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+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***
+
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