, "I am a native of New York." + +"Ah! I have not met you before." + +"I am a great deal away----" then receiving from Agnes a look of anxious +warning, he thought it best to take his leave. Agnes rose and went to +the door with him, and Maria wished Captain Macpherson anywhere but in +her society; especially as he began to ask her questions she did not +wish to answer. + +"So Miss Bradley has a lover?" he said, looking pointedly at the couple +as they left the room. + +"I used to think so once," answered Maria. + +"But not now?" + +"But not now. Mr. Deane is an old friend, a playmate even." + +"I suppose he is a King's man?" + +"Ask him; he is still standing at the gate. I talk to him on much +pleasanter subjects." + +"Love, for instance?" + +"Perhaps." + +"How can you be so cruel, Maria?" + +"It is _Miss Semple's_ nature to be cruel." + +The reproof snubbed him, and both were silent for some minutes; then the +same kind of desultory fencing was renewed, and Maria felt the time to +be long and the tension unendurable. She could have cried out with +anger. Why had not Agnes let her go to the door with Harry? She had had +no opportunity to bid him "good-bye"; and yet, even after Harry had +gone, there Agnes stood at the gate, "watching for Uncle Neil, of +course," thought Maria, "and no doubt she has a message for me; she +might come and give it to me--very likely Harry is at the boat waiting +for me--oh, dear! Why does she not come?" + +With such thoughts urging her, the very attitude of Agnes was beyond +endurance. She stood at the gate as still as if she was a part of it, +and at length Maria could bear the delay no longer. + +"I wish to speak to Agnes," she said, "will you permit me a moment?" + +"Certainly," he answered with an air of offense. "I fear I am in the way +of some one or something." + +"Oh, no, no!" cried Maria, decisively. "I only want to make her come in. +She says the night air is so unhealthy, and yet there she stands in +it--bareheaded, too." + +"It is an unusually warm evening." + +"Yes, but you know there is the malaria. I shall bring her in a moment, +you shall see how quickly I am obeyed." + +In unison with these words, she rose in a hurry, and as she did so there +came through the open window a little stone wrapped in white paper. If +she had not moved, it would have fallen into her lap; as it was, it fell +on the floor and almost at the feet of Macpherson. He lifted it, and +went to the candle. It was a message, as he expected, and read thus: + +_"Keep that Scot amused for an hour, and meet me at Semple's landing at +nine o'clock. Harry."_ + +"Oh! Oh!" he said with an intense inward passion. "I am to be amused! I +am to be cajoled! deceived! _that Scot_ is to be used for some purpose, +and by St. Andrew, I'll wager it is treason. This affair must be looked +into--quick, too." With this thought he put the paper in his pocket, and +followed Maria to the gate where she stood talking with Agnes. + +"I will bid you good-night," he said with a purposed air of offense. "I +am sure that I am an intruder on more welcome company." + +He would listen to no explanations or requests. Maria became suddenly +kind, and assumed the prettiest of her coaxing ways, but he knew she was +only "amusing" him, and he would not respond to what he considered her +base, alluring treachery. + +"There, now, Maria! You have been very foolish," said Agnes. "Captain +Macpherson is angry. You ought to have been particularly kind to him +to-night--after Harry." + +"You were so selfish, Agnes--so unreasonably selfish! You might have let +me go to the gate with Harry. I never had a chance to say 'good-bye' to +him; there you stood, watching for Uncle Neil, and I was on pins and +needles of anxiety. Why didn't you stay with the man, and let me go to +the gate?" + +"If you must know why; I had some money to give Harry. Could I do that +before Captain Macpherson?" + +"I hate the man! I am glad he has gone! I hope he will never come +again!" + +"I do not think he will, Maria." + +They went into the house thoroughly vexed with each other, and Maria +said in a tone of pique or offense, "I wonder what delays my uncle! I +wish he would come!" + +In reality Neil was no later than usual, but Maria was quivering with +disappointment and annoyance, and when he did arrive it was not possible +for any one to escape the influence of an atmosphere charged with the +miserable elements of frustrated happiness. Maria was not a girl to bear +disagreeable things alone or in silence. She would talk only of +Macpherson and his unwelcome visit; "but he always did come when he was +not wanted," she said angrily. "Last Sunday when grandmother was sick, +and I was writing a long letter to father, and nobody cared to see him +at all, enter Captain Macpherson with his satisfied smile, and his +clattering sword, and his provoking air of conferring a favor on us by +his company. I hate the creature! And I think it is a dreadful thing to +make set days for people's visits; we have all got to dislike Sunday +afternoons, just for his sake!" and so on, with constant variations. + +Fortunately Mr. Bradley came home soon after eight o'clock, and Maria +would not make any further delay. She had many reasons for her hurry, +but undoubtedly the chief one, was a feeling that Agnes ought not to +have the pleasure of a conversation between her father and her lover, +and probably a walk home with her, and then a walk back with Neil alone. +She would go at once, and she would not ask Agnes to go with her. If she +was disappointed, it was only a just retribution for her selfishness +about Harry. And though she noticed Agnes was depressed and cast down, +she was not appeased; "However, I will come in the morning and make all +right," she thought; "to-night Agnes may suffer a little. I will come in +the morning and make all right." + +Yes, she would come in the morning, but little she dreamed on what +errand she would come. Still, Maria is not to be blamed over much; there +is some truth in every reproach that is made. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE INTERCEPTED MESSAGE. + + +While this unhappy interlude was passing, a far greater sorrow was +preparing. Captain Macpherson went at once to his colonel with the +pebble-sent note. He told himself that his duty to his King and his +colors demanded it, and that no harm could come to the two women except +such as was reflected from the trouble that saucy young man might be +entitled to. He had no objections to giving him trouble; he felt that he +ought to be made to understand a little better what was due to an +officer of the King. _"That Scot!"_ He flung his plaid passionately over +his shoulder and stamped his foot with the offended temper of centuries +of Macphersons. As for Maria, he would not think of her. He could not +know what the consequences of the interrupted tryst would be, but let +her take them! A girl who could prefer quite a common-looking young man +to himself needed a lesson. He said over and over that he had only done +a duty he would have performed under any circumstances; and he kept +reiterating the word "duty,"--still he knew right well that duty in this +case had been powerfully seconded by jealousy and by his personal +offense. + +What action his colonel would take he knew not. He desired to be excused +from any part in it, because of the Semple's hospitality to him. His +request was granted; and then he went to his rooms hot with uncertain +excitement. The colonel had no sentimental reasons for ignoring what +might prove a valuable arrest. Nothing had provoked General Clinton more +than the ubiquitous nature of Washington's spies. They were everywhere; +they were untiring, unceasing and undaunted. The late reverses, which +had mortified every English soldier, had been undoubtedly brought about +by the false reports they spread,--no one knew by whose assistance,--and +this night might be a turning-point in affairs. + +He ordered ten picked men to wait for the boat at Semple's landing. The +place was easily reached; they had but to walk to the bottom of the +fence, climb over it, and secrete themselves in the little boathouse, or +among the shrubbery, if it had yet foliage enough to screen them. He +looked over his roll of suspects and found Madame Semple's name among +them. Likely enough, her family sympathized with her. It would at least +be prudent to secure the husband and son. If they were good royalists, +they could easily prove it. Then he sat down to smoke and to drink +brandy; he, too, had done his duty, and was not troubled at all about +results. The Semples, to him, were only two or three out of sixty +thousand reputed royalists in the city. If they were honest, they had +little to fear; if they were traitors, they deserved all they would +certainly get from Clinton in his present surly mood. + +Quite unconscious of what was transpiring, John Bradley was eating a +frugal supper of oatmeal and bread and cheese, and telling his daughter +about a handsome saddle that was going up the river to "the man in all +the world most worthy of it." Elder Semple was asleep, and Madame, lying +in the darkness, was softly praying away her physical pain and her +mental anxieties. Suddenly she heard an unusual stir and the prompt, +harsh voices of men either quarreling or giving orders. + +"It is on our ain place!" and a sick terror assailing her, she cried: +"Wake up! Wake up, Alexander! There's men at the door, and angry men, +and they're calling you!" + +Neil, who was sitting dressed in his room, instantly answered the +summons, and was instantly under arrest; and as no effort was made to +prevent noise or confusion, the tumult and panic soon reached Maria. She +was combing her hair to fretful thoughts, and a keen sense of +disappointment; but when Madame entered the room wringing her hands and +lamenting loudly, she let the comb fall and stood up trembling with +apprehension. + +"Maria! Maria! They are taking your grandfather and uncle to prison! Oh, +God, my dear auld man! My dear auld man!" + +"Grandmother! What are you saying? You must be mistaken--you must be!" + +"Come, and see for yoursel';" and Madame flung open the window and with +a shriek of futile distress cried, "Alexander, look at me! Speak to me." + +At these words the Elder, who was standing with a soldier, lifted his +face to the distracted woman, in her white gown at the open window, and +cried to her: + +"Janet, my dearie, you'll get your death o' cold. It is a' a mistake. Go +to your bed, dear woman. I'll be hame in the morning." + +Neil repeated this advice, and then there was a sharp order and a small +body of men marched forward, and in their midst Harry walked bareheaded +and manacled. He tried to look up, for he had heard the colloquy between +the Elder and his wife, and understood Maria might be also at the +window; but as he turned his head a gigantic Highlander struck him with +the flat of his sword, and as the blow fell rattling on the youth's +shoulder Maria threw up her hands with a shriek and fell into a chair +sobbing. + +"Dinna cry that way, Maria, my dearie; they'll be hame in the morning." + +"Yes, yes, grandmother! It was the blow on that last prisoner. Did you +see it? Did you hear it? Oh, what a shame!" + +"Poor lad! I know naething about him; but he is in a terrible sair +strait." + +"What is he doing here in our house? Surely you know, grandmother?" + +"I know naething about him. He is doubtless one o' Washington's +messengers--there's plenty o' them round. Why he came near us is mair +than I can say." Then a sudden fear made her look intently at Maria, and +she asked, "Do you think your Uncle Neil has turned to the American +cause?" + +"Oh, grandmother, how can you?" + +"He has been so much wi' that Agnes Bradley. My heart misgave me at the +first about her. Neil is in love, and men in love do anything." + +"Uncle Neil is as true a royalist as grandfather." + +"See, then, what they have, baith o' them, got for standing by King +George. It serves them right! It serves them right! O dear, dear me! +What shall we do?" + +Two weary hours were spent in such useless conversation; then Madame, +being perfectly exhausted, was compelled to go to bed. "We can do +naething till morning," she said; "and Neil will hae his plans laid by +that time. They will be to bail, doubtless; and God knows where the +friends and the money are to come from. But there's plenty o' time for +grief to-morrow; go and sleep an hour or two now." + +"And you, grandmother? What will you do?" + +"He who never fails will strengthen me. When the morn comes I shall be +able for all it can bring. This was such a sudden blow I lost my grip." + +Alone in her room, Maria felt the full force of the sudden blow. +Although Harry's note had missed her, she understood that he had been +waiting for a few words with her. Twice before she had been in the +garden when he passed up the river, and he had landed and spent a +delicious half-hour with her. She was sure now that he had been as much +disappointed as herself, and had hoped she would come and say good-bye +as soon as she reached home. But who had betrayed him? And why was her +grandfather and uncle included in his arrest? + +For some time she could think of nothing but her lover walking so +proudly in the midst of his enemies; reviled by them, struck by them, +yet holding his head as authoritatively as if he was their captain, +rather than their prisoner. Then she remembered Agnes, and at first it +was with anger. "If she had not been so selfish, Harry would not have +needed to take such a risk!" she cried. "It is dreadful! dreadful! And +just as soon as it is light I must go and tell her. Her father must now +know all; he ought to have been told long ago. I shall insist on her +telling now, for Harry's life is first of all, and his father has power +some way or other." + +Thus through the long hours she wept and complained and blamed Agnes and +even herself, and perhaps most of all was angry with the intrusive +Macpherson, whose unwelcome presence had been the cause of the trouble. +And, oh! what arid torturing vigils are those where God is not! Madame +lying on her bed with her hands folded over her breast and thoughts +heavenward, was at peace compared with this tumultuous little heart in +the midst of doubt, darkness, and the terror of dreadful death for one +dear to her. She knew not what to abandon, nor what to defend; her brain +seemed stupefied by calamity so inevitable. And yet, it was not +inevitable; it had depended for many minutes on herself. A word, a look, +and Agnes would have understood her desire; and half a dozen times +before she had made the movement which was just _too late;_ her heart +had urged her to call her friend. But she had doubted, wavered, and +delayed, and so given to Destiny the very weapons that were used against +her. + +As soon as the morning dawned she dressed herself. Before her +grandmother came down stairs it was imperative on her to see Agnes and +tell her what had happened. A dismal, anxious stillness had succeeded +the storm of her terror and grief; a feeling of outrage, of resentment +against events, and an agony of love and pity, as she remembered Harry +smitten and helpless in the power of a merciless foe. She had now one +driving thought and purpose--the release of her lover. She must save the +life he had risked for her sake, though she gave her own for it. + +As she went through the gray dawning she was sensitive to some +antagonism, even in Nature. The unseasonable warmth of the previous +evening had been followed by a frost. The faded grass snapped under her +fleet steps, the last foliage had withered during the night, and was +black and yellow as death, and everything seemed to shiver in the pale +light. And though the waning moon yet hung low in the west, and all the +mystery and majesty of earth was round her, Maria was only conscious of +the chill terror in her heart, and of the chill, damp mist from the +river which enfolded her like a cloak, and was the very atmosphere of +sorrow. + +When she reached the Bradley home all was shut and still; the very house +seemed to be asleep, but why did its closed door affect her so +painfully? She went round to the kitchen and found the slave woman +Mosella bending over a few blazing chips, making herself a cup of tea. +The woman looked at her wonderingly, and when Maria said, "Mosella, I +must see Miss Agnes at once," she rose without a word and opened the +garden door of the house. The shutters were all closed, the stairway +dim, and the creaking of the steps under her feet made her quiver. It +was an hour too early for light and life, and a noiseless noise around +her seemed to protest against this premature invasion of the day. + +She entered the room of her friend very softly. It was breathless, +shadowy, and on the white bed Agnes was lying, asleep. For a moment +Maria stood looking at the orderly place and the unconscious woman. The +pure pallor of her cheeks had the flush of healthy sleep; her brown +hair, braided, lay loose upon her pillow, her white hands upon the white +coverlet. She was the image of deep, dreamless, peaceful oblivion. It +seemed a kind of wrong to awaken her; but though the eyes of Agnes were +closed, Maria's gaze called to the soul on guard behind them, and +without one premonitory movement she opened them wide and saw Maria at +her bedside. A quick fear leaped into her heart. She was momentarily +speechless. She laid her hand on Maria's arm, and looked at her with +apprehending inquiry. + +_"Harry!"_ said Maria, and then she sat down and covered her face and +began to cry softly. There was no necessity to say more. Agnes +understood. She rose and began to dress herself, and in a few minutes +asked, though almost in a whisper: + +"Is he taken?" + +"Yes." + +"Where?" + +"At our landing." + +"When?" + +"Last night." + +"Why did you not send me word last night? Neil would have come." + +"Neil was arrested, and also my dear old grandfather. It is shameful! +shameful!" + +"What was Harry doing at your landing?" + +"I don't know. I was in my room. I was half-undressed, combing my hair +out, when grandmother rushed to me with the news. It is not my fault, +Agnes." + +"Did you ever meet Harry at your landing, Maria?" + +"Only twice, both times in the daylight. He was passing and happened to +see me. There was no tryst between us; and I know nothing about last +night, except----" + +"Except what?" + +"That if you had given him a chance to say 'Good-bye' to me here, he +would not have thought of stopping at our landing; but," she added in a +weary voice, "you were watching for Uncle Neil, and so, of course, you +forgot other people." + +"Don't be cruel, Maria, as well as unjust." + +"All the same, it is the truth." + +"How was he discovered? You surely know that?" + +"No, I do not. There were at least ten or twelve soldiers--Highlanders. +One of them struck Harry." + +"Oh, why do you tell me? Who could have betrayed him? Macpherson? You +know you offended him." + +"It could not be Macpherson. He never saw Harry before. He knew nothing +about him. He thought his name was Deane. If it had been Macpherson, +your landing, not ours, would have been watched." + +"No; for he saw you and Harry coming through the garden hand-in-hand. I +am sure he did. He went away in a fit of jealousy, and he would think of +your landing as well as ours. But all that is nothing. We have but a few +hours in which to try and save his life. I must awake father and tell +him. It will break his heart." + +"You ought to have told him----" + +"I know." + +"What can I do?" + +"Women can do nothing but suffer. I am sorry with all my soul for you, +Maria, and I will let you know what father does. Go home to your poor +grandmother; she will need all the comfort you can give her." + +"I am sorry for you, Agnes; yes, I am! I will do anything I can. There +is Lord Medway, he loves me; and General Clinton loves him, I know he +does; I have seen them together." + +"Father is first. I must awaken him. Leave me now, Maria, dear. None but +God can stand by me in this hour." + +Then Maria kissed her, and Agnes fell upon her knees, her arms spread +out on her bed and her face buried in them. There were no words given +her; she could not pray; but when the Gate of Prayer is closed the Gate +of Tears is still open. She wept and was somewhat helped, though it was +only by that intense longing after God which made her cry out, "O that I +knew where to find Him, that I might come into His presence!" + +When she went to her father's door he was already awake. She heard him +moving about his room, washing and dressing, and humming to himself in +strong snatches a favorite hymn tune; no words seemed to have come to +him, for the melody was kept by a single syllable that served to connect +the notes. Nevertheless, the tone was triumphant and the singer full of +energy. It made Agnes shiver and sicken to listen to him. She sat down +on the topmost stair and waited. It could not be many minutes, and +nothing for or against Harry could be done till the world awoke and went +to business. Very soon the hymn tune ceased, and there was a few minutes +of a silence that could be felt, for it was threaded through by a low, +solemn murmur easy to translate,--the man was praying. When he came out +of his room he saw Agnes sitting on the stair, and as soon as she lifted +her face to him he was frightened and asked sharply: + +"What are you doing there, Agnes? What has happened?" + +She spoke one word only, but that word went like a sword to the father's +heart,--_"Harry!"_ + +He repeated the word after her: "Harry! Is he ill? Let me see the +letter, where is he? With Doctor Brudenel? Can't you speak, girl?" + +"Harry is here, in New York, in prison?" + +The words fell shivering from her lips; she raised herself, watching her +father's face the while, for she thought he was going to fall. He shook +like a great tree in a storm, and then retreated to the door of his room +and stood with his back against it. He could not speak, and Agnes was +afraid. + +"Father," she said in a low, passionate voice of entreaty, "we have the +boy to save. Do not lose yourself. You have _your Father_ to lean upon." + +"I know! I feel! Go and make me a cup of coffee. I will be ready when +you call me." + +Then he went back into his room and shut the door, and Agnes, with a +sick, heavy heart, prepared the necessary meal. For though danger, +sorrow and death press on every side, the body must have sustenance; and +every-day meals, that look so tragically common and out of place must go +on as usual. But it was a little respite and she was grateful, because +in it her father would talk the trouble over with God before she had to +explain it to him. The interval was a short one, but during it John +Bradley found Him who is "a very present help in every hour of need." He +came down to his coffee in full possession of himself and ready for the +fight before him. But he had also realized the disobedience which had +brought on this sorrow, and the deception which had sanctioned the boy +in his disobedience. Therefore Agnes was afraid when she saw his severe +eyes, and shrank from them as from a blow, and large tears filled her +own and rolled down her white cheeks unchecked. + +"Agnes," he said, "tell me the whole truth. I must know everything, or +you may add your brother's murder to the other wrongdoing. When did he +come back to America?" + +"Six months after you sent him to England. He said he could not, durst +not, stay there. He thought that God might have some work that needed +_just him_ to do it. I think Harry found that work." + +"Why did you not tell me at the time?" + +"I was in Boston, at school, when Harry first came to me, and we talked +together then about telling you. But at that time both of us supposed +you to be a King's man, and the party feeling was then riotously cruel. +Harry had been three months with Washington, and his peculiar fitness +for the New York Secret Service had been found out. Still, Washington +took no unfair advantage of his youth and enthusiasm. He told him he +would be one of a band of young men who lived with their lives in their +hands. And when Harry answered, 'General, if I can bring you information +that will help Freedom forward one step, my life gladly for it,' +Washington's eyes shone, and he gave Harry his hand and said, 'Brave +boy! Your father must be a happy man.'" + +She paused here and looked at the father, and saw that his face was +lifted and that a noble pride strove with a noble pain for the mastery. +So she continued: "Harry _has_ helped Freedom forward. He found out, +while pretending to fish for the garrison at Stony Point, the best way +across the marsh and up the rocks. He helped to set afloat the reports +that brought Tryon back from Connecticut, and the garrison from Rhode +Island. He has prepared the way for many a brave deed, taken all the +danger and the labor, getting no fame and wanting none, his only aim to +serve his country and to be loved and trusted by Washington. If we erred +in keeping these things from you, it has been an error of love. And when +we knew you also were serving your country in your own way, Harry was +sure you would do it better and safer if you were not always looking for +him--fearing for him. Oh, father! surely you see how his presence would +have embarrassed you and led to suspicion." + +"I would like to have seen the boy," he said, softly, as if he were +thinking the words to himself. + +"He saw you often, never came to the city without passing the shop to +see you; and it made both of us happy to believe that very soon now he +would dare to speak to you and to say, 'Father, forgive me.'" + +"I must go to him, Agnes. Harry's life must be saved, or I, John +Bradley, will know the reason why. Yes, and if he has to die there are +some big men here, playing double-face, that will die with him. I know +them----" + +"Oh, father! father! What are you saying? Vengeance is not ours. Would +it bring Harry back to us?" + +"It is more than I can bear. Who was the informer? Tell me that. And +where was he taken?" + +"I cannot tell who informed. He was taken with his little boat at Elder +Semple's landing by a party of Scotch Highlanders." + +"What on earth was he doing at Semple's? Do you think the Elder, or that +fine gentleman Neil, gave information?" + +"They were both arrested with Harry. They also are in prison." + +"Am I losing my senses? The Semples! They are royalists, known +royalists, bitter as gall. What was Harry doing at their place? Tell +me." + +"I do not certainly know, father. I think he may have gone there hoping +that Maria would come down to the river to say a good-bye to him." + +_"Maria!_ That is it, of course. If a man is to be led to destruction +and death, it is some woman who will do the business for him. I warned +you about that Maria. My heart misgave me about the whole family. So +Harry is in love with her! That is your doing, girl. What business had +you to let them meet at all? If Harry perishes, I shall find it hard to +forgive you; hard to ever see you again. All this sorrow for your +sentimental nonsense about Maria. If she had been kept out of Harry's +life, he would have gone safely and triumphantly on to victory with the +rest of us. But you must have your friend and your friend's brother, and +your own brother must pay the price of it." + +"Oh, father, be just! Even if you cannot pity me, be just. I am +suffering as much as I can bear." + +Then he rose and put on his hat and coat. "Stay where you are," he said. +"I will not have women meddling with what I have now to do. Don't leave +the house for anyone or anything." + +"You will send me some word, father. I shall be in an agony of +suspense." + +"If there is any word to send, I will send it." Then he went away +without kissing her, without one of his ordinary tender words; he left +her alone with her crushing sorrow, and the consciousness that upon her +he would lay the blame of whatever disaster came to Harry. She had no +heart for her household duties, and she left the unwashed china and went +back to her room. She was yet in a state of pitiful bewilderment; her +grief was so certain, its need was so urgent, and at that hour Heaven +seemed so far off; and yet she questioned her soul so eagerly for the +watchword that should give her that stress of spirit which would connect +her with the Unseen World and permit her to claim its invincible help. + +Agnes had told her father that it was Highlanders who arrested Harry, +and Bradley went first to their quarters. There he learned that the +young man had disclaimed connection with any regiment whatever; and, +being in citizen's clothes and wearing no arms, his claim had been +allowed and his case turned over to the Military Court of Police. So far +it was favorable; the cruel haste of a court martial shut the door of +hope; but John Bradley knew the Court of Police was composed of men who +put financial arguments before all others. He was, however, too early, +an hour too early, to see any one; and the prisoner was under watch in +one of the guard-houses and could not be approached. + +He wandered back to his shop utterly miserable and restless and wrote a +letter to Thomas Curtis, a clever lawyer, and a partner of Neil Semple, +explaining the position of his son and begging him to be at the Court of +Police when it opened. This letter he carried to the lawyer's office and +paid the boy in attendance to deliver it immediately on the arrival of +his master. Then he went back to his shop for money, and as he was +slowly leaving the place Lord Medway spoke to him. He had his rifle over +his shoulder and was going with a friend to Long Island to shoot birds. +The sight of the man made John Bradley's heart leap and burn. He had +been waiting for some leading as to the way he ought to take, and he +felt that it had been given him. + +"Good morning, Mr. Bradley," said the nobleman. + +"My lord, turn back with me to my shop. I have something of the greatest +importance to tell you." + +Medway smiled: "My hunting is of the greatest importance at present, Mr. +Bradley, for my friend, Colonel Pennington, is waiting for me; but if I +can be of service----" + +"I think you can; at least, listen to me." + +Medway bent his head in acquiescence, and Bradley led the way to the +small room behind his shop, which had been his sitting and dining room +while his daughter was at school. He plunged at once into the subject of +his anxieties. + +"There was a prisoner taken last night." + +"A young man in a boat; I heard of it. General Clinton thinks they may +have made an important arrest." + +"He is my son--my only son! I did not know until an hour ago that he was +in America. I sent him to England at the beginning of the war--to a fine +school there--and I thought he was safe; and he has been here, one of +Washington's scouts, carrying messages from camp to camp, in and out of +New York in all kinds of disguises, spreading reports and gathering +reports, buying medicines, and clothing, and what not; doing, in short, +duties which in every case were life and death matters. For three years +or more he has done these things safely; last night he was discovered." + +"And you thought he was in England, safe and comfortable, and learning +his lessons?" + +"I did, and thanked God for it." + +"Now, I would offer thanks for the other things. If I were an American +it would gladden my heart to have a son like that. The young man thinks +he has been doing his duty; be a little proud of him. I'll be bound he +deserves it. Who arrested him?" + +"Some soldiers from the Highland regiment." + +"How did they happen to know? Could Macpherson have informed? Oh, +impossible! What am I saying? Where was he taken?" + +"At Elder Semple's landing." + +"You confound me, Bradley. I will stake my honor on the Semples's +loyalty--father and son both. What was he doing there?" + +"He had the old reason for calamity--a woman. He is in love with the +Elder's granddaughter, and Agnes thinks he must have landed hoping to +see her." + +"You mean, he had a tryst with her?" + +"I only surmise. I can tell nothing surely." + +"I will go with you to court, Bradley. Can you send a man with a message +to Colonel Pennington?" + +This done they went out together, and many looked curiously at the lord +and the saddler walking the streets of New York in company. For in those +days the lines of caste were severely drawn. When they entered the +courtroom the case of the Semples was being heard; but Harry sat a +little apart, on either side of him a soldier. The father fixed his +eyes upon him, and a proud flush warmed his white face at the sight of +the lad's dauntless bearing and calm, almost cheerful, aspect. + +Lord Medway looked first toward the Semples, and conspicuously bowed to +both of them. The Elder was evidently sick, fretful, and suffering. Neil +was wounded in every fiber of his proud nature. The loyalty, the honor, +the good name of the Semples had been, he believed, irrevocably injured; +for he was lawyer enough to know that it is nearly as bad to be +suspected as to be guilty. And, small as the matter seemed in +comparison, he was intensely mortified at the personal disarray of his +father and himself. The men who arrested them had given them no time to +arrange their clothing, and Neil knew they looked more suspiciously +guilty for want of their clean laces and the renovating influences of +water and brushes. + +The assistant magistrate, Peter DuBois, was just questioning Elder +Semple. + +"Look at the prisoner taken on your premises, Mr. Semple. Do you know +him?" + +"I never saw him in a' my life before his arrest." + +"Did you know he was using your landing?" + +"Not I. I was fast asleep in my bed." + +"Mr. Neil Semple, what have you to say?" + +"I was sitting partially dressed, reading in my room. I have no +knowledge whatever of the young man, nor can I give you any reason why +our landing should have been used by him." + +Mr. Curtis then spoke eloquently of the unstained loyalty of the +Semples, and of their honorable life for half a century in the city of +New York. But Peter DuBois held that they were not innocent, inasmuch as +they had been so careless of His Majesty's interests as to permit their +premises to be used for treasonable purposes. + +"The Court must first prove the treasonable purposes," said Mr. Curtis. + +"The Court proposes to do so," answered DuBois. "Henry Deane, stand up!" +and as he did so Bradley uttered a sharp cry and rose to his feet also. +In this hour Harry looked indeed a son to be proud of. He showed no +fear, and was equally free from that bluster that often cloaks fear, but +raised a face calm and cheerful--the face of a man who knows that he has +done nothing worthy of blame. + +"Henry Deane," said DuBois, "is there anyone in New York who knows you?" + +_"I do!"_ shouted John Bradley. "He is my son! My dear son, Henry Deane +Bradley;" and with the words he marched to his son's side and threw his +arms about his neck. + +"Oh, father! father, forgive me!" + +"Oh, Harry! Harry! I have nothing to forgive!" and he kissed him in the +sight of the whole court, and wept over him like a mother. + +The whole affair had been so sudden, so startling and affecting, that it +was not at once interrupted. But in a few moments the examination +proceeded, DuBois asking, "Do you know the Semples?" + +"I have seen them often. I have never spoken to either of them in all my +life." + +"What took you to their landing, then?" + +"I know it so well. When I was a little boy I used to borrow Elder +Semple's boat if I wished to fish or row, because I knew they were busy +in the city and would not miss it. So I got used to their landing years +ago." + +"Had you any special reason for going there last night?" + +"Yes. It was a good place to wait until the moon rose." + +"No other reason?" + +"Habit." + +"Nothing to get there?" + +"Nothing at all." + +"No one to see there?" + +"No one." + +Lord Medway sighed heavily. The words were a tremendous relief. If the +young man had named Maria it would have been shameful and unbearable. He +began now to take more interest in him. + +"You refused to tell last night," said DuBois, "to whom you were +carrying the clothing and _the saddle_ that was in your boat. Will you +now name the person or persons?" + +"No. I refuse to name them." + +"From whom did you receive or purchase these articles?" + +"I refuse to say." + +"Perhaps from the Semples?" + +"Certainly not. I never received and never bought a pin's worth from the +Semples." + +In fact, no evidence of complicity could either be found or manufactured +against the Semples, and Mr. Curtis demanded their honorable acquittal. +But they were good subjects for plunder, and DuBois had already +intimated to Judge Matthews how their purses could be reached. In +pursuance of this advice, Judge Matthews said: + +"The loyalty of Alexander Semple and of his son, Neil Semple, cannot be +questioned; but they have been unfortunately careless of His Majesty's +rights in permitting their premises to be of aid and comfort to rebels; +and therefore, as an acknowledgment of this fault, and as a preventative +to its recurrence, Alexander Semple is fined two hundred pounds and Neil +Semple one hundred pounds. The prisoners are free upon their own +recognizances until the fifteenth day of November, when they must appear +in this court and pay the fines as decided." + +The Elder heard the decision in a kind of stupefaction. Neil, neither by +himself or his lawyer, made any protest. What use was there in doing so? +They had been sentenced by a court accountable to no tribunal whatever: +a court arbitrary and illegal, that troubled itself neither with juries +nor oaths, and from which there was no appeal. Lord Medway watched the +proceedings with indignation, and the feeling in the room was full of +sympathy for the two men. Neil's haughty manner and stern face betrayed +nothing of the anger he felt, but the Elder was hardly prevented from +speaking words which would have brought him still greater loss. As it +was, it taxed Neil's strength and composure to the uttermost to get his +father with dignity away from the scene. He gave him his arm, and +whispered authoritatively, "Do not give way, father! Do not open your +lips!" So the old gentleman straightened himself, and, leaning heavily +on his son, reached the lobby before he fell into a state bordering on +collapse. + +Neil placed him in a chair, got him water, and was wondering where he +could most easily procure a carriage, when the sound of wheels coming at +a furious rate arrested his attention. They stopped at the court house, +and as Neil went to the door the lovely Madame Jacobus sprang out of the +vehicle. + +"Neil!" she cried. "Neil Semple! I only heard an hour ago, I came as +soon as the horses were ready, it is disgraceful. Where is the Elder? +Can I take him home?" + +"Madame, it will be the greatest kindness. He is ready to faint." + +The Elder looked at her with eyes full of tears. + +"Madame," he said, "they have fined me in my auld age for a +misdemeanor"--and then he laughed hysterically. "I hae lived fifty years +in New York, and I am fined--I hae----" + +She stopped the quavering voice with a kiss, and with Neil's help led +him gently to her carriage; and as soon as he reached its friendly +shelter he closed his eyes and looked like one dead. Madame was in a +tempest of rage. "It is just like the ravening wolves," she said. "They +saw an opportunity to rob you,--you need not tell me, I know Matthews! +He has the winter's routs and dances for his luxurious wife and +daughters to provide for, as well as what he calls his own 'damned good +dinners.' How much did he mulct you in? Never mind telling me now, Neil, +but come and lunch with me to-morrow; I shall have something to say to +you then." + +She had the Elder's hand in her's as she spoke, and she did not loosen +her clasp until she saw him safely at his own home and in the care of +his wife. She remained a few moments to comfort Madame Semple, then, +divining they would be best alone with their sorrow, she went away with +a reminder to Neil that she wished to speak to him privately on the +following day. + +"It is as if God sent her," said Madame gratefully. + +"Get me to my bed, Janet, dearie," said the Elder. "I'll just awa' out +o' this warld o' sorrows and wrongs and robbery." + +"You'll just stop havering and talking nonsense, Alexander. Are you +going to die and leave me my lane for a bit o' siller? I'm ashamed o' +you. Twa or three hundred pounds! Is that what you count your life +worth? Help your father to his bed, Neil, and I'll bring him some gude +mutton broth. He's hungry and faint and out o' his sleep--it tak's +little to make men talk o' dying. Parfect nonsense!" + +"You don't know, Janet Semple----" + +"Yes, I do know, Alexander. Quit whining, and put a stout heart to a +steep hill. You hae a wife and sons and friends yet about you, and you +talk o' dying! I'll not hear tell o' such things, not I!" + +But when the Elder had taken a good meal and fallen asleep, Janet spoke +with less spirit to her son. And Neil was in a still fury; he found it +difficult to answer his mother's questions. + +"The money is to be found, and that at once," he said. "Father will not +rest until it is paid; and I have not the least idea where I can procure +it." + +"You must sell some o' that confiscated property you and your father +wared all your ready money on," said Janet bitterly. + +"At the present time it is worth nothing, mother; and houses and lands +are not sold at an hour's notice. I suppose if I ask Batavius DeVries he +will help father. I think Curtis can manage my share of the blackmail." + +"That poor lad wha has made a' the mischief, what of him?" + +"He is John Bradley's son." Then Neil described the scene in the +courtroom, and Madame's eyes filled with tears as she said, "I never +thought so well o' the Bradleys before. Poor Agnes!" + +Yes, "poor Agnes!" Neil was feeling a consuming impatience to be with +her, to comfort her and help her to bear whatever might be appointed. + +"So the lad is to be tried in the Military Police Court. Is not that a +good thing?" + +"Yes. John Bradley has money. It is all the 'law' there is to satisfy in +that court." + +"Are they trying him to-day?" + +"Yes. I heard his case called as we left the room. Where is Maria?" + +"She has cried herself blind, deaf and dumb. She is asleep now. I went +to tell her you were hame, and she was sobbing like a bairn that has +been whipped ere it shut its eyes. I dinna waken her." + +Then Neil went to his room to dress himself. He felt as if no care and +no nicety of apparel could ever atone for the crumpled disorder of his +toilet in the courtroom, which had added itself so keenly to his sense +of disgrace. Then he must go to Agnes; her brother was his brother, +and, though he had brought such shame and loss on the Semples, still he +must do all he could for him, for the sake of Agnes. And there was the +money to find, and Madame Jacobus to see! A sense of necessary haste +pressed him like a goad. Not a moment must be lost, for he felt through +every sense of his mortal and spiritual being that Agnes was calling +him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PRICE OF HARRY'S LIFE. + + +He heard Agnes calling him, and he resolved to go at once to her. And +never had he looked handsomer than at this hour, for he had clothed +himself with that rich and rigid propriety he understood so well while +the sense of injustice under which he so inwardly burned gave to him a +haughty dignity, suiting his grave face and lofty stature to admiration. +He went very softly along the upper corridor of his home, but Madame +heard his step, and opening her door, said in a whisper: + +"Your father has fallen asleep, Neil, and much he needed sleep. Where +are you going?" + +"I am going back to the court. I wish to know what has been done in +Bradley's case." + +"Why trouble yourself with other people's business? The lad has surely +given us sorrow enough." + +"He is her brother--I mean----" + +"I know who you mean; weel, then, go your way; neither love nor wisdom +will win a hearing from you on that road." + +"There is money to be found somewhere, mother. Until his fine is paid, +father will be miserable. I want to borrow the amount as soon as +possible." + +_"Borrow!_ Has it come to that?" + +"It has, for a short time. I think Captain DeVries will let me have it. +He ought to." + +"He'll do naething o' the kind. I would ask any other body but him." + +"There are few to ask. I must get it where I can. Curtis will advance +one hundred pounds for me." + +"They who go borrowing go sorrowing. I'm vexed for you, my dear lad. It +is the first time I ever heard tell o' a Semple seeking money not their +ain." + +"It is our own fault, mother. If father and I had taken your advice and +let confiscated property alone we should have had money to lend to-day; +certainly, we should have been able to help ourselves out of all +difficulties without asking the assistance of strangers." + +The confession pleased her. "What you say is the truth," she answered; +"but everybody has a fool up their sleeve some time in their life. May +God send you help, Neil, for I'm thinking it will hae to come by His +hand; and somehow, I dinna believe He'll call on Batavius DeVries to gie +you it." + +With these words she retreated into her room, closing the door +noiselessly, and Neil left the house. As soon as he was in the public +road he saw Batavius standing at his garden gate, smoking and talking +with Cornelius Haring and Adrian Rutgers. They were discussing Bradley's +trouble and the Semples's connection with it, and Neil felt the spirit +of their conversation. It was not kindly, and as he approached them +Haring and Rutgers walked away. For a moment Batavius seemed inclined to +do the same, but Neil was too near to be avoided without intentional +offense, and he said to himself, "I will stand still. Out of my own way +I will not move, because Neil Semple comes." So he stolidly continued to +smoke, staring idly before him with a gaze fixed and ruminating. + +"Good afternoon, Captain. Are you at liberty for a few minutes?" asked +Neil. + +"Yes. What then, Mr. Semple? I heard tell, from my friends, that you are +in trouble." + +"We have been fined because Mr. Bradley's son used our landing. It is a +great injustice, for in this matter we were as innocent as yourself." + +"That is not the truth, sir. If, like me, you had boarded in your house +a few soldiers, then the care and the watch would have been their +business, not yours. Those who don't act prudently must feel the +chastisement of the government; but so! I will have nothing to do with +the matter. It is a steady principle of mine never to interfere in other +people's affairs." + +"There is no necessity for interference. The case is settled. My father +is fined two hundred pounds, a most outrageous wrong." + +"Whoever is good and respectable is not fined by the government." + +"In our case there was neither law nor justice. It was simple robbery." + +"I know not what you mean. The government is the King, and I do not talk +against either King or government. The Van Emerlies, who are always +sneering at the King, have had to take twenty-seven per cent. out of the +estate of a bankrupt cousin; and the Remsens, who are discontented and +always full of complaints, have spoiled their business. God directs +things so that contentment leads to wealth." + +"I was speaking of neither the King nor his government, but of the +Military Police Court." + +"Oh! Well, then, I think all the stories I hear about its greediness and +tyranny are downright lies." + +"I must, however, assert that this court has been unjust and tyrannical +both to my father and myself." + +"That is your business, not mine." + +"I was in hopes that you would feel differently. My father has often +helped you out of tight places. I thought at this time you would +remember that. There was that cargo at Perth Amboy, but for my father, +it had gone badly with you!" + +"Yes, yes! I give good for good, but not to my own cost. People who go +against the government and are in trouble are not my friends. I do not +meddle with affairs that are against the government. It is dangerous, +and I am a husband and a father, not a fool." + +"To assist my father for a few days, till I can turn property into +money, is not going against the government." + +"You will not turn property into money these days; it is too late. I, +who am noted for my prudence, got rid of all my property at the +beginning of the war; you and your father bought other people's houses, +while I sold mine. So! I was right, as I always am." + +"Then you had no faith in the King's cause, even at the beginning; and +I have heard it said you are not unfriendly now to the rebels." + +_"Ja!_ I give the Americans a little, quietly. One must sail as the wind +serves; and who can tell which way it will blow to-morrow? I am a good +sailor; never shall I row against wind and tide. Who am I, Batavius +DeVries, to oppose the government? It is one of my most sacred +principles to obey the government." + +"Then if the Americans succeed, you will obey their government? Your +principles are changeable, Captain." + +"It is a bad principle not to be able to change your principles. The +world is always changing. I change with it. That is prudent, for I will +not stand alone, or be left behind. That is my way; your ways do not +suit me." + +"This talk comes to nothing. To be plain with you, I want to borrow two +hundred pounds for a month. I hope you will lend it. In the Perth Amboy +matter my father stood for you in a thousand pounds." + +"That is eaten bread, and your father knew I could secure the money. I +wish I could help Elder Semple, but it would not be prudent." + +"Good gracious, sir!" + +"Oh, then, you must keep such words to yourself! I say it would not be +prudent. He has swamped himself with other men's houses, his business is +decayed, he is old; and you are also in a bad way and cannot help him, +or why do you come to me?" + +"I can give you good security, good land----" + +"Land! What is good land to me? It will not be useful in my business. +And there is another thing, you are not particular in your company. I +have heard about your Methodist friends; there is Vestryman William +Ustick, he was a Methodist servant, and he has become bankrupt; so, +then----" + +"You will not repay my father's frequent loans to you. If your +father-in-law, Joris Van Heemskirk, was here----" + +"I am not Joris Van Heemskirk. He is a rebel. I, who have always been +loyal, have made twelve thousand dollars this last year. Is not that a +hint for me to go on in the right way?" + +Without waiting for the end of this self-complacent tirade, Neil went +forward. Batavius was only a broken reed in his hand. Never before in +all his life had he felt such humiliating anxiety. Even the slipping +away of Haring and Rutgers, and the uncivil refusal of Batavius, were +distinctly new and painful experiences. He felt, through Haring and +Rutgers, the public withdrawal of sympathy and respect; and through +Batavius, the coming bitterness of the want of ready money. The Semples +had been fined; they were suspects; their names would now be on the roll +of the doubtful, and it would be bad policy for the generality of +citizens to be friendly with them. And the necessity for borrowing money +revealed poverty, which otherwise they would have been able to conceal. +He knew, also, that he would have to meet many such rebuffs, and he was +well aware that his own proud temper would make them a pleasant payment +to many whom he had offended by his exclusiveness. + +As he approached the Bradley house he put all these bitter thoughts +aside. What were they in comparison with the sorrow Agnes was compelled +to endure? His whole soul went out to the suffering girl, and he blamed +himself for allowing any hope of Batavius to delay him. The very house +had taken on an air of loneliness and calamity. The door was closed, the +blinds down, and the wintry frost that had blackened the garden seemed +in some inscrutable way to have touched the dwelling also. He saw the +slave woman belonging to the Bradleys talking to a group of negroes down +the road, and he did not call her. If Agnes was within, he would see +her; and if her father had returned, they would probably be together. + +Thinking thus, he knocked loudly, and then entered the little hall. All +was silent as the grave. "Agnes! Agnes!" he cried; and the next moment +she appeared at the head of the stairs. "Agnes!" he cried again, and the +word was full of love and sorrow, as he stretched out his arms to the +descending girl. She was whiter than snow, her eyes were heavy and dark +with weeping, her hair had fallen down, and she still wore the plain, +blue gingham dress she had put on while Maria was telling her tragical +tale. Yet in spite of these tokens of mental disturbance, she was +encompassed by the serene stillness of a spirit which had reached the +height of "Thy will be done." + +When her father left her, smitten afresh by his anger she had fled to +her room, and locking the door of this sanctuary, she had sat for two +hours astonished, stupefied by the inevitable, speechless and +prayerless. Yet while she was musing the fire burned; she became +conscious of that secret voice in her soul which is the spirit that +helpeth our infirmities, and ere she was aware she began to pray. It was +as if she stood alone in some great hall of the universe, with an +infinite, invisible audience of spirits watching her. Then the miracle +of the ladder between heaven and earth was renewed, and angels of help +and blessing once more ascended and descended. An inward, deep, +untroubled peace calmed the struggle of her soul; one by one the clouds +departed and the light steadily grew until fears were slain, and doubts +had become a sure confidence that + + Naught should prevail against her or disturb + Her cheerful faith that all which looked so dark + Was full of blessing. + +She was sitting waiting when she heard Neil's call, and Oh! how sweet is +the voice of love in the hour of anxious sorrow! She never thought of +her appearance or her dress; she hasted to Neil, and he folded her to +his heart and for the first time touched her white cheek with his lips. +She made no resistance, it was not an hour for coy withdrawals, and they +understood, amid their silent tears, far more than any future words +could explain. + +Then Neil told her all that had happened, and when he described John +Bradley's open recognition of his son she smiled proudly and said, "That +was like father. If I had been there I would have done the same. It is a +long time," she said, looking anxiously at Neil. "Will father soon be +home?" + +"I expected to find him here. I will go to the court now; the trial +ought to be over." + +But complications had arisen in what at first seemed to be a case that +proved itself. Harry was not easily managed. He admitted that he had +been in America for more than three years, but declared that his father +had been totally ignorant of his presence. When asked where he had dwelt +and how he had employed himself during that time, he gave to every +question the same answer, "I refuse to tell." + +Then the saddle found in his boat was brought forward, and he was asked +from whom he received it and to whom he was taking it. And to both these +questions there was the same reply, "I refuse to tell." + +"It is indisputably a Bradley saddle," said the assistant magistrate, +DuBois. "Let John Bradley identify it." + +Bradley came forward, looked at the saddle, and answered, "I made it; +every stitch of it." + +"For whom? Mr. Bradley?" + +"I should have few saddles to make if I talked about my patrons in this +place. I refuse to tell for whom I made it." + +"The court can fine you, sir, for contempt of its requests." + +"I would rather pay the fine than bring my patron's name in question and +cause him annoyance." + +There was considerable legal fencing on this subject, but nothing +gained; a parcel also found in the boat was opened and its contents +spread out for examination. They consisted of a piece of damasse for a +lady's gown, some lace, two pairs of silk stockings, two pairs of +gloves, some ribbon, and a fan that had been mended. Everything in this +parcel was obviously intended for a woman, but Harry was as obdurately +noncommittal as he had been about the saddle. Nothing could be gained by +continuing an examination so one-sided, and the next witness called was +Captain Quentin Macpherson. He came forward with more than his usual +haughty clangor, and was first asked if he had ever seen the prisoner +before. + +"Yes," he answered, "for about half an hour yesterday evening, say, +between half-past seven and eight o'clock." + +"Did you have any conversation with him?" + +"Very little. When I began to question him about his residence he rose +and went away." + +"Who else was present?" + +"Miss Bradley and Miss Semple." + +"Tell the court what occurred when the prisoner left." + +"Miss Bradley went to the gate with him, Miss Semple remained with me. I +noticed that she was anxious, and found my company disagreeable; and +suddenly she excused herself and left the room. As she did so a pebble +was thrown through the window, it fell at my feet; a note was wrapped +round it, and I read the note." + +There was a low _hiss-s-s-s!_ at these words, which pervaded the whole +room. Macpherson waited until it had subsided, and then in a loud, +defiant voice repeated his last sentence, "I read the note, and acted +upon it." + +The note was then handed to him, and he positively recognized it, and +as it was not his note, nor intended for him, he was unable to protest +against DuBois's reading it aloud. It made a pleasant impression. Men +looked at the boy prisoner sympathetically, and a little scornful laugh +pointed the epithet _"that Scot!"_ which infuriated Macpherson. + +In this favorable atmosphere Mr. Curtis rose, and sarcastically advised +Judge Matthews that it was "evident the posse of Highland soldiers had +been called out to prevent a lovers' tryst and satisfy the wounded +vanity or jealousy of Captain Macpherson." The soldier glared at the +lawyer, and the lawyer smiled and nodded at the audience, as if telling +them a secret; and it really seemed possible for a minute or two that +Harry might escape through the never-failing sympathy that lovers draw +to themselves. + +Unfortunately, at this moment a man entered with a shabby-looking little +book, and Harry's face showed an unmistakable anxiety. + +"What is the purport of this interruption?" asked DuBois as the volume +was handed to him. + +"This book fell from the prisoner's jacket last night and John VanBrunt, +the jailor, picked it up. This morning he noticed that it had been +freshly bound, and he ripped open the leather and found this letter +between the boards." + +The letter was eagerly examined, but it was in cipher and nothing could +be made of it. One thing, however, instantly struck Judge Matthews; it +was written on paper presumably only to be obtained in the +Commander-in-Chief's quarters. This discovery caused the greatest +sensation, and Harry was angrily questioned as to how the letter got +inside the binding of a book he was carrying. + +"The book is one of my schoolbooks," said Harry. "I am a poor counter, +and it is, as you see, a Ready Reckoner. I use its tables in my business +calculations constantly; it was falling to pieces, and a friend offered +to bind it afresh for me. As for the letter, I did not put it there. I +do not know who put it there. I do not know a word of its meaning. It +may be an old puzzle, put there for want of a better piece of paper. +That is all I can tell." + +"You can tell the name of the friend who rebound your book?" + +"No, I cannot." + +"Will not, you mean?" + +"As you say." + +A recess was taken at this point of the examination, and the Judges +retired to consider what ought to be done. "The letter must, of course, +be laid before General Clinton at once," said DuBois; "and as for the +prisoner, there can now be no doubt of his treason. I am in favor of +hanging him at sunset to-day." + +"I think," answered Matthews, "we had better give the young man a day to +tell us what he knows. This letter proves that there are worse traitors, +and more powerful ones, behind him. It is our duty to at least try and +reach them through their emissary." + +"He will never tell." + +"The shadow of the gallows is a great persuader. This cipher message is +a most important affair. I propose to make the sentence of death +to-morrow at sunset, with the promise of life if he gives us the +information we want." + +Matthews carried his point, and Neil Semple arrived at the court house +just as the sentence in accord with this opinion was pronounced. Harry +hardly appeared to notice it; his gaze was fixed upon his father. The +words had transfigured, not petrified him. His soul was at his eyes, and +that fiery particle went through those on whom he looked and infected +them with fear or with sympathy. He had risen to his feet when his son +did, and every one looked at him, rather than at the prisoner. For +mental, or spiritual, stature is as real a thing as physical; and in the +day of trial this large-souled man, far from shrinking, appeared to grow +more imposing. He had a look about him of a mountain among hills. The +accepted son of a divine Father, he knew himself to be of celestial +race, and he scorned the sentence of shameful death that had fallen from +the lips of man upon his only son. + +As he turned to the door he smiled bravely on Harry, and his smile was +full of promise. He declined all help from both Medway and Semple, and +was almost the first to leave the room. The crowd fell away from him as +he passed; though he neither spoke nor moved his hands, it fell away as +if he pushed it aside. Yet it was a pitiful, friendly crowd; not a man +in it but would have gladly helped him to save his boy's life. + +"What will he do?" asked Medway of his companion. + +"I cannot tell," answered Semple. "He has some purpose, for he walks +like a man who knows what he intends and is in a hurry to perform it." + +"This is a very bad case. I see not how, in any ordinary way, the young +man can be saved. You are a lawyer, what think you?" + +"Unless there are extraordinary ways of helping him; there are no +ordinary ones. He is undoubtedly a rebel spy. Any court, either police +or court-martial, would consider his life justifiably forfeit." + +"Have you any influence, secret or open?" + +"None whatever. If I had, we should not have been fined. Bradley may +have, but I doubt it." + +"I think he has. Men are not silent and observant year after year for +nothing. But we must not trust to Bradley. Can I see Miss Semple at +seven o'clock this evening? I know, madame your mother is averse to +Englishmen, but in this case----" + +"Miss Semple will certainly see you." + +Then the young men parted and Neil returned to his home, for he did not +dare to intrude his presence at that hour between the distressed father +and daughter. It was hard enough to have Maria to meet; and the moment +she heard his step she came weeping to him. + +"Tell me, Uncle Neil," she cried, "what have they done to Harry? I am +sick with suspense. Are they going to kill--to hang him?" + +Her voice had sunk to a terrified whisper, and he looked pitifully at +her and drew her within his embrace. "My dear Maria!" then his lips +refused to say more, and he suffered his silence to confirm her worst +fears. After a few moments he added: + +"His only hope is in Lord Medway's influence. I think Medway may do +something." + +"Oh!" she sobbed "if he can only save his life! I would be content never +to see him again! Only ask him to save his life. If Harry is killed I +shall feel like a murderer as long as I live. I shall not dare to look +at myself, no one will want to look at me. I shall die of grief and +shame! Uncle, pity me! pity me!" + +"My dear Maria, it is not your fault." + +"It is, it is! He took his life in his hand just to see me." + +"He was a selfish fool to do such a thing. See what misery he has made. +It is his own fault and folly." + +"Every one will despise me. I cannot bear it. People will say, 'She +deserves it all. Why did she meet the young man unknown to her friends? +See what she has done to her grandparents and her uncle.' People like +Captain DeVries will frown at me and cross the street; and their wives +and children will go into their houses when I come near and peep at me +through the windows, and the mothers will say, 'Look at her! look at +her! She brought a fine young man to the gallows, and her friends to +shame and poverty.' Uncle, how am I to bear it?" + +"I think, my poor child, Lord Medway has some plan. Money unbars all +doors but heaven's, and Medway has plenty of money. Besides, General +Clinton is easily moved by him. I do not think Clinton will refuse +Medway anything; certainly not, if Harry will tell who wrote the cipher +message he was carrying." + +"But Harry will not tell, will he?" + +"I feel sure he will not." + +"If he did, he would deserve to die. I would not shed a tear for him. As +for Quentin Macpherson!--I wish that I was a man. I would cut his tongue +out." + +"Maria!" + +"I would, truly. Then I would flog him to death." + +Neil's dark face flushed crimson; his fingers twitched; he looked with +approval and admiration at the passionate girl. "One hundred years +ago--in Scotland," he said, "I would have answered, 'Yes! He deserves +it! I will do it for you!'" + +"It is so wretched to be a woman! You can go out, see for yourself, hear +for yourself; a girl can only suffer. Hour after hour, all night long, +all day long, I have walked the floor in misery. How does Agnes bear it? +She was cross, and sent me away this morning." + +"She looks very ill; but she is calm, and not without hope. She has +spoken to God and been comforted. Can you not do so?" + +"No. I am not Agnes. I cannot pray. I want to _do_ something. Oh, dear +me! all this shame and sorrow because I had a little love-making with +her brother and we did not tell the whole town about it. It is too great +a punishment! It is not just nor kind. What wrong have I done? Yet how I +have to suffer! No, I cannot pray, but if I can _do_ anything, see any +one, be of any earthly help or use----" + +"I think Medway has some scheme, if Clinton should fail, and that this +scheme requires a woman's help." + +"I hope it does! I hope it does! I will run any risk." + +"Medway is coming here at seven o'clock. He wishes distinctly to see +you. Run what risk you choose. I am not afraid of you. Nothing will make +you forget you are Maria Semple." + +"Thank you, Uncle Neil. Lord Medway and I have always been good friends. +He will not ask me to do anything wrong; and if he did, I would not do +it." + +The prospect of his visit somewhat soothed Maria. Though Medway had +never said a word of love to her, she knew she was adorable in his eyes +as well as she knew the fact of her own existence. Women need no formal +declarations; they have considered a lover's case and decided it many a +time before he comes to actual confession. In her great trouble she +hoped to find this love sufficient in some way for the alleviation of +Harry's desperate position. But though she really was in the greatest +sorrow, she was not oblivious to her beauty. She knew if she had a favor +to ask, it was the best reason she had to offer. So, as the hour +approached, she bathed her face and put on the _negligee_ of scarlet +silk, which was one of her most becoming house costumes. She thought her +intentional, pleasing carelessness of dress would only be noticed in its +effect; but Lord Medway was much in love, and love is an occult +teacher. He noticed at once the studied effort to make grief +attractive--the glowing silk of her gown, the bronze slippers, the +bewitching abandon of her dark, curling hair against the amber cushion +of the chair on which she sat. And though he had an astonishing plan for +Harry's life to propose, Maria's careful negligence gave him hope and +courage. For if he had been quite indifferent to her, she would have +been more indifferent to the dress she was to meet him in. + +Nothing else in her surroundings spoke of love or happiness. The best +parlor had been opened for his reception; but the few sticks of wood +sobbed and sung wearily on the cold hearth, and the room was chill and +half-lighted and full of shadows. He noticed, nothing, however, but the +lovely girl who came to meet him as he entered it, and who, even in the +gloom, showed signs of the violent grief which she soon ceased to +restrain. For his tenderness loosed afresh all her complaining; and he +encouraged her to open her heart, and to weep with that passionate +abandon youth finds comfort in. But when she was weary and had sobbed +herself into silence he said: + +"Miss Semple--may I call you Maria?" + +"Yes, if you will be my friend, if you will help me." + +"I am your friend, and if there is help in man I will get it for you." + +"I want Harry's life; he risked it for me. If they kill him, all my days +I shall see that sight and feel that horror. I shall go mad, or die." + +"Would you be content if I saved his life? He may be sent to prison." + +"There is hope in that. I could bear it better." + +"He will certainly be forbidden to come near New York, for----" + +"Only let him live." + +"He is without doubt a rebel." + +"So am I, from this day forth." + +"And a spy." + +"I wish I could be one. There is nothing I would not tell." + +He looked at her with the unreasoning adoration of a lover; then taking +her cold hands between his own, he said in a slow, fervent voice: + +"If you will promise to marry me, I will save the young man's life." + +"You are taking advantage of my trouble." + +"I know I am. A man who loves as I do must make all events go to further +his love." + +"But I love Harry Bradley." + +"You think so. If you had met him under ordinary circumstances you would +not have looked twice at him. It was the romance, the secrecy, the +danger, the stolen minutes--all that kind of thing. There is no root in +such love." + +"I shall never cease to love Harry." + +"I will teach you to forget him." + +"No, no! How can you ask me in an hour like this? It is cruel." + +"Love is cruel. Sooner or later love wounds; for love is selfish. I want +you for my wife, Maria. I put aside so," and he swept his hand outward, +"everything that comes in the way." + +"You want to buy me! You say plainly, 'I will give you your lover's life +for yourself.' I cannot listen to you!" + +"Be sensible, Maria. This infatuation for a rebel spy is infatuation. +There is nothing real to it. If the war were over, and you saw young +Bradley helping his father in his shop and going about in ordinary +clothes about ordinary business, you would wonder what possessed you +ever to have fancied yourself in love with him." + +"Oh, but you are mistaken!" + +"You would say to yourself, 'I wish I had listened to Ernest Medway. He +would have taken me all over the happy, beautiful world, to every lovely +land, to every splendid court. He would have surrounded me with a love +that no trouble could put aside; he would have given me all that wealth +can buy; he would have loved me more and more until the very last moment +of my life, and followed me beyond life with longings that would soon +have brought us together again.' Yes, Maria, that is how I love you." + +"Harry loves me." + +"Not he! If he had loved you he would not, for his own pleasure, have +run any risk of giving you this trouble. What did I say? Love is +selfish, love wounds----" + +"You wound me. You are selfish." + +"I am. I love you. You seemed to belong to me that first hour I saw you. +I will not give you up." + +"If you really loved me, if you were really noble, you would save Harry +without any conditions." + +"Perhaps. I am not really noble. I can't trust such fine sentiments. +They will lead, I know not where, only away from you. I tell you +plainly, I will save the young fellow's life, if it be possible, on +condition that you promise to marry me." + +"I am not eighteen years old yet." + +"I will wait any reasonable time." + +"Till the end of the war?" + +"Yes, provided it is over when you are twenty-one." + +She pondered this answer, looking up covertly a moment at the handsome, +determined face watching her. Three years held innumerable +possibilities. It was a period very far away. Lord Medway might have +ceased to love her before it was over; he might have fallen in love with +some other girl. He might die; she might die; the wide Atlantic ocean +might be between them. The chances were many in her favor. She remained +silent, considering them, and Medway watched with a curious devotion the +expressions flitting across her face. + +"Think well, Maria," he said at last, letting her hands drop gently from +his own. "Remember that I shall hold you to every letter of your +promise. Do not try to make yourself believe that if Bradley escapes and +you come weeping and entreating to me I shall give way. _I shall not._ I +want to be very plain with you. I insist that you understand, Harry +Bradley is to be given up finally and forever. He is to have no more to +do with your life. I am planning for _our_ future; I do not think of him +at all. When he leaves New York to-morrow he must be to you as if he had +never been." + +"Suppose I do not promise to marry you, what then?" + +"Nothing. I shall go away till you want me, and send for me." + +"Oh!" + +"Yes." + +"And not even try to save Harry's life? Not even try?" + +"Why should I? Better men than Harry Bradley have died in the same +cause." + +She rose and walked across the room a few times, and then, being cold, +came back to the fire, knelt on the rug and warmed her hands. He watched +her intently, but did not speak. She was trying to find something which +should atone to her better self for such a contract. It came with the +thought of Harry's father and Agnes. For their sakes, she ought to do +all she could. Harry, for her sake, had taken his life in his hand and +forfeited it; surely, then, it was right that she, having the power to +do so, should redeem it. Better that he should live for others than die +for her. Better that she should lose him in the living world than in the +silent grave. Through Agnes she would hear of his comings and goings, +his prosperity, and his happiness; but there would come no word to her +from the dead whether at all he lived and loved, or not. With a quick, +decisive motion she rose and looked at the man who was waiting in such +motionless, but eager, silence. + +"A life for a life!" she said simply, offering Medway her hand. + +"You mean that you will be my wife?" + +"Yes. I will marry you when the war is over." + +"Or when you are twenty-one, even if it be not over?" + +"Yes." + +"Now, then," he said, "you are my betrothed;" and he drew her within his +arm. "My honor, my hopes, my happiness, are in your hands." + +"They are safe. Though I am only a girl, I know what my promise means. I +shall keep it." + +"I believe you. And you will love me? You will learn to love me, Maria?" + +"I will do my best to make you happy, you ought not to ask more." + +"Very well." He looked at her with a new and delightful interest. She +was his own, her promise had been given. He could, indeed, tell by her +eyes,--languid, but obstinately masterful--that she would not be easily +won, but he did not dislike that; he would conquer her by the strength +of his own love; he would make her understand what love really meant. +Still, he felt that for the present it would be better to go away, so he +said: + +"You shall hear from me as soon as possible. Try and sleep, my dear one. +You may tell yourself, 'Ernest is doing all that can be done.'" Then he +took her hands and kissed them, and in a moment she was alone. Her heart +was heavy as lead, and she was cold and trembling, but she was no longer +in the shadow of Death. Medway's face, turned to her in the +semi-darkness of the open door, was full of hope; and there was an +atmosphere of power about the man which assured her of success; but she +truly felt at that hour as if it was bought with her life. She was in +the dungeon of despair; there seemed nothing to hope for, nothing to +desire, in all the to-morrows of the years before her. "And I may have +sixty years to live," she moaned; for youth exaggerates every feeling, +and would be grieved to believe that its sorrows were not immortal. + +She pushed the dying fire safely together, looked mournfully round the +darksome room, closed and locked the door. Then Neil came toward her and +asked if Lord Medway could do anything, and she answered, "He can save +Harry's life; he has promised that. I suppose he will be imprisoned, but +his life is saved. What did grandmother say about Lord Medway being +here?" + +"She has never been down stairs. She does not know he was here." + +"Then we will not tell her. What is the use?" + +"None at all. Father and mother have their own trouble. They are very +anxious and almost broken-hearted at the indignity put upon our family. +I heard my father crying as I passed his door and mother trying to +comfort him, but crying, too. It made my heart stand still." + +"It is my fault! It is my fault! Oh! what a wicked, miserable girl I am! +What can I do? What can I do?" + +"Try and sleep, and get a little strength for tomorrow. Within the next +twenty-four hours Harry Bradley will be saved or dead." + +"I think he is saved. I am sure of it." + +"Then try and sleep; will you try, Maria?" + +"Yes." + +She said the word with a hopeless indifference, half nullifying the +promise. Then, lighting her candle, she went slowly to her room. Oh, but +the joy that is dead weighs heavy! Maria could hardly trail her body +upstairs. Her life felt haggard and thin, as if it was in its eleventh +hour; and she was too physically exhausted to stretch out her hand into +the dark and find the clasp of that Unseen Hand always waiting the hour +of need, strong to uphold, and ready to comfort. No, she could not pray; +she had lost Harry: there was nothing else she desired. In her room +there was a picture of the crucifixion, and she cast her eyes up to the +Christ hanging there, forsaken in the dark, and wondered if He pitied +her, but the pang of unpermitted prayer made her dumb in her lonely +grief. + + Alas, God Christ! along the weary lands, + What lone, invisible Calvaries are set! + What drooping brows with dews of anguish wet, + What faint outspreading of unwilling hands + Bound to a viewless cross, with viewless bands. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE HELP OF JACOB COHEN. + + +On leaving Maria, Lord Medway went straight to his friend General +Clinton. He had just dined, and having taken much wine, was bland and +good-tempered. Medway's entrance delighted him. "I have had my orderly +riding about for a couple of hours looking for you," he said. "Where +have you been Ernest? My dinner wanted flavor without you." + +"I have been seeing some people about this son of Bradley's that the +Police Court has in its clutches. By-the-bye, why don't you put a stop +to its infamous blackmailing? As a court, it is only a part of Howe's +treachery, formed for the very purpose of extortion, and of bringing His +Majesty's Government into disrepute. Abolish the whole affair, Henry. +You are court sufficient, in a city under martial law." + +"All you say is true, Ernest, and there is no doubt that Matthews and +DuBois and the rest of them are the worst of oppressors. But I am +expected to subjugate the whole South this winter, and I must leave New +York in three or four weeks now." + +"The Government expects miracles of you, Henry; but if military +miracles are possible, you are the soldier to work them. I have found +out to-day why you are not more popular; it is this Police Court, and +they call it a _Military_ Police Court, I believe; and all its tyrannies +are laid to you because your predecessor instituted it. They might as +well lay Howe's love for rebels to you." + +"Speaking of rebels, I hear most suspicious things of Bradley's son. In +fact, he is a spy. Matthews tells me that he ought to have been hung +to-day. There is something unusual about the affair and I wanted to talk +to you concerning it. Bradley himself has been here and said things that +have made me uncomfortable--you know how he brings the next world into +this one; Smith has been here, also, asking me to pardon the fellow, +because the feeling in the city about Tryon's doings in Connecticut is +yet like smoldering fire in the hearts of the burghers. Powell has been +here asking me to pardon, because the spy's father has a thousand +bridles to make for the troops going South, and he thinks hanging the +youth would kill his father, or at least incapacitate him for work, and +Rivington has just left, vowing he will not answer for consequences if +his newspaper does not sympathize with the Bradleys. If Bradley's son +had been the arch-rebel's son, there could hardly have been more +petitions for his life. I don't understand the case. What do you say?" + +"That Matthews and DuBois have made a tremendous blunder in fining the +Semples for disloyalty in the matter. I will warrant the Semples' +loyalty with my own." + +"So would I. It is indisputable." + +"Yet the Elder has been fined two hundred pounds, and Mr. Neil Semple +one hundred pounds, because Bradley's son tied his boat at their +landing; a fact they were as ignorant of as you or I. And you get the +blame and ill-will of such tyranny, Henry. It is shameful!" + +"It is," answered Clinton in a tone of self-pity; "the boat, however, +was full of goods, about which the young man would say nothing at all." + +"Women's bits of lace and ribbons; a mended fan, and some gloves and +stockings." + +"There was also a Bradley saddle." + +"Yes, Bradley acknowledged it." + +"Then father or son ought to have given information about it." + +"It was their business; and if either you or I were brought before such +an irresponsible court and such autocratic judges, I dare say we should +consider silence our most practical weapon of defense. In Harry +Bradley's position, I should have acted precisely as he did. The whole +affair resolves itself into a lovers' tryst; the lad would not give the +lady a disagreeable publicity; he would die first. You yourself would +shield any good woman with your life, Henry, you know you would." + +And Clinton thought of the bewitching Mrs. Badely and the lovely Miss +Blundell, and answered with an amazing air of chivalry, "Indeed I +would!" + +"Have you ever noticed a Captain Macpherson, belonging to your own +Highland regiment?" + +"Who could help noticing him? He is always the most prominent figure in +every room." + +"He will be so no longer. He was almost hissed out of court to-day, and +I was told the demonstrations on the street sent him stamping and +swearing to his quarters. Well, he is the villain of this pitiful little +drama. The heroine is that lovely granddaughter of Semples." + +"I know her; a little darling! and as good as she is beautiful." + +Then Medway, with an inimitable scornful mimicry told the story of the +pebble and the note, the alarm of the Highland troops, the arrest of the +Elder and his son, the subsequent proceedings in court, the sympathy of +the people with the Semples, and the contempt which no one tried to +conceal for the informer. Then, changing his voice and attitude, he +described Bradley's speechless grief, the Semple's wounded loyalty and +indignation, and finally the passionate sorrow of the mistress and +sister of the doomed man. + +"It is the most pitiful story of the age," he continued, "and if I were +you, Henry, I would not permit civilians to usurp the power you ought to +hold in your own hand. You have to bear the blame of all the crimes +committed by this infamous court. Pardon the prisoner with a stroke of +your pen, if only to put these fellows in their proper place." + +"But there was a cipher message in his possession--here it is. It was in +the binding of a book he carried in his pocket." + +"He says he did not put it there. No one can read it. If you found a +letter in the Babylonish speech, would you hang a man because you could +not read the message he carried!" + +"Special pleading, Ernest. And he ought to have told who rebound the +book, and to whom he was carrying it. The paper on which the cipher is +written is my paper. Some one, not far from me, must have taken it." + +"Suppose you question Smith?" + +"Do you intend to say that Smith is a traitor?" + +"I say, ask Smith. I have no doubt he can read the Babylonish for +you--if he will." + +"You alarm me. Am I surrounded by enemies?" + +"I think you have many round you. I have warned you often. My advice to +you at this time is to pardon young Bradley." + +"Why are you taking such an interest in young Bradley?" + +"I have no secrets from you, he is my rival." + +"Preposterous! How could he rival you in anything?" + +"Yet he is my rival in the affections of Maria Semple." + +"Then let him hang! He will be out of your way." + +"No, he would be forever in my way. She would idolize him, make him a +hero and a saint, and worship him in some secret shrine of memory as +long as she lives. I am going to marry her, and I want no secret +shrines. He is a very good-looking, ordinary young man; only the +circumstances of the time lifted him out of the average and the +commonplace. Let him go scot free that he may find his level which is +far below the horizon of my peerless Maria." + +"I don't think I can let him go 'scot free,' Ernest. I should offend +many if I did, and it would be made a precedent; suppose I imprison him +during the continuance of the war!" + +"That is too romantic. Maria would haunt the prison and contrive some +way of communication. He would still be her hero and her lover." + +"And you will marry this infatuated girl?" + +"Yes, a thousand times, yes! Her love for that boy is mere sentiment. I +will teach her what love really means. She has promised to marry me--if +I save Harry Bradley's life." + +"I never saw you taken so with any woman before." + +"I never cared for a woman before. The moment I saw Maria Semple it was +different. I knew that she belonged to me. Henry, you are my best +friend, give me my wife; no one but you can do so." + +"Ernest! Ernest! You ask a great thing." + +"Not too great for you to grant. You have the will and you have the +power. Are you not going to make me happy, Henry?" + +"Privately, it would be a delight to humor you, Ernest; but officially, +what am I to say to Matthews, DuBois and others." + +"Tell them, that as a matter of military policy, you wish the prisoner +released. Why should you make explanations to them? Oh, they are such +courtiers, they will smile and do all you wish. You are above their +rascally court; reverse their decision in this affair and show them your +power. Believe me, it will be, politically, a wise step." + +There was silence for a few moments, and then Clinton said: "I am sorry +for the Semples. I like them both, and there is something about the +saddler that sets him above other men. But it would not be right to let +this young spy--for he is a spy--off, without some punishment." + +"I think that is right." + +"He must be told that he will be shot on sight if he enters New York +again." + +"He will deserve it." + +"And I will have him drummed out of the city as a rogue and a suspect. +We will make no hero of him--quite the contrary." + +"I oppose nothing of that kind. I ask for his life and his freedom, +because he stands between Maria Semple and myself. If I wanted any other +reason, because I thoroughly respect his father, and am on excellent +terms with his sister, who has been very hospitable to me and who is a +remarkable girl. It has troubled me to-day to remember her lonely sorrow +and anxiety." + +"You have given me three good reasons for granting your request, and +have omitted the strongest of all, Ernest." + +"What is that, Henry?" + +"That I love you." + +"And I love you. You have always been like a big brother to me; always +petted me and humored my desires." + +"Well, then, I will see Matthews and DuBois in the morning." + +"Send for them here to-night. If their court is a Military Police Court, +you are Commander-in-Chief." + +"Right! I will send for them. It is only about nine o'clock." + +"And you will insist that the prisoner be given his life and +freedom--nothing less?" + +"I give you my word for it. But I will have him punished as I said. He +must be prevented from coming to New York again. This kind of thing can +not happen twice." + +"I know. If words could thank you, Henry, I would say them." + +"Nonsense, Ernest; what are words between us? We know each other's +heart;" then he laid his arm across his friend's shoulder and their +hands clasped; there was no need of words. + +Very early in the morning Maria and Agnes received the good tidings. +Maria was asleep when Medway's letter, with a basket of hot-house fruit +was brought to her. Agnes was making her father's coffee, and they both +looked at the unexpected letter with a fearful anticipation. But as soon +as Agnes glanced at it, she perceived that it brought good news, and she +gave it to her father. She could not speak, and for a few minutes +Bradley was equally silent. Not that they were ungrateful, oh, no! They +were only inarticulate. They had a gratitude so deep and holy that they +had no words with which to express it; and when the happy father found +speech, it was weak and tremulous as that of a man in the last +extremity. _"I was brought low, and He helped me!"_ That was all, but he +stood up, steadying himself by his chair, and uttered the verse with a +reverence and holy joy that no language can describe. + +In a little while he began to talk to his daughter. "I knew God would +not fail me," he said. "Yesterday afternoon I did all I could, and then +I left the rest with Him. I saw General Clinton and said a few words +which he could not gainsay. I saw Smith, and told him plainly if Harry +died, he should translate that cypher message to the Commander-in-Chief. +I saw Powell, and many others, whom _I hold at my mercy_, and they know +_that_ now, if they never knew it before. Andrews left New York an hour +after I saw him; he is a fearful creature and he believed I would speak, +though Harry had been silent; well, I must see the boy as soon as +possible, there is certain to be some difficulty that only gold can +overcome. I hope they will not imprison him." + +"Lord Medway says, he will be set free." + +"Thank God!" + +He rose with the words and Agnes brought him his top-coat. Then, as they +stood face to face, she was shocked at the ravage thirty hours of +travail in the shadow of death had made on him. "Father," she said, "oh, +father, forgive me! I did wrong to deceive you! I did wrong!" + +"Yes, my girl, you did wrong; and nothing right can come from wrong; but +Agnes, I have been worse than you. I, also, have been living a deceitful +life, thinking that the end justified the means. I set you the example. +Your fault is my fault. We have both been trying to do the right thing +in _our own way_. We have been patriots, as Nicodemus was a +Christian--by night. That is wrong. We must do right first hand, not +second hand. From this hour that kind of thing will be sinning with our +eyes open; it will be looking God's Commandments in the face, and then +breaking them. Do you understand, Agnes?" + +Then he went away, and Agnes tried to turn to her household duties. She +wondered if Maria would come and see her or if she ought to go to Maria, +and while she was debating the question Neil called. He was much +depressed. The good news about Harry only affected him through Agnes, +and he was very anxious about his father, who was in a high fever and +was constantly talking of his fine and his inability to pay it. "Maybe +I'll hae to go to prison for the debt," was his constant cry, and Neil +felt that his father's fine must be satisfied, no matter at what cost. +So it was a troubled little visit; the day before each was so uncertain, +so full of probabilities which the slightest momentum might divert to +either joy or sorrow. They could not feel that their congratulations +were full ripe; something might yet happen to destroy their hopes. + +Neil went first to his office. He found Mr. Curtis preparing for the +court, and as yet unaware of the decision in Harry's case; "but it is a +great piece of good luck for the young scamp," he said, when Neil told +him, "for he's a spy, if ever there was one. I have no doubt he deserves +death, fifty times over." + +"I have no doubt there are fifty men in New York who deserve it more +than he does--men of power and prominence." + +"I would keep such observations to myself, Neil. Your father is far too +outspoken and he is paying for it now." + +"I hope my father will never be less outspoken." + +"Well, as I say, he has to pay for his opinions. He has two hundred +pounds to pay, but then he had his two hundred pounds worth of +fault-finding." + +"What do you mean, Curtis?" + +"Don't you remember how imprudently he spoke about Mr. Hulen's +imprisonment?" + +"He said nothing but the truth. Mr. Hulens is the most loyal of +gentlemen, but because he was not sufficiently polite to a town major, +he was imprisoned with felons and vagabonds and afterward compelled to +publicly apologize. It was an infamous wrong." + +"Precisely what the Elder said. It has not been forgotten." + +"There were the two De Lanceys----" + +"Yes, to be sure! And why did he trouble himself about them? There are +enough of De Lanceys to look after De Lanceys." + +"The injustice of the affair was every man's business. These two De +Lanceys were private gentlemen, who, because they had some words +with a German chasseur, were seized in their homes and tried by +court-martial--though they had no connection whatever with the army: at +the worst it was a simple assault, the most trifling offense the civil +law notices, yet the De Lanceys were degraded and imprisoned for two +months, and then compelled to beg this German mercenary's pardon before +all the troops at Kingsbridge. Remember Mr. Hicks, turned out of his +hotel by General Patterson at the request of that unmentionable creature +Loring--because Loring wanted it for one of his parasites. Remember poor +Amberman, the miller at Hempstead, who, because he asked Major Stockton +for payment for the flour he had bought, was nearly flogged to death, +and then run through with Major Crew's sword, and kicked out of the +way--dead. Nothing was done to Stockton; I met him on the street an hour +ago, still an officer in His Majesty's service. I could add one hundred +examples to these--but what is the use? And why are we lawyers? There is +no law. The will of any military officer is the law." + +"Still we are lawyers, Neil; and special counselors to three of the +commissaries." + +"I shall not be counselor much longer. I am going to write my +resignation now." + +"Are you mad? These fees are about all the ready money we make." + +"I should deserve to be called mad, or worse, if I continued to serve a +government which had just fined me for not being careful of its +interests." + +"For Heaven's sake, don't throw hundreds a year away for a figment!" + +"Honor is something more than a figment. But you had better go to court +early this morning. When you come back, I want you to let me have two +hundred pounds until I can sell some property." + +Curtis burst into a loud laugh: "I could not let you have two hundred +shillings," he said. "Good gracious, Neil, how can you suppose I have +money to spare?" + +"I know you have money, but if you are averse to lending it, that is a +different thing. I thought you might have some memory of all I have done +for you." + +"I have. Of course I have. You have put thousands of pounds in my way; +I don't deny or forget it, but I have a family----" + +"I understand. I wish you would hasten about Bradley's case. His father +will be expected to pay for their service." + +"I suppose his case is settled. I am sorry he has got off--deuced sorry! +A saucy youth who looked defiance at his betters all the time." + +"Were they his betters?" + +"He ought to be hung!" And he went on talking rapidly about Bradley's +deserts. Neil knew the bluster was affected in order to prevent +recurrence to the subject of money, and with a heart hot and wounded he +sat down to write his resignation of the offices which were his +principal support. Curtis was disconcerted and uneasy, and his last +words on leaving the office were an entreaty to Neil to do "nothing +foolish and hasty." But the papers were written, and then he took +himself to the proper departments. + +He was woefully unhappy. His father's and mother's condition made his +strong heart tremble, and though no one could have supposed from his +appearance that he had a single care, the sudden falling away of his +friends and acquaintances wounded him like a sword. + +As he walked the streets, so gravely erect, so haughtily apart, he was +made to feel, in many ways, that he had lost in public estimation. No +one took the trouble to ask him a favor or stopped to seek his opinion, +or told him bits of gossip about events transpiring. He was classed with +the Bradleys. The Misses Robertson passed him with the most formal of +recognitions; Miss Smith did not notice him at all, while Joris Van +Emerslie, who had taken his advice the previous week about the sale of +his business, crossed the street to avoid him. + +Friends were not far behind enemies. As he stood a moment on the steps +of the barracks commissary, Judge Lawson, an old man and an intimate +acquaintance of the Semples, stopped and said, "Good-morning, Neil. I am +glad to see you here. I heard Cornelius Bloch had asked for your +position and was likely to get it." + +"I did not resign my position, Judge, until five minutes ago. The +commissioners have not yet received it." + +"Very true, but every one knew you must resign--the servants of the King +must be above suspicion, eh?" + +"Suspicion, sir!" + +"Now, now, Neil! You must keep your temper for younger men; I am too old +to be bluffed." + +Then Neil walked silently away, and the old friend of the family watched +him with a queer mingling of pity and satisfaction. "Proud creatures, +them Semples, old and young," he muttered; "but good, true hearts in +them, I'm half sorry for Neil, he was always ready to do me a kindness; +but a little pull-down won't hurt him, he carries his head too high for +anything." + +But high as Neil carried his head, his heart was in the depths. It +seemed to him that all the fair, honorable life he had built was falling +into ruin. He needed now both help and sympathy, and his friends looked +coldly upon him, or took the same reproving tone as the self-righteous +comforters of the man of Uz. Full of bitter thoughts he was walking down +Queen Street, when he heard a soft, familiar voice, almost at his ear, +say, "Mr. Semple! Honored sir, will you speak to me for a few minutes?" +He looked up quickly, and saw that he was close to the doorstep of Jacob +Cohen, the Jewish dealer in fine furniture, china, jewelry, etc. + +"Certainly, Mr. Cohen," he answered, as he stepped inside the gloomy +warehouse, crowded with articles of great beauty and astonishing value. + +"Will you sit here, if you please, sir," and Cohen drew a large stool +forward for Neil; "I must not detain you, your time is worth much money, +many people wish to buy it, but it is land I would buy, if you will sell +it to me." + +"Land, Mr. Cohen! Perhaps a house----" + +"No, it is the land you own next to our synagogue. If you will remember, +I had it in my heart to buy this plot of ground six years ago. I thought +then we could build a larger temple, one more worthy for our worship; +but we did not reach agreement at that time and then came the war. I +offered you then, four hundred pounds for the land; to-day I make you +the same offer if you will take it." + +Neil's emotion was almost beyond his control. For a few minutes he could +not answer the proposition, but Cohen had the patience of the Jew, and +he divined the young man's agitation and mental tremor. Silent and +motionless he waited for Neil's reply. It came strained and hesitating, +as if speech was an effort. + +"Mr. Cohen--I will sell you the land--yes, indeed! As you say, for four +hundred pounds." + +"To-morrow? Can the sale be completed to-morrow?" + +"I will prepare the papers to-day." + +"I am well pleased." + +"Mr. Cohen, this is a great surprise--a good surprise--you do not +understand how good. I believe it is something more than business you +intend; it is sympathy, kindness, friendship." + +"It is business, but it is kindness also, if you will accept it. Your +house have ever done me good, and not evil. I and mine prayed for +you--yes, the Jew knows the pang of injustice that must be borne without +protest and without redress." + +"You have done my family and myself an unspeakable kindness. I were the +worst of ingrates not to acknowledge it," and Neil rose and offered his +hand. And when Cohen took it, and held it for a few moments within his +own, a marvellous change passed over the old man. The timid attitude, +the almost servile respect, vanished; his face beamed with a lofty +expression, his eyes met Neil's frankly; in the prosaic surroundings of +the dark, crowded shop he looked, for a few moments, like an Eastern +prince. + +As they stood thus together, Neil longing to say something that should +show his deep gratitude and friendship, and forgetting that Israel in +America at that day still preserved much of their Oriental seclusion in +household matters, asked after his daughter, Mrs. Belasco. "I have not +seen her since her marriage," he said; "but I can never forget her. It +was her promptitude in the duel between Captain Hyde and myself that +saved my life." + +"She has a good heart;" then suddenly, "come, come into my home, yes, +come in and see her." + +He walked toward the back of the shop and Neil followed him into a +large, low room, where there was a table covered with a white cloth. +Another white cloth, folded lengthwise, shielded the bread and the china +laid ready for the noonday meal. Cohen stood at the entrance and +permitted Neil to pass in. As he did so, a small, dark Jew rose and +bringing forward a chair, said, "Welcome be the guest." + +"This is Mr. Belasco," said Cohen, and then Neil knew the woman who was +standing behind Mr. Belasco's chair. It was the still beautiful Miriam. +The happiness of perfect love lighted the dusky white of her complexion +and filled her glorious eyes. A brilliant silk kerchief was thrown over +her black hair, and she wore a rich, flowing garment of many colors. +There were gems in her ears and around her neck, and her slim, brown +fingers sparkled with sapphires and diamonds. Behind her was the +whitewashed wall of a room on which was traced some black Hebrew +characters--wise or comforting passages from the Psalms or the Prophets; +and on shelves of ordinary wood, a quantity of beautiful china, some +silver vessels, and a copper lamp with seven beaks, brightly polished. +Before her sat Belasco, his swarthy face revealing both power and +intellect, purposely veiled beneath a manner of almost obsequious +deference. But his voice, like Cohen's, was full of those vague tones of +softness and melody, of which Orientals preserve the eternal poetry, +with the eternal secret. Outside, but within sight and hearing, was the +vibrant, noisy, military life of New York--western turmoil--hurry of +business--existence without pause; but here, in this grave, unornamented +room, with its domestic simplicity and biblical air, was the very +atmosphere of the East. + +Neil, who really possessed the heart and the imagination of a poet, felt +the vibration of the far-off life, and even while addressing Mr. +Belasco, had visions of palm-trees and of deserts and of long, long +journeys with the caravans of camels, from oasis to oasis. He was +standing amid the children of the patriarchs. These souls were of older +race than himself; they had the noblest of kindreds, a country that was +the mother of nations. + +With the ideal respect born of such thoughts he offered his hand to Mrs. +Belasco. Then she called her children and proudly exhibited them to +Neil, and in a few moments a slave brought in a dish of lamb stewed with +rice and herbs, some dates, a plate of little cakes strewed with caraway +seeds, and some strong coffee. A roll of bread was at each plate, and +Cohen broke his with Neil. Miriam did not eat with them; she waited +silently on their wants, her face beaming with pleasure and goodwill. +And Neil felt as if he had suddenly passed through a little wooden door +into the life of the far East. + +He said something like this, and Cohen answered, "God has said to us, as +to His servant Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy +kindred. We are the wayfarers of the Eternal, confessing still, as +Moses in the Law taught us--'a Syrian ready to perish was my father.'" +Deut. 26:5. + +It was an unlooked-for and wonderful hour, and Neil left the shop of +Jacob Cohen a very different being from the depressed, anxious man who +had entered it an hour previously. His first thought was his father and +mother, and he went to his office, wrote the following note, and sent a +messenger with it to them: + + MY HONORED AND BELOVED PARENTS: + I have sold a plot of land in Mill Street for four hundred + pounds, and the fines will be paid to-morrow. We shall not + require to borrow a farthing from any one. Be at ease. I will + come to you as soon as I have written the necessary transfer + papers. + Your affectionate son, + NEIL. + +Then an unconquerable desire to see Agnes, or at least to do something +for her, took entire possession of him; and he laid aside his business, +and went as rapidly as possible to the Bradley house. But Agnes would +not see him. She asked to be left alone, and Neil understood her need of +solitude, and respected it. In Maiden Lane he met Lord Medway, who said, +"I have been at your office seeking you, Mr. Semple. Young Bradley is to +be put outside the city at two o'clock to-day." + +"He is pardoned then, on what conditions?" + +"He will be shot on sight if he comes within five miles of New York; and +I fear he will not have a pleasant escort to the barricade." + +"You mean that he will be drummed out by the military and assaulted by +the mob?" + +"Yes, the court said, as a vagabond and spy and common rogue against His +Majesty's government and interests." + +"Oh! I suppose the court is right; there is nothing to be done." + +"His father has sent a number of men with some message to all the +respectable burghers he can influence; and I think Bradley can influence +a great many, either through their fear of him, or their respect for +him." + +"What does he propose to do? He can not prevent this public +demonstration, and he ought not to try to do so. His son has got off +miraculously well. It is his place to submit and be grateful." + +"He tells me the last man drummed out of town was nearly killed by the +missiles thrown at him, and did lose the sight of one eye. He proposes +to prevent the mob's playfulness, if he can." + +"But how?" + +"He has asked a number of the tradesmen and merchants in the city to +send their apprentices and clerks, and thus, by influence and example, +keep the unruly element in check. No one can prevent their presence. In +fact, good citizens are expected to countenance the rogue's punishment. +I may show myself at some point of the route," he added, with a laugh; +"I have a little friend who may ask me about it," and he looked +curiously at Neil, wondering if Maria had told him how the miracle had +been performed which saved Harry's life. + +But Neil made no sign, and Medway continued: "I wish you would dine +with me this evening, Mr. Semple. I have something of importance to tell +you. I dine at five, shall we say at The King's Arms. Afterward I will +walk home with you, if I may." + +"I will join you at five o'clock. What time does the young man begin his +march, and from what point?" + +"From Whitehall Slip to Dock Street, Hanover Square, Queen Street, Crown +Street, William Street, King George Street to the Boston Road, and so to +the eastern gate of the barrier. I rather think the companions of the +journey will be few in number ere they reach the barrier. They start +about two o'clock I believe. You will not forget dinner at five?" + +Then the young men parted and Neil went to his office to consider his +movements. Events had happened with a celerity that made him nervous and +uncertain. He was used to method and plenty of time. Hurry, under any +circumstances, destroyed his balance. Between his father and mother, +Agnes, Maria, John Bradley and his son, Jacob Cohen and Lord Medway, he +felt as if in a whirlwind. He wanted an hour of solitude in which to +collect himself. But his office, that usually quiet, methodical place, +was this day full of unrest. His partner was fuming at Harry Bradley's +release, and wondering "what on earth was the use of the law, or the +necessity for lawyers to interpret it?" + +"There is now no necessity for either law or lawyers," answered Neil; +"we may pack our books and lock our door." + +"Neil, I have been thinking how I could manage to get two hundred for +you." + +"It is not necessary. I am sorry I spoke to you on the subject." + +"I hope you have reconsidered the question of resignation." + +"I sent in my resignation this morning." + +"Of course the commissioners will include me with you." + +"Not necessarily." + +"Yes, necessarily; and I think you have been very selfish and unkind." + +"My honor." + +"My wife and children! They are of as much account as your honor." + +Then Neil rose and went out again; there seemed no peace anywhere, he +had scarcely reached the street when he heard in the distance the +mocking strains of the drums and the fifes. They sounded so intolerable +that he fled to his home to escape their cruel clamor. His mother saw +his approach and was at the door to meet him. Her face looked strangely +grey and thin, but it had something too of its old spirit and +cheerfulness as she said: + +"Neil, my dear lad, your letter set our old hearts singing. How did you +manage it? Who helped you?" + +"God and Jacob Cohen helped me," he answered. "The Jew has bought my +land in Mill Street, and the strange thing is that he bought it out of +respect and sympathy for my father. I am as sure of that as I am that +Jacob Cohen is the only Christian in New York who remembered us for past +kindness or cared for us in present trouble. I want to rest an hour, +mother; I have an appointment with Lord Medway at five o'clock, and I +feel like a leaf that has been blown hither and thither by the wind for +two days. You might tell Maria that Agnes Bradley's brother will be +outside of New York, a free man, in an hour." + +"I am glad he is out o' our life, anyway. Much sorrow and loss he has +brought us, and you will see that Maria's good name will be none the +better for being mixed up with the affair." + +"That is Macpherson's fault. For her sake, and for your sake, he might +have held his tongue. I will not forgive him." + +"His duty, Neil----" + +"Nonsense! He could have given the information without bringing in +Maria's name. He was mad with wounded vanity, it was a miserable, +cowardly bit of revenge." + +"I don't think he is a coward." + +"He is; any man is a coward who takes his spite out on a woman, and you +have been so kind, so motherly to him. He is a disgrace to the tartan: +but I want an hour's rest, and tell father to be perfectly easy about +the money. I shall have it in the morning. It rests on Cohen's word; I +know no better human security." + +"Are you not hungry?" + +"I had dinner with the Cohens, a simple, excellent meal." + +"The world is tapsalteerie; I wonder at nothing that happens. Did you +see the young man? I mean Bradley's son?" + +"Not I. I did not want to see him. I heard the drums and got out of +sight and hearing as quickly as possible. I believe his father has +managed the affair very wisely; I should not wonder if the rogue's march +turns out more of a triumph than an ignominy." + +In a measure Neil's judgment proved to be correct. Respectable young +men, charged to discountenance riotous abuse, began to join the +procession at its outset, and this element was continually augmented. As +they passed Bradley's shop, Bradley himself stepped out of it and +walking at the head of the line, took his place at Harry's right hand. +No one interfered. The drummers and fifers in front did not see him, and +the stupid Waldeckers, ignorant of English and of everything but the +routine of their regiment, took him as a part of the event. He was +dressed in black cloth, with a white lawn band around his neck, and if +they speculated about him at all, they thought he was a clergyman, and +concluded the prisoner was to be hung at the barrier. + + [Illustration: THE DRUMMERS AND FIFERS IN FRONT DID NOT SEE HIM.] + +But Harry turned to his father a face full of love and gratitude. The +youth's self-control was complete, for his disdain of the whole +proceeding was both breastplate and weapon to him. He was bare-headed +and with the wind in his hair and the sunlight in his eyes he went +swinging onward to the song of victory he heard in his own heart. By the +side of his father's massive contour and stern countenance, Harry looked +like some young Michael, bright-faced and fearless. + +Now and then a taunt was hurled at the lad, and occasionally a jibe far +more tangible, but of neither missile did he show the least +consciousness. The presence of his father touched the rudest heart. He +removed his hat when he saw his son's uncovered head, and his grey hairs +evoked far more pity than contempt. When they passed through the +fashionable residence streets, the sympathy was even remarkable; windows +were thrown up, handkerchiefs fluttered, and now and then a shrill +little _"bravo!"_ made Harry look up and catch the influences of pity +and admiration that women, young and lovely, and women, old and wayworn, +rained down on him. As Medway predicted, the crowd melted away long +before the barrier was reached, for the mood of mischief was not in it. +The fifes screamed and the drums beat, but could not summon the devilish +spirit of mob violence, and Harry Bradley's tramp to the Rogue's March +was a much more quiet and orderly affair than the Police Court intended +it to be. + +At the barrier the gate was flung open, and, in the midst of a +fanfaronade of discordant sounds and scornful shouts Harry was hustled +outside. But his father had found opportunity to give him gold and to +tell him a negro was waiting with a swift horse behind the gates; and +just at the last moment, amid the scoffing and jeering of the soldiers, +he put his arms about his son's neck and kissed and blessed him. He had +drunk the shameful cup to the dregs with the lad, and he turned to the +little gathering a face that awed them. As one man they moved aside to +let him pass, and for a few moments watched him, as, with a mighty +stride he took the road homeward. For he looked beyond his nature large +and commanding, and he walked as if moved by some interior force that +was beyond his control. Men gazed at him with awe and pity, but no one +ventured to speak to him. + +As he approached his home the inner momentum that had carried him +without let or hinderance at a marvelous speed seemed to fail; he +faltered, looked round wearily, and then stumbled forward, as if he had +charged his spirit for the last mile of life. When he reached his gate +he could not open it, and Agnes ran out to help him; speech was +impossible, but with a pitiful glance he let her lead him into the +house. Leaning on her, he stumbled forward until he reached the sofa, +then, with a great cry he fell backward. + +Fortunately, Neil Semple at that moment entered the house, and he was +instantly at Bradley's side, rendering, with Agnes, the help at once +necessary, and soothing the afflicted man with words of such sympathy +and affection as few mortals had ever heard pass the lips of Neil +Semple. "Mr. Bradley," he entreated, "do not fail yourself at this hour! +We are all so sorry for you--all ready to weep with you--think of +Agnes--are you suffering?--Shall I go for a physician? What is the +matter? Speak to me, Mr. Bradley." + +"Sir," he answered, stretching out his trembling arms, "sir, I can +neither see nor hear." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE TURN OF THE TIDE. + + +Every misfortune has its horizon, but as yet Maria was not able to lift +up her eyes and see any comfort coming from afar. It seemed to her that +all the joy and glory of living was over. It was not only that Harry was +taken out of her schemes of happiness for the future; the present, also, +was denuded of every hope and clouded by very real annoyances. She felt +bitterly the publicity given to her name, and she knew that this +publicity would supply those who disliked her with continual +opportunities for her humiliation. + +"I shall have to stop at home," she thought; "and grandmother is sick +and grandfather fretful, and Neil's whole care is given to Agnes +Bradley. I think he might consider me a little; but nobody does; I am +only Maria. Yet my life is ruined, quite ruined;" and the unhappy child +wept over herself and wondered how she was to live through the long, +long years before her. + +Very frequently, however, this tearful mood gave place to indignation +against her friends in general, and Agnes in particular. For she still +held steadily to the opinion that all the trouble had arisen from her +selfishness and inability to remember any one's desires but her own. +And so, in plaintive or passionate wandering from one wrong to another, +she passed some very miserable days. Finally, Neil persuaded her to go +and see Agnes. He said, "Even the walk may do you good; and Agnes is +certain to have some comforting words to say." + +Maria doubted both assertions. She could not see what good it could do +her to go from one wretched house to another even more wretched, and +Neil's assurances that John Bradley was better and able to go to his +shop did not give her any more eager desire to try the suggested change. +Yet to please Neil she went, though very reluctantly; and Madame +sympathized with this reluctance. She thought it was Agnes Bradley's +place to come and make some acknowledgment of the sorrow and loss her +family had brought upon the Semples; and she recalled the innate +aversion the Elder had always felt for the Bradley family. + +"The soul kens which way trouble can come," she said. "But what is the +good o' its warnings? Nobody heeds them." + +"I never heard any warning, grandmother." + +"There's nane so deaf as those who won't hear; but go your ways to your +friend Agnes! I'll warrant she would rather you would bide at hame." + +The morning was cold and damp and inexpressibly depressing, but Maria +was in that mood which defies anything to be of consequence. She put on +her hat and cloak and walked silently by her uncle's side until they +came to the Bradley cottage. All the prettiness of its summer and autumn +surroundings was blighted or dead; the door shut, the window covered, +the whole place infected by the sorrow which had visited it. Agnes +opened the door. She was wan and looked physically ill and weary, but +she smiled brightly at her visitor, and kissed her as she crossed the +threshold. + +"My father has been very ill, Maria, or I should have been to see you +before this," she said; "but he has gone to the shop this morning. I +fear he ought not." + +"My grandfather has been very ill and is still unable to leave his +room," replied Maria. "My dear grandmother also! As for myself--but that +is of little importance, only I must say that it has been a dreadful +thing to happen to us, a cruel thing!" + +"It was a wrong thing to begin with. That is where all the trouble +sprang from. I see it now Maria." + +"Of course! You ought not to have deceived your father, Agnes." + +"I was to blame in that, very much to blame. I have nearly broken my +heart over the sin and its consequences." + +"Consequences! Yes, for they fell upon the innocent--that is what you +ought to be sorry for--my grandfather and grandmother, my Uncle Neil, +and even myself." + +"But as for yourself, Maria, you also were to blame. If you would have +been content with seeing Harry here----" + +"Oh, indeed! You did not permit me to see Harry here, or even to bid him +good-bye that night. If you had----" + +"It would have made no difference. Harry as well as you seemed willing +to run all risks to meet--elsewhere." + +"I never thought of meeting Harry elsewhere. I have told you this fact +before." + +"If you had not done so, if Harry had not known you would do so again, +he would not have asked you." + +"This is the last time I will condescend to tell you, Agnes, that I +never once met Harry by appointment; much less, at nine o'clock at +night. Please remember this!" + +"It is, then, very strange, that Harry should have asked you that +night." + +"Not only very strange, but very impertinent. Why should he suppose +Maria Semple would obey such a command? For it was a command. And it was +a further impertinence to send me this command on a bit of common paper, +wrapped around a stone and thrown at me through a window. It was a +vulgar thing to do, also, and I never gave Harry Bradley the smallest +right to order me to meet him anywhere." + +"Oh, if you look at things that way! But why did he ask you? That is a +question hard to answer." + +"Not at all. He was jealous of Macpherson and wished to show off his +familiarity with me and make Macpherson jealous. Under this distracting +passion he forgot, or he did not care, for the risk. It was your +selfishness put the idea into his head, and it was his selfishness that +carried it out, regardless of the consequences." + +"And your selfishness, Maria, what of it?" + +"I was not selfish at all. I knew nothing about it. If I had received +the note, I should not have answered it in any way." + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"Absolutely sure. It angered me, humiliated me, wronged me beyond words. +And to have it read in the Police Court! How would you feel, Agnes? It +has ruined my life." + +"Poor Harry!" + +"Oh, but poor Maria! All this misery was brought to me without my +knowledge and without any desert on my part. And don't you suppose I +love my grandparents and Uncle Neil? Think what I have suffered when I +saw them dragged to prison, tried, fined and disgraced, and all for a +scribble of presumptuous words that Harry Bradley ought to have been +ashamed to write. It was very thoughtless, it was very cruel." + +"Harry suffered for his presumption; and as for the fine, my father will +repay it to your grandfather. He said so this morning; said it would +only be just; and I think so, too." + +"The fine is the least part of the wrong. Who can repay grandfather and +uncle for the loss of their good name and their honorable record? Who +can give uncle his business back again? These are wrongs that cannot be +put right with money. You know that, Agnes." + +"Do not quarrel with me, Maria. I am not able to bear your reproaches. +Let us at least be thankful that Harry's life is spared. When the war is +over you may yet be happy together." + +Then Maria burst into passionate weeping. "You know nothing Agnes! You +know nothing!" she cried. "I can never see Harry again! Never, never! +Not even if he was in this house, _now_. How do you suppose he was +saved?" + +"Father has a great deal of influence, and he used it." Her calm, sad +face, with its settled conviction of her father's power, irritated Maria +almost beyond endurance. For a moment she thought she would tell her the +truth, and then that proud, "not-caring," never far away from a noble +nature stayed such a petty retaliation. She dried her eyes, wrapped her +cloak around her, and said she "must not stop longer; there was trouble +and sorrow at home and she was needed." + +Agnes did not urge her to remain, yet she could not bear her to leave in +a mood so unfriendly, and so despairing. "Forgive me, dear Maria," she +whispered. "I have been wrong and perhaps unkind. I fear you are right +in blaming me. Forgive me! I cannot part in such misunderstanding. If +you knew all----" + +"Oh, yes! And if you knew all." + +"But forgive me! God knows I have suffered for my fault." + +"And I also." + +"Put your arms around my neck and kiss me. I cannot let you go feeling +so unkindly to me. Do you hear, little one? I am sorry, indeed I am. +Maria! Maria!" + +Then they wept a little in each other's arms, and Maria, tear stained +and heavy hearted, left her friend. Was she happier? More satisfied? +More hopeful, for the interview? No. There had been no real confidence. +And what is forgiveness under any circumstances? Only incomplete +understanding; a resolution to be satisfied with the wrong acknowledged +and the pain suffered, and to let things go. + +Certainly, nothing was changed by the apparent reconciliation; for as +Maria sat by the fire that night she said to herself, "It is her fault. +If she had given Harry five minutes, only five minutes, that night he +never would have written that shameful note. It came of her delay and +his hurry. I do not forgive her, and I will not forgive her! Besides, in +her heart I know she blames me; I, who am perfectly innocent! She has +ruined my life, and she looked as injured as if it was I who had ruined +her life. I was not to blame at all, and I will not take any blame, and +I will not forgive her!" + +Maria's divination in the matter was clearly right. Agnes did blame her. +She was sure Harry would not have written the note he did write unless +he had received previous encouragement. "There must have been meetings +in the Semples's garden before," she mused. "Oh, there must have been, +or else Harry's note was inexcusable, it was impertinence, it was +vulgarity. All the same, she need not have said these words to me." + +So the reconciliation was only a truce; the heart-wound in both girls +was unhealed; and if it were healed would not the scar remain forever? + +Three or four days after this unsatisfactory meeting Neil came home in +the afternoon just as the family were sitting down to the tea-table. "It +is cruelly cold, mother," he said. "I will be grateful for a cup. I am +shivering at my very heart." Then he gave his father a business-like +paper, saying, "I found it at my office this morning, sir." + +"What is it Neil? What is it? More trouble?" + +"No, sir. It is a deed making over to you the property in which Mr. +Bradley has his shop and workrooms. He says in a letter to me that 'he +feels this deed to be your right and his duty.' You are to hold the +property as security until he pays you three hundred pounds with +interest; and if you are not paid within three years you are to sell the +property and satisfy yourself." + +"You can give Mr. Bradley his deed back again, my lad. I can pay my own +fines; or if I can't, I can go to prison. I'll not be indebted to him." + +"You mistake, sir. This is a moral obligation, and quite as binding as a +legal one to Mr. Bradley." + +"Take the paper, Alexander," said Madame, "and be thankfu' to save so +much out o' the wreck o' things. We havena the means nor the right, +these days, to fling awa' siller in order to flatter our pride. In my +opinion, it was as little as Bradley could do." + +"I went at once to his shop to see him," continued Neil, "but he was not +there. In the afternoon I called again, and found he had been absent all +day. Fearing he was sick, I stopped at his house on my way home. A +strange woman opened the door. She said Mr. Bradley and his daughter had +gone away." + +"Gone away!" cried Maria. "Where have they gone? Agnes said nothing to +me about going away." + +"The woman, Mrs. Hurd, she called herself, told me Agnes did not know +she was to leave New York until fifteen minutes before she started." + +"When will they return?" asked Madame. + +"God knows," answered Neil, going to the fire and stooping over it. "I +am cold and sick, mother," he said. "It was such a shock. No one at the +shop expected such an event; everything was as busy as possible there, +but the house! the house is desolate." + +"When did they go, Neil?" + +"Last night, mother, at eleven o'clock. Mr. Bradley came in about twenty +minutes before eleven, put Mr. and Mrs. Hurd in possession, and told +Agnes to pack a change of clothing for herself in a leather saddlebag he +gave her. There was a boat waiting for them, and they went away in the +darkness without a word. _O Agnes!"_ + +"What did the Hurds say?" + +"They know nothing." + +"Did Agnes leave no letter?" asked Maria, looking with pitying eyes at +her uncle. + +"How could she? The poor child, how could she? She had no time. Some one +had taken away her pens and pencils. She left a message with Mrs. Hurd. +That was all." + +That was all. The next day New York City knew that John Bradley had left +his business and his home and disappeared as completely as a stone +dropped into the river. No one had suspected his intention; not his +foreman, nor any of the fifteen men working in his shop; not his most +intimate friends, not even his daughter. But it was at once surmised +that he had gone to the rebel army. People began to murmur at the +clemency shown to his son, and to comment on the almost offensive +sympathy of the father for him. For a few days John Bradley was the +absorbing topic of conversation; then he was forgotten by every one but +Neil. His shop, indeed, was kept open by the foreman, under control of +the government, but the name of Bradley was removed from above its +entrance and the royal cipher G. R. put in its place. And in a few weeks +his home was known as Hurd's place, and had lost all its little +characteristics. Neil passed it every day with a heavy heart. There was +no sweet face at the window to smile him a greeting; no beautiful woman +to stand with him at the gate, or, hand in his hand, lead him into the +little parlor and with ten minutes' conversation make the whole day +bright and possible. The house looked forlorn; fire or candlelight were +never visible, and he could only think of Agnes as driven away in the +dark night by Destiny and wandering, he knew not where. + +Maria, too, was unhappy. Her last visit to Agnes had been such a mockery +of their once loving companionship. Her last visit! That word "last" +took hold of her, reproached her, hurt her, made her sorry and anxious. +She felt also for her uncle, who looked old and gray in his silent +sorrow. Poor Neil! he had suffered so many losses lately; loss of money, +loss of business, loss of friends, and to crown all these bereavements, +the loss of the woman on whom he had fixed the love and light and hopes +of his life. No wonder he was so mournful and so quiet; he, who had just +begun to be really happy, to smile and be gracious and pleasant to every +one, yes, and even to sing! Madame could not help noticing the change. +"He is worse than ever he was before," she said with a weary pity. "Dear +me! what lots of sorrow women do manage to make!" + +This remark Maria did not approve of, and she answered it with some +temper. "All this sorrow came from a man's hand, grandmother," she said, +"and no woman is to blame." + +"Not even yoursel', Maria?" + +"I, least of all. Do you think that I would have met any man by the +river side at nine o'clock at night?" + +"I'll confess I have had my doubts." + +"Then you ought to say, 'Maria, I am sorry I have had one doubt of you.' +When you were Janet Gordon, would you have done a thing like that?" + +"Not a man in Scotland could have trysted me at an hour when all my folk +were in their rooms and maybe sleeping." + +"Not a man in America could make such a tryst with me. I am your +granddaughter." + +"But that letter, Maria." + +"It was a shame! A wrong I cannot forgive. I called it an impertinence +to Agnes, and I feel it so. He had no reason to suppose I would answer +such a request, such an order, I may say. I am telling you the truth, +grandmother." + +"I believe you, Maria; but the pity of it is that you canna advertise +that fact." + +"I know that. I know that everyone will doubt me or shun me. I shall be +made to suffer, of course. Well, I can suffer and smile as well as any +woman,--we all have that experience at some time or other." + +"Men have it, too. Look at your uncle." + +"Men don't smile when they suffer; they don't even try to. Uncle +suffers, any one can see that, but he does not dress up in velvet and +silk, and laugh, and dance, and talk nonsense merrily over the grave +where all his hopes are buried. No, indeed! He looks as if he had lost +the world. And he shuts himself in his room and swears at something or +somebody; he does not cry like a woman and get a headache, as well as a +heartache; he swears at his trouble and at everything connected with it. +That is the way with men, grandmother, you know it is. I have heard both +my grandfather and my uncle comforting themselves after this fashion. +Grandfather, I thought, even seemed to enjoy it." + +Madame smiled and then admitted "men had their ain ways, and so couldna +be judged by woman's ways." Moreover, she told Maria in regard to Agnes +that a friendship which had begun to decay was best cut off at once. And +Maria, in spite of certain regrets, felt this to be a truth. Things were +not the same between Agnes and herself; it was, then, more comfortable +that they should not be at all. + +Only, as day after day went by and no one took the place of Agnes or +showed the slightest desire to do so, her life became very monotonous. +This was specially remarkable, because New York was at a feverish point +of excitement. General Clinton was hurrying his preparations for the +reduction of the South. Any hour the troops might get marching orders, +and every entertainment had the gaiety and the melancholy of a farewell +feast. All day long troops were moving hither and thither, and orderlies +galloping in every direction. There was a constant rumble of army wagons +in motion; trumpets were calling men together, drums beating them to +their stations; and through all the blare and movement of a great +military town in motion there was the tinkling of sleigh-bells and the +glancing of splendidly caparisoned sleighs, full of women brilliantly +dressed. + +Now, although the Semple house was beyond the actual throng and tumult +of these things, Maria heard the confused murmur of their activity; and +Neil told her bare facts, which she easily clothed with all the +accessories of their existence and movement. But although there were +dinner parties and sleighing parties, nightly dances, and the promise of +a fine theatrical season, with the officers of the army as actors, no +one remembered her. She was shocked when she realized that she had been +cut off from all social recognition. Setting aside the fact that Harry +Bradley was a rebel, she had done nothing to deserve such ostracism; +but, though conscious of her innocence, she did not find this inner +approval as satisfying a compensation for outward respect and pleasant +company as it is supposed to be. + +As the days went on, she began to wonder at Lord Medway's absence. At +least, if she was to be his wife he ought to show her some care and +attention. She remembered that in their last important interview she had +told him not to trouble her; but he ought to have understood that a +woman's words, in such trying circumstances, meant much less or much +more than their face value. + +Household anxieties of all kinds were added to these personal ones. +Madame Semple was sick and full of domestic cares. Never had there been +known in New York such bitter frost, such paralyzing cold. Snow lay four +to six feet deep; loaded teams or galloping cavalry crossed the river +safely on its solid ice. Neil had made arrangements for wood in the +summer months, but only part of it had been delivered; the rest, though +felled, could not be extricated from the frozen snowdrifts. The sale of +the Mill Street property had left them a margin of ready money, but +provisions had risen to fabulous prices and were not always procurable +at any price. New York was experiencing, this cruel winter, all the +calamities of a great city beleaguered both by its enemies and the +elements. + +Yet the incessant social gaiety never ceased. Thousands were preparing +for the battlefield; thousands were dying in a virulent smallpox +epidemic; thousands were half-frozen and half-fed; the prisons were +crowded hells of unspeakable agonies; yet the officers in command of the +city, and the citizens in office, the rich, the young and the beautiful, +made themselves merry in the midst of all this death and famine, and +found very good recreation in driving their jingling sleighs over the +solid waters of the river and the bay. + +In these bad times Neil was the stay and comfort of the Semple +household. He catered for their necessities cheerfully, but his heart +was heavy with anxious fear; and when he saw those he loved deprived of +any comfort, he reproached himself for the pride which had made him +resign offices so necessary for their welfare. This pinch of poverty, +which he must conceal, made his whole being shrink with suffering he +never named to any one. And besides, there was always that desolate +house to pass and repass. How was it that its shut door affected him so +painfully? He could only feel this question; he could not answer it. +But, though he was not conscious of the fact, never had Neil Semple in +all his life been at once so great and so wretched: great because he was +able to put his own misery under the feet of those he loved; to forget +it in noble smiles that might cheer them and in hopeful words, often +invented for their comfort. + +One day as he was walking down Broadway he saw a sleigh coming toward +him. It was drawn by four black horses blanketed in scarlet, glittering +with silver harness and tossing their plumed heads to the music of a +thousand bells. As it drew nearer a faint smile came to his lips. He saw +the fantastically-dressed driver and footman, and the brilliant mass of +color surrounded by minever furs, and he knew it was Madame Jacobus, out +to defy any other sleigh to approach her. + +He expected only a swift, bright smile in passing, but she stopped, +called him imperatively, and then insisted that he should take a seat +beside her. "I have caught you at last," she said with a laugh. "It is +high time. I asked you to come soon and see me, and you said you would. +You have broken your word, sir. But nothing is binding where a woman is +concerned; we have to live on broken scraps of all kinds, or perish. +You are going to dine with me. I shall take it very ill if you refuse;" +then, more soberly, "I have some important things to say to you." + +"It will be a great pleasure to dine with you," answered Neil. + +"First, however, we will gallop a mile or two, just to show ourselves +and get an appetite;" and the grave smile of pleasurable assent which +accepted this proposition delighted her. In and out of the city ways +they flew, until they reached the Bowery road; there they met the +sleighs of generals and governors, dandy officers and wealthy +commissioners, and passed them all. And Neil shared the thrill of her +triumph and the physical delight of a pace no one could approach. +Something like his old expression of satisfied consideration came into +his face, and he was alive from head to feet when he reached Madame's +fine house in lower Broadway,--a handsome, luxurious house, filled with +treasures from every part of the world; no shadow of limitation in +anything within it. The lunch, elaborately laid for Madame, was +instantly extended for the guest, and Neil marvelled at the dainty +liberality of all its arrangements. It was, indeed, well known that the +Jacobus wealth was enormous, but here was a room warmed as if wood was +of no great value; broiled birds, the finest of wheat bread, the oldest +and best of wines. + +"You see, I take good care of myself, Neil," said Madame. "I don't wish +to die till the war is over. I am resolved to see Troy taken." + +"You mean New York." + +"I mean New York, of course." + +"Do you really think the rebels will take New York?" + +"The Greeks got into Troy by trying. I think others can do the same." + +This was the only allusion made to public events during the meal; but +when it was over and the servants had disappeared she set her chair +before the roaring fire, spread out her splendid scarlet skirt, and, +holding a gemmed fan between her face and the blaze, said: + +"Now we will talk. You must tell me everything, Neil, without holdbacks. +You are a lawyer and know that everything must be told or nothing. Do +you feel that you can trust me?" + +Then Neil looked into the dark, speaking face, bending slightly toward +him. Kindness lighted its eyes and parted its lips, but, above all, it +was a countenance whose truth was beyond question. "Madame," he +answered, "I believe you are my friend." + +"In plain truth, I am your friend. I am also your mother's friend. She +is the best of women. I love her, and there's an end of it. When I came +to New York first I was a stranger and people looked curiously, even +doubtfully, at me. Janet Semple stood by me like a mother just as long +as I needed her care. Do I forget? That is far from Angelica Jacobus. I +never forget a kindness. Now, Neil, I have known you more than twenty +years. What can I do for you?" + +"O Madame, what can you not do? Your sympathy has put new life into me. +I feel as if, perhaps, even yet there may be happy days in store." + +"Plenty of them. I hear you paid the fines immediately. Did they pinch +you much?" + +"No. Jacob Cohen bought a piece of land from me. I do believe he bought +it out of pure kindness." + +"Pure kindness and good business. He knows how to mingle things. But +that Jew has a great soul. Jacobus has said so often, and no one can +deceive Jacobus. But what are these stories I hear about your lovely +niece? Is there any truth in them?" + +"None, I'll warrant," answered Neil warmly. "But I will tell you the +exact truth, and then you may judge if little Maria deserves to be +treated as people are now treating her." + +Then Neil succinctly, and with clearness and feeling, told the story of +Maria's entanglement with Harry Bradley, laying particular stress on the +fact that she never had met him clandestinely, and that his note had +been a great offense and astonishment to her. "I was present," he said, +"when my father told her of the note, and of its being read in the +Police Court, and I shall never forget her face. It is an easy thing to +say that a person was shocked, but Maria's very soul was so dismayed and +shocked that I seemed to see it fly from her face. She would have fallen +had I not caught her. Why was that note written? I cannot understand +it." + +"It was never intended for Maria. It was written to wound the vanity and +fire the jealousy of that Scot. As soon as Maria left the room the +opportunity was seized. Can you not see that? And Harry Bradley never +dreamed that the kilted fool would turn an apparent love-tryst into a +political event. He wished to make trouble between Macpherson and Maria, +but he had no intention of making the trouble he did make. He also was +jealous, and when two jealous men are playing with fire the consequences +are sure to be calamitous. But Macpherson is sorry enough now for his +zeal in His Majesty's affairs. He is thoroughly despised by both men and +women of the first class. I, myself, have made a few drawing-rooms +places of extreme humiliation to him." + +"Still, others think the man simply did his duty. A Scotsman has very +strong ideas about military honor and duty." + +"Fiddlesticks! Honor and duty! Nothing of the kind. It was a dirty deed, +and he is a dirty fellow to have done it. There was some decent way out +of the dilemma without going through the Police Court to find it. Grant +me patience with such bouncing, swaggering, selfish patriotism! A +penny's worth of common-sense and good feeling would have been better; +but it was his humor to be revengeful and ill-natured, and he is, of +course, swayed by his inclinations. Let us forget the creature." + +"With all my soul." + +"The stories are various about Maria going to General Clinton and +begging her lover's life with such distraction that he could not refuse +it to her. Which story is the true one?" + +"They are all lies, I assure you, Madame. It was Lord Medway who begged +Harry Bradley's life." + +"But why?" + +Neil paused a minute, and then answered softly, "For Maria's sake." + +"Oh, I begin to understand." + +"She has promised to marry him when she is of age--then, or before." + +"I am very glad. Medway is a man full of queer kinds of goodness. When +the Robinsons and Blundells, when Joan Attwood and Kitty Errol and all +the rest of the beauties, hear the news, may I be there to see? Is it +talkable yet?" + +"No, not yet. Maria has told no one but me, and I have told no one but +you. Medway is to see my father and mother; after that--perhaps. He has +not called since the arrangement; he told me 'he was doing the best +thing under the circumstances.'" + +"Of course he is. Medway understands women. He knows that he is making +more progress absent than he would present. Come, now, things are not so +bad, socially. Mrs. Gordon and Angelica Jacobus will look after Maria; +and, though women can always be abominable enough to their own sex, I +think Maria will soon be beyond their shafts. Now, it is business I must +speak of. Patrick Huges, my agent, is robbing me without rhyme or +reason. I had just sent him packing when I met you. The position is +vacant. Will you manage my affairs for me? The salary is two hundred +pounds a year." + +"Madame, the offer is a great piece of good fortune. From this hour, if +you wish it, I will do your business as if it were my own." + +"Thank you, Neil. In plain truth, it will be a great kindness to me. We +will go over the rascal's accounts to-morrow, and he will cross the +river to-night if he hears that Neil Semple is to prosecute the +examination." + +Then Neil rose to leave. Madame's sympathy and help had made a new man +of him; he felt able to meet and master his fate, whatever it might be. +At the last moment she laid her hand upon his arm. "Neil," she asked, +"Has not this great outrage opened your eyes a little. Do you still +believe in the justice or clemency of the King?" + +"It was not the King." + +"It was the King's representatives. If such indignity is possible when +we are still fighting, what kind of justice should we get if we were +conquered?" + +"I know, I know. But there is my father. It would break his heart if I +deserted the royal party now. They do not know in England----" + +"Then they ought to know; but for many years I have been saying, +'England was mad'; and she grows no wiser." + +"Englishmen move so slowly." + +"Of course. All the able Englishmen are on this side of the Atlantic. +Lord! how many from the other side could be changed for the one Great +One on this side. What do you think? It was my silk, lace, ribbons and +fallals Harry Bradley was taking across the river. The little vanities +were for my old friend Martha. I am sorry she missed them." + +Neil looked at her with an admiring smile. "How do you manage?" he +asked. + +"I have arranged my politics long since, and quite to my satisfaction. +So has Jacobus. He left New York flying the English flag, but the ocean +has a wonderful influence on him; his political ideas grow large and +free there; he becomes--a different man. Society has the same effect on +me. When I see American women put below that vulgar Mrs. Reidesel----" + +"Oh, no, Madame!" + +"Oh, yes, sir. In the fashionable world we are all naught unless Mrs. +General Reidesel figures before us; then, perhaps, we may acquire a kind +of value. See how she is queening it in General Tryron's fine mansion. +And then, this foreign mercenary, Knyphausen, put over American officers +and American citizens! It is monstrous! Not to be endured! I only bear +it by casting my heart and eyes to the Jersey Highlands. There our +natural ruler waits and watches; here, we wait and watch, and some hour, +it must be, our hopes shall touch God's purposes for us. For that hour +we secretly pray. It is not far off." And Neil understood, as he met her +shining eyes and radiant smile, that there are times when faith may +indeed have all the dignity of works. + +Then the young man, inexpressibly cheered and strengthened, went rapidly +home; and when Madame heard her son's steps on the garden walk she knew +that something pleasant had happened to him. And it is so often that +fortune, as well as misfortune, goes where there is more of it that Neil +was hardly surprised to see an extraordinarily cheerful group around an +unusually cheerful fireside when he opened the parlor door. The Elder, +smiling and serene, sat in his arm-chair, with his finger-tips placidly +touching each other. Madame's voice had something of its old confident +ring in it, and Maria, with heightened color and visible excitement, +sat between her grandparents, an unmistakable air of triumph on her +face. + +"Come to the fire, Neil," said his mother, making a place for his chair. +"Come and warm yoursel'; and we'll hae a cup o' tea in ten or fifteen +minutes." + +"How cheerful the blazing logs are," he answered. "Is it some festival? +You are as delightfully extravagant as Madame Jacobus. Oh, if the old +days were back again, mother!" + +"They will come, Neil. But wha or what will bring us back the good days +we hae lost forever out o' our little lives while we tholed this weary +war? However, there is good news, or at least your father thinks so. +Maria has had an offer o' marriage, and her not long turned eighteen +years auld, and from an English lord, and your father has made a bonfire +o'er the matter, and I've nae doubt he would have likit to illuminate +the house as weel." + +The Elder smiled tolerantly. "Janet," he answered, "a handsome young +man, without mair than his share o' faults and forty thousand pounds a +year, is what I call a godsend to any girl. And I'm glad it has come to +our little Maria. I like the lad. I like him weel. He spoke out like a +man. He told me o' his castle and estate in Lancashire, and o' the great +coal mines on it; the lands he owned in Cumberland and Kent, his town +house in Belgrave Square, and forbye showed me his last year's rental, +and stated in so many words what settlement he would make on Maria. And +I'm proud and pleased wi' my new English grandson that is to be. I shall +hold my head higher than ever before; and as for Matthews and Peter +DuBois, they and their dirty Police Court may go to----, where they +ought to have been years syne, but for God Almighty's patience; and I'll +say nae worse o' them than that. It's a great day for the Semples, Neil, +and I am wonderfully happy o'er it." + +"It's a great day for the Medways," answered Madame. "I could see fine +how pleased he was at the Gordon connection, for when I told him Colonel +William Gordon, son o' the Earl o' Aberdeen--him wha raised the Gordon +Highlanders a matter o' three years syne--was my ain first cousin, he +rose and kissed my hand and said he was proud to call Colonel Gordon his +friend. And he knew a' about the Gordons and the warlike Huntleys, and +could even tell me that the fighting force o' the clan was a thousand +claymores; a most intelligent young man! And though I dinna like the +thought o' an Englishman among the Gordons, there's a differ even in +Englishmen; some are less almighty and mair sensible than others." + +"He spoke very highly o' the Americans," answered the Elder. "He said +'we were all o' one race, the children o' the same grand old mother.'" + +"The Americans are obligated for his recognition," replied Madame a +trifle scornfully. "To be sure, it's a big feather in our caps when Lord +Medway calls cousins with us." + +"What does Maria say?" asked Neil. And Maria raised her eyes to his with +a look in them of which he only had the key. So to spare her talking on +the subject, he continued: "I also have had a piece of good fortune +to-day. I met Madame Jacobus, went home with her to dinner, and she has +offered me the position of her business agent, with a salary of two +hundred pounds a year." + +"It's a vera springtide o' good fortune," said the Elder, "and I am a +grateful auld man." + +"Weel, then," cried Madame, "here comes the tea and the hot scones; and +I ken they are as good as a feast. It's a thanksgiving meal and no less; +come to the table wi' grateful hearts, children. I'm thinking the tide +has turned for the Semples; and when the tide turns, wha is able to stop +it?" + +The turn of the tide! How full of hope it is! Not even Maria was +inclined to shadow the cheerful atmosphere. Indeed, she was grateful to +Lord Medway for the fresh, living element he had brought into the house. +Life had been gloomy and full of small mortifications to her since the +unfortunate Bradley affair. Her friends appeared to have forgotten her, +and the dancing and feasting and sleighing went on without her presence. +Even her home had been darkened by the same event; her grandfather had +not quite recovered the shock of his arrest; her grandmother had made +less effort to hide her own failing health. Neil had a heartache about +Agnes that nothing eased, and the whole household felt the fear and +pinch of poverty and the miserable uncertainty about the future. + +Maria bore her share in these conditions, and she had also began to +wonder and to worry a little over Lord Medway's apparent indifference. +If he really loved her, why did he not give her the recognition of his +obvious friendship? His presence and attentions would at least place her +beyond the spite and envy of her feminine rivals. Why did he let them +have one opportunity after another to smile disdain on her presence, or +to pointedly relegate her to the outer darkness of non-recognition? When +she had examined all her slights and sorrows, Lord Medway's neglect was +the most cutting thong in the social scourge. + +Madame Jacobus, however, was correct in her opinion. Medway was making +in these days of lonely neglect a progress which would have been +impossible had he spent them at the girl's side. And if he had been +aware of every feeling and event in the lives of the Semples, he could +not have timed his hour of reappearance more fortunately, for not only +was Maria in the depths of despondency, but the Elder had also begun to +believe his position and credit much impaired. He had been passed, +avoided, curtly answered by men accustomed to defer to him; and he did +not take into consideration the personal pressure on these very men from +lack of money, or work, or favor; nor yet those accidental offenses +which have no connection with the people who receive them. In the days +of his prosperity he would have found or made excuses in every case, but +a failing or losing man is always suspicious, and ready to anticipate +wrong. + +But now! Now it would be different. As he drank his tea and ate his +buttered scone he thought so. "It will be good-morning, Elder. How's all +with you? Have you heard the news? and the like of that. It will be a +different call now." And he looked at Maria happily, and began to +forgive her for the calamity she had brought upon them. For it was +undeniable that even in her home she had been made to feel her +responsibility, although the blame had never been voiced. + +She understood the change, and was both happy and angry. She did not +feel as if any one--grandfather, grandmother, Lord Medway, or Uncle +Neil--had stood by her with the loyal faith they ought to have shown. +All of them had, more or less, suspected her of imprudence and reckless +disregard of their welfare. All of them had thought her capable of +ruining her family for a flirtation. Even Agnes, the beginning and end +of all the trouble, had been cold and indifferent, and blamed, and left +her without a word. And as she did not believe herself to have done +anything very wrong, the injustice of the situation filled her with +angry pain and dumb reproach. + +Lord Medway's straightforward proposal cleared all the clouds away. It +gave her a position at once that even her grandfather respected. She was +no longer a selfish child, whose vanity and folly had nearly ruined her +family. She was the betrothed wife of a rich and powerful nobleman, and +she knew that even socially reprisals of a satisfactory kind would soon +be open to her. The dejected, self-effacing manner induced by her +culpable position dropped from her like a useless garment; she lifted +her handsome face with confident smiles; she was going, not only to be +exonerated, but to be set far above the envy and jealousy of her +enemies. For Medway had asked her to go sleighing with him on the +following day, and she expected that ride to atone for many small +insults and offenses. + +Twice during the night she got up in the cruel cold to peep at the stars +and the skies. She wanted a clear, sunny day, such a day as would bring +out every sleigh in the fashionable world; and she got her desire. The +sun rose brilliantly, and the cold had abated to just the desirable +point; the roads, also, were in perfect condition for rapid sleighing, +and at half-past eleven Medway entered the parlor, aglow with the frost +and the rapid motion. + +His fine presence, his hearty laugh, his genial manners, were +irresistible. He bowed over Madame's hand, and then drew Maria within +his embrace. "Is she not a darling? and may I take her for an hour or +two, grandmother?" he asked. And Madame felt his address to be beyond +opposition. He had claimed her kinship; he had called her "grandmother," +and she gave him at once the key of her heart. + +As they stood all three together before the fire, a servant man entered +and threw upon the sofa an armful of furs. "I have had these made for +you, Maria," said Medway. "Look here, my little one! Their equals do not +exist outside of Russia." And he wrapped her in a cloak of the finest +black fox lined with scarlet satin, and put on her head a hood of +scarlet satin and black fox, and slipped her hands into a muff of the +same fur lined with scarlet satin; and when they reached the waiting +sleigh he lifted her as easily as a baby into it, and seating himself +beside her, off they went to the music in their hearts and the music in +the bells; and the pace of the four horses was so great that Madame +declared "all she could see was a bundle of black fur and flying +scarlet ribbons." + +That day Maria's cup of triumph was full and running over. Before they +had reached the half-way house they had met the entire fashionable world +of New York, and every member of it had understood that Maria Semple and +Lord Medway would now have to be reckoned with together. For Medway +spoke to no one and returned no greeting that did not include Maria in +it. Indeed, his neglect of those who made this omission was so pointed +that none could misconstrue it. Maria was, therefore, very happy. She +had found a friend and a defender in her trouble, and she was, at least, +warmly grateful to him. He could see it in her shining eyes, and feel +it, oh, so delightfully! in her unconscious drawing closer and closer to +him, so that finally his hands were clasping hers within the muff of +black fox, and his face was bending to her with that lover-like, +protecting poise there was no mistaking. + +"Are you satisfied, Maria? Are you happy?" he asked, when the pace +slackened and they could talk a little. + +"Oh, yes!" she answered. "But why did you wait so long? I was suffering. +I needed a friend; did you not understand?" + +"But you had a sorrow I could not share. I did not blame you for it. It +was but natural you should weep a little, for the young man had +doubtless made some impression. He was a gallant fellow, and between +life and death carried himself like a prince. I am glad I was able to +save his life; but I did not wish to see you fretting about him; that +was also natural." + +She did not answer, nor did he seem to expect an answer. But she was +pleased he did not speak slightingly of Harry. Had he done so, she felt +that she would have defended him; and yet, in her deepest consciousness +she knew this defense would have been forced and uncertain. The +circumstances were too painful to be called from the abyss of past +calamity. It was better everything should be forgotten. And with the +unerring instinct of a lover, Medway quickly put a stop to her painful +reverie by words that seldom miss a woman's appreciation. He told her +how much he had longed to be with her; how tardily the weeks had flown; +how happy it made him to see her face again. He called her beautiful, +bewitching, the loveliest creature the sun shone on, and he said these +things with that air of devoted respect which was doubly sweet to the +girl, after the social neglect of the past weeks. Finally he asked her +if she was cold, and she answered: + +"How can I be cold? These exquisite furs are cold-proof. Where did you +get them? I have never seen any like them before." + +"I got them in St. Petersburg. I was there two years ago on a political +embassy, and while I was waiting until you partly recovered yourself I +had my long coat cut up and made for you. I am delighted I did it. You +never looked so lovely in anything I have seen you wear. Do you like +them, Maria, sweet Maria?" + +She looked at him with a smile so ravishing that he had there and then +no words to answer it. He spoke to the driver instead, and the horses +bounded forward, and so rapid was the pace that the city was soon +reached, and then her home. Neil was at the gate to meet them, and +Medway lifted Maria out of the sleigh and gave her into his care. "I +will not keep the horses standing now;" he said, "but shall I call +to-morrow, Maria, at the same time?" And she said, "Yes," and "I have +had a happy drive." So he bowed and went away in a dash of trampling +horses and jingling bells, and Maria watched him a moment or two, being +greatly impressed by his languid, yet masterful, air and manner, the +result of wealth long inherited and of social station beyond question. + +With a sigh--and she knew not why she sighed--Maria went into the house. +She was now quite forgiven; she could feel that she was once more loved +without reservation, and also that she had become a person of +importance. It was a happy change, and she did not inquire about it, or +dampen the pleasure by asking for reasons. She took off her beautiful +furs, showed them to her grandmother and grandfather, and told at what +personal sacrifice Lord Medway had given them to her. And then, drawing +close to the hearth, she described the people they had met, and the +snubs and recognitions given and received. It was all interesting to +Madame, and even to the Elder; the latter, indeed, was in extraordinary +high spirits, and added quite as much salt and vinegar to the dish of +gossip as either of the women. + +In spite, therefore, of the bitter weather and the scarcity of all the +necessaries of life, the world went very well again for the Semples; +and though at the end of December, Clinton sailed southward, Lord Medway +had a furlough for some weeks, so that in this respect the military +movement did not interfere with Maria's social pleasures. Two days +before the embarkment of the troops Colonel DeLancey called one morning +on the Elder. He had sold a piece of property to the government, and in +making out the title information was wanted that only Elder Semple, who +was the original proprietor, could give. DeLancey asked him, therefore, +to drive back with him to the King's Arms and settle the matter, and the +Elder was pleased to do so. Anything that took him among his old +associates and gave him a little importance was particularly agreeable, +and in spite of the cold he went off in the highest spirits. + +The King's Arms was soon reached, and he found in its comfortable parlor +General Ludlow, Recorder John Watts, Jr., Treasurer Cruger, +Commissioners DeGeist and Housewert, and Lawyer Spiegel. After Semple's +arrival the business which had called them together was soon settled, +and it being near noon, Ludlow called for a bottle of old port and some +beef sandwiches. The room was warm and bright, the company friendly and +well informed on political matters, and a second bottle was drunk ere +they made a movement to break up the pleasant meeting. Then Ludlow +arose, and for a few minutes they stood around the blazing fire, the +Elder very happy in the exercise of his old influence and authority. But +just as they were going to shake hands the door was flung open and +Captain Macpherson appeared. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he +suddenly made up his mind that he had chanced upon a great opportunity +for placing himself right with the public, and so, advancing toward +Elder Semple, who had pointedly turned his back upon him, he said: + +"Elder, I am grateful for this fortunate occasion. I wish before these +gentlemen to assure you that I did my duty with the most painful +reluctance. I beg you to forgive the loss and annoyance this duty has +caused you." + +Then Semple turned to him. His eyes were flashing, his face red and +furious. He looked thirty years younger than usual, as with withering +scorn he answered: + +_"Caitiff!_ Out of my sight!" + +"No, sir," continued the foolish young man, "not until you listen to me. +As a soldier and a gentleman, I had a duty to perform." + +"You hae covered the names o' 'soldier' and 'gentleman' wi' infamy. +Duty, indeed! What duty o' yours was it to examine a letter that came to +a house where you were making an evening call? No matter how the letter +came--through the window or by the door--you had nae duty in the matter. +It was your cursed, curious, spying impertinence. No gentleman would hae +opened it. The letter was not directed to you,--you admitted that in +court. God in Heaven! What right had you to open it?" + +"Allow me to ask, Elder, what you would have done if you had been an +officer in His Majesty's service and had been placed in the same +circumstances?" + +"Done? Why, you villain, there was only _one_ _thing to do_, and an +officer, if he was a gentleman, would have done it,--given the letter to +Miss Bradley unopened. She was the mistress of the house, and entitled +to see the letters coming to it. What had you to do wi' her letters? If +you had kept your fingers frae picking and your e'en frae spying, you +would not have put yoursel' in an utterly shamefu' dilemma." + +"In these times, sir----" + +"In this case the times are nae excuse. Mr. Bradley was believed by +everybody to be a friend of His Majesty. You had nae reason whatever to +suppose a treasonable note would come to his house. You did not suppose +it. My God, sir! if our letters are to be examined by His Majesty's +officers, wha is safe? An enemy might throw a note full o' treason +through a window, and if _you_ happened to be calling there----" + +"Mr. Semple, you are insulting." + +"I mean to be insulting. What right had you to speak to me? You Judas! +who could eat my bread, and borrow my siller, and pretend to love my +granddaughter. You have smirched your colors and dishonored your sword, +and you deserve to be drummed out o' your regiment; you do that, you +eternal scoundrel, you!" + +By this time the Elder's voice filled the room, and he brought his cane +down as if it were twenty. "Out o' my sight," he shouted, "or I'll lay +it o'er your shoulders, you blackguard aboon ten thousand." + +"Your age, sir! your age!" screamed the enraged young fellow; but his +words almost choked him, and de Geist and Cruger took him forcibly out +of the room. + +Then DeLancey filled a glass with wine. "Sit down and drink it, Elder," +he said. "Afterward I shall have the great honor and pleasure of driving +you home." And the approval of every one present was too marked to be +misunderstood. Semple felt it in every handclasp, and saw it in every +face. + +Also, Semple had his own approval, and the result of it in his voice and +manner troubled Janet. She was ignorant of its cause, and the Elder was +not prepared to tell her. "The fool may think himself bound to challenge +me," he thought, "and I'll e'en wait till he does it, or else till +Clinton carries him awa' to fight rebels." + +But he was nearly betrayed by Neil, who entered the parlor in an almost +buoyant manner for one so naturally grave. "Why, father," he said, "what +is this I hear?" and then he suddenly stopped, having caught his +father's warning glance. + +"You hae heard many things doubtless, Neil," answered the Elder, "and +among them that I and DeLancey were driving together. We had a rather +cheerful time at the King's Arms o'er a bit of transferring business. +The government must hae clear titles, you ken, to the property it buys." + +"A clear title is beyond the government," interrupted Madame, "and the +government needna' fash itsel' about titles. Nane that can be made will +hold good much longer for the government. Sit down, Neil, and see if you +can steady your father a bit; he's as much excited about a ride wi' auld +DeLancey as if King George himsel' had gien him a ride in his chariot;" +and she flipped her dress scornfully to the words as she left the room +to give some household order. + +"You vera near told tales on me, Neil," said the old man gleefully; "and +there's nae need to mention the bit o' scrimmage till we see if it's +finished. The lad might send me a challenge," he added with a little +mirthful laugh. + +"Not he, father! If he did, I should quickly answer it." + +"You would mind your ain business, sir. As long as I bide in this warld +I'll do my ain fighting, if I die for it." + +"There's none can do it better, father. Errol told me your scorn +overwhelmed Macpherson; and he said, moreover, that if the quarrel had +come to blows he had no doubt you would have caned the scoundrel +consumedly. They are talking of the affair all over town, and DeLancey +is quite beyond himself about it. I heard him say that, though your +hands quivered with passion, you stood firm as a rock, and that there +were a few minutes at the last when no man could have tackled you +safely." Then there was a sudden pause, for Madame reentered, and the +Elder looked at her in a way so full of triumph and self-satisfaction +that he troubled her. "To think o' Alexander Semple being sae set up wi' +DeLancey's nod and smile," she thought. + +Then Neil turned the conversation on the social events of the day, and +the topic allowed Madame some scope for the relief of her annoyance. Yet +her anxiety about her husband continued, for the Elder was in +extraordinarily high spirits. His piquant, pawkie humor finally alarmed +Madame. "Alexander," she said, "you had better go awa' to your bed. I +dinna like to hear you joking out o' season, as it were. What has come +o'er you, man?" + +"Hear to your mother, Neil!" he answered. "When I sit still and silent, +she asks, 'Have you naething to say, auld man?' and when I say something +she doesna' like my way o' joking, and is for sending me awa' to bed for +it, as if I was a bairn. However, the day is o'er, and we hae had the +glory o' it, and may as weel get rested for the day to come." + +He left the room in his old sober fashion, with a blessing and a +"Good-night, children," and Madame followed him. Maria rose with her; +she was anxious to carry her thoughts into solitude. But Neil sat still +by the fireside, dreaming of Agnes Bradley, and yet finding the dream +often invaded by the thought of the retributive scene in the parlor of +the King's Arms. And perhaps never in all his life had Neil loved and +honored his father more sincerely. + +When Madame returned to the room he came suddenly out of his reverie. He +saw at once that his mother was strangely troubled. She sat down and +covered her face with her thin, trembling hands, and when Neil bent over +her with a few soothing words she sobbed: + +"Oh, my dear lad, I'm feared your father is _fey_, or else he has been +drinking beyond his reason; and goodness knows what nonsense he has been +saying. The men who brought sae much wine out may have done it to set +him talking; and anyway, it shames me, it pains me, to think o' +Alexander Semple being the butt o' a lot o' fellows not worthy to latch +his shoe buckles. But he's getting auld, Neil, he's getting auld; and +he's always been at the top o' the tree in every one's respect, and I +canna bear it." + +"Dear mother, never has father stood so high in all good men's opinion +as he stands this night. He has a little secret from you, and, I dare +say, it is the first in his life, and it is more than wine to him. It is +the secret, not the wine." + +"What is it, Neil? What is it?" + +Then Neil sat down by his mother's side, and looking into her face with +his own smiling and beaming, he told her with dramatic power and passion +the story of "the bit scrimmage," as the Elder defined the wordy battle, +adding, "There is not a man, young or old, in New York, that this night +is more praised and respected for his righteous wrath than Alexander +Semple. As for Quentin Macpherson, he may go hang!" + +And long before the story was finished Madame was bridling and blushing +with pride and pleasure. "The dear auld man! The brave auld man!" she +kept ejaculating; and her almost uncontrollable impulse was to go to him +and give him the kiss and the few applauding words which she knew would +crown his satisfaction. But Neil persuaded her to dissemble her delight, +and then turned the conversation on the condition of the city. + +"It is bad enough," he said. "Famine and freezing will soon be here, and +the town is left under the orders of a hired mercenary--a German, a +foreigner, who neither understands us nor our lives or language. It is +a shameful thing. Was there no Englishman to defend New York? Every +citizen, no matter what his politics, is insulted and sulky, and if +Washington attacks the city in Clinton's absence, which he will surely +do, they won't fight under Knyphausen as they would under a countryman. +Even DeLancey would have been better. I, myself, would fight with a +DeLancey leading, where I would be cold as ice behind Knyphausen." + +"When men are left to themselves what fools they are," said Madame. + +"They don't think so. You should hear the talk about what Clinton is +going to do in the South, and he will find Cornwallis too much for him." + +"How is that? Cornwallis?" + +"Cornwallis hates Clinton passionately; he will sacrifice everything +rather than cooperate with him. Clinton successful would be worse than +his own disgrace. Yet Clinton is sure he will succeed in subduing the +whole South." + +"And Knyphausen?" + +"Is sure he will capture General Washington, though Clinton failed in +his alert for that purpose. The four hundred light horsemen he +despatched came back as they went twenty-four hours after they started +full of confidence." + +"What frightened them?" asked Madame with a scornful laugh. + +"The guides. They lost the road,--rebels at heart, doubtless,--the cold +was intense, the snow deep, and the four hundred came home all. The +wretched rebel army must have had a hearty laugh at Clinton's +'alert'--the alert which was to end the war by the capture of +Washington." + +"How could they expect such a thing?" + +"Well, Washington was living in a house at Morristown, some distance +from the huts occupied by the army. The army were in the greatest +distress, nearly naked, hungry and cold, and the snow was deep around +them. There was every reason to hope four hundred men on swift horses +might be alert enough to surprise and capture the man they wanted." + +"Nae! nae!" cried Madame. "The tree God plants no wind hurts; and George +Washington is set for the defense and freedom o' these colonies. Cold +and hungry men, snow-strangled roads, and four hundred alerts! What are +they against the tree God plants? Only a bit wind that shook the +branches and made the roots strike deeper and wider. And sae Clinton's +alert having failed, Knyphausen is trying for another; is that it, +Neil?" + +"Yes. He considers Washington's capture his commission." + +"And if he should capture him, what then?" + +"If he is taken alive he will die the death of a traitor." + +"And then?" + +"Then the war would be over, the idea of independence would be buried, +and we should be English subjects forever." + +"And after that comes a cow to be shod. One thing is as likely as the +other. The idea of independence will never be buried; we shall never +again be subjects of the King o' England. In spite of all the elements +can do, in spite of what seems to us impossibilities, the tree God has +planted no wind shall hurt. Many a day, Neil, I have steadied my soul +and my heart as I went to and fro in my house singing or saying this bit +verse, and I wrote it my ain sel': + + No wind that blows can ever kill + The tree God plants; + It bloweth east; it bloweth west; + The tender leaves have little rest, + But any wind that blows is best. + The tree God plants + Strikes deeper root, grows higher still, + Spreads wider boughs for God's good will, + Meets all its wants." + +Neil sighed, and rising suddenly, said, "Let us go upstairs; the room is +growing very cold. And, mother, do not let father know I have told you +about his 'bit scrimmage.' It would rob him of the triumph of his own +recital." + +"I'll not say a word, Neil; you may be sure o' that." + +And she did not say a word. Nevertheless, the Elder looked queerly at +Neil the following evening, and when he found an opportunity, said, +"You've been telling tales on me, lad. Your mother hasna petted me a' +the day lang for naething. Some one has whispered a word in her ear. I +can see it in her e'en and hear it in her voice, and feel it in the +stroke o' her hand. I wonder who it was." + +"A bird of the air often carries such matters, sir. It would be but the +generality; the particulars can come from yourself only." + +"Aye, to be sure!" And he smiled and seated himself comfortably in his +chair before the blaze, adding, "It was a wonderfu' bit o' comfort, +Neil, and you'll stand by me if your mother thinks wrong o' it?" + +"Shoulder to shoulder, sir. You did quite right." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +MARIA GOES TO LONDON. + + +As the days lengthened, the cold strengthened, and New York experienced +a winter of unparallelled severity. Food could only be procured with +hard money, and at exorbitant prices, and the scarcity of fuel added +greatly to the general distress. Wall Street surrendered most of its +beautiful century-old shade trees, to warm the family of the German +General Riederel, and before Spring, the streets and lanes of the city, +the gardens and pleasure grounds of the burghers, were shorn of their +finest fruit and shade trees. The aged, the very young, the men in the +prisons and hospitals perished in great numbers, and the deathly cold of +the atmosphere was full of the unspeakable misery everywhere present. + +These distressing conditions were intensified by the fear of an attack +from Washington. The waters around New York were for several weeks so +hard frozen that the heaviest artillery could easily have crossed on +them; and the city in losing its insular position, lost its chief +advantage for defense. Knyphausen constantly expected Washington to +cross the ice, and refugees and citizens alike, were formed into +companies and subjected to garrison duty. During the dark, bitter +watches, men sometimes froze at their posts, and women in their +unheated rooms, knelt listening to the children's breathing, for the +atmosphere was so deadly cold that the babes shivered, even in the +covert of their mothers' breasts. + +Yet, in this city of frost, and famine, and suffering, a hectic and most +unnatural gaiety was kept up. Maria would have little part in it. She +could find no pleasure in listening to comedies and songs, in a freezing +temperature, and the warmth induced by dancing was generally followed by +a most uncomfortable and dangerous chill. Her status in society also led +her to feel more content in withdrawing from it a little. She was not +yet to be classed among the married belles, nor was she quite at one +with the girlhood that surrounded her. Her engagement to Lord Medway had +set her a little apart; it was understood that she could not be in +perfect sympathy with the plans and hopes of either maids or wives. + +Yet her life was far from unhappy. She visited Mrs. Gordon and Mrs. +Jacobus a great deal; and the latter delighted in making little lunches +and dinners, where the three ladies were joined by Lord Medway, and Neil +Semple, and very often also by Major Andre, whose versatile gifts and +cheerful temperament were the necessary and delightful antitheses to +Neil's natural gravity and Medway's cultivated restraint. The splendid +rooms of Madame Jacobus were warm, her dinners well cooked, her wines of +the finest quality, her good nature never failing. She made a pet of +Maria, and Lord Medway--reclining with half-closed eyes in some +luxurious chair--watched his betrothed managing this clever woman, so +much older than herself, with infinite satisfaction and amusement. He +foresaw that she would be equal to any social position, and it never +occurred to him that it was likely she would manage Lord Medway quite as +thoroughly as she managed Madame Jacobus. Occasionally, Medway gave +return dinners, at which Madame Semple presided, and then Maria sat at +his right hand, and he proved himself to be the most charming of hosts, +and the most devoted and respectful of lovers. + +Conversation was never to make, every one spoke as they listed, and as +their prejudices or convictions led them. There was no Quentin +Macpherson present, and opinions were as much individual property as +purses. One day, toward the end of January, when the temperature was so +low that the dining-table had been drawn close to the hearth, the usual +party were sitting in the warmth and glow of its roaring fire. The +dinner was over, the servants had left the room, Medway and Maria were +picking their walnuts out together, and Major Andre and Neil Semple +talking of a game of chess. Then Madame Jacobus drawing her gay Indian +shawl closer around her, said suddenly, "Pray what is the news? Has +nobody a mouthful of intelligence? Are we to wait for the Americans to +make us something to talk about?" + +"Indeed Madame," answered Maria, "we have not yet exhausted their night +attack on the British troops encamped on Staten Island." + +"They got nothing but five hundred sets of frozen hands and ears," said +Major Andre. + +"Oh, yes, they did, sir; blankets and food count for something these +days," said Madame, "not to speak of the nine vessels destroyed at +Decker's Ferry--and the prisoners." + +"It was a dashing absurdity, Madame." + +"With all my soul; yet I am glad, it was an American dashing absurdity." + +"You should have seen Knyphausen when he heard of it," continued Andre. +He pulled his whiskers savagely and said 'Egad! Damn! These Americans +have the come-back-again, come-back-again, of the flies; to drive them +off--it is impossible--they come-back-again.' We have, however, had our +turn. Four nights ago, our troops entered Newark and Elizabeth and made +a few reprisals, and then he began to hum: + + "The New York rebs are fat, + But the Jersey rebs are fatter; + So we made an expedition, + And carried off the latter." + +Medway laughed. "Madame," he said, "the Major was desperately dull last +night, and I wondered at it. But, this morning, as you hear, he is +delivered of his verse, and he is cheerful." + +"Oh, if the war is degenerating into midnight robberies!" cried Madame, +"why does not Washington come? What hinders him from at least trying to +get into New York? I do believe if he simply stood on Broadway, he would +draw three-fourths of the men in the city to him; why does he not try? +It might end this dreadful war one way or the other, and people are +beginning to be indifferent, which way. Why, in the name of wonder, does +he not try?" + +"It would be a desperate 'try,'" answered Andre. + +"Yes, but when ordinary means fail, desperate remedies should be tried." + +"I saw the exact copy of a letter written by General Washington on the +eighth of this month," said Lord Medway, "and in it he declares that his +troops, both officers and men, are almost perishing for food; that they +have been alternately without bread and meat for two weeks, a very +scanty allowance of either, and frequently destitute of both. +Furthermore, he describes his troops as almost naked, riotous, and +robbing the people from sheer necessity. Can you expect a general to +lead men in such a condition to battle? He performs a miracle in simply +holding them together." + +"The poor fellows! And we are warm and comfortable. It seems almost +wrong." + +"Oh, no!" said Andre. "It is the rebels who are wrong; they are like +runaway horses, and, as I said to one who talked to me, 'my lad, a +runaway horse punishes himself.'" + +In such freedom of conversation, without a moment's doubt of each other, +they passed the hours, and about four o'clock the party usually broke +up, and Lord Medway wrapped Maria in her furs, and drove her home. + +However, the weariest road sometimes comes to an end, and the long +dreadful winter wore itself away, the ice broke up, and the sun shone +warmly out of the blue skies, and the trees put forth their young, +tender, little leaves. Every one was ready to cry with joy, the simple +endurance of misery was over, men could now work and fight, and some +movement and change would be possible. Coming home from a delightful +drive in the sweet Spring evening, Medway told Maria this, and added +that his furlough, so long extended by General Clinton's love, would +probably terminate as soon as active hostilities began. But it was not +yet a present case, and Maria did not take the supposition to heart. +Besides, there had been frequent talk of her lover's departure, and +somehow or other, he had never gone. At the Semple gate they stood a +while. There were some lilies growing near it, and their fairy-like +bells shook in the fresh wind and scattered incense all around. Maria +stooped, gathered a handful, and offered them to her lover. + +"Kiss them first, for me, Maria," he said, and she buried her lovely +face in the fragrant posy, and then lifted it full of delight and +perfume. He thought he had never before seen her so purely exquisite, so +freshly adorable. His love was a great longing, he could hardly bear to +leave her. So he stood holding her hands and the lilies, and looking +into her face, but saying nothing, till Maria herself spoke the parting +words: "I see grandmother at the door, Ernest, she is calling me; now we +must say good-bye!" He could not answer her, he only kissed the lilies, +leaped into the carriage, and went speechlessly away. + +Maria watched him a few moments, and then hastened into the house. +Madame met her at the door. "There is a letter from your father, Maria," +she said; "I thought you might want to tell Ernest what news it +contained, so I called you, but you didna answer me." + +"Yes, I answered, 'coming, grandmother,' and here I am. What a thick +letter! Have you one also?" + +"Aye, there was one for your grandfather. Better take yours to your +room. When you have read it, and changed your dress, tea will be +waiting." + +"Is grandfather at home?" + +"He is; so do not stay up stairs too long." + +She nodded a bright assent, and holding the letter in her hand went +swiftly up the stairway. In half an hour she came back to the parlor, +but her face was then troubled and even angry, and her eyes full of +tears. She held out the letter to her grandmother, and asked, "Do you +know what father has written to me about?" + +"I have a very sure suspect," answered Madame; but she went on setting +out her china, and did not lift her face, or offer any further opinion. + +"It is a shame! I ought to have been told before." + +Then the Elder rose, and came toward the tea-table, "Maria," he said, +"you will not use such like words, whatever your father pleases to do. I +hae nae doubt at all that he has chosen a good wife for himsel' and a +good mother for you. You had a long letter; what does he say anent her?" + +"She is a nonesuch, of course. No woman in England, or out of England +like her." + +"I expect as much; my son Alexander has my ain perception concerning +women-folk. He would hae the best, or nane at a'. Wha was she? He said +in my letter you would gie us a' the particulars." + +"He has filled six pages about her. She was Miss Elizabeth Spencer. +Father says her family is one of the best and oldest in England. The +Reverend Oswald Spencer married them; he is rector of St. Margaret's +Church in London, and a distant relative." + +"A very fashionable congregation, and nae doubt the living is +according." + +"Father has become a member of St. Margaret's, and he has a large +mansion in the wealthy Bloomsbury district. He tells me that I must come +home, the first opportunity that gives me a respectable companion." + +"And it is just destiny, Maria, and not to be," said her grandmother; +"for Mrs. Gordon was here this afternoon to bid me farewell. Colonel +Gordon has been exchanged, and has reached New York, and they sail in +Saturday's packet for London. She will be delighted to hae your company, +and a mair proper person to travel wi' you couldna find in America; for +it isna only hersel', you will hae the Colonel also, to watch o'er you +baith." + +"Destiny or not, I won't go, grandmother." + +"Dinna sow sorrow to yoursel'. They who cross destiny, make a cross for +themsel's." + +"I will hear what Ernest says about it." + +"You arena your ain mistress yet, and God and man, baith, expect you to +put your father's commands before all others," said the Elder. + +"I think grandmother and you wish to get rid of me," and the tears +sprang to her eyes, and she set her cup down with a noisy petulance. + +There was a moment's silence and then the Elder continued, "Your +education isna finished yet, as your father says; it was broken up by +the war." + +"And the lessons at Bradley's house were worse than nane at all," +interrupted Madame. + +"You are to have masters of a' kinds; and your stepmother is a grand +musician, I hear, and willing to teach you hersel'." + +"I will not go to school again. I know all I want to know." + +"You will hae to be schooled for the station you are to fit; your father +has turned his loyalty into gold, for he has got it noticed by His +Majesty, and been appointed to a rich place in the government offices. +Forbye, he tells me, his new wife has a fortune in her ain right, and +sae the world stands straight with him and his. You'll hae society o' +the best sort, and I hope you'll do your part, to show all and sundry, +that a little Colonial maid isna' behind English girls, in any usefu' or +ornamental particular." + +But Maria was indignant and unhappy, and the thought of going to London +and of being under authority again was very distasteful to her. The +Elder went early upstairs, in order to escape her complaining, and +Madame after his departure, was a little more sympathetic. She petted +her grandchild, and tried to make her see the bright side of the new +life before her. + +"You'll be taken to Court, doubtless, Maria, and there is the grand +opera you have heard so much about, and lords and ladies for +company----" + +"I have had enough of lords and ladies, grandmother." + +"And fine houses, and nae cold rooms in them; and plenty o' food and +clothing at Christian prices, and a rich, powerfu' father, and a musical +mother----" + +"Stepmother you mean. Nobody can have more than one mother. My mother is +dead, and no other woman can take her place." + +"Ay, weel, I suppose you are nearby right. And I hae seen--mair than +once or twice--that the bairn who gets a stepmother gets a stepfather, +also. Sae mind your ways and your words, and give nae occasion to +friend, or foe, for complaint." + +As they were talking thus, they heard the garden gate open, and Madame +said, "That is your Uncle Neil at last;" but Maria, with an eager, +listening face, knew better. "It is not Uncle Neil," she said, "it is +Ernest. Why does he come to-night? He told me he was going to a military +dinner, given in honor of Colonel Gordon's return." + +"If it is Lord Medway, bring him in here," said Madame. "Your +grandfather is needing me, and doubtless wondering and fretting already +at my delaying." She left the room with these words, and Lord Medway +immediately joined Maria. He appeared hurried and annoyed, and without +any preliminaries said: + +"I must leave New York immediately, my dear Maria; sit down here, close +beside me, my sweet one, and comfort me. I have worn out the patience of +Lord Clinton, and now I must obey orders, not desires." + +"I, also, am in the same predicament, Ernest. I am ordered to London, +and must go by the first opportunity," said Maria; and then she told +her lover the fear and trouble that was in her heart, and found plenty +of sympathy in all that either wounded or angered her. + +"But there is a remedy, my darling," said Medway. "Marry me to-morrow +morning. I will make all the arrangements to-night--see the +clergyman--see Mrs. Gordon, and your uncle Neil----" + +"Stop, Ernest. It is useless to talk of such a thing as that. It is +beyond our compact, too." + +"The compact is idle wind before our love--you do love me, Maria?" and +he slipped down to his knees beside the little maid, and putting his arm +around her waist, drew her face within the shining influence, the tender +eagerness, of his entreating eyes. + +Then a strange, wilful contradictious spirit took possession of her. +This very outlet to her position had been in her mind--though +unacknowledged--from the first presentment of the journey, and the new +mother, and the resumed lessons; but now, that the gate was opened to +her desire, something within her obstinately refused to move a step. +Half the accidents in the hunting-field arise from arresting the horse +in the leap, and half the disappointments of life may be laid to that +hesitation, or stubbornness of will, which permits happiness--coming +without notice, and demanding a confiding and instantaneous decision--to +go past, and be probably lost for ever. + +"You do love me, Maria? Oh, yes! you must have caught love from me. At +this hour, say one word to assure me--will you not? Maria! Queen of my +soul, say you love me--Speak--only yes----Maria!" + +He waited, he watched her lovely face for some tender change, her eyes +for some assuring glance, her lips for the one little word that would +make the hour heaven to him, and she was still and speechless as some +exquisite picture. + +"After all these happy weeks, will you send me away without one word? It +is incredible--impossible! Why are you so cold?--now--when we must +part--or be always together? Are you afraid to be with me always? You +have promised to marry me----" + +"Yes--when the time comes." + +"Cannot love put the time forward?" + +"I don't know." + +"We could then go South together." + +"I do not want to go South." + +"With me, Maria?" + +"No." + +"Then you will go to London, and your father will have complete control +of you, he may make you marry some other man." + +"No one can make me break my word of honor--you have my promise." + +"I am wretched. I am broken-hearted. I have failed in making you love +me. I will go to the front--what does it matter if I am killed? You will +not care." + +"Of course I shall care, Ernest." + +"Say that a little differently, then I shall be satisfied. Put your arms +round my neck; kiss me, if only once, you never have kissed me yet, +say, 'I love you, Ernest'; come, my dear one, comfort me a little!" + +Her heart was on fire, it throbbed and struggled like a bound creature. +She looked sadly, even tenderly at her lover, but she could not break +the thrall of careless impassiveness that bound her, as streams are +bound in ice. Medway wearied himself with entreaty. She trembled to its +passion, but remained inarticulate. He was at first disappointed, then +astonished, then, weary with his own emotion, wounded and sorrowful. He +rose, put on his hat and gloves, and prepared to leave her. It was like +the nailing of the coffin lid over a sensitive form; but still that +strange, insuperable apathy was not broken. + +"Good-bye, Maria! My life, my love, good-bye! and if forever, +still----_Maria! Maria!"_ and those two last words were not only speech, +they were a cry from a heart hurt beyond hoping, a cry full of +despairing affection. The door closed to them, and its clash broke the +icy bounds of that soul stupor which had held her like a spell. + +"Ernest! Ernest!" she called passionately, but he was beyond hearing, +and ere she reached the parlor door, she heard the entrance door clash +in the same fatal, final manner. Yet, walking as if in some evil dream +she reached it, and with a great effort threw it wide open. Her lover +was just beyond the garden gate. Would he not turn his head? Oh, would +he not look round and see her! No. He caught no sound of her sorrowful +entreaty; he cast no backward glance to the distracted girl, who +reached the outer gate, only to see his tall, soldierly figure blend +itself with the misty night shadows, and then vanish entirely. + +Never, never in all her life had Maria been so wretched. In the Bradley +affair, she had at least the consciousness that it was not her doing; +she was the victim of circumstances she could not control; but this cup +of sorrow she had stubbornly mixed for herself. And that was the +smallest part of her remorse; she had made the man who loved her so +dearly, drink of it also. And it had all happened in such a tragically +short time. Oh, to call back the last hour! only five minutes of it, +that she might see again the handsome face that had never turned to her +except with love and tender kindness! Alas, alas, there is no return to +our lost Edens! Whatever gardens of pleasure we may find in the future, +our past Edens are closed. The cherubim are at the gate, and the flaming +sword. + +She went despairingly to her room, and sat for two bitter hours +speechless, astonished at her own folly and wilfulness. She could blame +no one. Destiny in this case had used only the weapons she herself put +into her hand. She did not complain, nor even weep, her grief found no +passage to her eyes, it sank inward and seemed for the first hour or two +to drown her heart in a dismal, sullen stillness, which made her feel +the most forlorn and abandoned of creatures. + +But even in these dark hours she was trying the wings that should take +her out of them. As she sat musing the inner woman returned to the post +she had so criminally deserted, and at once began to suggest remedies. +"Nothing is desperate," she whispered; "in every loss, but the loss of +death, there is room for hope; write a letter, Neil will take it, he may +yet be detained." + +She took out pen and paper, and wrote the words Medway had begged her to +say; wrote, indeed, far more than the one tender "yes" he had asked for. +Then she sealed the letter and sat with it in her hand, waiting for +Neil. He was so late that she thought he must have reached his room +unheard, and toward midnight she tip-toed along the corridor to his +door. There was no light, no sound, and when she knocked, no response. +Anxiously she resumed her watch, and soon after twelve o'clock heard him +enter the house. She went noiselessly down stairs to meet him. "Neil," +she said, "can you find Ernest? Oh, if you can, you must carry this +letter to him! Neil, it is the very greatest favor I can ever ask of +you. Do not speak, if you are going to refuse me." + +"My dear Maria, I know not where to find Lord Medway. He ought to have +been at the dinner given to Colonel Gordon, and he was not there." + +"He was here," she said wearily; "he is going South at once; he must, he +must have this letter first. Neil, good, kind Uncle Neil, try and find +him!" + +"Be reasonable, Maria. If he is paying farewell calls--which is +likely--how can I tell at whose house he may be; at any rate it is too +late now for him to be out, the city is practically closed; any one +wandering about it after midnight is liable to arrest, and if Ernest is +not visiting, he is in his rooms, and likely to be there till near noon +to-morrow. I will carry this letter before breakfast, if you say so, +but----" + +"I tell you he is going to General Clinton at once. He told me so." + +"He cannot go until the _Arethusa_ sails. She leaves to-morrow, but the +tide will not serve before two o'clock. Give me the letter; I will see +he gets it very early in the morning." + +With a sigh she assented to this promise, and then slipped back into the +sorrowful solitude of her room. But the talk with Neil had slightly +steadied her. Nothing more was possible; she had done all she could to +atone for her unkindness, and after a little remorseful wandering +outside the Eden she had herself closed, she fell asleep and forgot all +her anxiety. + +And it is this breaking up of our troubles by bars of sleep that enables +us to bear them and even grow strong in conquering them. When the day +broke Maria was more alert, more full of purpose, and ready for what the +morning would bring her. Neil was missing at breakfast and she found out +that he had left the house soon after seven o'clock. So she dressed +herself carefully and took her sewing to the front window. When she saw +her lover at the gate, she intended to go and meet him, and her heart +was warm and eager with the kind words that she would at last comfort +him with. + +It was half-past eight; by nine o'clock--at the very latest by half-past +nine--he would surely answer that loving letter. Nine o'clock struck, +and the hands on the dial moved forward inexorably to ten o'clock--to +eleven--to noon. But long before that hour Maria had ceased to sew, +ceased to watch, ceased to hope. Soon after twelve she saw Neil coming +and her heart turned sick within her. She could hardly walk into the +hall to meet him. She found it difficult to articulate the questioning +word "Well?" + +He gave her the letter back. "Ernest sailed this morning at two +o'clock," he said. + +She looked at him with angry despair. "You might have taken that letter +last night. You have ruined my life. I will never forgive you." + +"Maria, listen to me. Ernest went on board an hour before you asked me. +The ship dropped down the river to catch the early tide; he was on her +at half-past ten. I could not have given him the letter, even if I had +tried to." + +"No; of all the nights in the year, you must stop out last night until +twelve o'clock! I never knew you do such a thing before; well, as +grandmother says, it is destiny; I am going to my room. I want no +dinner; don't let them worry me, or worry about me." + +Sitting alone she faced the circumstances she had evoked, considered +them in every light, and came to a conclusion as to her future: + +"I will go to London, and make no fuss about it," she decided; "here I +should miss Ernest wherever I went; miss him in every way, and people +would make me feel he was absent. I have been a great trouble and +expense to grandfather and grandmother. I dare say they will be glad to +be quiet and alone again. I don't know much about father--he has always +been generous with money--but I wonder if he cared much for me! He sent +me away, first to nurses, then to school; I saw little of him, but I can +make him care. As for Madame, my stepmother, I shall not let her annoy +me. And there will be Mrs. Gordon for a refuge, if I need one. She has +always been good to me, and I will see her at once. I cannot help +understanding that I am come to the end of this road; but there are many +roads in life, and from this moment, I am on the way to London." + +Evidently it was destiny, for there was never a let or hinderance in all +her preparations. The Gordons took her as a godsend, and all her +arrangements went without a hitch. And when it was known she was +absolutely going away from New York there was a great access of kindness +toward her. The young women she had known--and not always +pleasantly--brought her good-bye mementoes; books to read on the voyage, +book-marks of their own working, little bags and cases of various kinds +for toilet needs, and needlework; and all were given with a conspicuous +intention of apology for past offense and conciliation for any future +intercourse. + +Maria valued it pretty accurately. "It is far better than ill-will," she +said to her grandmother; "but I dare say they think I am going home to +be married, and as they all look forward to England eventually, they +feel that Lady Medway may not be unserviceable in the future." + +"Dinna look a gift-horse in the mouth, Maria. Few folks give away +anything of real value to themselves. You needna feel under any special +obligation for aught but the good will, and that's aye worth having. As +for being Lady Medway, there is many a slip between cup and lip, and +oceans between you and a' the accidents o' war, and love not +unchangeable in this warld o' change; and there's your father's will +that may stand in your road like a wall you can neither win round nor +over. I'm real glad at this hour that your grandfather was wise enough +to write naething about Lord Medway. You can now tell your ain news, or +keep it, whichever seems best to you." + +"Do you mean to say, grandmother, that my father has not been told about +my engagement to Lord Medway?" + +"Just so. At first your grandfather was too ill to write one thing or +another; and by the time he was able to hold a pen, we had, baith o' us, +come to the conclusion that silence anent the matter was wisdom. It +would hae been a hard matter to tell, without telling the whole story, +Police Court and young Bradley included, and then there was aye the +uncertainty of a man's love and liking to be reckoned with; none o' us +could be sure Lord Medway would hold to his promise; he might meet other +women to take his heart from you; he might be killed in battle, or in a +duel, for it is said he has fought three already; the chances o' the +engagement coming to naething were so many on every side we came to the +conclusion to leave a' to the future, and I'm sure we did the best thing +we could do." + +"I am so glad you did it, grandmother. I shall now go home on my own +merits. If I win love, it will be because I am Maria Semple, not because +I am going to be Lady Medway. And if my engagement was known I should +never hear the last of it. I should be questioned about letters--whether +they came or not; my stepmother might talk about the matter; my father +insists on a public recognition of my position, and so on. There would +be such endless discussions about Lord Medway that I should get weary to +even hear his name. And I must bear my fate, whatever it is." + +"Nonsense! Parfect nonsense! There is nae such thing as fate. You're in +the care and guidance of a wise and loving Creator, and not in thrall to +some vague, wandering creature, that you ca' _Fate_. Your ain will is +your Fate. Commit your will and way to God, and He will direct your +path; and you may snap your thumb and finger at that will o' the +wisp--Fate!" + +In such conversation over their duties together the three last days were +spent, and the girl caught hope and strength from the feeble old woman +as they mended and brushed clothing and put it into the trunks standing +open in the hall. The Elder wandered silently about. The packing was a +mournful thing to him; for, with all her impetuosities and little +troublesome ways, Maria was close to his heart, and he feared he had +given her the impression that she was in some way a burden. Indeed, he +had not felt this, and had only been solicitous that she should obey her +father's wishes, and obey them in a loving and dutiful spirit. On the +last morning, however, as they rose from the breakfast table, he put +even this wise intention behind his anxious love, and drawing her aside +he said: + +"Maria, my dearie, you will heed your father, of course, in a' things +that are your duty--but--but--my dear bairn! I ken my son Alexander is a +masterfu' man, and perhaps, it may be, that he might go beyond his +right and your duty. I hae told you to obey him as your father, that's +right, but if he is your father, he is my son, and so speaking in that +relation, I may say, if my son doesna treat you right, or if he lets +that strange English woman treat you wrong, then you are to come back to +me--to your auld grandfather--to sort matters between you. And I'll see +no one do you wrong, Maria, no one, though it be my auldest son +Alexander. You are in my heart, child, and there is always room in my +heart for you; and I speak for your grandmother and uncle as well as for +mysel'." His voice was low and broken at this point, tears rolled slowly +down his cheeks, and he clasped her tenderly in his arms: "God bless you +my little lassie! Be strong and of a good courage. Act for the best, and +hope for the best, and take bravely whatever comes." + +To such wise, tender words she set her face eastward, and the Elder and +Neil watched the vessel far down the river, while in her silent home +Madame slowly and tearfully put her household in order. Fortunately, the +day was sunny and the Spring air full of life and hope, and as soon as +they turned homeward, the Elder began to talk of the possibility of +Maria's return: + +"If she isna happy, I hae told her to come back to us," he said to Neil, +and then added: "Your brother is sometimes gey ill to live wi', and the +bit lassie has had, maybe, too much o' her ain way here," and Neil +wondered at the brave old man; he spoke as if his love would always be +present and always sufficient. He spoke like a young man, and yet he was +so visibly aging. But Neil had forgotten at the moment that the moral +nature is inaccessible to Time; that though the physical man grows old, +the moral man is eternally young. + +Not long after the departure of Maria, Neil was one morning sorting and +auditing some papers regarding the affairs of Madame Jacobus. Suddenly +the thought of Agnes Bradley came to him with such intense clarity and +sweetness that his hands dropped the paper they held; he remained +motionless, and in that pause had a mental vision of the girl, while her +sweet voice filled the chambers of his spiritual ears with melody. As he +sat still, seeing and listening, a faint, dreamy smile brightened his +face, and Madame softly opening the door, stood a moment and looked at +him. Then advancing, the sound of her rustling silk garments brought +Neil out of his happy trance, and he turned toward her. + +"Dreaming of St. Agnes?" she asked, and he answered, "I believe I was +Madame." + +"Sometimes dreams come true," she continued. "Can you go to Philadelphia +for me? Here is an offer from Gouverneur Morris for my property on +Market Street. He proposes to turn the first floor into storage room. At +present it is a rather handsome residence, and I am not sure the price +he offers will warrant me making the change." + +Neil was "ready to leave at any time," he said, and Madame added, "Then +go at once. If it is a good offer, it will not wait on our leisure." + +He began to lock away the papers under his hands, and Madame watched him +with a pleasant smile. As he rose she asked, "Have you heard anything +yet from Miss Bradley?" + +"Not a word." + +"Do you know where she is?" + +"I have not the least idea. I think the Hurds know, but they will not +tell me." + +"I will tell you then. Agnes is in Philadelphia." + +"Madame! Madame! I----" + +"I am sure of it. On this slip of paper you will find her address. She +boards with a Quaker family called Wakefield--a mother and four +daughters; the father and brothers are with the American army. I suppose +you can leave to-day?" + +"In two hours I will be on the road. I need but a change of clothing and +a good horse." + +"The horse is waiting you in my stables. Choose which animal you wish, +and have it saddled: and better mount here; you can ride to Semple house +quicker than you can walk." + +Neil's face spoke his thanks. He waited for no explanations, he was +going to see Agnes; Madame had given him her address, it was not worth +while asking how she had procured it. But as he left the room he lifted +Madame's hand and kissed it, and in that act imparted so much of his +feeling and his gratitude that there was no necessity for words. + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Madame, and then she walked to the window and +looked sadly into Broadway. "Soldiers instead of citizens," she +murmured, "war horses instead of wagon horses; that screaming fife! that +braying, blustering drum! Oh, how I wish the kings of earth would fight +their own battles! Wouldn't the duello between George of England and +George of America be worth seeing? Lord! I would give ten years of my +life for the sight." + +With the smile of triumph on her face she turned to see Neil re-entering +the room. "Madame," he said, "I must have appeared selfishly ungrateful. +My heart was too full for speech." + +"I know, I know, Neil. I have been suffering lately the same cruel pain +as yourself. I have not heard from Captain Jacobus for nearly a year. +Something, I fear, is wrong; he takes so many risks." + +"He is sailing as an American privateer. If he had been captured by the +English, we should have heard of the capture." + +"That is not all. I will tell you just what Jacobus would do, as soon as +he was fairly out at sea, he would call his men together on deck, and +pointing to the British colors, would say something like this: 'Men, I +don't like that bunting, and I'm going to change it for the flag of our +own country. If there is any one here that doesn't like the American +flag, he can leave the ship in any way he chooses,' then down would go +the British flag, and up, with rattling cheers, the American. So far he +would be only in ordinary danger, but that is never enough for Jacobus; +he would continue after this extraordinary fashion: 'Men, you have all +heard of these French and Spanish alliances. As the son of a hundred +thousand Dutchmen, I hate the Spaniards, and I'm going to fight and sink +every Spanish ship I meet. _Allies!_ To the deep sea with such allies! +We want no Spanish allies; we want their ships though, and we'll take +them wherever on the wide ocean we can find them.' Then he would put his +hand on his first mate's shoulder and continue, 'Here's Jack Tyler, an +Englishman from beard to boots, born in the city of London, and there's +more on board like him. What does an Englishman want with Frenchmen? +Nothing, only to fight them, and that we'll do wherever we meet them! +And as for English ships coming our way, they're out of their course, +and we'll have to give them a lesson they'll remember. So then, all of +you, keep your eyes open for English, French, or Spanish sails. Nothing +but American colors in American waters, and American water rolls round +the world, as I take it.' So you see, Neil, Jacobus would always have a +threefold enemy to fight, and I have not a doubt that was his first +thought when he heard of our alliance with France and Spain. And though +we might hear of his capture by a British vessel, it is not likely we +should do so if he fell into the hands of a French or Spanish privateer. +When you come from Philadelphia we will consider this circumstance; but +now, good-bye, and good fortune go with you." + +It did not take Neil long to go to the Semple house and obtain a change +of clothing, and after this short delay nothing interfered with the +prosperous course of his journey. The weather was delightful, and his +heart so full of hope that he felt no fatigue. And he had such +confidence in all Madame Jacobus said, or did, that no doubts as to +finding Agnes troubled him. It was, however, too late in the evening of +the day on which he reached Philadelphia, to make a call, and he +contented himself with locating the house to which he had been +directed. He found it in a quiet street, a small brick house, with white +wooden shutters, and a tiny plot of garden in front. No sign of light or +life appeared, and after walking a while in front of it, he returned to +his inn and tried to sleep. + +But he was not very successful. His hopes and his fears kept him waking. +He fancied the house he had been directed to looked too silent and dark +to be occupied; he longed for the daylight to come that he might settle +this fear; and then the possibility of its reality made him sick with +anxiety and suspense, holding a measure of hope, seemed better than +certain disappointment. In the morning his rigid, upright business +instinct asserted itself, and he felt that he must first attend to those +affairs which were the ostensible reason of his journey. So it was the +early afternoon before he was at liberty to gratify the hunger of his +heart. + +Happily, when he reached the house indicated, there were many signs of +its occupancy; the windows were open, and he saw a young woman sitting +near one of them, knitting. His knock was answered by her. He heard her +move her chair and come leisurely toward the door, which she opened with +the knitting in her hand, and a smile on her face. + +"Does Mr. Wakefield live here?" he asked. + +"This is his house, but he is not at home now." + +"I was told that Miss Bradley of New York was staying here." + +"She is here. Does thee want to see her?" + +A great weight rolled from Neil's heart. "Yes," he answered, "will you +tell her that Mr. Neil Semple of New York desires to speak with her." + +She bowed her head, and then took him into a small darkened parlor. He +was glad the light was dim; he had a feeling that he looked worse than +he had ever looked in all his life. He knew that he was pale and +trembling with a score of fears and doubts, and the short five minutes +of suspense seemed to him a long hour of uncertain apprehensions. Yet it +was barely five minutes ere he heard Agnes coming down the stairs, and +her steps were quick and eager; and he took courage from the welcoming +sound in them, and as the door opened, went with open arms to meet her. +He held her in his embrace, her cheek was against his cheek--what need +was there for speech? Both indeed felt what they had no power to +express, for as all know who have lived and loved, there is in the heart +feelings yet dumb; chambers of thought which need the key of new words +to unlock them. Still, in that heavenly silence all was said that each +heart longed for, and when at length they sat down hand in hand and +began to talk, it was of the ordinary affairs of the individual lives +dear to them. + +Neil's first inquiry concerned John Bradley and his son, and he was glad +to notice the proud pleasure with which Agnes answered him. "My father +is now in his proper place," she said, "and I have never seen him so +well and so happy." + +"Is he under arms?" + +"Not unless there is fighting on hand; but he is in camp, and all day he +is busy mending the accoutrements of the soldiers. At night he sings to +them as they sit round the camp fires, or he holds a prayer meeting, or +he reads the Bible; and every Sunday he preaches twice. St. Paul made +tents, and as he stitched found time to preach Jesus Christ crucified; +my father mends saddles and bridles, and does the same thing, and he is +happy, oh, so happy! What is better still, he makes the men around him +happy and hopeful, and that is a great thing to do, when they are +hungry, and naked, and without pay. Sometimes, when the camp is very +bare and hungry, he takes his implements and goes to the outlying farms, +mends all their leather, and begs in return corn, and flour, and meat +for the men. He never fails in getting some relief; and often he has so +moved the poor farmers that they have filled a wagon with food and +driven it to the perishing soldiers." + +"And Harry? Where is he?" + +"With the greatest and best of men. He is now a regular soldier in +Washington's own regiment." + +"I am glad, and my dear one, are you happy here?" + +"As I can be, out of my own home. There are six women in this house; all +the men are at the war; some at Morristown; some are gone South. We +spend our time in knitting stockings for the soldiers, or in any +needlework likely to be of service. But how is Maria? Tell me about her. +I thought you might have brought me a letter." + +"Maria is on her way to England. Her father has married again. He has +obtained an excellent place in the government and furnished a home in +London. Naturally, he desired Maria to join him at once. You know that +she is engaged to Lord Medway?" + +"No. Poor Harry! He still dreams that Maria is faithful to him. I think +she might have given Harry one year's remembrance." + +"What did she tell you about Harry in your last interview?" + +"Nothing. She was more fretful and unreasonable than I ever before saw +her. She could only cry and make reproaches; we parted in sorrow, and I +fear in misunderstanding." + +"Yes, if you do not know the price paid for your brother's life." + +"The price paid! What do you mean, Neil?" + +"The night Harry was condemned to death Lord Medway came to see Maria. +He told her he would save Harry's life, if she would marry him. He would +listen to no compromise, and she accepted the terms. It was a decision +bitter as death at the time, but she has learned to love Medway." + +Agnes did not appear to listen, she was occupied with the one thought +that Maria had been the saviour of her brother. + +"It seems incredible," she said at length; "why did she not tell me that +last--last time I saw her. It would have changed everything. Oh, Maria! +Maria! how I have misjudged you!" + +"You had better tell Harry, and be very positive, there is really not a +shadow of hope for him. Maria _had_ to forget; it was her first duty." + +Neil spent nearly three days with his beloved, and then they had to +part. But this parting was full of hope, full of happy plans for the +future, full of promises in all directions. In those three days Neil +forgot all the sorrowful weeks of his despairing love. As a dream when +one awaketh, they slipped even from his memory. For Agnes was loving and +faithful, a steady hand to hold, and a steady heart to trust. And oh, +she was so lovely and desirable! As he rode joyfully home, he could +think of nothing but Agnes; of her eyes, gray as mountain lakes and full +of light and shadow; of her smile, that filled even silence with +content; her white arms, her brown hair, the warm pallor of her cheeks +catching a rosy glow from the pink dimity she wore! Oh, how perfect she +was! Beauty! Love! Fidelity! all in one exquisite woman, and that one +woman loved him! + +Ah, well! Love wakes men once in a lifetime, and some give thanks and +rejoice, and some neglect and betray; but either way, love, and their +childhood's unheeded dream + + Is all the light, of all their day. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE. + + +Maria reached London in the early days of June. Her voyage had been +uneventful, and though long, not unpleasant. Still she was glad to feel +the earth beneath her feet, and the stir of trafficking humanity around +her. They landed late in the afternoon and she remained with the Gordons +all night, but early the following morning the colonel took her to +Bloomsbury. Mr. Semple's house was not difficult to find; it was the +largest in the fine square, an imposing mansion of red brick with a wide +flight of stone steps leading to its main entrance. This entrance +impressed Maria very much. It was so ample and so handsome. + +"I think, indeed," said the Colonel to her, "two sedan chairs could +easily be taken in, or out, at the same time." + +Her welcome, if not effusive, was full of kindness and interest; she was +brought at once to the sunny parlor at the back of the house where her +father and stepmother were breakfasting, and nothing could have been +more properly affectionate than the latter's greeting. And although she +had breakfasted with the Gordons, she found it pleasant enough to sit +down beside her father and talk of the voyage and the war, and the +conditions of life in America. He was obviously both astonished and +delighted with his daughter; her beauty was so great, her manner so +charming, her conversation so full of clever observations, that he felt +her to be a personal credit. "There are very few young girls so +perfectly formed, so admirably finished," he said to himself; and he +rose and walked loftily about the room, proudly aware of the piquant +loveliness and intelligence of the girl who called him father. The word +sounded well in his ears, and even touched his heart; and she herself +was a crowning grace to his splendid habitation. And for her, and for +all her beauties and graces and accomplishments, he took the entire +credit. She was his daughter, as much his property as his wife, or his +house, or his purse. + +This appropriation of herself did not then displease Maria. She was +longing to be loved, longing to be cared for and protected. And she +loved her father, and felt that she could easily love him a great deal +more. His appearance invited this feeling. He was a strikingly handsome +man, though touching fifty years of age, tall and erect like her +grandfather, but with a manner much more haughty and dictatorial. He was +dressed in a dark blue cloth coat lined with white satin and ornamented +with large gilt buttons; his long vest and breeches were of black satin, +his stockings of black silk, and his low shoes clasped with gold +latches. He wore his own hair combed back from his large ruddy face and +tied behind with a black ribbon. + +His new wife was very suitable to him. She was thirty-eight years old +and distinctly handsome, tall and fair, rather highly colored, and +dressed with great care in a morning robe of Indian silk. She was very +cheerful and composed, had fine health, lived in the unruffled +atmosphere of her interests, and had no nerves worth speaking of--a nice +woman apparently, who would always behave as nice women were then taught +to behave. And yet there were within her elements much at variance with +that habitual subservience she showed her husband. Maria was not long in +discovering that, though she spoke little and never boasted, she got all +she wished to get and did all she wished to do. + +After Mr. Semple had gone to business she took Maria to the rooms +prepared for her. They were light and airy and prettily furnished, and +Mrs. Semple pointed out particularly the little sitting-room attached. +It contained a small library of books which are now classic, a spinnet +for practice, maps and globes, and a convenient desk furnished with all +the necessary implements for writing or correspondence. + +Maria had fully resolved not to be forced into any kind of study, but as +she stood listening to her stepmother's plans and explanations she +changed her mind. She resolved rather to insist on the finest teachers +London could furnish. She would perfect herself in music and singing; +she would enlarge her knowledge and accomplishments in every direction, +and all this that she might astonish and please Lord Medway when he came +for her. That he would do so she never doubted; and he could not doubt +_her_ love when he saw and heard what she had done to make herself more +worthy of him. + +But this incitement she kept to herself. She permitted her father and +stepmother to believe that the fulfilling of their desires was her sole +motive, and this beautiful obedience gave her much liberty in other +directions. So the weeks and months went past very pleasantly. She had +an Italian singing master and a French dancing master, Kalkbrenner gave +her music lessons, Madame Jermyn taught her embroidery and lace, and two +hours every day were spent in the study of history and geography, and +her much neglected grammar. It was all pleasant enough; every master or +mistress brought in a fresh element, a little gossip, a different +glimpse of the great city in which they all lived. And the preparation +of her studies and the practice of her music gave her almost unbounded +control of her time. If things were not agreeable down stairs her study +was a safe retreat, and she began to take off their shelves the books +provided for her amusement and instruction, and to make friends of them +and become familiar with their thoughts and opinions. + +The evenings were often spent at the theatre or opera, and still more +frequently at Vauxhall or Ranelagh gardens, and at the latter places she +was always sure of a personal triumph. Her beauty was so remarkable and +so admirably set off by her generally fine toilets that she quickly +became a noted visitor. Sir Horace Walpole had called her on one +occasion "The American Beauty," and the sobriquet clung like a perfume +to her. When the Semples had a box and a supper in the rotunda the most +noble and fashionable of the young bloods hung round it, paraded past +it, or when possible took a box in such close proximity that their +toasts to "The Divine American" could be distinctly or indistinctly +heard. Both Mr. and Mrs. Semple were proud of this notoriety. It was +quite in keeping with the social _elat_ of the age that every glass +should be raised when they entered their box at the theatre or opera; +quite honorable and flattering to walk between the admiring beaux who +watched their entry into the gardens. Maria gave them distinction, +exhilarating notice and attention. She was spoken of in the papers as +"the lovely Miss Semple, the beautiful daughter of our new collector," +and her _debut_ at the next spring functions of the Court was +confidently predicted. + +The break in this generally agreeable life came, of course, through a +man's selfish desires, dignified with the name of love. Mrs. Semple had +a cousin who was largely engaged in the Mediterranean trade--then +entirely in English hands--and when Maria had been about eighteen months +in London he returned to that city after a sojourn in Turkey and the +Greek islands of nearly three years. He had been named at intervals to +Maria, but his existence had made no impression upon her, and she was +astonished on coming to the dinner table one day to meet him there. The +instinct of conquest was immediately aroused; she smiled and he was +subdued. The man who had snubbed Turkish bashaws and won concessions +from piratical beys in Tunis and Algiers was suddenly afraid of a woman. +He might have run away, but he did not; he was under a spell, and he +went with her to the opera, and became her willing slave thereafter. + +Now during her residence in London, Maria had had many admirers; some +she had frowned away, some her father had bowed out, but Richard Spencer +was a very different man to be reckoned with. He was Mrs. Semple's +cousin, and Mrs. Semple was strongly attached to every member of her +family. Cousin Richard's suit was advocated, pressed, even insisted upon +by her. He was present at every meal and went with them to every +entertainment, and the generality of Maria's admirers understood that he +was her accepted lover. + +In fact, this relationship was speedily assumed by the whole Semple +household, and before the man had even had the courage to ask her to be +his wife she was made to understand that her marriage to Cousin Richard +was a consummation certain and inevitable. Of course she rebelled, +treating the supposition at first as an absurdity, and, when this +attitude was resented and punished, as an impossibility. + +The affair soon became complicated with business relations and important +money interests, Mr. Semple becoming a silent partner in the gigantic +ventures of the Spencer Company. He had always felt, even in Maria's +social triumphs, a proprietary share; she was his daughter, he could +give or refuse her society to all who asked it. She had never denied his +power to dismiss all the pretenders to her favor that had as yet asked +it. He considered himself to have an equal right to grant her hand to +the suitor he thought proper for her. + +And as his interests became more and more associated with Mr. Spencer's +he became more and more positive in Mr. Spencer's favor. There was +little need then for Mrs. Semple's diplomacies. He had "taken the +matter in his own hands" he said, "and he should carry it through." + +For some time Maria did not really believe that her father and +stepmother were in earnest, but on her twentieth birthday the position +was made painfully clear, for when she came to the breakfast table her +father kissed her, an unusual token of affection, and put into her hand +an order on his banker for a large sum of money. + +"It is for your wedding clothes, Maria," he said, "and I wish you to +have the richest and best of everything. Such jewels as I think +necessary I will buy for you myself. Our relatives and friends will dine +with you to-day and I shall announce your engagement." + +"But father!" she exclaimed, "I do not want to marry. Let me return this +money. Indeed, I cannot spend it for wedding clothes. The idea is so +absurd! I do not want to marry." + +"Maria, you are twenty years old this twenty-fifth of November. It is +time you settled yourself. Mr. Spencer will have his new house ready by +the end of next June. As nearly as I can tell, your marriage to him will +take place on the twenty-ninth of June. Your mother thinks that with the +help of needlewomen your clothing can be finished by that time." + +"I told Mr. Spencer a month ago that I would not marry him." + +"All right; girls always say such things. It appears modest, and you +have a certain privilege in this respect. But I advise you not to carry +such pretty affectations too far." + +"Father, I do not love Mr. Spencer." + +"He loves you, that is the necessary point. It is not proper, it is not +requisite that a girl should take love into her consideration. I have +chosen for you a good husband, a man who will probably be Lord Mayor of +London within a few years, and the prospect of such an honor ought to +content you." + +It is difficult for an American girl at this time to conceive of the +situation of the daughters of England in the year 1782. The law gave +them absolutely into their father's power until they were twenty-one +years old; and the law was stupendously strengthened and upheld by +universal public approval, and by barriers of social limitations that +few women had the daring to cross. Maria was environed by influences +that all made for her total subjection to her parent's will, and at this +time she ventured no further remark. But her whole nature was insurgent, +and she mentally promised herself that neither on the twenty-ninth of +June nor on any other day that followed it would she marry Richard +Spencer. + +After breakfast she went to her room to consider her position, and no +one prevented her withdrawal. + +"It is the best thing she can do," said Mr. Semple to his wife. "A +little reflection will show her the hopeless folly of resistance to my +commands." + +"Her behavior is not flattering to Richard." + +"Richard has more sense than to notice it. He said to me that 'there was +always a little chaffering before a good bargain.' He understands +women." + +"Maria has been brought up badly. She has dangerous ideas about the +claims and privileges and personal rights of women." + +"Balderdash! Claims of women, indeed! Give them the least power, and +they would stake the world away for a whim. See that she dresses herself +properly for dinner. I have told her I shall then announce her +engagement, and in the midst of all our relatives and friends she will +not dare to deny it." + +In a great measure Mr. Semple was correct. Maria was not ready to deny +it, nor did she think the relatives and friends had anything to do with +her private affairs. She made no answer whatever to her father's notice +of her approaching marriage, and the congratulations of the company fell +upon her consciousness like snowflakes upon a stone wall. They meant +nothing at all to her. + +The day following Mrs. Semple went to buy the lawn and linen and lace +necessary for the wedding garments. Maria would not accompany her; her +stepmother complained and Maria was severely reprimanded, and for a few +days thoroughly frightened. But a constant succession of such scenes +blunted her sense of fear. She remembered her grandfather's brave words, +"Be strong and of good courage," and gradually gathered herself together +for the struggle she saw to be inevitable. To break her promise to Lord +Medway! That was a thing she never would do! No, not even the law of +England should make her utter words false to every true feeling she had. +And day by day this resolve grew stronger, as day by day it was +confronted by a trial she hardly dared to contemplate. + +There was no one to whom she could go for advice or sympathy. Mrs. +Gordon was in Scotland, where her husband had an estate, and she had no +other intimate friend. But at the worst, it was only another year and +then she would be her own mistress and Ernest Medway would come and +marry her. Of this result she never had one doubt. True, she heard very +little from him; but if not one word had come to assure her she would +still have been confident that he would keep his word, if alive to do +so. Letter-writing was not then the easily practised relief it is now, +and she knew Lord Medway disliked it. Yet she was not without even these +evidences of his remembrance, and considering the conditions of the +country in which they had been written, the great distance between them, +the difficulty of getting letters to New York and the uncertainty of +getting letters from New York to England, these evidences of his +affection had been fairly numerous. All of them had come enclosed in her +Uncle Neil's letters, and without mention or explanation, for Neil was +sympathetically cautious and did not know what effect they might have on +the life of Maria, though he did not know _his_ letters were sure to be +inquired after and read by her parents. + +They were intensely symbolic of a man who preferred to _do_ rather than +to _say_, and are fairly represented by the three quoted: + + * * * * * + +"SWEETEST MARIA: Have you forgiven your adoring lover? + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +"MY LITTLE DARLING: I have been wounded. I have been ill with fever; but +no pain is like the pain of living away from you. + + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +"STAR OF MY LIFE: I have counted the days until the twenty-fifth of +November; they are two hundred and fifty-five. Every day I come nearer +to you, my adorable Maria. + + ERNEST." + + * * * * * + +This last letter was dated March the fourteenth, and with it lying next +her heart, was it likely she would consent to or even be compelled to +marry Richard Spencer? She smiled a positive denial of such a +supposition. But for all that, the preparations went on with a stubborn +persistence that would have dismayed a weaker spirit. The plans for +furnishing the Spencer house, the patterns of the table silver, all the +little items of the new life proposed for her were as a matter of duty +submitted to her taste or judgment. She was always stolidly indifferent, +and her answer was invariably the same, "I do not care. It is nothing to +me." Then Mr. Semple would answer with cold authority, "You have +excellent taste, Elizabeth. Make the selection you think best for +Maria." + +Mr. Spencer's method was entirely different. He treated Maria's +apathetic unconcern with constant good nature, pretended to believe it +maidenly modesty, and under all circumstances refused to understand or +appropriate her evident dislike. But his cousin saw the angry sparkle in +his black eyes, and to her he had once permitted himself to say, "I am +bearing _now_, Elizabeth. When she is Mrs. Spencer it will be her turn +to bear." And Elizabeth did not think it necessary to repeat the veiled +threat to Maria's father. + +Medway's last letter, dated March the fourteenth, did not reach Maria +until May the first. On the morning of that day she had been told by +Mrs. Semple to dress and accompany her to Bond Street. + +"We are going to choose your wedding dress," she said, "and I do hope, +Maria, you will take some interest in it. I have spoken to Madame Delamy +about the fashion and trimmings, and your father says I am to spare no +expense." + +"I will not have anything to do in choosing a wedding dress. I will not +wear it if it is made." + +"I think it is high time you stopped such outrageous insults to your +intended husband, your father and myself. I am astonished your father +endures them. Many parents would consider you insane and put you under +restraint." + +"I can hardly be under greater restraint," answered Maria calmly, but +there was a cold, sick terror at her heart. Nevertheless she refused to +take any part in the choosing of the wedding dress, and Mrs. Semple went +alone to make the selection. + +But Maria was at last afraid. "Under restraint!" She could not get the +words out of her consciousness. Surely her dear grandfather had had some +prescience of this grave dilemma when he told her if she was not treated +right to come back to him. But how was she to manage a return to New +York? Women then did not travel, could not travel, alone. No ships would +take her without companions or authority. She did not know the first of +the many steps necessary, she had no money. She was, in fact, quite in +the position of a little child left to its own helplessness in a great +city. The Gordons would be likely to come to London before the winter, +but until then she could find neither ways nor means for a return to New +York. All she could do was to take day by day the steps that +circumstances rendered imperative. + +The buying of the wedding dress brought things so terribly close to her +that she finally resolved to tell her father and stepmother of her +engagement to Lord Medway. "I will take the first opportunity," she said +to herself, and the opportunity came that night. Mr. Spencer was not +present. They dined alone, and Mr. Semple was indulging one of those +tempers which made him, as his father had said to Neil, "gey ill to live +with." He had been told of Maria's behavior about the wedding dress, and +the thundery aspect of his countenance during the meal found speech as +soon as the table was cleared and they were alone. He turned almost +savagely to his daughter and asked in a voice of low intensity: + +"What do you mean, Miss, by your perverse temper? Why did you not go +with your mother to choose your wedding dress?" + +"Because it is not my wedding dress, sir. I have told you for many weeks +that I will not marry Mr. Spencer;" then with a sudden access of +courage, _"and I will not_. I am the promised wife of Lord Medway." + +Mr. Semple laughed, and then asked scornfully, "And pray, who is Lord +Medway?" + +"He is my lover; my husband on the twenty-ninth of next November." + +All the passion and pride of a lifetime glowed in the girl's face. Her +voice was clear and firm, and at that hour she was not a bit afraid. "I +will tell you about him," she continued, and her attitude had in those +few minutes so far dominated her audience that she obtained the hearing +she might otherwise not have gained. Rapidly, but with singular dramatic +power, she related the story of her life in New York--her friendship +with Agnes Bradley, the attraction between herself and Harry Bradley, +his arrest, trial and death sentence, Lord Medway's interference and her +own engagement, her subsequent intimacy with the man she had promised to +marry, and the love which had sprung up in her heart for him. + +"And I will not break my word, not a letter of it," she said in +conclusion. + +"If there was any truth in this story," answered her father, "who cares +for a woman's promises in love matters? They are not worth the breath +that made them." + +"My promise to Lord Medway, father, rests on my honor. I could give him +no security but my word. I must keep my word." + +"A woman's honor! A woman's word to a lover! Pshaw! Let us hear no more +of such rant. What do you think of this extraordinary story, Elizabeth?" + +"I think it is a dream, a fabrication. Maria has imagined it. Who knows +Lord Medway? I never heard tell of such a person." + +"Nevertheless, he will come for me on the twenty-fifth of November," +said Maria. + +"Long before that time you will be Mrs. Richard Spencer," answered her +father. + +"I declare to you, father, I will not. You may carry me to the altar, +that is as far as you can go; you cannot make me speak. I will not say +one word that makes me Richard Spencer's wife. I entreat you not to +force such a trial on me. It will make me the town's talk, you also." + +"Do not dare to consider me as a part of such a mad scene. Go to your +room at once, before I--before I make you." + +She fled before his passion, and terrified and breathless locked the +door upon her sorrow. But she was not conquered. In fact, her resolution +had gained an invincible strength by the mere fact of its utterance. +Words had given it substance, form, even life, and she felt that now she +would give her own life rather than relinquish her resolve. + +In reality her confidence did her case no good. Mr. Semple easily +adopted the opinion of his wife that Maria had invented the story to +defer what she could not break off. "And you know, Alexander," she +added, "those Gordons will be back before the date she has fixed this +pretended lover to appear, and in my opinion they are capable of +encouraging Maria to all lengths against your lawful authority. As for +myself, I am sure Mrs. Gordon disliked me on sight, I know I disliked +her, and Maria was rebellious the whole time they were in London. I +wonder Richard does not break off the wedding, late as it is." + +"I should not permit him to do so, even if he felt inclined. But he is +as resolute as myself. Why, Elizabeth, we two men should be the +laughing-stock of the town for a twelvemonth if we allowed a chit of a +girl to master us. It is unthinkable. Go on with the necessary +preparations. The Spencers living in Durham and in Kendal must be +notified at once. The greater the company present the more impossible it +will be for her to carry out her absurd threat. And even if she will not +speak, silence gives consent. I shall tell the clergyman to proceed." + +After this there were no more pretenses of any kind. Maria's reluctance +to her marriage was openly acknowledged to the household, and her +disobedience complained of and regretted. Among the two men-servants and +three maids there was not one who sympathized with her. The men were +married and had daughters, from whom they expected implicit obedience. +The women wondered what the young mistress wanted: "A man with such +black eyes and nice, curly hair," said the cook, "any proper girl would +like; so free with his jokes and his money, too; six foot tall, and well +set up as ever I saw a man. And the fine house he is giving her, and the +fine things of all kinds he sends her! Oh, she's a proud, set-up little +thing as ever came my way!" These remarks and many more of the same kind +from the powers in the kitchen indicated the sentiment of the whole +house, and Maria felt the spirit of opposition to her, though it was not +expressed. + +She could only endure it and affect not to notice what was beyond her +power to prevent. But she wrote to her Uncle Neil and desired him to see +Lord Medway and tell him exactly how she was situated. In this letter +she declared in the most positive manner her resolve not to marry Mr. +Spencer, and described the uneasiness which her stepmother's remark +about "restraint" had caused her. And this letter, with one to Mrs. +Gordon, were the only outside influences she had any power to reach. + +At length the twenty-eighth day of June arrived. The Spencer house was +filled with relatives from the Northern and Midland countries, and in +Maria's home the wedding feast was already prepared. A huge wedding cake +was standing on the sideboard, and in the middle of the afternoon her +wedding dress came home. Mrs. Semple brought it herself to Maria and +spread out its shimmering widths of heavy white satin and the costly +lace to be worn with it. + +"It is sure to fit you, Maria," she said. "Madame Delamy made it from +your gray cloth dress, which you know is perfect every way. Will you try +it on? I will help you." + +"No, thank you. I would as willingly try my shroud on." + +"I think you are very selfish and unkind. You know that I am not well; +indeed, I feel scarcely able to bear the fatigue of the ceremony, and +you are turning what ought to be a pleasure to your father and every one +else into a fear and a weariness." + +She did not answer her stepmother, but in the hurry of preparations +going on down stairs she sought her father and found him resting in the +freshly decorated drawing-room. He was sitting with closed eyes and +evidently trying to sleep. She stood a little way from him, and with +many bitter tears made her final appeal. "Say I am ill, father, for +indeed I am, and stop this useless preparation. It is all for +disappointment and sorrow." + +He listened without denial or interruption to her words, but when she +ceased in a passion of weeping he answered, "There is no turning back +and there is no delay, Maria. You are very silly to cry over the +inevitable, especially when both my love and wisdom decide that the +inevitable is good for you. You will certainly be married to Richard +Spencer to-morrow morning. Prepare yourself for ten o'clock. I shall +come to your study for you at five minutes before ten. At nine o'clock +Madame Delamy will send two women to arrange your dress. See that you +are ready in time. Good night." + +There was nothing now to be done in the way of prevention, and a dull, +sullen anger took the place of entreaty in Maria's mind. "If they will +set my back to the wall, they shall see I can fight," she thought, as +she wretchedly took her way to her room. The beauteous gown was shining +on her bed, and she passionately tossed it aside and lay down and fell +asleep. When she awoke it was morning, a gusty, rainy morning with +glints of sunshine between the showers. She was greatly depressed, and +not a little frightened. What she had to do she determined to do, but +oh! what would come after it? Then she was shocked to find that the +scene she was resolved to enact, though gone over so often in her mind, +slipped away from her consciousness whenever she tried to recall or +arrange it. For a few minutes she was in a mood to be driven against her +will, and she fully realized this condition. "I must be strong and of +good courage," she whispered. "I must cease thinking and planning. I +must leave this thing to be done till the moment comes to do it. I am +only wasting my strength." + +Fortunately, she was continually interrupted. Coffee was sent to her +room. Then the hairdresser arrived, and the women to robe her for the +ceremony. She was quite passive in their hands, and when her father +appeared, ready to answer his "Come, Maria." + +The parlors were crowded with the Spencers and their friends, and +congratulations sounded fitfully in her ears as carriage after carriage +rolled away to St. Margaret's Church. Mr. Semple and Maria were in the +last coach, and his wife and the bridegroom in the one immediately +before them. So that when they arrived at the church, the company were +already grouped around the communion railing. + +Maria felt like a soul in a bad dream; she was just aware when she left +the carriage that it was raining heavily, and that her father took her +arm and sharply bid her to "lift her wedding dress from the plashy +pavement." She made a motion with her hand, but failed to grasp it, and +then she was walking up the gloomy aisle, she was at the rail, the +clergyman was standing before her, the bridegroom at her side, the +company all about her. There was prayer, and she felt the pressure of +her father's hand force her to her knees; and then there was a constant +murmur of voices, and a spell like that which held her during her last +interview with Lord Medway was upon her. But suddenly she remembered +this fateful apathy, and the memory was like movement in a nightmare. +The instant she recognized it the influence was broken and she was +almost painfully conscious of Richard Spencer's affirmative: + +"I will." + +She knew then what was coming and what she had to do, and those who +watched her saw the girl lift herself erect and listen to the priest +asking those solemnly momentous questions which were to bind her forever +to obey Richard Spencer, to love and honor him, and in sickness and +health, forsaking all others, keep unto him as long as she lived. She +had but to say two words and her promise would be broken, her lover lost +and her life made wretched beyond hope. + +"But I will never say them!" and this passionate assurance to her soul +gave her all the strength she needed. When the clergyman stopped +speaking she looked straight into his face and in a voice low, but +perfectly distinct, answered: + +"I will not." + +There was a moment's startled pause. Her father's voice broke it: + +"Go on, sir." + +But before this was possible Maria continued: + +"I am the promised wife of another man. I do not love this man. I will +not marry him." + +Her eyes, full of pitiful entreaty, held the clergyman's eyes. He looked +steadily at the company and said, "God's law and the laws of this realm +forbid this marriage until such time as the truth of this allegation be +tried." And with these words he walked to the altar, laid the Book of +Common Prayer upon it, and then disappeared in the vestry. + +Before he did so, however, there was a shrill, sharp cry of mortal pain, +and Mrs. Semple was barely saved by her husband's promptitude from +falling prone on the marble aisle before the chancel. Immediately all +was confusion. The sick woman was carried insensible to her coach. Mr. +Spencer took his sobbing sister on his arm, and the guests broke up into +couples. With hurrying feet, amazed, ashamed, all talking together, they +sought the vehicles that were to carry them away from a scene so painful +and so unexpected. Maria sat down in the nearest pew and waited to see +what would happen. She heard carriage after carriage roll away, and then +realized that every one had deserted her. + +In about twenty minutes the sexton began to close the church, and she +asked him, "Has nobody waited for me?" + +"No, miss, you be here alone." Then she took a ring from her finger and +offered it to him: "Get me a closed carriage and I will give you this +ring," she said, but he answered: + +"Nay, I want no ring from a little lass in trouble. I'll get the +carriage, and you may drop into the church some better day to pay me." + +She went back home in the midst of a thunderstorm. The day was darkened, +the rain driven furiously by the wind, and yet when she reached her +father's house the front entrance stood open and there was neither men +nor women servants in sight. She ran swiftly to her room, locked the +door and sank into a chair, spent with fear and sick with apprehension. +What had happened? What would be done to her? "Oh, to be back in New +York!" she cried. "Nobody there would force a poor girl into misery and +make a prayer over it, and a feast about it." + +A sudden movement of her head showed her Maria Semple in her wedding +dress. She turned herself quickly from the glass, and with frantic haste +unfastened the gown and hung it up. All the trinkets in which they had +dressed her were as quickly removed, and she was not satisfied until she +had cast off every symbol of the miserably frustrated marriage. But as +hour after hour passed and no one came near her she became sick with +terror, and she was also faint with hunger and thirst. Something must be +ventured, some one must be seen; she felt that she would lose +consciousness if she was left alone much longer. + +After repeatedly ringing her bell, it was answered by one of the women. +"I want some tea, Mary, and some meat and bread. What is the matter with +every one?" + +"The doctors do say as Mrs. Semple is dying, and the master is like a +man out of his mind." The woman spoke with an air of distinct +displeasure, if not dislike, but she brought the food and tea to Maria, +and without further speech left her to consider what she had been told. + +Oh, how long were the gloomy hours of the day! How much longer those of +the terrible night! The very atmosphere was full of pain and fear; +lights were passing up and down, and footsteps and inarticulate +movements, all indicating the great struggle between life and death. And +Maria lay dressed upon her bed, sleepless, listening and watching, and +seeing always in the dim rushlight that white shimmering gown splashed +with rain, and hanging limply by one sleeve. It grew frightful to her, +threatening, uncanny, and she finally tore it angrily down and flung it +into a closet. + + [Illustration: MARIA LAY DRESSED UPON HER BED.] + +But the weariest suspense comes to some end finally, and just as dawn +broke there was a sudden change. The terror and the suffering were over; +peace stole through every room in the house, for a man child was born to +the house of Semple. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LOVE AND VICTORY. + + +This event was in many ways favorable to Maria. She was put aside, +nearly forgotten for a month, in the more imminent danger to the +household. And by that time the almost brutal passion which in the first +hours of shame and distress could think of no equivalent but personal +punishment, had become more reasonable. For men and women, if worthy of +that name, do not tarry in the Valley of the Shadow of Death without +learning much they would learn nowhere else. + +Still her position was painful enough. Her father did not speak unless +it was necessary to ask her a question, her stepmother for nearly eight +weeks remained in her room, and the once obsequious servants hardly +troubled themselves to attend to her wants or obey her requests. In the +cold isolation of her disgrace she often longed for a more active +displeasure. If only the anger against her would come to words she could +plead for herself, or at least she could ask to be forgiven. + +But Mr. Semple, though ordinarily a passionate and hot-spoken man, was +afraid to say or do anything which would disturb the peace necessary for +his wife's restoration and his son's health. He felt that it was better +for Maria to suffer. She deserved punishment; they were innocent. Yet, +being naturally a just man, he had allowed her such excuse as reflection +brought. He had told himself that the girl had never had a mother's care +and guidance; that he himself had been too busy making money to instill +into her mind the great duty of obedience to his commands. He had +considered also that the very atmosphere in which she had lived and +moved nearly all the years of her life had been charged with assertion +and rebellion. It was the attitude of every one around her to resist +authority, even the authority of kings and governors. If she had been +brought up in the submissive, self-effacing manner proper to English +girls her offense would have been unnatural and unpardonable; but he +remembered with a sigh that American women, as a rule, arrogated to +themselves power and individuality, which American men, as a rule, did +not ask them to surrender. These things he accepted as some palliation +of Maria's abnormal misconduct; and also he was not oblivious to the +fact that her grandparents had for a year given her great freedom, and +that he, for his own convenience, had placed her with her grandparents. +Besides which, anger in a good heart burns itself out. + +Very slowly, but yet surely, this process was going on, and Maria's +attitude was favorable to it, for she was heart-sorry for the +circumstances that had compelled her to assert the right of her +womanhood, and her pathetic self-effacement was sincere and without +reproach. By-the-by the babe came in as peacemaker. As soon as she was +permitted to see her stepmother she bent all the sweet magnetism of her +nature to winning, at least, her forgiveness. She carried the fretful +child in her arms and softly sung him to sleep, she praised his beauty, +she learned to love him, and she made the lonely hours when Mr. Semple +was at the office pass pleasantly to the sick woman. Finally one day +they came to tears and explanations; the dreadful affair was talked out, +Maria entreated forgiveness, and was not ungenerously pardoned. + +This was at the close of August, and a few days afterward she received a +letter from Mrs. Gordon. "We are in London for the winter," she wrote. +"Come, child, and let me see how you look." Rather reluctantly Mrs. +Semple permitted her to make the visit. "She is the next thing to an +American," she thought, "and she will make Maria unreasonable and +disobedient again." But she need not so have feared; the primal +obligations of humanity are planted in childhood, and when we are old we +are apt to refer to them and judge accordingly. + +Mrs. Gordon's first remark was not flattering, for as Maria entered her +room she cried out, "La, child! what is the matter with you? You look +ill, worried, older than you ought to look. Are you in trouble?" + +"Yes, Madame." + +"Stepmother?" + +"Father." + +"Ah! Stepmothers make stepfathers, every one knows that. We shall have a +dish of tea and you shall tell me about it. Then I will help you. But +one can't build without stone. What has the stepfather done?" + +Then Maria told her friend all her trouble, and was rather chilled in +the telling by certain signs of qualified sympathy. And when the story +was finished Mrs. Gordon's first remark was yet more disheartening: + +"'Tis a common calamity," she said, "and better people than you have +endured it." + +"But, Madame----" + +"Yes, I know what you are going to say. But you must consider first that +your father was acting quite within his authority. He had the right to +choose your husband." + +"I had already chosen my husband." + +"Then you ought, when you first came home, to have notified your +parents. Sure, you had so much responsibility to fulfill. Why did you +not do your duty in this matter?" + +"I think I was afraid." + +"To be sure you were. Little coward! Pray what did you fear? Ernest +Medway?" + +"Yes. I thought, perhaps--as I told you, we parted in anger, and I +thought perhaps he might not keep his word, there were so many reasons +why he might like to break it, and also, in war-time life is uncertain. +He has been wounded, sick; he might have died." + +"So might you, or I, for that matter. A pretty account you give of +yourself. Lord, child! you surely had letters to show your father." + +"I had a few, but they were only a line or two. I was sure they would be +made fun of, and I was angry, too. I thought if they would not take my +word, I would not give vouchers for it. Not I!" + +"Don't dash at things in that way, child. Your father was not bound to +believe your story, especially as you did not tell it until he had made +all arrangements for your marriage with this Mr. Spencer. Your conduct +was too zigzaggery; you should have been straight." + +"Father ought to have believed me." + +"We have it on good authority that all men are liars, and I daresay that +your father has known better people than either you or I to tell lies. +Really, I ought to give you a scolding, and this is nothing like it." + +"It was such an outrage to force me to the very altar. The consequences +were at my father's door." + +"Custom, use and wont, take the outrage out of many things. Good +gracious, Maria, most of the women I know were in some way or other +forced to the altar; good for them, too, and generally they found that +out. My own cousin, Lady Clarisse Home, went weeping there; Miss Anne +Gordon, a cousin of my husband, refused to get up, said she was ill, and +her friends had the marriage at her bedside. 'Tis above or below reason, +but these same women adored their husbands within a week's time." + +"Oh, dear! what shall I say? What shall I do?" + +"Poor little Maria! You come to England, and then are astonished that a +girl of eighteen is not allowed to have her own way, even in a husband." + +"I have heard that you took your own way in England, Madame." + +"In Scotland, there was some difference, and I was twenty-three and had +a fortune of my own." + +"Tell me then, Madame, what I ought to do." + +"I think you ought to go back to New York. You are unhappy here, and +you must make your father's home unhappy. That is not fair. If you are +in New York, Ernest Medway will have no difficulty in keeping his +word--if he wishes to do so. If he does not keep his word, you will +escape the mortification you would certainly feel in your father's +house. Ask the stepmother for permission to go back; she will manage the +rest." + +"Had I not better wait till the twenty-ninth of November has come and +gone?" + +"If you are a fool, do so. If you are wise, do not give opportunity so +much scope. Go at once." + +This advice was carried out with all the speed possible. That very night +Maria found a good time to ask her stepmother's influence, and in spite +of some affected reluctances, she understood that her proposal was one +that gave great and unexpected satisfaction. She felt almost that she +might begin to prepare for the voyage; nor were her premonitions false. +On the third evening after the request her father came to her room to +grant it. He said he was "sorry she wished to leave him, but that under +the circumstances it was better that she left England, at least for a +year. The war is practically over," he continued, "and New York will +speedily recover herself." Then he entered into some financial +explanations of a very generous character, and finally, taking a small +package from his pocket, said: + +"Give this to your grandfather. It is a miniature of his grandson, +Alexander Semple the third. He will be much delighted to see that child, +for he has no other grandson. My brothers' children are only girls." + +_"Only girls!"_ The two words cut like a two-edged blade, but they were +not said with any unkind intent, though he felt the unkind impression +they made, and rose and went slowly toward the door. His manner was +hesitating, as if he had forgotten something he wished to say, and the +momentary delay gave to Maria a good thought. She followed him quickly, +and while his hand was on the door laid hers upon it. "Father," she +said, "stay a little while. I want to ask you to forgive me. I have so +often been troublesome and self-willed, I have given you so much +annoyance, I feel it now. I am sorry for it. I cannot go back to America +until you forgive me. Father, will you forgive me? Indeed, I am sorry." + +He hesitated a moment, looked into her white, upturned face, and then +answered, "I forgive you, Maria. You have caused me great shame and +disappointment, but I forgive you." + +"Not in that way! Oh, not in that way, father! Kiss me as you used to +do. You have not kissed me for nearly a year. Dear father, do not be so +cold and so far-off. I am only a little girl, but I am _your_ little +girl. Perhaps I do not deserve to be forgiven, but for my mother's sake +be kind to me." + +At these words he turned fully to her, took her hands, and in a low, +constrained voice said, "You are a very dear little girl, and we will +let all the trouble between us be as if it had never been. We will bury +it, forgive it, and forget it evermore. It is not to be spoken of again, +not as long as we live." + +Then she leaned her head against his breast and he kissed her as those +who love and forgive kiss, and the joy of reconciliation was between +them. + +"Good night, Maria;" and as he held her close within his arm he added +with a laugh, "What a little bit of a woman! How high are you? Maria?" + +"Just as high as your heart, father. I don't want to be any higher." + +"That is a very pretty speech," and this time he kissed her voluntarily, +and with a most tender affection. + +Five days after this interview Maria sailed for America. Her father had +carefully attended to all things necessary for her safety and comfort, +and her stepmother had tried to atone by profuse and handsome gifts for +the apparent unkindness which had hastened her departure. But Maria knew +herself much to blame, and she was too happy to bear ill will. She was +going to see her lover. She was going to give him the assurances which +she had so long withheld. She was now impatient to give voice to all the +tenderness in her heart. + +It was the nineteenth day of September when she sailed, and on the +following day, as Mr. Semple was sitting in his office, one of the +messengers brought him a card. The light was dim and he looked intently +at it, appeared startled, rose and took it to the window for further +inspection. "Lord Medway" was certainly the name it bore, and ere he +could give any order concerning it the door opened and Lord Medway +entered. + +Mr. Semple advanced to meet him, and the nobleman took the chair he +offered. "Sir," he said, hardly waiting for the preliminary courtesies, +"Sir, I cannot believe myself quite unknown to you. And I hope that you +have already some anticipation of the purport of my visit. I come to ask +the hand of your daughter Maria in marriage. I have been her devoted +lover for more than three years, and now I would make her my wife. I beg +you, sir, to examine these papers. They will give you a generally +correct idea of my wealth and of the settlement I propose to make in +favor of my wife." + +Mr. Semple looked at the eager young man with a face so troubled that he +was instantly alarmed. + +"What is it?" he cried. "Is Maria sick? Married? Sir, do not keep me in +suspense." + +"Maria must be very near to New York. She sailed three weeks ago." + +"Oh, how unfortunate I am! I am indeed distracted at this +disappointment." + +"Will you come with me to my home? Mrs. Semple will tell you all that +you desire to know about Maria." + +"I am obliged for your kindness, sir, but there is only one thing for me +to do. I must go back to New York by the first opportunity. I have your +permission, I trust." + +"I have nothing to oppose to your wishes, Lord Medway. Maria has been +faithful to your memory, and I have every reason to know that you are +dear to her. I wish you both to be happy." + +"Then, sir, farewell for the present. If Fate be not most unkind to me, +I will return with Lady Medway before the year be fully out." + +He seemed to gather hope from his own prophecy, and with the charming +manner he knew well how to assume he left Mr. Semple penetrated with his +importance and dignity, and exceedingly exalted in the prospect of his +daughter's great fortune. + +"I do not wonder that Maria would accept no lover in his place," he said +to Mrs. Semple. "I think, Elizabeth, he is the handsomest man I ever +saw. And I glanced at the total of his rent-roll; it is close on forty +thousand pounds a year, and likely to increase as his mining property is +opened up. Maria has done very well for herself." + +"Then we have good authority for saying all men will praise her. +Nevertheless, Cousin Richard was a handsome man and an excellent match," +said Mrs. Semple. "You had better tell Richard. It will close that +affair forever." + +She was vexed, but not insensible to the social glory of the match. And +there was also the precious boy in the cradle. A relative among the +nobility would be a good thing for him; and, indeed, the subject opened +up on all sides in a manner flattering both to the pride and the +interest of the Semples. + +They could not cease talking of it until sleep put an end to their hopes +and speculations. And in the morning they were so readily excited that +Mrs. Semple felt impelled to make a confidante of her nursery maid; and +Mr. Semple, being under the same necessity of conversation, was pleased +to remember that his wife had advised him to inform Richard Spencer. He +told himself that she was right, and that Richard ought to know the +reason of his rejection. It would only be proper kindness to let him +understand that Maria's reluctance was not a dislike for him +personally, but was consequent upon her love for one who had won her +heart previous to their acquaintance. That fact altered Richard's +position and made it much less humiliating. + +So he went to the offices of the Spencer Company, and after some tedious +talk on the Zante currant question, he told the rejected man of Lord +Medway's visit, described his appearance, and revealed, under a promise +of secrecy, the amount of his rent-roll and the settlement proposed for +his wife. + +The effect of this story was precisely in the line of what Mr. Semple +had supposed. The weakness of Richard Spencer's nature was a slavish +adoration of the nobility. To have had Lord Medway for a rival was an +honor to be fully appreciated; and to the end of his life it supplied +him, in all his hours of after-dinner confidences, with a sentimental +story he delighted to tell. "Yes, gentlemen," he would say, even when an +old man, "Yes, gentlemen, I was once in love, madly in love, with as +beautiful a creature as ever trod this earth. And she led me a pretty +dance right to the altar steps, and then deserted me. But I cannot blame +her. No, by St. George, I cannot! I had a rival, gentlemen, the young, +handsome, rich and powerful Lord Medway, a nobleman that sits in the +house of Lords and may be of the Privy Council. What hope for poor Dick +Spencer against such a rival? None at all, gentlemen, and so you see, +for Lord Medway's sake I am a bachelor, and always shall be one. No girl +for me, after the divine Maria was lost. I saw her going to the last +drawing-room and she smiled at me. I live for such little favors, and I +have reason to know my great rival does not grudge them to me." + +And in this way Richard Spencer consoled himself, and was perhaps more +reasonably happy than if he had married a reluctant woman and been +grieved all the years of his life by her contradictions. + +The unexpected return of Maria to her grandparents quite overthrew Lord +Medway's plans for a few hours. He had hoped to marry her in London, and +take her at once to his town house, which was even then being prepared +and adorned for her. And affairs in New York were in such a state of +chaos that he was even anxious for her personal safety. He had left +everything and every one in a state of miserable transition and +uncertainty, and he was sure things were growing worse and would +continue to do so until the departure of the hostile army and the return +of the patriotic citizens. For it was they, and they only, who had any +interest in the preservation of their beautiful city from plunder and +destruction. + +And as he thought on these things, he reflected that it would be an +impossibility to secure for Maria and himself any comfortable passage +home, in the ordinary shipping, or even in the ships of war. He was sure +every available inch of room would be filled with royalist refugees, and +he knew well the likely results of men and women and children crowded +together, without sufficient food and water, and exposed to the winter's +cold and storm without any preparation for it. + +"It will not do, it will not do!" he ejaculated, "whatever it costs, I +must charter a vessel for our own use." + +In pursuance of this decision, he was in the largest shipping-house very +early the next morning, and with its aid, speedily secured a swift +sailing clipper. Her long, sharp bow and raking masts, pleased his +nautical sense; she was staunchly built, fit to buffet wind and waves, +and had a well-seasoned captain, who feared nothing, and was pleased at +the terms Lord Medway offered him. + +Nearly two weeks were spent in victualing and fitting her for the dainty +lady she was to carry. The softest pillows and rugs and carpets, made +her small space luxuriously sufficient. Silver and china and fine linen +were provided for her table, and when all her lockers had been filled +and all her sailing wants provided for, Lord Medway brought on board a +good cook, a maid for Maria, and a valet for himself. Then he set sail +joyously; surely, at last, he was on the right road to his bridal. + +Overtaking Maria was of course beyond a possibility, but he desired to +reach New York before its evacuation. He had many reasons for this, but +the chief one was a fear that unless he did so, there might be no +clergyman in New York to perform the marriage ceremony. Lovers have a +thousand anxieties, and if they do not have them, make them; and as the +"Dolphin" flew before the wind, Medway walked her deck, wondering if +Maria had arrived safely in New York, if her ship had been delayed, if +it had been taken by a privateer, if there had been any shipwreck, or +even great storms; if by any cruel chance he should reach New York, and +not find Maria there. How could he endure the consequent disappointment +and anxiety? He trembled, he turned heartsick, at any such possibility, +and when the green shores of the new world appeared, he almost wished +for a little longer suspense; he thought a certainty of Maria's absence +would kill him. + +As they came nearer to the city it was found impossible to approach any +of the usual wharfs. The river was crowded with men-of-war, transports, +and vessels of every kind, and after some consideration they took to the +North River, and finally anchored in midstream, nearly opposite the +house of Madame Jacobus. + +The sight of her residence inspired him with something like hope, and he +caused the small boat by which he landed to put him on shore as far +north of the heart of the city as possible. But even so, he could +distinctly hear, and still more distinctly _feel_ the sorrowful tumult +of the chaotic, almost frantic town. With swift steps and beating heart +he reached the Semple house. He stood still a moment and looked at it. +In the morning sunshine it had its usual, peaceful, orderly aspect, and +as he reached the gate, he saw the Elder open the door, and, oh, sight +of heaven! Maria stepped into the garden with him. + + [Illustration: HE CAUSED THE SMALL BOAT TO PUT HIM ON SHORE.] + +What happened then? Let each heart tell itself. We have many words to +express grief, none that translate the transports of love that has +conquered all the accidents of a contrary fortune. Such joy speaks +like a child, two or three words at a time, "My Darling--Oh, +Beloved--Sweetest Maria--Ernest--Ernest--At last--At last!" + +But gradually they came back to the sense of those proprieties that very +wisely invade the selfishness of human beings. They remembered there +were others in the world besides themselves, and broke their bliss in +two, that they might share it. And as conversation became more general +Medway perceived that haste was an imperative necessity, and that even +haste might be too late. It was now exceedingly doubtful if a clergyman +could be procured. Trinity had no authorized rector, the Reverend Mr. +Inglis having resigned the charge on the first of November, just three +weeks previously, and the appointment of the Reverend Mr. Moore, +selected by the corporation of Trinity, not being yet approved by the +Governor of the State of New York. To an Englishman of that day, there +was no marriage legally performed but by an accredited Episcopal +minister, and this was the obstacle Lord Medway had now to face. + +If General Clinton had been still in New York, the chaplain attached to +his staff would have been easily available; but Lord Medway knew little +of Sir Guy Carleton, then in command, and could only suppose his staff +would be similarly provided. As this difficulty demanded instant +attention, Medway went immediately about it. He was but barely in time. +Sir Guy thought the chaplain had already embarked, but fortunately, he +was found in his rooms, in the midst of his packing, and the offer of a +large fee made a short delay possible to him. It was then the twentieth +of November, and the evacuation of the British troops and refugees was +to be completed on the twenty-fifth. There was no time to be lost, for +an almost insane terror pervaded the minds of the royalists, and Medway +hastened back to Maria to expedite her preparations. + +"Only one day, my dear one," he said, "can be allowed you. You must +pack immediately. If your trunks can be sent to Madame Jacobus to-night, +I will have the captain of the 'Dolphin' get them on board as early as +possible to-morrow. During to-day you must make all your arrangements. +The clergyman will be waiting for us in St. Paul's Chapel at nine +o'clock in the morning. Will your grandparents go with us to the +church?" + +"I think not, Ernest. They would rather bid me good-bye in their own +home, and it will be better so. Uncle Neil has begged grandfather not to +go into the city; he says it would be both dangerous and heart-breaking +to him--yet we will ask them." + +It was as Maria had supposed; the Elder and Madame preferred to part +with their little girl in private. With smiles and tears and blessings, +they gave her into Lord Medway's care and then sat down on their lonely +hearth to rejoice in her joy and good fortune. They did not, however, +talk much; a few words now and then, and long pauses between, in which +they wandered back to their own bridal, and the happy, busy days that +were gone forever. + +"It will be Neil next," said the Elder sadly. + +"Yes. The Bradleys will be home on the twenty-seventh. He is set on +Agnes Bradley." + +"I'm sorry for it." + +"She suits him. I know you never liked the family." + +"Far awa' from it." + +"Neil says the son is to marry Mary Wakefield. Agnes has been with the +Wakefields; Mary is the youngest daughter." + +"And the saddler will open his shop again?" + +"Yes. His son is to be his partner. John Bradley thinks he has a 'call' +to preach. He has got the habit of wandering about, working and +preaching. Agnes says he will never give it up." + +After a long pause the Elder spoke again: "Maria is sure to be happy; +she has done well." + +"No woman could be happier. Has Neil told you what he is going to do?" + +"He canna stay here, Janet. That is beyond thinking of. Any bill of +attainder would include him. He is going to Boston to pick up the lines +o' his brother's business. Alexander made a fortune there; the name o' +Semple is known and respected, and John Curwen, who has plenty o' money, +will be in the business with him. He'll do well, no fear o' Neil." + +"Then he'll get married." + +"To be sure; men are aye eager to meet that trouble." + +"Alexander!" + +"And speaking o' bills o' attainder, I'll like enough hae my name on +one." + +"No, you won't. If you'll only bide at hame and keep your whist anent a' +public matters, you'll be left alane. If you have enemies, I hae +friends--great and powerful friends--and there's our two sons to stand +on your right hand and your left. Robert and Allen left a' and followed +the American cause from the first. They are good sureties for you. And +what of your friend, Joris Van Heemskirk?" + +"We'll see, we'll see. He may have changed a deal; he was always fond o' +authority, and for eight years he has been giving orders and saying 'go' +and 'come' and 'do this.' I took a bit walk down the road yestreen, and +I saw that creature Batavius polishing up the brass knocker o' his +father-in-law's front door. He had raked the littered garden, and Joanna +was putting up clean curtains. And he came waddling down to the gate and +said, 'Good-morning, Elder,' and I could but say the same to him. And +then he said, 'We are all getting ready for the coming home o' our brave +soldiers, and I am satisfied; it is a steady principle of mine to be +satisfied with the government. Governor Clinton bowed to me yesterday, +and he is the friend of General Washington. I notice these things, for +it is my way to notice everything.' And I interrupted him and said, +'Your principles change with your interests, sir,' and he fired up and +asked: 'Why not, then? It is a principle of mine to go with the times, +for I will not be left behind. I am a sailor, and I know that it is a +fool that does not turn his sail with the wind. When the wind blows west +I will not sail east;' and I said, 'you will do very well in these +times,' and he laughed and answered, '_Ja!_ I always do very well. I am +known for that everywhere.' So I left him, but the world seems slipping +awa' from me, Janet." + +"I am at your side, and there's nae bride nor bridegroom o' a day half +as much to each other as you are to me and I to you. And if this warld +fails, it is not the only warld." And they looked lovingly at each other +and were silent and satisfied. + +In the meantime the little wedding party had gathered at the altar of +St. Paul's Chapel: Neil, who gave away Maria, Madame Jacobus and her +friend Counselor Van Ahrens; Lord Medway with Sir Francis Lauve and his +sister Miss Estelle Lauve, members of an English family with whom he had +been familiar. The chaplain was waiting when the bride arrived, and the +words that made her Lord Medway's wife were solemnly said. There was no +music, no flowers, no bells, no theatrical effects of any kind, but the +simple, grand words of resignation and consecration had all the serious +joy and sacred character of a happy religious rite, and every heart felt +that nothing could have been more satisfactory. Maria wore the dark +cloth dress and long coat she intended to travel in, and as she knelt +bareheaded at the altar, Madame Jacobus held the pretty head-covering +that matched it. So that as soon as the registry had been made in the +vestry, she bid farewell to all her friends, and with a look of adorable +love and confidence placed her hand in her husband's. + +He was so happy that he was speechless, and he feared a moment's delay. +Until he had Maria safely on board the "Dolphin," he could not feel +certain of her possession. The suspense made him silent and nervous; he +could only look at his bride and clasp her hands, until she had passed +safely through the crowded streets and was securely in the cabin of the +waiting ship. Then, with the wind in her sails and the sunshine on her +white deck, the "Dolphin" went swiftly out to sea. + +But not until the low-lying land was quite lost to sight was Lord Medway +completely satisfied. Then he suffered the rapture in his heart to find +words. He folded Maria in her furs, and clasped her close to his side, +and as the daylight faded and the stars shone out upon her lovely face, +he told her a thousand times over, how dear, how sweet, how beautiful +she was! + +Ah! Youth is sweet! and Life is dear to Love and Youth; and these two +were supremely happy while whole days long they talked of their past and +their future. And though the journey lasted their honeymoon out, they +were not sorry. They were going to be in London for the Christmas feast, +and Medway remembered that he had promised Mr. Semple to "bring Lady +Medway home before the New Year," and he was pleased to redeem his word. + +"For I liked your father, Maria," he said. "He seemed to me one of the +finest gentlemen I ever met, and----" + +"My stepmother is a lady also," Maria answered, "one of the Norfolk +Spencers; and many women would have been worse to me than she was. +Sometimes I was in the wrong too." + +"They must keep Christmas with us. _Christmas in our own home!_ Maria, +you hold me by my heart. Sweet, say what you wish, and you shall have +it." And indeed it would be impossible to express in written words a +tithe of the great content they had. For all their hopes and plans and +dreams of future happiness were + + "but Ministers of Love + And fed his sacred flame," + +and the bliss so long afar, at length so nigh, rested in the great peace +of its attainment. + +In leaving New York immediately after their marriage, Lord and Lady +Medway escaped the misery of seeing the last agony of the royalist +inhabitants of that city. For six months Sir Guy Carleton had been +sending them to Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Canada, to the Bahamas and +the West India Islands, and yet the condition of the city in these last +days is indescribable. To remove a large household is no easy matter, +but the whole city had practically to be moved, and at the same time at +least two thousand families driven from their homes at the occupation of +New York, had returned and were gradually taking possession of their +deserted dwellings. The confusion was intensified at the last by the +distraction of those who had hesitated until delay was no longer +possible, by the sick and the helpless, and the remnant who had been +striving to procure money, or were waiting for relatives and friends. +Such a scene as New York presented on the morning of the final +evacuation on the twenty-fifth of November, 1783, has no parallel in +modern history. + +It was followed by a scene not only as intensely dramatic, but also as +exhilarating and joyful as the former was distracting and +despairing--the entry of the triumphant Army of Freedom. As the +rearguard of the British army left the Battery, it came marching down +the Bowery--picked heroes of a score of battlefields--led by General +Knox. It passed by Chatham Street and Pearl Street to Wall Street and so +to Broadway, where it waited for the procession headed by General +Washington and Governor Clinton, the officers of the army, citizens on +horseback, and citizens on foot. A salute of thirteen guns greeted the +columns as they met, arms were presented and the drums beat. As a +military procession, it was without impressiveness, as a moral +procession, it was without equal in the annals of the world. No bells +chimed congratulations, no bands of music stirred popular enthusiasm; it +notably lacked all the usual pomp of military display, but no grander +army of self-wrought freemen ever greeted their chief, their homes, and +their native city. + +Madame Jacobus, weeping tears of joy, viewed it from her window. Early +in the morning she had sent a closed carriage for her friend Madame +Semple; but it had returned empty. + +"Janet Semple kept herself alive for this day," she said. "I wonder why +she did not come. She prayed that her eyes might see this salvation, and +then she has not come to see it. What is the matter, I wonder?" + +A very simple and yet a very great thing was the matter. When Madame had +put on her best gown, some little necessity took her back to the parlor. +The Elder was crouching over the fire and down his white face tears were +unconsciously streaming. She could not bear it; she could not leave him. + +"The joy is there, the victory is won, and the blessing is for a' +generations," she said. "I'll never be missed in the crowd, and I can +sing 'Glory be to God' in my ain house. So I'll stay where I'm needed, +by my dear auld man; it was for better or for worse, for richer or +poorer, in joy, or in sorrow, while baith our lives lasted," she mused, +"and Janet Semple isna one to forget that bargain." She went quickly +back to her room, spoke only into the ear of God her joy and her +thanksgiving, and then taking off her festival garments, knocked at +Neil's door as she went down stairs. + +"Are you going out, Neil?" + +"No; I shall stay with father. I am just going to him." + +They went together, and as they entered the room, the Elder looked up: + +"Aren't you going to see the show, Neil?" he asked. + +"I prefer to stay with you, sir," was the answer. The old man looked +from his son to his wife gratefully, and murmuring, "Thank you baith," +he fainted away. + +Tenderly they lifted him to a couch, and he soon responded to the +remedies applied; but Janet gave him a soothing draught, and they sat +the afternoon through, watching him. They could hear the joyful +acclaims--the shouts and songs of a redeemed people--the noise of a +multitude giving itself to a tumultuous joy; but the real gladness of +grateful hearts was by the rekindled hearth fires. Fathers and mothers +at home again! After seven years' wandering, they knew what Home meant. +Their houses were dismantled, but they had Liberty! Their gardens were +destroyed, their shade trees burnt, but they had Liberty! Their churches +were desecrated, but they had Liberty! Their trade was gone, their fair +city mutilated and blackened with fire, her streets torn up, and her +wharfs decayed, but thank God, they had Liberty! Never again would they +be the subjects of any king, or the victims of any imposed tyranny. They +were free men. They had won their freedom, and they who have once tasted +of the sharp, strong wine of Freedom will drink thereof forever. + + * * * * * + +These events occurred exactly one hundred and eighteen years ago, but +those who happen to be in that lovely country which lies between +Yorkshire and Lancashire can find in Medway Castle one frail memento of +them. A little diplomacy and a little coin of the realm dropped into the +keeper's hand will procure them admittance. And after viewing its rooms +of state, its splendid library, and its picture gallery, they may seek a +little room toward the sunrising, called "the Lady Maria's parlor." Its +furniture of crimson satin is faded now, but it doubtless suited well +the dark beauty so well depicted in a large portrait of her, that is one +of the ornaments of the east wall. The portrait of her husband, Lord +Ernest Medway, is near to it, but between them is a sheet of ordinary +writing paper, yellow with age, but still keeping a legible copy of +three verses and the pretty, simple, old tune to which they were sung. +It is the original copy of _"The Song of a Single Note,"_ the song they +sang together at Nicholas Bayard's summer entertainment one hundred and +twenty-one years ago. Lord Medway always said it was an enchanted song, +and that, as its melodious tones fell from his lady's lips, they charmed +his heart away and gave it to her forever. + +And if other lovers would learn this fateful melody, why here is a copy +of it. If they sing it but once together, it may be that they will sing +it as long as they live: + + "For through the sense, the song shall fit + The soul to understand." + + + + + A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE. + + [Illustration: A song of a sin-gle note. + But it soars and swells a-bove + The trum-pet's call and clash of arms, + For the name of the song is Love, + Love, Love, The name of the song is Love.] + + Mortals may sing it here below, + The angels sing it above; + For all of heaven that earth can know + Is set to the Song of Love, + Love, love, love, is set to the Song of Love. + + Then bid the trumpet and drum be still, + And battle flags idly float; + Better by far that men should sing + The Song of a Single Note. + Love, love, love, the Song of a Single Note. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Some of the illustrations have been moved so that they correspond to +the text and do not break up paragraphs. The biggest change was the +movement of the illustration "Maria lay dressed upon her bed" from +facing page 100 to page 305, near the corresponding text. Because of +these changes, the page numbers of the illustrations no longer match +the page numbers in the List of Illustrations. + +Throughout the book, the name of one of the characters was "DuBois", +but four times the name was given as "Du Bois". In each of those four, +instances, "Du Bois" was replaced with "DuBois". Likewise, another +character was sometimes named "Andre" and sometimes named "Andre". In +this case, "Andre" was replaced with "Andre". + +Thoughout the book, quotation mark usage is different than current +usage. Quotation mark usage was "corrected" only where the printed +usage would be confusing to the reader. In some cases a single set of +quotation marks was used for multiple paragraphs, in those caes the +quotation marks were not changed. + +Throughout the dialogues, there were words and punctuation used to +mimic accents of the speakers. Those words and punctuation were +retained. + +In the Contents, a period was placed after "V". + +In the Prologue, a quotation mark was placed at the end of the poem. + +On page 2, a period was placed after "easily go further". + +On page 7, a period was placed after "by a meadow", and a period was +placed after "I should say". + +On page 14, a quotation mark was removed after the phrase "called for +a fresh pipe.". + +On page 17, "to speak them" was replaced with "to speak to them". + +On page 27, the double quotation marks around the poem has been +replaced with single quotation marks, as the poem is part of a larger +quote. + +On page 38, "He eat of all" was replaced with "He ate of all". + +On page 48, a period was placed after "he is her lover". + +On page 49, "doubt and fear and love's first food" was replaced with +"doubt and fear are love's first food". + +On page 55, a double quotation mark before "Mr. Bradley, it is the +King's birthday" was replaced with a single quotation mark. + +On page 65, "she asked" was replaced with "She asked". + +On page 74, the double quotation mark was removed after "Wonderful!". + +On page 79, the single quotation mark after "They, too, have saved +us." was replased with a double quotation mark. + +On page 84, a double quotation mark was placed before "Oh, you must +be". + +On page 86, the quotation mark was removed after "though we may not +admit it." + +On page 94, "have not began" was replaced with "have not began". + +On page 97, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating". + +On page 109, the quotation mark was removed after "they would likely +hear it from some one.". + +On page 110, "colums" was replaced with "columns". + +On page 123, "confident and adviser" was replaced with "confidant and +adviser". + +On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed after "at nine +o'clock. Harry.". + +On page 131, a double quotation mark was placed before "I am sure +that". + +On page 154, a period was added after "I refuse to say". + +On page 162, the quotation mark was removed after "I will stand +still." + +On page 163, a quotation mark was added after "but for my father, it +had gone badly with you!" + +On page 165, a comma was added after "And there is another thing". + +On page 169, "There has a low" was replaced with "There was a low". + +On page 171, a period was added after "said Harry". + +On page 175, a quotation mark was added before "One hundred years +ago--in Scotland". + +On page 178, the period after "Would you be content if I saved his +life" was replaced with a question mark. + +On page 182, a double quotation mark was added after "'Ernest is doing +all that can be done.'" + +On page 188, "The horoine is" was replaced with "The heroine is". + +On page 195, a person is referred to as "Hulen" and as "Hulens". +No change was made because there was no indication of which is the +correct name. + +On page 197, "a saucy youth" was replaced with "A saucy youth". + +On page 197, "and he went on talking" was replaced with "and he went +on talking". + +On page 198, "he had builded" was replaced with "he had built". + +On page 199, a quotation mark was added after "I make you the same +offer if you will take it." + +On page 199, a period was placed after "and mental tremor". + +On page 199, a period was placed after "waited for Neil's reply". + +On page 200, "as you say" was replaced with "As you say". + +On page 203, a period was placed after "will be paid to-morrow". + +On page 207, "tapsalterie" was replaced with "tapsalteerie". + +On page 221, A double quotation mark was removed before "This remark +Maria did not approve of". + +On page 227, "curiuosly" was replaced with "curiously". + +On page 234, a quotation mark was added after "less almighty and mair +sensible than others.". + +On page 240, "consiousness" was replaced with "consciousness". + +On page 244, the semicolon after "aboon ten thousand" was replaced +with a period. + +On page 248, "the butt o 'a lot o' fellows" was replaced with "the +butt o' a lot o' fellows". + +On page 253, a period was put after "lost its chief advantage for +defense". + +On page 251, a quotation mark was added after "Meets all its wants." + +On page 251, "scrimage" was replaced with "scrimmage". + +On page 257, a quotation mark was added after the phrase "said Lord +Medway,". + +On page 258, the period after "in the sweet Spring evening" was +replaced with a comma. + +On page 263, a quotation mark was placed after "do love me, Maria?". + +On page 272, "my father insist" was replaced with "my father insists". + +On page 283, a double quotation mark was placed after "I think, +indeed,". + +On page 290, "situaton" was replaced with "situation." + +On page 296, the quotation mark after "in her heart for him." was +removed. + +On page 296, a quotation mark was placed after "such a person". + +On page 302, "vesty" was replaced with "vestry". + +On page 309, a quotation mark was placed after "to show your father." + +On page 310, a quotation mark was placed after "you should have been +straight." + +On page 323, the quotation mark was removed after "silent and +satisfied." + +On page 323, "alter" was replaced with "altar". + +On page 326, "exhilerating" was replaced with "exhilarating". + +On page 329, "they may seek a litttle" was replaced with "they may +seek a little". + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SONG OF A SINGLE NOTE*** + + +******* This file should be named 35358.txt or 35358.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/3/5/35358 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/35358.zip b/35358.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3919d67 --- /dev/null +++ b/35358.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f5821f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #35358 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35358) |
